This is the secret ‘Trojan Horse’ car hideaway in which a drug importer stashed cocaine to be smuggled from abroad into the UK.

James Gradwell was jailed for 13 years and seven months yesterday (Thursday) for his part in trying to flood Merseyside with high-purity cocaine, picked up near the French and Belgian border.

The 24-year-old got behind the wheel of a Seat Leon while abroad, which was then transported back to Britain, and the consignment intercepted by police near Crosby.

The ECHO can now reveal photos of how the gang, jailed for a total of 48 years, used the vehicle to conceal the 6kg cocaine bundle, which they hoped was the first of many successful importations.

Images show how the ‘hide’ was in a constructed box within the transmission tunnel.

An expert who examined the car said: “I removed screws from a plastic panel beneath the dash in the front nearside footwell… the trim covering the transmission tunnel in the centre of the vehicle came loose.

“I removed the trim and pulled back the carpet. Underneath the carpet I found an area of the transmission tunnel had been cut to form a rectangular shaped plate. I removed the plate to find a constructed box section.”

James Gradwell, 24, jailed for 13 years and seven months for drug importation

Gradwell, of no fixed abode, teamed up with Christopher Corry, 41, of Halifax Crescent, Thornton, who got 11-and-a-half years, Ryan McQueen, 32, of Laurel Drive, Laurel Vale, County Armagh, who got six years, Jordan Talbot, 22, of Elson Road, Formby, who received six-and-a-half years and William Marsh, 28, of Rock Lane, Melling, who was locked up for ten years and eight months.

They aimed to bring up to 24kg from abroad into Britain every month, with the first 6kg haul potentially worth as much as £1.25m.

The purity levels of the drug was over 70%, but would be diluted using adulterants to around 15% to maximise profits.

On January 30, 2014, Gradwell was stopped by UK Border Agency workers while driving the Seat Leon in Coquelles, France, and the secret ‘hide’ was discovered during a search.

Gradwell, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to supplying Class A drugs, was a major player in that gang, prosecutors said, who boasted of quaffing champagne and sniffing ‘Charlie’ on a ferry as he journeyed to the continent on a drugs trip.

Detective Superintendent Lee Turner said: “Merseyside Police is absolutely committed to tackling the supply of drugs and the force will do everything possible to identify and take action against those who think they can profit from bringing misery to our communities.

“Gradwell, and four others who were previously sentenced to more than 35 years in total for the part they played in this drugs conspiracy, were hoping to supply and distribute cocaine on the streets of Merseyside and we have successfully disrupted their illicit drug trade."

Stories from the courts

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

The husband of a woman allegedly raped by her teacher more than 20 years ago told a jury how he heard him begging her not to go to the police.

The woman, who was 15 when the assault is alleged to have taken place, did go to the police and her alleged attacker, Malcolm Nicholson, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court .

It is claimed that the victim had had “a crush” on her science teacher Nicholson and he took advantage of her vulnerablility and told her he “wanted to be her first”.

Nicholson, 46, who taught at St Edmund Arrowsmith school, then in Prescot , at the time of the allegations, denies rape and indecent assault in the early 1990s .

Lee Bonner, prosecuting, told the jury that Nicholson, who now lives in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, allegedly committed the two offences at his then home in Allerton.

The husband of the alleged victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the jury that he had been shocked and angry when she revealed what had happened to her 21 years before.

She told him how Nicholson had forced himself on her twice, once at his Allerton home and once at his parents’ home in Middlesbrough. The court has heard that he does not face any charges about the alleged Middlesbrough incident.

The husband said: “She said she had loved him and he would take her for drinks and meals. I was numb and confused and I was angry with her. I asked why are you telling me now, what are you going to achieve.

“She said she had seen something on the news about Jimmy Savile thing…people were coming out saying something had happened. She said, ‘I’m like them’. She had bottled it up all this time, that is what had happened to her.”

The husband told how, in 2013, his wife told him she had found Nicholson, who was teaching in Holland, on Twitter following a school reunion.

He said he listened in on a conversation on speakerphone when his wife called Nicholson.

He said he heard her tell Nicholson: “I have issues when I was 15. You knew I wasn’t ready for sex, aren’t you sorry for what you did?”

The husband told jurors: “[Nicholson] said, “I am sorry for having sex with you when you were 15’. She asked him why he did he do it and he said it was his own insecurities. She said she wanted to go to the police.

“He said, ‘Oh God no, I’ll lose everything, my job, wife, kids, please don’t’.”

Later in the conversation “he mentioned about making her life better and to change things and make her life better and started talking stupid figures of money; £200,000,” the husband said.

The court has heard that Nicholson paid £8,000 into her bank account which she and her husband burnt a few days later in the back garden.

She told the court: “It was blood money, it was money to keep me quiet. I never asked for it in the first place. It was his money and I wanted to destroy it. It was money he had earned and paid to me. It was great burning that money. It gave me joy in burning that money.”

Defence QC, Mukhtar Hussain, claims that the rape and sex assault allegations were false and the couple were blackmailing Nicholson.

(Proceeding)

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the Hillsborough inquests in Warrington today.

He was accompanied by Liverpool -born Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham and Walton MP Steve Rotheram.

The Labour leader went into the hearing to sit in the seats reserved for observers and families of the 96 Liverpool fans killed in Britain’s worst sporting disaster.

He did not speak to press outside the coroner’s court.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

Mr Corbyn took a front row seat next to Margaret Aspinall, who chairs the Hillsborough Family Support Group.

Also present in court today was Garston MP and Shadow Culture Secretary Maria Eagle.

Mr Corbyn attended the hearing in Warrington as the Coroner Sir John Goldring continues summing up the evidence in the case, the longest-running jury inquest in British legal history, which began in March 2014 and is now in its 277th day.

