A gangland hitman and his accomplice are facing life behind bars when they are sentenced on Thursday morning.

Mark Fellows, 38, nicknamed The Iceman, murdered Salford mobster Paul Massey with an Uzi machine gun outside his home in the city in July 2015.

Father-of-five Massey, 55, a notorious “Mr Big” crime figure in Salford and beyond, was blasted at 18 times, hit five times and died on his doorstep.

Three years later, Massey’s friend and gang associate John Kinsella, 53, a martial arts expert and mob enforcer from Liverpool, was murdered by Fellows in a second “cold-blooded” execution.

Gangland murders court case
Mark Fellows, 38, was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court (GMP/PA)

Kinsella, whose help footballer Steven Gerrard called on to scare off a Liverpool gangster known as The Psycho who had been “terrorising” him, was walking his dogs with his pregnant partner, Wendy Owen, near their home in Rainhill, Merseyside, on May 5 last year.

Fellows cycled up, shooting his victim twice in the back with a Webley six-shot revolver. As Kinsella lay dying, the killer stood over him to fire twice more into the back of his head from close range.

Fellows was convicted of both murders on Wednesday following an eight-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

On both occasions his co-accused and “brother in arms” Steven Boyle, 36, had allegedly acted as spotter to ensure the planned victims were in place and to act as back-up.

Boyle was cleared of involvement in the murder of Massey but convicted of the murder of Kinsella. Both were cleared of the attempted murder of Wendy Owen.

Both victims, “notorious” heavy criminals in gangland Manchester and Merseyside, were murdered as a result of a deadly feud between rival gangs in Salford – the A-Team, linked to the victims and a splinter faction the defendants were with.

Mr Justice William Davis is scheduled to sentence both men on Thursday morning.