Ross Ball MURDER: A Vulnerable Man Caught Between Two County Lines Gangs turf war | True Crime

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Ross Ball owned two things in this world. A second floor flat in Sutton-in-Ashfield and an elderly dog. The flat generated £3,000 a day.

[00:00:11]Ross Ball saw none of it. Two criminal gangs wanted that flat.

[00:00:15]Both were willing to use violence to control it.

[00:00:18]And Ross Ball, who had nothing either gang actually wanted, would end up dead because of it. The 1st of November, 2019.

[00:00:28]Just after half past 10:00 at night, six men armed with machetes, a sword, and a baseball bat kicked down the door of Ross Ball's home. The attack lasts minutes. One wound cut so deep through his heel, it nearly severs his foot.

[00:00:44]Within the hour, those six men are captured on CCTV at a petrol station fist bumping, celebrating.

[00:00:51]But they make one mistake, a mistake so confident, so careless, it hands detectives everything they need. By the time investigators trace the taxi route back to the crime scene, Ross Ball is dead.

[00:01:05]And the six men responsible have left a digital trail that will unravel 173 years in sentencing. This is the story of a county lines turf war, a vulnerable man caught in the middle, and the night a flat in Nottinghamshire became a murder scene.

[00:01:23]Welcome to UK True Crime Files. If careful, UK-focused crime reporting matters to you.

[00:01:29]A quick subscribe helps us cover cases like this with the detail and respect they deserve.

[00:01:35]Sutton-in-Ashfield, market town in Nottinghamshire, home to around 48,000 people, and Europe's largest sundial.

[00:01:45]It's the kind of place with a proud history, mentioned in the Domesday Book. But like many towns across the UK, by 2019, it also had a newer, darker economy running through its streets.

[00:01:59]County Lines.

[00:02:00]If you're unfamiliar with the term, here's how it works. A drug network operates across county borders using a dedicated phone line.

[00:02:09]Users call the line, place orders. The operation targets vulnerable people, often those struggling with addiction or housing instability, and takes over their homes.

[00:02:21]It's called cuckooing. The resident becomes a prisoner in their own property while dealers use it as a base.

[00:02:29]In Sutton-in-Ashfield, one man ran the operation.

[00:02:32]Gary Cooper.

[00:02:34]Known to his crew as Bossman, Cooper had recruited young men in their early 20s with ease.

[00:02:40]Jobs with a future were scarce.

[00:02:42]Drug money wasn't.

[00:02:44]And Cooper's network was pulling in serious figures, over a million pounds a year across the East Midlands.

[00:02:51]But one property in particular was generating the bulk of it.

[00:02:55]A flat on Langton Road.

[00:02:57]And the man living there was Ross Ball.

[00:03:00]Ross Ball was 42 years old, estranged from his family, addicted, isolated.

[00:03:07]He lived alone except for his elderly dog. Cooper spotted something valuable in Ross Ball. Not Ross himself, his flat.

[00:03:16]Here's how Cooper worked.

[00:03:18]He started by supplying Ball with drugs as payment for small favors.

[00:03:22]Then he gave him more product than agreed.

[00:03:25]Told him he owed money, money Ball could never pay back. So Cooper made him an offer.

[00:03:30]Let us use your flat to deal from. Do that and the debt disappears. Refuse and things get difficult.

[00:03:38]Ross Ball agreed. The operation was efficient.

[00:03:41]Buyers would come to the flat, post cash through the letterbox.

[00:03:46]The drugs would come back out the same way.

[00:03:48]No face-to-face. No risk. Above Ross Ball's flat, in the property directly overhead, Cooper stationed one of his crew, Jake Honer, 21 years old, there to keep watch.

[00:04:02]£3,000 a day just from that one flat.

[00:04:06]A factory running through a [music] letterbox.

[00:04:09]Rossball didn't work there. He was just trapped in it. But someone else was watching the money flow through that letterbox, another gang, [music] and they had a plan. Early October 2019, most rival gangs, when they see a profitable operation, set up their own in competition. But this rival gang had a different strategy. Why compete when you can just take over? They call it a corporate takeover in the drug trade.

