Man shot dead at Surrey pool party had been cleared of gun charges

A MAN shot dead at a pool party in a quiet Surrey village had been cleared of gun c h a r ge s t wo ye a r s a go, it emerged today.

Ricardo Hunter, 34, was killed at a property in Headley, near Epsom, in the early hours of Monday.

Today it emerged that Mr Hunter had been cleared of possessing a firearm in 2014 following an Old Bailey trial. He had been accused of being one of three men who fired “indiscriminately” into a crowd during a party at the Crossways Church, in Homerton, in 2013.

The Crown Prosecution Service today confirmed that Mr Hunter and another man were found not guilty, and that the prosecution offered no evidence against the third defendant.

Tributes to Mr Hunter were made on social media this morning, with a friend writing that she was “speechless”.

Another posted on Facebook: “Don’t see you for a long time but miss him... gone too soon.”

A 3 8 -ye a r- o l d L o n d o n man was arrested on suspicion of murder and was being questioned by Surrey detectives today. A 30-year-old woman, also from London, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and has been bailed until September.

DCI Paul Rymarz, of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: “We know there were several hundred people at the pool party in Church Lane ... and although we have spoken to a number of witnesses we intend to speak to everyone who was at the party.

“I would therefore ask anyone who was at the event and may have seen what happened or with any footage or information to come forward as a matter of urgency.”