JOSEPH Owens, a British National Party candidate seeking a seat in May's local elections in Liverpool, has a sinister past.
Owens, 41, a well-known figure in the Liverpool security scene, served eight months in jail for sending razor blades in the post to members of the city's Jewish community in 1982.
He was also convicted and jailed in 1994 for carrying CS gas and knuckle dusters when he worked as a clubland bouncer.
And in 1998 he was charged with the contract murder of 33-year-old nightclub security boss George Bromley - but the charge was dropped due to lack of evidence before the case went to trial.
Speaking today, Owens, from Norris Green, said he regretted some of his past actions and denied any involvement in the murder of George Bromley.
"The reason I sent the razor blades was because the Israelis had massacred Palestinians in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
"I now realise that it had nothing to do with the people I sent them to because they had no influence over the policies of the Israeli government.
"I just felt really strongly about what the Israelis were doing and I took my frustration out on them. But it is something I deeply regret, it was a silly thing to do." In 1994 Owens was convicted of possessing knuckle dusters and CS gas.
He said the case came when he was working as a doorman at a nightclub in Warrington. He says he and and his colleagues had been attacked by a gang so he decided they needed protection.
It was while he was carrying the weapons - which he says he intended to give out to other doormen to defend themselves - that he was arrested and again jailed.
But he said: "This was nothing to do with politics."
In 1998 he was charged with the murder of gangland figure George Bromley, shot dead in the West Derby home of Charlie Seiga.
News RSS Feed