Two men jailed for more than a decade in total for their part in Skelmersdale shooting

Police were called to reports of a shooting on Birch Green Road in Skelmersdale shortly after 6.10pm on November 9, 2022.

Stephen Birch, 32, was found with a gunshot wound to his leg and was taken to hospital to be treated.

Cole Kelly, 23, of Inglewhite, Skelmersdale, and Warren Williams, 20, of Broad Lane, Kirby, were both charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The pair appeared at Preston Crown Court in December, where Williams pleaded guilty to section 18 wounding and possession of a firearm and Kelly admitted assisting an offender.

Today, Williams has been jailed for eight years and two months, while Kelly has been jailed for three years and four months.

Det Supt Mark Haworth-Oates, of Lancashire Police’s south division, said: “I welcome these sentences today for the part that each of these men played in the shooting of Stephen Birch.

"This was an offence that happened during the early evening in a busy residential area where people were going about their normal business.

"Only a minute before the incident, a group of youths had walked past those involved and it is sheer good fortune that no-one else was injured or killed as a result of the completely reckless actions of the defendants.

“From the start of the investigation, Stephen Birch has been uncooperative and refused to provide a statement or to name the people responsible. Despite this we have persevered and built a strong case against the two defendants, despite the lack of witness evidence to put them at the scene.

"We also prosecuted the victim for his part in the build-up to the shooting, which involved him making threats with a machete.

“This kind of lawless and dangerous behaviour will not be tolerated and, as in this case, we will seek to prosecute those involved wherever possible to keep our communities safe.”

Stephen Birch, of no fixed address, was charged with affray and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place relating to an earlier incident on the same day. He was jailed for 20 months in September.