Nurse who covered for gunman son is jailed
ANURSE ordered workers at a car wash to scrub her Mercedes clean of blood after her son blasted a love rival in the leg with a shotgun.
Patricia Dean, 59, has been jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of assisting an offender.
Prosecution barrister Philip Barnes told the court that Dean’s son, Vincenzo De Falco, shot his victim while parked up in Rochdale on January 21, 2019.
De Falco will be sentenced for causing grievous bodily harm with intent at a later date.
Bolton Crown Court heard that the victim was previously in a relationship with De Falco’s girlfriend Lucy Flux and the pair had been texting over the New Year period.
On the afternoon of the shooting, the victim had travelled from Ashtonunder-lyne to Rochdale, to buy some cannabis from De Falco.
The victim got into the Mercedes-benz C-class. The car was leased by Dean, through the NHS, and she allowed her son to drive it as and when he needed it, the court heard. When inside the car, De Falco confronted the victim about his contact with Ms Flux. The victim reassured De Falco that he was just friends with Ms Flux and that there was nothing to worry about.
De Falco then said: “You want to get shot”, and the victim noticed a shotgun pointed towards him.
As he shuffled across the back seat to leave, De Falco shot the victim in the leg at point-blank range.
The man was then dumped out of the car onto the pavement on Knowsley Street, where passers-by called an ambulance.
Dean had been working on the day of the shooting, and had only recently arrived back at her home in Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire, when she received a call from Ms Flux.
The next day, Dean took the Mercedes to a hand car wash in Bury New Road, Heywood.
Mr Barnes told the court she spent £50 on an internal and external valet - with three car wash employees spending more than an hour cleaning the car.
On the following day, January 23, police stopped Dean’s BMW in Middleton.
De Falco was also in the car and both were arrested.
When the Mercedes was inspected, traces of the victim’s blood were found on the door and mat.
During her interview, Dean, of Kebroyd Lane, denied knowing anything about what De Falco had done. She told police that the car had not been washed since the weekend before the shooting, but her trip to the car wash in Heywood was caught on CCTV.
Following the shooting and several operations, the victim’s left leg had to be amputated below the knee.
Defending, William Donnelly told the court that Dean was a woman of ‘impeccable character’.
She worked as a nurse for more than 25 years and former colleagues described her as ‘committed’, ‘honest’, ‘caring’, ‘reliable’, and ‘compassionate’ in character references heard by the court.
He also told the court that the shotgun used in the incident has never been recovered, but Dean is not accused of having anything to do with that.
Jailing her for 18 months, Judge Tom Gilbart said: “It is absolutely mystifying that a woman with such a history of care and public service would throw it all away in such a manner.”