A Liverpool gangland enforcer who carried out an acid attack and plotted to blind others has been sentenced to life in prison. Jonathan Gordon, 34, of Liverpool, charged £6,000 to throw acid in a victim's face and £10,000 to blind someone, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Gordon, a member of the so-called Deli Mob crime gang, used the encrypted EncroChat system to take orders from an unidentified crime boss. On April 14, 2019, he attacked a man outside his home in St Helens, Merseyside, temporarily blinding him. The victim later identified Gordon in a police lineup.
The court heard the victim was left in a “world of darkness, depression and dependency,” fearing he would forget his children’s faces. Gordon also planned further attacks: one in Blackpool was thwarted during lockdown, and another in Warrington on April 6, 2020, was abandoned after the group spotted CCTV.
EncroChat messages revealed Gordon’s involvement in two street gunfights in Liverpool in 2020, with one bullet hitting the window of an elderly couple’s home. He also plotted to shoot a property in Warrington on March 20, 2020.
Gordon was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and one count of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life. He was sentenced to a minimum of 24 years and eight months at Liverpool Crown Court.
Accomplices Dylan Johnston, 27, and Stephen Wissett, 28, were jailed for 18 years and 12 years and six months respectively for their roles in the conspiracies. NCA operations manager Ben Rutter described Gordon as “a terrifyingly dangerous offender” who was “totally unconcerned about blinding someone for money”.
