A murder trial was paused after the former gangster claimed that defendant Kevin Weetman had tried to set his flat on fire
00:01, 21 Feb 2026
Darren Gee claimed during a TikTok live that double killer Kevin Weetman previously tried to set fire to his flat (Image: Liverpool ECHO/Merseyside Police)
Darren Gee was called a “bacon” by a double killer as he was brought before a High Court judge over videos posted on TikTok. Kevin Weetman was one of three defendants who were convicted of the manslaughter of Eric Greener, 77, and Sheila Jackson, 83, after the couple died following a fire at their home on South John Street in St Helens, although the three people in the dock were cleared of their murders.
But their trial had to be paused for legal discussions in the absence of the jury during its second week after it emerged that Gee had posted videos online in which he alleged that his flat had previously been targeted by Weetman, a 34-year-old drug dealer, in an arson attack. These clips were posted to Tiktok by an account named “@calnak.uk” on Monday, January 28, the fourth day of the case, before being drawn to the attention of the court two days later.
In these videos, seen by the ECHO, Gee was recorded saying: “I said to Kevin Weetman on my ma’s estate, ‘you carry on thinking you’re off your barnet the way you are, you’re getting lifed off’. Starts a trial on the 19th of January, that little weasel. What for? Burning two grandparents to death.
“Guess who set my apartment on fire in Anfield? Weetman and the [inaudible]. Same kid. I sit there, you know, and think, I could have got that c*** lifed off then. Had everything.
“Police caught them. They only needed a statement off me, would’ve all went to jail for arson with intent and s***. Had police in my block trying to blag me for like two and a half hours, ‘make a statement’.
“They tried to burn me out. They’ve all been chased, they’ve been rammed, they’ve been nicked. They got nicked with the petty. They got nicked at the scene. They burst the house, got them with all mad s*** on. But there weren’t no crime committed. Why? ‘Cos there was no statements.”
This led to Gee appearing before the court in person on the afternoon of Thursday, January 31, with the ECHO only able to report details of the hearing now following the jury returning its verdicts this week. He was seen smirking towards the defendants in the dock and mouthing the word “rat” as he was taken into the witness box, at which stage Weetman called him a “wrongun”.
Gee was then asked how the three videos came to be posted on TikTok, to which he replied: “I’ll do a live feed on TikTok. I’ll do a live feed for three or four hours. I’m promoting the message and encouraging the youth to stay away from crime. It gives people watching the chance to ask me questions. People were asking me about Kevin Weetman, because I’ve known him all my life.”
At this, Weetman replied: “No you haven’t. You used to groom us when I was a kid. You bacon. You’re a little nonce.”
Wearing a navy blue Calvin Klein three quarter zip, Gee then said “justice will be served” before continuing: “When I come off my live, I’ve got the option to download it, clip it and upload it across my platforms, but I don’t. It’s been happening for quite a few years, a lot of people are taking my content, copywriting my content and putting it on their platforms.”
Nigel Power KC, prosecuting, then asked about “CALNAK”, which Gee told Mr Justice Jay, the judge who presided over the trial, stands for “Choose a Life not a Knife”. However, he denied having been the owner of the TikTok account in question and said: “I’ve got a lot of people who like what I’m doing. Because I’m always getting shut down, they make their own profiles to promote my message.”
Of his appearance before the court, Gee added: “I was encouraged to take the easier route with this matter instead of taking this road with contempt and all that stuff. Once I got notified, I contacted that profile and sent a message. I never got an answer until about 12 o’clock [on the day of his appearance in court]. I haven’t got a clue who she is.”
The court was thereafter told of the message that Gee received in reply, which read: “Hi Darren, hope you’re doing well. I just want to apologise if those clips caused any issues. I will be more careful going forward. I am a fan of your content and want to share the message you promote.”
It was following this reply that the videos were said to have been deleted. The defendants were then heard to laugh when the judge asked him: “It’s not you writing to yourself and pretending?”
But Gee responded that he was content for the court to examine his phones if required. He then said “what you say mate?” following a further, inaudible comment from the dock, being told to “calm down” by Justice Jay before Weetman called him a “grass”.
Darren Gee(Image: LIVERPOOL ECHO)
Gee went on to tell the judge: “I’ve had enough warnings to keep my mouth shut. I’ve stopped doing lives since so I don’t get dragged into the conversation. I’ve got a live on Sunday.”
