By John Coburn
A GERMAN tourist was shot dead in front of her husband in a Bedford hotel, the Old Bailey heard last week.
Johana Czardebon, a 56-year-old grandmother, was one of a group of Germans staying at the County Hotel on a visit from Bedford's twin town of Bamberg, Bavaria, in May 1996, when two men brandishing sawn-off shotguns and wearing balaclavas attempted to rob the hotel.
Hotel deputy manager Daniel Stewart was forced to the floor and held at gunpoint as the men demanded keys to the safe and money.
The court heard that one of the tourists, Otto Herman, was confronted by a gunman as he approached the reception desk.
The second gunman, Alvin Black, 36, of Mareth Road, Bedford, panicked because he had not expected to see so many people "up and about", according to Nigel Rumfitt QC, prosecuting. The gunman shot Johana Czardebon in the face while she was sitting down.
The robbers fled empty-handed and Czardebon, whose brain had been penetrated by shotgun pellets, was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.
Rumfitt said that Black, who denies murder, was a member of a gang under police investigation for a spate of armed robberies in Bedford. Three other alleged gang members are on trial with Black for other offences.
The trial is expected to last for up to three months.