A notorious Liverpool gangster killed in Holland earlier this month was shot dead while trying to collect a debt, the Daily Mail can reveal. 

Paul Parker died on June 1 after a fight inside a garage in the Dutch city of Heerhugowaard. 

At the time, police said the 52-year-old Liverpudlian is believed to have broken into the business, with local media reporting that he had been stabbed. 

The Mail has now been told that Parker had entered the building to collect a debt. 

He was armed with a knife and stabbed two men before one of them shot him, according to a source in the Netherlands. 

Armed police and a helicopter were sent to the scene and two men, aged 44 and 65 - who are presumed to be those he stabbed - were arrested afterwards in hospital.

Local news outlets reported that Parker had been wanted over the murder of Dutchman Pieter Hoovers, 54, and his 32-year-old Thai wife Tae Kawepanya.

The couple died during a gun attack inside an apartment in the De Pijp neighborhood of Amsterdam on July 17, 2017. 

Last year, police in Amsterdam released CCTV footage of a 'British criminal' suspected of involvement in the crime and offered a €20,000 (£17,300) reward for information.

They have since identified the suspect as Parker, according to reports in Dutch media.  

The Mail has seen a photograph from several years ago which shows Parker on a boat with Mr Hoovers, suggesting they were once friends.

Mr Hoovers, who had a background in martial arts, founded record label Outland Records before selling the business and relocating to Thailand in the mid-1990s.  

He was visiting Holland in 2017 with his partner when they were murdered.

One man, who claims to have been a friend of Mr Hoovers, posted a message incriminating Parker in the double murder.

He posted: 'Rot in hell scumbag. On Monday the guy who brutally killed my friends Pieter and Tae Hoovers in July 2017 and has been on the run for justice for years got what he deserved. He was shot at close range.'

The Mail understands Paul Parker left the UK around 25 years ago.

Parker and his brother David were both jailed in 1993 for their part in the killing of a teenager during a botched drug deal.

Phillip Green, 17, from Warrington, was stabbed in the heart after he went to Walton Hall Park in Liverpool with a £1,000 to buy drugs.

Police later arrived at Phillip's home in Warrington and took his parents to Walton hospital where doctors were unable to save him.

Paul and David Parker were recorded by police discussing their roles in the incident. 

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Phillip was stabbed in the heart by a third man who was not identified.

Paul and David Parker were both jailed for five years.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo in 2014 Phillip's mother Pat said: 'The memories have never faded. 

'I remember every detail of that day as if it was yesterday, it's like a film being played. But I wouldn't ever want to forget it. It was the last day I saw Phillip alive.'

A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said earlier this month: 'We are supporting the family of a British man who died in the Netherlands and are in contact with the local authorities.'