An expectant father was gunned down "without pity" by his friends, the Old Bailey heard today.

Wesley Blake, 27, was shot in the chest through a hand he had futilely raised to defend himself during the attack in St Saviours Road last May.

The court heard the alleged gunman, Henry Buahin, roared and flexed his muscles after shooting Mr Blake before casually “sauntering off” with three friends to catch a taxi.

The prosecution said one of those friends, Ahmed Jessey – known as Hitman – passed the weapon to Mr Buahin ahead of the murder.

Mr Blake left a trail of blood in the street as he crawled to a nearby house for help, but was pronounced dead just 45 minutes later after being taken to nearby Mayday Hospital.

Unemployed Mr Blake, already a father to one son, was expecting his second child with partner of six years Aisha Mitchell before his killing, a jury at the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

Mr Buahin and Mr Jessey both deny murdering Mr Blake.

The Old Bailey was told that 27-year-old Wesley Blake was seen arguing with a group of friends while sat in his car in St Saviours Road.

Furqan Hussain, who had taken Mr Blake under his wing while the pair were in prison together in 2003, saw Ahmed Jessey pass something to Henry Buahin, who proceeded to pull a gun on Mr Blake.

Another man, known only as J1, shouted “No, no, no” and placed himself between the gunman and the car, but Mr Buahin pushed him aside and shot Mr Blake's chest from point-blank range.

The prosecution said: “Buahin, no doubt pumped up with adrenaline, walked away from the car.

“He stopped, turned and roared, tensing his muscles as he did so.”

The court heard Mr Buahin then attempted to shoot Mr Blake again, but his gun jammed. All four men left the scene and Mr Buahin called a taxi driver he knew, who agreed to pick them up from nearby Beulah Grove.

A fatally wounded Mr Blake managed to let himself out of his passenger door and crawl along the road to a nearby road for help, leaving a trail of blood. Ambulance crews treated him at the scene but he was pronounced dead at Mayday Hospital 45 minutes later.

The court heard the four men got into a taxi driven by Nipesh Jain, who told the group he had been caught in traffic because police had blocked off St Saviours Road following the murder.

When he told the men he “hoped they had not done something silly” in St Saviours Road, two of them became agitated before Mr Buahin told the driver they were “just joking”.

Mr Jessey claims a mystery attacker who had been “chilling” against a wall in St Saviour's Road is responsible for the killing, although police have no clues to the man's identity.