The motivation for the shooting ‘has never been fully understood’
Two young men have been jailed after cornering a victim in an alleyway before shooting him in a face with a “slam gun”.
Lancashire Police released chilling footage of the moment balaclava-clad Joshua Giles, 21, and Levi McCandlish, 27, shot the victim, a man in his 20s, with the improvised weapon in November 2021.
The victim leapt over a garden fence down the alleyway, in Morecambe, Lancashire, but could not escape the the pair, who blasted him in the face from close range with the weapon.
Two men have been jailed after a man was shot in the face in Morecambe.
Joshua Giles (left), 21, of Pendlebury Road, Swinton and Levi McCandlish (right), 27, of Borwick Court, Morecambe, were sentenced to a total of close to 30 years in prison.https://t.co/9whrDsfZs6 pic.twitter.com/3IC1OL282S— Lancashire Police (@LancsPolice) January 18, 2023
Giles and McCandlish have been sentenced to almost 30 years in prison for the crime that happened shortly before 5.55pm on 15 November.
Emergency services found the victim and took him to hospital where he received treatment for life-changing facial injuries.
Police launched an investigation and recovered the shocking CCTV footage from the scene.
Officers also found a driving compression wad at the scene and further enquiries found a people carrier type vehicle had been in the are earlier in the day before returning.
The car, a grey Renault Espace, had been sold five days earlier to a relative of McCandlish and a day after the shooting, the vehicle was found in Lancaster.
Inside the car, officers found a face covering as well as receipts and tags for balaclavas, gloves and face coverings.
Enquiries found that these items had been bought from a store in Morecambe, less than half a mile from where the shooting took place.
CCTV from 15 November, showed McCandlish and Giles in the shop, purchasing balaclavas and a crowbar.
A number of people were later arrested by police in connection with the shooting.
McCandlish, of Swinton, Greater Manchester, and Giles, of Morecambe, Lancashire, were both charged with attempted murder.
A 13-year-old boy was charged with wounding and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life but it was later dismissed.
Giles and McCandlish pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to Section 18 grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
McCandlish was jailed for 15 years and eight months, with a five-year extended licence, while Giles was handed a 13 year and six-month prison sentence, with a five-year extended licence.
Detective chief inspector James Edmonds said the shooting was “absolutely horrific” and had left the local community “shocked and appalled”.
“It is remarkable the victim was not killed as a consequence of this incident,” he said.
Edmonds said, the pair had used ammunition similar to cartridges from a shotgun, discharging the gun at close range.
The shooting left the victim needing to be placed into a medically induced coma to help him recover.
Edmonds said Giles and McCandlish’s actions were “deliberate and callous” but the motivation for the attack has “never been fully understood and neither McCandlish or Giles have offered any explanation as to why they attacked the victim”.
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