Gangster shot dead in 'execution' had helped Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard
Football star Steven Gerrard was helped by a mob enforcer who was later blasted to death in a gangland execution by an assassin nicknamed the "Iceman'', a court has heard.
Notorious gangster John Kinsella, 53, a gangland "fixer'', came in to help the former Liverpool and England midfielder when he was in trouble, a jury at Liverpool Crown Court was told.
Kinsella was later the victim of a "cold-blooded assassination'' allegedly carried out by Mark Fellows, 38, who was also called the "Iceman'', the court heard.
Fellows gunned Kinsella down and then blasted his victim twice in the head from close range, prosecutors say, as he was walking his dogs with his pregnant partner, Wendy Owen, near their home in Rainhill, Merseyside, in May.
He and co-accused Steven Boyle, 36, are also accused of murdering gangland Mr Big'' Paul Massey, 55, who was killed in a hail of bullets sprayed from an Uzi machine gun outside his home in Salford in 2015.
Fellows, the alleged gunman for both gangland hits, with Boyle acting as spotter'' or look-out and back-up, both deny the murders.
On Tuesday, Boyle blamed Fellows for duping him into being part of the second murder and denied any part in the killing of Massey.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC began questioning Boyle in the witness box on Wednesday, during the fifth week of the trial.
Mr Greaney said: "John Kinsella was strongly associated with Paul Massey?''
Boyle replied: "I would not have a clue, never heard of his name.''
Mr Greaney continued: "He's quite a well-known person. Have you heard when Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool footballer, got into trouble, he came in to assist?''
Boyle replied: "No.''
Mr Greaney added: "Did Mark Fellows have a nickname? You have not heard him called Iceman?''
"I don't know,'' the defendant replied.
Both victims are said to have died as a result of being associated with a gang, the A Team, at "war'' with a splinter group in Salford that the two accused were attached to.
Mr Greaney asked Boyle if it was a "coincidence'' he was in the same area at the same time both men were murdered.
He said at the time he lived "five minutes'' from Massey's house and the second time he had been set up by his long-term partner in crime Fellows.
He believed he was going to pick up drug money from Fellows near to Kinsella's house, but instead was handed the Webley revolver used to "execute'' him moments earlier, before Fellows rode away on his bicycle.
Boyle said Fellows knew "not to do this to me'' by getting him involved, because he faced a long jail sentence if found with firearms again.
In 2011 he had been arrested in possession of a loaded handgun, fitted with a silencer and 82 bullets.
The defendant said the passenger in his car had been carrying the gun to get it fixed - but refused to name him.
Mr Greaney added: "It's another coincidence? In 2011 someone duped you into carrying a gun in your car and the same thing happened again this year?"
""Are you very gullible?''
Boyle replied: "Not gullible. I'm happy to help... but certainly not in murder.''
Mr Greaney suggested until yesterday, when Boyle first blamed Fellows for allegedly handing him the gun, the two had been "brothers in arms'' but added, "you have broken the code, you have taken that step.''
He continued:""The killing was carried out by a man on a bike like Mark Fellows, wearing clothing like Mark Fellows, Mark Fellows arrived with you minutes after the killing and gave you a gun that looked like the gun that killed John Kinsella.''
Mr Greaney said there was "no other'' sensible conclusion other than Fellows being the killer.
Boyle replied: "More than likely, yes."