Folkestone Magistrates' Court Sentencing Results

Florjan Prengezaj was arrested after police discovered 141 cannabis plants being cultivated across five rooms and three floors of a property in Dover. Officers attended on the evening of 28 August 2026 following reports of suspicious activity and found boarded-up windows, excessive noise from ventilation fans, extreme heat, and high-intensity grow lights. He pleaded guilty to producing a controlled drug.

John Cosier, 39, stole more than £1,700 worth of goods in 21 shoplifting thefts from stores in Canterbury, Folkestone, Dymchurch and Dover between August 2025 and June 2026. He targeted supermarkets and shops including Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Co-op, Tesco, B&M and Welcome, sometimes returning twice in the same day. The court heard he had received a £30,000 inheritance, developed a cocaine addiction after falling in with the wrong crowd, and turned to crime when the money ran out. He had previous convictions but had not offended for 20 years.

On November 26, 2025, Aiden Cullen, a 30-year-old ground worker from Chaucer Crescent, Dover, was observed driving a Seat Leon in Castle Street, Dover, by Army officers who pulled him over. Checks revealed he was disqualified from driving due to a drink-driving offence with only 20 days left on the ban, and he was also uninsured. He was charged with driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Owen Curtis, 19, of Dover, and Kendal Carpenter, 18, of Beaufoy Terrace, Dover, were involved in night poaching near Woolage Village, between Canterbury and Dover. On September 23, 2026, at about 10pm, police detained occupants of a Ford Fiesta parked near farmland in Pie Factory Road, Barfrestone. The search uncovered six deceased pheasants and one badly injured pheasant that was euthanised, four catapults, 200 ball bearings, three head torches, and a large lamp. The pheasants were killed inhumanely with catapults.

Owen Curtis, 19, of Dover, and Kendal Carpenter, 18, of Beaufoy Terrace, Dover, were involved in night poaching near Woolage Village, between Canterbury and Dover. On September 23, 2026, at about 10pm, police detained occupants of a Ford Fiesta parked near farmland in Pie Factory Road, Barfrestone. The search uncovered six deceased pheasants and one badly injured pheasant that was euthanised, four catapults, 200 ball bearings, three head torches, and a large lamp. The pheasants were killed inhumanely with catapults.

Rhiannon Thomas, 36, of no fixed address, stole chocolate and coffee worth £27.83 from a Tesco store in Folkestone on January 26, 2026, less than a week after her release from prison on January 20, 2026. Officers witnessed her passing a bag containing the stolen items to an associate on Canterbury Road, Folkestone. She was arrested, charged with shoplifting, and admitted the offence. This incident occurred while she was wanted on recall to prison for breaching licence conditions. Items were recovered, so no compensation was sought.

Sharon Parry, aged 53, from Dorset Gardens, Walmer, harassed PC Lauren Eyre-Jackson, the police officer who investigated her previous stalking of a therapist, by sending defamatory emails, abusive texts, and making offensive phone calls and voicemails between March 20 and April 29, 2025. The harassment began with an email asking if the officer had slept with the therapist and escalated to insults and threats. Parry was arrested on May 1, 2025, after attempting to hide her phone, which contained searches for the officer. She admitted the offence of sending communications of an offensive nature. Parry has a history of similar behaviour, including a three-year jail sentence in 2018 for stalking her therapist involving threats, fake social media accounts, property damage, and false allegations, followed by further imprisonment for breaching the indefinite restraining order.

Howard Sargent, 52, from Romney Marsh, crashed a red Toyota Yaris into the wall of The Pilot Inn in Dungeness just after midnight on August 10, 2025, causing £60,000 worth of damage to the family-owned pub. Shocking CCTV footage captured the vehicle smashing through the restaurant area.

