Canterbury Crown Court Sentencing Results

Michael Tovell fabricated a violent assault on 2 February 2018, claiming he was attacked by four men with baseball bats and wooden planks while searching for a missing person in St Lawrence Graveyard, Ramsgate. He triggered his personal emergency alarm and shouted warnings over the radio, prompting two colleagues to respond within seconds. Paramedics treated him for minor injuries. A full police investigation, including house-to-house enquiries and CCTV review, found no evidence of any attackers or disturbance. He was arrested in March 2018 after unexplained gaps in his timeline and missing radio audio emerged.

On 27 July 2018, Robert Luff, 49, knocked on a neighbour's door in Canterbury demanding a hammer, claiming people in his home were under attack. When told there was no hammer, he grabbed two knives from their kitchen drawer. He then went to another nearby house, banged on their back window, and asked the residents to call police while standing in their garden holding the blades. Officers arrived to find him shouting and acting aggressively. During his arrest, Luff pushed a police officer to the ground and kicked her in the leg. The knives were seized and he was taken into custody, unable to explain his behaviour. He pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article in public and assaulting a constable.

Robert Reddin, 70, was arrested at his home in St Mary’s Bay, Romney Marsh on 11 June 2018 during a Kent Police investigation into indecent images of children. Police found indecent images on his laptop and uncovered sexual messages he had sent to people he believed to be children as young as 11, including adults he hoped would help him meet children. He encouraged them to engage in sexual acts, send pictures and meet him.

Robert Vyse repeatedly threatened and followed a woman. During their relationship, he put a tracker on her phone, controlled how she dressed, who she could be friends with, monitored her social media contacts and made her change her job. He subjected her to an assault and caused damage to her home. After they separated, he bombarded her with text messages and calls, culminating in a threat to attend her home in October 2022. When police attempted to arrest him by leaning into his vehicle to take his keys, he drove off, injuring the officer’s arm.

Robert Davanzo targeted homes in Ashford, Hythe, Folkestone and New Romney. On 16 February 2022 in Ashford/Willesborough area: broke into a property stealing cash and 10 high-value watches; posed as water leak inspectors stealing a jacket and jewellery; attempted burglary challenged by owner; broke into flat above shop in New Romney stealing cash and documents; broke into property above restaurant in Hythe but fled when discovered. On 22 February 2022 broke into house in Folkestone stealing cash and Audi keys, then took the car using false plates. Arrested in north London with stolen Audi.

Robert Ellis, 33, of Kings Avenue, Ashford, sent sexual messages to someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl from London in November and December 2018, making sexual comments and attempting to arrange a meeting in London for sex. The recipient was a Kent Police investigator from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team. He was arrested at his home on 8 January 2019.

Between 7 and 13 December 2017, Robert Jenner, while working as a parcel delivery driver in Maidstone, deliberately exposed himself to customers by wearing altered clothing. The following month he targeted a supermarket in Larkfield, entering twice wearing trousers with the crotch cut out so that he was blatantly exposed. Visitors to Leybourne Lakes Country Park also witnessed Jenner running around in see-through shorts near families.

Ruben Smith was part of a group in New Street, Folkestone, on the afternoon of 6 October 2022. Smith took offence to comments made by the victim, who was walking with friends, and punched him in the face. Mark Green then continued the assault, causing the victim to fall backwards and hit his head on the ground. Smith and Green left the scene but were identified and arrested the same day. The victim, aged 49, was unconscious, flown to a London hospital, and died three days later from his injuries.

Ruth Lambert and Jessica Silvester preyed on terminally ill residents in Thanet, Canterbury, Whitstable, Faversham and Herne Bay, posing as nurses to steal morphine and other painkillers prescribed for end-of-life care. They used access to patient records from their work as paramedics with South East Coast Ambulance Service. They worked in tandem, one researching addresses and the other stealing. Offending spanned nine months from December 2020, with at least 25 burglaries. They also stole medication from ambulances and NHS reserves between 2018 and 2021.

Reid Gawler repeatedly stabbed a woman following an argument at a flat in Sturry near Canterbury on 21 September 2020, leaving the victim with life-threatening head and neck injuries. Kent Police were called to River View at 1.25am after residents heard shouted threats and doors being kicked. A neighbour provided first aid before police and paramedics arrived. Gawler had left the scene, overheard saying 'I’ve killed her', and was quickly arrested nearby. The knife used in the attack was recovered from the property he fled to. The victim was hospitalised and discharged suffering long-term effects. Prior arguments between Gawler and the victim were reported.

Raymond Wallace attacked a man with a metal rod which had a sharpened edge in a flat in Dalby Square, Margate, in the early hours of Friday 11 February 2022. The victim sustained serious injuries consistent with stab wounds and was taken to a London hospital where medics provided life-saving treatment. The motive for the attack is unclear but witness accounts suggested it may have resulted from a grudge Wallace had formed against the victim. Wallace was identified as the assailant and arrested the following day.

Reuben Daley, 43, from Folkestone, hit his victim up to 30 times with a hammer during an assault outside a pub in Harbour Way, Folkestone, on Thursday 6 February 2020. He followed the victim back into the pub and continued the assault. A member of the public took the hammer from Daley before he fled. He was arrested three days later. The victim lost consciousness and suffered cuts to his face and head.

On 15 December 2019, Kent Police responded to reports of a suspicious man wearing only a burgundy jumper lurking near Thanet Road in Margate. Officers found 51-year-old Ricky Neville hiding in bushes. He attempted to flee but was quickly arrested. Neville confessed he had recently been freed from prison and deliberately went out intending to perform an indecent act in public. He was convicted of outraging public decency and breaching a sexual offences prevention order that prohibited him from removing clothing in public and entering parks, gardens, churchyards, or woods.

Hadushaj was a member of the gang that supplied cocaine across west Kent. He was arrested with another man in Tunbridge Wells, where 60 deals of cocaine and more than £8,000 cash were found in their car.

Olgierd Golubovski was part of a trio linked to the thefts of 29 vehicles from Ashford, Hawkinge, Tonbridge, Tenterden and Maidstone in October and November 2022. They used an electronic device to capture signals emitted by car keys and trick vehicles into thinking keys were present. The thieves travelled from east London in vehicles with cloned number plates, targeting BMWs, Mercedes and Range Rovers in Kent, which were then driven to Essex and London to be stripped and sold for parts. Golubovski was arrested at a Dagenham address after running from the scene of a stop near Sittingbourne on 8 December 2022. Evidence from phones linked them to the thefts.

Nigel Stewart, aged 55 from Canterbury, commenced conversations with a victim he believed to be 14-years-old on 13 September 2022, targeting her over several weeks by sending graphic images and requests for the child to perform sex acts, despite being made aware of her age on numerous occasions. Unbeknown to him, it was a fictitious profile in a sting operation by Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team. Officers searched his home and arrested him on 18 October 2022, seizing a mobile phone. Following investigation, he was charged.

Nikas Biliakevicius was involved in keyless thefts of seven Mercedes and a BMW from outside owners' homes in Folkestone, Maidstone, Tonbridge and Gravesend in Kent, and Welwyn, Hertfordshire and Hockley, Essex, between 24 March and 15 April. Two other vehicles linked to the thefts. Arrested on 19 April after stolen vehicle stopped on M25 slip-road in Essex.