Killers jailed for life over £60 debt row shooting

Connor Smith (left) and his friend Martin Wilson waited to ambush 19-year-old Nyle Corrigan

A gunman who shot dead a 19-year-old following a row over £60 has been jailed for life.

Nyle Corrigan, 19, was hit with a single shot from a 9mm Glock handgun as he rode his electric bike in Stockbridge Village, Merseyside, on 12 November, 2020.

The gunman, Martin Wilson, and his friend Connor Smith were each given a minimum of 32 years for murder and related firearms offences.

A third man, Jamie Coggins, was jailed for four years at Liverpool Crown Court after being convicted of assisting an offender by helping Smith hide after the shooting.

Wilson, 37, and Smith, 26, shot Mr Corrigan and then rode off his his electric bike as he lay dying.

Judge Mr Justice Goose, passing sentence at the end of the six-week trial, said: "The murder of Nyle Corrigan, who was only 19 when he was killed, has caused his family and those who knew him well profound grief, while the shooting itself caused the local community great shock."

There was tension in the courtroom between members of the victim's family and friends and relatives of the defendants.

Jamie Coggins was cleared of murder but convicted of assisting an offender

In the wake of the shooting Smith, who described himself in court as a "kilo quantity" dealer of heroin, fled to Spain.

The court heard he had hidden in a flat with Coggins, who also described himself on the witness stand as a "significant" cannabis dealer, for about two weeks before leaving Merseyside.

Wilson had previous offences for drugs supply and burglary - including a raid on the home of former Liverpool FC footballer Steven Gerrard in 2007 when he threatened to kidnap the star's children.

Smith remained on the run for years before returning to the UK of his own accord in 2023 - which the judge said may have been because other suspects had been released without charge.

The jury had heard how tensions began to rise between Wilson and Mr Corrigan's family after the teenager had an argument with one of Wilson's friends, Liam Cohen, over £60 he believed he was owed.

The Glock 9mm handgun used to kill Nyle Corrigan was recovered in an unrelated police search

When Mr Corrigan traded insults with Mr Cohen's partner over Facebook, Wilson became "incensed" and determined to "teach him a lesson".

"Nyle Corrigan had shown disrespect and that was not to go unpunished," Mr Justice Goose told the defendants.

The court heard that on the day before the shooting a group of men, including Wilson, had turned up at Mr Corrigan's family home in Stockbridge Village.

They demanded to know where he was and made threats to his mother, Lesley Kelly, that her son was "dead".

The jury had seen CCTV footage of Wilson buying two pairs of black gloves, two black hats and two face masks at a shop in Huyton, while Smith waited in a car outside.

Nyle Corrigan was ambushed as he rode an electric bike

The murder weapon was eventually recovered in an unrelated police operation about two years after the shooting.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Det Ch Insp Cath Cummings, who led the investigation, said it was a "disgrace" that such a trivial row led to murder.

"It was a 19-year-old young male, the rest of his life ahead of him," she said.

"We've seen unfortunately with tragic events over recent years people that use firearms, other people get hurt.

"It was really, really important for us... to remove these people from the street because they were intent of causing harm amongst themselves with their own disputes... which then unfortunately do transfer over into the communities."

A friend of the killers, Anthony Llewelyn, was cleared of murder while Smith's parents, Melanie Smith and Mark Sharpe, were cleared of assisting an offender.