A senior member of a notorious organised crime group in Liverpool has passed away in prison. Barry Kelly, a central figure in the East Side Boys OCG, played a key role in escalating gang violence on the streets of Speke during a power struggle over the control of heroin and crack cocaine sales. The gang operated from a property on Eastern Avenue, turning it into a centre of criminal activity that left local residents too scared to even walk by. The gang was led by brothers Jake and Callum Burrows, both locals.
Jake, the older of the two, was the gang’s leader, with Callum acting as his deputy. The brothers controlled a network of criminals across Liverpool and further afield through various county lines operations. Their illegal profits were derived from flooding the streets with class A drugs, using street dealers to advertise their products via flare messages. Below the brothers was a group of leading gang members, including Barry Kelly.
Kelly was tasked with transporting guns and drugs for the gang. In 2017, a rival drug gang targeted the drug den on Eastern Avenue just moments after children were seen entering, according to the Liverpool Echo, reports the Daily Star.
This ignited a street war, with a retaliatory attack launched when a high-powered hunting rifle was fired through a letterbox at a property, injuring three men. A police surveillance operation was triggered, revealing that the East Side Boys had accumulated a significant cache of firearms, many of which were concealed in open land around Speke.
The authorities swiftly deduced that the Burrows were procuring guns and narcotics from Dingle criminal Christopher Wallace, who operated from a backstreet garage in Wirral. Known for his bomb-making skills, there were concerns that the Burrows might have contemplated purchasing an improvised explosive device from him.
Senior officers’ anxiety escalated as the East Side Boys appeared to have an inexhaustible stockpile of firearms and ammunition, with Wallace found to be fabricating bombs at a concealed Wirral garage. Wallace was identified as the kingpin of this criminal network.
In response, the police launched Operation Bombay, which revealed the scale of the operation. Kelly was discovered to be transporting handguns, shotguns, and hunting rifles for the gang, several of which were discovered in a field. The surveillance operation also exposed how the local community was being terrorised by the gang, particularly in and around Price’s residence on Eastern Avenue.
This culminated in a raid on the primary address on 15 December 2017, when police stormed the gang’s headquarters on Eastern Avenue. Inside the house, they encountered deplorable conditions where children were living amidst what was essentially a 24/7 drug factory.
In October 2019, the gang members received their sentences, with Kelly, then aged 26, from Little Heath Road in Speke, admitting guilt to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs alongside three firearms charges. He additionally acknowledged his role in attempting to smuggle items into a prison facility.
Judge Watson handed him an 18-year prison term. Ian Unsworth QC, for the prosecution, told the court that Kelly served as a ‘trusted associate’ within the criminal organisation. Mr Unsworth stated: “He was across the various aspects of their business from cannabis, to Class A and right through to firearms and ammunition.”
Collectively, 22 individuals received sentences totalling more than 300 years for their participation in the county lines operation. Kelly, now 32, was serving his sentence at HMP Kirklevington Grange when he died on May 25 this year. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has launched an investigation following his death.