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A Liverpool gangster is on the run after escaping from court - but before he fled, his jury heard how Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard had "the utmost respect" for him.
In a major story in the Daily Mail, the newspaper draws several links between Gerrard and the Liverpool underworld after Gerrard wrote a letter supporting John Kinsella, a gangster charged with tying up a security guard during a £41,000 robbery ($100,000).
The Daily Mail said Gerrard and his father Paul vouched for the defendant's character in an open letter to the court. Kinsella, the jury heard, had earned their gratitude by persuading notorious criminal George Bromley jnr to call off a campaign of intimidation and extortion against the footballer. Kinsella "took steps", as he termed it, and Bromley backed off.
But Kinsella then escaped from the court grounds during a lunch break. He is still on the loose, having been convicted of the robbery and handed a 14-year jail sentence in his absence.
The Gerrards were more than a little embarrassed, reported the Mail.
Kinsella's initial demand had been for Steven to appear in the witness box on his behalf. However, the Mail asked how a known violent criminal was so easily able to extract a compromising letter from one of the world's leading sportsmen.
The paper claimed it was just one example of several links between Gerrard and Liverpool's gangsters.
The Gerrards, it must be stated, are a law-abiding family without a stain on their character. Steven is regarded as a model professional whose defining characteristic as a player is his insatiable appetite for hard work.
Yet for all his qualities, not to mention a personal fortune of £15 million, he has not been able to shake off the criminal elements he has known since childhood in the tough Liverpool district of Huyton.
Signed by Paul Gerrard, the letter detailed how Kinsella, an amateur boxer and martial arts expert, saved Steven from a young gangster who threatened to shoot him in the legs in a dispute over a girlfriend.
"We were at our wits' end when we were introduced to John Kinsella," the letter concluded. "From that time, we have never had any more problems from the Liverpool underworld."
Five years ago, the father of one of Gerrard's ex-girlfriends, with whom he is said to have been close, was given a lengthy jail term for possessing 5000 ecstasy tablets and a gun. Further, Gerrard's wife Alex used to date well-known Liverpudlian criminal Tony Richardson, who left her for Jennifer Ellison, Steven's girlfriend at the time.
Even his stellar football career is alleged to have fallen prey to the villains. Four years ago, Gerrard's multi-million pound transfer to Chelsea was called off at the 11th hour because of intolerable pressure being placed on his family by "certain elements".
When he was 17, Gerrard's success drew the attention of some less desirable elements. When he started dating pretty blonde teenager Lauren Ashcroft, it started a series of events which would leave him fearing for his life. Lauren had also dated George Bromley jnr, an aspiring gangster who revelled in the nickname Psycho.
During the 1990s, Bromley's father George snr had established himself as the top "enforcer" in Liverpool, making a fortune by "taxing" drug dealers, stealing their profits and drugs. His reputation for violence was peerless, even by underworld standards (his favoured form of torture was to take a red-hot iron to his victims' groins).
All this came to an end 10 years ago when a £100,000 contract was taken out on Bromley's life. He was executed in the kitchen of Charlie Seiga, a legendary Liverpudlian gangster later acquitted of his murder. Seiga is another underworld figure with links to the Gerrards.
Bromley jnr was determined to prove himself - even taking over his father's signature of burning enemies - and in his eyes, wealthy young Gerrard was the perfect target.
"Bromley decided to use Stevie as a cash machine, basically, and started demanding large sums of money," says an anonymous Liverpool underworld figure. "Stevie was terrified. Bromley is a complete nutcase. He threw a brick through Stevie's car window, chased him through the streets of Liverpool in his car and threatened to shoot him in the legs."
The Gerrards sought police help but it did little good.
"Stevie was under police guard for ages but it didn't put Bromley off," says Seiga. "So the Gerrards called in a few contacts to sort it out. They're a well-respected family in Liverpool, so there was no shortage of hard men willing to step in for them."
In court, Kinsella said he was the fixer who solved the problem by having "words". However, Kinsella was not alone in his mission - and words were not the principal deterrent.
"It wasn't just Kinsella, we all got after Bromley about it," Seiga told the Daily Mail. "There were some strong words spoken. But I think the thing which really convinced him to cut it out was being shot in the mouth."
Bromley was shot in the face but with buckshot in order to scar him without causing serious risk to his life.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Gerrard was aware this might happen. But it sufficiently cowed Bromley, who went back to selling heroin and crack cocaine, for which he is now serving a lengthy jail term.
Since then, Gerrard has moved on. He is now a married man with two infant daughters and has moved away from his working-class roots to an upmarket Liverpool suburb.
Yet, to this day, the legacy of this deal remains. As a Merseyside police source explained to the Mail: "When the Gerrards asked Kinsella and the others for help, they made a decision which will stick with them for life. You can't just call in a gangster to fix something for you, then wave them goodbye. Once you've made that connection, you're stuck with it."
Since calling in Kinsella and his cronies six years ago, Gerrard has been subjected to vile chanting at football grounds based on rumours about his gangland connections.
Much of the chanting has focused on wife Alex because of her links to Tony Richardson - who is widely reviled in the city as a "grass" because he supposedly aided the police in certain inquiries several years ago.
Then there was his abortive transfer to Chelsea in 2004. Following the European Championships, Gerrard was all set to move to London. With a big wage increase in the offing, he even text-messaged then Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho to say he was looking forward to working with him.
Days later, that changed. Gerrard told a stunned press conference he'd changed his mind. Officially he was happy but his ashen face and monosyllabic speech told a different story.
The truth, insiders say, is that on the eve of his transfer, Steven had a visit from his father. Paul Gerrard, who had previously been supportive of his move to the capital, had a stark message for him: you can't go.
"If you were to leave this city and this football club," he said, "our lives would become intolerable."
Steven, sources say, buckled under the pressure. The precise reasons why this remarkable U-turn came about remain shrouded in mystery. However, the Mail said it was known that, at the time, a number of leading gangland figures in Liverpool were determined their football club's prize asset should not be lost to the city - at any cost.
Meanwhile, Steven's supposed friend Kinsella, remains at large. Police believe he is most likely in Spain or hiding in Merseyside.
