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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Adam Everett

ASBO 10-year-old, dirty protest prisoner and café owner among crooks jailed this week

A 10-year-old ASBO recipient, a prisoner who staged a dirty protest in his cell and a dog café owner were among the Merseyside criminals jailed this week.

Also locked up was a child abductor who was stabbed after kidnapping a 12-year-old boy. Meanwhile, Liverpool Crown Court heard that an Easter egg hunt was ruined by a drunken burglar who stole and ate the children's chocolate treats.

Here are the faces of 10 criminals who were imprisoned in our region in the past week:

READ MORE: Thug hit bouncer over head with stool outside city centre bar

Andrew Cooper

The kidnapper was stabbed after abducting a 12-year-old boy, then tried to hotwire a motorbike.

Andrew Cooper whisked the youngster away on a train in a bizarre series of events. The schoolboy, whom he had never met before, and his friend were "chilling" in his flat after a "chance meeting". They played football and listened to music together before the complainant's friend left at roughly 10pm, leaving him alone in the property.

Andrew Cooper (Cheshire Police)

He then "offered the victim to stay". They then caught a train to Warrington, where Cooper "came across" a man who owed him money for drugs - who proceeded to slash him with a knife "several times" to his arms and chest.

After attempting to steal the motorcycle, he attended hospital for treatment to his injuries. The 24-year-old was jailed for a year after admitting child abduction.

Andrew Cain

Andrew Cain (Merseyside Police)

The dog café owner was caught with more than £6,000 of heroin hidden underneath his floorboards.

Canine restaurateur Andrew Cain turned "warehouseman" for a Liverpool-based gang, who posted the illicit substances to Scotland and hid them in a park, after the collapse of his business. Police raided the 39-year-old's home on Sedgeley Walk in Huyton on October 16 last year and found 606 wraps of of the class A drugs.

Less than three weeks earlier on September 28 2021, a separate investigation in Scotland had discovered around a thousand wraps of heroin and crack cocaine found hidden on the banks of the River Don in a park in Stoneywood, Aberdeen. Cain's DNA was found on the wrappings, with a gang from Merseyside having been transporting and stashing the drugs for onward sale in the area.

He admitted possession of heroin with intent to supply and was locked up for four years The dealer previously ran Pups and Cups Bistro in Old Swan, but the café closed around Christmas 2019 when he and his business partner went their separate ways.

Robert Eaton

Robert Eaton, 23, of Woodchurch Road, Oxton, was jailed for seven years and nine months after pleading guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm with intent (Merseyside police)

The thug launched an unprovoked attack on his victim by smashing a beer glass in his face in a transphobic attack.

Cocaine and alcohol-fuelled Robert Eaton assaulted the victim outside the Prenton Park pub in Tranmere, Wirral, in the early hours of Sunday, May 1, this year. The 18-year-old complainant was enjoying a quiet drink with family and friends at the time of the incident.

He was transitioning from male to female, and this was the first time he had ventured outside dressed as a woman. Eaton, 23, came and sat near the group and began staring at the victim.

When the group left the pub at around 1am, his assailant was lying in wait and approached the the teenager - hitting him in the face with a beer glass, knocking him to the ground with such force that he was briefly unconscious and lost three teeth. Eaton was jailed for four years and nine months after admitting attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm.

Andrew McClean

The paedophile was bailed after being caught trying to meet a "13-year-old" for sex but went on to target what he believed was another child while under investigation.

Andrew McClean was arrested on February 15 after messaging a supposed youngster and arranging to have sex with him in a public toilet near Southport Station. In fact, he was in contact with an adult member of a local ‘paedophile hunters’ group, who had set up the online profile as a decoy.

But three months later, after being released on bail, he once again began sending online messages of a sexual nature to what he believed was another 13-year-old boy, and arranged to meet him at Formby Station on May 18. Again, McClean was met with members of the pedophile hunters group.

The 39-year-old admitted arranging a child sex offence, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and attempting to meet a child following grooming. He was jailed for three years.

Connah Rutledge

Connah Rutledge sent messages to multiple people advertising the sale of crack cocaine and heroin. (Cheshire Police)

The drug dealer had to be moved to three separate cells after defecating in his hands and smearing it across the rooms.

Connah Rutledge, 26, was arrested after his phone number was identified and found to be used as a graft phone to send messages to multiple people advertising the sale of crack cocaine and heroin. He was arrested at his property in Ellesmere on September 9 while on prison licence.

Rutledge was also found on CCTV footage from August 27, which showed him topping up the phone at a supermarket near to where he was staying at the time. When brought into police custody, he was moved to three different cells due to defecating in his hands and smearing it.

