Canterbury Crown Court Sentencing Results

Explore 48 verdicts at Canterbury Crown Court (Canterbury, Canterbury). Updated with the latest court outcomes.

Marshall Mitchell

Manslaughter

November 5, 2025

Sentence: To be sentenced

Marshall Mitchell, 35, from Crescent Road, Ramsgate, punched a man in an unprovoked attack outside a pub in Harbour Street, Ramsgate on March 28, 2025. The victim fell, hitting his head, and was taken to a local hospital before being transferred to a London hospital. The victim, a man in his 60s, died on April 18, 2025, from a traumatic brain injury.

Pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Detective Sergeant Dean Sycamore commented on the fatal consequences of violence.

Sources: kentlive.news

James Thorp

Conspiracy to Supply Class A Drugs

October 23, 2025

Sentence: 6 years and 6 months imprisonment

On January 21, 2019, Thorp's DNA was on a grip seal bag with 481g cocaine (£40,000 value) found in a stopped car on M20 near Ashford. Note linked him to 1.5kg cocaine supply network. In August 2018, £48,000 cash and encrypted phone seized from his vehicle.

Found guilty after trial of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, possession of criminal property, and possession of cocaine.

Sources: kentlive.news

Lucifer Hunter

Online child sexual exploitation

October 17, 2025

Sentence: 5 years imprisonment

Lucifer Hunter, aged 24 from The Stade, Folkestone, preyed on four girls aged 10 to 15 over a four-year period between 2019 and 2023, when he was aged 18 to 22. He posed as a 16-year-old schoolboy online via platforms including Xbox, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facetime, catfishing victims into believing he was a peer. He engaged in highly sexualised chats, referred to himself as 'Daddy', requested explicit photos often involving school uniforms or tights due to his fetish, recorded himself masturbating, and escalated to threats including rape, death threats, prison warnings, and exposure of photos to families or online if demands were refused. He blackmailed and verbally abused victims, turning aggressive when blocked. Police discovered 448 indecent images across three seriousness levels on his iPhones after a report in December 2023, along with chats and screenshots. One victim described him as a predator; another felt unsafe after he tracked her to an event. Possessed a five-pack of girls' knickers aged 2-3 with one missing. Victims suffered long-term impacts including loss of childhood, depression, and need for counselling.

Pleaded guilty to 14 offences. No previous convictions. Mental health issues including features of ADHD, autism, and mixed depressive anxiety disorder noted. Judge commented on the determined, persistent, and sophisticated nature of the offending. Subject to a 15-year sexual harm prevention order and indefinite sex offender notification requirements. Will serve two-thirds before release.

Sources: bristolpost.co.uk

Patrick George

Possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine

October 9, 2025

Sentence: 2 years and 8 months imprisonment

Patrick George, aged 29, of no fixed address, was involved in a county lines drug operation. Between June and July 2025, he used a property belonging to a vulnerable person in Ramsgate to conduct crimes related to the supply of class A substances. On July 14, 2025, in the Hardres Street area, he was detained during a police patrol observing suspicious behaviour related to a drugs deal. Packages of heroin and crack cocaine, and a clip seal bag containing multiple deals, were seized from him. Items connected to drug dealing and a mobile phone were also recovered.

Deeq Mohammed

Being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine

October 9, 2025

Sentence: 4 years and 8 months detention in a young offenders’ institution

Deeq Mohammed, aged 20, of Westvale Mews in Acton, London, was involved in a county lines drug operation. Between June and July 2025, he used a property belonging to a vulnerable person in Ramsgate to conduct crimes related to the supply of class A substances. On July 14, 2025, in the Hardres Street area, he was seen entering a nearby property during a suspected drugs deal and left by the back door. He was detained, and a quantity of cash and a mobile phone were recovered from him. The address was searched, revealing items connected to drug dealing.

Eddie Burton

Importing class A and B drugs

September 27, 2025

Sentence: 19 years imprisonment

Eddie Burton, 23, from Liverpool, vacuum packed over 300kg of class A and B drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and ketamine, in an Amsterdam flat. He arranged for the drugs to be shipped to the UK via lorries, with seizures occurring on July 3, 2022, and August 12, 2022. His DNA was found on drug packaging, and he was arrested in Ibiza for unrelated offences before being extradited to the UK in March 2024.

