A martial arts instructor, a children's magician and a PE teacher were unmasked as paedophiles and sex offenders during 2023.
Also brought to justice last year were a father and son who abused the same two young victims. A taxi driver was also jailed after sexually assaulting his sleeping passenger.
Meanwhile, a doctor raped a young girl hundreds of times before going on to become a killer. These are some of the most shocking sex offences cases heard by the courts in our area over the past 12 months.
READ MORE: These are the faces of 505 Merseyside criminals who were jailed during 2023
Michael Southern
A former martial arts instructor confessed to being "sexually attracted" to indecent images of children after he was arrested.
Michael Southern, 28, of Vine Street, Widnes, was found with more than 100 indecent images of children, some of whom were as young as one year old. Only days before his arrest, he had been "willingly receiving and distributing images of children being abused to other interested users on the platform Wikr".
The pervert received 28 months for distributing indecent images.
Joseph Shaw
A support worker tied a severely disabled woman to his bed before filming them engaging in sexual activity.
Armed forces veteran Joseph Shaw invited the victim and her friend to his flat after meeting the latter through a dating app. He then engaged in a series of sex acts with her, which she would not legally have been able to consent to due to the extent of her learning difficulties.
Shaw admitted sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder impeding choice. He appeared shaken as he was told he will serve two thirds of a seven year and eight month prison sentence before becoming eligible for release.
Lucel Tugui
A taxi driver carried out a sickening sexual assault on his passenger after she fell asleep in the back of his vehicle.
Lucel Tugui drove past the woman's home and instead took her to a remote location, where he performed a series of vile acts on her. But the "devious predator" was caught out after the incident was recorded by a CCTV camera inside his car, with the footage having captured him "smugly" saying "she has no clue what happened" after dropping his victim off following his attack.
Tugui admitted causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault by a jury. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for 12 years.
Christopher Wade
A man drugged a vulnerable 13-year-old girl and took her into woodland to sexually abuse her.
Christopher Wade was found guilty of one count of rape, one count of assault by penetration and a third count of sexual assault. He spotted his victim her on a bench before engaging her in conversation.
The 55-year-old then walked the girl to a wooded area, took the victim behind a bush and used a plastic bottle to create a device for inhaling heroin then raped and sexually abused her. He was jailed for 12 years.
Gareth Culshaw and John O’Brien
Two paedophiles held a little boy down on a bed and abused him as he told them to let go.
Gareth Culshaw pleaded guilty to seven charges of sexual assault relating to two young children and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in relation to one of the "defenceless and innocent" victims. John O’Brien was convicted at trial of one count of sexual relating to a joint offence with Culshaw.
The vile abuse occurred during the 2010s. Culshaw was said to have abused one boy for his "own sexual gratification", with him and O’Brien having "held him down on the bed and forcibly touched him".
Culshaw was sentenced to 11 years in prison. O’Brien was given four years and six months.
Jwamer Saygul
It took a jury just 25 minutes to find a rapist guilty after he attacked a woman in a park.
Jwamer Saygul, 24, violently raped the woman in a park in Neston, Wirral on October 3, 2022. He had met the woman, who had fled to this country from the ongoing war in Ukraine, on a bus from Chester City centre.
He was sentenced to nine years in custody.
Lee Brown and Terrence Brown
A father and son subjected two young girls to a catalogue of horrifying abuse.
Terrence and Lee Brown sexually assaulted and raped the same victims over the course of several years. But they were apparently unaware of one another's heinous crimes.
The dad was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault, three of engaging in sexual activity with a child, four charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child by a jury after a trial. He appeared to be crying and shaking his head in the dock as he was jailed for six-and-a-half years
The 21-year-old son told one of his victims that Father Christmas would not visit her if she did not comply with his vile sexual abuse. He admitted two counts of rape, two charges of sexual assault, two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and two of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and was locked up for four years and four months.
Adetunji Akona-Dosunmo
A paedophile who travelled on buses targeting schoolgirls in their uniforms has been jailed.
Adetunji Akona-Dosunmo travelled by bus between Merseyside and Manchester, where he tried to lure young girls into sexual activity by handing out notes with his telephone number and asking them to call him. One girl, targeted in Crosby, was just 11 years old.
