The criminal’s family are demanding answers after his murder
His name is one that sparks controversy. Convicted criminal, gangster. Known as “Mr Big” Paul Massey was said to be fiercely loyal to his community and its residents and was someone people would turn to in their hour of need.
But while Paul Massey was said to be a protector to his family, to others he was a target. Now the contentious, colourful and combative story of his life – ended at the age 55 on the driveway of his home by an assassin wearing army fatigues – has taken a new twist.
It is now almost certain to contain many more chapters. Feared, respected and often hunted in equal measure, Broughton-born Massey was murdered with an Uzi sub-machine gun by contract killer Mark ‘The Iceman’ Fellows, from Liverpool, in July 2015 at his home in Clifton, Salford, reports the Manchester Evening News.
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Handing down a whole-life sentence, a judge described the killing as ‘an execution – pure and simple’ and said whatever Massey’s background, his family were left devastated. It’s a devastation that his loved-ones have channelled over many years into a demand for an inquest into his death to be resumed.
His daughter, Kelly, told the Manchester Evening News her life ‘cannot move forward’ until she has all the answers to the many questions and concerns the family have relating to his death.
At a pre-inquest review hearing last week, eight years on from the initial inquest review was held, the family’s questions and concerns were laid out – prompting a coroner’s order for Greater Manchester Police to deliver answers within months.
According to senior area coroner Alan Walsh, the family of Massey suspect a “cover-up”. He said: “They’re not going to pull the wool over my eyes.”
Massey had been given a so-called ‘threat to life’ warning, an Osman notice, just seven weeks before his murder, according to his family. It was claimed by three GMP officers delivered it to his Clifton home while Massey was asleep with his partner, Louise Lydiate.
The police maintain they slipped this notice through the letterbox, but the family has said Ms Lydiate received the letter directly and placed it on a table—insisting that Massey was unaware of it, arguing he would have taken protective measures if he knew.
Kelly, Massey’s daughter, in writing to the coroner, stated that her father never spoke about any threat to life warning, disputing it being directly issued to him or any family member. She referred to a similar notice her father received in April 2012 when he actively campaigned for the Salford mayoral role, highlighting that back then, he took precautions to ensure his and his family’s safety, including leaving Salford for several weeks.
“In the weeks prior to our father’s murder, our father had never mentioned a new or recent threat to life warning to any of his family members. His behaviour didn’t change like it did in April 2012,” she said. Six days before the murder, he even took his grandchildren to a public funfair.
“I do not believe that my father was ever aware of the threat to life warning, due to Greater Manchester Police not handing it to him personally,” said Kelly. “Because if they did, then I believe my father would still be alive today.
“I believe that if Greater Manchester police did their job correctly on that day, then my father’s murder would have been prevented, as my father would have done everything in his power to ensure that he and his family were safe from harm.”
GMP claimed Massey’s fingerprints were found on the notice. Speaking at the pre-inquest review last week, Kelly made a “serious allegation”, referring to her father having lost some of his fingers when he was shot.
She said: “The police have access to my dad’s fingers. We don’t know if my dad’s fingers were put in the coffin.” Coroner Mr Walsh, however, dismissed that as a “potential conspiracy theory too far”, but said he still wants answers from GMP.
Massey’s murder was the culmination of a gang war which erupted in Salford in 2014 between rival factions known as the ‘A-Team’ – allied to Massey – and the “Anti A-Team”. Massey, according to the judge who oversaw gunman Fellows’ trial, had ties to an organised crime group embroiled in a deadly feud with a rival faction.
The day before his murder, he spent time with a man believed to be the leader of the ‘A Team’, who viewed Massey as a mentor. CCTV footage shows him shopping just before the fatal shots were fired in Clifton. In the days leading up to his death, Massey holidayed in north Wales with close mate Mark Kinsella, whom Fellows also brutally murdered in 2019.
The Massey family argue that due to the gang’s high profile, he should have been alerted to the threat and police should have ensured he was – views that may now be scrutinised if a full inquest into his death is ordered by the coroner. These concerns were first voiced in 2016 when the coronial process began at Bolton Coroner’s Court.
According to a 2020 book about his life, A Salford Heart, Massey despised the nickname “Mr Big”, coined by a Salford councillor in a 1992 council meeting, claiming it negatively impacted his life thereafter. The “Salford Mr Big” moniker was a label Massey detested and was unable to escape, according to Kelly.
She said: “It made him cringe inside. The nickname baffled most people whenever they met my dad because most people expected this big massive guy who looked like he was on steroids, but of course he was nothing like that. My dad just wanted to be known as Paul.”
Kelly previously mentioned, during the book launch about Massey’s life four years ago, that her dad was a complex individual with much more to his story beyond the public’s perception, and that there was still much to uncover regarding the circumstances surrounding his murder.
She added: “My dad was no angel and we know that. Our dad was targeted, labelled and then murdered. He was special. He was a legend. He was my dad.”
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said officers were aware of the allegations made by Massey’s family and acknowledged “their ongoing pain since his death in 2015”.
A spokesperson said: “We are fully co-operating with the coronial process and will provide all information necessary to support a full and fearless inquest into his death.”
Another hearing is set to be held once the coroner receives the formal response from the police, after which a decision will be taken as to whether a full inquest will be held – a decision Massey’s family have waited years to be made.