He was accompanied by shadow home secretary Andy Burnham and Walton MP Steve Rotheram.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, centre, arrives alongside Steve Rotheram MP, left, and the Shadow Home Secretary, Andy Burham, right, at the Hillsborough Inquests

They were expected to use the opportunity of a morning break in the proceedings to speak to families of some of the fans who died.

A spokeswoman said Mr Corbyn had come to the hearings “as an observer”.

Mr Burnham has been credited with helping the families to campaign for new inquests, quashing the verdicts of accidental death in the original inquests held in 1991.

He raised the families’ campaign for new inquests at Cabinet level with then prime minister Gordon Brown, leading to the setting up of the Hillsborough Independent Panel.

The inquests have been sitting for almost two years, with the jury hearing evidence into the deaths of the 96 fans crushed to death on the Leppings Lane terrace of the ground as the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest got under way in Sheffield on April 15 1989.

The jury is expected to retire to consider their verdicts on March 2.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A Widnes woman discovered she had welcomed a sex offender into her home during a five-month relationship after she reported the man to police when their break-up turned sour and he began harassing her with abusive texts.

Warrington Crown Court heard that investigators discovered that Roger King, 49, of Shelley Road, Chester, was convicted of an offence involving what Judge Tina Landale described as ‘sexual violence’ involving ‘bullying’ in 2009 and was required to tell North Wales Police if he changed address.

King also had a past conviction for stalking a former partner.

His Widnes victim was unaware of this when the pair began seeing each other, culminating in King moving in with her at her home where she lived with her 19-year-old daughter.

Matthew Dunford said the relationship faltered when King became ‘more controlling’ and the woman ended it.

She reached the point where she no longer wanted contact from King and sent a text that said: “Leave me alone.”

Convicted stalker King asked her to restart the relationship and to marry him. He sent a further message saying he ‘had driven from Wales to see her’, and turned cruel, saying that her ‘parents never wanted her and neither did her first husband’.

The victim thought she saw him driving past her home three times, but the court heard this had not been the case.

She went to the police and in interview King admitted sending ‘unwanted’ messages and that the woman ‘would have felt harassed’.

King pleaded guilty harassment and failing to comply with a notification requirement.

The victim said she threw out her bed after discovering King’s past and has put her house up for sale.

She added that she suffered sleeplessness and feels unsafe when alone in the house or garden.

Discussing King’s past convictions, Mr Dunford said the defendant was sentenced in 2014 for stalking an ex-partner, including when she was ‘out and about’ or ‘collecting her children from schools’ and sending her ‘threatening texts’, and later received a 12-month community order for breaching a restraining order.

William Staunton, defending, said his client had a ‘genuine intention to lead a proper life’ and had hoped for a ‘positive relationship’ and this one was the ‘most positive’ relationship he had been in.

Judge Tina Landale, presiding, sentenced King to eight months in prison and slapped him with another restraining order in respect of his Widnes victim.

She rejected the need for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order because no offences of that type had taken place.

Sentencing King, Judge Landale said: “She tried to end that relationship.

“You refused to accept that and contacted her by text message.

“You proceeded to belittle and undermine her and causing her to become worried.

“You sent insulting messages saying nobody wanted her.”

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A Walton pensioner was locked up for four years after handling £108k worth of stolen goods including a tractor, sweets, chocolate and shampoo.

George Whitelock, 67, was jailed alongside prolific offender Leon Bresnahan, 39, after police found the tractor and two trailers containing £27k worth of confectionary and £69k worth of cosmetics in a Bootle lock-up rented by Whitelock.

Whitelock, of Hampden Street, Walton, pleaded guilty to three counts of handling stolen goods while Bresnahan, of Little Heyes, Everton, who has 64 convictions for 166 offences including burglary, was jailed for 12 months after admitting two counts.

George Whitelock, 67, of Hampden Street, Walton

The court heard a third man, Dean Jennings, 30, of no fixed address, had also admitted handling stolen goods but the crown allowed the charges to lie on file due to him facing a lengthy prison sentence for other matters.

As the guilty men were taken down the pensioner’s family, watching from the public gallery, shouted: “He should grass them up. He didn’t do it, he is taking the blame.”

Lloyd Morgan, prosecuting, told how Whitelock entered into a 12-month lease on a storage unit in Strand Road, Bootle , in May 2014 “for items to sell at car boot sales”.

The first theft linked to the pair took place on October 29, 2014, when a red Volvo tractor worth £12,500 vanished from a farmyard in Aspatria, Cumbria.

The court heard the owner John McNichol lost two days’ work, and was forced to buy a replacement.

Leon Bresnahan, 39, of Little Heyes, Everton

Mr Morgan said the confectionary was stolen from TWA Logistics in Bromborough in the early hours of November 11, 2014, when another tractor unit was used to hook up to a trailer and drive it out of the centre.

The final theft took place on November 29, 2014, at the DHL centre in Portal Way, Fazakerley , when another trailer containing cosmetics was pinched from the premises.

But a tracking system led management to Strand Road, which was the trailer’s last known location.

When the premises were searched, officers found the trailers, the tractors and the missing confectionary and cosmetics.

Kenneth Grant, defending, said: “Mr Whitelock recognises he is getting a little old in the tooth for offending of this type.”

Anthony O’Donohue. representing Bresnahan, told the court his client had been a “habitual nuisance” but was not a sophisticated crook.

Judge Alan Conrad, QC said: “These offences reflect handling of stolen goods on a commercial scale.”

No-one has been convicted of carrying out the thefts.

Stories from the courts

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

Former Everton player Marcus Bent has escaped being sent to jail for confronting two officers with a meat cleaver and a kitchen knife while in a “delusional” state under the influence of cocaine.

Bent, 37, pleaded guilty at previous hearings at Guildford Crown Court to possession of cocaine and affray.

He was sentenced to a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years, ordered to pay £500 compensation to each of the officers, £1,500 court fees, 200 hours community service, a two-month night-time curfew and a victim surcharge of £100.

