Nicky Ayers’ daughter Nicola has pleaded with the public to help find the cold-blooded killer who took her dad’s life
Nicky Ayers with his grandson Nicholas, who was named after him(Image: family handout)
The daughter of a Sunday league football manager who was ruthlessly gunned down in the street described the heart-wrenching moment she held her dying dad in her arms. Nicola Ayers’ dad Nicky was 46 when he was shot multiple times outside his mother-in-law’s home in West Derby on April 29 2010.
Nicola, who was 28 at the time, was sleeping in her own house across the road when she was woken by the sound of gunshots. She told the ECHO: “I will always remember I had fallen asleep on the couch. I woke up and saw on the telly it was 11.47pm. I walked into the kitchen and back to the living room, and that’s when the shots started.
“It was so loud, I ducked down because I thought they were shooting at the house. It was like vibrating through the house.
“I looked out of the window and I saw the neighbours starting to come out and a bit of commotion going on. I went out and my dad was on the floor.
“After the noise, it all seemed so quiet. My dad was still alive at this point, but he had been shot in the face and body. He was making noises, but he couldn’t speak. I was just trying to reassure him. I was telling him my son was OK, we were all OK. He started making death noises, and that’s when I knew.”
Nicky Ayers, who was shot in West Derby(Image: family handout)
As Nicky’s wife Jackie called an ambulance, Nicola and his other daughter Lyndsay, 26, told him they loved him as his life slipped away. By the time emergency services arrived at the scene on South Cantril Avenue, the dad-of-two was already dead.
Nicola, now 44 and a mum-of-two, said: “They took us to the police station and interviewed us, and obviously we weren’t allowed to go back to the house, so we went to my mum’s brother’s. We all slept in the same bed, and I kept having night terrors. It was like being in a dream, or in a nightmare that you never wake up from.”
Seventeen people were arrested in connection with the murder over the years, but nobody has ever been charged. The lack of justice has been a source of constant pain for his family, who still hold onto hope that one day his killer will be found.
CCTV footage of a car, top left, that police want to trace in connection with the murder of Nicky Ayers
Nicola said: “What is really scary is when you go to the shops, you don’t know whether you’re going to bump into them. Even trying to meet new people or make new relationships, you’re always mindful of the fact that they might know something.
“He was 46 when he died and I’m 44 now. It feels like he’s getting younger, but I’m the one getting older. As I’m getting to the age he was, the more you realise it’s really no age to die.
“I think as years go by people’s lives change. Back then, people maybe didn’t want to speak. Now this time, 16 years on, maybe they would be more inclined to go to the police and say something.”
On April 28, the day before he died, Nicky spent the evening watching Crimewatch on television. After having dinner at a relative’s house, he left around 9.30pm and went to meet a friend on nearby Meadow Lane
At 11.30pm he went to a chip shop, then returned to his mother-in-law’s address, on South Cantril Avenue, in his green Land Rover Discovery.
It was there he came face-to-face with his killer in the early hours of April 29 2010. The unidentified gunman shot Nicky seven times at close-range before fleeing the scene.
Nicky had been jailed in 2004 after he was linked to a plot to supply Jersey with ecstasy. In 2021, a number of sources told the ECHO it was believed the Western Approaches football team manager had been targeted by a criminal gang.
Nicola said: “I just want my dad to count. His life did matter. If anyone knows anything, they can always go anonymously to CrimeStoppers. There are ways to go about it and there’s things that police can do to help you if you do speak out.
“It would mean everything. There’s not a day that goes by – whether it’s an anniversary, Father’s Day, my birthday, or even a normal day – that I don’t think about it. It would mean the world to get justice for my dad, and answers why.
“I know my dad didn’t deserve that. No one does. He had grandchildren. He should have been able to see them grow up.”
Nicky’s mum Mavis and daughter Lyndsay made a police appeal in the weeks following his murder(Image: Andy Teebay)
Merseyside Police’s head of serious crime unit, Howard Rubbery, said: “Nicky was 46 years old when his life was taken away from him and his family. He left behind two children who have been without a father, and it has been 16 years since he was murdered.
“We continue to appeal for information as loyalties can change over time, and we believe that there are people in the community who know the person responsible for his death. I would urge them to come forward and help us to get justice and closure for his family.
“Any piece of information, however small, may be the key to finally solving this case. You can either contact us directly or anonymously via Crimestoppers and what you tell us will be treated with sensitivity and care and in the strictest confidence.”
Anyone with Information which will help the investigation should contact the Merseyside Police social media desk @MerPolCC on X and Facebook. You can also report information via the website: https://www.merseyside.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/ or call 101.”
Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their website here: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously.