Violent cowards who have attacked and abused innocent women have shocked and disgusted ECHO readers this year.
Our courts hear countless stories involving awful examples of domestic violence, attacks and sexual assaults. These ordeals have often left victims traumatised with long lasting psychological scars.
Not only do they have to go through the trauma of being interviewed by officers, many of them also give evidence in court and relive their ordeals over and over again.
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Here are 19 of the most recent cases that have featured in Liverpool Crown Court.
Damola Olateju
A dad filmed himself trying to rape a woman as she pleaded "no" and "get off me".
Damola Olateju, 37, may have got away with the shocking attack had detectives not extracted the damning video from his mobile phone. Liverpool Crown Court heard the next day the woman found bruises and feared she had been raped, but was worried about coming forward because her memory was hazy.
However a man who had been at the party contacted her with concerns about what he saw in the run up to the incident, which gave her the confidence to call the police.
Olateju was traced and arrested, and a deleted video file was recovered from his phone. Ms McNeill said: "The video showed evidence of what was said in the bedroom. "[The victim] can be heard saying 'no' and 'get off me' and that she is cold.
"The defendant can be seen trying to part her legs. He can be heard to say 'shut the f*** up' and then strikes her twice, in a slap to the face. She is heard saying 'ow'."
Olateju, of Padgate Lane in Warrington, was later charged with two counts of rape and one of attempted rape which he denied. He stool trial at Liverpool Crown Court, where a jury cleared him of the rapes but found him guilty of the attempted rape charge, which related to the events in the video.
Olateju, who appeared in court vid video-link from prison, hung his head as he was jailed for five years and ordered to sign the sex offender' register for life. The court heard he must serve at least two thirds of that sentence in custody before he can apply for parole.
Thomas Parker
A man violently punched and strangled his own sister before breaking her arm in two places in a drunken rampage.
Thomas Parker, 34, from Warrington, viciously assaulted his sister in front of her horrified teenage son after getting drunk while watching football. She suffered serious injuries and had to undergo an operation to reset her arm, which was permanently damaged.
During the attack he strangling, punched and pinned his sister down on the sofa. Her teenage son called his grandad, Parker's father, who attempted to calm him down, but the assault continued.
Parker pleaded guilty to strangulation and grievous bodily harm.
He sentenced Parker to 33 months in prison for grievous bodily harm, and 18 months for strangulation, to run concurrently. He was also subjected to a restraining order forbidding him from approaching his sister.
Hameed Naderi
A takeaway delivery man posing as a taxi driver abducted and raped a teenager while she was on a night out in Liverpool city centre.
"Remorseless predator" Hameed Naderi snatched the "very vulnerable" student off the streets in the early hours, coaxing her into his car before attacking her in a public place and his own home. But he remains unmoved over his "wicked" actions.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the 19-year-old victim took a taxi into town shortly after 12.15am. Michael Scholes, prosecuting, described how she recalled being in a bar on Concert Square, but her next memory was being in the stranger's bedroom with him on top of her and having sex with her.
Naderi admitted two counts of rape and was jailed for nine and a half years. He was also handed an additional five years on licence, and must sign the sex offenders' register indefinitely.
Mark Rooney
A serial woman beater who was jailed for brutal attacks on two separate women had his "unduly lenient" prison sentence increased by an appeal court.
Mark Rooney, 35, made the lives of both women a misery until he was arrested, after knocking the second woman out cold and leaving her with a broken arm. He was jailed for 42 weeks at Liverpool Crown Court in October, but the sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal under the "unduly lenient" scheme.
During his original sentencing hearing, the court was told Rooney formed a "volatile" relationship with the first complainant in November 2020. Fiona McNeill, prosecuting said the couple went on holiday together during September 2021, but Rooney assaulted her and "behaved in a threatening manner" while they were away.
After their return Rooney, of Lees Avenue in Rock Ferry, was dumped by the woman but forced his way into her Tranmere home while she was in the shower, on October 2, 2021. Rooney, who was armed with a baseball bat, began "shouting and making threats".
Nathan Nash
A man described as a “danger to young women” sexually assaulted a woman on a train and returned to the scene to find her again, a court has heard.
