James Gelsthorpe and Richard Holland in prosecution of organised crime group
James Gelsthorpe and Richard Holland, instructed by the Complex Casework Unit at CPS Manchester, have concluded the prosecution of eight members of a group of organised criminals for their part in the shooting of rival gang members and their wider roles in a lucrative drugs conspiracy. James and Richard presented the case over the course of six weeks in which it was said that the defendants, who were based in Manchester, had responded to a plan by a criminal organisation based in Burnley to rob them of their cannabis grow valued at £220,000. The prosecution alleged that the defendants had brought a 9mm self-loading pistol up to Burnley and used it to shoot two members of the rival gang.
The case involved the piecing together of numerous strands of evidence, but principally the movement of mobile telephones and cars with which the defendants were associated. All defendants were unanimously convicted of each count they faced and will be sentenced on a later date.
