A teenage gunman "engaged in open gang warfare on the streets of Liverpool", shooting one man in the street and being caught with the gun used in another.
Joel Harvey, 17, was yesterday locked up for 12-and-a-half years after kneecapping Michael Costello when he opened fire with a pistol on Prescot Road in Old Swan. The then 16-year-old was closely linked to a second incident only weeks later in which another victim was shot in the chest.
Judge Clement Goldstone KC said on Wednesday the boy - who can be named despite his age thanks to a legal challenge by the ECHO - would have gone on to "use the pistol to settle another score with potentially fatal consequences" had he not been stopped by the police. The former Recorder of Liverpool also told Harvey he "considered himself to be above the law" and had "others do his bidding" for him in the criminal underworld.
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In full, the judge told Harvey during his sentencing remarks: "On December 11 2021, some time before 3am, you saw Michael Costello outside a 24 hour convenience store in Croxteth to which you had travelled in a taxi. Either because of something said to or indicated about you then, or because of a pre-existing grudge which you held against him for something which he had done to you or a friend, you decided he needed to be taught a lesson.
"So you returned to your grandmother’s home nearby, where you were living, armed yourself with a loaded and lethal Grand Power self-loading automatic pistol and commissioned another male to ride you back to the vicinity of the shop on an e-bike in the hope and belief that Michael Costello would still be there.
"He was still there and as you rode past on the back of the e-bike, you fired a total of three shots at Michael Costello. The cartridges you fired struck Michael Costello twice, once in each leg, and caused him really serious if not life-threatening injury to his left knee and kneecap and right thigh, which necessitated surgery and fixation.
"The third cartridge was never recovered. I am satisfied that you commissioned the e-bike and someone to ride you, because if you’d had one of your own you wouldn’t have needed to take a taxi there in the first place.
"I am equally satisfied that because of the short period of time which elapsed between you seeing Michael Costello at 2.40am and shooting him shortly after 3am, the pistol was one which was either already in your possession or one to which you had ready, no questions asked access. Following that incident, Michael Costello was taken to hospital where he was treated for his injuries from which he has made at least a partial recovery.
"His cooperation with the Merseyside Police in these proceedings was strictly limited and he provided no assistance to the criminal investigation, nor has he allowed any access to his medical records for the true gravity of his injuries and condition to be assessed. Following that incident you were arrested on January 27 and after exercising your right to silence in an interview under caution, you were released under investigation.
"On May 16, you were recalled by the police under investigation, arrested in connection with the shooting and ammunition offence of January 16 and again interviewed under caution before being released, now for the second time, under investigation. It was whilst you were released under investigation for the December 2021 and January 2022 offences that you committed the third set of offences.
"I pause to observe – and will return to this point later – that despite having been arrested and interviewed twice, in fact on suspicion not only of firearms offences but also of attempted murder, you were totally unphased by the experience and moved on to commit the last set of offences which, had you not been arrested when you were, would undoubtedly have led, in my opinion, to you carrying out a further shooting with the intention at least of endangering the life of your intended victim or victims.
"On the afternoon of June 18, you collected the same firearm from somewhere you knew it would be, either because you had stashed it there, or because you were trusted to take it on loan from whoever had it. It matters not, it was loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition of which one round was in the chamber ready to be fired.
"Through the streets of Liverpool you went, wearing a balaclava to cover your face, with that loaded pistol either on a stolen motorbike or on foot, ending up at Beechwalk, Croxteth. When officers of Merseyside Police stormed that address, you tried to make good your escape but you were eventually found three hours later hiding in the roof void.
"As I have already observed, I have no doubt from the fact that the pistol was loaded and ready to fire that, had the police not arrested you, you would have used the pistol to settle another score with potentially fatal consequences.
"The facts of this case would make staggering reading if you were an adult, but it defies belief even in these times of unparalleled street violence that someone who was only 16 years old when these offences were committed should be so steeped in gangland culture and be prepared to engage in open warfare on the streets of this great city without any concern or regard for the safety of its citizens in general, let alone those with whom you were in dispute.
"I only wish I could say it is a wholly isolated incident but sadly, as recent events have reminded us, it is not.
"That you should have behaved in this way on two separate occasions, the second incident occurring whilst you were under investigation for similar offences, marks you out in my opinion as a youth who despite his age considers himself to be above the law, has no concern for the lives or safety of others and who is a thoroughly dangerous individual whether acting alone or in the company of others.
