Southport criminals thrown before the courts this month (2024)

Numerous people from Southport were thrown before the courts this month.

The remaining members of the notorious High Parkers were sent to prison this month, with the gang dominating the drug trade in Southport before being sent to prison.

A man who accumulated 129 indecent pictures of young sex abuse victims was sentences this month, with him even being found with extreme p*rn.

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There is also a mention of a man from Ormskirk who was sentenced this week after leading police on a high speed chase whilst being almost three times over the legal drink-drive limit.

Remaining members of the High Parkers

The final members of a notorious drugs gang that plagued a Merseyside resort were jailed this month.

The High Parkers caused misery and fuelled trouble in Southport through their cocaine and cannabis operations.

The self-professed High Parkers ran a 24/7 drugs business that saw dealers working on a shift system and vulnerable addicts exploited, their homes turned into safehouses for cash and drugs.

Ben Jones, prosecuting, told a sentencing hearing last month: "They controlled and dominated the cocaine trade in the Southport area," placing "pressure and coercion" on people who ran up debts.

The gang was targeted by police raids across Southport, Formby, Bootle and Liverpool in October of last year.

Sixteen members of the gang had previously been jailed for a combined total of more than 110 years.

At the start of this month the final tranche of High Parkers fell to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court.

Brenden Gillam, 25, of no fixed address was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class B drugs.

Cara Wilding, 23 and of Hollins Court, The Larches, Hawarden, North Wales was sentenced to to six years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs and MDMA.

Daniel Crompton, 21 and of no fixed address was sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs

Lee McChrystal-Cole, 23 and of Pighue Lane, Wavertree was sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.

38-year-old Patrick Hill of Hollins Court, The Larches, Hawarden, North Wales pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs and will be sentenced at a later date.

Paedophile with dead dog sex picture amongst horrific collection

Jamie Martin collected 129 indecent images of young sex abuse victims, which he amassed over a six-year period.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the 34-year-old lost his job as a result of the ECHO reporting his sickening convictions.

Martin had pleaded guilty to three counts of downloading and one count of possessing indecent images of children.

He also admitted one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child and one count of possessing extreme p*rnography.

According to the latter charge, the extreme p*rn portrayed a person "performing an act of intercourse with a dead animal, namely a dog", which was "grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character".

Martin, of Eastbank Street, Southport, wasn't charged with distributing indecent images of children.

But at a previous hearing, the court was told Martin was "active" in a "network" of sex offenders and "candidly admits to having shared images".

Martin was sentenced to 20 months in prison and forced to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and to comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely.

Thug threatened stranger with claw hammer outside city centre bar

Martin Breen approached Shannon Gaynor on five occasions on two separate days and also threatened a rail worker at Moorfields Station on an earlier occasion, threatening to “smash your f****** face in.”

Breen, 32, who was identified from CCTV footage, has a previous conviction for possessing a bladed article.

Martyn Walsh, prosecuting, told the court the first incident happened on December 4 last year when Breen got off a train at Moorfields when he put his ticket in the face of train worker who asked to check it. He then forced his way through the barriers and made threats.

He told him: "If there were no cameras I would smash your head in."

On the afternoon of April 13 this year Mr Gaynor was in the Mathew Street area where some bins were placed in the road stopping traffic nearby, so he moved them out of the way.

Breen appeared screaming at the top of his voice asking why he had got involved but Mr Gaynor remained calm.

A few hours later Breen saw Mr Gaynor again in Mathew Street and started calling him “an undercover-cop” trying to antagonise him.

Breen threatened he was “going to cut him” before leaving the area.

Six days later Mr Gaynor was outside McCooley's bar in Mathew Street when Breen approached him aggressively saying: “I remember you, you’re not the police. I’m going to stab you now."

Breen, of Park Street, Southport, pleaded guilty to common assault, two offences of threatening behaviour and possessing an offensive weapon.

