Twin brothers who formed a ‘pack’ and ‘hunted’ down a rival gang member – shooting him in the leg – have been convicted of attempted murder. James Byrne, the gunman, and his twin Curtis Byrne, used electric bikes to track their target near a social club before firing six bullets at him.
The incident followed another event in which a third defendant was hit by a car and a separate episode involving shots fired at a drug dealer on the street. One of the Byrne twins later leapt out of a bedroom window when police arrived at his mother’s home, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Three men went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court, facing charges of attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The 22-year-old Byrne brothers were unanimously found guilty of these charges. Another man was acquitted of both counts and the lesser charge of wounding with intent.
Judge Garrett Byrne, who oversaw the trial, said: “A lengthy term of imprisonment is obviously the realistic sentence. I want an assessment of the level of risk that they pose.”
As he was escorted to the cells, James Byrne directed a tirade of abuse at police officers in the courtroom, telling one: “You fat little b***end. Look up lad, you fat c***.”
He then shouted at another officer: “I don’t know what you’re looking at, you little n*nce. I’m coming for you lad.” The Byrnes will be sentenced on September 6. Prosecutor Alex Langhorn addressed a jury of seven men and five women earlier this month, detailing how the attackers had left the Byrnes’ mother’s house on Cross Hey Avenue in Noctorum, Wirral, just after 10pm on May 11, 2022, with the intent of finding someone from the Ford estate, also known as Beechwood.
James Byrne then ‘fired again and again and again’ at a man. The victim was hit once in the back of the thigh, with a bullet becoming lodged in his leg. He managed to escape through the back of a nearby shop parade.
Mr Langhorn added: “The Crown says that these three young men set out that night intending to kill. Why else, you may ask, would they set out with a firearm? Why else would they fire not once, not twice, not three times, but again and again and again.”
The court heard the shooting happened against a backdrop of two rival groups being involved in drug trafficking – one based on the Woodchurch estate, the other in Beechwood. Tensions had been escalating since at least 2021 and worsened.
Mr Langhorn said: “The crown say that all three of these defendants are connected to the Woodchurch OCG [organised crime group]. The man who was to be the target on the 11th of May, is associated with the Ford OCG. On the 11th of May, he was in possession of drugs and he was out on the Ford dealing. That was the motive, the Crown suggest, as to why he became targeted.”
Following the incident, the victim was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital with a 1cm entry wound on the back of his thigh. He later underwent surgery to remove a bullet lodged in his leg.