Crime gang relatives sue police for 'breaching human rights’

Relatives of two of Britain’s most dangerous gangland bosses, Colin Joyce and Lee Amos, who ran the Gooch gang in Manchester, are suing police over claims a poster campaign has breached their human rights.

Joyce, 29, and Amos, 32, led a criminal empire which was responsible for a string of murders and shootings throughout the city, Liverpool and the north-west over 20 years.



They were convicted in April for their involvement in the shooting of two men and jailed for 39 and 35 years respectively.

After the case, Greater Manchester Police launched a billboard campaign which used computer-generated images to show how the “aged” criminals will look when they are finally released from prison in the 2040s.



But relatives of the pair claim they have a suffered public hostility as a result of the posters, which they say have infringed on their privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Liberty, the civil rights group, is backing their legal action against GMP, which it accuses of “stirring up trouble”. A spokesman said that they may seek a judicial review to challenge the way the force took the decision to run the campaign.