From McDonald's shooter to child killer: 266 people locked up in Merseyside

A child killer and depraved rapists were among the criminals linked to Merseyside jailed from January to April 2021.

Liverpool Crown Court heard many of the cases leading to prison sentences, involving everything from killer drivers to wicked carers.

The year began with the trial of a gangland thug who orchestrated one of the most brutal and shocking murders in Liverpool's modern history.

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Disturbing cases saw sex offenders put behind bars, including a Liverpool University technician who wanted to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Drug dealers who used EncroChat to spread misery by trading cocaine and heroin were caught after the encrypted phone network was hacked.

Judges had to sentence two mums who glassed each other in a pub brawl caught on CCTV, a thug who carved up his own cousin's back with a Stanley blade at a wedding, the men involved in a shocking shooting at a McDonald's drive thru, and even a former UFC heavyweight fighter turned debt enforcer.

Below are the details of more than 260 of the men and women put behind bars in January to April 2021.

Lee Knox

Lee Knox directed the torture and murder of dad-of-one Joseph McKeever over a £900,000 cannabis importation plot gone wrong.

The 54-year-old victim's battered body was found in the boot of a stolen Ford Focus, set ablaze on a field in Everton, late on June 15, 2017.

He had suffered two "shattered" kneecaps, broken eye sockets and ribs, brain damage, a crushed voice box, had bone chopped away from his jaw and was strangled at least twice with a ligature.

Knox, 43, formerly of Canal View, Melling, escaped to Spain within hours of the killing and spent nearly three years on the run until his arrest in Belfast in April 2020.

Crying in court, he claimed that he was a "terrified" witness to the violence and fought to save Mr McKeever's life by giving him CPR.

But a jury unanimously convicted the dad-of-two of false imprisonment and murder after a 17-day trial.

Knox had a criminal record including offering to supply crack cocaine and dealing ecstasy, possessing an offensive weapon, and battery.

Judge Andrew Menary, QC, "rejected completely" the killer's claim that he tried to give his victim CPR and said the missing load was his cannabis, which he wrongly blamed Mr McKeever for failing to arrive in Liverpool after it was seized by customs.

Knox - the sixth person convicted in connection with Mr McKeever's gruesome death - was jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years.

Steff Jones

Steff Jones had sexual activity with a schoolgirl and was caught with indecent images of another child.

Police said the "dangerous" 19-year-old, of Marie Curie Avenue, Netherton, preyed on two teenage victims.

He was arrested on October 23, 2020, after one of the girls found the courage to report him to the police.

Jones admitted sexual activity with a child, who police said was 14, and possessing indecent images of another girl.

He was jailed for four years.

Arif Mian

Arif Mian poured hot liquid over an OAP for no reason, leaving his victim with "extremely painful" burns to his back.

The 42-year-old gave the voluntary mental health patient, 65, superficial burns in an unprovoked assault on October 30, 2019.

Mian, of Belmont Road, Anfield, also punched two nurses, including a woman, and threatened to throw hot water and sugar over them.

The thug was sectioned at Clock View Hospital in St Helens and on November 17, 2019 called his family and threatened to petrol bomb relatives' homes.

Mian admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, two common assaults, and malicious communications.

He was jailed for two years and two months.

Mark Cunningham

Mark Cunningham hurled racist abuse at a shopkeeper who refused to exchange items he had tampered with.

The 35-year-old entered the Shell Garage, on Linacre Lane in Bootle, at around 7pm on December 31, 2020.

When the store assistant denied his request, Cunningham approached the counter and tried to attack the victim and hurled "disgusting racist abuse".

Officers arrested Cunningham, of Thornton Street, Bootle, who was convicted of racially aggravated fear or provocation of violence.

He was jailed for 14 weeks.

Akash Sondhi

Akash Sondhi hacked into nearly 600 Snapchat accounts to force girls and women around the globe to send him "intimate images".

The 27-year-old blackmailed his 573 victims - including seven victims from Merseyside - by threatening to expose sexual photos to their friends and family from 2015 to 2020.

But the pervert's home in Hedingham Road, Chafford Hundred, Grays, Essex was raided by police on March 19, 2020.

Sondhi admitted a total of 65 offences, including hacking, blackmail, and voyeurism.

He was jailed for 11 years.

Gareth Edwards

Sex offender Gareth Edwards was jailed but didn't even see the inside of a cell before a judge bailed him.

He was handed a 16-week prison sentence after going to Center Parcs with a woman he was seeing and her three children in 2019.

The 30-year-old had also stayed over at her home, without telling her he was a convicted sex offender.

Edwards, of St Monica's Drive, Netherton, was previously spared jail in 2016 for inciting a female under 16 to engage in sexual activity.

He admitted two breaches of his notification requirements, but after a district judge imposed a prison sentence, they immediately released him on bail, pending an appeal.

However, a week later he abandoned his appeal and was sent to jail.

Claire Byrne and Paula Breen

Two mums glassed each other in a horrifying pub brawl.

Claire Byrne, 35, launched an unprovoked attack on Paula Breen, 40, in an argument over a bar stool at The Clock in Kirkdale.

Byrne took a stool from the table where Breen was sitting, at the pub in Walton Road.

Shocking CCTV footage showed Breen approach Byrne, who suddenly and repeatedly hit her in the head with a wine bottle, at around 10.30pm, on January 10, 2020.

In "retaliation", mum-of-one Breen hurled a glass into a crowd of people, striking mum-of-three Byrne square in the head.

Byrne followed Breen outside, where she glassed her in the face, then back in the pub hit Breen with a bottle, after she fell to the floor.

Both women admitted affray.

Byrne, of St Alexander Close, Kirkdale, who had a past conviction for threatening behaviour and a caution for common assault, was jailed for 12 months.

Breen, of Craine Close, Anfield, who had no past convictions, was jailed for 10 months.

Paul Chew

Serial drug driver Paul Chew was left "screaming in pain" after smashing into a van during a police chase.

He keeps getting behind the wheel, despite being banned from driving after demolishing a roundabout and speeding past police at 120mph.

The 33-year-old, who has been convicted of drug driving three times, was spotted by officers in Everton Valley, at 11.40pm, on June 27, 2020.

Chew sped off, hitting 50mph in 30mph Anfield Road, before he lost control and hit the van, and when police found him, he was "screaming in pain".

Chew, of St Bernard's Drive, Bootle, admitted dangerous driving, driving without insurance and driving whilst disqualified.

He was jailed for eight months.

Connor Chapman

"Nuisance" ASBO yob Connor Chapman went on the run for three months.

Chapman, 20, formerly of Woodland Road, Birkenhead, was given 10 months in a young offenders institution on January 10, 2020 for possessing a bladed article, handling stolen goods, driving while disqualified and breaching a criminal behaviour order.

The lout, who had 19 past convictions for 43 offences, was released on licence on June 11, but by August 15 had "dropped off the radar".

A recall was issued on September 16 after he failed to return to a hostel in Great Howard Street in Liverpool city centre.

Police traced him to a hotel room with his girlfriend in Holland Road, Wallasey, where he was arrested on December 9.

Chapman, who admitted remaining unlawfully at large, was recalled to serve the remainder of his sentence and jailed for four months.

Lorraine Ennis

Lorraine Ennis and Jacqueline Preston punched and kicked a taxi driver.

Ennis hurled vile racist insults at Desmond Thabo as he drove her and Preston to an off licence in Knotty Ash late overnight on October 18 and 19, 2019.

When he refused to continue the journey, Ennis punched him in the face, breaking his glasses, and both drunken women punched and kicked him as he lay on the ground.

Ennis, who had a previous conviction for a racist assault on a dog owner, even hit the taxi driver with an "unknown object", cutting his head.

The women, both aged 58, were found guilty of racially aggravated assault.

Ennis, of Mardale Road, Huyton, who initiated the violence and called the victim the N-word, was locked up for 20 weeks.

Preston, of Blenheim Drive, Prescot, of "effectively of good character", was spared jail.

Dean Lockley

Dean Lockley dragged a schoolgirl into woodlands and sexually assaulted her in an "unimaginable" and "terrifying" ordeal.

The 30-year-old targeted the teenager as she walked home from school along the Loop Line in Aintree, near Orrell Park, at around 4pm.

The dad-of-one tied and gagged his victim - using her school uniform - stripped her naked and molested her, then claimed he was "sorry".

DNA linked him to the attack, near Helsby Road, on September 21, 2020, but Lockley, of no fixed address, denied any involvement.

Only after she identified him in a parade did he admit false imprisonment, sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Lockley, from the Aintree area, was jailed for for 12 years, with an extended five years on licence.

Sam Gedd

Sam Gedd made fake profiles of his ex-girlfriend on a swingers website after she left him because of his dark past.

The victim, who the ECHO chose not to name, discovered numerous fake accounts had been created by Gedd in a "character assassination".

Gedd, aka Sam Anderson, created multiple fake profiles using the woman's details on Fab Swingers, plus dating apps Hily and Bumble, in late 2019 and early 2020.

He spitefully created the accounts after she broke up with him, having learned of his criminal past through the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS).

The 30-year-old, formerly of Bridge Street, Birkenhead, has eight previous convictions for 30 offences, including offences linked to creating fake profiles of other victims.

Gedd, who admitted stalking, was jailed for three and a half years.

Anthony Foat, Connor Johnson and Daniel Starkey

Cocaine dealer Anthony Foat was caught with a gun and bullets wrapped in a tea towel in his kitchen cupboard.

Police raided the 30-year-old's flat in South Ferry Quay, Liverpool City Centre at 10am on November 9, 2020.

Hidden behind a wooden panel where spotlights were mounted was the converted Turkish blank pistol, a magazine and nine modified bullets.

Foat was previously caught bagging up cannabis with Connor Johnson, Daniel Starkey and others at a flat in Seaforth.

Officers discovered 3.3 kilos of cannabis, worth around £31,500, and half an ounce of cocaine, worth some £1,000, at Alexander House, in Sandy Road, on February 16, 2018.

Foat, formerly of Grange Mount, Oxton, Wirral, was caught with the gun when awaiting trial over the drugs offences.

He admitted possessing the gun and bullets, possessing cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply, and breach of bail.

Foat was jailed for six years and three months.

Johnson, of Ellel Grove, Tuebrook, was also caught transporting cannabis in a car on West Derby Road on February 8, 2019.

The 27-year-old admitted two counts of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and was jailed for 16 months.

Starkey, 23, was also sentenced for a 70mph motorbike chase on Sunday, November 11, 2020, when he crashed on the Strand, hit railings and fled.

Starkey, of Morecambe Street, Anfield, admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified. He was jailed for 18 months.

Stephen Williams

Stephen Williams broke his girlfriend's neck.

He tipped his partner Katherine Wilson out of bed when she decided to sleep in the spare room of his home in Hunts Cross on August 8, 2020.

Later, he grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the floor, which caused her to smack her head on the bed frame, when she heard a cracking sound in her neck.

Ms Wilson told 38-year-old soldier Williams that she thought her neck was broken, but he replied: "F*** off, don't be stupid."

But she had sustained a hyper-extension injury to her neck, or broken neck, referred to by prosecutors as a "hangman's fracture" and had to wear a halo brace for five months.

Williams, of Alderman Road, who had 20 years "exemplary" service in the forces, admitted causing grievous bodily harm.

He was jailed for 14 months.

Khairi Saadallah

Khairi Saadallah murdered a Liverpool teacher in a terror attack in Reading.

The 26-year-old murdered three men in a "swift, ruthless and brutal" knife attack in Forbury Gardens on June 20, 2020.

Former King David High School teacher James Furlong, 36, was one of his victims.

Saadallah shouted "Allahu akhbar" as he stabbed Mr Furlong and his friends Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39.

Three other people - Stephen Young, 51, Patrick Edwards, 29, and Nishit Nisudan, 34 - were also injured in the rampage.

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The failed Libyan asylum seeker, of Basingstoke Road, Reading, admitted three murders and three attempted murders.

Since arriving in Britain in 2012, he had been convicted of various offences including theft and assault.

Saadallah was given a whole-life term, meaning he will never be released.

James' family previously said he was "the best son, brother, partner and friend we all could ever have wished for".

John Harrington

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Pervert pensioner John Harrington followed two young children in Lidl in Southport as he exposed himself and performed a lewd act.

He followed them on an electric mobility scooter and looked the little girl "up and down" with his genitals exposed in 2019.

The 75-year-old exposed himself to an 18-year-old student the next day at a bus stop and later performed a sex act in front of an elderly dementia sufferer at a care home.

The serial sex offender had waited for a previous suspended sentence to expire before finding his victims and told police he "done it because he could".

Harrington, of Albert Road, Southport, admitted two counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and three counts of exposure.

He was jailed for eight months, but Merseyside Police said they did not have his mugshot as he attended a voluntary interview.

Stephen Maguire

Hammer thug Stephen Maguire threatened Sayers staff on Christmas eve.

The 49-year-old raided a bakery on Speke Road in Hunts Cross and demanded money on December 24, 2017.

He fled with fistfuls of cash, but wasn't arrested until he was tracked down in Cheshire on December 8, 2020.

Police said his victims were left "incredibly shaken" by the incident, at around midday, just over three years ago.

Maguire, of East Dam Wood Road, Speke, admitted robbery and threatening a person with an offensive weapon.

He was jailed for five years and five months.

Jethro Hardy

Jethro Hardy teamed up with a fellow prisoner to ambush another inmate by launching a flying knee drop into his head.

He planned to mete out violence on Lukasz Solarz because his victim had issued threats a day earlier at HMP Altcourse in Fazakerley, it was claimed.

Hardy, 27, and another man trapped their target and rained down punches and kicks on him, while he lay on the floor, on June 20, 2019.

He was seen to jump into the air and then land with his knees on Mr Solarz's head.

Hardy, of Fernclough Road, Manchester, who had been locked up for seven years for aggravated burglary, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and breach of bail.

He was jailed for two years.

Christopher Lane

Christopher Lane tried to burn down his ex partner's house while she and her two children were still inside.

Emergency services were called to a home in Lever Street, Clock Face, St Helens, at around 4am, on May 18, 2020.

It followed a report that a car had been deliberately set alight, destroying the vehicle, and a front door torched and damaged.

Lane's former girlfriend, who had tried to end a brief relationship with Lane, and her two young children were inside the home.

The 30-year-old, of no fixed address, but from the Whiston area, admitted arson with intent to endanger life, witness intimidation and possessing cannabis during a trial.

Lane was jailed for 10 years.

Peter Wharton

Peter Wharton tried to hide £430 of heroin and crack cocaine up his sleeve.

A member of the public tipped off police that drug dealing was taking place in woodland next to Humphreys Close in Runcorn.

An officer visited the area on July 14, 2020 and saw 42-year-old Wharton, of Lowerson Road, Clubmoor, talking to another man.

The plastic package Wharton tried to conceal in his clothing contained 25 wraps of heroin and 18 wraps of crack cocaine, while he also had £850 in cash.

Wharton admitted two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

He was jailed for four years.

Jason Lawlor

Speeding driver Jason Lawlor killed a carer and left her disabled friend "fighting to walk again" for the second time in her life.

Lyndsey Green, 30, was sent spinning into the air after Lawlor "lost concentration" and hit speeds of 50mph on a 30mph stretch of West Derby Road in Kensington.

She was killed when the pair tried to cross the road, by its junction with Boundary Lane, to get a taxi at around 10.45pm on March 17, 2018.

Nicola Worrall, then 22, suffered devastating injuries to her head, abdomen and elbow, multiple broken bones, and spent months in rehab.

Lawlor, of Doric Road, Stoneycroft, lied and tried to suggest that he wasn't speeding.

He then claimed his victims had "run across the road" in his first police interview, but changed his story after CCTV footage proved they had walked at a normal pace.

Lawlor, an Marks & Spencer team leader, admitted causing death by careless driving.

The dad-of-two was previously convicted of driving without due care and attention and speeding in 2015, when he 'tailgated' another car on the M62.

He was jailed for nine months.

Ricky Hope

Ricky Hope was caught red handed in a cocaine factory.

Police found him lying on a sofa at a flat at the Churchill Mansions tower block in Runcorn town centre on Wednesday, October 14, 2020.

He told officers "you'll find what you’re looking for", before they recovered 708 grams of cutting agent boric acid, two hydraulic presses, a food blender, and scales.

Firefighters were called to cut into a large metal safe, which contained 162 grams of cocaine, worth up to £13,810 on the street, plus £7,000 in cash.

Hope's mobile phone contained texts showing his involvement in supplying cocaine.

The 29-year-old, of Caithness Court, Runcorn, admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and being concerned in its supply.

He was jailed for five years.

Anthony Cousins

Anthony Cousins repeatedly stabbed a friend after a cocaine and booze bender.

Dad-of-two Darren Nolan pleaded "stop stabbing me" and begged passers-by not to let him die, as Cousins stood over him in the street.

When a neighbour intervened to save the victim, Cousins fled, only to return and spout lies about a gang of intruders being responsible.

The 32-year-old, of Ruskin Close, Bootle even claimed he tried to save Mr Nolan from 'robbers', who he alleged had stolen his Rolex watch.

Cousins, who had 27 previous convictions for 16 offences, admitted wounding with intent.

He was jailed for 11 years and eight months, with an extended four years on licence.

Anthony Cahill

A gang ramraided a corner shop in a failed attempt to pull out a cash machine with a pick-up truck.

Four masked men broke into a crane hire business, then stole a Volkswagen Golf and a Ford Ranger truck from a car dealership, in the early hours of June 28, 2019.

The gang, including Anthony Cahill, 35,from Kirkby, then crashed the truck through the front of a Co-Op in Kilkhampton, Cornwall.

CCTV footage showed them attaching heavy-duty slings, stolen from the crane hire firm, to the cash machine and the truck, however, one of the slings snapped.

Cahill was traced through forensics and admitted conspiracy to commit burglary.

He was jailed for four years.

Carl Brown

Racist thug Carl Brown left a student partially blinded after punching him during a cocaine-fuelled bender.

Abdrabuh Albalawi required three operations - one of which included having part of his eye transplanted - as a result of his ordeal.

Brown, 27, walked up to Mr Albalawi near Tesco Express, at Mount Pleasant, on December 4, 2019 and said: "Where are you from?"

He then punched the victim in the face, causing Mr Albalawi's glasses to shatter in his eyes as he fell to the ground.

Brown, of Cefndre, Wrexham, admitted grievous bodily harm and racially aggravated wounding.

He was jailed for 22 months.

Dominic Lyons

Prolific shoplifter Dominic Lyons was banned from nearly every shop in Runcorn.

The 26-year-old, of Fenwick Lane, Halton Lodge, is only allowed to enter Runcorn Shopping City and the Premier Store in Halton Lodge.

Lyons was hit with a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order on April 10, 2019, which barred him from entering Asda and three Co-ops in the town.

He was undeterred and raided Aldi and Co-op branches last December and January.

Lyons admitted three thefts and three breaches of his Criminal Behaviour Order.

He was jailed for six months.

Kevin Dowling

Kevin Dowling threw a knife at a brave man who wrestled him to the ground.

Children were walking near a primary school when the 53-year-old was seen running in Poulton Road, Wallasey, shouting, with a blade in each hand.

Martin Smith, chased Dowling and tried to disarm him, but the thug responded by throwing a knife at him.

Mr Smith detained him until police arrived on November 2, 2020.

Dowling later told officers he had been drinking apple cider until 3am the night before and had "taken all his medication in one go".

Dowling, of Liscard Road, Wallasey, who has past convictions for carrying blades, admitted affray and two counts of possessing a blade in public.

He was jailed for 15 months.

Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas hurled a brick at a police car outside Liverpool Crown Court - just four days into a three-year ban on entering the city centre.

He was given a Criminal Behaviour Order on January 8 for a variety of offences and complaints about his "aggressive and violent" behaviour.

The order imposed a personal no-go zone on the 29-year-old, stretching from Lime Street and St Johns Shopping Centre to Chavasse Park.

It included Derby Square, where Thomas was spotted throwing a brick at a police car on Tuesday, January 12 - just four days after receiving the order.

