69 people jailed in November for crimes linked to Merseyside
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Publication title | Liverpool Echo: Web Edition Articles (England) |
Courts heard about a man who left his girlfriend's lover paralysed and a mum who sped at nearly 60mph through a red light and put a little girl in a coma.
READ MORE: Dad pours milk on mum's new boyfriend then breaks his eye socket
Judges also had to sentence a knife-wielding thug who killed a young man from Crosby in a 90-minute stabbing spree, a thieving paramedic who pinched defibrillators from ambulances and a rapist described as "every mother's living nightmare".
Meanwhile, other disturbing cases included a depraved paedophile who blackmailed girls into carrying out humiliating abuse and a twisted pervert who called himself "Papa Bear".
Here is an overview of some of the most serious cases to have concluded this past month.
Brandon Mullin
Brandon Mullin exploited the failures of a mum as he raped and sexually abused two of her vulnerable children.
The teenager preyed on the youngsters -two siblings a judge said were victims of the worst neglect he had ever seen.
His terrible abuse -including the rape of a boy and abuse of a girl -only ended when the children were taken into care.
Mullin, 19, of Kensington Road, Kensington, was found guilty of 10 sexual offences against his two victims after a trial.
He was a child himself at the time of the abuse, but Judge Garrett Byrne said he was a "cold and calculated individual".
The judge said: "I am satisfied you knew perfectly well what you were doing was wrong."
Mullin was locked up for 13 years, with an extended licence period of three years.
Alexander Bancroft-Brooks
Alexander Bancroft-Brooks threw a large kitchen knife he bought "to protect himself" onto the grounds of a school as he tried to flee police.
The 22-year-old admitted carrying a bladed weapon when he refused to stop his bike for officers on Smithdown Road on September 9 this year.
The ensuing chase saw him throw the kitchen knife onto the grounds of Archbishop Blanch School, where the weapon was recovered.
He was already subject to an eight-month suspended sentence from February for possession of articles for use in fraud.
Bancroft-Brooks, of Copperfield Close, Toxteth, was jailed for nine months in total.
Christopher Barnes
A pervert masseur sexually assaulted women after he had been arrested by police over similar attacks on other clients.
Christopher Barnes, 46, was found guilty after a trial of molesting six victims, taking the total number of women he has abused to eight.
One of the victims at his Rose Lane clinic told Barnes she hoped he "rotted in hell" for the psychological damage he had caused her.
Barnes, of Wellington Street, Garston, previously groped two women in 2018, leaving them feeling disgusted, vulnerable and frightened.
He admitted two counts of sexual assault weeks before a trial and was handed 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, in June 2019.
But after reading about his vile exploits in the ECHO, six more women contacted police to say they too had been sexually abused by him.
Three of those sex attacks happened after the remorseless creep had been arrested and interviewed by police in April 2018.
Barnes was jailed for four years.
Charlie Dowling
Charlie Dowling who turned to street dealing to pay off his drug debt was caught "red handed" by police.
The then 17-year-old was arrested with 43 bags of heroin and 84 bags of crack cocaine at around midnight in Bedford Road, Bootle.
When asked if he had any drugs, Dowling, of Skipton Road, Anfield, replied "yes, a lot", on November 10 last year.
He was also carrying around £200 in cash and his mobile phone contained "flare" adverts for drugs sent out to customers.
The now 18-year-old, already has nine convictions for 27 offences, including robbery, burglary, assault, possessing drugs and motoring offences.
He admitted two offences of possessing drugs with intent to supply and was locked up for two years and two months.
Peter Bancroft
Peter Bancroft arranged to meet an 11-year-old girl for sex after grooming her online.
The dad-of-five didn't realise the child didn't actually exist and he was talking to paedophile hunters Stop UK.
The 65-year-old -who was later found to have child sex abuse images on his mobile phone -began chatting to 'Sally' on Facebook on June 17 this year.
The grandad, of Eccleston Avenue, Bromborough, arranged to meet 'Sally' in Oldham on July 11, only to be met by Stop UK, then arrested by the police.
Bancroft admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and arranging the commission of a child sex offence.
He also admitted seven offences involving downloading and possessing indecent images of children, plus extreme pornography.
Bancroft was jailed for three years and nine months.
Gun crooks
Two men who came to Liverpool to collect a gun were caught red handed in a Mercedes.
Sefer Allushi and Erald Sida were put in contact with James McGlade via cocaine and heroin dealer Dominic Valerio.
