A brother and sister who gathered two friends and set off to hunt down and kill a man after a row over text messages lost an appeal against their murder convictions.
Siblings Aaron and Melissa Stubbs vowed to teach Melissa's ex-boyfriend, Warren Glover, "a lesson" after Mr Glover sent abusive and threatening messages to her and their parents when she told him they could not resume their relationship. Aaron Stubbs also recruited two friends, Stephen Strutt and Peter Walker, to join them and the gang-of-four set off from their home in Manchester and drove to St Helens to look for Mr Glover, even stopping for beers on the way.
The 33-year-old was found unconscious in French Street, St Helens at around 10.15pm, on June 13, 2020, and died from a catastrophic brain injury three weeks later in hospital. Melissa Stubbs, then 30, Aaron Stubbs, also 30, their friend Strutt, 39, and Strutt's brother-in-law Walker, 31, were later charged with "joint enterprise" murder and convicted after a six week trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
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They denied arming themselves with weapons to attack Mr Glover - with Aaron insisting he just intended to "confront" him and expected an apology. But the siblings' mum, Gail Duff, had texted Melissa saying "Aaron's gonna go down and kill him" and texted Mr Glover: "Prepare to meet your maker."
An eyewitness, Andrew Carney, saw what happened and a few days later told police Mr Glover had prepared for the impending attack by arming himself with a lump hammer, which he used to attack their car when they arrived in St Helens.
However Mr Carney said Aaron Stubbs then leapt out of the car and gave chase, striking Mr Glover with the metal pole as he tried to flee rendering him immediately unconscious. The court heard Mr Glover had suffered a depressed skull fracture and an "irredeemable" brain injury.
Aaron Stubbs was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years and six months; Melissa Stubbs received a 20 years and six months minimum term; Walker 20 years and six months and Strutt 20 years.
However all four killers lodged an appeal on two main grounds; the way Mr Carney was made to give evidence and the decision not to allow certain "bad character" evidence about Mr Glover showing "cruelty to a domestic pet and aggression to his grandmother" before the jury during the trial.
The court heard Mr Carney had given an account to detectives in the aftermath of the incident, but refused to sign a witness statement. He was approached again in September 2020, and refused to co-operate with the court process, prompting a change in tack by detectives.
In a written judgment from the Court of Appeal, Lady Justice Macur, said: "Thereafter, it appears that a decision was made by the police, in agreement with the CPS, to make no further direct approaches to Andrew Carney but to continue to keep tracks upon him, until the anticipated issue of a witness summons, to be sought at a later date. The prosecution team were concerned that further attempts to seek a witness statement or secure his attendance at trial may cause him to 'go to ground'."
The CPS waited until the trial had begun and then applied for a witness summons, compelling Mr Carney to appear in court. Mr Carney reluctantly attended but then left the building, and was arrested at 2am on March 19, 2021.
He was taken to court later that day and ordered to appear before the jury, where he refused to answer any questions.
As Lady Macur noted: "When told that refusing to answer questions may render him in contempt of court, Andrew Carney said: 'I understand that your honour. To save everyone else's time I'm going to refuse every question'. The jury were sent out.
"It was reported to the judge that at least one juror was overheard, to use the word 'disgusting' and 'he ought to be ashamed of himself'."
Mr Carney was remanded in custody over the afternoon but then given bail over the weekend "to allow him to reflect". On the Monday, he appeared to have a change of heart and indicated he would answer questions and make a witness statement, which the defence objected to.
The trial judge, His Honour Denis Watson, KC, ruled in favour of the prosecution and Mr Carney was able to make a witness statement and refer to it in during his live evidence. During the trial, he gave crucial evidence to the jury, including how he saw Aaron Stubbs swing the weapon at Mr Glover's head "like he was swinging an axe to chop wood".
Nina Grahame, KC, representing the appellants, argued that the defence were "irrevocably prejudiced" by what amounted to a deliberate tactical decision made by the prosecution not to seek to obtain a witness statement from Andrew Carney before seeking a witness summons.
However, although Lady Macur acknowledged the police could have made more of a proactive attempt to get a witness statement before the trial, she wrote "regrettably, the reality is that there are communities in which many potential witnesses are reluctant to make themselves known or to disclose information to the police".
Lady Macur added: "We were not persuaded that the defence found themselves in any worse position than counsel who encounter a witness giving evidence that is not contained within his/her statement. There may well be nuanced differences, corrections or amplification. It is commonplace."
The Court of Appeal also refused to allow the appeal on other grounds, including that more evidence about Mr Glover's propensity for violence should have been admitted before the jury. Lady Macur noted the jury had already been given detailed information about Mr Glover's volatile temper.
An appeal against the length of Melissa Stubbs' sentence was also refused.
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