A baby faced thug was part of a mob who shot a boy after cornering him in an alleyway only weeks before he and a masked gang stabbed two boys outside a sixth form college.
Chesney Miller was jailed yesterday after he and eight other youths travelled in convoy from Liverpool to Riverside College in Widnes in order to settle a "grudge" with a pupil. They lay in wait wearing balaclavas and armed with weapons before knifing two boys in the street, with one blow puncturing the young victim's kidney.
The 18-year-old had already been serving a lengthy prison sentence for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent over an incident which occurred two weeks previously. The ECHO can now reveal that this came after Miller and two other juveniles hunted down and shot another teen as he desperately tried to climb over a wall in a bid to escape.
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Liverpool Crown Court previously heard in February 2021 that the 17-year-old was hit in the stomach by a bullet that perforated his bowel, fractured one of his vertebrae and narrowly missed his spine. Half of his colon was removed as a result of the shooting near Cables Retail Park in Prescot.
A judge said he believed the "chilling" attack - committed in front of children and shoppers on a Monday afternoon - was linked to a "gang related dispute". The victim had travelled from Wavertree to visit a friend before he was spotted by the gang near McDonald's at around 4.50pm on January 20, 2020.
CCTV footage showed five boys - three on bikes, one on a scooter and one on foot - who followed him to Station Road. Five suspects, with ages ranging from 13 to 16, were arrested and all denied attempted murder.
Two of the children - then aged 13 and 14 - were cleared of any wrongdoing after a trial. Three of the teens were acquitted of attempted murder but convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Prosecutors alleged Boy A, a 17-year-old from Huyton, was the gunman who used a semi-automatic handgun. Meanwhile Miller, aged 16 at the time of the hearing and then of Finch Lane in Dovecot, was armed with a knife which he produced and that Boy C, a 17-year-old from Huyton, was with them in the alleyway.
Judge Neil Flewitt KC said it had been a case of "classic joint enterprise". Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting, said the group "assembled" in Huyton and travelled to Prescot before they went looking for the victim.
He said the shooting took place "in front of a 13-year-old girl" and other witnesses - including a woman whose friend had a granddaughter with her - heard the gunshot and rushed to help the victim. A bullet, its casing and an unspent cartridge were found at the scene - the latter of which was believed to be a result of Boy A trying to load the gun when there was already a round in the barrel.
Judge Flewitt said it "defied belief that people of this age could get their hands on a gun". The boy who was gunned down later made a full physical recovery despite the extent of the medical intervention.
The bullet passed "very close to his spine" and his injuries may have been more serious but for his "elevated position" on a wheelie bin, which he was using to try and vault a wall as he attempted to flee his assailants. Judge Flewitt said there was "a pretty strong inference there was some sort of gang or gang related feud taking place", adding: "I don't necessarily accept the victim's account that he believed this was a case of mistaken identity."
Miller had four convictions for seven offences at the time, including two convictions for common assault in January 2019 "linked" to robberies carried out by Boy C. Previously referred to as Boy B by the ECHO, he was then convicted of two counts of possession of a bladed article in a public place in September 2019, for which he too was serving a YRO.
During the trial Miller denied being at the scene but Christopher Stables, defending, said he subsequently accepted being a youth shown on CCTV with a knife and that "he alone" of the three "faced up to what he had done". His counsel told the court: "The somewhat belated admission of presence and participation is perhaps the clearest possible indication that he can give that he has begun the process of facing up to this, accepting his responsibility and turning his young life around."
Mr Stables said his client had shown "genuine remorse" and "in an almost childlike way" offered to write a letter to the victim. Judge Flewitt said he regarded all three youths "equally culpable".
The judge said it was "likely" that Boy A had the gun and Miller the knife, but that there was a shared intention that weapons should be used to attack the victim. He found that the gang hunted down and shot their victim and that he strongly suspected it was "linked to some sort of gang-related dispute".
The judge said: "Whatever lay behind the commission of this offence, it's chilling to think that such young men could have access to a gun and be willing to use it to cause such serious injury."
