John Kinsella was an English criminal from Everton,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. He was shot dead in May 2018 by killers using encrypted

EncroChat EncroChat was a Europe-based communications network and service provider that offered modified smartphones allowing encrypted communication among subscribers. It was used primarily by organized crime members to plan criminal activities. Police ...

handsets to co-ordinate the murder.

Early life

He was an expert in

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

and

jujutsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...

, and was originally from Everton. He was a criminal associate of gangster Paul Massey and a

pallbearer A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles of ...

at his funeral.

Criminal history

In 1991, Kinsella was sentenced at

Liverpool Crown Court The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts, in Derby Square, Liverpool, are operated by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service. The building is used by the Crown Court, the Magistrates' Court, Liverpool District Probate Registry and the Liverpool Yout ...

to nine years' imprisonment for attempted robbery and carrying a firearm with intent to commit an offence. In 2006, he was involved in a robbery in

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, and was put on trial for it in 2008. During the trial, the jury was read a letter from the father of

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

saying that Kinsella had stopped his son from being threatened by a criminal, George Bromley Jnr, known as "The Psycho" in 2001. When, during the trial, Kinsella was allowed into the court grounds during a lunch break, he absconded. He was convicted in his absence and sentenced to 14 years. He was subsequently arrested in February 2009. Kinsella's death was the result of a gang feud begun in 2015 between two rival criminal organisations in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. One gang, headed by Michael Carroll, had Mark Fellows and Steven Boyle as members. The rival gang, said to be headed by Stephen Britton, called itself "the A-team". Kinsella and Massey were associated with the latter gang.

Death

Kinsella was shot dead on 5 May 2018 near St Helens Linkway in Rainhill by Mark Fellows. Fellows was found guilty of the murders of both Kinsella and Massey in January 2019. Stephen Boyle was convicted of murder for his part of acting as a "spotter" in the murder of John Kinsella. It was later revealed during the investigation that the murder of Kinsella was organised by means of

devices.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinsella, John 2018 deaths 2018 crimes in the United Kingdom English gangsters Murdered British gangsters People from Rainhill Crime in Liverpool