"This shooting was deliberately undertaken by you either as punishment for something said or done to you or to someone else, it constitutes an act of revenge. In the absence of any up to date medical evidence, for which Michael Costello's cooperation would have been required, I cannot be sure that his injuries, however serious they were, fall into the category of particularly grave or life-threatening.
"Serious physical harm resulted, and I need neither up to date medical evidence or the cooperation of Michael Costello to conclude that the injuries carried with them a high risk of at least severe physical harm. I have no doubt that the evidence proves that in December 2021 when Michael Costello was shot, the pistol had been fully loaded with 15 rounds of which three were fired on December 11 2021, two further rounds - albeit not by you - on January 16 2022, leaving the remaining 10 rounds which were in the magazine and chamber at the time of your arrest.
"The evidence does not allow me to be sure that the pistol and ammunition were in your possession in circumstances which allow me to treat the offences as a prolonged incident, continuing over a six-month period. This, however, makes little difference to the overall picture, as I am quite satisfied from the circumstances of the December 2021 and June 2022 offences that if you were not responsible for stashing and therefore in possession of the loaded firearm throughout that period, you had access to it and knew where it was whenever you needed it.
"All the offences are aggravated, albeit modestly, by your previous conviction in 2020 for an offence of possession of a bladed article. Counts five and six are significantly aggravated by the fact that at the time you committed them, you had been released under investigation twice - in January 2022, in respect of the December 2021 incident then being investigated as an attempt murder, and in May 2022, in respect of that incident as well as the January 2022 which was also being investigated as an attempt murder.
"As far as other aggravating features are concerned, they are as follows - first, the weapon was an automatic weapon and therefore a prohibited weapon. Second, you recruited an accomplice to ride you to the precise place where you expected Michael Costello to be when you shot him.
"As far as the quantity of ammunition is concerned, whilst in the context of the single weapon it may be a substantial quantity it doesn’t of itself warrant an increase in a sentence which already reflects the fact that you had at your disposal and had used on one previous occasion a fully-loaded automatic pistol. As far as mitigating factors are concerned, I take account of your age.
"You may have been only 16 at the time when you committed these offences - with all the disadvantages of inadequate parenting, in the course of which you witnessed domestic violence, as well as the lack of a completed education - but you possessed a level of maturity and credibility which allowed you to be trusted by those who were older than you and were even more steeped in gangland culture than you were. Furthermore, these were not offences which you committed either spontaneously or in the heat of the moment, without time to think or to appreciate the full implication of your actions.
"They were offences which required a degree of thought, planning and determination more often associated with older and more mature persons. I do not accept that, despite your age, you had great or indeed any difficulty in sourcing a weapon and ammunition, nor that you were acting under the instruction of those more criminally sophisticated than yourself.
"You may have been younger than others in the criminal hierarchy in which you were involved, but you played a full and active role within it and as I have already observed were able to get others to do your bidding.
"You are, on the one hand, said to be a courteous young man with a sense of humour but, on the other hand, are someone who is ready able and willing to act with extreme violence for which you show and feel no remorse whatsoever. In the circumstances, I consider an appropriate custodial term to be one which represents 60 per of that which you would have received had you been an adult.
"Before I pass sentence, I will address the question of dangerousness. I do not accept the tentative suggestion that you may have become involved in the commission of these offences at the behest of or on the instruction of others and that your culpability and, hence the danger you pose to society, may therefore be reduced.
"In February 2022, after you had been interviewed and released under investigation, you were warned by the police about the danger which you faced as a result of your association with known and serious criminals. If you made any effort to dissociate yourself from them it was short-lived, and it was you who decided to return to your former lifestyle.
"From the nature of your repeated offending, your disregard for the safety if not the lives of others, your lack of remorse and your inability or unwillingness to address your use of violence, I share the carefully considered opinion and have no doubt that, despite your age, you represent a substantial risk of the commission of further specified serious offences which will cause at lease significant injury to your victims.
"As such, you fall to be sentenced as a dangerous offender. I have asked myself whether the substantial risk which you pose is one which can be managed safely within the confines of a standard determinate sentence.
"Even allowing for your potential for maturity which, as case studies and research make clear, may develop over many years and thereby enable you to turn your back on your extreme lawlessness, and the fact that by and large you are behaving yourself whilst in custody, and putting your time there to constructive use, I find nothing in the materials before me, nor do I find anything about your conduct generally which allows me to conclude that the risk which you pose can be managed within the confines of such a sentence.
