Court told that father was the target in the shooting of a 7-year-old in Salford

A court has heard today that the shooting of a 7-year-old boy and his mother in Salford was the result of a failed gangland hit, intended for the boys father.

Christian Hickey and his mother Jayne were shot in the legs by a gunman with a handgun. The gun had also been used in another gang shooting six months earlier, on a man named Jamie Rothwell, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The shooting was an alleged attempt at a gang related hit on Christians father, Chris Hickey senior, who was believed to have been living in Salford at the time.

“what happened that night was a plan to kill”

Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC, opening the case at the start of the trial of eight men, told the jury: “Both mother and son had been shot in the legs, causing serious injuries, and both required extensive hospital treatment, but survived.

“The prosecution case is that what happened that night was a plan to kill, in all probability Chris Hickey was the target, but something went wrong.”

He continued: “There was a knock at the window. Jayne Hickey went to the door and opened it. Her son was behind her.

“A man was there, down the drive. He shouted, ‘Is your husband in?’ Jayne Hickey replied, ‘One sec’, at which she heard the man say something like, ‘nah nah’.

“A second man then appeared. He was armed with a gun; indeed, he was armed with the same Heckler & Koch self-loading pistol that had been used to shoot Jamie Rothwell. The second man started shooting. Jayne Hickey slammed the door.

“Looking around, she saw that Christian had been shot. Then she realised that she too had been injured.”

The court also heard that the attack in 2015 is linked with a number of other incidents, centered around Salford. These include an attack at a car wash in Ashton-in-Makerfield, as well as the throwing of a hand grenade into an occupied family home.

Mr Greaney said these were planned attacks carried out by members of the two competing gangs, both operating in Salford, headed by Carroll and Britton, who had been friends until a violent dispute developed.

All the defendants were involved in at least one of the two attacks, carried out by the A-Team on their rivals, it is alleged.

Men to go on trial over shooting of 7-year-old boy in Salford

Carne Thomasson, 28, Christopher Hall, 49, Aldaire Warmington, 32, and John Thomasson, 49, all deny conspiracy to murder and perverting the course of justice.

James Coward, 22, Dominic Walton, 26, and Lincoln Warmington, 32, deny perverting the course of justice in relation to the disposal of an Audi car after the Hickey shooting.

Jacob Harrison, 26, has admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm to Mr Rothwell after he was shot and injured at a car wash near Wigan on March 30 2015.

John Kent, 54, denies the same charge and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for the Rothwell shooting.