Cardiff Crown Court Sentencing Results

John Charles Webb, aged 70, raped and sexually assaulted three victims under the age of 18 in the 1990s while living in Cardiff. The offences included three counts of rape, five indecent assaults, and seven counts of indecent assault on a male. Investigation began in 2019 after one victim reported the crime; two others were identified. He was arrested in Neath and tried in December 2023.

On 15 June last year, Carrie McGuinness killed the 39-year-old victim at his address in Rhydyfelin. A neighbour called South Wales Police concerned for his welfare, and officers discovered his body. The case was investigated by the South Wales Police Major Crime Unit.

Joseph Rees attacked an 11-year-old girl in Llanbradach Park near the library on Monday, January 4, 2024. The girl was off school due to an inset day and was grabbed into some woods as she walked home. It was an opportunist daylight attack; Rees did not know the girl. The attack was interrupted after a woman walking her dog intervened. Rees's foster mother, whom he had been visiting over Christmas, called the police after suspicions arose when Rees was wearing clothes matching the attacker's description.

David Smith assaulted the victim in Hansen Street, Butetown, Cardiff, at around 4.30am on September 14, 2023. The victim, 40, was critically injured and died on September 16, 2023, at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. Smith was initially charged with causing grievous bodily harm, but the charge was upgraded to manslaughter following the victim's death.

Rebecca Press, 31, murdered her mother’s neighbour the victim, 57, by stabbing him near the heart with a knife from a kitchen drawer at her mother’s flat in New Tredegar, Caerphilly, on July 17, 2023. Upset after learning her ex-boyfriend cheated, she attacked the victim when he tried to calm her. She told her mother 'I have stabbed your f****** best friend', fled, hid in a bush, and left a voicemail admitting she stabbed and killed someone. She had been drinking and took Valium, with drugs including alcohol, bromazolam, etizolam, amphetamine, MDMA, and THC in her system. Over 600 tablets were found in her possession.

Jay Webster, 28, killed his best friend the victim, 27, in a one-punch manslaughter attack outside a library in Caerphilly town centre on April 1, 2023, after drinking and a silly argument. Turned away from a pub for being too drunk, Webster punched the victim to the head, sending him crashing to the ground with a horrible snap as his head hit. Devastated, Webster pleaded 'Get up the victim' as the victim regained consciousness after three minutes but refused medical help. He died the next morning at the victim's father's house from injuries.

On March 28, 2023, at 12.49pm, Christopher El Gifari stole a delivery van from Laytonia Avenue in Cardiff. The victim, a delivery driver, stood in front of the van to stop him but was driven over and dragged at least 743 metres along North Road in Cathays at 47mph, as recorded by speed cameras. The van stopped at the junction with New Zealand Road, and El Gifari fled the scene. The victim, aged 54, sustained critical injuries, received help from members of the public and emergency services, but never regained consciousness and died 18 days later from his injuries.

Christopher Elgifari, 32, murdered the victim, a parcel deliverer, on March 28, 2023, in Cardiff by stealing the victim's Ford Transit van with keys left in and engine running on Laytonia Avenue, then driving over him during a three-point turn in a dead-end street, dragging him 743m trapped between van and road. The victim stood to block escape; Elgifari did not deviate, causing catastrophic injuries including heart failure and brain damage. The victim died in hospital 17 days later. Elgifari fled to his parents' home and lay low.

Stephen Isaac, 66, supplied his flat in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, as a torture site for the gang, including during the continued ordeal of kidnapped victim in December 2020 after transport from Cardiff, where the victim was bound and terrified, in exchange for drugs, as part of the extortion scheme.

Arnold Fumemeya, 27, served as muscle in the gang, involved in moving the kidnapped victim from Cardiff to Hemel Hempstead in December 2020 during his ordeal of waterboarding, beatings, and threats, as part of efforts to extort £50,000. The gang's operations included similar violence against other victims like another victim.

Ahmed Omar, 29, served as lookout for the gang during the December 2020 kidnapping of the victim at a Cardiff flat, where the victim was waterboarded, beaten, and threatened, fully aware of the torture occurring inside as part of the extortion for £50,000. Similar roles in other incidents like the 2018 victim kidnapping.

