Elaborate hats, magazines and even incontinence pads - these 15 criminals went to extreme lengths to stop their faces appearing in the ECHO.
However in their ploys to hide their identities these crooks only made themselves look worse.
And in most cases, even with their shameless determination to conceal their mugs, the ECHO still managed to show readers who they are.
Ethel McGill - Tena Lady packs
Devious fraudster Ethel McGill faked dementia and pretended her dead dad was still alive so she could net £750,000 in benefits and war pension payments.
The 68-year-old, was labelled 'despicable' as she was jailed on Monday, in one of the country's biggest ever benefit cheat cases.
However McGill, of Windmill Hill, Runcorn , tirelessly tried to hide her face from our Liverpool ECHO photographer.
As she entered Liverpool Crown Court court to face justice the scammer attempted to hide her face with a shopping bag.
The pictures show McGill shamelessly pressing her face up against the 'bag for life', which contained Tena Lady incontinence pads, in a bid to stop her face being seen.
In another picture, taken outside Chester Crown Court, she again concealed her face, with a coat as she sat in a wheelchair.
That snap was taken on July 19 when she was due to be sentenced - however her case had to transferred to Liverpool to accommodate her supposed need of a wheelchair.
In court, she pleaded guilty to 14 counts of bogus benefits claims and money laundering in connection with around three quarters of a million pounds she fiddled from the public purse in her decades-long series of scams.
Robert Dudley, prosecuting, previously told Chester Crown Court how her duplicity began nearly 30 years ago as she registered at two separate doctors’ surgeries under different names, presenting at one without any serious health issues and at the other with a myriad of ailments.
Despite McGill’s claims of having "severe care needs" due to debilitating illnesses including dementia, she was seen shopping, carrying items such as wooden shelving and armfuls of boxes around as well as lifting, bending, and moving around without help.
She was jailed for five years and 10 months.
Paul Carney - an umbrella (it was raining, to be fair)
Factory director Paul Carney was ordered to pay a fine after a woman was scalped in an industrial accident.
Karolina Lubieniecka also lost an ear and thumb when her hair became caught in a machine at Cheshire Mouldings & Woodturnings Limited.
The agency worker was left visually impaired after suffering the horrendous injuries when working on a Weinig 2020 production line in St Helens .
Cheshire Mouldings admitted failing to discharge its general health, safety and welfare duty, to both employees and non-employees, last November.
But one of its directors, Carney, 50, of Springburn Gardens, Woolston, Warrington , denied any wrongdoing and he was set to stand trial in June this year.
However he changed his plea to guilty on two counts, relating to employees and non-employees at the unit in Norman Road, Sutton, during a hearing on June 11.
And after learning he would face sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court , the shamefaced boss tried to prevent his photo being taken with a large red umbrella.
However, unlucky for him our ECHO photographer had already taken a picture before he used the umbrella as an aid to shield his identity.
A judge fined Cheshire Mouldings £466,666, plus £7,475 court costs, and fined Carney £10,800, plus £43,241 court costs.
Anthony Mullen - a leaflet
Cowardly Liverpool FC fan Anthony Mullen who pushed a street seller into a Barcelona fountain slinked out of court hiding his face from photographers with a leaflet.
The 57-year-old, attempted to obscure his face after leaving South Sefton Magistrates' Court in Bootle, where he was slapped with a three year Football Banning Order.
He also shouted abuse at press photographers as he pulled away from the court building in a white van.
The lout was filmed tipping the unsuspecting man into the water at Barcelona's Placa Reial ahead of the Champions League semi-final on April 30, before scuttling away as onlookers laughed.
But he caused an uproar again on May 12, when he was filmed pulling down the trousers and underwear of a match-day traffic steward when the Reds played Wolverhampton Wanderers on the last day of the league season at Anfield .
Mullen, of Livingston Drive North, Aigburth , cannot set foot within a mile of Anfield stadium from four hours before a home game until an hour after full-time.
Bernadette Quirk - a scarf
Bernadette Quirk hid four stillborn babies - two in a red plastic bin in her wardrobe – and two in a canvas bag kept by her bed.
In 2010, the mum, who died this February aged 64, admitted four counts of concealing a birth.
She was spared jail – instead receiving a two-year community order, subject to supervision and also ordered to take part in a women’s intervention project.
She had said all the babies, which were full-term, were stillborn and forensic evidence suggested they all had congenital disorders.
When she appeared in court she tried to hide her face with a faux fur scarf but was snapped arriving at St Helens Magistrates Court.
Christopher Ryan - some papers
Carer Christopher Ryan was sentenced for kicking an elderly dementia patient in the leg.
The 50-year-old lashed out at 79-year-old Monica Harmon, when the confused and upset pensioner held on to the door of a shower room at College Green Rest home in Crosby .
Ryan, of Alexandra Mount in Litherland , was confronted by fellow staff who heard Mrs Harmon saying "ow ow ow".
