Canterbury Crown Court Sentencing Results

Freddy Lawrence, 57, of Folkestone, Kent, led an organised crime group that conspired to smuggle immigrants across the English Channel from France to the UK. In August 2018, the group made several attempts to sail to France to pick up migrants using a boat called the Sorel Light, but faced mechanical difficulties. On 30 August 2018, co-conspirators were arrested in France while loading 12 Vietnamese migrants onto the boat. Lawrence was arrested by the National Crime Agency in the UK shortly after.

Paul Giglia, 64, of Cheriton, Kent, was part of an organised crime group led by Freddy Lawrence that conspired to smuggle immigrants across the English Channel from France to the UK. In August 2018, the group attempted to use a boat called the Sorel Light to pick up migrants, but efforts were thwarted by mechanical issues. On 30 August 2018, co-conspirators were arrested in France with 12 Vietnamese migrants. Giglia was arrested by the National Crime Agency in the UK.

Kent Police was contacted in March 2023 when the victim reported that she had been sexually assaulted by Anthony Collins. He was identified as the perpetrator, questioned about the offences later the same month, and later charged with sexual activity with a child.

David Saunders, 37, from Ashford, Kent, was driving his Vauxhall Astra at excessive speed in Ashford in November 2023 when he lost control and crashed into a wooden fence, narrowly missing a family of six consisting of a mother, father, and four children. After the crash, he pretended to be an undercover police officer using handcuffs purchased for TikTok pranks and brandished a knife, causing members of the public to flee. He was detained by police after a pursuit. No one was hurt in the incident.

On Monday, May 27, 2024, at around 12:30 AM, Kent Police received reports of a man wielding a potential handgun and making threats in Ramsgate. Armed officers were dispatched and apprehended Kaine Morley, 24, from Dover. A subsequent search revealed a BB gun and a knife in his possession.

In June 2024, Athian Majak, of Downs Road, Canterbury, followed four women and girls in the St Stephen’s area of Canterbury, attempting to touch or grab them; he was deterred in some cases when victims shouted. Arrested on 12 June 2024 matching victim descriptions. Responsible for additional offences in December 2023.

Barry Rossiter, 24, formerly of Nickley Wood near Ashford, was driving a speeding silver Vauxhall Vectra uninsured on Coulter Road, Ashford, on January 26, 2024. Local officers were conducting speed checks following resident complaints. A PC attempted to stop the vehicle, but it accelerated and struck the officer, causing serious injuries. The car then collided with another vehicle before being found burned out near Shadoxhurst. Rossiter was tracked via CCTV and witnesses, arrested on January 31 in Hawkhurst where he was hiding, and while in custody attempted to bite a detective.

On August 10, 2022, in Ramsgate, Kent, Nitesh Bissendary, 31, of Highlands Glade, Manston, lost control of his black Alfa Romeo after taking cocaine. He drove approximately 30 metres on the pavement before crashing into pedestrians, killing the five-weeks-pregnant victim, 37, and her 81-year-old father. The victim's husband was badly injured, and two children were also hurt. Bissendary fled the scene but returned, failed a roadside drug test for cocaine, and refused a blood test. He claimed a vehicle defect caused him to look away from the road.

On an evening in April 2024, Jake Jones, a 31-year-old NHS worker who cleans operating theatres, returned home to his partner's residence in Herne Bay, Kent, after drinking eight cans of beer following his night shift. Believing she was texting another man, he called her a slag, slammed her dinner plate, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the microwave. He repeatedly strangled her, smashed her perfume and drink glasses, cut up her debit card, damaged her phone charger and jumper, threw her on the bed, asked where her windpipe was, and threatened 'If I can’t have you, nobody will' and 'I'm going to put you in a grave'. He scrawled 'mummy is dead tonight, rest in peace' in crayon on the bathroom wall, leading the victim to fear for her life and kiss her children goodbye. After Jones fell asleep, police were called.

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.

Tyler Flisher turned on his victim during a disturbance in Hawkinge on Sunday 23 October 2022. Police were called to the Pannell Drive area shortly after 9pm after a man had been attacked and was bleeding from a chest wound, later confirmed to be a stab wound. Flisher had gone to meet a woman earlier that evening at a public place near Benson Lane. The victim was in the area with friends and the two groups, who were known to each other, became involved in a dispute. Despite bail conditions not to approach witnesses, Flisher intimidated his victim, causing fear of further harm. He was arrested the following day.

Alan Morris, formerly of Poundhurst Lane, Ruckinge near Ashford, sent sexualised messages including images of himself and videos of sexual material to someone he believed to be a child via an internet chat site in February 2024 and October 2023. These actions breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) issued in 2018. Examination of his phone uncovered indecent images of children and recent sexual communications. Arrested on 8 February 2024 by Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team.

Patrick Holmes and John Hazelgrove carried out a violent attack in Herne Bay at around 3.30am on Sunday 3 March 2024 on the High Street. A man and a woman were assaulted by strangers from a white van. The man suffered swelling to his brain, a fracture to his skull and a broken nose. The woman sustained facial injuries. Both victims were treated at hospital and discharged.

Patrick Holmes and John Hazelgrove carried out a violent attack in Herne Bay at around 3.30am on Sunday 3 March 2024 on the High Street. A man and a woman were assaulted by strangers from a white van. The man suffered swelling to his brain, a fracture to his skull and a broken nose. The woman sustained facial injuries. Both victims were treated at hospital and discharged.

On 11 December 2023, at an address in Frencham Close, Canterbury, William Crump and Lawrence Cole attacked a man known to them. The victim was kicked, punched and hit with a baseball bat during the violent assault. He received treatment from South East Coast Ambulance Service and further medical attention at a local hospital before being discharged.

Stuart Rigden carried out a savage assault on a man in his 30s at a home on Athelstan Road, Cliftonville, Margate, in the early hours of 18 August 2023. The pair had been out in Ramsgate the previous night, argued in a bar, and Rigden returned by taxi two hours later to attack the victim, leaving him unconscious with broken ribs, internal bleeding, and facial injuries requiring urgent hospital care in London. When police arrived, Rigden answered the door covered in blood but claimed everything was fine.