Binmen then watched on helplessly as the armed assailant and the occupants of another house traded gunfire in the street
18:00, 01 Aug 2025Updated 19:04, 01 Aug 2025
Police at the scene on Paxton Road in Huyton (Image: Liverpool ECHO )
A gunman shot at a woman who told him to “pack it in” as she attempted to stop him from opening fire at a house where a nan and her granddaughter were playing in the front garden. The armed assailant was then whisked away on a stolen Kawasaki motorcycle before unleashing a further hail of bullets at a third home.
Binmen who were completing their rounds on the same street thereafter watched on helplessly as the occupants of this address returned fire with a shotgun. Cries of “love you bro” were heard in court today as “getaway rider” Tony Meadows and Thomas Edwards, who hid the bike in the aftermath of the shootings, were put behind bars.
Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Friday, that the former defendant and alleged gunman Owen Jamieson rode a stolen Kawasaki ZR900 motorbike to Paxton Road in Huyton and Shaw Lane in Prescot on the afternoon of August 15, 2023, firing a self-loading pistol towards residential properties in both locations. However, the latter has not yet been charged with any criminal offences in connection with the two incidents.
Simon Driver, prosecuting, said: “This was a targeted attack that bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned and coordinated criminal mission, albeit one that, despite their best efforts to avoid detection, left an evidential trail that led to Tony Meadows and Owen Jamieson. The stolen motorbike was provided by Thomas Edwards, who later permitted them to hide the motorbike in the back garden of the address he shared with his partner and children.”
One resident of Paxton Road, Michelle Brown, had been cleaning the windows of an upstairs bedroom at the front of her home shortly before 1.30pm on the day in question. She recalled how children had been playing in the street, with her elderly next door neighbour also gardening with her young granddaughter outside, when she noticed the pillion passenger of a motorbike dismounting the vehicle while brandishing a firearm.
When he “looked in the direction of the grandmother and granddaughter in the front garden”, she began banging on her windows in order to gain their attention due to her “fearing for their safety” and shouted “pack it in”. Mr Driver continued: “The armed man, the crown allege Owen Jamieson, responded by aiming the gun at Michelle Brown and firing in her direction.
“She jumped for cover and, mercifully, was not injured. A bullet head fragment was subsequently recovered lodged in the window frame where she had stood immediately before the discharge.”
The gun was then further fired at the house where the grandma and child had been present before the attacker got back on the bike and was driven away. Minutes later, refuse collectors who were emptying blue bins on Shaw Lane became aware of two vehicles “arriving at speed”.
This saw a car mount the pavement in order to navigate around their lorry before the two occupants ran into a house. They were quickly followed by the motorcycle, which was described as being “seemingly in pursuit of the car”.
Again, the passenger of the bike dismounted and produced a firearm. He then made threats towards the binmen before firing at the open front door and windows of the address.
But the gunman was thereafter seen to take “evasive action, as if someone was returning fire”. Investigations later established that “more than one firearm had been discharged” at the scene, indicating that the occupants had “returned fire with a shotgun”.
Meadows, of Primrose Court in Huyton, was said to have been “revving up the engine, ready for a speedy getaway” before the other man got back on the motorbike. The 21-year-old was said to have “driven away so quickly” that he “temporarily lost control” of the vehicle before they made their escape, with the males from the car “warning the bin men against calling the police” before also leaving.
Tony Meadows, of Primrose Court in Huyton, aged 21(Image: Merseyside Police)
The £10,000 bike, which had been stolen from the rear of a residential property in June 2022, was subsequently taken to Edwards’ then home on Borough Road in St Helens, where it was ultimately discovered by police two days later. No firearms were recovered in connection with the investigation.
Meadows has two previous convictions for possession of class B drugs. Jamie Baxter, defending, said on his behalf: “He did not possess or handle the firearm and had no influence over the gunman. He was aware of the intended action, for it to be discharged, but his role has to be considered on the evidence.
