The brother of a man who was shot in cold blood on the doorstep of his own home says his family cannot live peacefully until justice is done.
Joey Peloe, 45, was shot outside his home on Little Heath Road, Speke, after answering a knock on the door at around midnight on December 28, 2004. He managed to drag himself 100 yards down the road to Ganworth Road police station, and was taken to Whiston Hospital, where he died the following day.
Two men were charged with his murder in 2006, but following a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, a judge directed the jury to find the pair not guilty after it emerged there was no evidence to connect either man with the unidentified gunman.
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As the investigation into Joey's murder is about to enter its 20th year, his brother Jimmy, 62, said: "Two decades down the line with no justice is a very long time.
"It has been 19 years now. It's always there at the back of your mind that somebody out there knows something. They've got to. It's just a matter of taking that step forward and letting Merseyside Police know, whatever information they have got, no matter how big or small."
Jimmy, who still lives in Speke, was working a night shift at a nursing home just across from Ganworth Road police station when his older brother was shot. He said: "I got a phone call from one of my brothers saying Joey had been shot, but he didn't know how serious it was. I phoned around the hospitals and couldn't get any information. Then when I phoned again, I'm not sure if it was a hospital sister I spoke to, but I said 'I'm going out of my mind, I just want to know how serious Joey is'. She just said to me 'unfortunately Joey has passed away'.
"It just devastated us. Everyone was so upset. We all wanted the answers, why and who, and we never ever got that."
Joey, a dad of four, was described by his brother as "a man's man" who enjoyed fishing and having a pint with his mates.
After his death, a number of potential leads were discovered, including rumours of bad blood in the community as a result of Joey's decision to take in a female lodger after she went through a bad break-up. A dispute had also emerged which resulted in youths throwing stones at his windows, smashing the glass, leading to an altercation in the Noah's Ark pub. Locals said one man was heard to say soon after that Joey would "be gone by the end of the year."
Jimmy said: "Joey was unemployed, but whatever he had, if you didn't have it, he'd half it with you. He kept himself to himself but he could look after himself. He wouldn't back down from anyone. It was just who he was.
"We didn't know exactly what was going on with Joey, but he was apparently having a dispute with a family at the time. We thought it was something and nothing, but obviously it was more serious than we knew about.
"When your family member is murdered, it just tears through you. Not knowing is the hardest part about it. Merseyside police thought they had the right people at the right time, and when we got to court we thought that was it. We were going into that courtroom thinking the people who were facing us had done this to our brother, and we had their family all around us – it was not a nice experience, and I wouldn't want any other family to go through it.
"All I can do is make the same appeal all the time. If you know anything, say something. 19 years is a very long time. Joey is not resting. He won't rest until we get justice for him."
Kevin Clague, Head of the Force Serious Crime Review Unit said “It is now 19 years since Joey Peloe was fatally shot when he answered the door to a lone gunman at his home in Little Heath Road in Speke. It is unimaginable that nearly two decades later his family have still not got the justice they rightly deserve.
“We hope that people who still hold information but haven’t yet come forward can search their consciences and find the strength to come forward so that we can bring those responsible for Joey’s murder to justice.
“Nineteen years is a long time but it’s never too late for someone to come forward – if you have any information, please DM @MerPolCC, call 101 or contact @CrimestoppersUK anonymously via social media, by calling 0800 555 111 or via their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information.”
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