These teenage criminals all ended up in court this year for their dangerous, callous and horrific crimes.
Merseyside's courts saw these baby-faced criminals wind up in the dock for serious crimes including rape and serious assaults.
Some of these criminals have only just entered their teen years and already found themselves in front of judges, facing down long custodial sentences.
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One case involved a teenage rapist who was jailed for 'horrific sexual attacks', while another concerns a 15-year-old racist who "destroyed" a woman's life.
In some instances, judges were constrained in the sentences they were able to hand out, due to the defendants' ages.
These are some of the young criminals who appeared in court this year.
Teenager stabbed boy in park 'straightener'
A teenager stabbed a boy with a knife after stepping in during a park "straightener" that wasn't even his fight.
He aimed for his victim's chest but sliced through his coat and pierced his arm in an attack a judge said could have proved fatal.
The stabbing was carried out by the then 15-year-old thug just weeks after he was released from a second stint behind bars for knife crime.
Judge David Aubrey, QC, said the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons due to his age, was a danger to the public.
Liverpool Crown Court heard two other boys were involved in "some sort of argument" earlier this year, leading to the incident at a Wirral park.
Simon Christie, prosecuting, said "what is known as a straightener" was arranged between the pair, at Lingham Park in Moreton, on February 18.
He said a crowd including other children gathered to watch the supposed "fist fight" at the junction of Town Meadow Lane and Lingham Lane, at around 4pm.
The court heard the defendant, now 16, was friends with one of the boys involved and went to the park with him.
Witnesses said they heard the defendant shout "who else wants it?" and "run, I have just stabbed him".
The victim explained he went to the fight because "he did not want to look scared and he did not believe his opponent would turn up".
Mr Christie said the victim was seen to take a hammer out of his pocket after he was slashed, but there was no suggestion the defendant had seen it beforehand or that it justified his attack.
The boy suffered a wound to his left arm, which required five stitches at hospital.
However, the blade entered his coat in the chest area and travelled across before piercing his bicep.
The defendant admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was jailed for four years, with an extended four years on licence.
This type of sentence means the boy must serve at least two thirds of the custodial term - two years and eight months - behind bars.
However, he will only be released before the end of the four-year sentence if the Parole Board no longer considers him to be a risk.
Read the full story here.
'Very angry' teen tells police 'I am capable of murder I have tried before'
A 19-year-old who went “berserk” after drinking almost a pint of vodka hurled a huge knife at a police officer.
On March 11, Joshua Dunbavin drank almost a pint of vodka in his shared accommodation and became "very angry".
Louise Santamera, prosecuting, said Dunbavin lived in the shared home in Sherlock Lane, Wallasey, and spent the evening with his now ex-partner Demi Jones listening to music and drinking.
The 19-year-old's mood began to change when reflecting on his mum’s death and he started arguing with two women on the landing. Miss Jones also left the room and sat on the stairs.
Ms Santamera added: "He grabbed her by the neck and punched her in the face for no apparent reason."
Miss Jones went into the room of one of the other women but after about 20 minutes he came in and insisted Miss Jones leave the room with him.
Dunbavin was then asked to leave by the other women in the room, as Miss Jones did not want to leave with him.
He the appeared "have lost it" a court heard.
After another altercation with a friend on the landing he went downstairs and armed himself with two knives from a kitchen drawer.
CCTV footage was played to Liverpool Crown Court showing the frightening scene in the road when police arrived and found Dunbavin, who was limping badly, brandishing the knives and shouting threats to stab the officers.
Dunbavin then hurled an eight inch blade at PC Michael Blakemore which narrowly missed him.
The knife was thrown with such force it snapped at the handle and the officer told how he had feared for his life and was shaken by the incident.
In custody the 19-year-old said: “I am capable of murder. I have tried before but somehow they always get away.”
He also said he "going to murder someone once I get out of here”.
Miss Santamera said he accepted the allegations against him and spoke of how the death of his mum had an 'enormous effect' on him.
Dunbavin, who had a previous conviction for attempted robbery, pleaded guilty to affray, threats with a bladed article and three offences of battery.
