This list includes 13 people locked up for crimes linked to Merseyside this past week.
One judge sentenced a killer who left an aspiring firefighter for dead in the street, then headed to a party.
Courts heard about a bully who brandished a 'gun' while threatening his ex-girlfriend and a yob who stabbed a taxi driver after refusing to pay his fare.
READ MORE: Taxi rank killer robbed, burgled and stole in life of shame
One judge sentenced a thug who pulled a machete from his trousers when he was refused entry to a nightclub.
Disturbing cases included a paedophile caught with sickening images and a predator who made a vile offer to children then tried to hide from the authorities.
Meanwhile, EncroChat drug dealers who blighted communities by flogging heroin and cocaine were also locked up.
Here is an overview of some of the most serious cases to have concluded this past week.
Leon Clark
Paedophile Leon Clark's cover story was busted when police heard the ringtone of the mobile he pretended he'd sold.
The 46-year-old lied that he no longer owned the device that investigators had linked to his Wirral home in June of last year.
But officers found the phone behind his radiator, which led to the discovery of 58 images of children being sexually abused.
Clark, of Lingdale Road North, Birkenhead, admitted one count of possessing and three counts of downloading indecent images of children.
The predator - previously jailed for sexually assaulting a girl - also admitted breaching a suspended sentence for failing to comply with sex offender requirements.
He was jailed for 18 months.
Michael McLoughlin and Terrence Kerwin
Michael McLoughlin killed aspiring firefighter Duncan Browne in an unprovoked attack over a taxi.
He delivered a fatal "catastrophic injury punch" to the 23-year-old at a taxi rank in Hanover Street in Liverpool city centre.
McLoughlin's friend - convicted heroin dealer Terrence Kerwin - first hit the victim, as they tried to get into a black cab ahead of him.
But after McLoughlin knocked out Mr Browne in the early hours of Sunday, July 4, 2021, the "cowards" got in the taxi and went to a party.
Mr Browne, from Kirkby, died in hospital next day, surrounded by his family.
McLoughlin, 36, of Torus Road, Old Swan, and Kerwin, 31, of no fixed address, both denied murder and were set to stand trial on January 4.
But the Crown Prosecution Service accepted McLoughlin's plea to manslaughter and Kerwin's plea to assault causing actual bodily harm, to the dismay and anger of Duncan's grieving family, who slammed the decision.
McLoughlin - a convicted armed robber - was jailed for nine years and four months, of which he must serve two thirds behind bars.
Kerwin was handed 10 months in jail, but had already spent nearly six months in custody, meaning he was immediately released.
Michael Morson and Kevin Baker
Dog breeder Michael Morson had a special space installed below kennels in his van to stash cocaine and heroin.
He used his business as a cover while involved in a scheme that saw him move a total of 10 kilos of cocaine and four kilos of heroin.
Police found Morson with £25,000 in cash, two Rolex watches, designer clothes and 25kg of cannabis when they arrested him in 2021.
A judge said Morson, 32, and Kevin Baker, 31, who was also dealing cannabis, were involved in dealing "on an almost industrial scale".
Morson, 32, used the handle "LuckySea" on the encrypted phone network EncroChat, while Baker went by the name "SunViking".
Morson, of Paxton Road, Huyton, who admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis, was jailed for eight years and seven months.
Texts suggested Baker, of Montgomery Road, Huyton - who was found guilty of the cannabis plot - had dealt in as much as 58 kilos of the drug.
Baker was jailed for four years.
Nathan Creighton
Nathan Creighton brandished a 'gun' in a Snapchat video while threatening his former girlfriend.
He told his ex, who the ECHO chose not to name "I've got this for yous" and also filmed himself saying: "If you think I’m f***ing about."
A court was told while it was not known whether the gun was real, his victim was very frightened of the "serial abusive domestic perpetrator".
The yob, who was previously abusive to his ex after their four-month relationship ended, was also violent to police after his arrest in November.
Creighton, 28, formerly of Manor Lane, Liscard, Wallasey, admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
He was jailed for 18 months.
Paul Kemp
A paedophile who failed to tell police where he was staying claimed he was sleeping under a hedge and had no idea what day it was.
Paul Kemp was spared jail in November after offering to pay two 14-year-old boys £20 if he could touch their penises in McDonald's.
Kemp, who admitted two counts of attempting to cause a boy to engage in sexual activity, was handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence.
The 64-year-old had to regularly update police of his whereabouts as a result of being on the Sex Offenders Register, but soon went missing.
He failed to attend a police station and a probation appointment, before he was found at the Mercure Hotel in Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port on December 3.
Kemp, of no fixed address, admitted breaching notification requirements and his suspended sentence.
