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HE ATTEMPTED TO TAKE THE LAW INTO HIS OWN HANDS BUT ENDED UP IN PRISON HIMSELF 15:59, 03 Jun 2025Updated 16:00, 03 Jun 2025 A 42-year-old man who forced another man to take his clothes off

on a Southport street while calling him a "nonce" has been jailed at Liverpool Crown Court. James Morris, of Manchester Road in the seaside town, approached Karl Brown while he was

sitting with a group of buskers outside the Scarisbrick Hotel on Lord Street on the evening of March 2 last year. As reported by the Liverpool Echo, the court heard how Mr Morris

"towered over" the victim before calling him a "nonce". Rumours had circulated in the weeks prior to the attack suggesting that Mr Brown had been ensnared in a paedophile

hunter sting. The court was told how Mr Morris "tried to take the law into his own hands" by accosting Mr Brown in a public setting. Mr Morris ordered his victim to strip, with

CCTV footage showing him forcibly taking the victim's coat, t-shirt, shoes and mobile phone and removing an item of jewellery from around his neck. Article continues below The necklace,

which was described as "irreplaceable" in court, was given to the victim by his late grandmother. Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, described how the incident persisted for around five

minutes in total. Morris was then said to have binned the items of clothing before another man, who has not been charged with any offences, punched and kicked Mr Brown. In a statement read

to the court on his behalf, Mr Brown said: "Since the incident took place, my quality of life has decreased significantly to the point where I've contemplated taking my own life.

"I've got family who care for me. Without them, I would struggle even more." The statement continued: "I feel the need to ring my mum, stepdad or grandmother 40 times a

day. I'm not the person I want to be. I find it difficult to trust anyone. "In the last 12 months, I've been taken to hospital 42 times with panic attacks due to flashbacks I

keep having from this incident." A statement from the victim's mother, Kim Brown, meanwhile detailed how her son suffers from "complex needs" and now resides in a care

home. She added that the silver chain taken from him had been an "irreplaceable" 18th birthday present from his deceased grandma, which he is "still upset" about losing.

"He's constantly living in fear," she said. "Karl won't go out alone as he's in fear of being attacked again. He thinks they're waiting for him."

Carmel Wilde, speaking in defence of former removals worker Morris, said: "He has candidly admitted that he should not have acted in that way while drunk and under the influence of

drugs. He foolishly tried to take the law into his own hands and impose some sort of judgement on Mr Brown, given what he had learned about Mr Brown being caught by a paedophile hunter

group." Article continues below She continued: "He recognises now, when sober, that is did not justify public humiliation by some sort of vigilante action." Following a trial,

Mr Morris was found guilty of robbery, although a jury cleared him of being in possession of a knife during the assault. Appearing in the dock wearing a grey prison issue jumper and

sporting short dark hair, he was jailed for three years and handed a 10-year restraining order.