The dad began working for the ‘Lil T’ drugs line after racking up a cocaine debt which led to a threat that his mum’s house would be burned down
Kieran McKechnie pictured when he was jailed in 2021(Image: Merseyside Police)
A drug dealer battered a taxi driver then warned him “you’re in Kirkby, and around here we will shoot you”. Kieran McKechnie was sent back to prison this week, having apparently begun working for the “Lil T” drugs line when dealer who he owed a cocaine debt threatened to burn his mum’s house down.
Labelled a “persistent offender” by a judge, the dad, himself a former taxi driver, was previously locked up for a savage attack upon a Delta driver whose car he had been a passenger in. This caused his victim to lose control of his vehicle, leaving his life “never the same” again.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday that McKechnie, of Anders Drive in Kirkby, was seen driving in the Manchester Road area of Southport at around midday on February 10 this year when a female passenger exited the car and approached a house before returning to the vehicle. Officers suspected that a drug deal had taken place, and stopped the 37-year-old in a nearby car park.
Iain Criddle, prosecuting, described how McKechnie was found with a phone in his lap in the driver’s seat, with the device having “belonged to a drugs line known as the ‘Lil T’ line”. This had seen messages offering heroin and crack cocaine for sale to a total of 106 recipients over the previous 10 days.
McKechnie, who was also found in possession of £275 cash upon his arrest, was said to have operated the phone for five of these days, when there were said to have been “approximately 10 to 12 drug drops on each day”. McKechnie said he owed a £1,300 debt through his cocaine use and was put to work by his dealers who threatened to burn his mum’s house down.
His criminal record shows a total of 14 prior convictions for 28 offences. While these does not include any earlier appearances for drug matters, he was previously jailed for 14 months for dangerous driving in 2016 and given prison terms for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in both 2021 and 2023.
The 2021 case related an incident in November 2019, when Delta taxi driver Mohammed Ammanulah picked up McKechnie and two family members from a pub in Melling. Tensions arose when McKechnie, 32, asked the driver if he was English.
Mr Ammanulah replied that he was and, when asked if there was an issue, McKechnie asked him “do you think I’m an idiot?”. After his relatives were dropped off at an address in Kirkby, he then asked to be taken to a shop.
When Mr Ammanulah asked McKechnie why he had asked him where he had come from, the thug reacted by punching him several times. This caused the driver to hit the accelerator before regaining control of his car and coming to a stop.
McKechnie then told Mr Ammanulah, who said his life would “never be the same after the attack”: “Let’s talk. You’re in Kirkby, and around here we will shoot you.”
The 2016 matter meanwhile related to McKechnie’s own time working as a Delta taxi driver, when he drove through the streets at up to 80mph after learning that his partner was seeing another man. Then aged 28, he sped for up to two miles in his Vauxhall Astra on a journey from Boundary Road in Kirkdale and through Walton before smashing into a stationary car at the junction of Breeze Hill and Southport Road, after which he ran away from the scene of the crash.
McKechnie was also handed a 12-week imprisonment suspended for eight months for assault in July 2024, a sentence which expired less than three weeks before the commission of his latest crimes. Charles Lander, defending, told the court during his latest appearance: “He now appears for sentence having spent three months in custody.
“If it wasn’t for being threatened with his home being burned, and he had previously been assaulted, that is why those people above him use people like Mr McKechnie. That is why he found himself in a position where the only way out was assisting these people.
“He has had three months away from his 14-year-old daughter, someone who he has regular care and responsibility for. She will stay with him on most weekends. His daughter has been living with the maternal grandmother.
“Also, through these three months, his mother, who he is a carer for, has been hospitalised and had an operation. When she has been in hospital, the doctors have discovered other issues which give real concern as to her long term future.
“Not only is he testing negatively in custody, he is not even vaping. He really has stayed away from drugs and trouble in custody. He has a background of mental health, but tells me that he has had a positive mindset. Here is someone who has utilised his time. He says that he is now too old for being in prison and realises the error of his ways.”
McKechnie admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he sighed and shook his head as he was jailed for two years.
Sentencing, Recorder Mark Bradshaw said: “It was not the largest operation the court has seen, but, nevertheless, a significant operation. You did have an operational function and some idea of the size of the operation, as you were sending the messages. Ultimately, you were acting for others to pay off your drug debt.
“Whilst you do not have any relevant convictions in the sense that you do not have any previous drug convictions, I consider that your convictions are relevant as they show that you have been a persistent offender. I take into account how you feel about not being able be around for your mother after her surgery and all that she is now encountering, and the anxiety you feel in relation to your daughter.
“The scourge of drug dealing causes misery to families and communities. You have contributed to that by way of your offending. I take the view, regrettably, that I cannot suspend the sentence in your case.”