Clockwise from top left Critchley, Quinn, Miller, Draper, Duffy and Kinsella
A “pack of animals” called a judge a “nonce” and a “paedophile” as he locked the thugs up for a total of nearly 50 years.
It was after boxer Anthony Dodson was left with life-threatening injuries after he was stabbed in the heart after fighting broke out in a nightclub and spilled onto the street.
Mr Dodson is the son of former professional boxer Tony Dodson, who held the British super middleweight title in 2003 and retired in 2016, Liverpool Echo reports.
Anthony Dodson, himself, won the Merseyside and Cheshire Youth Championship final in 2020 and made it to the quarter finals of the national championship, fighting out of Gemini Boxing Club in Speke.
Milne Critchley, Adam Draper, Lee Duffy, Jordan Kinsella, Eugene Mason-Lamb, George Miller and Cameron Quinn and a 17-year-old boy who cannot be identified for legal reasons were convicted of offences including unlawful wounding and violent disorder in connection with the early hours brawl following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
On Monday, six of the thugs were jailed to terms totalling 46 years, while one was spared an immediate prison sentence and the youth will learn his fate today.
Sentencing Judge Stuart Driver KC was abused with references to paedophiles as he sent the six down.
The judge had earlier said: “A punch thrown by George Miller sparked violent disorder inside the club, involving several of these defendants. In the incident, one man was struck with a bottle and kicked while he was on the ground and the bottle was then used by throwing to wound the scalp of another man. A knife was brandished.
“Most of the defendants were ejected but remained outside. A few minutes later one of the victims, Kia Robinson, came out, and he was attacked by about half a dozen men who had at least three weapons – a knife, a sharp piece of glass and a large fan – and he suffered a scalp wound and other injuries.
“His friend, Alex Murphy, tried to protect him. He was stabbed in the back with a piece of glass and slashed at with a knife. The victims then went back inside. The defendants’ group waited outside for them.
“Some minutes later, the four victims came out and were confronted by a much larger group. The footage shows the small group walking backwards, backing away as a large group advances towards them throwing missiles.
“Anthony Dodson became separated and alone. He was surrounded and he was punched, kicked and stabbed. His injuries were certainly life-threatening.
Anthony Dodson in the ring
“He is lucky to be alive. The emergency services reached him almost immediately as he lay in the street. Had they not, it is likely that his family would have suffered a tragedy and these defendants would have faced homicide charges.
“He has not made a full recovery. One eyewitness described these defendants as behaving like a pack of animals. No reasonable person could disagree with that.
“It was a group attack of 10 onto one. In each case, it is mitigated by the fact that each defendant did not actually inflict the knife wound.”
Some who became embroiled in the violence burned designer clothing in a park and attempted to flee to France as illegal stowaways on a lorry in the aftermath.
Mr Dodson was found collapsed at the junction of Church Street and Whitechapel, Liverpool, at around 5am on December 27 last year, having been stabbed twice in the heart and twice more near to the armpit.
The 21-year-old was not breathing and had gone into cardiac arrest, but his “life was saved” thanks to the intervention of medics.
Problems began in the Safehouse club at about 5am, when “things turned ugly” inside the bar, ….Ball told the court.
Anthony Dodson
He said: “This safehouse was anything but. The violence with which we are concerned started inside the bar, but was to continue shortly afterwards out on the street.
After the attacks, Critchley, of Sprucewood Close in Anfield, left in a cab with a man called Luke Bowland while Draper, Duffy, Kinsella, Miller and the teen departed the city centre on foot via St John’s Gardens. Draper, of St David’s Road in Huyton, had disposed of a lock knife in an industrial bin near to German Doner Kebab beforehand.
Critchley’s “distinctive” black Givenchy sweater was subsequently discovered “charred but recognisable” on Thirlmere Park in Everton alongside several burned mobile phones in what was described as an “attempt to destroy evidence which would link him and others to the incident”.