Pleaded guilty to importing class A and B drugs. Sentencing was delayed due to concerns he was a victim of modern slavery.

Sources: liverpoolecho.co.uk

Kenny Sanders

Fraud by false representation

September 25, 2025

Sentence: 6 years imprisonment

Kenny Sanders, from Guilton in Ash near Canterbury, set up an IT company and promised investors returns of 3 to 20 percent every 40 to 60 days, which never materialised. He conned victims, including friends, family, and a disabled woman who invested 75 percent of her life savings, out of sums ranging from £50,000 to £350,000. The funds were used to gamble on events like horse racing, greyhound racing, and football matches, with some gambling sessions lasting from 7am one day to 1am the next.

Sanders defrauded over 30 victims between 2012 and 2018 to fund his gambling addiction. He reported his own fraud and was charged with 11 counts of fraud by false representation.

Sources: kentlive.news

Steven Biggs

Rape

September 24, 2025

Sentence: 18 years imprisonment

In the early hours of August 4, 2020, Steven Biggs encountered two teenage girls, aged 13 and 14, outside a residential property on Freemans Way in Deal. The girls asked him for a cigarette, after which he invited them into the house and coerced one into a bedroom where he raped her. When they attempted to leave, he forcibly brought them back inside and carried out further rapes.

Found guilty of multiple sexual offences, including three counts of rape. Refused to take the stand during trial. Subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and a 25-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Sources: kentlive.news

Liam Jones

Grievous bodily harm with intent

September 19, 2025

Sentence: 5 years imprisonment with an additional 3 years on licence

Liam Jones attacked the victim at a house party in Cornwall Gardens, Canterbury, on May 29, 2025, during a dispute over money. He picked up two knives and stabbed the victim four times in the arm and leg, and also punched him multiple times in the head. The victim managed to escape, sought help at a nearby shop, and was taken to hospital for treatment of multiple head injuries and stab wounds.

Pleaded guilty to the charges. The victim suffered a sustained attack and is lucky to be alive, with permanent emotional and physical scars.

Sources: kentlive.news

Jonah Albanese

Attempting to arrange the sexual assault of a child

September 18, 2025

Sentence: 6 years imprisonment and 4 years on licence

Jonah Albanese, a 30-year-old from Snargate Street in Dover, breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order by possessing indecent videos of children and engaging in conversations to arrange sex with two children. He was arrested on March 18, 2025, following an alert from monitoring software on his devices. A search of his home uncovered two mobile phones containing the incriminating material. This offence occurred after a previous conviction for a sexual offence in 2024.

Pleaded guilty to nine charges including breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, failing to meet sex offender notification requirements, possessing indecent images of children, and attempting to arrange the sexual assault of a child. He had a previous sexual offence conviction in 2024.

Sources: kentlive.news

Kevin Horvath

Rape

September 12, 2025

Sentence: 17 years imprisonment with an additional 3 years on extended licence

Kevin Horvath, along with accomplices, kidnapped a 12-year-old girl from an Asda car park in Dover on August 11, 2025, gave her drugs including crystal meth and amphetamine, and repeatedly raped and subjected her to sexual acts in a car, a flat in Dover, and a caravan in Folkestone over three days until she escaped on August 13, 2025.

Lured the girl into the car and participated in the repeated rape and sexual acts, along with giving her drugs.

Sources: birminghammail.co.uk

Ivan Turtak

Rape

September 12, 2025

Sentence: 17 years imprisonment with an additional 3 years on extended licence

Ivan Turtak, along with accomplices, kidnapped a 12-year-old girl from an Asda car park in Dover on August 11, 2025, gave her drugs including crystal meth and amphetamine, and repeatedly raped and subjected her to sexual acts in a car, his flat in Dover, and a caravan in Folkestone over three days until she escaped on August 13, 2025.

Lured the girl into the car and participated in the repeated rape and sexual acts, along with giving her drugs.

