These are the latest Liverpool ECHO headlines this morning.
Facebook fraudster, rapist delivery man and pie shop robber jailed this week
A "sophisticated" Facebook fraudster who crashed into a tree, a paedophile window cleaner and a "despicable" conman who stole more than a £100,000 from an elderly widow were among the Merseyside criminals jailed this week.
Also locked up was a man who raided a pie shop with a pair of tights on his head and brandishing a knife. Meanwhile, Liverpool Crown Court heard that a takeaway delivery man posed as a taxi driver in order to abduct and rape a teenager.
Here are the faces of seven criminals from our region who were imprisoned in the past week.
Mum's fears as children fall ill in damp, mouldy house
A mum of three young children says black mould and constant damp in her home are making her three young children ill.
Nicole Dutton says she fears for her daughters Ava, nine, Annie, five and Arla, three as they continue to live in squalid conditions in their socially rented flat in Widnes. She said the tragic recent death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in Rochdale has made her more worried than ever.
Nicole, 31, from Runcorn, says there have been problems with damp and mould since she moved into the Halton Housing property seven months ago and says the company has not taken enough action to address the situation.
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She told the ECHO: "There is a leak dripping directly into my five-year-old's room where she sleeps. I was in hospital with her the other day because of her asthma, all the kids have bad chests and colds all the time."
The mum-of-three showed the ECHO around her flat, including one room where the wallpaper has almost entirely come away from the wall. She also showed us large amounts of black mould lining her windows and window ledges and patches of damp in various parts of the ceiling. Read more here.
Parents asked to look out for Strep A signs and symptoms
Health experts are asking parents to keep an eye out for symptoms after the deaths of seven children and a rise in Strep A cases.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said there had been a rise in rare invasive Group A strep this year, particularly in children under 10. Group A strep bacteria can cause many different infections, ranging from minor illnesses to deadly diseases.
The range of illnesses includes the skin infection impetigo, scarlet fever and strep throat. While the vast majority of infections are relatively mild, sometimes the bacteria cause a life-threatening illness called invasive Group A Streptococcal disease.
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According to UKHSA data, there were 2.3 cases of invasive disease per 100,000 children aged one to four this year in England, compared with an average of 0.5 in the pre-pandemic seasons (2017 to 2019). There have also been 1.1 cases per 100,000 children aged five to nine compared with the pre-pandemic average of 0.3 (2017 to 2019).
The last time there was an intensive period of Strep A infection was in 2017/18, when there were four deaths in the equivalent time frame. The UKHSA said investigations are also under way following reports of an increase in lower respiratory tract Group A Strep infections in children over the past few weeks, which have caused severe illness. Read the full story here.
