A man known as "one of the quiet lads of the estate" turned into an intimidating underworld gangster - who organised a shocking raid on a gang's cocaine supply.
Richard Caswell, known as "Will" due to his likeness to popstar Will Young, was once described by a former barrister as "one of the most polite clients I have ever met in 30 years of practice." However, the high-level drug dealer was a cold-blooded gangster who was prepared to break loyalties to move up in the criminal underworld.
Now 42-years-old, Caswell helped organise a violent raid at a stash house controlled by a major Liverpool crime network on May 23, 2020. After reporting restrictions were lifted once the gang were jailed, it can be revealed that the crime network was the gang led by Vincent Coggins.
During the raid in West Derby, the home-owner, Paul Glynn, nearly lost his arm when it was slashed down to the bone. Soon after, Caswell and his associates escaped with 30kg of cocaine worth nearly £1m. Messages intercepted by police later revealed that Caswell had tipped off Jason Cox, head of the Salford-based Cox crime family, about the location of the stash house.
The pair then devised the robbery plan with Jason’s brother Craig and associate Ben Monks-Gorton. The breathtakingly swift and violent robbery, on a gang who were not afraid to use violence against rival underworld figures, was made all the more daring by the fact both Caswell and Cox had previously been supplied by the Coggins gang.
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Luckily for Caswell, Vincent Coggins and his associates were arrested on June 16 - three days after news of the EncroChat hack became public. The robbers were eventually apprehended by the authorities after their plans, made over EncroChat, were viewed by police following the hack of the encrypted messaging platform in April 2020.
The aftermath of the bombing outside West Derby police station (MEN Media)When Caswell was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court, his lawyers said, perhaps obviously, that he was now a target for Coggins’ associates. Ahead of his sentencing, he was slashed in the face with a blade. He did not assist prison authorities with their enquiries as to who was behind it, the Liverpool ECHO reported.
His criminal past shows that taking huge risks is in keeping with his previous character. He first hit headlines when he was charged following a row between club owners in the city, which involved powerful car-bombs made from industrial fireworks. It was heard in court that the gangster wasn't initially involved, but offered a helping hand after the first explosion outside the popular 051 Club in the city centre on September 20, 2003.
Caswell had a grudge against the then owner of the club, John Lynch after Mr Lynch sacked him from working as a doorman due to an assault charge. Eager to assist Mr Lynch's enemies, the then 22-year-old was linked to three massive explosions.
The first was on October 18, 2003, outside the home of Mr Lynch's younger brother in West Derby. Six homes were damanged, and one house needed repairs worth £12,000. One local resident said at the time: "That bomb terrified us all, this is a nice, quiet street – nobody expected something like that."
The next day, another explosion occured close of an address linked to Mr Lynch's brother. Merseyside Police launched an investigation codenamed Operation Thornapple, which involved a call to limit the sale of fireworks nationally.
However, on May 12 2004, a huge explosion occurred outside West Derby police station. At the time, it was the biggest bomb to explode on the British mainland since the IRA ceasefire. Bomb disposal experts said more than 20 shock rockets were used, easily "enough to kill".
Caswell later admitted driving the cars stuffed with fireworks to the scene, although he claimed someone else had ignited them. He was remanded in custody in Walton Prison awaiting his sentencing date. However, Caswell had been plotting from behind bars.
On March 14, 2004, prison officers at HMP Liverpool raised the alarm after spotting a cherry picker close to the perimeter walls of the jail. It was also noticed that "Will" was missing, and he was detained in the prison grounds a while later.
Caswell was known for moving huge amounts of drugs, such as multi-kilo quantities of heroin and cocaine. Other gang members considered him as an intimidating man who was able to connect them with wholesale amounts of class-A drugs.
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After the stash-house raid,it is not known what Caswell did with his newly-found cocaine supply, but Jason Cox sold his shares to Leon Atkinson, an acquaintance of police killer Dale Cregan, as well as the Cassidy brothers, Liverpool-based cocaine dealers who worked with Manchester associates.
In one conversation about the plan to rob the stash house, Jason Cox asked if a courier for the firm they intended to double-cross would lead them to the drugs. Caswell replied: "I would even be up for killing him if needs be."
However, in the end, Jason Cox was jailed for 14 years and eight months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, conspiracy to possess criminal property and conspiracy to commit robbery. Two of his brothers, Craig and Lee, were also jailed, as was co-conspirator Ben Monks-Gorton.
Caswell was jailed for seven years for conspiracy to supply cocaine and diamorphine, possessing criminal property, and conspiracy to commit robbery. Judge Patrick Field, said of the raid: "It was a meticulously executed crime, committed by greedy and desperate criminals, and demonstrated, I suppose, that there is no honour among drug traffickers."
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