Nyle Corrigan’s sister was questioned by the barrister of one of the four men accused of his murder
A firearms warrant was executed at the home address of a teenager three months before he was fatally shot in the back, a jury has heard. Nyle 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.
Six people have gone on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged in connection with the murder of Mr Corrigan. Four men – Jamie Coggins, 28, Martin Wilson, 37, Connor Smith, 26, and Anthony Llewellyn, 25 – are all accused of murder and conspiracy to possess a 9mm Glock self-loading pistol with intent to endanger life. Melanie Smith, 47, and Mark Sharpe, 49, – the parents of Connor Smith – are accused of assisting an offender, the particulars being they allegedly helped their son travel from Liverpool to Portsmouth on November 26 2020, two weeks after the shooting.
Richard Wright KC told the jury 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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The teenager’s younger sister Amelia Corrigan was questioned during the court proceedings yesterday afternoon, Thursday, November 7 by Wilson’s barrister Nigel Power KC. He told the jury Ms Corrigan had said during her video recorded interview, which was played to the court, that her brother “didn’t have issues with anyone else”.
He also said Ms Corrigan had talked about a “raid” at her home address which was carried out on August 17 – less than three months before her brother’s death. Mr Power asked: “What sort of warrant did the police have?” Ms Corrigan responded: “I can’t remember…it was four years ago.”
Mr Power said: “It was a firearms raid wasn’t it,” to which Ms Corrigan said: “I can’t remember.” He then asked: “Have you heard of Ann Marie Bennett, who is she? Ms Corrigan said: “Some woman.” Mr Power said: “How do you know about some woman called Ann Marie Bennett?” with Ms Corrigan responding “because she had Nyle arrested with false allegations”.
Mr Power asked: “What were the false allegations?” with Ms Corrigan responding “something about him turning up to her house, but he didn’t get charges”. When asked again what the allegations were Ms Corrigan said: “I can’t remember, have you got them in front of you?”
Mr Power said: “Shall I try and jog your memory, is it because he went around and pulled a shotgun out on her?” Mr Corrigan’s sister said: “A shotgun, that definitely didn’t happen. You are bringing up stuff that is irrelevant.” Mr Power then asked how did she know with Ms Corrigan responding: “Because he didn’t have a shotgun. The police would have found it.”
In a separate exchange during 90 minutes of cross examination, Mr Power asked Ms Corrigan how her brother made money. She said: “Nothing, he was 19 when he died. He had anger issues and ADHD. He didn’t work. My mum gave him money.” Mr Power said: “You told the police he didn’t have issues with anyone else, is that true?”
Ms Corrigan said not that she was aware of, with Mr Power then asking Ms Corrigan, who was 17 when her brother was killed, to confirm that both she and her mum had access to messages on her phone. She confirmed this was true. He then asked: “Did Nyle deal drugs?” with Ms Corrigan responding: “Not that I am aware of.”
He said: “Did you ever see messages with your mum chasing down money for drugs?” She replied she would have seen the messages but she was just 17 and they weren’t any of her business. He said: “Did you have any suspicions that Nyle might be dealing drugs?” with Ms Corrigan responding no. He asked again: “Had Nyle been in trouble with anyone else, a beef with anyone?” Ms Corrigan told him: “Not that I know, but he wouldn’t discuss with me, I was his younger sister.”
Mr Power later asked if Mr Corrigan had ever been stabbed earlier in 2020, which she confirmed he had. He said: “How did you know he was stabbed”, with her replying “because he had a scar.” Mr Power asked: “Did Nyle tell you anything about the stabbing,” with Ms Corrigan saying no. The defence barrister then asked: “I thought you said he wasn’t in trouble with anyone else?”
Ms Corrigan said: “You’re talking about months prior.” Mr Power said: “Do you know anything about him being stabbed?” She said: “No I just know he was stabbed. I was 16. Would you explain it to your 16-year-old?”
Mr Power later asked Ms Corrigan why her brother had two phones – an iPhone and a Nokia. He then asked: “Do you know what a graft phone is?” She said “everyone knows what a graft phone is” and Mr Power asked her to tell the jury what it was. Ms Corrigan said: “I don’t know, I’m a girl. I don’t have a graft phone. Why don’t you tell them what it is?”
Mr Power said “is it a phone used for criminal activity?” before asking “did Nyle have a graft phone?” Ms Corrigan said: “A Nokia and a graft phone are two different things.”
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 that messages suggested Mr Cohen owed Mr Corrigan £60, while Wilson, a distant relative of the former, also owed £20. The jury heard messages that showed firstly Ms Kelly, using her daughter’s Facebook account, and later Mr Corrigan himself attempted to retrieve the unpaid money.
Mr Wright said this culminated on November 9 when Mr Corrigan sent Ms Donnelly a message that said: “It’s you with the attitude you cheeky c***. I’m texting you because all he does is blank, tell him I want the dough tomorrow.”
Mr Wright told the jury that Mr Cohen sent a message to Wilson and said: “Ring me lad, need you to come down Lesley with me, the cheeky c*** calling Kay and that.” Mr Wright said the “minor debt” had escalated and an “irritated” Mr Cohen had “brought in” Wilson.
The prosecutor told the jury on November 11 “a team of men gathered around Martin Wilson and travelled to Little Moss Hey”. The court heard that shortly after 9pm Ms Kelly and her daughter Ms Corrigan were at home when an Audi 4×4 pulled up at their house and a number of men, “wearing balaclavas and face coverings”, demanded to know where Mr Corrigan 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”.
During continued questioning yesterday afternoon, Mr Power asked Ms Corrigan if she heard Wilson speaking to her mum. She said: “No I walked away. He got out the car and said ‘where’s your brother?’ Mr Power responded: “No one was saying ‘when we see your brother it’s over for him’, did they?”
Ms Corrigan told him: “Yeah they did, are you sat there calling me a liar?” Mr Power said: “I’m stood up,” with Ms Corrigan responding: “Stop being funny.” Mr Power said: “You said Nyle didn’t have a phone number” and followed up with “were you covering up for his drug dealing?” Ms Corrigan said: “I weren’t.”
Mr Power said: “That’s what Martin (Wilson) had been to your mum for wasn’t it, to get some cocaine.” Ms Corrigan said: “He’s chatting absolute, oh my god.” Mr Power said: “You weren’t there,” with Ms Corrigan responding: “So why would he jump out the car and say where is your brother?” Mr Power told Ms Corrigan: “You are trying to kid the jury when you said Nyle wasn’t having trouble with anyone else,” which she denied.
The jury had previously been told that the alleged gunman – Wilson and Smith – had met up on the night of the shooting and bought black hats, face masks and gloves from a convenience store. Mr Wright told the jury they then proceeded on foot before they had a “pre-shooting rendezvous when the 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”.
The two men are then alleged to have made their way onto the scene where they then waited “knowing that Nyle Corrigan was going to be present”. The court heard the killers exchanged words with their target before and after the shot, that went through his spine and shredded an artery, before they left him to die.
The killers then stole Mr Corrigan’s Sur-ron electric bike to make their escape. The bike was later found abandoned in undergrowth in the area of Quickthorn Crescent, while the firearm, which had a defect which meant a second cartridge would not load into the magazine, was later recovered in an unconnected police operation.
Coggins, of The Spinney, Stockbridge Village; Llewellyn, formally 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.
