Assassins fatally shot a man and then fled on stolen Sur-ron electric bike, murder trial hears

A man accused of being one of two gunmen who fatally shot a teenager in the back bought black masks and gloves from a local shop less than an hour before the 'targeted attack', a jury was told. Nyle Corrigan, 19, was fatally shot in the back when two gunmen waited for him at around 6.30pm on November 12, 2020.

Six people have gone on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged in connection with the murder of Mr Corrigan. Four men - Jamie Coggins, 28, Martin Wilson, 37, Connor Smith, 26, and Anthony Llewellyn, 25 - are all accused of murder and conspiracy to possess a 9mm Glock self-loading pistol with intent to endanger life.

Melanie Smith, 47, and Mark Sharpe, 49, - the parents of Connor Smith - are accused of assisting an offender, the particulars being they allegedly helped their son travel from Liverpool to Portsmouth on November 26 2020, two weeks after the shooting.

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Richard Wright KC told the jury of six men and six women that the prosecution's case was that Wilson and Connor Smith were the gunmen who carried out the shooting by the side of Boode Croft in Stockbridge Village, Merseyside, but were supported by Coggins and Llewelyn 'who were both fully signed up to the plan'. The prosecutor said: "Together, we say, those four men are all responsible for his murder."

During the prosecution's opening Mr Wright told the jury the two alleged gunmen met up at around 5.15pm on the night of the shooting. Mr Wright said Smith was captured on CCTV arriving on Highfield Road as the only occupant of his black Volkswagen Golf, the Liverpool Echo reports.

The court heard that soon after Smith left the address with a young child, said to be Wilson's child, and walked to the local shop, the Old Roundabout Convenience Store.

Mr Wright said Smith returned to Wilson's house with the child before the two men leave together at 5.37pm. Mr Wright told the court that the pair drove to the same convenience store. He added Wilson left his phone at his home while Smith's was out of use until shortly after 7pm later that night.

Mr Wright told the jury that Wilson got out of the Smith's car before entering the shop. The prosecutor said: "He makes a purchase from the shop and exits, returning to the VW Golf that has waited outside driven by Smith.

"This visit to the shop and the items that were purchased by Wilson are significant in the context of the imminent shooting of Nyle Corrigan. The defendant Wilson purchased two sets of black hats, black face masks and black gloves. Having left the shop, they did not go back to Wilson's home."

At 6.08pm a CCTV camera situated on Brandearth House on Brandearth Hey in Stockbridge Village captured two people walking in the direction of Quickthorn Crescent. Mr Wright told the jury: "The sightings are consistent with the defendants Wilson and Smith having abandoned their vehicle and now proceeding on foot to carry out the shooting. The last time we saw them they had all of the equipment that they would need other than a firearm and ammunition."

Around 6.14pm a CCTV camera that covered the entrance of Quickthorn Crescent captured a vehicle travelling at speed. The prosecution said an expert in vehicle comparison had concluded the car seen is likely a BMW 3 series of the same type as owned by co-defendant Coggins.

Mr Wright told the jury: "This was, we suggest the pre-shooting rendezvous when the missing components of the plan could be brought together including: gun, ammunition, location of the victim and the rough plan for the post shooting clean up."

The court heard that local resident Lyndsey Coulter reported seeing the two men get into the back of a 'black hatchback car'. The court heard: "She described the men as seeming startled to see her. They were in their late teens or early twenties, they were wearing tracksuit type clothing, hoods and potentially gloves. They got into the rear of the car before it sped away."

The court heard that when Coggins' vehicle was recovered it appeared 'there had been a concerted effort to sanitise the interior of that vehicle because it had played on any view, an important role in the events before and after the shooting'. However, a DNA profile matching Smith was found on one of the rear seat internal grab handles.

Mr Wright said the two figures, who the prosecution say are Smith and Wilson, were then seen on a camera taken from the Denecliff flats off Haswell Drive "back on foot and making their way to the kill point". He said: "They were plainly now in possession of a firearm and ammunition."