He was arrested in April last year following a long investigation by Merseyside Police and later admitted two counts of sexual communication with a child, attempting to arrange a child sex offence, and four counts of breaching an existing sexual harm prevention order. The 35-year-old was sentenced to two years and four months in prison.
Thomas Stanley and Connor Jackson
A convicted child rapist shared vile materials with a fellow sex offender who he met in prison.
Thomas Stanley struck up a friendship with the other inmate, Connor Jackson, while they were behind bars together before sending him an indecent image over WhatsApp once released. In one sickening message, he even apologised that the child abuse picture was "not of the best quality".
Stanley admitted distributing indecent images, possession of indecent images, three counts of making indecent images and breaching a sexual harm prevention order. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was locked up for a further 32 months.
Jackson, 27, was already on the sex offenders' register when an alert was flagged on a new piece of software – the eSafe Global monitoring service – suggesting he may have an illegal image on his mobile phone. Merseyside Police's Sex Offender Unit launched an investigation and found the WhatsApp messages he had exchanged with Stanley.
Raids were carried out simultaneously at their homes, including the use of a "specialist digital media search dog" trained to sniff out any devices that could have electronic storage, such as mobile phones, USB memory sticks and even SIM cards. Jackson was jailed for two years after admitting making, possessing and distributing indecent images of children.
Peter Steinitz
A serial sex offender claimed his young victims "laughed at him" when he exposed himself to them as they walked home from school.
Peter Steinitz spotted the girls near to a McDonald's then began to follow them around as he performed a sex act on himself. The pensioner has now amassed convictions for 20 separate sexual offences.
Steinitz admitted outraging public decency and breaching a sexual offences prevention order. He was jailed for 32 months.
Erica Jones
A jealous woman who went to police about her ex-lover's horrific crimes against children was also locked up after detectives realised she was heavily involved.
Erica Jones, 22, was working at the Pets At Home store in Garston in 2019 when she began a sexual affair with co-worker Phil Hudson, who had a girlfriend. Their fling involved twisted shared fantasies about abusing children, as proven by text messages sent between the two.
In August 2022, 33-year-old Hudson, formerly of Lincoln Street in Garston, was jailed for 27 months at Liverpool Crown Court. However Jones, of Holmefield Avenue in Runcorn, followed him into a prison cell during 2023 – being jailed for two years after pleading guilty to possessing indecent images of children and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence.
Tyler Rogers
A perverted voyeur used a hidden camera to secretly film nude women in the changing rooms of Crosby Leisure Centre.
Tyler Rogers, 22, concealed his phone in a black sock with a hole in it before sliding it under the door of a cubicle where a 15-year-old girl was changing at around 9.45am on May 25 2023. The girl noticed what was happening and went to her mother's cubicle in tears.
Rogers, from Crosby, pleaded guilty to eight counts of voyeurism and one count of making an indecent image of a child. He was jailed for 16 months.
Paul McKee
A children's entertainer known as "Professor Paulos" could spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was unmasked as a "predatory paedophile" who treated young girls "like little sex slaves".
Magician Paul McKee, who was well-known in the Wirral area, subjected seven victims to a catalogue of sickening abuse over the course of nearly 25 years. The 57-year-old had to be extradited back to the UK from Thailand in order to face justice over his horrific crimes.
McKee was convicted of 13 child sexual offences, including rape and sexual assault, after a trial as well as being cleared of two further counts. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for 30 years – a term of which he must serve at least two thirds before becoming eligible for release – and handed an additional four-year licence period.
Derek Moon
A serial paedophile told police "that didn't happen hun" after he was arrested over his sick crimes.
Derek Moon subjected his young victims to a catalogue of sickening sexual abuse over the course of nearly two decades. The rapist gave one girl a sleeping pill before attacking her in a semi-conscious state and groomed another by giving her vinyl records.
Moon admitted rape and 12 counts of sexual assault. He was jailed for 12 years and five months.
Steven Laverty
A disgraced PE teacher who had sex with a former pupil has been jailed.
Steven Laverty was found guilty of one count of sexual activity with a child by a jury. He was locked up for three years.
