Jailed, teenager who smashed car into motorbike
DRIVER MURDERED 20-YEAR-OLD FOLLOWING ‘TIT FOR TAT’ GANG ROW
A TEENAGER who deliberately ploughed his car into a motorbike following a ‘tit for tat’ row between two rival gangs has been jailed for life.
Mitchell McGivern, 18, will serve a minimum of 21 years after being sentenced for murdering 20-yearold Luke Fleming in Salford.
Luke was the pillion passenger on a motorbike being driven by a friend when McGivern, who has never passed a driving test, deliberately rammed the vehicle using a Fiat Sedici he had bought the day before.
The car then smashed into a pump at a petrol station.
A police officer used a fire extinguisher as there were fears the crash could cause an explosion.
A judge said the killing, which happened on Eastham Way in Little Hulton at about 9pm on Saturday, May 11 last year, was the latest in a ‘series of tit for tat incidents’ committed by ‘two opposing factions.’
Manchester Crown Court heard how Luke’s murder has left a behind a ‘broken family.’
Jurors at McGivern’s trial heard that the killing did not happen ‘out of the blue.’
There were ‘two relatively minor’ incidents referenced by prosecutors prior to the fatal collision.
Judge Alan Conrad QC said he was satisfied that McGivern had been out looking for Luke.
There was a knife in the Fiat, and a knife and an axe was found in the motorbike.
After finding Luke, McGivern accelerated from behind and reached speeds of up to 60mph.
He didn’t swerve, and only started to brake after impact.
The driver of the motorbike miraculously survived, despite not wearing a helmet.
The judge hit out at McGivern’s ‘callous and calculated conduct’ after the crash. He left Luke dying, while going to collect his mobile phone from the car which he disposed of shortly after. McGivern then fled, and was arrested on May 25 in Nottinghamshire.
At trial, McGivern claimed he just wanted to ‘scare’ the pair on the bike; that he wanted to ‘s*** them up.’ But jurors saw through his story and unanimously convicted him of murder and of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, after a trial.
McGivern, of Dowley Gap Road, Worsley, will be in his late 30s before he is eligible to be considered for parole.