This list includes 19 people locked up for crimes linked to Merseyside this past week.
Courts heard about a husband who murdered his wife, then let their son find her body. Meanwhile, one judge sentenced a convicted rapist, who ran a drug "graft line" from behind bars.
Judges had to sentence a gang of EncroChat drug dealers, caught with more than £70,000 in cash. They also sentenced a bully who spat in his ex-partner's face in front of her children.
READ MORE: Cocaine dreams of prison pals behind Breaking Bad and KFC plots
Disturbing cases involved a child rapist whose victim disclosed more harrowing crimes and a man with a twisted obsession exposed in sick online chats. A court also heard about a former teaching assistant who used his position as a football coach to sexually abuse a boy.
A judge also had to sentence a paedophile who posed as a teen on Snapchat to lure a schoolgirl to a park and film himself having sex with her in bushes. Here is an overview of some of those which have concluded this past week.
Jamie Hart
Convicted rapist Jamie Hart refused to tell police where he was living after he was released from prison.
Hart was convicted of rape and jailed for seven and a half years in November 2013. He was also told to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
He was required to inform officers of his address as part of the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Register. But the 36-year-old "persistently and deliberately ignored" these rules and police warnings.
Hart failed to comply with officers' requests after his release from prison on February 8 this year, having been jailed for a previous breach, until he was arrested on March 16. He admitted failing to comply with his notification requirements - the fourth time he had done so.
Hart, of no fixed address, was jailed for eight months.
Christopher Atherton
Christopher Atherton who turned up at his ex-partner's home wielding a machete said he "just wanted to see his son".
The 29-year-old sent threatening messages to the woman, who the ECHO chose not to name, and later tried to pressure her into withdrawing her statement. Atherton, of Ullswater Street, St Helens, admitted multiple breaches of a non-molestation order banning him from contacting the mother of his child, possession of a bladed article and intimidating a witness.
The woman was at home with her new partner last September when the windows on his car were smashed. They couldn't find the culprit but then a man knocked on the door and said Atherton was on the phone and wanted to speak to her.
When she refused, Atherton arrived, pulled his T-shirt over his head, pulled out a machete and chased her new boyfriend down the road. After his arrest and while on bail, he tried to intimidate the woman.
Atherton was jailed for 20 months.
Scott Butler
Paedophile Scott Butler who was obsessed with children's knickers sent sick photos of a child to another pervert.
He revealed his "depraved" sexual interests in chats with undercover police and an underage girl. The 33-year-old was then discovered to have taken indecent pictures of a girl and shared them online.
Butler's twisted behaviour came to light after Cheshire Police raided his Green Lane, Widnes home in October 2019 and seized a phone and laptop. Officers struck again in March 2021, following conversations with the officer on Kik Messenger, when they recovered another phone and a tablet.
The tablet showed his disturbing conversations with an apparent 14-year-old girl. Butler was arrested again in September 2021, after it was found he had taken two Category C indecent images of the girl and sent them to another paedophile.
Butler admitted two counts of taking and one count of distributing indecent photographs of a child, plus attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. He was jailed for 16 months.
Cheshire Police has refused to release Butler's mugshot, despite official guidelines stating it should be provided to the media.
Umar Hamid
Gang boss Umar Hamid ran a drug dealing "graft" phone line from behind bars at HMP Liverpool.
The 31-year-old was the leader of a drugs gang which ran two drugs lines - the Felix line and CCPP (cannabis, coke, powder and pills) line. Hamid is a convicted rapist who ran the CCPP line from behind bars at Walton prison.
Using an illegal mobile phone, Hamid directed the operation from his cell before his release in September 2019. Between 2018 and 2020, hundreds of text messages were sent to drug users in Hyndburn, Rossendale and Blackburn in East Lancashire on an almost daily basis.
Users were offered Class A and B drugs to "make your dreams come true". Hamid exploited a vulnerable drug user to test the drugs before they were offered for sale, and when a cannabis farm was raided, an innocent man was threatened with an imitation gun and his work van smashed up.
Hamid, formerly of Hazel Avenue, Darwen, admitted conspiring to supply Class A and B drugs. He was jailed for 10 years and 10 months.
Hamid is already serving a 22-year prison sentence for rape, after being convicted in February 2021.
Francis Ward
Francis Ward looked stunned as he was jailed for 25 years for sexually assaulting two teenage girls.
The 36-year-old refused to accept he raped one of the teenagers and sexually assaulted the other, even after being found guilty after a trial in March. The two girls and their families faced him down in court and celebrated as the sex attacker was led to the cells.
