A 22-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of his teenage friend.

The court heard how Charles Beadell stabbed Zain Sailsman with a four inch knife as he believed the teenager had stolen and sold a shotgun used in a ‘turf war shooting’ weeks before.

Zain was found critically ill in Sutton on October 30 and later died in hospital.

Beadell, of Buckfast Close, Macclesfield, had denied killing the 19-year-old. But he was unanimously convicted by a jury at Chester Crown Court yesterday.

The jury is still considering verdicts for Julia Howard, 36, and Ricky Jervis, 23, of Dale Crescent in Congleton, who are also accused of Zain’s murder.

But they found Howard, of Shaw Street, Macclesfield, guilty of perverting the course of justice by driving Beadell to Stockport so he could lie low, deleting messages from her mobile phone and moving her SIM card into another mobile phone.

The court was told how a dispute had broken out over the sale of cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin by a gang of ‘unsophisticated, young, small-time drug dealers’.

Zain fired a shotgun at the home of a rival dealer in Macclesfield, on October 8 last year, the jury heard.

He then sold the gun to pay off a drugs debt and went on the run, but was lured out of hiding to meet Beadell and Mr Jervis.

In his defence Mr Jervis claimed he saw Beadell stab Zain, while Beadell claimed the killer was a man the group had met to buy drugs​ from.

Another man, Dale Thompson, 20, of Warwick Close, Macclesfield, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after handling Beadell’s clothes.

Cade Spence, 20, was found not guilty of firearms charges.

Three others have pleaded guilty to charges.

Jake Powell, 23, Beech Lane, Macclesfield, admitted perverting the course of justice, Daniel Galloway, 25, from Macclesfield, and William Dale, 25, of Shepherd Street, Biddulph, admitted firearms charges.

The jury is also considering firearms charges against Patrick Jordan, 19, of Mow Lane, Astbury,

  • Proceeding.