The Salford underworld figure has since pleaded guilty

15:48, 10 Jul 2025Updated 17:48, 10 Jul 2025

Jamie Rothwell(Image: NCA)

Salford gangster Jamie Rothwell’s trial had to be cancelled after he was stabbed in Strangeways prison, it can be revealed. Rothwell, a leading figure in the city’s underworld, was on trial accused of gun and drug offences alongside four other men.

The case got underway and progressed for two days at Minshull Street Crown Court, before it had to be halted last August following the attack. Jurors were only told that the decision to adjourn was due to illness, and that Rothwell would have been unable to attend court for the ‘foreseeable future’.

But after reporting restrictions were lifted, it can now be revealed that the real reason for the adjournment was because Rothwell was knifed at HMP Manchester in August last year.

At the time, he was on trial accused of a series of drug and gun offences. He denied all charges but changed his pleas at a hearing in February this year. He was found not guilty of some offences.

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Amidst heavy security in court and after arriving with an armed escort, Rothwell, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life; one count of conspiracy to possess ammunition with intent to endanger life; conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, namely cocaine; two counts of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and a single count of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class B, namely ketamine.

He pleaded not guilty to five other charges.

They were two counts of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent; two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, namely diamorphine and cannabis and a single count of possession of criminal property, namely money.

Rothwell was a leading light in the Salford gang feud which erupted between 2014 and 2019 between rival outfits the A Team and the Anti A-Team. Rothwell was said to be the right-hand-man of Michael Carroll, the alleged leader of the Anti A-Team, in opposition to the A-Team, said to be led by Stephen Britton. Gangster Paul Massey was said to be Britton’s mentor.

HMP Manchester, also known as Strangeways(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)

Rothwell was shot at a car wash in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan, in March 2015 as part of the feud. A gun man sprayed bullets at him but Rothwell survived. In July that year, Massey was shot dead outside his home in Salford by Mark Fellows, an Anti A-Team associate nicknamed The Iceman.

Months later, in October, seven-year-old Christian Hickey was shot at his doorstep as the A Team sought revenge in a botched hit, thought to have been targeting the schoolboy’s father, a close associate of Carroll,

In October 2020, Rothwell went on trial at Manchester Crown Court alongside four other men, including Mark Fellows, accused of conspiring to murder two A Team associates, after one was shot in February 2015 and the other attacked with a machete in March that year.

Rothwell was found not guilty of all charges. At some point after his acquittals, Rothwell left the country. He was arrested in Amsterdam on December 14, 2020, before being extradited back to the UK in March 2021 after police obtained a European Arrest Warrant.

Jamie Rothwell pictured following his arrest in Amsterdam(Image: NCA)

Rothwell was one of hundreds of criminals exposed by law enforcement infiltration of the EncroChat network, a highly encrypted communications system used by organised criminals.

Lawyers had begun opening the prosecution case against Rothwell at Minshull Street Crown Court on Thursday, August 1, and Friday, August 2 last year. Jaime Hamilton KC was set to continue his opening the following week, before it emerged that Rothwell had been injured on Sunday, August 4.

Jurors remained on standby to resume the case the following week. But on August 12, trial Judge Alan Conrad KC decided to adjourn the case.

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In the absence of jurors, he told the court that medical reports had found that Rothwell was ‘not fit, either physically or mentally’ to attend court ‘for the foreseeable future’.

Mr Hamilton said there was ‘uncertainty’ about Rothwell’s prognosis, with some reports suggesting he could be fit within a week, and more pessimistic reports claiming it could take up to six weeks. The prosecutor said the chance of resuming the trial with all defendants with the jury was ‘wholly unrealistic’.

A spokesperson for the prison confirmed the attack, and said two prisoners suffered minor injuries during an ‘incident’ at the jail on Sunday, August 4, the day before the trial was scheduled to resume.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Two prisoners were treated for minor injuries by medical staff at HMP Manchester after an incident on 4 August. We do not tolerate violence in our prisons and anyone found guilty of wrongdoing will be punished.”