A Carlisle mum has blasted the sentences handed to three people who helped her son’s killers flee the UK after he was executed in a brutal city stabbing, calling the punishments disgraceful.
The city’s crown court heard how Kane Hull and Liam Porter were assisted by friends as they took major steps to evade police after Ryan Kirkpatrick, 24, was brutally killed at Carlyle’s Court on the night of September 18 2021.
Hull, 29, knifed Mr Kirkpatrick outside a city bar in front of his friends in what a High Court judge said amounted to an execution amid a background of bad blood. Porter, 33, provided help and encouragement.
Hull and Porter were handed life prison sentences in October after being convicted of murder, Mr Justice Linden ordering them to spend a minimum of 28 and 26 years, respectively, behind bars.
A getaway Volvo was torched close to the north Cumbria coast before Mr Kirkpatrick had even been pronounced dead as Hull and Porter sought to avoid capture and cover their tracks.
Prosecutor Tim Evans told Carlisle Crown Court: “These steps involved changing their phones, checking into new addresses, acquiring different vehicles and, on September 22 2021, travelling first to Northern Ireland via ferry.”
In the hours after the murder, Ross Henry Neville, 32, transported Kane Hull and Liam Porter away from the city and was caught on the CCTV at his own address as he housed the pair.
Police unearthed a string of phone calls between businessman Neville and Hull just minutes after the killing. Neville’s white Toyota Land Cruiser, with personalised plates, was then captured in the Smithfield area at the same time as a witness saw a burning object being tossed into a field from what he described as a “white Shogun-type” vehicle at around midnight which sped off.
Shortly after midnight, the vehicle was caught on CCTV footage from Neville’s own property returning to his house in Canonbie as he, Hull and Porter got out of the Toyota.
Neville, who deals in commercial vehicles, went with Hull to Newcastle and back on September 19, and then to acquire an Audi from Carlisle’s Kingmoor industrial estate.
Michael Karl Celmins, 33, later drove to an Alston hotel to provide Hull with a stolen Skoda Roomster vehicle sourced from Manchester and also took away the Audi. Bearing false plates, the Audi was later found parked outside his girlfriend’s house.
Olivia Brooke Memmory, 23, arranged and booked accommodation for Hull and Porter. She was seen with the killers in the days afterwards, including on CCTV in Langholm. Memmory then used false names as she booked two hotels in Alston; the Five Corners Guest Inn in Ballyclare where a staff member noted she “appeared confident and pleasant”; Belfast’s Etap hotel; and finally remote Grandad’s Place in Carracastle, County Mayo, as they travelled to Southern Ireland.
At one stage, phone evidence pointed to Memmory discussing what the prosecution suggested were sleeping arrangements with the two killers. “Think I’ll be wearing my fluffy jammas if I’m in with use 2 x,” one message read.
Messages, said Mr Evans, suggested there was some sort of intimate relationship between her and Hull.
Memmory was arrested on September 28 as she drove the Skoda on the A7 towards Canonbie. A boarding card and Stena Line receipts were found in her handbag.
That same day, Hull and Porter were arrested at Grandad’s Place as armed Irish police swooped on the bungalow. A shopping list found scribbled on the back of a microwave oven manual at the bungalow included “hair dye, glasses, hat/wig, mask”.
Hull was found hiding in an attic and the pair were later extradited with their time on the run caused extra distress for Mr Kirkpatrick’s family and friends, and led to his funeral being delayed.
In a statement read in court, his mum Andrea Johnston said: “I do not understand why anyone helped and supported my son’s killers.”
Neville, of Broadmeadows, Canonbie, admitted two assist offender charges. This was on the basis that he suspected an offence had been committed on the night of 18th September, but did not realise it was murder until early the following day. Memmory, of The Oval, Cummersdale, and Celmins, of Irthington, near Carlisle, each admitted one assist offender charge.
Jason Pitter KC, for father-of-two Neville noted a gap in his offending history between 2012 and 2019 when he had built up a business which, the court heard, had a £300,000 operating profit last year. Two employees had written to the court expressing concerns about their future if Neville was jailed. Mr Pitter said of the assist offending offence: “But for Mr Hull, he would not be in this position.”
Rosalind Emsley-Smith, for Memmory, a woman of previous good character, said: “In my submission there is no doubt there is a significant imbalance of power as between Mr Hull and Miss Memmory.”
Russell Davies, for Celmins, spoke of his “chaotic” lifestyle, adding: “He is bitterly regretful that he ever became involved.”
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Linden told the trio of the killers: “They needed the others to escape. They enlisted the three of you.”
Memmory and Celmins were jailed for 19 months and 12 months, respectively. Concluding there was a prospect of rehabilitation in Neville’s case, the judge imposed 200 hours’ unpaid work, a six-month night time curfew and a £12,000 fine.
As the sentences were handed down, Ms Johnston shouted from the public gallery before leaving court: “Tell you what, there is no justice in this world; no justice at all. Disgraceful.”
Following the sentencing, Victoria Agulló, senior crown prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “The CPS worked with Cumbria police to build a strong case, including producing CCTV, phone messages and phone location data. The strength of the evidence led to all three accepting the part they played in assisting Hull and Porter to evade justice.
“Without the assistance provided by Neville, Celmins and Memmory, Hull and Porter may well have been arrested sooner.
“The CPS takes assisting offenders very seriously and will robustly prosecute those who help others to evade justice.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Bird was the senior investigating officer overseeing the case.
Speaking after the sentencing, he said: “We knew as we pursued Hull and Porter that there were people helping them in their attempt to evade justice.
“There is no doubt this assistance added to the grief and extreme distress already experienced by Mr Kirkpatrick’s loved ones after his tragic death.”
