These are the people jailed in Merseyside last week.
While court proceedings were largely suspended on Monday because of the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, they resumed later in the week and saw a number of people jailed for crimes committed in our region.
They include a murderer who stabbed a dad-of-two and left him for dead - as well as the two people who helped him evade justice.
READ MORE: Dad in court for offering daughter £5k amid cost of living crisis
A former headteacher who sent sick messages to young boys in an attempt to exploit them was also jailed, as was a man who strangled his girlfriend just a week into their relationship.
These are the people jailed in Liverpool this week.
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.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday that the dad-of-10 had been with Janice Gregory for around a week when they went out to several pubs and bars on the evening of Sunday, July 31. The couple were in the Duke of Cambridge pub at around 2.30am on August 1 when Kay became "loud and aggressive".
Kirsty Linforth, prosecuting, said Ms Gregory told him she wanted to leave and go home but he was "not happy with this". The 51-year-old - of Thatto Heath Road - told her "you're not f***ing going home" and followed her out of the pub.
Once "out of sight" on Claughton Street, Kay stopped his former partner by some railings and began shouting at her and threatened "I will kill you if you leave me". He grabbed his victim around the neck with both hands and began squeezing and "used his full weight" to push her back over the railings.
Ms Gregory was left unable to breathe and "terrified she was going to break her back". Kay "repeated this action four or five times" while making threats, before a patrolling special constable noticed the incident in progress and intervened.
Kay was arrested and later admitted intentional strangulation and was jailed for two years. He was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting Ms Gregory for the next five years and told to pay a victim surcharge.
Nick Clayton
A headteacher messaged more than 100 boys on Facebook asking for naked pictures before claiming that his account had been hacked.
Nick Clayton, from Hoylake, held lewd chats with children aged as young as 10 while working as the principal of a British international school in Iraq. His campaign of grooming only ended when police swooped to arrest him at an airport.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday that the 38-year-old contacted the profiles of 131 boys - mostly based in South Asia - over a three-month period in 2017 in order to "solicit" indecent images of the youngsters. Jonathan Rogers, prosecuting, described how the conversations also showed "evidence of travelling to meet children" - although Clayton was only charged in connection with attempts to groom four teens.
These chats involved a 12-year-old boy from Cambodia, a 13-year-old in Indonesia, a child aged 14 from the Philippines and a 16-year-old in Sri Lanka. The paedophile "bribed them with gifts" before demanding sick photographs.
Louis Howard
A barman sent naked pictures of himself to a "12-year-old girl" - but unbeknown to him, he was actually being caught in a sting by undercover police.
Louis Howard claimed to be aged 15 as he attempted to solicit indecent images from the decoy Snapchat account. The 22-year-old also collected a sick stash of videos of children being raped and distributed such materials online.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday that the university student sent a friend request to the profile - which was being operated by an officer from the regional crime squad - in October last year. Howard, of Trouville Road in Anfield, falsely stated that he was a 15-year-old boy, and over a four-week period "engaged in conversation which was evidently sexual".
The paedophile asked the youngster for photographs of her naked and in her underwear, instructing her to take off her top and skirt. He also sent her pictures of himself in his boxers, then removed his pants and sent snaps of his penis - telling her: "You have made me very hot."
Merseyside Police then raided Howard's home, with the defendant being present and arrested. His mobile phone was seized and was later found to contain 37 indecent images of children.
Howard admitted attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child, attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, attempting sexual communications with a child, two counts of distributing indecent images, possession of indecent images, three counts of making indecent images and possession of prohibited images. He was jailed for 26 months by Judge Stuart Driver KC.
Adam Fletcher
A murderer who stabbed a dad-of-two through the heart was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years.
Adam Fletcher killed 30-year-old Paul Stenson on Princess Drive, West Derby, less than a week before Christmas last year after the pair had an argument at a house party. Fletcher, 28, had denied murder but was found guilty by a jury after a six-week trial earlier this year.
Fletcher murdered Stenson after a disagreement at a house party was escalated by Fletcher.
Jurors heard Mr Stenson’s murder occurred minutes after the fight broke out between him and Fletcher. Mr Pratt said the atmosphere at the party Fletcher and Mr Stenson were attending was good until a disagreement between them over whether Fletcher had been trying to flirt with Mr Stenson’s partner, Samantha Rosser.
The court heard Mr Stenson punched Fletcher and then the two started to scuffle before agreeing to go outside to finish the fight. Mr Pratt said there was no indication to Mr Stenson or anyone else that the fight would involve knives but that Fletcher decided to run and grab a kitchen knife from inside the house before stabbing Mr Stenson with it.
Fletcher was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years in prison at his sentencing hearing this week.
Demi Walsh and Nathan Finnegan
While Fletcher was jailed for murder, his best friend, Nathan Finnegan, and the mum of his child, Demi Walsh, were both given custodial sentences after being convicted of assisting an offender.
The pair both helped Fletcher in the aftermath of Mr Stenson’s stabbing, helping him evade justice for days.