"I am therefore satisfied that not only are you a dangerous offender within the statutory definition, but also one from whom the public should be protected from that risk for as long as my public duty permits.
"It is to be hoped that during that extended period you continue to benefit from such courses and structured interventions as are made available to you. In determining the length of sentence in your case, I have had regard to the sentencing guidelines as to the individual offences, totality and the sentencing of youths.
"The gravity of gun crime cannot be exaggerated, as recent shootings in this city and on Merseyside have shown all too clearly. I have no doubt that despite your youth, the seriousness of your offending and its impact upon innocent and law-abiding members of the community means that my paramount and primary consideration is the protection of the public.
"Had you been an adult, the sentence would have been one of 25 years representing - a custodial term of 21 years with an extended licence period of four years. I will reduce the total sentence to one of 15 years, comprising a custodial term of 12-and-a-half years detention with an extended licence period of two-and-a-half years.
"You should not expect to be released from detention until you have served two thirds of the custodial term less time spent on remand.
"It is right that the public should know that at a time when the reputation and morale of police forces throughout the United Kingdom are suffering because of the conduct of a minute proportion of their number, Merseyside Police acted with consummate professionalism in bringing Joel Harvey before the court and in ensuring that at least one lethal weapon and a significant quantity of live ammunition has been removed from circulation."
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court previously heard that Harvey, of Lindisfarne Drive in Croxteth, shot 33-year-old Mr Costello with a Grand Power G9A self-loading pistol in the early hours of December 11 2021. Henry Riding, prosecuting, described how the youth took an Alpha taxi from Baden Road in Old Swan - where he was staying with his grandma - at around 2.30am to One Stop on Prescot Road and back again.
CCTV footage captured both parties outside the shop during this visit. Mr Costello remained in the area at shortly after 3am, when he was approached by two males riding an e-bike, wearing dark clothing and with their faces covered.
It was at this point that Harvey, who had recruited an accomplice to transport him to the scene after returning to his grandmother's home to collect the gun, fired three shots - hitting his target with two. He suffered a fractured left kneecap while another bullet passed through his right thigh, leaving him requiring surgery on both legs.
It is suspect that the shooting was carried out "in revenge or retaliation" for an attack carried out by Mr Costello previously or due to a "preexisting grudge". The same gun was then used to shoot Lewis Cottage, a man in his 20s, at around 9pm on January 16 2022 on the Green in Broadgreen.
He presented at the Royal Liverpool Hospital on that evening after suffering gunshot wounds to his chest and arms. Harvey's DNA was discovered on one of two fired cartridge cases which were recovered by police from the scene.
The teen was subsequently arrested on suspicion of attempted murder on January 27, but was later released under investigation. On June 18 2022, the firearm used in both attacks was seized from his possession during a raid on a house on the Beechwalk in Stoneycroft.
Harvey arrived at the address carrying a man bag at around 2.30pm, with the search warrant then being executed at 5pm. Firearms officers swooped on the address assisted by the police helicopter, smashing through the doors to a conservatory where he was sat wearing a tracksuit and a balaclava.
The "startled" boy ran into the building and was found hiding in the eaves of the loft more than three hours later. He was then detained after a struggle.
Harvey's bag was recovered by the back door with the loaded and "racked" gun inside it. One bullet was loaded into chamber ready to be fired, with another nine in a magazine in the handle of the weapon.
DNA swabs from the firearm later proved to be a match with the youngster. The court was told that Harvey "must have had control over or ready access to it at all times".
He has two previous convictions, including one for possession of a bladed article in a public place in 2020 for which he was handed a youth rehabilitation order. Jason Smith, defending, said on his behalf: "This is a young man who was 16 years of age at the time of these offences and is now 17.
"There is a background of a young man who was being exploited and who has had a difficult and traumatic upbringing. He has adapted to life in prison and has used it positively.
"It is encouraging to see him applying himself and attempting in every way he can to better himself. One can only hope these positive intentions remain and that when this young man is released from prison he is able to lead a law-abiding, constructive future."
Harvey was convicted of wounding with intent, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, two charges of possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition by a jury in December. Appearing via video link to HMP Wetherby this morning, he showed no emotion as he was handed the lengthy prison term plus an additional two-and-a-half years on licence while family members were seen crying and hugging in the public gallery.
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