Liverpool Crown Court Sentencing Results

On 23 August 2025, Steven Fisher rode a scrambler bike dangerously for around 50 minutes in Huyton, Knowsley. He was seen speeding, riding on pavements, contravening red traffic lights, and driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic. After police pursued him with motorbikes and the National Police Air Service helicopter, a stinger was used to deflate the bike's tyres on the slip road at junction 4 of the M57. He was arrested and refused to provide a breath or drug drive sample. He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, failing to drive in accordance with a licence, and driving without insurance.

Philip Darby, aged 62, of Beech Rise in Kirkby, attacked his neighbour the victim with a meat cleaver on May 8, 2025, following a feud lasting over seven years. The assault occurred at a block of flats on Beech Rise, where the victim presented severely injured with his nose and chin hanging off and a slice to his neck. The victim was placed in a coma for six weeks, required a tracheostomy, blood transfusions, and hospitalisation for over four months until October 3, 2025. The victim now suffers permanent facial scarring, memory loss, and requires a pureed diet. Darby confessed to police, stating the victim deserved it due to prior threats and attacks. He has prior convictions for battery in 2008 and possession of a bladed article in 2018 related to the same feud.

From October 2023 to August 2025, Gerard Woodhouse sent approximately five abusive cards per day to the home of the victim, a Labour councillor, containing vile insults including c*** and t***. The cards arrived around times of Labour Party campaigning activity. Woodhouse became fixated on the victim after being deselected by the Labour Party in 2024 and removed three years prior, stemming from a falling out over his L6 centre and her successful foodbank. Forensic testing by Merseyside Police linked the cards to him. He offered no comment in interview. The actions made the victim feel unsafe, stressed, and required her to block him, rush home for post, and accept panic alarms and cameras.

On September 20, 2025, in the early hours on Seel Street in Liverpool city centre, Ryan Cahill, who was out for a friend's hen do and heavily intoxicated, approached a group including student the victim and made crude references to raping one of the victim's friends. After being challenged, Cahill walked away, smashed a glass bottle on railings to create an improvised weapon, returned, and slashed the victim across the face, causing deep cuts to the bridge of his nose and forehead requiring stitches and resulting in permanent scarring.

Former Premier League footballer Joey Barton was convicted of sending grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety. Following a televised FA Cup tie in January 2024, he posted on X comparing two female football pundits to notorious serial murderers and superimposed their faces onto an image of those murderers. He also suggested one pundit had been appointed as a diversity hire, used an offensive term implying a television presenter had a sexual interest in children, and suggested that presenter had known a deceased sex offender. The offending posts were sent between January and March 2024.

On September 8, 2025, Merseyside Police executed a drugs warrant at the home of Ryan Dawson's partner on Fieldton Road in Croxteth, recovering a small quantity of cannabis from a car outside. A loaded self-loading P80 pistol with eight rounds of 9mm ammunition in a magazine was found buried in a black bag under a pile of rubble next to the property. The firearm was test-fired successfully, and Dawson's DNA was detected on the hand grip, side catch, slide grips, and rear sight. Dawson, aged 29, from Steers Croft in Stockbridge Village, claimed he was given the firearm to mind due to a drug debt but did not intend to use it. This incident occurred nearly 10 years after he was shot for an unknown reason around 2016, contributing to his PTSD, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety.

On December 20, 2024, Dylan Dellot, 37, of Tithebarn Lane in Kirkby, was involved in an altercation outside the Black Horse pub on County Road, Liverpool. After a verbal exchange with the victim, 24, Dellot struck him in the face with a Carling pint glass, causing it to break, and then punched him at least seven times, knocking him unconscious. Dellot had been drinking and taking drugs, including crack cocaine, throughout the day without sleep. The victim initially refused medical attention but collapsed at home hours later due to a severe brain injury from an internal bleed, requiring life-saving surgery at the Walton Centre. He remains under specialist neurological care with ongoing speech difficulties, tube feeding, wheelchair use, and severe long-term disability.

Gary Williams, 45, of Warbreck Road in Newton-le-Willows, engaged in vile chats on Skype and Telegram revealing sexual interest in girls aged five and younger. He downloaded 542 indecent images of children (130 category A images, 193 category A videos including babies being restrained and raped; 114 category B images including 40 films; 75 category C images including 23 videos), three prohibited cartoon or CGI images of child abuse, 352 images of bestiality, and two images showing sexual interference with a corpse. Devices seized on September 18, 2024, following intelligence about sharing on social media.

