Six people responsible for murder of woman shot at point blank range sentenced – live

Six people responsible for the murder of Joanne Penney who was shot in the heart and killed at point blank range on a doorstep are due to be sentenced today. Her murder was part of a background of “a clash of rival organised crime groups” over drug dealing.

The 40-year-old died after the bullet penetrated her heart and left lung and lodged itself in the rear of her chest. She was pronounced dead at a property in Llys Illtyd, Talbot Green, at around 6.10pm on March 9 last year.

Marcus Huntley, 21, pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Penney and being the person who pulled the trigger.

Jordan Mills-Smith, 34, Joshua Gordon, 28, Kristina Ginova, 22, and Melissa Quailey-Dashper, 40, were found guilty of Joanne Penney’s murder.

Convicted murderer Renaldo Baptiste, 39, was also found guilty or murder, having arranged the murder of Ms Penney from his prison cell. He was convicted of murdering a man in Leicester and was serving a sentence of life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years when he orchestrated the shooting of Ms Penney.

The court heard the background to the killing was a “clash of rival organised crime groups”, one allegedly headed by defendant Joshua Gordon, of the “Rico OCG”.

The court heard the expansion of Gordon’s activities into South Wales, specifically Talbot Green, was “not taken well” by a rival group of drug dealers, lead by Daniel Joseph, known as “Jimmy”.

prosecutor Jonathan Rees KC said during the original trial: “On two occasions in the lead-up to the murder on March 9, 2025, Jimmy and his men had confronted, and humiliated, members of the ‘Rico’ group when they were in the Talbot Green area.”

In the days following, the court heard Huntley, Gordon and Baptiste discussed obtaining a firearm and ammunition to “send a message” to their rivals.

The court heard that on the day of the murder Quailey-Dashper knocked on the front door of 10 Llys Illtyd.

Mr Rees said: “The trigger may have been pulled by Marcus Huntley, but the prosecution’s case is that each of Joshua Gordon, Marcus Huntley, Jordan Mills-Smith, Melissa Quailey-Dashper, Kristina Ginova and Tony Porter, are jointly responsible for her murder.

“They each played their part in the death of Joanna Penney – knowing that they were acting to bring about, or assisting/encouraging others to bring about, at least really serious injury to another person.”

The sentencing hearing of all six defendants is due to take place at Cardiff Crown Court this morning.

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