“My submission is that there was some degree of planning, rather than a significant degree of planning. I note that Owen Jamieson had his EMS tag on his leg, pinging around Liverpool. That suggests there was some planning, but it was not of the most intellectual level or most significant level.”
Mr Baxter said of the shot being fired towards Ms Brown: “It is a fact that the shooting arose in the context of the conspiracy, but he was not a part of it. That is the risk that people in Mr Meadows’ position take when engaging in this sort of criminal activity. I do submit to what he agreed to do, and that is what he is to be sentenced for.
“He had no prior convictions at the time of the offending and, furthermore, has no relevant convictions as of today. He has had a difficult background in his early years and personal circumstances. Perhaps the most pertinent, poignant mitigation is his young age. He was 19 at the time of the commission of the offence, and is still only 21.”
Edwards, now of Dyer Court in Stranraer, Scotland, has a criminal record which includes entries for driving matters, obstructing police and public orders offences. The 27-year-old’s counsel Jason Smith told the court: “He is to be sentenced for offences which took place some two years ago now. He left the Merseyside area and took a conscious, deliberate decision that, if he remained in the area, there was a temptation he would become involved in levels of criminality.
“He was arrested in January this year in Stranraer, and that is where he went to. He set up a new life with a new partner, doing gardening and landscaping work. He made the choice to start a new life.
“The impact of these proceedings has been profound. He has lost that new life and will have to start again. His partner has stood by him, but it has been a difficult relationship to continue. One can only hope that the desires and expressions of rebuilding his life are genuine, and that he is able to move to Scotland and keep away from the criminal activity he was involved in on this occasion.”
Thomas Edwards, of Dyer Court in Stranraer, Scotland, aged 27(Image: Merseyside Police)
Meadows admitted conspiracy to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life this week on what was the second day of his trial. Appearing in the dock wearing a navy blue tracksuit, he was jailed for 10 years and two months.
Edwards, who wore a grey Montirex t-shirt, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and handling stolen goods and was handed 20 months behind bars. One woman in the public gallery was heard to shout “love you bro” from the public gallery as the defendants were led to the cells.
Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones told Meadows: “On the 15th of August, you and your accomplice, Owen Jamieson, took part in what was quite clearly a specifically targeted attack on the occupants of two properties. It happened in broad daylight.
“No doubt, it was in furtherance of criminal activity. There was significant planning, in my judgement. The preparation involved you arranging for a 14-year-old individual to buy you a top-up for your mobile, while Jamieson took steps to obtain the firearm, ammunition and motorcycle used in the offence. It was you, Edwards, who supplied that motorcycle.
“I accept that your role can properly be described as secondary to the role played by Jamieson. You were, in essence, the getaway rider, but you were aware of the purpose of that journey.
“You were aware that Jamieson had that weapon and compatible ammunition, and that it was intended that the weapon was to be discharged at those two properties with the intention being to frighten. It is clear that there was a real prospect that life was to be endangered.
“There could be no overall accuracy where and who was struck. It appears that the occupants of one property returned fire at you, which was clearly foreseeable, given the nature of the occupants and their involvement in criminal activity.
“Several shots were fired outside each property, including at Paxton Road, where an entirely innocent neighbour was shot at, an entirely terrifying experience. She was trying to alert a grandmother playing with her grandchild next door.
“You had no idea that was going to happen. The crown accept that it was an entirely impromptu act on behalf of Mr Jamieson. But you carried on to the second part of the conspiracy.
“She describes it as an unbelievable, shocking experience. That experience, two years on, has had an incalculable impact. It is the most telling indication of the type of collateral impact when people wield and discharge weapons in broad daylight in public. Quite apart from that, there is reference to children playing in the street. That is exactly the problem that this type of act provokes.
“There is a significant distinction between your role and that of Mr Jamieson. There are aggravating features. There were two incidents where a firearm was discharged, and it was done in furtherance of criminality.”