Two brothers who made headlines 21 years ago when they were slapped with some of the first Anti-Social Behaviour Orders are facing jail after being caught up in a horrifying heist.
Exasperated council chiefs took action and issued Craig and Jason Cox, aged 12 and 15, with ASBOs, introduced by Tony Blair when he was Prime Minister.
The court heard how the adolescents had been terrorising their neighbourhood for almost one year at the time by damaging property, using foul and abusive language and threatening residents.
The council’s crime and disorder spokesman at the time, Councillor David Lancaster, said: “We are not afraid to take court action against people who terrorise communities or damage property”.
To get their message across the Salford council successfully applied for reporting restrictions to be lifted at court so the brothers could be named. Jason had been identified as being in a mob of youths throwing missiles at fire crews as they dealt with a burning car, according to Manchester Evening News.
Craig caused mayhem at his school intimidating teachers and pupils and was seen with a replica gun at Broughton Recreation Centre. The commendable stance by the council failed totally in diverting the brother’s path to a life of crime.
They now face long prison sentences after taking part in an audacious and brutal heist, which was caught on film, after seeing their reputation grow over two decades. The brothers are members of a Salford crime family who don’t need allies.
But its potency has been destroyed thanks to their own reckless greed and police infiltrating their encrypted communication system. Detective Inspector Roger Smethurst, said: “The Cox family are a long-standing Salford based Organised Crime Gang.
“They are quite notorious - four brothers. Through data we identified three of the brothers being involved in large scale supply of class A drugs, and class B drugs, and two being linked to nasty robbery in the Merseyside area, which was drugs related.”
That robbery was to prove the downfall of the Cox OCG and police believe it may have repercussions for years. Jason and Craig Cox and two others stole cocaine with a wholesale value of £1.2m from an infamous Liverpool-based crime group.
On May 23rd 2020, at the height of the first Covid lockdown and after days of reconnaissance the gang struck at 9.24am at a home in the Yew Tree district of Liverpool. They had identified it, by placing a tracker on a courier’s car, as the stash house for the drugs of the Merseyside OCG.
One of the gang, Ben Monks-Gorton, had posed as a delivery driver, carrying an empty box, in a hi-vis jacket, and wore a face mask. As the door was opened the four stormed in. By 9.28am they had escaped with 30kg of cocaine.
But in doing so they had also attacked a man with a machete and axe - cutting one of his arms to the bone. His son was struck on the head with an axe. The face mask, with Monks-Gorton’s DNA on it, was recovered from the scene.
DI Smethurst said: “Before this the Cox family had been linked to robberies and aggravated burglaries. A family enterprise, they didn’t need to align themselves with any of the other factions in Salford. They were able to support themselves in Salford through their notoriety.”
But like many OCGs the Cox clan switched to the more lucrative world of drug-dealing. The key to the Liverpool robbery was Cox’s associate, Richard Caswell, a Liverpool gangster, and the fourth member of the gang who carried out the robbery.
His inside knowledge of the potential size of the prize they could get by “taxing” the Liverpool OCG was a crucial part of the plot. Caswell, known as “Will” because of resemblance to pop star, Will Young, was jailed for 17 years in 2005 for his part in a series of car bombings across Liverpool - including one outside a police station.
DI Smethurst said: “He knew they had multi kilos of drugs at their stash house. The two people who were looking after it had not come to the attention of the police, they did not draw attention to themselves.
“The gang followed the courier and saw him go to the stash house. They worked it out, then on May 23rd carried out the robbery, having removed the tracking device from the courier’s car the night before.”
Armed with machetes and axes they forced the two occupants of the small house into the garden where the drugs were hidden in a storm drain. Half of the 30kg stolen was quickly sold to a well-known Greater Manchester criminal.
“We suspect that the money from the sale was split between Caswell and the two Cox brothers, and they brought Monks-Gorton for muscle, and we suspect he got a cash amount for coming along. We can tell from Encrochat messages that the drugs were sold for profit.”
The Cox’s had thought they had got away with it. But in June 2020 the encrypted communication their gang had been using was cracked. They used expensive EncroChat mobile phones, dubbed ‘WhatsApp for criminals’, as part of a determined effort to avoid detection.
But the law enforcement hack of the EncroChat server in France, as well as the work of undercover police officers, brought down the gang, as police were able to read their messages. Jason Cox adopted the names ‘Novabelt and ‘Urbanrifle’ on Encrochat; Craig Cox also used ‘Novabelt’ and Lee Cox ‘Marineivory’.
Police worked out from the messages between them that they used a storage unit in Bury. They also identified Michael Nevin as the main courier for the Cox’s who had a flat in Fallowfield. Nevin’s flat was raided and £30,000 in cash found, and he was discovered hiding in his cellar.
At the storage unit they found three quarters of a kilo of cocaine, scales, and a money counter. DI Smethurst said: “The stamp on the three quarters of a kilo of drugs is the same stamp as the drugs that had been stolen from the Liverpool OCG.”
Police arrested Craig Cox at his home address, but his brother, Lee, and Jason, and Richard Caswell went on the run. They later arrested Caswell, in a £1m rented apartment in Centurion Building at Chelsea Bridge Wharf near the Thames, close to Battersea Power Station.
In the apartment police found £98,000 in cash in a holdall. On August 4th 2020 Monks-Gorton was located in The Village hotel in Bury.
Detective Inspector Smethurst said: “We believe the two Cox brothers went on to Spain by clandestine means. They were arrested on 6th July 2021 in Alicante by Spanish Police.
