A former Arsenal footballer is among those convicted
Joanne Penney was shot in the chest(Image: PA Media)
A Leicester drug lord who murdered a city man has been convicted of organising a bungled gangland assassination that left a mother-of-four dead on her doorstep in Wales.
Renaldo Baptiste, 39, known as Chops, had run a well-established drug business from Leicester for five years before being jailed for life, but used a hidden prison phone to continue directing deadly gang violence from behind bars.
Baptiste was already serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years for the 2021 murder of Leicester man Anand Parmar when he orchestrated the fatal shooting of Joanne Penney, 40, in Talbot Green, near Cardiff, on March 9, 2025.
The court heard the background to Miss Penney’s murder was a “clash of organised crime gangs” – one run by Joshua “Rico” Gordon, already involved in serious drug trafficking in the Leicester area, which was branching out into south Wales and Talbot Green, a move which had “not been taken well” by the rival gang already operating there, WalesOnline reports.
Miss Penney was shot once in the chest after opening the front door of 10 Llys Illtyd, Green Park, in Talbot Green, and barely managed to stagger back to the living room before she fell to the floor and died moments later.
The outside of 10 Llys Illtyd, Talbot Green, where Joanne Penney was murdered.(Image: South Wales Police)
She was found by police in the lounge of the flat at around 6.10pm, with a post-mortem examination giving a provisional cause of death as a gunshot wound to the left chest involving the heart and left lung.
Prosecutor Jonathan Rees KC told Cardiff Crown Court there were text messages between Baptiste and gang members in which the men discussed obtaining a firearm and ammunition to “send a message to their rivals.”
In one exchange Baptiste laughed at a suggestion by gunman Marcus Huntley that they would have to “stick to leg shots only.”
Following the killing, a gun and 16 rounds of ammunition matching those used in the shooting were found buried in woods in Heritage Park in the St Mellons area of Cardiff.
Baptiste, while in prison, was updated about what the prosecutor called the “outcome of this well-planned revenge attack” and left an “excited” voice message to Gordon saying: “Bro man, just spoke to Whitey and told me the situation. Bumbaclart star, a monster man create.”
Later that night there was “extensive” phone contact between Baptiste, Gordon, Huntley and Mills-Smith, with a group call between them lasting for an hour and 14 minutes.
Baptiste was found guilty of murder on Thursday after the jury heard he had played a “key role” in the search for the firearm and ammunition used in the shooting, in organising the shooting itself, and in the events which followed it.
Renaldo Baptiste(Image: Leicestershire Police)
A Leicester woman was also convicted as part of the case – Molly Ruth Cooper, 33, of The Crossway, Leicester, was found guilty of acquiring ammunition for a firearm without a firearms certificate, after DNA recovered from the ammunition was said to be a billion times more likely to belong to her than not, indicating she had “direct contact” with the bullets at some point.
Five people had already been convicted in a previous trial of murdering Miss Penney, including gunman Marcus Huntley, 21, who fired the fatal shot, alongside Joshua Gordon, Jordan Mills-Smith, Melissa Quailey-Dashper and Kristina Ginova.
Laura John, 22, of Rhiwbina, Cardiff – partner of Mills-Smith – and former Arsenal footballer Donna James, 51, of Llanishen, Cardiff – his mother – were convicted of assisting an offender after purchasing a coach ticket from Cardiff to allow Mills-Smith to flee south Wales following the murder.
Baptiste, Cooper, John and James are due to be sentenced on June 29. Callum Kelleher and Sai Manne are also due to be sentenced for participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
