James Byrne, Simon Allen and David Harrison were convicted of the murder of Jackie Rutter while Barrie Glynn was found guilty of manslaughter
From left to right: Barrie Glynn, David Harrison, Simon Allen and James Byrne (Image: Merseyside Police )
These are the faces of Jackie Rutter’s killers. The 53-year-old victim, a mum-of six and nan-of-five, was shot dead on the doorstep of her own home on Meadowbrook Road in Moreton, Wirral, back in October 2022.
James Byrne, Barrie Glynn, Simon Allen and David Harrison have been on trial at Liverpool Crown over the past three months accused of her murder. The prosecution’s case alleged that the shooting was motivated by an apparent “robbery” or “taxing”, in which Ms Rutter’s sons Peter and Steven reportedly stole a mobile phone which Byrne and another man, Preston Connolly, had been using to conduct their drug dealing business as part of the “JJ Line”.
These two men were then said to have carried out the shooting the following day as Glynn acted as their getaway driver. Allen meanwhile torched the stolen car used by killers, having seemingly performed reconnaissance missions on key locations earlier the same evening.
Harrison’s home was allegedly used as a base of operations on the night in question. A fifth defendant, Anna McGinn, was charged with assisting an offender in connection with the fatal shooting, having driven Byrne and her then boyfriend Connolly home in the aftermath.
But the latter has not been present in the dock, having previously fled the country for Turkey. The jury returned their verdict this afternoon, Wednesday, 15 hours and 15 minutes of deliberations.
Byrne, Allen and Harrison were unanimously convicted of Jackie’s murder, while Glynn was found guilty of manslaughter by a majority of 10 to two. All four were also unanimously found guilty of possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life and arson.
James Byrne was found guilty of the murder of Jackie Rutter(Image: Merseyside Police)
Harrison was seen shaking his head bowed as he was convicted, while Glynn raised his eyebrows as he was found guilty of manslaughter. Having initially shown no reaction to the verdicts, Byrne then threw a seemingly full bottle of Buxton water at Allen as he was led down to the cells.
Allen, who appeared to be struck on the head by the vessel, then responded by shouting “f***ing k***head” and appeared to lunge at his co-defendant, having to be restrained by guards. He continued to struggle at this stage however, saying: “Let me go.”
Simon Allen was found guilty of the murder of Jackie Rutter(Image: Merseyside Police)
McGinn was meanwhile seen to be in tears as she was cleared of assisting an offender and discharged from the dock. Mr Justice Goose, the High Court judge who has been presiding over the trial, will pass sentence tomorrow morning, Thursday.
Nigel Power KC previously told jurors during the prosecution’s opening back in October: “Nearly three years ago now, on the 30th of October 2022, a lady called Jacqueline Rutter opened the front door to her home address. She was shot in the chest with a gun, which either was or was similar to a Grand Power self-loading pistol, and she died at the scene.
“Jackie Rutter, as she was always known, was a 53-year-old grandmother. But this was no case of mistaken identity. This was a targeted revenge attack in the heat of a dispute over drugs.
“During the trial, you will see CCTV. Three men arrived at her address in a black Vauxhall Insignia car. It was a stolen car. Two passengers were in the back. They got out of the back of the car. They went to Mrs Rutter’s front door.
“When she answered, she was shot twice. One shot missed, one went through her right hand and into her chest. The two men who had gone to her front door got back into the Vauxhall Insignia.
“They went to a nearby street, where they were met by a fourth man. He had been waiting for them with two other vehicles, a silver Ford C-Max and a Yamaha motorbike. Within minutes of the shooting, the Vauxhall Insignia was alight.
“The two men who got out of the car to kill Jackie Rutter were the first defendant in this case, James Byrne, and another man called Preston Connolly. They were involved in a drugs business together and were taking revenge because, the day before, the phone that they used to run the drugs business had been taken from them by Jackie Rutter’s sons, Steven Rutter and Peter Rutter.
“Preston Connolly fled the country. He went to Istanbul from Manchester on the 30th of December 2023. He will have to be tried at a later date, but he is an important figure in the case and you will hear quite a lot about him.
“The driver of the Insignia was Barrie Glynn. He too was a drugs user. He bought drugs from Preston Connolly and James Byrne, and he also helped with the business. Simon Allen and David Harrison provided valuable assistance to the shooters.
