[JAILED: Louis Kelly]
A man has been sentenced at the Old Bailey today (Tuesday 5 January) for the manslaughter of Mark McCann-Barrett in Tottenham.
Louis Kelly, 40 (02.04.80) of Belgrave Gardens, NW8, was told by the judge he must serve a minimum of 12 years in prison.
Kelly was previously convicted at the same court on Friday, 13 November 2020.
During trial, the court heard that police were called at 09:27hrs on 17 September 2019 to reports of a man suffering gunshot injuries in the stairwell of a residential block in Lansdowne Road, N17.
Officers, London Ambulance Service (LAS) and London’s Air Ambulance attended. At the scene, 33-year-old Mark McCann-Barrett, a father-of-four from Waltham Cross, was found suffering gunshot wounds to both legs. He was treated by medics at the scene before being taken to an east London hospital where he died as a result of his injuries almost two weeks later on 30 September 2019.
A post-mortem examination held at Haringey Mortuary on Thursday, 3 October 2019 found the cause of death to be complications of hypovolemic shock, including hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury [extreme blood loss and lack of oxygen to the brain] and multiple gunshot wounds to the lower limbs.
A murder investigation was launched led by Detective Chief Inspector Neil John of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command.
The court heard how on the evening of 16 September 2019, a relationship taking place between the victim, Mark McCann-Barrett, and a girlfriend of the defendant, Louis Kelly, had come to light.
Kelly went to his girlfriend’s address and taking her mobile phone, he returned to his home address at Lansdowne Road, Tottenham. On the device he found proof of the affair.
A short time later Mark arrived at Kelly’s address and was invited in by Kelly to sleep on the sofa.
At some point during the night, an altercation between Mark and Kelly resulted in the victim being shot five times in the legs. The bullets passed through both of Mark’s legs and were subsequently found by scene of crime officers beneath the couch on which he’d been lying.
He managed to make his way out of the flat to the stairwell, where he was found by other residents at around 09:30hrs suffering from serious injuries.
Kelly, who had left the address, evaded capture until Friday, 27 September 2019, when he was stopped by police in a vehicle driven by another male [E] in Chippenham Road W9. It later emerged that [E] had encouraged Kelly to hand himself in and had attempted to call police in order to enable this.
As Mark was in a critical condition, but still living at that time, Kelly was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and taken to a north London police station where he was charged with that offence on 29 September.
Kelly was remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Magistrates’ Court on 30 September, where, due to Mark having died that day, the charge was amended to murder.
He appeared at the Old Bailey on 2 October where he entered a not guilty plea and was further remanded for trial.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, said: “It is concerning that we so often see such extreme violence being considered as an acceptable response to conflict.
“There is simply no justification for taking the life of another.
“Had Kelly not been in possession of a firearm, Mark McCann-Barrett may be alive today and Kelly would not be going to jail for many years to come.”
In a victim impact statement, Mark’s mother said: “Mark was a loving partner and father. His whole world revolved around his children, my grandchildren. I will never forgive the person who did this to Mark. He has taken away the father of my four grandchildren whilst they were still so young.
“I won’t ever be able to tell him how much I loved him and how much he meant to me ever again.”
+ Five other men, aged [B] 46, [C] 22, [D] 35 and [E] 32, were arrested in connection with this incident and were subsequently released with no further action.
Louis Kelly
Mark McCann Barrett