Lee Harris, prosecuting, described how the ex-Everton, Ipswich and Charlton striker called 999 reporting that he had heard intruders in his flat in Claremont Lane, Esher, on September 13 last year.

But when police arrived, backed up by armed officers, they were initially unable to gain access to the property.

Mr Harris described how, as the officers were about to use a battering ram to force open the door, bare-chested Bent “flung” open the door and emerged with the two chef’s knives with his “eyes wide, jaw clenched, his body rigid”.

He added: “He was wild with rage.”

Mr Harris said that one of the officers, fearing his colleague was about to be attacked, Tasered Bent as he swung the knives in their direction and continued to say he could see the intruders.

Mr Harris said that when officers checked the flat, no intruders were found but they found a small amount of cocaine.

Mr Harris said that Bent told police that “whilst watching television he heard footsteps from outside the back door, saw the door handle moving up and down, he panicked, thought someone was breaking in to his flat, grabbed the two knives, he said he called 999 saying there were intruders in his flat”.

Mr Harris added that Bent, who admitted taking “two or three lines of cocaine” told police that “he genuinely expresses remorse for the circumstances he created, he never had any intention of hurting the officers”.

Former Premier League footballer Marcus Bent and his partner (name not known) arrive at Guildford Magistrates’ Court, Surrey. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Andrew Henley, defending, said that his client was no longer using cocaine and had self-medicated with the drug.

He said: “When his professional career ended, he is left with no direction in his life, he is left with a vacuum and in that vacuum issues from his upbringing arise, powerful, psychological matters relating to his upbringing, that is the issue he is trying to address and numb with the use of cocaine.”

Judge Stephen Climie told Bent that he had lost his good character and his self-respect but praised him for his work with a youth football team.

He said: “Prior to these proceedings you were a man of good character, you have lost that good character and it may well be that you have lost a good deal of self-respect.

“You were self-medicating, unquestionably abusing illegal drugs. There may have been difficulties in your life as a much younger man or as a child but that in no way enables the court to condone the use of class A drugs.”

The court heard that two charges of possessing bladed articles would be left to lie on file.

The ex-England Under 21 international played 574 games and scored 113 goals during his professional career at 14 different clubs.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A violent “cyber stalker” has been jailed after making his pregnant ex girlfriend’s life a misery and beating up his own sister and her partner.

Daniel James Fair, 26, was locked up for 26 weeks at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court after hacking Georgina Brennan’s Facebook, e-mail and Snapchat accounts.

“Game over, you evil b****”

Fair, of Ismay Road in Litherland , also battered his sister Donna Fair, who was a close friend of Miss Brennan, and attacked Miss Fair’s partner Jemma Ako-Parker.

He pleaded guilty to harassment and three charges under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, but was also convicted of the two assaults after a trial.

Lynn Clark, prosecuting, told the court: “Georgina Brennan was in a relationship with the defendant for approximately one year. She states the relationship stopped in June 2015, and she ended it because she was fed up with being lied to. She could not end it face to face because she felt he was very controlling.”

The court heard Fair did not take the end of the relationship well, and began to send unwanted messages to her social media accounts and to the accounts of her parents and brother.

Ms Clark said Fair was blocked from accessing Miss Brennan’s Snapchat and Facebook accounts but retrieved her password details from her emails, which he had access to, before logging in and unblocking himself.

One Snapchat message, from Fair hiding behind a fake account, included a picture of a revolver with the words; “Game over, you evil b****.”

The court heard at one point Miss Brennan was told he was unstable and threatening to kill himself, and police concerned for his welfare asked her to contact him.

She unblocked and asked where he was, and received a message saying: “Have I got your attention now?”

“I feel scared and anxious”

The pair agreed to meet but when Fair arrived police were waiting and detained him for his own safety.

Miss Brennan, who was seven months pregnant with his child, continued to be bombarded with messages and friend requests from fake accounts set up by Fair, and found her passwords had been changed locking her out of her own accounts.

On one occasion, while Miss Brennan was visiting her friend Miss Fair, the defendant pulled up and attempted to get into her car as she reversed away, which was locked.

The court heard Fair also called Miss Brennan and her parents from a withheld number and they heard the sound of heavy breathing when they answered the phone.

In a victim impact statement, read to the court, she said: “Since the relationship ended I have been victim of harassment and he has cyber stalked me while I have been heavily pregnant with his child.

“The effect on my life has been significant, the stress has made me go to the hospital due to concerns about my baby, and I feel scared and anxious.”

Fair was arrested after ignoring a harassment warning from Merseyside Police and continuing to contact Miss Brennan.

A search of his phone and laptop found internet searches for “Computer Misuse act sentences” and “Snapchat delete.”

While on bail for those offences he turned up at Miss Fair’s house on November 2.

Stories from the courts

Ms Clark said: “The complainant stepped outside to speak to her brother. As she stepped back in he punched her to the right side of her face, and then several more times to the face.

“Miss Ako-Parker ran downstairs and tried to push the defendant out of the house but he punched her to the stomach and kicked her to the legs. He grabbed the back of her neck putting pressure on it and kneed her several times in the chest.”

Peter White, defending, told the court his client, who he said is suicidal and on medication, accepted the offences against Miss Brennan were “cruel and wholly wrong.”

However he said Fair intended to appeal the assault convictions.

Chairman of the bench, Philip Howley, also gave Fair a restraining orders banning all contact with Miss Brennan for five years and with Miss Fair and Miss Ako-Parker for two years.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

Two Liverpool men pleaded guilty to stealing £20,000 worth of biscuits.

Aaron Walsh, 25, of Adam Close, Garston and Anthony Edgerton, 35, who is on remand at HMP Liverpool, admitted their roles in the theft via video link from their Merseyside prisons.

Newport Crown Court in South Wales heard how a trailer stacked with Jammie Dodgers and Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers with was later found abandoned in Warrington.

