The brother of a reality television star who was shot dead in front of his family on Christmas Eve "was involved in serious and organised crime”, a court has heard.

An Islington man is one of a number on trial in connection with the fatal shooting of father-of-two Flamur Beqiri, who was gunned down outside his Battersea home by a masked assassin on December 24, 2019.

Prosecutors claim that 36-year-old Mr Beqiri - the older brother of reality TV's Misse Beqiri - was killed as a result of escalating violence between two rival gang networks.

Islington Gazette: Misse Beqiri, whose brother Flamur Beqiri, was shot outside his home in Battersea on December 24, 2019Misse Beqiri, whose brother Flamur Beqiri, was shot outside his home in Battersea on December 24, 2019 (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

The Gazette has been covering the trial currently ongoing at Southwark Crown Court.

During the proceedings it has been alleged that 24-year-old Anis Hemissi shot Mr Beqiri, and that he wore disguises to carry out reconnaissance in the days before doing so.

The 24-year-old denies murder and possession of a self-loading pistol.

He was allegedly part of a team of four killers from Sweden, with Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, Tobias Fredrik Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, also charged with murder.

Clifford Rollox, 31, of Islington, and 21-year-old Dutch national Claude Isaac Castor, from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, allegedly "cleared up and removed the tools of the killer’s trade” after the murder.

The four accused killers are alleged to have planned Mr Beqiri’s killing for about six months, including the hiring of Rollox and Castor to clean up afterwards.

All defendants deny murder, while Rollox and Castor both deny perverting the course of justice.

Mr Beqiri’s wife, Debora Krasniqi, previously denied her husband was a criminal, telling jurors he was involved in the music business.

But Swedish police detective inspector Kajsa Delmar-Wigstrom told the court on December 21 that he was part of an organised crime network involved in “violent rivalry” with another group in the Scandinavian country.

She said Mr Beqiri, whose 35-year-old sister appeared in reality television show The Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was “involved in serious and organised crime”.

The officer claimed the Swedish/Albanian national has been suspected of “international drug dealing” since 2007, and has been arrested on “several occasions” in Europe.

Mrs Krasniqi can be heard screaming and cradling her two-year-old son in CCTV footage captured following the shooting.

Their three-month old baby and the children’s three grandparents were inside as Mr Beqiri was hit by eight bullets after being shot at 10 times.

The trial continues.