James 'Pancake' Taylor jailed for nine years - Liverpool Echo

A Liverpool gangster masterminded an "underworld" revenge attack on an amateur boxer who knocked him out in a prison brawl.

James "Pancake" Taylor enlisted two cronies to help him carry out the vicious armed attack on Lee Siner at a city centre kebab house.

The 34-year-old fled the UK days after the bloodshed at Kimos restaurant, in October, 2010, and remained at large until Dutch armed police swooped on him last month in Amsterdam.

Pancake Taylor is arrested in Amsterdam

Taylor was finally brought to justice at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, where he was locked up for nine years and five months.

The grim attack on one-time boxing prodigy Siner, now 28, was today revealed in footage released to the ECHO.

It shows Pancake, his right- hand man Tony Richardson and a mystery third man storm Kimos, on Myrtle Street, at the very moment Siner and his pal Lyndon Thomas open the door to leave.

Click below to watch:

Pancake and Richardson, armed with crook locks and the third man, wielding a knife, launch a frenzied attack as Siner tries to force the door shut.

Losing the struggle and having being slashed in the arm and leg, Siner bolts to the upstairs of the restaurant where the attack continues.

As a terrified waitress ducks for cover, the men close in on the former Salisbury ABC boxer. 

Pancake throws at least two swings with the crook lock as the knifeman slashes Siner in the thigh.

The crooks then make their escape in a getaway car, leaving their victim blood soaked and seriously injured.  The one-minute assault was described in court as an "underworld vendetta" against Siner, who was left needing surgery.

Judge Mark Brown told Taylor: "He sustained very serious injuries, very significant wounds.

 "One wound was described by a police officer of such a size that he was able to fit his fist, his entire hand, in it.

 "He needed surgery at hospital for the wounds to be repaired.

 "It is also clear from the CCTV film that innocent bystanders, customers and members of staff were terrified by what was taking place.

 "Individuals fled to the back of the restaurant and others tried to get out of the premises."

 Taylor, of Edmonton Close, Kirkdale, arranged the reprisal attack after Siner had knocked him out in a prison visiting room brawl earlier in 2010.

 Siner had been warned by detectives that he was in danger, the court was told, but had refused to leave the city or accept protection.

 Judge Brown added: "This was a revenge attack that arose as a result of an underworld vendetta.

"In those circumstances, there can be absolutely no justification at all for what you did.

 "There was clearly an incident at Garth prison [near Preston]  involving you and Lee Siner.

"You have suggested that Mr Siner assaulted you and the prosecution say that this is probably the reason this terrible attack occurred.

 "You suggest in your letter that following that incident there was further trouble with Mr Siner, but the fact of the matter remains that it was you who decided to execute this attack.

 "It was you who planned it and it was you  recruited the others to assist."

Tony Richardson

Richardson, then 34, was jailed for eight years for his involvement in the attack after handing himself in to police.

But Pancake chose to flee and was subsequently listed as Merseyside's most wanted.

Rumours abounded that the dad-of-two was in the sun- drenched Canaries until intelligence emerged that he was living in an area of Amsterdam nicknamed by locals as "little Liverpool". He had left a gym and was preparing to cycle back to his £2,500-a-month luxury apartment when a Dutch SWAT team pounced.

In his posh pad, police recovered a handgun from under a mattress, ammunition concealed in a sock and a fraudulent passport taped to the underside of a table.

Pancake consented to his extradition to Merseyside and pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding with intent.

Judge Brown said: "Knowing that the police were looking for you, you went abroad. You kept yourself scarce.

"The police believed at one stage you were in Tenerife and it was only towards the end of July that you were arrested in Amsterdam."

Richard Orme, defending, said his client had fully cooperated with police since his capture but said Pancake was perplexed as to why police had never investigated Siner for the initial prison brawl.

He said Pancake had lived a "nomadic life looking over his shoulder left, right and centre" since he fled abroad, and that "he knew he would have to face the music eventually".

Mr Orme added: "He accepts he has done wrong.

"He apologises to this court, he apologises to those few people who were in the restaurant and he will accept his fate."

Pancake Taylor is arrested in Amsterdam

Judge Brown jailed him for nine years and activated five months of a suspended sentence Pancake received for affray over a bar brawl in Liverpool ONE.

He added: "The court has got to make it clear that revenge attacks such as this due to an underworld vendetta will simply not be tolerated."

Siner, from Edge Hill, is currently serving a 66-week jail term after paying to have points wiped from his driving licence illegally.

Speaking after the sentence, Merseyside Police detective superintendent Chris Green  said the focus was now on hunting down the mystery third attacker.

Mr Green said: "We have been working tirelessly with our partners to track down James Taylor and this sentence is the culmination of this extensive work both here and abroad. This sentence shows that we will not rest in bringing offenders to justice.

"It doesn't matter where in the world they may be – we will continue to work with partners to bring them back to the UK.

"This case should send a message out to others who may be abroad that they are not forgotten and there is no such place as a safe haven for criminals.

"I also hope that the sentence brings some form of closure for the victim, the restaurant staff and owners and members of the public who were there the night of this offence.

"This must have been a very distressing experience for them and I hope they feel some sense of justice now Taylor has been jailed."

Anyone with information over the identity of the third attacker should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.