Eight Merseyside criminals were jailed over the past seven days, receiving a combined total of more than 40 years. Among them were a man caught by two different paedophile hunter groups, a thug who threatened to "skin" his ex, and a "controlling bully" who battered his girlfriend on the first night of their holiday to Tenerife.
Plumber turned drug dealer after riots
John O'Malley, a plumber, turned to drug dealing when his "customer base evaporated" following his involvement in the Southport riots. He positioned himself "at the front of a baying mob" in the seaside town after the fatal stabbings of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar, but was behind bars within days.
After being released from prison, he was out of work and was caught selling cocaine from his van by undercover police. O'Malley, found with 18 packages of the class A drug, was jailed for three years and four months.
Jealous ex and abusive partners
Joseph McCullough, 48, attacked his former partner's new boyfriend from behind as he left the Asda Huyton supermarket. Banned from contacting the mum of his children in 2024, he pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, breach of a restraining order, common assault, threatening behaviour and possession of a bladed article. He received 27 months for the new offences, plus 10 months activated from a suspended term, totalling 37 months.
Luke Garnett, 28, from Whiston, pinned his girlfriend to a bed and strangled her after calling her a "rat" and a "s**g". The incident happened on June 3, 2025, after he got drunk at the funeral of her grandmother. He was found guilty of intentional strangulation and assault and sentenced to 21 months, with a restraining order banning him from contacting Ms Jones.
Owen Dodd bit his partner in a nightclub and threatened to stab his relatives with a broken bottle, then repeatedly punched and kicked her on the first night of their Tenerife holiday. A judge called him a "controlling bully" and jailed him for 680 days with an indefinite restraining order.
Harassment and drug dealing
Andrew McCombe, 44, threatened to cut his victim's daughter to "pieces with a knife" and said he would make the mum watch as he "skinned" the girl alive. He pleaded guilty to harassment and two counts of criminal damage and was sentenced to 27 months for harassment, plus three weeks for each damage count.
Sean Parris, 36, from Toxteth, controlled a drugs line supplying crack cocaine and heroin between June and August 2026. Caught by Merseyside Police's Project Medusa, he was sentenced to six years.
Paedophile caught by hunter groups
Michael Gifford, 32, from Wallasey, sent pictures of his genitals to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl and arranged to meet her at Birkenhead Central train station. The profile belonged to an adult woman from the "Angels of Innocence" paedophile hunter group. He later messaged another decoy, operated by the STOP group. He was sentenced to six years and four months.
Lloyd Sweeting, 34, from Speke, encouraged a 10-year-old child to send indecent images of herself and her cousin. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
