Huyton, United Kingdom

Huyton hosted three wartime camps: an internment camp, a prisoner-of-war camp, and a base for American servicemen. The internment camp may have been one of the largest in the UK. Some internees were refugees from the Nazis, including socialists such as Kurt Hager and a large number of artists attacked in Germany and elsewhere for their "degeneracy". Huyton internees included artists Martin Bloch, Hugo Dachinger, and Walter Nessler, dancer Kurt Jooss, musicians, sociologist Norbert Elias, anthropologist Eric Wolf and composer Hans Gál. More than 40 per cent of Huyton's internees were over 50 years old. The camp, first occupied in May 1940, was formed around several streets of new, empty council houses and flats and then made secure with barbed wire fencing. Twelve internees were allocated to each house, but overcrowding resulted in many sleeping in tents.

Initially, the camp was only meant to hold the internees until they could be shipped to the Isle of Man. However, largely in response to the torpedoing of the transport ship, Arandora Star (and the loss of 805 lives, including the Captain, 12 of his officers, 42 of his crew and 37 military guards), the deportations ended. Most of the internees were released before the camp closed in 1942. The camp was sited in and around what became known as the "Bluebell Estate" and many of the streets were given names of the great battles of WWII.

The prisoner of war camp closed in 1948. Some inmates "went native", stayed in Britain and married local women. Among those in the Huyton camp was Bert Trautmann, who later went on to be the 1950s goalkeeper for Manchester City. From 1944, American servicemen were temporarily stationed in Huyton.

Huyton was brought to national attention in 2005 after the racially motivated murder of black teenager Anthony Walker in McGoldrick Park. Two local youths were later found guilty of his murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. They were 17-year-old Michael Barton (brother of footballer Joey Barton) and 20-year-old Paul Taylor.

In July 2008, an 18-year-old teenager Michael Causer was battered to death in a homophobic attack at a house in Huyton.

The Huyton Firm, also known as the Cantril Farm Cartel, is an organized crime group based in the Huyton area.

Founded in the 1990s, the gang has been involved in large-scale drug trafficking, blackmail, contract killing and violent crime. The gang rose to prominence by filling a power vacuum left by other notorious Liverpool criminals, such as Curtis Warren and Colin "Smigger" Smith, after their arrests and deaths.

Over three decades, the Huyton Firm became one of the most powerful and secretive UK crime organizations, with significant international connections.