Detectives investigating the murder of Salford’s “Mr Big” Paul Massey have arrested three people, nearly three years after he was gunned down outside his home in an attack that sparked a vicious gangland feud across Greater Manchester.
A 37-year-old man was arrested at Manchester airport on Wednesday on suspicion of murdering Massey and his friend, the underworld fixer John Kinsella, who was shot dead while walking his dog earlier this month.
Police said a 39-year-old woman was also arrested at the airport on suspicion of assisting an offender in relation to the Kinsella murder, while a 48-year-old man was detained in a dawn raid in Salford on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in relation to Massey’s killing.
The arrests, which follow a joint operation by Greater Manchester police and Merseyside police, represent the first major breakthrough in the long-running investigation into the murder of Massey on 26 July 2015.
Known as Salford’s “Mr Big” despite being scarcely 5ft tall, Massey was well known throughout Greater Manchester for his criminal activities, including being jailed for 14 years for a stabbing in 1999. His family insist he had tried to turn his life around in recent years, and ran unsuccessfully to be mayor of Salford in 2012.
The 55-year-old was shot four times in the chest with a submachine gun outside his family home in Salford, in a targeted hit that shocked the region’s criminal fraternity and sparked a turf war between rival gangs over the city’s lucrative drug trade.
A series of tit-for-tat repercussions followed Massey’s murder, including the shooting of a seven-year-old boy and his mother at close range on their doorstep. Yet despite numerous appeals and offers of a £50,000 reward, detectives have until now been unable to arrest any suspect on suspicion of Massey’s murder.
All three of those arrested on Wednesday were being questioned at police stations across the region, police said.
Detectives were reported to have been investigating links between the murder of Massey and Kinsella, who was shot dead while walking his dog on a secluded footpath with his partner in Merseyside shortly after 7am on 5 May. The offender, who was on a pedal bike, also fired the gun at John’s partner as she ran away from the scene.
Associates of Massey said he was long-standing friends with Kinsella, 54, who was a pallbearer at the former’s Salford funeral and had prominent underworld connections in Merseyside. A trial at Liverpool crown court heard how in 2001 Kinsella intervened to stop a gangster from threatening the former England footballer Steven Gerrard. The families of Massey and Kinsella have each been informed of the arrests.
DCI Carl Jones, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “Today’s arrests have come as a result of a joint operation between Greater Manchester police and Merseyside police.
“We currently have two people in custody arrested in connection with the murder of Paul Massey and they will be questioned by GMP detectives.
“These are the first arrests that have been made in connection with Paul’s death and the investigation remains focused on establishing the truth and bringing answers to his family.
“Although the murders of Paul Massey and John Kinsella remain separate investigations by individual police forces, we will continue to liaise with colleagues from Merseyside police as further enquiries are carried out.”
DCI Mark Baker, of Merseyside police’s investigations team, said: “Detectives from Merseyside have been carrying out extensive inquiries since the murder of John Kinsella just three weeks ago and have established a number of positive leads.
“We have been working together with both GMP and Cheshire police and as a result of our inquiries were able to carry out this joint operation today.”
