SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Lady Drummond said:

"Mr Benson, Russell, McCusker, Balloch, Hendry, and Munro you were all convicted by the jury of murder and attempted murder. Mr Russell in addition to murder and attempted murder, you were also found guilty of possession of a machete.  

Mr Meechan you pled guilty to murder, at an earlier stage. Your not guilty pleas to attempted murder and other charges were accepted by the prosecution.

On 28 February 2023, each one of you were involved in a planned attack on Mr Canney or Wilson. You all gathered beforehand at Mr Meechan’s house some of you wearing balaclavas and hoods to conceal your identities, arming yourselves with knives and a gun. From there, in the early hours of the morning, you set off to Mr Canney’s house, some of you on bikes. The exception was Mr Benson who went to wait nearby in a car to provide transport to some of you after the shooting.  When Mr Canney opened the door, one of you shot a gun 8 times within 5 seconds directly into his home, one shot hitting him in the back of the head and killing him. The other shots were fired into the hall and living room where six others were present including two children. The others defied chance and avoided being hit.

Victim impact statements

Mr Neil Canney’s family describe their loss as heartbreaking, impalpable and something that plagues them every day. His children are left to experience life without their fiercest protector, their role model and biggest supporter. No sentence I impose today can change any of that for them.  

Sentence

Mr Meechan you pled guilty to murder accepting that there was a common plan to attend at Mr Canney’s home in possession of weapons, including a machete and a handgun, and to shoot him.

For the rest of you, the jury by its verdict decided that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that you were party to a plan to commit murder and attempted murder. Since you each played a part in carrying out the plan, you are all equally responsible for it and its consequences.

For murder, the punishment is fixed by law.  You will each be sentenced to life imprisonment. I am required to fix the punishment part which is the minimum period you must spend in prison before you can be considered for release by the Parole Board for Scotland. I must reflect the need to punish you for the crime of murder and to deter you and others from committing murder.  The law requires me to ignore any risk that you may pose to the public in the future.

I take into account the seriousness of the crime, your criminal records, all that has been said on your behalf today and is in the available reports.

This was a brutal attack planned in advance. Arriving unexpectedly in the middle of the night at Mr Canney’s home discharging a gun directly into the house, where the occupants had no possibility of defending themselves. Your actions showed utter indifference for everyone in that house including young children. Use of firearms to commit murder must be deterred and the penalties imposed must be appropriate to achieve that.

I sentence each of you as follows:

Mr Benson, your involvement included picking up two of your co-accused to take them to Mr Meechan’s house and providing transport to them after the shooting. Although you were not present outside Mr Canney’s house, the evidence suggested you knew what the plan was and played a part in carrying it out.

You have a minor criminal record and have not been sentenced to prison before. You were aged 22 at the time of the offending and 24 years old on conviction. The Scottish Sentencing Council Guidelines apply to you and I follow those.

For the attempted murder charge, I sentence you to 9 years which is to be served concurrently, that is, at the same time as, the sentence for murder.

For the murder charge, I fix the punishment part initially at 17 years. I increase that punishment part to take account of the attempted murder to a period of 20 years. The increase is limited to that part of the sentence for the attempted murder charge which is attributable to retribution, deterrence and the loss of the possibility of early release. 

The sentence is backdated to 6 March 2023.

Mr Russell, you armed yourself with a machete throwing it away before leaving the scene. The evidence showed you were paid for your involvement albeit by a very small amount of money. You have the most serious record amongst your co-accused. You have previous convictions for assault, assault and robbery, assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, robbery and assault and robbery involving a knife, assault to injury with a hammer, possession of knives and a hammer. You have been imprisoned many times before. You are 31 years old.

For the attempted murder charge, I sentence you to 11 years to be served concurrently with the sentence for life imprisonment.

For the charge of possession of a machete, I do not impose a separate sentence.   

For the murder charge, I fix the punishment part at 20 years but increase it to take account of the attempted murder and fix the punishment part at 24 years.

The sentence is backdated to 6 March 2023.

Mr McCusker, you accompanied Mr Russell from Wishaw to Greenock to carry out the attack. You have a criminal record for driving offences, for assault to injury, culpable and reckless conduct and abusive and threatening behaviour but have not been jailed before.  You are aged 41.  

For the attempted murder charge I sentence you to 10 years to be served concurrently to the murder charge.

For the murder charge, I fix the punishment part at 19 years. I increase it to take account of the charge of attempted murder and fix the punishment part at 23 years.

Your sentence is backdated to 8 March 2023.

Mr Meechan, you have previous convictions for assault to injury, drugs, road traffic but have never been imprisoned before.  You were aged 27 at the time of the offending and 29 now.  

I fix the punishment part for the murder charge, at 19 years. I reduce that by 2 years to reflect your plea. The punishment part is therefore 17 years. This is backdated to 10 March 2023.

Mr Balloch, you have one previous conviction for a driving offence and have not been to jail before. You were aged 23 at the date of offending and are 25 now.

Mr Hendry and Mr Munro, neither of you has any criminal record. Mr Hendry you were 24 at time of offending and 26 now. Mr Munro you were aged 25 at the time of offending and 28 now.

For the attempted murder charge I sentence each of you to 9 and a half years imprisonment to be served concurrently with the sentence for murder,   

For each of you I fix the punishment part at 18 years and increase that to take account of the attempted murders to 21 years. 

For Mr Balloch your sentence is backdated to 21 March 2023

Mr Hendry, your sentence is backdated to 11 May 2023.

Mr Munro, your sentence is backdated to 24 May 2023."