This Week in Court: Liverpool Crown Court has started to see its first three-year suspended sentences, with prison terms under 12 months often not being served
04:00, 16 May 2026
Liverpool Crown Court(Image: Liverpool Echo)
It’s been just under two months since the Sentencing Act 2026 came into effect, and its impact is now starting to be felt at Liverpool Crown Court. The bill brought about some of the most drastic changes to the criminal justice system in recent times, most notably allowing prison sentences of up to three years to be suspended by judges.
The act also brought in the “presumption” of any jail terms of under 12 months not being served immediately, save for “exceptional” cases. With the measures only applying to convictions after March 22 this year, and cases often being adjourned for around a month until their sentencing from the point of a guilty plea, the court has been seeing its first trickle of defendants to benefit from these new rules over the past couple of weeks or so.
The first three-year suspended sentence order which the ECHO was present in the courtroom for came on April 30, with this dubious honour falling to Gareth Jones. The 47–year-old, of Addison Way in St Helens, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply after being stopped by police driving an Audi A6 on the evening of January 30 2025.
Matthew Dixon, prosecuting, described how, having failed a roadside test for the class A drug, officers noticed Jones discarding a black bag behind him. This was found to contain 64.4g of cocaine, worth between £2,577 and £6,445, with £400 in cash. A Samsung mobile phone was seized from him.
Messages found on the device indicated ex-army veteran Jones was involved in the supply of drugs dating as far back as December 14 2024. Paul Becker, defending the dad-of-five, told the court: “The defendant’s father sadly passed away. The defendant found it difficult to manage his emotional wellbeing, leading to the misuse of alcohol and cocaine. His addiction spiralled out of control. That led to a debt in the region of a couple of thousand pounds.”
“Family man” Jones went on to deal drugs in order to fund his habit. Mr Becker said: “The defendant is sorry for what he has done. He knows the harm that class A drugs cause. He has been able to change his life as a result of his arrest. It has been a wake up call for him. The defendant has abstained from drinking and taking drugs since.”
Having had no previous drug trafficking convictions, Jones was handed a 28-month imprisonment suspended for three years with 100 hours of unpaid work by Recorder Sarah Holt, seemingly enabling him to take up a new job in cladding. He reacted by closing his eyes, putting his left hand to his face and replying: “Thank you ma’am.”
Last week, Reece Robinson, of Acanthus Road in Old Swan, was given a 29 month imprisonment suspended for two years after admitting possession of cocaine and ketamine with intent to supply. Sarah Egan, prosecuting, said the 21-year-old had been arrested while leaving a flat on Scotland Road, where police later discovered cocaine worth up to £450 and as much as £719 of ketamine, on March 29 last year.
Megan Cox, defending, said: “It is clear from Mr Robinson’s previous convictions that he is a drug user. This is a very small enterprise which he is using to help him obtain his own drugs. Mr Robinson was at a particular dip. He was living in a hostel, alone. He was exposed to temptations.”
Robinson’s suspended sentence, complete with 240 hours of community service and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 25 days, allowed him to carry his black Nike holdall back out of the dock instead of to prison after Recorder Emma Fisher told him: “In different circumstances, this might be seen as enterprising, to see a gap in the market.
“It might not have been significant funds, but there was money being made. It was your operation. You ran it from top to bottom. You need to be aware how close you were to an immediate custodial sentence.”
Michael Collier was meanwhile allowed to walk free from HMP Altcourse, where he had been held on remand after admitting being concerned in the supply of cocaine, yesterday afternoon, just in time for his son’s 18th birthday party. The 34-year-old, of Pool Hey in Stockbridge Village, had been involved in dealing the class A drug via a Snapchat account, named “Gus Lemo 24”, over a period of two months between February and April this year.
Derek Jones, prosecuting, said of this: “Lemo is a nickname for cocaine. It had 24 after the name, which we believe indicates that it was open for 24 hours a day. The page also had a picture of a snowflake, a symbol for cocaine.
“There seemed to be an advert saying ‘drivers wanted, daytime shifts’. This seems to be a situation that we are seeing more often, where a graft is using a social media site to advertise its wares, rather than sending out flare messages.”
Police were able to link the account, via the IP address it was using, to Collier’s partner’s home on Tarbock Road in Huyton, where he was arrested in possession of the related phone on April 16. Tick lists seized from the property also indicated that the operation had involved “up to 50 odd deals” per day.
Collier has previous convictions for production of cannabis in 2008 and possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply in 2013, for which he received 42 months. Charles Lander, defending, told the court: “He says that he had a cannabis debt. There has been a gap in his offending.
“Three years ago, both his mother and 47-year-old brother passed away within a very short period of time. That had a significant effect on the defendant. He had issues already, because of PTSD from a brain injury. He has got a number of children. He is keen to be around for his son’s 18th birthday, which approaches shortly.”
While Judge Simon Medland KC remarked of Collier’s drug debt “if you choose to swim with sharks, you cannot complain if you get bitten”, he ultimately passed a 32-month imprisonment suspended for two years. He will also be required to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 25 days.
Just as impactful as these three-year suspended sentences, in terms of whether defendants are heading down to the cells or out of the front door, is the act’s introduction of “a presumption to suspend short custodial sentences of 12 months or less” unless they are considered a high risk offender, have breached previous court orders or where there are “exceptional circumstances”.
