DENNIS Slade's name was notorious in police circles, but he believed he was "untouchable" as he built an international criminal empire.
When not enjoying luxury holidays with his family, Slade lived in a house in Yorkshire's most expensive street with high-powered cars parked on the driveway.
It was a chief executive's lifestyle, funded by an unrelenting but sophisticated campaign of organised crime which Slade orchestrated over many years.
Dennis Slade's home in Sandmoor Drive, Alwoodley
Police believe he headed a tight-knit gang of men, mainly long-term friends, whom he knew well and trusted implicitly.
The organisation's inner ring involved no more than six members, and possibly as few as two, but Slade is also suspected of overseeing specific criminal divisions thought to be behind armed robberies and drugs offences.
It was a network so efficient that Slade was able to move from Leeds to Spain in the early 2000s and run it from there.
"He was domiciled there for a couple of years," a police source said, "but that didn't prevent him coming back to Britain to do what he needed to do."
Slade returned to Britain in late 2005 or early 2006 and initially lived in Harrogate, where his children were enrolled at independent schools charging fees of more than £10,000 a year.
He later moved to Leeds and bought a property in Sandmoor Drive, Alwoodley – identified as Yorkshire's most expensive street in a 2007 survey which estimated its average house price at more than £1m.
He indulged in high-performance cars and owned a Porsche Cayenne, a Bentley Arnage and a Lincoln Navigator.
Among Slade's subordinates, Michael Baxter drove a Range Rover and two Mercedes, and James Hudson owned a Volkswagen Passat and an Audi, but Richard Pearman, who lived in Swarcliffe, Leeds, did not even own a car when he was arrested.
Slade's control of the operation became so regimented that it led to discontent among lower-ranking gang members.
Unaware their conversations were being bugged by police, Pearman and Baxter once had a disgruntled discussion about how Slade was receiving a larger share of the group's ill-gotten gains than them.
Slade's extravagance drew a veil over a murky past – his conviction for grievous bodily harm as a teenager and his family connections with some of West Yorkshire's most notorious underworld figures.
He is a nephew of Frank Birley, another man known to the police who operated in Leeds, and a cousin of Frank Birley Jr, also known as Frank Gatt.
Birley Jr died in mysterious circumstances from a single bullet to the head in Meanwood, Leeds, in 2000 – six months after he was freed from prison for his part in a £147,000 shotgun raid on a jewellery shop.
A coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing after hearing that Birley Jr, 34, who was wearing a balaclava, could have been killed by a masked accomplice.
Detectives hope Slade's conviction will help unravel other unsolved cases. These include the execution-style murder of one of Birley Jr's associates, Mark McCall, in 2003 in a ginnel in Pudsey.
McCall's criminal record included convictions for GBH, wounding and making a false statement to obtain a false passport, and in 1995 he was one of four men acquitted of conspiring to murder another underworld figure, Clifton "Junior" Bryan, in Chapeltown, Leeds. The McCall murder and Birley Jr killing were two of several shootings within a short period as gang violence escalated in Leeds in the early 2000s.
After one of McCall's friends, David Clarke, died in 2005 Slade was arrested but never charged.
Clarke, a 36-year-old father-of-three known to have moved in criminal circles, was shot in the mouth at his brother-in-law's house in Moortown, Leeds.
A police inquiry concluded that the death was accidental and a coroner recorded an open verdict, but the circumstances of this and other apparently gang-related shootings remain unclear.
"There is no doubt that the criminal fraternity will have been following this case because Slade was regarded as untouchable," a police source said.
"Now that the police have successfully prosecuted this 'untouchable', they will be wondering 'Who's next?' We never close the book on undetected crimes."
Botched bid to kill criminal cost Slade his libertyPOLICE CAPTUREPOLICE finally arrested Dennis Slade after a plot to kill another criminal backfired, bringing officers to the scene.
It is now believed Slade had been planning for several days for someone to shoot his intended victim before the final incident on March 4, 2008.
But at the time the gang's sudden interest in the East End Park area of Leeds was thought to be in a security depot.
Robert Smith QC prosecuting told the jury at a trial last year at Leeds Crown Court, which could not previously be reported, that police believe his target was probably Ralph Roberts. He also had a criminal record.
