VICTIMS of an "organised" gangster who carried out a Hannibal Lecter-style face slashing are being urged to come forward after he was jailed indefinitely.
Police today made the appeal as brutal knifeman Peter Hannah, 40, was put behind bars for the public’s protection for a sickening attack on vulnerable Stephen Tully, 32.
Ruthless Hannah carved open both sides of Mr Tully’s face with a Stanley knife, leaving him fighting for life.
The gangland figure then tried to evade justice by attempting to buy off his victim with £30,000. When his plot failed he went on the run for more than four months before officers captured him in York following a high-speed chase, just as he was about to be featured on Crimewatch.
Ordering him to serve a minimum of seven years before he can even be considered for parole, Judge Adrian Lyon said: This was an appalling offence that could in fact have resulted in far more serious consequences than in fact occurred. "I am satisfied this was effectively a gang operation. It was premeditated, taking the victim to a particular location with other men. He was held down while his face was sliced with a knife."
Judge Lyon told Hannah his victim "could easily have died. The amount of blood he was losing was substantial".
In the wake of the sentence, Merseyside Police’s Det Insp Dave McCaughrean praised ECHO readers and Crimewatch viewers for helping to bring the underworld figure to justice. He urged anyone who has been a victim of Hannah to come forward.
He said: "Quite clearly Peter Hannah was involved in organised crime and was an organised criminal. Clearly it is not the first time he has been involved in assaulting people like this. The message we want to send out is that anybody who has been assaulted by Peter Hannah or any of his associates can have the confidence to come forward to Merseyside Police, can have the confidence that justice will be done and can have the confidence they will be supported." Merseyside Police will leave no stone unturned in bringing organised criminals to justice."
The officer added that Hannah’s conviction showed how people in the community had stood up again organised criminals.
Zillah Williams, prosecuting, told how Hannah’s dished out the gangland punishment because he believed Mr Tully had stolen £10,000 of drug money from him. The pair agreed to meet and Mr Tully, who has learning difficulties and a personality disorder, insisted his innocence. He arranged to take Hannah and his two unknown accomplices to someone who knew about the cash. But when that failed, the gang drove Mr Tully to remote Landican Lane, off the M53, near ASDA Woodchurch, where they carried out their brutal attack.
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