'Tony the Tiger' was a boxing star before he was gunned down by masked shooter

A security boss and successful boxer known as "Tony the Tiger" was gunned down by a masked shooter who sprayed over 20 rounds from a machine pistol.

Anthony Sinnott, also known as Tony, made his name in the boxing world as a promising welterweight who fought undefeated world champion Terry Marsh during his five-year career. After retiring from boxing in 1985, Mr Sinnott moved into security and was a regular face on the doors around south Liverpool suburb Speke.

However, the dad was executed in the most brutal of ways when an unknown offender sprayed 22 rounds from a 9mm fully-automatic weapon, hitting him with 18, at an industrial estate in Speke on April 23 1999. Mr Sinnott was just 40 when he was killed in cold blood. Two men stood trial for the murder but were found not guilty. The ECHO has revisited the murder as part of its unsolved crime series to try and bring justice for his devastated family.

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Mr Sinnott was a talented footballer in his youth and was on the books at Southampton FC as a teenager. However, he quit after three months when he became homesick and moved back to Liverpool. During the 1980s he was rated as one of Britain's top boxers, making his professional debut at The Stadium in Liverpool where he forced Dave Sullivan to retire.

He then went on to chalk up six straight victories before he was disqualified in a match against Dennis Pryce in Morecambe. However, he went on another winning streak which landed him a fight with Terry Marsh in Bradford, where he lost on points. Mr Sinnott last fought in May 1985 - a draw with John McAllister.

When his boxing career finished, Mr Sinnott went into security work as a consultant. The ECHO previously reported how Mr Sinnott was mentioned by name in veteran Liverpool doorman Joey Owens' controversial book Race Wars to Door Wars. Owens' is a convicted criminal with far-right sympathies who has previously served time in prison for posting razor blades to Jewish families.

In the book he claimed Mr Sinnott was a violent man who frequented a well-known Speke nightclub called Fallows Two. A passage in the book said: "Speke had a bit of a bad reputation, with nasty individuals and gangs that we didn’t need in the club. If Fallows Two was to be successful then these elements had to be kept out.

"One such individual was Tony Sinnott. Sinnott had been a very good professional boxer. Sinnott had turned from pro-boxer to pro-slasher. He’d become very handy with a knife, and was greatly feared in and around Speke. Most of the people he associated with were, more or less, of the same stamp, and they, like him, were barred."

The ECHO reported how Mr Sinnott was cleared of attacking former champion boxer Alan Rudkin and his two sons with a spiked knuckle duster and knife in 1995. Mr Rudkin, who suffered face and chest injuries, claimed Mr Sinnott was behind the attack, but three witnesses said he was on a fishing trip in Anglesey.

Local sources told the ECHO that weeks before Mr Sinnott was murdered he met the owner of a rival security firm at a local café which resulted in an altercation. There were also claims that Mr Sinnott spent time in Blackpool in the weeks before his murder due to a security feud in south Liverpool.

Mr Sinnott arrived at a small garage unit and scrapyard on the Shaw Road industrial estate at around 5.30am on April 23. However, in what the crown later submitted was a "pre-planned and clinical" attack, a gunman with a scarf wrapped around his head ran into the unit firing an Uzi sub-machine gun.

Mr Sinnott was hit in the head by a number of rounds. He was discovered on his knees covered in blood. The masked gunman threatened two workers at the garage before stealing a grey Ford XR2 which belonged to one of them to escape the scene. In the following days detectives followed up on several lines of enquiry and combed through hours of CCTV footage.

Two men were charged and went before Liverpool Crown Court in November 1999. Prosecutor Charles Garside told the court: "Mr Sinnott was executed by a man using a 9mm sub-machine gun who fired 22 shots. The man knew his target and intended to kill him. The question in this case is 'who was responsible for the murder?"

A garage worker who witnessed the attack said that Mr Sinnott was hit 18 times in "a concerted burst of gunfire" by a man whose face was wrapped in a scarf and covered by a hat. The witness had been working in the garage at the time of the attack and after being spotted by the killer was then frogmarched out of the building at gunpoint and forced to hand over his car keys.

The witness said in court: "He came into the garage holding a sub-machine gun and firing in a constant burst. The gunman ran across from left to right. He went straight into the spray booth. I saw him as soon as he came into view. He was running and shouting something.

"As he started shooting I could see him. I looked through the bus which had no windows in. I was wondering what it was. He went in between a Ford Fiesta and a Ford Orion but by then he had already opened fire. I was confused as to what was going on. As he finished firing I popped my head up a bit too soon and he shouted, 'get out, come here'."

"I put my arms up pleading with the gunman not to shoot me. He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, put the gun against my neck and marched me out to my car. I pleaded with him not to shoot me. He spread-eagled me on the car and stuck the gun in my neck harder and said ‘give me your keys and mobile phone'. I said I didn’t have a phone and he took the keys off me and manhandled me back into the garage with the gun against my neck and shoved me on the floor and said ‘stay there'."

The two defendants were found not guilty of murder the week before Christmas 1999. Following the jury's not guilty verdicts, Mr Sinnott's mum Doris urged detectives to find the real killer. She told the ECHO: "Someone has killed my son and ruined our lives and we want them brought to justice.

"The family wants to know if someone will pay the price. Our lives have been totally destroyed. I have lost my son. He was a wonderful son to me and I miss him every day. We are totally wiped out by what happened."

Merseyside Police has now issued a new appeal for information as it nears the 25th anniversary of Mr Sinnott's murder. Kevin Clague, head of Merseyside Police's serious case review unit, said: "It is almost 25 years since the brutal murder of Tony Sinnott in Speke, and we are continuing to appeal for anyone with information to come forward. This case is subject to regular reviews and as time moves on, we remain hopeful that people out there are still holding onto information which could assist us.

"Allegiances can change over the years, and people may find themselves in a different situation and feel more able to speak with us, or anonymously via Crimestoppers. I’d urge anyone who knows anything about this murder, no matter how small a detail it may be, to come forward and we will take the appropriate action.

"We are still particularly keen to speak to anyone in the area at the time of the incident who may have seen the car involved or heard a motorbike shortly after. We will continue to seek justice for Tony’s family, so they are able to finally have some sense of closure and peace. Do the right thing for them."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Merseyside Police on @MerPolCC or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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