HERE is a look at five court cases we have covered over the past month which saw defendants imprisoned.

Youths chased boy 'like pack of feral animals'

St Helens Star: A cordon on Princess Avenue after the attackA cordon on Princess Avenue after the attack (Image: St Helens Star)

A SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD boy was sentenced to 20 months’ detention for stabbing another youth in the thigh.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that a boy, who was 14 at the time, was stabbed in the thigh by a knife by a youth who was part of a “larger group” who had chased after him.

On the night of the attack, in January 2021, the victim had been chased from the area of Bishop Road playing fields as the group acted “like a pack of feral animals”, the judge said.

The boy was hit on the back of the head and later stabbed in the thigh.

The judge said: “It is lucky that this case isn’t a murder case”.

The judge said the attacker’s “culpability is high” and there was “planning on your part”.

Read the full story here.

Rapist jailed

St Helens Star: Gheorghe TirzumanGheorghe Tirzuman (Image: Merseyside Police)

A MAN has been jailed for 14 years for raping a woman in St Helens. 

Gheorghe Tirzuman, of Quebec Quay, Liverpool was also handed an indefinite restraining order and made to sign the sex offenders register on Tuesday, January 17, at Liverpool Crown Court for three counts of rape. 

The victim reported to police that in August 2021 Tirzuman raped her on three separate occasions at a house in St Helens.

Following a trial, Tirzuman, 39, was convicted and sentenced to 14 years.

Read the full report here.

Drug driver killed dad-to-be

St Helens Star: John YatesJohn Yates (Image: Cheshire Police)

A DRUG driver has been jailed after killing a St Helens dad-to-be in a horrific crash in Warrington.

Chris Smith, 41, was tragically killed on the M6 Thelwall Viaduct after John Yates smashed into him while hitting speeds of around 128mph.

Yates, who was under the influence of drugs, fled the scene by jumping over a barrier immediately afterwards.

The horrific incident happened on the M6 between junction 20, Lymm, and junction 21, Woolston, on November 15 last year at around 12.30am.

Yates, 28, from North Wales, received an eight-year and three-month prison sentence at Chester Crown Court, of which he must serve two-thirds.

Read the full report here.

Man groomed girl into sending images

St Helens Star: Michael HartleyMichael Hartley (Image: Merseyside Police)

A MAN who threatened a girl that he would not continue to play games on social media with her if she did not send him indecent images has been put behind bars.

Michael Hartley groomed the particularly vulnerable young girl into sending him photographs of herself, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Hartley, of Winter Grove, Parr, was  jailed for three years after admitting to six charges of inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones told him they were serious offences, saying “you groomed her to do what you wanted her to do.”

Read the full story here.

Killer back behind bars

St Helens Star: Luke WoodsLuke Woods (Image: Merseyside Police)

A CONVICTED killer has been sent back to prison after he punched his pregnant ex-girlfriend in the face, leaving her with a permanent scar.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that thug Luke Woods, now 23, “acted like an animal” in the attack on his victim, who was 30 weeks pregnant with his unborn child at the time.

In August 2017, Woods had been sentenced to four years and four months in a young offenders’ institute for manslaughter after a single-punch attack which had caused the death of poet and actor Len Saunders.

During his sentencing, Woods was said to be someone “unable to control his emotions” who behaves “impulsively”

Sentencing Woods, 23, of Billinge Crescent, Blackbrook, to two years, judge David Aubrey KC said that in Woods’ letter to the court he described himself as “acting like an animal’”.

Read the full story here.