Liverpool Crown Court Sentencing Results

Tubah Hamid, a former Greater Manchester Police officer, exploited restricted police intelligence systems between December 2021 and June 2022 to assist her partner, a drug dealer linked to a Rochdale-based organised crime group. She carried out unauthorised computer searches on four individuals and disclosed sensitive operational information. On 16 June 2022 she reported sick but was seen entering her partner's vehicle before a cocaine transaction; during a later raid she concealed her identity as a police officer and tried to alert other members of the criminal network.

Van Huy Nguyen was involved in a people-smuggling operation that moved Vietnamese migrants to the UK and laundered over £1,600,000. He communicated with the group about routes and the movement of people, and was involved in collecting cash across the UK to send onwards to Vietnam through Post Offices and money transfer bureaus. Migrants were placed in debt bondage and made to work in businesses such as nail salons to pay off their passage.

The defendant was a leader of an organised crime group that facilitated illegal entry to the UK for Vietnamese migrants and laundered more than £1.6m. Passports were taken from migrants in France before they travelled to the UK by small boats and lorries, then used as debt bondage. The defendant was arrested in Coventry in October 2025 with more than £13,400 and eight Vietnamese passports; his phone contained conversations about moving migrants through Hungary and searches for weather mapping data including the English Channel. He was convicted by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court.

Sy Trai Ho was involved in a people-smuggling operation that moved Vietnamese migrants to the UK and laundered money through transfers to Vietnam. He helped collect cash from locations across the UK, including from a nail bar, and was present when an attempt was made to transfer cash via Western Union. He was arrested with approximately £4,000 in cash. The group used debt bondage and withheld passports from migrants.

Quang Nguyen was linked to a package seized in France containing 22 Vietnamese passports. When arrested in Birmingham, he discarded car keys; a search of the car found more than £16,700 in cash, 220 Vietnamese passports, handwritten notes and receipts. He was involved in moving migrants to the UK and in the debt bondage scheme that used passports to control them.

Quang Van Nguyen was involved in a people-smuggling conspiracy that charged Vietnamese migrants about $20,000 for illegal entry into the UK. His car was found to contain more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports bundled with handwritten notes and transfer receipts. His phone showed messages about moving migrants referred to as 'chickens', discussions about being underpaid, and details of nail salon placements used for debt bondage. He helped collect cash and send payments to Vietnam through Post Offices and money transfer bureaus.

Lia-Chien Trong was involved in a people-smuggling conspiracy that charged Vietnamese migrants about $20,000 for passage to the UK and laundered more than £1,600,000. He was linked to the conspiracy after forensic analysis of a bag containing passports wrapped in a bloodstained football shirt bearing his DNA. His phone contained notes detailing monetary amounts, Post Office locations and banking details, and he described sending papers to Vietnam as money laundering. The group used debt bondage and withheld passports from migrants.

Ian Griffin attacked his 83-year-old father in the family home in May 2025 after drinking in a local pub. He repeatedly punched and kicked the victim, dragged him to the floor, stamped on his legs, and forced him to sign a document giving half of his earnings to Griffin's mother. Police found the victim with a bloodied face and severe facial injury. Griffin had a previous conviction in France for murdering his fiancée, and the judge treated him as posing a high risk of further violent offending against his father.

Philip Aryeetey was stopped by officers on the M57 near junction 5 on 24 October 2025. A search of his car revealed £299,440 in cash hidden inside a padlocked suitcase beneath the driver's seat. A subsequent search of his home uncovered a further £2,000 in cash, 65g of cocaine and a Taser. He pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing criminal property, possession of cocaine with intent to supply and possession of a prohibited firearm.

Joel Carrol rode an electric dirt bike on pavements and on the wrong side of the road during a police pursuit in Upton on 8 September 2026. He failed to stop when instructed by police, mounted a kerb, lost control and fell. Officers arrested him nearby and seized the bike.

On 8 September 2026, Joel Carroll rode an electric bike on pavements and on the wrong side of the road while attempting to evade Merseyside Police officers who had instructed him to stop. During the pursuit he mounted a kerb, lost control of the bike and fell, and was later arrested on Hambledon Drive. The e-bike was seized.

Mark Jacobson raped children and forced them to watch sexual acts. He was convicted of 16 serious sexual offences against children, including two counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape, causing a child to watch a sexual act and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Kieran Scholes was involved in a violent confrontation outside Tower Stores on Seabank Road in New Brighton, Wirral, on 19 December 2025. He and another male chased a man who was armed with a baton and wearing a balaclava, and a fight broke out in the street. Scholes forced the man to the ground and bit his ear, severing part of it, while another person punched and stamped on the man. The victim was left with permanent disfigurement, with about 3cm of his left ear missing and cartilage exposed.

Laurence Tchapong, a registered mental health nurse, failed to carry out required checks every five minutes on a vulnerable inpatient during her evening shift on 30 June 2022. She later falsely completed records to suggest the checks had taken place. CCTV footage showed she failed to check the patient for 24 minutes despite falsified records stating otherwise. The patient was found by another nurse, but died four days later. Tchapong told police she had been dealing with competing demands due to staff shortages and denied wilful neglect.

