HERE is a look at 12 court cases the Star has covered during 2023 which shocked readers.
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John Yates
A DRUG driver was jailed in January after killing a St Helens dad-to-be in a horrific crash in Warrington.
Chris Smith, 41, was tragically killed on the M6 Thelwall Viaduct after John Yates smashed into him while hitting speeds of around 128mph.
Yates, who was under the influence of drugs, fled the scene by jumping over a barrier immediately afterwards.
The horrific incident happened on the M6 between junction 20, Lymm, and junction 21, Woolston, on November 15 last year at around 12.30am.
Yates, 28, from North Wales, received an eight-year and three-month prison sentence at Chester Crown Court, of which he must serve two-thirds.
Read the full report here.
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Thomas McComish
A man who attacked police officers with a weapon was jailed in March.
Thomas McComish was sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison after officers were assaulted in Fingerpost in December last year.
McComish, 33, of Morgan Street, Parr, St Helens, was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court on March 31 after pleading guilty to two counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of a bladed article in a public place and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.
The court heard that the life of one of the victims was miraculously saved by his pair of handcuffs.
The blows were blocked by the handcuffs by complete chance as McComish tried to attack them.
One of the officers suffered “life-changing” injuries in the incident.
Read the full report here.
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Russell Jones
A “sexual predator” who assaulted a female hospital patient who was in a wheelchair was jailed.
Russell Jones, 45, had been convicted of sexual assault in March following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
The court heard during Jones’ sentencing on April 27 that he had been “loitering” at the hospital and had waited for the victim’s boyfriend to leave in a taxi before committing the assault.
Jones, who has related previous convictions, was called a “sexual predator” by judge Garrett Byrne and someone who “posed a significant risk” to women.
Jones, of Ratcliffe Place, Rainhill, was sentenced to three years and an additional 24 weeks for breaching a suspended sentence.
Read the report here.
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Jack Woosnam & Daniel Statham
Two men who went on an “outrageous” spree of violence in which two victims were attacked have been given jail sentences in May.
Jack Woosnam and Daniel Statham assaulted one man in a taxi on December 1 last year, and then a second victim in the middle of the street, only an hour later.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday, May 16, that Woosnam used a “broken bottle” as a weapon on a man in the taxi, before both men launched a “savage” and “sustained” attack in the street, which included the victim being kicked, punched and stamped on.
Woosnam, 23, had pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause GBH in relation to the taxi attack, while Statham, 32, admitted to common assault.
Meanwhile, both men pleaded guilty to affray over the street attack and to criminal damage of a car during this incident.
Woosnam, of Surrey Street, Haydock, was sentenced to three years for the bottle attack and a further 12 months consecutive for the affray, with no separate penalty for the criminal damage, making a total sentence of four years.
Statham, of Pollitt Crescent, Clock Face, was also given a 12-month term for affray and one month concurrent for common assault for his role in the taxi incident.
Read the full report here.
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Jonathan Gordon
A gangland enforcer who nearly blinded a dad-of-three in an acid attack in St Helens, described by a judge as a "truly wicked act", was given a life sentence in June.
Jonathan Gordon, 34, who charged £6,000 to commit an acid attack and £10,000 to blind his victim, appeared for sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court.
He took instructions from an unidentified boss of an organised crime group (OCG) on the encrypted comms platform EncroChat.
He nearly blinded one man after throwing a container of acid in his face on Milton Street in Sutton Manor on April 14, 2019.
Read the full story here.
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Josh Hoskinson
A man who put a pensioner in intensive care with life changing injuries following a one punch attack outside the Sefton pub has been jailed.
Josh Hoskison, aged 25 of Redruth Avenue, Laffak was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court.
In the early hours of the morning on September 1, 2021, the victim, Denis Cunliffe, 69, was on Baldwin Street at around 1.30am when he was assaulted by Hoskison causing him to fall to the floor and bang his head.
Read the full story here.
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Lewis Hudson
A sadistic domineering boyfriend repeatedly callously tortured his partner’s beloved cat and battered it to death was jailed.
Mr Challinor had told the court that the couple formed a relationship in early 2021 and they moved in together in Prescot. He eventually agreed she could have a cat and he was initially affectionate to Binx “but things changed and he started to be cruel towards it.
Putting Lewis Hudson behind bars for 27 months a judge said at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, July 26: “It is alarming to observe you plainly have in you a taste for sadistic cruelty.”
Judge Brian Cummings, KC, told 23-year-old Hudson the charges he had admitted “represent what is frankly a sickening catalogue of cruelty towards a defenceless animal over a period of nearly eight months.
Judge Cummings banned Lewis, of Crispin Road, Netherley, from keeping any animal for life.
Read more here.
