'Drive-by shooter is jailed for eight years over Wolverhampton attack
A man who fired a sawn-off shotgun in a street in retaliation after his mother's Wolverhampton home was targeted has been jailed for eight years.
Ian Ferguson, 19, from Tipton, was a passenger being carried in a stolen Fiat 500 and was responsible for pulling the trigger resulting in a bystander being struck with pellets in Stowheath Lane, Stow Heath.
The sentencing hearing on Monday was told that the male victim fortunately only suffered a slight arm injury during the incident near outside a convenience store at about 10.15pm on July 22, 2021.
Ferguson, along with co-defendants Logan Head, also from Tipton; Joshua Baker, from Dudley, both now aged 19, and Dylan Ireson, now 23 were all jailed for their roles.
Prosecuting barrister Mr Nicholas Tatlow KC said Head was driving and that Ferguson pulled the trigger of the .410 weapon, while DNA found on the gun linked Ireson to the case. The men had driven round streets in the area before spotting the group they were looking for near the Premier Store, he said.
The car was driven past the group before being turned around, enabling Ferguson to take aim and fire.
Ferguson and Ireson previously admitted possession of a prohibited firearm, and Birmingham Crown Court heard Ferguson, of Coronation Road, in Tipton, fired the weapon in an act of retaliation.
Sentencing them, Judge Heidi Kubik KC said: "This is obviously a very serious offence."
She told Ferguson: "I accept that you together with Head were driving around in the stolen vehicle with the loaded firearm for significant number of hours prior to to this incident."
The car was later found damaged in a crash, in Hall Lane, Tipton.
In the ensuing investigation CCTV evidence identified all the accused and the Fiat by its distinctive markings. In addition, doorbell footage captured all four men arriving at Baker’s home, in Burton Road, Dudley, with Ferguson grasping an item the ‘same general size and shape’ of the weapon used in the shooting.
For possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of a blade relating to a Zombie knife, possession of a lock knife relating to a separate case, Baker, of Burton Road, Dudley, was jailed for a total of three years and three months. Baker was cleared of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after a trial.
Head, of Hawthorne Road, Tipton, who carried out internet searches in the days leading up to the shooting of weapons including a gardening gun, a pipe gun and a .410 shotgun was jailed for three years to be served consecutive to a four-year and nine month sentence currently being served for a separate matter.
For possession of a prohibited firearm Ireson, of Uplands Avenue, Bradmore, in Wolverhampton, was jailed for five years.
All four must serve half their terms before being released on licence.
