In March 2015, the situation for self-confessed gangland debt collector David Byron looked bleak.
The then 37-year-old had been identified as the prime suspect in a brutal double shooting in Lance Close, Everton, where a man named Craig Dures was shot in the face and his dad, Karl Dures senior, was hit in the thigh.
The stakes were high. Charged with the attempted murder of Craig, and wounding both men with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, a conviction would have meant a likely life sentence.
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The trial proved to be an extraordinary glimpse into the Liverpool underworld.
Miraculous survival
The jury were told how Craig and Karl snr had been put in harm's way thanks to their brother and son, Karl Dures junior. The court heard troubled Karl jnr was involved in the supply of drugs, but also struggled with a cocaine addiction and found himself in spiralling debts to fearsome Manchester based gangsters.
The situation came to a head shortly after 11.15am on April 2, 2014. Craig Dures, his wife and their baby son were at home when he noticed a silver Ford Focus driving slowly past the house, with a man inside peering into his living room window.
The jury were told Craig was suspicious, so got into his wife's car and drove up to the Focus, pulling up alongside it. Martin Reid, prosecuting the trial, said the Crown's case was that the man inside was David Byron, who was "aggressive" and told Craig his brother, Karl jnr, owed money and it needed "sorting out".
Craig rushed back to his house, and told his wife she needed to leave. He then went outside to speak to his dad, Karl snr, who lived next door. But the man in the Focus had returned.
Stepping out of the car, the assailant produced a handgun and fired five times, striking Craig in the face and Karl snr in the leg. Miraculously for Craig, the bullet passed through his nose and lodged in the base of his skull without damaging his brain or spine.
As the two men bled outside their homes, the shooter fled in the silver Focus, but only after rolling into a parked car. That collision would prove vital to the outcome.
A debt with consequences
After the prosecution outlined its case, Byron himself was called to give evidence. In the witness box, he admitted working as a debt collector for "high end" drug dealers and organised gangs, but denied he was a "hired gun".
According to Byron, Karl Dures jnr sold drugs, but his debts were "spiralling out of control", and had reached £237,000. He said he was called in as an "intermediary" and met with Karl jnr and Karl snr on multiple occasions, to set up a "payment plan".
Byron said they had a meeting at Jumbo Cafe in Priory Road, Anfield on December 13, 2013, with three other people he refused to name. He said during the meeting Karl jnr was lying to a man he owed money to and as a result "took a bit of a beating".
Byron told the jury: "It was three or four punches, a couple of kicks. He was on the floor bleeding from his face." Byron said Karl jnr was getting "work" - drugs - off one group and using the money he made selling the drugs to pay other gangsters. As he put it Karl Dures jnr was "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
He told the jury the £237,000 debt was owed to men based in Manchester, who arranged to meet Karl jnr. At that meeting, which Byron also attended, he said Karl jnr was told: "Don’t f*** around with our money because we won't think twice about blowing your mother's f***ing head off."
However, despite the tension, Byron said he ended up becoming friends with Karl jnr and they went out together for drinks. He even claimed he helped Karl jnr sort out a problem involving his ex-partner and the mother of his children, former X Factor singer Rebecca Ferguson, who was being threatened by a Garston man.
But things became more fractious in the weeks leading up to April 2, 2014, and Karl jnr became harder to contact. The Manchester crew were becoming increasingly angry, and put "immense pressure" on Byron to force Karl jnr to pay up.
He admitted he had also been "pressured" into passing the gangsters the addresses of the Dures brothers and their mum at a meeting in a Liverpool pub. However he insisted: "There was nothing ever said to me that they were going to hurt anyone."
When asked by his barrister, Damian Nolan, if he shot Karl Dures snr and Craig Dures, he replied: "That absolutely did not happen" and "wouldn't make sense". Byron added: "To be brutally honest, if I was to shoot them two people I would be wide open to owing their money."
Mistakes were made
Whoever the gunman was, it is undoubtedly true that mistakes by Merseyside Police aided Byron's defence immensely. The court heard the investigation found Byron's then wife had a silver Ford Focus, which had been valeted and extensively cleaned after the shooting.
