Five criminals from the Merseyside region have been jailed for a combined total of 22 years and four months over the past week. Among them is a killer who was part of a group that chased and stabbed a victim to death, a pervert who sexually assaulted women in a bar and a takeaway, and a man who threatened to cut off his own fingers during a stand-off with police.
Ragial Ahmad
Ragial Ahmad, a pervert who sexually assaulted two women during separate nights out, has been jailed for 14 months. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault after targeting one victim inside a nightclub and another in a takeaway.
Dylan Chadwick
Dylan Chadwick, from St Helens, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the manslaughter of Denva Smith. The 24-year-old was one of five men involved in a joint attack in Exmouth, Devon, in the early hours of May 31 last year. Mr Smith, also 24, bled to death after being stabbed in the arm and chased through residential streets. Two other men, Thomas Ward and Ben Mason, were convicted of murder and jailed for life, with minimum terms of 23 and 23.5 years respectively. Zac Davies was jailed for 13 years for manslaughter, while Ben Helliker is yet to be sentenced for the same offence.
Stefan Harrison
Stefan Harrison, 35, of Bootle, burgled a pub on Whitechapel in Liverpool city centre on three separate occasions, stealing bottles of alcohol worth hundreds of pounds. He pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary and was jailed for 34 weeks, also ordered to pay court costs.
Kiernan McAleny
Kiernan McAleny, 45, threatened to cut off his own fingers during a four-hour stand-off with police. He barricaded himself inside a flat armed with a knife and lunged at an officer with the weapon. He admitted two counts of assaulting an emergency services worker, racially aggravated harassment, and breaching a suspended sentence order. He was jailed for 18 months.
Dylan Matthews
Dylan Matthews, 20, of Fazakerley, was sentenced to seven years and one month for 53 sexual offences. The teenager, addicted to graphic pornography, groomed children as young as 12 online, demanding sexually explicit images and conversations. He also offered to buy them vapes and drugs, and threatened to expose conversations if blocked. He pleaded guilty to 53 charges and was jailed for seven years and one month.
