Latest news with #RikkiBerry
BBC News
18-07-2025
- BBC News
Man charged with murder of dad shot on doorstep
A man has been charged with murder 12 months after a dad was shot yards from his children in Berry, known by his nickname Nuggy, was struck by four bullets fired by 27-year-old Michael Smith on 17 July 2024. Mr Berry, 36, was in the open doorway of his partner's home on Quarryside Drive and collapsed inside where his then 13-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were present. Three men have already been jailed for life over the killing but Merseyside Police has now charged Ryan Walsh-Westhead, 24, with murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. Mr Walsh-Westhead, from Burscough Street in Ormskirk, was arrested on Thursday exactly one year on from Mr Berry's murder. A 45-year-old woman from Kirkby, who was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, has been released under investigation. In February this year Smith, 27 and from Kirkby, was convicted of murder alongside Adam Williams, 26 and from St Helens, and Connor Walsh, 26 and from Kirkby. Smith and Williams were given life sentences with minimum terms of 31 years while Walsh was handed a 30-year minimum term. The jury had heard Smith had opened fire from the back of an electric bike with a handgun at 18:30 BST after pulling up on the kerb outside the house. Det Insp Graeme Osborne said: "We have charged a man in connection with the murder of Rikki Berry and I would like to remind people that this is a live investigation."Please be mindful that anything posted or shared on social media could jeopardise proceedings, so please support us as we move forward with the case. The best way to help is to pass information on through official channels." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
BBC News
17-07-2025
- BBC News
New arrests made after dad shot dead at home near his children
Two people have been arrested a year on from the murder of a young dad shot dead close to his terrified children. Three men have already been jailed for life for the murder of 36-year-old Rikki Berry in Kirkby on 17 July 2024. But Merseyside Police said the investigation remained ongoing and exactly 12 months later have arrested a man on suspicion of murder and a woman on suspicion of assisting an offender. Mr Berry was standing in the front doorway of his partner's house on Quarryside Drive when 27-year-old Michael Smith pulled up on an electric bike at 18:30 BST and fired four shots. His 13-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were playing inside the property when Mr Berry, nicknamed Nuggy, was hit. The court heard one bullet passed through the house and lodged in one of his son's football trophies. In a victim impact statement read in court the boy asked Smith and his accomplices, 26-year-old Adam Williams and Connor Walsh, 27, how it felt to know "I had to watch my dad die". They were convicted of murder and related offences at Liverpool Crown Court in February. Smith and Williams received life sentences with a minimum term of 31 years, while Walsh received a 30-year minimum term. Merseyside Police said on Thursday that the new suspects, a 24-year-old man from Ormskirk and a 45-year-old woman from Kirkby, remain in custody for questioningDet Insp Graeme Osborne said: "Offenders should be assured that we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to take their weapons off them and that time is no barrier in our efforts to bring people to justice."Information from the public is an absolutely crucial part of our work to protect our communities from the fear and harm weapons can bring and we appeal to anyone who has information on where weapons are being stored, carried and used to come forward." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Yahoo
Three guilty of shooting dad dead in his garden
Three men have been found guilty of the murder of a man who was shot on a Merseyside street. Rikki Berry, 36, died in hospital after the attack in Quarryside Drive, Kirkby, Knowsley, on the evening of 17 July. Michael Smith, 27, Adam Williams, 26, and Connor Walsh, 26, were all found guilty of murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court earlier. They will be sentenced on 18 February. Rikki Berry died after a balacla-wearing man riding an electric bike fired four shots at him just after 18:30. The electric bike was travelling on the pavement but in convoy was a black Seat Alteca Cupra being driven in the same direction on the road. As the bike rider slowed down, almost to a stop, the car also came to a stop. The car and the bike were alongside each other outside Mr Berry's partner's home, with Mr Berry in the front garden of the house. Michael Smith fired four shots at Mr Berry, with three making contact, and Mr Berry died from a gunshot wound to his chest. The court heard that Smith, 27, of no fixed abode, was the rider of the bike, with Adam Williams, 26, of Hamblett Crescent, St Helens, the driver of the car and Connor Walsh, 26, of Simonswood Lane, Kirkby, a passenger in the car. Williams and Walsh were both present to oversee the killing, the court heard. Telephone records showed the three men were in contact with each other in the run-up to the murder. They were all together in the Cupra minutes before the shooting as they drove to conduct a recce of the scene. After the shooting, the defendants switched off their phones and Williams left the Merseyside area. DNA on one of the bullet casings recovered from the scene by police was found to match Walsh. The three men were arrested and charged with murder, with all of them pleading not guilty. Part-way through the trial, which lasted nearly four weeks, Walsh and Williams served defence statements naming Smith as the gunman. Following this, Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence but continued to deny murder. Senior Crown Prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams of CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: "This was a shocking, execution-style murder committed on a residential road on a summer evening in July 2024." She said Rikki Berry was at home with his partner and young children when four shots were fired at him by Smith. "It was only a matter of chance that no-one else was injured or killed by the gunman's actions," she added. She said that "guns have no place in our communities" and people had a right to expect to be able to live without fear of this sort of violence happening on their doorsteps. "Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Rikki Berry," she added. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
