Bristol Crown Court Sentencing Results

Patrick James was convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm after a blue Honda Accord mounted a pavement and struck an NHS worker walking home during the early COVID-19 pandemic. The victim suffered a broken leg, nose and cheekbone and was left with a lifelong scar. James was also involved in a separate deliberate hit-and-run that left a cyclist with fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.

Mark Foley, of Cardiff, director of M E Foley (Contractors) Ltd, allowed approximately 100,000 tonnes of waste, including hazardous materials such as chopped/shredded plastics, metals, foam and other man-made materials that were carcinogenic or ecotoxic, to be illegally dumped at Stowey Quarry, a former limestone quarry near Chew Valley reservoir in Somerset, in the first nine months of 2016. The site was permitted only for clean and non-hazardous material like soil and construction waste for recovery purposes. Waste was misleadingly described as 'soil substitute'. Despite repeated warnings from the Environment Agency, illegal tipping continued. The company declared only 44,950 tonnes but actual amount was nearly 95,000 tonnes. Permit suspended in October 2016.

Shameem Mohammed Ali was the matriarch of a Glasgow-based family that defrauded at least 40 elderly victims across the UK out of £1.3 million through a phone scam. Posing as bank workers, the gang persuaded pensioners to transfer money to them. Police found £100,476 in cash hidden in her bedroom, along with luxury items. She denied all knowledge, but family WhatsApp chats revealed her involvement. She was convicted of acquiring, using and possessing criminal property.

Tanya Petrie worked as a pharmacy technician for Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust at HMP Bristol. She began a flirtatious online relationship with a prisoner and collected a package from a wheelie bin near the prison in October 2023 containing two ounces of high-purity cocaine, 77g of Spice paste and tobacco, which she intended to give to the prisoner. She was strip searched and arrested on suspicion of conveying prohibited articles into a jail. She admitted smuggling seven SIM cards in exchange for £2,000 and stated she was paid £800 for the package. The judge noted the cocaine would have been worth between £12,500 and £21,000 inside the jail and that her offending was motivated by financial difficulties and her relationship with the prisoner.

Vincent Bruce, 23, of Bearley Lane, Tintinhull, purchased farm machinery stolen from farms in the Sedgemoor area of Somerset throughout 2020 alongside Harry Hollowell. He also bought and sold stolen plant machinery taken from building sites in the Cardiff area that year. Police raided a farm in South Barrow near Sparkford in October 2020 and recovered 20 pieces of stolen machinery and plant.

Younes Benmohammed, 45, attacked his friend the victim, 36, after an evening of drinking and playing poker. The assault began when Benmohammed accused the victim of sharing a photo of his ex-girlfriend with a black eye. He punched the victim repeatedly, struck him with a spirit level, and stabbed him with a kitchen knife to the hand, torso, belly, and side. The victim was made to lift his top so Benmohammed could cut him further, and was told he would not be released unless he paid thousands of pounds. The victim, who had urinated in his trousers out of fear, was eventually driven home by Benmohammed and his partner, where a housemate called an ambulance. The victim suffered serious injuries and the attack lasted several hours. Benmohammed was convicted by a jury at Hove Crown Court in September 2023 and sentenced later that year.

Zaeden Perkins, along with Hamza Mahmoud and Faisal Uriakhail, stabbed a man in a frenzied and sustained three-on-one attack in broad daylight just before 3.30pm on February 18, 2023, in a park between Baldwin Road and Monmouth Road, Halcon, Taunton. The victim's injuries were not life-threatening. Police and ambulance crews attended the scene in the residential area.

Toyan Young, 31, of Dermot Street, caused a disturbance at Turbo Island on Stokes Croft in May 2022 while subject to a suspended sentence for robbery. He threatened a police officer responding to an assault report, appeared under the influence of drugs or alcohol, behaved aggressively in a shop and walked towards the officer. He was arrested and pleaded guilty.

Anthony Nowogrodzki, a senior Crown prosecutor with over 30 years’ experience as a criminal defence solicitor, was convicted of child cruelty and assault by beating. The offences involved violence against a child on more than one occasion. He was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court in July 2024 to concurrent terms of 14 months’ imprisonment for child cruelty and three months for assault by beating.

Benjamin John Semple, a 46-year-old former girls' rugby coach and electrical engineer from Lawrence Weston Road, was alone with a 15-year-old girl when he groped her and tried to get her to touch him improperly. The complainant suffered nightmares as a result of the abuse. Semple, a father-of-three, was convicted after a jury trial.

Alfie Cook, driving a BMW, and another driver, driving a Ford Fiesta, were racing each other at high speed on the A36 Warminster Road at Claverton, near Bradford on Avon, on April 15, 2023, causing a four-car crash that killed 26-year-old victim and seriously injured others.

David Jowitt used online messaging platforms to groom profiles he believed belonged to children, including a person he believed was a 12-year-old girl, and travelled to Bristol expecting to meet a child. The profiles were operated by undercover police. Officers found he was also grooming other child profiles and had Category A child abuse images on his devices.