Anthony Downes, 26, had been wanted since last July after escaping from the van. He was facing trial for conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to cause damage with intent to endanger life.

 

A man who was sprung from a prison van on his way to Liverpool Crown Court eight months ago was the head of a criminal gang that carried out "a campaign of shooting and bombing", a court has heard. Anthony Downes, 26, had been wanted since last July after escaping from the van. He was facing trial for conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to cause damage with intent to endanger life. Downes was arrested in The Netherlands on Friday, where he remains in custody. His co-defendant Kirk Bradley, 26, from Birkey Lane, Formby, who also escaped from the prison van, is still wanted by Merseyside Police. Nicholas Johnson, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in London: "This was a campaign of shooting and bombing carried out by an organised criminal gang. At the head of the gang were Bradley and Downes." Downes, of no fixed address, was arrested in the Dutch province of Zeelands on suspicion of possession of a firearm and as a result of an outstanding European arrest warrant. He was said to be at the top of a gang which carried out attacks for others in the Liverpool underworld. Last month Woolwich Crown Court heard that the home of a wealthy businessman living in the same street as Liverpool football manager Kenny Dalglish was the target of two shootings. John Ball hired a security guard to keep watch on his home in Southport, Merseyside following the attacks in March and June 2009, the court was told. He is also believed to have been the target of a failed grenade attack on July 26 2009. Before the retrial, three of Downes' and Bradley's co-accused admitted charges of possessing firearms and causing criminal damage with intent to endanger life. Gary Wilson, 27, of Promenade in Southport, Joseph Farrell, 23, of Brandearth Hey in Stockbridge Village, Knowsley and Craig Riley, 25, of Boode Croft, also in Stockbridge Village, are all awaiting their sentences. Co-defendant Joseph Preston, 45, of Tewkesbury Close in West Derby, will be sentenced after admitting a standalone offence of possessing a firearm. Mr Justice Henriques adjourned the hearing and sentencing is due to take place on Friday morning.