Man accused of murder after nan shot dead says he 'just found guns nice to look at'
Simon Allen is accused of the murder of Jackie Rutter(Image: Merseyside Police)A man who is accused of murder after a nan was dead in her own home has told a jury that he "just found guns extremely nice to look at". Mum-of-six and grandma-of-five Jackie Rutter died aged 53 after being shot in the chest on the doorstep of her own home on Meadowbrook Road in Moreton, Wirral.Four men, Simon Allen, James Byrne, Barrie Glynn and David Harrison, are currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of her murder. A fifth defendant, Anna McGinn, is charged with assisting an offender in connection with the fatal shooting.The attack was apparently motivated by a "robbery", in which Ms Rutter's sons Peter and Steven reportedly stole a mobile phone which Byrne and another man, Preston Connolly, had been using to conduct their drug dealing business. These two men were then said to have carried out the shooting the following day as Glynn acted as their getaway driver.Allen meanwhile torched the stolen car used by killers, having seemingly performed reconnaissance missions on key locations earlier the same evening, with Harrison's home allegedly used as a base of operations on the night in question. Connolly fled the country for Turkey in the aftermath of the incident and will not present in the dock alongside his then girlfriend McGinn, who drove both him and Byrne home in the aftermath.With Byrne having declined to enter the witness box as part of his defence case, Allen began giving his evidence to the court this afternoon, Thursday. Wearing a grey Berghaus fleece and sporting short grey hair and glasses, he was asked by his counsel Richard Pratt KC about his "interest in firearms".Jurors previously heard that Allen has prior convictions relating to the seizure of a sawn-off shotgun from his home in 2003, while a Zoraki 914-TD firearm, a handgun designed to discharge capsules containing noxious substances, was recovered during a search of his address in 2020. He said in response that he had been interested in such items "since childhood" after his dad purchased him an air rifle from a second hand shop, which he used to "shoot cans and little paper targets in the back garden".Allen added: "I just found them extremely nice to look at like. One Christmas, I got given a replica gun and built a collection, probably, from there."Mr Pratt put to him that "firearms can be used to shoot people" and asked whether he "had an interest in that", to which Allen replied: "Absolutely not, not the ones I had. I had air weapons. I had blank firing guns. They just go bang. I had model guns, Airsoft guns. It's a game that's played all over the world."Later on in my life, I bought, off a website, some deactivated firearms that come with a certificate. When a gun is deactivated, it has to be made safe and a certificate is issued with that weapon that corresponds with the serial numbers on it. It's of no use whatsoever, but an ornament."Allen went on to tell the court that he had been a user of heroin and crack cocaine, saying: "I've been an addict since my late teens. Throughout my life, I've had jobs and functions, but, in later years, I started injecting. It went completely out of control. It got the best of me like."Asked about his relationship with Byrne, Allen said: "Dealers used to come and go. I got given his number and started scoring off him."Describing Byrne as initially being "charming" and a "very nice guy", Allen added: "When I rang to score, it would be either him or the other guy like, Liam Carson. Liam Carson was his partner. Either one of them would come round and give me my stuff like."I liked him. It did change, like. My mum died and left me the family home. My sister had her own home, so I lived in it myself. He started staying over sometimes, just by himself to begin with. But then there was a driver. He didn't have anywhere to stay, so he moved in. Carson used to stay there frequently as well."To begin with, I enjoyed it, enjoyed the company and that. But then it got out of hand very quickly. Friends of theirs would also chill there. There'd be gangs of young lads, and then the neighbours started getting nosey. There was a lot of activity there."It was a nice house in a nice area. I suppose it felt safe for them, like. The neighbours started putting complaints into the police. Liam Carson started dealing from my front door. The house got raided by the police one time. That became a regular thing at the house, and I did not want that."At that time, my mental state was not particularly good. I would say I was quite vulnerable and easily blagged. I made a point of it on many occasions."When questioned what he had been told in response to his concerns, Allen responded "I don't remember exact words but 'shut up, it'll be alright'." He went on to say of Byrne: "He blew hot and cold. I was probably quite frustrating to him like."I got called a few choice words. At that time, I was lost. I was in a bad way. There was a lot of abuse in my life, so it was just another person doing it."Allen conceded that he had gone on to deliver drugs to North Wales on Byrne's behalf, but said: "I went a few times to North Wales, either dropping off or collecting dosh or whatever. I just wanted to be a customer, I didn't want to be a drug dealer. I was a pushover like. I was easily blagged. It was very easy to placate me."Asked whether Byrne had ever physically assaulted him, Allen replied: "No, James Byrne never struck me. I had a lot of threats off Carson and his runners. 