A thug who dragged his girlfriend down the street, a teenage boy who raped a girl before threatening her with a knife and a man who sexually abused two children were among the Merseyside criminals jailed over the last week.
Also locked up was a man who throttled his girlfriend at the Hard Days Night Hotel and later hid in another guest's room. Another man flew into a violent rage and brutally attacked his friend after he told him to "shut up".
Liverpool Crown Court also heard how one man preyed on a teenage girl while pretending to be helping her study for her GCSE's. In a statement to the court, the victim said she had to attend counselling and suffered from depression and anxiety.
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Here are the faces of a number criminals from our region who were imprisoned in the past seven days:
Kieran Cowley
A thug who dragged his girlfriend down the street after rowing with her at a New Year's Eve party drunkenly attacked a good Samaritan as he tried to intervene.
Kieran Cowley, of Noctorum, was out with his partner and two other couples including Benjamin Crane and his fiancée to celebrate the New Year. Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday June 12, the 27-year-old and his girlfriend began to argue while at the Shrewsbury Arms in Oxton and Cowley was persuaded to leave the pub.
However, he later returned and began to drag his girlfriend down the street in the direction of the Oxton Bar and Kitchen. Mr Crane flagged down a police car and begged officers to remain nearby, but as the car left a struggle broke out between Cowley and his girlfriend's friends, during which Cowley grabbed Mr Crane by the throat.
Cowley and the women fell to the ground, and as Mr Crane rushed to help his fiancée, Cowley jumped up and punched him in the face, fracturing his eye socket at around 12.45am on January 1 2022. Cowley would later spin a web of lies after the incident - he provided a false name, date of birth and address to police when they stopped him in the street, and when officers visited his home, he claimed he had been in "all night".
But the whole incident was caught on CCTV. The 27-year-old was found him guilty of assault causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 16 months.
Thomas Dean
A prison inmate launched an attack on a guard for seemingly no reason.
Thomas Dean punched the officer in the face after he asked the prisoner if he wanted a towel after his shower. The 34-year-old was serving time in a segregation unit at HMP Liverpool, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday, June 12.
The inmate had been escorted to the showers at the Walton prison on July 29 last year and was taken back to his cell by three members of staff when one asked him "if he needed a towel". Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, described how the defendant responded by saying "what?", at which the worker repeated himself.
Dean, of no fixed address, then swung his left fist at the officer - hitting him on the right-hand side of his mouth and leaving him requiring seven stitches and with a scar. The prisoner was then restrained and taken to the floor before being carried back to his quarters.
The 34-year-old was originally jailed for 42 months in May 2022, then received a further year in February for assaulting a prison officer. Dean admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was jailed for an additional 24 weeks.
Elliot Harris
A disabled teenager fled from her drunken boyfriend's clutches after he throttled her at the Hard Days Night Hotel and hid in another guest's room.
Elliot Harris downed shots and cocktails on the Albert Dock during a planned romantic weekend away before strangling his partner and telling her "I wouldn't care if you were dead". She was left "thinking she was going to die" when she looked into her abuser's eyes while lying helpless as he wrapped his hands around her neck.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday, June 12 that Harris had been in a relationship with his 19-year-old victim, who the ECHO has chose not to name, for around a year when they booked a weekend in Liverpool city centre, checking into the North John Street hotel on Friday, November 18, last year.
The couple had been drinking around the Albert Dock are, but Harris "had a lot more to drink than she did". While "things had been fine throughout the night", upon returning to their room at around 2am the following day the 20-year-old "started an argument with her concerning her father, whom it seems the defendant doesn't particularly like or get on with" as she undressed.
His crying girlfriend, who suffers from a disability which causes the paralysis of the left-hand side of her body, "begged him to stop screaming" as he shouted her and got up off the bed to leave. But Harris - of Cavendish Close in Old Hall, Warrington - took hold of her by her right arm and pulled her back into the room, pressing her against a wall and shouting in her face.
