He is one of Liverpool’s most notorious gangsters who once scalped a random woman with a machete and slashed his own throat while on trial for murder.
And Paul Woodford is still considered so dangerous that prison guards are afraid to even make eye contact with him in case he sends thugs to target their families outside jail, MailOnline has been told.
The 60-year-old was an enforcer for Vincent Coggins – boss of the hated Huyton Firm – and has convictions for a string of heinous crimes dating back three decades.
He is currently serving a 24-and-a-half-year sentence for helping to source grenades and a gun for his boss as part of a bid to recover £1million of stolen cocaine.
Woodford, or ‘Woody’, is believed to be locked up at HMP Long Lartin, a category A jail that houses some of Britain’s most dangerous offenders including Joanna Yates’ killer Vincent Tabak and Suffolk Strangler Steve Wright.
‘Last thing I heard he was being held at Long Lartin but he’s itching for a move,’ a Liverpool man with knowledge of the Huyton Firm told MailOnline.
‘Nobody knows the system better than Paul. Every trick in the book.’
Paul Woodford was an enforcer for the Huyton Firm and has convictions for a string of heinous crimes dating back three decades
A cell inside HMP Long Lartin, where Woodford was last known to be located
Long Lartin in Worcestershire is a category A jail housing some of Britain’s most dangerous offenders including Joanna Yates’ killer Vincent Tabak and Suffolk Strangler Steve Wright
Woodford was previously held on remand at Strangeways prison in Manchester while on trial for the 2012 murder of 31-year-old currency trader Jason Osu.
But he slashed his own throat in an attempt to delay the trial, refused to give evidence and was later found not guilty.
A former prison officer who served for a decade at the jail, formally known as HMP Manchester, said staff knew not to make eye contact with Woodford ‘under any circumstances’.
‘All officers know there are certain individuals you have to be very careful with,’ he told MailOnline. ‘For example, people like Paul Woodford.
‘You basically can’t look at him or make eye contact. You stand back as he walks past. These people are part of something very dangerous. You just leave well alone.
‘Woody and those types can send people to your front door with grenades and all of that.
‘A quick search on Google tells you what these people are all about. Anyone inside for international crime and terrorism has to be treated differently.
‘If you put your name out there, you have got a major problem. You are then into a witness protection type situation, which is a living nightmare.’
The Huyton Firm was headed by Vincent Coggins (left) and employed Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s murderer Thomas Cashman (right) as a hitman
Woodford was previously held on remand at Strangeways prison in Manchester while on trial for the 2012 murder of 31-year-old currency trader Jason Osu
The Huyton Firm began in the Cantril Farm area and rose to prominence by taking advantage of a vacuum left by the arrest of ‘Britain’s Pablo Escobar’ Curtis Warren.
Associates of the Huyton Firm, which has a reputation for extreme violence, included Thomas Cashman, who murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in 2022.
Woodford – who grew up near Aintree racecourse – built up a reputation for depravity during the 1990s even before his association with the gang.
He first gained public notoriety in 1995 after he appeared in court accused of breaking into a woman’s house and scalping her with a machete while shouting ‘Apache’.
He apparently carried out the vile attack for no reason and his only defence was that someone had spiked his drink with drugs earlier in the night.
At the time he was on bail for a separate incident where he tortured a man with a hot iron.
He eventually received a seven-year sentence for intent to commit grievous bodily harm and affray.
Woodford is believed to have joined the Huyton Firm after leaving prison and operated in Amsterdam and Spain.
His downfall followed a raid on a Huyton Firm stash house in the Liverpool suburb of West Derby
![An EncroChat exchange where Woodford asks his boss 'how many people do u [sic] want killed'](https://www.americanpolibeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1752914126_747_The-Liverpool-gangster-so-violent-that-prison-guards-are-afraid.jpeg)
An EncroChat exchange where Woodford asks his boss ‘how many people do u [sic] want killed’
In 2010, when he was aged 45, he was sent to Amsterdam as part of a gang armed with automatic pistols and a revolver.
It is believed that the gang had planned a series of executions in the Dutch capital, according to the Liverpool Echo.
He was sentenced to seven months in prison in the Netherlands for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
After being extradited to the UK, he was jailed for another two years and eight months after pleading guilty to six counts of deception.
Woodford later went on trial for the murder of Jason Osu, who was shot at least seven times in a ‘targeted’ assassination outside his home in Wavertree.
The enforcer cut his own throat in prison midway through the seven-week trial before dismissing his defence team and representing himself instead.
He then declined to answer any questions, telling jurors he was missing five teeth and struggling to make himself understood.
Prosecutors insisted the real reason he stayed silent was to ‘ensure he wouldn’t have to answer’ any of their questions.
Paul Croxton, 21, George McGovern, 54, and Thomas White, 29, were convicted and handed life sentences.
Woodford is one of Merseyside’s most notorious criminal figures. He is pictured here earlier in his life
Woodford continued his life of crime but evaded justice for several years before police broke into EncroChat, an encrypted messaging platform used by organised criminals.
Messaging under the handle ‘KingWasp’, he was involved in coordinating heroin and cocaine shipments for Vincent Coggins and going after his enemies.
His downfall began in May 2020 after a raid on a stash house 9where weapons, drugs and supplies are stored) belonging to the Huyton Firm.
EncroChat messages showed the gang discussing their plans to attack one of the men they thought was behind the robbery, with Woodford telling Coggins in broken English: ‘I kill him with u m8’.
At one point, Coggins ordered his men to threaten and blackmail a father and son – even though it later turned out they had nothing to do with it.
After interrogating the father, Woodford texted his boss: ‘Heads gone. I’ve got the c*** bang to rights. Give *** chance today to give back, f**k the doe m going to kill him an his firm.’
Woodford asked Coggins if he should buy a ‘belter’, meaning a gun. Coggins replied: ‘M8 just bought load more, we cool for tools’.
Coggins later blackmailed the father to hand over a house and some land worth £1million – the value of the stolen drugs – in return for his son’s safety.
Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead in her own house after Cashman burst in chasing drug dealer Joseph Nee
But Encro messages revealed both men were still intent on revenge.
Woodford messaged Coggins: ‘So wen the dust settles how many people do u want killed?’
Coggins replied: ‘4 dead men walking.’
EncroChat’s servers were shut down on June 13, 2020, and Woodford, Coggins and two associates were arrested three days later.
Following a trial, Woodford was jailed for 24 years and six months for firearms offences.
Earlier this year, a proceeds of crime hearing was told Woodford made nearly £500,000 from his criminal career, but only had £1 available to pay back.
A Liverpool man who had dealings with Woodford and Coggins told MailOnline: ‘They ran this city for years, and helped destroy it. Woody had links to street gangs across the city, who would do all kinds for him.
‘Shootings, arson, intimidation, tax jobs, tie-ups. It might look cool on the telly but for all the people who live in these post codes, it’s been pure hell. How this lot got away with it for so long is astounding.’
