Liverpool Crown Court Sentencing Results

Vicki Bevan, 37, from St Helens, Merseyside, systematically abused a girl aged under 10 over a two-year period from 2019 until 2021, committing rape, assaults by penetration, sexual assaults, inciting sexual activity, making and distributing indecent images, and possessing extreme pornography.

James Blundell raped and sexually abused young boys after grooming them with money and sweets. He had previous convictions for attempting to incite children into sexual activity and possessing indecent images, with the new offences occurring despite a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Graham Jones subjected a child to a campaign of sexual offending in Warrington during the 1980s, starting when she was primary school age. The offences included four rapes, one involving a knife threat in Orford Park where he grabbed her, pushed her to the ground, raped her, and fled after being disturbed. Other incidents involved indecent assaults while she was injured and in agony, exposing himself and performing sex acts nearby with risk of detection, inappropriate touching under clothing, and attempting to force her into sexual conduct in Parr Hall toilets amid a crowd. He threatened terrible consequences if she told anyone, stealing her childhood and breaking her spirit, leading to lifelong trauma including self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Niall Barry, aged 26, was the organiser behind the murder of the victim as part of a drug feud re-ignited at Glastonbury festival in June 2022, where he threatened to stab a victim, the victim's boyfriend. The feud involved the Hillside organised crime group and intensified after the suicide of mutual friend Rikki Warnick in July 2023. Barry conspired in the attack on 21 August 2023 using a Skorpion submachine gun.

Connor Chapman, 23, carried out a planned revenge attack on Christmas Eve 2021 outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, as part of a gang feud between the Woodchurch and Beechwood estates. He lay in wait for three hours in a stolen Mercedes with cloned plates, wearing dark clothes, before firing 12 bullets from a Skorpion submachine gun at a group of people, fatally shooting the victim, an innocent beautician, twice in the back of the victim's head while she was outside for a cigarette. Five others, including two intended targets, were seriously injured. He fled to co-defendant Thomas Waring's home to dispose of the gun, later burned the Mercedes in Frodsham, Cheshire, and attempted to evade capture by recruiting friends for ferry tickets to Spain and hiding. DNA on a bullet casing linked him to the crime, leading to his arrest in mid-Wales.

In November 2015 in Bootle, Merseyside, Kamil Lesiak and three others kidnapped a 27-year-old man and kept him against his will for 10 hours, subjecting him to a series of physical and sexual assaults. Lesiak was identified as involved and arrested in the Anfield area in September 2020 after failing to appear at court.

Lennox Smith committed serious sexual offences, including two counts of rape and sexual assault, against a woman at an address in St Helens between May and June 2023. The victim described the profound impact on her life, including feeling disrespected, physically weak, and alone, despite support from family and services.

James Anthony Elliott raped an 18-year-old woman inside a house in Birkenhead in August 2022. The incident involved a serious sexual assault, and the victim was supported by specially trained officers throughout the investigation and trial. Elliott was identified and convicted after a lengthy and complex process, which included reliving the experience in court.

On August 22, 2022, Thomas Cashman, a high-level cannabis dealer, chased the victim up Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot, Liverpool, after lying in wait. He fired three shots, hitting the victim in the midriff. The victim ran into the child's home for safety. Cashman pursued and fired a bullet through the front door, wounding the child's mother in the hand and fatally shooting the nine-year-old child in the chest as she stood behind her mother. Cashman fled the scene. The incident was linked to gang-related enmities, with prior attempts on the victim's life using the same pistol.

Kevin Mannion, 45, stabbed his girlfriend, 22, in the groin during a rageful attack at his apartment in the Great Northern Tower, Manchester, on August 16, 2022, after she questioned him about seeing other women. This followed previous assaults during their eight-month relationship.

Stephen Lequesne, 23, of no fixed abode, raped a 21-year-old woman in a car park surrounded by bushes in Hoghton Street, Southport, around 1am on 8 July 2021. The woman had been out on a night out with friends. A passer-by heard her screams, saw Lequesne assaulting her, and shouted at him to stop. Lequesne claimed she was his girlfriend and he was hugging her, but she ran away screaming. The 42-year-old passer-by detained Lequesne and called the police. Another passer-by also called the police after hearing the screams. Lequesne was arrested at the scene, denied the rape, claimed he met her briefly and passed out, but CCTV footage showed the assault. He became aggressive during interview and refused to watch further footage. He initially pleaded guilty to attempted rape but was charged with rape after further evidence, pleading guilty on 15 October 2021.

Anthony Morris drove Aaron Bretherton to a residence on Poplars Avenue in Orford in 2020, where Bretherton fired three shots after posing as a pizza deliveryman, injuring the intended target's stepfather. This was part of a larger plot involving EncroChat communications and organised by Jamie Rothwell.

Aaron Bretherton posed as a pizza deliveryman and fired three shots at a residence on Poplars Avenue in Orford in 2020, as part of a plot organised by Jamie Rothwell. One bullet hit the floor, and another injured the victim in the lower right leg after travelling through the door. This was in connection with a conspiracy involving EncroChat communications.

Edward Stanton abused and raped children as young as six in care homes in England, including at St Vincent's home in Formby, between 1976 and 1995. He exploited his position of trust as a carer to target vulnerable young people, including incidents where he pretended to search a victim for cigarettes and sexually assaulted him, as well as assaulting another victim in a bathroom. The abuse caused long-lasting trauma, including depression, relationship problems, and feelings of shame for the victims.

On October 6, 2019, in Warrington, Daniel Sharples, a 38-year-old kickboxer from Grisedale Avenue, Orford, verbally abused a group including the victim, who was drinking with friends near the railway bridges on Winwick Street. After attacking and chasing away two of the victim's friends, Sharples launched a vicious, sustained assault on the 53-year-old wheelchair-bound father-of-two, repeatedly kicking him while he was helpless. A member of the public tried to intervene, but Sharples continued until he fled. The victim was treated at the scene, taken to Warrington District General Hospital, placed in an induced coma, and transferred to intensive care, where he died on October 28, 2019, without regaining consciousness. Sharples was arrested shortly after attempting to evade police.

Mark Fellows shot the victim, an underworld fixer, to death on 5 May 2018, executing him with four shots – two to the back and two to the head – as the victim walked his dogs with his pregnant partner near Rainhill. He also fired shots towards her. In July 2015, Fellows killed the victim's associate, another victim, known as Salford's 'Mr Big', shooting him with an Uzi submachine gun outside his home in Clifton. Fellows carried out the killings as a hired gunman in a gangland feud. He showed 'casual indifference', finalising the plan to murder the victim during a family pub meal and going shopping and clubbing afterwards.

Steven Boyle assisted Mark Fellows in the murder of the victim on 5 May 2018. He drove a disguised car to a layby near the scene and used an encrypted mobile phone to alert Fellows when the victim emerged walking his dogs. Boyle was found to have disposed of the murder weapon afterwards. The judge said he was part of the planned assassination and showed no emotion upon sentencing.

On September 30, 2013, at Liver Launderette on Priory Road, Anfield, Reese O'Shaughnessy, then aged 19, led a gang attack on the 19-year-old victim in revenge for a prior stabbing. The gang, associated with Lane Heads, chased the victim, kicked down a door, and used a swordstick to stab him in the leg, severing an artery. The victim escaped to an alley but died four days later in hospital.

Karl McCluney attacked two-year-old the victim by kicking, punching, and biting her in July 2008 at a house in Eccles, Salford, while babysitting her on his 15th birthday. The assault caused 68 injuries and severe brain damage, leading to her being placed on life support for two days before it was switched off with the victim's parents present.