CCTV footage captured a vicious teenage gang thug kneecapping a man outside a shop in a “revenge attack”.
In the shocking video clip, a series of three loud bangs can be heard before the victim, 33-year-old Michael Costello, shouts out in pain. Mr Costello is then captured hopping down the street on his right leg with a female companion in a desperate bid to escape.
Dark patches are visibly beginning to form on his left knee, but Mr Costello had also been shot in his right thigh with a patch of blood also showing there. In the background, two figures in dark clothing can be seen circling round before speeding out of shot on an electric bike.
That incident occurred on Prescot Road, Old Swan, on December 11, 2021, outside a One Stop convenience store. It did not take Merseyside Police detectives long to suspect the gunman was Joel Harvey, now 17, and he was initially arrested on January 27 last year.
Target number 2
By that time, a second man called Lewis Cottage, in his 20s, had been shot in the chest on The Green, Broadgreen, on January 16, with the same Grand Power self-loading pistol used to shoot Mr Costello. Harvey was not charged with being the triggerman in that shooting, despite the fact his DNA was discovered on one of two fired cartridge cases which were recovered by police from the scene.
Merseyside Police were forced to release Harvey after his initial interview due to lack of evidence, in large part because the gun had not yet been recovered. But fortunately for detectives the teenager, of Lindisfarne Drive in Croxteth, did not have the brains to get rid of the incriminating Grand Power handgun.
At 2.30pm on June 18, 2022, a masked Harvey arrived at an address in The Beechwalk, Stoneycroft, carrying a “man-bag”. Merseyside Police were ready and stormed the house at around 5pm, using armed officers assisted by a police helicopter.
The strike team smashed through the doors to a conservatory where Harvey was spotted, wearing a tracksuit and a balaclava. Liverpool Crown Court heard the “startled” boy ran into the building and was found hiding in the eaves of the loft more than three hours later. He was then detained after a struggle.
Harvey’s bag was recovered by the back door with the loaded and “racked” gun inside it. One bullet was loaded into the chamber ready to be fired, with another nine in a magazine in the handle of the weapon.
Henry Riding, prosecuting, said police suspected the shooting of Mr Costello was carried out “in revenge or retaliation” for an attack carried out by Mr Costello previously or due to a “pre-existing grudge”. The victim required surgery to both legs, but did not co-operate with the investigation and would not allow detectives to examine his medical records so the full extent of his injuries could be confirmed.
Judge Clement Goldstone, KC, passing sentence yesterday, said he believed Harvey had been preparing to shoot someone else when he was arrested in June. He told the dangerous teenager: “I have no doubt from the fact that the pistol was loaded and ready to fire that, had the police not arrested you, you would have used the pistol to settle another score with potentially fatal consequences.
“The facts of this case would make staggering reading if you were an adult, but it defies belief – even in these times of unparalleled street violence – that someone who was only 16-years-old when these offences were committed should be so steeped in gangland culture and be prepared to engage in open warfare on the streets of this great city without any concern or regard for the safety of its citizens in general, let alone those with whom you were in dispute.”
Harvey denied the charges put to him but was convicted by a jury of wounding with intent, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, two charges of possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition. Appearing via video link to HMP Wetherby yesterday, he showed no emotion as he was handed 12-and-a-half years detention plus an additional two-and-a-half years on licence.
After the sentencing Detective Inspector John Mullen said: “Harvey was involved in unparalleled street violence and organised crime at the age of just 16. Had our officers not arrested Harvey, he could have used this lethal weapon, which was loaded, to seriously harm others in Liverpool with potentially fatal consequences.
“Harvey showed complete disregard for the safety of those in our community and crossed the line in every sense by shooting a man on a public street. He will now spend a considerable amount of time in custody, reflecting on his reckless actions.”
“From the nature of your repeated offending, your disregard for the safety if not the lives of others, your lack of remorse and your inability or unwillingness to address your use of violence, I share the carefully considered opinion and have no doubt that, despite your age, you represent a substantial risk of the commission of further specified serious offences which will cause at lease significant injury to your victims.
“As such, you fall to be sentenced as a dangerous offender. I have asked myself whether the substantial risk which you pose is one which can be managed safely within the confines of a standard determinate sentence.
“Even allowing for your potential for maturity which, as case studies and research make clear, may develop over many years and thereby enable you to turn your back on your extreme lawlessness, and the fact that by and large you are behaving yourself whilst in custody, and putting your time there to constructive use, I find nothing in the materials before me, nor do I find anything about your conduct generally which allows me to conclude that the risk which you pose can be managed within the confines of such a sentence.
“I am therefore satisfied that not only are you a dangerous offender within the statutory definition, but also one from whom the public should be protected from that risk for as long as my public duty permits.
“It is to be hoped that during that extended period you continue to benefit from such courses and structured interventions as are made available to you. In determining the length of sentence in your case, I have had regard to the sentencing guidelines as to the individual offences, totality and the sentencing of youths.
“The gravity of gun crime cannot be exaggerated, as recent shootings in this city and on Merseyside have shown all too clearly. I have no doubt that despite your youth, the seriousness of your offending and its impact upon innocent and law-abiding members of the community means that my paramount and primary consideration is the protection of the public.
“Had you been an adult, the sentence would have been one of 25 years representing – a custodial term of 21 years with an extended licence period of four years. I will reduce the total sentence to one of 15 years, comprising a custodial term of 12-and-a-half years detention with an extended licence period of two-and-a-half years.
“You should not expect to be released from detention until you have served two thirds of the custodial term less time spent on remand.
“It is right that the public should know that at a time when the reputation and morale of police forces throughout the United Kingdom are suffering because of the conduct of a minute proportion of their number, Merseyside Police acted with consummate professionalism in bringing Joel Harvey before the court and in ensuring that at least one lethal weapon and a significant quantity of live ammunition has been removed from circulation.”
