To his neighbours Chris Little was a 'gentle giant', a devout church-goer who discussed scripture and worked out in a home-made gym. But that was just a carefully constructed front which hid his true calling.
The 6ft 2ins fitness fanatic described himself as a self-employed builder. In fact his real trade was terror, racketeering, drug-dealing and arson.
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Stockport's self-styled 'Mr Big' was a feared underworld figure who flouted his wealth in a £50,000 convertible Mercedes. And he would stop at nothing in his bid to control his home-town.
Born in 1963, it's said Little's career in crime began at Our Lady's School, where he would sell drugs to fellow pupils. A brief, undistinguished career as a professional boxer followed, notable only for a loss to future world champion Johnny Nelson at the Quaffer's Club in Bredbury in 1986.
But a fiercely ambitious Little soon found a line of work for which he was more suited. He took a job as a bouncer and employed gangs of doormen to provide 'security' to Stockport's pubs and clubs.
From there he made his move into the lucrative drugs trade. Soon Little was making money almost as fast as he was making enemies.
He kept a ferocious rottweiler which he used to terrorise rivals, earning him the nickname the 'Devil Dog Mobster'. It was rumoured one man who betrayed him was bundled into a darkened room with only the dog for company.
Another rival was reputedly thrown off a bridge over the old M63 motorway, but it was a case of mistaken identity. The victim was said to have spent 10 weeks in a coma.
On the night of April 17, 1994, Little was suspected of recruiting gangs of young men to launch a spate of arson attacks in Stockport. In just four hours one school was burnt to the ground and five others were badly damaged, while cars and shops were also torched.
At the height of the blitz 200 firefighters were tackling 12 separate incidents. No one was hurt, but about £1m of damage was done. The morning after one fire chief told the M.E.N.: "It looks like an orchestrated conspiracy to do large-scale damage."
The attacks were thought to be a show of strength by the mobster to scare off rival gangs and the authorities. Although police suspected Little of being behind it he was never charged.
But as his notoriety soared, a 31-year-old Little allowed his ambition to get the better of him. He tried to expand his empire into Stretford, stepping on the toes of drugs barons there.
On the night of Friday, July 22, 1994, he was driving with a friend in his dark blue Mercedes 500 SLE to buy wine. As they stopped at traffic lights near the Jolly Sailor pub on Stockport Road in Marple a stolen Ford Granada pulled alongside them.
The front seat passenger fired a 12-bore shotgun through the open window of the Mercedes. Little was shot twice in the head, dying instantly.
The automatic Mercedes ran on for about 125 yards, hitting two vehicles before ploughing into the wall of the Bowling Green pub. Four people were seriously injured in the crash, two seriously.
The Granada was found 30 minutes later burnt out in the car park of Bredbury Hall, two miles from the shooting scene. Three guns, including the suspected murder weapon, were found inside.
No-one has ever been convicted of the murder. Little's death rocked his neighbours on Marsland Terrace.
He kept his two lives so far part none had a clue about his life of crime. The morning after his death tearful children could be seen laying flowers on his doorstep.
"My children adored him and he loved him to bits," one neighbour told the M.E.N. "He was a superb neighbour, a big tough lovable fellow. It would really shock me if I thought he was mixed up in anything."
Only the barking of a rottweiler dog inside the terraced house gave a clue to Little's true identity.
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