Thomas, from Bootle, was jailed for eight weeks.

John Phillips

Predatory rapist John Phillips, who targeted children as young as three, was dragged back to court.

The paedophile groomed his victims by showering them with gifts and money, but also used violence and threats to keep them quiet.

He was previously locked up for 22 years in 2018, after being convicted of raping and sexually assaulting eight children.

But another man, who was repeatedly assaulted and raped by Phillips from the ages of three until around 14, came forward after that case concluded.

Phillips admitted nine counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, six counts of indecent assault, and two counts of indecency with a child.

The 50-year-old, who has links with Widnes and Runcorn, was handed a further seven years in jail.

Michael Trevillion

Michael Trevillion told police he was feeling ill in order to escape from hospital.

The 41-year-old forced his way into a home in Court Hey Avenue, Huyton and snatched jewellery on Friday, December 11, 2020.

He was arrested a short time later and found to have also carried out an attempted burglary earlier that day, in Archway Road, Huyton.

He was taken to hospital, but escaped the next day, before being arrested hours later.

Trevillion, of Barkbeth Road, Huyton, was convicted of burglary, attempted burglary and escape from lawful custody.

He was jailed for four years and four months.

Jonathan Doran

Jonathan Doran flew into a rage after finding another man in bed with his girlfriend.

The 35-year-old battered both victims and left them with black eyes and cuts.

Thomas Bates' injuries included a bleed on the brain and a broken nose, while Rachael Frost suffered a two inch cut to her head and bruises.

Doran had been due to travel abroad on August 17, 2020, but returned to his Birkdale home to collect his passport and found the pair in bed.

Doran, of Canterbury Way, Netherton, who admitted two counts of wounding, said he was extremely remorseful and had lost his home, job and relationship as a result of the "red mist" when he "found another man half naked in bed with his partner".

He was jailed for two and a half years.

Alan Reid

"Career criminal" Alan Reid was captured on camera while carrying a knife.

The 49-year-old was seen by CCTV operators acting suspiciously in Mersey Street in Warrington town centre at around 3am, on January 2, 2021.

Police arrested the prolific thief, when he was found to have a blade in his pocket.

Reid was previously jailed for two years and eight months in February 2017 for carrying out a destructive burglary at a hotel when disguised with a wig.

He admitted possessing a bladed article in public and was jailed for six months.

Toni Cross

Detectives identified a Merseyside-based county lines heroin and crack cocaine ring known as the 'Jay Jay' line after arresting Toni Cross.

The 41-year-old driver and drug mule, of Coleus Close, Walton, was first collared by Merseyside Police on October 4, 2019.

Officers caught her with 55 wraps of crack cocaine, with an estimated street value of £550, and 44 wraps of heroin, worth £410.

She was later bailed, but police stopped her vehicle on Park Road, on the outskirts of Barrow in Cumbria, on November 26 that year and recovered a tell tale SIM card.

Cross was also carrying a kinder egg, which showed traces of heroin and crack cocaine.

She admitted supplying both drugs and was jailed for four years.

Heather McCarthy

Heather McCarthy lied to a judge about having a baby to avoid jail but was found out and sent to prison.

The 33-year-old was spared jail in November 2020 when she told a court she had a 10-month-old baby at home.

The fraudster was instead given an eight-month suspended sentence for stealing £7,700 from her employers to feed a cocaine habit.

Judge Paul Lawton said he took McCarthy at her word about the baby, not believing that anyone "would be so brazenly dishonest".

But the same judge jailed her for eight months after McCarthy of Tewkesbury Close, West Derby, admitted being in contempt of court.

Graeme Hughes

Knife wielding Graeme Hughes begged a female shopkeeper to let him go when she grabbed his hand.

The cocaine and heroin fuelled crook produced a blade at Best-One convenience store in Mill Lane, Wallasey.

But the woman - the wife of the shop owner - who was working alone stacking shelves, fought back despite the fact he was holding a six-inch flick knife.

Hughes, of Portland Court, New Brighton, fled in his own car after the botched raid, at around 1.25pm, on October 12, 2020.

The 55-year-old, who admitted attempted robbery and possessing a knife in public, was jailed for three years and four months.

William Hesketh

William Hesketh kept an arsenal of weapons and had a loaded gun under his bed.

The 58-year-old admitted eight firearms offences after his property in St Helens was raided by police in December 2019.

In an outside shed, officers found his collection including 23 air rifles, 24 air pistols and 11 imitation firearms.

A total of 176 items were seized including axes; machetes and swords; flick, gravity, butterfly and zombie knives; and a knuckle duster.

A search of Hesketh's home in Mill Lane, Sutton Leach, found a loaded Kimar Lady K 9mm PAK semi-automatic pistol - an illegal weapon converted from a blank firing gun - under his bed.

A number of the weapons were held legally, but were also surrendered to police.

Hesketh was jailed for three years.

Victoria Webster

Victoria Webster text her extremist 'husband' from jail with a phone hidden in her bra.

Radicalised mum-of-two Webster and ex-wannabe WAG and model Amaani Noor sent around £50 each to a terrorist group in Syria.

Webster, then 28, from Lancashire, admitted providing money for terrorism and inviting another person to do the same and was jailed for 17 months in December 2019.

Noor, then 21, from Wavertree, who married a jihadist fighter, was found guilty of providing money for terrorism and locked up for 18 months.

Webster secretly 'married' Ricardo Langaigne aka Ricardo MacFarlane - a thug linked to extremists including Fusilier Lee Rigby's murderer Michael Adebolajo.

Prison officers at HMP Styal searched Webster's cell on July 29, 2020 and found Webster's mobile phone, which she had used to contact Langaigne 301 times.

Webster, 29, formerly of Pine Street in Nelson, admitted possessing a mobile phone in and transmission of calls from prison.

She was jailed for eight months.

Connah Jenkinson, John O'Brien and Joseph McEwan

The heartbroken family of Robert Beattie, who was set on fire in a brutal drug-related murder, described his killers as "inhumane".

The 48-year-old was squirted with petrol by a hooded gang who knocked on his door in Skelmersdale before setting him ablaze.

Five men - two of whom are still at large - had travelled from Liverpool to West Lancashire to enforce their dominance of the local heroin and crack cocaine trade.

Mr Beattie, who was a drug user, was targeted at his home in Waverley, at around 12.30am, on September 26, 2019.

Ringleader Connah Jenkinson, now 26, of Kremlin Drive, Tuebrook, was found guilty of murder and arson with intent to endanger life, the latter charge in connection with a separate attack earlier that evening.

His accomplices, John O'Brien, now 33, of Ingrave Road, Walton, and Joseph McEwan, now 19, of Damsire Close, Fazakerley, were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter and the same arson attack.

Jenkinson and his recruits believed their "Ronnie and Reggie" mobile phone line, used to sell Class A drugs, was being usurped by a rival phone line, nicknamed "Nathan".

The gang thought Mr Beattie was part of the competing dealing group and paid a visit to the town to "deter disloyalty".

Hours before targeting him, they also firebombed a separate home on Willow Hey, where they perceived rivals to live, but the occupants managed to escape.

Jenkinson was jailed for life, with a minimum of 30 years behind bars.

O'Brien and McEwan were handed sentences of 15 years and 13 years respectively.

Kevin McNeece

Kevin McNeece "destroyed" a man's life by swindling his savings in a £215,000 scam.

The "devious" liar was a director at Barcode Tech Ltd, which traded in barcode printers from Wavertree Technology Park.

But the dad-of-three was also a "confidence trickster", who stole more than £284,000 from four unsuspecting victims.

They included a solicitor, who broke down in tears when describing how his finances were left in ruins by the "disgrace" in the dock.

McNeece, 37, of Edgewell Drive, Childwall, convinced the man to invest some £215,000 in 2017 before he went to the police in 2018.

The conman, who also ripped off suppliers at three different companies, admitted four counts of fraud and perverting the course of justice.

McNeece was jailed for four years.

David Lightfoot

David Lightfoot was caught wearing a stolen watch and coat.

The 46-year-old broke into three houses in one night, during the early hours of February 4, 2020, in the Ellesmere Port area.

He stole a car, wallet, watch, coat, iPad mini, mobile phone, laptop and bottles of Chanel perfume from properties in Yewdale Drive, Randle Meadow and Yeoman Way.

However, when identified and arrested at his home, he didn't even take off the watch and coat he had taken from the home in Yeoman Way.

Lightfoot, of Princes Road, Ellesmere Port, admitted three counts of burglary, three counts of handling stolen goods and disqualified driving.

He was jailed for four years and three months.

Anthony Moss

Anthony Moss stormed his ex-partner's home with his new girlfriend.

Moss, 31, has two children with Gayle Smylie and one child with Kelly Featherstone and is said to have previously 'two-timed' the pair.

But after Miss Featherstone allegedly made controversial remarks about Smylie's family online, Moss and Smylie invaded her property.

The 42-year-old was dragged into the living room of her Clock Face home, struck in the leg by Moss with a bat, and repeatedly hit by Smylie.

The victim threw a mug at Smylie to defend herself, but Smylie, 29, picked up a broken shard and held it towards her neck, on October 20, 2018.

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Moss, of the Bechers, Hough Green, Widnes, admitted common assault and unrelated offences of theft by employee, burglary and theft.

He stole goods worth £2,757 while working for DPD at Stonebridge Industrial Estate in December 2017, and a £25,000 Mercedes van after breaking into Swift Despatch at Huyton Business Park in December 2018.

Moss was jailed for 21 months.

Mum-of-three Smylie, formerly of the same address in Widnes but now of Huyton, admitted affray. She received 12 months in jail, suspended for 18 months.

Jacob Bullen

Jacob Bullen stashed thousands of pounds worth of cocaine in his girlfriend's fridge.

Police raided his partner's property in Appleton Road, Walton on December 16 last year.

They found Bullen with two large blocks of the drug, worth up to £50,000 in total.

One block was 77% pure and the other 23% pure.

The 26-year-old, of Appleton Road, Walton, was already serving an eight-month suspended prison sentence for dealing cannabis, which he admitted breaching.

Bullen pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

He was jailed for six years and eight months.

Matthew Gomez

Matthew Gomez groomed a girl on Snapchat before meeting in woods near her home to sexually abuse her.

The then 20-year-old pretended to be 16 when he targeted two 13-year-old victims.

The now 23-year-old, of Crabtree Close, Netherley, secretly recorded photos of the children on his phone by using an iPad.

He later met up with one girl in Widnes, filmed her on his phone performing a sex act on him, then repeatedly asked for sex.

But when she told him to stop because he was hurting her, Gomez called her a "d***head" and as he walked away, revealed that he had recorded her.

Gomez admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children, featuring girls he had filmed on Snapchat, aged as young as eight.

He was found guilty after a trial of five sexual offences in respect of one 13-year-old girl, and two sexual offences in respect of a second girl, also aged 13.

Gomez was jailed for six and a half years.

Kelly Robertson

Kelly Robertson smuggled drugs into Jersey inside Kinder eggs stuffed into a condom.

The 45-year-old, from Birkenhead, was stopped soon after she arrived off an EasyJet flight from Liverpool on August 8, 2020.

She immediately admitted she was concealing drugs internally, and later removed three Kinder eggs, which were wrapped in a condom.

In total, the plastic toy capsules contained 70g of cocaine, with a street value of up to £9,100 if bulked up before selling, and a small amount of cannabis.

The mum admitted possessing the drugs with intent to supply.

She was jailed for four and a half years.

Mark Collins

Convicted killer Mark Collins left his girlfriend with a broken face in a fight over a false rape claim.

He threw a phone at his victim, who the ECHO chose not to name, punched her and bit her nose.

The 46-year-old left the woman with bruising on her brain and a deep cut to her face.

They were both drinking on July 14, 2020 when she began punching him and bit him on the wrist, then threatened to make the false allegation.

Collins, of Prenton Lane, Prenton, has a previous conviction of manslaughter in 2010, when he was locked up for five years and five months.

On that occasion he stabbed a criminal associate, who turned up to his home with another man and dog to attack him, and the man later died.

Collins admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and was jailed for two years.

Andrew Cousins

Andrew Cousins was caught with £500,000 of cocaine hidden in the back of his lorry.

Police stopped the 30-year-old when he was driving a white Volvo HGV along Princess Way, outside Seaforth Dock, on November 13, 2020.

Police dogs recovered five kilos of cocaine, thought to be destined for Northern Ireland, from a box in his trailer, which if adulterated could sell for up to half a million pounds.

Cousins, of Kilkeel, Northern Ireland, admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

The dad-of-two said he was a cocaine addict struggling for cash to feed his habit and provide for his family when his work dried up in the coronavirus pandemic.

He was jailed for six years.

Philip Strange

Philip Strange opened his door to a neighbour and then battered him with a pool cue.

The 33-year-old left Billy Joe Walsh partially blind after striking him at his St Helens' flat.

Mr Walsh was then chased by convicted robber Strange, on June 21 last year.

The neighbours had argued about where Strange left rubbish at his rear door and a comment he made to Mr Walsh's daughter.

The victim went to Strange's home in the early hours, but in the resulting incident suffered a dislocated eye lens and damage to his iris.

Strange, of North Road, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

He was jailed for two and a half years.

Adam Routledge

Rogue builder Adam Routledge swindled tens of thousands of pounds from victims.

The 36-year-old, of Stenhills Crescent, Runcorn, targeted householders including the elderly in Manchester, Runcorn and Northwich.

He used faked documents and even a non-existent building inspector to aid his duplicitous schemes from 2016 to 2018.

Routledge admitted fraud and asked for two other frauds to be taken into consideration.

He was previously spared jail for hitting a kitten against a wall in front of a child in 2020.

Routledge was jailed for three years and nine months.

Liam Mooney

Liam Mooney burgled the homes of young families and women recovering from cancer.

The 30-year-old, of Chaucer Street, Bootle, took people's credit cards to commit fraud.

He even stole a little boy's piggy bank, containing cash saved to buy Christmas parents.

The spree, from August to December 2020, centred around properties in Sefton.

Mooney admitted seven counts of burglary, five counts of fraud, one count of attempted burglary and dangerous driving.

The "third strike" burglar was jailed for seven years.

Joshua Edge

Joshua Edge stabbed a dog when it growled at him as he argued with his girlfriend.

The convicted woman beater picked up a kitchen knife and slashed nine-year-old West Highland Terrier Alfie to the neck when he started barking.

Alfie - belonging to his partner's mum - was left with a "significant laceration and bleeding", but was treated by vets and has since recovered.

The 27-year-old had earlier hit his partner, Ellie Carr, over the head with a piece of gym equipment, causing a two inch cut, and later punched her in the face.

The attacks took place at Miss Carr's Everton home on Boxing Day 2020, at around 3am and 6am, following drinking.

Edge, of no fixed address, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, criminal damage, three counts of assault by beating, and possessing cannabis.

He was jailed for 25 weeks.

Olaf Raetzel

Teacher and university worker Olaf Raetzel was finally jailed five years after being caught with child sex abuse videos.

The 51-year-old was arrested in Ormskirk in May 2015, but the technology development officer at Edge Hill University failed to turn up for a police interview and fled to Ireland.

He started a new life in Dublin where, despite his perverted past, he worked as a content moderator for a social media giant.

Raetzel was detained again last September on a European Arrest Warrant and extradited back to the UK to face justice over 21 sick files.

More than five years on from a police raid at his West Lancashire home, he admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

The German national, now of no fixed address, was jailed for five months.

Terence McEvoy

Terence McEvoy battered his own cousin to the point the victim didn't recognise himself in the mirror.

He punched and kicked Graham McEvoy in the head as he lay on the ground.

The victim suffered fractures to his nose, skull and inside both eye sockets - extending into the area where the brain rests.

The dad has developed a stutter - meaning he can't say his son's name properly - and lost his sense of taste and smell.

CCTV footage showed Terence, 31, attacking Graham, 39, in Pennine Drive, St Helens, at around 2.45am on July 12, 2020.

Terence, of Mcminnis Avenue, St Helens, who has 27 convictions for 36 offences, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was jailed for nine years.

Sonia Malhi

A woman helped three wicked sisters steal tens of thousands of pounds from people and businesses across the North West.

Sonia Malhi was part of a gang that ripped off Liverpool businesses, then splashed cash on fags, booze and hundreds of lottery tickets.

Sarah Burdon, 40, Lynsey Burdon, 36, and Emmiline Burdon, 29, were jailed last August, after admitting conspiracy to commit fraud.

They targeted luxury shops and restaurants in Liverpool One and the Metquarter to buy goods using payment details from receipts swiped from restaurants and hotels.

Malhi, 38, of Hobson Crescent, Audenshaw, admitted conspiracy to commit fraud, theft, possessing a weapon and possessing cocaine.

She also admitted a second fraud plot, relating to her own gang scamming nearly £14,000 from luxury hotels and restaurants in Cumbria.

Malhi was jailed for 20 months.

Kevin McCabe

'County Lines' drug dealer Kevin McCabe was caught out after hiding cocaine and heroin at home.

Police raided the property after he was suspected of being involved in dealing in Sussex, Newcastle-Under-Lyne and Staffordshire.

The 28-year-old was snared by officers when they arrived in Pershore Road, Kirkby, and recovered his stash of Class A drugs on December 14.

He admitted 10 offences including possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, being concerned in the offer of supply of both drugs, and driving offences.

McCabe was jailed for four years and nine months.

Daniel Leonard

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Daniel Leonard bit his mum's face after she tried to stop him attacking his pregnant sister.

The 34-year-old turned violent after an evening drinking at his mum's home in Runcorn on Boxing Day ran into the early hours of December 27.

Leonard, of Parish Mews, Knotty Ash, argued with his sister Natalie, then dragged her to the floor and threatened "I'll knock your f***ing teeth out" and "I'll end your life".

His mum Katherine told him "no you won't, get off her - she's pregnant", before pushing him away and telling Natalie to call the police.

Leonard dragged his mum to the floor, made threats then spat in her face, before he pulled her head up and bit the left side of her face.

He admitted common assault and assault causing bodily harm and was jailed for five months.

Josh Wade

Josh Wade emptied a shopping bag full of his faeces over a female NHS worker's head.

The then 21-year-old subjected his neighbour to "aggressive and unpleasant" behaviour for more than two months, amounting to a "campaign of harassment".

Wade spotted the victim - who the ECHO chose not to name - walking to work outside their properties in Ford Lane, Litherland, at around 7.15am, on October 1, 2020.

He ran at the woman, grabbed her and slapped her in the face with his hand holding the bag and smeared its contents over her head.

Wade, now 22, of Ford Lane, admitted administering a noxious substance and possessing cannabis.

He was jailed for 14 months.

Mark Senior

Serial abuser Mark Senior beat his girlfriend so badly she was left struggling to breathe.

The 40-year-old punched the woman to the floor and then kicked her in the ribs.

He had recently been released from prison for another offence against the same victim, who the ECHO chose not to name.

She applied for a previous restraining order against him to be lifted, after Senior promised her he wouldn't be violent again, but while they were having a drink together in her flat, she accidentally called him by her ex-boyfriend's name and he flipped.

Senior, who admitted assault by beating and criminal damage, had 28 previous convictions for 49 offences - 15 against the same victim.

The bully, of Alnwick Drive, Ellesmere Port, was jailed for 14 weeks.

James Duckworth

James Duckworth was the 'UK head of distribution' for a multi-million pound drug plot.

The 42-year-old went by the handle 'AtomicMantis' and nickname 'Silky' on the encrypted messaging service EncroChat.

The dad-of-two distributed more than 48kg of cocaine and heroin for an international drug trafficker known as "FierceCrow".

Notes on Duckworth's phone suggested he was responsible for paying out more than £4m to associates on just one day.

Photos showed £385,000 of cash laid out in front of the fireplace of his family's Langdale Close, Kirkby home - along with kilos of Class A drugs opened for inspection.

Officers raided Duckworth's home on June 18, 2020, when they seized "thousands of pounds" in cash, a money counting machine and other drug paraphernalia.

He admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, plus conspiracy to convert criminal property and possessing criminal property.

Duckworth was jailed for 16 and a half years.

Colin Poole

Colin Poole stole nearly £300 of chocolate and meat in a two-day spree.

The 39-year-old was hit with a Criminal Behaviour Order, banning him from entering any Co-op store in Widnes at the end of January.

But he took £180 of chocolate during two visits to a Co-op on Hale Road in Widnes on January 29 and the next day stole £101 of meat from a shop at Fir Park in Upton Rocks.

Poole, of no fixed address, admitted three thefts and breaching his order.

He was jailed for 24 weeks.

Jordan Hughes

Jordan Hughes traded cocaine and heroin with crooks using names of Liverpool FC stars on EncroChat.

The drug dealer went by the alias 'SnowEmu' on the encrypted messaging service.

The dad-of-two, who had no legitimate income, owned a Mercedes SUV and boasted of a two-storey extension to his Holly Grove, Roby home.

The 30-year-old even took his family on a six-week holiday to Spain, all thanks to his deals with criminals going by handles including "JurgenNeverStops" and "AlissonBecker".

But just days after the family returned from the extravagant trip, police raided their house and arrested the dealer, involved in trafficking an estimated 15kg of Class A drugs.

Hughes admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin.

He was jailed for 12 years.

Kaya Colakoglu

Knife wielding Kaya Colakoglu was recognised when he removed a surgical mask to buy booze just moments after robbing a shop.

The 29-year-old raided a store on Westminster Road. in Ellesmere Port. on January 2 this year, at around 8.30pm, armed with a large knife.

However, shortly after, Colakoglu dropped his disguise when buying rum and a soft drink at a convenience store in nearby Stanley Road.

Detectives released CCTV images of unmasked Colakoglu, who was identified and arrested at his home in Lime Street, Ellesmere Port, just 17 hours after the raid.

Colakoglu admitted robbery and possessing a knife, plus breaching a 10-month suspended sentence.

He was jailed for four years and two months.

James Tighe

James Tighe's former girlfriend woke up naked and covered in blood and bruises after a "mystery" attack.

He launched a sustained and repeated assault on his former partner after she went on a night out without him in February 2020.

The woman, who the ECHO chose not to name, last remembered Tighe "winding" her in an argument about her mobile phone.

She woke to find more than 20 bruises to her arms and hands, a black eye, lumps to her head and bruises to her hip and knee.

The woman's long hair, stretching down to her bottom, was left so "matted and knotted" that it had to be cut off by a hairdresser.

But her ex refused to reveal what he did to his victim and claimed that aside from one slap she caused all the injuries to herself.

Tighe, 35, of Edwin Street, Widnes, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage.

He was jailed for two years and three months.

Dean Pitts

Dean Pitts who "enslaved" a young mum stormed out of his own sentencing because he lacked the "courage" to face up to his crimes.

Pitts, aka Dean Mansfield, was "extremely controlling" and violent to his partner, who the ECHO chose not to name, from May to November 2020.

the 27-year-old punched her, broke her iron, attacked her dad when he intervened and broke his phone, then later kidnapped her.

On November 23 she fled into a shop, but he twice dragged her out and forced her into her car, then drove off, after punching a passer-by and kicking a shopkeeper.

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Pitts, of no fixed address but from Warrington, admitted controlling and coercive behaviour, kidnap, assault causing actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and two counts of criminal damage.

He also admitted burglary, after stealing seven shotguns from a firearms store in 2019.

His 18 previous convictions for 47 offences include causing unnecessary suffering to an animal - a dog that had to be put down.

Pitts was jailed for five years and 10 months.

Richard Roberts

Richard Roberts who stabbed a man to death in Magaluf was caught at a B&M store with two knives.

The then 36-year-old murdered British barman Daniel Hastelow on the Spanish island of Majorca in January 2008 by knifing him eight times.

The Liverpool man was jailed for 18 years in October 2009.

But the killer was released and spotted acting suspiciously at Cherry Tree Shopping Centre in Wallasey in December 2019.

And when a security guard found two blades, Roberts claimed he needed them to cut up food because he doesn't have any teeth.

Roberts, now 47, of Rankin Street, Wallasey, was convicted of possessing a knife in public, after being acquitted of a second count of the same charge.

The killer was jailed for four months.

Ryan Gilbertson

Ryan Gilbertson was branded a "danger to women" after battering two more victims.

The 30-year-old knocked out one girlfriend's teeth by repeatedly punching her.

She had confronted him over an ECHO article about the wanted serial abuser.

The attack took place just months after he brutalised another partner, vandalised her home and chased her dogs with knives.

Gilbertson, formerly of Toxteth, targeted that mum during their relationship in early January 2020, when he headbutted and kicked her.

He then battered the second partner in June, when she lost three of her front teeth.

Gilbertson, formerly of Hyslop Street, Toxteth, admitted controlling and coercive behaviour and assault causing actual bodily harm.

He was jailed for two and a half years.

Seamus Maughan and Terence Mongan

Seamus Maughan and Terence Mongan tried to run from the police when stolen catalytic converters were found in their car boot.

The pair, both of Warrington Road, Runcorn, were foiled after officers pounced following reports that men in a green Toyota Avensis had removed the converters from parked cars in Padgate and Grappenhall in Warrington on Friday, October 16 last year.

A search found the car at Gemini Retail Park at around 8.30pm with the catalytic converters and tools inside.

Maughan, 38, and Mongan, 45, both admitted two counts of theft from a motor vehicle and one of going equipped for theft.

Mongan was locked up for two and a half years.

Maughan also admitted driving while disqualified.

He was jailed for two years and eight months.

Michael Townsend

Drug dealer Michael Townsend aka "SacredMask" on EncroChat was brought down after his secret messages were hacked by police.

The 26-year-old, of Grant Road, Huyton, was arrested in June 2020.

Messages from his handle on the encrypted communication service spoke about the multi-kilo supply of cannabis to a number of different people.

He admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis and acquire/use/possess criminal property.

Townsend was sentenced to six years in prison.

Robert Forbes

Robert Forbes who raided a shop armed with a screwdriver and terrified a female worker was caught after he called a taxi to help escape.

The crook also ditched his trousers in a bin during his getaway, which were traced back to him as they revealed his DNA.

Cocaine-fuelled Forbes struck at the convenience store on Old Chester Road in Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port, on January 12 last year, making off with £200.

The 40-year-old was later surrounded by police as he sat in his car on January 14 and rammed a patrol car parked behind him.

He surrendered after an officer aimed a Taser at him and admitted robbery, dangerous driving and driving without a licence and insurance.

Forbes, of Sutton Way in Great Sutton, was jailed for four years and two months.

Peter Yeung

'Evil' boyfriend Peter Yeung repeatedly attacked his girlfriend before she took her life.

He physically, emotionally and financially abused nurse Alexandra Reid, but told her no one would believe her if she reported him.

An inquest found Alexandra, known as Alex, chose to end her own life on February 24, 2020 because she feared no one would believe she was suffering at his hands.

The 35-year-old abuser throttled, kicked and burst the lip of Alex when they lived together in Wylva Road, Anfield, and even tried to phone the police to cover his tracks, claiming she would "make up" the attacks.

The former takeaway worker, of Park Road, Toxteth, was found guilty of two counts of assault and admitted criminal damage.

A judge said he was "calculating and thoroughly dishonest" while Alex's sister, Katy Reid, branded him "evil".

Yeung was jailed for six months.

Jamie Swindells and Kyle Williams

Drug dealer Jamie Swindells nicknamed "Scouse Jay" helped flood Ellesmere Port with heroin and cocaine.

The 28-year-old's home was raided by detectives at the end of a nine-month undercover operation last June in Merseyside and Cheshire.

Police discovered a Samurai sword, drug paraphernalia, a safe and a gold Rolex worth more than £10,000 at Swindells' home in Missouri Drive, Great Sankey, Warrington.

At the top of the gang's hierarchy was EncroChat user Mark Cavanagh, from Wallasey, jailed last September for 14 and a half years.

Dad-of-one Swindells and his accomplice Kyle Williams, 20, of Colemere Court, Ellesmere Port, both admitted conspiracy to supply crack cocaine.

Swindells, who also admitting possessing cannabis with intent to supply, had 11 past convictions for 33 offences, including dealing cocaine and heroin.

He was jailed for seven years.

Williams had one past conviction for possessing a bladed article and cannabis in 2019.

He was locked up for three years.

Robert Murray

Robert Murray took advantage of two teenage boys while he worked at a children's home in the 1970s.

He 'breached the trust' of his victims while he was employed at the home, abusing the boys on a number of occasions.

The 76-year-old was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault after putting his victims through the ordeal of a trial.

Jurors returned unanimous verdicts against the paedophile, of Harrismith Road in Fazakerley.

Murray was jailed for 11 years.

George Carpenter and Adam Achramowicz

Liverpool rapper George Carpenter bragged about a planned revenge attack then petrol bombed a woman's home.

Carpenter, aka Carpo, instructed an unknown male to throw a wine bottle full of petrol into a house in Edge Hill after an Instagram feud.

Prosecutors said the 33-year-old had "bad blood" with Tremaine Wiltshire, another Liverpool rapper known as Tremz.

Tremz shared a video of Carpenter's nan's home being attacked with missiles on his Instagram account on July 10 last year.

Carpenter then shared his own video, in which he detailed plans to "light up" a woman's home, who was the mum of a friend of Tremz.

The next day Adam Achramowicz picked up Carpenter and the unknown male from Milton Keynes in exchange for free drugs, then drove them to Liverpool and back.

The unknown male launched the petrol bomb into the woman's home at around 5.15am.

Fortunately the woman was awake and the fire was put out, but she suffered burns.

Carpenter, of no fixed address, but previously of Walton, admitted committing arson with intent to endanger life.

His criminal record includes sexual offences, robbery and drug dealing.

Carpenter was jailed for 12 years, with an extended two years on licence.

Achramowicz, 33, of Towpath Avenue, Northampton, admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

He was jailed for four years.

Jason Hall

Liverpool University archaeologist Jason Hall tried to arrange sex with a 13-year-old girl while her mum watched.

The 50-year-old even took a train to Chester to abuse the child, but neither the woman nor her daughter were real and he was instead met by police.

Officers searched his rucksack and found a pack of condoms and an Easter egg he bought for his intended victim.

When they searched his Greenbank Road, Mossley Hill home, police discovered more than 2,000 indecent images of children.

Hall was caught by decoy undercover officers on an adult website in 2018.

He admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity, three counts of downloading indecent images and possessing extreme porn.

Hall was jailed for two years and eight months.

Graham Bell

Graham Bell held a lit blowtorch to his girlfriend's face.

The "sadistic" bully lashed out after she returned from a shift working as a nurse.

The 22-year-old went through messages on her phone and accused her of 'slagging him off' on October 16, 2020.

He threw the phone at the woman, leaving her with a black eye, before kicking her and covering her in nail varnish remover.

He wielded the blowtorch and threatened: "No matter where you run I will find you."

On December 18 he hit a female friend over the head with a glass bottle, pinned her down with his knees, held a knife and asked: "Do you want me to make you bleed?"

Bell, of Brookside Close, Prescot, was convicted of causing actual bodily harm and wounding.

He was jailed for three and a half years.

Liam Cooney

Liam Cooney sent revenge porn to the iPad of his three-year-old son when he was drunk and high on cocaine.

He hacked into his ex girlfriend's social media accounts before locking her out so he could share the intimate photo.

The 33-year-old posted the picture of her performing a sex act on Instagram and Snapchat, which he said he found "cathartic".

Cooney, of Halebank Road, Widnes, admitted three counts of disclosing private sexual photographs.

He was jailed for 12 months.

Lee Andrews

Lee Andrews broke into a family's home when they were on holiday and stole a child's savings and XBox.

The 32-year-old targeted an address in St Helens at the end of July 2020, when he also took bottles of whisky worth £200.

A neighbour contacted the family, prompting a relative to visit and discover a smashed window, an "untidy search" and £600 of missing items.

Andrews, of no fixed address, said he raided the home to fund his heroin and crack cocaine addiction.

The crook admitted burglary and was jailed for 12 months.

Stephen Rimmer

Stephen Rimmer who has a history of battering women was cleared of pushing his girlfriend out of a second floor window.

Natalie O'Dea was left fighting for her life after she fell from her flat to a car park below during a row with Stephen Rimmer.

The mum-of-two was rushed into critical care with injuries including multiple spine fractures and a collapsed lung on July 10, 2020.

Prosecutors alleged Ms O'Dea was shoved out of the window by the violent and controlling bully with convictions for repeatedly attacking her and other women.

But the 37-year-old, of Crossway, Widnes, was acquitted by a jury of all but one of a string of alleged assaults, including charges which related to his now ex-partner's fall.

He was convicted of one count of common assault - an attack when he pushed Ms O'Dea in a street, in front of a witness.

Rimmer was jailed for three months.

Benjamin Goodrum

Benjamin Goodrum repeatedly raped a girl after grooming her over WhatsApp.

The 22-year-old abused his vulnerable victim then threatened her to stay quiet.

But the "horrendous" abuse came to light when her parents found sick messages from him on her phone, including a request from Goodrum to see a picture of the child's bra.

The victim's mum later confronted Goodrum, who claimed he had twice touched her daughter inappropriately.

However, the victim revealed Goodrum, of Seacombe, Wirral, carried out "a campaign of sexual abuse".

Goodrum asked the child for naked pictures and sent her a photo of his penis and a video of him performing a sex act.

He admitted three counts of rape, three counts of attempted rape, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of sexual assault of a child, four counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual activity with a child.

Goodrum was jailed for 10 years, with an extended one year on licence, as "an offender of particular concern".

Scott Flood

Scott Flood threatened to rape his girlfriend and burn down her home after drinking three Desperados and a bottle of Jagermeister with his breakfast.

The 33-year-old was drunk when he turned up at Jessica Williams' address in Kirkby, at around 4.30pm, on March 17, 2020.

Terrified, the victim hid in her bathroom and called a friend as Flood made the horrific threats after she refused to let him in.

Flood, of Richard Kelly Drive, Walton, was also arrested in Anfield on May 7 and found to be carrying cannabis, after telling shop workers he was going to walk into traffic.

Flood, who had 31 previous convictions for 55 offences, was convicted of using threatening or abusive words and possessing cannabis.

He was jailed for four months.

Darren Ascroft

Drug dealer Darren Ascroft panicked when cornered by police and hurled his bike at an officer.

He was followed onto Coral Drive in Bootle after pedalling away from two police cars.

Officers told him to stop but he threw his bike at one officer, smashed his mobile phone on the ground and tried to hop over a garden fence, on January 18, 2021.

However, he was found to have 30 to 50 wraps of both cocaine and heroin.

Ascroft, 39, of County Road, Walton, admitted possessing both drugs with intent to supply.

He was jailed for two years and 10 months.

Paul Albertsen

Prison officer Paul Albertsen stole thousands of pounds worth of electronics from the jail where he worked.

The 42-year-old, of Bermuda Road, Moreton, Wirral, took items from HMP Forest Bank in Salford before selling them on via Ebay or at CeX stores.

Albertsen stole DVDs and games consoles, which were used during workshop classes.

The prison officer of 15 years made £95,000 from the scheme, which involved three other bent prison guards now behind bars.

Albertsen, who was an orderly officer, admitted theft from October 2015 to June 2017 and two counts of possessing criminal property.

He was jailed for 15 months.

Kayleigh Dolan

Kayleigh Dolan and her former soldier fiance Ashley McArthur carried out a petrol bomb attack on the home of her ex-boyfriend.

Dolan and McArthur crept up to Stephen Shaw's lounge window and hurled a firebomb onto a sofa as he was inside watching TV.

The victim, 20, suffered burns to his hands and legs and as he dashed into his garden to douse the flames in a paddling pool, heard McArthur shout: ''Ha, ha, got you.''

Mr Shaw's brothers, aged 11 and 16, plus his mother and stepfather were in the wrecked home in Middleton, near Rochdale, at the time.

Dolan, 20, of Hollybank Street, St Helens, had made threatening calls to Mr Shaw, who dumped her after learning she was dating Rochdale man McArthur.

Dolan admitted arson over the incident on June 10, 2020, plus affray. She was jailed for three years.

Rochdale man McArthur admitted arson, affray, assault, having a bladed article and dangerous driving. He was jailed for four years and 10 months.

Mark Davies

Mark Davies turned to drug dealing to fund his own cocaine addiction.

The dad-of-three was caught with dozens of wraps of cocaine and more than £2,000 in cash when police stopped his car in Southport.

The 38-year-old, was arrested in Southbank Road on October 19, 2019 with a near £3,300 stash of some 50 wraps.

Officers then searched his home in Upper Aughton Road, Southport and discovered a cannabis farm of eight plants.

He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and producing cannabis.

Davies was jailed for three years and three months.

Gang of youths who shot teenage boy

A gang of boys hunted down and shot a teenager as he tried to escape over a wall.

The victim, 17, climbed onto a wheelie bin when cornered in an alleyway by three youths, including an alleged gunman aged just 16.

But he was hit in the stomach by a bullet that perforated his bowel, fractured one of his vertebrae and narrowly missed his spine, in a suspected "gang related dispute".

Half of his colon was removed as a result of the shooting, off Station Road near Cables Retail Park in Prescot, at around 4.50pm, on January 20, 2020.

Five boys, aged 13 to 16, none of whom can be named for legal reasons, were arrested and all denied attempted murder.

Two of the children were cleared of any wrongdoing, but three were convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on the basis of "joint enterprise".

Prosecutors said Boy A, a 17-year-old from Huyton with no previous convictions, was the gunman. He was locked up for seven years and nine months.

It was alleged Boy B, a 16-year-old from Dovecot, was armed with a knife, which he produced in the alley.

Boy B, who had four convictions for seven offences including assaults and carrying a blade, was locked up for eight years and four months.

Boy C, a 17-year-old from Huyton, who was with them in the alleyway, had nine past convictions for 18 offences, including street robberies and kidnaps.

He was locked up for nine years, with an extended three years on licence.

Michael Miller

Michael Miller raided a family's home but fled thanks to a barking dog.

The 29-year-old was one of two men who tried to force their way into a house.

The bungled break-in attempt happened in Widnes, at around 12.30am, on Monday, September 21, 2020.

But the men didn't count on the family's dog, whose barking woke its owners and frightened off the crooks.

CCTV footage showed the pair fleeing empty handed and Miller was arrested in Liverpool in December.

Miller, of Eversley, Widnes, admitted attempted burglary and was jailed for two years.

Ronnie Whitby

Ronnie Whitby trapped his girlfriend at the Adelphi Hotel and battered her after accusing her of sleeping with other guests.

The 29-year-old refused to let Claire Mawdsley leave their room at the venue in Ranelagh Place, Liverpool city centre.

The woman beater, who has 57 previous convictions for 90 offences, then inflicted two black eyes in a drunken rage.

The victim eventually managed to persuade Whitby to go to a shop at Lime Street Station, where she locked herself in a toilet, on February 12, 2020.

Whitby, of Boundary Street, Kirkdale, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and failing to surrender.

His record includes robbery, an attack on an ex-partner, affray during the infamous 'White Man March' in Liverpool, and two previous assaults against Miss Mawdsley.

Whitby was jailed for 18 months.

Phillip Hajimichael

A DJ who stashed cocaine and Viagra at his mum's home was caught thanks to a faulty brake light on his Audi.

Phillip Hajimichael, better known as DJ Philly Hajy, plays house music, techno and disco at bars and nightclubs across Merseyside.

But the 36-year-old had 22 wraps of cocaine hidden in his underpants when stopped by police on his way to a New Year's Eve party.

When officers searched his mum's address in Litherland the following day, they found more cocaine, Viagra, scales and snap bags.

Officers stopped his Audi A6 on St Domingo Road in Everton, at around 10.35pm on December 31, 2019, when they also seized two mobile phones and £558 in cash.

