Jack and Kevin Gibney are accused of attempted murder after allegedly ‘laying in wait’ in matching FC Barcelona caps then ‘ambushing’ their victim
Police at the scene on Delamore Street in Walton
A fake street sweeper hit a man with a broom before his brother fired at him with a gun, a court has heard. Jack and Kevin Gibney were said to have “lay in wait” in matching FC Barcelona caps before “ambushing” Ryan Coburn in an apparent attempt on his life.
But all three of the shots which were discharged from the firearm missed the alleged target, who then chased his attackers away down an alleyway. The two siblings have gone on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of attempted murder in connection with the incident.
A jury of four men and eight women heard today, Tuesday, that the defendants and a third man, Callum Smith, “lay in wait” for Mr Coburn on Delamore Street in Walton at around 2pm on February 21 2023, with Kevin Gibney “pretending to be a street sweeper” by carrying a broom while dressed in hi-vis clothing, a balaclava and a “Barcelona cap” on his head. Jack Gibney was meanwhile said to have been stationed in a nearby alleyway in possession of a loaded firearm.
Jack Gibney, of Lind Street, was earlier captured on camera in a shop on nearby Roxborough Street on the morning of the shooting wearing trousers and trainers matching those worn by the gunman. Both the 25-year-old and Smith meanwhile stopped using their phones around 40 minutes prior to the shooting, with Kevin Gibney thereafter seen on CCTV “peering” around a wall and making “very token efforts” at sweeping the street.
Alex Langhorn told the court during the prosecution’s opening that, as Mr Coburn and his friend David Gleeson then neared him on foot, the 34-year-old, of Utting Avenue East in Norris Green, “swung around” with the brush and struck the the former with it, “shattering it into pieces”. His younger brother then walked into the middle of the road and adopted a “shooter’s stance” before firing three gunshots in his direction.
A series of loud bangs were heard as jurors were played CCTV footage of the incident, with Mr Langhorn saying of the clip: “Three shots. Not once, not twice, but three times, Jack Gibney fired that gun.
“We will never know why they did not hit Ryan Coburn, whether because Jack Gibney froze in the moment, scared of what he was doing, or that he just wasn’t a particularly good shot, or that he ran out of ammunition. What the crown say is, when you lie in wait with a firearm loaded with live ammunition and you discharge it three times, you can only intend one thing. You can only intend to kill.”
But Mr Coburn was described as being “made of rather sterner stuff” having “given chase, apparently unafraid of the firearm”. Kevin Gibney was alleged to have hurled a brick in his direction as the three accused assailants ran away down the alleyway with “their ambush having failed”.
Mr Langhorn continued: “The prosecution say that the three men together had planned this ambush, intending to kill Mr Coburn. Why else arm themselves with a firearm? Why else lie in wait? Why else fire not once, not twice, but three times? The only reason this is an attempted murder is because, in the moment, Jack Gibney failed to hit his target.
“Really, the issues for you are going to be was the defendant whose case you are considering one of those on Delamore Street, and what did they intend when Ryan Coburn came down the street? The crown say that they intended to kill and had that firearm to endanger life.”
With the “plan having failed”, Kevin Gibney was captured riding away along County Road on an e-bike, said to have been identical to one he was seen using on Roxborough Street earlier the same day, before dropping his cap on Wilburn Street. Wearing a white t-shirt with a graphic of a spider emblazoned on the front in court, he was then said to have “got rid of” his hi-vis clothing before cycling towards his mum’s home address.
Jack Gibney and Smith meanwhile leapt over a fence from the alleyway back onto Delamore Street in the aftermath before fleeing. The former, wearing a grey North Face tracksuit in the dock and sporting short red hair, was also seen “wearing a Barcelona cap” on Chepstow Street, “followed shortly thereafter” by his 18-year-old companion.
Following Jack Gibney’s arrest on March 13, police seized the trainers he had been wearing on the day in question and the electric bike ridden by his brother. Kevin Gibney was then detained on March 27, at which stage he denied being the male in the hi-vis clothing under interview and told detectives that they “couldn’t see the face of the man” in the footage.
However, it was heard that “it is likely that he will now accept that it was him on Delamore Street”, with the dropped cap having been recovered containing his DNA and the hi-vis clothing been “seized from addresses linked to him”. Mr Langhorn added: “What we say is, once you have heard all of the evidence in this case, you will be sure that these that two men were lying in wait on Delamore Street on the 21st of February 2023, Kevin Gibney peering round from one side of the road, Callum Smith the other, Jack Gibney waiting with the firearm just off shot. When Ryan Coburn arrived, they attempted to kill him.
“They were lying in wait, you can be sure, armed with a lethal firearm. They intended not only to endanger Mr Coburn’s life, but to kill him. Why else fire not once, not twice, but three times? The fact that they failed to kill Mr Coburn was not for the want of trying.”
Both Jack Gibney, who is represented by Daniel Travers, and Kevin Gibney, defended by Stephen McNally, deny attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, as well as the lesser charge of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. The trial, before Judge Stuart Driver KC, continues.