He was jailed for 12 months.
Nicholas Whitcombe
Gym owner Nicholas Whitcombe's drug smuggling plot was busted when police found texts from him telling an associate how to 'clean' dirty cash.
Whitcombe, who was fined for refusing to close his Body Tech Fitness site in Moreton during lockdown, was described by a judge as a "professional drug dealer".
His role in the cannabis trafficking and money laundering scheme was exposed through an investigation by Jersey's customs and immigration department.
Whitcombe, 31, from Birkenhead, worked with Jersey-based Anthony Dryden, 31, in a plot valued at more than £54,000, between 2018 and 2019.
He sourced the drugs, which were sent to Jersey, collected and sold by Dryden, who then posted the cash back to UK addresses, provided by Whitcombe.
Both men were jailed for three years.
Ian Robinson
Ian Robinson stabbed a man just months before knocking his own ex-girlfriend's tooth out and breaking her cheekbone.
Robinson, 33, and his former partner, Kylie Gaffney, had confronted a mum at their children's school over claims she was spreading rumours.
The woman's partner William McIntyre told them to leave her alone, but the two couples came across each other in Poulsom Drive, Bootle.
During an argument Robinson stabbed Mr McIntyre in the chest, inflicting a wound requiring four stitches, and inflicted a small puncture wound to the elbow.
While under investigation for that attack, and having split up with Miss Gaffney, Robinson stayed over at the home she shared with their three children.
When she confronted him over texts from another woman, Robinson, of no fixed address but from Netherton, punched and kicked her in the face and head.
Robinson admitted two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and possessing a bladed article.
He was jailed for three years.
Carl Sullivan
Carl Sullivan threatened to kill his neighbour as he brandished an imitation gun and knife at him after the man parked outside his home.
The 35-year-old, who was high on drink and drugs, began shouting at the innocent driver, Florin Niga, from his window to move his vehicle.
When he asked why, Sullivan was insistent, so the victim moved his car to the other side of the street, before Sullivan shouted: "Come in here."
Mr Niga declined but Sullivan said "if you are not going to come then I will kill you" while pointing a gun at the victim's head and holding a knife.
The drunken thug pursued the victim into the road with the air pistol and blade, in Suez Street, Warrington, at around 3.30am, on October 9 last year.
Sullivan later admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, possessing a knife and possessing cannabis.
He was jailed for 12 months.
Luke Browne
Luke Browne pulled a machete from his trousers when he was refused entry to a nightclub.
The 31-year-old has plagued pubs, bars and nightclubs across Birkenhead with violent and anti-social behaviour.
A court heard this has included Browne and gangs of masked youths "intimidating" staff and customers.
He was previously spared jail after he hurled a metal beer keg at the head of Elsa Frost, aka internet personality 'Banter Dancing Queen', at Mr Whites sports bar.
But last October 25 the yob - who has 60 previous convictions for a staggering 106 offences - tried to get into Platinum Bar with a machete, at around 2.40am.
Browne, of Paterson Street, Birkenhead, admitted possessing a bladed article and breaching a suspended sentence.
He was jailed for two years.
Anthony Lonergan
Taxi driver Anthony Lonergan used private hire vehicles as a cover for cocaine, cannabis and ketamine handovers.
Lonergan traded 76kg of cannabis, 3.8kg of cocaine and 3kg of ketamine between March 2020 and June 2020 alone on EncroChat.
But the private hire driver was busted as a result of the EncroChat hack and revealed as the man behind the handle "PalacePuma".
Detectives were able to nail him thanks to other dealers talking about his day job and Lonergan chatting about a holiday he'd booked to Ibiza.
Thanks to notes on his phone, they discovered he had actually been trading drugs since November 2019 and selling them on a "graft" phone.
The 25-year-old, of Lewis Walk, Kirkby, admitted conspiracies to supply cocaine, cannabis, cannabis resin and ketamine.
He was jailed for nine years and four months.
Charlie Meadows
Charlie Meadows stabbed and battered a taxi driver after trying to avoid paying his fare.
He left his victim John Gunning with stab wounds to his shoulder after the assault on Ennismore Road in Old Swan on June 17 last year.
The driver's car was left so badly damaged in the incident, which saw other men damage it, that it had to be written off and he could not work.
In a separate incident, Meadows was involved in trying to get drugs into jails and on one occasion threw a tennis ball full of ecstasy over a prison wall.
The 23-year-old was also sentenced for two separate incidents, a week apart in 2019, which saw him smuggle Class A drugs into HMP Berwyn in Wales.
Meadows, of no fixed address, admitted wounding with intent, possessing a bladed weapon and two counts of trying to take Cass A drugs into a prison.
He was jailed for six years and three months.
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