Man appears in court over gangland killings

Updated

A man accused of murdering an underworld "Mr Big" and a mob "fixer" has appeared in court amid a heavy police presence.

Mark Fellows, 37, stood handcuffed in the dock flanked by four prison officers for the brief three-minute hearing at South Sefton Magistrates' Court, Bootle, Merseyside.

Fellows, dressed in grey jogging bottoms and a grey sweatshirt, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and confirm his address in Warrington, Cheshire.

He is accused of the gangland murders of Paul Massey, 55, from Salford, and John Kinsella, from Liverpool.

The accused is also charged with attempted murder of Wendy Owen, Kinsella's partner, who was shot at as she fled the scene of his killing in Merseyside last month.

Across the courtroom, around 20 friends and family of Kinsella packed the public gallery, with six police officers standing close by.

More police were stationed around the court building.

Fellows was arrested at Manchester Airport on Wednesday after a series of police raids following a joint operation by Merseyside Police and Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

The clerk of the court told Fellows the three offences could only be dealt with at a crown court.

Chair of the bench, Maureen Lewis, remanded the defendant into custody to appear at Liverpool Crown Court on June 5.

Ms Lewis said: "We are sending this case to the crown court for trial, you will appear at the crown court in Liverpool on the fifth of June."

Kinsella, 53, who was shot dead last month in St Helens, had been a mob fixer who once stopped a gangster terrorising former Liverpool FC footballer Steven Gerrard.

The 53-year-old died after being shot while walking his dog with his partner on a footpath, near to the St Helens Linkway and the M62 motorway, at 7am on Saturday May 5.

Massey, 55, gunned down outside his home in July 2015, was a well-known figure in his home city of Salford and had been involved in security firms operating in Manchester and beyond.

The father of five died in a hail of bullets as he stepped out of a silver BMW car outside his home in the Clifton area of Salford almost three years ago.

He was blasted four times by an assassin wearing "military-style" clothing for the apparent gangland hit.

Five other people arrested this week have been released under investigation.

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