Pair jailed over shooting carried out on Leon Cullen's behalf

Lewis Sinclair and Andrew Johannessen were locked up yesterday, Wednesday, after being convicted of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fire of violence.

Bolton Crown Court heard that the incident arose out of a dispute between Warrington’s former most wanted man and another organised crime group.

Andrew Scott, prosecuting, described how Shawn O’Malley – of Withers Avenue in Orford – had conspired with Johannessen and Sinclair to travel to Bolton in a stolen Mercedes on September 9 2019 and carry out the shooting.

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He said: “This was on an occupied address at Hilden Street which was linked to men involved in a long-standing organised crime group dispute.”

In the days before the crime, 38-year-old Johannessen carried out reconnaissance missions at the scene, with his movements being tracked by the electronic tag he was wearing.

On the day of the shooting, the trio met up at an address on Cumberland Street in Latchford – the home of O’Malley’s partner Annie Webster – before heading to Johannessen’s St Helens home and then travelling onwards to Bolton.

Mr Scott said: “CCTV captured the car driving to the scene in Hilden Street.

“It captured two offenders walking from Selwyn Street onto Hilden Street.

“They were both together, in full black clothing and had their faces fully covered as they walked casually towards number 75.”

O’Malley broke away while Sinclair, of Partington, remained on the pavement and stopped at the gate to the terraced house.

“Taking deliberate aim, he fired six shots at the windows and door of number 75,” Mr Scott added.

The pair then ran back to the car and Johannessen drove them towards Leigh, where they changed vehicles to a BMW and continued onto St Helens.

Afterwards, the gun used during the shooting – a Czech 9mm parabellum self-loading pistol – and cocaine were planted by others in the car of Cullen's rival Craig Millington in a bid to frame him after a dispute relating to a woman they had both been involved with.

Leon Cullen

As well as admitting their part in the attack, Johannessen and Sinclair also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglaries in August and September 2019, having broken into lockers at David Lloyd gyms around the country in order to steal car keys and other items.

Johannessen has to date amassed 39 previous convictions for 63 offences, while Sinclair has been convicted 32 times for 70 crimes – including robberies and a firearms charge.

Sentencing, the honorary recorder of Bolton, judge Martin Walsh said: “Guns kill, maim, terrorise and intimidate.

“Too many are carried and too many are used, often with devastating effect upon individuals and always with an insidious and corrosive impact on the well-being of the local community.”

“Your actions were intended to terrify the occupants of that address, and the discharge of live rounds of ammunition into an occupied dwelling created a real and obvious risk of serious injury or worse to those present within the building.”

A police cordon at the scene of the shooting

O’Malley, 33, is due to be sentenced over his involvement in the shooting at Liverpool Crown Court in September.

Cullen was jailed for 22-and-a-half years in May after admitting drug and firearms offences, having been captured in the United Arab Emirates in January 2020 after nearly two years on the run.

Webster, 25, was handed a two-year-old community order on Tuesday after transferring thousands of pounds of O’Malley’s criminal cash to Dubai.

The mum-of-one had previously admitted money laundering.