Murderers, child rapists and drug dealers: Merseyside's 30 worst criminals of 2016 and their mugshots
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These are some the worst crooks in Merseyside who have been put behind bars in 2016.
A rogue's gallery reveals the killers, rapists and drug dealers who will thankfully be spending 2017 locked up in prison for the terrible crimes they committed.
They include those who are likely to face the rest of their lives in jail, such as double killers Anthony Showers and Peter Fox.
And Clayton Williams, who broke a family's heart when he fatally mowed down policeman David Phillips.
The Liverpool ECHO has put together this grim review of the crimes listed below:
1. Anthony Showers
(Photo: PA)
Shower bludgeoned his ex-girlfriend, her mum and their dog to death with a hammer and was jailed for at least 29 and a half years.
He broke into the home of Jade, 28, and Karen Hales, 53, in Anfield at around 7.30am on June 12.
The 42-year-old admitted murdering the pair and killing their Staffordshire bull terrier Tyson.
He denied bringing the hammer or raping Jade, but a judge ruled he used the weapon to break-in and raped her, possibly after she died.
2. Jake Culshaw
(Photo: PA)
Three “parasitic” drug-dealers face 88 years behind bars for the brutal shotgun murder of innocent teenager Lewis Dunne.
Lewis, 16, was killed by a single shotgun blast as he walked on the Leeds - Liverpool canal, in Eldonian Village, on the night of November 15 last year.
Culshaw , 26, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years.
3. Paul Martin
(Photo: PA)
Martin , 26, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years for the murder of Lewis Dunne.
Judge Mr Justice Turner slammed the group for lying “again and again” during their trial after setting out “to exact revenge upon members of a rival gang”.
He said: “For this purpose you went equipped with a loaded shotgun. As it turned out, your victim was a totally innocent young member of the public, in respect of whose death I am satisfied that you have suffered no remorse.”
4. John Martin
(Photo: PA)
Martin, 20, was jailed for a minimum of 28 years for his part in Lewis’ murder.
Judge Turner said the killers had only “shown pity for themselves”.
He said: “To you, the death of Lewis was no more than collateral damage for which you have made the most strenuous efforts to avoid responsibility. To Lewis’ close and loving family the impact has been devastating. It will cast a dark shadow over their lives forever.”
5. Ryan Bate
(Photo: Liverpool Echo)
Two men were handed life sentences for the murder of teenager Vinny Waddington, who was knocked off a scrambler motorbike and shot on July 14 last year.
Bate, 24, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 24 years in prison.
6. Luke Kendrick
(Photo: Liverpool Echo)
Kendrick, 26, received a 25-year minimum sentence.
Judge Mr Justice Timothy King said we would “never know” who was driving the car which struck Vinny and who fired the fatal shot.
A statement was read in court from Vinny’s father, Vincent Waddington snr, who said: “When Vincent died I died with him. When I close my eyes the nightmares come.”
Speaking from the dock, Kendrick said: “I can’t be a*** listening to all this.”
7. Michael Williams
(Photo: Collect)
Williams, 29, brutally killed a Liverpool mum then dumped her in an alleyway as he tried to cover his tracks.
He will serve a minimum of 22 years after being convicted of the murder of Maxine Showers, 42.
Ms Showers’ body was found in an alleyway behind Williams’ home on Monday, September 28 last year.
The cocaine and alcohol-fuelled dad-of-one killed her in a “vicious assault”, but claimed she had tried to steal from him and left his house of her own accord.
8. Peter Fox
(Photo: Merseyside Police)
Fox was locked up for life after strangling his mum to death before repeatedly stabbing and killing his sister.
The 27-year-old admitted the manslaughter of Bernadette Fox, 57, and Sarah Fox, 27, at their homes in Bootle in April last year.
He will serve a minimum of 12 years and two months while being treated at Ashworth secure hospital until he is well enough to be moved to prison.
Judge David Aubrey, QC, said Fox killed his mum before launching a premeditated, “brutal and sustained attack” on his sister with up to two knives.
9. Stuart Tomlinson
Tomlinson, 56, was jailed for 12 years with an additional year on licence after admitting raping a baby.
Police raided his home in Liverpool to look for indecent images of children on his computer.
But as officers examined the sick stash discovered on his equipment, they recognised Tomlinson in a video, which showed him raping the child.
Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said Tomlinson spent hours “trawling the internet in order to satisfy your depraved sexual appetite” then took his offending even further.
