Teen avoids jail sentence following gun and bottle attack

Aaron Hanson was 17 when he and another man attacked Brandon Rickwood inside the Britannic building in Hargreaves Street, Burnley, in August 2021.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Hanson, now 19, was under investigation and was on police bail for drugs offences at the time.

He was handed a suspended sentence for those offences in January.

Prosecuting, Martyn Walsh said around 6pm on August 20, Mr Rickwood entered the Britannic building and was followed by Hanson and another man, Thomas Shorrock.

“The victim knew the defendant as they had been at school together,” he said.

“The defendant said something to Mr Rickwood about his father, who he believed had connections to the National Crime Agency.

“The defendant stopped the door from closing and when Mr Rickwood turned around, Hanson threw a punch at him.

“The other man, Thomas Shorrock, pulled out a firearm and fired it next to Mr Rickwood’s left ear, and then a fight ensued between the three, until a bottle was smashed over Mr Rickwood’s head.”

CCTV was played in court which showed Thomas Shorrock firing the gun and then smashing the bottle, with Hanson being the one who rained punches and blows on Mr Rickwood.

The two men then left the scene and returned to a pub across the road. They were arrested two days later.

The court heard how Mr Rickwood suffered bruising to his left cheek and a 1.5cm cut to his scalp as well as a 3cm cut to his right forearm.

Mitigating for Hanson, of Spenser Street, Padiham, Kristian Cavanagh said in the two years since the offence, his client had remained out of trouble and had completed some of the unpaid hours he was handed at his drugs sentencing in January.

He said: “He was under investigation at the time for drugs offences.

“He presents as someone who lacks maturity but he’s now living at home with his mother, and she has no issues with him.”

Judge Sarah Dodd said, in sentencing: “You don’t just involve yourself in this, you continued with the struggle with the victim after the firearm had been discharged and after the bottle had been used to hit him over the head.

“I do accept that yours is a lesser role though.

“The custody threshold in this case is well and truly passed and it’s further aggravated by the fact you were on bail and under investigation at the time. I am satisfied however that this sentence can be suspended.”

Hanson pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was jailed for 12 months suspended for 16 months.

He was ordered to complete a thinking skills programme, a 120 day alcohol abstinence programme, a nine month drug rehabilitation programme and complete 10 rehabilitation activity days.

He was also handed an additional nine months to his current suspended sentence order and told to complete an additional 35 hours unpaid work.

Judge Dodd added: “I hope you understand how fragile the ice is that you stand on at the moment.”

Thomas Shorrock was sentenced for his involvement at an earlier hearing.