Cambridge Magistrates' Court Sentencing Results

Darek Smagiel, 55, was seen swerving across lanes on the A14 eastbound at Fenstanton on 13 July 2026 and was reported by members of the public. Police stopped his Iveco lorry and found bottles of whiskey in the cab. A roadside breath test showed 221 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than six times the legal limit. He later gave an evidential reading of 121 in custody. He pleaded guilty at Cambridge Magistrates' Court and was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and disqualified from driving for three years.

Daniel Almond-Farrant carried out lock and unlock duties and alarm response at a Cambridge premises under a contract with Cambridge Security Services Ltd despite not holding the required SIA licence. This was uncovered in an SIA investigation. He admitted knowing it was illegal.

Paul Thomson, sole director of Cambridge Security Services Ltd, knowingly deployed an unlicensed operative, Daniel Almond-Farrant, as a keyholder under a contract for keyholding services at a Cambridge premises, which included lock and unlock duties and alarm response responsibilities. Both admitted during SIA interviews that they knew the deployment was illegal.

Wendy Davies, 75, of Station Road, Isleham, kept pigs in hazardous conditions without a dry place to lie down or water, and poultry in a filthy environment at Willow Tree Stables. She also failed to maintain medicine records or reports of dead animals. Following an investigation by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Trading Standards, officers visited the holding on several occasions and provided extensive advice along with veterinary surgeons at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), but she failed to act to provide for the basic needs of her livestock.

Cara Powell was pulled over by police in Carlton Way, Cambridge, on 18 December 2025. She initially gave officers a false name before admitting her real identity and revealing she was already disqualified following a previous drug driving conviction. Officers smelled cannabis and a roadside drug swipe was positive, but she failed to provide an evidential sample in custody.

Brennan Kiplagat drove his Audi into a garden wall in Sunningdale Drive, Fen Road, Cambridge, on the evening of Saturday, 25 January 2026, while more than five times the legal drink driving limit. He was found asleep in the car nearby, with a bottle of whisky on the passenger seat. He blew 177 on a roadside breath test, exceeding the legal limit of 35, and was arrested. No one was injured.

Haygen Norman, 19, of Crystal Lakes, Fenstanton, smashed into a bollard and then reversed into a lorry in King’s Parade, Cambridge, at about 6am on Sunday 24 August 2025. He abandoned his car and walked away, but officers found him in Harvey Goodwin Avenue, Cambridge. He failed a breath test and was arrested.

Marion Read, 75, was spotted swerving across lanes in Comberton Road, Toft, on Thursday, 23 October 2025, before she crashed into another car and then drove off. Police found her at her home in Mill Lane, Toft, with her car on the driveway. It had a damaged front wheel. She was arrested and was found to be over the legal alcohol limit.

On 25 July, Jack Walker, 27, of Clara Rackham Street, Cambridge, was spotted carrying a seven-inch bread knife in Ditton Lane, Cambridge. A member of the public flagged down police officers who were on patrol. When approached, Walker pulled the knife from his trousers and dropped it on the ground. He was arrested at the scene.

On the evening of October 12, 2024, Owen Dodwell, 21, of Ramsey Road, Warboys, was driving a black BMW and attempted to overtake another vehicle on a blind hill on the B1040 Somersham Road in St Ives, crossing a solid white line at an estimated 70mph. This caused a head-on crash with a blue Ford Transit Connect at a combined impact speed of around 130mph. The other driver suffered serious injuries including a fractured sternum, burns, missing teeth, and a broken ankle, requiring hospital treatment.

Nicola Sharkey, 65, of The Green, Steeple Morden, conducted a prolonged campaign of harassment against her 94-year-old neighbour starting in 2021. She filmed the victim while he mowed his lawn or had visitors, verbally abused him and his visitors, and in September 2023 erected a six-foot-high fence that blocked his driveway access, making it difficult for him to receive food and medication deliveries. Her mobile phone contained 76 photos and videos of the victim, including footage from hidden cameras. The victim reported feeling cut off from the world, stressed, and scared to leave his house, especially after losing his wife and experiencing reduced mobility due to age.

