As police continue their hunt for Liverpool gangster Daniel Gee, dubbed a “force to be reckoned with” by true crime podcaster Billy Moore, worry is growing in rural North Yorkshire.
Ex-boxer Mr Moore is a character who battled both crime and drug addiction in his past. He warned not to underestimate the infamous figure of Gee, who along with his brother Darren, was notorious for flooding Everton’s Grizedale estate with drugs.
Danny Gee received a rare indefinite sentence for public protection in 2010 – a sentence that was then abolished two years later – after making death threats to a teenager who had shot him two years earlier on a New Year’s Eve clash. The ECHO first broke the news on May 27 that Gee has vanished from Kirklevington Grange, a category D open prison in a rural area of North Yorkshire close to the Teeside border.
Read more: Daniel Gee manhunt live as new sighting puts him in North Yorkshire
The search operation led by Cleveland Police officers has drawn nationwide attention but remains without any definite breakthroughs. Now, on The All or Nothing Podcast Billy Moore has shared his first encounter with Gee some 20 years ago, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Moore said: “I remember Danny when he was 20 years old. He was a strong kid back then. He would come in off the streets and would be repping 80kg military press above his head, no problem. I wouldn’t underestimate him. He doesn’t strike me as someone with a big ego.
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“He’s dangerous but he’s obviously been re-categorised as a low danger to get to Kirklevington. He’s on the right path, aiming for something. It’s easy to be online shouting the odds but if he was in front of you, he would be a force to be reckoned with.
“He was a big Viking stomper who would just wreck you. I would be very, very wary of him. He’s been away for a long time.”
The Ministry of Justice confirmed Gee’s status to the ECHO, with a Prison Service spokesperson stating: “All prisoners in Category D prisons are robustly risk-assessed and absconds are rare. Offenders who break the rules are punished and face extra time behind bars and we are working with the police to recapture this prisoner.”
Cleveland Police have described Gee as last seen wearing a black jumper, black Adidas bottoms with a white stripe down each leg, and black trainers, carrying a yellow JD Sports bag. He is characterised as “a white male, of large build, around 6ft tall and bald”.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
An abscond is defined as an escape that does not involve overcoming physical security restraints such as walls, fences, locks, bolts, bars, secure vehicles, handcuffs, or direct staff supervision. Category D prisons, as explained by the Prison and Probation Service, offer minimal security and permit eligible prisoners to spend most of their day outside the prison on licence for work, education, or other resettlement activities.
A man named Gee, who was seriously wounded by 16 year old gunman Jamie Starkey outside an Anfield pub, has been sentenced to a minimum of four years behind bars for planning to arm himself after making death threats towards Starkey. Despite one of the bullets piercing his stomach and lung before exiting his back, he refused medical treatment following the shooting, enduring severe pain and trauma from what the court deemed a “murderous and unprovoked” attack.
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In October of 2009, he was found guilty of two cases each of threats to kill and blackmail during his first trial. Nevertheless, the jury could not reach a consensus on the two more serious accusations, namely, conspiracy to murder and possession of firearms and ammunition.
As his second trial was set to start, Gee, erstwhile of Maryport Close, Everton, conceded to the latter charge. Prosecutor Ian Unsworth KC made it clear that Gee’s thirst for vengeance “knew no bounds”.
Gee’s sentence includes an indefinite prison term, with a minimum requirement of serving four years before consideration by the parole board. It should be noted that this sentence is concurrent with a seven-and-a-half year term he was already serving for drug-related offences.
Gee’s barrister contended at the trial that his client was “frankly terrified” of an indeterminate sentence, arming himself only due to fear of another clash with the Starkey family, citing a target on Gee’s back because of his notorious family name and his dread of indefinite incarceration, convinced he’d never be set free.
However, the then Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe KC, delivered a stark judgement: “I am in no doubt that the public must be protected from you in the future. I really do not know when it will be safe to release you.”
The case of Starkey, who was gunned down outside his home on December 2, 2012, remains unresolved despite five arrests and the recovery of the murder weapon, as no convictions have followed.
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Mr Moore has shared with the ECHO his past of nearly two decades behind bars for various crimes, largely to support his drug habit, his attempt at a fresh start in Thailand thwarted by a relapse into addiction leading to time in Bangkok’s Klong Prem prison.
His experiences formed the basis of a book and subsequent film adaptation, “A Prayer Before Dawn”, featuring Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole. Mr Moore, last imprisoned in 2018 for burglary, now dedicates his time to discussing true crime on his podcast and aiding those struggling with addiction.
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