Hitman guilty of gangland murders

16 January 2019, 15:41 | Updated: 16 January 2019, 16:06

Mark Fellows, 38, nicknamed The Iceman, murdered Salford mobster Paul Massey with an Uzi machine gun outside his home in the city in July 2015.

Father-of-five Massey, 55, a notorious "Mr Big" crime figure in Salford and beyond, was blasted at 18 times as he raised his hands in defence and dived for cover behind bins, a jury heard during a seven week trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

After being shot five times, he died within minutes.

Three years later, Massey's friend and gang associate, John Kinsella, 53, a martial arts expert and mob enforcer from Liverpool, was murdered by Fellows in a second "cold-blooded" execution.

Kinsella, whose help footballer Steven Gerrard called on to scare off a Liverpool gangster known as The Psycho who had been "terrorising" him, was walking his dogs with his pregnant partner, Wendy Owen, near their home in Rainhill, Merseyside, on May 5 last year.

Fellows cycled up, shooting his victim twice in the back with a Webley six-shot revolver.

As Kinsella lay dying, the killer stood over him to fire twice more into the back of his head from close range.

On both occasions his co-accused and "brother in arms" Steven Boyle, 36, had allegedly acted as spotter to ensure the planned victims were in place and to act as back-up, waiting nearby, if needed, which he denied.

Both victims, "notorious" heavy criminals in gangland Manchester and Merseyside, were murdered as a result of a deadly feud between rival gangs in Salford - the A-Team, linked to the victims and a splinter faction the defendants were with.

Fellows was convicted of both murders but found not guilty of the attempted murder of Miss Owen.

Boyle was found guilty of the murder of Kinsella, but cleared of the murder of Massey and the attempted murder of Miss Owen.