The victim managed to record pervert Nathan Nash, 30, of Ribblesdale Close, Eastham, as he told her he was "horny" and rubbed her thigh on the Merseyrail Service. Nash appeared at Liverpool Crown Court for s exually assaulting the woman on a train.
David Polglase, prosecuting, explained that she was waiting for her train to work on the morning of April 14 when Nash began talking to her. Nash then followed her onto the train when it arrived, and sat opposite her.
He apologised for “being such a weirdo”, and despite the victim loudly asking what he wanted and why he was following her, nobody on the train intervened. Soon after, he moved to sit next to the woman, and asked to take a picture with her, which she refused.
The conversation then became more sexual, he called her beautiful, and got “aggressive” when she received a text message from her boyfriend. The victim then began filming and captured the assault on camera.
Judge Neil Flewitt, KC, described the assault, he said: “You stroked her left leg and then the inside of her right thigh, quite high up and towards the area of her groin.”
Whilst assaulting her, Nash leaned his head on her right shoulder, and told her he was “horny”. The footage taken by the victim and shown in court clearly showed the assault, and she can be seen pushing his hand off her leg.
When she disembarked from the train, he continued to follow her, and tried to give her his jacket which she shrugged off. Nash followed her all the way to her place of work, at some points blocking her path, and upon arrival, asked for her phone number.
He also told her he would be waiting for her at the train station when she finished work at 5pm. Nash was apprehended by police at the train station at 5.25pm that evening.
Nash pleaded guilty to sexual assault on October 21. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, and a restraining order barring him from contacting the victim or visiting her place of work was imposed for five years.
Ian Heed
A former police officer stalked an ex-girlfriend by driving past where she lived and keeping an "intimate" picture of her as a screensaver.
Ian Heed, 58, was in a four year relationship with the woman which ended in 2013. But in the following years Heed "maintained an interest" in the woman by keeping an intimate photo of her as his screensaver and driving past her home on a regular basis.
Paul Cummings, prosecuting, told the Preston Crown Court that between August and December 2020 the woman saw Heed driving past her house so often she decided to move to a cul-de-sac, thinking he would have no reason to enter the road. In September the same year she received a call from an estate agent telling her Heed had requested a viewing on her home.
The woman moved to her new home in December and installed CCTV to monitor the outside of the property. In the month that followed she saw Heed drive into the street and turn around outside her house, at the bottom of the cul-de-sac on numerous occasions.
LancsLive reported Heed was arrested on January 21 last year and recalled to prison on licence under the terms of a seven year sentence for fraud in 2016. The defendant spent 28 days on recall and was released in February but did not stop stalking the victim.
A judge sentenced Heed to 14 weeks in prison. The judge said given the time the defendant had spent on remand he is likely to be released shortly.
Mark Crilly
A drunken ex-husband shopped himself to police after attacking his former partner with a wrench.
Mark Crilly, 49, of The Knoll, Palacefields, Runcorn, is now behind bars and banned from approaching Gayle Hobson after confronting her at her house earlier this year. Chester Crown Court heard that Crilly and Ms Hobson had divorced in 2011 but on February 12, this year, he sent messages to their teenage daughter and made “unpleasant comments” about them “sleeping in the house he had built” and said he was “going to come around”.
He was drunk. That evening Crilly turned up at the house and “knocked but didn’t get an answer”.
When their daughter looked out of the window she saw him “walk away and scratch the car with something in his hand”. She ran downstairs to tell her mother and they went outside and saw the vehicle had been scratched and had a window smashed.
They returned inside to call the police and Crilly followed outside, knocking on doors and windows. Ms Hobson went outside and remonstrated about the vandalism to her car.
Crilly swung “an object” at her and struck her, and his victim immediately suffered “excruciating pain” and “thought she was going to pass out”.
Frances Willmott, prosecuting, said: “She fell backwards and went back towards Mr Crilly. He dropped what he was holding, the wrench. He then ran away.”
While officers were still speaking to Ms Hobson, Crilly called the police “to say he had assaulted his ex-wife”. In court he was sentenced him to 15 months in prison to be served immediately.
Michael Owen
A man kidnapped and sexually attacked a teenager after spotting her outside a nightclub.
