A YOUNG couple will appear in court this afternoon in connection with the fatal shooting of Kevin McKinley in Dartford.

Michaela Sargeant, 24 and Lewis Wickenden, 25, of Overy Street are expected to enter pleas when they appear at Maidstone Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing.

Sargeant was charged on February 15 with the murder of 32-year-old Mr McKinley, who was found suffering from a gunshot wound in Overy Street on February 12.

Her partner Wickenden is facing charges of possessing a firearm, possession of ammunition and assisting an offender.

When emergency services arrived at the scene of the shooting, father-of-three Mr McKinley, of Louvain Road, Stone, had gone into cardiac arrest.

He was treated by ambulance staff at the scene before being taken to Darent Valley Hospital where he died of his injuries.

A post-mortem examination later ruled the cause of death was shock caused by abdominal haemorrhage after a gunshot wound to the left hip and buttock area.