Oldham man who shot bullet at a car in broad daylight jailed for 12 years

A man from Oldham who shot a bullet at a car in broad daylight has been sentenced.

On Friday (January 19), at Manchester Crown Court, Daniel Whelan (aged 32) of Unsworth Way in Oldham, was jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

On Wednesday, July 5, 2023, just after 7pm, Whelan was caught on CCTV on Great Gable Close in Oldham speaking to occupants of a VW Golf in a car park and when a grey BMW X3 pulled up near to Whelan, he passed a white plastic bag to the passengers in the Golf.

The occupants of the VW Golf exited their vehicle and attacked Whelan before taking the white plastic bag out of his hands and turning their attention to the driver of the grey BMW continuing their assault and robbery.

The grey BMW, with Whelan now in the passenger seat, continued to drive along Horsedge Road in Oldham which was shown slowly driving on CCTV thought by investigators to be an attempt to locate a known target.

The BMW comes to a sudden stop and Whelan proceeded to get out of the passenger seat and fired a shot containing a 9mm bullet towards a Ford Focus but missed.

Instead, he hit a car belonging to a member of the public, a family, who heard a loud bang.

Thankfully they were both unharmed, but understandably left shaken by this ordeal.

Police were made aware of reports of a firearms discharge after the owner of the Peugeot became aware of a bullet hole in his car the following day, the detectives in GMP’s Operation Challenger Team in Oldham launched an investigation and recovered a 9mm bullet case from the scene and Whelan was arrested a few days after the incident.

Despite giving a no comment interview, he was charged and remanded into custody ahead of the trial.

Detective Constable Andy Pearson, of GMP's Operation Challenger Team, said: "One of our continued priorities across the force is ensuring that the communities of Greater Manchester are safe from serious violent crime and thankfully this investigation allowed us to remove a dangerous individual from our streets.

"Thankfully, whilst no one was injured during the incident, it was clear that there was no consideration shown by Whelan for the safety of members of the public who were in the area at the time, the situation could have easily been very different and could have had tragic consequences.

"Whelan is now behind bars for the foreseeable future which will stop him from committing any potential acts of violence with a dangerous weapon; he is no longer a threat to the people of our communities.

“We can only keep driving out organised crime with the continued support of the public and we urge the public to please keep sending through information to police or via Crimestoppers and be assured that we will act on it and keep pursuing individuals like Whelan to put them behind bars."

Anyone with information relating to serious violent crime or weapons is encouraged to contact police on 101.

Information will be treated with the upmost seriousness and sensitivity.

Details can also be passed via GMP's LiveChat function at: www.gmp.police.uk or via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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