Gerald Smith: 20 years since nine men were jailed for Sheffield murder after trial that made legal history

It was a case that made British legal history, a painstaking inquiry involving 35 dedicated detectives, and a seven-week trial that cost £2.5 million.

It will be 20 years ago next year that nine men were all jailed for murder in Sheffield - though it was not known which one of them fired the fatal shots that killed an innocent man.

All nine clung to their pitiful gangland code of silence and would not point the finger at the true killer - so all were deemed guilty by joint enterprise of the murder of Sheffield father-of-seven Gerald Smith.

The 42-year-old was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was gunned down in the doorway of the Afro Caribbean Club in Spital Hill, Burngreave, in a drive-by shooting a week before Christmas in December 2002.

Mr Smith was blasted with two shots fired from a sawn-off single barrel shotgun. He was hit in the face and leg, and died from his injuries hours later.

Tragic bungled case of revenge for Meadowhall robbery

Sheffield Crown Court heard the murder had been triggered by an incident earlier in the day, when four members of a drugs gang from Nottingham were robbed of mobile phones and gold chains during a trip to Meadowhall shopping centre.

Their robbers turned out to be a gang from the West Midlands, not Sheffield. But, nonetheless, and in a tragic bungled case of revenge, they headed that night to Burngreave to 'gain respect' - and selected at random Mr Smith upon whom to unleash their firepower.

He had nothing to do with the robbery in Meadowhall, and nothing to do with gangland crime. He lived locally in Pitsmoor with his wife Lorna and four of his children - two young sons and two young daughters - and was simply out for a late-night drink in the days leading up to Christmas.

He was just somebody standing in the doorway of the club who the gang had decided was going to 'get it'.The nine thugs from Nottingham were finally arrested after a painstaking six-month police investigation, during which officers received 'excellent' support from the people of Burngreave but came up against a 'wall of silence' from the criminal fraternity in their efforts to find those responsible.

'I don't know who fire the shots. But you're all responsible for what happened'

Four months into the investigation, and after a team of 35 officers went through every detail of Mr Smith's background and movements on the night of his death, detectives were able to reveal the killers had murdered the wrong man.

Det Supt Talbot said: "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. "We have spent four months investigating his every move, his every friend, everything that happened on the day and in the weeks leading up to it. I am satisfied the motive is not related to Gerald Smith."

At Sheffield Crown Court the following year, as the killers were finally sentenced - and in the first case of its kind - Judge Mr Justice Wakerley told them: "I don't know who fired the shots. But you're all responsible for what happened."

Prosecutor Peter Kelson QC said after the hearing: "I don't know of any case where nine men have been tried and found guilty of murder and it is unclear who committed the murder."

Gang members thought they were 'untouchable'

Detective Inspector Steve Talbot, who led the murder inquiry, said: "By their sheer presence, all of them were aiding and abetting the killer. "In the eyes of the law, they are all as guilty as the man who fired the shots."

The gang members - who the court heard thought they were 'untouchable' - variously had previous convictions for drug-dealing, robbery, kidnapping, burglary and possession of guns. All were jailed for life.

Ezra Taylor, aged 26 at the time, and Leon Bryan, 21, were described by the judge as the 'leaders' and were ordered to serve a minimum term of 23 years. Craig Brooks, Gordon McPherson, and Richard Powell, all aged 26 at the time, and Gareth Lindsay, 20, were told to serve a minimum of 22 years. Roger Gordon, 28, was sentenced to at least 21 years and Dean Pinnock and Christopher McKenzie, both 20, to at least 20 years.