Among those to receive such a suspended sentence was Fintan Wyatt, a drunken passenger who demanded to see the captain on an easyJet flight from Sharm El-Sheikh to Liverpool John Lennon Airport and asked an attendant: “F*** me girl, has your fella left you or something?”
Derryn Gibney, appearing for the prosecution, detailed how the 23-year-old, of Barons Hey in Stockbridge Village, also began singing the member of cabin crew’s name as he walked along the aisle of the plane, having apparently become infuriated when he was required to swap seats. One mum was even forced to move to another part of the aircraft as a result of his loutish behaviour, because her young child had become frightened.
A clearly unimpressed veteran Judge David Aubrey KC told him in his sentencing remarks: “You were drunk, intimidating, patronising and causing a disturbance throughout the flight. I do not accept any explanation you have provided to this court for your behaviour on this flight.
“Any misbehaviour during a flight will always be regarded as more serious than such conduct on the ground. Such an offence demands a deterrent sentence and clearly passes the custodial threshold.
“You indicated your plea of guilty in the lower court on the 10th of April. The range of sentences before plea in cases of this nature is between five and 15 months custody. Section 277A subsection two of the Sentencing Act came into force on the 22nd of March 2026. In my judgement, you are fortunate that it did come into force on that date, just a matter of weeks before you indicated your plea in the lower court.
“That states that the court must make a suspended order for terms of 12 months custody or less, unless there are exceptional circumstances which relate to the offence or the offender, save for certain exceptions which do not apply in your case. I cannot find such exceptional circumstances, either in relation to you or the offence itself.
“I am unable to say that the need for deterrents amounts to such a circumstance. Thus, this court feels compelled, in accordance with the law, to impose such a sentence.”
Wyatt, who admitted one count of being drunk on an aircraft, was therefore handed a six-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He was then seen to place his hood over his head and cover his face as he left the Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts in order to hide from the ECHO’s cameras.
On Tuesday this week, the same court heard the case of David Holmes, who pulled a lock knife from his pocket on Mathew Street in Liverpool city centre after the 31-year-old and his dad became embroiled in a “fracas” in a bar. The crown’s barrister Louise Santamera said of CCTV footage of the incident: “He continued to jab out at males in a crowded public place, which the prosecution say was very dangerous in the circumstances.”
Holmes, of Bearncroft in Skelmersdale, was said to have been carrying the knife for work purposes before going out for a drink following his shift on November 15 2024, at which stage he and his father were allegedly “attacked and put on the ground and punched”. Jamie Baxter, defending, added that his client had “made changes in his life” and had recently become a dad to his second child.
Having pleaded guilty to making threats with a bladed article and possession of cocaine, Holmes was given a 12-month imprisonment suspended for two years with 200 hours of unpaid work, a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a 120-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement. Sentencing, Judge Anil Murray said: “The law has changed recently. Since the 22nd of March this year, the law says that I have to suspend any sentence of 12 months or less unless there are exceptional circumstances.
“Of course, taking cocaine and having a knife out with you is not a good combination. Who knows what could have happened? You need to take great care in the future.”
Later the same day, Liam McCarthy similarly walked free from court after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his then partner. The 28-year-old’s case had been due to start at 10am, but he arrived to court late and was remanded into custody in the cells before the sentencing belatedly began at 4pm, after the court had dealt with other business.
Katy Appleton, prosecuting, told the court that McCarthy, of Falkland Road in Wallasey, Wirral, had repeatedly punched his girlfriend of three months in the early hours of Christmas Eve 2024 after the couple had been drinking Baileys, Fosters, passionfruit martinis and wine in bed. Police later found blood stains throughout the address, with the victim having sustained injuries including a broken tooth, black eyes and a displaced septum which required surgery.
With Mr Baxter, once more appearing for the defence, having stated that his client’s “time in the cells had had a salutary effect on him”, McCarthy, who was said to have been offered cash in hand work as a labourer for a roofing firm, was given a 12-month suspended sentence with 160 hours of unpaid work, a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 25 days, a 120-day electronically monitored curfew from 9.30pm to 6am and an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement lasting the same period. He was also subjected to a three-year restraining order and told to pay £500 in court costs.
Sentencing, Judge Dennis Watson KC said: “I suspect it is obvious that I am very unimpressed with you and your behaviour. My scepticism is because you have repeatedly said that it was really all down to her, and you have minimised your own actions. You appear to still have some hostility towards her.
“The regime that applies to you, because of the timing of your plea, is such that there is a requirement, a presumption, as it is described, that the court must suspend the sentence unless conditions apply. One of the exceptions would be a significant risk of physical or psychological harm to an individual. Although it exists, that could not be said to be a significant risk. Therefore, Mr Baxter persuades me that the factors which would have to be present to disapply the presumption of suspension do not exist.”
Countless more will doubtlessly follow the path which Jones, Robinson, Wyatt, Holmes and McCarthy have so far trodden in the coming weeks and months. Quite what impact the bill will have on relieving the pressures on an overcrowded system, or, conversely, the potential for further crime or an increased workload on an already stretched Probation Service, remains to be seen, with the ramifications no doubt only to become clear in the much longer term.