Ex-Nottingham cartel boss David Gunn has urged people to "keep away" from crime. Gunn has encouraged people not to end up like himself and his brother Colin, who remains in prison, and says police have seized over one million pounds from him along with jailing him on multiple occasions over the years.
The pair ran the Bestwood Cartel crime gang and will forever be linked to the estate, even all these years later. Brothers Colin and David, along with others, both went on trial over the murders of John and Joan Stirland, who were gunned down in August 2003 in Trusthorpe on the East coast of Lincolnshire.
No-one was convicted of their murder but in June 2006 Colin Gunn was sentenced to 35 years for conspiring to murder the Stirlands, while John Russell of Northcote Way, Bulwell, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years, and Michael McNee of no fixed address, was jailed for at least 25 years, both for the same offence. David Gunn was found not guilty by the jury.
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In the YouTube video posted earlier this month by Shaun Attwood, another ex-prisoner who now runs his own true crime podcast, Gunn talked about his life in Nottingham and the lengths police went to try and gather evidence against him. Sitting on a tartan sofa with a lamp in the corner of the room and wearing a yellow T-shirt, he opened up about some of the techniques used by the force all those years ago.
Gunn references a 'pin' being fired through his letterbox into his carpet by MI5 to spy on what he was saying and doing in his house, which could hear every conversation within a 100m radius, even whispers in his house. He says he was put under this kind of surveillance for four months. Gunn also had a stereo in his car replaced for another one by police who wanted to listen to what he was telling his associates.
Addressing those who want to pursue a life of crime, Gunn was very clear about what his message was, looking back on his experiences and years in and out of jail. He estimates he has spent 23 years in prison, including 11 of the last 15 years of his life.
Mr Gunn said: "Don't do it, my mate, get a job and live your life - don't end up like me and my brother, pal. Seriously, there's no dough [money] in it, because when you get nicked, they've just took £1.2 million off me, so when you get nicked they're going to take everything you've got.
"So you're going to think 'what am I going to do now' You're going to be wanted like Jesse James. So keep away from it - get a job and make your mum and dad proud. That's all I'll say about it. I drill that into my grandchildren."
Talking about one incident in a local bar, Gunn admitted to biting off one man's eyelids and lips, after he had drunkenly knocked into a table with his nine-year-old daughter on before "belting her in the eye". His family had been having a Sunday lunch at the time and, when Gunn was told about what happened over the phone, he headed straight there.
"My pal has got one of them [referencing a gun] but I said 'it's not a murder mate, let me beat him. So I've bit his eyelids off and his lips off and swallowed them. But that's what I had to do, because he had cut my daughter's eye, so I thought 'I'm going to scar you for life mate'." He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for the attack.
Gunn was even banned from Nottingham by police, meaning he had to stay in a hostel after he was released from prison on one occasion. It was there that he was recalled back to jail for swearing at a woman who accused him of breaking his curfew.
Gunn had previously been given three and a half years in prison for killing a man with one punch outside Boots in Nottingham, after he says he allegedly tried to grope his wife shortly after they were married at the age of 19. Gunn admits he was "always locked up" with his most recent stint being eight and a half years for drug-related offences.
He finished the podcast by saying: "Children - keep away from it lads. Don't make the mistake me and my brother have made, mate. I'm lucky - I beat the murder trial. My brother ended up doing a 35 [year sentence] and it's a death sentence lads. So, no need for it, mate. Even if one of you don't do it, we've accomplished something then, haven't we? So keep away."
You can listen to the entire podcast - which contains very strong language - by clicking here.
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