Seven men caged after bitter gangland feud ended with shooting on quiet street

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A court has heard that a bitter gangland feud culminated in a shooting in a quiet residential street. Two rival factions were involved in tit-for-tat attacks across County Durham this year which included cars being set alight, a house and businesses being rammed by vehicles, and eventually a van being shot at in a street.

Seven men who were involved in the offences have today been jailed for over 90 years at Newcastle Crown Court. Group organiser, James Stephenson, 32, along with Wayne Griffin, 48, Connor Ellison, 26, Jonathan Miller, 31, Shane Leigh, 22, Graeme Oliver, 30, and Paul Frain, 55, all appeared in court today to hear the sentence for their part in what happened over three days in January this year.

According to Chronicle Live, Sue Hirst, prosecuting, told the court that all men accepted they had conspired to cause grievous bodily harm with intent with use of a firearm on January 8.

She said: "On January 6, there were a series of events between the defendants and a rival faction, Stephenson was the organiser of this group.