‘I was terrified – all he wanted to do was try to protect us’
THE heartbroken girlfriend of a man shot dead described the terrifying moment he ordered her upstairs warning: “Babe, they’ve got a piece.”
A jury was told Stephen Maguire leapt from a sofa after hearing someone at the back of Megan Haskayne’s home on the night of March 16.
She hid behind a door before going downstairs and finding the 27-year-old struggling to breathe on the dining room floor.
The carer, who initially believed her partner had been stabbed, then gave him CPR as she fought to save him.
Mr Maguire had in fact been shot twice and was pronounced dead less than an hour after her 11.34pm 999 call.
Four men are accused of killing Mr Maguire and have been on trial at Liverpool Crown Court since last Tuesday.
Earlier this week, the court heard Ms Haskayne’s harrowing recollection of the night, recorded by police.
She described a quiet night at her Southport home, with her daughter going to bed at around 7.30pm and the couple sharing yoghurts and drifting towards sleep when one of Mr Maguire’s friends turned up for a “brew”.
The three were then in the living room of the Guildford Road house when they heard someone in the garden, prompting Mr Maguire to jump to his feet.
Ms Haskayne said he quickly yelled for her to get upstairs, shouting: “Babe, they’ve got a piece.”
She could hear “the fear in his voice” and saw a male in a grey tracksuit through her back window as she ran for safety.
Liverpool Crown Court heard she added: “I was just stood behind a door terrified, hoping everything would be OK. All he wanted to do was try to protect us.”
Ms Haskayne could hear shouting, which woke and panicked her six-year-old girl. While reassuring her daughter, the mum heard a window smashing and the sound of bikes being dragged.
The court has heard three motorbikes, including an orange KTM off-road bike, were stored in the kitchen.
Mr Maguire’s friend, Craig Middleton, called for Ms Haskayne to ring 999 and as she went downstairs she found Mr Maguire on the dining room floor struggling to breathe.
The jury was read a transcript of the 999 call, in which Ms Haskayne said: “I think he has just been shot or stabbed in the stomach.”
Earlier in her police interview, the witness had smiled as she described how Mr Maguire had wanted to get married and have children.
She told an officer: “There were people who didn’t like him and people he didn’t like. But that was more because he didn’t like their morals. He had good morals. He was a good lad.”
Last week, a teenager who showed the men the home of Mr Maguire’s partner told the court he initially feared the murder was his fault.
The boy said he and his friend - who both claim they were kidnapped - felt they had no choice other than to identify the address.
He said they had already been driven to Guildford Road when their alleged kidnappers demanded to know where “their orange crosser” was.
The teen told Liverpool Crown Court they then highlighted the house after his friend said: “We’re not dying over a motorbike.”
He told police he found out Mr Maguire had been shot dead the following day and worried he and his friend, neither of whom can be identified, were to blame.
Asked why he thought this, he told a jury: “Because... we showed them. That’s why we thought it was our fault, because we showed them where he lived.”
His comments came during a day in which he was questioned by barristers representing Karl Corson, Ryan Smith, Jack Higgins and Patrick Moogan.
All four men deny the murder of Mr Maguire on March 16 of this year.
They also deny a series of other offences that include the kidnapping of the two teenagers on the same night Mr Maguire was shot.
Both of the alleged kidnapping victims have claimed to the court they were ordered to get into a Mercedes and felt they had no option because those inside had a gun.
During cross examination one of those teens was questioned over whether he and his friend had actually entered the Mercedes willingly and whether he had really seen a gun in that vehicle.
The teen denied he and his friend provided targets for theft to the men in the car when asked by John Harrison, QC, defending Corson.
He insisted he did not know the men in the vehicle and said phone calls to his friend’s mobile phone from a device attributed to Smith took place while he and his friend were separated after having been chased by the Mercedes.
When Michael Hayton, QC, defending Smith, questioned the witness over whether he really saw a gun that night, he responded: “If there was no gun in the car how was Stephen shot? Answer my question… it’s common sense.”
The court was told one of the alleged kidnap victims had recently fallen out with Mr Maguire.
On Tuesday of this week, Gordon Cole, QC, prosecuting, took the jury through the timeline of Operation Hanoi, Merseyside Police’s investigation into the murder of Mr Maguire.
The court was shown CCTV of a black Mercedes, stolen from Birkdale in January of this year, travelling to an area of Southport where it is alleged the two teenagers were kidnapped on the night Mr Maguire was shot.
Further footage showed it on Guildford Road, close to the scene of the shooting, at around 11.30pm, and later on nearby New Cut Lane, where an orange KTM scrambler bike allegedly stolen from Mr Maguire was recovered by police.
The Mercedes was eventually driven from New Cut Lane into the West Lancashire countryside before last being seen on the A59 near Maghull.
Mr Cole told the court it was the prosecution case that all four defendants left the Mercedes and then climbed into a stolen Astra that crashed in Liverpool around an hour after Mr Maguire had been attacked.
A police officer had earlier detailed how that car was chased and Smith later arrested.
Patrick Moogan, 35, of Willow Way, Croxteth; Karl Corson, 28, of Columbine Close, Melling; Jack Higgins, 22, of Sedgemoor Road, Norris Green; and Ryan Smith, 21, of Colquitt Street, Liverpool city centre each deny charges of murder, two counts of kidnap, robbery, possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition without a certificate.
Proceeding