A DEBT-RIDDEN gipsy was brutally attacked by a gang of armed men before being bundled into a van and murdered over a feud about money and drugs, a court heard.

The body of father-of-three Jesse Richards, 41, has never been discovered since the ambush at a travellers’ site in Worcestershire on July 31, 2009.

James Doe, 38, formerly of Southminster, but currently of no fixed address and his brother Joseph, 36, of Tattersall Chase, Southminster, were among seven men who went on trial on Monday at Birmingham Crown Court, five of whom are charged with his murder.

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK’S MALDON AND BURNHAM STANDARD