Chester Crown Court Sentencing Results

On May 3, Llewellyn Parry-Jones was driving a white van while disqualified and without a licence or insurance. He was reported for drink-driving, tailgated a car, collided slowly with a pedestrian, drove around stationary cars in Vicar's Lane towards Little John Street nearly causing a crash, resisted arrest by reversing into a squad car, and was found with cannabis. He gave a breath test reading of 63mcg per 100ml, nearly twice the legal limit.

Sarah Rigby, 41, of Winsford, subjected her boyfriend to controlling and coercive behaviour over six months in their shared home. The abuse included preventing him from using the toilet in the house, forcing him to sleep on the floor with windows open, assaulting and scratching his face, controlling his diet, forcing him to pay for her private treatments and reports, making him obtain codeine prescriptions for her habit, verbally abusing him with names like 'fat', 'lazy', 'sweaty', 'a whale', 'dopey', 'thick', 'smelly', 'dog', isolating him from family, frisking him to prevent taking food, accusing him of stealing, requiring cameras to watch him, evicting him from the house even when she was absent, and threatening to leave him if she did not get pregnant. The victim reported her to police in early March 2022; her phone messages confirmed the offending. Trial began 26 February 2024; she pleaded guilty on 28 February 2024.

Benjamin Lewis, 31, of Neston, Wirral, was driving his blue BMW in convoy with his partner on the A5117 near Dunkirk on the Wirral, around 9.20pm on 25 November 2021 when the crash happened. He was overtaking another car on the single-track road when he collided with a silver Citroen car, coming the other way, being driven by the victim, 20. The victim's long-time friend, also 20, was a passenger in the car at the time. Lewis had driven his car into the opposite lane and was heading straight towards them when the crash happened. There were two solid white lines in the middle of the road, indicating that drivers in neither direction should overtake. Both victims were seriously injured in the crash and died shortly afterwards. Witnesses reported seeing Lewis driving at excessive speeds in the lead up to the crash. It had been raining and the roads were wet and it was dark. Lewis was said to lose control of his car when it became clear that he was going to crash into the oncoming vehicle. His car had also been found to have a worn rear tyre.

Andrew Thompson, a 32-year-old teaching assistant and volunteer with a children’s activity group in Cheshire, committed 33 child sexual abuse offences against more than 15 young boys. His offending was discovered when another volunteer found a hidden camera he had installed under a toilet in a Warrington hall used by the youth group. Indecent images were found on the downloaded footage, and Thompson was identified as he had filmed himself placing the camera. Arrested on 23 December 2022, his devices revealed further indecent images, videos of him abusing children at the school where he worked, and images from a school trip.

Nathan Bake, a 28-year-old car mechanic from Runcorn, Cheshire, served as second-in-command of a dark web site called The Annex, which had nearly 90,000 users worldwide and facilitated the sharing of extreme child abuse images, including 'hurtcore' involving violence against babies and toddlers. He moderated the site under the username 'Pink', answered user queries, offered advice on evading detection, and was involved in other sites like Lolita's Paradise. Following his arrest in November 2022, authorities recovered over 3.6 million indecent images from his devices, along with children's tights, underwear, and sandals at his home. The site was a sophisticated operation with staff shifts and meetings, and Bake rose through the ranks after the previous head moderator's arrest in May 2022.

David Norbury, a 52-year-old sex offender from Shores Green Drive in Wincham, failed to notify police of his online alias 'TrendyBear109758' as required by the sex offenders register. He also breached a sexual harm prevention order by entering and remaining at an address with a child under 16 between June 25 and August 27, 2023. This is his second breach of an SHPO in three years; previously, he received an eight-week sentence for deleting his internet search history.

Police executed a warrant at Russell Wilcox's home address in Longridge, Knutsford, on August 29, 2023, where they seized four sawn-off shotguns along with ammunition. Wilcox, aged 52, was arrested at the scene.

Jermaine Scott, diagnosed with HIV in 2005, rekindled a relationship with the victim in summer 2009 without disclosing his diagnosis. He did not take his medication regularly and had unprotected sex with her, leading to her infection. In October 2009, at a sexual health clinic, he provided false information. The victim tested positive for HIV, and the relationship ended. Scott fled the area, was arrested in 2011 but released due to insufficient evidence, and deported. The case reopened with new medical evidence showing high likelihood of transmission during their relationship and genetic links in HIV strains. He was charged in 2020 and extradited in 2022.