The pair admitted their part in the theft at Burton’s Biscuits in Cwmbran, Wales, on June 17 last year.

Appearing via video link from HMP Liverpool , Walsh pleaded guilty to taking an £8,000 HGV trailer and his role in the Burton’s Biscuits theft.

Edgerton, who appeared via video link from HMP Altcourse, also pleaded guilty to the biscuit theft, stealing the HGV trailer, and driving while disqualified.

He also admitted his part in an attempt to steal 1,980 cases of lager on May 17, 2015, from a factory in Hythe, Kent.

The two men will be sentenced by Judge David Williams on March 15 at Newport Crown Court.

Stories from the courts

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson has pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child and one count of grooming.

The 28-year-old Sunderland winger continues to deny two charges of sexual activity with a girl aged under 16.

The footballer, who has earned 12 caps for England, appeared in the dock at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday wearing a black suit and white shirt and was flanked by a female prison officer.

The defendant, from Castle Eden, County Durham, had his case moved from Durham.

Born in Sunderland, he began his career at Middlesbrough before moving to Manchester City and then to Sunderland for £10 million in 2012.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

These are the faces of criminals put behind bars at Liverpool’s courts this week.

They include two OAPs who were charged with handling £108k worth of stolen goods as well as a "stupid" young gangster who was caught after posing for a picture with a shotgun and spelling out his own name in bullets.

One of the most high profile cases this week was that of James Gradwell, a 24-year-old ‘high-level’ drug smuggler who took part in a plot to sneak in a secret haul of Class A drugs using a ‘Trojan Horse’ car.

Joshua Caldwell

Joshua Caldwell, 24, of Hillview, in Aigburth, jailed for 15 years after posing with a shotgun. He was also jailed over drugs offences.

This "stupid" young gangster was jailed for 15 years after being pictured posing with a shotgun – while wearing bright yellow marigolds.

Joshua Caldwell, 24, was also linked to a major drugs conspiracy which involved the seizure of £118,308’s worth of heroin and cocaine.

Caldwell, of Hillview, in Aigburth, was linked to at least two sawn-off shotguns and a handgun after police investigated a drugs and firearms ring based in Garston and Mossley Hill.

Joshua Caldwell, 24, of Hillview, in Aigburth, jailed for 15 years after posing with a shotgun. He was also jailed over drugs offences

Caldwell was arrested in Mossley Hill on January 25 last year, and two Blackberry mobile phones were seized containing incriminating pictures of him holding a shotgun, as well as his initials spelled out in bullets.

A phone belonging to a co-conspirator was also recovered containing a picture of shotguns, Remington handguns and an antique French pistol next to the “chilling” threat “F*** Dingle rats” spelled out in bullet casings.

Judge Jonathan-Rowe Foster, QC, passing sentence, found Caldwell was a “leading light” in the conspiracy and described the operation as “sophisticated”.

George Whitelock and Leon Bresnahan

A Walton pensioner was locked up for four years this week after handling over £100k worth of stolen goods including a tractor, sweets and shampoo.

George Whitelock, 67, was jailed alongside prolific offender Leon Bresnahan, 39 after police found a tractor and two trainers containing £27k worth of confectionary and £69k worth of cosmetics at a lock up in Bootle which was rented by Whitelock.

Whitelock, of Hampden Street, Walton, pleaded guilty to three counts of handling stolen goods while Bresnahan, of Little Heyes, Everton, who has 64 convictions for 166 offences including burglary, was jailed for 12 months after admitting two counts.

Judge Alan Conrad, QC said: “These offences reflect handling of stolen goods on a commercial scale.”

No-one has been convicted of carrying out the thefts.

James Gradwell

James Gradwell, 24, jailed for 13 years and seven months for drug importation

This is the face of a high-level cocaine smuggler who was jailed for more than 13 years after helping smuggle a secret haul of Class A drugs into the UK.

James Gradwell, 24, of no fixed abode, went with an accomplice to collect a 6kg package from suppliers on the border of France and Belgium and drove a Seat Leon with the stash hidden inside.

Images show how the ‘hide’ was in a constructed box within the transmission tunnel.

An expert who examined the car said: “I removed screws from a plastic panel beneath the dash in the front nearside footwell… the trim covering the transmission tunnel in the centre of the vehicle came loose."

A Seat Leon used by James Gradwell to smuggle drugs from the continent. The car was adapted to store cocaine in the transmission.

Read more: Images inside the ‘Trojan Horse’ car

Four of the gang are already behind bars for 35 years. The first consignment was intercepted in Crosby.

Gradwell, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to supplying Class A drugs, was a major player in that gang, prosecutors said, who boasted of quaffing champagne and sniffing ‘Charlie’ on a ferry as he journeyed to the continent on a drugs trip.

Judge Wright jailed Gradwell to 13 years and seven months, telling how cocaine "brought misery, dependency and sometimes death" to users.

Daniel James Fair

Daniel Fair cyber stalked his ex girlfriend making her life a misery, before battering his sister and her partner while on bail for that offence.

A ‘violent cyber stalker’ was locked up for 26 weeks at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court after making his pregnant ex girlfriend’s life a misery as well as beating up his own sister.

Daniel James Fair, 26 battered his sister, Donna Fair and her partner Jemma Ako-Parker as well as hacking his ex-girlfriend Georgina Brennan’s Facebook, e-mail and Snapchat accounts.

The court heard how he bombarded Georgina and her family with unwanted messages – including a picture of a revolver and the words "game over you evil b****"

He pleaded guilty to harassment and three charges under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 but was also convicted of the two assaults after a trial.

Chairman of the bench, Philip Howley, also gave Fair restraining orders banning all contact with Miss Brennan for five years and with Miss Fair and Miss Ako-Parker for two years.