Sources: birminghammail.co.uk

Ernest Gunar

Rape

September 12, 2025

Sentence: 19 years imprisonment with an additional 3 years on extended licence

Ernest Gunar, along with accomplices, kidnapped a 12-year-old girl from an Asda car park in Dover on August 11, 2025, gave her drugs including crystal meth and amphetamine, and repeatedly raped and subjected her to sexual acts in a car, a flat in Dover, and a caravan in Folkestone over three days until she escaped on August 13, 2025.

Participated in the repeated rape and sexual acts, along with giving the girl drugs.

Sources: birminghammail.co.uk

Feruz Kadirov

Importing cocaine

September 12, 2025

Sentence: 9 years and 9 months imprisonment

Feruz Kadirov, a 43-year-old lorry driver, hid 35kg of cocaine worth nearly £3 million in his truck among a legitimate cargo of Lego while travelling from Belgium to Dover. He was caught by Border Force officers during a search on July 15, 2025. Kadirov claimed he was coerced into transporting the packages due to threats against his family and believed they contained tobacco instead of drugs.

Pleaded guilty to importing cocaine. Claimed he was threatened and thought the packages contained tobacco. Judge stated he must have been aware of the nature and scale of the operation.

Sources: nottinghampost.com

Gary Mccarten

Burglary

September 11, 2025

Sentence: 3 years and 9 months imprisonment

Gary McCarten and Harry Grassi travelled from Brighton to Ramsgate on April 23, 2025. They covered their faces with balaclavas and kicked in the front door of a home on Queens Gate Road. The victims fled upstairs, but McCarten forced his way into the room where they were hiding. The pair stole a safe, two sets of car keys, a purse, and passports, leaving the victims terrified and feeling unsafe in their own home.

Harry Grassi

Burglary

September 11, 2025

Sentence: 1 year and 10 months imprisonment

Harry Grassi and Gary McCarten travelled from Brighton to Ramsgate on April 23, 2025. They covered their faces with balaclavas and kicked in the front door of a home on Queens Gate Road. The victims fled upstairs while the men searched the ground floor. The pair stole a safe, two sets of car keys, a purse, and passports, causing the victims to feel terrified and unsafe.

Joel Lebo

Supply of Class A Drugs

September 11, 2025

Sentence: 5 years and 7 months imprisonment

Joel Lebo, 27, was involved in a county lines drug operation known as ‘Larry’ in Thanet. He operated from a house in Westbrook Road, Margate, sending bulk marketing messages to known class A drug users. On June 25, 2025, officers arrested him during a search, seizing three phones, £1,360 cash, and class A substances hidden on his person. Investigations linked three phone numbers used for drug dealing to him.

Pleaded guilty to five charges including being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, possession with intent to supply a controlled drug, and possession of criminal property.

Sources: kentlive.news

Colby Hammond

Causing death by dangerous driving

August 28, 2025

Sentence: 7 years imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 6 years

Colby Hammond was driving his Seat Ibiza at high speeds, exceeding 75mph in a 30mph residential area in Broadstairs on October 1, 2023, while under the influence of alcohol. He lost control, crashing into a tree and causing the death of passenger Ethan Entwistle, who was in the passenger seat. The incident occurred after a night out involving drinking, and data from a telematic device confirmed frequent speeding. Despite warnings from passengers, Hammond continued driving recklessly.

Admitted causing death by dangerous driving. Judge Simon James highlighted excessive speed, driving under the influence of alcohol, and failure to heed passenger warnings.

Sources: kentlive.news

William Brazil

Causing grievous bodily harm

August 1, 2025

Sentence: 15 months imprisonment

William Brazil punched a man in his 60s on St Peter’s Street in Canterbury on March 29, 2025, causing him to fall and fracture his skull. The victim was socialising with his partner and friends when the unprovoked attack occurred. Brazil fled the scene but was identified through CCTV and arrested in Surrey on April 4, 2025.

Pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm. Prior awareness of police appeal noted.

