Salford 'A-Team' gang jailed for Christian Hickey shooting

Carne Thomasson, Aldaire Warmington, Christopher Hall, Dominic Walton, James Coward and Lincoln Warmington

Six gangsters who shot a seven-year-old boy and his mother in a botched revenge attack have been jailed.

Christian Hickey and his mum Jayne, 30, were shot on the doorstep of their home in Salford in October 2015.

The men were members of a Salford gang known as "the A-Team", Manchester Crown Court was told.

Jailing the group, judge Mr Justice Popplewell said Christian had been "robbed of a normal childhood" as a result of his ordeal.

Jurors heard the gang - involved in drugs, violence and extortion - launched the attack in revenge for the "execution" of Salford "Mr Big" Paul Massey three months earlier.

Eight men were convicted last month by a jury after an eight-week trial over the Hickey shooting and another gang-related attack.

Christian Hickey and his mother Jayne were shot on their doorstep

Christian and his mother were blasted in the legs with a Heckler & Koch P7 self-loading pistol as they answered the door at their house in Winton at about 21:25 GMT on 12 October, the court was told.

Both were left lying in a pool of blood in the hallway of their home, with one bullet passing through Mrs Hickey's leg into her son.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Popplewell said the bullet which hit Christian left him hospitalised for over a month and required three operations.

The judge said it took about 12 months and extensive physiotherapy before he was able to walk again.

'Lives torn apart'

He added: "The psychological effect of the incident has also been serious and lasting. Christian suffers recurring nightmares.

"In short, Christian has been robbed of a normal childhood. There is no hyperbole in Jayne Hickey's statement that their lives were torn apart and will never be the same again."

The scene of the shooting in Winton

The trial was told how Carne Thomasson, 29, a £5,000-a-week drug dealer, knocked on the Hickeys' door to "flush out" Christian Hickey senior, the intended target. He was jailed for 23 years.

Aldaire Warmington, 32, a senior member of the A-Team and a major drug dealer, who had a supervisory role in the attack, was jailed for 20 years.

Christopher Hall, the gang's armourer, was jailed for 14 years and six months.

They were cleared of conspiracy to murder but convicted of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm with intent and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

James Coward, 22, Dominic Walton, 27, and Lincoln Warmington, 32, were convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by getting rid of the stolen car used in the attack.

Coward and Walton were each jailed for two years and Warmington for two years and three months.

The gunman remains at large but police said the same gun had been used in March 2017 to shoot Jamie Rothwell, another member of the rival Carroll gang, at a car wash near Wigan.

Det Ch Insp Carl Jones said: "To shoot a young boy on his doorstep is absolutely sickening and the thought of getting justice for Christian has been a driving force for the investigation team."