Kiaran Stapleton 'laughed' after shooting Anuj Bidve

A 21-year-old man laughed and ran off after shooting Indian student Anuj Bidve in the head, a court was told.

Kiaran Stapleton, from Ordsall, has already admitted shooting the 23-year-old in Salford on 26 December 2011.

The Crown Prosecution Service did not accept his plea of manslaughter and he is now being tried for murder at Manchester Crown Court.

Mr Bidve was walking from his hotel to the Boxing Day sales in Manchester when he was shot at close range.

He had been studying for a micro-electronics postgraduate qualification at Lancaster University, after completing an electronics degree at Pune University in India.

He had travelled to Manchester with a group of friends to visit the sales, and it was when the group were walking from their hotel in Trafford Park into the city centre when Mr Stapleton approached them on Ordsall Lane.

The court heard Mr Stapleton asked them at least once what the time was before shooting Mr Bidve in the head.

Opening the case, prosecutor Brian Cummings QC said: "Anuj Bidve immediately fell to the ground, fatally injured.

"The gunman smirked or laughed and ran off."

Mr Cummings told the court how Mr Stapleton gave his name as Psycho Stapleton at an earlier hearing.

He admitted manslaughter three weeks ago but continues to deny murder.

He said the defence were likely to call expert psychological and psychiatric evidence in the trial, which is scheduled to last up to four weeks.

The jury was told Mr Stapleton made no admissions when he was first interviewed as a suspect.

But after being charged with murder and as time progressed he admitted he was the person who shot and killed Mr Bidve, the prosecutor said.

He told the court the day after the shooting, Mr Stapleton had checked into a hotel very near to the scene.

Mr Cummings said Stapleton he was with a friend, Ryan Holden, at the scene of the shooting.

Mr Holden was initially arrested as a suspect, but is now due to appear as a witness for the prosecution.

The trial continues.