Sources: kentlive.news

Giedrius Sadeckas

Being concerned in the production of a controlled drug

July 31, 2025

Sentence: 22 months imprisonment

Giedrius Sadeckas was running a cannabis farm at his house on Ramsgate Road, Broadstairs. On March 6, 2022, Kent Police executed a warrant based on intelligence linking the property to drug supply, discovering and seizing 33 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of £25,000.

Donna Green

Unlawful Wounding

July 25, 2025

Sentence: 2 years imprisonment

Donna Green and Leigh Moxam threatened to kill the victim over £400. They followed him to a cash machine on December 13, where Green stabbed the victim multiple times, and Moxam also assaulted him by stabbing and stamping, resulting in multiple stab wounds, injuries to the face, and a dislocated shoulder. The victim collapsed in a store and was taken to a London hospital.

Found guilty of unlawful wounding and possession of a knife after a trial. She stabbed the victim multiple times during the incident.

Sources: kentlive.news

Leigh Moxam

Attempted Murder

July 25, 2025

Sentence: 25 years imprisonment with an additional 3 years on licence

Leigh Moxam and Donna Green threatened to kill the victim if he did not hand over £400. They followed him to a cash machine on December 13, where Moxam stabbed the victim in the chest and stamped on him, causing multiple stab wounds, injuries to the face, and a dislocated shoulder. The victim collapsed in a store and was taken to a London hospital.

Found guilty of attempted murder after a trial. Detective Inspector Luke Stainer described the violence as mindless and noted the lasting impact on the victim.

Sources: kentlive.news

Patrick Howlett

Child Sexual Abuse

July 18, 2025

Sentence: 30 years imprisonment

Patrick Howlett, 58, sent £56,000 to the Philippines to pay for livestreams of children being sexually abused. He was in regular contact with facilitators, including a woman who abused her own children at his direction in exchange for payments. He received and shared images and videos of the abuse, with one victim abused from age eight to 14, generating 1,277 images. Between 2014 and 2021, he made 796 transactions totaling £55,918 to facilitators for abusing children, resulting in 19 children being identified and safeguarded in the Philippines.

Pleaded guilty early in his trial. The Judge described him as showing a breath-taking lack of regard for the sanctity of childhood. He will also be subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Sources: kentlive.news

Paul Perry

Indecent Assault

July 16, 2025

Sentence: 1 year imprisonment and 1 year on licence

Paul Perry abused a young victim in the 1980s, including when he was a juvenile himself. The offences were reported in 2019, leading to his arrest in December of that year. He was found guilty on three counts of gross indecency with a child and one count of indecent assault, with the crimes having a significant impact on the victim.

Denied the offences but was found guilty by a jury. He was previously subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order due to prior convictions and was placed on the sex offender’s register for seven years. Detective Sergeant Frank Bloomfield commended the victim’s courage and emphasised that it is never too late to report such crimes.

Sources: kentlive.news

Thomas Holford

Murder

July 4, 2025

Sentence: Life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years

Thomas Holford shook his five-week-old daughter, Everleigh Stroud, with excessive force, causing catastrophic brain injuries, broken ribs, and leg injuries after she interrupted his late-night gaming session on April 20, 2021, in Ramsgate, Kent. He attempted to stop her crying by gripping or clamping her mouth, and she was rushed to hospital the next day, where she remained in a coma for a year before life support was turned off.

Pleaded manslaughter but was convicted of murder and actual bodily harm (ABH). Was under the influence of cannabis and showed no emotion during the incident.

Sources: mirror.co.uk

Gregory Manson

Sexual Assault

July 4, 2025

Sentence: 7 years imprisonment

Gregory Manson, a former GP who qualified in the UK in 1998 after working in South Africa, conducted unnecessary genital examinations on male patients, including two teenage boys, over nearly two decades. These examinations occurred even when patients presented with unrelated issues such as coughs, headaches, back pain, and knee sprains. He pulled down patients' underwear without permission, failed to offer a chaperone, did not wear gloves, and omitted details from medical notes. The offences involved nine victims, with some examinations justified as 'well person checks' but deemed medically unjustified by experts.

Pleaded not guilty but found guilty by majority verdict of 12 sexual assaults and four indecent assaults against nine men. Judge Simon Taylor KC stated that he camouflaged sexual abuse in the context of medical examinations and abused trust for his own sexual gratification.