Asked what topics he would be covering in this livestream, Gee said: “Reducing drug dealing, trying to prevent the youth from going the path I went down, just like Weetman. I encouraged Weetman to stop what he was doing when I got out of prison.”
Weetman was then heard to remark “begging us for work”. His barrister Peter Wright KC thereafter put to him that he “doesn’t like Mr Weetman at all”, to which he replied: “No. There’s reasons for me not liking him.”
Mr Wright also cited Gee previously being told to remove a video he posted to YouTube during the trial of Thomas Cashman over the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot dead in her own home on Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot in August 2022. In response, he replied that the child killer was “Weetman’s mate”.
The defence barrister stated that Gee was given a “cease and desist” order and later apologised in relation to this matter, although he said: “I’ve lost you with your legal jargon. I don’t know what that means.”
When Mr Wright put to Gee that he was “fully aware of the importance of not making public pronouncements in respect of proceedings that are about to take place before a court”, he replied: “I am now. I am since the Cashman trial. That’s why I haven’t done nothing.
“The difference is, in the Cashman case, I was speaking about details of that trial. I’m speaking about a situation I had with Weetman from years ago which has some sort of implication on this. It sounds similar to the offences he’s facing. The problem is that the situation I had with him years ago has ramifications on this trial, because it’s arson.
“See when I was warned in the Cashman trial, you cannot do this type of thing again. If I was speaking about Weetman and his trial, I’d be speaking about the details of the trial. I never touched none of that. Alls I said is there’s a court case coming up soon. I’ve had problems with Kevin Weetman in the past. I’m not targeting this case.”
Mr Wright also accused Gee of using his time on the stand as a “soapbox”, but he responded: “I’m not mate. I don’t want to be here. You’ve dragged me here.
“You’re putting it across like I’ve intentionally gone on and thought, I’m going to wreck Weetman’s trial here. That’s not the way it works. You’re wrong for suggesting that without evidence.
“I’m seeking to wreck the trial of an enemy so he can get acquitted? You’re not making sense here. I’m deliberately trying to get this trial halted, is that what you’re suggesting?”
When Mr Wright suggested that the message from the Calnak account was his “alter ego”, Gee said: “Without insulting you, you’re sounding a little bit crazy right now.”
Weetman was subsequently heard calling Gee a “f***ing wool” before Mr Wright pointed out that the TikTok account contained a link to a website selling “L5 Alive merchandise”. He accepted that he was a part owner of this brand, but said: “It’s quite easy to put a link in your bio. All over social media, you’re gonna find numerous Calnak UK, Darren Gee, Choose a Life Not a Life, proclaiming to be me.
“I’ve had YouTube channels in the past and quite a large following. The people I’m speaking about, the criminal fraternity, they’ve managed to get my platforms shut down continuously.
“My position’s sweet. I haven’t done anything wrong, as far as I know. I’ve made a mistake. I’ve went onto my live feed. What yous are getting is six minutes of a four hour live feed. I’m getting exhausted, five hours in.”
When Mr Wright again suggested that Weetman was “seeking to sabotage the fairness of the trial”, he replied: “I don’t take that at all. There is absolutely no way in this world that I’m trying to jeopardise justice for victims who have been burned to death. That’s nonsense and you know it is. You’re picking dirt from the bottom of the barrel.”
Mr Wright also accused him of being “utterly without any form of remorse”, at which Gee said: “Remorse for who? I haven’t done nothing. If I’d done anything, I would be apologising umpteen times.
“When I’m speaking about this Kevin Weetman situation, I’m speaking about past events, not current. I’m not speaking about no court case. I go and delve into the situation with regards to me and Weetman, which began four years previously to this offence. That’s what I’m speaking about. I didn’t understand the impact of what I was saying here.”
Having been served with an order by the judge which prevented him from posting further materials on social media regarding the trial, Gee said: “I promise you now judge, with the most sincerity I’ve got left in me, I won’t speak about him until he’s lifed off. The platform he’s speaking about, I can give you my phone and you can do what you want with my phone for 10 minutes. I don’t like the assumption.”
Justice Jay then told Gee: “I have got to think what to do in relation to what has happened. I am not going to do anything now in relation to what has happened. However, I do not think you fully understand the seriousness of this.
