Murder accused 'would spend up to 12 hours a day playing video games'

A man accused of murder told a jury he spent eight to 12 hours a day playing video games and reached “gladiator” level on World of Warcraft. Jamie Coggins, 28, is one of four men accused of the murder of Nyle Corrigan, who was fatally shot on Boode Croft in Stockbridge Village on November 12 2020.

Three other men - Martin Wilson, 37, Connor Smith, 26, and Anthony Llewellyn, 25 - have gone on trial at Liverpool Crown Court alongside Coggins after being charged with his 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 - appear in the same dock accused of assisting an offender.

During the trial’s proceedings this morning, Friday, November 22, Coggins started to give evidence to the court answering questions from his legal counsel, Nick Johnson KC. He told the court that he was friends with co-defendants Llewellyn and Connor Smith, but had only met Wilson “a couple of times in passing”. He added he had known the victim Mr Corrigan “for most of my life” and considered him a friend.

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When asked by Mr Johnson what he would do in his spare time, Coggins told the court: “Well I would phone my mates, Anthony and Connor, and go for food and then go to a friend’s or my house and have a beer.” He also told the court he and the two co-defendants would regularly have long phone calls where they would “give each other stick”.

The court heard the co-defendants spent a lot of time playing and talking about video games together. Coggins told the court that he played “about eight to 12 hours a day” and had particular expertise at “FIFA and World of Warcraft”.

Coggins, wearing jeans, a grey quarter zip top and sporting reddish hair on the witness stand, told the court he was “very good” at World of Warcraft - an online fantasy game - where he would compete in player vs player duels. He told the court he was in the top 0.5% of players in the world and reached the rank of “gladiator”.

Mr Johnson asked about a particular three-way phone call between Coggins, Llewellyn and Smith on November 11 that lasted one hour and 42 minutes. The court heard the call was at the same time that masked men including co-defendant Wilson went to Little Moss Hey, in Stockbridge Village, in search of Mr Corrigan after a dispute about a missing £80 had escalated.

When he was asked if there was anything specific that he remembered about the call, Coggins told the court: “Not particularly what we were speaking about but it would be a normal social call. Me and Anthony would be on Xbox Live playing FIFA and Connor was on PlayStation Live. We would be on a three way call because Xbox and PlayStation don’t mix servers.”

Mr Johnson, who is assisted by junior counsel Martine Snowdon, asked “did you know about the incident going on in Little Moss Hey”, to which Coggins replied “no, no idea”. Mr Johnson asked his client: “Was the telephone call anything to do with what was going on?” with Coggins responding: “Nothing at all.”

The court heard in the following hour there were further calls between the three men, which Coggins said were social calls involving “friendly banter”. The following day - the day of the shooting - there were further calls between the men, which Coggins again said were social calls and could have “possibly been about video games” as the new FIFA game had recently come out.

The prosecution’s case is that the gunmen Wilson and Smith met up at the former’s home in Huyton before travelling on foot to the “kill point”, wearing black face masks and gloves and with their hoods pulled up. The prosecution, led by Richard Wright KC, said Coggins and Llewellyn were “both fully signed up to the plan” and together with the gunmen were “all responsible for his murder”.

Mr Johnson asked Coggins about his contact with his co-defendants on the night of the shooting. Asking about a phone call to Smith at the point the two alleged gunmen were buying masks and gloves from the Old Roundabout Convenience Store, Coggins said: “Well I can only guess but it’s likely I was going for food…and was asking if he wanted to come.”

He was then asked about the presence of his car on Quickthorn Crescent in Stockbridge Village in the minutes before Mr Corrigan was shot. The prosecution claimed this was where the defendants had a “pre-shooting rendezvous when the missing components of the plan could be brought together including: gun, ammunition, location of the victim and the rough plan for the post shooting clean up”.

When questioned by Mr Johnson, Coggins told the court he was picking up Llewellyn from his home on the road. Mr Johnson asked: “What were you expecting?” with Coggins responding: “I was expecting Anthony to be ready.”

Mr Johnson asked if he was and Coggins said: “No he wasn’t, no.” Coggins said Llewellyn later joined him, with Mr Johnson asking: “Who was in your car?” Coggins responded: “Just me and Anthony,” before Coggins denied having two other men in the car. Coggins told the court he and Llewellyn then went to Burger Town in Walton where he remained until just after 7pm.

During the prosecution’s opening, Mr Wright told the jury 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”.

The court heard the following day two gunmen armed with a 9mm Glock handgun waited for Mr Corrigan, riding his electric bike, before they shot him once in the back. Mr Wright previously said: "Whilst two men carried out the physical act of stalking and shooting of Nyle Corrigan, we suggest that the shooters were part of a wider team, a team that was in place to assist them to both carry out the shooting, and then to try to get away with 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.