Michael Anton O’Connor: Gang members jailed for combined 268 years after ‘cowardly’ ambush murder

Nine people have been jailed for murder after a man was fatally stabbed in an ambush in Nottingham.

Michael Anton O’Connor was attacked outside a property on Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows, shortly after 10.20pm on November 10, 2021.

He was found collapsed on the pavement and later died at the Queen’s Medical Centre.

Nottinghamshire Police said Mr O’Connor was stabbed to death in a pre-planned ambush by hired hit men.

The murder was over a row between rival drug gangs, but Mr O’Connor, also known as Anton, was not the intended target - after his killers mistook him for a Nottingham drugs kingpin.

The 31-year-old, who was described as “well-known and well-liked” in the area, was stabbed in the heart after being sent to calm tensions between the feuding gangs.

Following a trial, nine gang members were found guilty of his murder on June 12 and have now been sentenced:

• Leonard Ward, 42, of Marwood Road, Carlton, was jailed for 32 years
• Michael McGuire, 35, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows, was jailed for 32 years
• Carla McGuire, 53, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows, was jailed for 20 years
• Jerome Sheard, 31, of Wilford Crescent West, The Meadows, was jailed for 31 years
• Paula Usherwood, 39, of Central Avenue, Beeston, was jailed for 30 years
• Benjamin Taylor, 38, of Monton Road, Eccles, Manchester, was jailed for 32 years
• Joseph Boscombe, 41, of Rostherne Avenue, Manchester, was jailed for 32 years
• Michael Mingoes, 21, of Powell Street, Manchester, was jailed for 28 years
• Joshua Agboola, 30, of Leven Grove, Darwen, Blackburn, was jailed for 31 years

Nottinghamshire Police said Ward was the head of the Meadows-based organised crime group that ordered the killing.

Mother and son Carla and Michael McGuire were linked to the gang and lived next to where Mr O’Connor was murdered.

She was accused of turning off CCTV at her property just before the attack was carried out.

Sheard, who is also the son of Carla McGuire, was a member of the gang and right-hand man of Ward.

Taylor sent a team of drug dealers from Manchester to Nottingham to carry out the murder.

Boscombe, Mingoes and Agboola were all part of the “hit team”, with Mingoes believed to have dealt the fatal blow.

Usherwood set up the ambush by meeting the intended target on the morning of the murder.

Two other people were found guilty of offences relating to the murder and will be sentenced in July.

Kerry-Anne Shepherd, 35, of Plantagenet Street, St Ann’s, was found guilty of assisting an offender.

Gemma Fearon, 38, of Dean Bank Close, Bollington, Macclesfield, was found guilty of encouraging/assisting in the commission of an indictable only offence after she drove the “hit team” to the scene of the murder.

‘Cowardly in the extreme’

A total of 23 arrests were made during the “hugely complex investigation”, which lasted a year.

Nottinghamshire Police viewed 786 hours of CCTV footage from 211 cameras and gathered 2,305 evidence exhibits.

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Routledge, who led the investigation, said: “Anton was asked to act as a peacemaker between two feuding groups – and it cost him his life.

“He was ambushed by a number of masked-up men who were heavily armed.

“Anton was unarmed and his killing was therefore cowardly in the extreme.”

In an emotional tribute, Mr O’Connor’s family said he was “an inspiration to all who knew him” and that he became the father to his first child after his death.

They added: “Anton was a bright and articulate young man in the prime of his life, he had his whole life ahead of him. He was fearlessly ambitious, creative and tenacious.

“He had an infectious personality, people were drawn to his positive energy, he wasn’t your average Joe and his life reflected that.”