Durham Crown Court Sentencing Results

On December 5 2025, Iain Boddy fired shots and threw petrol bombs at a house in Burnhope, County Durham. A petrol bomb started a fire in the garden, but it was quickly extinguished and nobody was injured. Boddy was linked to the attack after his DNA was found on the wick of a petrol bomb, and glass bottles similar to those used were recovered.

Declan Sains, 28, from Escomb Road in Bishop Auckland, engaged in explicit online conversations believing he was talking to a 14-year-old boy in July 2025, asking if he wanted a 'rape experience' and to find a young school girl for him to have sex with. The recipient was actually a police officer in a specialist investigation. Further enquiries revealed sexually explicit conversations with actual children, including sending images of his penis and asking them to insert objects into their anus. He was arrested at his home shortly afterwards.

On 7 January 2026 at approximately 6.15pm, Mark Harbottle, 25, from Burnhope, smashed a window of a property on Manor Grange in Lanchester and poured petrol into the hallway. He attempted to ignite the fuel with a lighter, which failed. The occupants, watching television, became aware, prompting Harbottle to flee in a waiting car. He was identified by Durham Constabulary via blood on glass left at the scene. No one was injured, but victims moved away out of fear.

Danny Winter and Kane Parsons carried out a violent assault on a father in the car park of Durham railway station on 6 September 2024, after deliberately blocking the victim’s vehicle as he attempted to leave having collected a passenger. The pair, who had been drinking heavily, had travelled on a northbound service from York and followed the victim after he was picked up by a friend. As tensions escalated, the victim got out of the vehicle to confront the group, who had been shouting and swearing. Punches were thrown, knocking the victim to the ground, where he was repeatedly struck and kicked. A passenger who tried to intervene was also assaulted before being forced back into the car. The attackers celebrated the violence by high-fiving each other before fleeing the scene through an underpass at the station. The victim was left with serious injuries, including a fractured cheekbone, alongside cuts and suspected further fractures. Following a review of CCTV footage, both defendants were identified and arrested two months later.

Danny Winter and Kane Parsons carried out a violent assault on a father in the car park of Durham railway station on 6 September 2024, after deliberately blocking the victim’s vehicle as he attempted to leave having collected a passenger. The pair, who had been drinking heavily, had travelled on a northbound service from York and followed the victim after he was picked up by a friend. As tensions escalated, the victim got out of the vehicle to confront the group, who had been shouting and swearing. Punches were thrown, knocking the victim to the ground, where he was repeatedly struck and kicked. A passenger who tried to intervene was also assaulted before being forced back into the car. The attackers celebrated the violence by high-fiving each other before fleeing the scene through an underpass at the station. The victim was left with serious injuries, including a fractured cheekbone, alongside cuts and suspected further fractures. Following a review of CCTV footage, both defendants were identified and arrested two months later.

Clive Jones responded to an online advert on FetLife, believing he was arranging to commit sexual offences against a seven-year-old child. The advert had been placed by an undercover police officer and no child existed. He contacted the officer via WhatsApp and phone calls, described intended sexual offences, and drove to meet carrying condoms, Viagra and rope in his car. The offending took place between 1 February and 20 February 2023. He denied wrongdoing but was convicted after a six-day trial.

Kieron Anthony Luke, 27, of Station Town, Wingate, drove a Mitsubishi Shogun into a house in Trimdon Station, County Durham, just after midnight on August 9, 2025, following a dispute with the occupants. No one was injured in the initial crash, but he caused significant damage to the property. He fled the scene and was pursued by Durham Roads and Armed Policing officers. During the chase, he crashed into two parked cars and a police car while reversing at high speed, injuring an officer's wrist seriously. He abandoned the vehicle, but DNA from blood spots in the car matched him, leading to his arrest.

Adam Allison, 29, of Rutland Terrace, Haswell, County Durham, engaged in controlling or coercive behaviour towards his on-off partner since 2019, between December 17, 2024, and August 31, 2025. He threatened to slit her throat and have her children watch her bleed out, to throw acid in her face, and to kill her. He called her degrading names like prostitute, checked her mobile phone, attended her friends' addresses, insulted her about her weight while preventing her from losing it, and used her bank card to spend money. After the relationship ended earlier in 2025, he bombarded her with over 1,400 calls in a week (200 calls and 19 voicemails on July 16-17, over 500 between July 17-23, 900 between July 23-24), sent threatening texts to damage her property, emailed her threatening to kill himself, and tried to add her on Snapchat and TikTok despite arrest and bail. The victim felt trapped, unable to eat or sleep.

Police executed a warrant at an address in Burnopfield, County Durham, and uncovered almost 250 cannabis plants throughout the first and second floors of the premises. Each room had electric lamps, fans, timers, irrigation systems, CCTV in operation, and a drying room.

