Durham Crown Court Sentencing Results

Ben Doyle attacked his neighbour with a baseball bat during a noise dispute outside their homes on Coxwold Drive, Darlington, in the early hours of June 21, 2023. He threw a bottle at the neighbour first, then struck him hard on the head, causing him to fall unconscious, and hit him again before fleeing the scene. The victim suffered a fractured skull, haemorrhages, and ongoing issues including exhaustion, sleep difficulties, memory problems, and inability to obtain life insurance.

Jonathan Deric Stuart, a registered sex offender classified as high risk, was arrested in Bishop Auckland in October after a police dog named Louie detected a hidden mobile phone and other devices, including covert USB pens and hard drives, believed to be used for possessing indecent images of children. This led to charges for multiple breaches of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He was initially set for trial but changed his plea to guilty, resulting in his sentencing.

Dylan Renwick, 31, of Tindale Street, Consett, admitted to five offences including acquiring, transferring, and converting criminal property. Between January and December 2021, he deposited £97,457 into 12 different Post Office accounts, mostly in £1,000 amounts, which was then filtered into other accounts and converted into cryptocurrency worth £87,000, with £10,000 kept for personal spending. He gave no comment during police questioning.

Richard Pallister, 36, from Bede Street, Easington Colliery, threatened to set fire to his neighbours’ house during an argument in June 2019. When the couple dismissed the threat and went to the pub, they received a call that their home was ablaze. CCTV footage showed Pallister leaving the property moments before smoke billowed from inside. He was arrested soon after but initially denied the crime. After a lengthy probe, he admitted the offence.

Joseph Anthony Coils broke into his ex-partner's home in Shildon on December 1, 2022, via an insecure window, breaching a restraining order issued just weeks earlier. He attacked a man in the bedroom and ejected him, then assaulted his ex-partner, ignoring her protests, by dragging her downstairs by her hair and delivering repeated blows to her face, which fractured her eye socket and caused cuts, bruises, and permanent facial scarring. The victim suffered serious psychological harm and expressed fear of future attacks.

Claire Makepeace posted online threats to slash the victim's face, then approached and attacked her in The Avenues, Chester-le-Street, on November 21, 2023, using a bladed implement to inflict a 12cm cut from the left jaw to cheekbone, piercing muscle tissue and leaving permanent scarring; the victim required surgical sutures, experienced physical and mental trauma, became reclusive, and the attack was premeditated as an act of revenge related to a short-lived relationship the defendant had with a man the victim was with that night.

On Christmas Day, John Bostock, while intoxicated, punched and strangled his father after being questioned about missing beer at his father's home in Trimdon Station. He assaulted his sister when she intervened, grabbed his father by the throat causing him to fear for his life, threatened his nephew with a knife, and later returned to the home two days later to threaten his father again by grabbing his neck and saying 'I’m going to kill you'.

Roger Pilling, a 77-year-old metal detectorist from Loveclough, Lancashire, was involved in conspiring to sell 44 ninth-century Anglo-Saxon coins worth £766,000, which were part of the Herefordshire or Leominster Hoard discovered in 2015. The coins, believed to have been buried by a Viking between 874 CE and 879 CE, included two rare two-headed examples showing Alfred of Wessex and Ceolwulf II of Mercia. Pilling attempted to sell them to an undercover police officer posing as an expert for a wealthy buyer, after they were not declared as treasure. Forty-four coins were recovered in a sting operation, though two were never found as Pilling claimed they were broken.

Kurtis Mawson, a sex offender, engaged in repeated voyeuristic activities, including covertly filming women using a public toilet next to The Odeon Cinema in Durham and performing a sex act on himself in public while standing behind a female tourist taking a photo of Durham Cathedral. These offences occurred in 2022 and 2023.

In May 2022, officers from Durham County Council observed a fire at a compound on Salters Lane burning plastics, furniture, wood, metal and a boxing bag, with evidence of previous fires. In January 2023, Environment Agency, council and fire service attended and found burning waste including demolition waste, a fridge freezer, washing machines, shopping trolley and bathtub. In May 2023, clearance instructions issued. On 14 June 2023, Crossling was instructed not to carry out waste activities. He admitted collecting and burning scrap with his sons and allowing others to deposit scrap without paperwork.

Joseph Lee, 46, from Durham, attempted to meet what he believed was a 15-year-old girl for sex at Framwellgate Moor on April 26, 2022, but was arrested in a police sting operation by the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) and Durham Constabulary's Online Child Abuse Investigator Team. He refused to comment during police interview.

Between January and March 2020 excavation waste was transported from a construction site in Consett to Snailum’s land at School House Farm, Kiln Pit Hill, and illegally dumped. An Environment Agency investigation found over 5,000 tonnes of waste had been dumped, five times the 1,000 tonnes allowed under his registered waste exemption. The waste was used to level land, which requires an environmental permit.

John Stubbins, a 44-year-old primary school head teacher from Gateshead, admitted two counts of sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old girl who was not a pupil. Between February and March 2017, he exchanged thousands of messages with the victim, persuading her to send intimate pictures. He also possessed category B and C indecent images of the teenager. The victim suffered severe emotional and academic effects, losing trust in teachers and developing mood swings.