A kickboxer has denied being a professional hitman who shot dead a reality television star’s brother – telling a jury he was in London to “watch Netflix and chill” with a woman he met online.

Anis Hemissi, 24, is alleged to have been the gunman who murdered Flamur Beqiri, 36, in front of his family in Battersea on December 24 2019.

He is said to have donned disguises, including latex masks and a litter picker’s outfit, to carry out reconnaissance in the days before the shooting.

Southwark Crown Court was told Mr Beqiri – whose sister Missé Beqiri, 35, appeared in reality television show The Real Housewives Of Cheshire – was “involved in serious and organised crime”, including international drug dealing.

Prosecutors allege Hemissi was part of a team of four killers sent from Sweden to assassinate the father-of-two as part of a violent rivalry between two organised crime networks in the Scandinavian country.

But giving evidence on Monday, Hemissi said he flew to London from Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 20 2019 to meet a 22-year-old woman, Nadine, who had befriended him on Facebook.

He told jurors she was one of “more than 20 girls” he was speaking to on social media and dating apps, including Tinder, at the time.

“At the end of November I was asking Nadine if she wants to come to Tunisia because I was there for work,” he said.

“Her father said she wasn’t allowed to come to a different country. She asked if I wanted to come to London because she lived there,” he said.

“We were going to have Netflix and chill, relax, maybe go out and eat something, maybe go out and buy some clothes,” he said.

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the shooting, which saw Mr Begiri hit by eight bullets as the gunman fired 10 times.

Mr Begiri’s wife, Debora Krasniqi, can be heard screaming and is seen cradling their two-year-old son moments after they arrived hand in hand with the victim.

David Harounoff, defending, said: “Just before 9pm on the evening of December 24 2019, Mr Beqiri, his wife, and their two-year-old child were about to enter (their home).

“A gunman appears from behind and shoots him. The bullets hit his torso, his rear, and he died.”

Addressing Hemissi, Mr Harounoff said: “The prosecution say you were the gunman. Were you the gunman?

Hemissi replied: “No, sir.”

Mr Harounoff continued: “The prosecution say the gunman was a professional hitman. Was that you?”

Hemissi said again: “No, sir.”

Hemissi denies murder and possession of a self-loading pistol.

Swedish nationals Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, Tobias Fredrik Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, also deny murder, while Clifford Rollox, 31, of Islington, north London, and Claude Isaac Castor, 31, of Catford, south-east London, deny perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.