Ward, from Fox Street, Everton, committed his first attacks on one girl, before then targeting the second girl. One of the girls addressed the court, explaining how his attack had made her contemplate taking her own life. A statement from the second girl outlined similar psychological trauma.
Ward called the girls "liars" but a judge said he was satisfied he inflicted serious harm on them. Judge Robert Trevor-Jones jailed Ward for 18 years for the rape and sexual assault of one of the girls and for seven years for the sexual assault on the other.
Michael Crothers, Michael Bethell, Alan Brewer, Liam Malvern and Benjamin Humphries
Five members of a drug gang dubbed "Two-Hour Tony" were snared after police uncovered a packing den in Runcorn.
The gang was busted when police raided a flat on Waterbridge Mews in Castlefields on November 23 last year. Inside the Two-Hour Tony crew's "hub" officers seized 88.7 grams of crack and heroin, estimated to have a potential value of up to £9,680, plus mixing agents.
Michael Crothers, 25, of Heathgate Avenue, Speke, and Michael Bethell, 30, of Elstead Road, Walton were arrested at the scene. A table in the flat was "clearly" being used for drugs to be "adulterated and refilled in the packages" for onward distribution.
That same day police stopped a car driven by Alan Brewer, 41, of Colworth Road, Speke. He was with Liam Malvern, 21, of Townsend Lane, Tuebrook, in a vehicle that officers had seen arriving at the block.
Malvern had 26 £10 wraps of crack cocaine and one £10 wrap of heroin, plus £809 in cash. A fifth member of the group, Benjamin Humphries, 21, of Alderwood Avenue, Speke, was arrested separately. All five men admitted conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
A police drug expert estimated the illegal enterprise sold between half a kilo and a kilo of crack and heroin over the 50 days of the conspiracy. It had a potential value of up to £100,000 after mixing with adulterants.
Two "graft phones" sent a staggering 7,613 flare messages to potential buyers in Warrington from October 4 to November 23. Crothers, who controlled the phones, was jailed for six years and nine months.
Brewer acted as driver and would drop off Malvern and Humphries who sold drugs to users in their homes, before they would return to Waterbridge Mews to restock. Brewer was jailed for four and a half years.
Malvern was jailed for five years and seven months. Humphries was jailed for five years and three months.
Bethell also admitted assault causing actual bodily harm for punching a man outside The Cornerhouse pub in Widnes in the early hours of August 7 last year. Bethell was jailed for seven years and 10 months.
David Jones
Former teaching assistant David Jones used his position as a football coach to groom and sexually abuse a young boy.
Jones, described by a judge as a "serious risk to boys", first met the young child when he was working at his primary school as a teaching assistant. The 33-year-old took an "instant liking" to the child and invited him to join a football club he coached, with the young footballer doing so.
He began to groom him with text messages and lifts in his car with him integrating himself into the life of the boy's family. His parents innocently thought the friendship was good for their son and improved his confidence, but his sexual abuse of the young boy led to him attempting suicide and devastated his life.
Years later, in 2018, by which time Jones was a fully qualified teacher, he created a fake Instagram profile posing as an 11-year-old girl to contact a boy one year older, send him inappropriate messages and ask for naked photos. The boy told his mum, who contacted police, before officers traced the profile to Jones.
Jones, of Loxley Road, Southport, admitted inciting a child under 13 to commit a sexual act, in respect of the Instagram offence. He was found guilty of two counts of sexually assaulting the schoolboy footballer and causing him to engage in sexual activity.
He was jailed for three and a half years.
Ashley Moorcroft, Jonathan McKeown and Craig Murray
Rolex watches, designer clothes and £70,000 in cash was seized when police raided the homes of three EncroChat dealers.
Ashley Moorcroft, aka "RustyPalace", was involved in importing cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamine, then supplying it across the UK. He worked closely with Jonathan McKeown, aka "BushTern", who brokered deals for the drugs up and down the country, and kept a "meticulously recorded" ledger, showing more than £1m in cash changing hands.
Painter and decorator Craig Murray, aka "MicroBlue" and formerly "ZanyForce", transported drugs and cash in vehicles with concealed "slots" or "hides". But the EncroChat hack of 2020 stopped them spreading "abject misery" for significant profits.
Moorcroft, 33, was arrested at his home in Halsnead, Wavertree on May 6, 2021, when his partner and children were present. Police seized an Audi, £8,925 in cash, four Rolex watches, one Kenevo specialised electric bike and charger, and designer clothing and shoes.
