Liam Byrne: The violent life of Lilly-Ella Gerrard boyfriend's Kinahan mobster father who battered sports star
Steven Gerrard's daughter has revealed she is expecting her first child with her boyfriend Lee Byrne, the son of Kinahan mobster Liam Byrne.
Lilly-Ella Gerrard announced the news in an Instagram post over the weekend by sharing photos of her scans arranged next to two positive tests, a journal, and a tiny pair of baby boots.
She wrote: "Our little secret. The best news... mini us is on the way." Meanwhile, proud granddad-to-be Steven, who is also father to Lexie, 18, Lourdes, 13, and Lio, eight, appeared pleased as punch, responding: "We can't wait. Congratulations, and we love you."
While Lilly-Ella comes from sporting royalty, her partner, Lee Byrne, is the son of gangster Liam Byrne, who is currently serving a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a plot to stockpile machine guns. Lee and the Gerrard family have no involvement in criminality.
The Mirror has taken a look at the mobster's eventful life as a member of one of the most notorious crime gangs...
Rise to notoriety
The son of convicted fraudster James ‘Jaws’ Byrne, who passed away last year at the age of 77, Byrne - known as 'Bugsy' to some - became known to officers in south Dublin from an early age. While still in his early teens 'career criminal' Byrne was dealing drugs supplied by Christy Kinahan Snr - a crime boss and alleged leader of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, who is sometimes referred to as 'The Dapper Don'.
In July 1998, when he was 17, Byrne teamed up with friend Liam Greenhalgh, then the Ireland under-16 soccer captain, to carry out armed robberies on two Dublin shops. During the second robbery, an off-duty garda happened to walk in, as per The Irish Times.
In January 2000, Byrne was handed a four-year suspended sentence after being convicted of firearms, burglary and dangerous driving charges. Although he was ordered to keep the peace as a condition of his suspended sentence, by April of that year, he was in trouble with the law once more - this time on account of a brutal, unprovoked attack against former League of Ireland footballer Trevor Donnelly.
Violent attack
The incident occurred after Trevor and his partner Jennifer Doyle became involved in a row with three women outside the Abrakebabra fast food shop in the Crumlin Shopping Centre. The trio followed Jennifer and Trevor as they walked away from the takeaway, hitting the couple as a security officer intervened.
It was then that Byrne arrived by car, rushing at Trevor unprovoked and striking him on the head with a baseball bat. Even as Trevor lay helpless on the ground, Byrne continued to attack him as Jennifer pleaded with him to stop. It was then that he coldly told her: "Tell him if he wakes up, it's bullets."
Byrne drove off with his baseball bat, with the incident having been witnessed by some 50 people. Out of the dozens at the scene, however, only Trevor and Jennifer dared testify, with the other witnesses being too terrified of the consequences of crossing Byrne and his associates.
As reported by the Mirror at the time, Trevor spoke of how Byrne had "ruined" his life. He said: "I'll never play football again that is for sure. But if I could even get my life back, it would be something. I spend my days looking over my shoulder. I'm afraid to go out. I know there is a hit on my head, and I know these people are serious."
The vicious attack led to Byrne being brought back before the courts, at which point his four-year suspended sentence for armed robbery was activated. This time around, he didn't escape prison and was locked up on May 23, 2000, with an additional two years added to his sentence for assault.
In a bid to dodge conviction, Byrne intimated Jennifer, offering her €50,000 not to give evidence and warning that she and Trevor would be killed if she persevered. Mum-of-two Jennifer bravely persisted with her testimony amid terrifying threats and had to leave her home after shots were fired at it. At one point, there was even a plot to murder Jennifer, with an Irish Nationalist Liberation Army (INLA) gunman lined up to ensure her evidence would never be heard.
Horrifyingly, after giving evidence, Jennifer, who was at one stage forced to live in hotel accommodation under an alias, was assaulted in the Four Courts' corridors, with the attack leaving her badly injured. Her determination paid off, however, and Byrne was put away for six years. Byrne's time inside Mountjoy Prison, however, did nothing to put him back on the straight and narrow.
Rise to leadership
After leaving his cell behind, Byrne continued with his career as a criminal, with he and the then-head of the Byrne organised crime group, Freddie Thompson, making frequent trips to southern Spain. It was here where smuggler Kinahan would supply them with drugs, which they would then distribute while overseeing debt collection.
A feud with the INLA in 2007 and 2008 meant Thompson had to frequently leave Dublin - and it's believed Byrne then picked up his crown as the new head of the branch, which is part of Ireland's largest crime syndicates, the Kinahan Cartel
Firearm conspiracy
(Image: Steven McAuley <steven.mcauley@reachplc.com>)
During his trial over the machine gun plot, Byrne pleaded guilty alongside his brother-in-law, Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, to conspiracy to import firearms
As previously reported by the Mirror, the "fearsome" weapons were found buried in a field in Newry, Co Down, back in May 2021. The discovery followed a tip-off from Kavanagh - the UK head of the Kinahan Cartel - who had been trying to secure himself a lighter prison sentence in a multimillion-pound drug smuggling case.
Running the operation from behind bars at HMP Dovegate, Kavanagh enlisted the help of Byrne, and his associate Shaun Kent, 38, in the plan to deceive the National Crime Agency (NCA). Between January 2020 and June 2021, Byrne and Kent agreed to "acquire as many arms as possible" from the UK, Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Then, in May 2021, Kavanagh directed the NCA to the field in question, where they dug up two holdalls containing seven machine guns, three automatic handguns, an assault rifle and ammunition. The trio's plot crumbled after the NCA recovered incriminating messages on encrypted EncroChat, which their French associates had cracked.
(Image: Irish Mirror)
The three men admitted to the conspiracy in September 2024 at the Old Bailey, the month before their trial at the same court. Byrne – who fled to Majorca – was handed a five-year sentence, while Kent was given six years. As per the Irish Mirror, Kavanagh was given a consecutive six-year sentence - to be served after the conclusion of a 21-year sentence for conspiracy to import €36 million (£30,000) worth of cocaine and cannabis, a three-year sentence for possession of a stun gun, and a sentence of several months connected to a previously suspended fraud charge.
At the time of sentencing, NCA Branch Commander Ty Surgeon said: "At the instruction of their leader Thomas Kavanagh, Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne orchestrated a cynical and dangerous plot to plant a cache of weapons so Kavanagh could direct the NCA to them and reduce his time in prison.
“These weapons were viable and deadly weapons that were in the hands of a criminal gang, loaded and ready for use in criminality. What this group didn’t know is their EncroChat messages had been unveiled for law enforcement to see, showing every detail of their plan.”
Lee and Lilly-Ella have been romantically connected since October 2022, meeting when she was 18 years old and he 23. The Mail Online reports that the Byrne and Gerrard families have bonded with Lee regarding Steven's glamorous wife, Alex Gerrard, as a second mother.
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