A yob who sparked a mass brawl after he stormed the ring during a kickboxing bout was later outed as an EncroChat gun dealer.
Bottles, chairs and metal posts were hurled amid chaotic scenes after Liam Chung entered the arena and attacked one of the fighters at the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event at the Black-E in Liverpool.
The altercation then, indirectly, led to him being identified as the user of the handle "CastleWinter" on the encrypted communications platform.
READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community
He was this week convicted of a string of drugs and firearms offences and was jailed for 20 years, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Choas broke out during a kickboxing fight between Adam Lea and Darren Lawlor after Lea elbowed Lawlor in the face, leaving him bleeding heavily from a cut to the forehead. Shocking footage of the brawl captured one aggressor being kicked in the head as he lay unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood.
Six thugs were hit with prison terms in April 2018 over the ugly scenes at the historic building on Great George Street in the Chinatown area of the city.
But Lawlor's cornerman and cousin Chung, then of Sullington Drive in Netherley, spent three years at large until his arrest during a dawn raid in Malaga in August 2020.
He was later extradited on a European arrest warrant in a joint operation involving Merseyside and Spanish police and the National Crime Agency. The former amateur kickboxer admitted affray and was eventually locked up for six months in October 2020 after pleading guilty to affray.
Michael Stephenson, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court on this occasion that the referee had stopped the fight on March 4 2017 and separated the two opponents.
At that point, Chung entered the ring and began throwing punches at Lea before he was hit over the head with a stool by one of the fighter's cornermen.
Lea was also said to have retaliated as Chung exited the ring, picked up a stool and hurled it - although it did not hit anyone.
Others hurled bottles, while more spectators piled into the ring as the man who sparked the violence made a run for cover and exited the building through a side door.
When the Echo reported in April 2020 that Chung was still wanted in connection with the fight and described him as a "former semi-professional kickboxer", an associate queried this in a message sent via the service on the day after he was in the news by saying: "Didn't know you was semi pro kick boxer."
He then replied: "Didn't myself tbh haha as far as there aware I only ever had one amateur Thai boxin bout in UK. That echo talks proper wham done it mate."
Investigators were also able to link him to CastleWinter's illicit activities via transfers made into his bank accounts.
The court heard yesterday, Friday, that he "operated at the head of an organised criminal group" involved in the supply of class A and B drugs. Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, described how Chung, of no fixed address, "relied upon a close network, whom he trusted to carry out his instructions".
The now 37-year-old was involved in the supply of at least 12kg of cocaine, 1.25kg of heroin, 20kg of cannabis and 4kg of amphetamine - continuing his dealings remotely after moving abroad, where he was later arrested.
He also arranged for a semi-automatic firearm to be supplied to another underworld figure who was hoping to gun down a "rival".
On May 25 2020, Chung used the service - which was infiltrated by law enforcement during the early part of that year - to message a fellow user known only as "FullBat", "indicating that if Full Bat's situation was serious and he needed something, he could assist".
His associate "took the offer up" and replied by saying: "Some thing about to kick off by rs."
Mr Leach said that this was a "reference to an emerging conflict with others". Later the same night, Chung stated he would arrange for one of his men to "pull it out (of the) stash (in the) morn for you". Full Bat would then message a third party to say: "Yo bro, just got this on now - we do this tomorrow."
Chung arranged for a handover to take place in the L27 area the following day, and messages revealed that the "transaction appeared to have been completed" by the early evening.
A message sent to his partner in crime shortly before 6.30pm described the gun as a "semi" and "a fully auto gear box edition as well, rev and rip" - "revealing the particularly sophisticated nature of the firearm".
In a conversation between Full Bat and another Encro user on June 4, the former "made it clear that he still intended to carry out an attack". He wrote in one message: "Am not stopping till he gets shot, them am gonna shoot his brother."
It is not clear whether any such shooting was subsequently carried out. Nearly £20,000 in cash was discovered when police raided Chung's home in May last year.
Timothy Kray KC, defending, told the court: "The points in mitigation, really, are his guilty pleas and the fact that his convictions are not further aggravated by earlier serious offending. He has to do some hard time.
"Mr Chung is someone who is a man with certain things about him. When he is released, he is going to be in his middle age. He has got a four-year-old daughter. His partner is standing by him.
"The hope for some leniency at this stage as some incentive to him that, when all of that is done, he seeks rehabilitation and that process at the end has made things worthwhile, that he can truly rehabilitate and that he is out seeing his daughter when she is still a child."
Chung admitted conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis, conspiracy to transfer a prohibited weapon and possession of criminal property. Wearing a white shirt and a sky blue shirt in the dock, he nodded as he was jailed for 20 years.
Sentencing, Judge Stuart Driver KC said: "EncroChat evidence is very strong evidence. Yesterday, you pleaded guilty to most of the counts on the indictment.
"You made a very sensible decision. If a jury had convicted you on that strong evidence on every count on the indictment, the sentence would have been much longer then it will be.
"You supplied a semi-automatic firearm, intending the recipient use it in a connection with serious organised crime. It is clear that he wanted to shoot a rival with it."
Chung will be brought back before the same court at a later date, when he could be handed a serious crime prevention order and told to repay his ill-gotten gains under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Further counts of conspiracy to possess explosives for an unlawful purpose and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm were ordered to lie on the file.
A Merseyside Police spokesman said: "This lengthy sentence lays testament to the extent his drug dealing crimes and the firearm offence, which as we all know causes catastrophic damage in our communities.
"The EncroChat messages clearly demonstrated that Chung played a significant role in supplying drugs, where he identified himself in financial transactions on his EncroChat phone that were found to be identical with cash deposited into his bank accounts."
Crucially, Chung also spoke about himself in text messages when he was named in a newspaper article which was published the previous day.
"I hope this result shows that Merseyside Police will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of people who think they are above the law, and we will continue to target criminals like Chung by thoroughly examining any evidence, messages and images we find."
