A baby-faced teen led a cannabis gang's reign of terror in Liverpool that saw residents of the city caught in the middle of shootings and a firebombing. Harry O'Brien, who was described as having "defiance disorder" and a "disrupted education" became the leader of a south Liverpool drugs gang aged just 16. O'Brien first entered the world of crime aged 12, when he was arrested by Merseyside Police after riding electric scooters in the street.

He was also caught with cannabis and a black lock knife while living in Buckland Street, Aigburth, in 2018, and convicted of possessing the drug and dangerous driving in 2020. He was placed on a Youth Rehabilitation Order following his persistent offending when he was described as the "head" of a "successful and lucrative business" selling cannabis on the streets of Dingle. The Liverpool ECHO reports that the teen used a "graft" phone line that one of his "trusted lieutenants", Aaron Donohoe, used to send "bulk" text messages to up to 480 customers. Mohammed Mohammed, a man O'Brien called upon to carry out an arson attack, was also in charge of the line, the publication added.

The teen also took a hands on role in his operation, one on occasion delivering a rucksack full of cannabis to Donohoe by motorbike. O'Brien's illicit dealings brought him commercial success, with police seizing nearly £20,000 in cash from the teen when he was eventually captured. But the success also set up his downfall, capturing the attention of undercover cops. Liverpool Crown Court heard by the end of 2020, O'Brien was involved in "some sort of dispute" with members of two families, named in court as the Franchettis and the Rosarios. What followed was a series of incidents that were described as "the manifestation of a feud".

O'Brien was later involved in three shootings alongside other gang members. The first was reported on December 29, 2020, when shots were fired from an Audi O'Brien was inside and into a BMW full of unidentified passengers that was prowling the streets in search of the teen at the time. David Temkin, KC, who prosecuted O'Brien's case in 2022, said that, Armed with a loaded gun, O'Brien set off to alongside fellow thugs to find the BMW X5. CCTV footage showed the two cars came within metres of each other on Dingle Lane, and that three shots were fired from the Audi at the BMW.

One shot missed the latter car, piercing the glass of a mum and dad's home, leaving them "shocked" as they were in the process of going to bed, with their seven-year-old child home with them at the time. O'Brien and Donohoe got out of their car following the incident and fled with the gun. The second shooting, "a targeted attack" on the Franchetti family home on January 8, 2021, took place after O'Brien and "trusted" thug Daniel Lawler set off for the property on Sundridge Street riding an electric scooter after a gang meetup. Just after 8.45pm, Donna Rosario rang police to say shots were fired through her living room window at the home she shared with partner Ian Franchetti, and their daughter.

Bullets and casings found at the home were found to have come from the same Glock-type gun. After 1am on January 20, O'Brien and Lawler targeted the Heffey family, in Beloe Street in a third shooting incident. Mobile phone cell site evidence showed the two had travelled from the area of O'Brien's home and arrived at the property, where a single shot was fired at an upstairs bedroom. Mr Temkin said 24-year old Joel Heffey was asleep, an associate of Ian Frenchetti junior, was asleep in the room at the time. What followed was a horror firebombing on February 5 in which O'Brien's gang decided to target the home of Claire Bowness on Dingle Lane, which she shared with her three teenage children.

The teens, Mr Temkin said, were "all from the Rosario family", with their uncle being Ian Franchetti senior. O'Brien enlisted an unnamed 14-year-old boy and Sian Kanu, then 19, who recruited Mohammed, also 19, to carry out the firebombing, during which a petrol canister filled at a Shell garage on Aigburth Road was poured into Ms Bowness' home via the letterbox and ignited. The home's occupants were able to escape from the property's rear, as did Mohammed, who left behind the petrol canister outside the home. The teen was later identified in a photo showing him "pausing for breath" in The Elms area of the city while escaping the scene of the crime.

Kanu, Mohammed, O'Brien and unnamed 14-year-old later got together in what was branded a "post-arson debriefing". O'Brien was arrested following a series of raids on his associates', customers' and family members' homes at his aunt's home in Aigburth Road on July 1, 2021. Police searched the property and found £5,000 worth of cannabis plus cash, mobile phones, two knives and an axe. Those said to be involved in the shootings and arson were charged with conspiring to possess a firearm, and to commit arson, both with intent to endanger life. O'Brien admitted lesser offences of conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence ahead of his April 2022 trial, which he attended aged just 17.