'Please help find my Jasem's killer' Plea by girlfriend of murdered man.

Byline: JOANNE DOUGLAS

THE girlfriend of a man shot dead is pleading for people to help the police investigation.

Maria Gray's boyfriend Jasem Asakerh was gunned down eight days ago in Thornton Lodge.

But devastated Maria says that she has been unable to leave flowers at the scene of the shooting because she fears for her own safety.

She is speaking out after police released CCTV footage of the fateful night in the hope of getting evidence which will lead them to the killer.

The footage follows a car in which Mr Asakerh was travelling around in and was later shot in. The shooting happened in Brook Street at 3.50am on Friday, April 3.

Maria is calling for people to give police any little bit of information they have about Jasem, known as Mo, to help catch his killer.

Maria, 33, said: "He was a good man with a heart of gold.

"If anybody knows what has happened please tell the police.

"If anyone knows that he had trouble with someone or if he was followed or they saw a car following him, anything at all, please tell the police.

"He's not just a foreigner who has come over here or the number of another person killed, he is a man who has lost his life.

"Someone out there has killed him and that person needs to be found." Maria met Jasem almost six years ago through a friend.

He rescued her after she fell into a canal and began to panic so he jumped in to pull her out.

From then on they were together and she had met his family on a number of occasions.

They had also talked about their future together, with Jasem saying he wanted children with her.

But that future was taken away last Friday when he failed to return to her home as planned.

The 28-year-old of Birkby Hall Road, Birkby, was shot in the chest while he sat in an Audi Q7 car on Brook Street in Thornton Lodge.

Maria added: "I got a message from his friend - it was a shock. I don't know what has happened, why or anything.

"But I just want the person who has done this to be caught - any clues even small ones will help." Jasem had moved to the UK in 2003 from Iran and lived in Lockwood for a while before moving to Birkby.

Maria described Jasem as a quiet man, who was friendly and sociable and would help anyone when asked to.

She had met his family on a number of occasions and was looking forward to visiting them in Iran.

While she also introduced him to her family, saying: "Every time he saw my nephew they'd high-five each other - he got on with everyone." She has been left devastated by his death and say's she feels lonely without him.

She hopes that, despite his reputation, someone will help police catch Jasem's killer.

"I will remember him as somebody who rescued me and as a good person," she added.

Earlier this week police said Jasem could have been followed by his killer.

Police believe Jasem had visited lapdancing club La Salsa on Lord Street at 1.15am - just two hours before his death.

He had been travelling around in a black Audi Q7 car registration number GV07 UUW which was parked on Brook Street.

It is believed that an unknown man approached the Audi at around 3.45am from the side of Thornton Lodge Community Centre and fired at least two shots, one into the vehicle which fatally injured Mr Asakerh, and one into the street.

The man then made away to the rear of Brook Street towards Moorbottom Road.

To see footage of the car's movements in Huddersfield Town Centre that night visit www.examiner.co.uk

CAPTION(S):

KILLED: Jasem Asakerh was murdered in a shooting in Thornton Lodge and the CCTV footage of the Audi Q7 outside La Salsa club