A pair of masked murderers shot dead a teenager after a £60 debt dispute. Nyle Corrigan was gunned down after leaving his home on an electric bike in November, 12 2020.
The 19-year-old, from Stockbridge village, in Merseyside, was with a friend shortly before he was ambushed by two men who waited by the edge of a field next to Haywood road. The men were wearing gloves and masks and had hoods pulled up to disguise their faces.
As he rode towards the alleyway the men called out to him but before he could react he was shot once in the back. He died in agony on the side of the road around 50 minutes later.
The Liverpool Echo reports how Mr Corrigan’s devastated family, mum Lesley Kelly and siblings Amelia and Rory Corrigan, suffered for four years without answers.
However over the past six weeks four men – Jamie Coggins, 28, Martin Wilson, 37, Connor Smith , 26, and Anthony Llewellyn, 25 – have all been in the dock for a trial on his murder. Smith’s parents Melanie Smith, 47, and Mark Sharpe, 49, were also in the dock accused of assisting an offender.
This week Wilson and Smith were convicted of murder and conspiracy to possess a 9mm Glock self-loading pistol with intent to endanger life. Coggins was cleared of murder but found guilty of assisting an offender. Mr Llewellyn, Mr Sharpe and Ms Smith were cleared of the charges and were allowed to leave the dock.
Nyle Corrigan lived on Little Moss Hey in Stockbridge Village, seven miles east of Liverpool. Corrigan was a user of cannabis and a local drug dealer. The family lived close to Liam Cohen – a close friend and distant relative of defendant Wilson.
The two families were also on friendly terms but their relationship broke down in the weeks leading to Mr Corrigan’s death due to a minor debt owed by Mr Cohen and Wilson.
Messages recovered from social media showed that Mr Corrigan’s mum made attempts to recover the money. Using her daughter’s Facebook account, Ms Kelly sent a message asking for £60 off Mr Cohen and a further £20 from Wilson. The messages appeared she needed the money to pay for a special cake for her daughter’s impending birthday.
In the early hours of November 6, Mr Cohen appeared to accept the debt but batted away the request for payment.
The messages continued into the next day, with their evidence suggesting Wilson had not settled his part of the debt. Cutting out the middleman, it appears whoever was using Amelia Corrigan’s Facebook account sent direct messages to Stephanie Lewis – the partner of Wilson.
Further messages were also sent to Mr Cohen, including by Mr Corrigan himself.
But fuel was thrown onto the fire the following day when insults were hurled between Mr Corrigan and Mr Cohen’s partner Ms Donnelly. This culminated with Mr Corrigan messaging “its you with the attitude you cheeky c***, I’m texting you because all he does is blank, tell him I want the dough tomorrow”.
Following the insult, Mr Cohen used his partner’s phone to message Wilson. The disagreement over a minor debt escalated with Mr Cohen brining in Wilson and his associates to go to Mr Corrigan’s house.
Around 9pm on November 11 a black Audi 4×4 vehicle arrived outside Mr Corrigan’s home. A number of men in the vehicle demanded to know where Mr Corrigan was. Wilson told Ms Kelly that her son was “dead”.
On November 12 Mr Corrigan was seen on CCTV during the day coming and going from his mum’s and nearby grandad’s houses. He also took a number of phone calls, including four from defendant Mr Llewellyn.
On November 12 Mr Corrigan was seen on CCTV during the day coming and going from both his mum and his granddad’s houses. He also took a number of phone calls, including four from defendant Mr Llewellyn. Soon after he finished his phone call with Mr Corrigan, Mr Llewellyn would call his co-defendants Smith and Coggins.
At around 4.30pm on the day in question, Smith – who lived in a plush Liverpool city centre flat – would drive from his home towards Huyton in his black Volkswagen Golf. CCTV captured Smith arriving at Wilson’s house at around 5.14pm. In the footage he was seen to be wearing a grey bubble jacket, tracksuit bottoms and most significantly a top sticking out of the jacket with a distinctive reflective band running horizontally around his waist.
