Two disturbing court cases this week involving attacks on an elderly man and a disabled victim laid bare the way heroin addiction spreads misery beyond its users.
On Monday, Renee Weaver stood in the dock at after an opportunistic but vicious attack on a 74-year-old man as he sat in his car attempting to reverse off his driveway in the Sheil Road area of Kensington on January 29 last year.
There were disturbing parallels with the case of fellow heroin addict Stephen Earle, 36, who was jailed on Thursday for a vicious robbery on disabled Peter Keppie at the Scarisbrick Hotel in Southport.
READ MORE: Liverpool man shot in back says he 'feels sorry' for gunman
There were nearly 5,000 drug related deaths in the UK in 2021, and the Government has pumped millions into trying to get criminal offenders off drugs. The cases of Weaver and Earle demonstrated the wider harm to society by the scourge of heroin addiction.
Weaver, 41, of Vulcan Street in the city centre, demanded cash and then punched the pensioner, who was on his way to collect his grandchildren from school, repeatedly in the face. Weaver told the victim, who the ECHO has chosen not to name, she would "smash his head in" with a glass bottle and had his phone and some cash stolen.
To add insult to injury, when the police were called it was the elderly man who was arrested thanks to Weaver's vile lies. She falsely told officers that the man had underpaid her for a sex act and then assaulted her when she challenged him.
He was placed in handcuffs and placed in the back of a patrol car before the mistake was realised. Weaver was initially charged with robbery, but the pensioner suffered a stroke before her trial.
With their main witness unable to give evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service agreed to accept guilty pleas to the lesser offences of theft and common assault. She also admitted possession of heroin after the Class A drug was found on her at the time she was arrested.
But the impact of the incident was far reaching. In a victim personal statement, written before his stroke, the pensioner said: "The area I live in for most of my life has now become an area for sex workers to ply their trade. I have always been an early riser as I am a retired fruit and vegetable retailer, but I now find myself worrying prior to leaving my home and looking over my shoulder all of the time before getting into my car and now locking the doors...
"I have had bouts of anxiety prior to going out and increased stress worrying about whether either me, my family or my home may be attacked or targeted as the female responsible knows where I live and made threats. I have as a result ended up in hospital due to panic and anxiety in recent weeks and I am now under observations via medical consultants at the Royal University Hospital Liverpool."
The court heard addiction was the driving force of Weaver's horrendous record, which included 15 convictions for 25 offences. Those crimes included stealing from another elderly man who used two walking sticks at a Croxteth newsagent, and spitting in the mouth of a police officer who arrested her for being in possession of a knife.
John Rowan, defending, told the court his client had asked to be sent to prison as she was "simply unable" to comply with the requirements of a suspended sentence order.
He said: "The main problem in her adult life has been her addiction to Class A drugs. Class A drugs have had a massive impact on Miss Weaver both in terms of her mental health and in relation to her physical health.
"There have been times when she has been able to address her drug use and come off drugs, but those have been for a short time."
Weaver was locked up for 10 months, meaning she will serve half that time in custody before being released on licence.
Earle, however, will not be released from prison for many years after admitting robbery and an unrelated assault charge relating to a knife attack on a man at a party, where he also punched a woman in the face.
The court heard vulnerable Mr Keppie, who had a congenital back condition and was living at the Southport hotel because it could cater to his specific mobility needs better than his family home while he was awaiting surgery, died three months after the attack. However, no direct medical link between his death at the attack by Earle could be proven.
Bernice Campbell, prosecuting, told the court in that case Earle followed Mr Keppie into his room on the morning of August 15 last year. He began asking for valium before rifling through Mr Keppie's belongings and then striking him repeatedly with a beer bottle, causing serious bruising.
Earle then snatched his brand new iPhone, bought only five days earlier as a birthday present, and "ransacked" the room before leaving the scene.
Ms Campbell told the court: "As a result of this, Mr Keppie returned to his mum's care. She notes how he suffered from flashbacks to the assault and nightmares. She recounts how Peter was very friendly and polite. She describes how he was gregarious and 'to say he lit up the room is an understatement'.
"She states that Mr Keppie never sought confrontation and she believes that the male who assaulted Mr Keppie clearly took advantage of him due to his vulnerability."
Jo Maxwell, defending, said her client had very little recollection of attacking Mr Keppie and that his "life was a mess" at the time due to addiction to Class A drugs and alcohol. She said: "He has had a very difficult life living on the streets and between different people's houses.
"He himself having lived that life has been attacked, he was stabbed in the hand shortly before these offences. He has said the time he has spent on remand in custody has been the most stable part of his life for many years."
Earle was handed an extended sentence of 11 years and three months for the robbery with an extra five years on licence, and an additional 17 months for the assaults. He will only be released early if a Parole Board find he no longer poses a risk of harm.
READ NEXT:
Liverpool man shot in back says he 'feels sorry' for gunman
'Oldest surviving' city monument thousands walk past every day
Life on 'Bread Street' where people knock to ask if you are selling up
Find the coins hidden on the ECHO website for the chance to win a £200 voucher
