Vincent Coggins and his brother Francis were bosses of a violent gang who used EncroChat to conduct their drug deals.
A raid of a stash house that saw a dad and son slashed and £1m of cocaine stolen led to the downfall of a ruthless drug gang boss.
But on the morning of Saturday, May 23 2020, their empire was targeted in a violent armed robbery was carried out at their stash house on Croxdale Road West, West Derby. Top news stories today Now, the Liverpool ECHO has revealed the story of the gang's downfall and Coggins' arrest and conviction, following the conclusion of Jarvis’ trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Police were now monitoring their every move. Each user was assigned a unique “handle” on the EncroChat network, and through careful monitoring of each message, investigating officers were able to identify the gang members. When the stash house, minded by Paul Glynn, was robbed and 30 kilos of cocaine was stolen, CCTV footage from a neighbour’s home on Croxdale Road West showed the violent attack.
In the following days Vincent Coggins messaged Earle “M8 can you sort pineapple tonight” - a term used to refer to a hand grenade, while Woodford offered to buy a firearm and ammunition on Vincent Coggins’ behalf. Armed police also visited an address linked to Vincent Coggins to issue a disruption notice - a warning not to engage in any criminal activity. Undeterred, he continued to set in motion plans to kill Brian Maxwell Jr, as well as two other men he believed were involved - Michael Eves and Iyobosa ‘Bosa’ Igbinovia. On May 28 Jarvis messaged Vincent Coggins alleged evidence that the pair considered incriminating the three men even further in the robbery.
Maxwell Sr offered around £1,360,000 to Vincent Coggins, split into cash and the sale of land and a house. Vincent Coggins accepted the offer. But a chilling message to Earle later the same day showed it was just a temporary peace. “F*** me still going to kill them all but can take time now leave dad alone”, he wrote.
With police sniffing around his business, Vincent Coggins asked Woodford to use his police contact, known as "the computer man", to get copies of what was being said about him on the Police National Computer database. The contact told them there were new updates to Vincent Coggins profile, but they had not been able to take a photo. These were arranged through another EncroChat contact, Michael Burns, who used the handle MillionDolla.
When the stash house was first robbed, Vincent Coggins messaged Jarvis “no way manks f***er local”, referring to the fact he could not believe a Manchester gang would be brave enough to come down the M56 carry out the raid. However, further examinations of the EncroChat network led investigators to the rival crime group behind the raid.
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