Kevin Gibney whacked their target with a broomstick before his young sibling Jack opened fire three times
Jack Gibney, left, and his brother Kevin Gibney, right(Image: Merseyside Police)
Two brothers who “ambushed” and shot a man during an elaborate plot which saw one of them dress up as a street sweeper have been jailed for life. Kevin Gibney donned hi-vis clothing and brushed the pavements while he and his younger sibling Jack Gibney lay in wait for their target.
The former then whacked victim Ryan Coburn with his broomstick before the latter emerged from an alleyway and fired a series of gunshots in his direction. But all three bullets missed the distant relative, who ultimately chased his assailants away despite also having a brick hurled at him.
The Gibneys were unanimously found guilty of attempted murder and a further charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court in August and returned to the same court to be sentenced this afternoon, Friday.
Sentencing, Judge Stuart Driver KC said: “On February 21, 2023, you planned to kill Ryan Coburn. You obtained a loaded firearm. Jack Gibney lay in what with it while Kevin Gibney, disguised as a street cleaner, looked out for the victim, saw him, and alerted Jack by striking him.
“Jack then stepped out of an alley and fired three bullets at him with intent to kill. Thankfully, they missed.
“There are aggravating features. Others were put at harm by the discharge of bullets in a public street in the daylight. At least one other person was standing close by. This city has a tragic history of causes in which innocent people have been struck by stray bullets.”
Jurors previously heard during the trial that the Gibneys 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 and a balaclava and with an FC Barcelona cap on his head. Jack Gibney was meanwhile stationed in a nearby alleyway in possession of a loaded firearm.
Jack Gibney, 25, of Lind Street, Walton(Image: Merseyside Police)
The 25-year-old, 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 he and Smith meanwhile stopped using their phones around 40 minutes prior to the shooting, with Kevin Gibney then seen on CCTV “peering” around a wall and making “very token efforts” at sweeping the street in the moments beforehand.
Alex Langhorn, prosecuting, told the court that, as Mr Coburn and his friend David Gleeson neared him on foot, the 34-year-old, of Utting Avenue East in Norris Green, “swung around” and struck the former with the brush, “shattering it into pieces”. Jack Gibney 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 assailants ran away down the alleyway with “their ambush having failed”.
In the aftermath, he 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. He then “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 Carisbrooke Road in the aftermath before fleeing. The former 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 Lark Lane on March 13, police seized the trainers he had been wearing and the electric bike ridden by his brother. In his evidence, he told the court that he was alone at his girlfriend’s home on Carisbrooke Road on the day the shooting took place.
Kevin Gibney, 34, of Utting Avenue East(Image: Merseyside Police)
However, a jury saw through his lies and found him guilty. Daniel Travers, defending, said on his behalf today: “The delay between the offence of the attempted murder and charging him, and him then being remanded, meant he spent a period of two years at liberty, and there were no other offences of serious violence committed.”
Calling on the judge to step away from a life sentence, he said: “He was a young man, 22, when this offence was committed. Now 25, whatever sentence the court imposes, even at the lower end, he’s going to be a middle-aged man.
“The court is looking at his future risk. This isolated incident, albeit a very, very serious incident, may not itself allow the court to be satisfied that in 14 years or longer, he’s going to be a danger to the public. There’s a real prospect that while spending that period in custody, he will grow.”
Kevin Gibney was later detained on March 27 at an address on Whitehall Close in Kirkdale, at which stage he denied being the male in hi-vis under interview and told detectives that they “couldn’t see the face of the man” in the footage. From the witness box, he accepted being the person shown on CCTV after being forensically linked to the items of clothing.
However, he stated that he was dressed in work gear as he wanted to be hired by residents for odd jobs in order to make money for drugs. Gibney went on to state that he had panicked at the sight of the gunman and swung the brush at Mr Coburn as he mistakenly believed that he was part of a group of men who were trying to attack him.
His counsel Steven McNally told the court: “It’s plain that Kevin Gibney had difficulties in the past with drug abuse. He laid this bare before the court.
“You will have read the facts of his childhood. He describes his childhood as terrible. He was exposed to drug use and criminality at a young age. He witnessed a serious assault on both his parents in their own home as a nine-year-old child, and his father was stabbed. A subsequent diagnosis of PTSD and anxiety is no surprise.
“He lost his father in 2017. He has a very difficult relationship with his mother. But more recently there has been a positive change. Prior to the trial of this matter, Kevin Gibney’s view was there were positive signs. He had stable accommodation, he was in a relationship. He described breaking out of the institutionalised mindset that he was in for the first time, and could see a future for himself.”
He also asked the judge to step back from a life sentence.
But Judge Driver said the case was aggravated by the brothers’ criminal records. Jack Gibney had 12 past convictions for 18 offences, while his brother Kevin had 25 past convictions for 55 offences.
He said: “In each of your cases I find that you are a dangerous offender. Each of you planned and intended and attempted to cause the death of a man by shooting in the street.
“Considering these grave factors and everything else that I know about you, I have no doubt that the authors of the pre-sentence report are correct in concluding that you both present a very high risk of serious harm to the public.
“I find that the seriousness of the offence is such to justify a sentence of life in prison.”
He sentenced both men to life in prison. Jack Gibney must serve at least 16 years and 34 days before being eligible for parole, while Kevin Gibney must serve at least 15 years and 52 days.
Jack Gibney was also sentenced to four years in prison on two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, relating to a separate incident on April 15, 2023.
He showed no emotion as he was sentenced, while his brother covered his face with his hands and put his head down on the desk in front of him.