Jack Edward Finney sold 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP), a highly toxic industrial chemical falsely marketed as a weight loss drug, along with anabolic steroids, Viagra, and anti-oestrogens on the dark web. DNP has caused at least 33 deaths in the UK. He used Monero cryptocurrency for transactions. Finney was involved in fraudulent evasion of importation prohibitions and rendering food injurious to health by adding DNP for human consumption.

Tanya Rowe, 42, posing as Mia Cavalli, accepted £70,000 in gifts and cash from an 83-year-old retired entrepreneur she called her ‘Sugar Daddy’. She possessed faked Cartier payslips which enabled her to rent out a £265,000 apartment in the city. Prosecutors claimed she told the old man, who believed she had breast cancer, that she had not been paid by Cartier and was facing eviction from her flat. The businessman denied an affair, claiming that he had lent Rowe the money expecting to be paid back. However, she claimed the pensioner knew she was an escort and had offered her money to pay for a botched operation.

On Friday, February 13, 2026, police attended Christopher Hall's address and examined his iPhone 14. Evidence of indecent images led to his electronic devices being seized. They found 32 category A videos, one category B image, 16 category B videos, 7 category C images and 14 extreme pornographic videos. He had also used an app to speak to someone who stated they were 14 years old and made continued sexualised comments and conversation with them. He had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of making indecent photographs, possession of extreme pornographic images involving animals, possession of indecent photographs, three counts of distributing indecent photographs and being an adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

89-year-old Albert Pentall was making the short journey home after an evening out with friends when his car collided with another vehicle as he made his way across a major junction. He was not concentrating and failed to notice the lights had turned red. The collision was substantial, with Mr Pentall’s vehicle travelling in the region of 40-45 mph. The victim’s car – travelling through the junction on green lights – was struck to the near side, causing her head injuries which proved fatal. Expert evidence established that Mr Pentall’s lights had changed to red (and been in full view) for approximately 9 seconds (and 150 metres) before he arrived at the junction.

On 20 July 2023, Dillon Beeching drove a blue BMW deliberately across Frederick Road, Hastings, into the path of two teenage boys riding a stolen motorcycle, causing a head-on collision. Both boys suffered serious injuries, including one with life-changing injuries. Beeching and co-defendant Liam Hide then assaulted the injured boys; one rider had his helmet removed and was dragged across the road and further assaulted. The incident occurred after Hide had reported his motorcycle stolen and threatened to cause serious harm if it was not found. Beeching admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and actual bodily harm with intent.

Daniel Hay, a former prison officer at HMP Styal, admitted misconduct in public office after having sexual contact with a former inmate one day after her release. Hay first met the woman on Valentine's Day 2024 while she was being escorted around the prison. After her release on 4 April 2024, he contacted her, bought her an alcoholic drink, and checked into a hotel where they had sexual contact. They had sex again on 6 April, by which time both were aware she had breached her licence conditions. Hay later gave her £100 to buy clothes and money for another hotel room before they parted. The relationship was disclosed to a probation officer and Hay was arrested. He initially denied knowing her, later admitted the relationship but claimed he had been assaulted and blackmailed.

Craig Yates, a 28-year-old from Washford Close, Congleton, took advantage of his position of trust as the victim's swimming instructor and manipulated his young victim aged 13-17. The offences occurred between 2017 and 2019 and consisted of two counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of an indecent photograph/pseudo photograph of a child.

Ian Crockford, 52, was subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order after being jailed for child sex offences in 2019. On 7 March 2023, police received information that he had more indecent images of children. Analysis of his mobile phone and computers showed hundreds of indecent images of children, and he had also shared illegal images and instructed another person on how to abuse a child. He was charged with six counts of making or distributing indecent images of a child, one count of publishing an obscene article, and breaching his sexual harm prevention order. While on court bail, he obtained a new mobile phone and attempted to sexually communicate with children, leading to further charges.