People were surprised when a video went viral in 2022 showing Steven Gerrard laughing and joking in a car with Irish mobster Liam Byrne.
But the strange and unlikely pair were brought together because their children are in a long-term relationship.
However, a lot has changed since that bizarre video. Gerrard has since been sacked by Aston Villa and is managing in Saudi Arabia – while Byrne is languishing in a prison cell having just pleaded guilty to firearm charges in the Old Bailey.
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Their kids, Lilly-Ella Gerrard and Lee Byrne, remain in a long-term relationship.
And while Gerrard, his daughter or her boyfriend have no involvement in crime, the same cannot be said for Liam Byrne, and below we look inside his wild life.
Who is Liam Byrne?
Dubliner Liam Byrne, who has been holed up in Belmarsh since June 2023, is a well-known Irish criminal.
The 43-year-old father was named as the leader of the ‘Byrne Organised Crime Group’ and was described in the High Court as being a “trusted lieutenant of Daniel Kinahan and the Kinahan Organised Crime Group”.
The Kinahan cartel was founded by Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan (father to Daniel Kinahan) who reportedly supplied Byrne with drugs in his earlier years so he and others could sell cannabis and ecstasy on the streets of Dublin.
(Image: Irish Mirror)
(Image: Instagram)
In February 2016, Byrne’s brother, David Byrne, was shot dead in one of the most notorious gangland murders in Irish history.
This happened inside the Regency Hotel and was the most defining moment in the bloody Hutch-Kinahan mob feud that resulted in 18 murders.
Kinahan cartel crime boss Byrne, who moved to the UK and is also a convicted armed robber, was arrested in June last year by Spanish police after a UK extradition warrant was issued following a National Crime Agency investigation.
Death of father
It has been a September to forget for Byrne whose father James Byrne Senior, nicknamed ‘Jaws’, died earlier this month.
The 77-year-old, who had also been pictured with Gerrard in the past, was a convicted fraudster and a hardened criminal who passed away in hospital after suffering from kidney failure.
(Image: Instagram)
But things have gone from bad to worse for Byrne since then.
More prison time
Liam Byrne, alongside his notorious brother-in-law Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, pleaded guilty to firearm charges, after originally professing their innocence.
They did so in the Old Bailey on Wednesday (September 18) after a botched attempt to get Kavanagh a lighter sentence. Kavanagh is serving a 21-year sentence for being the brains behind a £30million drug smuggling operation. But he masterminded a plot behind bars, with the help of Byrne and a man called Shaun Kent, to amass firearms.
(Image: PA)
They then pretended to act as informants by tipping off the National Crime Agency about where the firearms were after they entered Northern Ireland from Holland. The haul included three handguns, four machine guns, a rifle and three pistols.
The plot was eventually foiled after encrypted chats were hacked by cops and the three men have now pleaded guilty to firearm charges.
They also pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon and two counts of conspiracy to possess ammunition for a firearm without a certificate.
Byrne, along with his cronies, will be sentenced in October, and he is expected to be in prison for several years to come.