The ECHO has looked at criminals who have had their sentences increased ahead of killer Thomas Dures appearing in court this month
Ryan Hawkins filmed himself raping a young child then boasted about it online(Image: )
A child rapist, a serial woman beater and pair of pub landlord attackers have all had their jail sentences increased. This week the ECHO revealed that Thomas Dures will have his 23 year sentence reviewed after a referral from the Attorney General’s office. We have looked back at some criminals who have had their sentences extended.
Dures was jailed in July last year, two years after fatally stabbing Matthew Daulby in Ormskirk during a street brawl. Dures, of Whalley Drive, Aughton, fled the country in the hours that followed the murder before handing himself in at a police station in Athens, Greece months later. He will appear before the Court of Appeal on January 16.
The Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme sees sentences that are deemed as unduly lenient referred to the Court of Appeal which can decide whether or not to extend the sentence.
Since the scheme came into affect, thousands of cases have been referred, with several criminals seeing their time behind bars extended.
Some of Merseyside’s most serious offenders have had their cases referred to the Attorney General’s office to be reviewed, including killers Thomas Cashman and Axel Rudakubana, although neither were put before the Court of Appeal.
Ryan Hawkins
Ryan Hawkins, 29, of no fixed address but formerly of Southport(Image: )
Ryan Hawkins filmed himself raping a young child then “boasted” about his sexual abuse online. Hawkins also sexually assaulted another child and later claimed his abuse was a “horrible f***ing mistake”.
He shared a sick photo of one of his victims with a man he thought was another paedophile on the chat platform Kik Messenger. His bragging and claim he intended to rape the child again led to his arrest, as he was actually talking to an undercover police officer.
The paedophile, from Southport, had suggested trading indecent images with the National Crime Agency officer. Liverpool Crown Court heard Hawkins then sent a Category C photo he had taken of the child he said he’d raped.
Hawkins claimed he hadn’t got “very far” trying to abuse another child, but planned to abuse the rape victim again. When arrested at his home, his mobile phone was seized and revealed the video of him raping one child and indecent images of another victim.
The court heard an officer asked him if he had a sexual interest in children and how he viewed himself. Hawkins said: “I don’t think so… I think I’ve made a horrible f***ing mistake.” He added: “I need help, I need to figure out what’s going on.”
Hawkins pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to rape, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of making indecent images of a child, and one count of distributing an indecent image of a child.
In December 2021, Hawkins was jailed for 12 years, with an extended five years on licence, and told him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and restraining order for life.
However, the Solicitor General later intervened and Hawkins’ sentence was increased to 14 years and eight months’ imprisonment with a licence extension of five years by the Court of Appeal.
Mark Rooney
Mark Rooney(Image: Merseyside Police)
Mark Rooney, from Rock Ferry, was previously sentenced to 42 weeks in prison in October last year after he brutally attacked two women. Rooney assaulted his first victim when they were on holiday, forced himself into their home while armed with a baseball bat and threatened to share private images of her.
The woman was also hospitalised after suffering physical attacks. While on bail for these offences, Rooney attacked another woman. It was heard in court he threw a can of beer at them and threatened to burn her face with a barbeque.
He later went on hit the woman in the face with a phone and when she tried to take it back, knocked her unconscious. She suffered injuries including a split lip and and she also broke her arm when falling.
Following his conviction, the Solicitor General determined Rooney’s sentence could be considered unduly lenient and on a hearing on December 20 last year, the Court of Appeal increased Rooney’s sentence to 74 weeks.
Joshua Kehoe and George Harper
George Harper (left) , 30, of Holland Street, Liverpool, and Joshua Kehoe, right, of Cretan Road, Liverpool, jailed over a terrifying pub rampage (Image: )
George Harper and Joshua Kehoe terrorised the Manor Farm pub in Rainhill as it hosted an 18th birthday party to which they weren’t even invited. They knocked a customer out before kicking his unconscious body, punched a man on crutches at the bar and thumped the licence holder so hard with a wine bottle his nose was left disfigured.
X-rays later revealed the landlord suffered a fractured skull, a fractured nose, and a fractured left cheekbone alongside several other injuries. Another employee suffered a dislocated shoulder which required surgery and a customer on crutches was struck with a bottle requiring three stitches to his head.
Someone else in the pub was also grabbed by Kehoe who demanded money or they would be stabbed. The landlord was so traumatised by the incident he handed in his licence and left the pub entirely.
The Court of Appeal quashed their sentences after the Solicitor General intervened. Kehoe’s four-year sentence was extended to eight years, with an additional four on licence. Harper will now serve five years and four months in prison – his original sentence was two years and eight months
The Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson KC MP said: “Being a victim of crime can leave life-long emotional scars and some of society’s most dangerous offenders – including child sexual predators and violent criminals – saw their sentences increased in 2022.
“As the statistics show, the vast majority of offenders are sentenced appropriately. However, the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme provides a vital safeguard to ensure that there is confidence in our sentence regime.
“The scheme is a vital pillar of the criminal justice system and shows there is a robust system in place to make sure criminals are suitably punished for their actions.”
Charles Dilworth, David Hague, Jon Fairclough and Jamie Menagh
Left to right: Charles Dilworth, David Hague, Jon Fairclough, Jamie Menagh(Image: North West Regional Organised Crime Unit)
Four members of an organised crime group jailed for their roles in a £250m drugs conspiracy had their sentences extended.
The defendants had their sentences quashed and an increased prison sentence imposed after it was referred under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme. Charles Dilworth, 25, from Liverpool, had his seven year and six month sentence increased to nine years and nine months. Jamie Menagh, 31, from Liverpool, had his seven year and six month sentence increased to nine years and nine months.
Jon Fairclough, 37, from Liverpool had his seven year sentence increased to nine years and four months. David Hague, 51, from Doncaster had his nine years and four months sentence increased to 14 years. The gang were involved in a sophisticated conspiracy which involved the importation of more than two tonnes of class A drugs from South America to the UK.
Between May 3 and September 21 2023, the gang transported drugs in an empty trailer from France, Belgium and Holland via the Eurotunnel. The drugs would eventually be driven to a farm in Deeside, North Wales, where they were removed from a concealed space hidden behind the wooden panels of the trailer. The drugs were then sorted into boxes and bags for onward supply.
Members of the gang would meet their customers at a nearby service station or on Pinfold Lane, then take their cars to the property, where they would fill them with drugs before giving their vehicles back to them, all to conceal the location of the farm. Police, who had been carrying out a covert operation, intervened on September 20, 2023 as drugs were being removed from the trailer at the farm, ending the multi-million pounds drugs empire.