McGlade had stashed a German air pistol -converted to fire live ammunition -in the Toxteth home of Thomas Lawler.
Allushi and Sida drove in a Mercedes car to Lawler's address in Corinto Street, where they met McGlade and Lawler.
But armed police struck at the moment the weapon was handed over, at around 8.20pm, on Thursday, March 11 this year.
All five men admitted possessing a prohibited firearm, while Lawler also pleaded guilty to possessing prohibited ammunition.
Lawler, 24, of Corinto Street, Toxteth, who has robbery and dangerous driving on his criminal record, was jailed for six years.
McGlade, 24, of Lower Hall Street, St Helens, whose previous convictions include robbery, burglary and wounding, was jailed for five years and 10 months.
Allushi, 26, of no fixed address, and Sida, 31, of Nursery Road, Walsall, both of whom have no previous convictions, were jailed for five years each.
Valerio, 28, of High Street, Wavertree, also admitted unrelated charges of being concerned in the supply of both heroin and cocaine, dangerous driving, possessing both crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, possessing criminal property and failing to surrender to custody.
The convicted money launderer was jailed for 11 years.
Daniel Palmer
Daniel Palmer hit a young mum in the eye with his mobile phone leaving her disfigured and with double vision.
He told his victim "why are you making me do this" as he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head first into a radiator and wall.
The 21-year-old then hit her with the phone -breaking her left eye socket and cheekbone -when she felt "like something had popped".
He repeated "oh my God" when he saw the injuries he had caused to the mum of his little girl at a house in Queens Drive in Walton.
The woman -who the ECHO has chosen not to name -may never make a full recovery from the attack on June 27 this year.
Palmer, of Alder Avenue, Widnes, admitted wounding and was jailed for two and a half years.
Matthew Philbin
Matthew Philbin took a mum out on a first date just hours before "crawling like a monster" into her teenage daughter's bed and raping her.
The year-old predator and the woman went bowling before heading back to her home for a few drinks when he briefly met her child.
But later that night, the 33-year-old said he was going to the toilet but instead crept into his victim's bedroom and attacked her.
She fought back, kicking him in an attempt to stop him from raping her, but Philbin threatened to shoot her if she screamed further.
He used her phone's torch so he could look at her as he carried out the vile attack, which left her with numerous injuries to her face and head.
Philbin, of Dukinfield Farm, Warrington, pleaded guilty to rape following the cocaine and alcohol-fuelled attack.
He was jailed for eight years, with an extended five years on licence.
Shaun Roberts
Shaun Roberts laughed uncontrollably after kicking a pregnant girl's stomach and hitting another over the head with a beer bottle.
The 29-year-old invited Rebecca Barlow and her friend Eleanor Bradshaw back to his flat in Alexandra Park, Aigburth after a house party.
But during a conversation at around 5am on May 16, 2020, he started shouting and headbutting the walls, then "became paranoid".
He held Ms Barlow down and punched her in the back of her head, then when Ms Bradshaw intervened, banged the women's heads together.
Ms Bradshaw was in the early stages of pregnancy, which Roberts knew, but he "stamped on her stomach" and told her she "didn't deserve a baby".
Roberts also hit a bottle of beer against Ms Barlow's head and held his knee against her neck, before he fell to the floor laughing and they escaped.
He admitted two counts of assault, plus assaulting an emergency worker, public disorder and obstructing a railway over an incident at Sandhills train station.
He made vile threats and the disruption resulted in one train cancellation and a 374-minute delay, which meant £18,000 lost in revenue, on April 24 this year.
Roberts was jailed for three years and two months in total.
Christopher McIntyre
A girl nearly killed herself after being targeted by a rapist described as "every mother's living nightmare".
Christopher McIntyre started chatting to his victim on Instagram then gave her a "secret" mobile phone.
After sending the schoolgirl explicit images, he met up with the child and raped her on three occasions.
What to do if you're a victim of a sex crime
The girl has since tried to kill herself and once "almost succeeded" as a result of his horrific abuse.
The child's mum described how seeing her daughter lying in a hospital bed made her "break inside".
McIntyre, 35, of Risbury Road, Norris Green, was found guilty of three counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault after a trial.
He was jailed for 18 years with an extended four years on licence.
Jamie Metcalfe
Jamie Metcalfe strangled his pregnant girlfriend and dragged her...
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