His mum's home was searched on January 1, 2020, taking the total amount of cocaine recovered to 20.4g, with an estimated street value of up to £2,058 if adulterated.

He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed for two years.

Anthony Kelly

Anthony Kelly tried to bite a police officer when they wrestled in the street.

The 27-year-old was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Birkenhead.

Kelly, of Makin Street, Walton, grappled with a policeman and they both fell to the ground in Exmouth Street.

The officer sprayed Kelly with pepper spray, but inadvertently blinded himself.

When he finally managed to restrain him, the thug tried to sink his teeth into the officer's right arm, at around 10.30pm, on July 9 last year.

Kelly was already serving a suspended prison sentence, imposed in June 2019, for common assault, sending a threatening communication and possessing a blade, after attacking his girlfriend and threatening to "smash" her face in.

He admitted assaulting an emergency worker, being drunk and disorderly, and breaching his suspended sentence.

Kelly was jailed for seven months.

Thomas Peers

Thomas Peers rammed a man against shutters with his van and then slashed his neck.

The 29-year-old went on the terrifying rampage using his vehicle to chase David Howard, then attacked him with a machete.

Peers pursued him through Prescot streets on the morning of Sunday, July 19, 2020.

CCTV footage showed Peers using the van as a weapon to ram Mr Howard against roller shutters, before the victim staggered away.

Peers and another man then chased the victim on foot before Peers caught him in an alleyway and slashed him across the neck.

Peers, of Woodlands Road, Roby, was convicted of attempting to commit grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and dangerous driving after a trial. He admitted possessing a bladed article.

He was jailed for 12 years, with an extended four years on licence.

Patrick Jones

Patrick Jones was injured by a homeowner armed with a knife during a burglary.

The 29-year-old, from Kirkby, and a second unknown man broke into a house in Warrington Road in Culcheth, near Warrington, on March 1 2019, while the owner had gone out for a meal.

But when the victim returned there was a confrontation between him and the intruders, after which he told police he believed he'd injured them with a knife.

The homeowner was not charged with any offence.

Jones’ DNA was later found on the blade and he admitted two counts of burglary.

He was jailed for a total of four years and nine months for his part in the raid in Culcheth and a second burglary at a garage in Preston.

John Dunbar

Convicted rapist John Dunbar hurled "vile" racist insults at Christmas shoppers.

Dunbar, aka Stuart Partington, was filmed in Liverpool One launching a tirade of abuse at three Asian men on December 2.

The 57-year-old was captured on camera hurling insults such as "c***s" and "horrible b******s" at passers-by at around 5pm, then yelled insults about Muslims.

When challenged by onlookers, Dunbar told people that he had just been released from jail, after serving 26 years in prison.

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Dunbar, who has 26 previous convictions for 60 offences, was jailed for eight years for rape in 1991, then released in 1995.

That year he robbed female staff in four shops with a knife and imitation gun, sexually assaulting one victim, and also indecently assaulted two men, resulting in a life sentence with a recommended eight years in prison.

Dunbar, of Great Howard Street, Liverpool city centre, admitted two counts of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour, and one count of resisting or obstructing a constable, assaulting an emergency worker, possession of a bladed article and racially aggravated harassment.

He was jailed for three years.

David Moriarty

David Moriarty failed to comply with the requirements of the Sex Offenders Register.

The pervert was placed on the register for seven years after he was jailed for exposure in October 2015.

The 69-year-old had to notify police of any change of address within three days.

But he repeatedly breached the terms of the register, most recently in October of last year, when he failed to notify police he was of no fixed address, after being released from prison for a drug offence.

Moriarty, who has 44 previous convictions for 81 offences, was jailed for 18 weeks.

Andrew Annette and James Rendell

A teenage boy who repeatedly swung a machete at another youth at a shopping centre received no punishment.

The 15-year-old was captured on camera chasing an unknown male with a two foot blade at Pyramids Birkenhead on Wednesday, September 11, 2019.

The boy, 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with affray and possessing a bladed article.

Two older thugs, Andrew Annette, 32, and James Rendell, 35, were jailed for their part in the shocking disturbance, at around 10.50am.

Annette and the youth - who was brandishing the machete - chased the victim, after Rendell had earlier been seen waving a large kitchen knife.

Rendell, of Bullens Road, Walton, but formerly of Birkenhead, admitted affray and possessing a bladed article - namely a kitchen knife.

Annette, of Seabank Road, New Brighton, admitted affray and breach of bail.

Rendell was jailed for 16 months and Annette for 15 months.

The machete wielding teen was dealt with by police using an out of court disposal - usually reserved for low-level crime and anti-social behaviour like graffiti or criminal damage. The two charges against him were then withdrawn by prosecutors.

Merseyside Police said the Crown Prosecution Service and Youth Offending Team decided prosecuting the boy "wasn't in the public interest" because of his previous "good character" and "positive" engagement since the incident.

Jason Franey

Knife wielding Jason Franey who terrorised a newsagents was slashed by a shop worker with a large machete.

The convicted robber and burglar demanded £20,000 from Sallem Alaqel, who owns Sam's Local Store in Kensington, in 2020.

He threatened to burn down his shop, to "get" his son after school, and to knife him and worker Abdullah Hussein on November 11.

But when Franey returned and attacked Mr Hussein, the shop worker defended himself with a large blade hidden under a counter.

CCTV footage showed Mr Hussein slash Franey's left wrist and forehead - breaking bones and slicing open an artery.

Mr Hussein was not charged with any offence in relation to the incident, on December 5, 2020.

Franey, 31, of Sutcliffe Street, Kensington, who has 28 past convictions for 70 offences, admitted blackmail, wounding, two counts of having a bladed article, intimidating a witness, criminal damage and threatening to damage or destroy property.

He was jailed for six and a half years.

Adam Murphy

Adam Murphy was part of a notorious gang that used gas to blow up ATMs leaving a £1.5m trail of destruction.

Brothers Andrew and Anthony White's firm deployed gas tanks to break into cash machines and roared off at speeds of up to 150mph.

They blasted open around 30 cash points in 2013, but were eventually traced to a hide-out at a house in Sandy Meadows, Huyton.

Seven men were previously jailed for a total of 92 years over the plot, but Murphy spent nearly seven years on the run.

During that time the fugitive was spotted in a stolen Audi S5 with a woman on Sheil Road, at around 2.15am, on May 4, 2015.

He was chased by police and went through red lights before he crashed and fled on foot, leaving his passenger seriously injured.

Murphy, 35, of no fixed address, was eventually arrested by police in December 2019.

He was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions and conspiracy to burgle, and convicted of aggravated vehicle taking and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Murphy was jailed for 17 years.

Lawrence Barnes

Lawrence Barnes left a scooter rider with brain injuries after speeding away from police at 90mph.

The 21-year-old was behind the wheel of a stolen Vauxhall Zafira in Kirkby, at around 8pm, on July 16, 2019.

He drove into oncoming traffic on the dual carriageway and crashed into scooter rider Gabriel Marques, then fled on foot.

The victim, who also suffered a broken skull and cheekbone, a bruised lung and a wound to his right foot, will be on medication for life.

Barnes, of Byton Walk, Kirkby, was caught that evening, when he had a bag of ketamine and confessed to taking cocaine the night before.

He admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, handling stolen property and possessing ketamine.

Barnes was jailed for two years and 10 months.

Alexander Nyarashe

Alexander Nyarashe who was caught flushing drugs down a toilet had made 'drill' rap music videos confessing to his crimes.

The 22-year-old, from Jubilee Drive in Kensington, was part of a county lines gang who flooded Carlisle with crack cocaine and heroin on a phone number ending in '666'.

Police identified members of the gang who were using the 'Red Line' to brand the drugs they were selling between May 4 and 18, 2020.

Officers traced the 'Red Line' phone on May 19, when they caught Nyarashe red handed.

Along with messages related to drug dealing, officers discovered "drill" rap music lyrics on Nyarashe's phone, in which he boasted of carrying guns and machetes, flogging drugs, and also claimed to have stabbed and shot gang rivals in Liverpool.

Nyarashe admitted supplying crack cocaine and heroin.

He was jailed for three and a half years.

Fartam Bassiri

Fartam Bassiri was caught with child and animal abuse images at his family's home which he sent across Europe.

One of three videos of child rape sent by the dad-of-three involved two boys engaged in a sexual act with a donkey.

Police found 30 indecent images of children on Bassiri's laptop when they raided his home in Warrington in December 2018.

The 46-year-old, of Keyes Close, Birchwood, also had two still images of extreme pornography involving animals and six videos.

Bassiri admitted three counts of downloading, three counts of distributing and one count of possessing indecent images of children, and possessing extreme porn.

He claimed he didn't have a sexual interest in children and shared the files in "disgust".

A judge said he didn't believe his excuses and jailed him for 20 months.

Jack Brooke

Jack Brooke randomly assaulted an innocent OAP in an unprovoked attack.

The "despicable" incident happened when the 81-year-old victim was walking alone in Warrington on October 22, 2020.

Brooke, 22, grabbed hold of the pensioner and punched him two or three times in the head, knocking him to the ground.

The victim suffered a bruised ear and has endured repeated headaches and flashbacks.

Brooke, of Kingsway South in Latchford, Warrington, was convicted of assault and also criminal damage, relating to a separate incident in August 2020, when he broke a window at a house with a plant pot.

He was jailed for 18 weeks.

Paul Boardman and Terry Hathaway

Paul Boardman and Terry Hathaway went on a terrifying robbery spree targeting coffee shops and bakeries.

The pair raided seven stores including Starbucks, Costa and Greggs across Merseyside in November and December 2020.

Two further attempted robberies were foiled, while Boardman carried out two more robberies without his accomplice.

Victims, including female staff, outlined how their harrowing ordeals left them suffering from anxiety and panic attacks.

Together the men took more than £11,000.

Boardman, of Peckmill Green, Netherley, admitted conspiracy to rob, robbery and breaching a suspended sentence for two burglaries.

The 44-year-old, who has 17 convictions for 51 offences, was jailed for eight and a half years.

Hathaway, of Parkview Drive, also in Netherley, admitted conspiracy to rob.

The 40-year-old, whose previous convictions include robbery, was jailed for 10 and a half years.

Shaun Done

Shaun Done ferried cocaine and cannabis in his taxi across Merseyside.

His double life came toppling down when he was outed as 'NuttyLeopard' - his alias used on encrypted messaging service EncroChat.

The private hire driver with Britannia Taxis in Huyton transported drugs and money to and from safe houses and locations across Merseyside from March to June 2020.

Police stopped Done, 25, on St Johns Road in Huyton on November 10, 2020.

They then searched his then home in Beech Road, Huyton and found £27,883 stashed in various places including dirty washing baskets.

The dad-of-one,of Homestead Close, Huyton, admitted conspiracies to supply cocaine and cannabis, and to possess criminal property.

He was jailed for seven years and nine months.

Daniel Flanagan

Daniel Flanagan robbed an Aldi supermarket at knifepoint then claimed he had been threatened with gang rape to do it.

The 22-year-old entered the store, in Derby Road, Widnes, at around 8.30pm on November 23, 2020, wearing a hood and face mask.

He demanded two terrified workers fill his 'bag for life' with cash and produced a knife.

Flanagan, of Rivenmill Way, Widnes, made off with £640, but thanks to a brave witness who followed him, police caught him and seized the knife, cannabis and two hammers.

Flanagan admitted robbery, having a bladed article in public, and possessing cannabis.

He was jailed for two years and eight months.

Robert Patterson

Robert Patterson hurled a mug of faeces in a female prison officer's hair then laughed.

The convict was jailed for life after slashing one man across the face and slicing open another victim's arm.

Then 31, he was told to serve a minimum of six years behind bars in 1999.

But he has spent most of the last 22 years behind bars and was recalled to HMP Altcourse in Fazakerly again in January 2020.

The 53-year-old targeted the victim, who the ECHO has chosen not to name, on the prison's Canal Blue unit on July 28, 2020.

He struck at around 8.45am and later laughed and grinned at the woman, who was "shocked and disgusted by the incident".

Patterson, formerly of Hillside Road, Blacon, Chester, admitted unlawfully and maliciously administering a noxious thing.

He was jailed for two years.

Jamie Moylan

Jamie Moylan whose motorbike broke down was found with wads of cash in his tracksuit bottoms and bags of cannabis under his seat.

The ECHO previously reported how the 26-year-old shattered both of his legs after falling from a balcony while on a 'dream holiday'.

It later emerged the dad-of-one is a convicted cocaine and ecstasy dealer who was awaiting sentence over an incident on May 26.

Police arrested him after he pulled up in St Catherines Gardens, Birkenhead and told police he was "having problems with his motorbike".

Moylan - previously locked up for three years for dealing cocaine and MDMA in 2015 - admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

The dealer, of Borough Road, Birkenhead, was jailed for 10 months.

Michael McDonagh

Michael McDonagh carved his cousin's back open with a Stanley knife when a wedding erupted into chaos.

CCTV footage showed fists flying when McDonagh and his victim Michael Ward's respective families clashed in Netherton shortly before 6pm, on May 21, 2019.

Mr Ward said that he believed his dad was about to fight McDonagh's dad outside Our Lady of Walsingham Parish Club.

But the victim was chased across the car park by McDonagh, 24, who slashed through his shirt, inflicting "horror" injuries.

The "unprovoked" attack was said to be linked to a family feud over a dog.

McDonagh fled in a car with his dad and walked into a police station nearly a year later.

The thug, of Carr Lane, Norris Green, admitted wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.

He was jailed for 11 and a half years.

Alexander Day

Alexander Day struck a stranger in the face with a glass bottle in a racist attack.

Day, 58, randomly started shouting racist abuse and swearing at a man in his 40s in St George's Gardens, on September 8, 2020.

The victim confronted Day, of no fixed address, who struck him twice in the face with a glass bottle, seriously injuring the victim.

Day tried to flee but was caught by police on Church Street and admitted wounding, possessing an offensive weapon and a racially aggravated public order offence.

He was jailed for two years and eight months.

Natasha Law

Natasha Law stabbed a neighbour with a shard of broken glass from his coffee table.

Law, 25, attacked the 56-year-old at his home in Warrington on July 7, 2020.

Police said the man thought of Law as his "friend" and described the attack as "vicious".

He suffered multiple cuts during the ordeal at his home in Unsworth Court, Padgate.

Law, also of Unsworth Court, admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

She was jailed for two years.

Jonathan Barlow

Bully boyfriend Jonathan Barlow repeatedly attacked his partner.

The 32-year-old, of Richard Kelly Drive, Walton, subjected his girlfriend - who the ECHO chose not to name - to controlling and manipulative abuse.

He threatened his victim, punched her and kicked her in the head and stomach.

Barlow bit the side of her forehead, threw a plate at her, and headbutted her.

The woman even lost her job after the convicted drug dealer refused to let her leave her own flat and the victim was so scared she moved home.

Barlow admitted controlling and coercive behaviour, five counts of common assault, two counts of criminal damage and threatening to damage property.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Joseph Prior

Bogus taxi driver Joseph Prior squeezed the leg of a young woman.

The 40-year-old had his licence revoked after complaints from eight female passengers about "sexualised" comments.

But the ex-private hire driver went out at night trying to pick up illegal fares and targeted a "drunk" lone woman on March 8, 2019.

After she got in the dad-of-one's Ford Focus, he pulled into a quiet street, then put his hand on the "terrified" 23-year-old's thigh.

When she rejected his advances, he took her to a McDonald's drive-thru, where she mouthed "help" to staff, who rang police.

The driver also offered cocaine to the victim, before he was arrested and magnetic plates for Britannia Taxis, for whom he previously worked, were found in his car boot.

Prior, of Fontenoy Street, Liverpool city centre, admitted common assault and supplying cocaine.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Terence Nash, Anthony Nash, Dennis Boynton and Ronnie McPadden

Two brothers who were key figures in a town's drug trade were caught after police discovered guns and grenades.

Terence Nash had a stash of weapons that included two revolvers and a sawn-off shotgun in the loft of a Kirkby safehouse.

That arsenal backed up a cocaine dealing operation he ran with his older sibling Anthony Nash and a network of close associates.

The Nash brothers' conspiracy came crashing down when police raided homes linked to their dealers in September 2019.

They recovered nearly a million pounds worth of cocaine, some 83% pure, and cash in raids on safehouses in Bewley Drive and Minstead Avenue.

From the second of those two properties, officers also retrieved two revolvers - one loaded - a sawn-off shotgun, ammunition and five grenades.

The Nash brothers fled the UK, travelling to Holyhead in North Wales, on a ferry to Ireland, then caught a flight to Spain.

But they flew home to England in December that year, after cracks in their relationship began to show in text messages.

Anthony Nash, 36, of Bracknall Close, Kirkby, was found guilty of conspiracies to supply Class A drugs and to possess criminal property.

He was cleared of any involvement with the weapons and jailed for 15 and a half years.

Terence Nash, 35, of James Holt Avenue, Kirkby, was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracies to possess a firearm, ammunition, an explosive substance and criminal property.

He admitted conspiring to supply Class A drugs and was jailed for 24 years.

Dennis Boynton, 43, of Grantham Avenue, Kirkby, admitted conspiracies to supply Class A drugs and possess criminal property.

He was jailed for seven years and three months.

Ronnie McPadden, 35, of Crosland Road, Kirkby, admitted conspiring to supply Class A drugs and was jailed for six years and four months.

William Dooley

William Dooley slammed a door shut on a policeman’s arm as he tried to escape with around £7,000 of crack cocaine and heroin plus nearly £2,000 in cash.

The 49-year-old was spotted exiting a taxi and walking towards a house in Runcorn, at around 11.30am, on May 20, 2020.

When an officer approached, the drug dealer ran inside and slammed the front door shut on the victim's arm, yelling: "F*** off!"

Dooley, of Loxdale Close, Dingle, admitted two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, assaulting an emergency worker, and possessing criminal cash.

The crook was jailed for five years and 10 months.

Stephen Thomas

Stephen Thomas embarked on a repulsive campaign of abuse against a little girl.

The paedophile, of Straker Avenue, Ellesmere Port, subjected a seven-year-old child to sickening abuse.

When police were informed, officers arrested the 29-year-old and seized his electronic devices, which contained child sex abuse images.

Police said his abuse left both the victim and her family distraught.

Thomas was found guilty of three counts of sexual touching of a child and two counts of producing indecent images of children.

He was jailed for eight and a half years.

Chance Beardmore and Clare Karpinski

Knife thug Chance Beardmore persuaded his mum to try and smuggle £32,000 worth of illicit goods into prison.

Clare Karpinski, 46, was caught trying to get two potentially lucrative packages into HMP Northumberland after driving up to the North East.

Karpinski, from Birkenhead, had been recruited by her 23-year-old son, Beardmore, who was one intended recipient of the goods, on December 23, 2019.

Beardmore was serving a six-year sentence imposed in 2017 for stabbing a boy three times while "showing off" to gang mates in Wirral.

When the packages were thrown over the wall by an unknown passenger, Beardmore escaped from a laundry room to collect them, but was intercepted by guards.

Prosecutors said he was "grinning" when caught, despite officers seizing items worth up to £32,000 in prison, including cocaine, cannabis and hundreds of other drug tablets, iPhones, USB cables, SIM cards, tobacco, alcohol, steroids, new syringes and needles.

He was jailed for three and a half years and his mum for two years and three months.

Both the young yob and Karpinski, of Bedford Road, Birkenhead, admitted conveying prohibited articles into prison.

Tony Smyth

Tony Smyth was caught peddling cocaine by undercover police officers.

The 37-year-old was carrying up to £1,050 of the Class A drug when stopped during a deal in Southport town centre.

Smyth, of Albany Road, Southport, was arrested when sitting in a car on May 1, 2020.

The dad-of-one was found to have 12 wraps of cocaine and a search of his home unearthed £2,500 in cash and a tick list.

The roofer admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Smyth was jailed for two years and four months.

Jack Hayes

Jack Hayes was caught on camera brawling outside Anfield after Liverpool FC lifted the Premier League trophy.

