A former 'second lieutenant' of the Croxteth Young Guns (CYG) street gang is back in jail a short time after his release from a sentence for terrorising the city.
The gang were responsible for a spate of shootings against rivals, particularly the notorious Norris Green based Strand Gang, and against associates they decided had betrayed them. The ultra-violent crew also used home-made petrol bombs fashioned from empty Lucozade bottles to torch the homes of perceived enemies.
The gang was dismantled in 2011, with a high-profile trial following in 2013. A man described as a "second lieutenant", Kyle Smith-Milson was handed an extended sentence of 12 years. But the thug, now 28 and of Drake Crescent in Fazakerley, is back in prison after being caught driving dangerously in a stolen car.
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Smith-Milson was 18 when he appeared in the dock in 2013, alongside gang leader Anthony Jewell and fellow "soldiers" Mark Thomas, Barry Burke, Ryan Holden, and Sam Hughes. The gang were the latest hybrid of the Crocky Crew, which counted Sean Mercer, the teenager who gunned down 11-year-old Rhys Jones, as a member.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Peter Openshaw, said his impression of the young but extraordinarily violent criminals was that their drug-dealing was just a side-show to fund their "principle activity" of "feuding" with rivals
Judge Openshaw said as he passed sentence: "It seems to me, they have no stake in society except membership of the gang, which is the only claim upon their loyalty. None of them has ever done a day’s honest work in their lives, or seemingly has ever aspired to do so.
"Their families are largely dysfunctional. Each left school without any qualifications or skills. Their days are spent posturing outside the shops on Moss Way in Croxteth, dealing drugs, and proclaiming their claim to that territory then going back to their base on Stonedale Crescent, to deal more drugs, and to smoke cannabis with each other.
"It is as if they belonged to some separate outlawed tribe, which has rejected all of society’s moral standards and conventions."
Among the offences the CYG were convicted of orchestrating was the "punishment knee-capping" of former member Josh Keating in Maureen Walk, on March 13, 2011. Mr Keating was shot by bullets from a gun linked to the defendants and which was also used to shoot at members of the Strand Gang.
Other shootings followed an attack on gang leader Anthony Jewell in HMP Liverpool, where he was on remand at the time. Jewell had his jaw fractured by Strand Gang member Kevin McMullen, which led to reprisals on the streets.
On one occasion shots were fired at Strand members in the street, leading to bullets crashing into the homes of innocent residents, before a shotgun was fired at through the window of a house where McMullen's parents lived, narrowly missing his mum.
Two other incidents involved bungled execution attempts on men who had decided to leave the CYG. On both occasions, they had guns held to their heads by men who pulled the trigger, but were spared when the weapons malfunctioned and failed to fire.
The firebomb incidents followed petty arguments and disputes, and sometimes involved completely innocent victims. On one occasion, a petrol bomb was mistakenly thrown into the property of a young woman at 2am, who was asleep with her baby daughter at the time.
They escaped by climbing out of a bedroom window onto a sloping roof below, where the woman was able to pass her baby down to neighbours who came to their aid.
Smith-Milson escaped a heavier sentence than some of his associates because a mobile phone, vital in linking him to some of the earlier incidents in the conspiracy covered by the prosecution case, could not be traced to him from mid 2011.
However he remained a core member of the CYG, with letters sent by Mark Thomas from prison, referred to him as a "brother and a soldier", and was present when a police raid led to the recovery of a revolver.
The structure of Smith-Milson's sentence means he was likely released no earlier than 2019, although it is believed he had been free for around 18 months. However he failed to keep on the straight and narrow and was involved in an incident of dangerous driving in a stolen Vauxhall Astra on Mond Road, Fazakerley, on April 5 this year.
He appeared at Wirral Magistrates' Court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving. He was jailed for 12 weeks, and will also be subject to recall to prison as part of his extended licence conditions.
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