Zoe Brown was driving a Vauxhall Insignia with her husband Stuart on October 8, 2024, when police pulled over the vehicle due to its connection to an attempted theft. She fled from police, leading a dangerous chase through County Durham, overtaking cars, struggling to control the vehicle, and narrowly avoiding a collision until the pursuit ended with a stinger device.

Joseph Coils broke into his ex-partner's home in Shildon in the early hours of December 1, 2024, just 13 days after being released from prison for a previous attack. He dragged her out of bed by her hair, punched her repeatedly, and attempted to gouge her eyes out so she could not see another man, leaving her with a fractured eye socket. The attack happened in front of their three-year-old son, who hid under the bed covers.

In February 2024, Barry Williams engaged in online communication with who he believed was a 14-year-old girl, sending explicit messages and requesting indecent images and videos. He possessed a 'truly horrific' collection of Category A, B, and C indecent images and videos featuring hundreds of child victims. Williams attempted to evade capture by changing platforms, creating new profiles, and trying to legally change his name to Colin Brown before charges were filed.

Jordan Newton, 29, from Charlotte Street, South Moor, Stanley, subjected his ex-partner to a campaign of harassment despite a non-molestation order that banned contact. This included bombarding her with calls in July and October 2024, where he demanded to meet and discuss matters. On October 4, 2024, he met her in a car park in the early hours, initially appearing calm but then becoming aggressive. He prevented her from leaving, followed her vehicle while speeding and flashing lights, and at a garage, he punched her car window, shattering it, before assaulting her by punching her four to five times in the head, causing injuries. He later called her, laughing and threatening that she would never see her children if she contacted the police. The victim reported feeling terrified, with her self-worth destroyed.

Connor Walker, 29, of Park Road, Durham, launched an unprovoked attack at York Railway Station on September 6, 2024, around 6pm. He was shadowboxing aggressively, left and returned multiple times, then punched the victim with his right fist, causing the victim to drop to the floor instantly. The victim was unconscious for two minutes, sustained a fractured skull and two bleeds on the brain requiring urgent surgery. Walker was identified from a photo by Northumbria Police, arrested two days later in Durham town centre.

Lee Barker, a former soldier who served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, engaged in a prolonged campaign of stalking against his ex-partner after their relationship ended in July of the previous year. He sent repeated threatening text messages, used withheld numbers to call her, and made veiled threats about her seeing other men. Barker attended her workplace, a hairdressing salon in Ferryhill, refusing to leave and once parking so close to her car that she could not leave. He also went to her home, shouting and screaming outside on October 9 of the previous year. Despite her efforts to block him, he created a fake Facebook account to contact her with an apology. The victim altered her daily routines, including dog walks and salon security, due to fear.

Hugh Holmes, 36, of Tudhoe Moor, Spennymoor, drove at a man he was fighting with, a witness, in Ferryhill on December 19, last year, but struck an innocent passer-by who intervened, causing long-term life-changing brain injuries. He also admitted driving while disqualified, without insurance, and failing to provide a breath specimen.

Liam Johnson, 34, formerly of Stanley and more recently of Gartland Road, Grindon, Sunderland, blackmailed his ex-partner over an eight-month period, demanding about £7,500 to fund his cocaine addiction, with threats of violence and damage to her and her home, as well as to her mother.

Ian Maughan, a 65-year-old from Consett, committed sexual assaults against victims, threatened them with an offensive weapon (a baseball bat), possessed the weapon, engaged in stalking that caused serious alarm, and made threats to kill. These offences occurred after the death of his wife and another family bereavement, leading to deep psychological effects on victims, including nightmares and the need for counselling. He deliberately delayed proceedings and was manipulative throughout.

Ricky Drewett, who had been released from prison just hours earlier, engaged in a street brawl on Coronation Street North in Murton on April 2. He was captured on camera stabbing a man in his 30s with a knife during the altercation, which occurred after police were called to reports of an aggressive man. Officers tasered Drewett and arrested him on site. The victim made a full recovery, though he did not support the prosecution. Drewett's actions were influenced by alcohol and his history of drug use.

Darryl Anderson, 38, was drink driving and collided with another vehicle at speeds exceeding 140mph on the A1(M) in County Durham on 31 May 2024, causing the deaths of an eight-month-old child and his 30-year-old aunt.

Ian Tate abused two girls, one under 16 and the other under 13, by engaging in or inciting sexual activity with them. Despite his denials, he was convicted of five offences following a trial. The abuse caused the victims severe psychological harm, including flashbacks, depression, anxiety, self-harm, and substance misuse, as they were told they would not be believed if they reported it.