Michael Halsall

Michael Halsall, 49, of Poulton Road, Southport, jailed for six years

A man who thrust a broken bottle into a teenager’s face – leaving him scarred for life – was handed a six-year jail sentence.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Michael Halsall attacked his partner’s 18-year-old son, Cameron Williams, after getting drunk at a family party.

Chris Hopkins, prosecuting, said: "He hit [Cameron Williams] on the head with the bottle which smashed but did not cause any injury at that stage except perhaps a lump to the side of his head.

“But while scuffling Mr Williams felt the defendant push the glass into the side of his face once and felt the bottle dig into him.”

Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, said Halsall was “capable of acting in a violent way” while under the influence of alcohol. Craig Tennant, Johnathan Kenney and Paul Jensen

From left to right: Craig Tennant, Johnathan Kenney and Paul Jensen

A gang of cannabis growers with five different farms across Merseyside were jailed for a total of six years and eight months.

Three of the men were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court while two people were given suspended sentences for their part in the conspiracy which saw 74 plants, worth £66,000, recovered from one farm alone.

They also bypassed electricity meters to avoid paying around £35k in bills for power used to grow their drugs.

Johnathan Kenney, aged 28, of St Domingo Vale, Everton , was jailed for two years for his role at two Allerton cannabis farms – one on Streatham Avenue and the other on Alverstone Road.

Craig Tennant, 40, of East Float Quay in Wallasey, had Jensen’s number stored under “dude” on his mobile phone, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He has seven previous convictions for 10 offences, none drug-related.

Jensen, of St Mary’s Road, Garston , the "go to electrician" for the gang has 27 previous convictions for 45 offences including possession of cannabis and was sentenced to three years and two months behind bars.

Judge Nicholls told the group that cannabis is “not a harmless substance” and said it “prevents the user from engaging with society in any meaningful way.”

Other stories from the courts

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

Liverpool men were among five suspects arrested and charged after a cash machine was stolen in Scotland.

The ATM was taken from Barry Road in Carnoustie, Angus, at around 4.30am on Friday –

prompting dramatic armed swoop by police in a nearby McDonalds car park.

Police Scotland said five men have been charged and were expected to appear at Forfar Sheriff Court today.

Stories from the courts

They are Nanu Maih, Robin Vaughan, Anthony Conroy, Andrew Whyte and Carl Kavanagh – aged between 26 and 43.

They are from the Liverpool and Birmingham areas, officers confirmed.

It follows an operation on Friday in which police used shotguns to burst the tyres of a vehicle believed to have been involved in the raid.

The incident at Westway Retail Park, near Arbroath, is being referred to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) in line with procedures around firearms incidents.

News updates throughout the day in our live feed here

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A public safety chief has slammed the closure of Halton Magistrates Court as a ‘massive blow for Runcorn’ and accused the Government of basing its decision on ‘inaccurate’ data.

Cllr Dave Thompson, safer Halton policy and performance board chairman, said the move will lead to the loss of 90 jobs in the area because the Cheshire And Merseyside Central Payment And Enforcement Unit is also based in the building and will need to move.

This contrasted against the Ministry Of Justice’s claim that the site only has ‘one employee’.

He branded the closure ‘shameful’ and said the court will shut despite being more efficient than several sites that were spared the axe.

Freedom Of Information data obtained by Cllr Thompson showed that the cost of holding a hearing at Halton is £43, ‘an astonishingly low cost’ compared to the national average of £150.

Running the court in Runcorn costs £950 a day.

Cllr Thompson, who also represents Halton Lea ward where the court is, said Halton Magistrates Court is also occupied 66% of the time, more than several sites which are to remain open – Stockport (54%), Bath (46%) and Workington (42%).

He further slated the Government’s decision, accusing it of using out-of-date travel time estimates that did not take into account rush-hour or peak-time travel costs, citing a The Law Society Gazette report from October that said the HM Courts And Tribunals Service had revealed that its travel-time analysis had used figures from the Department For Transport’s ‘journey planner’ tool, which was closed in September 2014.

In light of this he said the Government’s consultation was ‘a joke’ and the public would suffer.

Cllr Thompson said: “Runcorn magistrates offers outstanding value for money as an operational court and there is absolutely no justification for this decision.

“Decommissioned court buildings at Northwich and Huyton have remained empty for years due to prohibitive conversion and demolition costs.

“Not only are innocent victims and witnesses going to suffer but the chances are we may also be saddled with a derelict building.

“The Cheshire And Merseyside Central Payment And Enforcement Unit is based in the building and the loss of 90 staff here on top of the closure of Castle View House and Tesco is a massive blow for Runcorn.

“That’s 650 jobs lost in this area in the last three years.”

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A benefit cheat stole more than £42,000 by pretending he was living alone despite a friend moving into his home.

Aaron Presley, 44, falsely claimed multiple benefits based on the lie that he was the single occupier of a house in Bell Road, Wallasey.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how he was in fact sharing the property with his friend Mark Wood over a three-year period.

Frank Dillon, prosecuting, said Presley received housing benefit, council tax benefit and support, single person discount, employment support allowance and jobseeker’s allowance.

The defendant began making the claims legitimately in July 2010, when he stated on application forms that he was living on his own.

But on November 1, 2013, Presley told Wirral council his friend would now be living with him as a non-dependant.

Mr Dillon said the council informed him this would mean he was in receipt of overpayments.

However, in March 2014 the defendant told the local authority that his friend had not actually moved in.

Presley said he went to a council benefit office on November 4, 2013 to make this clear, but there was no record of this.

The defendant also suggested Mr Wood had since moved in Kent.

Investigations revealed his friend had used Presley’s address in credit applications and was liable for utility bills at the property.

Mr Woods’ employers confirmed that he told them he moved to the address in 2011.

Presley admitted four counts of fraud. He has no previous convictions.

Anthony O’Donohoe, defending, said his client, who suffers from mental health problems, did not commit fraud from the outset.

He said: “The defendant was living originally in Blackpool and he returned to the Wallasey area because of the ill health of his mother.

