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A man fist-bumped his associates and said 'two in the chest' after shooting a grandmother dead in her own home, a court has heard. Mum-of-six and grandma-of-five Jackie Rutter died aged 53, having been shot in the chest on the doorstep of her own home on October 30, 2022, in Moreton, Wirral, the Liverpool Echo reports. Four men, Simon Allen, James Byrne, Barrie Glynn and David Harrison, are currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of her murder. A fifth defendant, Anna McGinn, is charged with assisting an offender in connection with the fatal shooting. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE The attack was apparently motivated by a "robbery", 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. These two men were then said to have carried out the shooting the following day as Glynn acted as their getaway driver. Allen, meanwhile, is said to have torched the stolen car used by killers, having seemingly performed reconnaissance missions on key locations earlier the same evening, with Harrison's home allegedly used as a base of operations on the night in question. However, Connolly fled the country for Turkey in the aftermath and is not present in the dock alongside his then girlfriend McGinn, who drove both him and Byrne home. Jurors were today (October 27) read transcripts of a series of interviews between Allen and detectives following his arrest. Under questioning, he claimed to have become involved in the burnout of the vehicle after being offered "half an ounce of heroin" by Byrne and said: "I've got this problem where I never think about something before I do it. "Basically, they ask me to do things. I'm just conditioned to doing what I was told. I was submissive to James Byrne because I was scared of him. "He used to intimidate me. He used to shout and scream at me. He's a horrible, horrible man." Having been instructed to transport a silver Ford C-Max car and a Yamaha motorbike to Garden Hey Road, where the Vauxhall Insignia would later be set alight, on the night in question, Allen said that he waited alone in the area. He recalled: "I was starting to s*** myself. What have I got myself involved in? What am I doing here? What the f*** have I done again? "I started thinking to myself, it started becoming apparent to me. I've possibly got myself into another stupid situation without thinking. "I just remember being quite frightened. I heard two pops like. It wasn't until the next day or something or later, I realised what I'd heard like." Of the other car's arrival at the scene, Allen said: "I think I was actually in the C-Max. I think I fell asleep, even. I remember being on the back seat of the C-Max, then a car pulls up. The doors flew open. I got out the car. "People ran over to the C-Max. Byrne comes up, [fist] bumps me and says 'two in the chest' or something. That's when it all changed. I was told where the petrol was and to set fire to that car." Allen stated that the fuel had been placed into "two kind of soft drink bottles with squeezy tops", which he believed had previously contained "Oasis drink or something". He added: "I remember squeezing them and the petrol flew out. "I sprayed the car with petrol, then I lit it. On the seats, just like all the seats. I just thought, like, spray the seats. I wasn't aiming for anything in particular. "I just wanted to get the juice out the bottle and get out of there, because I was s***ting myself. I was s***ting it." Afterwards, Allen said that he "got off his head" and "smoked a lot of heroin". Asked whether he had any subsequent contact with Connolly, who he referred to as "Paddy", he replied: "I do know Paddy was horrified, and he disappeared for a bit. "We were all freaked out. We were all a bit in shock. I can't remember exact conversations. I just remember having a feeling I've never had before. "None of us wanted to speak about it. Everybody was really upset. Everybody was freaked out. "Nobody could bring themselves to talk about it. Everyone was really upset. I had a feeling, I've still got it, that I've never had before. "Sheer dread, disgust, anger, hatred, despisement. I can't sleep any more at night, since all of that s***. When I do get my head down, I have nightmares. "I've never had such intense, such vivid, horrible night terrors in my life like this. I feel like my life has come to an end. "Meeting James Byrne and [his alleged associate, Liam] Carson has destroyed my life, and I mean destroyed. I've got no friends left any more. "I had the best bunch of friends I've ever had in my life, for seven long years. They want nothing to do with me any more. "I've lost my family. The only person I've got is my father. I'm a very sad, unhappy person now. I try and have a laugh and that like, but, in the back of my mind, it's always there. "I don't know why James Byrne was like the way he was. I'm angry with myself for not having the strength to... I'm upset now. My head's wrecked." Again asked about "going back to Dave's", who he referred to as "Fat Dave", and "smoking a lot of heroin" following the shooting, Allen said: "Me and Barry and that were proper freaked out. Byrne gave us a s***load more drugs as well. "When we got back after he'd done what he'd done, I can't handle s*** like that. He must have clearly seen, I was like... He was boasting about it. "I remember him being very proud about what he'd done and Barrie Glynn being very upset, and me being very upset." Of an earlier trip to the Netherlands with both Byrne and Connolly, Allen told detectives: "I didn't have any say in it. If they said do something, I just did it. I had to do it. I was theirs. When they were in the house, they were like, this is our house now. "They were supporting my drug habit. I wouldn't say they threatened me. There was nowhere to go, was there? Byrne was extremely strict. "He made it clear to me that what I had to do. It's a bit embarrassing like, but he was horrible. The way he used to talk. He wasn't nice. "I dunno how to put it into words. I had to be available. I just knew what I had to do. They used to carry guns with them and walk around with guns. They'd already shot a lad on the Beechwood. "His brother, Curtis, came to my house one day. He had a 9mm on him. I just couldn't believe these young lads were walking round with these firearms. "They shot some lad in the leg on the Beechwood. It's f***ing horrible. It's all too much like. I couldn't get rid of them. I just couldn't shake them off. I couldn't get rid of them like." Nigel Power KC previously told a jury of seven men and five women during the prosecution's opening: "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 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. "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 to help them get away from the locality of the murder and to help them avoid arrest." Allen, aged 55 and of no fixed address, 23-year-old Byrne, also of no fixed address, 46-year-old Glynn, of Westway in Heswall, and 59-year-old Harrison, of Old Meadow Road in Pensby, deny murder, manslaughter, possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger and arson, which relates to the stolen Vauxhall Insignia. McGinn, aged 26 and of Frankby Stiles, Frankby, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of assisting an offender. The trial continues.