The prosecution said the pair were then seen for the last time on CCTV on a camera covering the open land at the back of the flats just before the shooting. Mr Wright said: "It is absolutely plain that these men were in that area knowing that Nyle Corrigan was going to be present. They were waiting for him and this was a trap."

The jury was told that upon seeing Mr Corrigan on his electric bike the two men alerted each other before hurrying towards him. The court heard the killers exchanged words with their target before and after the shot, that went through his spine and shredded an artery, before they left him to die.

Mr Wright said: "The gunshot was not immediately fatal and he remained capable of some limited purposeful movement though rapidly collapsed as can be seen in part on the CCTV footage. The cause of his death was shock and cardiac arrest occasioned by blood loss from the extensive damage to major internal blood vessels."

The court heard the two killers then stole Mr Corrigan's Sur-ron electric bike to make their escape. The bike was found abandoned in undergrowth in the area of Quickthorn Crescent, while the handgun, which had a defect which meant a second cartridge would not load into the magazine, was later recovered in an unconnected police operation.

Mr Wright had earlier told the jury: "Whilst two men carried out the physical act of stalking and shooting of Nyle Corrigan, we suggest that the shooters were part of a wider team, a team that was in place to assist them to both carry out the shooting, and then to try to get away with it.

"Who then do the prosecution say formed the team who acting together sourced a firearm and ammunition, discovered the whereabouts of their target that evening, got themselves into position to carry out the shooting, and got themselves away in the aftermath, disposing of the weapon, their clothing and anything else that might incriminate them in this murder?"

The court heard Mr Corrigan lived on Little Moss Hey with his mum Lesley Kelly and Amelia Corrigan. His grandfather Leslie and brother Rory lived on the same road at a separate address.

Mr Wright told the jury: "It's clear from messages recovered from mobile phones, social media and other evidence that at the time Mr Corrigan died he was a user of cannabis but he also sold drugs in the local area of Stockbridge Village. That background may have played a part in the events that led to his murder."

The jury heard "the origins of the dispute lie with a man called Liam Cohen". Mr Wright said Mr Cohen also lived on Little Moss Hey with his partner Kayleigh Donnelly and had previously been on good terms with Mr Corrigan but the relationship "had soured" because of an unpaid debt.

The court heard that messages suggested Mr Cohen owed Mr Corrigan £60, while Wilson, a distant relative of the former, also owed £20. The jury heard messages that showed firstly Ms Kelly, using her daughter's Facebook account, and later Mr Corrigan himself attempted to retrieve the unpaid money.

Mr Wright said this culminated on November 9 when Mr Corrigan sent Ms Donnelly a message that said: "It's you with the attitude you cheeky c***. I'm texting you because all he does is blank, tell him I want the dough tomorrow."

Mr Wright told the jury that Mr Cohen sent a message to Wilson and said: "Ring me lad, need you to come down Lesley with me, the cheeky c*** calling Kay and that." Mr Wright said the "minor debt" had escalated and an "irritated" Mr Cohen had "brought in" Wilson.

The prosecutor told the jury on November 11 "a team of men gathered around Martin Wilson and travelled to Little Moss Hey". The court heard that shortly after 9pm Ms Kelly and her daughter Ms Corrigan were at home when an Audi 4x4 pulled up at their house and a number of men, "wearing balaclavas and face coverings", demanded to know where Mr Corrigan was.

Mr Wright told the court that the group said "Nyle was dead", and when Ms Corrigan left to go to her granddad's house they followed her in the car and shouted her brother "should not start something if he wasn't going to finish it".

Coggins, of The Spinney, Stockbridge Village; Llewellyn, formally of Olivette Way, St Helens; Smith of Midway Road in Huyton; Wilson, of no fixed address, and Melanie Smith and Mark Sharpe, both also of Midway Road, deny the charges before them. The trial before Mr Justice Goose continues.