Convicted gangster Curtis Warren wants “peace” and to be out of the “public glare”, his barrister said as the 61-year-old was sentenced for breaching an order designed to prevent him committing serious crime.
Warren appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to six charges of failing to comply with a serious crime prevention order.
He admitted a further charge, which he asked to be taken into account when he was being sentenced.
Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC handed him a 14-month jail term, suspended for 18 months.
Warren, who has previously been convicted of drugs offences in the Netherlands and Jersey, had been due to stand trial charged with 18 breaches of the order, but changed his pleas to six of the counts.
Paul Mitchell, prosecuting, asked the court to lie the remaining counts on file.
Anthony Barraclough, defending Warren, said: “He doesn’t want to be in the public glare any more, he wants peace and an end to it.”
Mr Mitchell said there had been “regular breaches” of the serious crime prevention order, which was imposed in 2013 but came into effect on November 21 2022 when Warren was released from prison.
The court heard that the requirements included that Warren can only own one mobile phone, but Mr Mitchell said there was “substantial evidence” of him using other handsets.
When originally arrested on suspicion of breaching the order in July last year Warren handed over an iPhone 14 which was not declared to the National Crime Agency (NCA), the court heard.
Warren also breached requirements related to his finances by using a bank card in the name of John Harrison to pay for car insurance and for a speeding fine issued by Greater Manchester Police, as well as by opening bank accounts without notifying the NCA.
When he was arrested, £1,000 was found in a brown envelope in his kitchen, Mr Mitchell said.
Other requirements which were breached included using vehicles without telling the NCA and going abroad, to Alicante in Spain, without giving seven days’ notice to the agency.
The court heard he was registered as a named driver for an Audi TT and a Range Rover.
He also failed to notify the authority that he was living at a flat in Birkenhead.
In a discussion about the need for a pre-sentence report, the judge said he had asked the Probation Service whether it wanted Warren “on their books”.
He said: “It seems to me, if he was on a bus heading for unpaid work it would be chaos.”
Mr Barraclough said Warren wants a “fresh start” and has been “doing his best” to comply with the order, which he described as “very, very draconian”.
Judge Menary said: “There are a lot of obligations which would require a pretty structured life. Whether the defendant’s capable of that, I don’t know. He’s plainly an intelligent man.”
Mr Barraclough told the court: “It is extremely difficult. His best mitigation is he is accepting it and what the consequences of that acceptance are.
“He did wish to say, in his basis of plea, that he was less than perfect.”
When Judge Menary suggested Warren try to live a “simple life”, Mr Barraclough said: “Try and do that if you are Mr Curtis Frances Warren. He is followed everywhere. A simple thing would be to change his name but there’s a restriction on that.”
Mr Barraclough said Warren is not on state benefits and does not have legal aid.
Referring to an an amount Warren has been ordered to pay in a confiscation order, Mr Barraclough said: “I’m not being paid out of £200 million, this is pro-bono.”
He said there is no evidence Warren was breaching the order “in furtherance of criminality”.
Sentencing Warren, Judge Menary said: “The offences admitted by you, by pleas of guilty, do demonstrate a pretty comprehensive catalogue of failure to abide by the conditions of the order. Those breaches by you, I have no doubt, have seriously undermined the effectiveness of the order.
“On one view at least they do seem to indicate a decision by you not to take the order seriously.”
The judge said that because there was no evidence Warren was actively involved in criminal activity and because it was the first time he was being prosecuted for the breaches, he was willing to suspend the prison term.
Warren, wearing a Nike tracksuit, nodded as he was warned that, if he commits further offences, including further breaches of the order, he will have to serve the full sentence.
The court heard Warren has 31 previous convictions for 70 offences.
The former nightclub bouncer appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in 1997 when he was listed as a property developer worth £40 million, but disappeared from the list the following year after he was jailed for drug dealing in the Netherlands.
Head of the NCA’s Prisons and Lifetime Management Unit Alison Abbott said: “Curtis Warren treated his order with contempt, breaching it within days of his release from prison, and going on to breach it multiple times.
“Serious crime prevention orders are a powerful tool to help prevent those convicted of serious offences continue their criminality when they come out of prison.
“This case should serve as a warning to others. As we did with Warren, we will actively monitor all those who are subject to such orders, and they will stay on our radar even after they are released from jail.”