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Brandon Glover
A MAN who killed a teenage motorbike rider after embarking on a “senseless” late-night pursuit after his brother’s vehicle had been stolen has been given a prison sentence in September.
Brandon Glover pleaded guilty to causing the death of 17-year-old Harley Lea by dangerous driving in the crash on Park Road, Blackbrook in the early hours of October 4, 2022.
A Toyota Corolla Glover was driving collided with two motorbikes, a Benelli and a Honda.
Following a trial in March this year, Glover had been cleared of a murder charge in relation to Harley’s death and of further counts of manslaughter, two of causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and two of attempted GBH with intent.
However, Glover, of Pasture Close, Clock Face, pleaded guilty to causing Harley's death bhy dangerous driving and to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Harley, who was riding the Honda “suffered catastrophic injuries” in the crash and died. Meanwhile passengers Jordan Carter and Louis Coleman were seriously injured.
Glover, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for causing Harley’s death.
He was given sentences of 45 months and 35 months for the counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, to be served concurrently.
Glover must serve two-thirds (80 months) of his sentence in custody before being released on licence.
He was disqualified from driving for six years, in addition to the 80 months he will spend in jail.
Read the full report here.
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Faisal Yasin
A twenty-five man who ran over an amateur rugby league player moments after he had been using Snapchat on his phone at the wheel has been given an immediate jail sentence.
Blackbrook half-back Jordan Welsby was 26 when he was hit by a Vauxhall Corsa on Borough Road on Boxing Day night in 2020.
He suffered a severe head injury and died five days later on December 31 that year in hospital.
The driver of the vehicle, Faisal Yasin, of Wensley Way, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to causing Jordan’s death by careless driving at a hearing in August.
He appeared for sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court today, Wednesday, September 20.
He sentenced Yasin to 10 months imprisonment.
Read the full report here.
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Joan Clarke
THE despicable actions of a mother who lied about having terminal cancer to rip off the taxpayer saw her put behind bars in October.
Joan Lesley Clarke created fake letters from cancer specialists to deceive the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and fraudulently claim close to £23,000.
The 62-year-old was slammed by a top judge for lying, not just during the scam, but through the vast majority of the court process.
This took up the valuable time of experts treating genuine, extremely ill and dying cancer sufferers – all during the unrelenting strain of the Covid pandemic.
Clarke was spotted crying in the dock during her sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, October 27.
She was convicted of three charges of fraud by false representation, four of making an article for use in fraud and one of possessing criminal property.
Clarke, of Blinkhorn Grove in Bold, was sentenced to 10 months immediate imprisonment, with the money she fraudulently obtained to be recovered by the DWP.
Read the full report here.
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Christopher Cook
A man from St Helens who admitted murdering his partner in Aberdeen in a "brutal attack" was sentenced.
Christopher Cook had pleaded guilty to murder after Jacqueline Kerr, 54, was found with multiple serious injuries in her own home on Sunnyside Road in Aberdeen on January 16.
She had suffered head injuries consistent with a car crash or a fall from height.
The BBC reported that a judge described her killing as an "appalling outbreak of lethal violence".
Cook, 44, from St Helens, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday, November, 3, where he was given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Read the full report here.
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Govar Abdul-Rahman
A “predatory sexual offender” who molested three women and broke into another’s flat as she slept was jailed in November.
Govar Abdul-Rahman, an Iraqi-born asylum seeker who had entered the UK illegally, had sexually assaulted two women in the sauna at Queens Park Leisure Centre, on Boundary Road, within three days.
Three weeks later he launched an attack in an alleyway on an 18-year-old woman, who had been on one of her first nights out in St Helens town centre.
A week later, Abdul-Rahman’s “escalating” offending then saw him make his way into a young woman’s flat through a window in the early hours.
She was awoken as she slept naked on her bed to the sight of the defendant standing over her bed.
In what a judge called the “stuff of nightmares”, a week later the same woman heard a noise and opened her curtains and saw Abdul-Rahman trying to get into her flat again.
The 28-year-old was convicted, after a trial, of trespassing with intent to commit a sexual offence, voyeurism and attempted trespassing to commit a sexual offence.
He was convicted of sexual assaults at Queens Park, and he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault over the town centre attack.
Abdul-Rahman, of Silkstone Street, Newtown, St Helens, was given an extended sentence of 12 years, seven in custody with an extra five years on licence for the attempted trespassing, with concurrent sentences of four years and four months for the trespassing and voyeurism offences.
For the sexual assaults at Queens Park he was given two consecutive four-month sentences, and a 20-month consecutive sentence for the town centre sexual assaults, making a total of 28 months.
Abdul-Rahman, who was sentenced via video link with the aid of an interpreter at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, November 16, must serve two-thirds of the seven-year custodial term and half of the 28 months in custody.
Read the full report here.
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