However, the police failed to have it checked for gunshot residue and did not tell the jury it had been "doctored", as it was described by trial judge Clement Goldstone, QC.
This enabled Byron's legal team to argue that even though it had signs of damage, it was not extensive enough to match the collision between the gunman's Focus and the parked car which was described by witnesses after the shooting.
After an eight day trial and around two hours of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict - not guilty on all counts. Reports from the time described how Byron's family, some of whom had been crying in the public gallery, clapped and cheered as he was acquitted.
Byron himself repeatedly shouted "yes" and "thank you very much". After the jury filed out of the courtroom, Judge Goldstone made his displeasure about the course of the investigation clear.
Addressing the prosecution, he questioned the lack of firearms residue testing and why the jury were not told the car had been "doctored". He said: "That would have been extremely compelling evidence to link the car to the shooting."
Judge Goldstone asked Mr Reid: "Are you in a position to explain how fundamental basic findings were ignored and not served as evidence in the case, quite apart from the decision not to subject the car to gunshot residue testing?"
Mr Reid said he had only just found out about the evidence and the findings did not appear in any unused material schedule. Judge Goldstone replied: "It shouldn't have been unused. It should have been served in spades as an integral and very important part of the prosecution case. The public are entitled to know why this piece of potentially valuable evidence was totally ignored by the Crown."
Merseyside Police conducted an internal review of their investigation and found "flaws". The force said it had implemented new procedures and training.
A dubious loan
However, that case was not the only time David Byron's name emerged in connection with gangland activity. In January 2016, prosecutors poured over the business dealings of two notorious brothers - Stephen and Peter Clarke.
Originally from Kirkby like Byron, the pair headed a sprawling crime network trafficking cocaine and cannabis to Manchester and Northern Ireland, and were jailed for a combined 26 and a half years in 2013. The pair had access to a fearsome cache of weapons including guns, samurai swords and machetes, stashed in a Southport safehouse.
After they were sentenced, proceedings were launched to seize their ill-gotten gains under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). Detectives had gathered extensive evidence against "feared" security firm boss Stephen Clarke, including from a listening device covertly planted in his Jaguar car. It was that device which dragged Byron's name into the case.
During a POCA hearing in Preston Crown Court, Nick Johnson, QC, prosecuting, asked Clarke about £100,000 cash loans he had accepted handing to David Byron and a man called Mark Wyatt, both of which he had been recorded discussing in his car.
Mr Johnson put it to Clarke that he had lent money to "two drug dealers". Clarke replied that "he knew" Byron was a drug dealer, but that Wyatt only became one later.
Clarke also claimed he only got involved in the cannabis part of the drugs conspiracy after struggling to recoup the debt from Byron and Wyatt, leaving him in financial difficulties.
A "stupid" mistake
Despite the extensive references to his involvement in organised crime in both cases, Byron had seemingly avoided prison. However, it was his involvement in a "stupid" and "reckless" scheme, simply to avoid penalty points on his driving licence, that came back to haunt him yesterday (Friday).
Byron, now 44 and of Longfellow Close, Kirkby, plotted with dodgy car rental business owner Benjamin Rood, 41, to swerve fixed penalty notices after being caught speeding in August 2016 and February 2017. Byron was driving Land Rover vehicles leased by Rood's franchise, 4x4 Hire Liverpool, on both occasions.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that as the rental vehicles were registered to Rood's business, he was obliged by law to provide the details of the driver. However, rather than Byron simply taking the points and paying the fine, WhatsApp messages recovered from Rood's phone revealed extensive conversations about nominating a "fall-guy".
Byron admitted the scheme, and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, while asking for the 2016 offence to be taken into consideration by the court.
Damian Nolan, again representing Byron, asked for clemency due to Byron needing treatment for blood cancer and lack of involvement in crime since the offences occurred. He said in court: "This is a man who does not need telling it would have been so much simpler to simply take the points.
"For not taking a Fixed Penalty Notice here he is on the verge of a custodial sentence. It was his own stupid, reckless behaviour, impulsive maybe."
However Judge Denis Watson, QC, noted that Byron had received a suspended prison sentence for exactly the same offence in 2012, which he described as a "gravely aggravating feature".
Byron remained silent in the dock as was jailed for 10 months.