Michael Owen, 34, saw the 16-year-old girl outside a club in Leigh at 5am on March 13, 2022. Owen approached the girl, who was drunk, and helped her back on her feet, under the premise that he was looking out for her.
He then helped her into a taxi, telling the driver to drop them off at his home on Bridgewater Street in Hindley. Once there, the girl said she remembered waking up in Owen’s bed partially clothed and screaming to go home, but was told by Owen he was just looking after her.
Giving evidence to Manchester Crown Court via video link, she reported her memory was very patchy but she remembered someone banging on Owen’s front door. This was her father, who had obtained Owen's address from the taxi driver, who had answered the phone the teen dropped in his taxi when her father rang it.
Owen was immediately arrested and taken into custody for questioning. He pleaded guilty to the kidnap and assault of the 16-year-old and was jailed for seven years and six months at Manchester Crown Court.
Robert Massey
A man who walked free from court for pouring vodka over his girlfriend and threatening to set her on fire went on to brutally murder her two weeks later.
Robert Massey subjected Jacqueline Forest to vile abuse in mid-August after attempting to kick down her front door. By the end of the month, he had strangled her to death before stabbing her body and scrawling profanities over her skin with a pen.
Liverpool Crown Court heard this week that the 49-year-old victim had been in a relationship with the defendant since the summer of 2020 and he had spent time living at her home on Piele Road in Haydock. On August 15 this year, Massey was handed an 18-month community order at Liverpool Magistrates' Court after assaulting her and banned from attending her address for 28 days.
Despite the ban, the couple met up again in a park over the subsequent August bank holiday weekend and spent much of the next few days together - mostly in her home. At around 7pm on Tuesday, August 30, Massey was in her bed while she was in the shower.
He began looking through her phone and found messages which "suggested she had been unfaithful with two other men". The killer later confessed to police that he "saw red" and attacked Ms Forest by confronting her when she got out of the shower, grabbing her by the neck and "straddling her" on the bed.
Massey repeatedly struck her to the head and face with his fists then placed both hands around her neck, squeezed and "didn't stop" until she "went floppy". He then headbutted her and said: "Was it worth it? Was it worth s***ging them two people?"
Massey was arrested while walking down Long Lane "sweating and smelling of drink", with blood on his t-shirt. Massey admitted murder, two counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years.
Louis Costes
This is the face of a man who strangled and threw a tin of dog food at his girlfriend then ranted in court as he was locked up over the abuse.
Louis Costes claimed "this is all lies" in a furious outburst from the dock as a statement was read out on his victim's behalf, highlighting the impact his actions had on her. Cheshire Police have now released a custody picture of the 25-year-old, from Walton.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he and Jessica Jones were in a relationship between September 2020 and January this year. But Holly Menary, prosecuting, said that "things started to go downhill" after about two months.
In December 2020, he ran at her during an argument. But Ms Jones ducked out of the way and Costes - of Selwyn Street in Walton - smashed into a wall, breaking his phone.
He then grabbed her round the throat with both hands, pushed her against the kitchen wall and held her there for around a minute "while he screamed in her face". She had to punch him in the face in order to break free.
In the spring of 2021, he hurled a tin of dog food at her during an argument - missing and damaging a door frame. When arrested over his behaviour in January 2022, he replied: "I know I've give her s*** over text, that will get me in the s***".
Costes admitted engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour and criminal damage. He was jailed for 20 months, handed a five-year restraining order and told to pay a victim surcharge.
Lewis Dunn
A violent thug tried to Facetime his girlfriend's dad to make him watch as he tortured her.
Lewis Dunn burnt his partner with cigarettes, stabbed her and threatened to cut her toes off in a nightmare ordeal that only ended when she hid in a bin to get away from him. The 27-year-old's victim ran through the streets in her pyjamas before hiding to escape.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday, that the defendant attended the home where his 21-year-old partner lived with her parents on February 22 and smashed the living room window - as well as those of a Mercedes A-Class and a white van - before fleeing on foot. Dunn then said in a call to the 21-year-old's mum: "I'll get some smackheads to come up and burn your house down, I'll stab you up."
Dunn took his girlfriend to a flat on Hartington Road in Toxteth where she stayed until the next day. But, by February 24, her boyfriend was refusing to let her leave the house after consuming a "cocktail of cocaine and alcohol" and subjected her to a horrific torture ordeal.
