Carl Jones’s small detached home in the heart of suburban Manchester is nothing out of the ordinary.
The bespectacled owner appeared to all his neighbours in Hale as a typical middle-class resident, living a low profile existence in one of the city’s most expensive celebrity enclaves.
But in reality, this non-descript lifestyle was masking a sinister secret, and one that exposes the dark side of one of the north’s most desirable postcodes.
Earlier this year Jones, 59, was jailed for 30 years after being unmasked as a ‘extremely dangerous’ drugs and gun dealer.
He used the EncroChat code name ‘stalehead’ to peddle AR-15 assault rifles, AK47s and an Uzi submachine gun.
Locals knew nothing of his underworld dealings, telling the Daily Mail of their shock at his true identity after he was found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin and weapons charges.
Upmarket Hale is home to multiple Premier League stars and a litany of celebs – often seen as one of the most sought after villages in Greater Manchester.
But lurking beneath the surface of this affluent area, where Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae are regularly spotted driving around in their G-Wagon, is more evidence of criminality.
Like Jones, mobster Philip Waugh hid behind a respected businessman persona. He had launched one of the first trendy health food shops Prepped2go on the pretty high street.
Pictured: Hale, where most homes go for £650,000 – it is one of the most desirable villages in the north
Carl Jones (pictured) was found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin and conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons
There is nothing out of the ordinary about Carl Jones’s quaint home (pictured) in the heart of suburban Manchester
Pictured: Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury taking their daughter to Bambi to ballet in Hale
But he was also an arms dealer, trading guns and drugs, with underlings ordered to throw acid on his rivals.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Waugh had a particular interest in ‘melts’ – and was keen to ‘cook’ more than food.
Crown prosecutors told how the Spanish-based criminal commissioned Liverpool gang member Jonathan Gordon to target his underworld rivals.
Waugh was an exacting customer, telling Gordon that he wanted to inflict life-changing injuries on Nathan Simpson and his partner.
I’m Tom Rawstorne, and nearly 30 years ago a 12-year-old murderer, with a gold crucifix hanging round her neck, gave me a moment I’ll never forget.
Sharon Carr is to this day Britain’s youngest-ever female murderer, having killed an 18-year-old hairdresser in an unprovoked act of gruesome violence. I watched her up close in court for three weeks and it is something I’l never forget. I’ve written about it in The Crime Desk newsletter – sign up to read it for free.
His message read: ‘Acid him and bird proper. Blind em both.’
Waugh added: ‘Just need let him cook for a couple of minutes’ and ‘just need him blind and face melted.’
The shop he owned, serving freshly cooked meals, has since shut down but the sign still remains in place.
A Hale man who used to buy food there said: ‘I remember it well. Looking back it was really ahead of its time, opening up before lockdown. There was nothing to suggest there was any criminal money behind the scenes.’
Waugh’s astonishing arsenal of weapons that he traded included: Several Grand Power pistols, two AK47s, a tech-9 pistol, an Uzi, an Scorpion sub-machine gun, a .38 Taurus pistol, a Walther PPK and Star 9 self-loading pistol.
Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC sentenced Waugh to 26 years and eight months in prison.
Judge Menary said Waugh traded in military standard weapons that were associated with ‘tragic loss of life.’
He pointed to the calculated and commercial way in he traded in serious firearms that caused real damage to communities.
On the planned acid attack Judge Menary added: ‘It was a contract hit. Calculated to leave a victim marked for life.’
Despite gangsters using Hale as a stomping ground for business, residents argue that the village ‘oozes’ safety.
An estate agent said: ‘People feel safe in Hale. The village just oozes discretion and safety. Sunday mornings area so dreamy with children choosing cakes in the bakery window.
‘People just fall in love with the village and then want to buy a house here.’
