Bailey Atkinson and Connor Brookes have both been murdered in gang-related violence
Police at the scene on Well Lane
Warring gangs intent on tit-for-tat violence have plagued the streets of Walsall in recent years, leaving bereaved families pleading for the bloodshed to end.
The dramatic escalation in turf wars has left two dead, countless lives ruined and 10 killers caged for their murderous vendettas.
This week, the mob behind the daylight shooting of Connor Brookes were beginning life sentences after being warned they will have to spend their next decades behind bars.
Connor’s execution was the latest development in the barbaric rivalry – his killers fixed on ‘revenge’ for the murder of their friend Bailey Atkinson.
In 2023, Bailey was viciously slaughtered in a pack-like attack described by one detective as one of the ‘most ferocious’ they had ever seen.
Footage of his demise was a chilling watch, with the stomach-churning moment Bailey pulled a 24cm Rambo knife from his shoulder after being chased to his death caught on camera.
READ MORE: Chilling moment drive-by execution leaves one dead in Bailey Atkinson ‘revenge’ murder
His seven killers were jailed for more than 130 years in May 2024.
Two of them were Patrick Brookes and Benjamin Wilkes.
Just six weeks later, Connor was gunned down in a drive-by shooting and his friend Bradley Sladyszyn was shot in the shoulder.
Jake Sanbrook, Byron Sellick and Julian Falconer were the culprits behind the brazen shooting – and they were all friends of Bailey.
Their accomplice Samuel Danks-Petty, who had helped the trio of killers in the aftermath, was also his friend.
It later emerged that Connor and Patrick are brothers, while Bradley and Benjamin are cousins.
Loved ones still insist that Connor was ‘not in a gang’ and was an innocent victim caught up in the ‘mess’ created by the rival groups.
Murder victim Bailey Atkinson(Image: West Midlands Police/SWNS)
He was, they say, an ‘incredibly kind and caring person’ who was ‘not part of this’.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court, it became clear that there had been a target on the backs of Connor and Bradley for some weeks before the shooting on July 8 last year.
Judge Michael Chambers KC said: “This was a planned gang-related revenge shooting, each defendant was a knowing participant, playing their part in pursuance of an agreed, known objective, namely the fatal shooting of a member of a rival faction.
“In my judgement and on the facts, each of the defendants are equally culpable, whatever their role – whether it be shooter, the driver who slowed down or the passenger who assisted and encouraged.
“This had been planned for some time, a matter of least some weeks.
“I’m satisfied that this was revenge for the murder of Bailey Atkinson in January 2023.
“I’m satisfied that each of these four defendants were members or close associates of the gang of Bailey Atkinson known as the Mossley Estate Gang.”
On the fateful day, Sellick and Danks-Petty joined Sanbrook at his home in Fisher Road, on the Mossley estate.
Falconer met the group later before Danks-Petty eventually left to go to a driving lesson.
It was then that killers Sanbrook, Sellick and Falconer roamed around Walsall in a Ford Focus stolen from Coventry weeks earlier, looking for trouble.
But their run-in with Connor and Bradley was not chance, it had been ‘plainly planned’.
Connor Brookes(Image: West Midlands Police)
Prosecutor Michael Burrows KC said: “On the day, the defendants went out searching for their victims.
“They did so with their shotgun and the special ammunition that they had obtained.”
The gang got their hands on a double-barrel shotgun from a burglary which took place in Coventry in March.
A video sent to Danks-Petty on May 10 captured Falconer ‘holding the gun that was used in the shooting’.
Between May 10 and July 8, they shortened the weapon ‘with murder in mind’, making it ‘more manoeuvrable’ and easier to hide.
They acquired ammunition – but this was ‘no ordinary ammunition’.
Lead slugs prohibited in the UK but legal in some countries to kill large animals was their choice.
As part of their deadly plot, the assailants also made sure they had two cars – the Ford Focus which took them to the scene and a Mazda which acted as a getaway vehicle.
The cars were also on false plates ‘to frustrate the police investigation, which it did’, Judge Chambers said.
He told the court the trio ‘must have had some information or knowledge to give them confidence’ that they would find Connor and Bradley.
But before they located their targets, there was a ‘confrontation’ with ‘members of a rival faction’ who were in a Nissan Qashqai.
The Ford was ‘followed’ by the Nissan along Stephenson Avenue – just one and a half miles from Well Lane – before two shots were fired from the Ford.
No one was injured but detectives believe this was an attempted revenge attack for Bailey’s murder – and it took place just 10 minutes before Connor was killed.
Sanbrook, Sellick and Falconer, donning plain dark clothing, covered their faces with balaclavas as they approached Well Lane.
Driver Sanbrook slowed the vehicle as one of his passengers pulled the trigger just once at short range.
It is still not clear who fired the gun.
Judge Chambers said: “I’m satisfied that the reason Connor and Bradley ducked forward was because they must have seen the gun protruding from the car, just like the pedestrians seen on the CCTV running away.”
The killers then made their escape, rushing away from the scene of their crime at 50mph and dumping the murder weapon in Wyrley Lane.
Danks-Petty had been ‘recruited’ to help the trio in their ill-fated attempt to get away with murder and even pretended to others in messages after the shooting that he was none the wiser.
He drove the Mazda to ‘meet up with’ the killers, dumped the Ford Focus in Achilles Lane and helped his co-defendants ‘get back home safely’ by taking them to Sanbrook’s home in Fisher Road.
(top l-r) Jake Sanbrook, Byron Sellick; (bottom l-r) Julian Falconer; Samuel Danks-Petty
The getaway driver was also responsible for switching false plates on the cars.
Judge Chambers said: “Although he was not a participant of the shooting, I’m sure that he knew what was going to happen and played his part in that.
“He knew perfectly well that shooting had taken place.”
Connor, 20, had to be operated on at the scene by paramedics but could not be saved.
The ‘slug of metal’ fired from them shotgun had entered his head on the left side, exiting on the right after travelling through his brain.
Bradley needed an operation to remove metal fragments from his shoulder wound – but it could have quite easily been worse for him.
Judge Chambers said: “It is simply fortuitous that Bradley was not killed as well.”
Sanbrook, 23, of Fisher Road, Bloxwich; Sellick, 20, of no fixed abode; and Falconer, 20, of Wyrley Close, Willenhall; were each handed life sentences, with minimum terms of 29 years, on Friday, May 30.
They were convicted by jurors after trial of murder, attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Danks-Petty, 21, of Buildwas Close, Walsall, was convicted of a single charge of doing acts tending or intended to pervert the course of public justice and was jailed for three years.
Falconer was also convicted of a further charge of having an article with a blade or point – a kitchen knife found on him when he was arrested in Dudley on August 2 last year.