Edward Allcock, a 62-year-old man now of no fixed abode, bellowed racist abuse and harassed his neighbours in Clarke Close, Cottenham, multiple times between Friday, 15 November and Wednesday, 27 November 2024. He also threw objects such as ceramic plates at his neighbour’s vehicles from his window.

Daniel Cawley crashed his white Ford van into parked cars in Huntingdon Street, St Neots, at about 9pm on April 30. He was slurring his words, walked off towards Great Paxton, and later called police claiming the van had been stolen. He was identified from a video filmed by a member of the public, failed a breath test, and was arrested.

Ryan Woollard was driving a black Audi RS5 on the afternoon of 7 July when he crashed into a parked car at a garage on Witchford Road, Ely. He left the scene at speed, overtook a vehicle in a 20mph zone, and was arrested at the level crossing in Chettisham.

On the evening of June 14, 2025, Alexandra Cave was pulled over by police in Linton near Haverhill while driving a black Volkswagen Fox. She was disqualified from driving at the time and had a 16-month-old child in the front passenger seat. She provided a positive breath sample of 70 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath, twice the legal limit of 35 mcg, and an evidential sample of 41 in custody.

Renatas Dargevicius, 56, of Edinburgh Drive, Wisbech, caused a collision on April 28, 2025, at about 10.45am by pulling out of the junction of Churchill Road and Elm Road in his Vauxhall Astra into the path of a Nissan Micra. He registered 115 on a roadside breathalyser, more than three times the legal limit of 35, and provided an evidential sample of 108 in custody.

Shaun Eldridge, 34, of Akeman Close, Stretham, was drinking at a pub in Ely before he took his ex-partner’s car without her consent and drove it at about 1am on 1 November 2024. He crashed into a barn in Upware Road, just outside Ely. Police received a 999 call about 20 minutes later. At the scene, he registered 109 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath, more than three times the legal limit of 35. Further checks revealed he had no valid driving licence and no insurance.

Darren Valentine, a 34-year-old man from Squires Close, Chesterton, Cambridge, was arrested by neighbourhood police on 10 January 2025 at his home after being found in possession of a stolen black Dallingridge Oxford folding bike worth more than £1,000. The bike had been taken from the owner’s shed, and officers tracked down the owner via Cycle King on Mill Road.

Amy Hunt, 37, of Campkin Court, Cambridge, uploaded an indecent image of a child to Facebook on 6 March 2023, alerting officers. She was arrested, and her devices were seized, revealing 38 category A images, 20 category B images, and 21 category C images of children. Hunt claimed her phone was hacked, but no evidence supported this.

Luke Jarrett, 26, was spotted by officers driving a green Jeep Cherokee on the A47, from Thorney Toll towards Wisbech, at about 9am on September 22. Concerns had been raised for his welfare that morning as he had been due to attend Cambridge Magistrates’ Court to face charges relating to illicit images of children.

Alan Croft, sole director of BestLet Property Management and Lettings, unlawfully evicted a tenant from a room in a shared house managed by BestLet by entering the room without 24 hours' notice or permission, failing to serve legal notice or apply to court for possession, changing the locks, and instructing an employee to put the tenant's possessions into bin bags and leave them in the front garden. BestLet also failed to protect the tenant's deposit and return it.

Daniel Lee Crockwell, aged 35, of Milton Road, Cambridge, operated Cambridge Skip Hire at Half Acre Site, Long Drove, which began as a skip hire site but became an unpermitted waste transfer station. Environment Agency officers first visited in August 2016, left a letter, then issued a stop notice. In November 2016, Crockwell agreed to clear the site by 16 February 2017 but failed to do so. He only held a waste carriers’ licence and stopped taking extra waste in November 2017. The site required infrastructure improvements, planning, and health and safety compliance to operate legally as a waste transfer station.

Samuel Stewart, 42, from Hinchcliffe, Orton Goldhay, was intercepted by police around 11:15pm on 16 December in Peterborough's Orton Centre while loitering suspiciously. He was found carrying a rucksack containing pliers, a metal rod, and a Stanley knife. On 22 January at Cambridge Magistrates' Court, he admitted carrying a bladed article in public and was sentenced to six months and one week in prison.