Pictured: Zara Charles, the girlfriend of Ryan Giggs shopping in Hale
Philip Waugh, left, who traded guns, drugs and had underlings throw acid on his rivals was behind one of the first trendy health food shops in the village Prepped2go. Right, Julian Solomon a well known bully in the Southport area, later moved to leafy Hale until he was implicated in £66million drug plot
Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, (pictured) was sentenced to 18 months in jail in February 2016 after being convicted of nine charges of failing to comply with tax laws
But others say the sweet atmosphere is a mere facade.
The owner of a family business said: ‘It started in the last ten or fifteen years. Some of the new shops and business just seem to have come from nowhere.
‘How can a shop make money when it’s empty all week? For me there are just too many tinted windows, cold stares and mystery.
‘I used to know everyone with a business in Hale but now I feel surrounded by strangers. Most of the locals used to drive old Volvos and it was all fairly low key.
‘There are rumours some of the blacked out Range Rovers have bullet proof glass. Something has changed.’
Julian Solomon was a heavy set former doorman with a violent past. A well known bully in the Southport area, he later moved to leafy Hale until he was implicated in £66million drug plot.
Solomon’s gang organised the importation of 141 kg of heroin and cocaine from Belgium to Hull. The drugs were secreted inside a tractor on the back of a flat bed lorry.
At the time, the 83kg seizure of heroin and 58kg of cocaine was a record haul for Greater Manchester Police.
Solomon was jailed for 25 years for his leading role in the audacious plot. However following his sentencing troubling details began to emerge of his violent past.
The Mail has seen court documents which revealed that Solomon was suspected of knocking out the manager of a lap dancing club in Liverpool city centre.
Solomon left the man with a shattered jaw after ‘stealing’ it on him in the club’s toilets. The attack attracted the attention of Liverpool criminals who controlled security at the nightclub.
One notorious club land enforcer was looking for Solomon, and planned to assault him with a Maglite torch.
It also emerged that Solomon had been jailed in 2008 for battering a young student senseless in Ormskirk.
CCTV footage was released which showed a mob assaulting the young man in a shop doorway.
Lurking beneath the surface of the upmarket village where Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae can regularly be spotted driving around in their G-Wagon is an underbelly of crime
In 2005, there was disbelief in the area when a government agency raided a home in the heart of Hale said to be linked to the IRA.
The Asset Recovery Agency’s led the raid on a property on South Downs Road due to alleged links to Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, said to have been the IRA’s ‘chief of staff.’
At the time, the agency said it was investigating a company which owned 250 properties in the south Manchester area – said to be connected to Thomas Murphy.
A solicitor acting for the businessman whose Hale home was raided claimed the ARA had been ‘duped’ and that his client was connected to Michael Murphy, who was Thomas’s brother.
Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, was sentenced to 18 months in jail in February 2016 after being convicted of nine charges of failing to comply with tax laws.
He was accused of not furnishing authorities with a return of income, profits or gains, or the sources of them over eight years from 1996 to 2004. He had pleaded not guilty.
Murphy, who has always denied links to the IRA, was said by police to been the head of a multimillion-euro smuggling empire.
In his statement issued by his legal team, Murphy further denied two witnesses had been intimidated during the trial – a vet and a landowner he rented land from.
‘This is absolutely untrue. The witnesses did give evidence. The prosecution’s legal team did not even allege there was witness intimidation,’ he said.
Murphy also criticised the investigation by Revenue chiefs and the Garda.
Gerry Adams spoke out following the conviction, claiming Murphy had been ‘treated unfairly’ and described him as a ‘good republican.’
He said: ‘Many prominent public figures accused of tax irregularities, including TDs … have not been treated in the same fashion as Mr Murphy.
‘Neither have they been labelled as criminals by those media outlets currently writing lurid headlines about Mr Murphy.’
NCA branch commander Jon Hughes said: ‘These men are extremely dangerous offenders and the streets are safer now they’re in prison.
‘We’ve seen in recent years that entirely innocent victims can be tragically caught in the crossfire of feuding organised crime groups.
‘Drugs and firearms crimes are often interconnected. The NCA will continue to work with partners at home and abroad to protect the public from these threats.’