Sources: dailyrecord.co.uk

Andrew Griggs

Perverting the course of justice

June 2, 2025

Sentence: 3 years imprisonment

Andrew Griggs murdered his pregnant wife Debbie in 1999, wrapped her body in a duvet, and buried it under a shed. Years later, while serving a life sentence, he attempted to pervert justice by instructing a family member to dig up her remains, remove a strand of hair, and send it abroad with a fabricated letter to falsely prove she was alive. This led to his additional sentencing.

Pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. Already serving a life sentence for murder.

Sources: kentlive.news

Alfie Bean

Supply of heroin and crack cocaine

May 30, 2025

Sentence: Two years and nine months imprisonment

Police stopped a vehicle in the Kingsmead area of Canterbury on March 1, where Charlie Golding and Alfie Bean were found with cash, Class A drugs, and a Nokia phone used to organise the sale of drugs. Messages on the phone referenced 'fat bags' and delays due to police presence.

Charlie Golding

Supply of heroin and crack cocaine

May 30, 2025

Sentence: Three and a half years imprisonment

Lee Mandell

Conspiring to assist with illegal entry

May 24, 2025

Sentence: 2 years imprisonment suspended, 240 hours unpaid work, 15 days rehabilitation, electronically-monitored curfew

Gary Rothon and Lee Mandell travelled in a hired lorry to France via the Eurotunnel at Folkestone on 10 January 2020. They took the midnight train to France, then travelled from Calais to Boulogne where they picked up eight Vietnamese nationals, including three children. They expected to earn £4,000 for the trip. On their return, they were stopped by border control at Coquelles and claimed they were on a fishing trip to check out a lake near Brimeux and planned to get drunk, hoping to make it back for the West Ham game. The rear compartment of the van was opened, revealing the migrants sitting on top of tools and plasterboard without documentation. The men denied knowledge of the migrants. They were arrested and charged in May 2025.

Admitted conspiring to assist with the illegal entry of eight Vietnamese nationals into the UK. Sentence suspended due to inordinate delays in the case. Judge noted that without the delay, they would have gone to prison, but five years is a long time to live with anxiety. Both men have rebuilt their lives and shown genuine remorse.

Sources: bbc.co.uk

Gary Rothon

Conspiring to assist with illegal entry

May 24, 2025

Sentence: 2 years imprisonment suspended, 240 hours unpaid work, 15 days rehabilitation, electronically-monitored curfew

Sources: bbc.co.uk

Cameron Skilton

Burglary

May 21, 2025

Sentence: 17 years imprisonment

Cameron Skilton was involved in burglaries in the Sandwich area in September and October 2024. A Ford Focus with changed numberplates was used in one offence, and he was tracked down and arrested in Brighton in November 2024.

Pleaded guilty to burglary and other offences, including importation of prohibited weapons in a separate case.

Sources: kentlive.news

Daniel Meehan

Burglary

May 21, 2025

Sentence: 6 years and 6 months imprisonment

Daniel Meehan was involved in two similar break-ins in the Sandwich area in September and October 2024. A Ford Focus was identified as having been used in the first offence, and further enquiries linked him to the crimes.

Matthew Skinner

Burglary

May 21, 2025

Sentence: 2 years and 2 months imprisonment

Matthew Skinner was involved in a burglary in the Sandwich area in September or October 2024, as part of investigations into similar break-ins.

Gary King

Burglary

May 19, 2025

Sentence: 3 years imprisonment

On March 18, 2025, Gary King attempted to enter vehicles and homes in Canterbury, including trying handles on Beaconsfield Road and entering a property on Shaftesbury Avenue where he stole an Apple Watch after being spotted by a resident. In another incident that night on Beaconsfield Road, he was confronted inside a bedroom but fled empty-handed. He was identified via CCTV, added to the Kent Police most wanted list, and arrested on April 15, 2025, at Holyhead Port while trying to board a ferry to Ireland.

Pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and one count of attempted burglary. Detective Constable Rosalynd Friend commented that King showed no regard for the distress caused to victims and that his case serves as a warning to others.