David Harrison was found guilty of the murder of Jackie Rutter(Image: Merseyside Police)
“They too were employees of the drugs business, the JJ Line, as it was known. You will see that they played important roles in what happened. Mr Allen was the person who set fire to the Insignia car.
“Anna McGinn, the fifth defendant, was Preston Connolly’s girlfriend. After the murder, she gave lifts to James Byrne and Preston Connolly.”
The court would thereafter hear during the prosecution’s case of a number of references to Connor Chapman and the fatal shooting of Elle Edwards outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey on Christmas Eve 2022. This included an apparent tip-off to the police by Allen that the Skoprion submachine gun used during this murder had been buried in woodland near to Champions Business Park in Upton.
Jurors were meanwhile told that Byrne and his twin brother Curtis have previous convictions for attempted murder. These related to another shooting on May 11 the same year, when “a rival drug dealer was shot with a self loading pistol in retaliation for other acts of violence”.
Additionally, Allen was said to have offences on his record relating to the possession of firearms, dating back to 2003 and 2020. During his evidence, he would tell the court that he “just found guns extremely nice to look at”.
As with Glynn and Harrison to follow him, Allen would go on to name 23-year-old Byrne, of no fixed address, as being responsible for the shooting during his time in the witness box. In his account, he alleged that his co-defendant had told him “I’ve just put two in the chest” a matter of minutes following the shooting.
Allen, aged 55 and of no fixed address, went on to report that he had later been kidnapped by Byrne’s mum and “given a hiding” by men armed with a machete and an axe as they demanded money from him. During a tense exchange, he told his co-defendant’s counsel Adrian Langdale KC “I don’t give a f*** what you think” and apparently swore at him in Dutch under cross-examination.
In his own evidence, 46-year-old Glynn, of Westway in Heswall, would recall that he “lost his temper in the car” following the shooting and said “what the f*** have you got me involved in?”. He then reported Byrne remarked that he had “been had off” before adding: “I didn’t get a piece for nothing.”
Barrie Glynn was found guilty of the manslaughter of Jackie Rutter(Image: Merseyside Police)
On the stand, Harrison was asked about his claims under interview that Allen had “bragged many times how he recommissioned these guns and he was the main person that put the guns on the street”. The 59-year-old, of Old Meadow Road in Pensby, said of this: “Simon was often full of fantasy, but, yes, he said these things to me. He often fantasised. How real it was or how true, I have no idea sir.”
The trial also saw tempers become frayed amongst the men facing the jury. On one occasion, Harrison was said to have thrown water in the dock following alleged threats to have Glynn “stabbed up” in prison.
McGinn meanwhile claimed to have had no knowledge of the shooting at the time she drove Connolly back to his home on Wheatfield Close in Netherley, via a stop at Archie’s in Liverpool city centre, in the hours afterwards. The 26-year-old, of Frankby Stiles, Frankby, told the court in her evidence: “He just made me believe he hadn’t done anything. I just never thought he would do something like that. Yeah, he sold drugs, but committing a murder is totally different to selling drugs.
“I never thought that of him. It’s not the Paddy [Connolly’s nickname] I know. The Paddy I know is a party animal who loved that scene, not going out and shooting someone.”
Unlike his four co-defendants, Byrne opted not to give evidence to the court. Mr Langdale instead put his client’s case to the jury in his closing speech, in which he compared officers involved in the investigation to “characters from the 1970s policing manual, or from a series like Life on Mars” and accused Allen, Glynn and Harrison “putting their heads together to put together a false story”, with all three having claimed to have be unaware of any planned shooting at the time.
Byrne’s KC went on to tell the jury: “I am not suggesting for one minute that he is some Snow White. I am not suggesting that he is some latter day saint. He has clearly been involved in a previous shooting. He is sat there because of that mistake in life, not because of the evidence here.
“The evidence in this particular case does not put him there. The theory is, he has used a gun before, he is a criminal and, therefore, he must be a mastermind. Every piece of evidence, we will get to fit with that theory. It does not fit and it does not work.
“What is the prosecution’s case, when you strip away the lies, the nonsense that the co-defendants come out with? When you look at it and analyse it, the answer is none, nothing, nada, zilch. The prosecution have a load of theories, but they do not have a great deal other than that.
“The crown do not have any evidence that Mr James Byrne was at the scene. What evidence puts him at the scene? They have no evidence that James Byrne got out the car. Not a thing. They have no evidence that James Byrne was on Meadowbrook Road at all. They have no evidence that he was armed with a gun, that he pulled the trigger. Not a thing.”