Notorious gangster's escape from open prison 'stark reminder of city drug war'

Daniel Gee's escape from an open prison earlier this week will remind many in north Liverpool of the troubling period where his gang waged a violent war on city’s streets. Two brothers joined a new generation of criminals drawn to the Liverpool drug business in the early 2000s.

The pair – Darren and Daniel Gee - turned the Everton estate Grizedale in which they had been raised where into a 24-hour open air drug market. A lack of education and lack of opportunities in Liverpool’s north end had led to a reputation for criminality.

The accessibility to the nearby wharfs and warehouses of the dockland along with high levels of deprivation made it a magnet for criminals to ply their trade, Liverpool Echo reports. The Gees had left school without qualifications and quickly gained a reputation for burglary and other petty crime.

They progressed to serious crime, earning thousands each week from the sale of class A drugs. A crown court prosecutor would later state: “The Gees are associated with very serious violence and drug dealing".

A former police officer, who was a member of a task force set up to tackle the brothers, said they were earning around £20,000-a-week at the height of their "running a 24-hour class A drugs business" on the estate.

Speaking to the ECHO in 2019, the officer said: "As well as their penchant for violence, the Gees also flourished because of a very parochial situation that allowed them to thrive on the Grizedale. This was a place removed from the rest of the world.

"The Gees become employers, as well as enforcers. They surrounded themselves with people they had grown up with.

“They used their cash to buy loyalty, protection and security. They paid these young foot soldiers money that they could never earn in the legitimate economy on civvy street.

"The Gees paid kids to be on the street corner rather than go to school. They created a network.

“We would see mums and dads selling drugs around-the-clock - and they would have the kids with them as they sold crack and heroin."

Street dealers worked around the clock using pay-as-you-go mobile phones. They would take orders before sending outriders on bikes to transact the illegal product for cash.

Those still too young for that level of work acted as look-outs to spot police and rivals. The officer added: "It was unimaginably difficult for locals who were not involved in the Gees' criminal enterprises. They became outsiders on their own estate."

In 2004, initially simmering tensions between the Gee brothers and a rival faction of drug dealers from the area escalated into a wave of shootings across north Liverpool. A double shooting took place on New Year’s Day 2004 in the Royal Oak pub in West Derby.

One man died and another was left fighting for his life. As a result, relations between local drug boss William Moore and the Gees deteriorated.

On the evening of April 6 2004, the Gees returned to the Grizedale after attending a funeral. They were parked on a street when a former SAS officer, called Darren Waterhouse, began shooting, riddling their car with bullets.

Craig Barker, 18, died from his injuries having been rushed to hospital. Ian Gee suffered life changing injuries.

Mark Richardson, an associate of the Gees, got away with a minor wound and ran. Darren Gee, thought to have been Waterhouse's intended target, was unhurt.

Days later a local man Michael Singleton was shot dead, followed by the murder of David Regan, who was shot outside a car wash in Old Swan. Three men had been killed and dozens more were wounded.

The ECHO newspaper had previously heard how Merseyside Police had set up a community action team to tackle the threat of the Gees. The police had to enter areas previously seen as "no go" zones to raid the homes of the brothers.

A police officer, part of the elite team targeting the brothers, said: "It is not an exaggeration to say you could speak to somebody one day and they would be shot the next".

The unnamed officer admitted the unit was forced to "break the rules". On his point he said: "Yes we broke the rules and fought fire with fire. We worked in a hostile environment and dealt directly with violent, horrible people.

"In the station we referred to this kind of policing as 'the Lord's work.' It was a kind of code for what we were doing.

“So yes we were unorthodox, but for all the right reasons. In short it was old fashioned, old school policing. We took the fight to the criminals and I stand by this approach because it worked."

Hundreds of arrests took place n nine months along with the seizure of £2.5m in cash and drugs and weapons including a sniper rifle with a telescopic sight. But the unit was disbanded following complaints of their conduct.

In 2004, police introduced the Matrix team who brought a holistic approach to tackling gun and gang crime and managed to take some key figures in the gang war off the streets. Darren Gee was jailed for 18 years for organising the murder of Mr Regan in 2006.

Darren Gee - now a true crime podcaster and anti-knife campaigner - later said he organised the shooting because he wrongly believed Mr Regan was involved in the murder of his friend Craig Barker.

Barker was not involved in serious crime and died because of his casual association with the Gees. The previous year, William Moore and Waterhouse were both jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years for the murder of Mr Barker.

Daniel Gee continued to terrorise people in his community. The courts heard Gee and his gang had tormented the family of a teenager called Jamie Starkey, who had learning difficulties, for months.

Gee and his associates threw bricks at the Starkey family home, smashed the windows and kidnapped one of his friends. On New Year's Eve in 2008, Starkey, fearing for his life and fuelled by alcohol and cannabis, shot Gee in the stomach after being threatened by the gangster and his cronies.

Gee suffered serious injuries, but refused hospital treatment. Starkey was jailed for seven years, while Gee was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for his role in running the north Liverpool drugs racket.

A clandestine probe led to a later discovery that Gee conspiring to buy guns and threatening to kill Starkey. In a trial in October 2009, Gee was found guilty of two counts of threats to kill and another two of blackmail.

Jurors were unable to agree on the two more serious charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition. As his second trial was about to start, Gee admitted the second charge.

Gee was handed an indefinite prison sentence and was ordered to serve a minimum of four years behind bars before he could be considered for parole. The sentence ran concurrent with the seven-and-a-half year sentence he was serving for drugs offences.

The then Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe KC, said: "I am in no doubt that the public must be protected from you in the future. I really do not know when it will be safe to release you."

Starkey was shot six times by a masked gunman outside his house on December 2 2012. Despite five arrests and the murder weapon being recovered, no one has been convicted of his death.

While Darren and Daniel led the illicit operations, previous court reports heard how other brothers, Ian and Billy, had been indicted in connection with illegal activities. Ian has previously faced allegations of making threats to kill, and was seriously injured in the shooting that claimed the life of Mr Barker.

Billy also previously appeared before the courts accused of unlawful wounding. A fifth brother, Stephen Gee, who has over 20 convictions for dozens of offences, was jailed in 2017 for brutally robbing a pensioner while high on cocaine and Billy's anti-psychotic medication.

Stephen told the court he had gone off the rails after Billy had taken his own life the previous year. Stephen posed as a Liverpool Council official to enter the man's home, demanding cash before punching and kicking him. He then stole the victim's car but the bungling yob drunk from a can of Coke, which he left on the sideboard, revealing his DNA.

Since his release from prison, Darren has embraced a social media career, sometimes with tongue-in-cheek videos warning others not to become involved in gang crime. He has also spoken honestly about the childhood abuse he endured from his parents, claiming the domestic violence he witnessed propelled him into a life of crime.

The Gee family returned to the headlines again this week after Daniel absconded from category D open prison Kirklevington Grange in the north east. The 44-year-old disappeared on Monday evening. A manhunt is being led by Cleveland Police.

The force said: "He was last seen wearing a black jumper, black Adidas bottoms with a white stripe down each leg and black trainers. He was carrying a yellow JD Sports bag.

“He is believed to have links to the North Yorkshire area including Whitby, Carlisle, St Helens and Merseyside."

Despite the story making national headlines after the ECHO first exclusively reported it, Daniel remains wanted. For many who lived in Merseyside during the noughties, the re-emergence of his name will remind them of the troubling period where his gang waged a violent war on north Liverpool's streets.”

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