A drug dealer who taunted police as he led them on a motorbike chase has previous convictions relating to a gun used in a spate of shootings, the ECHO can reveal.
Peter Stevens was jailed this week for nearly running over pedestrians and officers and quipping "I smoked yous". The incident came only two weeks after he was freed from a 22-month prison sentence for supplying cannabis and was recalled on licence as a result.
And that is not the extent of the 25-year-old's criminal record. In 2015, the then teenager was one of four men locked up for 25 years after Merseyside Police unearthed a gun used in a series of shootings in Old Swan.
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The then 18-year-old was arrested as part of Operation Balham, which commenced after firearms were recovered from a property in Dartmouth Drive, Netherton, in January of that year, alongside co-conspirators Jonathan Southward, Steven Lloyd and Anthony Nolan. During the search of Southward's address, a Glock pistol that had been used during previous shootings in the L13 area in 2013 was found.
Three revolver-type handguns were also revealed, along with ammunition and ammunition-making kits. Officers established that these had been imported by Lloyd from France, while Stevens was forensically linked to one of the weapons found.
Further investigations established that Lloyd had imported a total of 18 weapons over a five-month period. A further decommissioned weapon and a rifle which were stolen during a burglary was seized from Nolan's house.
Stevens, then of Cross Hey in Litherland, admitted possession of a prohibited weapon and was sentenced to three years in a young offenders institution. He appeared back at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, where he was handed 14 months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence, driving without insurance and drugs driving.
The court heard that patrols spotted a grey motorcycle travelling at speed with no registration plates on Fleetwood's Lane in Netherton shortly before 4pm on March 23 this year. Stevens took to the pavement, undertaking a bus in the process, and "narrowly missed pedestrians" as he turned into Patten's Close.
He was tailed by police and continued onto Harrops Close, but then began travelling in the officers' direction. They indicated for Stevens to stop, but he continued to drive at them.
The biker "broke at the last minute, skidded and fishtailed" - "almost striking" the emergency services workers in the process. He then shouted "I smoked yous" at the police as he sped away from them.
Stevens rode into traffic on Glovers Lane then travelled onwards onto Gorsey Lane and Pendle Drive, Litherland, after running a red light and reaching speeds of up to 60mph. The motorist stopped at shops on the latter street, and a man in a balaclava got on the bike and rode away.
The defendant was arrested and was found to have no licence, as well as testing positive for having cannabis in his system. Stevens told the constables "I could have smoked you" after being detained.
He said to Judge David Swinnerton "I should have just kept my head down when I got home lad" before he was sentenced. The judge replied: "You appeared to think it was some sort of game, talking to police about how you smoked them. You appear to have found it funny, maybe because you were under the influence of cannabis at the time.
"I hope you have learned your lesson and you will keep your head down when you come out from this sentence."
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