A teenage footballer mimed shooting at armed police with an imaginary gun as he was arrested over an alleged murder plot, a court has heard. Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, is accused of travelling from Norway to the UK to carry out a paid “hit”.
Alleged plot foiled by police raid
Prosecutors claim the young player was acting on behalf of the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime gang allegedly used by the Iranian regime. The court heard the alleged plot was foiled when officers raided his hotel room and recovered a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and 12 live rounds.
Jurors were shown bodycam footage of armed police arresting Natland at the Briar Court Hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, just two days after he arrived in the UK.
Arrest captured on bodycam
The footage shows officers hammering on the door on March 19 last year and shouting: “It’s the police, come to the door.” Natland is then shown stepping out wearing only boxer shorts, rubbing his eyes as if he has been dragged from sleep. He looks towards an officer, raises his hands as though gripping an imaginary gun and mimics firing at him. An officer quickly grabs his left hand, pins him to the wall and arrests the teenager on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, the Sun reported.
When asked whether there were any weapons in the room, he gives a slight shake of his head. The bodycam video also records him chatting to an officer, where a grinning Natland asks if he is “happy” and, speaking in Norwegian, adds: “That was fun, like.”
Defendant claims he was terrified
The Old Bailey was told the Norwegian had flown into Manchester Airport from Stavanger, Norway, just two days before. Natland, 19, was “terrified” and would have shot himself in the foot to get out of the “pickle” he was in while desperate for drug money, the court heard. He told his trial he thought the Swedish Foxtrot gang, which had allegedly offered him money to kill someone in England, would shoot him in the head if he backed out.
Last March, Natland travelled to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and picked up £2,000 in cash, a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and 12 rounds of live ammunition. But the plan was scuppered two days after Natland arrived in the UK when armed police raided his hotel room and arrested him, the court has heard.
Giving evidence on Thursday (June 11), Natland said he was “not a cold-blooded hitman” or like Liam Neeson’s character in the Hollywood film Taken. He said: “I wasn’t an international assassin. I thought people had this impression and expected me to be this guy. I knew I wasn’t. I know how this stuff looks, you know? But I know myself. I would never have got off on violence.”
Background of drug addiction
Natland was a good student and keen footballer before he got hooked on MDMA, amphetamines, weed and cocaine, which affected his mental health, the court heard. He was aware of the “Swedish Foxes” gang but when he received a message asking him to go to England and kill someone he thought it was a “joke”, he said. He responded to the message by asking who would be shot because he “wanted some money”, with half the fee – €12,500 (£10,600) – to be paid up front, he said.
When he realised what he was expected to do, he initially tried to get out of it by saying he was “not a fan of flying” and his passport had expired but the gang seemed “determined”, he said. Natland said: “I was trying to put up this facade, like I kill people in England before breakfast, but I was terrified and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to go to police. I thought I would probably get killed. I can’t kill someone. During this time I’m not really thinking too coherently. At the time I’m just stressing. I can’t kill someone, but these guys want me to do it and if I don’t do it they’re going to kill me. I’m acting like things are alright, but yeah.”
Natland told his friends that someone was going to die because he did not want to look like a “pussy”, the court heard. On his state of mind on the eve of his arrest, he said: “I’m thinking that’s me done, my fate is sealed. I bought some Coronas. I was stressing, thinking what I’m actually going to do, sitting in a hotel in Huddersfield. I’ve got two firearms under my bed. I’d never seen a gun before. Tomorrow is the day. I’m thinking what will you do? And I came to the not very brilliant plan: jump out of the car and shoot myself in the foot and say ‘yo we need to get out of here’. I was going to look like an idiot but desperate times call for desperate measures. Faced with the alternative of being shot in the head, I thought being shot in the foot is better, yeah.”
Defence barrister Paul Hynes KC asked: “Were you going to shoot anyone?” Natland replied: “Definitely not. Maybe myself.”
Explanation for gesture
He was asked why he made a shooting gesture with his hands when police turned up at his hotel room door. He said: “So I go out there, I don’t know why I done it. I was just happy when I come out. I thought they are my saviour, this is my way out. I’m safe now. I don’t have to shoot myself in the foot.”
He added: “Paradoxically, coming to England is the worst thing that ever happened to me but it got me out of drugs and the situation I’m in. I’m sitting in Belmarsh (prison) with murderers. It’s rough but I feel good, yeah?”
Cross-examining, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said: “I’m not suggesting you are a hitman from a Hollywood movie but what you are, Mr Natland, is just the sort of person Foxtrot recruit for their killings? Someone who had recently been discharged from some sort of institution, somebody who can be recruited, and frankly disposed of, to undertake their murders?” The defendant replied: “Yeah.”
Mr Richardson suggested to Natland that his girlfriend was right when she had told jurors he thought the kill mission was “cool”. He said: “You were excited about it, weren’t you? You were telling people about it.” Natland replied: “I did not think it was cool, no.”
Mr Richardson said Natland’s plan to shoot himself in the foot was a “lie”, pointing out he never expressed fear to friends. Asked why he did not seek help at Manchester Airport, Natland said: “This is an international syndicate. I didn’t even feel safe in my own home because I wasn’t in the best head space.” Mr Richardson suggested his concern that friends would think he was a “pussy” was “obvious nonsense”. Natland replied: “Pride can sometimes be a dangerous thing. I tried to solve this myself. I didn’t want to call my mother and say I f***** up again. I need to find a different way out of this.”
Natland has denied conspiring to murder an unknown person but has admitted possession of the two firearms and ammunition. The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict on Monday (June 15) or Tuesday (June 16).
