Shooting trial jury told: ‘Take your time on verdict’
A JURY has been sent out to consider verdicts on eight men accused over two alleged gangland shootings, including one where a mother and her seven-year-old son were gunned down on their own doorstep.
After 34 days of a trial which started on January 30, the judge told the jurors they could ‘take as long as you need’ to reach their verdicts.
Jayne Hickey, 31, and son Christian, seven, were left with serious leg injuries when they were shot after Jayne answered their door in Winton, Salford, on October 12, 2015.
The shooting was said to be a revenge attack by Salford’s A Team criminal gang to avenge the murder of Paul Massey earlier that year.
The Crown say the intended target of the shooting was the boy’s father Chris, a friend of Michael Carroll, said to be the leader of a rival gang to The A Team.
But prosecutors say something went wrong.
The judge, Mr Justice Popplewell, addressing the jurors before they retired at Manchester Crown Court yesterday, told them: “Take as long as you feel you need.”
He went on: “You are under no pressure of time. These are very important decisions. Take as long as you want.”
The judge asked the jurors to nominate a foreman or forewoman who will deliver their verdicts when they are reached.
He added: “You may have heard of something called a majority verdict. If you have, put that out of your mind. The only verdicts I can receive from you are unanimous verdicts on which all twelve of you agree.
“Should that change, I will have you back and give you a further legal direction.”
Carne Thomasson, 28, Christopher Hall, 49, and Aldaire Warmington, 32, all of no fixed abode; and John Thomasson, 50, of Wakefield Crescent, Stockport, each deny a charge that they conspired with others to commit murder between October 10 and 13, 2015. They also deny an alternative charge of causing GBH with intent. The four men and three others James Coward, 21, of no fixed abode; Lincoln Warmington, 32, of Summerville Road, Salford; and Dominic Walton, 26, of no fixed abode - deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. They are alleged to have conspired with others to dispose of an Audi car said to have been used in the shooting at the Hickeys’ home. An eighth defendant, John Kent, 54, of Culverwell Drive, Salford, denies conspiracy to commit GBH with intent over another shooting at a car wash in Ashton-in-Makerfield on March 30, 2015, when Jamie Rothwell, said to be a member of Michael Carroll’s gang, was shot. Mr Kent also denies a charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, the particulars of the charge alleging he and another man provided false work records. Jacob Harrison, 26, of Sumberland House, Salford, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause GBH with intent in connection with the shooting of Mr Rothwell.