He then knocked on the wall and said "the walls are thick, no one will hear you" before dragging her onto the bed and wrapping both of his hands around her neck as he lay on top of her.
She recalled "looking into his eyes and thinking she was going to die" as he squeezed at her throat while continuing to shout at her. Next, Harris pinned her against wall and chillingly told her: "I wouldn't care if you were dead, because you are your dad's daughter."
He put his hands around her throat again but, despite being left struggling to breathe, she fought back and managed to break free - running out of the room screaming.
Harris, who has no previous convictions, was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm during a trial before Liverpool Magistrates' Court. He was handed 14 months in a young offenders' institute and given a restraining order preventing him from contacting his victim or entering her street indefinitely.
Teenage rapist who cannot be named
A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, raped a teenage girl before threatening her with a knife.
The boy appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, June 12, to be sentenced for the horrific attack. The court heard an investigation started in November 2022 after the 17-year-old offender from Wirral lured the young victim into his home, where he raped her and threatened her with a knife.
He was later charged with rape of female under 16 years of age and threatening behaviour in a private place with a knife. He was sentenced to five years in a Young Offenders Institute and given an eight-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Jamie Middleton
A man flew into a violent rage and brutally attacked his friend after he told him to "shut up".
Jamie Middleton, of Southward Road, Newton-le-Willows, viciously kicked Zak Taylor repeatedly in the face and head after knocking him unconscious in the middle of the street at around 3am on March 22, 2021. The men decided to go out and look for the women, and a short time later Mr Taylor came across Middleton, 29, rowing with his partner in the middle of a street.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday, June 13 that Mr Taylor told the couple to "just shut the f*** up, you need to go home". He carried on walking, with the defendant and his girlfriend walking behind.
The court heart that there was a "white flash and bang" and Mr Taylor suddenly lost consciousness. The next thing he remembered was waking up with his mouth "pouring with blood".
The incident was witnessed by a woman living nearby, who looked out of her window and called 999. Middleton continued to kick his victim "while he was unmoving and unconscious". He then left the area, and the witness saw Mr Taylor regain consciousness and stagger out of sight.
Mr Taylor returned to his mother's house, and was taken to Warrington Hospital. He was then transferred to Aintree Hospital, where he was treated for a broken jaw.
Middleton initially denied the attack, which happened while he was on licence for robbing a pizza delivery man in April 2016. When a forensic investigation found Mr Taylor's blood on one of his Nike trainers, he claimed he had come across his friend being beaten up by another man and had ran to get help.
He later pleaded guilty to assault causing grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced him to three years and five months in prison for the assault, and a further one month for breaching his bail conditions at an earlier date, taking his total sentence to three and a half years.
Daniel Cooper
A man preyed on a teenage girl while pretending to be helping her study for her GCSE's.
Daniel Cooper, of Canford Close in Great Sankey, Warrington, engaged in sexual acts with a 15-year-old girl when he was in his early 20s. He began messaging her and sent her an unsolicited video of him performing a sex act on himself.
He then continued to flirt with her over a number of months and encouraged her into a sexual acts. Cooper appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, June 12, where he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
In a statement, the victim told the court she had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety in 2018, and had to attend counselling with a therapist. She said Cooper was "manipulative".
Cooper was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
Phillip Rogers
A man was jailed for ten and a half years for sexual offences against two children.
Phillip Rogers, aged 64, of Hornby Road, Walton was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, June 14 after being found guilty of two counts of attempted sexual assault and four counts of indecent assaults. The offences were against one child in the 1970s and another child in the 1990s.
Rogers, who is originally from Wirral, had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of a child. As well as his prison sentence, Rogers will also be placed on the sex offender register for life.
It follows a complex investigation by detectives from Merseyside’s Unity Team, who specialise in rape and serious sexual assault offences, who were able to charge Rogers with the various offences.
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