58 people Jailed in February for crimes linked to Merseyside
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| Publication title | Liverpool Echo: Web Edition Articles (England) |
Courts heard about a convicted murderer caught with two knives and a Liverpool University technician who wanted to sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Judges had to sentence drug dealers brought down as a result of police hacking the secret phone network EncroChat and serial woman abusers who committed appalling crimes against vulnerable victims.
Meanwhile they also heard about a knife wielding crook who was slashed by a shop assistant with a machete and a thug who carved up his own cousin's back with a Stanley blade at a wedding.
A man who was part of a gang that caused a £1.5m trail of destruction was finally brought to justice and a wicked mum-to-be who carried out a petrol bomb attack on the home of her ex-boyfriend was locked up.
Here is an overview of some of the most serious cases to have concluded this past month.
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 failed to turn up for a police interview and fled abroad 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 theoretical physics graduate worked as a teacher before becoming a learning technology development officer at Edge Hill University.
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 repeatedly in the head as he lay defenceless on the ground.
The victim suffered fractures to his nose, skull and inside both eye sockets -extending into the area where the brain rests.
Doctors had to cut open the top of his head from ear to ear to repair the damage and insert metal plates and screws.
The dad has since 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.
The brazen crooks were captured on CCTV targeting luxury shops and restaurants in Liverpool One and the Metquarter to buy goods using payment details from receipts swiped from restaurants and hotels.
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Sometimes the gang would return and request a refund, using their own payment cards so their own bank accounts were credited.
They moved on to target off licences and petrol stations but were arrested following raids on their homes in Greater Manchester last May.
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 ten offences including possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, being concerned in the offer of supply of both drugs, and a number of driving offences.
McCabe was jailed for four years and nine months.
Daniel Leonard
Side effects of Cocaine
Daniel Leonard spat at and bit his mother’s face after she tried to stop him assaulting his pregnant sister.
He turned violent after an evening drinking at his mum's home in Runcorn on Boxing Day ran into the early hours of December 27.
The 34-year-old, of Parish Mews, Knotty Ash, was said to have taken cocaine before he became irritated and argued with his sister Natalie.
He grabbed hold of Natalie, dragged her to the floor, then made threats including "I will knock your fing teeth out" and "I will 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 pleaded guilty to common assault and assault causing bodily harm and was jailed for five months.
Josh Wade
Josh Wade emptied a shopping bag full of his own 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.
A judge said this amounted to a "campaign of harassment" against the woman, who the ECHO chose not to name.
Wade spotted the victim walking to work outside their properties in Ford Lane, Litherland, at around 7.15am, on October 1 last year.
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 in a cowardly attack.
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 exposed as 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.
Meanwhile photos showed £385,000 of cash -vacuum sealed for delivery -laid out in front of the fireplace of his family's Kirkby home -along with kilos of Class A drugs opened for inspection.
But the top secret EncroChat network -relied upon by killers and gangsters across Europe -was hacked by police last July.
Officers raided Duckworth's Langdale Close 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, who had nine previous convictions for 19 offences, was jailed for 16 and a half years.
Colin Poole
Colin Poole stole nearly £300 of chocolate and meat in a two-day spree just days after receiving a court ban.
The 39-year-old was hit with a Criminal Behaviour Order, banning him from entering any Co-op store in Widnes and concealing items before purchase at any retail premises in Cheshire, at the end of January.
But he pilfered £180 of chocolate during two visits to a Co-op store on Hale Road in Widnes on January 29 and the following 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 beloved by gangsters and killers across Europe.
The dad-of-two, who had no legitimate income, owned a Mercedes SUV and boasted of a two-storey extension to his Roby home.
The 30-year-old even took his family on a six-week summer holiday to Spain, all thanks to his deals with other criminals going by handles including "JurgenNeverStops" and "AlissonBecker".
But his involvement in trafficking an estimated 15kg of Class A drugs came crashing down when police agencies hacked the phone network.
And just days after the family returned from the extravagant trip, police raided their house in Holly Grove, Roby and arrested the dealer.
Hughes admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin and 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 went into a shop on Westminster Road. in Ellesmere Port. on January 2 this year, at around 8.30pm, armed with a large knife.
He threatened to stab a staff member and stole cash from the...
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