Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Trial Opens in Talbot Green Doorstep Killing as Prosecutors Allege Drug-Gang Revenge Plot

Prosecutors outline a joint-enterprise case tying six defendants to a close-range shooting caught on CCTV.

Overview

  • Joanne Penney, 40, died on March 9, 2025, from a single gunshot to the chest at a flat in Llys Illtyd, Talbot Green, with a post-mortem citing a wound involving the heart and left lung.
  • Six defendants — Marcus Huntley, Jordan Mills-Smith, Joshua Gordon, Kristina Ginova, Melissa Quailey-Dashper and Tony Porter — deny murder at Cardiff Crown Court before Mr Justice Fordham.
  • The Crown says the shooting grew out of a turf dispute between rival drug groups and argues all six are liable under joint enterprise, alleging Penney was not specifically targeted but was at an address the attackers intended to hit.
  • Evidence shown to the jury includes CCTV and a 3D scene reconstruction placing the shooter to the left of the porch with the handgun extended, with an estimated muzzle-to-wound distance of about 236cm.
  • The prosecution alleges Quailey-Dashper knocked at the door, Huntley fired the shot as Mills-Smith stood alongside, Porter drove the group, Gordon stayed in the car, and Ginova waited in Cardiff with Gordon’s phone, while two defendants have already admitted a separate organised-crime charge that four others deny.