Nottinghamshire detectives watched almost 800 hours of CCTV footage in their investigation into the murder of Michael Anton O'Connor. A jury at Nottingham Crown Court found nine defendants guilty of the 31-year-old’s murder and two people guilty of assisting an offender murder following a 33-week trial.
The group were jailed for a total of more than 260 years. Mr O’Connor, from Mapperley Park, Nottingham, was stabbed to death in The Meadows estate on November 10, 2021 in a pre-planned ambush by hired hit men.
The trial heard the killing was over a row between rival drug gangs but that Mr O’Connor had not been the main target, and that he was stabbed after being sent to broker a deal between the feuding gangs. The investigation that followed saw a large team of detectives work around the clock to uncover the full circumstances behind the brutal murder, with police officers and police staff also involved.
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This included 786 hours of CCTV footage viewed from 212 cameras, 101 police interviews, 23 arrests, 52 scenes, 638 statements taken and 2,305 exhibits recorded. Following this week’s sentencings, Detective Chief Inspector Rob Routledge, who led the investigation, revealed the lengths his team went to get justice for Mr O’Connor and his family.
Describing the murder probe as “undoubtedly the most complex investigation” he’d worked on during his 26 years in the police service, Det Ch Insp Routledge said: “The investigation was almost non-stop for a year following the tragic events of the day Michael was killed and leading up to the trial.
“The first four weeks, in particular, were relentless. It was vital we didn’t just find the person who inflicted the stab wound and killed Michael but that we also understood who else was involved and brought them to justice too. We needed to understand how wide that web reached and that led us to Manchester. Following those inquiries, long and detailed discussions were held with the Crown Prosecution Service and we ended up presenting a case to them that resulted in 13 people being charged.
“We were relentless in pursuing not just the immediate group which we knew about, but also the peripheral members and those who facilitated transportation. It was all-consuming.
"There was an inundation of detectives from various departments across the force, including from public protection and CID. Then we had our colleagues at the East Midlands Special Operations Unit which has experienced detectives from all of the region’s five forces."
He continued: "On top of that we had the PolSAs (police search advisors), the intelligence unit, the crime scene coordinators and examiners – the list is endless. All of those skill sets came together to get justice for Michael and his family.” Det Ch Insp Routledge said the early stages of the investigation had been particularly key.
“In those first few weeks, you couldn’t move in the briefing room at Radford Road Police Station,” he recalled. "People would be in for hours before the morning briefing to prepare so that everyone knew what their focus and actions were for the day.
“It was a hugely complex investigation – not least because the night itself saw a number of incidents reported in a very short space of time. There was a fight in the street, another incident where someone was attacked with a baseball bat and a handgun, a third incident of a car being set on fire with people running away from it, and a fourth incident of a woman claiming she had been carjacked at gunpoint.
“All four incidents came in very quickly. The confusion of those four stories took some time to unravel and created numerous scenes on day one. It was huge in that sense.”
Many investigations rely on eyewitness evidence but, with few people coming forward with information, Det Ch Insp Routledge said his team had to find other ways to prove the guilt of those involved in Mr O’Connor’s murder. He said: “Because of the nature of the crime and the tensions relating to organised crime groups, it was no surprise that there wasn’t an abundance of physical witnesses or witnesses who were wanting to come and speak to us.
"Therefore, an awful lot of the work we had to do was painstaking. We had to work hard to get those forensic hits and identifications. There’s CCTV evidence but it doesn’t show the actual attack, so again we had to do a lot of painstaking work to present the jury with a clear picture of what happened that night using the evidence that was available to us.
This included a lot of data communications work and marrying it up with the movement of vehicles, based on what we knew from automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology – all that requires a lot of hours and dedicated individuals. We knew it was a big job but I don’t think any of us realised at the start how big it was going to get. But everybody stuck at it.”
Det Ch Insp Routledge revealed what kept everyone motivated during those long hours and gruelling shifts.
“It is a cliché, but when you say it you mean it… Somebody’s been killed, somebody’s lost their life in the most tragic circumstances. Behind that person are family and friends and they deserve to understand why their loved one is no longer with them. That’s why we left no stone unturned throughout this investigation.”
In October 2022, eleven people went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court accused of his murder. On 12 June 2023, nine of those defendants were found guilty of murder. Sentences for their offences have been taking place throughout this week.
They include:
- Benjamin Taylor, aged 38, of Monton Road, Eccles, Manchester, who sent a team of dealers from Manchester down to Nottingham to carry out the murder. He was jailed for 32 years
- Leonard Ward, aged 42, of Marwood Road, Carlton. He was the head of Meadows-based organised crime gang (OCG) that ordered the killing, and was jailed for 32 years
- Joseph Boscombe, aged 41, of Rostherne Avenue, Manchester. He was part of the ‘hit team’ sent to carry out the murder and was jailed for 32 years
- Joshua Agboola, aged 30, of Leven Grove, Darwen, Blackburn. He was also part of the ‘hit team’ sent to carry out the murder and was jailed for 31 years
- Carla McGuire, aged 53, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows was linked to the Meadows-based organised crime group that ordered the killing. She lived next to where Mr O’Connor was murdered and was accused of turning off CCTV at her property just before the attack was carried out. She was jailed for 20 years
- Michael Mingoes, aged 21, of Powell Street, Manchester, was part of the ‘hit team’ sent to carry out the murder and is believed to have dealt the fatal blow. He was jailed for 28 years
- Jerome Sheard, aged 31, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows. He was Leonard Ward’s right-hand man, the son of Carla McGuire, and a member of the gang that ordered the killing. He was jailed for 31 years
- Paula Usherwood, aged 39, of Central Avenue, Beeston. She set up the ambush by meeting the intended target on the morning of the murder. She was jailed for 30 years
- Michael McGuire, aged 35, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows. He is the son of Carla McGuire and living with her at property next to where murder took place. He was jailed for 32 years.
Two further defendants were found guilty of other offences relating to the murder and will be sentenced in July.
They are:
- Kerry-Anne Shepherd, aged 35, of Plantagenet Street, St Ann's, who was found guilty of assisting an offender
- Gemma Fearon, aged 38, of Dean Bank Close, Bollington, Macclesfield, who was found guilty of encouraging/assisting in the commission of an indictable only offence after driving the ‘hit team’ to the scene of the murder.