Mobile phone footage showing two groups clashing on Townson Street, opposite the Kop stand, and a man stabbing or slashing at someone with a knife.

Hayes was one of around 14 people involved in a fight that featured punching, kicking and throwing objects, at around 11.25pm.

CCTV footage showed the 28-year-old throwing punches, then pulling up a hood and tightening the cords to try and disguise himself.

Hayes, of Brook Street, Birkenhead, admitted violent disorder and said he had drunk 10 cans of lager before the incident.

The convicted robber and burglar was jailed for 20 months.

Robert Gardener

A little girl's dad caught Robert Gardener abusing his daughter only for the pervert to claim it was her fault.

The paedophile twice targeted the child but "covered up" the first incident by suggesting he was "just playing".

The 64-year-old predator's lies came crashing down when the victim's father saw the sick abuse for himself.

However, Gardener, of Rocastle Close, Kensington, claimed the child instigated it.

Gardener admitted two counts of causing a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The child molester, who had no previous convictions, was jailed for four years.

David Pugh, James Nolan and James O'Neil

Gunman David Pugh shot a customer sitting in a car at a busy McDonald's drive-thru in a "ruthless" gangland hit.

The 32-year-old stalked Adam Caine as he was being passed takeaway meals at the restaurant in Bromborough, Wirral.

Unmasked Pugh approached a black BMW and fired twice in front of customers.

The victim was hit by two bullets that went through his left buttock and right leg.

The court heard Pugh and an accomplice James Nolan, 31, knew Caine and targeted him in a gangland "vendetta".

After pulling the trigger, Pugh jogged away from the McDonald's at Croft Retail Park to a waiting van, being driven by James O'Neil, 33, which then sped off.

Pugh, of Woolfall Crescent, Huyton; Nolan, of Thomas Drive, Prescot; and O'Neil, of Leyfield Road, West Derby; all denied attempted murder.

Ahead of a trial, Pugh admitted the lesser offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and possessing a firearm.

Nolan also admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, while O'Neill admitted assisting an offender.

Pugh was jailed for 12 years and nine months, with an extended three years on licence.

Nolan was jailed for seven and a half years and O'Neil was locked up for 17 months.

Dhanji Punja

Dhanji Punja dragged his victim from a city centre street and towards a secluded alley so he could sexually assault her.

The 42-year-old claimed he only wanted to kiss his victim, but a judge did not believe him and ruled he had intended to sexually assault her.

Punja preyed on the lone woman as she walked on Lord Street on July 12 last year.

He grabbed her and forced her across towards Dorans Lane, calling her a "f****** b****", and only letting go when faced with three security guards.

Punja, of Stanley Street, Liverpool city centre, previously sexually assaulted a woman on a train and lay on a shop floor to look up a woman's skirt.

He admitted kidnap and kidnap with intent to commit a sexual offence and was jailed for five years.

Paul Mannion

Paul Mannion raped a young boy and offered him 'rewards' like ice cream or 50p to stay silent about the horrifying abuse.

The 63-year-old, from Warrington, was jailed for eight years for the campaign of vile abuse, which took place in Widnes in the 1970s.

His victim described certain types of abuse happening "regularly" and on at least 10 occasions each - all while he was under the age of 10.

Mannion had pleaded guilty to eight counts. including sexual assault, inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and one of rape.

Thomas Brabbins

EncroChat cocaine dealer Thomas Brabbins was caught naked trying to escape a police raid on his home.

The dad-of-two had sent photos of huge blocks of cocaine that he would divide up and package under the nickname 'CoastalSummer' on the encrypted messaging service.

Police discovered £36,585 in cash, two Rolex watches believed to be worth £10,000, cannabis worth up to £47,373, tick lists and a vacuum sealing machine when they searched his home on Cherry Tree Road in Huyton in June 2020.

But the 28-year-old continued with his life of crime after he was released under investigation and was caught five months later with £2,700 of cash and three phones.

He admitted conspiracies to supply cocaine and cannabis, possessing cannabis with intent to supply, two counts of acquiring criminal property and possessing cannabis.

Brabbins was jailed for seven and a half years.

David Bradbury and William Gamble

A couple who raped a little boy offered his mum cash afterwards.

David Bradbury, 55, would film the horrific abuse performed by William Gamble, 65, before offering to pay the little boy's mum £30.

Their sickening acts were only discovered after they uploaded an image of child abuse, not involving the same boy, to Facebook.

When police raided their St Helens home they discovered the horrific pictures and videos, in which Bradbury would encourage Gamble as he abused the child.

They also found toys, sweets and games they would use to groom the boy.

The couple "exploited" the boy and groomed him before Gamble carried out "physical acts" of abuse while Bradbury would film them, sometimes engaging in physical abuse.

Both men were arrested on October 26, 2020 after the true extent of their crimes had been discovered when an indecent image, not of this child, was uploaded to Facebook.

Officers found indecent images on devices at their home in Pigot Street, many of which were images of the boy they exploited.

Gamble and Bradbury both admitted four counts of rape, two sexual assaults and two assaults by penetration, plus the taking of indecent videos associated to each act.

They were each jailed for 16 years, with an extended one year on licence.

Jonathan Simpson

Jonathan Simpson subjected 22-month-old Jacob Marshall to an horrific ordeal including a "catastrophic brain injury".

The 25-year-old offered to mind Jacob while his partner Emma Marshall, Jacob's mum, went to the hairdressers.

A neighbour later found Jacob unresponsive at his Speke home - but Simpson had not even called an ambulance.

He claimed Jacob fell off a couch, then suggested the toddler fell down the stairs.

Prosecutors said the reality was that he banged Jacob's head on a kitchen floor, inflicting injuries similar to those that would be caused in a "high velocity car crash".

Simpson denied murder and manslaughter in a 12-day trial.

A jury unanimously found Simpson, of no fixed address but from Winsford, Cheshire, guilty of murder.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve a minimum of 19 years.

Corben Bell

Corben Bell was locked up after a machete attack but has repeatedly been found with weapons in prison including razor blades, a sharpened broom and a metal spike.

He told a guard: "I'll just keep on making more, I'll never go anywhere without a blade."

The 18-year-old was locked up for three years and 10 months in September 2020 for dealing crack cocaine and heroin in Liverpool and for a machete attack on a pizza shop.

In September he called to another inmate and flashed a sharpened metal spike from his trouser pocket, threatening to "poke" him with it, before he "chillingly smirked".

Bell was caught with two other improvised weapons in prison in October and, asked if they were intended for staff, replied: "If they were for staff I'd have used them already."

Bell, of no fixed address but formerly of Ellesmere Port, admitted three counts of possessing an improvised weapon in prison.

He was handed a further 16 months behind bars.

Lewis Ainge

Lewis Ainge broke his friend's jaw in two places while the victim's son watched on.

The 29-year-old, of Davenport Row, Halton Lodge, Runcorn, entered Steven Carr's bungalow on a neighbouring street, at around 10.15pm, on December 20, 2020.

The pair had earlier fallen out and a rock crashed through Mr Carr's bedroom window, prompting him to send a text to Ainge telling him not to "darken his doorstep again".

Ainge burst into the living room where Mr Carr was watching TV with his little boy and adult step-daughter.

He punched him to the jaw, then followed him, saying: "Are you lad? Are you?"

Ainge admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 12 months.

Michael Lyons

Taxi driver Michael Lyons stashed an arsenal of guns at his home.

Lyons was convicted of guns, drug dealing and assault charges when a youth, before he turned his life around and got a taxi licence to provide for his wife and children.

But the 33-year-old's DNA was identified on a stolen Army assault rifle, a sawn-off shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol.

A forensic test revealed Lyons' DNA on the rifle and police raided his flat in Kirk Street, Kirkdale on September 13, 2019, when they recovered the shotgun.

The dad-of-two was also forensically linked to a Bruni BBM GAP 9mm semi-automatic pistol found in a Kirkby home in 2019.

Lyons was circulated as wanted but not arrested until November 19, 2020.

He admitted three counts of possessing prohibited weapons and was jailed for five years and five months.

Paul Robinson

Killer Paul Robinson "callously" carried on drinking in a Birkenhead car park with friends as his victim lay unconscious.

He punched Gary Swanick following a row between Mr Swanick and another member of their street drinking group in July 2017.

The dad fell and hit his head on the floor, suffering "catastrophic brain injuries" from which he died two years later.

Robinson, 51, of Whetstone Lane, Birkenhead, served a 27-month prison sentence after admitting assault causing actual bodily harm in 2017.

But after Mr Swanick's death in November 2019, he was charged with manslaughter.

He admitted manslaughter and was jailed for three years and one month.

James Foy, Michael Foy, Joyce Smith and Craig Johnson

The Foy brothers were jailed for life for the murder of Michael Rainsford.

The 20-year-old was shot dead as he stood in the kitchen of his Litherland home on the night of April 7, 2020.

The attack was an act of revenge after bricks had been thrown at their home in Seaforth while their mum was inside alone.

But the brothers' trial heard Mr Rainsford had in fact played no role in that incident.

The pair were found guilty of murder, possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition without certificate.

At their sentence hearing, James Foy instructed his barrister to tell the court he was the gunman who pulled the trigger that night.

The shocking admission came minutes before he was due to be sentenced.

James Foy, 19, of Rossini Street, was also convicted of possession of a prohibited gun, in relation to a pistol found in a Bootle home in 2019.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 28 years.

Michael, 22, also of Rossini Street, was jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years.

Their mum, Joyce Smith, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice through disposing of her mobile phone SIM card.

The 46-year-old was jailed for 30 months.

The Foys' uncle, Craig Johnson, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice through storing and disposing of the electric bike used by the brothers on the night of the attack.

The 39-year-old, of Willard Drive in Bootle, was jailed for three years.

Cecil Thorn

Cecil Thorn, who molested a little girl, was extradited from New Zealand to face justice but refused to say a single word.

The 48-year-old exercised a "vigil of silence" after stepping off a plane in February 2020.

That included not saying anything in his defence at a trial when the brave victim described how he repeatedly abused her.

Thorn, from Wirral, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and three counts of causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity at a trial last month.

It was the second time he had been convicted of molesting a child, after previously being jailed for eight years in 2013 for similar offences, also in Wirral.

Thorn, formerly of Wirral, but now of Favona Road, Auckland, was jailed for 10 years, with an extended one year on licence.

Adam Connolly

Adam Connolly sexually assaulted two teenage girls and filmed himself putting his hands around a third girl's throat.

The 30-year-old groped the first victim below her top while she slept and when she woke, claimed that he "thought she liked it".

The following year, Connolly covered the face of a second girl and ran his hand over her, before asking if she "wanted a cuddle".

Connolly, of Frederick Street, Widnes, claimed the girls were lying, but his phone revealed he had been looking at pictures of his second victim on the day of the attack and also saved pictures of the first girl.

He also had an indecent video of a third girl, which showed him "placing his hands around her neck and appearing to strangle her".

The predator admitted two counts of sexual assault and one count of making a Category A indecent video of a child.

Connolly was jailed for eight years.

Rhiannon Jones

Rhiannon Jones blackmailed a vulnerable ex-boyfriend out of thousands of pounds by threatening to lie that he raped her.

She forced her former partner to pay more than £7,000 after making the demands through a fake Facebook account.

The 21-year-old's horrific plot only ended when the victim's dad discovered what she was doing in September 2019.

Ex carer Jones told the victim - who suffers from special educational needs which cause him to become easily confused - that she would call the police if he did not comply.

She even threatened to report he had raped her – something she later confessed was untrue - to steal his inheritance from his grandparents.

Jones, from Warrington, admitted blackmail and was jailed for two years.

John Horton

John Horton set fire to a flat as he 'sought revenge' on his mum's ex.

The 19-year-old, of Park Street, Bootle, had threatened to stab Darren Irving and burn his flat down after he was told he had threatened his mum.

After making the threats, he went to Mr Irving's Litherland flat and kicked the door before returning later with petrol, pouring it through the letterbox and setting it alight.

Mr Irving wasn't at home when, what would have been his only exit route was set alight, on November 17, 2020.

Horton admitted arson with intent to endanger life and malicious communications.

He was jailed for four and a half years.

Lewis Moscrop

Lewis Moscrop told his ex-girlfriend: "I am going to make you kill yourself today."

He went to the young mum's home, yelled through her letterbox and smashed one of her windows in November 2020, leaving her suffering from PTSD.

Moscrop, of Ackers Hall Avenue, Knotty Ash, claimed she made him "obsessed" with her.

When arrested, the 22-year-old racially abused a police officer, when he shouted the N-word repeatedly.

Moscrop admitted three counts of breaching a non-molestation order and one count of racially aggravated public disorder.

The convicted burglar was sentenced two months after slashing himself with a blade in the dock at a previous hearing.

He was jailed for 16 months in total.

Adrian Ware

Adrian Ware walked into a police station holding a loaded gun in a bag.

He carried the .45 Colt pistol into St Anne Street Police Station on February 14, 2020, claiming to have come across it while on a walk.

But officers found the 37-year-old's DNA all over the handgun and when faced with the forensic evidence, Ware changed his story.

The taxi driver later admitted that he had been told to 'mind' the weapon a few days prior, which was accepted by the prosecution.

Liverpool's criminal underworld exposed

The pistol had been linked to a 2007 shooting in north Liverpool, when a victim was shot in the leg, and a shooting in Toxteth in 2008, but there was no evidence to suggest Ware was connected with either incident.

He was suffering from a psychotic episode when he attended the station with the weapon, loaded with seven .45 ACP calibre cartridges.

The dad-of-two, of Avondale Road, Wavertree, admitted possessing a firearm, ammunition without a firearms certificate and cannabis.

Ware, who has a past conviction for dealing MDMA, was jailed for three years.

Matthew Jones

Matthew Jones kidnapped a health worker and threatened to kill her as he tried to escape from prison.

The 28-year-old, from Bootle, snuck up on the care administrator and held a makeshift knife to her throat in an attempt to flee from HMP Berwyn in Wrexham.

The health worker "believed her life was endangered" during the 15-minute stand-off in October 2019.

When asked why he was doing it, Jones, of Hornby Road, Bootle, who was serving an indeterminate sentence, said "he was in for longer than he should have been".

Jones was jailed at Shrewsbury Crown Court in 2012 for wounding with intent.

He admitted attempting to escape and kidnap and was jailed for two years and eight months.

Christopher Dennett

Christopher Dennett urinated on a hospital floor then spat in a police officer's face after being arrested for stealing £3,500 of sports goods.

The 40-year-old ransacked Widnes Conservative Club on June 4, 2019, taking a staff tips jar and damaging a till, fruit machine and window.

Dennett, of Milton Road, Widnes, then stole three crates of equipment and clothes from the town's Sports Direct branch on August 22, 2019.

He was arrested at his flat and taken to Warrington Hospital due to an apparent overdose attempt, where the heroin addict caused mayhem.

Dennett admitted two counts of burglary and assaulting an emergency worker.

He was jailed for two years and 10 months.

Shawn Harmon

Third strike drug dealer Shawn Harmon said he fled St Helens to escape gangs from Liverpool moving into the town.

The 50-year-old drug addict was caught with an estimated £1,650 of crack cocaine and heroin in the bedroom of his flat.

Harmon, who has 41 previous convictions for a staggering 118 offences, has twice been locked up for Class A drug dealing.

But he claimed he was "pressured" into flogging this latest stash by people who said he owed them money after he was last released from jail in 2019.

Help with addiction

If you are struggling with addiction issues, there are a number of organisations that can help.

The Liverpool Central Addaction Recovery Centre is based in The Foundry in Henry Street, you can call the charity on 0151 706 7888.

You can also contact the Community Recovery Liverpool centre on 0151 703 0679.

Sharp is another addiction support service based in Rodney Street, which can be contacted on 0151 703 0679.

Police raided Harmon's home in Lower Hall Street, St Helens, at around 10.30am, on September 12 that year.

Harmon, who admitted two offences of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, provided an address of Phoenix Brow, St Helens.

However, his defence barrister said he had moved to Manchester to get away from "organised gangs from Liverpool moving into St Helens".

Harmon was jailed for around five years and eight months.

Adam Syers

Adam Syers used the popular children's video game Fortnite to try to groom boys.

The paedophile previously filmed a toddler in Warrington and made vile sexual comments before posting the video on Facebook.

But within hours of being spared jail in September 2020, the 23-year-old was trying to snare children playing Fortnite and Roblox on Xbox.

Using the username JuicyGamer, he let a 12-year-old boy spend £200 on his credit card and got the child to send a photo of himself in shorts.

He then targeted a seven-year-old boy, asking him if he wanted to go on a date with him and be his boyfriend, in a series of sick texts.

Syers, of Tully Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, also sent vile texts to a third unidentified boy - thought to be under 11 - and had his photo.

He admitted three counts of breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order, failing to comply with notification requirements and breaching his suspended sentence.

Syers was jailed for two years and eight months.

Ben Gardner

Cocaine fuelled thug Ben Gardner punched a man in the head and put him in a coma.

Gardner, 28, launched an unprovoked attack on 65-year-old Zulkuf Dogan outside TJ Hughes in London Road on December 11, 2020.

He knocked the "hardworking, family man" out cold, causing him to fall and hit his head.

Gardner tried to sit the dad-of-six up, only to let him fall and hit his head again.

Mr Dogan suffered "serious life changing injuries from which he might never recover".

Gardner, of Prescot Road, Old Swan, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and possessing MDMA with intent to supply over a separate incident.

He was jailed for five and a half years.

John Palmer and Ewan Burrows

John Palmer and Ewan Burrows were caught bagging up £13,000 of drugs in a flat.

Police raided the property in Knutsford Road in Warrington on January 26, 2021 and caught Palmer and Burrows red-handed.

Palmer, 38, from Warrington but now of Kentmere Road in Timperley, Greater Manchester, and Burrows, 20, of Davenport Avenue, Warrington, admitted possessing heroin, cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply.

Burrows was locked up for two years and Palmer for five years and three months.

Palmer was previously locked up for three years after a dog attack when a man died.

He set his American bulldog on Simon Whittall, 39, during a street fight in the town in 2009, which also involved two other men.

He whipped Mr Whittall with a dog chain and stamped on his head during the brawl, with the victim dying from a brain injury three days later.

Scott Beveridge

Scott Beveridge was part of a Liverpool drug gang operating across county lines.

The 27-year-old, of Amanda Road in Fazakerley, admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply, possessing criminal property and an assault linked to a domestic violence incident.

He was arrested in November 2020 after Merseyside Police investigated a county line into Blackpool, through Operation Medusa.

As a result police said "quantities of cash and drugs were recovered" from his address.

Beveridge was jailed for three and a half years.

Stephen Metcalfe

Stephen Metcalfe was part of a gang caught trying to smuggle more than £100m of cocaine and heroin into the UK.

Police discovered that between May 2019 and October 2020, 150 drugs packages were brought into the country from Europe.

In total, the gang imported between 984kg to 1,304kg worth of Class A drugs, with an estimated street value of £138,605,760.

One of the gang members, Daniel Taylor from Wales, used UPS, the delivery company he was working for, to bring the drugs into the country undetected, by taking the packages off the back of delivery vans without scanning them.

He would then leave his work premises, drive around the corner where he would then hand the drugs over to Darren Roberts, also from Wales, who would then pass them over to Metcalf, 43, of Fairway North, Wirral, to be sold.

But on October 2, 2020, Taylor and Roberts were both arrested when police found Taylor handing over 14kg of heroin to Roberts from his vehicle near his place of work.

Metcalfe admitted conspiracy to import cocaine and heroin and was jailed for 15 years.

Stephen Christian

Stephen Christian lived a lavish lifestyle under the alias "Tribal Quest" as he peddled huge amounts of cocaine.

He used an EncroChat phone to communicate with associates as he negotiated prices for 12kg of cocaine from criminals who were involved in importing bulk amounts.

The 43-year-old went by Tribal Quest to try and stay under the radar and on one occasion, on May 22, 2020, travelled to Blackpool to collect a large amount of money.

