This is the face of a thug who set fire to a young family's home on the orders of a 16-year-old gang boss.
Mohammed Mohammed was a cannabis dealer for Harry O'Brien - the baby-faced yob behind three terrifying shootings and a firebombing. Mohammed, then 19, carried out the arson attack for O'Brien by pouring petrol over the front door of a mum's home and setting it ablaze.
The victim and her children were having breakfast when flames engulfed their address in Dingle Lane. They ran for their lives as the fire spread from their hallway to the staircase and upstairs.
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O'Brien, now 17, and other members of his crew were locked up last month. Today it was the turn of Mohammed, now 20, to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court.
Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, said the arson attack was organised by O'Brien 'in pursuance of ongoing dispute'. He added Mohammed's 'significant role' as a street dealer in the gang's conspiracy was clear.
O'Brien's gang brought terror to the streets of South Liverpool in late 2020 and early 2021. The then 16-year-old, of Buckland Street, Aigburth, controlled a "graft" phone line selling cannabis to customers across Dingle, but also had access to a Glock-type semi-automatic pistol, which he used in three shootings in just three weeks.
The attacks, including the arson, targeted members and associates of two families, the Franchettis and the Rosarios, with whom O'Brien was in a "feud". At O'Brien's sentencing, Judge Flewitt said: "The lives of wholly innocent people, including young children, were put at risk by the callous and cowardly actions of all those involved."
Mohammed, of Kingsley Road, Toxteth, took part when O'Brien targeted the Dingle Lane house of Claire Bowness, at home with her three teenage children. David Temkin, QC, prosecuting, previously told the court: "Notably they were all from the Rosario family. Ian Franchetti senior is those children's uncle."
O'Brien sought the help of a 14-year-old boy, from Toxteth, who cannot be named for legal reasons. O'Brien also enlisted Sian Kanu, then 19, who recruited Mohammed.
The unnamed boy filled a petrol canister at a Shell garage on Aigburth Road on February 1 last year. It was taken by Mohammed to Ms Bowness' home at around 8am, on February 5.
Mr Temkin said: "The fire spread some way into the property, moving from the hallway, to the staircase and to the upper floor. Claire Bowness and the Rosario children, with their dog, managed to escape out of the rear of the property. However, they all required medical treatment for smoke inhalation."
Mohammed fled. But he had left the petrol canister outside the house and the screw cap contained his DNA.
Police also identified Mohammed in a photo, which showed him in The Elms, "pausing for breath", as he made his escape. After the attack, the four conspirators met at a vulnerable person's home in what prosecutors labelled a "post-arson debriefing".
On February 11, the 14-year-old boy was arrested and interviewed. He revealed he filled up a petrol canister for O'Brien for his motorbike. He said he searched for the address of the home set on fire on Apple Maps the day before the attack, because O'Brien asked him to show Mohammed where it was, but he didn't know why.
The boy then said he was aware O'Brien had been arguing with someone in the house with the surname "Rosario". He told police the next day at Kanu's house he saw the others talking about the fire and O'Brien gave Mohammed some money.
From February 17 until March 26, 2021, Mohammed supplied cannabis for O'Brien. That day he was arrested police raided a home in Toxteth, where cannabis and cash was seized, and found him hiding in a wardrobe.
Mohammed claimed the drugs and money was his and he was going to smoke some of it and sell the rest. He was released but then couldn't be located until he was caught in Cumbria on September 9.
When interviewed again, Mohammed denied knowing O'Brien, being involved in the arson or that it was him shown on CCTV. He later admitted conspiring to commit arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered and conspiring to supply cannabis.
Jane Greenhalgh, defending Mohammed, who has past convictions for possessing cannabis, today said that he was recruited by O'Brien to do the group's 'dirty work'. She added that Mohammed was told the house on Dingle Lane was not going to be occupied at the time of the attack.
Ms Greenhalgh said: "He (Mohammed) was, of course, part of the conspiracy, but not at the top of the tree. It’s agreed that his role can be classed as significant". She added: "Mr Mohammed was recruited by them to effectively carry out their dirty work. He had no personal grudge with anyone at that property. His motive, he said, was entirely financial."
The court heard that Mohammed, now 20, was offered £150 as payment for the attack. Ms Greenhalgh said that he was perhaps an easy recruitment target for O'Brien's gang as he was facing financial troubles.
Judge Flewitt locked Mohammed up for five years, saying: "This is a charge of reckless arson and it was a highly reckless act to pour flammable liquid over the door and set it alight." He added: "There had to be a risk that at that time of day, the house would be occupied. The scenario presented a real risk of people being trapped in that property and being unable to escape."
Describing the arson as a: 'revenge attack against a background of a gang feud', the judge told Mohammed: "If any of those children were trapped in that property - it’s very likely that they would have died."
O'Brien admitted the arson and cannabis plots, plus conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He was locked up for nine years and eight months, with an extended three years on licence.
Jurors couldn't reach a verdict against Kanu, now 20, of Amity Street Toxteth, on the arson plot. He later admitted participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group and was locked up for two years and three months.
The unnamed boy, now 15, admitted the arson plot. He was handed a two-year Youth Rehabilitation Order, with a six-month home curfew.