The jury was not told a reason why Slade might want him dead, but after the case an officer said: "It wasn't really a personal problem, more of a financial problem."
The gang were unaware that they were already under police surveillance when they went in a couple of cars to the area of Dawlish Crescent where a car was attacked with a baseball bat.
At 7.40pm a resident was sitting in his living room when he suddenly heard noises outside.He went out to investigate and found the windscreen and some side windows of his Vauxhall Vectra had been deliberately smashed and the bodywork damaged.
Mr Smith told the jury that man was not the intended target but Mr Roberts's partner lived nearby on York Road, with the rear of the property on Dawlish Crescent. It is believed that the car was attacked in an attempt to lure him out to investigate what was happening.
However, the police hearing the sound of smashing glass thought it was gunfire and quickly moved in.
Although some of those involved escaped in one car and on a motorbike, taking away a sawn-off shotgun, another car containing Slade, Richard Pearman and Michael Baxter was found nearby.
The gang's operation was "planned with care involving the use of not only vehicles but also sophisticated technical equipment capable of tracking the movements of the intended victim," said Mr Smith.
Slade tried to dispose of a tracking device he had made himself and which he probably intended to put on the target's car if the plan did not succeed that night.
An earlier attempt had already failed when the gun jammed at the critical moment.
In the event no-one was injured. One of the cars involved was later found burnt out.
'Callous and dangerous' as teenagerSLADE'S PASTEVEN as a teenager Dennis Patrick Slade was described by Judge Paul Hoffman as "a callous, dangerous and determined young criminal".
He was just 18 when the judge first sentenced him after hearing how Slade had left a woman seriously injured when she tried to stop him taking her family's car from outside their home in Swillington, Leeds, in 1992.
Jean Mosses suffered five separate fractures of the skull and was put on a life support machine after she and her husband Ronnie were thrown off their Nissan sports car as Slade drove away with the couple on the bonnet.
The judge condemned the law because it allowed him to pass only a 12-month sentence in a young offenders institution on Slade because he was only 17 when convicted of the offences.
He had already spent seven and a half months in custody on remand so the sentence at Leeds Crown Court in October 1993 meant his immediate release.
The judge told him then: "If I had my way, I'd be sending you away for seven or eight years because that's the sort of sentence you richly deserve."
Slade had admitted causing GBH to Mrs Mosses, three charges of taking vehicles without consent, escaping from custody, conspiracy to burgle, handling stolen goods and using a false instrument to obtain a passport.
Following an appearance at Leeds Youth Court Slade was being taken back to jail handcuffed to a policeman when two men helped him escape, cutting the cuffs with bolt cutters.
He committed further car crime and burglaries before he was re-arrested months later at Newcastle Airport with a false passport.
The judge said, having caused serious harm to Mrs Mosses by his "wicked, callous driving", while on the run he had gone on to commit serious crimes "in the big league."
Little did he know how true his words would be.
The Leeds United Service Crew are a football hooligan firm linked to the English Football League team, Leeds United A.F.C.[1] The Service Crew were formed in 1974, and named after the ordinary public service trains that the hooligans would travel on to away matches, rather than the, heavily policed, organised football special trains. The Service Crew have a reputation for being one of the most notorious hooligan firms in English football.[2]
In 1985 when football hooliganism was rife in England, the BBC Six O'Clock News had a special report in which they listed the worst football hooligan gangs creating mayhem across England and Leeds United were listed amongst the worst five clubs.[3]
The club distances itself from any activities the Service Crew are involved in. During the height of the hooliganism, the Service Crew become one of the most notorious firms in European football,[2] and in doing so nearly brought the club to its knees.[4]
The first high profile incident that Leeds hooligans were involved in came on 28 May 1975 at the European Cup final against Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes inParis, France. When striker Peter Lorimer had a goal disallowed in a game which ended in a 2-0 defeat to the West German side, and having already seen their team have two penalty appeals rejected by French referee Michel Kitabdjian, scores of Leeds fans ripped seats from the stands and threw them onto the pitch. Some of them clashed with the French police as they invaded the pitch. As a result of this incident, Leeds were banned from European competitions for four years - although this was later reduced to two years on appeal. Due to their on-the-field decline, however, it would be another 17 years before they tasted European action again.[5]
In the 1982–83 season, in the club's first game in the Second Division after relegation, some Leeds fans went on what was described in The Sun newspaper as "an orgy of drinking, looting and fighting" in Cleethorpes, where 600 Leeds fans had stayed the night before the match. In October, two Newcastle United players were hit by missiles at Elland Road and the FA ordered another enquiry.[4]
On 5 May 1990, Leeds travelled to AFC Bournemouth on the South Coast for the final game of the 1989-90 Second Division season. Victory in the game would give them the Second Division title and promotion back to the top flight after eight years away. Leeds achieved this with a 1-0 win, but the success was marred by a string of vandalism on town centre pubs and shops as well as a series of battles between hooligans and police officers. 104 people were arrested and 12 police officers were injured.[6]
Modern day crackdowns on football hooliganism and the heavy use of CCTV at grounds have, as with other firms, largely curtailed the activities of the Service Crew. While hooliganism continues at Leeds United, the nature of it has changed since the 1970s and 1980s. Improvements to security in Elland Road as with all grounds in England have led to confrontations more usually taking place away from stadiums.