[00:04:38]You don't build your own customer base.

[00:04:41]You take someone else's by force. And the first target was Jake Honer. Honer was in his flat, the one above Rossball's, when his door was kicked in.

[00:04:51]Three men, armed, rushed inside. They held him down, beat him, used pliers on him as a warning. The message was clear. Stay away. Don't come back.

[00:05:03]While Honer was being attacked, the men ransacked the flat. But Honer managed to shove past one of them. He ran to the window and jumped. Second floor. No shoes, boxer shorts, and a T-shirt. He landed hard enough to lose toenails, wet himself from the shock, but he got away.

[00:05:22]Honer made it to safety, contacted his crew, and eventually reached Cooper.

[00:05:28]Told him what had happened. The rival gang had taken over Rossball's flat.

[00:05:33]They'd stationed their own dealer inside, and Rossball, terrified, went along with it. He had no choice. The users didn't care. The phone line still worked. They still had a safe place to buy from. To them, nothing had changed.

[00:05:49]But for Gary Cooper, everything had changed.

[00:05:53]His operation had been humiliated.

[00:05:56]One of his crew had been beaten and chased out a window. His most profitable location had been taken without a fight.

[00:06:03]And if he didn't respond, the message to every other gang in the area was clear.

[00:06:09]Cooper's territory was soft, fair game.

[00:06:12]Cooper had two choices, let it go and lose everything, or send a message so brutal no one would ever try again.

[00:06:20]Garari Cooper did the math. Lose the flat, you lose 3,000 pounds a day. You lose the area, and you lose respect.

[00:06:30]In the county lines world, respect is the only thing keeping rivals at a distance.

[00:06:35]So, Cooper made his decision. He'd take the flat back with overwhelming force.

[00:06:41]But Cooper wouldn't be there. He'd direct the operation remotely, by phone.

[00:06:46]Like a general coordinating from a distance, or a gamer playing Call of Duty from his sofa. If it went well, he'd get the credit. If it went wrong, his crew would take the blame.

[00:06:58]Cooper recruited six men, all in their early 20s.

[00:07:02]Sean Buckley, Jake Honer, the one who'd been chased out the window, now looking for revenge. Anthony Door, Matthew Jones, John McDonald, and Connor Sharman. Two vehicles were prepared. A Ford Fiesta, bought legitimately, but fitted with false registration plates.

[00:07:22]And an Audi A3, stolen.

[00:07:25]Both vehicles were used regularly to ferry the crew between Birmingham and Sutton-in-Ashfield for dealing runs. Now they'd be used for something else.

[00:07:34]Weapons were gathered. Machetes, a sword, a baseball bat. The date was set.

[00:07:40]The 1st of November, 2019. Cooper would stay in contact with two members of the crew throughout, Matthew Jones and Shawn Buckley. And Shawn Buckley giving instructions, coordinating movements. His county lines gang would take the risk, he'd take the profit. Everything was ready.

[00:08:00]Except Ross Ball had no idea he was the target.

[00:08:04]The evening of the 1st of November, 2019, just after 9:15, two vehicles arrive at Langton Court in Sutton-in-Ashfield.

[00:08:14]The Ford Fiesta, the stolen Audi. They park in the shadows, out of immediate view, and wait. For over an hour, they wait. Just before 10:30, the Fiesta moves first.

[00:08:27]Drives onto Mill Street, the Audi follows. Both park at the rear of Langton Court. Someone inside the building, someone who's been paid, opens the locked rear door to let them in.

[00:08:39]Gary Cooper is miles away, but he's in contact with Matthew Jones and Shawn Buckley by phone, directing, coordinating. Out of the Fiesta, four men step into the cold. Anthony Door, Jake Honer, Shawn Buckley, Matthew Jones. John McDonald joins them. Connor Sharman gets out of the Audi and follows.

[00:09:01]Between them, they're carrying three machetes, a sword, and a baseball bat.

[00:09:06]They move toward the rear entrance.

