Repeatedly Released

Sometimes you look at a story and think “Oh, there’s got to be a lot more than that behind it”.

In this case, the story was about Arran Coghlan, the Cheshire ‘businessman’ who’s now been cleared of murder on three separate occasions. That’s going some. But really, the guy’s either incredibly unlucky to be caught up in these types of situations, or he’s involved in some way or another.

The three cases were :

• Cleared in 1996 of shooting Chris Little dead at the wheel of his Mercedes in Marple, Stockport.
• Stood trial for the murder of drug dealer David Barnshaw, who was kidnapped and forced to drink petrol before being burned alive in the back of a car in Stockport in 2001
• (The most recent) accused of shooting dead Stephen Akinyemi in a fight at his £2m home in Alderley Edge in February

Additionally, on New Year’s Day 2008, Coghlan was stabbed in the head, face and back in a frenzied attack in Cobdens Bar in Stockport.

There’s also the ‘small’ matter of an assault charge in an unrelated matter, for which he will be back at Liverpool Crown Court for a mention hearing in September.

You look at that story and you just have to assume that his businesses can’t be completely legitimate. That’s a lot of trouble for one businessman to be in, isn’t it?