These are the latest Liverpool ECHO headlines this morning.
Vile woman jumped into grandad's car and battered him on driveway
A drug addict jumped into a pensioner's car as he was leaving to collect his grandchildren from school and subjected him to vicious beating on his own driveway.
Renee Weaver, 41, punched the victim, who the ECHO has chosen not to name, repeatedly before scrabbling around in his pockets, swiping cash and his phone, and threatening to smash his head in with a glass bottle. Astonishingly, it was the pensioner who was arrested after Weaver, of Vulcan Street in the city centre, lied to officers claiming she was a sex worker and he had assaulted her after refusing to pay up for a sex act.
READ MORE: Man's jaw broken in attack on Mathew Street
Merseyside Police handcuffed the stunned grandad only to realise he was in fact the victim. Liverpool Crown Court heard the pensioner felt "let down by the people who are supposed to protect us" after the incident on January 29 last year, off Sheil Road in Kensington.
Sarah Griffin, prosecuting, told the court: "[The victim] was in his car on his way to collect his grandchildren and as he was reversing off his driveway, the defendant got into the passenger seat. He stated that he did not know the defendant’s name, but he recognised her as one of the women he had seen standing on Sheil Road."
Read the full story here.
First people move in at council's 'luxury' housing company
The first residents have started moving in to new homes built by Sefton Council’s ‘luxury’ housing company.
Sandway Homes, a wholly owned council company, was loaned over £8m by Sefton Council to build dozens of new homes across the borough after it was set up in 2018.
Concerns were raised by opposition councillors last year after the amount loaned to the company increased from the £5m originally set aside to over £8m.
A council report at the time noted the increase was deemed necessary to deal with rising costs after delays to the completion of its developments, which were party attributed to challenges linked to the covid pandemic.
The company had stated plans to build 141 new homes at sites in Ainsdale, Crossens and Netherton over the next few years, with more schemes also in the pipeline.
In July, Sefton Council said it would acquire 13 apartments from the company, hailed as the first new council homes in the borough since 2006. Read more here.
Controversial match day parking firm sent money to Salford
A match day parking company set up to benefit the north Liverpool community granted loans to Salford based companies.
The Beautiful Ideas Company (BICo) was set up to raise money from match day parking facilities near Anfield and Goodison. The money was then to be invested in local good causes.
Earlier this month city mayor Joanne Anderson lodged a number of issues with (BICo) following the publication of three internal audit reports. The city's standards and ethics committee is set consider the issues at a public meeting on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Controversial match day cash company set to be dissolved
The ECHO can now reveal that BICo granted loans to a number of organisations based in Salford. A presentation by BICo to Liverpool Council in 2018 stated that they made an award of £20,000 to one Salford based organisation, which was not named.
The presentation document was shared online by Liverpool Council. A second BICo document, also shared by the council, has stated the community interest company granted loans to two Salford based organisations. Both documents formed part of an employment and skills select committee hearing on April 4 2018. Read the full story here.
