“Career Criminal” crashes a stolen motorcycle at 90 miles per hour, forcing the Rocket overpass to close.
Sean Kelly was jailed this week for selling a stolen Audi to gang boss Harry O’Brien, the 16-year-old cannabis dealer behind three horrific shootings and a fire bomb. The Audi was later used in a “revenge” shootout against BMW in a high-speed chase through Dingle.
But it was just one of a series of crimes Kelly had to be convicted of, including breaking a motorcycle, closing one of Liverpool’s busiest routes, and despising burglary when he drove into an elderly woman’s home and stole irreplaceable antiques. ECHO can now describe his shameful crimes.
READ MORE: Gun thug gives middle finger to police when sent down
Liverpool’s Royal Court has heard that a £ 5,000 Kawasaki Z800 motorcycle was stolen from a man’s home in Carlisle on the night of 4 and 5 April 2020. Three weeks later, on 21 April, a woman called Merseyside Police. to report that a motorcycle had crashed into a Queens Drive car.
Another witness described the motorcycle driving at 90 miles per hour and using the right filter lane to overtake traffic. Prosecutor Stephen McNally said that when the witness reached the overpass, the motorcycle was on the ground, with a man lying next to him and another “stumbling”.
A woman traveling by car to the Old Swan noticed a motorcycle riding “too fast” in the opposite direction. She said he hit a curb and the driver and passenger broke away. One of the men took off his helmet and threw it across the overpass to The Rocket Pub.
This man, Kelly, jumped into a convertible with two women. The witness followed the car until he stopped at Crofton Road, Old Swan, where Kelly got off and limped.
David Turner, the man lying on the ground, had his black helmet and clothes cut off before being taken to hospital. He found an Under Armor simulator in the traffic police. They found a second helmet under the trestle, and both, along with the handlebars of the bike, revealed Kelly’s DNA.
When interviewed by police, Turner said he was picked up by a friend he would not point to on his “new bike.” Mr McNally said: “He said they went to buy cannabis together and went to a chip shop when you remembered a crash and then woke up in a hospital.”
Kelly, then 35, but now 36, from Harefield Road, Spike, was not interviewed until July 27, 2020, when he agreed to know Turner, but denied attending and said he had used many bicycle helmets in the past.
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On 30 November 2020, an Audi A1 worth around £ 10,000 was stolen during a burglary at a home in Whimbrel Close, Runcorn, while occupants were sleeping upstairs. Until December 3, it was in the hands of Kelly, who then sold it to O’Brien and his gang, whom he met in Sefton Park late on December 28.
When arrested and interviewed, Kelly said he “took the car to do something for someone in prison” and used it for a month on fake license plates before selling it to a “kid” for £ 300.
Prosecutors said Kelly had no idea the car would be used in the December 29 shooting. O’Brien and three members of his gang were in the car when three bullets were fired at BMW. A homeless bullet flew through the front door of the home of a “completely innocent” family in Dingle Lane and landed on the stairs in the hallway.
Mr McNally said: “The crown does not suggest that Sean Kelly knew the car would later be used for shooting. However, when you handle stolen goods and sell them to others, you don’t know what they will be used for. “
On January 4, 2022, Kelly broke into a Peugeot 508 in Wyverham, Cheshire, smashing its windshield. The owner had been in a yoga class for less than an hour, but when he returned, he found that her handbag was missing.
Kelly was caught on CCTV footage using her stolen bank card to buy £ 241 of alcohol and cigarettes at five Northwich shops in nearly 40 minutes. The awkward victim is left “scared” and “stressed”.
On January 7-14, 2021, and again between January 19 and February 6 last year, Kelly searched the home of an elderly woman in Northwich. It has temporarily moved out while the property is being repaired after a flood.
The builders informed the victim’s daughter about the first attack. She found that her mother’s bedroom wardrobe was empty and jewelry boxes on the floor, which later revealed Kelly’s DNA.
Sean Kelly, then 26, with no fixed address when he was jailed for eight years for conspiracy to steal
The woman was present again on February 8, when she learned that there had been another burglary. Decorative items such as a clock, telescope, samurai sword and decorative plates were missing, some of which police later found at Kelly’s friend’s home.
Mr McNally said the woman’s daughter described how the burglary “hit our family hard” because the property contained “many great memories”. She described her mother’s poor health and vulnerabilities.
The prosecutor said: “Many of the stolen items are antiques and cannot be replaced. Many of these items were of sentimental value to her mother.”
Kelly pleaded guilty to aggravated seizure of a motor vehicle, handling stolen goods, theft, five counts of fraud and two burglaries. He also admitted to violating a 16-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months in October 2019 for dangerous driving.
Sean Kelly, 36, of Harefield Road, Spike
His case file dates back to 1999 and includes robberies and thefts as a young man. He was convicted of burglary in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and then sentenced in 2012 to eight years in prison for conspiracy to commit burglary after breaking into 36 homes in Merseyside and Cheshire.
Defender Keith Sutton said his client had mental health problems and fought in prison while in custody. He said Kelly “clarified” his involvement in the sale of the stolen Audi after finding out what it was used for.
Mr Sutton said: “He had bought the vehicle for his own use and sold it only because he needed the money. There is no indication that he knew how it was stolen. When he found out what the police were saying, he turned out to be clean and told the whole story. “
Judge Neil Fluit, QC, said Kelly had a “horrific” criminal record and was a “career criminal.” Referring to the motorcycle accident, he said: “You are endangering the life of your passenger.”
Kelly was in prison for three and a half years. He was also barred from traveling for four years and nine months.
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