‘Grass’ Carroll broke the ‘code of silence’
FOR decades Salford criminals have prided themselves on their code of silence.
The code demanded villains never spoke to the police and settled any disputes among themselves – even if they had been beaten within an inch of their lives.
But the trial of A Team gangsters convicted over the shooting of an innocent boy and his mother on their own doorstep showed that – when it suits them – Salford criminals are happy to speak to the law.
The jurors heard that the alleged leader of the rival outfit, Michael ‘Cazza’ Carroll, was happy to talk to the police.
In fact, he contacted Salford police three times – in October and December 2015 and then in February 2016 – as gang war raged in Salford.
It was around this time that graffiti appeared around Salford calling Carroll a ‘grass’ and urging him to return from Spain to ‘fight your war.’
Carroll called Salford police on October 28, 2015, and spoke to the detective leading the investigation into the shooting of little Christian Hickey and his mother Jayne two weeks earlier.
He was the best man at the Hickeys’ wedding and is Christian’s godfather.
Carroll and the officer spoke again on December 1, 2016, and then Carroll rang the incident room February 3, 2016.
In a series of conversations, Carroll invited police to visit him in Spain and suggested he was happy to help police enquiries, blaming the A Team.
Leaked documents show he was told there was a threat to his life and he questioned why no arrests had been made and accused officers of harassment and bullying.
Carroll, who the court heard had a series of previous convictions, including for violence, insisted: ‘I’m not hiding.’ He suggested Jayne Hickey was ‘gonna pick out somebody who’s done whatever’ and that he was worried about a ‘backlash.’ Someone had ‘tried to tell lies to ruin my life’ and he suggested the Hickey shooting was to get at him. The trial heard the Hickey shooting was a botched attempt to avenge the murder of Paul Massey and that the actual target was Christian Hickey’s father, Christian Snr.
Police notes state that Carroll had told officers he had three options to deal with the threat: remove the threat, remove himself from the threat or challenge the threat.
Weeks before the murder of Salford ‘Mr Big’ Massey on July 26, 2015, Carroll invited two Salford detectives into his home in Ince in Makerfield.
The officers noted the home was ‘very smart’ and filled with expensive furniture – not bad for someone Jayne Hickey believed was a scaffolder.
Police said he appeared ‘amused that we wanted to talk to him.’
He told the officers he had nothing to do with the violence going on in Salford, including the shooting of his friend Jamie Rothwell earlier that year.
Carroll even contacted the judge, via his solicitor, during the Hickey trial – although the jurors weren’t told this.
On March 15 his solicitor sent a series of documents, including emails he had sent to a senior detective, to the court with a letter Carroll had written for the judge, Mr Justice Popplewell.
The contents of the letter weren’t revealed.
Unlike his pal Rothwell – who never cooperated with the police – Michael Carroll was more than happy to speak to the law.
Unlike his pal Rothwell, Michael Carroll was more than happy to speak to the law