John Joyce was arrested by detectives

John Joyce, 28, was arrested by detectives after five weeks of revenge gun attacks by rival gangs on the Langley estate. A house used by Joyce was the scene of one shooting.A member of Middleton family has been jailed for money laundering following a police investigation into a spate of 'tit-for-tat' shootings
He was not charged in connection with the firearm offences but police inquiries discovered he was living beyond his legitimate means.
Bolton Crown Court heard how Joyce, despite being on unemployment and housing benefit, had accumulated around £80,000 which he had deposited in bank accounts under his own name and that of his girlfriend, Stephanie Taylor, 27.
Detectives described how he had flaunted the money on a lavish lifestyle, buying convertible cars, jewellery and designer clothes.
During police interviews, Joyce, of Martindale Crescent, Langley, said he had made the cash through organising and fighting in bare knuckle brawls among the travelling community, benefit fraud, tax evasion and illegally dealing cars using the false name of 'John Ward'.
Keith Harrison, defending, said Joyce had also generated cash from a burger van which he had since sold.
Joyce had already pleaded guilty to six charges of money laundering when he was given a 17-month jail term last Thursday, 3 January.
Judge Elliot Knopf, sentencing, said: "The police thought there might have been much more involved, that the accumulation of this money might have been the result of more serious activities which do not show in this case, but it is dishonest activity in any event. Only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified."
Joyce, a boxing coach on Langley, was arrested at his girlfriend's house on the estate’s Thirlmere Drive in June 2006 following the series of gun attacks that spring, when five houses and the Kings Arms pub were peppered with bullets from rival factions.
Officers found more than £15,000 in cash, jewellery, and designer goods at the house, including a mountain bike worth £1,000.
They also seized two cars, one a Peugeot 307 convertible, collectively worth more than £25,000.
During court proceedings, Stephanie Taylor admitted to receiving the Peugeot convertible as a gift, so was given a 12-month conditional discharge for money laundering.
Police are now hoping the rest of the expensive assets will be confiscated at a hearing in February.
Detective Constable John Townsend, of Greater Manchester Police’s Financial Investigation Unit, said: "We were determined to make the streets of Langley safer in whatever way we could. Joyce had no legitimate income but flaunted his wealth.
"The giving and receiving of a gift funded by crime is a crime in itself and GMP is determined to use the law to effectively deal with such people, reassuring communities that crime does not pay."

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