Radcliffe man found guilty of planning an execution.

Reporter: Ask Bury
Date online: 21 March 2007

Two people have today, Wednesday 21 March 2007, been found guilty of planning the execution of a man in a busy pub in Salford last March.

Constance Howarth (born 22/12/68) of Rosalind Court in Salford and Ian George McLeod (born 01/04/64) of Victoria Street in Radcliffe were both found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
 
At 2.20pm on Sunday 12 March 2006 Carlton Alveranga and Richard Austin, each believed to have been armed with a gun, walked into the Brass Handles Pub on Edgehill Close in Salford. They went into the 'Vault' where 27-year-old David Totton was sitting and opened fire, hitting him in the face and chest. 27-year-old Aaron Travers attempted to intervene and suffered gunshot wounds to his chest. Both men survived.

Carlton Alveranga's gun is believed to have misfired and a scuffle ensued during which he was disarmed by those inside the pub. Alveranga and Austin each sustained a gunshot wound to the chest before fleeing the pub. They ran outside and across a grass croft, where they collapsed and died from their injuries.

It quickly became apparent that the CCTV from inside the pub had been removed and disposed of. GMP's Major Incident Team launched an inquiry to establish how and why the men had been killed.
 

Background

The shooting was a botched assassination attempt that had been planned and agreed for some time. Ian McLeod, who ran IMAC Security in Radcliffe, was hired to arrange the 'hit' for another man. McLeod instructed Austin and Alveranga to carry out the shooting on his behalf.

Richard Austin (17/04/86) was from Moss Side. He is known to have been friends with Carlton Alveranga (13/04/85) who also lived in the Moss Side area. The two had been seen driving around together, along with Ian McLeod, in a dark-coloured Ford Mondeo in the months before the shooting. Austin is thought to have worked in some capacity at IMAC Security.

Constance Howarth worked at PMS Security and is known to have frequented the Brass Handles Pub once a week. She agreed to act as a line of communication between those who had paid for the 'hit' and McLeod. She was inside the pub, guiding the men towards their target on the day of shooting. Officers examined the history of phone traffic between the two phones and cell-sited them to build up a timeline of the offender's movements on the day of the shooting.

Phone history

Two mobile telephones were intrinsic in investigating the case. One ended in '420' and the other in '752.' Neither subscriber ever registered their details. There is clear evidence linking the '420' number to McLeod, who admits that he frequently used the phone and admits using it up until lunchtime on the day in question. Howarth admits that the '752' phone was her phone and that she used it throughout the events at the pub.

Investigations revealed that more than 40 calls had been made between the two phones between 16 February 2006 to 12 March 2006. On the day of the shooting there were 14 calls made from the 752 to 420 phone. This telephone contact was the two defendants planning the killing of David Totton. The '752' phone was found to be in the area of the Brass Handles at the time of the shooting.

Lead up to the shooting

Just before and after midday on Sunday 12 March 2006 Austin received three calls from McLeod, who was in Radcliffe at the time. Austin was at home in Moss Side and it is suspected that these calls were to tell Austin to go to Radcliffe to pick up McLeod.

Austin drove to McLeod's home to pick him up in a dark-coloured Mondeo, captured on CCTV at Asda in Radcliffe shortly before 1.15pm. Austin can be seen filling the car with petrol. McLeod is believed to have been in the car.

McLeod called Howarth shortly before 1.15pm. She was, by this time, en-route to the Brass Handles Pub. McLeod and Austin are thought to have travelled to Kearsley to pick up another man before driving back to Moss Side to collect Alveranga.

The Mondeo with Alveranga, Austin and McLeod onboard arrived at the Brass Handles just after 14.00. A call was made from McLeod's phone to Howarth's, followed by a series of calls from Howarth to McLeod between 14.06 and 14.19. Both phones were in the Brass Handles area at the time. Howarth was clearly giving the team outside information as to where Totton was sat inside the pub, guiding them in. Austin and Alveranga were not from Salford and would not have known the victim or the layout of the pub.

The shooting

Austin and Alveranga got out of the Mondeo on Highfield Road. A witness told the police that the two men appeared reluctant and were being forced to get out of the car. They then made their way over the grassed area in front of the Brass Handles and into the Vault of the pub. Police believe they were both armed with pistols. With their faces partially concealed, they walked over to Totton and fired six shots at him. Alveranga's gun is believed to have misfired giving Travers the opportunity to overpower Alveranga.

Alveranga's gun was fired at low level causing damage to the floor, indicating that there was a struggle on the floor of the Vault as the men battled for the gun. It is believed that Alveranga's gun was subsequently wrestled from him by someone else in the pub, and was used to shoot both Austin and Alveranga. After being shot, they fled outside, where they collapsed and died on the grass croft.

The dark-coloured Mondeo was waiting on Highfield Road with its doors open when the men ran outside. McLeod saw both Alveranga and Austin collapse on the grass croft as he ran towards the car. Both men were fatally wounded. McLeod was heard to shout to another man quot;Is he dead?" He then ran over to one of the bodies and it is clear that h was trying to check the bodies, before he fled in the Mondeo.

Totton and Travers were taken to Hope Hospital with gunshot wounds. Totton had been shot several times in the face and upper body. Travers had several gunshot wounds to his body. Both men survived and the bullets recovered from their bodies suggested that the ammunition had come from the weapon that Austin had been using.

Further calls were made between Howarth and McLeod's phones that afternoon.

Detective Superintendent Andy Tattersall, who led the investigation, said: quot;This was a premeditated attempt at cold-blooded murder in a pub packed with families and children on a Sunday afternoon. Howarth and McLeod may not have physically pointed a gun at Totton but their involvement was so integral to the organisation of this venture that without them it would not have been possible.

"But their plan was to go disastrously wrong with two young men being shot dead with one of the weapons that they themselves had taken into the pub. Austin and Alveranga had walked into the Brass Handles without any real knowledge of the layout or the location of their intended victim. Their only help was Howarth, who was sat in the Vault, talking them in on her mobile phone.

"Alveranga and Austin were overpowered by those drinking in the pub. Someone inside the pub then fatally injured both men. This remains an open investigation and we are continuing to try and establish exactly who fired those fatal shots.

"The investigation has been an extremely difficult and complex case, with many people reluctant to come forward with information for fear of reprisals. From the outset the investigation team was faced with little other than the registration number of a car seen in the area, two dead bodies and two mobile phones. The case has therefore involved expert evidence from a number of fields. It is only thanks to the hard work and dedication of a team of officers that today's convictions have been possible.

"We are still keen to trace a third man in connection with the shooting. We believe that Bobby Spiers (born 03/12/67), from the Prestwich area, who was a director of PM Security, may hold vital information about the incident and we are keen to speak to him. He has links to Salford and may in fact have even fled to Spain. We'd ask anyone who sees him, not to approach him, but to contact police."