Three men have been found guilty of murdering a man who was gunned down outside his girlfriend’s home.
Rikki Berry, who was known as “Nuggy”, died after being shot three times by a balaclava-clad assailant on an electric bike on Quarryside Drive in Kirkby, Merseyside, on July 17 last year. As reported by the Echo, Michael Smith, Adam Williams and Connor Walsh have been on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of the 36-year-old’s murder.
On Friday morning, they were unanimously convicted of this charge and a further count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The verdicts were returned by a jury of eight men and four women following nearly eight hours of deliberations. Cries of “get in” were heard from the public gallery, where some members of Mr Berry’s family sat in tears.
The defendants will be sentenced on Tuesday. The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC, who presided over the trial, told them: “This matter will require reflection. The sentences for each are inevitable. In relation to each of you, you will be produced on Tuesday next week for sentencing. There will be a life sentence, but the court will determine next week what the minimum sentence will be.”
The jury were also excused from further service for the next 10 years, with the family having given them a round of applause as they left court. Before they did so, Judge Menary added: “In a case like this, where a firearm is involved, the term involved will be a very long term indeed.”
Williams, 26, admitted being the driver of a black SUV which travelled in convoy alongside gunman Smith at the time of the drive-by attack. It came minutes after the two men and Walsh, who was also present in the back of the car at the time of the shooting, had performed a “reconnaissance mission” on the address where their victim was working in the front yard.
Williams and Walsh, both 26, denied acting in tandem with the shooter and claimed to have had no knowledge of any planned “execution”. The man behind the wheel maintained that he had stopped his vehicle outside Mr Berry’s home moments before the e-bike rider appeared and shot him dead after another of his passengers, Ryan Westhead, allegedly reported that the dad had shouted in their direction.
Walsh’s DNA was also found on one of the bullet casings recovered from the scene and the magazine of the firearm. Later the same evening, the 26-year-old took a bike ride back to the scene of the crime alongside his seven-year-old son and 13-year-old nephew.
Smith pleaded guilty to the lesser offences of manslaughter and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence midway through the trial after his co-accused submitted revised defence statements naming him as the rider of the electric bike. The 25-year-old then declined to give evidence to the jury, although his counsel submitted that his intention could have been to “frighten” Mr Berry “rather than harm” him during his closing speech.