“He set up home alone but because of the difficulties he had, he was finding life hard to cope with.

The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts, Liverpool Crown Court. File picture. Photo by Ian Cooper

“His good friend Mark Wood joined him and unfortunately this catalogue of events unfolded.

“When able to do so he has a good work record. He has been a carer for most of his adult life, but has been off work for a significant period of time.”

Judge Jonathan Foster, QC, said Presley stole money which belonged to the public.

He said: “People must realise that the consequences of taking what is other people’s money are serious.

“The claim was not initially false, but you did not take sufficient steps in my view, and you knew you did not, to rectify the position.”

Jailing Presley for three months, the judge added: “The message must go out that stealing from the public, which is what this is, will result in custody.”

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A disgraced army captain lived the high-life after duping the taxman out of £140,000 – before attempting to falsely claim another £1.8m in VAT repayments.

Anthony Michael Knowles blew the money on expensive jewellery and stays in top London hotel Claridges and spun a yarn that the ruler of Dubai had lent his business £25m when tax officers became suspicious.

Knowles, 57, of Clapgate Crescent in Widnes , who attended Liverpool Crown Court in a wheelchair and breathing with the use of an oxygen machine, was jailed four years after admitting VAT fraud.

The court heard Knowles was previously convicted for theft in 2008 after falsely claiming £69,000 on his War Pension by telling the Ministry of Defence he was incapable of work, despite running three companies.

The new offences involved an equestrian medical supplies business, Eques Nobilis, founded by Knowles in 2006.

Kevin Slack, prosecuting, said: “Over the years the defendant submitted VAT repayment claims between £1,000 and £4,000. But in June 2013 that pattern was to change to the very large amount of £191,000.

“Unsurprisingly that claim was subjected to a verification process that existed within HMRC, and as part of the process a HMRC officer visited the defendant’s home address.”

The court heard a payment of £140,000 was granted after Knowles provided invoices apparently from companies which he said supplied goods to the business, including Rutronik and Alpha Micro Components.

However later investigations found that although Knowles placed orders with Rutronik, he had never paid for the items and never received any deliveries.

Mr Slack said: “The second investigation, into Alpha Micro, proved to be even more stark. The company said the had never delivered any supplies to the defendant’s company, and they were able to confirm that an invoice he had submitted bearing their name was not one of their company invoices.”

But Mr Slack said HMRC received a further “staggering” VAT repayment claim seeking £1.8m, which triggered another verification visit from tax officers.

The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts, Liverpool Magistrates’ Court

He told the court: “The defendant said Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai and the owner of Godolphin’s stables, had provided funds to the defendant’s business to the tune of £25m.”

Mr Slack said he told the officers he had been deployed to the Middle East during his time in the military, and showed the officer a forged bank statement which stated there was £21m in his business account.

However the court heard he had never served in the Special Forces and was never deployed to the Middle East during his army days.

Officers also contacted a company based in Warrington which Knowles claimed he had bought supplies from, only to find they had never made any deliveries to his company.

Mr Slack said investigators found Knowles had blown £8,000 on two visits to Claridges’ and on high-end jewellers Boodles in Liverpool.

He has also been in negotiations to buy a £600,000 converted farmhouse and a £115,000 Range Rover.

Gareth Roberts, defending, told the court Knowles had started life with a bright future and studied at the renowned Royal Military Academy in Sandringham before joining the Household Cavalry.

He said his client had been in training with the Special Forces but was forced to drop out after a car accident in 1983.

Mr Roberts said his client was “fragile both mentally and physically” and has suffered an undiagnosed neurological condition, which he claimed had been worsening since the accident.

Stories from the courts

He said: “(Knowles) made catastrophic decisions that the healthy man from three decades earlier would never have countenanced.”

The court heard the defendant needed 24 hour care from his wife and daughter and had limited memory of the offences.

However presiding Judge Jonathan-Rowe Foster, QC, said doctors could find no evidence of a serious neurological condition.

He said: “You have presented as a severely disabled person. I have read medical reports and I can find little support for that presentation…

“I note he was fit enough to commit this very serious fraud. I further note he was well enough to spend substantial amounts of the proceeds and planned to spend a lot more.”

The defendant’s wife and daughter sobbed as he was led to the cells.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

This is the moment a Love Activist supporter was arrested after throwing sandwiches up to protesters occupying the old Bank of England building on Castle Street.

Four campaigners stood trial last week accused of refusing to leave the area when handed a Section 35 legal notice by Merseyside Police officers trying to contain the protest.

Two defendants – Ellie Longman, 19, and Ann Cawson, 58 – were both acquitted on Thursday at Liverpool Magistrates Court sparking joyous scenes.

The footage, posted on Youtube and referred to throughout the trial, shows Amanda Doyle, 27, being detained by police after attempting to throw sandwiches up to the balcony of the former bank on Castle Street in the city centre.

Moment Love Activist supporter is arrested by Merseyside Police

The Huyton woman can earlier be heard speaking to an officer, asking: “What law states I can’t feed the homeless people, please?”

Doyle also told officers: “I work. I pay my taxes, you work for me.

“I’d like to feed them, if that’s alright with you.”

Amid chaotic scenes, Doyle, whose case was adjourned this week pending a judgement by district judge next month, was pursued by police and arrested.

Prosecutors claim she ‘contributed or was at risk of contributing to harassment, alarm or distress to members of the public’.

The verdict on her case, along with that of her co-defendant Kim Scott, 39, of The Grange in Warrington Road, Chester, will be decided in four weeks time.

They both deny the charges of not complying with the Section 35 notice.

VIEW GALLERY

Kathryn Murray, Doyle’s pal who was filming the flashpoint, is heard on the video shouting: “Assault, assault, assault!” and then yelling: “police brutality, get your hands off her!”