[00:09:09]The door opens as planned, and they walk inside, up the stairs, to the second floor, to Ross Ball's flat. The door is kicked open. Inside the flat are three people. Ross Ball and two men working for the rival gang, the ones who took over. The two rival dealers see the weapons.

[00:09:28]They run, dive for the windows, escape.

[00:09:32]Ross Ball doesn't run. Maybe he's too slow. Maybe he's too confused. Maybe he thinks because he's not part of either gang, he'll be left alone. He's wrong.

[00:09:42]The group attacks him. Machetes, a sword, blunt force. Connor Sharman, who doesn't have a weapon, kicks Ross Ball in the head.

[00:09:52]The wounds are catastrophic. Cuts to his left flank, his right flank.

[00:09:57]But the worst injury is to his right foot. A blow so forceful it cuts clean through his heel.

[00:10:04]Nearly severs the foot entirely.

[00:10:06]Remember, Ross Ball wasn't the target.

[00:10:09]The rival dealers were.

[00:10:11]But they ran, and he couldn't. Within minutes, it's over.

[00:10:16]The group leaves Ross Ball on the floor, bleeding.

[00:10:20]They move quickly back to the two vehicles, dispose of some of the weapons on the way, and then they drive to a nearby petrol station. The CCTV there captures everything.

[00:10:31]Two of the men fist bump. Others are visibly celebrating, smiling, relaxed.

[00:10:37]Back at Langton Court, Ross Ball is dying. Blood loss, cardiac arrest. By the time emergency services arrive, he's gone. And that CCTV footage from the petrol station would become the most damning evidence in the entire case.

[00:10:53]After the attack, the group splits up.

[00:10:55]Anthony Door and John McDonald take the Ford Fiesta back to Birmingham.

[00:11:01]In the car with them, a machete and the baseball bat. Jake Honer, Shaun Buckley, Matthew Jones, and Connor Sharman drive the stolen Audi to Mansfield.

[00:11:12]They're meeting Gary Cooper.

[00:11:14]Cooper wasn't at the scene, but he's waiting to hear how it went.

[00:11:18]And that's when the group makes their most critical mistake. They're confident, proud even.

[00:11:25]So confident that Sharman, Cooper, Jones, Buckley, and Honer decide to go back. They call a taxi, get in together, and ask the driver to take them back to Langton Court, back to the crime scene.

[00:11:39]They want to see the aftermath.

[00:11:42]The taxi drops them near the scene. They walk around, look at the police tape, the emergency vehicles, and then they go to a pub. More CCTV.

[00:11:52]This time from inside Mansfield town center. The footage shows the group talking, animated. One of them mimics a stamping motion with his foot.

[00:12:02]Another pretends to fall to one side, his head lolling lifelessly.

[00:12:07]They're re-enacting what they did to Ross Ball, laughing about it. Later, Cooper arranges another taxi, pays for it himself.

[00:12:16]This one takes Honer, Jones, and Buckley back to Birmingham. Meanwhile, the cover-up continues. The false registration plates on the Fiesta are changed. The car is sold quickly. The plates on the stolen Audi also changed.

[00:12:32]Mobile phones are destroyed. SIM cards disposed of. The remaining weapons are hidden.

[00:12:37]>> [clears throat] >> Clothing worn during the attack burned.

[00:12:42]They think they've erased the trail, but detectives already have everything they need. The CCTV from Langton Court identifies the two vehicles.

[00:12:52]The petrol station footage, the taxi companies have records, routes, passengers, payment details. Phone signals are traced along the vehicles' routes.

[00:13:02]Surveillance builds the case piece by piece.

[00:13:06]Within weeks, dawn raids are carried out. All six men are arrested.

[00:13:11]Gary Cooper, Shawn Buckley, Jake Honer, Anthony Door, Matthew Jones, John McDonald, Connor Sharman.

[00:13:19]An additional man, Adam Collins, is arrested for assisting an offender. The evidence is overwhelming. The CCTV, the phones, the taxi.