Boy C was locked up for nine years and given an extended three years on licence, at which a family member shouted "that's a joke". Miller was handed eight years and four months, with Boy A given seven years and nine months.
The court then heard on Monday that a group of nine teenagers then travelled to Riverside College on the afternoon of February 3 2020 "apparently to seek revenge over some grudge against one of the students". Two then 16-year-old boys, also from Liverpool, were stabbed during a subsequent outbreak of violence in the street outside the sixth form.
Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, told the court that it had "not been possible to identify the person or persons who inflicted those stab wounds". However, the dispute concerned "something from a long time previously" when the parties were still at school.
Earlier in the day, defendant Sean Self had messaged pupil James Murphy to say he was "coming to the college with his mates". Around lunchtime, the now 19-year-old - of Berryedge Crescent in Huyton - called the teen to warn him that they were "on their way".
After finishing his classes, Mr Murphy left via the main entrance onto Kingsway at around 2.45pm. Across the road, he spotted a "large group of lads wearing balaclavas" attacking his friend Joshua Meek.
The teenager tried to intervene but was punched in the face before being chased down the street by three members of the gang, running into a nearby shop to "take refuge". Another pal, Daniel Bruen, saw Mr Murphy being attacked and also attempted to intervene.
But he was knocked to the floor, then saw one of his assailants brandishing a bat. The boy was put into a headlock and dragged around the street before being released, at which point he noticed a "tingling sensation" to his lower back and realised he was bleeding.
It was then discovered Mr Bruen had suffered two stab wounds, one of which penetrated his kidney. Mr Meek meanwhile said that one of the louts had run up to him and hit him in the face, knocking him to the floor.
He too was stabbed in his side, having initially thought he had been punched. Both youngsters were taken to hospital for treatment after suffering serious injuries.
Two of the attackers, Chesney Miller and Rhys Bushell, appeared to be sentenced this week for their part in the violence metered out. During an interview with police, the latter admitted he had "only grabbed and hit" one of the three complainants before hearing a co-defendant shout "let's go" and leaving the scene.
The 19-year-old, of Midway Road in Huyton, said of the incident: "Me and my mates went down there to meet him. It was meant to be a normal fight."
Meanwhile Miller - now aged 18 and of no fixed address - chased Mr Murphy down the street and was "in the thick of the violence", including having "delivered a flying kick" to him. He is currently serving a sentence of eight years and four months for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.
This related to an attack which occurred two weeks prior to the stabbing. Callum Ross, defending Miller, said: "He has, on a much more positive note, been making productive use of his time in custody."
Bushell has no previous convictions. Kate Morley told the court her client is hoping to join the Royal Marines, adding: "There has not been any repeat of this behaviour.
"He has taken a good, long look at himself and his life choices. He has made significant efforts to ensure that nothing like this occurs in the future."
Miller - who appeared via video link to HMP Oakland - admitted violent disorder and was handed 11 months, to be served consecutively to his current term. Bushell pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was handed a three-month imprisonment suspended for a year, as well as being told to complete 130 hours of unpaid work.
Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "This was a serious incident of group violence. You all knew there was to be a confrontation and there was to be a fight.
"You seem to have been motivated by a slight or grievance, a historic one which arose out of an incident which happened a year before that. This was in broad daylight, it was senseless and it was pre-meditated.
"Weapons were used to cause serious injury. You all played a part in the overall incident, the presence of each one of you encouraging the others."
Six others were previously handed suspended sentence orders by the court in December, with "most having had no connection to the apparent grievance which was the catalyst". Self admitted violent disorder on the basis he only expected a "fist fight".
Keiran Walker, aged 19 and of Carr Lane in Norris Green, pleaded guilty to the same charge. Twenty-year-old Benjamin Tinsley, of St Anthony's Close in Huyton, and 19-year-old Jake Dawson, of Butleigh Road in Huyton, both admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Jamie Mann and Callum Francis, aged 19 and of Mardale Road and Butleigh Road in Huyton respectively, pleaded guilty to a public order offence. Nineteen-year-old Terry Armstrong, formerly of York Road in Huyton but now of no fixed address, admitted violent disorder and will be sentenced at a later date.
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