Arbourthorne Sheffield drive-by shootings: Three people deny murder conspiracy as baby left 'showered with glass'

A Sheffield Crown Court trial heard on November 23 how Joshua Mottershead, Niki Haycock and Demi Dunford are accused of conspiring to murder Ryan Ducker after two drive-by shootings were reported at properties on Errington Avenue and Aylward Road, near Arbourthorne, Sheffield, on June 30, 2020.

Stephen Wood QC, prosecuting, said: “The Crown’s case is that there was a plan to shoot and to kill a man called Ryan Ducker and that this shooting was the culmination of that plan.”

An occupant of Errington Avenue had been in a chair about 9.30pm when shots were fired into his living room as his wife and son were elsewhere in the property, according to Mr Wood.

Mr Wood said that at about 9.53am the occupier of the property at Aylward Road had been with her daughter and her sister and her three-year-old daughter and ten-month old baby when further shots were fired through the living room window. Ryan Ducker was also at this property, according to Mr Wood.

He told the jury: “You may think miraculously nobody was injured. The baby was showered with broken glass and had glass in its hair.”

Mr Wood claimed the intended target had been Ryan Ducker but the occupant at Errington Avenue had done a house-swap with his step-daughter who was Mr Ducker’s partner and they now lived on the opposite side of the road.

Mr Wood added CCTV captured a Vauxhall Astra at the addresses and the sound of four shots at one property and six at the other home.

Ryan Ducker’s partner claims to have seen a silver-coloured Astra and that she recognised Mr Haycock as the driver and Mr Mottershead as the passenger.

Mr Mottershead initially claimed he had been at home but said there had been a feud involving other members of his family and Ryan Ducker.

Mr Haycock claimed he had been with his girlfriend at her home before taking a taxi to her grandparents’ home on Slate Street.

However, Mr Wood said Mr Mottershead now accepts he was the car passenger who discharged a gun at both houses but claims his motivation was only to cause fear.

Mr Wood claimed Miss Dunford had been travelling by taxi just after the shootings while communicating by phone with Mr Mottershead before she allegedly met a man called Jason Brough and the Astra was set alight near Park Spring Drive.

Ms Dunford, aged 25, of Derby Street, Sheffield; Mr Mottershead, aged 22, of St Aiden’s Avenue, Sheffield; and Mr Haycock, aged 23, of Ironside Close, Sheffield, have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit murder and not guilty to conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Ms Dunford and Mr Haycock have also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence but Mr Mottershead has admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.

Jason Brough, aged 51, of Kent Road, Sheffield, has pleaded guilty to arson and Ms Dunford has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in relation to her involvement with the torched car.

The trial continues.