Liverpool's most wanted linked to relative's 'Australian stud farm'

A billboard featuring the face of Merseyside's most wanted Kevin Parle in Spain
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Liverpool's most wanted fugitive linked to two brutal murders may have fled to a relative's stud farm in Australia. Fresh details about the whereabouts of Kevin Parle - wanted in connection with the gun murders of mum Lucy Hargreaves and teenager Liam Kelly - have emerged in reports from Western Australia.

Ms Hargreaves was 22 when she was shot multiple times with a shotgun after three masked men smashed their way into her Walton home in August 2005. Sixteen-year-old Liam Kelly was gunned down in a Dingle street in June the previous year. Privately-educated Parle, who would now be in his 40s, is suspected of being the gunman who targeted Mr Kelly, but also one of the three involved in Ms Hargreaves' murder 14-months later.

He was arrested on suspicion of Liam Kelly's murder but was released on bail soon after and quickly disappeared. A global manhunt for Parle was launched but he has continued to evade capture. He is currently wanted by Merseyside Police and is on the National Crime Agency's most wanted list.

READ MORE: EncroChat dealer 'Shaggy' busted after what police found at his home

READ MORE: Gang's elaborate gun plot shows sinister links between Liverpool and Irish cartels

The Mirror reported that in 2016, the Australian Federal Police and Merseyside detectives confirmed they had credible information that Parle may be in Australia, or had previously visited Perth on or about 2013. A fresh dossier of evidence has now been uncovered by the West Australian - a newspaper based in Perth - which includes revelations that Parle had a relative in the area who owned a stud farm.

The exact location of the farm is still unknown but it's believed Parle may have used it as a hideout. Intelligence also emerged to suggest Parle had a very close friend who lived in Perth’s northern suburbs and he may have been spotted at the Old Bailey Bar and Bistro in Joondalup, a venue which has since closed.

There is also new information Parle may have spent time in the West Australia outback during his time on the run. Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley, who has spent a number of years pursuing Parle's whereabouts, told the West Australian this week that he was still working on the theory Parle was alive.

He said he believed Parle was in Spain but had uncovered fresh details about his links to Australia. He said: "Until I receive irrefutable evidence of his death, I will always work on the theory that Parle is alive."

A mugshot of Kevin Parle issued by police in their pursuit of his whereabouts
A mugshot of Kevin Parle issued by police in their pursuit of his whereabouts -Credit:Merseyside Police

Following Parle's disappearance, a number of sightings have been reported. The popular view was that Parle was lying low in Spain after fleeing the UK authorities. However eyewitness accounts and detailed descriptions of brief incidents have indicated he could have been, at different times, also in Europe and Asia.

Parle, nicknamed Hemp, is said to be well-educated, used to be smartly dressed and had links when younger to Mossley Hill. There have been claimed sightings of Parle in the Canary Islands, Asia, and many eyewitness accounts of him on the Costa Blanca in Spain. Other claims have been made of the Liverpudlian regularly visiting a cannabis café and also being with a group of women allegedly snorting cocaine in a bar's toilets, prompting Parle to square up to a barman who wanted to throw them out, it was said.

Both those sightings are claimed to have happened in Albir, a small beach resort sandwiched between Altea and Benidorm on the Costa Blanca. He is also said to have spent a whole summer in hiding at Mi Sol Holiday Park in Torrevieja in 2006.