Five more sentenced for involvement in Talbot Green murder

Five people sentenced for their involvement in the murder of a woman shot during a drugs turf war have avoided further prison time.

Joanne Penney was killed in March 2025 with a gunshot to the chest after answering the door of a house in Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf, where she'd been staying.

Callum Kelleher, 37, Sai Manne, 26, and Molly Cooper, 34, were convicted of participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group, while Donna James, 51, and Laura John, 23, are guilty of assisting an offender.

It comes after six individuals were sentenced to life in prison for murdering Penney, after being found guilty in a previous trial.

Penney was staying with friends at an address in Llys Illtyd, Talbot Green, when she was shot by drug dealer Marcus Huntley, 22, from Cardiff.

The gun had been delivered to Huntley from Leicester to carry out a revenge attack, after there had been a clash with a rival drug dealer at the same address.

Jordan Mills-Smith, 34, from Cardiff, Leicester trio Joshua Gordon 28, Melissa Quailey-Dashper, 40, and Kristina Ginova, 22, along with drug gang boss Renaldo Baptiste, who ordered the attack from a prison cell, were found guilty of Penney's murder as part of the drugs turf war.

Both trials heard that weeks before the murder Huntley and Mills-Smith, working on behalf of Leicester drug boss Gordon and his Rico crime group, had placed drug dealer Sai Manne at 10 Llys Illtyd.

Manne was later beaten and humiliated by a member of the rival drug gang, which led to Huntley and Gordon sourcing a gun for a reprisal attack.

Following the shooting Huntley and Mills-Smith fled from Cardiff, but were later arrested.

Mills-Smith's mother Donna James, 51, from Llanishen, and his girlfriend Laura John, 23, from Rhiwbina, had assisted him following the shooting, helping him to travel to London.

Molly Cooper, 34, from Leicester, helped Gordon in his drug dealing activities, driving him around, collecting cash for him, and being paid in both drugs and money.

Her DNA was also detected on the ammunition used in Penney's shooting, which was later found buried in a park in Cardiff.

The court heard that Callum Kelleher, 37, from Liverpool, had been "cuckooed" by the Rico crime group, allowing them to use his property in Cardiff for drug dealing purposes.

Sai Manne, 26, was placed by Gordon at Kelleher's address in order to sell drugs, but was also on one occasion assaulted by Kelleher in a "punishment beating" after consuming the drugs he was supposed to sell.

Sentencing, the judge said Manne, Kelleher and Cooper all played a "subordinate role" in the Rico crime group, doing Gordon's bidding but also at times punished or exploited by the drug boss.

Sai Manne, an "established runner who was selling crack cocaine", was given a 27-month prison sentence, but because of time already spent in custody, is now eligible to be released on license.

Molly Cooper was sentenced on two counts, of participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group after pleading guilty, and acquiring ammunition for a firearm without a certificate.

Judge Fordham handed her concurrent 12-month and 30-month custodial sentences for the offences – with Cooper also eligible to be released on license immediately, following her time in custody awaiting trial.

Callum Kelleher was described by the judge as someone with "a list of mental health conditions and difficulties" which had led him to be "targeted and exploited by other people", and fitted the definition of a "victim of modern slavery".

Considering those mitigating factors, he was given a 16-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and a financial penalty of £500.

Laura John and Donna James were both said by the judge to have "damaged the interests of justice" by helping Mills-Smith to arrange transport out of Cardiff in the hope of evading capture.

But both were following the "direction" of Mills-Smith, and were not handed custodial sentences – John was given 20 months, suspended for two years, and James given 24 months, suspended for two years.