UPDATE: |He said just three words after pouring boiling water over a homeless man News

The vicious assault arose out of a ‘trivial dispute’ following a night in the pub

A thug said just three words when he learning of victim’s injuries after pouring boiling water over a sleeping homeless man. Liam Coatsworth’s vicious attack arose out of a “trivial dispute” following a night in the pub.

The former window cleaner was sent back to prison this week, having resorted to the supply of heroin and crack cocaine after “falling on hard times”. The dad immediately began smashing up his phone when he realised that he had aroused the suspicions of the police.

Liverpool Crown Court heard this week that plain clothes police officers were on patrol in the St Helens area “seeking to tackle county lines drug supply” shortly after 11.30am on March 18 this year when they noticed Coatsworth leaving an address on Norman Salisbury Court before immediately returning inside. The 32-year-old was then seen damaging a mobile phone before being arrested.

Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, described how PCs were able to recover another device from him which contained messages which were “consistent with the supply of heroin and crack cocaine”, as well as a total of £45 in cash. He added: “This is clearly somebody else’s operation and he is working under the direction of others.”

Coatsworth, of no fixed address, has a “significant record” for violent offences, including receiving a three-year sentence for unlawful wounding in 2022. He was also handed 40 months in a young offenders’ institute for possession of heroin and crack cocaine in 2011 and a subsequent 15-month sentence of detention for being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine.

The St Helens Star previously reported that his assault conviction came after he poured boiling water from a kettle over a sleeping homeless man following a “trivial dispute”. The then 28-year-old left his victim with burns to his face and neck during the shocking incident, the Liverpool Echo reports.

However, when shown pictures of the severity of these wounds during interview, Coatsworth sarcastically told detectives “what a shame”. Claire Jones, appearing for the prosecution on this occasion, described how the incident unfolded after the complainant “asked if he could help him with somewhere to stay”.

The two were then said to have “socialised until the early hours” in the Duke pub in the town centre before returning to the defendant’s then home on Peter Street. Following a dispute over money, the man went to sleep in the communal living room.

He subsequently awoke “in excruciating pain” with his “skin peeling” and found Coatsworth “with a kettle in one hand and a shovel in the other”. It then became apparent that his assailant had poured boiling water over him while “screaming at him to get out”, threatening that he would “stab him and make sure he was finished” if he was arrested over the attack.

Despite being left “pleading for help” and with his skin “bubbling and peeling”, the victim was chased out of the address before seeking in refuge in a nearby pub. He spent more than a week in Whiston Hospital’s burns unit as a result of his horrific injuries.

Peter White, defending Coatsworth, told the court during his latest appearance: “Quite simply, Mr Coatsworth would say that he fell on hard times in terms of employment. He began using drugs. He fell back into old ways.

“He describes a difficult background growing up in the care of the local authority. He tells me that his mother had significant drug issues. He was exposed to that from a young age, as well as violence.

“He does have a long term partner. He has two daughters, aged nine and 13. He has had various jobs in lift installation, warehousing, window cleaning and the like. He hopes to start up a business in some sort of travelling food van.”

Coatsworth admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a green North Face jumper, he was jailed for another three years on Wednesday.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland KC said: “As I have sadly had to say so often before, drugs destroy people’s lives. They have resulted in you having served sentences in the past.

“Regrettably, although the last of these was many years ago, you got back into drugs and were inevitably dragged down into a cycle whereby you had to sell them in order to support your own habit. You were destroying your own life and assisting in destroying other people’s lives.

“That is the sad outcome of this dreadful trade. Therefore, when people are prosecuted and convicted of such offences, inevitably, the court must reach for a custodial sentences, and that I do.”