John Kinsella murder accused 'duped into taking gun' after shooting

"Mr Big" Paul Massey (left) and John Kinsella were both shot dead

A career criminal accused of the murder of two gangland figures has told a jury his co-accused handed him a gun minutes after a mob enforcer was shot dead.

Steven Boyle, 35, said he was tricked by long-time partner in crime, Mark Fellows, into being part of the murder of Liverpool gangster John Kinsella.

Both men deny shooting Mr Kinsella on 5 May this year and his friend, Salford "Mr Big" Paul Massey in 2015.

Mr Boyle told Liverpool Crown Court he could not believe he was given the gun.

He is accused of being the "spotter" or lookout and acting as back-up for both assassinations.

'Duped'

Mr Fellows is alleged to have shot Mr Kinsella in the back and head with a Webley handgun while he was walking his dogs with his partner in Rainhill, Merseyside.

The shooting came three years after Mr Massey, 55, was sprayed with bullets from an Uzi machine gun outside his Salford home.

The prosecution claim both men died as a result of being associated with a gang, the A Team, who were "at war" with a rival gang linked to the defendants.

Relatives of both victims gasped as Mr Boyle, in the witness box, claimed he had been duped by Mr Fellows.

Mr Boyle told the jury he had driven to the area merely to pick up drug money from his co-defendant, who was on a bicycle.

He said: "He came over, passed me a backpack bag through the window and left within seconds. I opened the bag."

Asked by Peter Wright QC, defending, what was in it, he replied: "A gun".

'Not a grass'

"I could not believe it, I had had that thrown on me like that," he said.

Mr Boyle said he would not have agreed to handle a firearm and Mr Wright reminded the jury that he had previously served a jail sentence for possessing a loaded gun, silencer and ammunition.

"I assumed, instead of picking the money up, it was always going to be a gun. How can you do that to your own friend?" Mr Boyle added.

Arrested for the murder of Mr Kinsella, he told officers he "probably know more things about it than I should" but if he talked he and his family would need police protection.

Mr Boyle said he had never been "a grass" and the criminal "code" is "don't grass".

Mr Boyle, from Greater Manchester, and Mr Fellows, of Warrington, deny two charges of murder and the attempted murder of Mr Kinsella's partner, Wendy Owen.

The trial continues.