Gang member jailed for shooting 12-year-old boy in Sheffield car

A gang member found guilty of attempting to kill a 12-year-old boy in a drive-by shooting has been jailed for life.

Stephen Dunford, 25, fired a revolver from the passenger seat of a car as it drove past the boy and his friends in Arbourthorne, Sheffield, in January.

The boy was probably not the intended target but was hit in the leg and medics were unable to remove the bullet lodged in his thigh, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Another child “escaped serious injury or death” after a bullet passed inches from his head.

Dunford, who was found guilty in September of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life on the day of the shooting and an incident two days earlier, received a minimum sentence of 19 years in prison on Wednesday.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told Sheffield Crown Court that if both boys had died, Dunford would have received a lifetime tariff.

“It’s just a matter of luck and chance that you didn’t kill them both,” he said.

The judge continued: “I have no doubt that your conduct is corrosive to society and your life is full of irredeemable criminality.

“You represent an enormous danger to the general public.

“It is abundantly clear that you have created immense fear in an entire area of ​​Sheffield and made the lives of decent citizens close to, if not crossing, the realm of a living nightmare.

“I want to make it a matter of crystal clear that those who engage in the supply of drugs and use firearms to protect, assist or promote that evil trade must and will receive very severe sentences.”

The judge said Dunford had a “superior, if not central role” in a gang and added: “This also involves gang rivalry and a form of warfare with other gangs in the Heeley and Arbourthorne districts of Sheffield.” .

The boy and a group of friends had planned to go to an amusement park near Meadowhall Shopping Center when a white car drove past carrying five men wearing hoods and balaclavas.

CPS said the windows rolled down and the boy recognized Dunford sitting in the front passenger seat while another person in the back was holding a long-barreled shotgun.

The group was pulled over and Dunford was heard saying “we got one,” prosecutors said.

The boy managed to get home and an ambulance was called, while another child found the bullet had gone through their hood, inches from their head.

Dunford was known to the 12-year-old and was able to identify him by his eyes, eyebrows and voice, spotting him at an ID parade.

Dunford, who was described by the CPS as an “extremely dangerous individual”, wrote a rap while on remand which included the lyrics “a young man got hit by a bum”, which detectives said was a reference to the shooting.

The stolen white Ford Focus was found burning in Sheffield after the shooting and Dunford was arrested two days later and charged.

He claimed he was having dinner at his grandparents’ house on Sunday when the attack took place.

Julian Briggs from the CPS said: “While it is likely that the young man was not the intended target, the jury decided that Dunford’s clear intention that day was to kill someone and today they found him guilty of attempted murder .

“It was only by sheer luck that Dunford’s actions did not lead to the tragic death of the 12-year-old. The second child also escaped serious injury or death.”

Brandon Bailey, 26, of Sheffield, was found guilty of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

He was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison.