Canterbury Crown Court Sentencing Results

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.

Matthew Downing, 25, from Dover, breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (issued January 2022 following conviction for making indecent images of children) by using unauthorised devices without notifying Kent Police: smartphone, laptop, two virtual computers, anonymous web browser, online storage device, social media app with disappearing messages, and dark web to make indecent images of children. He also failed to register dating app usernames. After going missing, he was found sleeping in a newly-purchased car in Gomshall, Surrey.

In 2022 Paul Redford, 64, from Ramsgate, joined a social media application where he used the platform to download and share thousands of indecent images of children with other users. On 1 March 2024, officers from Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team visited Redford’s home address following information received that indecent images of children were being accessed from the property. Upon arrival and when officers told him why they were there, he admitted he was responsible and after his phone was downloaded, officers found 730 of the most serious category A images and videos, 642 category B and 944 category C. They also found he had distributed 40 images and videos through the social media application. Redford was later charged with making and distributing indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography and prohibited items.

Jack Colin Cracknell, 22, of Faversham, Kent, was driving with four other passengers in his car in the early hours of the morning on 3 December 2022. He reached speeds of 117mph along the New Dover Road in Canterbury, a road with a 40mph speed limit. As he approached a roundabout near the New Gate Inn pub, he hit a kerb, causing the car to go into the air and roll over, before colliding with the pub building. One passenger, the victim, 18, died at the scene despite efforts by emergency workers. Another passenger suffered fractures to two bones and underwent an operation on the day of the collision to insert a metal plate and screws into their arm.

Jack Cracknell, 22, was driving with four passengers in the early hours of 3 December 2022 along New Dover Road in Canterbury when he reached speeds of 117mph in a 40mph limit. As he approached a roundabout near the New Gate Inn pub, he hit a kerb, causing the car to go into the air and roll over before colliding with the pub building. One passenger died at the scene despite the efforts of emergency workers, and another passenger suffered fractures to two bones and required surgery to insert a metal plate and screws into their arm.

Bryan Gregory, 76, from Minster-on-Sea, breached the terms of an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order imposed in 2014 after pleading guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to making and possessing indecent images of children. The order restricted his use of digital storage devices, mobile phones, and internet access, requiring devices to be available for police inspection. During a police visit in January 2024, officers seized a mobile phone suspected of inappropriate use. Further searches recovered additional digital storage devices. He was charged on 14 September 2024.

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.

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.

Keith Baigent, 63, of Folkestone, 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. Baigent 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 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.