Exeter Crown Court Sentencing Results

Daniel Leitch, along with Tina Westcott, broke into a caravan at 3am on October 5, 2022, where an elderly couple in their 60s were asleep. Leitch kicked in the door and used a piece of wood to batter the male victim. He demanded £1,000, held an angle grinder to the man's neck, causing a cut to his hand, and forced the female victim to remove her top and show her breasts. They stole the woman's phone, bank card, and £200 cash, then ordered the couple to a cashpoint. The male victim was further battered with the wood, leaving him with a gash on his head and injuries to his hands, back, shoulders, arms, and hands, rendering him unable to work. The attack was due to mistaken identity and left both victims traumatised, believing they would die.

Tina Westcott, along with Daniel Leitch, broke into a caravan at 3am on October 5, 2022, where an elderly couple in their 60s were asleep. She picked up and plugged in an angle grinder, handing it to Leitch to hold against the male victim's head. She was found in possession of a knife, the victim's bank card, and phone upon arrest. The attack arose from mistaken identity, involved stealing £200 cash, the woman's phone, and bank card, and left the victims deeply traumatised, with the male victim sustaining severe injuries including a gash to his head and defence wounds.

Timothy Schofield sexually abused a boy between 2016 and 2019, including causing the child to watch sexual activity, engaging in sexual activity in the child's presence, causing the child to engage in sexual activity, and performing sexual acts with the child. The victim disclosed the abuse to a school counsellor and felt emotionally blackmailed by Schofield.

Guy Webb stalked his former partner after their relationship ended, bombarding her with abusive messages and calls. On one day he made 113 calls in three hours. He later filled a jerry can with petrol, poured it over two cars parked outside her home in Crediton, and set them alight, completely destroying both vehicles and causing £14,600 of damage. A family member and three children were in the house at the time and initially felt trapped, though they escaped unhurt. Webb had been given a community order in November 2025 for two harassment offences and had 56 previous crimes on his record.

Elise Stevens was convicted for a lesser part in an assault on a man in Paignton in the early hours of April 14, 2025. She admitted battery and received a 12-month conditional discharge.

Danny Morgan, a 26-year-old from Buckfastleigh, was sentenced at Exeter Crown Court for a range of offences. They included taking prohibited items into a prison, possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, criminal damage after smashing a neighbour's window, possession of cannabis, and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress.

David Timlin, 57, from Chudleigh, made 17 phone calls to his former partner from Erlestoke Prison in Wiltshire, three months after being jailed for unrelenting harassment against her, in flagrant breach of restraining order.

On 4 May, after drinking 13 pints of lager, Aidan Seal armed himself with a fruit knife taken from behind the bar of a Newton Abbot pub. He stabbed a man and a woman who were trying to calm tensions between two family groups. The man suffered a puncture wound to his chest requiring stitches, and the woman suffered around five wounds to her chest and hand. Seal told police he had 'nothing to lose' and 'just burst'. The judge observed that it was only 'mere good fortune' that the victims' injuries were not far more serious.

On December 1 of last year, Brandon McDonald, 29, argued with his partner in a taxi travelling from Brixham to Torquay over accusations she was texting someone else. As they crawled through traffic in Paignton, she tried to escape by opening the door but McDonald grabbed her and put her in a headlock, holding her around the neck for between 45 seconds and a minute while saying 'You're not f****** going anywhere'. Her feet were out of the door. He repeated the headlock a second time when she tried to escape again. The victim was clearly upset. The taxi driver recognised them from previous journeys where they had not paid and considered driving to a police station. McDonald called the driver a 'c***' and walked off without paying.

On 17/06/2025 at Kingskerswell Road, Torquay, had without good reason or lawful authority, in a public place Torquay Holiday Park, an article which had a blade or was sharply pointed, namely black handled kitchen knife with a blade.

