Exeter Crown Court Sentencing Results

On 16 August 2023, in the early hours, Drew Davey, after drinking and arguing with his girlfriend, entered sheltered housing at Lulworth in Westward Ho!, Devon. He fell asleep in a garden shed but was disturbed by two vulnerable residents smoking outside. Davey attacked them, repeatedly hitting them over the head with a broom handle in the kitchen. A staff member investigating the noise was hit in the face. The two residents suffered significant head wounds and were hospitalized in serious condition for weeks. The staff member, despite injury, alerted police. Davey was arrested nearby.

Thomas Kettleborough, a 35-year-old former Inspector at Avon and Somerset Police, sexually communicated with a boy on Snapchat and made more than 150 indecent images of children. He arranged to meet who he believed was a 14-year-old boy via Grindr, leading to his arrest in a police sting on July 14, 2023, in a Bristol car park. During the arrest, authorities found sex toys, condoms, and bondage equipment in his vehicle. The offences spanned four years and occurred while he was in positions of trust, including as a volunteer for the Sea Cadets and the Royal Lifesaving Society.

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.

Frederick Walls punched and kicked his partner during a drunken rage, beating her so badly that she was covered head to toe in blood. When police arrived, an officer initially mistook the injured victim for having bright red hair.

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.

Daniel Flynn was drunk when he fell and hit his head in Seaton in the early hours of May 31. After two men nearby laughed at him, he ran to his nearby flat, armed himself with two kitchen knives, and chased them. When one of the chased men tripped and fell, Flynn stabbed him once in the chest. The victim was taken to hospital for treatment.

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.

On 08/10/2025 at Blackboy Road, Exeter, he committed affray.

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.

Diana Woodward subjected her stepchildren to repeated physical violence over about ten years in the 1980s and 1990s, using her hands, wooden spoons and a loft pole. She forced them to eat cat food and told them it was 'their little secret'. The abuse included hitting the boy with a loft pole after a family meal, pushing him into a glass door when he was 10, and tying the girl to a chair and popping balloons behind her knowing she was scared of loud noises. The offences came to light in 2023 when the male victim sought help for mental health difficulties.

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.

Aaron Coady possessed criminal property (cash) and produced a quantity of cannabis in Newton Abbot on 31/12/2023. He pleaded guilty.

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.

Alexander Knight, 29, attempted to engage in sexual communication with a child on 1 June 2023 at Ilfracombe. He pleaded guilty and was also found guilty of other offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

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.