Cheshire: Gang fired gunshots at house and planted grenade

The ‘Deli Mob’ was responsible for attacks on homes on Reaper Close in Hood Manor and Birtles Road in Orford, Warrington, during 2020.

Police on Reaper Close

Now three men have been brought to justice over the plots.

Liverpool Crown Court heard during a trial that ‘gangland enforcer’ Jonathan Gordon took his instructions from an unidentified organised crime group boss via encrypted communications platform EncroChat.

Jonathan Gordon

The 34-year-old carried out a series of attacks and nearly blinded one man after throwing a container of acid in his face.

This incident saw him throw a container of the caustic liquid in the victim’s face as he retrieved a mobile phone charger from his car on Milton Street in St Helens on April 14 2019.

He was left temporarily blinded, but regained his sight after months of medical treatment and later picked out convicted drug dealer Gordon – from Liverpool – as his attacker during an identity parade.

An acid cannister seized from the gang

The following year, the National Crime Agency launched Operation Venetic after the takedown of EncroChat and discovered a series of covert messages plotting further gangland assaults.

Gordon and his boss had planned a second acid attack on a man in Blackpool, with the paymaster stating in one text that he ‘needed a good litre on him’.

But this was cancelled as the first Covid-19 lockdown had begun and the pair were worried that the police would spot their stolen car on the empty roads.

On April 6, 2020, Gordan and accomplices Dylan Johnston and Stephen Wissett drove a stolen Ford Fiesta to a house on Birtles Road and planned to throw acid on the occupant.

Stephen Wissett

But they abandoned this attempt after spotting that the address had CCTV.

Returning the following day in disguise, the trio were spotted by police and fled – although the vehicle was seized.

Investigations discovered 28-year-old Wissett’s DNA on the steering wheel as well as a Lucozade bottle and a pair of gloves inside, while 27-year-old Johnston was forensically linked to a second pair of gloves.

Dylan Johnston

While the boss ordered Gordon to return and ‘double the dose’ in order to ‘cook’ the victim, the NCA – working with Cheshire Police, Merseyside Police and the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit – then discovered through EncroChat that a grenade had been left in the front garden of the same property.

This led to bomb squads carrying out a controlled explosion on April 14, and the assault was subsequently paused.

Bomb squads on Birtles Road

Gordon – who used the EncroChat handle Valuedbridge and charged £6,000 to carry out an acid attack and £10,000 to blind his victim – continued to discuss the attack with his boss though, stating in one message: “He’s getting blinded bro.”

He and Johnston also assembled a team to blast the windows of a house on Reaper Close on March 20, 2020 in a drive-by shooting.

Mobile phone records showed that the pair had called each other in the minutes after the incident, while forensic examinations proved that the bullets had come from the same gun used in a street gunfight the former had been involved with in January, 2020.

Gordon was involved in an altercation with an unknown man on this occasion, saying in a text that he had ‘let off a clip in the street’.

Messages revealed he had been involved in another gunfight in May, 2020, when an unidentified attacker approached him on a bike and the duo exchanged fire.

One shot from the defendant’s Grand Power handgun landed in the bedroom of an elderly couple.

On Thursday, Gordon and Johnston were convicted of a series of offences by a jury.

Gordon was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, two of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Johnston, of Ellesmere Port, was convicted of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

Wissett, also of Ellesmere Port, previously admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

Judge David Aubrey stated that Gordon’s ‘ruthlessness knew no bounds’ before adjourning his sentencing until next month.

The Birtles Road incident

Ben Rutter, NCA operations manager, said: “I pay testimony to the victim in this case and thank him for his bravery and support in helping us bring Jonathan Gordon to justice.

“The victim suffered life changing injuries and the physical and mental toll of his attack cannot be overstated.

“Jonathan Gordon is an extremely dangerous offender.

“His actions were exceptionally wicked, he thought nothing of blinding victims for money.

“He brought a really high level of harm to the streets as an enforcer for his OCG, and it is lucky no one was killed in his chaotic and reckless use of firearms.

“I commend investigating officers from the National Crime Agency, Merseyside Police and Cheshire Police.

“This was a long, complex investigation spanning a number of years and the officers worked tirelessly to ensure the evidence gathered left the jury in no doubt about Gordon’s guilt.”