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Marathon runner's fitness tracker ties him to a mob boss murder

Health-conscious assassin picked up for another killing, then investigators found his Garmin

Marathon runner's fitness tracker ties him to a mob boss murder

Health-conscious assassin picked up for another killing, then investigators found his Garmin

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Marathon runner's fitness tracker ties him to a mob boss murder

Health-conscious assassin picked up for another killing, then investigators found his Garmin

A British runner, cyclist and mob hit man has been convicted of murdering two rival gangsters, in part, because his fitness tracker had a GPS. Mark “Iceman” Fellows, 39, was found guilty by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court of killing organized crime leader Paul “Mr. Big” Massey, 55, and his associate John Kinsella, 53, at the time of their deaths. Massey and Kinsella were also career criminals, part of a gang scene near Manchester, England, with a reputation known across Europe, according to the Manchester Evening News.Though police already suspected Fellows in Kinsella’s death, it was his Garmin Forerunner that linked him to Massey’s unsolved 2015 slaying. While detectives were investigating Fellows, they came across a photo of the suspect wearing his Garmin Forerunner during 2015’s Great Manchester 10K two months before the killing of Massey that July. Detectives then located the device at Fellows’ home and checked its GPS data for files that could link him to Massey. They found that the runner plotted the killings with the attention and precision of any serious athlete, and accordingly, he recorded his reconnaissance missions. (Runner’s World was not been able to link Fellows to a public Strava or Garmin account.) Manchester police asked James Last, an expert in satellite-based radio navigation, to examine the Garmin for evidence that Fellows had been been near the scene of Massey’s slaying, reports the Liverpool Echo. Last said that almost two months before Massey’s death, the watch had recorded a 35-minute activity starting in Fellows’ neighborhood and traveling to the field near Massey’s home.Last said the wearer set out initially traveling at around 12 mph, which suggested they were on a bike. When they reached the field, the speed dropped to about 3 mph, consistent with walking, before they stopped for about 8 minutes. According to the Liverpool Echo, this is the alleged escape route that Fellows ran, or perhaps rode, his bike on two months later after gunning down Massey in his own driveway. Three weeks after the death of Massey, Fellows was shot (presumably by a gang rival) while riding his bike from his girlfriend’s to his grandmother’s house. The shot passed through his pelvis, according to the Warrington Guardian, but he survived. After this brush with his own death, the 39-year-old appeared to live a quiet life, working the night shift as a sous-chef making sauces. Then three years later came the death of John Kinsella, along with surveillance video showing Fellows making a similar reconnaissance loop in his car. On May 5, 2018, he approached Kinsella on his bike, and shot him twice in the back, then twice more while Kinsella was on the ground, before pedaling away. As seriously as Fellows seemed to take his preparation, he did not appear to consider witnesses would notice a cyclist wearing both commando gear and a high-visibility safety vest while toting a gun — they did, and they told the police. Soon after, Fellows left the country on vacation with his girlfriend, and upon returning, was arrested in the airport on May 30. On Thursday, he was sentenced to life in prison. For more details on the case, visit: liverpoolecho.co.uk

A British runner, cyclist and mob hit man has been convicted of murdering two rival gangsters, in part, because his fitness tracker had a GPS.

Mark “Iceman” Fellows, 39, was found guilty by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court of killing organized crime leader Paul “Mr. Big” Massey, 55, and his associate John Kinsella, 53, at the time of their deaths. Massey and Kinsella were also career criminals, part of a gang scene near Manchester, England, with a reputation known across Europe, according to the Manchester Evening News.

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Though police already suspected Fellows in Kinsella’s death, it was his that linked him to Massey’s unsolved 2015 slaying. While detectives were investigating Fellows, they came across a photo of the suspect wearing his Garmin Forerunner during 2015’s Great Manchester 10K two months before the killing of Massey that July. Detectives then located the device at Fellows’ home and checked its GPS data for files that could link him to Massey.

They found that the runner plotted the killings with the attention and precision of any serious athlete, and accordingly, he recorded his reconnaissance missions. (Runner’s World was not been able to link Fellows to a public Strava or Garmin account.)

Manchester police asked James Last, an expert in satellite-based radio navigation, to examine the Garmin for evidence that Fellows had been been near the scene of Massey’s slaying, reports the Liverpool Echo. Last said that almost two months before Massey’s death, the watch had recorded a 35-minute activity starting in Fellows’ neighborhood and traveling to the field near Massey’s home.

Last said the wearer set out initially traveling at around 12 mph, which suggested they were on a bike. When they reached the field, the speed dropped to about 3 mph, consistent with walking, before they stopped for about 8 minutes. According to the Liverpool Echo, this is the alleged escape route that Fellows ran, or perhaps rode, his bike on two months later after gunning down Massey in his own driveway.

Three weeks after the death of Massey, Fellows was shot (presumably by a gang rival) while riding his bike from his girlfriend’s to his grandmother’s house. The shot passed through his pelvis, according to the Warrington Guardian, but he survived. After this brush with his own death, the 39-year-old appeared to live a quiet life, working the night shift as a sous-chef making sauces.

Then three years later came the death of John Kinsella, along with surveillance video showing Fellows making a similar reconnaissance loop in his car. On May 5, 2018, he approached Kinsella on his bike, and shot him twice in the back, then twice more while Kinsella was on the ground, before pedaling away. As seriously as Fellows seemed to take his preparation, he did not appear to consider witnesses would notice a cyclist wearing both commando gear and a high-visibility safety vest while toting a gun — they did, and they told the police.

Soon after, Fellows left the country on vacation with his girlfriend, and upon returning, was arrested in the airport on May 30. On Thursday, he was sentenced to life in prison.

For more details on the case, visit: