60 jailed in May for crimes linked to Merseyside

Published date31 May 2021
Publication titleLiverpool Echo: Web Edition Articles (England)
Judges had to sentence two killers from a deadly robbery gang, gun thugs who carried weapons near a school at pick-up time and a fugitive drug boss.

Disturbing cases included a wicked paedophile who raped boys at a hellish children's home, a pervert who molested a sleeping friend and a man whose ordeal at the hands of a torture gang defied belief.

Judges had to sentence EncroChat drug dealers who boasted about making millions from peddling cocaine and heroin to addicts, a woman who stabbed her childhood sweetheart to death, and a mum who has dated not one but two murderers -helping the second try and evade police.

A court even heard about three bent coppers from Merseyside who covered up one of their colleagues battering a man in an unprovoked attack.

Here is an overview of some of the most serious cases to have concluded this past month.

Lian Clayton

Lian Clayton dragged her disabled neighbour to the floor in a horrific attack.

The 25-year-old pinned down Karren Bradshaw, who requires crutches to walk, with her knees and punched her.

When a neighbour came to help she said she could hear "bones crunching" as Lian Clayton kicked the vulnerable mum.

Unable to pull Lian Clayton from Mrs Bradshaw, she held the woman's hand in comfort as she was battered and left with a broken nose, black eyes and impaired vision on August 27 last year.

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Three months later Lian Clayton and her mum, Mary Clayton, burgled another kind-hearted neighbour in St Helens, when he had gone to visit his sick wife in hospital, stealing their prescription medication.

Lian Clayton admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and burglary.

She was jailed for 10 months and three weeks.

Mary Clayton previously received a suspended sentence for burglary and assaulting an emergency worker.

Paul Pickerill

Cyber pervert Paul Pickerill who was snared in an online sting told a '13-year-old girl' she was "a young woman now and ready for sex".

However, the 'child' was in fact an adult from the paedophile hunter group Net Justice.

The 65-year-old, of Lockgate West, Windmill Hill, Runcorn, admitted attempting to incite a child aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to engage a child in sexual communication.

The charges related to sick conversations he had throughout March, when he pretended to be 55 and sent the supposed girl indecent pictures and videos of himself.

He was jailed for 20 months.

Peter Rawlinson

Peter Rawlinson climbed a drainpipe into his ex-partner’s house to attack her -then threatened to frame his victim for cuts he made to his own arm.

The 31-year-old assaulted Kerry Rigby in the early hours of February 23, 2020, about a week after he moved out of their shared home in Laburnum Grove, Runcorn and in with his mum next door.

He climbed through the bathroom window, entered the bedroom and repeatedly punched his ex, causing bruising and a split lip.

Rawlinson was verbally abusive to Miss Rigby, who noticed he had “cuts to his forearms”, which he claimed were part of a plot to put her in prison.

However, she secretly recorded him confessing to his lies on her phone.

Rawlinson, formerly of Arthur Street, Runcorn, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for around 15 months in total.

Liam Watson, Kyle Sanders, Joseph McKeever and Dale Avery

The killers of a young rapper shot dead in a bungled robbery were locked up alongside their robbery gang.

Liam Watson and Kyle Sanders "lured" Miguel 'Migz' Reynolds from Manchester to Merseyside to buy a stolen Audi S1.

The 21-year-old victim, aka 'Lil Gwop Boy', travelled over from Moss Side to Netherton with a friend on June 7, 2018.

But they were met by the gang, who robbed the pair at gunpoint of £2,000, after Watson threatened to shoot Mr Reynolds' friend.

Mr Reynolds refused to leave, produced a lock knife and gave chase, despite Watson firing a warning shot in Henry Hickman Close.

When he cornered the gunman in a communal garden off Assissian Crescent, the killer shot him in the neck.

The musician died in hospital, three days before his 22nd birthday.

Following two trials, Watson was found guilty of murder and conspiracies to rob, possess a prohibited firearm and possess prohibited ammunition.

Watson, 32, of Litherland Park, Litherland, was jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years.

Sanders, 22, of Charles Best Green, Bootle, who organised the robbery, was convicted of manslaughter and the three conspiracies.

He was jailed for 21 years.

Joseph McKeever, 30, and Dale Avery, 26, were found guilty of the three plots.

McKeever, of Howard Florey Avenue, Bootle, who was also convicted of three unrelated burglaries and aggravated vehicle taking, was jailed for 12 and a half years.

Avery, of Marie Curie Avenue, Netherton, was jailed for 11 and a half years, with an extended three years on licence.

Avery's girlfriend, pregnant mum-of-one Emma Kirby, 23, was found guilty of assisting an offender, namely Sanders.

She was handed a suspended sentence.

Hayley Jones

Hayley Jones pinned a pensioner against a wall and stabbed him in the side after he refused to lend her money.

She was accompanied by her young child when she attacked an 83-year-old in his home in Toxteth and falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her.

The victim was rushed to hospital after he flagged down a neighbour for help who saw he was covered in blood.

A CT scan revealed he had suffered a major laceration to his spleen and doctors found he also had a perforated colon and damaged pancreas.

His relatives were told that he might not survive and the OAP, who was previously independent and healthy, had to move into a nursing home.

Jones, 31, who had already borrowed £30 from the victim and wanted a further £30, admitted wounding him in Southwell Place on September 12, 2019.

The mum-of-one, of Elwy Street, Toxteth, a drug addict but with no previous convictions, also admitted possessing an offensive weapon.

She was jailed for two years and eight months.

Simon Fitzgerald

What to do if you're a victim of a sex crime

Simon Fitzgerald was jailed for sexually abusing a teenage girl and then threatening to "burn her house".

The 29-year-old, of Whitford Road, Birkenhead, originally denied assaulting the victim, who was under 16.

After being released by police, Fitzgerald then went to the victim's home and shouted through her window.

On another occasion, the paedophile was seen trying to get into her house in the early hours of the morning.

He was spotted again later, when the victim's mum found an empty petrol can outside her front door in Bury.

She believed it had been left as a "warning" by the convicted robber, who had threatened to "burn her house".

He finally pleaded guilty ahead of a trial to causing a child to engage in sexual activity and witness intimidation.

Fitzgerald was jailed for four years and eight months.

Greater Manchester Police said it was unable to provide his mugshot.

Paul Bellis and George Garvey

A scrambler bike yob who dealt cocaine and heroin was "raised impeccably", according to his mum.

George Garvey stood in the dock alongside Paul Bellis after they were caught riding scrambler bikes with cocaine, heroin and cash on them.

Dad-of-one Garvey, 24, and Bellis, 23, raised suspicions when they pulled up to Shino's Café in Croxteth with two mates on scrambler bikes.

The yobs were riding without helmets or number plates and while they weren't charged with motoring offences, both were detained after a struggle.

In a bag around his neck Garvey had 22g of cannabis, an ounce deal of cocaine, an "eighth deal" of crack cocaine and 27 wraps of heroin.

In total Garvey, of Bridgeford Avenue, West Derby, had 34g of Class A drugs on him worth £1,680, plus £1,644 in cash and two mobile phones.

Police searched Bellis' mum's home, where he was living, and found 58g of crack cocaine worth £4,656 and 31g of heroin, worth £1,244.

Officers also retrieved 5g of cannabis, a set of scales and another mobile phone belonging to Bellis, of Round Hey, Stockbridge Village.

Both men admitted possessing heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine with intent to supply and possessing cannabis.

They were each jailed for two and a half years.

Lee Monaghan

Lee Monaghan who molested and photographed a sleeping friend had his arm snapped in "retribution".

The 48-year-old pervert targeted the woman, who was in her 20s, after she had earlier come to his aid.

She woke to find him sexually assaulting her, when he brazenly claimed he thought she had consented.

But after he confessed in texts the next day and begged for forgiveness, the victim's sister and others went to his home.

Monaghan suffered a broken arm, which both his own lawyer and a judge remarked many people would say he "deserved".

The drink and drug fuelled attack happened at Monaghan's home in Smollett Street, Bootle late one night in 2017.

Monaghan, of Linacre Road, Litherland, admitted assault by penetration and sexual assault.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Ira Rose

Ira Rose strangled a mum-of-four until she pretended to be dead.

The 37-year-old told the woman "you're mine, you're not getting away from me" as he firmly gripped her throat until she "couldn't breathe".

The terrified victim, who the ECHO has chosen not to name, "played dead" in the living room of her Orrell Park home as Rose checked on her repeatedly and "poured himself a drink".

He then grabbed the woman by the ankles and pulled her "as if she was dead", as her children slept upstairs on March 6 last year.

Rose, of Princethorpe Road, Birmingham, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for 22 months.

However, the crook, whose record includes wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and common assault, was already subject to licence on a previous imprisonment for public protection sentence, meaning he will only be released when a Parole Board considers he is no longer a risk.

James...

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