A community hit by a drugs war which spiralled out of control and led to the killing of an innocent man have spoken out on how their area has rebuilt. The murder of businessman Michael Anton O'Connor still sends shivers down the spine of local residents in The Meadows - and neighbours living in the area remember waking to police cordons on November, 2021.
Mr O'Connor died after he was stabbed once with a knife in the chest, which went into his heart, in Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows. And nine people have been found guilty of the murder of the 31-year-old businessman.
After two days of the judge summing up the case, 10 jurors - five men and five women - went away to deliberate in private at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday (May 17) at 10.40am. Verdicts were delivered on June 12 and those found guilty unanimously of murder were: Benjamin Taylor, 37, of Monton Road, Eccles, Manchester; Leonard Ward, 41, of Marwood Road, Carlton; Joseph Boscombe, 39, of Rostherne Avenue, Manchester; Joshua Agboola, 28, of Leven Grove, Darwen, Blackburn; and Carla McGuire, 51, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows.
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Also convicted of murder were: Jerone Sheard, 30, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows; Michael Mingoes, 20, of Powell Street, Manchester; Paula Usherwood, 37, of Central Avenue, Beeston; and Michael McGuire, 34, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows.
Rebecca Bell, 36, of Loughrigg Close, The Meadows, and Curtis Sheard, 23, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows, were acquitted of murder.
Defendant Kerry-Anne Shepherd, 34, of Plantagenet Street, St Ann's, was found guilty of assisting an offender. Gemma Fearon, 37, of Dean Bank Close, Bollington, Macclesfield, was found guilty of assisting an offence knowing or believing it was going to be committed.
The operation started when the person believed to be behind existing profitable drug mobile phone lines already operating in The Meadows enforced his stance by 'taxing' other dealers in The Meadows in his determination to wipe out the opposition. The profit from those drugs lines, which culminated in the murder of an innocent man on their turf, was suggested at trial to be making somewhere under one million pounds.
Those connected to the existing drugs lines - the "MI Line" and "White House Line" - which supplied heroin and crack cocaine - were not prepared to give them up without a fight. But the takeover of those lines was enforced with shocking violence. Drug workers were attacked, defendants threatened, guns were pulled in the family home of Carla McGuire in Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows, where her son Michael McGuire lived.
What followed was a violent takeover of the two long-standing drugs lines with a "hit team" being organised to travel from Manchester on November 11, 2021, with the favoured target being the the "rival dealer" who went to a meeting at the Poet's Corner Pub, The Meadows. However this was a ruse to outnumber and ambush him in the darkness near the Carla McGuire family home.
Boscomb, Agboola and Mingoes were driven to Nottingham by Gemma Fearon, who regularly drove on drug run trips to the city. The men were met by Michael McGuire in Wilford Crescent West, and were holed up in his home, before an alleged recce out on bicycles to learn the lay of the land before the armed hit went down later.
But the rival dealer did not go to the meet - it was an unarmed Michael Anton O'Connor, 31, from Alexandra Park, sent in at the last minute - and he was the victim of the armed ambush that followed, the stabbing claiming his young life.
Two years later, in the area located at just a stone's throw from the picturesque Victoria Embankment, the residential area has got better in people's eyes. Yalda Yar, a mum living in the area, said that she has noticed more police patrols since the incident. She added: "I feel safe in the area now.
"This is a beautiful area. I was very scared when it happened", the 28-year-old recalls.
"I remember that morning I had to drop off my daughter to school and I was scared. But there are more patrols in the area now - even today I saw two officers walking around the area."
A man, who did not want to be named, said the life in The Meadows has built strong people. "It is what happens in poorer areas like The Meadows - it builds stronger people", he added.
"It was a tragedy when Anton died. We grew up together as children. Then he moved out of the area", he added.
"He was a character. He was a funny guy. I was surprised when I found out it was him because I knew he moved out of the area."
A long-term resident in the area said he noticed that everyone 'keeps themselves to themselves', adding: "It is a nice area, but other people change it.
"I do keep myself to myself and so do the other people here. It has been bad but it got better. It is better too keep out of things here."
Mohammed Hussain, a family man from the area, aged 47, said: "We had more police patrols after the incident.
"The community can rebuild but we need more police," he said. "More needs to be done for this community. I am still in shock," he added. "I have got family, I have lived here all my life.
"I have seen people become more private. I think it is causing division."
The defendants who have been convicted are due to be sentenced later this month.
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