On a cold October night in October 2016, an Audi crashed into a metal fence on a Walton Street after a brief police chase that caused two men inside to flee on foot.
However, PC Helsby, one of the officers chasing the car, had inadvertently stumbled upon a far more sinister incident than a dangerous driving case. As the officer and his companion approached the crashed vehicle where it crashed on Cairo Street, they noticed that someone was trapped in the trunk.
Inside, officers found Kenneth Murphy, a 44-year-old drug dealer “in a terrible state.” He had been beaten with a lever and beaten to the point that one eye was swollen, closed, soaked with blood from a deep laceration on his forehead, and was “absolutely petrified and begging for help.”
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The abduction and torture of Mr. Murphy was the work of the so-called ‘Deli Mob’, named after the Delamore Street area of Kirkdale. The ruthless, extremely violent and dreaded North Liverpool street band has returned to the headlines in recent weeks thanks to the condemnation of Jonathan Gordon, who has had connections with the band for more than a decade.
Gordon, 34, was brought to justice for hacking the EncroChat phone network, which revealed that he was announcing his services as a brutal executor willing to throw acid in the face of rivals for money. Messages intercepted by the National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed that Gordon charged £ 6,000 to carry out an acid attack, up to £ 10,000 if the client wanted a victim to be permanently blinded.
Gordon threw acid in a man’s face in St Helens in April 2019, causing serious eye injuries and requiring intensive treatment to regain his sight. But examination of Gordon’s EncroChat account with ValuedBridge’s handling led detectives to realize that he had been involved in multiple serious gun-related crimes, including involvement in street shootings. Liverpool, one of whom saw a stray bullet fly through the address window of an elderly couple on Carisbrooke Road, Kirkdale, in May 2020.
Gang Applicator Jonathan Gordon (Image: NCA)
Gordon was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm; two crimes of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and one of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life and will be convicted Wednesday alongside two accomplices; Dylan Johnston, 27, and Stephen Wissett, 28.
Gordon was never charged in connection with the 2016 Murphy attack, but had documented links to those involved. Merseyside police learned that Mr. Murphy had been driving the Audi when he was hit by two more vehicles at a crossroads in Norris Green.
Masked men jumped out of the other cars, broke the driver’s side window and dragged Mr Murphy out of the Audi, at which point he was hit in the head with a lever and punched repeatedly before putting him in the trunk.
Although Mr. Murphy was brutally beaten, the intervention of PC Helsby and his colleague no doubt saved him from a much worse ordeal. Police later found blood-stained handcuffs, a hammer, pliers, cable straps and a blood-stained lever on one of the other vehicles linked to the hijacking.
Five men were later charged with false imprisonment and intentional injury and tried at Liverpool Crown Court in 2018. However, four of the men were acquitted and only the 6-foot 4-inch, 22-stone Paul Dwyer thug was convicted of assault. Dwyer’s father, then 29, was jailed for 14 years with four additional years on leave.
Paul Dwyer, partner of Deli Mob, jailed in 2018 for false imprisonment and brutal beating of a man in Walton
Dwyer and some of the other accused men were associates of Deli Mob. The gang grew notorious a decade ago for defrauding other drug dealers, mainly by robbing cannabis farms north of Liverpool.
In 2011, Merseyside police went to court to obtain orders for antisocial behavior (ASBOS) against six men, forcibly described as members of Deli Mob, to terrorize the north of the city. A petition filed with the North Liverpool Community Justice Center at the time stated that the gang “would enter premises used for cannabis factories, steal goods and anything else, sell drugs and / or consume them. they would use the money to buy vehicles that they themselves used to launder money and supply drugs and use their presence and violence to keep control of their territory around County Road. “
Of the six men targeted at ASBO applications, two were Jonathan Gordon and Paul Dwyer. There were also a couple of notorious brothers; Jake and Jamie Glenholmes.
Jamie Glenholmes was one of the men approved for the kidnapping of Mr. Murphy, however, soon returned to a jury for another particularly brutal attempt to rob a drug dealer. The 24-year-old bully led a gang of masked intruders who broke into a property in the Fazakerley area just three months later, in January 2017, looking for a man named David Higgins, who was at large. on bail pending sentencing for drug supply offenses at the time. .
At first, Mr. Higgins was not there, so the gang gathered his family and waited for his return. His goal finally came, and he faced Glenholmes and his crew, armed with baseball bats and knives and demanding £ 50,000.
Jamie Glenholmes, left, and his brother Jake Glenholmes
When Mr. Higgins tried to persuade the intruders that he had no money, one of the gang members attacked him with a knife and cut him in the face, causing serious injuries and leaving a permanent scar. The terrified victim tried to run but was hit with a baseball bat, until a security light in a neighbor’s garden disturbed the gang and made them flee.
In the weeks following the incident, Glenholmes knew he had been recognized by Mr. Higgins and sent him messages offering him money to drop the case. However, a Liverpool Crown Court jury concluded that he had led the raid and that it was the man who cut Mr Higgins.
Although Jake Glenholmes has not been charged with such serious crimes as his brother, Dwyer or Gordon, he has spent much of the last seven years in prison for crimes such as cultivating a £ 32,000 cannabis farm. at home, attempting to raid a convenience store and selling heroin. .
Most recently, in March 2020, Jake Glenholmes admitted to threatening a fellow inmate at Walton Prison with a “fearless” makeshift cane. When convicted of this case, the court was told that Glenholmes had been attacked and had been attacked “by his name” and by “who his brother is.”
On Wednesday, Gordon will be the last of the 2011 Deli Mob class to face a huge sentence, which is likely to be much longer than that handed down to Dwyer or Jamie Glenholmes.
Merseyside Police released a photo of a young Jonathan Gordon in 2011 (Image: Merseyside Police)
Merseyside police have pointed to the sad future of the band’s most violent members as a warning to others to stay away from organized crime. Merseyside Police Chief Detective Superintendent Mark Kameen said: “Our message to young people is that crime doesn’t pay off and it’s not glamorous or rewarding. Prison sentences like these show the the seriousness with which the police, the CPS and the courts take this type of organized crime, so please think again because organized crime is a ticket to prison.
“When a vulnerable young person is identified, we work with partner agencies to protect them and connect with them to give them a chance to take a different and better path in life. Organized crime greatly harms our communities. and we need the help of the public to detect any crime in your neighborhood.
“It is vital that everyone who cares for or knows young and vulnerable people understands the problem and detects warning signs to help them.”
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