Yahoo News A 'dangerous' teenager immersed in a 'culture of gangs and guns'
A teen gunman who opened fire inside a shop has been jailed. In an act stemming from 'gang rivalry' Jacob Richards, then 15, fired three times in the store in Cheadle Hulme before shooting at a passing delivery driver. No one was hurt.
Richards, now 18, also organised a petrol bomb attack on a family home a few weeks before opening fire both inside and outside a corner shop. He was branded a danger to society by a judge as she handed him an extended 12-year prison sentence.
The offences came during a 'short period of absolute chaos' in his life, Philip Barnes, defending said. Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said his 'offending and his conduct has continued unabated' since he was incarcerated.
Richards, now 18, has been jailed for a catalogue of crimes - including involvement in an arson attack at a family home; and conspiracy to possess other firearms revealed by recordings of phone calls in prison.
Prosecutors claimed he had become 'firmly entrenched in a culture of gangs and guns'. He 'bragged' about his crimes in raps, also captured on calls recorded from jail, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Following the shooting, Richards was kept on remand at Wetherby Young Offender Institution in Leeds. Among the string of 15 'grave' and 'exceedingly serious' offences he was sentenced for, were punching and slapping a female custody officer; and stabbing a prison officer to the leg with an improvised weapon, thought to be a sharpened pen or paintbrush.
Prison staff say he 'frequently carries a weapon and is involved in frequent confrontations', Judge Nicholls said. Michael Lavery, prosecuting, said: "There are two ongoing investigations into this defendant's conduct whilst in custody, both relating to possession of improvised weapons, toothbrushes with razor blades attached.
"He has not yet been interviewed in relation to these. It is an early stage of the proceedings and it may be some time before there is a conclusion."
The court previously heard Richards organised an arson attack at the home of a former friend who he had fallen out with. He lived at the property with his mother and his mum was home on the night attack, May 16, 2021.
A man threw a metal bar at the front window in a bid to smash it, and when it didn't, threw the petrol bomb. That failed to smash the glass, but caused damage to the exterior. As he fled, the man set fire to his own leg.
Five days later, Richards turned up at the same house himself and tried to smash the window by repeatedly throwing a brick at it, but failed. Richards and another man admitted to conspiring to plot the arson attack.
The victim said: "I feel traumatised. I feel like I have lost everything. I used to feel safe in my own home, but all of that has gone."
"You recruited people to perform what could have been a devastating attack, as a revenge attack, or an attack for the purposes of intimidation," Judge Nicholls told Richards.
The shooting happened in broad daylight at DA Shop on Worcester Road in June 2021. Richards and another man went into the convenience store armed with guns. Another man pointed his weapon towards two members of staff - the shop owner and an assistant.
The shop owner threw himself and his colleague to the floor behind the counter, pressing the panic alarm, which let off smoke. Richards fired three times towards the counter. The gun, believed to be a converted blank firing pistol, discharged pellets.
As he fled, Richards locked eyes with a delivery driver passing the terrifying scene in his car. "What?," Richards shouted, before pointing his gun at the car and firing it again. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
The attack on the shop was reported to police as a suspected attempted robbery. But prosecutors claimed it appeared 'to be a revenge attack in the context of criminal gang rivalry'. Richards later told a social worker the shooting had been an 'act of retaliation'.
His targeting of the delivery driver was described in court as a 'gratuitous act of violence', which he later 'boastfully' rapped about on recorded prison calls 'without regret'.
Richards was the fifth defendant to be jailed following what GMP described as a 'complex' investigation into a gang that 'terrorised Stockport'.
Richards was this week sentenced to eight years imprisonment and an extended licence of four years for firearms offences, as well as arson with intent; section 47 assault; as the judge branded him 'dangerous'.
She said his previous convictions for violent offences and 'repeated failure' to comply with the probation service 'aggravated' his situation. "Despite the caution in finding someone of your age dangerous, I have no hesitation in finding that you are dangerous," the judge added.
DCI Ian Wrench said: "This was an extremely complicated case which had a lot of moving parts. The investigation team within Stockport CID ran the investigation and their hard work means that we were able to secure these results and see these individuals face justice for their involvement in violent, criminal activity that inflicted fear in the community.
"The message is clear – if you commit crimes within Greater Manchester, we will locate, arrest and charge you, and build case files to support prosecution. Firearms have no place in Stockport."