In December 2020, Micaiah Marley, part of an organised crime group, participated in the kidnap of a 22-year-old man from Clifton Street, Splott, Cardiff. The victim was taken to a flat in Pendwyallt Road, Whitchurch, where he was tortured and threatened by the armed gang, then moved to a flat in Hemel Hempstead where he was held until rescued through a joint investigation involving several police forces and the National Crime Agency.

In December 2020, Fortune Lawson, part of an organised crime group, participated in the kidnap of a 22-year-old man from Clifton Street, Splott, Cardiff. The victim was taken to a flat in Pendwyallt Road, Whitchurch, where he was tortured and threatened by the armed gang, then moved to a flat in Hemel Hempstead where he was held until rescued through a joint investigation involving several police forces and the National Crime Agency.

In December 2020, Gideon Lawson, part of an organised crime group, participated in the kidnap of a 22-year-old man from Clifton Street, Splott, Cardiff. The victim was taken to a flat in Pendwyallt Road, Whitchurch, where he was tortured and threatened by the armed gang, then moved to a flat in Hemel Hempstead where he was held until rescued through a joint investigation involving several police forces and the National Crime Agency.

In December 2020, Davood Assadpour, part of an organised crime group, participated in the kidnap of a 22-year-old man from Clifton Street, Splott, Cardiff. The victim was taken to a flat in Pendwyallt Road, Whitchurch, where he was tortured and threatened by the armed gang, then moved to a flat in Hemel Hempstead where he was held until rescued through a joint investigation involving several police forces and the National Crime Agency.

In December 2020, Alexis Mutesa, part of an organised crime group, participated in the kidnap of a 22-year-old man from Clifton Street, Splott, Cardiff. The victim was taken to a flat in Pendwyallt Road, Whitchurch, where he was tortured and threatened by the armed gang, then moved to a flat in Hemel Hempstead where he was held until rescued through a joint investigation involving several police forces and the National Crime Agency.

In December 2020, Arnold Fumumeya, part of an organised crime group, participated in the kidnap of a 22-year-old man from Clifton Street, Splott, Cardiff. The victim was taken to a flat in Pendwyallt Road, Whitchurch, where he was tortured and threatened by the armed gang, then moved to a flat in Hemel Hempstead where he was held until rescued through a joint investigation involving several police forces and the National Crime Agency.

Nazir Ahmed, a shopkeeper in Ely, Cardiff during the 1990s, employed a teenage girl as an assistant and used his position of power to subject her to repeated sexual abuse over an extended period. More than 25 years later, the victim reported the offences to South Wales Police, leading to his arrest and conviction.

Lee Strickland, along with Jason Edwards and Dionne Timms-Williams, murdered the victim in a ferocious and homophobic attack in Bute Park, Cardiff, on July 20, 2021. The three defendants targeted vulnerable gay men to rob, partly due to homophobia. They punched, kicked, and stamped on the 54-year-old victim for up to 30 minutes during a robbery, leaving him fatally injured after taking his mobile phone and credit cards. Audio captured the victim pleading for mercy, met with homophobic insults and increased violence. A man who tried to intervene was also attacked.

Jason Edwards, along with Lee Strickland and Dionne Timms-Williams, murdered the victim in a ferocious and homophobic attack in Bute Park, Cardiff, on July 20, 2021. The three defendants targeted vulnerable gay men to rob, partly due to homophobia. They punched, kicked, and stamped on the 54-year-old victim for up to 30 minutes during a robbery, leaving him fatally injured after taking his mobile phone and credit cards. Audio captured the victim pleading for mercy, met with homophobic insults and increased violence. A man who tried to intervene was also attacked.

Dionne Timms-Williams, along with Jason Edwards and Lee Strickland, murdered the victim in a ferocious and homophobic attack in Bute Park, Cardiff, on July 20, 2021. The three defendants targeted vulnerable gay men to rob, partly due to homophobia. They punched, kicked, and stamped on the 54-year-old victim for up to 30 minutes during a robbery, leaving him fatally injured after taking his mobile phone and credit cards. Audio captured the victim pleading for mercy, met with homophobic insults and increased violence. A man who tried to intervene was also attacked.