Two men have been jailed for possessing firearms after a seven-year-old boy was shot in the leg in a horror attack that shocked the nation last year.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Aldaire Warmington, 29, and Christopher Hall, 46, of Oldwells Close in Little Hulton pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
Warmington was jailed for six years and Hall received a five-year sentence.
The court was told that police pulled over a car in the Mobberley area of Cheshire on December 15 2015.
Officers discovered a Heckler and Koch semi-automatic 9mm handgun and a Baikal replica pistol hidden in a plastic bag with three teddy bears inside.
Neither firearm was loaded at the time and no ammunition was found inside the car.
It’s believed that when the pair were stopped, Hall was in the process of moving the firearm to pass it on to another organised crime group in Salford.
Christian Hickey and his mother Jane were shot in the legs when two men approached their home in Winton late one evening in October 2015.
Jayne suffered two gunshot wounds to her legs, while Christian needed repeated surgeries for a gunshot wound to his left leg.
The attack made national headlines, with Greater Manchester Police calling the horrific shooting “a turning point” for the community coming forward to stop organised crime.
Read: Mum and 7-year-old son shot in the legs on Gillingham Road, Winton
In a statement Greater Manchester Police siad: “During the investigation officers discovered that one of the recovered firearms was linked to the shooting of a mother and son at their home in Eccles on Monday 12 October 2015 and also the shooting of a man in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan on 30 March 2015.”
Watch: Outrage over Salford horror shootings: ‘City in fear’ demands police response
The Heckler and Koch 9mm was also linked to the shooting of a man at a car wash in Ashton-in-Makerfield on 30 March 2015.
A man wearing a balaclava jumped out of a white vehicle and blasted a number of gunshot towards the Express Hot Hand Car Wash on Bolton Road.
The victim was shot in the abdomen.
The Wigan shooting was later linked to a gangland grenade attack on a house in Duchy, Salford.
Read More: Shocked locals see bomb disposal teams on Formby Road after grenade thrown at house
After the Winton shooting Jayne described the horror of seeing her son with “blood pouring” from his wound.
Police later appealed to “all the mothers, grandmothers, aunties and sisters of children in Salford to search your conscience” to bring the responsible men to justice.
The Winton shooting was later linked to a violent dispute between organised crime gangs in Salford and Swinton.
Violence erupted on the streets of Salford last year, including the high-profile shooting of Paul Massey outside his home in Clifton on July 26 2015.
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Police believe the Heckler and Koch and Baikal, which had been converted to fire 9mm bullets, had been used in at least 10 shootings in the North West, including seven shootings in Liverpool between 2011 and 2014.
Detective Inspector Neil Blackwood of GMP’s Serious Crime Division said: “I hope this sentence serves as warning to anyone involved in gun crime; we are determined in our mission for gun-free streets and will continue to proactively pursue those involved in the illegal use and possession of firearms.
“If you have a weapon illegally or know where one is being kept, I would urge you to hand it in or contact police or tell us an anonymously where it is.”
Anyone with concerns or information they wish to pass on, is asked to contact police on 101 or the independent charity, Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.