“Mr Weetman is on trial for a horrific and very serious murder involving arson. It is for the jury, not me, to decide whether he is guilty or not. If you start talking online about another arson which has occurred in the past, that is grossly prejudicial to Mr Weetman, so you must not do this.
“What I might do is not a decision I need to make now. If there is any more of this, I will have powers to take action against you and I will do so. I do not think I can be clearer.”
Gee replied “I fully appreciate what you’ve said” before turning to Eric and Sheila’s family in the public gallery and saying “I’m sorry”. He went on to add to the judge: “We’ve just been speaking there. There’s hours and hours of content that gets stolen from me and uploaded when they want to upload it.
“I’m gonna show the officers involved every platform I have so they can record it. You can keep an eye on it. It’s good insight yeno judge. There’s no way at all in any means I’ll try and jeopardize any trial.”
Having been told he could leave the courtroom, co-defendant Lee Owens was heard to say “A&E” as he departed. Gee meanwhile replied “L plates”, in an apparent reference to a life sentence.
Kevin Weetman was found guilty of the manslaughter of Eric Greener and Sheila Jackson (Image: Merseyside Police)
Jurors heard during the four week case at Liverpool Crown Court that Eric and Sheila died following an arson attack at their home on South John Street in St Helens on July 15 last year. While one of the men responsible for the blaze, Paul Smith, died himself seven days later, Owens, Weetman and Kylie Maynard faced trial accused of murdering the pensioners.
The former admitted having acted as a lookout as the fire was set, although his co-defendants denied having any involvement in the plot. With Sheila’s son George Jackson, who also lived at the address, said to have been the intended victim in a row over drugs, Owens instead claimed that Smith had torched the house as a result of a personal dispute between the two men.
This was said to have related to his belief that his target had “taken the p***” when Maynard, whom the arsonist had reportedly been involved with sexually, had stayed at his house after being “taxed” of cocaine and money. While Owens pleaded guilty to manslaughter in advance of the trial, he maintained that he believed the property was empty at the time of the incident and claimed that he did not intend to injure or kill.
And he, Maynard and Weetman were all cleared of two counts of murder by a jury of six men and six women on Tuesday, although the latter two were unanimously convicted of manslaughter. Returning to the same court for sentence on Thursday, Weetman was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years behind bars.
Maynard meanwhile received 23 years and Owens was jailed for 13-and-a-half years, with both required to serve two thirds of their terms behind bars before they can be released. Sentencing, High Court judge Mr Justice Jay told Weetman: “In your sordid and brutal way, you have been a successful drug dealer over many years. You exert your rule with fists and iron bars. You have an appalling criminal record.
“You are a man with an entirely warped moral code. You feel no remorse for what you did. After the verdict, you smiled and laughed inappropriately in full sight of the victims’ family.
“The issue of your intent is not straightforward. The lies you told during the trial have added to the difficulty. I infer that your intention was to burn out George Jackson as a punishment for him not doing your bidding.
“I cannot be sure that it was your aim to cause at least serious harm. You knew that two elderly people were almost certainly in bed at the time. I have no doubt that this is an extreme case of you procuring an act which you knew had high risk of death or serious harm. Although I am not satisfied that you had murderous intent, I am sure that this is also an extreme case of an intention falling just short of that.
“This arson was entirely your idea. You initiated Paul Smith into committing it, having brutally assaulted him. You knew that Kyle Maynard would act as your loyal subordinate in making the arrangements. I do not conclude that you anticipated that Paul Smith would recruit Lee Owens to this enterprise but, through your malevolence, you involved two others, Paul Smith and Kylie Maynard, in this wicked scheme.
“That you were prepared to use arson as a weapon against George Jackson when, on any view, he had done you no wrong demonstrates that you are a risk to the public by virtue of committing further specified offences. These two manslaughter offences are of the highest degree of seriousness.
“In my judgement, you are an extremely violent and dangerous individual. No reliable assessment can be made as to the length of time that you will still be a danger to the public. It is possible that prison will soften and reform you. It is more likely that you will remain a danger for the rest of your life, at least until your old age.”
Weetman smiled as he was told he would receive life imprisonment, with cries of “yes” heard among Eric and Sheila’s family and one man seen giving him two thumbs down. Another then told him as he was led to the cells: “I bet you’re not laughing now Weetman.”
However, Weetman responded “I’m always laughing”. When another man added “see you rat”, the killer went on to reply: “Wool.”