'Shut your f***ing mouth, I'll smash your face in'."It was just a load of lads who came into my house and took it over and caused absolutely mayhem with the neighbours. The neighbours ended up hating me. The police were called out regularly."James Byrne never threatened to beat me up or nothing. It was Carson who was the more gobby and would dish out threats of violence, and it was one of his runners."I could quickly see that l didn't want to get on the wrong side of him. They were all a bit out of control, that bunch. They were all feuding with each other."I had bricks through my window, extremely aggressive people turning up looking for James Byrne and Liam Carson one night. That ended up with a brick getting thrown through my patio window and Liam Carson running out my back door and hiding in the woods. They'd had a dealer off in Liverpool, and this dealer found his way to my front door and was extremely aggressive. I had to call the police."I had to move out of my family home because of the trouble that was caused by the dealing and police coming and smashing the front door in. My family said to me that they were putting the house on the market and it had been ruined. I'd lost my home. It wasn't possible to keep it anymore, because so much trouble had been brought to my front door."I was helping out a friend who had a vape shop. I moved into the back of his vape shop to begin with, but that went wrong as well. And then, after the vape shop, Dave Harrison said he would kindly take me in."Asked how he had come to know Harrison, Allen said: "One day, in the vape shop, a man came in looking for vape liquid. It was Dave. We got talking. I think he must have seen that I was a user. We became friends from there. Me and my cat needed somewhere to live. Dave kindly put me up."When it was put to him that he had later called Harrison a "conman" and "shark" in interviews with detectives, Allen told the court: "I was an addict and Dave had a breakdown and relapsed. It can create a bit of a toxic environment."I know myself, I'm difficult to live with. I wasn't paying any rent either. The things I said about Dave, I regret saying them, because I'm sure it was quite difficult for him to put up with me sometimes. It was just, when people fall out, they say nasty things, don't they?"Allen was then questioned over a trip to Amsterdam, when he had driven Byrne and Connolly to the Netherlands via the Channel Tunnel around a week prior to the shooting. He said of this: "He [Byrne] said 'go get your passport, we're going to Holland'. I agreed to drive. I used to live in Holland. I speak Dutch. It was all very rush, rush but we did, we went."Asked about the purpose of this visit, Allen said: "Get stoned. Holland is famous for selling extremely good quality marijuana. And going to a shooting club. James and Paddy [Connolly's nickname] wanted to go shooting."The Dutch like their shooting clubs. There's hundreds and hundreds of shooting clubs. For a day out or Christmas or something, the whole office will make a booking."We booked into this amazing five star hotel. I had my own room. I showed them the cool sights and that like. I remember being very knackered and going back to the hotel by myself. I dunno what time they came back. They're a lot younger than me."However, Allen reported that the three men ultimately did not visit a shooting range, recalling: "They asked me to find a shooting club, which I did. It advertised long galleries where you can shoot an array of firearms."You pay money to go in and an instructor, they'll teach you how to do it. You pay for a certain amount of time there. You can't just like turn up on the door and knock and say 'I'd like to come in and shoot'."The man laughed in my face and said 'you can't come in, you have to make a booking a long time in advance'. You can't just let any Tom, Dick and Harry come in and shoot their guns."You cannot just turn up on the door and walk in. You have to provide them with identification and checks have to be done. If I'd said we couldn't go, I would never have heard the end of it."Allen also stated that Byrne paid €80 for him to get the Yamaha motorcycles logo tattooed on his hand during their time abroad, saying: "We were coming out of a coffee shop. I said I'd like to get a little tattoo while I'm here. James kindly said, go for it. The lady got the logo off the internet and she did that."Allen, aged 55 and of no fixed address, 23-year-old Byrne, also of no fixed address, 46-year-old Glynn, of Westway in Heswall, and 59-year-old Harrison, of Old Meadow Road in Pensby, deny murder, manslaughter, possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger and arson, which relates to the stolen Vauxhall Insignia. McGinn, aged 26 and of Frankby Stiles, Frankby, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of assisting an offender and the trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues.