Przemyslaw Sliwinski assaulted his partner after an anniversary party on 16 August 2025. He had been drinking heavily before an argument developed about driving home. He hit her to the side of the jaw, causing blurry vision, and later hit her again and slapped her mobile phone out of her hand while she attempted to record him. She suffered two displaced fractures to her jaw, required surgery with metal screws and plates, and was left with ongoing pain and a speech impediment. The children were in the family home at the time and later had to be placed in temporary foster care during her surgery.

Steven Wales found a man dead in his bath after an apparent drug overdose and panicked, moving the body into a wheelie bin concealed behind derelict houses. He called 999 on 22 July 2025, two days later, and led police to the bin. The sentencing judge said the cause of death had been established as mixed drug toxicity but the precise circumstances were uncertain.

On 20 January 2025, Billy Rutter ran a red light in front of police in Birkenhead, and his van broke down immediately afterwards. When an officer approached and smelled alcohol, Rutter was asked to take a roadside breath test. He refused, pushed the officer, and during a struggle in moving traffic threw the officer to the ground, fracturing the officer's right shoulder. Rutter fled but was arrested the next day; he resisted arrest and attempted to spit at another officer. A craft knife was found in the driver's side door of his van.

Kathryn White subjected her partner to an 11-month campaign of physical, verbal and emotional abuse after they began a relationship in 2021. She isolated the victim from family and friends, forced a family member to leave the home, controlled what the victim wore, and made her leave her job and transfer her money. White repeatedly accused the victim of cheating and slapped her after she hugged a colleague. When the victim contacted police in July 2022, she reported that White had ripped a door from a wardrobe and thrown it at her, grabbed her throat and pinned her against a wall, and that she had no access to her own money, social media accounts or emails. White also threatened to take her own life if the victim tried to end the relationship.

Thomas Beveridge was part of a group that fired three shots from a stolen BMW towards a gate on a residential street in Kirkdale, Liverpool on 26 July 2025. The group turned the BMW around before firing. Forensic testing linked Beveridge to the firearms recovered by police.

Reece Sands was linked by forensic testing to firearms recovered after a shooting in Kirkdale, Liverpool. Police recovered a Glock self-loading pistol, a Taurus revolver, ammunition and Class A drugs. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, namely a Glock self-loading pistol.

Kieran Ingle was part of a group that fired three shots from a stolen BMW towards a gate on a residential street in Kirkdale, Liverpool on 26 July 2025. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy offences involving firearms and ammunition.

McGrath sent a series of threatening emails in January and February 2024 to professionals including two MPs, a judge, a solicitor, a chartered surveyor and a bank, and posted on social media in November 2025 threatening to bomb a police headquarters and a town hall unless property was returned. His messages threatened explosions, shooting, and other violence. The court heard he was suffering a mental health relapse at the time and had been sectioned following his arrest.

Daniel Riley stole a car with a vulnerable woman inside and drove dangerously. He pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, threats to kill, criminal damage, possession of class B drugs and assaulting an emergency worker. He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to 26 months in prison and banned from driving.

Karen Palmer subjected her husband to 20 years of physical, mental and emotional abuse, controlling their finances and isolating him from family and friends. On 31 March 2026, paramedics found the victim bleeding heavily from multiple injuries in Meols, including a deep laceration to his forearm close to a major artery and further cuts to his arms, hand, forehead and head. He had multiple scars from previous attacks. The court heard she monitored his mobile phone and prevented him from seeking medical help.

On 15 June 2025, outside a pub in Huyton, Merseyside, Liam Naylor became involved in a dispute. Despite an apparent handshake resolution, he later sat in his car while shouting at a group. With bystanders around the vehicle, he reversed and then drove forwards into a small crowd, striking a man who had been trying to stop him from driving because he was clearly unfit. The victim suffered fractures to his tibia and fibula, underwent a nine-hour operation, spent days in hospital and was unable to work for nine months. Naylor was arrested at home, was unsteady on his feet, and had an initial breath reading of 84 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, more than double the legal limit. He later refused to provide a blood sample. He pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, drink driving and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

Andrew Roberts stabbed his 56-year-old father in the chest during an incident at a house in Woodchurch on 16 December 2025. The victim was taken to hospital, and his injuries were not life-threatening. Roberts was arrested in the Rake Lane area and was sentenced for Section 18 wounding with intent.

On 25 October 2024 at a shared house on Greyhound Farm Road in Speke, Robert Trandafir attacked his housemate, the victim, after a row over a chair not being tucked under the kitchen table. Trandafir shouted insults about Moldovans, threatened the victim, then retrieved a telescopic truncheon from his car. When the victim later left his room, Trandafir punched him, dragged him by the neck, repeatedly hit him in the head with the truncheon, pushed him into a wall breaking a mirror, and attempted to stab him in the face with a broken plate shard. The attack stopped when Trandafir saw the victim bleeding heavily. The victim suffered a concussion and a head wound requiring staples.