He, Draper, Quinn and Mr Bowland were later arrested in Folkstone, Kent, after attempting to leave the UK for France as illegal stowaways in the back of a lorry.
Kinsella and Mason-Lamb were detained by officers while “out and about” while Duffy, Miller and the teen handed themselves into the police. Jones has been circulated as wanted by Merseyside Police, but his whereabouts are “currently not known”.
Four of the men seen to be involved in the incident on the footage have not been identified by the force. Mr Bowland meanwhile was “ruled out of either participating in, encouraging or providing back up to his friends in their violence”.
Mr Ball described how Mr Dodson “faces an uncertain prognosis” as his “heart is not functioning correctly”.
Critchley was found guilty of wounding with intent, having admitted violent disorder. Groans were heard in the public gallery and one woman left the courtroom in tears as he was jailed for 10 years, a term of which he must serve two thirds behind bars before becoming eligible for release.
Judge Driver told him: “You were a prominent member of the group violence on Peter Street. You took part in a group attack on Kia Robinson, who was heavily outnumbered and was punched, kicked and struck by a weapon. That in itself was a serious crime, deserving of a significant custodial sentence.
“Another aggravating feature is your behaviour afterwards. You burned, or caused to be burned, evidence and fled the country to escape.”
Draper was convicted of unlawful wounding by a jury. The 21-year-old was handed four years and will be subject to a two-year serious violence reduction order upon his release.
The judge said in his case: “It is aggravated by your previous conviction for possession of a bladed article in a public place. That is particularly concerning.
Tony Dodson
“You were seen to hide a knife in a bin immediately after this incident. It cannot be proved that this was the knife which was used to cause any wound, but it must have been in possession of one of the attackers during the incident. You also fled the country afterwards.”
Miller admitted violent disorder but was found guilty of wounding with intent. Further groans were heard in court as the 20-year-old was locked up for 10 years, of which he must serve at least two thirds in custody.
Judge Driver added: “You started it all with a gratuitous punch in the nightclub. You later took part in violent disorder in the street, using violence in an attack upon an outnumbered man who was punched and kicked on Peter Street. He was injured with a weapon and another man was stabbed.”
Quinn was convicted of two counts of wounding with intent, having pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He stood with his arms folded in the dock then shrugged as he was imprisoned for 12 years, of which he must serve two thirds, while a co-defendant patted him on the back.
The judge told him: “You used a piece of glass to stab Alex Murphy in the back during violent disorder which, principally, was a group attack on Kia Robinson. This conviction for two offences of section 18 wounding with intent on two separate victims in two separable incidents is very grave indeed, and you must receive a longer sentence than any of your co-defendants. You also fled the jurisdiction afterwards.”
Kinsella was found guilty of unlawful wounding, having admitted violent disorder. The 29-year-old nodded as he was jailed for four years.
Duffy was convicted of unlawful wounding, attempted unlawful wounding and possession of a bladed article in a public place. He also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was given six years in a young offenders’ institute.
Judge Driver said of him: “It is aggravated by the fact that you used the knife you had taken out with you to try to slash the arm of a man who had just been stabbed in the back by somebody else. You waved the knife around inside the club after you had kicked one victim when he was already on the floor.”
Defence lawyers for the men had earlier urged for leniency from the judge saying the defendants were full of remorse over the attack.
Yet, as the six were then led down to the cells, shouts of “you’re a nonce”, “Judge Driver, you touch kids” and “you’re a little paedophile” were heard from the dock.
They were also seen to give the thumbs up to their supporters, who in return told them: “Love yous.”
Mason-Lamb – who was allowed to remain out of the dock – admitted violent disorder, having been cleared of wounding with intent and unlawful wounding following the trial. Cries of “yes” and clapping were heard from the public gallery as he was handed a 15-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months, 100 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 25 days.
The youth was found guilty of two counts of wounding with intent and admitted violent disorder. He will be sentenced later today.