Jurors sitting on the trial of two brothers accused of murder heard from the suspects for the first time this week.
Michael and James Foy both told Liverpool Crown Court they played no role in the shooting of Michael Rainsford.
They each added they did not know who he was before he was struck by gunfire while at home in Litherland on the night of April 7, 2020.
Prosecutors allege they carried out the attack, timed at 11.07pm, in an act of "supposed retribution" after a brick was thrown at their Seaforth home.
The Foys insisted their efforts in the aftermath of that incident were focused on fixing the window that was smashed.
This is an overview of what the jury heard during a third week of evidence.
*You can read more detailed coverage from the courtroom through the ECHO's live blog of proceedings here.
'Tell your mar duck'
Henry Riding, prosecuting alongside David McLachlan, QC, told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday that police found a Snapchat video, posted by an account said to be linked to James Foy, on a phone belonging to a male called Lewis Harrison.
The footage showed an orange electric bike with the caption: "Tell your mar duck don’t use bricks."
It also featured two symbols described by Mr Riding as representing "bangs".
The video had not been saved on purpose by Mr Harrison, but had been stored in his phone after he commented in response to it, writing: "Ha ha ha ha OK OK now."
Mr Riding told the court it was not possible to confirm when the video was posted as a "story" by the account the prosecution claim was linked to James Foy.
However, data did show Mr Harrison's response was posted at 10.56pm on April 7.
Mr Riding said: “Given the fact that a 'story' expires and is deleted automatically 24 hours after it was created, the original 'story' has to have been posted to the Snapchat app by the user at sometime within a 24 hour window ending at 10.56:32 on April 7, 2020.
"So if it was replied to at 10.56:32 it must follow it was created at some time in the 24 hours prior to that time.”
Defendant says friends had access to his Snapchat account
James Foy then gave evidence on Tuesday.
He said the footage had been recorded by him, showed a bike he owned and was posted to his account.
But he also said he was not the one who published the video - nor had he added the caption.
He denied the suggestion, put to him by Mr McLachlan, that the video may have been an attempt to show that he was "big and brave and putting it out there that you weren’t going to stand for it with your brother".
Foy said many of his friends had access to his Snapchat account as he often used the social media app on their phones without logging off.
He said he questioned some friends over the video but, when asked who he spoke with, said: “I wish not to name my friends.”
'No thoughts at all' about who may have smashed the window
The 19-year-old also told the court that, as well as not knowing of Mr Rainsford, he had no "grudge or grievance" with anyone linked to him.
When it came to his window being smashed, he said he had “no thoughts at all” about who may have been behind the incident - claiming he was unaware of any dispute involving himself, his brother or his mum.
Foy described his mum as being “pretty shocked, as I was, there was no reason for the window to be smashed”.
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Teen said he did not touch gun found in Bootle
He also told the jury he had never seen a gun found by police in a Bootle home in November 2019.
Questioned why DNA matching his profile was found on the pistol, Foy said it must have been transferred by gloves or a bag he had once owned, given to someone else and which then touched the weapon.
Defendant's 'route home'
Michael Foy then gave evidence on Wednesday and Thursday.
He said that, on the night of April 7, he was kicked out of his girlfriend's car in Waterloo as the pair rowed over travelling during lockdown.
He said he was returning home having been told a brick had been thrown through their front window at around 10.14pm.
Foy told Julia Smart, QC, defending, that his girlfriend agreed to drive him but threw him out of the car by playing fields off Brook Vale as the pair argued.
CCTV showed the car stopping at 10.40pm, just under 30 minutes before Mr Rainsford was attacked.
Prosecutors claim mobile phone data and CCTV images suggest James picked up Michael in the Brook Vale area with the pair using an electric bike to ride home and then up to Mr Rainsford's home on Harrington Road.
Foy denied this was the case, telling Miss Smart he did not meet his brother and simply walked home on his own.
Detailing his route to jurors, he claimed it took him through playing fields and down footpaths before he crossed Princess Way. He said he stopped to roll joints twice.
The defendant denied "fitting" his route around his evidence because he was aware no figure matching his description was captured walking down Seaforth Road, which he said he used in his defence statement, around the time in question.
He said this issue stemmed from having to use his partner to pass on his description of the route to his solicitor as the pandemic prevented legal visits while he was in jail following his arrest.
He told the court his route home avoided main roads as he did not want to be stopped by police while carrying cannabis.
Claim Mr Rainsford was 'chased' before the Foys' window was broken
On Thursday Simeon Evans, defending Michael, told the court about a claim Mr Rainsford had been chased before the incident on Rossini Street.
A male called Aaron O'Brien told police he called the 20-year-old at 9.56pm.
He said: “He was out of breath and said he had been chased by two kids on bikes.”
Mr O'Brien added that when he later saw Mr Rainsford he was told the incident involved two people, one on an electric bike and one on a pedal bike.
Prosecutors accept this statement was taken but cannot confirm the events it described were accurate, the court heard.
Neighbour insists she would not have stored clothes had she known doing so could frustrate a police investigation
A neighbour of the Foys insisted she would not have stored their clothes had she known doing so might frustrate a police investigation.
Andrea Saunderson accepts she took in a bubble coat and tracksuits on the request of their mum, Joyce Smith.
But she denies perverting the course of justice.
Giving evidence on Friday afternoon, Saunderson said she was known as "mama" on Rossini Street because of the lengths she would go to in order to help her neighbours.
The 48-year-old said she thought Smith approached her the day after Mr Rainsford was shot.
Asked what Smith said to her, Saunderson told Liverpool Crown Court Smith said she "wasn’t sure whether the police would come round”.
Quizzed over what she thought Smith meant, the defendant explained: "To be fair, I just thought if the police, I didn’t know why the police were coming.
"I just thought if the police do come they just take everything off the boys and it takes them ages to get stuff back and with them being brand new stuff… to be honest I don’t know what I thought. I just took them and hung them up and that was it.”
The Foys' home was raided by police the following morning.
After the search, Saunderson said she returned the clothes to Smith and said: “I don’t know what is going on, I don’t want to know. I don’t want these in my house.”
When questioned by her barrister, Keith Sutton, whether she would have looked after the clothes had she known doing so might frustrate a police investigation, she responded: “I would certainly have never taken them in.”
Christopher Henley, QC, defending James Foy, said that in that interview Saunderson said Smith had described James handing himself into police in relation to a separate investigation.
He said it was an agreed fact that James attended a police station on April 15 and asked, therefore, whether Saunderson's reference to this meant she actually stored the clothes after that date.
Saunderson accepted: “I know what I put in my statement. I had a lot going on, a lot of things got said to me. Trying to put them all into pieces, to when it happened, it can be confusing for me.”
*Michael Foy, 22, and James Foy, 19, both of Rossini Street in Seaforth, deny the murder of Mr Rainsford and, in relation to that allegation, the possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition without a certificate.
James denies a separate allegation of possession of a prohibited firearm in relation to a gun found by police in November 2019.
Their mum Joyce Smith, 46 and of Rossini Street, the men's uncle Craig Johnson, 39 and of Willard Drive in Bootle, and Saunderson, also of Rossini Street, each deny perverting the course of justice.
Proceeding