McKeown, 36, was arrested when officers raided his home in Marlborough Road, Waterloo that same day. They recovered £12,750 in cash.
Murray, 41, was twice arrested, firstly on June 17, 2020, when £36,710 was found at his Simonscroft, Netherton home. On May 6, 2021, officers struck again, when a further £14,000 in cash was seized.
All three men admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, cannabis and amphetamine. Moorcroft and McKeown also admitted conspiring to supply heroin.
Moorcroft was jailed for 19 and a half years, McKeown for 20 years, and Murray for eight and a half years.
Marcus Ellison
"Predatory paedophile" Marcus Ellison posed as a teen on Snapchat to lure a schoolgirl to a park and film himself having sex with her in bushes.
The 31-year-old told his 13-year-old victim he was only 16 and built up her trust in him before grooming her and encouraging her to have sex with him in Birkenhead Park and in disabled toilets at Pyramids Shopping Centre. When she told the 31-year-old to stop contacting her, he sent a video he had taken of them without her consent to school friends and it was later shared online.
A judge told Ellison he had "used and abused the girl" at his own will after meeting her in 2019. The abuse left the child devastated and he humiliated and further harmed her afterwards.
Ellison, of Hatherley Close, Toxteth, admitted meeting a girl following grooming, two counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, causing a child to look at an image of sexual activity, engaging in non penetrative sexual activity with a girl, three counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl, plus one count of possessing, three counts of making, one count of taking and one count of distributing indecent images of a child.
He was jailed for nine years, with a further three years on extended licence.
Mohammad Azizi
Mohammad Azizi murdered his wife after he discovered her affair with a family friend.
Malak aka Katy Adabzadeh, 47, was battered to death by Azizi at their Stoneycroft home. Azizi used an unidentified weapon to inflict 11 head injuries, as the mum-of-one desperately tried to defend herself.
He trashed their apartment at The Green to make it look like it had been ransacked by an mystery attacker. He later returned with his son and let him find his mum "in a pool of blood" face down in the bath, on November 25 last year.
Iranian national Azizi had found out his wife was seeing married man Tooraj Khorshidi, who would visit to give her botox and lip fillers. That day she had planned to meet Mr Khorshidi at Edge Lane retail park then spend the night with him at a city centre hotel and her packed bag was found in her car.
Questioned about the affair, Azizi later told police: "Culturally in the past it was unacceptable this matter and you could be stoned to death." Azizi admitted murder.
He was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years.
Christopher Chan
Chinese restaurant waiter Christopher Chan "persuaded" a 15-year-old girl to have sex with him after taking her back to his flat.
The 34-year-old took the victim back to his flat in Southport and had what the court was told was "consensual sexual intercourse" with her. On two of the occasions Chan, of Manchester Road, Southport, had given the child alcohol.
The girl said his behaviour affected her ability to concentrate at school and her grades, which spoilt her chances of attending Cambridge University. She began self-harming and took an overdose, and has since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and is on medication.
Chan, who worked at Lings On Kings in King Street, Southport, was found guilty of four offences of engaging in sexual activity with a child involving penetration.
He was jailed for three years.
Philip Courtney
Philip Courtney spat in his ex-partner's face, called her a "f***ing rat" and sent threatening texts to one of her children.
The 37-year-old spat in the face of the mum, who the ECHO chose not to name, in front of two children, on February 7, 2022. Courtney then carried on with his "disgusting" behaviour and was abusive to one of the two young teenagers.
The three left and Courtney sent texts threatening one of the youngsters and the police were notified. The day after he was charged, he rang the woman and shouted abuse at her.
Then, after appearing in court, he left further threatening voicemail messages and tried to persuade a child witness to stay silent. Courtney, of Bowring Park Road, Childwall, admitted assault by beating and two counts of witness intimidation.
He was jailed for 10 months.
Melvin Miller
Child rapist Melvin Miller who filmed himself subjecting little girls to depraved abuse has admitted more sex attacks.
Miller, from St Helens, was jailed for 16 years in 2020 after molesting two girls - from the ages of six and 11 respectively - in a horrifying campaign of abuse. But it later emerged he had carried out other rapes on one of his victims.
Miller, who was found with more than 250,000 indecent images of children, filmed himself raping the girl for eight minutes. The new charges against the 46-year-old, who is serving his sentence at HMP Frankland in County Durham, came after fresh allegations from one of his victims.
Miller, of Mountsfield in Frome, Somerset, admitted three additional charges of rape, two of attempted rape and one of making an indecent video of a child.
The judge jailed Miller for 15 years, concurrent to his existing sentence.
