'Lonely' gangster taken to court under armed guard 'tired of life of crime and wants to go straight'

Daily Record

15 hours ago

Jamie Rothwell was hiding out in Spain after receiving death threat warnings.
A gangster who survived an assassination attempt is "determined" to turn his back on his life of crime - as he's "tired" of living on the wrong side of the law, a court has heard. Jamie Rothwell faces a "very long" jail term for masterminding the sale of firearms, massive drug deals and underworld hits from his Spanish bolthole.
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From his apartment in Barcelona, Rothwell orchestrated a crime plot which saw a man being shot as part of a gangland feud. Police became aware of the plots after discovering messages unearthed by the encrypted EncroChat communications platform when it was hacked by European law enforcement.
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The 38-year-old was found to be operating under the radar with other criminals under the pseudonym 'live-long'. He was extradited back to the UK to face justice, and has appeared at Manchester Crown Court this week for his sentencing hearing. He was brought to court under armed guard from HMP Wakefield, a high security jail often called 'Monster Mansion'.
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During a court hearing today, Wednesday, August 13, 2025, it was revealed that Rothwell is 'tired of the life he has lived' and wants to turn his back on crime. He wants to help people thinking of following a similar path and persuade them to instead live a law-abiding life, according to his barrister.
Reflecting on Rothwell's 2020 arrest, barrister Chris Henley KC said: 'He has had almost five years to reflect upon his life so far". He said Rothwell had composed a handwritten letter, which he said was a 'reflection of his attitude' towards his crimes, 'the way he has lived his life up to this point, and particularly the impact of the way he has lived…has had on those he really cares about'.
He said the letter sets out 'feelings of remorse and regret'. Mr Henley argued that Rothwell's decision to plead guilty was 'relatively unusual'. Perhaps for someone who knows they are facing a very long sentence, particularly perhaps somebody who attends court in company with long standing associates facing similar charges,' he told the court.
'It is relatively unusual, and to some extent perhaps morally courageous for them to say, 'I now want this to stop'." Mr Rothwell is tired of the life he has lived. All that he has really achieved is isolation, loneliness, fear and a life away from his family. It is a conclusion and attitude that in due course and experience he would like to share with others."
Manchester Evening News reports he added: "Perhaps younger people who perhaps stand on the edge of some sort of offending precipice. For him to put perhaps to one side the bravado, and hype, and glamorisation around serious offences, and communicate some hard truths to people as to what life really looks like.'
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Mr Henley said that relationships between criminals in the underworld are very often 'quite transactional'. He claimed there was a 'direct example' in the way in which fellow defendant Craig Makinson 'tried to run his trial'. He claimed that Makinson's contention that he had been threatened by Rothwell was 'utterly opportunistic' and 'almost laughable'.
'There was not a shred of evidence of that in the exchanges,' the KC said. He said Makinson, who was convicted of drugs and firearms offences, had once been 'quite a close associate' of Rothwell. 'He has spent years now in Wakefield prison,' Mr Henley said of his client. He said Rothwell had a brief spell in Strangeways prison in Manchester.
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There, he was the victim of what was described as a 'ferocious, almost fatal assault'. The M.E.N. previously reported how Rothwell's case had to be halted last summer after he was knifed in the jail, formally known as HMP Manchester. He has time now to think about where his priorities in the future will lie,' Mr Henley said.
The barrister said Rothwell was asking the judge to give him 'some hope'. He is now a much wiser and mature man,' the KC said. He asked the judge to give Rothwell 'some prospect of living differently for the remainder of his life'. Mr Henley told the court that Rothwell had been 'quite talented' as a youngster, and was 'particularly good at rugby'.
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Referencing Rothwell's parents, the barrister said: 'They were unable to prevent him perhaps being seduced by some of the superficial lifestyle others had made, older people on the estate where he lived.' He said it had been 'very difficult' for Rothwell's parents. 'He knows he has broken their hearts,' Mr Henley said.
'He became more and more embedded in the kind of life that has led him to this point,' the KC added. It may not engage much sympathy.' He said that 'once that motion is set' it can be 'very difficult to divert'. As Mr Rothwell got older, that was the path he was on,' Mr Henley said. 'It has obviously led to serious danger. He is now tired of living like that.
"Mr Rothwell is determined and has decided to draw a line." He said that Rothwell had been 'hiding out' in Barcelona after receiving threat to life warnings. He knows what is ahead of him,' the KC said. 'Years in high security conditions in very confined space, with a mind numbing routine that he will have to make the best of.'
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He said that three members of staff from HMP Wakefield had submitted references on Rothwell's behalf. 'He has not just been a good inmate, not causing trouble,' Mr Henley added. He has been a positive influence, a positive conduit between the authorities and other inmates.'
Rothwell was a leading light in the Salford gang feud which erupted between 2014 and 2019 between rival outfits the A Team and the Anti A-Team. Rothwell was said to be the right-hand-man of Michael Carroll, the alleged leader of the Anti A-Team, in opposition to the A-Team.
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The A-Team is said to be led by Stephen Britton. Gangster Paul Massey was said to be Britton's mentor. Rothwell was shot at a car wash in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan, in March 2015 as part of the feud. A gunman sprayed bullets at him but Rothwell survived. In July that year, Massey was shot dead outside his home in Salford by Mark Fellows, an Anti A-Team associate nicknamed The Iceman.
Months later, in October, seven-year-old Christian Hickey was shot at his doorstep as the A Team sought revenge in a botched hit, thought to have been targeting the schoolboy's father, a close associate of Carroll. In October 2020, after being brought back from Barcelona, Rothwell went on trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Alongside four other men, including Mark Fellows, he was accused of conspiring to murder two A Team associates, after one was shot in February 2015 and the other attacked with a machete in March that year. Rothwell was found not guilty of all charges. At some point after his acquittals, Rothwell left the country.
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He was arrested in Amsterdam on December 14, 2020, before being extradited back to the UK in March 2021 after police obtained a European Arrest Warrant. In February this year, Rothwell pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and one count of conspiracy to possess ammunition with intent to endanger life.
He was also charged with conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, namely cocaine; two counts of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and a single count of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class B, namely ketamine. He pleaded not guilty to five other charges.
They were two counts of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent; two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, namely diamorphine and cannabis and a single count of possession of criminal property, namely money. Rothwell had been on trial last year after denying a series of charges.
But the case was adjourned after he was attacked in Strangeways prison. Rothwell and his co-defendants, Andrew Ackers, Scott Davies, Craig Makinson, John Moore, James Close, Callum Morris, Zak Rourke, Terence McDonagh and John Stankus are expected to be sentenced tomorrow (Thurs).