Canterbury Crown Court Sentencing Results

On December 31, 2022, at Herne Bay Angling Club, Leo Westlake, smelling of cannabis and slurring his words, along with Fred Ketteringham and Toby Shilling, entered the venue around 8pm, causing a nuisance by shouting, swearing, and harassing customers. After being asked to leave, Westlake shouted insults, took off his shirt, pounded his chest, and punched the first victim in the face. He then grabbed a second man from behind, leading to the group kicking him, causing a fractured ankle, head cuts, and permanent tinnitus. Westlake also pulled a woman to the ground, where she was kicked and punched, resulting in nightmares, anxiety, PTSD, loss of confidence, and inability to work. Another victim was punched in the face, and a fourth was lifted against a van and beaten. The group was arrested and charged with four counts of actual bodily harm and one of grievous bodily harm, but pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

On November 21, 2025, Dragos-Gabriel Geangalau, a 55-year-old Romanian truck driver, was stopped while attempting to board a ferry from Dover to France in his HGV. Ten people of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Nepalese origin were found hidden in the back of the truck. Each had paid between £1,000 and £1,500 to make the crossing. After his arrest, Geangalau initially claimed ignorance in a prepared statement but later pleaded guilty.

Leah Dane, 44, from Faversham, carried out sexual acts with a teenage girl over a period of months, persuading the victim they were in a relationship. She instructed the teenager to delete incriminating messages to conceal the offending. Teachers alerted authorities, leading to Dane's arrest. Messages showed the girl believed it was a relationship. The abuse had a devastating impact, leaving the victim suicidal, with sleep issues, fear, and pain affecting all aspects of her life.

Rebwar Hamad, a 48-year-old Iraqi man and previously convicted terrorist, attempted to illegally enter the UK by small boat on September 19, 2025. He arrived with others and was intercepted by an RNLI lifeboat off the coast of Dover. After being interviewed at Margate police station where he declined to comment, he paid approximately £1,000 (1,200 Euros) for passage on the boat following a refused UK visa application. This was his second illegal entry attempt; he had indefinite leave to remain in the UK since 2001 but was extradited to Italy in 2020 to serve a sentence for terrorism offences convicted in absentia in 2019, after which he was ordered to leave Italy.

On the evening of Thursday, September 4, 2025, Chase Price, aged 29 and of no fixed address, approached a group of strangers in Kings Drive, Faversham. He threw a bin at a man and a glass at a teenager. Price then ran towards a woman while holding a knife and exposed himself in front of several people, including children. He was disarmed by a bystander, exposed himself again, and fled the scene. Kent Police arrested him after a search.

Jon-Paul Clark, 44, of Crosby, organised an importation of 40kg of heroin with conspirator Rajesh Bakshi. The load, with a street value of £4million, was stopped at Dover in June 2022. Investigators found Clark’s DNA on the packaging. Clark’s and Bakshi’s phones were identified as travelling in Holland and Belgium in the days leading up to the seizure. A photo of Clark and Bakshi together was found on Clark’s phone taken just days before the drugs were intercepted. Texts were also found of Clark asking Bakshi for cash in the weeks following the seizure.

On September 18, 2025, Marius Bajenaru was arrested at Dover Port as part of a National Crime Agency operation. He had 17 people concealed in the back of his Romanian registered panel van. The operation was supported by Port of Dover Police, Kent Police, and Immigration Enforcement.

Sorin Costinel Ivan was arrested on 18 September at Dover Port after 32 people, mostly Bangladeshi nationals, were found concealed in the trailer of his HGV. Officers recovered three bundles of cash totalling £9,950. He was attempting to smuggle people from the UK into France.

On September 18, 2025, Sorin-Costinel Ivan was arrested at Dover Port as part of a National Crime Agency operation. He had 32 people, mostly Bangladeshi nationals, concealed in the trailer of his HGV. The operation was supported by Port of Dover Police, Kent Police, and Immigration Enforcement. He admitted visiting a layby on the A20 near Ashford.

On April 11, 2025, Michael Harragan, 55, of Folkestone, set fire to seven vehicles in the early hours, including a campervan in Castle Road, Sandgate, where the owner was asleep inside and awoke to smoke, managing to extinguish the fire. The vehicles were targeted in Canterbury Road, Walton Road, Military Road in Hythe, and Whitenbrook. The fires caused extensive damage and were extinguished by Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Harragan was arrested in London Road, Hythe, and charged with six counts of arson, later with an additional count of reckless arson endangering life.

Stephen Sussams, 62, of Folkestone, began grooming a teenage boy on July 4 via a messaging platform, initially discussing everyday topics to gain trust before escalating to sexually explicit conversations over two weeks. He sent numerous graphic messages via platforms including Snapchat, repeatedly requested indecent images, and described intended sexual acts. On July 23, he travelled to meet the boy and was arrested while waiting. He refused to provide his phone password to officers.

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.

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.

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 the victim, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Between 2015 and 2021, Patrick Lee Howlett, 58, of Canterbury, sent over £55,000 from himself and others to paedophiles in the Philippines to encourage and facilitate the sexual abuse of young children, including family members, and to obtain images of the abuse for his own gratification. He was in possession of over 14,000 indecent images and videos of children, including nearly 1,000 category A images. His activity was uncovered during a Danish investigation into a convicted paedophile. Devices seized after his 2021 arrest contained graphic conversations and financial records showing payments to abusers. He initially claimed the material was unsolicited and that payments were to stop abuse, but evidence disproved this. Children involved have been safeguarded.

Andrew Griggs murdered his pregnant wife the victim 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.

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.