Sara Oliveria and David Lee
A paedophile couple met for the first time in the dock at court after being convicted of a series of disturbing child sexual offences.
Sara Oliveria and David Lee hatched their sickening plot, which saw her film herself performing sex acts as a young child watched, in a series of Facebook and WhatsApp messages. She then sent these videos to the man, whom she had never actually seen in person, in order to fulfil his depraved "thrills and satisfactions".
Oliveria admitted two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. She was jailed for 16 months.
Lee pleaded guilty to encouraging an offender, possession of indecent images and three counts of making indecent images. He was imprisoned for two years.
Raymond Henharen
A paedophile whisked a boy away from his mum in a shopping centre while promising to take him to an arcade.
Raymond Henharen befriended the youngster's family on a day trip before his behaviour started to ring alarm bells with his parents. The convicted sex offender began obsessing over the teenager, convincing his unwitting mother to leave him in her care and hounding his dad to allow them to play football together.
Henharen, who was assisted by a British sign language interpreter in court, admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order. Wearing a black North Face hooded top under a black coat in the dock, he was jailed for 20 months.
Erickson Pascual
A paedophile took pictures up schoolgirls' skirts on buses and groomed a teenager for sex by plying her with booze and buying her underwear from Primark.
Erickson Pascual took the 13-year-old to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and plotted a stay at the Radisson Blu Hotel, where he had hoped to sexually abuse her. After his predatory behaviour was reported to the police, officers discovered that he had secretly been filming young girls in their uniforms as they travelled to and from school.
Pascual admitted meeting a child after grooming, operating equipment beneath clothing without consent, possession of indecent images and making indecent images. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was jailed for four years and four months.
Anthony Shackleton
A pervert sexually assaulted a bedbound woman after breaking into a property as she slept.
Anthony Shackleton broke into the address in Woodchurch in the early hours of Wednesday, May 31. Inside was a woman in her 80s, who was asleep at the time.
The victim, who is bedbound, woke up to the 33-year-old "standing over her" wearing a hoodie. When she asked who he was, Shackleton shouted that she was a "nosey b****" and a "c***" before sexually assaulting her.
He admitted burglary and sexual assault. Judge Robert Trevor-Jones jailed him for five years and 10 months and handed him an additional four-year licence period.
Michael McGrane
A "depraved, evil" paedophile repeatedly raped a little girl years before he would go on to sexually assault and murder a pregnant woman while playing doctor in Australia.
Michael McGrane, 62, systematically abused the young girl throughout the 1970s and 80s, grooming her with presents and sweets while sexually assaulting and raping her "hundreds of times". The predator later qualified as a doctor and moved to Brisbane, where he drugged and molested multiple female patients, including seven months pregnant Yuen Ling Chan, who reported what he had done to the Australian Health Rights Commission.
Two months later, McGrane murdered her by injecting her with a fatal dose of morphine. He was jailed for life in 2001, four years after the killing, and in 2003 he admitted sexually abusing nine other women, at least four of whom were drugged.
Despite his life sentence, he was later released and deported to the UK in 2013. In December 2022, he was landed in the dock once again after being caught with nearly 1,600 indecent images of children. Now the "depraved" killer is back behind bars, being given 23 years after being found guilty of rape, buggery and indecent assault in relation to historic offences.
Robert Byrne
A lost boy fell into the clutches of a prolific paedophile who was prowling Liverpool city centre at 3am dressed like a police officer.
The 13-year-old victim had run away from where he was living with his nan and travelled on his own to Liverpool, hoping to find his mum's house in the Everton area. However he ended up lost and scared in the early hours.
Meanwhile, prolific child abuser Robert Byrne, 56, was prowling the area wearing a bullet proof vest and a utility belt, holding what appeared to be a wireless radio. Byrne, of Fountains Road in Birkenhead, told the shopkeeper he would "radio in" the lost boy, and walked away with him towards McDonald's at Lime Street, telling him: "I was due to finish early but now I have to deal with you."
They then walked to the McDonald's on Lord Street as the toilets at the Lime Street branch were locked, and Byrne bought the boy a hot chocolate. While Byrne and the boy were sipping their drinks, the real police turned up.
Byrne admitted kidnap and breaching a sexual harm prevention order. He was jailed for five years and four months.
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