Street shooter’s efforts to escape justice
He fired a sawn-off shotgun at his former mate in a street during the middle of the day – but John Dees still thought he had a chance of getting away with it.
The 33-year-old called Darren March over to his car before firing the gun, leaving himwithinjurieswhichwould change his life forever.
Now, as he begins his 21-year sentence, police who led the inquiry into the brazen attack have explained how Dees’ tried to escape justice while officers quickly pieced togetherevidencewhichwould lead to his conviction.
Dees shaved his head and trimmed away his beard and tried – and failed – to rip the black vinyl covering from his silver VW Scirocco in the hope anyone looking for it would be fooled.
But he was soon in custody, giving investigators the task of buildingapictureofthatdayas Dees, previously of WensleydaleAvenueinWashington,repeatedlydeclinedtotalk,while hisweaponwasalsorecovered.
Detective Sergeant Steve Brown said: “He tried to disguise his car and change its colour and he tried to flee. He also tried to disguise himself, shaved his hair and beard off.
“The firearm, which was of massive interest to us, he put that inside a property, but because of the team’s investigations, we were able to retrieve that and we were able to identifyitwasusedinthisincident.”
The officer added of Dees: “He’s somebody who we’veknowaboutforyears,going back to 1997, so the police were aware of him for a long time, but nothing of this level.”
While Dees now begins his sentence,hisvictimisstilldealing with the ongoing trauma.
“He’s all right, but he’s suffered emotionally, physically and psychologically and it’s goingtohimalotoftimetobeable torecover,”saidDetSgtBrown.