TV doc puts the spotlight on gang battle
“DID Daddy die? They warned us they were going to kill daddy,” a young child asks his mum.
His father has just been kidnapped by a gang of four masked men, one armed with a gun, from their house in Heaton Moor, Stockport.
The victim is taken to a house in Denton where he is tortured for 25 hours before a ransom of £34,000 is paid.
A blowtorch is held to his ears, an iron is pressed to his knees and he is injected with heroin during the terrifying ordeal.
The man is just one of many who have fallen victim to the brutality of Greater Manchester’s most notorious crime gangs.
A new BBC documentary lays bare how Organised Crime Group (OCGs) are terrorising the city, as GMP’s Major Incident Team work to bring down the most dangerous criminals.
The first episode of ‘The Detectives: fighting organised crime’ aired on Tuesday night, and focuses on the horrific kidnapping and torture of two men in November and December 2018.
It begins with a 999 call from a distressed woman who can be heard to shout in the background: “I swear to god there is no money here... I need the police quick.”
The call then terminates.
A team led by Gang Specialist, Detective Sergeant Julie Connor, suspect that the kidnapping is the work of an organised crime group.
“There’s lots of kidnappings and it has got worse – the violence has escalated,” she says.
Inside the property, the victim’s child is heard to say: “Did Daddy die? They warned us they were going to kill daddy. He had a gun though. A revolver. A six shooter.”
The gang told the man’s family: “Don’t worry, your daddy will be home tonight if he gives us what we want.”
DCI Alan Clitherow tells the team, based at Nexus House, the force’s serious and organised crime HQ in Ashton, that four men had forced their way into the house through the back door.
The major incident team comprises of 150 detectives divided into 10 units dealing with the city’s most serious crimes.
“Because of the level of violence used, the victim said ‘I will take you somewhere to get some money,’” DCI Clitherow says.
The team ascertain that the victim was kidnapped and tortured for almost a day, until a ransom was paid.
A sum of £34,000 was dropped in a bag on Langport Avenue in Withington.
Two males were seen to pick up the money, before making their way towards a Mercedes.
Following a short pursuit, officers intercepted the car, who found no money and one man – Paris Bostock.
Police suspect the victim is a wealthy drug dealer. He has refused to cooperate with the investigation.
“There’s been an increase in criminals robbing other criminals,” says DS Connor.
“These people are either very dangerous or very reckless.”
Paris Bostock is a known violent offender, linked to organised crime.
“He is built like he could kill you with his bare hands,” says DS Connor.
She says that when Bostock was brought into police custody, he had been threatening each member of staff who dealt with him.
Without further evidence, the team are forced to bail him, but they suspect the gang may be planning more attacks across the city.
After putting out an alert on Bostock, Julie receives a call from a covert officer to say the Mercedes in question had been parked outside a suspected crack house on the day of the kidnapping.
The officer sends surveillance footage of several men leaving the property. A man can be seen leaving the house, with his cap only partially pulled over his face.
“Paris Bostock, I’d know him anywhere,” DS Connor says.
The team suspect this location could be where the torture took place, and police are given a warrant to search the property on Mancunian Road in Denton.
Forensic officers find what appears to be an arm restraint, and a form of blowtorch.
A wanted notice is circulated for Paris Bostock, who is the step-son of Darren Berkeley – a well-known drug dealer from the south Manchester division.
He is known for violence and the local community are said to be terrified of him.
“The gangs in Manchester still have their roots from the gangs that were around in the 80s and 90s,” says DS Connor.
“Moss Side, Salford, Fallowfield, Cheetham Hill. When Manchester was known as ‘Gunchester.’ It’s the children and grandchildren of those gang members that are now finding their own gangs.
“We are seeing an increase in violence, people being shot in the legs, stabbed, their faces cut.
“With the rise in drugs there is a lot of money floating around in the criminal world so there is an increase in criminals robbing other criminals.”
And the situation isn’t unique to Manchester.
Det Chief Supt Jon Chadwick, head of the force’s Serious and Organised Crime Group, said mobs across the country are the biggest threat to the UK’s security.
A month later, a 999 call is made to GMP by a local resident who has reported seeing a man being ‘trailed’ out of a property on Maine Road in Moss Side.
Three hours later, officers find the victim in the street bound and badly beaten.
His hands and legs have been cable-tied in a method referred to as ‘hogtied.’
The victim is pouring with blood and DS Connor fears he may have suffered brain damage.
The victim tells police: “They took me to an address with an empty room and a chair in it. They were beating my feet and asking me for money. They beat me for two or three minutes, stopped, threw water at me and then pointed a gun to my head.
“That went on for about two hours.”
CCTV footage shows the men bashing the victim’s head into the car and pistol whipping him, before he is bundled into the boot of the vehicle.
Meanwhile, inside the address where the first victim is suspected to have been tortured, a paint removing gun, hot plates and tape with blood and hair are recovered.
The victim and Paris Bostock are within the DNA mix.
He is arrested and taken into custody for questioning after armed police raid a house in the Fallowfield area.
His step-dad, Darren
Berkeley, is suspected of being linked to at least one of the kidnaps, and DS Connor believes he may be the mastermind behind the kidnappings. Back at Nexus House, CCTV specialist technology is used to try and identify the four other offenders.
DNA which was found on a cap left at the scene of the second kidnapping is matched to another man, who has a long history of violence and armed robbery.
Upon arresting Buller, officers find a silver revolver and bullets at the property. A second man, named Blake Evers is also arrested at the address.
Forensic analysis revealed that Evers fingerprints were found on the revolver, with Darren Berkeley’s DNA found on the left grip of the firearm.
Five months after the first kidnap and after several weeks on the run, Darren Berkeley handed himself into police.
He is suspected as being the man at the top of the gang. “It is rare for us to catch those at the top,” says DS Connor.
“Generally if we catch people it’s those lower down. It’s a lot harder to catch people at the top. But the ultimate goal is to get them.”
Darren Berkeley was convicted of blackmail for his part in the first kidnap. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Paris Bostock was convicted of false imprisonment and blackmail for the first kidnap. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. Blake Evers was convicted of GBH, possession of a firearm, blackmail, false imprisonment and kidnap. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
An additional gang member, Elliot Cummings was identified by facial recognition experts.
He was convicted of false imprisonment and blackmail for the first kidnap. He was sentenced to six years in prison.