10. Clayton Williams
(Photo: PA)
Williams, 19, was sentenced to 20 years in jail for the manslaughter of PC David Phillips after deliberately driving at him in a stolen car.
Dad-of-two PC Phillips, 34, was on the central reservation of Wallasey Dock Link Road, deploying a stop-stick tyre puncturing device, when he was struck and killed instantly in the early hours of October 5, 2015.
The reckless car thief was also banned from driving for life.
11. Gordon Dean
(Photo: Liverpool Echo)
Dean, 79, was jailed for 20 years after raping and making a teenager pregnant, then going on to rape the child she gave birth to.
The paedophile repeatedly raped, sexually abused and assaulted his first victim when she was aged between 13 and 20.
She fell pregnant with his child and after the girl was born, he went on to rape and sexually abuse her from the age of eight to 12.
The OAP denied any wrongdoing and only admitted his crimes in the face of irrefutable DNA evidence.
12. Ian Gordon
(Photo: Liverpool Echo)
Gordon was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years after beating his partner to death then claiming she fell in the shower.
Gran-of-four Ann-Marie Cropper, 47, was found dead at their flat in Southport.
Gordon, 52, denied her brutal murder in a trial, despite admitting manslaughter.
But five days into proceedings - after the jury heard doctors found 100 injuries on his victim - he finally confessed.
Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, said he caused her “untold physical and mental suffering” as a result of “ever-increasing violence, culminating in a sustained and ferocious attack”.
13. Daniel Misiolek
(Photo: Liverpool Echo)
Tattooed monster Misiolek, 41, was jailed for life with a minimum of nine years after admitting a string of offences that saw his victim subjected to horrific humiliation and self-degradation.
Heavy set thug Misiolek, whose face is inked with handcuffs, teardrops and the gangster motto “thug life”, held his victim at his home then forced him to insert objects - including a sex toy, a broom handle and a toilet brush - into his bottom.
14. Anna Baszak
(Photo: handout)
Ninety minutes of the nine-hour ordeal, described in court as “barbaric”, were filmed by Misiolek’s fiancé Baszak.
The 27-year-old mum was convicted of kidnapping and two counts of causing a male to engage in sexual acts without consent.
Her lawyer described her as vulnerable and slavishly devoted to Misiolek, but she was jailed for 12 years.
15. Dagmara Szary
(Photo: PA)
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was initially attacked at a home in Bootle - days after Szary “appeared to have taken offence” to mobile phone photos she claimed to have seen.
Szary was convicted of kidnapping.
Judge David Aubrey, QC, sentenced the smirking 19-year-old to 15 months in a young offenders’ institution.
16. Steven Cotterill
(Photo: Liverpool Echo)
Cotterill killed his wife’s lover by hitting him over the head with a wheel brace after catching them together.
The 39-year-old, came home early from work and found Matthew Charnock, 35, visiting his wife Natasha, 32.
The furious dad confronted his victim in Brinton Close, Widnes and struck him in the head and arm with the weapon.
Mr Charnock – whose skull was fractured – died three days later in hospital, having suffered complications due to blood poisoning.
Cotterill, who argued he acted in self-defence, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for seven years.
17. Anthony Turner
(Photo: Liverpool Echo)
Turner, 31, repeatedly raped a seven-year-old girl and threatened to kill her and her mum if she spoke out.
The paedophile stared across a courtroom at the child’s mother, moments before he was sentenced to 18 years in jail.
Furious Judge Denis Watson, QC, shouted: “Don’t look at her – don’t you dare look at her.”
Turner was found guilty of four counts of rape of a child under the age of 13.
18. Christopher Davies
(Photo: PA)
Davies unwittingly smoked the legal high spice before drowning his friend Barry O’Reilly.
He killed the dad-of-one after suffering an “extreme reaction” when his pal gave him a pipe containing the substance and cannabis.
The work colleagues wrestled at a fishing lake at Claremont Farm in Wirral, before Davies punched Mr O’Reilly and held his head underwater.
Davies admitted the manslaughter of the 37-year-old on the morning of Sunday, May 15, on the basis that the “sudden and unexpected outbreak of violence” was a result of a “loss of control”.
Davies was handed seven years behind bars.
19. Gary Gilbertson
(Photo: Merseyside Police)
Drunken heroin addict Gilbertson stabbed a teenager in the neck with a pair of scissors leaving him unable to use his right hand.
The 41-year-old lunged at Joseph Giblin, 17, when he tried to stop him attacking another teen in Liverpool city centre. The wound – which just missed a major artery – caused a compressed spinal nerve and the victim may never recover.
