‘A-Team’ gangsters guilty of shooting boy, 7, and his mum on their doorstep in botched revenge hit in Salford
Schoolboy Christian Hickey Jr and his mum, Jayne, were both shot at their home in Winton, Salford, in October 2015
THREE "A-Team" gangsters are facing long jail sentences over the botched gangland hit that left a seven-year-old boy and his mum shot down on their doorstep.
Christian Hickey Jr and his mum, Jayne, were blasted in the legs with a Heckler & Koch P7 pistol at their house in Winton, Salford, in October 2015.
Both were left seriously injured lying in a pool of blood in the hallway of their home, with one bullet passing through Mrs Hickey's leg into her son's as he stood behind her.
They were the victims of a major Salford organised crime gang known as the A-Team involved in drugs, violence and extortion, Manchester Crown Court heard.
The attack was a revenge mission for the "execution" of Salford "Mr Big" Paul Massey three months earlier — also gunned down on his doorstep, with an Uzi machine gun by a splinter faction of the gang.
A jury on Thursday convicted six alleged members of the A-Team for involvement in the shooting of the Hickeys following a two-month trial.
GANG JAILED
Carne Thomasson, 28, Christopher Hall, 49, and Aldaire Warmington, 32, were each cleared of a count of conspiracy to murder but convicted of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm with intent and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
John Thomasson, 49, was cleared of both conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice.
James Coward, 22, Dominic Walton, 26, and Lincoln Warmington, 32, were each convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by getting rid of the stolen Audi S3 car used in the attack.
Two other men, John Kent, 54, and Jacob Harrison, 26, were convicted of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm with intent for involvement in an earlier shooting of a rival by the same gang.
Kent's daughter in the public gallery burst into tears as the jury foreman delivered the verdicts following nine hours and 36 minutes of deliberations.
All nine will be sentenced by trial judge Mr Justice Popplewell at a date yet to be fixed.
DEADLY FEUD
Christian Hickey Sr, once jailed for manslaughter, was good friends with Michael Carroll, who the court heard had been part of the A-Team but a deadly feud developed between him and the gang's alleged boss Stephen Britton, splitting the gang into rival camps, leading to a series of gun, grenade and machete attacks.
Carroll had fled to Spain but he was best man at Christian Hickey's wedding and the pair had financial ties, the court heard.
After the murder in July 2015 of Massey, 55, the "mentor" to Stephen Britton, the A-Team took revenge.
Carne Thomasson, a drug dealer earning £5,000 a week, knocked on their door to "flush out" Christian Hickey Sr, the intended target, the court heard.
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The Hickeys were expecting the return of their daughter from a swimming lesson but Mrs Hickey answered the door to find Thomasson asking, "Is your husband in?".
She replied, "One sec" and went to close the door but a second man then appeared from behind her husband's van and opened fire.
Blood was left "pouring" out of her son's leg as she screamed for her husband, who locked the door and dialled 999.
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