Gun fired when gangs clashed on Mansfield estate after ‘trivial disagreement’ escalated
A gun was fired in broad daylight when two gangs clashed on a Mansfield estate after a “relatively trivial disagreement” escalated into violence, a jury has heard.
Dillon Mellor was wearing a balaclava and carrying a handgun when he and three other masked men ran towards flats on the Bellamy estate on the afternoon of May 9 last year, said Laura Hocknell, prosecuting.
She said Mellor was angry following an earlier confrontation with Troon Dennington and had returned to the scene with the firearm before witnesses heard a gunshot.
Ms Hocknell said “a relatively trivial disagreement” between Mellor and Troon Dennington developed into a fight which Mellor lost and he became “enraged”.
Mellor contacted reinforcements, acquired a gun, and returned to the Bellamy estate with three others looking for Dennington.
When Dennington, who was in a bar in Mansfield at the time, heard Mellor and his accomplices were looking for him, he and Matthew Smith returned.
“There was a confrontation between the groups, and during it, Smith managed to get hold of the gun, and following that, the balaclavaed men made good their escape,” said Ms Hocknell.
Instead of calling the police Dennington and Smith passed that gun to another male who took it away, Nottingham Crown Court was told.
Mellor, 32, of Maid Marion Way, Boughton, denies possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence; possession of a prohibited firearm and ammunition without a firearm certificate.
Dennington, 23, of Edwalton Court, Mansfield, and Smith, 40, of Big Barn Lane, Mansfield, both deny charges of transferring a prohibited firearm and violent disorder.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.