Sources: kentlive.news

Ozioma Egbujor

Supply of class A drugs

May 7, 2025

Sentence: 5 years and 8 months imprisonment

Ozioma Egbujor was involved in the supply of class A substances in the Medway towns between February and March 2025. Police were alerted to suspicious behaviour on March 3 at an address in Magpie Hall Road, where they found him with 40 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine in his trouser pocket, along with cash and two mobile phones. A further search recovered 100 more wraps concealed on his person.

Sian Banks

Importing class A drugs

February 3, 2025

Sentence: 5 years imprisonment

Sian Banks, 25, from Liverpool, was involved in smuggling cocaine and ketamine into the UK, with her DNA found on drug packaging. She travelled between Liverpool and Europe to support Burton, smuggled drugs in her luggage through Liverpool John Lennon Airport, and allowed her bank accounts to receive money for his activities. She was linked to the drug importations seized on July 3, 2022.

Pleaded guilty to importing class A drugs and money laundering. She assisted her partner in drug smuggling, including handling drug packaging and providing forged Covid-19 passes to facilitate travel.

Sources: liverpoolecho.co.uk

Jacob Bean

Grooming

November 1, 2024

Sentence: five-and-a-half years imprisonment

Jacob Bean, residing in Chartham near Canterbury, groomed a 10-year-old girl via Snapchat and WhatsApp, sending her child abuse videos and photos of his penis, and encouraging her to perform sex acts on herself. This occurred prior to his sentencing, and at the time, he was under investigation for grooming three other underage girls and making indecent images. On release, he would have been subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order.

Pleaded guilty to sexual communication with a child, making indecent images, attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, and causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity. The victim's father expressed feelings of failure as a parent in a court statement.

Sources: devonlive.com

Abdurahrim Yalcin

Sexual Assault

October 30, 2024

Sentence: 18 months imprisonment, on sex offenders register for 10 years

Starting in 2022, Yalcin acted inappropriately towards a teenage girl, escalating to severe sexual assaults over and under clothing on multiple occasions, attempting to buy silence with clothes and money. Reported end of 2023.

Julian Martinez

Robbery

October 2, 2024

Sentence: 3 years imprisonment

On July 25, 2023, at 9.30pm on Station Road in Margate, Julian Martinez approached a victim driving away from the area whilst transporting items related to a jewellery business. He had been following them in a Mercedes parked nearby. After failing to enter the vehicle, he broke a window and snatched a bag from inside. The driver escaped, and a member of the public intervened, wrestling the bag back and returning it to the victim. Martinez fled in the Mercedes. He was identified through police enquiries, arrested on March 30, 2024, and charged the next day.

Pleaded guilty to the offence. Used aliases Gerado Escobedo Neri and Jason Chezez. Aged 46, of no fixed address.

Sources: kentlive.news

Qari Sher Mohammad

Sexual touching of a child

September 12, 2024

Sentence: 10 years imprisonment

Qari Sher Mohammad, 61, from Woodford Road, Forest Gate, London, sexually assaulted four children over nearly a decade while acting as an imam at a mosque in Thorold Road, Gillingham, between March 2014 and December 2023. Initial concerns raised in 2018, with further assaults reported in 2022-2023. One victim, now an adult, supported prosecution.

Convicted after trial on 16 indictments of sexual touching of a child. Subject to a 5-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order upon release.

Sources: kentlive.news

Joel Loba

Supply of class A drugs

September 11, 2024

Sentence: 5 years and 7 months imprisonment

Joel Loba, 27, from Westbrook Road, Margate, was arrested on June 25, 2024, at a property where officers seized three phones, £1,360 cash, and class A drugs. Investigations linked three phone numbers used for bulk marketing to drug users in Margate to Loba, confirming his role in supplying crack cocaine and heroin.

Pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, possession with intent to supply a controlled drug, and possession of criminal property.

Sources: kentlive.news

Dr Gregory Manson

Sexual assault

July 4, 2024

Sentence: 7 years imprisonment

Dr Gregory Manson, of Tower Way, Canterbury, conducted inappropriate and unnecessary intimate examinations on several male patients at Cossington House Surgery in Canterbury. Complaints led to an investigation starting in 2017, and he was arrested on February 21, 2018. He was charged with 24 offences and convicted of 14 counts of sexual assault and four counts of indecent assault.

