Huyton man accused of gangland execution moved 700 miles to new prison

A Huyton man accused of executing two top Scottish gangsters has been moved to a maximum security prison 700 miles from where the alleged hit took place. The move comes as Scots crime boss Steven Lyons, brother of one of the alleged victims, faces extradition to Spain. Michael Terrence Riley, 45, originally from Bootle, was extradited to Spain from the UK in October after being arrested in Liverpool two weeks after Glasgow gangsters Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr were shot dead while watching the Champions League final on May 31, 2025 at Monaghan's Bar in Fuengirola. Riley, of Huyton, was moved from a maximum-security lock-up in Malaga in anticipation of the arrival of crime boss Steven Lyons.

It is believed Lyons would be held at the Alhaurin de la Torre jail should he be extradited to Spain on money laundering and gang membership charges. Riley has been moved to the Teixeiro Prison in Spain's north-west region of Galicia, a 10 and a half hour drive from the place where he was being held. It is the second time Riley has been moved since his extradition, having spent time at a VIP prison north of Madrid following his extradition. The reason for the transfer has not been officially disclosed, but is thought to be part of a pre-emptive security move to neutralise the problems that could occur if he and Lyons end up together.

Spanish prison chiefs said they couldn’t comment on individual cases. But a prisons' spokesman said: “Remand prisoners are normally held close to the courts which have ordered them to serve pre-trial detention. “There are many reasons why a transfer can take place. One could be that the inmate himself has requested it, that another court in another locality wants to question him, that a particular penitentiary centre is the most adequate one for that person if he’s undergoing treatment for addictions. “Another reason could also be that it’s decided it’s inadvisable for a prisoner to be in a certain prison for security reasons.” A well-placed source said: “Riley’s new home is almost about as far as you can travel on the Spanish mainland from his old prison. “If Steven Lyons is the reason he’s been moved, and it looks likely it is, then prison chiefs have gone overboard to make sure they put distance between them.” Teixeiro Prison, Galicia’s largest lock-up, was officially opened in 1998 for just over 1,000 inmates and its facilities are currently being modernised. Alfonso Basterra, sentenced to 18 years behind bars for the 2013 murder of his adopted 12-year-old China-born daughter in a crime dramatised by Netflix in its 2024 hit series ‘The Asunta Case', has been one of its most infamous inmates in recent years.

Others have included convicted ETA terrorist Jose Antonio Borde Gaztelumendi, convicted of killing two people although he was linked to more than 20 bomb attacks that claimed 16 lives. Riley’s new prison made headlines in 2021 with a pioneering mixed-gender cell block called the Nelson Mandela wing, although the Brit is not thought to be one of its inmates. Court sources confirmed overnight he is still under investigation by the judge in Fuengirola who ordered his remand to prison, but said he has yet to be formally indicted. Indictments in Spain are normally only laid shortly before trial after investigating judges have concluded criminal probes that can take months if not years to complete.

Riley was exclusively pictured for the first time by the ECHO in November. Steven Lyons remains detained in the Netherlands following his arrest in Bali in March. His next court hearing in the Netherlands, to decide whether he can be extradited to Spain to face charges, has been scheduled for this Thursday. He was held in Amsterdam on a European Arrest Warrant issued by a Malaga judge after being put on a plane to Holland following his deportation from Bali.

His detention followed a series of raids in Scotland and on the Costa del Sol resulting in the arrests of more than a dozen people as part of Operation Arborum against the Lyons Gang. The seven arrested in Spain, who include Lyons’ sister-in-law Rebecca Hayes, are also being investigated on suspicion of money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation by the same judge who made the crime boss a wanted man.