His barrister Brendan Carville said that Breen had had a bad epileptic fit on Saturday and had spent two days in hospital after being found unconscious in Victoria Street. He is due for a MRI scan on September 21.

“He is not in the best of health and clearly has attitude problems. He was anxious to put his behaviour behind him and had brought his bags with him expecting immediate imprisonment. The court heard that his previous knife conviction placed him at risk of a minimum six month sentence.

But Mr Carville said that it was possible the assault he suffered last December had exacerbated his epilepsy and asked for more medical evidence to be allowed to be produced.

Judge Flewitt further remanded him on bail but warned him: ”One way to make sure you go to prison is to step out of time in the meantime so make sure whatever you think about authority and other peoples’ reactions you keep your temper.”

Couple storm woman's home with 999 operator hearing woman scream 'get the knife away'

Keith Greer had earlier called at Rebecca Rowell’s home in the early hours of the morning accusing her of spreading rumours, pulled her out of her home and threw her to the ground.

He then pulled her back into the house and left and she was on the phone to police complaining about this when he returned with Joanne Brannon.

The 999 call handler heard Ms Rowell desperately telling Brannon to “get the knife away” and Brannon, who had previously wrongly accused her of sleeping with Greer, was shouting that she knew what she had told ‘Jodie', someone Ms Rowell did not even know.

Greer was physically aggressive manhandling her and repeatedly told the victim she was “going to die.” said Philip Clemo, prosecuting.

He added: “Brannon never physically assaulted her but repeatedly waved the knife at her before the couple left.”

Brannon was found at her home in Wavell Avenue, Southport shortly afterwards at 2.20am that day, April 17 last year and when cautioned “she tellingly commented she had only taken it for her own protection, clearly a reference to the knife,” said Mr Clemo.

She voluntarily showed them the knife in the kitchen and it was found to have a copper blade, which explained the description of a red blade, he added.

Greer was later tracked down and arrested and said, “You caught me.”

42-year-old Greer, of Linaker Street, Southport and Brannon, 41, both pleaded guilty to affray and Brannon also admitted possessing a bladed article. Charges of making threats to kill and assault by beating, which they had denied, were both ordered to lie on the file.

The court heard that Greer has 19 convictions for 32 offences. His barrister Charles Lander said that the defendant “does not seek to minimise his behaviour."

Greer was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 25 days rehabilitation activities. Brannon was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 40 days rehabilitation activities.

The judge imposed a five-year restraining order to keep away from the victim.

Drink driver who led police on a high speed chase whilst three times over the limit

Despite not living in Southport at the time of his arrest and sentencing, Joseph Sammon's case is worth mentioning.

He was found to be almost three times over the drink-drive limit after parking his van in the middle of a road, and then flying through red lights during a high speed police chase.

Joseph Sammon, of Brook Lane, Ormskirk, pleaded guilty to driving while over the legal alcohol limit and driving without due care and attention at Preston Magistrates Court on Tuesday September 28.

Police were called after reports of "odd behaviour" from the driver of a blue Volkswagen Caddy van on Southport Road, Scarisbrick, on February 27.

When they approached the van, which was parked in the middle of the road, at around 9am, Sammon took off down nearby Pool Hey Lane.

Shortly after, he stopped the vehicle, before mounting a high kerb twice.

Sammon then turned right at a give way, without stopping or indicating, before speeding off at 40mph, overtaking other vehicles, and flying through a red light.

When busy traffic in the area meant he eventually had to stop, officers recalled there was a "very evident smell of intoxicants" and said Sammon "struggled to stand"

A breathalyser test showed Sammon gave a reading of 103 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, almost three times the legal limit.

Sammon wept in court, while his solicitor, Mr Lee, read out a statement he had written, which said he was "very sorry, ashamed and embarrassed".

Magistrates today gave Sammon a 12-week curfew, between 9pm and 5.30am, with electronic monitoring.

As part of the sentence he must also carry out a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) for 20 days.

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