Detectives arrested him on July 1, 2020 and raided his two addresses, in Roscommon Way, Widnes and Roseheath Drive, Halewood.

A search of the Widnes address led to the seizure of designer clothing and shoes, a Rolex watch, almost £3,000 in cash and eight phones.

Christian admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and was jailed for 15 years.

Jordan Duckworth

Jordan Duckworth who once tried to rape a boy and girl was caught worming his way into a child's home.

The paedophile was locked up for 30 months for two attempted rapes when 17 in 2011.

He has been subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) ever since.

The order prevented Duckworth, of Needham Road, Kensington, from contacting any child under 16 without the written approval of social services.

Social services attended a woman's home in Wavertree on February 15 for a "risk assessment" and "welfare check".

She was there with her 13-year-old son, but so was Duckworth, 27, who "lied initially about who he was", then fled.

He admitted the breach and was jailed for 20 months.

Adam Wharton and Paul Warburton

Two burglars raided a family's home which was being renovated for a disabled child.

Adam Wharton, 24, has been robbing and stealing from victims since he was just 15.

On September 23 last year he teamed up with career crook Paul Warburton, 31.

The pair struck at the family's home in Harley Street, Orrell Park, shortly before 7am, breaking a window to gain entry.

A neighbour called police, who arrested the pair after they had bagged up items and half ripped a TV off a boy's bed.

They caused £500 of damage to the home, which the owner was renovating for his daughter, 11, who has cerebral palsy.

Wharton, of Selwyn Street, Walton, who had 15 previous convictions for 25 offences including multiple robberies, admitted burglary and was jailed for two and a half years.

Warburton, of Pennine Drive, St Helens, who had 37 previous convictions for 61 offences, including multiple burglaries, admitted burglary on the opening day of a trial.

He was jailed for three and a half years.

Trevor Griffiths

Trevor Griffiths offered a '14-year-old boy' a trip to McDonald's in exchange for a seedy hotel stay.

The grandad-of-24 wanted to take the child to the cinema and planned on sexually abusing him in a hotel in Belfast.

The 61-year-old started speaking to 'Mark' on Chatiw in 2019, but didn't realise it was an undercover police officer.

Griffiths described wanting to 'kiss and cuddle' the 'boy', before performing sex acts.

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When officers raided his home they discovered his collection of child sex abuse images.

They found 63 sick images during the search at his property in Ajax Avenue in Orford, Warrington, on April 30, 2019.

Griffiths admitted attempting to engage in sexual activity with a boy, failing to comply with notification requirements, possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornography, and three counts of downloading indecent images.

He was jailed for 20 months.

David Adams

David Adams hid £53,000 of drug money into an Aldi bag, shoeboxes and a sock.

The dad-of-one was stopped by police when driving around with "bundles" of cash totalling £1,600 in his pockets.

He claimed it was money he'd saved up from his benefits to buy Christmas presents.

But when officers searched the unemployed 41-year-old's home in Ivy Avenue, Aigburth, they found banknotes stashed around his house.

Adams admitted concealing criminal property over the discovery on December 11, 2019.

He was arrested again on January 22, 2021, after police saw him sitting in his Ford Fiesta.

"Secreted" down the side of the driver's seat was a kitchen knife and he admitted possessing a knife in public.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Richard Foster

Richard Foster torched his former partner's BMW after seeing her on a night out with other men.

He was "wounded" when Alexandria Ward broke up with him in December 2018.

After seeing her on a night out on February 1, 2019, the former drug dealer lost his temper and in a series of phone calls, threatened: "Watch what will happen to you."

Miss Ward was having drinks with friends at her Maghull home when her BMW 320 M-Sport was set ablaze by the dad-of-two.

After she said he was on CCTV, he offered £20,000 to "forget about the whole thing".

But the conversation was recorded by police and Foster, 34, of Princes Parade, Liverpool city centre, had also been captured on camera buying a can of petrol.

Foster admitted arson reckless as to whether life was endangered.

He was jailed for two years and three months.

Liam Fennelly

Liam Fennelly beat and spat on his elderly dad who suffers from dementia.

The bully, 38, was discovered by a carer hitting the vulnerable 79-year-old and repeatedly spitting in his face, when Fennelly said he was drunk.

He was supposed to look after his dad along with carers, who would visit Kenneth Fennelly four times a day.

But instead he "goaded" the OAP on September 11 last year, trashing the victim's Seacombe home, then hitting him several times.

District Judge Healey said: "The carer sees you spit into your father's face on three occasions. You spat directly on your father's face."

Fennelly, of Arkles Lane, Anfield, admitted assault by beating and criminal damage.

He was jailed for 14 weeks.

Aaron Brown

Aaron Brown conned Liverpool FC fans with fake tickets.

The 26-year-old, of Stanford Crescent, Halewood, sold two cancelled tickets to a Liverpool match to a man online for £250.

He used the man's details to try to sell further tickets and when the man found out and challenged him, said he would take a "screwdriver to his neck" in March 2018.

In December 2018, using that victim's details, Brown listed fake tickets on Craig's List and tried to scam a man for £850.

Brown, who ran 69 PayPal accounts, also hacked a sports streaming website, accessing the data of 370,000 users.

The dad-of-three also dishonestly sold a computer and conned a man of £610.

He admitted three counts of fraud and two counts of unauthorised acts with intent to impair operation of a computer.

Brown was jailed for 22 months.

Daniel Henderson

Daniel Henderson terrorised an evil child killer and his new partner.

The 19-year-old, of Wheatlands, Runcorn, threatened Wayne Davenport and his girlfriend on August 27, 2020.

Davenport was jailed for six years for manslaughter in October 2009 after beating two-year-old Joshua Jones to death in 2007.

Armed with a golf club, Henderson went to a home Davenport shared with a new partner, threatened to burn it down, then swung the club over a fence at the "innocent" woman - who had no connection to the manslaughter - instead hitting a window.

He yelled "I'm going to f***ing kill you, you shouldn't be living around here, you f***ing baby killer", which led to the couple leaving Runcorn and separating.

That day, Henderson was due in court over a burglary at Kyujutsu Archery Club, in Castlefields, Runcorn, on April 22, 2019.

Henderson was part of a gang who ransacked the club, smashed into lockers, stole bows and arrows, cash, tools, a bike and a vending machine, before someone set the venue ablaze, costing the owners more than £15,000 in lost items and revenue.

He admitted affray and burglary, and was jailed for two years and three months.

Gerard Wignall

Gerard Wignall was confronted by his nan over text after she found a "sniper rifle" he stashed in her home.

He was released from jail after serving a nine-year sentence for ferrying heroin into seaside resorts in Wales.

Marie Jones offered him a place to live at her home in Whitburn Road, Kirkby, but five days later made a shocking discovery.

Ms Jones text him on March 23, 2020, saying "gun out now", to which he replied "hahaha it’s not real nan x", but she insisted: "Out."

The 32-year-old had hidden a Howa M1500 6.5 Creedmoor bolt action rifle in her house.

The gun - stolen in a burglary when he was in jail - was later seized by police after a raid in Yorkshire and found to bear Wignall's DNA.

He was also forensically linked to a stolen Beretta shotgun, recovered in a raid at a home in John Bagot Close, Everton on July 1, 2020.

Wignall admitted two counts of possessing a firearm when prohibited for life.

He was jailed for 16 months.

Dean Porter

Dean Porter threatened to stab a member of the public in the face after carrying out two knifepoint robberies.

The 38-year-old threatened a group of three teenagers with a blade at Formby station.

Porter, of no fixed address, took a phone from one teen and told him he'd have to withdraw £500 from a cashpoint if he wanted it back on June 27 last year.

The drunken thug led the youths out of the station at knifepoint, but they escaped.

Porter then approached a car, claimed he had been mugged and asked to be let inside.

He started to cry until the motorist agreed, but then held the knife to the driver's neck, ordering him to leave the keys in the car and get out, which the victim did.

Porter crashed into another car, when he was detained by another driver, despite repeatedly threatening to stab him.

In custody he smeared himself, his cell and an intercom with his faeces.

Porter admitted theft, threatening with a bladed article, and robbery.

He was jailed for six years, with an extended four years on licence.

Michael Peterson

Michael Peterson was given a bag stuffed full of cash in exchange for 9kg of cocaine.

A gang travelled from West Yorkshire to Liverpool with £139,000 in a holdall to make the deal with Peterson.

The 50-year-old, from Carlton Street, Prescot gave them the high purity Class A drug.

The gang made their way back to Bradford but were stopped by police on the M606.

Peterson was arrested at his home, when the cash was found, along with more drugs.

He admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, possessing criminal property, and possessing both heroin and cannabis with intent to supply.

Peterson was jailed for four years and 10 months.

Mark Smith

Woman beater Mark Smith 'headbutted' a police officer after being arrested.

Smith was taken to Wirral custody suite in Birkenhead after a domestic incident at a house in Rock Ferry on March 11, 2020.

The drunken and abusive 45-year-old lashed out, hitting the police officer with his head, before the two fell to the floor.

The officer struck Smith, using a "controlled strike", breaking his own middle finger.

Smith, of Fairhaven Close, Rock Ferry, admitted assaulting an emergency worker.

He was jailed for six months.

Paul Craig and Jason Srin

Laughing friends Paul Craig and Jason Srin waited for a gun to arrive from America only to discover they had been tricked by police.

Officers listened to the pair at a block of flats in Liverpool city centre, when they unwrapped what they thought was a semi-automatic Glock.

To their despair officers had previously intercepted the parcel and it was carefully reassembled and sent on - but instead of a gun there was a tracker device.

They desperately tried to ditch the empty package, but officers caught up with them after secretly recording their conversations.

The Glock 17 pistol with a magazine and ammunition never left the States, after authorities there had stumbled upon the plan.

Craig and Srin unwrapped the parcel at flats in Union Street on January 27 this year.

They were arrested and both admitted attempted possession of a prohibited firearm.

Craig, of Leybourne Avenue, Southport, and Srin, aka Sri-In, of Water Street, Liverpool city centre, were each jailed for four and a half years.

Stephen Mullin

Road rage yob Stephen Mullin brandished a hammer at an off-duty police officer.

The 24-year-old "cut up" John Seddon when he was driving along Queens Drive in West Derby with his daughter in the car.

The officer swore at Mullin, who parked in front of them and got out with a hammer.

Mullin shouted "come on then" and the officer's adult daughter recalled how she "thought he was going to kill her father".

When arrested, Mullin was found to have a rusty hammer and a kitchen knife in his car.

Mullin, of Calder Avenue, Ormskirk, admitted affray and possessing a knife and an offensive weapon after the December 21, 2019 incident.

The dad-of-one was jailed for 12 months.

Rachel Skillen

Rachel Skillen stole nearly £10,000 from two vulnerable women she was looking after.

The 42-year-old support worker was employed by Alternative Futures Group (AFG), a not for profit health and social care charity.

But the mum targeted two women at AFG's Nursery House in Boundary Road, Birkenhead, using their bank cards to withdraw cash she spent on bills and shopping.

She made 25 withdrawals and transactions using one woman's card, taking £9,259, and two from the second woman, totalling £500, between March 27 and April 19 last year.

Skillen admitted two counts of theft.

She was jailed for 12 months.

Allan Kervin

Allan Kervin threatened to stab his own sister and smashed a neighbour's car windscreen in two bizarre incidents.

The 44-year-old drug addict, of the Quays, Burscough, went to his mum's house in Parbold in November 2020, demanding to borrow money.

His sister, a mum-of-four present with her children, asked him to leave, but he pushed her over, causing chest and arm injuries.

He grabbed a knife and threatened: "I'll stab you in the f***ing neck and kill you."

Kervin, who admitted affray, was also found guilty of two public order offences and one count of criminal damage over an argument with his neighbours in May 2020.

He poured milk on their washing and hurled a metal tap, smashing their car windscreen.

Kervin was jailed for 20 months.

Liam Hill

Drug dealer Liam Hill was caught after police trailed an addict looking to score drugs.

Police watched the customer walk up to the 25-year-old's parked car and then run off.

When police stopped Hill's Vauxhall Vectra in Burtonwood, Warrington they found 20 individual street deals of heroin and nine of crack cocaine.

The officers also seized £815 in cash and mobile phones from Hill, of Humber Crescent, St Helens, who claimed the drugs were for his own use.

He later admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, in relation to the incident in Perrins Road on June 24, 2020.

Hill was jailed for three and a half years.

David Cadman

David Cadman was sentenced for downloading child rape photos.

The 65-year-old was previously jailed for filming a nine-year-old girl, who was with her parents at New Brighton beach, in August 2020.

He was jailed for 16 months for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in relation to that video in November 2020.

But he was back in court in March 2021 to be sentenced for keeping a twisted collection of pictures, including 20 images of children being raped.

Cadman, of Espin Street, Walton, admitted three counts of downloading and one count of possessing indecent images of children.

A judge said he took the images into account when he previously jailed Cadman, so handed him 28 days in prison, meaning it wouldn't extend beyond his existing sentence.

Dominic McInally

Dominic McInally was a key player in an estimated £1m a month cocaine gang busted when six kilos were seized in Thornton.

The 75% pure stash was collected from the border of France and Belgium and secreted in a hidden compartment inside a Seat Leon.

Five men were jailed for a combined total of 48 years for their roles in the January 2014 plot, but 30-year-old McInally, from Formby, fled abroad.

He enjoyed six years on the run before his capture at Casa Masa strip club in Marbella, Spain in the early hours of February 28, 2020.

Prosecutors said he lived in a luxury flat complex in Victoria Road, Formby and had a wardrobe full of £85,000 of designer clothes and watches.

He stashed nearly £35,000 of dirty cash in tins under the floorboards of his parents' home in Little Crosby and a property in North Wales.

McInally was found guilty of conspiring to import cocaine and jailed for 12 years.

Nicholas Hamil

A woman turned up at her neighbour's home looking like "something from a horror movie" after her boyfriend's vile abuse.

Nicholas Hamill left his victim "mentally broken" and "worried every day he may kill her" after she fled out of a window, covered in blood, in order to escape him.

The 32-year-old also threw a mop bucket filled with water and bleach over the woman and stabbed her with a fork.

The dad-of-two, of Sleepers Hill, Anfield, admitted two counts of breaching a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO).

Hamill was jailed for six weeks.

James Farquhar

Convicted rapist James Farquhar twice went on foreign holidays without telling police.

Farquhar, who served a 12-year prison sentence imposed in 2005 for repeatedly raping a teenage girl, had to tell the police if he applied for a passport or went abroad.

But the predator, of Ford Lane, Litherland, applied for a passport in November 2019 and the following March he flew to the Philippines for a month's holiday.

The 62-year-old's offender manager was told about the jaunt on his return.

However, he was not interviewed by police until November 2020 - by which time he Farquhar, formerly of Southport, had also spent a week on the Greek island of Cos.

Farquhar admitted three counts of breaching notification requirements.

He was jailed for nine months.

Matthew Lawton

A mum was sent a video of paedophile Matthew Lawton having sex with her daughter after he groomed her over Snapchat.

He preyed on two teenage girls and lured them with cigarettes, alcohol and cannabis.

Lawton lied that he was 19 to trick the children, aged 14 and 13, into meeting for sex.

Under UK law, while it is illegal to engage in sexual activity with anyone under 16, consensual sex is not considered rape if the child is 13 or older and is instead the offence of sexual activity with a child.

Lawton, of Milton Road, Widnes, pestered the two victims to send him intimate photos and filmed the 14-year-old having sex with him.

What to do if you are the victim of a sexual crime

There is help out there for victims of rape and sexual assault and other sexual crimes.

The NHS recommends a range of services and support networks which are gathered on the NHS Choices website.

Merseyside Police have specially trained officers who are experienced in investigating sexual assaults in the most sensitive way.

If you’d like to report online, rather than speaking to an officer by telephone in the first instance, you can use Merseyside Police's online crime reporting service which is secure and confidential.

If you’d like to talk to someone, the national non-emergency telephone number is staffed 24/7 and can be reached by calling 101.

For emergency calls contact call 999

Information on the services offered locally is gathered on Merseyide Police's website.

Charities offering advice include RASA Merseyside, rapecrisis and safeline.

The "monster" used the clip to blackmail her into further abuse - including a rape after he held a knife to her throat - when she tried to stop seeing him.

However, when he posted the clip on a Snapchat account called "slags", not only was it sent to her mum, but he was caught thanks to his distinctive tattoos.

Lawton, now 30, was found guilty of 19 sexual offences, including multiple counts of rape against the 14-year-old. His criminal record includes blinding a dad in one eye.

Lawton was jailed for 15 years, with an extended four years on licence.

Peter Carden

Peter Carden was caught in North Wales with £6,000 of cocaine in his BMW X5.

The 38-year-old, of Warbreck Moor, Orrell Park, was pulled over in Halkyn, Flintshire in March 2020.

He said to officers "you got me" and indicated the drugs were in the glove box.

Carden was found to have just short of 150g of high purity cocaine.

He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed for two years and four months.

Wayne Collins

Wayne Collins sent sexual photos to two 'girls' but blamed his innocent brothers.

The paedophile thought he was chatting to children when he discussed sex and sent naked pictures of himself online.

In reality both "Bella", 13, and 12-year-old "Jess" - who he met on Kik Messenger - were undercover police officers.

Police raided the 29-year-old's home in Belmont Road, Anfield and seized his phone, containing indecent images of children and his collection of "d*** pics".

The pervert then tried to worm his way out of trouble by claiming his brothers had used the device, but that wasn't true.

Collins admitted downloading and possessing indecent images of a child, two counts of attempting to sexually communicate with a child, two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and two counts of attempting to cause a child to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity.

He was jailed for 20 months.

Barry Simmons

Barry Simmons tried to tell airport security staff that his suitcase stuffed with 389 blocks of cannabis resin was just "smellies".

The 35-year-old, of Winifred Road, Fazakerley was caught trying to smuggle almost £100,000 of cannabis through Manchester Airport on November 17, 2020.

The self-confessed "cannabis addict" was a passenger returning from a trip to Tenerife.

Simmons was found with 9.3 kilos, which in street deals could have been worth £97,500.

He admitted importing a Class B drug with intent to evade a prohibition.

Simmons was jailed for two years.

William Brown

Drug dealer William Brown slashed a customer's arm to the bone with a broken bottle in revenge for an unpaid debt of just £150.

The 21-year-old, from Liverpool, tricked the victim into opening the door of his home in Devon, and then lunged at him with the bottle while shouting: "Where's my money?"

Brown stabbed the man in Newton Abbot in January 2020 to enforce a drug debt owed to a Liverpool based gang by the victim's partner.

He was already under investigation for drug dealing in Torquay and went on to be caught with £9,000 of cocaine and heroin three months later.

Brown, now of Whiteway Road, Kingsteignton, admitted wounding, four counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, and possessing criminal property.

He was jailed for five and a half years.

Ryan Thorp

Ryan Thorp headbutted and choked his ex-girlfriend while their children slept upstairs.

Carly Naylor, 30, from Litherland was attacked after she returned home from a family party on March 8, 2020.

Thorp was at home babysitting their two young children, now aged four and two.

However, he had sent her aggressive texts and back home his vicious assault even included biting her arm, leaving a scar.

Miss Naylor suffered black eyes and a suspected fractured skull.

Thorp, 25, of no fixed address, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.

He was jailed for 13 months.

Samuel Brooks

Samuel Brooks told his ex-girlfriend there was "money on her head" and he "had a strap to use on her".

The 18-year-old, who has around 50 past convictions, battered the pregnant mum-of-one and threatened her and her daughter, saying he would "light all three of us up'".

The "out of control" scrambler yob was due to be sentenced in December 2020, after leading police on a high speed chase when he crashed through a level crossing in Leasowe, hid in a shed and told a police officer when caught: "You're s*** at driving."

After a judge deferred his sentence to give the teen a chance to change, Brooks punched his former partner and forced her head against a bus stop in January 2021.

Brooks, of Hornby Road, Bromborough, also fell to be sentenced for a separate incident on a scrambler bike last July, when he sped through red lights.

