A man who dragged a terrified jogger into bushes, a child rapist and a travel insurance scammer were among the Merseyside criminals jailed this week.
Also locked up was a "jealous" knifeman who stabbed a love rival in the back after an armed gang laid in wait for the victim late at night. Meanwhile, Liverpool Crown Court heard that a drug dealer known as "Eager Ape" was involved in the supply of nearly 300kg of cocaine and cannabis.
Here are the faces of six criminals who were imprisoned in our region in the past week:
READ MORE: Woman jogging in park was grabbed by neck from behind and dragged into bushes
Keenan Fairclough
A woman was jogging in a park when she was grabbed by the neck from behind and dragged into bushes.
The victim was left fearing for her life after Keenan Fairclough placed her in a chokehold and demanded cash while desperate for ketamine. Afterwards, the runner posted about her ordeal on Facebook.
She was then messaged by the 21-year-old's step-mum, who was concerned from the description given that he was the culprit. She sent pictures of the defendant, and it was confirmed he had been the attacker.
The dad was then caught lurking in the same area again three days later in suspicious circumstances and arrested. Fairclough was jailed for 40 months after admitting attempted robbery.
Peter Lynch
The drug dealer used the pseudonym "Eager Ape", had close links to Spain and was involved in the supply of nearly 300kg of cocaine and cannabis.
Peter Lynch "entered the big time" of the criminal underworld after losing his job in the construction industry due to ill health. The dad went on to trade in huge quantities and paid his underlings wages of thousands of pounds every month to carry out illicit activities on his behalf.
The 43-year-old deployed encrypted communications platform EncroChat in order to conduct his shady dealings, using the handle EagerApe. This saw him arrange to deal 277kg of cannabis and two kilos of cocaine.
The father-of-three had contacts in Spain, with images found on his Encro phone showing drugs being packaged in the country and discussions referencing "boats being ready for a dummy run" for the importation of drugs into the UK. Lynch was jailed for seven year and four months after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
Lee Ashton
A man who was stabbed by a gang could have died if he had not been saved by a passing ambulance.
Lee Ashton knifed his victim, who was living in a tent in a park at the time, in the back due to his jealousy that he had begun a new relationship with his former partner. The frightening attack followed a crime spree in which the thug stole firearms during a burglary and robbed a cyclist at gunpoint.
Robert Bassnett was left with the blade left lodged in his chest cavity after the assault, but happened to be discovered lying injured in the street by paramedics. One emergency services worker said they "didn't think he would have been able to tolerate that level of blood loss for much longer".
Ashton then had a friend pick him and his new girlfriend up and asked him to dispose of the clothes he had been wearing as he checked into a hotel. The 23-year-old was found guilty of wounding, and was jailed for eight years.
Joshua Moorcroft
The scammer fraudulently claimed more than £75,000 in bogus travel insurance claims.
Joshua Moorcroft, from Dovecot, invented reasons for why he was unable to catch the flights to claim huge sums of cash. In October 2019, he took out a multi-trip worldwide travel insurance policy in and submitted a claim for a missed flight from Manchester to New York just nine days later.
The conman told his insurer his taxi broke down on the way to the airport due to an exploded tyre. Around two months later, Moorcroft made another claim for a missed flight - this time from Manchester to Qatar, stating he was involved in a car crash on the way to the airport.
Three false claims were then submitted in February 2020 over missed trips while he was apparently having surgery on a fractured hand. Moorcroft admitted fraud and was jailed for 16 months.
Kenneth Kavanagh
The child rapist branded one of his victims a liar as he was jailed for 20 years.
Kenneth Kavanagh raped a seven-year-old boy and sexually assaulted a girl when she was aged as young as six. Decades later, he has finally been brought to justice - but attempted to heckle the woman he abused as a child as she outlined the devastating impact his crimes have had on her.
The morbidly obese 74-year-old - who appeared in court via video link to HMP Liverpool in a wheelchair - was heard saying "money, money, money, money" at the beginning of the hearing, before being placed on mute. He also shook his head throughout and made hand gestures, including rubbing his thumb against his index finger and middle finger.
The pensioner appeared to mouth the word "liar" as the victim bravely read a statement to the court. Kavanagh was convicted of seven counts of indecent assault, two of buggery and one of indecency with a child following a trial.
William Rumsby
The paedophile attempted to pin the blame on his own son when he was caught with videos of boys having sex.
William Rumsby accessed the dark web in order to collect a stash of indecent images of children for the second time and installed a multitude of software on his tablet computer in a bid to cover his tracks. He then told a "series of lies" when police came knocking at his door.
The pensioner was handed four-month imprisonment suspended for two years and a seven-year sexual harm prevention order in December 2016 after being convicted of possessing and making indecent images of children. But the 71-year-old flouted this SHPO by downloading similar vile materials again.
Rumsby falsely told police that the Samsung device that the pictures and videos were found on belonged to his son. He admitted possession of indecent images, two counts of making indecent images and breaching a sexual harm prevention order and was jailed for 20 months.
READ NEXT: Jealous knife thug stabbed ex-girlfriend's new partner in the back
Jogger heard teen shout 'let's finish him off' as yobs launched vicious attack
Child rapist who heckled victim in court jailed for 20 years
'Eager Ape' used close links with Spain to supply nearly 300kg of cocaine and cannabis
Paedophile caught with vile child abuse videos tried to blame his own son
