A NORTHWICH man branded as a career criminal by a judge was jailed for selling a car that was used in a drug war shooting in Liverpool.
Shaun Kelly, of Beech Grove in Weaverham, knew nothing of what the Audi was going to be used for when he sold it, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
The 36-year-old was jailed for a total of three and a half years for numerous offences, including breaking into the home of an elderly flood victim on two separate occasions.
Stephen McNally, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court, also told the court how Kelly had also sold a car to a 16-year-old who was jailed earlier in the week for being involved in three shootings and an arson attack.
One of those shootings involved a gun being fired from the occupants of the Audi, which had been stolen from a house in Runcorn on November 30, 2020.
Mr McNally said: “The Crown does not suggest that Shaun Kelly was aware that the car would later be used in a shooting.
“However, when you handle stolen goods and sell them on to others you don’t know what they will be used for.”
The court had earlier heard how Kelly had sold the car to the 16-year-old for £300 in the Sefton Park area of Liverpool.
Keith Sutton, defending, said his client had only told police the full story of how he came to be in possession of the car after officers told him of what it had been used for.
“He had acquired the vehicle for his own use and only sold it on because he needed the money,” he said.
“There is nothing to suggest he knew how it had been stolen.
“Once he realised what was alleged by police, he came clean and told the full story.”
Kelly was handed a six-month sentence by the judge as well as eight months for the aggravated taking of a vehicle with dangerous driving offence.
That offence related to the theft of a Kawasaki Z800 motorbike from a house in Carlisle which was involved in a high-speed crash by the Rocket flyover in Liverpool on April 21, 2021.
Kelly fled the scene of the crash, which left his pillion passenger in hospital, but was identified through his DNA being found on a discarded helmet and on the bike’s handlebars.
He was also disqualified from driving for an extended period of 57 months.
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