Bradley Carpenter was involved in an affray in Exeter on 1 August 2025, using or threatening unlawful violence, and was found in possession of a knife. He pleaded guilty and received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months, with a 90-day alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement and a restraining order.

Bradley Catton made indecent images of children in categories A, B and C by downloading them between 22 January 2022 and 21 February 2023 in Cullompton.

Barry Jones, 28, originally from Liverpool but living in Wykes Road, Exeter, launched a vigilante attack on a 65-year-old man in a flat in Torquay on February 22, 2021. After a 15-year-old boy delivered crack cocaine to the property, Jones falsely accused the victim of making a sexual comment. He dragged the bleeding man into a living room, bound him to a chair with gaffer tape and told him, 'You're my hostage for the night.' Jones barricaded the door with a wardrobe and forced the victim to wash his blood off in the shower while fully clothed. He struck the victim with a metal table leg, causing a fractured wrist and two broken eye sockets. Jones then took a photo of the victim's broken face and posted it online with the word 'NONCE' superimposed over it, joking that he looked like 'The Elephant Man.'

Connor Calam fly-tipped a large quantity of rubble and other building waste from insurance repairs on a property in Plymouth across a track near Pudson Farm, Okehampton, between 10 and 27 February 2017, blocking access to three fields. The waste was traced to his company Plymouth Skip Hire in Stonehouse, Plymouth. He was paid £245 by Zenith Construction Ltd to remove it, despite not being a registered waste carrier.

At Newton Abbot three offences of engaging in sexual communication with a child. Between 13/06/2017 and 23/06/2017 at Newton Abbot made indecent photographs of a child in all categories of seriousness by downloading.

Carl Barton was convicted for a lesser part in an assault on a man in Paignton in the early hours of April 14, 2025. He admitted grievous bodily harm and received a community order for 18 months.

Christopher Garrett, 64, repeatedly imported around 12,000 tonnes of controlled mixed construction and demolition waste, including asbestos, onto land designated as a floodplain at his home alongside the A380 dual carriageway in Devon between July 2018 and May 2022. He burnt some of the waste and buried large quantities of Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM), posing a risk to the environment and human health. He received hundreds of thousands of pounds for the illegal tipping despite previous prosecutions and warnings from the Environment Agency. The site remediation cost is estimated at least £2.5 million, with his financial benefit at £2.88 million.

Christopher Reed was seen on CCTV in the early hours smashing the window of Parrotts barbershop in Queens Walk, causing an estimated £2,300 in damage. He had previously received a suspended sentence in December for seven thefts and five breaches of a criminal behaviour order, but just 10 days later he was shoplifting. He rarely turned up for appointments, showed minimal effort with probation and admitted breaching the order. The final straw came on 6 June when he caused criminal damage to the barbershop. The owner said it was a family-run business, only open for three months. Reed, a drug addict, said the theft was for food not drugs, and he had problems getting Universal Credit. He was also subject to an exclusion order not to enter parts of Barnstaple.

On 10 November 2025 at Newton Abbot, intentionally suffocated a female.

Lee Sherratt, 28, of Queen Elizabeth Drive, Paignton, hit elderly holidaymakers the victim, 75, and her husband, 76, with his BMW convertible on Belgrave Road, Torquay, on 31 August 2006. The couple from Porset Drive, Caerphilly, were crossing the road after a bingo game during their holiday at the Derwent Hotel. Sherratt was driving between 29 and 35mph, failed to see them despite having ample time and distance, and struck them outside the Rainbow Hotel. The victim died at Torbay District Hospital; her husband sustained severe injuries.

On 06/10/2026 at Paignton breached a restraining order by contacting a named female.

Doe, a roofing contractor, quoted for roofing work for three customers during 2024, removed some roof slates, then claimed a whole new roof was needed and increased the price significantly. The work carried out was of a very poor standard, customers who rejected the higher quoted price were charged extra, and the company's five-year guarantee was not honoured. The three customers paid £20,105 for work that was poor or not carried out.