Offender ‘abducted child’ and was stabbed near Bank Quay

Andrew Cooper travelled to Warrington with a 12-year-old boy he met in a ‘chance meeting’.

The 25-year-old then had an altercation with an individual who ‘owed him money for drugs’ in what was a strange course of events.

He was later arrested and charged with child abduction, and he appeared to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court, via videolink from HMP Altcourse, on Monday.

Henry Riding, prosecuting, explained how this was an ‘unusual case of child abduction’.

The 12-year-old met the defendant randomly on one afternoon over the summer, having never met before.

Along with a friend, the boy was ‘chilling’ in Cooper’s flat, where the defendant was drinking alcohol.

The child was not drinking with him, but at one point Cooper asked him to hold his drink and said the boy could ‘have some if he wanted’.

The boy’s friend left at around 10pm and Cooper offered to let the child stay over, to which the child agreed.

To officers later on, the child said that the defendant ‘did not do anything to make him feel uncomfortable’, and that he felt comfortable staying over.

Shortly before midnight, the defendant and victim left the flat to head to Crewe railway station, with the defendant ‘at some point’ telling the child that he was from Tottenham in London.

The child told police that Cooper ‘did not say why they were going’, and that while he was ‘kind of happy to do so’, he ‘felt like he had no choice’.

There was talk of going to London but there were no trains, so they went to Warrington Bank Quay instead in the hope of catching another train from there.

After leaving the station, the child went to a nearby shop to buy a drink, and when he left the store the defendant was spotted walking funny and holding his chest.

The court heard how he had come across a man who ‘owed him money for drugs’, who as a result had slashed him several times with a knife to his arms and chest.

Cooper then tried to ‘hotwire a motorbike’, but he was forced to attend hospital due to his injuries.

Andrew Cooper was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court

He later arrested, and in his possession police found a BB gun and a claw hammer.

The youth informed police that at some point, Cooper had ‘asked him if he had ever done flake or cocaine, and if he would sell it for him’.

The court also heard that the defendant had ‘offered to buy the boy a new bike’, but he declined.

Mr Riding explained: “There is no suggestion that the defendant deliberately targeted the victim , or that the offence was in any way sexually motivated.”

He added that Cooper has seven previous convictions for 21 offences, including offences of possession of a bladed article, and that the offence occurred within a month of his release from prison.

In defence of his client, Julian Farley said that he ‘accepts in full everything that has been put forward to the court’.

The barrister confirmed that only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate and asked the court to take into account the defendant’s background.

He added that Cooper is currently working as a cleaner in prison and is looking to complete as many courses as he can while inside.

Before sentencing, judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: “The victim was 12 years of age at the time, and someone you came into contact with by pure chance.

“He was clearly a vulnerable person, and you offered him to stay.”

He described the decision to get a train to Warrington as ‘bizarre behaviour’, but he added that there was ‘no question of any force or violence used to intimidate him’, or of ‘any sexual motivation’.

In conclusion, he said: “It is quite clear, given the nature of the offence, that there must be immediate imprisonment.”

Cooper, of Barnabas Avenue in Crewe, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

He was also handed a restraining order not to contact the victim for five years, while an order was approved to deprive him of the BB gun and claw hammer.

A mugshot was requested from Cheshire Police, however at the time of publication the force had not responded.