Criminal cases that the Crown Prosecution Service take to court are in the news every day. This section also covers many issues related to our work, including violence against women and girls, hate crime, support for victims and witnesses, statistics, and speeches by the Director of Public Prosecutions and other senior staff.
Latest news
You can find our latest news stories here and search for older stories. You can also find more information about high-profile cases and the work of the CPS.
A criminology student at Liverpool University has been sentenced for the rape and sexual assault of two female students.Ewan Blair, 20, of Crown Place, Liverpool, met both women in the autumn term of 2023 and both said he seemed friendly at first.He met one of the women in a bar in Liverpool city…
An 82-year-old former children’s nurse has been jailed for 25 years for the sexual abuse of four boys during the 1960s and 1970s.Graham Goodchild, who now lives in Southampton, was found guilty of four counts of buggery, one count of attempted buggery and 11 counts of indecent assault at Liverpool…
A twenty-three year old Cheshire man has been jailed for raping and controlling a woman over a number of months.The Crown Prosecution Service said that Sefa Sarikaya forced the woman to have sex and stopped her seeing friends and family. He changed the password on her phone so that he could…
A serious and persistent child sex offender has been given a 35-year sentence for a number of non-recent offences against two young boys.Raymond Hawthorne, 59, was jailed yesterday (14 May 2024) at Liverpool Crown Court following a trial in March 2024.Hawthorne groomed and sexually abused the…
A man who offered four boys under nine money and then sexually assaulted them has been jailed.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Gary Campbell, 60, assaulted the boys after he'd travelled to Warrington in July 2023 from his home in Dolton in Devon.The offences were committed between 23…
A man who worked as a teaching assistant and as a volunteer with a children’s activity group in Cheshire has been jailed for eight years for 33 child sexual abuse offences.Andrew Thompson, 32, of Rossall Road, Great Sankey, was jailed at Chester Crown Court on 19 February 2024 for offences…
A man who systematically abused a girl from when she was 10 years old until she was 17 and left her traumatised has been jailed.Dale Pendleton Briers, 32, of Lathom Road, Manchester, groomed his victim into thinking that what he was doing was acceptable. He pretended it was just a game when he…
A man has been jailed for nine years for raping a teenage girl who came into the shop on Merseyside where he was working.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Saidi Hussain, 24, raped the 17-year-old girl after asking her to follow him into the back of the shop in Bootle on 5 March 2022…
A Merseyside man has been sentenced for a series of rapes and sexual assaults committed against two women over a period of 15 years.
Alan Pickering, 42, of Procter Road in Rock Ferry, raped and sexually assaulted the women, often when they were asleep.
The assaults ranged from touching…
A carer who sexually assaulted a young woman in a residential care facility while she was having a series of epileptic seizures has been jailed for six years.
A senior lawyer at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the case against Benjamin Poole, 21, of Somerville Street in Crewe, was one…
Press ReleaseSexual offencesMersey-Cheshire
Press Office contact details
Please note that our Press Office is NOT able to deal with issues or queries from members of the public - these contact details are for accredited journalists ONLY. Do not call this number unless you a member of the press. For all general enquiries, please visit contact.cps.gov.uk.
If you are a national or international journalist with a media enquiry, you can contact the CPS Press Office on 020 3357 0906 or email [email protected] (9am-5pm weekdays only).
For out-of-hours media enquiries please call 020 3357 0906 to reach the duty press officer.
If you follow us on social media, you can expect posts covering some or all of the following:
Operational updates on decisions to prosecute or take no further action;
Reactions and statements on trial outcomes;
Policy updates from the Director of Public Prosecutions and other prosecutors;
Updates on media appearances by CPS staff
Content that explains the role of the CPS and how we work
Highlighting of relevant work by our criminal justice partners and other stakeholders
We will aim to be fair and accurate in all the information we publish. We will aim to correct any inaccuracies as soon as possible.
We are unable to monitor social media round the clock. We are not able to engage with all those who seek a response from us due to resources but also due to privacy and the sensitive nature of some of our work. The best way to contact the CPS is through our website.
Please do not try to report crime using social media. To report crime, please call 101 or visit your local police station. In an emergency, always call 999.
If you follow us on social media we will not automatically follow you back. Being followed by us does not imply endorsement of any kind.
Media protocol
To ensure greater openness in the reporting of criminal proceedings, the CPS, the police and media representatives developed a joint protocol for working together. We are currently in the process of updating the protocol.