Both denied the offence but were convicted following their trial with Fletcher. Walsh was sentenced to 18 months in prison while Finnegan received a 14 month sentence.
Andrew Holligan
A dealer threw nearly £5,000 of drugs out of his bedroom window and into his neighbour's garden when police raided his house.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday that a search warrant was executed at Andrew Holligan's home in Greenside Avenue, Aintree, at around 9.45am on August 19 this year. Prosecutor Kirsty Linforth described how the 31-year-old was seen by officers launching a hold-all out of an upstairs window into the garden of a next door property.
This hold-all was subsequently found to contain numerous bags of cannabis, a further amount of the class B drug in a box and a set of scales. Five mobile devices were recovered during the raid, one of which was being used as a graft phone.
A total of £300 in cash was also seized. The 315g of illicit substances were estimated to have a street value of up to £4,715. Holligan later claimed that he had "bought the drugs for £1,250 and would have sold them on to friends for approximately £2,000". But this was refuted by the prosecution.
Holland admitted possession of cannabis with intent to supply and was locked up for 18 months. He was also told to pay a victim surcharge - with forfeiture of the ill-gotten money, phone and paraphernalia and the destruction of the drugs also ordered.
Philip Legge
A cocaine dealer was caught with drugs stashed down his trousers on a convenience store car park.
Philip Legge turned to trafficking illicit substances after racking up crippling gambling debts. The dad-of-four cried as he was jailed over his secret activities earlier this week.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that police on patrol in the Crosby area in February this year spotted the 45-year-old's BMW 3 Series stop at the Tesco Express store on Coronation Road before a man walked out of a nearby house and entered the passenger seat.
They then observed a "short conversation and a hand-to-hand transaction". The customer got back out of the car, and officers approached. Legge too exited the vehicle and dropped £60 in cash to the floor, while he was also holding wraps of cocaine in his hands.
"Straight away", he admitted that he had "more drugs down the back of his trousers". A search of his home subsequently found one further wrap while a large amount of cash was discovered stashed in a safe.
Meanwhile, messages on his phone were "indicative of drug trafficking". In total, 23 street deals of cocaine of between 33 and 35 per cent purity were recovered by Merseyside Police.
Legge admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply and was locked up for two-and-a-half years.
Dean Eastham
A killer lurked outside his estranged ex-girlfriend's house late at night wearing a balaclava and armed with a pair of garden shears.
Dean Eastham was previously convicted of manslaughter after the then teenager accidentally shot his best friend dead when the pair were "messing around" with a handgun in his bedroom. Now aged 29, he has been hauled back before the courts after subjecting his former partner to a troubling campaign of harassment over a period of more than six months.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that he and Joanne Cartwright had been in a relationship for nine years and have a three-year-old daughter together. But Sarah Griffin, prosecuting, described how she ended their romance in October 2021 after being told Eastham had been cheating on her with another woman who he had got pregnant.
But the plasterer was "unable to accept the end", and at around 6.45am on October 27 he attended her Huyton home with his mum - who stood at the front door shouting upstairs. Ms Cartwright went downstairs to speak to her through a window but when she opened it her ex appeared from the side of the address.
Eastham, of Beaconsfield in Prescot, struggled with her to keep the window open as she tried to shut it while calling her a "s***" and a "s***". Their then two-year-old child began crying upstairs, saying: "I'm scared."
While she went to check on the girl, her mother Lydia Cartwright remained by the open window. But Eastham said "f*** this" and forcibly climbed in, damaging the window as he did so.
He ran up to the bedroom where his former partner was on the phone to the police shouting for help which caused him to flee. Afterwards, the defendant began "constantly contacting" her.
This continued over the coming weeks until one incident in December when he turned up at her home wearing a balaclava and holding shears. On a later visit, he assaulted her.
Eastham admitted stalking, a public communications offence, two counts of criminal damage and possession of ketamine. Appearing in court via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was jailed for two years.
Jamie Mills
A man grabbed a stranger in a chokehold as she walked to work, rendered her unconscious then told police "her death warrant was signed".
Jamie Mills admitted attempted murder after the shocking unprovoked attack at dawn. The 24-year-old was suffering from a serious psychotic episode when he carried out the assault.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Friday that victim Linda Gray was walking to work shortly after 6.45am on September 7 last year when she was accosted on Pembroke Road in Bootle. Without warning, Mills grabbed her from behind in a chokehold, dragging her to the floor.
She fell unconscious after being throttled for around 17 seconds, at which point her attacker calmly walked away - leaving her lying motionless on the pavement. CCTV footage of the incident, which was played to the court, showed her come to shortly afterwards and stagger around briefly before a passerby came to her aid.
Mills, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has a "complicated history of mental illness", has four previous convictions for four offences - including assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his granddad who he strangled unconscious. Michael O'Brien, defending, reported that his client had told him: "I can't find the words to say how sorry I am for what I did to the lady."
Mills, of no fixed address, was handed an indefinite hospital order as he appeared in court via video link after pleading guilty to the charge. He was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting Ms Gray for life.
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