He also admitted two of criminal damage, which the court heard totalled £1,000, with one of the charges involving him stabbing a tyre on a police car puncturing it.
Desmond Lennon, defending, said that the defendant had “suffered terrible abuse” as a child.
Sentencing him to two years detention Judge Stuart Driver, QC, said he took into account his mental health difficulties, his age and that this will be his first custodial sentence.
Teenage rapist jailed following 'horrific sexual attacks'
Shaun Bennett appeared before Liverpool Crown Court to be sentenced for rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration.
Recorder Ian Unsworth, QC, said the offences were so serious that Bennett, who is now 18, poses a significant threat to the public.
At the age of 15, Bennett - who had a previous conviction for sexually abusing a young girl - made contact with a 13-year-old girl and raped her just weeks after meeting her online.
He then subjected her to a second attack just days later.
The court previously heard how the 13-year-old girl went out with friends one night when they met up with Bennett and headed to parkland in Wirral.
Ben Jones, prosecuting, said Bennett took her into secluded woods where he pushed her against a wall and tried to pull her pants down.
Addressing Bennett, Recorder Unsworth said it was one of the 'most serious and challenging cases'.
He told the court that the 18-year-old was being sentenced for an offence he committed when he was 15 and pleaded guilty to at the age of 17 - just days before his 18th birthday - adding: "Your age is important as it affects the powers available to me.
"It is vitally important the public understands this."
The judge said he is satisfied this was a 'carefully planned attack' and Bennett subjected the victim to 'horrific sexual attacks' with potential witnesses 'some distance away'.
Recorder Unsworth said the young victim 'said no and meant no', but Bennett was 'consumed by desire' and treated the victim with 'utter contempt'.
He called her a 'd**** little c***' and despite trying to push him off, he raped her, as the judge said "you had to be in control".
Afterwards, the court heard how the victim was subjected to a further 'vile and wholly self-centred' sexual assault.
The court was told how, just days later, an 'entirely innocent act' was 'ruined' by Bennett after he sexually assaulted her.
Recorder Unsworth said: "She was, relatively speaking, significantly younger than you.
"I have no doubt that at the time, she looked up to you.
"You were grooming and targeting her and making her believe you had a significant romantic interest."
The court heard how at the time, Bennett was under the influence of alcohol, having drank 'large quantities of neat vodka' and had engaged with the young girl with a view of "seeking to satisfy your own sexual desires".
The judge said the girl was 'too scared to tell anyone' but within days spoke to a school counsellor and a report was made to police, adding: "Her bravery contrasts with your cowardice."
Recorder Unsworth went on to say that he had no doubt he knew what he did was 'very wrong and very serious' and hoped by threatening her she would not report it, but he 'couldn't have been more wrong'.
The court heard how Bennett targeted the victim because of her vulnerability and maintained for two and a half years he had 'done nothing wrong'.
Bennett, who is said to have a "misogynistic approach to young women" and "finds it funny causing someone to be upset" was given a custodial sentence of seven and a half years.
This was broken down to seven and a half years for rape, two years for sexual assault and four years for assault by penetration, all to be served concurrently.
However, the judge said he did not think the custodial sentence was 'long enough to protect the public' and so ordered an extended sentence of five years on licence.
Mum says racist boy, 15, has 'destroyed her life' after machete attack
A mum felt physically sick when she realised her face had been slashed open by a machete-wielding boy.
Zakiya Janny suffered disgusting racist abuse and then a savage assault at the hands of 15-year-old Kurtis Williams.
The vicious attack took place in front of her four-year-old daughter and other children out playing in an Anfield street.
Williams, now 16, was locked up for eight years in August, when Zakiya outlined the devastating impact of her ordeal.
She is now being supported by anti-racism charity the Anthony Walker Foundation, which condemned the "abhorrent" incident.
Williams repeatedly used the N-word as he made vile threats to harm Zakiya's ex-partner Francis O'Malley and their little girl in Scorton Street.
Liverpool Crown Court heard he then returned on a bike with a machete, while allegedly being "encouraged" by his own mum.
Zakiya stood between him and her former boyfriend, only for Williams to slash the 36-year-old's face, inflicting a 13cm wound.
