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CRIME DOESN'T PAY

Inside seedy underworld of thug who spent £1m EuroMillions lottery jackpot on drugs & cars while running crime empire

A MEMBER of a notorious crime family used his share of his mum's EuroMillions win to bankroll a heroin deal.

Desmond James Noonan, who belonged to Manchester's Noonan crime clan, was gifted £340,000 after his mum won £1m.

Desmond James Noonan used his share of a lottery win to finance a drug deal
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Desmond James Noonan used his share of a lottery win to finance a drug dealCredit: Cavendish
Feared operator Desmond Noonan was stabbed to death by a drug dealer
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Feared operator Desmond Noonan was stabbed to death by a drug dealerCredit: Rex
Jailed killer Kiaran Stapleton
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Jailed killer Kiaran StapletonCredit: Rex Features

After Noonan had splashed out on an Audi Q7 and a house , he invested the rest of the cash in a drug deal.

The young criminal was under police surveillance at the time, which led to his arrest.

Noonan and two pals had were pulled over after they collected a haul of heroin from an address in the Wigan area.

He tried to make a run for it but a police dog caught up with him.

In September 2013, Noonan was jailed for five years after admitting possessing heroin with intent to supply and possessing 20g of cannabis found at his Old Clough Lane home.

A judge later concluded that Noonan had earned nearly £186,000 from his life of crime and ordered he pay back £131,361.

The courts have heard how the Noonan family have long been associated with organised crime.

Damien, Dessie and Dominic Noonan grew up in the Whalley Range area of Manchester.

They were linked to armed robberies and later strongly associated with the Hacienda nightclub where Damien and Dessie manned the door during the 1990s when rival drug gangs vied for control.

Damien was killed in a motorbike accident while on holiday in the Dominican Republic in July 2003.

In March 2005 Dessie was stabbed to death by crack dealer 'Yardie Derek' McDuffus at a house in the Chorlton area of Manchester.

After Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in London on August 4 2011, it emerged that the London man was nephew to Desmond Noonan.

The police shooting sparked a wave of riots across the country, including Manchester.

The Metropolitan Police said Duggan, 29, was a member of a feared gang, Tottenham Man Dem, and had been linked to gun crime and drug dealing.

He was shot dead by armed officers attempting to arrest him on suspicion of planning an attack, the Met said.

Duggan’s family denied that he was a violent gangster or that he was in possession of a gun at the time.

Protests at Tottenham police station two days after Duggan's death were the spark for rioting and looting that spread across the capital before fanning out to other cities.

In the aftermath of Manchester's riots, Dominic Noonan was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to violent disorder after being caught on camera talking to a looter carrying a flat-screen TV on Oldham Street at the height of the mayhem.

He was recalled to prison on a previous firearms sentence for breaching the terms of his licence.

Months after the riots student Anuj Bidve was walking along Ordsall Lane in Salford with friends when he was shot dead.

Kiaran Stapleton, a distant member of the Noonan family, laughed after shooting Mr Bidve dead.

In July 2012, he was sentenced to life in prison. He was ordered to serve a minimum term of 30 years before he is eligible for parole.

Following the verdict, Anuj's father Subhash said Stapleton had “openly laughed at the memory of our son” and believed the killer should never be released from prison.

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