Some of Merseyside's more well known criminals and gangs are set to spend Christmas behind bars after a spate of sophisticated police operations over recent months.

South Liverpool gun gangs, brazen drug importers and veteran cocaine smugglers have all been taken through the courts after successful stings by police forces across the country.

And the latest successes build upon a string of devastating strikes against established Liverpool organised crime groups and crime families across Merseyside by the National Crime Agency and regional crime unit.

The old school smuggler who jumped back in

John Mullally, a well known Liverpool drug dealer, went on the run after police linked him to a new smuggling plot in the north east.

Mullally, and his pal Leslie Moulden, flooded the north east with cocaine. Mullally ensure the cocaine travelled from Merseyside to the north east safely.

Mullally spent nearly two years on the run after members of the drug gang were arrested. But he was eventually tracked down on Merseyside and charged with drug offences. Police had found vital evidence on his mobile phone and Mullally was jailed for 16 years and eight months.

John Mullally, 56 and of no fixed address but formerly of Norris Green, was jailed for 16 years and eight months after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, possession with intent to supply cannabis, possession of cocaine and absconding on bail. Image: Northumbria Police
John Mullally, 56 and of no fixed address but formerly of Norris Green, was jailed for 16 years and eight months. Image: Northumbria Police

Mullally had already been jailed once in 2006 for his part in a plot to smuggle cocaine and heroin into Liverpool through a kitchen surface business.Police began to close in on the gang after two Dutch criminals had a fight at city centre hotel room. Mullally, then of Rutherford Road in Mossley Hill, was jailed for 14 years for conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine. Well-known Liverpool crook David Baker was also jailed alongside Mullally. Baker suffered from health problems and died in jail. 

The helicopter drug gang

Well-connected Wirral criminal Lance Kennedy decided to use helicopters to fly cocaine into the UK. The helicopters would be loaded with huge consignments of cocaine and then set off from Belgium to the UK.

Kennedy and his cronies back home would book rural holiday homes in the south of England that lay beneath those routes, including one owned by a Harry Potter star . The helicopters would then land in nearby fields to drop off the drugs before returning to the air having barely diverted from their flight paths. 

Six flights, which contained a combined total of just under 500kgs of cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of £17.25m, were linked to Kennedy.

Lance Kennedy, 32 and of no fixed abode but formerly of Birkenhead. Jailed for 18 years and four months for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs
Lance Kennedy

The brazen plot naturally soon attracted the attention of the police and Kennedy and his criminal associates were put under heavy surveillance. Kennedy's gang was flooding estates in the Teeside area with hard drugs, which led to a sting operation by Cleveland police.

But during a drugs raid on Wirral, police seized mobile phones used by Kennedy's gang. Some of the messages on the phones made reference to helicopters, and the information was soon passed on to Cleveland Police which arrested most of the gang in October of last year. Kennedy and his pal Robert Stewart disappeared . The two men were later arrested in bizarre circumstances on the Ukrainian border.

Armed guards seize Robbie Stewart (left) and Lance Kennedy (right)
Armed guards seize Robbie Stewart (left) and Lance Kennedy (right)

The men were sent back into Moldova by Ukranian police and then extradited back to the UK. Kennedy was jailed for 18 years and four months after admitting conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

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Following the conclusion of the sentencing, Cleveland Police’s Detective Sergeant John Fitzpatrick, who lead Operation Spoonbill, said: “This was a complex enquiry and the sentences reflect the scale of the conspiracy which was uncovered by our Organised Crime Unit. 

“These individuals took lengthy and complex steps to mask their criminality, which was controlled from abroad. 

“The volume of Class A drugs attributable to this group within the conspiracy period is huge and the damage caused locally and nationally by this evil trade is unquantifiable. 

“We will now focus our attentions on these individuals to recoup their ill-gotten gains and continue to target their customer-base who peddle in misery.”

The Wavo 420 gun gang

South Liverpool crook James Lunt was a cannabis dealer who built up a formidable arsenal of guns. Lunt's cache of weapons, which also included a sawn-off shotgun, backed up a drugs network credited with moving around 200kgs of cannabis and smaller quantities of cocaine.

James Lunt, 29 and of Celendine Close in Wavertree. He pleaded guilty to conspiracies to possess firearms with intent to endanger life; to possess prohibited firearms for transfer; to possess ammunition without a certificate; to supply Class A drugs (cocaine) and to supply Class B drugs (cannabis). Image: Merseyside Police
James Lunt, 29, of Celendine Close in Wavertree.

One of the guns, an Italian-made Beretta 9000S was linked to 18 shootings on Merseyside and a further two in Scotland. The gun was used to try and kill Liverpool man Mark Gaskill, who was saved by his motorcycle helmet. Lunt was also linked by DNA evidence to an Uzi sub-machine gun was fired near Augusta Close, a tiny cul-de-sac next to Edge Lane retail park.

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Liverpool Crown court heard that although Lunt was an armourer, he could not be linked to any actual shootings. Lunt was jailed for 21 years and the gang received a total of 119 years in prison as part of Operation Blush, Merseyside Police's probe into Lunt and his network.

Police described Lunt as a non-sophisticated criminal. Speaking after the sentencing Detective Chief Inspector Reardon said to the ECHO : "He was someone who had significant firearms around him but he was he was not a significant criminal.

A Beretta 9000S - British crime's most used gun. The Italian-made gun was seized during a raid in Kirkby. Image: Merseyside Police
A Beretta 9000S - British crime's most used gun. The Italian-made gun was seized during a raid in Kirkby. Image: Merseyside Police

"This may seem a contradiction but he was someone who was involved in criminality, in drug dealing, in making people's lives miserable in Wavertree - him and his associates.

"It was more low level when you look at the street dealing and the amounts [of drugs] we recovered but he's managed to accrue over quite a few years some reasonable weapons which probably has given him standing - but I would not say he is a sophisticated criminal."