THREE killers shouted 'police' before storming a father-to-be's home and slaughtering him in front of his pregnant fiancée, the Old Bailey heard today.
Danny Gough, also known as Danny McGinty, was pulled from the bed he was sharing with Kareena Modashia and hacked to death with an axe, machete and possibly a sword.
Ammonia was squirted into the faces of Mr Gough, Ms Modashia and her mother to stop them identifying the attackers.
Jurors heard Mr Gough, 24, was murdered at his home in Stockbury Road, Woodside, in December 2010, as part of an 'increasingly violent' and escalating feud.
One of his alleged killers, Sam Monteith, 32, had been slashed and sprayed with ammonia by a gang involving Mr Gough some six weeks earlier, it was said.
Stephen Dougherty, 35, and Paul West, 29, deny murder while Monteith is currently not fit to stand trial.
Mr Gough's mother Debbie Gough, originally from Derby, wept in court as prosecutor Mark Heywood QC told the court: "This case concerns a truly vicious killing, it was motivated by vengeance and the need perhaps to maintain a degree of face.
"It happened in a quiet residential cul-de-sac in the night hours.
"The men who carried it out had surveyed their target, gathered information on his home, on his whereabouts and on his condition.
"They waited until they judged that he, his family, his neighbours and those about him were at their least alert.
"They had the information from someone close by, they dressed for the business and armed themselves with the kind of weapons which could be used silently but lethally, weapons with only one purpose - an axe, a machete and a long-bladed instrument, possibly a sword.
"They went to his door, shouted police as a distraction, as a cover, they forced their way through the door and using information they went up the stairs and into the bedroom that he occupied with his girlfriend.
"They dragged him from his bed, pulled him to the floor and hacked and stabbed at his body causing so many serious wounds that he had no hope of survival.
"They left only when one of them said 'he's dead'.
"They went together out of the house moving quietly and quickly away, no doubt towards a vehicle and they made good their disposing of anything that could link them to this crime.
"They left only one thing behind by mistake, it was dropped in the final moments when other members of the house heard and were awoken - it was a Jiff lemon bottle filled with ammonia.
"It was used to spray into the eyes of the deceased so that, although he was sleeping and naked, he was unable to defend himself.
"They also sprayed the others, his girlfriend and her mother so that it disabled them from identifying the attackers.
"The defendants are two of those responsible for that and are charged with the murder of the deceased man Danny Gough whose death took place on the night in the early hours of December 14, 2010.
"That vicious, extreme violence had a purpose, it was motivated by revenge and by the need to send a message, a message that the men involved were not to be trifled with.
"It was the direct result of an escalating feud between Dougherty, West and Monteith - a man waiting to be tried and not here - and the victim.
"That feud became increasingly violent in the months leading up to this fatal attack.
"The message was clear and for the time being the revenge was completed."
The feud began when Mr Gough's friend Leanne Meredith was involved in a fight with Dougherty and Monteith in June 2010.
"On the night of November 3 Monteith was attacked inside his home address by three men armed with a knife and with some ammonia," Mr Heywood said.
"By his own account Danny Gough was one of the men involved in that attack."
Monteith was left with a 10cm gash to his face and burns from the ammonia thrown in his eyes, the court heard.
Dougherty, of no fixed address but formerly of Mijas, Spain, and West, of Eaton Avenue, Slough, Berks, deny murder.
Monteith, of Brighton Road, Sutton, is not before the court as he is currently unfit to stand trial.