Dunn stubbed cigarettes out in her face, cut her with a knife, stabbed her in the shoulder with a screwdriver, repeatedly punched her, spat on her, hit her with a mobile phone and held a blade to her feet and threatened to cut her toes off. At one point, the 27-year-old attempted to FaceTime his girlfriend's father as he "wanted him to see" the injuries he was inflicting upon his daughter - although he missed the call.
At around 12.45pm, she was able to "make good her escape".
Dunn admitted false imprisonment, inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent and three counts of criminal damage and was jailed for six years and eight months. He will serve two thirds of this sentence before being eligible for release, and was also handed an extended three years on licence.
David Kay
A thug strangled his girlfriend in the street only one week into their relationship.
David Kay drunkenly throttled his new partner in the early hours after a night out in St Helens town centre. The horrifying assault only stopped when the attack was spotted by passing police officers.
The victim was left unable to breathe and "terrified she was going to break her back". Kay has 17 previous convictions for 33 offences, including a "history of domestic violence".
Kay admitted intentional strangulation and was jailed for two years. He was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting his victim for the next five years and told to pay a victim surcharge.
David Alty
A woman thought she was going to die when a killer began strangling her in her bed.
David Alty was previously convicted of manslaughter after beating his dad Edward Hall to death with his own walking stick. His history of violence has now continued with an attack that only stopped when he was hit in the groin.
"Matters came to a head" in the late evening of June 26 after Alty, of Ford Lane in Litherland, had visited a shop and returned with several cans of lager. The woman took some from him, while he was also "upset in relation to an issue with his son".
The father began shouting at her and accused her of calling him a "nonce". Alty punched a door before grabbing her and hitting her in the face, knocking her to the floor and causing her to lose conciousness.
The woman phoned her uncle for help after coming around, but the defendant overheard the conversation and "started flipping out". He resumed his attack by jumping on top of her on her bed, putting his hands around her neck and squeezing while telling her he was going to kill her.
Judge Neil Flewitt imposed a hospital order after Alty admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim for 10 years.
Colin Chapman
A former bus driver accused his girlfriend of spiking his food before biting her on the nose.
Colin Chapman left his partner bloodied and bruised after a "prolonged and persistent" drunken attack at the couple's Wirral home, which also saw him knee his victim in the face.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the 56-year-old and the complainant were having their tea at around 6pm on March 12 this year when the incident erupted. He estimated that he had consumed "about five drinks", while she stated he had drank "considerably more".
Prosecutor Joanne Cronshaw described how Chapman, of Macdonald Road in Moreton, accused her of "adulterating" his meal and told her to taste it as he believed there was "something untoward in it". He then grabbed hold of her and pulled her to the floor.
In an assault lasting around 10 minutes, he kneed her in the cheek - causing bruising and a cut to her face - before biting her on the nose and making threats to kill her. The relationship has since ended and she has since moved back to her native Wales to "start afresh", having "packed up and moved to a completely new area" in order to be with her abuser.
Chapman was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after a trial and was jailed for 18 months. He was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim for five years and must pay a victim surcharge.
Mark Woolley
A “controlling” domestic violence thug headbutted his partner and broke her nose after demanding “respect” from her and claiming she would “never meet anyone like me”.
Mark Woolley, 50, of Grangemoor, Runcorn, and his partner had been arguing during the weekend of October 29 and on Saturday, October 30, she asked him to leave
As the row continued, Woolley followed his victim downstairs while she shouted at him to leave and he told her: “You need to have respect for me. You will lose the best thing in your life. You will never meet anyone like me. You will be on your own forever.”
Downstairs Woolley pressed his head against hers before moving it away briefly then slammed it back against her nose. His victim was “shocked” and “there was blood everywhere”.
Police were called and arrested Woolley, who claimed “she attacked me so I retaliated”.
Judge Patrick Thompson sentenced Woolley to 10 months in prison to be served immediately for the “nasty assault”. He also imposed a restraining order to run for five years.
Martin Howard
A thug broke his girlfriend's jaw after attacking her because she had been for a night out with friends.