PC Ian Hayhurst, who carried out the arrest, told the court how mobile phones were held in is face which he found ‘intimidating’. He also had his collar number repeatedly stated by protesters.

“Get your number, got your number,” a woman shouts, and then: “Where are you taking her? Where are you taking her?”

As Doyle, of Woolfall Crescent, is escorted to a police van, one protester says, “Shame on you,” while another shouts: “She’s getting thrown in with a load of kit bags.”

The anti-austerity sit-in started on April 18 and ended weeks later, on May 12 when police entered the premises.

Banners with the slogan United we stand, divided we fall were on show as protesters sung songs and chanted the John Lennon mantra Give Peace A Chance.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A teenaged supporter of the Love Activists today described herself as ‘ecstatic’ after she was cleared of charges brought after being arrested outside the old Bank of England building on Castle Street.

Ellie Longman, 19, and Ann Cawson, 58, were both acquitted at Liverpool Magistrates Court this afternoon after being accused of failing to comply with a Section 35 notice which required anybody served with it to leave the immediate area during the protest last April .

Longman and Cawson, together with co-defendants Kim Scott, 39, and Amanda Doyle, 27, were outside the ex-bank premises to feed the homeless, they said, who were thought to be inside the building.

VIEW GALLERY

But they were arrested by Merseyside Police officers when they refused to leave the area, and cops insisted they were contributing to anti-social behaviour.

Today, there were joyful scenes as Longman and Cawson were cleared, with songs of ‘Give Peace A Chance’ heard by a temporary soup-kitchen outside Liverpool Crown Court.

Miss Longman told the ECHO: “I’m ecstatic that it’s over. It’s been a long 10 months, I’m glad justice and the truth has come through in the end.

“I’ll continue to feed the homeless as it’s a relevant and just cause.”

The case against Doyle, of Woolfall Crescent, Huyton, and Kim Scott, of The Grange in Warrington Road, Chester, was adjourned by magistrates.

Ann Cawson, Ellie Longman, Amanda Doyle and Kim Scott

A judgement will be handed down on their charge next month.

Kathryn Murray, Doyle’s friend, told the court earlier how she had filmed police officers arresting her because she felt ‘police were getting heavy.’

She was heard on a clip uploaded to YouTube shouting ‘police brutality’ and ‘assault’ while another man repeatedly stated the cop’s collar number.

Doyle claimed she was checking with police if she was allowed to ‘feed the homeless’ before throwing sandwiches up to protesters on the bank balcony.

The anti-austerity protesters occupied the old bank on April 18, in a demo which ended weeks later on May 12 when police entered the premises.

In bizarre scenes in court, Doyle was given permission to read a bible passage from the Book of Isaiah, stating: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Scott, sitting in the dock, started to weep, and requested a tissue to dab tears away from her eyes.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A prisoner who made hoax bomb calls from his cell claiming “I’m from Liverpool ISIS” was jailed for 10 months.

Daniel Truelove, 20, threatened to blow up Lime Street station using a phone installed in his cell at HMP Altcourse to aid his rehabilitation.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Truelove pretended to be a member of the Islamic terrorist group in four calls to the Samaritans and Crimestoppers.

He said six men were praying before heading to the train station at around 8.45pm on August 27 last year.

Katy Appleton, prosecuting, said: “He said they were wearing tactical vests with explosives that would be remotely detonated. He said one was carrying an Islamic State flag.

“In the second call on August 29 at 6pm, he stated he was part of Liverpool ISIS, at a kiosk at Lime Street station, carrying an Islamic State flag with a suicide vest and a bomb in a backpack.”

“In the third call the following day at 10.40am he spoke of a bomb threat to the railway station at midnight.

“Later that day at 7pm, he stated he was a man called Aled Madora and was being pressurised by threats to behead his family to plant a bomb.”

None of the calls included specific code words often used by terrorist groups when warning of bomb plots.

The station was not evacuated but British Transport Police increased searches and deployed extra officers authorised to carry Tasers.

The calls were traced to Truelove’s cell, in which he was spending 23 hours a day, and the inmate was arrested.

Truelove, of no fixed address, admitted two counts of communicating a bomb hoax.

He has nine previous convictions for 17 offences including assault and battery.

In August 2013 he was locked up for 10 months for affray and criminal damage, after climbing on the roof of a McDonald’s restaurant in Birkenhead and hurling tiles at a police car.

Altcourse Prision in Fazakerley. Photo by James Maloney

He was locked up for 27 months in January 2014 after attempting to rob a dog walker in Birkenhead Park .

Neil Gunn, defending, said his client was a trained chef, who suffered from bipolar disorder.

He said: “He has been a fool – of that there is no doubt. He apologises not only to your honour and this court but more importantly to the two organisations that he called.

“The prisoners can’t phone anybody – there is a restriction on who they can call. The two numbers not vetted that can be called freely are Crimestoppers and the Samaritans.

“He says it was a prank. He didn’t believe it would be taken seriously.”

Recorder David Turner, QC, said Truelove took advantage of the help offered to him, “perhaps through boredom, perhaps through mischievousness”.

He said: “These are serious offences in the context of the present state of emergency.”

HMP Altcourse previously told the ECHO the phones were installed in cells to help rehabilitation by “strengthening support networks outside the prison”.

Dave Thompson, director of HMP Altcourse, said: “Prisoners can only dial approved numbers such as members of their family and we routinely monitor and record calls to ensure telephones are being used appropriately.

“Prisoners who abuse this opportunity to remain in contact with their families can expect to face sanction and as this case shows, further action through the courts.”

Stories from the courts

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

Two St Helens residents were fined for allowing their back yard to become piled high with rubbish.

These pictures show how they allowed waste to accumulate at the back of their house in Alfred Street.

Bin bags were piled on top of each other, with spillage and waste leaking out onto the ground, resulting in a nuisance to their neighbours.

