A "career criminal" crashed a stolen motorbike at 90mph forcing The Rocket flyover to close.
Shaun Kelly was jailed this week for selling a stolen Audi to gang boss Harry O'Brien - the 16-year-old cannabis dealer behind three terrifying shootings and a firebombing. The Audi was later used in a "revenge" shooting against a BMW in a high speed chase through Dingle.
But that was just one of a string of offences for which Kelly had to be sentenced, including a motorbike smash that shut down one of Liverpool's busiest routes, and a despicable burglary, when he targeted an elderly woman's home and stole irreplaceable antiques. The ECHO can now detail his shameful crimes.
READ MORE: Gun thug gives middle finger to police as he's sent down
Liverpool Crown Court heard a £5,000 Kawasaki Z800 motorbike was stolen from outside a man's home in Carlisle overnight on April 4 and 5, 2020. Three weeks later, on April 21, a woman rang Merseyside Police to report a motorbike had crashed into a car on Queens Drive.
Another witness described the motorbike as travelling at 90mph and using a right-hand filter lane to overtake traffic. Stephen McNally, prosecuting, said by the time the witness reached the flyover, the bike was on the ground, with a man lying next to it and another "stumbling away".
A woman travelling in her car towards Old Swan spotted a motorbike driving "too fast" in the opposite direction. She said it hit a kerb and its rider and passenger came off. One of the men took his helmet off and hurled it over the flyover, towards The Rocket pub.
That man - Kelly - jumped into a convertible car containing two women. The witness followed the car until it stopped on Crofton Road, Old Swan, where Kelly got out and "hobbled away".
David Turner, the man lying on the ground, had a black helmet and clothing cut off, before he was taken to hospital. In the road police recovered an Under Armour trainer. Underneath the flyover they found a second helmet, both of which, along with the handlebar grip of the bike, revealed Kelly's DNA.
When interviewed by police, Turner said he was picked up by a friend he wouldn't name on his "new bike". Mr McNally said: "He said they’d been to buy cannabis together and were heading to a chip shop when he recalled a bang and then waking up in hospital."
Kelly, then 35 but now 36, of Harefield Road, Speke, wasn't interviewed until July 27, 2020, when he accepted knowing Turner, but denied being present and claimed to have used lots of bike helmets in the past.
On November 30, 2020, an Audi A1, worth an estimated £10,000, was stolen during a burglary at a home in Whimbrel Close, Runcorn, as the occupants slept upstairs. By December 3, it was in the hands of Kelly, who then sold it to O'Brien and his gang, who he met in Sefton Park late on the evening of December 28.
When arrested and interviewed, Kelly said he "got the car for doing something for someone in jail" and used it for a month on false plates before selling it to a "kid" for £300.
Prosecutors accepted Kelly had no idea the car would be used in a shooting, which it was on December 29. O'Brien and three members of his gang were in the car when three bullets were fired from it at a BMW. A stray round flew through the front door of an "entirely innocent" family's home in Dingle Lane and landed on their hallway stairs.
Mr McNally said: "The Crown does not suggest that Shaun Kelly was aware that the car would later be used in a shooting. However, when you handle stolen goods and sell them on to others you don’t know what they will be used for."
On January 4, 2022, Kelly broke into a Peugeot 508 in Weaverham, Cheshire, by smashing its front window. The owner had been at a yoga class for less than an hour, but when she returned she found her handbag missing.
Kelly was caught on CCTV footage using her stolen bank card to buy £241 of alcohol and cigarettes at five shops in Northwich in the space of nearly 40 minutes. The inconvenienced victim was left "fearful" and "stressed".
On a date between January 7 and 14, 2021, and again between January 19 and February 6 last year, Kelly ransacked the home of an elderly woman in Northwich. She had temporarily moved out while the property was repaired following flooding.
Builders informed the victim's daughter of the first raid. She discovered her mum's bedroom wardrobe emptied out and jewellery boxes on the floor, which later revealed Kelly's DNA.
The woman attended again on February 8, when she realised there had been another burglary. Ornamental items such as a clock, telescope, samurai sword and decorative plates were missing, some of which police later found at Kelly's girlfriend's home.
Mr McNally said the woman's daughter described how the burglaries "hit our family hard" because the property held "many great memories". She described her mum's ill health and vulnerabilities.
The prosecutor said: "Many of the stolen items were antiques and were not replaceable. Many of those items held sentimental value to her mother."
Kelly admitted aggravated unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle, handling stolen goods, theft, five counts of fraud and two counts of burglary. He also admitted breaching a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months in October 2019, for dangerous driving.
His criminal record dates back to 1999 and includes robbery and thefts as a youth. He was convicted of burglaries in 2006, 2008 and 2009, then in 2012 jailed for eight years for conspiracy to commit burglary, after breaking into 36 homes across Merseyside and Cheshire.
Keith Sutton, defending, said his client had mental health issues and had struggled in prison while on remand. He said Kelly "came clean" about his involvement in selling the stolen Audi once he realised what it was used for.
Mr Sutton said: "He had acquired the vehicle for his own use and only sold it on because he needed the money. There is nothing to suggest he knew how it had been stolen. Once he realised what was alleged by police, he came clean and told the full story."
Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, said Kelly had an "appalling" criminal record and was a "career criminal". Referring to the motorbike crash, he said: "You put at risk the life of your passenger."
Kelly was jailed for three and a half years. He was also banned from the road for four years and nine months.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
