Drugs gang led by Nottingham thug jailed for 173 years for gruesome street murder

A drugs gang who almost hacked off a man's foot in a gruesome street murder have been jailed for 173 years after they were caught on CCTV boasting about the killing.
The six men found guilty of the murder of Ross Ball: Shaun Buckley (top left), Garry Cooper (top centre), Anthony Daw (top right), Jake Honer (bottom left), Matthew Jones (bottom centre), John McDonald (bottom right)The six men found guilty of the murder of Ross Ball: Shaun Buckley (top left), Garry Cooper (top centre), Anthony Daw (top right), Jake Honer (bottom left), Matthew Jones (bottom centre), John McDonald (bottom right)
The six men found guilty of the murder of Ross Ball: Shaun Buckley (top left), Garry Cooper (top centre), Anthony Daw (top right), Jake Honer (bottom left), Matthew Jones (bottom centre), John McDonald (bottom right)

Ross Ball, 42, was stabbed to death by thugs who had taken over his flat to use as a base for drug dealing.

The victim jumped out of his first-floor window to escape his attackers but he was set upon outside where he was repeatedly knifed.

He suffered multiple stab wounds and his ankle was partially severed in the grisly attack.

Three of the killers were captured on CCTV meeting with crime boss Garry Cooper minutes after the murder on November 1 last year.

Footage shows the grinning thugs appearing to act out the killing, with one doing a stamping motion with his foot.

Another then pretends to fall to one side with his head lolling lifelessly as they brag to each other about the murder.

The CCTV, along with examinations of their mobile phones linked them to the fatal attack.

Six of them were found guilty of murder while a seventh was convicted of manslaughter.

Yesterday the gang were jailed for a total of 173 years at Nottingham Crown Court.

Ringleader Garry Cooper, 34, of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, was jailed for 29 years.

Shaun Buckley, 29, of Solihull, Jake Honer, 21, Anthony Daw, 25, and Matthew Jones, 23, all of Birmingham, were each caged for 25 years.

John McDonald, 25, also of Birmingham, was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years.

Connor Sharman, 22, of no fixed address, was convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to supply class A drugs and sentenced to 21 years.

Buckley, Honer, Daw, Jones, Cooper and Sharman had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A Drugs.

The court heard Cooper and his gang had forced Mr Ball into letting them use is flat to sell drugs in exchange for giving him crack cocaine, heroin and mamba.

Users would post cash through the letterbox of the flat in Sutton-in-Ashfield with the drugs being posted back from the inside.

Days before the murder, a rival gang had taken over the flat and Cooper ordered his men to attack Mr Ball.

The gang burst into the flat where Mr Ball and two other men were and they tried to escape by jumping out the window.

The six men fled the scene in two cars and set off automatic number plate recognition cameras along their journey, allowing detectives investigating the murder to build up apicture of their movements.

Police spent hours going through mobile phone records to prove the gang had been near the cameras at the times that they had picked up the suspect vehicles.

Three members of the group were captured on CCTV meeting with Cooper, who was not at the scene but ordered the killing, in Mansfield town centre after the attack.

Speaking after the case, Detective Inspector Becky Hodgman, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Ross Ball was a man caught in a cycle of drug use which tragically left him vulnerable to the actions of violent criminals.

“This is a really sad case and it’s important to remember that it only takes a few hard knocks and wrong turns in life to end up in a similar position.”