Infamous Nottingham criminal Michael O'Brien has made a shocking confession from jail - he shot innocent shopfitter Marvyn Bradshaw more than 19 years ago. Speaking exclusively to Nottinghamshire Live from behind bars, 42-year-old O'Brien has accepted for the first time that he shot Mr Bradshaw, with the shocking words: "100% it was me".
O'Brien - whose parents, mum Joan and step-dad John Stirland, were murdered in a revenge conspiracy six days after he was jailed - was not in any way coerced, pressurised or tricked into admitting he committed one of the most horrendous crimes to rock Nottinghamshire and the world. It happened at the peak of gun crime in the county - besmirching its reputation and earning the city the dubious nickname "Shottingham" - days which police say are now behind us.
O'Brien spoke to us as we interviewed reformed ex-career criminal Marvin Herbert. Herbert is developing a project on forgiveness and working with O'Brien, whose case has been referred to the Parole Board for a hearing on March 20. O'Brien rang Herbert from prison as we were halfway through the interview - and he agreed to speak for the first time publicly about how he shot Mr Bradshaw in cold-blood in August 2003. The call was from a legal phone in O'Brien's cell, as he prepares for potential release on parole this year.
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During a three-way call, with Herbert in the background, O'Brien's trademark street-speak phrases came tumbling out - a way of speaking that stood out at his trial, confirming it was him as he spoke about the horrific killing, the intimate details of his childhood and where it all went wrong after his father's death as a teenager.
O'Brien, a dad and granddad, was told repeatedly he was speaking to the Nottingham Post, and he was relaxed and clear as he answered questions about his life inside and his plans on working with Herbert, who presents live workshops as part of his mission to reduce re-offending by motivating and inspiring people to be the best they can be.
Legal Affairs Correspondent Rebecca Sherdley covered O'Brien's trial more than 19 years ago, and witnessed his conduct in court.
She asked O'Brien, from Aspley, what he remembered from the night of Mr Bradshaw's murder during their phone call.
O'Brien said: "I remember everything about it". He said he went in the pub that night (the Sporting Chance in Bulwell) and he was assaulted and locked in.
"I've gone back and done what I did," he said. "There's a big thing, always mentioned about this thing saying that the bullet was, 'meant for Jamie Gunn, I was aiming for Jamie Gunn...this that and the other".
But O'Brien said he did not know Jamie Gunn was even in the car that he shot at that night. The car had been driven by Mr Bradshaw out of the car park of the Sporting Chance after a lock-in. Jamie was the nephew of crime lord Colin Gunn - Colin was jailed for conspiring to murder O'Brien's parents.
O'Brien said: "Remember five minutes before I fired that shot, I had just been battered by about five of them. I was a bit battered and bruised to be honest. And I think anger is what made me fire that shot, and just the fact it had been going on for so many years beforehand.
"And, at that time, the Gunns are quite high...people in Nottingham and I always believed, if they did get hands on me at that time, they would have killed me. There were no two ways about that".
He had had enough and "they kind of bullied me for five years".
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"I know what I did killing Marvyn and that was wrong but I'd just totally had enough at that time in my life of Colin Gunn and his little merry men bullying people.
"There's been a lot of misconceptions, misinterpretations of what people said, even down to the thing in the court" - where he made a horrific comment about the victim - but O'Brien insists he did not say it to the victim's parents.
He is asked: "Are you accepting that you shot him?" O'Brien, who pleaded not guilty at trial and was convicted of murder, replied: "Yeah, 100% it was me".
And we questioned him again: "You now admit that you did kill him?"
O'Brien, known by the nickname Jay Jay, replied: "I do admit it, yeah".
He also spoke about Gary Salmon, who was later also convicted of Mr Bradshaw's murder, saying he did not deserve to get sentenced for that and he did not do anything..."[They said] He gave me the gun on the night. He never. The gun was already mine".
O'Brien was six days into his sentence for murder when his parents were murdered by unknown gunmen. Jamie Gunn witnessed O'Brien shooting Mr Bradshaw, but he contracted pneumonia and died a year later.
Colin Gunn had decided on the ultimate revenge to get to O'Brien. With his associates, he tracked O'Brien's mum and step-dad, originally from Carlton, to their tiny bungalow in Trusthorpe, on the Lincolnshire coast. On August 8, 2004, the innocent couple were ruthlessly executed by two gunmen. The gunmen have never been traced.
Mobile phone evidence put Gunn and his associates, Michael McNee and John Russell, near the Stirland's home in the days before the murders. All three were convicted of conspiring to murder them.
Asked about his reaction to the death of his parents, O'Brien said; "To be honest with you, when that first happened, I was totally, totally shocked, like I think that was the only time I ever felt in my life what shock felt like". It was shock that carried him through the first week or two. "I was devastated. Me and my mum were very close".
Follow Nottinghamshire Live for parts two and three in this exclusive series next week.
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