These are the latest ECHO headlines this morning.
Boy, 10, with ASBO tried to become gang boss but got stabbed 27 times
A 10-year-old boy who was "one of the youngest people ever to receive an anti-social behaviour order" went on to become a teenage drugs gang boss but got stabbed 27 times with a machete.
Alfie Hodgin was locked up on Wednesday after being caught with more than £2,000 of heroin and crack cocaine while "slumped on the floor covered in blood" following the vicious attack. This "retribution" came after he had stolen drugs and a graft phone from a county lines ring which he had previously been working for.
The ECHO can now reveal how the now 18-year-old's involvement in the criminal justice system began at an alarmingly young age. In December 2014, when he was only 10, Hodgin was handed an ASBO at Wirral Magistrates' Court after "terrorising the community".
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Put in place for a period of two years, the order banned him from "causing harassment, alarm or distress to members the public" and required him to leave shops and businesses when asked to do so by staff. The primary school pupil was also ordered not to associate with a group of friends in public.
Only a month earlier, his older brother John - then aged 14 - had also received an ASBO. The two youths were "believed to be part of a gang involved in a series of incidents in the north end" of Birkenhead.
Read the full story here.
Mum told 'don't worry' after finding pencil in Burger King order
A mum said she could "not believe it" after finding an unwanted surprise in her Burger King order.
On Monday, October 3, Leanne Daly from Bootle decided to have a night in with her children. For a treat, the mum of two ordered a feast from the Stanley Road Burger King in the Strand.
Leanne said she orders from the popular fast food chain "all the time" as it is "really fresh". However, after biting into her Chicken Royale with bacon, instead of an intense burst of flavour she was confronted with a hard wooden pencil.
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Speaking to the ECHO she said: "My son passed me my burger, I had some and felt something weird. So I opened it up and a pencil rolled out. I thought 'what the hell is that' as it looked like an eyeliner.
"So straight away I called them up and asked for an explanation and told them I had something in my burger. I described what it looked like and she told me 'not to worry' as it was only a grease pencil they used to mark the burger wrappers."
Read more here.
Dad whose cold sore kiss killed son launched vile attack on ex partner
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 on Wednesday, October 5, 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.
During the first covid lockdown Maclaren began drinking heavily again which was the beginning of the end of his relationship with his partner, his children’s mum, Marie Clare McCormick. Liverpool Crown Court was told that he broke into her home, following the end of their 12-year-old relationship earlier this year, while she was resting on her bed upstairs on the afternoon on May 11.
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She became afraid after hearing banging downstairs and Maclaren then came into her room shouting at her and calling her “a s**g” and accusing her of being with someone else, said Paul Blasbery, prosecuting. He held her by the hair with one hand and began punching her with his other hand causing her to fall to the floor.
She instinctively rolled herself into a ball to try to protect herself and he stamped on her in the direction of her face and head.
Mr Blasbery said: “She was screaming for help and she was terrified the assault would not stop and genuinely thought she was going to be killed.” Read the full story here.