[00:13:29]They'd been so confident, they'd taken a taxi back to admire their work.

[00:13:34]But there was still one question detectives couldn't answer from CCTV alone.

[00:13:38]Who gave the order? 22nd of December, 2020.

[00:13:43]Nottingham Crown Court.

[00:13:45]Judge Julian Goose QC presides over the sentencing hearing.

[00:13:49]In his remarks, the judge makes clear what this case represents. A vulnerable man exploited by drug dealers.

[00:13:57]An operation protected by extreme violence.

[00:14:00]And a county lines network willing to use medieval weapons to defend a modern drug trade.

[00:14:06]The sentences are read out one by one.

[00:14:09]Gary Cooper. Cooper is convicted of murder.

[00:14:13]The evidence shows he directed the attack remotely, stayed in phone to phone contact with Matthew Jones and Shawn Buckley throughout.

[00:14:20]Coordinated the movements.

[00:14:24]Planned the retaliation.

[00:14:26]He wasn't at the flat.

[00:14:28]But the law doesn't require him to be.

[00:14:30]The judge speaks directly to him.

[00:14:32]You were the leader both in relation to the conspiracy to supply and this murder.

[00:14:39]You directed it to be carried out. It is no mitigation that you were not at the scene because that is how you planned it. Having others carry out your dirty work.

[00:14:50]Remember, Cooper never went to the flat, but the law says directing a murder is the same as committing one. Cooper's sentence, murder, minimum term [music] 29 years. Anthony Door, Jake Honer, Shawn Buckley, Matthew Jones, all four convicted of murder.

[00:15:08]The judge finds them equally culpable.

[00:15:11]They acted on Cooper's directions, but they made the choice to participate.

[00:15:15]To carry weapons.

[00:15:17]To use them. The judge addresses them allowing for all the aggravating and mitigating factors, including your ages at the time, the minimum term you must serve is 25 years.

[00:15:30]That's reduced slightly to 23 years to account for their ages. All were in their early 20s.

[00:15:38]John McDonald, also convicted of murder, minimum term 23 years.

[00:15:44]The same as the others. Connor Sharman.

[00:15:47]Sharman's case is different. He didn't carry a weapon, but he was there.

[00:15:52]And the CCTV from Mansfield shows him miming a stamping motion, re-enacting his kick to Ross Ball's head.

[00:16:00]Sharman is convicted of manslaughter, not murder. The distinction matters legally.

[00:16:05]He's sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter, plus 8 years for conspiracy to supply drugs.

[00:16:12]Total 21 years. Adam Collins. Collins is acquitted of assisting an offender, but he'd previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on the 21st of November, 2019.

[00:16:26]Unrelated to the murder itself. For that, he's sentenced to 18 months. He's already served that time on remand. He's released, banned from driving for 2 years, required to pass an extended test. The total sentences, excluding Collins, 173 years.

[00:16:47]But here's what confused even legal observers.

[00:16:50]The judge said they didn't intend to kill.

[00:16:53]So why murder convictions? Here's the legal puzzle.

[00:16:57]Judge Julian Goose explicitly stated the defendants intended to cause really serious harm, not to kill. In most people's understanding, if you didn't intend to kill someone, that's manslaughter, not murder.

[00:17:11]So why were five of them convicted of murder?

[00:17:14]The answer lies in how UK law defines murder. Manslaughter is a killing committed in the absence of malice.

[00:17:21]That means no intent to kill and no intent to cause serious harm. It can be a moment of recklessness, a loss of control, an accident with fatal consequences. Murder under UK law doesn't require you to intend to kill.

[00:17:37]It requires you to intend to cause grievous bodily harm, serious injury.

[00:17:43]And if that injury results in death, it's murder. The six men went to Ross Ball's flat armed with machetes, a sword, and a baseball bat.

[00:17:52]They kicked down the door.

[00:17:55]They attacked him with weapons designed to cause catastrophic injury. The wound to Ross Ball's heel cut so deep it nearly severed his foot.

[00:18:03]That's not a warning.

