VIOLENT men involved in a drugs gang shooting in a Bolton Street have been jailed for a total of 24 years.

Lewis Sinclair shot at the occupied house in Hilden Street, letting off six rounds into the windows and door before fleeing in a getaway car driven by Andrew Johannessen.

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and a third man, Shawn O’Malley, who was with Sinclair in Hilden Street, is due to be sentenced for his involvement in the shooting and other offences at Liverpool Crown Court in September.

At Bolton Crown Court Sinclair, aged 39, of Hazel Walk, Partington and Johannessen, 38, of Gaskell Street, St Helens, were each sentenced to 12 years in jail plus an extended period of 27 months on licence. They will not be eligible to apply for parole until they have each served at least six years and 10 months in jail.

Sentencing them, the Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh told them: "Guns kill, maim, terrorise and intimidate. Too many are carried and too many are used, often with devastating effect upon individuals and always with an insidious and corrosive impact on the well-being of the local community."

The shooting arose out of a feud between organised crime gangs over the distribution of Class A drugs in the North West, including that of Warrington gangster Leon Cullen, who had fled to Dubai.

Andrew Scott, prosecuting, told how O’Malley, from Orford, Warrington, had conspired with Johannessen and Sinclair to use a stolen Mercedes to travel to Bolton on September 9, 2019 to carry out the shooting.

“This was on an occupied address at Hilden Street which was linked to men involved in a long-standing organised crime group dispute,” he said.

In the days before the crime was committed Johannessen carried out recces of the scene, the electronic tag he was wearing connecting to a base unit in the town and proving he was there.

Mr Scott said that, on the day of the shooting, the three men met up at Cumberland Street in Warrington, the home of O’Malley’s partner Annie Webster, before heading to Johannessen’s St Helens home and then travelling to Bolton.

“CCTV captured the car driving to the scene in Hilden Street,” said Mr Scott.

“It captured two offenders walking from Selwyn Street onto Hilden Street. They were both together, in full black clothing and had their faces fully covered as they walked casually towards the house.”

O’Malley broke away while Sinclair remained on the pavement and stopped at the gate to the terraced house.

“Taking deliberate aim, he fired six shots at the windows and door of the property,” said Mr Scott.

Judge Walsh told the defendants: "Your actions were intended to terrify the occupants of that address and the discharge of live rounds of ammunition into an occupied dwelling created a real and obvious risk of serious injury or worse to those present within the building."

The pair then ran off back to the Mercedes and Johannessen drove them towards Leigh, where they changed to a BMW and continued onto St Helens.

The court heard that the people inside the Hilden Street house have not assisted police with their investigation.

Following the shooting the gun used, a Czech 9mm 'Parabellum' self-loading pistol, and cocaine were planted by others in the car of Cullen's rival, Craig Millington, in Warrington in a bid to frame him.

As well as admitting their part in the shooting, Johannessen and Sinclair also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglaries in August and September 2019, breaking into lockers at David Lloyd fitness clubs around the country to steal car keys and other items.

The thefts happened at: The Belfry Hotel in Sutton Coldfield on August 20 where items including a Tag Heuer watch and BMW 52 were taken; The David Lloyd gyms in Derby and Nottingham on September 2 where valuables and an Audi TT were stolen; An attempted burglary at the David Lloyd gym at Bristol and burglary at the Litchfield fitness club on September 3 where valuables and a Mercedes were taken; The David Lloyd gym at Harrogate on September 5 where two lockers were broken into with property taken and a £50,000 Mercedes Coupe stolen.

The stolen were often put on false plates and used in other offences.

The court heard that Johannessen already has 39 convictions for 63 offences including several burglaries whilst Sinclair has been convicted 32 times for 70 crimes including robbery, a firearms offence and violence.

Mark Friend, defending Sinclair, stressed that the people inside the Hilden Street house had not suffered physical or psychological harm whilst Katherine Pierpoint, for Johannessen, said the father-of-two faces his longest prison sentence.

But, imposing extended sentences, Judge Walsh told the pair that he has no doubt that they pose a significant risk of danger to the public.