After being ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work, at South Sefton Magistrates' Court , in Bootle , he attempted to hide his face behind a number of sheets of A4 paper.
However before deciding to use the paper as a disguise he was photographed from the side coming out of court.
Ryan Hillyard - his jacket
Cocaine-addict Hillyard, 29, of Storrington Avenue in Croxteth , admitted burglary but was spared jail after a judge heard he had been working well to kick his drug habit.
A blind man caught his apartment building concierge burgling his home with hidden camera footage.
Eamon Preston, 40 was suspicious that money had been taken from his apartment – and decided he needed proof.
Enlisting the help of a CCTV company, he installed a concealed camera in his bedroom and duly collared Ryan Hillyard, who worked at his apartment building, rifling through a money tin.
Liverpool Crown Court heard he was only charged over the incident which was caught on camera - where he took £20 - due to a lack of evidence.
Hillyard had been working for Mainstay Residential, which manages the Unity building in Rumford Place in Liverpool City Centre, when he committed the offence.
He was handed 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
As he left court Hillyard desperately tried to stop our photographers taking a picture of him.
In a bid to stop his face being shown he used his suit jacket which he elaborately threw over his head like a cape.
However unluckily for Hillyard, he was pictured as he looked over his shoulder and straight down the lens of a press camera.
PC Darren Wright - a snood and a cap
Paedophile Merseyside Police officer Darren Wright was too cowardly to show his face in public after walking free from court.
The PC was sacked in October 2017 and admitted downloading, possessing and sharing pictures of child sex abuse at a hearing on January 8 2018.
After being convicted at Liverpool Crown Court , the 38-year-old of Chester Road, Southport - who lives with his parents - completely covered his face and repeatedly refused to answer the ECHO’s questions regarding his stash of 1,500 child sex abuse images.
He used a cap which was pulled down to his eyebrows and a snood, which he brought up over his nose, leaving only his eyes, concealed by glasses, visible.
However, despite his best attempts to keep his face shielded from the public a picture from the ECHO archives revealed his face.
Taken in 2007, when he was a community support officer, the picture shows a young Darren Wright with a colleague at a ‘respect event’ at Netherton Activity Centre.
He was spared jail after the court heard how he suffered mental health problems after twice battling leukaemia.
Lee Gallagher - his puffa jacket hood
Pervert Lee Gallagher sent disgusting images to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Gallagher from Halewood , responded after he sent an online message to a teenage girl called Jessie.
But Jessie did not exist and had been created by Dark Justice, an online group set up to target paedophiles.
The 44-year-old sent disgusting messages to Jessie which led Dark Justice to tip off police .
And he was then arrested when he flew into Manchester Airport from Spain.
Gallagher, of Maldon Close in Halewood, later pleaded guilty, in February 2019, to attempting to cause a female under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child, encouraging a child to watch images of a sexual nature and possessing an indecent image of a child.
However after being given a 10 month sentence suspended for two years, he did everything possible to shield his face.
By wearing a large black coat to court he used the puffa jacket's faux fur hood to conceal his identity.
Unlucky for him a picture posted online revealed his identity and was published by the ECHO .
Edoarda Ranalli - just not very effective
Edoarda Ranalli pleaded guilty at South Sefton Magistrates’ Court to throwing a missile onto a football playing area at Anfield.
The 28-year-old, from Rome, was ordered to pay £415 after throwing coins onto the pitch at a Champions League semi-final in 2018 between Liverpool FC and Roma.
When police attempted to detain the car sales manager, he began moving through the crowd and other fans stood up in an attempt to hide him, according to the prosecution.
In interview he admitted throwing the coins but said he had aimed to avoid hitting anyone, the court heard.
The court heard he had been drinking all afternoon before the game.
Ranalli attempted to hide his identity after leaving court, by pulling up his jumper over part of his face.
But he was snapped holding a case and a plastic bag which appeared to be holding some of his belongings.
A judge handed him a fine of £300 and ordered him to pay a £30 statutory surcharge and £85 towards prosecution costs.
He was also given a Criminal Behaviour Order banning him from attending regulated football matches in England and Wales for five years.
Gavin Doolan - a hood, sort of
'Cowardly bully’ Gary Doolan said “I kicked a dog, so what?” after admitting to booting a terrified Jack Russell so hard it flew into the air in a sickening viral video.
The then 57-year-old attacked the small terrier in a sickening incident filmed by a concerned passer-by near the Park Road branch of Tesco.
In December, 2017 Doolan, of Waverley Road in Aigburth appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ court over the incident - where he admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and using threatening words or behaviour likely to cause alarm or distress.
But as well as verbally abusing an ECHO reporter he also tried to conceal his identity with the hood of his tracksuit zip up jacket, which he wore for court.
However the hood wasn't big enough to conceal his identity for long and he was snapped by a press photographer.
