In 2004, a bungalow in the sleepy village of Trusthorpe, on the East Coast of Lincolnshire, became the unlikely setting for a brutal double killing executed with ruthless efficiency.
Joan and John Stirland, who formerly lived in Carlton were gunned down - Joan in the bedroom and her husband on the settee - on August 8. A getaway car was set on fire a few miles away after being driven down back streets, having first parked up on the kerb near the Stirland's home before they were murdered.
No-one was ever convicted of the murder but, crucially, three men were found guilty of conspiring to murder the Stirlands. The police's investigation would go on to lead them to link the executions to another shooting, this one carried out in Nottingham. During a lengthy and highly publicised trial, a court was told how the execution of the couple was a bitter reaction to the death of a young man in Nottingham called Jamie Gunn. Jamie was the nephew of Colin and David Gunn.
READ MORE: David Gunn details how he and brother Colin controlled estate
It was argued that the family held Mrs Stirland’s son, Michael O’Brien, responsible for Jamie’s demise after he witnessed his best friend, Marvyn Bradshaw, shot dead in front of him. O’Brien was later convicted of Mr Bradshaw’s murder, which turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, with Bradshaw not involved in any criminal wrongdoing throughout his life.
The official cause of Jamie's death, a short time later, was pneumonia. Speaking of his nephew, Gunn said: "He was my sister's boy, but he was always with me. I proper looked after him. I used to get Father's Day cards off him and everything." Gunn has a tattoo on his left arm paying tribute to Jamie.
Mrs Stirland's son Michael O’Brien was later convicted of Mr Bradshaw’s murder. Speaking on a Youtube video posted earlier this month by Shaun Attwood, another ex-prisoner who now runs his own true crime podcast, Gunn maintains the innocence of everyone who was put on trial over the murders.
He said: "I had a double murder charge for a thing in Skegness but [I was] totally innocent, every one of us was. But the way they did it, how deceitful they was, they ended up convicting three people.
"The fellas that shot Martin, the onus is then on us because his parents got killed. So they [police] said 'well it must have been them, they must have done it' and so they put all the work into me and Colin. John Stirland, lovely bloke, he was one of my best pals, the man who got killed.
"So obviously it was nothing to do with me, I didn't know his wife but I knew her family. But it had absolutely nothing to do with none of us."
A date was set for a trial, which took place two years later in 2006 in Birmingham, lasting many months. Gunn recalls the huge amount of police presence around the courtroom while the jury was hearing all the evidence in the case.
"Every now and again they would run into the court aiming Mac-10s [guns] and all that," he said. "Just to show that it's us that they're there for - that's what they were doing. And the judge would stand up and say 'get out of my court'. Every morning, when the jury was coming - the jury were under police guard so they couldn't be infiltrated - when they come into the court at the same time.
"There's all coppers in the middle of the road like that [pointing their gun], dogs, they're on roofs, helicopters above with armed police hanging out. So you pull into the gates and the jury sees you, they know it's you, so to make sure they know it's you they rush the court with their guns out.
"So then they think 'yeah this is them, this is who they are'. It's to imply guilt. £35,000 a day for transport, they spent millions on it, absolute millions."
Gunn talks about how he grew his hair out to look more respectable for the trial and made a point of taking to the stand to plead his innocence - being grilled and cross examined for four days.
The jury was out for five weeks Gunn admitted that he was "sweating every day" and there were multiple occasions where he thought they had delivered a verdict, only for them to ask a question. He was the last to hear his fate, a unanimous not guilty verdict, however his brother Colin was found guilty by the same jury.
Gunn continued: "I 100% knew that I've done nothing wrong and I'd told the truth, so I had nothing to hide. And my brother and them, they're innocent, but they've been found guilty so it's an uphill struggle now.
"It devastated me, mate. Really, I should have been the happiest man in the world, but I was gutted. I couldn't be happy. I'm thinking how my mum is going to feel, she'll be happy for me but she can't show happiness because of my brother. It was a horrible time, mate."
No-one was convicted of their murder but in June 2006 Colin Gunn was sentenced to 35 years for conspiring to murder the Stirlands, while John Russell of Northcote Way, Bulwell, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years, and Michael McNee of no fixed address, was jailed for at least 25 years, both for the same offence. David Gunn was found not guilty by the jury.
You can listen to the entire podcast - which contains very strong language - by clicking here.
Nottinghamshire Police statement in full
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I’m really pleased to say the stories people will have heard in this podcast are almost 20 years old.
“Back then Nottingham did attract the unhelpful nickname ‘Shottingham’ but those days when Nottingham had a gun crime reputation are way behind us and are now in the distant past.
“Since then firearm discharges have massively reduced across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and are now incredibly rare, while the number of illegally-held firearms we have proactively seized and taken off the streets has increased significantly.
“Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are really great and safe places to live and visit. The positive difference has been made due to all the hard work done by our officers over the years and also the work that we have done together with our partners to keep people safe.
“This includes our ongoing relentless work to manage and disrupt organised crime groups which has developed over the years. This work is really sophisticated and has helped us put local criminals firmly on the back foot as well as in prison.
“We have also implemented the Operation Reacher initiative which was actually piloted on the Bestwood Estate in 2018 and which saw very quick and significant results, involving officers proactively targeting local criminals as well as building stronger community relationships.
“This approach has been replicated across all of the neighbourhood policing areas within Nottingham and Nottinghamshire where the specialist teams have been seeing similar successes and where the activities of organised crime groups have been massively disrupted.”
In their first full year alone the Operation Reacher teams arrested or dealt with 2,026 suspects, seized £619,000 in suspected illicit cash, and made 874 different drug seizures.
They also took 423 weapons and 569 illegal cars off the streets, and also carried out 672 searches at the homes and hiding places of suspected offenders.
ACC Griffin added: “All of our success in combating organised crime groups is also reflected in our general reduction in crime and specifically in the type of crime that Mr Gunn talks about in the podcast.
“As a force we remain committed to keeping people safe and targeting those who cause most harm in our communities, to make life as uncomfortable as possible for criminals and to establish stronger, more trusting links with the public which I’m delighted to say we have been successful in achieving.”
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