Gilbertson was jailed for 10 years and eight months and handed an extended five years on licence.
20. Justin Quinn
“Cowardly” robber Quinn, who attacked two elderly women, was told he may never be released from prison.
He binged on crack cocaine and heroin before trying to snatch the handbag of a 95-year-old woman at sheltered accommodation.
After the OAP bravely fought him off, the career criminal tricked his way into the home of an 86-year-old disabled woman and stole her pension.
The 47-year-old, of no fixed address, was jailed for 10 years, with an extended five years on licence.
21. Derek Perry
Career criminal Perry, 50, was jailed for 20 months after causing a man life changing brain injuries in a one-punch attack.
He knocked out 62-year-old Daniel Fay during a drunken struggle near the bombed out church on August 20 last year.
Mr Fay suffered bleeding on the brain, which altered his personality and now needs constant care.
Perry, on licence at the time for a violent burglary, admitted causing grievous bodily harm on the basis that Mr Fay was the initial aggressor.
22. Andrew Braithwaite
Jealous dad-of-three Braithwaite, 51, set the mother of his children on fire after discovering she was having an affair with another man.
Catherine Wilcock suffered “life-changing” burns when Andrew Braithwaite doused her in petrol and torched their home in Haydock.
The 51-year-old locked front and back doors and removed the fuses from smoke and burglar arms before setting light to their house.
His victim wore a protective face mask as Braithwaite was jailed for 16 years after admitting attempted murder.
23. Glynn Robertson
Robertson raped one little girl and sexually abused another.
The 38-year-old molested his “extremely young and vulnerable” victims for his own twisted sexual gratification.
The pervert denied any wrongdoing and forced the children to endure a trial.
The judge was slammed Robertson for making his victims “relive their nightmares”, after he was found guilty of nine sexual offences.
He was jailed for 14 years.
24. Scott Smith
A little girl was left without both of her parents after they were both locked up over gun and drug conspiracies.
Smith, 27, was the ringleader of a Widnes-based gang behind drive-by shootings in Speke, Whiston and Huyton.
Glock and Browning self-loading pistols and an Uzi were fired in the attacks, one of which saw a man’s spine severed.
Smith, of Brookdale Road, Widnes, was jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years.
25. Victoria Galloway
His girlfriend Galloway, 32, was handed 12 years in prison – leaving their four-year-old daughter without both of her parents.
The mum-of-one had admitted dealing and smoking cannabis but claimed she had never seen any guns at her home.
Judge Alan Conrad, QC, said she was “instrumental in arranging the clear up” after the Speke shooting and “continued in the same vein”.
26. David McMullan
Fellow gang member McMullan, 31, was also involved in the £20,000 blackmail attempt of a rival drug-dealer.
He firebombed a house belonging to his rival’s elderly gran.
A jury were played the cries of her terrified daughter and baby grandson, who had to be rescued from the petrol-bombed house.
He was jailed for life with a minimum of 12 and a half years.
27. Daniel Hamer
Hamer , 25, was jailed for life with a minimum of five years and 10 months after admitting raping a woman in a hostel.
The convicted paedophile was described by a judge as “deeply disturbed” after telling probation officers his offences made him feel good and that he was an “alpha male”.
Hamer was staying at a hostel in Liverpool after he was released from prison last year and attacked his victim when she fell asleep.
28. John Kirk
Cage fighter Kirk knocked out a policeman before running him over – after battering his mum and dad on Christmas Day.
The drug dealer, 31, punched PC Matthew Rimmer in the head then drove over the unconscious victim.
Witnesses said Kirk’s car “bounced” like the officer was “a speed bump”, but miraculously the policeman only suffered leg and knee injuries.
The cocaine and steroid user earlier glassed his dad and punched his mum in the face so she fell into a Christmas tree at their home.
Kirk was jailed for 16 and a half years.
29. Thomas Harrison
Harrison , 55, was jailed for 16 years after being found guilty of abusing a woman, when she was aged between nine and 13, in the 1990s.
The supermarket security guard was found guilty of 11 counts of indecent assault following a trial.
He was handed an extended two years on licence and told to sign on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.
His victim said she feared he may have abused other young girls and claimed he had told people he was being locked up for grievous bodily harm.
30. Graham Kniveton
Kniveton stabbed his cancer-suffering OAP neighbour in an argument over whether the windows on their communal landing should be open or closed.
The 61-year-old attacked Francis Evans, 78, at his sheltered accommodation.
He was jailed for 10 years with an extended five years on licence for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.