Man jailed for 27 years after dad shot on doorstep

A man has been jailed for the murder of a father who was killed yards from his children in a doorstep shooting.

Rikki Berry, known by his nickname Nuggy, was struck by four bullets fired by 27-year-old Michael Smith on 17 July 2024 in Kirkby, Merseyside.

The 36-year-old was in the open doorway of his partner's home on Quarryside Drive and collapsed inside where his then 13-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were present.

Ryan Walsh-Westhead, 25, has been found guilty of murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at Liverpool Crown Court. He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 27 years.

Three men, including Smith, had already been jailed for life over the killing, for which no clear motive was ever established.

Merseyside Police said Walsh-Westhead, from Farrier Road, Kirkby, was a passenger in a black Seat Ateca Cupra that left the scene of the shooting with his uncle Connor Walsh and Adam Williams.

The car was in tandem with an electric bike ridden by Smith, who opened fire outside Berry's house at 18:30 BST after pulling up on the kerb outside the house.

Walsh-Westhead was captured on his own doorbell footage returning to his home and talking about the murder just a minute later, police said.

When officers searched the house the following day, the doorbell camera itself had been removed but detectives were able to retrieve the footage from Walsh Westhead's mother's phone.

In February Smith, 27 and from Kirkby, was convicted of murder alongside Adam Williams, 26 and from St Helens, and Connor Walsh, 26 and from Kirkby.

Smith and Williams were given life sentences with minimum terms of 31 years while Walsh was handed a 30-year minimum term.

Det Insp Graeme Osborne said: "Our thoughts remain first and foremost with Rikki's family, who have faced 18 months of grief and anguish because of the actions of these four men.

"The sentencing of Walsh-Westhead means all four of the men present at the time of Rikki's murder are now behind bars and I hope that gives his family some sense of justice."

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