Lined by chunky detached houses and neat front gardens shaded by silver birch, Westerdale Drive looks like the kind of place you’d move for a quiet life in suburbia.
For years, that’s exactly what it was, with well-to-do families fleeing the urban sprawl of Liverpool and Manchester for a tranquil existence on the street, which sits at the edge of the sleepy coastal village of Banks.
But any new residents thinking they had left the problems of inner-city life behind them will have been left bitterly disappointed.
While the cul-de-sac is mostly home to hardworking professionals and their children, they are forced to live alongside the most undesirable neighbours imaginable in the form of two feared Liverpool gangsters.
Stephen Clarke, a crime boss in his late fifties, and his trusted lieutenant, Paul Lawler, 47, live a few doors away from each other at the southern end of Westerdale Drive.
Speaking anonymously to the Daily Mail due to fears for their safety, neighbours painted a disturbing portrait of the chaos surrounding them, from wild cocaine benders to a birthday party bust-up that is said to have ended with Clarke urinating on a guest.
In one particularly concerning incident, a house on the road had its windows shot out – although the culprits were never identified.
The most recent episode in the long-running saga happened on December 27 last year, when neighbours described seeing Lawler emerging from a patch of undergrowth, wielding a knife.
Westerdale Drive in Banks has long attracted families seeking out a quiet life
While the cul-de-sac is mostly home to hardworking professionals and their children, they are forced to live alongside two notorious gangsters
They include Paul Lawler, a serial criminal who has been involved in a string of violent incidents
The thug – who was wearing a dressing gown – then began chasing after a dog walker he had apparently picked out at random.
‘He was in a dressing gown and had a big knife,’ recalled one local man. ‘He chased a dog walker and then ran off toward the petrol station. The dog walker called the police, and they sent an armed response team.
‘I heard Paul had been on a bad coke bender, which began on Christmas Eve. Apparently, he was kicked out of a local bar after he dropped a bag of coke on the floor and was seen scraping it all back up.’
Lawler, who is now serving a 16-month prison sentence for knife possession, already had a reputation for causing trouble.
Most notably, the former Birkdale High School pupil was jailed for ten years in 2013 for his involvement in a major crime ring controlled by Stephen Clarke, his neighbour.
When police raided Lawler’s home to arrest him, they found him trying to flush balls of cocaine down the toilet in a scene reminiscent of the film Goodfellas.
He told officers – who found a cannabis farm in his garage – that he was ‘off the trolley’ after a heavy cocaine session the night before.
In February 2019, Lawler was recalled to prison after he was caught on CCTV punching a man unconscious in Southport town centre.
He fell foul of the law once again in May 2021, when police found another cannabis farm in his home – although on this occasion, he was spared prison.
Stephen Clarke (left), who lives on Westerdale Drive, and his brother, Peter (right)
A stash of weapons used by the Clarke brothers’ gang, which included Lawler
The knives and machetes were found in a suitcase alongside several guns
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While Lawler has lived on Westerdale Drive for decades, Stephen Clarke joined him there in 2007 – shortly after he had finished a prison sentence for possessing a gun. The weapon, a .357 magnum pistol, was found in his wife’s handbag after she left it behind at a Little Chef in Nottingham.
Clarke’s previous home in Kirkby, Liverpool, had been shot up by gangland rivals, and he hoped Banks would be a place to stay – in his own words – ‘out of sight and out of mind’.
The village is known for its quiet and peaceable nature, as shown by the widespread shock and dismay among locals when it emerged that Axel Rudakubana – who murdered three young girls at a Southport dance class in 2024 – had lived there.
However, Clarke’s presence has had a negative effect on Lawler, who has ‘unravelled’ in the years since, according to a friend.
The 17-stone kickboxer recruited Lawler into an organised crime gang he ran alongside his brother, Peter, a former Army corporal.
His group focused on exporting drugs to Northern Ireland, with Stephen focusing on growing cannabis locally in Southport, while Peter – who had a stash of guns and walked around in body armour – sourced cocaine from a Dutch contact.
To the dismay of his neighbours, Stephen took to hosting parties at his house attended by colourful characters across Merseyside – including MasterChef contestant Jay Tinker.
One bash saw him fall out with a guest, who he allegedly punched before urinating on him as he lay on the floor.
A police surveillance operation eventually busted the Clarke brothers, who were jailed in 2013 alongside Lawler. Stephen received 10 years and six months for smuggling £4million worth of cocaine and cannabis, with Peter receiving 16 years for drug smuggling and additional firearms charges.
While they are both believed to be out of prison, neighbours on Westerdale Drive are most worried about Lawler’s upcoming release following the 2025 knife incident.
The gang is estimated to have made £2million smuggling drugs from England to Northern Ireland
A bag of bullets and a magazine that belonged to the gang
A man who lives nearby said: ‘My main concern is what happens when Paul comes out.
‘He is a drug addict, and to be honest, I would like him to move now. The incident at Christmas was the final straw.
‘The fact that he was running around with a knife is a concern. There are young families in the area, and we didn’t move here for this kind of carry on.’
Another neighbour said: ‘That Lawler is a complete nutter and has been for years. We are stuck with him and his mates.
‘They are notorious people. If you live on the other side of Westerdale, you are ok, but I feel sorry for the families near him. He is deranged.’
