Murder accused in his socks in Liverpool city centre hours after teen's fatal shooting

A murder suspect was seen on CCTV wearing no shoes as he entered his co-accused's block of flats hours after a fatal shooting. Anthony Llewellyn, 25, is accused of being part of a team of four who “planned and carried out” the shooting of teenager Nyle Corrigan and the later plans to try and get away with it.

Mr Corrigan, 19, was shot once in the back when two gunmen waited for him by the side of Boode Croft in Stockbridge Village at around 6.30pm on November 12 2020. Three other men - Connor Smith, 26, Martin Wilson, 37, and Jamie Coggins, 28 - have gone on trial at Liverpool Crown Court alongside Llewellyn after being charged with Mr Corrigan’s murder.

The four men are also accused of conspiracy to possess a 9mm Glock self-loading pistol with intent to supply, while Smith’s parents - Melanie Smith, 47, and Mark Sharpe, 49 - are accused of assisting an offender. Richard Wright KC told the jury of six men and six women that the prosecution’s case was that Wilson and Connor Smith were the gunmen who carried out the shooting but were supported by Coggins and Llewelyn “who were both fully signed up to the plan”. The prosecutor said: “Together, we say, those four men are all responsible for his murder.”

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During the trial's proceedings, Alex Langhorn, junior prosecution counsel, continued to take the jury through a timeline of phone and CCTV evidence in the hours after the shooting. The court heard Llewellyn had sent a WhatsApp message to his then girlfriend Hana Ventre at 18.33pm on the day of the shooting which said he was in a restaurant called Burger Town.

The court previously heard co-defendant Coggins’ BMW had left Stockbridge Village by 7.34pm on the same night heading in the direction of the city centre. CCTV then showed Coggins and Llewllyn outside Reliance House - a plush block of flats on Water Street where co-defendant Smith lived. The court previously heard the pair did not have an access fob to the front door of the building and had to be let in by a member of staff.

Mr Langhorn and Merseyside Police Detective Sergeant Chris Burrows showed the jury CCTV footage of the same two defendants back at Reliance House at 11pm. DS Burrows told the jury that Llewellyn now had a key fob and used it to let the pair into the flats.

The officer showed the jury CCTV footage from outside the flats and said Llewellyn was wearing “a t-shirt, tracksuit pants and black socks, no footwear”. Llewellyn and Coggins were seen on CCTV to make their way through the reception area and towards the lifts.

They then exited the lifts on the fifth floor and made their way to number 508, where Smith lived. The pair were then seen leaving around 40 minutes later, with Llewellyn wearing a jacket and trainers.

During the prosecution’s opening, Mr Wright told the court that the case against the defendants was Coggins and Llewellyn had “plainly seen Connor Smith because they were in possession of an access fob”. He added: “In an interesting fashion choice for a November night in Liverpool City Centre Llewellyn is not wearing shoes when he arrives. A sensible inference we suggest would be that he had lent them to Smith who had discarded his own footwear after the shooting.”

Returning to the timeline, Mr Langhorn told the court that Llewellyn’s former partner Ms Ventre messaged him “call me when u see this” at 12.40am on November 13. He responded a minute later “fell asleep sorry h u good tho” before adding: “I’ll phone u in morning proper f***ed gunna go back asleep”.

Ms Ventre messaged back: “Thank god! Thought something happened to u”. The court heard Llewellyn continued to make phone calls until 1am. The court heard Llewellyn later walked into Huyton police station on November 17 where he was initially arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

During the prosecution’s opening Mr Wright told the jury that Wilson and Smith had travelled on foot to the “kill point”, wearing black face masks and gloves and with their hoods pulled up. He added once there the two gunmen “were in the area knowing that Nyle Corrigan was going to be present. They were waiting for him and this was a trap.”

Mr Wright told the jury that Mr Corrigan’s killers “exchanged words with their target before and after the shot”, that went through his spine and shredded an artery. They then left him to die before they used his Sur-Ron electric bike to escape.

Mr Wright told the jury: “Together with Coggins, we say that Llewellyn was an active participant in the plan to shoot Nyle Corrigan both engaging in the build-up to the shooting and also in its aftermath as the shooters tried to cover up their tracks.”

The court previously heard that “the origins of the dispute lie with a man called Liam Cohen”. Mr Wright said Mr Cohen also lived on Little Moss Hey with his partner Kayleigh Donnelly and had previously been on good terms with Mr Corrigan but the relationship “had soured” because of an unpaid debt.

The court heard the dispute culminated on November 9 when Mr Corrigan sent Ms Donnelly a message calling her a “cheeky c***”. Mr Wright said the “minor debt” escalated and an “irritated” Mr Cohen had “brought in” distant relative Wilson.

The prosecution said a team of men later gathered around Wilson and went to Mr Corrigan’s house demanding to know where he was. Mr Wright told the court that the group said “Nyle was dead”, and when Ms Corrigan left to go to her granddad’s house they followed her in the car and shouted her brother “should not start something if he wasn’t going to finish it”.

Coggins, of The Spinney, Stockbridge Village; Llewellyn, formerly of Olivette Way, St Helens; Smith of Midway Road in Huyton; Wilson, of no fixed address, and Melanie Smith and Mark Sharpe, both also of Midway Road, deny the charges before them. The trial before Mr Justice Goose continues.