Martin Howard "saw red" and subjected the mother of his child to an unprovoked assault in the street, which continued after she had been knocked to the ground. His ex had to undergo surgery and has been left with metal plates in her face as a result.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he and Diane Millier had a four-month-old baby and had been in a relationship for two years when she went for an evening out on February 9 this year. Howard sent her a number of messages during the night asking where she was.
The following morning, the 36-year-old - of Bedford Road in Bootle - phoned to ask her to bring his bike to the corner of her road. He did not often visit Ms Millier's home on Planetree Road in West Derby as he did not get on with her mother, with whom she lived.
She met Howard at around 9am, but "without warning" he punched her in the face - causing her to fall to the floor. He then struck his "vulnerable" victim again in the mouth and rode off on his bicycle.
Howard admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 27 months. He was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting Ms Millier or entering her street for the next five years, and must pay a victim surcharge.
Gerald Cole
A stalker called his ex an average of 325 times a day during a campaign of threats and harassment against her.
Gerald Cole told the woman he would throw acid in her face and burn her house down over the course of weeks of abuse as he called her from inside prison. The 24 year old, who started bombarding his victim with calls after being convicted of assaulting her.
Peter Hussey, prosecuting, said Cole and the young woman, who the court heard had a number of mental health issues, had been in a relationship but said it had ended earlier this year. She kicked Cole out of her flat but he returned there on January 5 and managed to get in before assaulting her.
Mr Hussey said: “The defendant, while she was upstairs in her bedroom, got into her house and assaulted her, grabbing her around the neck and squeezing. She managed to struggle free and as a result of a call to the police the defendant was arrested later that day.”
He was jailed for 16 weeks after admitting assault. However, while he was serving that sentence at HMP Altcourse the woman began to receive calls from him.
They began on April 5 and continued until April 26, just before Cole was released. Over that period, the woman received 7,160 calls, an average of 325 a day. Mr Hussey said they would vary in nature, with some never being answered and some lasting only a few seconds.
Cole was jailed for 16 months and a restraining order prevents him from contacting the victim.
Charles Goodwin
Charles Goodwin, a mixed martial arts fighter, Charles Goodwin was jailed for 17 years after a judge ruled him to be dangerous and imposed a three-year extended licence on top of the jail term.
Judge Garrett Byrne told the 21-year-old business management student it was clear he had no care whether his victims were consenting.
Goodwin’s lawyer told Liverpool Crown Court his difficult relationship with his mother in childhood had shaped some of his negative attitudes towards women. Goodwin, of Hilbre Street, Liverpool city centre but formerly of Salford, was found guilty of three charges of raping one student in Manchester, and of assaulting her by penetration.
He was also found guilty of one charge of raping a student in Liverpool. The jury also convicted him of two offences of sexually assaulting a third student in Liverpool but cleared him of a sexual assault on a fourth student, also in Liverpool.
The attack on the first victim involved him holding her down by the throat and he was found guilty of attempting to choke her and assaulting her. The court heard he had told her she deserved to be “treated like a princess” and picked her and carried her - before going on to violently attack her in her own home.
He had faced three charges of rape against the second victim - to whom he had said he was “a sex god” when she complained he had hurt her - but was cleared of two of those charges. Goodwin, of Hilbre Street, Liverpool city centre but formerly of Salford, showed no reaction when the jury returned their unanimous verdicts after just over six hours deliberations.
But his father and grandfather, who stood in the public gallery as the verdicts were returned, afterwards shouted “Shame on this court, disgusting."
Emmanuel Richards
Emmanuel Richards assaulted a woman on numerous occasions in a campaign of abuse over a 12 month period by strangling, kicking and raping her. On one occasion, the 42-year-old chased her round a flat with a machete and on another occasion he boiled a kettle of water and threatened to pour it over her.
Following an argument, Richards threw the victim down some stairs which caused her to smack her head. Then, as the victim laid on the floor crying, Richards proceeded to rape her.
The 42-year-old would also control the victim's movements and force her to hold drugs for him at her flat. Images released by police show the woman's body full of bruises on her arms, legs and face.
Richards of Stamford Street Central, Ashton-under-Lyne was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Court to 18 years in jail after being found guilty of three counts of rape, two counts of assault and one count of controlling and coercive behaviour.
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