The lout admitted driving while disqualified, two counts of drug driving, dangerous driving, criminal damage, driving without insurance, breach of a non-molestation order, two counts of assault by beating, breaching a criminal behaviour order and riding a motorbike without insurance, while disqualified and without protective headgear.

He was locked up for 20 months.

Liam Clark

Cocaine dealing yob Liam Clark crashed a stolen Skoda into a police car during a chase.

The 19-year-old was driving the car, which had false plates, when police tried to stop him and he sped away on January 12, 2019.

But he drove on the wrong side of the road before colliding into a police car.

The serial offender had also been found with £1,200 of cocaine, 11 bags of cannabis and a knife in a separate incident on County Road on October 4, 2019.

Clark, of Field Street, Islington, was wanted for a robbery at the time.

The expectant dad led police on another chase in a stolen Kia, which ended with him writing off the car after crashing into oncoming traffic, on January 14, 2020.

He admitted possessing cannabis, possessing PAVA spray, two counts of dangerous driving, handling stolen goods, two counts of having no insurance or licence, possessing Class A and B drugs with intent to supply, and possessing a knife.

Clark was jailed for three years.

Anthony Ward

Revenge porn bully Anthony Ward battered the mother of his child.

The 40-year-old, of Stevenage Close, St Helens, was slammed by a judge for his "abusive, demeaning and controlling" behaviour after they broke up in 2019.

His ex was left "living in fear" of Ward, who would "effectively blackmail" her with intimate photos, before posting them to her brother-in-law and new boyfriend.

The woman said she was "manipulated into dropping charges" relating to a previous incident as she "didn't want to have another beating".

Ward admitted two counts of disclosing a private sexual image and one count of criminal damage.

He was jailed for nine months.

Sean Hunt

Sean Hunt said he dealt drugs because Universal Credit "wasn't enough" to support his family after losing his job.

The 32-year-old, of Whitburn, Skelmersdale, was caught by police twice in a month.

He was arrested on May 15, 2020 with 10 bags of cannabis worth £215 plus £3,090 in cash. Hunt was released under investigation, but arrested again on June 19.

He was seen "acting suspiciously" in a BMW and this time £120 of cannabis was seized.

Hunt had a previous conviction for dealing cannabis in 2017, when he was spared jail.

He admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply, possessing criminal property and being concerned in the supply of cannabis.

Hunt was jailed for 12 months.

George Leather

George Leather stabbed his wife up to 300 times in a "barbaric" killing.

The jealous "monster" used four kitchen knives to murder Paula Leather.

The court heard he wrongly suspected the much loved mum-of-three, grandmother-of-one and Asda worker of having an affair.

The 60-year-old admitted murdering Paula, 56, at their home in Tinling Close, Prescot, in the early hours of November 16, 2020.

Paula's three brave children each read powerful and emotional victim statements in which they publicly disowned their "toxic" abuser dad.

The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary, QC, branded it "an episode of unspeakable and barbaric savagery".

He jailed Leather for life with a minimum of 18 years.

Ben Featherstone

Ben Featherstone battered his pregnant girlfriend then tried to intimidate her into silence via a series of phone calls.

Featherstone, 22, of Gaisgill Court, Widnes, found messages on a phone belonging to his then-partner from her friends advising her to leave him on January 16, 2020.

She was seven months pregnant with his unborn child at the time.

But the drunken thug punched her in the face, dragged her by the hair, hit her legs - one blow leaving a "handprint" - and repeatedly banged her head against a wall.

Featherstone pushed her into a bath, banged her head, turned on the hot tap and threatened to "burn her" if she didn't tell him where cigarettes were.

He took Miss Reynolds' phone, kicked her in the head and sent "racist" texts to her mum

The next day, he repeatedly phoned the woman to threaten her and the child.

Featherstone, who admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, witness intimidation, malicious communication and theft, was jailed for three years.

Kevin Haywood

Kevin Haywood broke a Tesco worker's jaw who tried to stop him stealing wine.

The 37-year-old, who had more than 130 previous convictions for more than 240 offences, claimed he was suffering from alcohol withdrawal.

But the crook, of Prescot Road, Old Swan, ended up hospitalising Louis Robertson.

Haywood entered the Tesco in Skelhorne Street at 7.45am, on September 8, 2020.

He took two bottles of wine and during his escape struck the victim with a left hook.

Haywood was caught on CCTV and admitted theft and inflicting grievous bodily harm.

He was jailed for 16 months.

Adam Powell

Adam Powell ran a £4,300 heroin and crack operation while on the run from police.

The thug moved to Devon after he and his younger brother Scott slashed the face of a complete stranger outside a shop in Molyneux Road, Kensington.

He was arrested just 19 days later, while living in a vulnerable woman’s home as a 'cuckoo' and using it to deal drugs on behalf of a Merseyside gang.

Powell recruited the tenant as a runner, but was caught when police spotted her delivering drugs in Paignton and raided her home in June 2017.

He and his brother were previously jailed for six years in 2018 over the wounding.

The 29-year-old, of Bala Street, Anfield, admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed for three years.

Paul Coulthwaite

Paul Coulthwaite took baby wipes and Mini Eggs with him for a '12-year-old girl' he planned to meet at McDonald's.

The 55-year-old had called the child "sexy" and said he wanted them to meet in secret.

But he didn't get to give the girl his gifts because he was instead greeted by police.

A covert officer had pretended to be "Paige" on Chat Avenue in January 2021.

Between January and February Coulthwaite also spoke with 12-year-old "Rebecca".

Again this was an undercover officer, who Coulthwaite, of Haydock Street, Newton-le-Willows, tried to meet in Preston on February 12.

Coulthwaite admitted two counts of sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and meeting a child after sexual grooming.

He was jailed for three years.

Charlie Harrison

PC Charlie Harrison was jailed for brutally attacking a black man in an incident described by a judge as a "clear case of racial profiling".

He left Carl Abrahams with a broken knee after kicking him in front of his children.

The Met Police officer, 39, from Wirral, was found guilty of grievous bodily harm.

Harrison was on plain clothes duty in Forest Gate, London on December 31, 2018.

He approached his victim, who was walking down the street with his two sons after visiting a grave, with "the apparent intention of conducting a police stop".

Instead Harrison kicked Mr Abrahams, who is in his 40s, and forced him to the ground.

The dad needed hospital treatment and reported the attack to the police watchdog.

Judge Gregory Perrins said: "I strongly suspect that the reason that you stopped Mr Abrahams and his sons was because they were black."

He jailed him for two years and three months.

Elishama Elliot

Police found 2kg of cocaine and £40,000 at the home of dad-of-three Elishama Elliot.

The 39-year-old was arrested after appearing nervous when his BMW was stopped near his home in Skelmersdale on November 2, 2020.

A search of his home in Lowcroft uncovered drugs with a potential street value of £159,000, scales, a blender, a hydraulic press, £10,000 in cash and two mobile phones.

Elliot admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing criminal property. He was jailed for six years.

Calvin Elliott

Calvin Elliott glassed a man in the face at Popworld for "no reason" when coked up.

Damien Hackett was on a night out after coming over from Ireland with three friends for the weekend to watch Liverpool at Anfield.

As he danced on a podium he was approached by Calvin Elliott, 27, who reached up and initially shook his hand.

Shocking CCTV footage showed Elliott then grab Mr Hackett's ankle or foot, before jabbing a glass up into his face.

A judge said Elliott, of Weaver Avenue, Rainhill, was only "an inch or so" away from blinding the victim.

Mr Hackett was left scarred and hiding in his hotel room.

Elliott admitted wounding over the attack, at around 3am on November 23, 2019.

He was jailed for 16 months.

Michael Birch, Ryan Huckle, Macauley Smith and Gary Beck

Four men were jailed for dealing heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Ellesmere Port.

The gang, known as the 'Birchy Team', were involved in the supply of Class A drugs with an estimated street value of £182,000.

Michael Birch, 53, directed street dealers Ryan Huckle, 31, Macauley Smith, 24, and Gary Beck, 45, to deal to addicts across the town.

However, their activities were uncovered after Cheshire Police raided the Forge Road, Little Sutton home of Birch earlier this year.

They discovered 'graft' phones, which were used to sell the drugs, alongside £740 in cash and cutting agents.

This led to the arrest of Birch's minions and the gang's ringleader was jailed for five years this week, after he admitted possessing both drugs with intent to supply.

Smith, of Hallwood Walk, Ellesmere Port, who admitted possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply, was jailed for two years and four months.

Huckle, of Sutton Way, Great Sutton, who admitted possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply, was jailed for two years and three months.

Beck, of Fulwood Mews, Little Sutton, who admitted possessing both drugs with intent to supply, was jailed for three and a half years.

Robert Jones

Robert Jones who was "off his head" on drink and drugs threatened to kill an innocent shopkeeper with a meat cleaver.

The 21-year-old was tackled and disarmed by the brave victim on February 15, 2021.

Jones went into Tina’s MiniMart in Longshaw Street, Warrington at about 8.30pm.

He pulled a meat cleaver from his jacket and shouted: "I'll kill you, I'll kill you."

Thurairajah Yogarajah was terrified but grabbed Jones' hand and held on.

Jones, now of Feather Street, Flint, admitted making threats with a blade in public.

He was jailed for eight months.

Adam Whitfield

Adam Whitfield kept "depraved" rape videos of crying babies.

A judge said the videos "would strike any normal person as disgusting".

Other scenes were too graphic to even be described.

The 26-year-old had 30 videos of children being raped on his phone and computer - which were discovered when his mum called police.

Whitfield, of Alder Street, Newton-Le-Willows, had 32 indecent images, 30 of which were Category A videos, downloaded over three years.

The paedophile was jailed for eight months.

John Farrell and Joseph Harding

Two members of a drug gang with access to guns and grenades were jailed.

John Farrell and Joseph Harding's sentencing marked the end of a major investigation that led to the downfall of a gang led by Terence and Anthony Nash.

Both Farrell and Harding helped prop up the brothers as they presided over a network of misery and exploitation in Kirkby, backed up by a deadly arsenal.

The gang unravelled in September 2019 when drugs, cash and weapons were seized.

Harding was caught on September 19 in his Toyota Avensis with 492g of 87% pure cocaine with a potential street value of up to £49,287.

Farrell's property in Minstead Avenue was raided when officers discovering a locked safe bolted to the wall containing 7kg of cocaine worth £691,487.

The packaging of those drugs was forensically linked to the Nash brothers and officers later retrieved a cache of weapons hidden in the loft.

It included two revolvers - one loaded - a sawn-off shotgun, ammunition and five grenades.

Farrell, 40, of Minstead Avenue, Kirkby, admitted two counts of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracies to possess a firearm, ammunition, an explosive substance and to supply Class A drugs.

He was jailed for 16 years.

Harding, 55, of Cawthorne Avenue, Kirkby admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

He was jailed for six years and four months.

Marley Khan and John Garnett

Two shop workers were threatened with an imitation gun and a kitchen knife.

One man was cut in the face with a knife and told at gunpoint to kneel down and pray to Allah as John Garnett and Marley Khan unleashed a torrent of "gratuitous violence".

The victims feared for their lives at a McColl's store in Southport and were barricaded into staff toilets and told they would be killed if they attempted to flee.

Police arrived in Portland Street, with Khan - wearing boxer shorts as a makeshift balaclava - surrendering and Garnett trying to run at 9.30pm on September 10, 2020.

Garnett, 33, of no fixed address, told an officer he'd "smash his face" and spat at him.

Khan, 27, of Forest Road, Southport, who admitted robbery and possessing a knife with intent to cause fear, was jailed for eight years.

Garnett, 33, who has 27 past convictions for 52 offences including violence, admitted robbery, possessing an imitation firearm and assaulting an emergency worker.

He was jailed for eight years with an extended four years on licence.

John Hamilton

John Hamilton caught with child rape photos said he was trying to change by learning the guitar and listening to podcasts.

The paedophile was jailed for two years in 2011 for possessing, downloading and distributing indecent images of children.

Then 27 and from Widnes, he was hit with a 10-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO).

But when Hamilton rang police to tell them he had a new mobile phone in November 2019, officers discovered 1,205 photos of children on his old device.

And the pervert - now living in Liverpool's historic Gambier Terrance in the Georgian Quarter - confessed to downloading thousands of sickening files.

Hamilton, now 37, admitted breaching his SOPO and one count of possessing and three counts of downloading indecent images.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Stephen Day

Stephen Day siphoned almost £1.4m from companies that care for vulnerable people including Merseyside firms.

The chartered accountant, financial consultant and former NHS executive also ripped off three NHS trusts and a woman he strung along with a pack of lies.

The 53-year-old, of Lincoln Court, Chapelford, Warrington, raided a communal maintenance account for residents at a smart Manchester city centre apartment block.

He told lies including he had cancer, his parents had died and he was a widower.

Day was in two live-in relationships with men who didn't know about each other.

He used the cash to buy cars, go on holidays to Dubai, and buy residential properties.

A 45-acre estate in Scotland he was renovating had its own salmon fishing stretch.

Day admitted nine counts of fraud and three counts of theft.

He was jailed for 11 years and five months.

Richard Chipchase

A maths teacher groomed and sexually exploited a vulnerable schoolgirl.

Richard Chipchase once locked his victim in a storeroom when she refused to hug him and tried to win her over with cigarettes, McDonald's meals and car rides.

It was during one of those lifts that he sexually assaulted her.

The dad-of-one abused his position to target the girl while he was head of maths at Woodchurch High in Birkenhead, damaging her mental health and education.

The 55-year-old, of Welford Avenue in Prenton, admitted four counts of sexual activity with a child.

He was jailed for two years and three months.

Steven Strachan

The owner of a building company was exposed as EncroChat drug dealer "FastSilver".

Steven Strachan portrayed himself as a legitimate businessman living in a house he had extensively refurbished in Bidston, Wirral.

But the 49-year-old traded in multi kilo amounts of cannabis - including brands Orange Cream, Stardog, Gelato and Jaffa - plus cocaine, ketamine and amphetamine.

When police raided his home they found around £10,000 of drug money hidden in a kitchen cupboard, a Rolex watch and a cash counting machine.

They also discovered documents revealing that he sent a total of £300,000 to Spain or Portugal in late 2020 when they struck in School Lane on February 16.

Ledgers referred to him having four units in Spain or Portugal holding 100,000 cannabis plants and there were further details of a "property portfolio in the UK".

He admitted conspiring to supply Class A cocaine and Class B cannabis, ketamine, amphetamine, along with a charge of possessing criminal property.

Strachan was jailed for six years.

Liam Rogers and Matthew Murray

A million pound drugs operation was rumbled when police discovered large amounts of cocaine stashed in a van on top of a breakdown vehicle.

Police found three kilos of cocaine hidden inside a homemade compartment in the dashboard of a vehicle driving from Liverpool to Northampton.

Officers then raided the homes of Liam Rogers, 32, in Oleander Way, Norris Green and Matthew Murray, 40, in Moor Lane, Walton, in December 2020.

Inside Rogers' home they found a further 10 kilos of cocaine worth around £1m.

Police also seized cash and designer goods, including designer clothing, handbags and footwear from both Rogers and Murray valued at £214,000.

A large quantity of cocaine was also found in two stash vehicles used by another accomplice in November 2020.

They all admitted charges relating to the conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Rogers and Murray were both sentenced to nine years in prison.

Thomas Anderson

A gunman burst into a home and shot three people.

Thomas Anderson, 22, had a getaway plan that included a bike ride, ordering taxis with fake names and using the rail network.

But his attempts to hide his role unravelled when he left a coat with a bullet casing in a pocket and a mobile phone that could be linked to him at a train station.

Anderson struck in Belfield, Skelmersdale at around 1.30pm on October 15, 2019.

He shot a 22-year-old man in his upper chest and shoulder, a 46-year-old man to his upper arm and back, and a 47-year-old man in the wrist. All three survived.

Anderson, of no fixed address, admitted attempted murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm, and one count of possessing a firearm.

He was jailed for 20 years.

Adam Lonergan

A drug dealer panicked when lockdown caused the cocaine market to "stand still".

Dad-of-three Adam Lonergan was a cocaine, heroin and cannabis wholesaler.

In one discussion with another dealer, he expressed concern that their plot would be uncovered because there were fewer cars on the motorway.

In other messages, the 30-year-old panicked after a crash in the market, with kilos of cocaine being sold for £36,250, when usually obtained for up to £40,000.

Lonergan, who operated under the EncroChat name 'SickMallet', was busted when police went to his home in Rydal Avenue, Prescot on March 16, 2021.

Officers discovered £3,675 in cash, the box for his Aquarius X2 EncroChat phone and just under two kilos of amphetamine.

He admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis, and possessing amphetamine with intent to supply.

Lonergan was jailed for 11 years and eight months.

Stephen Rafferty

Serial rapist Stephen Rafferty forced girls to pose for semi-naked pictures.

The now 27-year-old committed abhorrent acts against three children, who were all aged under 14 at the time.

When one girl bit the vile paedophile, he punched her and called her "Satan's child", swearing her to silence.

Rafferty, of Russell Road, Mossley Hill, was found guilty of nine counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, and two counts of taking indecent photographs of a child. He had previously admitted six counts of sexual assault against the victims.

Rafferty was jailed for 20 years, with an extended five years on licence.

Jason Tidy

Jason Tidy dumped cocaine with a street value of up to £200,000 in a park when chased by police.

The 34-year-old claimed he was forced to courier two kilos, with a wholesale price of £80,000, after running up debts to feed his own addiction.

But he caught the attention of police with his driving on Botanic Road in Southport in March 2021, so abandoned his car and ditched the drugs in Botanic Gardens.

He was arrested and admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Tidy, of Longacre, Southport, was jailed for four and a half years.

EncroChat drug gang who kept records on Excel

A brazen gang shifted such "eye-watering" amounts of drugs they had to document their trade on spreadsheets.

The Liverpool-based crew moved 170kg of cocaine, 11kg of heroin and 290kg of cannabis, worth more than £8m in total, in the space of just two months.

The crooks were so confident their EncroChat encrypted phones were "impenetrable", they abandoned traditional tick lists in favour of Microsoft Excel.

Former boxer Ryan Mulcahy, Anthony Connolly, Liam Hughes, Hughes' dad Brian Marshall, and Jack Pritchard were arrested in raids last September.

The case covered plots from January to September 2020, but investigators decided to focus on May 10 to June 13, when the group moved £8m of stock.

Connolly, 30, of Station Road, Melling, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis, and to convert criminal property.

The "bookkeeper", who kept the gang's accounts and also delivered drugs, was jailed for 14 and a half years.

Hughes' home in Karonga Way, Fazakerley was used as a "safehouse" and he was arrested there with a kilo of cocaine and around £225,000 in cash.

The 24-year-old admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis, and to convert criminal property, and possessing cannabis.

Hughes was jailed for 14 and a half years.

Marshall, 46, who acted as a chauffeur for his son Hughes and a drug courier for the gang, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine.

The "trusted and frequent courier" was jailed for 10 years.

Mulcahy, 29, of Maregreen Road, Kirkdale, who ran the gang's cannabis trade, admitted conspiring to supply cannabis and to convert criminal property.

He was jailed for six and a half years.

Another drug courier, Jack Pritchard, 29, of Mavis Drive, Coppull, Lancashire, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine.

He was jailed for 10 years.

John Smith

John Smith used Snapchat to groom a young teenage boy before abusing him.

The paedophile, previously a junior football coach, was jailed in March 2019 for using Snapchat to send pictures of his penis to boys.

But the 24-year-old, from Speke, was back in court after using the app again to target a child before grooming and abusing him.

Smith was previously jailed for 18 months and ordered to adhere to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which he admitted breaching.

The pervert, formerly of School Way, admitted four counts of sexual activity with a child, meeting a child after sexual grooming and sexual communication with a child.

He was jailed for four and a half years, with an extended three years on licence.

Alan Tobin, John Tobin, Robbie Broughton and their drug gang

Alan and John Tobin supplied vast amounts of Class A drugs from Merseyside to gangs across England, Wales and Scotland.

