Boy tells dad's killers 'I had to watch him die'

CCTV captured the moment Michael Smith fired the fatal shots towards Rikki Berry, with accomplices Adam Williams and Connor Walsh in a car nearby

A boy asked his father's drug-dealing killers how it felt to know "I had to watch my dad die" as they were handed life sentences for his murder.

The 13-year-old was inside his family home in Knowsley with his four-year-old sister, their mother Karlie Newhall and her friend when 36-year-old Rikki Berry was shot as he stood in the open front doorway on 17 July last year.

The boy's statement was read in court by a barrister, as were the words of his little sister who said: "I will never forget you daddy, I see you in my dreams, love your little darling."

Michael Smith, who fired the fatal shots, and Adam Williams, who organised the shooting, were each jailed for a minimum of 31 years while accomplice Connor Walsh received a 30-year minimum term.

All three had denied Mr Berry's murder but were convicted after a jury heard they planned the shooting together.

The court heard Smith, 27, had pulled up on the kerb outside the house in Quarryside Drive, Kirkby, on an electric bike at about 18:30 BST.

Michael Smith, Adam Williams and Connor Walsh were told they had displayed "reckless arrogance similar to the lawlessness of the wild west"

CCTV footage showed Smith fire four shots towards Mr Berry from a semi-automatic handgun before accelerating away - leaving him with "catastrophic" injuries.

Some of the shots passed straight into the house, the court heard, including one which struck a football trophy won by Mr Berry's son.

Judge Andrew Menary KC, passing sentence, said the shooting showed a "reckless arrogance similar to the lawlessness of the wild west."

He said the precise motive for the shooting, other than a vague mention of a "beef" between Williams and some of Mr Berry's friends, remained a "mystery".

He told the defendants the "futile" shooting had "achieved nothing other than the destruction of one life and destruction of the futures of all three of you."

Mr Berry, who was nicknamed Nuggy, staggered into the kitchen after being shot and told Miss Newhall to "get the kids out", the court heard.

Rikki Berry told his partner to "get the kids out" as he lay dying in his kitchen

Victim personal statements from the two children were read in court today by prosecution junior counsel Henry Riding.

The boy told his killers he and his sister faced growing up without a father.

"I had to watch as my dad died," his statement said.

"I have since had to bury him and watch the footage of him being shot dead before it was released for everyone to see.

"I have had to see so many horrendous things, I hate you all for what you have done to me and my family."

The court also heard Mr Berry's mother, Donna, was so heartbroken "she didn't have the strength to go to his funeral".

Two accomplices turn on gunman

David McLachlan KC, leading the prosecution, had told the jury the CCTV showed a Seat Ateca Cupra car travelling in convoy with the e-bike - which Williams was driving with Walsh in the passenger seat.

Both men admitted being in the vehicle but denied they had any idea Mr Berry was about to be shot.

They did, however, change their defence statements part way into the trial, naming Smith as the man on the bike.

Smith had initially denied any involvement in the shooting but admitted being the gunman after his co-defendants turned on him - although he denied murder on the basis the shots were not intended to cause serious injury.

The court heard all three killers were involved in Class A drug dealing, and Walsh and Smith had both worked for Williams at various points.

Smith, of Marbury Road in Kirkby, also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, while Williams of Hamblett Crescent in St Helens and Walsh of Simonswood Lane in Kirkby were convicted of the same offence.