Benji Stanley

Benji Stanley was shot dead at a takeaway by a masked gunman on 2 January 1992.

A person shot him through a window of the Alvinos Pattie and Dumplin Shop in Great Western Street, Moss Side and then went inside and stood over him and shot him again with a pump action shotgun.

His post-mortem showed that he had been shot once in the lower leg, once in the upper chest and face and then again in the chest.

The police said that they thought that his murder was a case of mistaken identity. They added that he was unknown to them and that nothing in his background came to light to link him to drugs. The police said, 'We have nothing to suggest he was involved in drugs or firearms. He was a 14-year-old boy who had no convictions. A good lad. I can't hide the fact that behind it, in some obscure way, there might be that connection, but certainly there is nothing to suggest he was involved at all. He is an innocent victim of the indiscriminate use of firearms. My heart goes out to any family who have had to suffer that sort of loss'.

It was also suggested that it might have been part of a row over a mountain bike or that the friend that he had been in the shop with at the time was the intended target.

However, in 2012, it was revealed that the intended target could have been a convicted drug dealer who had a resemblance to Benji Stanley. The drug dealer was convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine in 1997 and sentenced to seven years.

However, it was later reported in the Independent Newspaper that Benji Stanley was a drug-runner and that he had left around £30,000 in a building society. However, the police denied that the story was true and Benji Stanley's foster-mother later said that the building society account was never found. Benji Stanley's foster-mother also said that the newspaper that reported the story, the Independent, had no proof and said that she tried to sue them but was told that she couldn't because Benji Stanley was dead.

Benji Stanley's foster-mother said that all the money he had on him at the time of his murder was enough to buy two patties and that the police spent days searching their house and found nothing.

The police arrested ten people during their investigation, but no charges were ever made.