Alan, 52, of Regency Park, Widnes, and John, 40, formerly of Manor Road, Prescot, traded primarily in cocaine, but also heroin, cannabis and ketamine.

The pait from Liverpool ran a "criminally sophisticated, highly profitable and well-organised business" for more than four years, between 2016 and 2020.

But their drug empire unravelled after detectives intercepted a van containing 186kg of 90% pure cocaine, valued at £20m, on the M6 on August 2, 2018.

Police said it was the largest ever seizure of cocaine on land in the UK and John Tobin's DNA was later found on the bubble wrap of one drug block.

The Tobins both admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine.

Alan Tobin was jailed for 20 years and John Tobin was locked up for 19 years and eight months.

They were backed up by ex-UFC star Robbie 'The Bear' Broughton, 38, of Breccia Gardens, St Helens, who enforced debts and collected payments from gangs.

The cage fighter moved an estimated £30m of cash and worked for the Tobins until 2020, by which time they were debt ridden and John Tobin had been shot.

Broughton, who admitted the cocaine plot, was jailed for eight and a half years.

Simon Leech, 29, of Brindley Avenue, Latchford, Warrington, was a "conduit" between the Tobins and the Cullens and from his garage provided and serviced vehicles for the Tobins over a 10-month period, from 2016 to 2017.

Leech, who admitted the cocaine plot, was jailed for eight years.

Brian McQuillan, 51, of Buttermarket Street, Warrington, was a courier and in a six-week period in March and April 2018 over 21 trips he transported around £4m in cash.

McQuillan, who admitted money laundering, was jailed for six years and four months.

David Whiteside

David Whiteside committed horrific acts of sexual abuse against a young girl.

The 36-year-old raped the child nine times and committed five other sex acts against her in Kirkby.

His victim couldn't even go into Liverpool city centre, where she knew he begged, out of fears of bumping into him.

Whiteside was found guilty after a trial of nine counts of rape of a child, four counts of sexually assaulting a girl and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

A judge said Whiteside, of Prescot Road, Old Swan, was an offender of "particular concern" and jailed him for 13 years and nine months, with an extended one year on licence.

Ryan Kenny

Ryan Kenny who was waiting to appear at Liverpool Magistrates' Court jumped into the docks before asking to go to prison.

The 24-year-old had already admitted racially abusing a police officer and a burglary at Liverpool John Moores University accommodation on March 23 last year.

During his sentencing a member of the mental health team explained he had undressed and jumped into the docks during the lunch break, before getting out and returning to the court complex.

She explained Kenny had a personality disorder and said it was an "impulsive act", adding that he had experienced a "difficult day" before as he was "stressed".

He said he was homeless and felt he would be looked after in prison.

Kenny, of no fixed address but formerly of Birkenhead, had 62 previous convictions for 93 offences.

He was jailed for four months.

Martin Maddocks

Martin Maddocks sold crack cocaine and heroin to queues of people lining up outside his flat when supposed to be looking after his children.

The 44-year-old kept 206 wraps of drugs, along with two machetes, at the Birkenhead flat where he cared for his two youngest children.

Police were made aware of "complaints of drug dealing" from the address on Borough Road, which they attended on July 4 last year.

Officers found Maddocks inside, who tried to swallow one wrap of heroin, and his two children.

In a coat in the bathroom police found 158 wraps of crack cocaine and 48 wraps of heroin, which were in £10 deals, and the two blades.

Maddocks had 15 previous convictions for 28 offences, including smuggling heroin to the Isle of Man, for which he was jailed for five years in 2008.

He admitted possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply and was jailed for two years.

Joseph Robinson

Joseph Robinson who broke his pregnant girlfriend's nose said her family took physical "retribution" and put him in hospital.

He punched the woman, who was four months pregnant, leaving her struggling to breathe and unable to have treatment until after the birth of her child.

The 29-year-old wasn't arrested straight after the incident because he claimed the woman's family had hospitalised him after they "sought retribution".

The serial woman beater, who had also dragged the woman along the ground in the early stages of her pregnancy, carried out the attacks in November.

Robinson, formerly of Manor Road, Liscard, Wirral, admitted two common assaults, using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, and assault causing actual bodily harm.

He was jailed for 19 months.

Alexander Keating, Paul Dillon and Dylan Garforth

Two drug dealers involved in a huge cocaine plot were arrested as they tried to board a flight to Spain at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Detectives intercepted Alexander Keating, 30, and Dylan Garforth, 25, on Thursday, October 15, before they could depart for the continent.

Their capture followed a raid at the home of Paul Dillon, 32, a few months earlier on Tuesday, June 30, when police seized almost £30,000 in cash.

Investigators had been monitoring Keating, of Lunts Heath Road, Widnes, Garforth, of no fixed address, and Dillon, of Norlands Park, Widnes, for three months via the hacked EncroChat network.

Detectives discovered Dillon and Keating had used EncroChat to discuss the transfer of a "viable firearm" - referring to a pistol and revolver - and conspired with Garforth over the supply of Class A and B drugs.

Dillion used the EncroChat codename "WaspLawn", while Keating used the handles "DullTuna" and "WealthyMace", and Garforth called himself "DiorIce".

Keating admitted conspiring to supply 30kg of cocaine and large quantities of cannabis; Dillon admitted conspiring to supply 3kg of cocaine, large amounts of ketamine, and to supplying more than £500,000 of cannabis, and Garforth admitted conspiring to supply 10kg of cocaine.

Dillon and Keating also admitted conspiracy to transfer a firearm..

Keating was jailed for 22 years and five months; Dillon for 18 years; and Garforth for 15 years.

Hannah Kellett

Hannah Kellett led police on a high speed motorway chase just weeks after she was spared jail for fracturing her friend's skull in a bizarre incident.

The 27-year-old drove her Audi S3 at around 20mph while Emma Currie was sitting on the bonnet.

When the mum-of-one braked sharply, Ms Currie fell off the car and suffered a serious head injury.

On February 23, the former trainee midwife was handed 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and disqualified from driving for three years.

However on March 20, Kellett was involved in a pursuit in the same car that started on the M53 in Wirral and ended at Lymm services in Cheshire.

The dangerous chase even saw her turn off the lights of her Audi in a bid to evade justice.

She admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance, while also breaching her suspended sentence.

Kellett, of Grasmere Avenue in Orford, Warrington, was jailed for 20 months.

Christopher Perryman

Christopher Perryman moved £4.5m of cocaine and heroin for an international drug lord.

The 39-year-old drug courier was said to have worked to provide for his family and had no criminal record.

According to his social media, he provided a minibus service for airport transfers, hen and stag parties.

But the dad-of-three claimed that when the coronavirus pandemic hit, work dried up and his girlfriend also lost her job as a beautician.

He secretly used an encrypted phone to ferry "massive quantities" of Class A drugs for a mysterious figure based outside of the UK, known only as "NuttyBoom".

Perryman, of Gloucester Road, Huyton, who operated an EncroChat device with the handle "NuttyDingo", was arrested in March this year.

He admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin between March 28 and May 11, 2020.

Perryman was jailed for 12 years.

Christian Lythgoe

Christian Lythgoe's mum was left saddled with her son's drug debt after he was caught with hundreds of crack cocaine and heroin wraps.

The 20-year-old cocaine addict, who had been a high achieving student, called out "sorry mum, love you" as he was led to the cells.

His mum, who was sitting in the public gallery with her other son, wiped away tears as a judge said that the amounts involved were so large that only an immediate sentence could be imposed.

Lythgoe was arrested after police spotted the then 19-year-old dealing in St Helens on the morning of March 24 last year and found £4,000 of drugs in his car.

Lythgoe, of Philip Grove, St Helens, admitted possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

He was sentenced to two years and three months in a Young Offenders Institution.

Stephen Lewis

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Stephen Lewis warned a girl "don't tell anyone" after sexually abusing her before molesting her friend.

The paedophile carried out vile acts on two young girls and forced one of them to perform sex acts.

After discovering they had both suffered abuse, the two victims wrote to Jackie magazine for advice.

But when one of their parents found out, they accused the girls of lying and the abuse went unreported for decades.

One of the victims spoke out in 2019 and Lewis, of Woodchurch Road, Prenton, admitted six counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecency with a child.

Lewis was jailed for four years.

Police said no mugshot was taken of Lewis when he attended for a voluntary interview.

Michael Burns

Michael Burns who dealt in "misery and death" said he had cocaine "coming out me ears".

Burns, aka "MillionDolla", bragged about his his cocaine dealings as he was drowning in thousands of pounds worth of debt after a court heard drugs were "lost on his watch".

His defence barrister said the dad-of-three used "bravado" and "exaggeration" as he fell deeper and deeper into debt with another other EncroChat user, at one point owing £100,000.

The 39-year-old wrote in one message, while worrying about the impact of lockdown on business, that his mum had given him a council pass so he could deal drugs without arousing suspicion.

Burns, of Plymyard Avenue, Eastham, Wirral, was arrested on October 15, 2020. He later admitted conspiring to supply eight kilos of cocaine and also cannabis.

Burns was jailed for 12 years.

Richard Bennett aka Richard Shacklady

Richard Bennett threatened his ex-partner before firing a gun in a street in front of her horrified eight-year-old child.

The serial burglar stormed a house in Skelmersdale armed with a sawn-off shotgun to confront Natalie Stewart in a fit of rage.

In an incident recorded on the victim's phone, he then blasted the weapon down the street in a bid to terrify his former girlfriend.

The 30-year-old, from Skelmersdale, was locked up for a range of offences over three separate incidents.

They involved stealing cars and sentimental jewellery; the shotgun incident; and an assault on an innocent amputee who was using a zimmer frame.

In March 2019, Bennett and another man broke into a house in Ingol, Preston, while the homeowners were away on a "holiday of a lifetime".

The returned to find Bennett, aka Richard Shacklady, had ransacked the house taking gold, luxury watches, an Audi A3 and Volkswagen T-Roc.

In February 2020, Bennett struck at Miss Stewart's home, before he fled the country, before returning that summer and attacking the disabled man.

He and a friend were looking for another man, described as a "rival", in a house full of people, but instead attacked innocent Christopher Hulme.

Bennett was convicted of burglary, two counts of theft, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and assault causing actual bodily harm.

He was jailed for six years and nine months.

Jack Hartley and Cameron Beedles

Jack Hartley and Cameron Beedles sold cocaine and heroin in the Barrow area as part of a County Lines operation.

On January 3, 2020, officers witnessed a suspected drug deal in Barrow-in-Furness, forced entry to a home and arrested Beedles.

He had a plastic egg containing 17 wraps of crack cocaine together with a large amount of cash and train tickets between Liverpool and Barrow.

On April 16, 2020, police raided addresses in Maddocks Street and Cowper Road in Old Swan, plus a further property in Barrow.

In Liverpool, Jack Hartley and Amy Johnson were arrested and the gang all admitted conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine.

Hartley, 27, of Maddocks Street, Old Swan, was jailed for 11 years and three months.

Beedles, 21, of no fixed address, but from the Merseyside area was sentenced to five years and four months.

Johnson, 27, of Cowper Road, Old Swan, was handed two years in prison, suspended for two years.

Jordan Ferns

Jordan Fern's DNA was found on a shotgun discovered alongside a stash of heroin in a loft.

The gun was seized when police raided a property in Dover Close, Murdishaw on November 27, 2019.

Officers searched the loft where they found the weapon, along with 30 wraps of heroin inside a blue rucksack.

Forensic testing identified the DNA of the 27-year-old, formerly of Sycamore Road, Runcorn, on the shotgun trigger.

He was jailed for seven years after admitting possessing a prohibited firearm and being concerned in the supply of heroin.

Ian Kaufman

Paedophile football coach Ian Kaufman catfished a girl on Snapchat by pretending to be a 17-year-old boy.

The 48-year-old sent the 16-year-old pictures he had taken from the internet so he could groom her and also posted presents.

The vile pervert would then use software to save videos and pictures the Scottish girl sent him on Snapchat in February 2020.

When police raided his home, they discovered Kaufman kept other child sex abuse images and cartoons of children being raped.

Kaufman, formerly of East Dam Wood Road, Speke, admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children, possessing extreme porn, attempting to take indecent photographs of a child and making indecent images of a child.

He was jailed for two years and eight months.

Lee Owens

Lee Owens 'exploited' a vulnerable mum he was dating and recruited her to join his life of crime.

The 42-year-old has been breaking into properties since he was a boy and has 55 previous convictions for 162 offences.

When he moved in with Lisa Fletcher, the 47-year-old mum, of Drake Crescent, Fazakerley, didn't have a criminal record.

Owens struck at the Caribbean restaurant Turtle Bay, in Victoria Street, Liverpool city centre, on August 16 last year, stealing £3,643 from a safe.

On October 1, Owens and Fletcher went to a Londis in Muirhead Avenue, Croxteth, where they stole £100 of gin and Owens took the shop owner's car.

On December 3, the couple targeted Holland and Barrett in Bold Street, taking £25 in cash and a bank card, which £200 was spent on.

He then struck at the One Stop Shop in Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley, on February 9 this year, taking a bank card which £164 was spent on.

Owens admitted four counts of burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and driving while disqualified and without insurance.

The crook, formerly of Drake Crescent, was jailed for 20 months and given a 22-month road ban.

Fletcher admitted two counts of burglary and was handed a three-year community order with associated orders.

Carl Power

Carl Power was locked up after texts on his mobile phone revealed his role in a spate of unsolved burglaries.

Power has blighted north Liverpool since he was a boy, despite his mum once insisting to a judge: "He's a good kid."

The 19-year-old has already amassed 10 previous convictions for 23 offences, dating back to when he was just 14.

Last May, during a 60mph scrambler bike chase involving a police helicopter, he fist-bumped onlookers, because he said he was "bored".

The teen dad was finally caught when he crashed into a police bike and could be seen smiling during his arrest in a photo posted on Instagram.

However, the seizure of his phone that afternoon enabled detectives to link him to eight burglaries between September 2019 and January 2020.

A video on the device also showed him riding another scrambler bike dangerously - while carrying three passengers - on September 18, 2019.

Power, of Wilburn Street, Walton, admitted conspiring to burgle and to steal, and dangerous driving.

He also asked for five burglaries - including a raid on Christmas Day - one attempted burglary and one count of handling stolen goods between December 2020 and January 2021 to be taken into consideration.

Power was locked up for two years and eight months.

John Merritt

John Merritt who raped two boys as a teenager collapsed in the dock when jailed.

The 60-year-old, of Leathers Lane, Halewood, denied sexually abusing the children in the 1970s.

But at the age of 14 or 15, when going by the name Walter Merritt, he raped his victims in Belle Vale and Netherley.

Merritt offered chocolate to Boy A, before inviting him into his house and raping him in a bathroom and a nearby field.

He also raped Boy B in the bathroom, pouncing after his mum invited the disadvantaged little boy in for tea and cake.

Boy B described how the abuse "destroyed" his life and even landed him in jail, after he stole to buy drugs to block out the horror.

The dad-of-four was convicted of three counts of a sexual offence, which would now be classed as rape after a trial in March.

He was jailed for eight years.

Dominic Lyons

Prolific shoplifter Dominic Lyons was sent back in prison only a fortnight after his last release.

Lyons, of no fixed address, but formerly of Fenwick Lane, Halton Lodge, admitted three counts of theft and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO).

The 26-year-old was last sent down on January 12, when he was jailed for six months for shoplifting offences.

He was handed a CBO banning him from shopping anywhere apart from his local Premier Store and in Runcorn Shopping City.

But when released he was caught stealing again within 10 days, so was jailed for six months.

Kane Omar

Kane Omar fled onto the roof of a hotel with £7,000 in cash when police raided a makeshift drug den.

The notorious gang thug booked a two bedroom apartment at The Podworks Hotel in Henry Street.

The 25-year-old - left fighting for his life after he was shot in 2017 - has repeatedly breached gang injunctions.

When officers struck at the hotel, they uncovered a cocaine and cannabis outfit, operating from the apartment.

Omar, of Lothian Street, Toxteth, booked to stay at Podworks between December 10 and 14, 2019.

The apartment was raided on December 14, when officers retrieved scales and drug packaging.

Omar's fingerprints were detected on four bags of cannabis, totalling nearly half a kilo, worth up to £6,691.

He denied possessing both cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply, but when prosecutors dropped the cocaine allegation - after another associate was convicted over this offence - Omar admitted the cannabis charge.

He was jailed for 12 months.

Melissa Stubbs, Aaron Stubbs, Stephen Strutt and Peter Walker

Three men and a woman from Manchester were jailed for life after they hunted down and murdered a dad-of-one in Merseyside.

Warren Glover, 33, was the victim of a "revenge" attack after he sent "vile" drunken texts to his ex-girlfriend, Melissa Stubbs.

He was struck with a metal bar by Melissa's brother Aaron Stubbs in St Helens on Saturday, June 13 last year and died three weeks later.

The siblings' mum, Gail Duff, had texted Mr Glover: "Prepare to meet your maker."

Melissa, 30, Aaron, 30, their friend Stephen Strutt, 39, and Strutt's brother-in-law Peter Walker, 31 were found guilty of murder following a trial.

Prior to their sentencing, they heard from the victim's mum Jackie Glover, who read an emotional victim personal statement.

She called the murder "pointless" and said "there has been absolutely no remorse shown by any of the defendants".

The mum added: "They left him in the street to die, not summoning any help whatsoever. This has added to our despair."

Judge Denis Watson, QC, found in relation to all defendants there was not an intention to kill, but there was an intention to cause grievous bodily harm.

Melissa Stubbs, 30, of Lane End Road, Burnage, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 and a half years.

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Aaron Stubbs, 30, of the same address as his sister, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 and a half years.

Stephen Strutt, 39, of Chester Avenue, Stalybridge, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 years.

Peter Walker, 31, of Garth Road, Wythenshawe, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 and a half years.

Garry Dowling

Garry Dowling was jailed after a crash that left another man in hospital for three weeks.

Dowling, 29, of Ford Lane, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday, April 30, as well as being banned from driving for four years.

Emergency services were called to the junction of Marsh Lane and Irlam Road to reports of a collision between a Seat Leon and Ford Fiesta, on November 12, 2019.

The driver of the Ford Fiesta, a man in his 20s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, where he remained for three weeks.

He also required months of care at home with limited mobility. Damage was also caused to a building at the site of the crash.

Following extensive enquiries including CCTV and witness appeals, Dowling, the driver of the Seat Leo, was later interviewed and charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Tina Morgan

Scrounging neighbour Tina Morgan stormed round to her friend's home and stabbed her.

The mum-of-one had earlier sent threatening messages to her victim after she put her foot down over Morgan abusing her generosity.

The 34-year-old warned Michelle Blundell, "don't make me turn nasty because I f***ing will" after asking for money, tobacco and food.

On the morning of August 23, 2019, after repeated requests, Morgan attacked Ms Blundell in Silverdale Road, Newton-le-Willows.

When Ms Blundell - who has since died from unconnected causes - opened her front door, Morgan pushed her hand in her face.

Ms Blundell punched Morgan, which caused her to fall to the floor, then began dragging her out of her home by her hair.

But the victim felt something in her stomach and later realised she had been stabbed with a seven to eight inch chopping knife.

Morgan admitted wounding and possessing a bladed article in public.

She was jailed for 17 months.

Ben Cragg

Drug dealer Ben Cragg used branded snap bags and had a T-shirt with a "Stinky Steve's" logo.

Cragg, also known as Ben Goddard, sold cannabis bags with the same logo on but was caught after cycling past police on a pavement.

The 28-year-old, smirked at officers when they asked him to stop but was arrested, when three bags of cannabis were discovered.

Police then searched his home, finding drugs worth up to £7,000, along with scales and the branded merchandise, on July 12, 2020.

The dad-of-one, of Lathom Road, Southport, also kicked an officer during his arrest.

He admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply and assaulting an emergency worker.

Cragg was jailed for 16 months.

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