13 Warrington gangsters who were jailed during 2021

From murderers brought to justice nearly 20 years after a dad was tortured to death in front of his own children to Warrington’s former most wanted man Leon Cullen, here are 13 criminals linked to organised crime who were jailed during 2021:

Christopher Guest More Jnr

The former undercover TV researcher, from Lymm, was part of a gang who tortured and murdered Brian Waters in front of his own children at Burnt House Farm in Tabley in 2003 over a £20,000 drug debt.

More fled the country after the brutal killing and remained at large until 2019, when he was apprehended in Malta under the pseudonym of Andrew Lamb – a successful businessman and luxury yacht captain.

Now 43, he was finally brought to justice in December having been convicted of murder following a retrial.

‘Devoted husband and father’ Mr Waters was hung upside down by his ankles, beaten with weapons and burned with melting plastic during a harrowing four-hour ordeal and died as a result of his injuries aged 44.

More, formerly of Burford Lane Farm, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years.

Leon Cullen

Once Warrington’s most wanted man, Cullen was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in 2020 after nearly two years on the run.

The 33-year-old, of Honister Avenue in Orford, was extradited back to the UK earlier this year and was jailed for 22-and-a-half years in May after admitting conspiracy to supply firearms and cocaine.

He and his twin brother Anthony led a major class A drugs racket which brought in profits of up to £290,000 per month as well as selling and renting guns to others in the criminal underworld.

A bounty of weapons including an AK47, a pump action shotgun, automatic pistols and revolvers as well as a silencer was seized from the gang.

Members were subsequently jailed for a combined total of 185 years.

Lewis Sinclair and Andrew Johannessen

The pair were the gunman and getaway driver in a shooting carried out on Cullen’s behalf.

Gunshots were fired at an address in Bolton in a ‘long-standing dispute’ between the gang and another organised crime group back in 2019.

A rival was then framed for the attack, with the self-loading pistol used in the shooting and a quantity of cocaine planted in his car and the police called.

Thirty-nine-year-old Sinclair, of Partington, and 38-year-old Johannessen, from St Helens, were convicted of conspiracy to possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and jailed for 12 years each at Bolton Crown Court in June.

Andrew Johannessen and Andrew Sinclair

Shawn O’Malley, David Scurfield and Billy McColl

O’Malley was convicted of plotting the Bolton shooting as well as torturing two men during a sickening attack in Garswood.

The victims were threatened at gunpoint, tied up and attacked with weapons including an axe and hammers in an assault bearing striking similarities to Brian Waters’ murder.

They were suspected of stealing drugs from the cannabis farm where the violence was metred out.

David Scurfield, the manager of the grow, enlisted O’Malley to torture the pair during the incident in September 2020.

Billy McColl then threatened them with acid and stubbed a cigarette out in an open wound one of the cannabis farm workers had suffered, with both suffering injuries including broken legs.

Shawn O'Malley, David Scurfield and Billy McColl

A firearm was discovered by police at McColl’s home on Henshall Avenue in Latchford during a raid the following month.

Thirty-three-year-old O’Malley, of Withers Avenue in Orford, admitted inflicting grievous bodily with intent, false imprisonment, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and was jailed for 18 years at Liverpool Crown Court in September.

McColl, 20, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, false imprisonment and possession of a firearm and was handed 12 years while 33-year-old Scurfield, of Sherwood Crescent, from Burtonwood, was caged for nine years for false imprisonment and inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Alan Tobin, John Tobin, Aaron Bretherton and Anthony Morris

The quartet were caged in September for their parts in a gangland shooting on Poplars Avenue in Orford in April 2020.

Bretherton, posing as a pizza delivery driver, blasted the innocent man in the leg on the doorstep of his own home – causing the 55-year-old life-changing injuries.

This incident formed part of a plot to gun down associates of the Cullen twins, with the intended target having been the victim’s stepson Liam Byrne Jnr – who was not present at the address at the time.

Another planned shooting targeting the brothers’ dad saw another unidentified offender posing as a pizza man attend an address on Sinclair Avenue in Longford on the same evening.

But the plot was foiled because this only was their father’s former home.

Serving soldier Bretherton, from Liverpool, was jailed for 22 years after the 24-year-old was convicted of offences including conspiracy to inflict grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Anthony Morris, also of Liverpool, was caged for 14 years – the 24-year-old having supplied and driven the van used to transport conspirators to and from the scene.

Aaron Bretherton and Anthony Morris

Alan and John Tobin, who helped to arrange the attack, were jailed for eight years and 30 months respectively – the latter having admitting participating in the activities of an organised crime group.

These sentences will be served consecutively to lengthy jail terms imposed on the brothers in April over their large-scale cocaine ring, which supplied drugs to other gangs – including the Cullens.

Forty-one-year-old Alan, from Widnes, was handed 20 years while 51-year-old John, of Liverpool, received 19 years and eight months over their convictions for conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis.

Alan Tobin and John Tobin

William Skillen

The major drug dealer was caught purchasing huge quantities of cocaine for onward supply during a National Crime Agency investigation.

Skillen was brought down after police raided his home on Long Lane in Orford in June 2020 and seized cash and EncroChat phones.

The 36-year-old was jailed for 15 years at Manchester Crown Court in November after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine and failing to comply with a serious crime prevention order.

This order was imposed after previous convictions for drug dealing offences in 2012 and 2017, the latter of which saw a heroin and cocaine racket operating an underground ‘Breaking Bad-style’ den – with a secret staircase to the cellar having been hidden by a fridge.

Scott Patel

The barber was caught with £1million of cocaine when he was pulled over by police near to junction eight of the M62 at Burtonwood in April.

Drugs were stashed inside secret panels under the back seats of the Ford C Max he was driving.

Patel, of Manchester, agreed to courier the drugs to Liverpool for £500 in cash after his business was hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The 33-year-old admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed for six years at Liverpool Crown Court in May.