Found guilty after a trial of sexual assault and indecent assault. Victims reported unnecessary intimate examinations not recorded in medical records.

Sources: kentlive.news

Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss

Murder

February 1, 2024

Sentence: Life imprisonment with a minimum term of 31 years

Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss ambushed Claire Knights, 54, while she was walking her dog near Minnis Bay on August 23, 2023. He sexually assaulted her, beat her, and stomped on her head, causing fractures and brain damage. He then hid her body in a dyke, where it was discovered two days later. Prior to this, he had pleaded guilty to upskirting another woman at his workplace the day before the murder.

Pleaded guilty to murder and upskirting. Sentence was increased by the Court of Appeal for being unduly lenient, with judges citing insufficient weight given to aggravating factors such as targeting a lone woman and hiding the body. He feigned symptoms of psychosis after arrest.

Sources: kentlive.news

Rafal Czajka

Importation of controlled drugs

January 18, 2024

Sentence: 9 years imprisonment

Rafal Czajka, a 39-year-old Polish national and lorry driver, attempted to smuggle 45 kilos of cocaine, worth an estimated £2.1 million at street level, into the UK. The drugs were hidden in six metal box sections built into the bulkhead of his trailer, covered by a wooden board secured with rivets. The lorry was stopped and searched by Border Force officers at the port of Dover on November 16, 2021. It also carried a legitimate load of ventilation blower parts from the Netherlands destined for Basingstoke, Hampshire. A rivet gun and pop rivets were found in the cab.

Daniel Whereatt

Importing heroin

January 5, 2024

Sentence: 6 years imprisonment

Daniel Whereatt, 48, of Seymour Road, Bristol, was stopped at Dover’s Eastern Docks on March 18, 2019, as he returned to the UK from Amsterdam. He claimed to have been on a day trip to Dunkirk, but phone analysis confirmed he was in Amsterdam picking up heroin. Border Force officers searched his car after noticing a strong smell of fuel and found 18 tape-wrapped packages submerged in the fuel sender tanks, containing 6kg of heroin worth £800,000 and 2kg of cutting agents (paracetamol and caffeine). His DNA was on a screwdriver and metal file near the concealment area. The vehicle was insured for only two days, believed to be solely for the drug importation.

Pleaded guilty to importing 6kg of heroin. DNA found on tools used to conceal the drugs.

Sources: independent.co.uk

Ross Patrick Deffley

Attempting to import class A drugs

December 7, 2023

Sentence: 10 years imprisonment

Ross Patrick Deffley, 26, of Solihull, West Midlands, attempted to smuggle 183kg of heroin and cocaine, valued at £16.5 million, hidden inside canisters of nitrous oxide within catering supplies. He was stopped at the Dover border on September 21 while driving a van. Border Force officers found the drugs concealed in the boxes, along with an extendable baton in the cab. His fingerprints and DNA were on packages containing 97kg of heroin and 86kg of cocaine. Deffley claimed the packages were for the catering industry but they were destined for a residential address he could access. He had set up companies to transport the nitrous oxide canisters used for smuggling.

Convicted of two counts of attempting to import class A drugs on November 30. Earlier convicted of possession of an offensive weapon. Subject to confiscation investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Sources: independent.co.uk

Jon Pughe

Robbery

June 10, 2022

Sentence: 6 years imprisonment

Jon Pughe, 41, of Clifftown Gardens, Herne Bay, Kent, entered a Post Office in Margate Road, Margate, on 12 February 2022, wearing a balaclava and holding a crowbar. He hit a female staff member in the face, stole a large amount of cash from the till, and fled in a white Renault van. He was later arrested in Herne Bay town centre after police linked him via CCTV footage showing a tear in his jeans matching those he was wearing.

Admitted robbery. Caught due to matching jeans in CCTV footage. DCI Keith Taylor commented on the violent actions and their terrifying impact on the victim.

Sources: courtnewsuk.co.uk

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