39-year prison term for gang leader

Colin Joyce, 29, the self-styled "General" of Manchester's notorious Gooch Gang, smiled and smirked as he was told he will be retirement age before he he is considered for release from prison.

Addressing the court himself, Joyce told the judge the trial had been a "circus" and any sentence would not take away the "freedom and innocence" from "inside me".

He was clapped by members of his gang in the dock - to the audible disgust of the family of his victims sat in court just yards away. Moments later Mr Justice Brian Langstaff passed down two mandatory life sentences with a minimum 39-year jail-term.

"You were all involved in gang related activity which is all too reminiscent of Al Capone and Chicago in the era of prohibition," he told Liverpool Crown Court. "Manchester is not the Wild West, but many of you treated its streets as if it were."

Joyce, his chief henchman, Lee Amos, 33, and three other gang members were all convicted of involvement in the drive-by killing of a mourner at the funeral of a man Joyce had "executed" months earlier, following a six month trial.

Gang warfare erupted in the Manchester in the summer of 2007 within three months of Joyce being released from jail on licence for firearms offences.

Joyce, who had the pockets of his jeans specially adapted to act as a gun holster, led the Gooch Gang in dealing drugs, torturing street dealers who crossed them and targeting rivals, culminating in the murders of Ucal Chin, 24, and Tyrone Gilbert, 23, who had links to the rival Longsight Crew.

Six other gang members were also convicted of involvement in possessing guns and drug dealing for the gang, including a "wild west" shoot-out with rival gangsters in Moss Side.

All 11 gang members, all from Manchester, were convicted of 27 of the 28 charges. The jury failed to reach a verdict on one count of murder on Amos relating to Ucal Chin.