Christopher Long and Sarah Stevenson were prosecuted but failed to appear at St Helens Magistrates’ Court where they each received fines and costs totalling £564 in their absence.

A spokesman for St Helens Council said officers from the Environmental Health Department were forced to resort to court action after “repeatedly needing to serve abatement notices and the use of external contractors to clear the waste”.

Cllr Seve Gomez-Aspron, St Helens Council’s Cabinet Member for Green, Smart & Sustainable Borough, said the filth was not fair on their neighbours and added that these sorts of problems are usually the result of “sheer laziness”.

He said: “Prosecutions such as this are very much the last resort. However, the council will not hesitate to take action where this is required, for it isn’t fair that surrounding neighbours have to tolerate it.

“Residents are provided with sufficient bins and recycling containers but ultimately it is the responsibility of residents to look after these containers and use them.

“The vast majority of problems dealt with by Environmental Health and Cleansing Services arise from sheer laziness and can be avoided by simply using the bins and recycling containers, and putting them out for collection on time.”

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A teacher accused of raping and sexually abusing a 15-year-old pupil more than two decades ago has denied the allegations.

Malcolm Nicholson told a jury today that he had never had any sexual contact with the alleged victim and said she had been blackmailing him for money.

He said he had been “foolish” to hand over any money to her but he felt threatened.

Nicholson, 46, was a science teacher at St Edmund Arrowsmith School in Prescot, Merseyside, at the time of the alleged offences.

Nicholson, who now lives in Morton Carr Lane, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, told a jury that her claims that he had taken her to his home in Allerton and also to his parents’ home in Middlesbrough while they were away were untrue.

His accuser, who is now in her 30s, has told how memories of the alleged sexual abuse flooded back after watching news reports on the crimes of paedophile Jimmy Savile and she realised ‘that what Malcolm had done to me was wrong” . She later confided in her husband.

She contacted Nicholson on social media and he allegedly begged her not to go to the police and offered her £200,000.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that he made an initial payment of £8,000 to buy her silence but the woman and her husband burnt the cash in their back garden. She said it was ‘blood money’.

She went to the police in February 2014 to make a formal complaint.

Nicholson, who denies two charges involving rape and indecent assault, told the jury today that with hindsight he realised he had been “too matey” with the children he taught at the school and had sometimes given some of them lifts home, possibly including the alleged victim.

He said that he left the school in 1995 and went on to teach at international schools in the Bahamas and Thailand, where he became a vice-principal in 2003. He met his wife while there and they went on to have two children.

He was living and working at The Hague in the Netherlands when the woman first contacted him on Twitter and later by text message.

Nicholson said that she wanted him to pay for what he had done and said that she would go to the police unless he came up with an alternative solution. She asked for £200,000 within a week, he claimed.

He explained that if her claims came out he would lose his job with the prestigious IBO educational organisation whose ethos is to make the world a better place through education.

The defendant said that the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, “kept pushing and pushing” and she and a man kept ringing him.

The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts, Liverpool Crown Court.

He said that he could not afford £200,000 and after she asked for “a small token” he agreed to send her his £8000 savings as “the first package” and this went into her bank account in January 2014.

Asked by his QC Mukhtar Hussain why he had done so he said, “It was obviously a foolish thing to do but I was being threatened to pay £200,000 or she would go to the police.

“That night my wife and I could not sleep, it was absolutely horrendous. It was not a situation anyone is prepared for.”

After asking his parents for advice he went to a solicitor and on his advice he told the woman not to contact him again. He told the court that he and his wife had been scared and found it terrifying that “these blackmailers bombarded” his home and office in Cardiff with phone calls.

He explained that he told IBO about the situation as he was worried about their reputation and his worst fears were realised as he was dismissed on March 1, 2014.

He consequently had to sell their home and has had to move back in with his parents. He is still jobless, he said.

“Is there any truth in the allegations from beginning to end?” asked Mr Hussain. “No”, he replied.

(proceeding)

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

A drug dealer from Bootle was told he could have killed someone as he was sentenced for dealing horse tranquilisers at the Parklife festival.

Welder Scott Williams travelled to Manchester from Merseyside with dozens of wraps of ketamine.

But the 19-year-old was spotted acting suspiciously by stewards and ordered to go to the Heaton Park festival’s security tent. Williams tried to escape the security team’s grip but was soon caught and then searched by police.

Officers found £375 in cash and 12 wraps of ketamine.

Asked if he had been dealing drugs, Williams said: “To be honest I have.”

Texts on his iPhone also revealed how he had planned and prepared to sell drugs at the festival. He later admitted bringing 25 £10 wraps with him and pleaded guilty to possessing class B drugs with intent on June 7 last year.

Tom Watson, defending Williams, of Keir Hardie Avenue, Bootle, was ‘ashamed’ by his crime, which he said had stunned his otherwise respectable family and left his mother ‘beside herself’.

Stories from the courts

He added: “They have difficulty believing what he has done. Fortunately now he is back to the young man that they remember”.

Recorder Tony Cross QC described ketamine ‘as one of those drugs that can kill’. Mr Watson said Williams now understood that ‘someone’s son or daughter could have dropped down dead from a dodgy dose’, adding: “It hadn’t occurred to him before that he could have caused a real tragedy for another family.”

Passing sentence, Recorder Cross said: “In the days and hours that led up to you getting on the coach to go to Parklife you must have been sitting in your bedroom with a blade of some sort, cutting up ketamine and putting it into bags.

“You weren’t worried about what effect that drug might have on anybody at the festival, you didn’t particularly care. You didn’t know if a 16 or 17-year-old might buy the ketamine and have an adverse reaction, you just wanted to make some brass. Consider what harm you have caused to your family who all their lives have gone about their business earning lawful money, bringing up a child… and then all of a sudden you repay them by getting into drugs.”

The judge gave Williams a six-month suspended jail sentence, with 200 hours of unpaid work, telling him: “Everybody deserves a second chance.”

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/