Simon Duncan, prosecuting, described the horror endured by Zakiya - who like Mr O'Malley is of mixed race - at around 7.15pm on April 13 this year.
Williams admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a knife in public on the opening day of a trial.
The convicted cannabis dealer, of Rossett Street, Anfield, accepted his attack was motivated by "racial prejudice".
Teens battered innocent man 'just for the sheer hell of it'
Two teenagers battered a man in the street for no reason inflicting a broken skull and a bleed on his brain.
Jack Geary and Thomas Price set upon James Hansen in Liverpool city centre in the early hours of the morning.
They also broke his nose and eye socket with a flurry of unprovoked and devastating punches in Victoria Street.
Sickening CCTV footage showed them knock their victim out then run off, leaving him unconscious on the pavement.
Liverpool Crown Court heard nearly a year later Mr Hansen, 22, has not regained some of his sense of taste and smell.
Judge Denis Watson, QC, said the "innocent" victim was attacked "for the sake of violence, just for the sheer hell of it".
Geary, then 19, and Price, then 18, were in Liverpool with two women, at around 4.15am, on August 24 last year.
Callum Ross, prosecuting, said there was a "disagreement" between these two women and another two females, leading to a "physical altercation" between the four women.
Footage played in court showed Mr Hansen walking up Victoria Street towards Cook Street with a female companion, when he was suddenly attacked.
Mr Ross said Geary punched him three times while the victim was up against a shop window, before "Mr Price then joins in and punches Mr Hansen a further six times", knocking him to the ground.
The two attackers fled and met up again with their two female friends, before police, directed by City Watch CCTV operators, arrested the men in Dale Street.
Both Geary, now 20, of Coast Road, Mostyn, Holywell, and Price, now 19, of Coed Onn Road, Flint, gave no comment interviews.
They later admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in custody.
The judge took into account Geary's age and immaturity, but said it was a serious offence of violence while he was already being investigated for an affray, and locked him up for 15 months.
Judge Watson sentenced Price to 13 and a half months' detention, suspended for two years.
He ordered him to complete 120 hours of unpaid work, a 20-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and a three-month home curfew, from 9pm to 6am daily.
Boy, 14, was 'armed and ready' for cowardly city centre stabbings caught on CCTV
A 14-year-old pulled a knife from a rucksack and thrust it into the buttocks of his victims during shocking scenes captured on CCTV.
Both attended Alder Hey Children's Hospital and received stitches for their wounds.
Footage, widely shared at the time, showed two groups of teenagers converging on Salthouse Quay, by the Royal Albert Dock, on the afternoon of July 23.
Jamie Baxter, prosecuting, said the fight started after the group the defendant was with asked to use a football owned by the other teenagers.
Played in court, the CCTV footage showed one of the victims being punched by another male, at which point a fight breaks out. The victims' group was far outnumbered.
Before the first punch was thrown, the topless defendant could be seen reaching into a rucksack.
Mr Baxter said it was the prosecution's case he was "rummaging" for the knife even before the start of any violence, and that he was therefore "armed and ready".
In the chaos that followed the defendant himself was punched to the ground.
The court heard the 15-year-old victims, who cannot be identified other than as Victim A and Victim B, both went to Alder Hey that night.
The court heard the defendant, who also cannot be identified, claimed he had been given the knife by a friend earlier that day.
The teenager, from the Walton area, had no previous convictions.
He admitted two counts of wounding with intent and one count of possession of a knife in a public place.
The defendant was sentenced to 30 months in youth detention.
Teen wrote rap lyrics about attempting to 'run down' police with his car
A teenager who repeatedly attempted to hit a police officer with a car then wrote rap lyrics about it has been jailed.
On Friday, August 6, Tre Freeman, of Green Leach Court in St Helens, was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court and was also banned from driving for four years upon his release.
Freeman, aged 19, pleaded guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, driving without a license and insurance along with failing to stop after an accident at an earlier hearing.
The court heard how on October 31, 2020, two officers in a police van attempted to conduct a stop check on a black Vauxhall Astra parked up near to Fox Covert Cemetery in Warrington.
