How was Luke Graham murdered? Video shows man ambushed as daughters play in princess dresses
A horrifying CCTV footage from June 13, 2018, shows two young girls playing on Birch Street, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, at roughly 4.50 pm, only minutes before their father, Luke Graham, was shot dead. Three balaclava-wearing gunmen opened fire on Graham at least five times as part of an ongoing drugs turf war. Though rushed to the hospital he could not be saved.
For the first time, CCTV footage from the horrifying incident has been featured in a compelling BBC documentary, 'BBC's The Detectives: Fighting Organized Crime'. It focuses on the horrific circumstances that led to Luke Graham's assassination and how the perpetrators were eventually brought to justice. After being ambushed outside a home, Luke Graham, 31, was killed on a private street. According to the Manchester Evening News, the father-of-two had just concluded a narcotics deal when the gang attacked him and his business partner, who survived.
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Wade Cox, 30, the murderer is presently receiving a life sentence and is expected to serve at least 36 years in prison. Four other men Jack West, Connor Cornforth, Ben Dodd, and Charlie Atkinson were sentenced to prison for their roles in the gruesome murder on June 13, 2018, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. Liz Hopkinson, Detective Chief Inspector, stated, "When a murder happens, there is such an overwhelming responsibility to find who has done this and to bring some justice to the family. Quite often organized crime takes place in the shadows, but when you see a gunman burst out the house into a busy residential street and shoot in broad daylight with people sitting in their front garden, and children playing, that is horrendous. These people are very dangerous individuals and they have to be caught."
Constable Detective Julie Connor, a gang expert with the police force said, "There are a lot more gangs in Manchester than there used to be. Gangs are more organized than they were in the nineties. And there is definitely more access to guns. Drug territory is so important. It's everything. If someone else tries to muscle in on that, they do everything to stop it. These gangs prey on vulnerable people, they take over their houses. They will use people with physical or mental disabilities, children, women who are desperate for money, or drug users. They will force their way into a house and force that person to assist them."
Cox was a member of a group that sold class A narcotics in the Greater Manchester towns of Droylsden, Denton, Stalybridge, and Ashton. After a trial, the attacker was sentenced to prison in 2019 although he denied being involved in the crime. Meanwhile, Jack West, Connor Cornforth, and Ben Dodd were convicted of helping an offender and sentenced to two and a half years, three and a half years, and two and a half years, respectively, in jail. Charlie Atkinson was sentenced to eight years in jail after being found guilty of assisting in the assassination. Callum Halpin, 27, is still wanted in connection with Graham's murder after fleeing the UK.