A NOTORIOUS gangster is trying to overturn his gun conviction despite having just eight months left in jail.

Domenyk Noonan was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in 2005 after a revolver and ammunition were found under the bonnet of his car when he was stopped by police in Darlington.

Now, as he nears his release date, he is hoping the Criminal Cases Review Commission will grant him leave to try to have the conviction quashed.

The commission reviews possible miscarriages of justice and will only take on cases where there is fresh evidence.

A spokesman confirmed the commission has been looking into the case since 2007 but said it was impossible to say when the investigation would be completed.

Noonan - who also goes by the name of Domenyk Lattlay Fottfoy - is a member of one of Manchester's most infamous crime families. The family rose to notoriety after the murder of `White Tony' Johnson, the leader of the Cheetham Hill Gang, who was gunned down in 1991. Domenyk's brother Desmond was charged but acquitted. In March 2005 Desmond was stabbed to death on a Chorlton housing estate just days before a TV documentary was due to be screened in which he boasted of being 'untouchable' and behind 27 killings.

He also told investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre he had a 'bigger army' and more guns than the police.

Domenyk Noonan also featured in the documentary. In 1993 he was jailed for 14 years for escaping from prison, plotting a robbery and carrying a loaded gun. The court heard he had planned the escape which he tried to pass off as a kidnap so he could take part in a £1.5m security van robbery.

Following his arrest in Darlington, Domenyk Noonan told police he had been set up. The grounds for appeal are understood to be that someone planted the revolver in his Jaguar and told police it was there.