UPDATE: |Gangland boss unmasked and found hiding in Costa Del Sol after years on the run News

Paul Waugh has been described as an ‘extremely dangerous’ man

He gained notoriety as the man behind an infamous “gun list”. Through the encrypted platform Encrochat a figure with the handle “Aceprospect” offered machine guns, assault rifles, and ammunition to organised crime gangs,

Now he has been unmasked as Philip Waugh, and brought back from his hideaway on the Costa Del Sol in Spain after being on the run for five years.

He faces a lengthy jail sentence after admitting a string of firearm offences on Friday (April 11).

The ruthless gun trafficker also ordered a hitman to carry out a sickening acid attack, telling the hired hand to “melt the faces” of his enemies and demanded he “doubled the dose” to make sure as much damage was done as possible, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Gun trafficking

In 2020, National Crime Agency officers discovered a then unidentified British crime boss was advertising a list of military grade weapons to UK crime groups. The information was discovered in Operation Venetic – the NCA-led response to the takedown of EncroChat by European partners.

An offender – later found to be Waugh – using the handle Aceprospect, who was operating from abroad was seen to be offering two AK47 firearms, a Skorpion machine gun, an Uzi machine gun, a range of pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Four years later, on September 12 last year, the NCA joined officers from the Spanish National Police to arrest Waugh, 39, at a villa he rented in Benahavis, Malaga. He was extradited last month and remanded to custody.

On Friday, Waugh, from Warrington, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court and admitted a range of firearms offences and a count of conspiring to inflict grievous bodily harm in which he instructed an accomplice to throw acid in a victim’s face.

The NCA say Waugh smuggled the guns to the UK where his right-hand man Robert Brazendale, 37, took possession of them and provided them to customers from various organised crime groups.

In February 2022, Brazendale, of Selworthy Drive, Warrington, was jailed for 11 years and three months (later reduced to 10 years on appeal) for transferring other firearms from the gun list. Today, he admitted new firearms offences committed with Waugh.

The NCA and policing partners recovered two AK47s, Uzi and Skorpion machine guns, a Grand Power automatic pistol, a Smith and Wesson pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Ben Rutter, NCA senior investigating officer, said: “The NCA worked for five years to trace, locate and bring Philip Waugh to justice under Operation Venetic.

“He supplied an array of terrifying automatic and semi-automatic weaponry to offenders who were planning horrific crimes. He didn’t care at all about who might be killed in the process, he only cared about money.

“He is an extremely dangerous offender. The NCA will continue to do everything we can with partners at home and abroad to prevent organised crime groups trafficking firearms.”

Plot to blind man with acid

Waugh, who has a previous conviction for domestic assault of a partner, also plotted with gangland enforcer Jonathan Gordon, a member of Liverpool’s Deli Mob, to blind a man with acid, the court heard.

Waugh told Gordon, 37, of Kirkdale, Liverpool, and who used the EncroChat handle Valuedbridge, to “double the dose” and “cook” the intended victim with acid.

“Just need him blind and face melted,” Waugh messaged Gordon.

On the day Gordon was due to carry out the attack, police patrol officers approached him in Liverpool and he ran off and the car was seized and attack prevented. Gordon offered his services to Waugh, with messages seized after the Encrochat system was hacked revealing he charged £6,000 for an acid attack, rising to £10,000 to permanently blind the victim.

Gordon denied any wrongdoing, but was convicted by a jury of three counts of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, two of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and one of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 24 years eight months in 2022.

Brazendale also admitted conspiring to inflict GBH on this victim.

Every crime Waugh admitted

During a hearing before the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary, QC, Waugh entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to possess/transfer prohibited weapons, five counts of transferring weapons and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.

He also admitted one count of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) in relation to a man called Nathan Simpson.

Waugh denied a second count of conspiracy to cause GBH, in relation to a man called Joe Bradley. However, Alex Langhorn, prosecuting, told the court that “there is no public interest in seeking a trial on count nine” and it was ordered to lie on the file.

The indictment showed Waugh conspired with Gordon to cause harm to Nathan Simpson while also providing him with a handgun.

The indictment also showed Waugh transferred a staggering arsenal of battlefield-grade weaponry including two AK47 assault rifles, an Uzi, a Skorpion submachine gun and handguns, including Grand Power pistols, a Beretta M9, a TEC-9, a STR 9C and a Walther pistol.

Waugh, who appeared via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a grey Nike sweatshirt and sporting cropped dark hair, was joined in court by co-defendant Robert Brazendale.

The 37-year-old, of HMP Altcourse, was arraigned on many of the same charges and pleaded guilty to five counts of transferring prohibited weapons, two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon and conspiracy to cause GBH to Mr Simpson.

All of the offences that Waugh, represented by Oliver Cook KC, and Brazendale, represented by Ian McMeekin, pleaded guilty to took place between January 2019 and July 2020

Waugh and Brazendale will return to court for sentencing on 27 June.