Two armed bandits who carried out the “public execution” of the father of two children were found guilty of murder today.
Patrick Boyle, 26, was shot dead in a Houghton dead end last summer. Prosecutors said Ruben Murphy was the shooter of an electric motorcycle who showed his victim “no mercy” after arguing with an associate of Mr. Boyle’s earlier that day.
A self-confessed drug dealer, Murphy, said that at the time Mr Boyle was shot, he was in the back garden in another part of Houghton, “from me on the catwalk.” The 26-year-old denied knowing or shooting Mr Boyle and insisted: “I may have sold drugs in the past, but I’m not a murderer.”
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Prosecutors say Murphy’s friend Ben Doyle was an “accomplice” in the murder and helped plan the attack. Doyle, 24, said the murder was carried out by a mysterious man whom he refused to name because he feared “retribution” and was not a “informer”. Today, a jury found both men guilty of murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life. Both defendants got up and left the dock while the verdicts were read in court.
The judge, Your Honor Maurice, offered Peter Killen and John Jones, QC, time to return the defendants to the dock, but both refused. Judge Morris said: “Mr. Jones and Mr. Killen, you will notice that your clients have been absent from the dock. Do you want a moment to return to the dock.
Mr Jones replied: “No, I don’t think so. When testifying in Liverpool’s Royal Courts of Justice, Murphy complained to Ian Unsworth, QC, that he was talking to him “like a dirty piece” and was “shocked” by accusing him of lying to the jury. But during the seven-week trial, jurors heard forensic and CCTV evidence involving both Murphy and Doyle.
The victim was shot twice in Newway, near Lordens Road, just before 6 pm on Thursday, July 1 last year. Prosecutors said Lyme Grove in Houghton, where Doyle lived, was “the center of the fatal attack.” Murphy said he went to the back garden of an “empty house” next to Doyle’s house to smoke cannabis and smell ketamine. He told the jury that he had argued with Fraser Brown, an associate of Mr. Boyle, on this street at about 12:40 p.m.
He said it was because Mr Brown owed him money over an old cannabis debt and “took the hook” when he went to prison. Murphy said Mr. Brown chased him with a fence panel before Doyle came out and told Mr. Brown to “get out.” Prosecutors say the two men agreed to receive a loaded pistol and a blue-and-white Sur-On electric bicycle after the dispute. They said the bicycle, now partially disguised “in black garbage bags”, left the back garden gate of a property two houses down from Doyle’s home at 5:40 p.m.
Doyle was allegedly on the motorcycle and was soon joined by Murphy, who broke up with his co-worker and used the motorcycle to travel to Newway and shoot Mr Boyle shortly after 5:56 p.m. The jury looked at footage of the masked gunman wearing black gloves, then made his way to Barkbet Road, where Murphy lived at the time, and disappeared from camera for about eight minutes.
Colorful tribute left at Newway in Houghton, where Patrick Boyle was shot
Video surveillance showed that the rider – no longer wearing gloves and with the dark cloth wrapped around the bike – could no longer be seen – then drove to Lyme Grove, where he arrived at 6:08 pm and spoke to Doyle. The cyclist passed through the back garden gate at 18.09 and seconds later it is said that Murphy emerged.
Murphy claims he did not ride an electric motorcycle that day. He told the jury that the man, who is said to be him, was “taller and thinner” and dressed in various clothes. Police found a pair of gloves on top of a kitchen cabinet at Murphy’s home on July 6. The left glove revealed the remains of a firearm (GSR), which coincided with the GSR in two shell casings found at the scene of the shooting.
A mixed DNA profile appeared inside the glove, allegedly to four people, including Murphy. He told the jury that he “definitely” did not wear gloves on July 1 because “it was sunny”. The DNA of 20-year-old Thomas Walker was found on one of the cartridges. Jurors were asked to acquit Walker of murder after he pleaded guilty to possessing unlicensed ammunition – on the date before the day of the shooting – which was accepted by the Crown.
Murphy said the numerous phone calls and text messages he exchanged with Walker and Doyle this afternoon were about arrangements to go to San Carlo in downtown Liverpool that night, but he “got out of my face.” Doyle admitted to riding the electric motorcycle 10 minutes before the shooting, after repairing it for its owner. Doyle said he then handed the bike over to its owner, a man he would not name for fear of “retribution”.
He explained that the trip he took on the motorcycle – with the mysterious owner sitting behind him – was to give cannabis to a friend. Doyle said he did not notice that the bike was masked and was wearing only a dark jacket because he was returning it to another friend.
Doyle claims he does not know that the mysterious man was armed with a weapon and has no idea that this man – not Murphy – then fired before returning the bike and asking to be taken to his neighbor’s shed because he was was “in pursuit.” Doyle said he thought it meant “being chased by maniacs.”
Murphy, of Oak Avenue, Newton-le-Willows; Doyle of Lime Grove; Houghton; and Walker, no fixed address, but previously from Clubmoor; will be convicted at a later date. Judge Morris told the court that Murphy and Doyle’s sentence for murder would mean a life sentence, and the length of the minimum sentence should be decided at the next hearing.
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