He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin. He was sentenced to 45 months in prison.

Alfie Hodgin

The teenager was stabbed 27 times by a gang of men with machetes after trying to take over the running of a drugs ring.

Alfie Hodgin's dealing was uncovered by police after they found him lying in the street in a pool of his own blood, and with more than £2,000 of heroin and crack cocaine. This vicious assault had been an act of "retribution" after the 18-year-old had stolen drugs and a graft phone belonging to the county lines operation he had previously been working for.

Officers also seized £1,208 in cash from the defendant, while a graft phone - which contained dozens of flare messages advertising drugs for sale, which had been sent out to customers over the previous eight days - was found next to him on the ground.

In 2014, Hodgin became "one of the youngest people ever to receive an anti-social behaviour order" aged just 10. The teen admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine and was locked up for two-and-a-half years.

Carl Maclaren

Carl Maclaren, 44, blamed himself after he unwittingly passed on the cold sore virus, herpes simplex, to his premature infant who died (Merseyside Police)

A dad, whose kiss led to the death of his baby son, launched a vile attack on his ex-partner after spiralling into a self-destructive life of drink and drugs.

Carl Maclaren, 44, blamed himself after he unwittingly passed on the cold sore virus, herpes simplex, to his premature infant who died of multiple organ failure aged just two months in 2012. A court heard this week that he had trouble coming to terms with the death of Kaiden, whose life support system was switched off after he struggled for six weeks in hospital.

On the afternoon on May 11 this year, he broke into his former girlfriend's home, held her by the hair with one hand and began punching her with his other hand - causing her to fall to the floor. She screamed for help and feared she was going to die.

Maclaren pleaded guilty to burglary and attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm. He was jailed for three years.

Alexandru Lingurar

Alexandru Lingurar (Merseyside Police)

The drunken burglar was foiled when he was tackled by a dog, then stole and ate children's Easter eggs.

The chocolate treats had been left out in the garden of a family home in the early hours of Easter Sunday for a planned egg hunt. But Alexandru Lingurar scoffed them during a 24-hour crime spree, in which he also broke into a care home's laundry room and tried to steal residents' clothing from the tumble dryer.

The 60-year-old claimed to have been collecting for charity when confronted. He was arrested, but immediately continued stealing when released on bail - taking designer goods from a parker Land Rover, nicking booze from a house but being knocked down by the occupant's dog then eating the Easter eggs as the kids' dad watched on a Ring doorbell camera.

Lingurar also bit a police officer following the first incident. He admitted two counts of burglary, assaulting an emergency services worker and two counts of theft and was jailed for 40 months.

Anthony Hassell

The burglar chatted to staff in a city centre bar before sneaking upstairs, stealing £200 of alcohol and escaping out a fire exit.

Anthony Hassell took a dozen bottles of alcohol from Roxy Ballroom earlier this year. Prosecutors said the defendant, who has more than 40 convictions for theft, went into the Rainford Square premises just after 5.30pm on March 14.

CCTV footage showed him briefly speaking to staff near the bar on the lower level of the premises for number of minutes but when staff then moved he went to an area upstairs. Once there, he quickly grabbed a dozen bottles of alcohol and stuffed them into a black bin bag.

Hassell was then disturbed and managed to escape out a fire exit. The 37-year-old pleaded guilty to burglary and was jailed for two weeks.

Ryan Leonard

Ryan Leonard (Merseyside Police)

He was put to work dealing drugs after gangsters threatened him with a hot iron and forced him to undress on camera.

Ryan Leonard was held against his will and subjected to threats after racking up a debt, with the footage then widely circulated online. Police even believed that the 28-year-old's life was under threat, and he set about paying off the owed monies via a "persistent, professional" heroin and crack cocaine supplying operation.

He admitted possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, supplying cocaine and heroin and money laundering and was jailed for 54 months. But his partner Brooke Morgan, who stashed her drug dealing boyfriend's drugs in her vagina, walked free from court.

She agreed to accompany Leonard on his supply missions after being subjected to domestic violence at his hands. Illicit substances were also stashed at her Kensington flat, but the expectant 30-year-old was described as having "performed a limited function under duress".

READ NEXT: Clothing company sold £30k worth of counterfeit t-shirts

Drunken burglar stole and ate children's chocolate in 24hr crime spree

Pervert pensioner exposed himself to schoolgirls from his window

Burglar chatted to bar staff before nicking booze worth £200

Dad whose cold sore kiss killed son launched vile attack on ex partner

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