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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Neil Docking

Gun thug in fatal robbery is "horrible" home intruder

A thug who robbed a murdered man is also a serial burglar who targeted homes while his victims slept.

Joseph McKeever, 30, was part of the gang who lured Miguel Reynolds from Manchester to Liverpool to buy a stolen Audi S1.

The 21-year-old rapper handed over £2,000 to killers Liam Watson and Kyle Sanders, but when he chased after them, was gunned down by Watson in Netherton on June 7, 2018.

McKeever was cleared of murder and manslaughter, but convicted of plots to rob and to possess a banned gun and ammunition after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Prosecutors revealed yesterday that he also had to be sentenced for burglaries in Wirral, Sefton and Lancashire.

McKeever and two accomplices struck at a widow's home in Brimstage Road, Brimstage on March 25, 2018, when she had gone out for a meal.

Ian Unsworth, QC, prosecuting, said: "She returned at 3.30pm to find an upstairs window smashed, every room ransacked, furniture tipped over and damaged, and drawers emptied."

The masked men stole £7,000 of items including handbags and purses, plus bank and identity cards.

They fled across the road in front of oncoming traffic, then escaped in a black Saab, which sped away.

Police tracked the Saab to Woodchurch, where it was abandoned with a crowbar and stolen goods inside.

Two men - Adam Hastings and Jake Mawhinney - were identified from DNA and their mobile phones revealed McKeever was the third man.

The victim said the burglary was shortly after the first anniversary of her partner's death.

Mr Unsworth said: "She and her daughter had got over that grief to some extent, but said that the burglary brought them back to where they were before.

"Following the incident, her teenage daughter felt as if she did not wish to live there anymore."

The girl was studying for A-Levels and found work strewn across the floor, while the frightened mum spent around £8,000 on automatic gates and £600 on an alarm system.

In the early hours of April 11, 2018, McKeever and others raided a home in Appleton Road, Litherland, while a family slept upstairs.

The homeowner got up at around 7am and found French doors unlocked and the keys to his car and his son's car missing.

High Court judge Mr Justice Hilliard said: "It's a horrible offence."

The intruders stole a Volkswagen Polo valued at £8,000, an Audi A3 valued at £18,000 and a £150 iPhone 4s.

The damaged Polo was later recovered and McKeever's DNA was on the steering wheel.

He targeted another family's home in Back Lane, Appley Bridge overnight on July 5, 2018.

Two parents and their children were sleeping when the dad was woken by the sound of voices outside.

He went downstairs and found the front door open, his car keys gone and his silver BMW missing from the drive.

A witness walking past at 1.20am saw two men in balaclavas, who pushed the car onto the road then drove away.

Just before 1.30am, police identified the BMW heading towards Maghull on the A59 and gave chase, before the car hit 90mph in 30mph zones.

The BMW repeatedly went on the wrong side of the road and a motorist swerved onto a grass verge to avoid a crash.

A stop stick was deployed, which burst three tyres, but the pursuit continued, until the driver and a passenger jumped out and ran.

Justice Hilliard said the driver was "someone we heard quite a lot about" in the murder trial - Adam Hastings.

The jury heard Hastings was a friend of the killers, who gathered at his home in Harrops Croft, Bootle after Mr Reynolds was murdered.

Hastings was tracked by a police helicopter and arrested, before McKeever's DNA was found on saliva in a balaclava in the vehicle.

Mr Unsworth said the victim "was left feeling violated, with his sense of security having been shattered".

He said: "He felt helpless and unable to protect his family, including his young children."

McKeever, of Howard Florey Avenue, Bootle, denied the burglaries when questioned following his arrest over Mr Reynolds' murder.

He accepted being at the Brimstage incident, but claimed he didn't enter the house or steal anything, and said he regularly got into unknown cars to buy drugs.

McKeever, who had three previous convictions for five offences, admitted three counts of burglary and one of aggravated vehicle taking.

He was previously jailed for 18 months for attempted burglary of a home in 2012.

Peter Finnigan, QC, defending, said McKeever knew what happened to Mr Reynold was "truly awful" and while he bore no responsibility for the death, his client expressed "remorse".

He said: "He recognises his lifestyle needs to change. That involves a recognition of his misuse of cannabis and also the company that he's been keeping in recent years."

Mr Finnigan suggested McKeever was a "late recruit" to the robbery and not involved in the planning.

He said McKeever "very much wishes to make a fresh start if he can, somewhere else away from Liverpool".

Justice Hilliard told McKeever: "You may have been the last to be recruited, but you played an important part at the scene, with full knowledge of the loaded firearm."

The judge said he still had "a way to go" when understanding the impact of crime on victims.

He said: "It's obviously really frightening to be burgled in your own home at night."

Justice Hilliard jailed him for 10 years for the robbery and a consecutive 30 months for the burglaries.

Laws relating to these two sentences mean in total McKeever will spend nearly eight years behind bars.

Can you help us keep Merseyside covered?

Mawhinney, 21, of Royton Road, Waterloo, was jailed for 20 months in May 2019 for his part in the Brimstage burglary.

Hastings was jailed for three years for that burglary in May 2019, then for three years and four months for the Appley Bridge burglary in September 2019.

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