The gang fled in a Saab, which was found abandoned about a mile away in Barrow Street, Salford. The raid took place during rush-hour traffic in front of passing motorists and one of the guards was beaten in the street while a gang member shouted at the driver: “Get the f***ing keys out or I will blow your f***ing head off.” Just after 8.30am on the morning of July 18, 2011, a gang of masked men, armed with a sledgehammer and a gun, ambushed the G4S van containing Downes and Bradley in Trinity Way, Manchester. Prison breakĭownes and Bradley escaped from a G4S security van bound for Liverpool Crown Court, which led to the collapse of a high profile trial. Their associates, Gary Wilson, Craig Riley and Joseph Farrell, were given 'jobs' to carry out and would farm some tasks out to younger crooks who wanted to make a name for themselves. Other victims suffered life changing injuries after being shot.ĭownes, described as the gang’s chief executive, was accused of directing much of the violence from his cell at Liverpool’s Walton jail. In one shocking incident, the gang threw grenades into a room where a gran was babysitting a seven-year-old boy. Rivals were kneecapped, kidnapped and family homes blown up with hand grenades. The 'blood brothers' presided over a guns-for-hire gang which executed contract violence for cash. ![]() Police on the scene in Birkdale in 2009, when a grenade was left on the wall of Kenny Dalglish's home On one occasion a grenade was accidentally left outside the Birkdale home of Kenny Dalglish. The gang was responsible for 20 separate incidents across Merseyside, which included seven grenade incidents. Hand grenades were thrown at family homes, and rivals were kidnapped and shot. Tony 'Fat Cat' Downes had once orchestrated violent gang activity from his cell at Walton jail, while Kirk 'The Turk' Bradley, was paid off by drug lords from Stockbridge Village to target individuals who had antagonised them.īradley and Downes ran a criminal network between 20, with the pair orchestrating a wave of shootings and grenade attacks across Merseyside.
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