TWO men have admitted their part in a grenade attack plot on a Merseyside businessman.

The live grenade was found on a wall outside the home of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish but he was not the intended target.

At Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, Mark Johnston, 21, and Carl Higgins, 29, admitted conspiring to damage property being reckless as to whether the lives of businessman John Ball and his family would be endangered.

Mr Ball, 51, lives on Selworthy Road, Birkdale.

The grenade was found by police on July 26 after a report of people acting suspiciously close to his home.

Johnston, of MacQueen Street, Old Swan; Higgins, of Helston Green, Huyton; and Simon Ignacio, 28, of Lee Park Avenue, Belle Vale, all entered not guilty pleas to charges of conspiring to murder Mr Ball and plotting to damage his property with intent to endanger life.

Ignacio will now face trial in early February on the single charge admitted by both Johnston and Higgins.

He will be tried alongside Johnston’s mother, Carol Johnston, 50, also of MacQueen Street, who denies assisting an offender.