These are the faces of 18 criminals locked up for crimes linked to Merseyside this week.
Court cases have included the sentencing of a 12-strong gang who smuggled cocaine into the UK in helicopters.
Judges dealt with a drug dealer who threatened to rape a woman during a terrifying knifepoint burglary.
They heard how a cocaine-fuelled thug knocked out a barmaid then karate kicked her male friend.
And they had to listen to details of how a gang tortured a man - by pouring boiling water on his genitals.
Here is an overview of some of the most serious cases to have concluded this week.
Emilijus Alichanovas
Emilijus Alichanovas threatened to rape a woman before she was stabbed during a terrifying knifepoint burglary .
The 20-year-old pretended to be a takeaway delivery driver to get into the Crosby home of Melanie Dean on January 23 this year.
He and a masked accomplice with a knife then demanded to know the location of a safe, which the 48-year-old had previously kept.
When Ms Dean said she no longer had the safe, the knifeman stripped her naked from the waist down and threatened to rape her.
Alichanovas repeated the vile threat, before his unknown henchman said he would impale her, then stabbed her six times in the bottom.
Bungling Alichanovas, of Baker Way, Kensington - described as “directing” the knifeman - left behind a white carrier bag bearing his DNA.
He was on bail at the time, after being caught with high purity crack cocaine and heroin at a house in St Helens on February 23, 2017.
Alichanovas, who went on the run but was caught by police in Brighton, told the court he had been desperate for money.
He pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and wounding, possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, and breach of bail.
Judge Andrew Menary, QC, locked up Alichanovas for nine and a half years, with an extended four years on licence.
He will serve at least five and a half years in custody and only be released before his sentence ends if he is no longer considered a risk to the public.
Paul Thompson
Cocaine-fuelled Paul Thompson knocked out a barmaid and karate kicked her friend in a sickening attack.
The 25-year-old started throwing punches in the street outside The Salisbury in Bootle after he was kicked out on September 1 last year.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Thompson punched part-time barmaid Susan Brady in the face, leaving her lying unconscious on the pavement after she hit her head on the kerb.
The thug was seen on CCTV challenging people to a fight outside the pub in Marsh Lane, before kicking and punching a male friend of Ms Brady, also knocking him unconscious.
Thompson, formerly of Heyscroft in Woolton, who claimed he took cocaine spiked with ketamine, admitted affray and two counts of assault and was jailed for 16 months.
Michael Mooney and Michael Cook
A gang tortured a man by pouring boiling water on his genitals - after kidnapping the wrong person.
The 32-year-old electrician was bundled into a car in Crosby after being tricked into believing it was a police vehicle.
He was then handcuffed and attacked before being taken to a house in Bootle and abused over a three-day period.
Even when his captors realised they had the wrong man, and not the drug dealer they believed him to be, they still kept him imprisoned, cuffed and with a pillowcase over his head.
The victim had boiling water poured onto his arm, thighs, groin and genitals, was kicked and beaten, hit with a hammer and stabbed in the leg by the thugs, who demanded an £80,000 ransom.
Three men, believed to have been part of a gang of up to five people, admitted kidnap, false imprisonment and blackmail over his ordeal, which began on September 6, 2018.
Michael Mooney, 42, of Chaucer Street, Bootle was jailed for 14 years and ten months, with an extended three years on licence.
Michael Cook, 37, of Oriel Lane, Bootle was jailed for 14 years.
Stephen Wilson, 29, of Penpoll Close, Bootle was due to be sentenced but his hearing was adjourned for psychiatric reports.
Oliver Sayonas
A knife-wielding thug slashed a dad-of-three in the face - just because he was dancing with a woman in a nightclub.
Jealous Oliver Sayonas attacked Steven Davies after watching him enjoying a night out at Soho Bar in Concert Square.
The 28-year-old - who has FIVE previous convictions for carrying a knife in public - struck at around 2am on December 22 last year.
He inflicted a 10cm wound, which left his victim scarred for life, with nerve damage to his neck and shoulder.
Sayonas, of Freehold Street, Kensington, was found guilty of wounding with intent and jailed for 13 years, with an extended four years on licence.
He will serve at least two thirds of the custodial term - around eight and a half years - behind bars, before he is considered eligible for parole.
Brian Cromby
Brian Paul Cromby used a Liverpool cancer charity's boxing event to drum up fake holiday sickness claims .
The boxer sponsored a night run by Aigburth-based Sunflowers called 'Scousers Don't Get Knocked Out – Cancer Does'. There is no suggestion the charity had any idea of his true intentions.
He had young ring girls in tight jeans and T-shirts collect money for the charity, which supports cancer patients, survivors and carers.
But they also handed out his business cards, telling spectators they could win huge payouts "with or without medical evidence".
The 34-year-old was secretly filmed at the bash at Grand Central Hall in Renshaw Street by undercover Mail on Sunday reporters.
He explained he could get them £2,000 each if they lied about being ill on holiday, then bragged: "Most of my clients weren't sick."
Liverpool Crown Court heard he was recorded explaining how his company RTA Solutions paid cash incentives for referrals to solicitors.
Cromby, of Thornside Walk, Woolton, was exposed by the newspaper and arrested by police following the event on May 5, 2017.
The dad-of-two admitted one count of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence.
Judge David Aubrey, QC, said Cromby thought his scam was "easy money" and jailed him for 12 months.
Lance Kennedy and his gang
An audacious gang rented holiday homes then chartered helicopters to drop off millions of pounds of cocaine from Europe.
The crooks booked rural retreats on common flight paths in the hope no-one would notice anything unusual about the trips.
But the arrest of two of their couriers unlocked a chain of evidence that led to one of Britain's biggest cocaine traffickers.
Twelve members of the outfit - including mastermind Lance Kennedy - were jailed for smuggling hundreds of kilograms into the UK.
The kingpin was linked to six flights, which contained just under 500kg of cocaine, with an estimated wholesale value of £17.25m.
He was extradited from Moldova with pal Robbie Stewart after they were arrested by armed border officials when trying to cross a river into Ukraine.
The gang members received the following sentences.
Lance Kennedy, 32, of no fixed address, from Birkenhead - 18 years and four months
Courier Robert 'Ferry' Stewart, 38, of no fixed address, from Birkenhead - 13 years and eight months.
The financial backer Paris Newcombe, 46, of Beverley Road, New Ferry - 12 years and eight months.
Transport organiser Jay 'Flip-Flop' Robinson, 31, of Beckwith Street, Birkenhead -14 years
The "safety guy" Phillip Smart, 29, of Somerville Close, Birkenhead - 14 years and three months.
The minder Connor Fraser-Clark, 27, of Hassal Road, Rock Ferry - 11 years and four months
His heavily pregnant wife Alison Fraser-Clark, 23, of Elmswood Road, Tranmere - eight years and eight months
Courier Matthew Payne, of Sewell Road, Abbey Wood, London - 11 years
The lookout and Stewart's "right hand man" David Campbell, 66, of Woodchurch Road, Prenton - 12 years
"Trusted courier" and Connor Fraser-Clark's dad John Fraser, 60, of Hassal Road, Rock Ferry - 10 years
Drugs courier and money collector Russell Ford, 28, of Glan Y Gros, Prestatyn - seven years and eight months
Money launderer Steven Maddocks, 32, of Platt Grove, Rock Ferry - four years
