A man linked to a £500,000 bank robbery was gunned down in a “gangster-style execution” as he walked home. Peter James Gibson, 23, was killed by a shotgun fired by an assassin around 8pm on November 15 1988.
36 years on from the slaying and the brutal shooting remains unsolved. Shocking reports have emerged from the time of the street murder, which took place on Alderville Road, Walton.
The Liverpool ECHO, have dived into their own archives from the time, which detail how horrified locals found the young man “slumped on the pavement, hands still in his pockets.
The residents of the north Liverpool community said Mr Gibson, who had been walking in the direction of his home on nearby Baythorne Road, would have never known what hit him. An investigation was launched by police but they were never able to catch the killer.
The murder probe took a new twist the following year when a trial at Preston Crown Court heard how Mr Gibson, who was known by his middle name, was allegedly involving in a £500,000 bank raid along with an armed robber and kidnapper.
It was reported at the time that a gang of six were behind the bank heist. But Leonard Newsham, who was caged for 13 years for his role in the robbery of the National Westminster Bank refused to provide names of others involved.
The ECHO has revisited a story that ran on their front page with the headline “Murdered by the mob”.
Early reports on the day of the shooting reveal how residents made the grim discovery of the 23-year-old in a pool of blood. Traumatised families told of how the peace of the quiet, residential street was shattered by the single shotgun blast.
One of the first on the scene was Caroline Grace, who told a reporter: “It sounded more like a small explosion – you know, a gas blast or something like that. I ran towards where the sound came from and saw this lad lying in the street.”
The police were called by neighbour Dot Cunningham, who answered a frantic knocking at her door. Ms Cunningham told an ECHO reporter: “A girl from across the road shouted ‘there’s a man been shot. Call the police.’ I got on the phone to them and then went outside to help. When we got to him it was the worst thing I’ve seen in my life.”
Mary Bushell, who was 76 at the time of the incident, added: “I heard the shot but thought it must have been kids with a firework left over from bonfire night.” A screech of tyres was heard before and after the shooting by neighbours.
Mr Gibson lived with his dad just 100 yards away from where he was shot. They had lived together for 12 years at the time of his death after his mum died. His next door neighbour, Chris Tant, told the ECHO: “It is a terrible tragedy. Especially when you consider his father is so ill.
“James was a quietish [sic] fellow, always well mannered. He was neat, clean in appearance. He and my son were around the same age as each other and while you couldn’t call them close friends they had grown up together.”
Detectives who probed the murder initially considered a connection to drugs. In the days following the shooting murder cops wanted to track down the mystery drivers of two top of the range cars, a white 300 series BMW and a white Escort XR2, in the hope of a breakthrough.
Their probe uncovered that the assassin used a stolen car to go to and from the murder scene. However police investigations soon hit a blank over the following months.
Police finally had a break when the revelation of Mr Gibson’s involvement in the major bank robbery came to light at Preston Crown Court. The court heard how Mr Gibson had reportedly been with Newsham during the robbery which was “planned with military precision and ruthlessly executed”.
Sixty-two members of the bank in the town centre were herded at gunpoint into a vault. A court heard how Mr Gibson and Newsham were the “minnows,” in the operation. Mr Gibson was shot two months after the robbery – and Newsham was caught soon after when he was seen digging up £11,900 buried in the grounds of what was then Fazakerley Hospital.
However, instead of providing information on who was pulling the strings, Newsham stayed silent. Desperate to break the case, police offered a £50,000 reward to anybody who could provide information on the case. Detective Superintendent John Ashton, who had taken over the case, said: “There are people involved in the robbery who are still at large and as long as that remains the case then the file on the Preston Bank robbery remains open.”
Mr Gibson’s family described him at the time of his death “as a man with no enemies”. His sister Elizabeth Ralston said: “If there was anything you wanted you could just go and ask him.”
A photofit of the assassin was issued following the shooting. He was described as in his late 20s at the time, about 5ft 10in with a muscular build. Theories on why Mr Gibson was killed ranged from gangland killing to silencing him about the robbery to underworld drug dealing connections, but to this day, the case still remains unsolved.
Merseyside Police told the ECHO “it is never too late to do the right thing and come forward with information and help us identify who was responsible”.
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