Merseyside Police is welcoming a suspended sentence for a Speke man who has breached the conditions of his Gang Injunction.
Luke Thomas Ross was sentenced to 56 days in prison, suspended until May 2018, at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, Tuesday 7 November.
Ross was first given a Gang Injunction in 2012 in relation to gang-related activity in Speke. Ross served 28 days in prison for breaching an interim gang injunction in March 2017 and today’s extension means that any further breach will result in the suspended sentence being activated and a significant custodial sentence.
The order prevents Ross from:
• Associating with or communicating with any other individuals named on the order
• Entering an area bordered by Speke Blvd, Speke Hall Avenue, Dunlop Road, Hale Road, Eastern Avenue, Alderfield Drive (see Map A) unless it is with the sole purpose of going home, going to a specified family address or, in the cases of some, taking a child to school
• Using or threatening to use violence against any person or property
• Engaging in any threatening or abusive behaviour
Local Policing Inspector Andy Wignall said: “Gang Injunctions in Speke have been extremely successful in helping us keep certain people away from each other and out of key areas of the Speke estate, which in turn reduces the opportunities to commit serious, organised crime. The action against Ross demonstrates that we will continue to enforce these injunctions when people fail to adhere to them.
“It is clear from our work that it is a very small number of people who become involved in criminality in Speke but these incidents do have a really negative effect on many more members of the community. Decent, law-abiding people should not have to suffer because of the actions of a few and residents can be assured that my officers, with support from the rest of the force, are doing everything we can to reduce violent crime in Speke by targeting the people we suspect are involved.
“The community has an important part to play in this and I would urge anyone with information about criminality to contact us or Crimestoppers. If you tell us, we will act on it.”