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'Drugs boss' fights for life

3/ 1/2008

A MAN named in court as a drugs boss is fighting for his life after a frenzied stabbing attack.

Arran Coghlan is understood to have undergone surgery after being wounded in the head, face and back at Cobdens Bar, in Stockport.

His condition was described by doctors as `critical but stable'. Two other men were also taken to hospital with stab wounds following the same incident in the early hours of New Year's Day.

Although police say the investigation is at an early stage, it is understood the attack may be connected to Cheetham Hill gangsters.

Mr Coghlan who lives in a luxury house in Alderley Edge has been cleared of two gangland murders.

He first hit the headlines when he was cleared of murdering Stockport `Mr Big' Chris Little in the late 1990s. Thirty one-year-old Little, of Marsland Terrace, Offerton, was shot dead at the wheel of his Mercedes in Marple in July 1994.

In 2001, Mr Coghlan was arrested again on suspicion of murdering drug dealer David Barnshaw.

The small-time crook was kidnapped and forced to drink petrol before being burned alive in the back of his own car on an industrial estate in Stockport. During the opening of the trial Mr Coghlan was described as controlling the supply of drugs in Stockport.

The case against Mr Coghlan and others collapsed in 2003 when it was revealed police had failed to pass on important information about another possible suspect.

He was freed after spending two years in jail waiting for the case to be dealt with and has been pursuing a court action against the police as a result.

Det Insp Terry Sweeney, from Stockport CID, said: "This is an extremely serious incident that happened while the three men were out socialising and celebrating the New Year."