One of the officers got out of the van and approached the car to speak with the driver, but the the car "kept edging forward."
The officer repeatedly shouted "stop", but the driver continued to jolt forward leaving the officer no choice but to take evasive action to avoid being struck by the vehicle.
The Astra then accelerated forward, striking vehicles in its path before turning around, revving the engine and attempted to drive at the officer once again.
The car then struck the police vehicle and a wall at the cemetery before driving at the officer once more.
It then sped away from the scene towards Red Lane. Freeman drove in a dangerous manner including going the wrong way down a one-way system in Latchford Village.
The vehicle was later found abandoned on Dig Lane and a forensic examination took place, with DNA matching that of Freeman found on the driver’s side of the vehicle along with a facemask which had been left inside.
Further investigation revealed that Freeman had been in the area before and around the time of the incidents.
At 6.54am on January 12, 2021, Freeman was arrested at his home address in St Helens and a number of items were seized including handwritten notes.
The notes were lyrics to a rap song he had written, detailing how he had attempted to ‘run down’ the officer during the incident.
He was subsequently charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, driving without a license and insurance along with failing to stop after an accident.
Teens pull out machetes from bag for life and slash brothers on train full of people
Two yobs slashed brothers with machetes at Liverpool Lime Street Station in front of terrified passengers.
Bailey Doyle, 17, and Kyle Kearney, 18, attacked the 20-year-old and the 16-year-old as part of an ongoing "feud".
Shocking CCTV footage showed the teens pull two machetes from an orange bag for life, which they had carried on a train from Rock Ferry, and begin slashing the two victims.
Horrified passengers fled from the train during the attack on Friday, March 19 this year.
Doyle and Kearney had travelled from Rock Ferry station and said they were going to St Helens, which meant them changing at Liverpool Lime Street Station.
CCTV from inside the carriage showed the victims get up when Doyle and Kearney board the same train carriage, with one victim throwing a punch towards them.
Doyle and Kearney "exited the train rapidly onto the platform" where Doyle "retrieves a large machete from a bag being carried by Kearney".
The youngest victim fled the train and ran to the barriers as he shouted "He's trying to kill me".
The 20-year-old victim then "exited the train and ran down the platform" before he boarded the train again where Kearney chased him while "waving the machete above his head bringing it down towards his back, arms and head".
His victim can then be seen "falling out of the train onto the platform" and as he lies on the platform floor Doyle continues to attack him "at his head and neck area".
Detective Sergeant Ian Henderson played the CCTV footage in full, throughout which Kearney was clutching the orange bag for life which contained the two machetes.
After slashing their victims repeatedly the pair can be seen running through Liverpool Lime Street Station concourse and leaving the building.
The 20-year-old brother, received the worst injuries and had to have 28 stitches after wounds to his head, arms and body and fractures to one of his arms.
His 16-year-old brother also suffered fractures to his arm.
Both Doyle, of Fletcher Avenue, Rock Ferry, and Kearney, of Old Chester Road, Rock Ferry, admitted two counts of wounding with intent and having a bladed article.
Doyle was jailed him for nine years four months, with an extended four years on licence.
This type of sentence means he will spend at least two thirds of the custodial term behind bars.
Doyle will then only be released before the end of his sentence if a parole board considers he is no longer a risk.
Kearney was jailed for eight years, of which he will serve two thirds in custody.
Gang thug finally admits 'I am the killer' minutes before being jailed for life
James and Michael Foy were jailed for were jailed for life after being convicted of the murder of Michael Rainsford.
The 20-year-old was shot dead as he stood in the kitchen of his Litherland home on the night of April 7, 2020.
The attack was an act of revenge after bricks had been thrown at their home in Seaforth while their mum was inside alone.
But the brothers' trial heard Mr Rainsford had in fact played no role in that incident.
At their sentence hearing, James Foy instructed his barrister to tell the court he was the gunman who pulled the trigger that night.
The shocking admission came minutes before he was due to be sentenced.
James Foy, 19, and of Rossini Street, was also convicted of possession of a prohibited gun in relation to a pistol found in a Bootle home in 2019.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 28 years.
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