[00:18:05]That's not a scare. That's an intent to cause life-altering harm. And under UK law, if you intend to cause that level of harm and the person dies as a result, you've committed murder.

[00:18:18]Even if you didn't want them to die, even if death wasn't your goal. Connor Sharman's manslaughter conviction reflects a different level of participation.

[00:18:28]He didn't carry a weapon. He kicked Ross Ball in the head, which is violent.

[00:18:33]But the court determined his intent was at a lower threshold than the others.

[00:18:37]The legal distinction is fine, but it's critical. The five men convicted of murder knew what they were doing.

[00:18:45]They knew machetes and swords cause devastating injuries.

[00:18:49]They knew attacking someone with those weapons could kill. And that knowledge, that intent to cause serious harm, is what made it murder.

[00:18:57]Which brings us back to Ross Ball, the man they never intended to hurt at all.

[00:19:02]Ross Ball was 42 years old when he died, estranged from his family, struggling with addiction, vulnerable in every sense that mattered.

[00:19:13]He wasn't a rival dealer. He wasn't part of the gang that took over his flat.

[00:19:17]He was just in the way. His only companion was his elderly dog.

[00:19:23]What happened to the dog after Ross Ball's death?

[00:19:26]The records don't say. It's one of those details that falls through the gaps in case files.

[00:19:32]But it's worth note It's worth noting because it's a reminder of how small Ross Ball's world had become. A flat he no longer controlled and a dog.

[00:19:42]The community in Sutton-in-Ashfield was shaken.

[00:19:46]Neighbors described Ross Ball as a soft, gentle man.

[00:19:50]Not someone who caused trouble. Not someone who deserved what happened to him. But fear kept most people silent.

[00:19:57]In areas where county lines operate, cooperation with police is dangerous.

[00:20:02]Reprisals are real. So, when detectives went door-to-door, very patient, the case was solved by CCTV. By phone data.

[00:20:12]By the arrogance of six men who thought they were untouchable. County lines networks thrive on vulnerability. They target people like Ross Ball.

[00:20:21]People with addiction.

[00:20:23]People with unstable housing.

[00:20:25]People who are isolated with no support network to protect them. The business model is efficient. Take over someone's home. Use it as a dealing base.

[00:20:36]If they resist, threaten them. If a rival gang threatens you, respond with overwhelming violence. Ross Ball was collateral damage in a turf war over a property he legally owned, but had lost control of long before the night he died.

[00:20:52]Policing has shifted in recent years, reactive rather than preventive.

[00:20:57]By the time officers intervene, someone like Ross Ball is already trapped. He wasn't the first. And the case files suggest he won't be the last. Ross Ball owned the one thing both gangs wanted, the flat, but he had nothing they valued, his life. The CCTV from that petrol station, the footage of two men fist bumping after the attack, crystallizes the cruelty of this case.

[00:21:24]They celebrated what they'd done to a man who couldn't fight back, a man who was never their enemy. Six men will serve a combined 173 years.

[00:21:34]Gary Cooper will be in his late 50s, possibly 60s, when he's released. The others will be middle-aged.

[00:21:42]Ross Ball never reached 43.

[00:21:45]There are questions the case files don't answer.

[00:21:48]What happened to Ross Ball's dog?

[00:21:50]Whether the two rival gang members who escaped through the window that night were ever identified or charged? What's become of the flat on Langton Court?

[00:22:00]Whether it's still standing, still occupied, still carrying the weight of what happened there.

[00:22:07]But here's what we do know. Ross Ball's name deserves to be remembered beyond a case number, beyond a statistic in the County Lines data, beyond a line in a sentencing hearing.

[00:22:19]He was a man with a history, with a family, even if estranged, with a dog he cared for, and with a vulnerability that two criminal gangs exploited until one of them killed him for it. If careful, factual UK crime reporting matters to you, subscribe. It helps us cover more cases like Ross Ball's with the detail and respect they deserve. And if you're from Sutton-in-Ashfield, or this case touched your community, a respectful comment below helps others understand the real impact.

[00:22:52]Thank you for watching.