After arriving at Wilson’s home, Smith was seen several minutes later walking the former’s young child to a nearby shop, in the Hillside area of Huyton. When he returned he spoke briefly to Coggins before turning off his phone. Wilson, who left his phone at his house, then departed together with Smith in his car.
While Wilson had brought in Birch and Cook the night before, this time he had brought in Smith, Coggins and Mr Llewellyn. CCTV later showed Wilson and Smith pull up outside the same shop as the latter had just been seen at. Leaving Smith in the car, Wilson entered the shop and bought two black hats, two black face masks and two sets of black gloves. At 5.43pm Smith’s Volkswagen Golf passed a traffic camera – the last time it was seen before the shooting. The pair then continued towards the kill zone on foot.
While the plan was in action, the two still needed a firearm, ammunition and knowledge of where Mr Corrigan was going to be. At around the time the two killers ditched their car, Mr Corrigan was picked up on a CCTV camera riding on Boode Croft right next to the house where he would later collapse and die.
The trial prosecution would tell the court that given Mr Corrigan was involved in the sale of drugs there would be certain locations around Stockbridge Village that he would visit regularly. And the prosecution would also say that he wasn’t in that area by chance – highlighting Mr Corrigan’s repeated contact with defendant Mr Llewellyn throughout the day.
At around 6.08pm a CCTV camera on Brandearth House on Brandearth Hey in Stockbridge Village captured two people – Smith and Wilson – walking in the direction of Quickthorn Crescent. Six minutes later a CCTV camera that covered the entrance of Quickthorn Crescent – where defendant Mr Llewellyn’s family lived – captured a BMW 3 series belonging to Coggins travelling at speed.
A local resident called Lyndsey Coulter reported seeing two men get into the back of “a black hatchback car”. She described them as “seeming startled to see her”. The men, in their late teens or early twenties were wearing tracksuits, hoods and gloves. She said they got into the rear of the car before it sped away.
This was what the prosecution would describe as the “pre-shooting rendezvous” when the missing components of the plan could be brought together including the firearm, the location of the victim and the rough plan for the post shooting clean.
Smith and Wilson would continue on foot towards the kill point, being picked up on a camera taken from the Denecliff flats off Haswell Drive. They were then last seen on another camera covering the open land at the back of the flats just before the shooting. There they lay in wait for Mr Corrigan.
Mr Corrigan’s sister Amelia received a phone call from a family friend shortly after the shooting. She quickly found her mum, brother and grandad before they drove to Boode Croft.
She recalled her brother “was on the floor but humped up and was speaking with us”. But she said he then started to struggle to get his breath and “while I was holding his hand, froth started coming out of his mouth and he went blue”. Ms Corrigan said her brother told her “I’ll be sweet kid” and added he would be with his nan.
She would later say: “He knew he was going to go but waited for us to get there”. Mr Corrigan died of shock and haemorrhage as a result of the gunshot wound.
The trial, was heated at times with Mr Corrigan’s family being kept apart from the families of the accused. Following the six week trial two of the men were found guilty of Mr Corrigan’s murder. Jurors took 12 hours and eight minutes to convict Wilson and Smith, while Coggins was cleared of murder but convicted of assisting an offender.
Mr Llewellyn and Smith’s parents were cleared of all charges and were allowed to leave the dock. Following his conviction, Smith hugged his mum, who appeared to be crying, before he was led to the cells. Mr Justice Goose thanked the jurors for their service before turning to the Corrigan family and saying: “The temperature is high. The jury has reached its verdicts, and that is the most important thing. If you please leave and make a peaceful retreat from the building.”
Wilson, Smith and Coggins will be returned to the same court to be sentenced on Thursday morning. Wilson and Smith will likely face life sentences with a minimum of 30 years.
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