GMP admits the way cops gave Salford 'Mr Big' Paul Massey a threat-to-life warning before his death was 'suboptimal'

But the force says even if officers didn't deliver the document to him personally he must have read it as his fingerprints were found on it

Greater Manchester Police now admits the way officers issued Salford 'Mr Big' Paul Massey a threat-to-life warning before his death was 'sub-optimal'.

The admission emerged during a pre-inquest review today (Tuesday, April 22) as his family battles for a full inquest to be held into what police did and didn't do in the run up to Massey's July 2015 murder.

The 55-year-old was gunned down on his doorstep by a masked assassin amid a gang war between rival Salford gangs.

Massey received at least five so-called 'Osman' warnings during his life - from 2009 right up until assassin Mark Fellows blasted him to death with an Uzi sub-machine on the doorstep of his home in Clifton in July 2015.

The shooting was the culmination of an uber-violent war between a Salford gang known as the A Team - whose members considered Massey a mentor and elder - and a rival faction, the Anti A Team.

Fellows is serving a whole life term for the murder of Massey and his gangland enforcer friend John Kinsella.

Massey's family says he received a threat-to-life warning from Greater Manchester Police in April 2012 - around the time he mounted a failed bid to become mayor of Salford - and that talked openly about it and took steps to protect himself.

Another was delivered to his home in May 2015, just eight weeks before his death. It was posted through the letter box and his family believe officers should have made efforts to deliver it personally.

A 2017 internal investigation by GMP cleared two cops who delivered the warning, the Manchester Evening News has previously reported.

The officers said nobody answered the door and Massey's partner, when informed they had a threat to life warning for him, shouted from a window for them to post it through the letterbox 'with the rest of them'.

GMP's internal investigation found Massey was handed five 'Osman' warnings in his life, but said there was no record he received one - as his family claims - during his failed 2012 bid to become mayor of Salford.

National police guidance says such warnings should be handed over personally 'where appropriate', but can also be delivered in others ways, for instance over the phone if the subject is abroad.

Now GMP has, for the first time, publicly admitted the way its officers handed out the threat-to-life warning in May 2015 was 'suboptimal'.

Senior Manchester West Coroner Timothy Brennand told members of the Massey family the force had made the concession during the latest pre-inquest review held at Bolton Coroners' Court.

"It's the police's contention that they now accept it was served in a way that was sub-optimal," said Mr Brennand, adding that the force was asking the court to 'draw an inference' that he must have read it as his fingerprints were found on the document when it was discovered at his address following his death.

Mr Massey's daughter Kelly Massey told the hearing GMP 'knew fine well there was an active gang war going on in Salford' at the time officers delivered the warning. "My dad's life was in immediate danger," she said.

She accused the police of a 'cover up' and said: "I believe my father would still be alive today if the police had done their job." She said her father would have taken steps to protect himself if he had been informed of the threat.

A decision on whether there will be a full inquest is due to be announced at another hearing on July 31.