Jesse Barton, 37, of no fixed address, breached a Criminal Behaviour Order issued in August 2024 that banned him from multiple retailers including Ashford Designer Outlet and Co-op stores. On October 5, 2025, he visited the Co-op at Brookfield Court, stealing food, alcohol, and household goods, and returned twice on October 6. He also stole £180 worth of items from the Loudon Way Co-op branch. On October 7, he stole clothes valued at £650 from a retailer at Ashford Designer Outlet on Kimberley Way. He was arrested later that day and charged.

Robbie Smith, aged 31, of Campus Court, Ashford, was arrested in 2022 after being caught by online paedophile hunters. Between February and April 2022, he engaged in online conversations with two decoy accounts he believed were girls aged 13, encouraging them to engage in sexual acts on themselves. He sent messages describing his own actions and calling them terms like 'babe' and 'gorgeous', with elements of grooming. He blocked one account after realising potential trouble. No actual underage victims were involved; the accounts were operated by adults. Smith was diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and was socially isolated and depressed at the time.

Between 22 September and 28 October 2023, Ryan Prior stole high-value items including alcohol, perfumes, groceries from stores and supermarkets in Deal, Broadstairs, Sandwich, Ramsgate and Tunbridge Wells, and cash from a pub in Tunbridge Wells.

Safiollah Mohammadi, 25, piloted an overcrowded boat carrying more than 70 people across the Channel from a beach near Calais, France, to UK waters on 21 May. Shortly after departure, a woman and child were pulled off by a French coastal patrol vessel and declared dead. Police in France are investigating the fatalities.

Shah Salim Sajjadi, 38, piloted an overcrowded boat carrying more than 70 people across the Channel from a beach near Calais, France, to UK waters on 21 May. Shortly after departure, a woman and child were pulled off by a French coastal patrol vessel and declared dead. Police in France are investigating the fatalities.

Steven John Lee, 38, from Herne Bay, was stopped driving a vehicle containing scrap metal waste during a joint operation by Canterbury City Council and Kent Police Rural Task Force in Shalloak Road, Canterbury, on 3 February. He could not produce a required licence from the Environment Agency to transport controlled waste such as scrap metal.

William King from Ramsgate tagged five locations in Canterbury including Grade I-listed Fyndon’s Gate at St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury Magistrates’ Court, and the King Ethelbert statue in Lady Wootton’s Green. Caught on CCTV in April. The tags breached the council’s Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).

Joshua Chambers, 29, was spotted behind the wheel of a white Citroen DS3 in the King Street area of Ramsgate, shortly after 12pm on Thursday 23 June 2022. Kent Police officers knew he had been banned from driving and indicated for him to stop by activating lights and sirens. Instead, Chambers accelerated away from the unmarked patrol car, exceeding the speed limit and mounting the pavement on two occasions before the pursuing officers lost sight of him. He was arrested around 50 minutes later after officers attended an address linked to him and found him inside.

Matthew Valedez organised motor events including motocross bikes on land known as the Cloverleaf roundabout on the A2070 in the centre of Sheepfold Lane and Romney Marsh Road, Ashford. Complaints from residents and councillors in Kingsnorth and Park Farm began in November 2020 regarding noise issues. Between March and September 2021, nearly 70 complaints were received about noise on weekends and public holidays, plus safety concerns and obstruction of the road network. In April 2021, Ashford Borough Council issued a Community Protection Warning Notice requiring cessation. Kent Police witnessed a breach shortly after, leading to a Community Protection Notice. Further breach observed in June 2021.

Michael William Latter of Blind Lane, Mersham, ignored repeated warnings and allowed transit van-sized loads of waste including demolition and building materials, household waste, plastics and furniture to be imported onto land adjoining his property and burnt on a regular basis, causing pollution of the environment. Problem came to attention of Ashford Borough Council in early 2020, with specific incidents between May and July 2021. Convicted of five related offences and one count of failing to comply with a legal notice at Margate Magistrates Court on 4 March following trial.

