A dad has told of the horrifying moment a gangland enforcer hurled acid in his face in a "barbaric" attack.
Jonathan Gordon, who charged £6,000 to carry out an acid attack and £10,000 to blind his victim, left the father in agony with life-changing injuries. The "truly wicked" attacker lay in wait for the victim outside his home in St Helens and pounced as he collected a charger from his car.
In a heart-rending victim impact statement, the victim. Lee Deakin, described the terror and agony of his ordeal. He said: “My skin felt like jelly. As I washed my face it felt as if my skin was falling off my face.
"My eyes and skin continued to burn and I was in agony.” He said he was “left in a world of darkness, depression and dependency”.
He added: “I thought first about my family. They needed me, but I couldn’t support them in the state I was. I worried that I would forget my children’s faces. I thought about the fact they would age and their faces would change, but I would only ever know them as children.
“I accepted I would never be the father they deserved. I’d never be able to drive them anywhere. I’d never be able to see them play their football matches. I’d never see their school play. They would bring me painting and drawings home from school and I would pretend I could see the picture in front of me."
The victim managed to get back inside his house and doused his face with water. He was blinded but regained partial vision in one eye months later after extensive medical treatment and identified Gordon at an identity parade – but said his “health and recovery teeter on a knife edge”.
Gordon was jailed for life today over the horrific attack and plots to blind two more victims. He had been found guilty at an earlier hearing of: three counts of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm; two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and one count of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.
In one case Gordon's paymaster said he wanted him to "double dose" and "cook" the intended victim with acid. The mystery man sent him images of a canister of acid, and Steyr M9 handguns. But Gordon is now facing more than two decades behind bars after being involved in a spate of incidents at the behest of the crime kingpin.
His ruthless behaviour, which also included a series of shootings, was discovered after law enforcement agencies smashed a secret communication system used by criminals. The head of an organised crime group (OCG) gave him his orders on the encrypted communications platform EncroChat.
At Liverpool Crown Court Judge David Aubrey, handing down a life sentence told Gordon he must serve a minimum of 24 years and eight months. When he is eventually released he will spend his life on parole.
In statement the National Crime Agency said the Judge described Gordon’s acid attack as a “truly wicked act of barbarity." He told him: “You have reached the depths of inhumanity.”
The NCA said: "Gordon, who charged £6,000 to commit an acid attack and £10,000 to blind someone, took instructions from an unidentified boss of an organised crime group (OCG) on the encrypted communications platform EncroChat."
Gordon used the handle Valuedbridge on EncroChat and was a member of the Deli Mob in Liverpool. He planned a second acid attack on a man in Blackpool – with his paymaster declaring the victim “needs a good litre on him” – and a third attack on a man in Warrington.
The Blackpool attack was cancelled because it was scheduled during the first lockdown when the roads were empty and the offenders were worried about police spotting their stolen car.
On 6 April 2020 Gordon, who is from Kirkdale but of no fixed abode, instructed Dylan Johnston, 27, and Stephen Wissett, 28, to drive a stolen Ford Fiesta to Birtles Road, Warrington, and throw acid on a man who lived at the property. Gordon remained in Liverpool at the time but pretended to his crime boss that he had also attended.
Spotting the house had CCTV the offenders abandoned the attack and decided to return the next day in disguise. But the next day, while in Liverpool, the three offenders were approached by Merseyside Police patrol officers. Gordon, Johnston and Wissett ran off but the car was seized and the attack prevented.
Forensic examination found Wissett’s DNA on a Lucozade bottle, the steering wheel and a pair of gloves. Johnston’s DNA was on another pair of gloves.
EncroChat was taken down in 2020 with international law enforcement able to access messages criminals had sent. The National Crime Agency launched Operation Venetic – UK law enforcement’s response to the takedown of EncroChat.
Previously encrypted messages showed the unidentified crime boss was undeterred by the failed bid and wanted Gordon to go back to Birtles Road and “double the dose” and “cook” the intended victim with acid.
NCA investigators – working with Merseyside Police, Cheshire Police and the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit - discovered through EncroChat messages that a hand grenade was previously left in the front garden of the house in Birtles Road, Warrington. Using the EncroChat intelligence, NCA officers arranged for the bomb squad to conduct a controlled explosion on the grenade on 14 April.
Because of this, the OCG paused the acid attack because it was obvious law enforcement had become involved. Gordon still discussed the planned acid attack, telling his boss: “He getting blinded, bro.”
EncroChat messages also showed Gordon had a street gunfight on 24 January 2020 with an unknown man. Cell site evidence showed Gordon’s mobile phone was in Wilburn Street, Liverpool, around midnight, and Gordon also sent his boss a message saying he “let off a clip in the street”. Officers attended the scene and found a kicked-open front door to a house with Gordon’s DNA on it and on the handle of the back door.
Messages also showed that Gordon was involved in another gun fight with an unknown attacker on 25 May 2020. At 11.45pm the man approached Gordon on an e-bike and they exchanged fire – a bullet from Gordon’s Grand Power handgun went through the bedroom window of an elderly couple’s house in Carisbrooke Road, Liverpool.
In the aftermath Gordon told his boss on EncroChat that he had lost his Grand Power – and sent him an image of a newspaper story about the shooting. His hand was visible in the picture and a finger print expert compared his palm with the palm in the photo and said both were Gordon’s.
Gordon was also involved in a plot to shoot up a property in Reaper Close, Warrington, on 20 March 2020. He and accomplice Dylan Johnston, 27, organised a team to blast the windows of the house in a drive-by shooting. Phone records linked the two men calling each other in the minutes after the attack. Forensics proved the bullets came from the same gun involved in the Wilburn Street shooting. Judge Aubrey said he was satisfied Johnston pulled the trigger during this attack.
Wissett, of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, but no fixed abode, had already admitted one charge of conspiracy to commit GBH – he was part of the team planning to throw acid in the face of the target in Warrington. He was sentenced to 12 years six months today.
Today, Johnston was jailed for 27 years, after being found guilty of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life, and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. He will serve a minimum of 18 years before being released.
Ben Rutter, NCA Operations Manager, said: “Gordon caused life-changing injuries to one victim who has suffered an unimaginable physical and mental ordeal. The victim’s bravery in helping with our investigation was crucial to seeing Gordon locked up today.
“Jonathan Gordon is a terrifyingly dangerous offender, he was totally unconcerned about blinding someone for money. This investigation spanned a number of years and brought out the best in our officers who were aided by superb work from Merseyside Police and Cheshire Police.”
A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: “The actions of these offenders were unimaginably cruel. They carefully arranged to inflict terrible injuries on other human beings, and the physical and emotional pain their actions have caused cannot be overestimated."