On 28 April 2007, during the Championship game at Elland Road with Ipswich Town, about 200 home fans spilled on to the pitch and forced a 30-minute delay after a late Ipswich equaliser all but sealed Leeds' relegation to League One.[7] Around 100 of them ran toward the South East stand where the away supporters were located. Eight wheelchair-using Ipswich fans suffered injuries and were trapped pitchside by the hooligans. In January 2008 thirteen Leeds United fans were handed football banning orders totalling 45 years after they pleaded guilty to affray in connection with the pitch invasion.
As with larger cities Leeds boasts a great many famous sons and daughters, some you will certainly have heard of and others who you may not as they were special in a field you may not know.
So who are the ten most famous people from Leeds?
Well the list may bring a few surprises and there may be some debate but common polls show that the below are the ten most famous people from Leeds (in no particular order).
Peter O’Toole
The famous actor most notable for his role in Lawrence of Arabia and who has a film and acting career spanning over fifty years. For those of the younger generation you may remember him as King Priam in the film Troy with Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom.
Jeremy Paxman
Journalist, Author and television presenter Jeremy Paxman has done it all. Jeremy has worked for the BBC since 1977 and has fronted many famous BBC shows such as Newsnight and University Challenge.
Chris Moyles
You either love him or hate him but Chris Moyles is famous for “Saving” Radio One as he likes to say. Chris Moyles is a cheeky chappy who keeps the country moving with his wit and wry sense of humour. Chris Moyles has also branched out in recent years into the world of television.
Ernie Wise
None other than one half of the most famous comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, Ernest Wise OBE and his partner Morecambe are well known for having made the people of the UK laugh for many decades.
Having started in radio Wise with his partner soon found fame after moving to television.
Micah Richards
Micah Richards may play for Manchester city in the heart of their defense but he is a real Leeds lad having been born and bought up in Leeds. Today Micah Richards is a famous footballer who plays for England having been the youngest defender ever to be called up to the England squad and is still only twenty one years of age.
Mike Tindall
Mike Tindall MBE is a rugby union player who currently plays for Gloucester and England. Tindall is seen as one of the finest centres in rugby union and has won 58 caps for England.
Mike Tindall is also the boyfriend of Zara Phillips, the eldest granddaughter of HM Queen Elizabeth II.
John Craven
John Craven OBE is a much loved television presenter who is retired now but was a driving force on children’s television in the 1980’s. Johns most notable television presenting includes children’s Newsround as a news presenter.
Melanie Brown
Better known as Mel B, Melanie Brown made up part of the most famous girl band of all time Mel B. During her time with the Spice Girls Mel B was given the nickname “Scary Spice”.
After the Spice Girls split up Mel B tried a solo career that never really took off and has since had a relationship with comedy actor Eddie Murphy bearing his child.
John Smeaton
John Smeaton is a famous engineer who designed many famous bridges, canals, lighthouses and other waterways engineering feats. For his work in advancing civil engineering John Smeaton has been given the title of “Father of civil engineering”.
Alfred Austin
Alfred Austin is a famous poet from the humble beginnings of the nineteenth century streets of Leeds. After huge success Alfred Austin was appointed the most prestigious award for a poet, the Poet Laureate.
