A former member of the notorious Croxteth Crew is up for parole after being locked up for 17 years.
Wesley Brown was jailed indefinitely for public protection and ordered to serve a minimum of three years and 50 weeks for firearms offences in 2006. In 2017, when he was 33, he organised an illegal phone smuggling gang while serving time at HMP Manchester.
Now the 38-year-old is up for parole, just one week after the Ministry of Justice deleted a TikTok account which appeared to show Brown trying to rebrand himself as a rapper under the stage name Wesavelli.
READ MORE: 'Illegal' prison TikTok account wiped over Croxteth gangster's rap videos
Brown hit headlines in January 2021 when videos posted to YouTube showed mask-clad men driving around Croxteth on quad bikes and scrambler bikes. A man who appeared to be Brown was shown rapping in a balaclava in a jail cell, saying: "I pray every night for the roads, I've still got lives to take."
The Ministry of Justice requested the removal of the video from YouTube. However, a TikTok account under the name Wesavelli_l11 was set up and continued to post what appeared to be his rap songs.
The account, which was deleted on January 11, showed several videos of a masked man in orange prison overalls rapping while posing with guns and designer watches, and snippets of everyday life inside the prison, including a short video of men throwing plastic water bottles at each other over a courtyard fence.
The Parole Board for England and Wales has now confirmed that Brown is due an oral parole hearing on Thursday, January 16.
A spokesman said: "Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
"A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims. Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
"Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.
"The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.
"Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority."
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