On Boxing Day afternoon 2022, Denton-Younger stole 53 chocolate bars worth £105 from the Co-op in Mortimer Street, Herne Bay. The following day around 7pm, she stole three bottles of whisky worth over £100 from the Tesco store in Sea Street without paying. At 8pm on 3 January 2023, the 31-year-old entered Morrisons in Beach Street and put two joints of beef worth £36 into a bag before leaving without paying. Finally, at around 9.45pm on 4 January 2023, she returned to the Tesco store in Sea Street, hid seven packs of fresh salmon in her jacket and left without paying. She was identified via CCTV footage and arrested on Wednesday 11 January 2023 after providing a false name.

Ilmars Anufrijevs, 34, of Farley Road, Margate, was spotted swerving on Adisham Way in Margate by an off-duty PCSO on the evening of 12 August 2021 while driving a Ford Focus with a smashed windscreen. The PCSO followed him to Elmley Way where he stopped with a can of beer in hand. Roadside breath test showed 161mg of alcohol (legal limit 35mg). He refused a further breath test at the police station.

On 14 January, Jamie Roberts dumped a large pile of waste in Westcourt Lane near Woolage Green. The incident was reported to Dover District Council and handed to Canterbury City Council. Investigations established his involvement, and he admitted to fly-tipping during interview by council officers.

Carl Johnson, a 39-year-old from Surrey Road, Margate, dialled 999 on Monday 12 June 2023 and claimed he had a homemade bomb. He called again shortly after and verbally abused a police call handler with sexual threats. Officers from the Local Policing Team in Thanet went to his Margate home 30 minutes after the second call and arrested him.

Christopher Lamb, a prolific shoplifter from Faversham, committed a series of thefts in Sittingbourne between February and June 2023.

Connor Jones committed a series of thefts from supermarkets around Canterbury, stealing high-value bottles of spirits worth more than £1,900 between 29 December 2021 and 9 January 2022. During one theft, he was challenged by a staff member outside a supermarket in Sturry Road, threw bottles of alcohol towards the staff member injuring his foot, was arrested on 18 January, spat in the face of the arresting officer, and later spat in the face of another officer at Canterbury Police Station and urinated on his cell door.

Dominic Hilden, 37, from Faversham, was stopped driving in Sweechgate, Canterbury, on 24 August 2022, as part of a joint operation between Canterbury City Council and Kent Police. He had scrap metal on his vehicle but could not produce documents licensing him to carry such materials. His vehicle was seized by Kent Police Rural Task Force for lacking vehicle tax for two years. He was advised to complete the Waste Duty of Care E-learning programme and apply for waste carriers and scrap collectors licences but failed to do so.

Douglas White, 53, from Dover, made multiple abusive, threatening, and silent calls to Kent Police, South East Coast Ambulance Service, and other NHS services between 10 January and 14 April 2023. He frequently used derogatory language towards female call-takers, shouted abuse, threatened suicide or harm to others to keep them on the line, and once demanded an officer to read his post. He breached a 2018 criminal behaviour order banning non-emergency calls to services. Additionally, in January 2022, he assaulted two ambulance workers by threatening to throw boiling water and sugar at them. He also caused criminal damage to a mattress in custody. Arrested 19 April 2023 by Dover Victim Based Crime Team.

Edith Nishanthy Nixon bred at least 10 litters of Pomeranian pups between 2020 and 2022 without holding an animal activity licence for dog breeding, contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Investigation followed a complaint from a puppy purchaser. She admitted under caution that a number of puppies had died due to lack of milk and showed lack of basic care or knowledge, including failure to act when pups were subdued and lethargic, inability to detect dehydration, and no monitoring of growth and food intake through weighing.

Faye Waters, 28, from Deal, admitted she may have left a gate unsecured while collecting belongings from her ex-boyfriend’s home in Dover, allowing his Staffordshire bull terriers, Leo and Luna, to escape on March 11, 2025. The dogs were found loose in Roman Way, St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe, taken in by a woman who tried to help, but they killed one of her elderly Jack Russells and injured the other, also injuring the owner with puncture wounds and a fractured hand.