A junior member of a notorious drug gang received letters from a jailed crime boss advising him to be wary of undercover police officers.
Shaun Byrne, a former member of the Croxteth Young Guns gang (CYG), recently avoided another prison sentence after he jumped a red light and crashed a high speed motorbike into a car in April this year.
Byrne, 29, recently admitted dangerous driving, driving without insurance and driving without a licence and was handed an eight month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
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Liverpool Crown Court heard how Byrne was a former member of the CYG which led to him being jailed for six years in 2013 for conspiring to supply Class A and B drugs. The Croxteth man only sold drugs for the gang and was not involved in violence.
The CYG carried out a wave of shootings and arson attacks across the city, many of which targeted underworld enemies.
The ECHO can now reveal the content of letters sent from senior CYG member Mark Thomas to Byrne in February 2011.
At the time Thomas was serving a short sentence at HMP Liverpool and Byrne was yet be arrested by police.
Thomas, who used heavy street slang in the correspondence, complains that many of his associates had also been jailed, and urged Byrne and his associate Kyle Smith-Milson to avoid coming to the attention of police.
The letter reads: "The boys are all just getting jailed man.
"Make sure you and Kyle ( Smith-Milson) get out lad don't be getting nicked and ending up here man yez are the only two left out just keep yeh s*** togetha yono how it iz."
It concludes with a message of support for Byrne and Smith-Milson.
"Tell Kyle we love him and we love you brother hold s*** down we’ll be fresh out in a few moon."
Another letters warns Byrne about the heavy police presence in the Croxteth area. It reads: "Nice the way you're getting out on ye own lad just don’t be doing daftness lad, if you end up in here then were finished lad people will be having street parties ha ha.
“Lad stay away from that square anyway man its just a plod station man."
This was understood to be a reference to undercover police who were based in the Croxteth area.
Prosecutors believed a second letter sent from Thomas to Byrne firmly indicated both men were members of a crime gang.
It read: "Brother 2 Brother: Soldier 2 Soldier.
"Oh well lad when we're back out we will be there lad keepin s*** on lockdown once again lad …
"Anyway brother I know you’ve got s*** locked down1 on the out."
The sinister letter ended with the lines: "These barz may hold us but the system will never control us! No bail straight jail. Stonedale Boyz On Tour Once More."
On February 10 2012 Thomas wrote to Byrne again when he said that he looked forward to his release from custody.
It read: "Only need me and blow [Burke] out now and were back on form. Anyway are yez still jockyin around like yez are legit millionaires in that V8 beast …”;
“Make sure yez keep s*** locked down init don’t let people think yez are hibernatin init don’t be doin anythink daft though and endin up in here son."
The V8 "beast" referred to was a stolen Range Rover which the gang had appropriated and used to patrol the streets of Croxteth.
Police believed that Thomas, second in commend to CYG boss Anthony Jewell, was the gang's leading gunman.
Detectives later established that Thomas had turned his mobile phone off before serious firearms incidents, which showed a degree of guile and sophistication.
Thomas knew that the police linked criminals to serious crimes though the location of mobile phones though a process known as cell siting.
Thomas was later linked to a CZ 7.65mm self-loading pistol which was used to kneecap former CYG associate Josh Keating.
Prosecutors also linked him to other firearms incidents in the area when family homes were shot up during reprisal attacks.
Thomas was said by prosecutors to have "revelled" in the tit-for-tat violence which raged across the Croxteth area.
A massive police operation codenamed Poppy smashed the CYG and resulted in a major trial at Liverpool Crown Court during April 2013.
Thomas, who denied arson, firearm conspiracies and conspiracy to supply class A drugs, was detained for 16 years with four years extended on licence.
Anthony Jewell, who denied the same charges, was jailed for 20 years.
Kyle Smith-Milson, 19, of Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley was detained for 12 years with three years extended on licence for conspiracy to possess firearms and to commit arson.
Trial judge Mr Justice Openshaw spoke at length about how the CYG sold drugs in order to perpetuate their historic conflict with rivals from Norris Green.
Mr Openshaw said that the gang spent much of their time loitering around shops on Mossway in Croxteth, where they smoked drugs and planned out reprisal attacks on enemies.
He detailed how the CYG used scrambler bikes, guns and firebombs to protect their turf and reputations. He said the gang created a climate of fear in the L11 postcode and praised the witnesses who bravely cooperated with police and the court.
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