Carlisle Crown Court Sentencing Results

Jordan James Black was sentenced after admitting false imprisonment and non-fatal strangulation of a woman, and false imprisonment of a second woman, following incidents at a property in Keswick on 21 February. He had previously denied the charges but changed his pleas to guilty after receiving an advance indication from a judge. The offences placed him in breach of a suspended sentence imposed for threatening another person with an offensive weapon in Cockermouth, where he repeatedly swung a claw hammer towards the man. The judge activated nine months of that suspended sentence, making a total of 17 months imprisonment.

Juraj Toli was involved in a large cannabis farm operating in a disused nightclub on Lancaster Street, Carlisle, which was raided by police on 10 May 2023. Officers found multiple kilograms of cannabis drying at the site, with an estimated street value of £4.5 million. During the raid, Toli jumped from the roof and sustained extensive fractures requiring surgery. He denied the offence but was convicted after a trial.

Blake Stuart, 32, was first reported to Cumbria Police in January after his card was declined at MyKebab in Middlegate and he allegedly used a racial slur against an employee. He was arrested and bailed with a condition not to go back. On 12 April, after drinking for over 12 hours, Stuart returned to the shop at 20:30 BST, producing a BB gun and threatening to burn the premises down if the complaint was not dropped. He was identified from CCTV and the BB gun and a matching gilet were found at his home. He later admitted the offences.

Shamir Chandran, formerly of Houghton near Carlisle and an oncologist at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, was convicted of two counts of engaging in coercive behaviour and one count of cruelty to a person under 16. He was sentenced in his absence after fleeing the UK.

Stuart Barrow was captured on CCTV piling rubbish against the front door of a Whitehaven shop and setting it alight with a lighter and a can of deodorant at around 3.30am on March 16. The fire cracked glass panels, causing £1,584 damage. He had been removed from the shop earlier that month. His defence said he was street homeless, had sought help for suicidal ideation, and started the fire in an attempt to be arrested because he felt safer in custody. He had a previous arson conviction from 2020.

Ricky Lee Wayne Murphy deliberately drove his van at a pedestrian on Prescott Road, Carlisle, on 4 January, striking him from behind and throwing him into a brick pillar, which broke under the impact. The victim suffered a significant life-changing brain injury and was in a coma and hospital for three months. Murphy fled the scene, and the van was later found set on fire. The court heard there had been a dispute between the two men before the attack.

On July 1 2024, Noel Collins was driving a Toyota RAV4 on the A595 between Mealsgate and Bothel when he collided with a Honda Civic driven by an elderly delivery driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Collins initially denied being the driver but was seen by witnesses at the driver's door immediately after the crash. The investigation found that on June 30 2024 he had crashed a work vehicle on the M6 motorway, had driven the wrong way down a service station slip road and performed a U-turn on the M6, and had been advised by a doctor not to drive. He had a history of health issues, failed to disclose epilepsy to driving authorities, and had been misusing prescription medication. Expert evidence showed he was likely to have suffered an epileptic seizure at the time of the fatal collision. He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.