Mum-of-six and grandmother-of-five Jackie Rutter, 53, died after being shot dead inside her home on the Wirral in Merseyside. Four men are standing trial accused of her murder
A grandmother was gunned down inside her own home after her sons allegedly stole a drug dealer’s phone, a court has heard.
Jackie Rutter died aged 53 after she answered the door to her home in on the Wirral in Merseyside. She was greeted by two gun wielding assailants, who fatally shot her in the chest in a “targeted revenge attack” in October 2022, prosecutors have argued.
Four men – Simon Allen, James Byrne, Barrie Glynn and David Harrison – have been accused of her murder and are appearing at Liverpool Crown Court. A fifth defendant, Anna McGinn, is meanwhile charged with assisting an offender in connection with the fatal shooting three years ago.
The Liverpool Echo reports that 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. Nigel Power KC told a jury of seven men and five women during the prosecution’s opening this morning, Wednesday: “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 scene or the locality of the murder and to help them avoid arrest.”
The trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues, and is expected to last for six to eight weeks.