On August 27, 2023, William Treacy posted a parcel from a Post Office in Toxteth to his son Aaron Donohoe at HMP Swinfen Hall. The parcel contained a pair of grey slippers with 94g of cannabis resin hidden in the foot beds, valued at £940 to £1,410 on the street and more inside prison. Treacy and Donohoe discussed preparing the package, including spraying it with Lynx deodorant to mask the smell, during phone calls in August and September 2023. The scheme was detected by a sniffer dog on August 29, 2023. Treacy handed himself in on October 2, 2023, initially denying knowledge but later admitting the offence. The cannabis was intended to help Donohoe settle a drug debt and make money inside the prison.

On April 4, 2025, shortly before 1am, police spotted three Sur-Ron electric bikes travelling eastbound on Edge Lane in Liverpool. The riders, dressed in black, failed to stop, leading to a pursuit. Thomas Williams, riding one bike, was tailed to the junction of East Prescot Road and Eaton Road in West Derby. He failed to slow at a roundabout and collided with a Vauxhall Zafira car, performing a full somersault before landing on the ground. The car was damaged but its four occupants were uninjured. Williams was taken to Aintree Hospital, refused blood tests, and a small quantity of cannabis was found in his jacket. He admitted getting scared upon seeing police, driving too fast, and the bike belonged to a friend. He expressed remorse and apologised.

On May 26, 2025, shortly after midnight, Michael Waring entered his housemate’s bedroom in Marsh House Lane, Warrington, and ordered him to drive him to ‘The Pool’. When refused, Waring threatened him with a knife, stole his car keys and mobile, attempted to drive off but crashed into another car. Police attended, and while being removed from the vehicle, Waring bit one officer's finger and assaulted another to avoid arrest. He was under the influence of drink.

On September 7, 2023, in broad daylight on West Derby Road, Liverpool, Leon Headey chased a man down the street, stabbing him repeatedly with a large kitchen knife after an argument involving three men. The victim sustained one stab wound to his upper chest and two to his back, bleeding profusely, and escaped by jumping into a passing car to reach the hospital. Headey also kicked the victim while he was on the ground. This was the first in a series of violent crimes, including an aggravated assault on October 25, 2023, in Alness, Scotland, and the murder of another victim on November 11, 2023, in Inverness, Scotland.

On September 27, 2025, at around 7am, following a row between the Brazilian couple in their flat on Berry Street in Liverpool city centre, William de Castro Rodrigues emerged wielding two kitchen knives and chased his boyfriend, the victim, who was wearing only sliders. Rodrigues swiped at him with a knife, narrowly missing, pursued him down the street until the victim slipped and fell, then lashed out again while he was on the ground. The assault ended when passing police officers intervened and arrested Rodrigues. He claimed self-defence in interview but was in a rage. The victim had to fend off the attack to avoid serious injury.

Mohammed Ali, a student residing at Cambridge Court in Liverpool city centre, was summoned for jury service at Liverpool Crown Court for two weeks starting September 29, 2025, but failed to attend. He did not respond to follow-up communications, including letters and phone calls, despite indications he might seek a deferral for his studies. Ordered to appear before Judge Andrew Menary KC to show cause why he should not be held in contempt, he again failed to show up.

Charlie Clark, aged 18 and 19 at the time, embarked on a 10-month campaign from November 2022 to September 2023, posting indecent and grossly offensive material relating to eight young women on an online forum using the pseudonym 'John Smith'. He uploaded pictures taken from social media, including one from a hacked Snapchat account showing a victim in her bra at age 16, requested rape fantasies, edited images to make victims appear naked using AI and software, and posted to threads like 'mega sluts' and 'post sluts who have been raped'. Notes on his phone included chilling plans to rape 14-17-year-olds and stalk victims. He was arrested on September 5, 2023, after confessing to a victim.

On August 18, 2024, in the Garston area of Liverpool, Kayleigh Maylor, after a two-day alcohol and cocaine binge, argued with her sister over a previously smashed window. Maylor became aggressive, attempted to fight her sister on the floor, put her hand on her throat, struck her over the head with a bottle of Bacardi (which did not shatter), and then smashed a mug over her head, causing a superficial laceration that bled profusely and briefly knocked the victim out. Maylor then issued threats to kill from outside, smashed the front window, and shouted abusive language captured on a neighbour's Ring doorbell camera, including hoping her sister bled to death. The victim barricaded herself in the kitchen and later received hospital treatment where the wound was glued shut. Maylor handed herself in on September 16, 2024.