JAILED: Thug knocked girl, 15, unconscious while on police bail

Michael Greenall, 26, was jailed for a total of 11 years and 10 months for the two separate assaults at Liverpool Crown Court.

Greenall, of Kitchener Street, St Helens, was jailed for 10 and a half years for grievous bodily harm with intent for the attack on his girlfriend's dad Colin Whitfield at his Newton-le-Willows home.

He was given a 16-month sentence to be served consecutively for an assault on 15-year-old Bethany McKeegan and a nine-month concurrent sentence for possession of a knife.

Judge Gary Woodhall said: "These offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.

"I have no hesitation in concluding that you pose a significant risk of causing serious harm."

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Prosecuting, Charlotte Atherton said Greenall launched the "sustained attack" on Mr Whitfield in the early evening of December 11, 2018 where there was a family gathering to celebrate Courtney's birthday.

He chased Mr Whitfield around his house and attacked him repeatedly with the pickaxe handles causing serious injuries to his head and lower leg which left him needing surgery multiple times and with "significant disfigurement on his lower leg and ankle".

Greenall's eight-month-old child was in the house along with Mr Whitfield's partner and her pregnant daughter.

She said Mr Whitfield and Greenall "didn't get on particularly well due to issues between the defendant and Whitfield's daughter" but Courtney asked her dad that he be allowed to join them for her birthday.

Greenall "became aggressive" during the evening and after Mr Whitfield said "if he (Greenall) kicked off he would have to leave the house" Greenall became violent" and he aimed "a punch at Mr Whitfield which missed but continued to attack him."

He threw Mr Whitfield around and went to the hallway to get two pickaxe handles and launch "a sustained attack".

Greenall told Courtney to leave with her baby son "because he was going to kill Mr Whitfield and the others" and Mr Whitfield's partner "begged the defendant to her daughter leave".

Mr Whitfield managed to escape and get out of the house but Greenall pursued him still wielding one of the weapons.

Miss Atherton said Mr Whitfield "described being hit to the head and arms by the defendant using the weapon while he was outside" and "Greenall left his victim on the ground and made off."

Mr Whitfield suffered "lacerations to the left side of his head" and a "five-centimetre open wound" on his right ankle.

A victim impact statement said Mr Whitfield had been left "feeling depressed and not wanting to leave his home. He described himself as a wreck and he was unable to take an offer of work and had trouble sleeping."

He has been "left with a bad leg and finds it extremely uncomfortable when he sleeps and continues to require medical assistance."

Greenall was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court

Two days after the assault on Mr Whitfield, Greenall repeatedly asked a group of children, including 15-year-old Bethany McKeegan, who had been knocking on his mum's house.

He punched the girl in the face and she "fell to the ground and was unconscious". She was left needing nose correction surgery on Christmas Eve.

Later when the girl's stepfather knocked at Greenall's address and accused him of the assault he went towards him "with a knife and was described as waving the knife in a threatening manner".

Greenall has previous convictions, including for actual bodily harm in 2008 as a juvenile and in 2017 for battery when he assaulted his girlfriend Miss Whitfield, grabbing her by the neck and pushing her into a wall.

Defending, Reginald Mills said Greenall had shown "an element of remorse" over the attack on Mr Whitfield and "clear remorse" over the attack on the girl and that Greenall's "drug abuse" seems to be "at the heart" of his offending.