[3] By the late 1990s, gun related killings had increased with the nature of shootings changing, becoming more reckless and often seem to take place over petty disputes, such as a row over a girl or ownership of a bike, and rarely over drug dealing "turf".
[7] [8] In 2001 a multi-agency approach to tackling gun crime was initiated when the Manchester Multi Agency Gang Strategy (MMAGS) was introduced as a result of the Home Office 1999 Tilley and Bullock report.
[9] Bearing similarities to the death of Benji Stanley 13 years earlier, 15-year-old Jessie James was killed on 9 September 2006, cycling home from a party with friends.
The youngest victim since Benji Stanley, his was also believed to be a case of mistaken identity, with the police maintaining he wasn't involved in any of the area's gang and drug related activities.
[10] Xcalibre received a funding boost of £6.5 million in June 2008[11] A police spokesman said that the recent Operation Cougar has had a "massive impact" on gang related shootings in the area and it was hoped the new money would help build on that success.
[14] Gang members Colin Joyce and Lee Amos had been arrested in 2000, when they had been apprehended at their 'nerve centre' in a house in Moss Side, found with an 'extraordinary array of firearms'.
[15] In April 2009, Joyce and Amos were among 11 members of the 'Gooch gang' who were found guilty of a 'catalogue of crimes' they had been charged with, which included the murders of Ucal Chin and Tyrone Gilbert.
[20] Optimism about the reduction in gun crime in the south Manchester area was tarnished by the shooting dead of 16-year-old Ardwick resident Giuseppe Gregory outside the Robin Hood pub in Stretford on 10 May 2009.
Comments of Chris Grayling, Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, in August 2009, comparing Moss Side to the Baltimore set TV series The Wire met with an angry response in the area, from locals and the police.
[13] Having been out on patrol for a day with the police, observing the results of a shooting at a house, he described himself as having witnessed an "urban war" and said "It's the world of the drama series The Wire".
[25] Police responded that gang related shootings in Greater Manchester had fallen by 82 percent on the previous year, and that to speak of "urban war" was "sensationalistic".
[13] In the wake of the Gooch gang prosecutions, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Peter Fahy, referred to the need to keep guns off the streets.