Police

We have issued CCTV stills of a man police believe could have information which would assist an investigation into an assault in Aintree.

It was reported a 61-year-old man was assaulted at his home in Aintree on 13 January this year.

The offender is believed to have befriended the victim and entered his home, before attacking the man. A Rolex watch was also taken during the incident.

The victim sustained multiple injuries including a fractured eye socket in the assault.

Officers are now issuing CCTV stills of a man and are appealing to anyone who recognises him to come forward.

Detective Inspector Paul Speight said: “This was a shocking attack which happened after the offender gained the confidence of the victim.

“It is particularly upsetting to think that he then betrayed that confidence and took advantage of the victim’s hospitality to attack him, leaving him with a serious injury to his eye.

“We are determined to bring the man responsible to justice. As well as causing physical injuries to the victim, he has clearly been left extremely traumatised by this incident.

“We appeal to anyone who recognises the men in the stills to contact police as we continue to investigate.”

Anyone who recognises the man in the images should contact the Merseyside Police social media desk via Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook Merseyside Police CC.

You can also call 101 quoting incident reference 19100012902 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or via their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information.

Police are appealing for witnesses following an RTC in Southport involving a bus and a pedestrian.

Officers were called shortly before 5pm yesterday afternoon (February 27) to reports that a collision had taken place involving a bus and a pedestrian.

The pedestrian, a woman in her 40s has been taken to hospital. The extent of her injuries are unknown at this time.

Anyone that witnessed the collision is asked to DM @MerPolCC quoting ref: 715 of 27/2/19.

Merseyside Police will be recruiting an additional 80 new police officers and 14 police staff and will be able to stem the loss of approximately 40 officer posts to invest in more police on the streets of Merseyside over the next year.

This means that the force will be able to invest in the creation of a new team to target wanted fugitives and the introduction of a new Cyber Investigations Unit.

The force budget was announced last week at a special public meeting held by Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Jane Kennedy and Chief Constable Andy Cooke.

Funding for 40 of the new officer posts has been generated from the increase of the police precept on council tax, following a public consultation held by the Commissioner. Savings that the force has identified throughout the last year, have also generated funding for a further 40 officers and will save approximately 40 police officer posts that were due to be lost.

The force will also bring in an extra 14 police staff in 2019/20.

The new and saved posts will increase capacity on the front line and create dedicated teams of officers and staff to target those who cause the most harm to the communities of Merseyside.

In the last year Merseyside has seen an increase in knife crime, violence and robbery, and the force is still managing the threat that serious organised crime, which includes gun and drug related crime, brings to communities. We want to ensure that we have the capacity to respond to these incidents and put those involved in this type of criminality on the back foot.

To do that we are now in the position to create a Priority Crime Team within Matrix disruption. The sole aim of that team will be to transfer the fear of crime back on to the criminal through targeted, proactive policing.

A centralised Fugitive Team will also be set up to track and arrest wanted criminals and bring them to justice. The team will find those wanted on arrest warrants and who have breached licences and will support the force’s local policing and targeted teams to locate suspects who commit crime in our communities.