“They were in a car with two other Salford men, the Spanish police struck on their hired car, they tried to ram their way out and got arrested.”
The Cox brothers were held in custody in Alicante. “But, then, found in Lee’s cell were ropes, saw blades, and it was believed there was a plan for him to escape, so he got moved to a high security prison in Madrid.
“While Caswell was being held in HMP Manchester he was attacked in the showers and had his neck slashed. There was an investigation but no further action was taken.”
The smashing of the Cox crime group is highly significant. Detective Inspector Smethurst, said: “The arrest of the Cox OCG is a real major blow for criminal networks within Salford.
“They are one of the main crime families. While it has been heavily reported in the past about the city’s A Team and Anti A Team, the Cox family did not need to take sides in that dispute, because they have been able to survive in their own entity.
“They have such notoriety that other people are prepared to offend with them, on the basis that the Cox’s will lead. Removing that hierarchy will have a significant impact on the wider community.”
The Cox clan were not flash with their ill-gotten gains. There were no lavish houses or cars. “They were committing a level of criminality that allowed them to live a nice lifestyle but not a lavish one.
“Jason had moved out of the area to Warrington, Craig and Lee were still within Salford living in reasonable properties. We know from Encrochat messages they were storing large amounts of money at family members’ houses. The robbery was the big pay day.”
Police believe to maintain their reputation the Liverpool OCG will not forget how they were turned over. “I think there will be ramifications for years to come.
“Not only for the prison system in how they manage these people, within the prison network to try and keep them safe, but also in terms of the wider family. We do know that once the Liverpool OCG found out about the Cox’s involvement there were then a number of arson attacks in Salford against vehicles and premises linked to the Cox family, while Jason and Lee were in Spain.”
GMP have issued a number of threats to life warnings to people and are preparing for further potential retribution. They are also working closely with the prison service. Detective Inspector Smethurst said: “For the rest of their lives they (the Cox’s) will be looking over their shoulder.”
At Manchester Crown Court Jason Cox, 35, of Strawberry Close, Warrington; Craig Cox, 33, of no fixed address; Caswell, of no fixed address; and Monks-Gorton, 30, of no fixed address, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob.
Jason Cox, Craig Cox, Lee Cox, of Oaklands Road, Salford and Michael Nevin, of Egerton Road, Fallowfield, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis and conspiracy to possess criminal property. Caswell, 40, also admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and possessing criminal property.
The identity of members of the Liverpool outfit they targeted cannot be revealed due to legal reasons. The Cox siblings, along with brother, Lee Cox, 38, admitted being involved in large scale drug dealing, being linked to more than 20 kilos of cocaine and 50 kilos of cannabis.
Monks Gorton was jailed for six years and nine months for his part in the robbery conspiracy. Michael Nevin, 35, a courier who described himself as a ‘gangster transporter’ for the ‘tight knit’ Cox gang, was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. The Cox brothers will be sentenced next month.
The Cox family were already crime veterans when they went for the biggest pay day of their careers in May last year with the robbery. In 2016 Craig was one of three Salford men who smashed up a police car with a sledgehammer in a 110mph chase. During the pursuit one man twice got out of the Audi and attacked the police car, leaving it so badly damaged officers was unable to continue.
The blue face mask dropped at the scene of a violent heist by robber, Ben Monks-Gorton. His DNA was on the mask, worn during the theft of £1.2m worth of cocaine from a Liverpool OCG.
The car eventually crashed into a garden on Woodford Road, in Wilmslow, and the men fled from the scene. Police searched the black Audi A3 and discovered materials revealing the men intended to blow up an ATM machine and steal cash. Craig and his fellow defendants were each jailed for six years and four months, in 2017.
But to many in Salford the Cox name has been infamous for two decades after Craig and Jason were given ASBOs In 2001. Jason was identified as being among 20 youths, including girls, throwing missiles at fire crews as they dealt with a burning stolen car on Albion Fields all-weather pitch, in Broughton, and Craig has been expelled from his school after a series of incidents.
As well as being seen with a replica gun at Broughton Recreation Centre, Craig pulled down steel shutters on a classroom and locked a teacher inside, threw snowballs at another member of staff in a classroom, and hurled eggs at the car of another teacher waiting at traffic lights.
He headbutted a pupil the day after returning to school following his suspension. He also threw seats from the top deck of a bus to the lower deck.
During a school talk on drugs he was verbally abusive to a teacher. On another occasion he assaulted a pupil. The pair, from Higher Broughton, were banned ‘’indefinitely’’ from areas of Lower Broughton, including Camp Street, Mocha Parade and Albion High School.
The order also meant they would not be able to congregate in groups of six or more near their home, use threatening abusive or foul language, drink alcohol outdoors, carry anything deemed to be a weapon in public or intimidate any person.
Eighteen months earlier the brothers’ family were threatened with eviction from their council property but moved to a house nearby owned by a private landlord.
Assistant county fire officer Barry Dixon welcomed the move. He said: ‘’We hope this will serve as a warning to others considering attacks on crews. The job of a firefighter is hazardous enough without being subjected to physical attacks.’
In February this year the Cox brother’s sister, Samantha, was jailed for five years and five months for conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin. Manchester Crown Court was told she ran a Salford beauty salon and enjoyed ‘luxury’ items including expensive cars and designer clothes through her involvement in drug dealing.
Cox, 30, ran the Miami Glow salon on Littleton Road, which had a ‘modest turnover’. Despite this, she was seen driving a Range Rover and later a Porsche Macan worth about £50,000. She also had expensive goods including designer clothes, shoes and other items worth more than £30,000.
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