Kingston Upon Hull Crown Court Sentencing Results

Part of a criminal network that carried out smash-and-grab robberies on high-value stores in London in 2025, stealing over £100,000 in luxury goods. Specifically involved in burglary at a luxury clothes store on Sloane Street on 8 May 2025, where a blue Ford Fiesta rammed the doors and £8,350 worth of designer goods were stolen; and burglary at a café on St John's Wood High Street on 30 June 2025, where two men smashed the window and stole a safe containing over £1,000 in cash.

Jordan Shields forced his way into a man's home in Driffield in December 2024, sprayed ammonia in his face, slashed him with a knife, and stamped on his leg, breaking it. The victim suffered serious injuries to his face, arms, and leg, requiring surgery. Shields initially denied involvement but was linked to the crime by forensic evidence, DNA, and CCTV voice identification. A search of Shields' home uncovered an empty ammonia bottle matching the one used in the attack.

On New Year's Eve, December 31, 2025, in the Ladysmith Road and Ropery Street area of Grimsby, Mark Stevens, along with Stephen Challenor and Megan Maxwell, chased a fleeing woman. After the woman was punched, Stevens and Challenor pursued another man, pulling him to the ground. Stevens hit the victim repeatedly with a hammer, while Challenor kicked and stamped on him. Stevens also stamped on the victim's upper body, leaving him unconscious for about 90 seconds.

On New Year's Eve, December 31, 2025, in the Ladysmith Road and Ropery Street area of Grimsby, Stephen Challenor, along with Mark Stevens and Megan Maxwell, chased a fleeing woman. After the woman was punched, Challenor and Stevens pursued another man, with Challenor grabbing him and pulling him to the ground. Challenor repeatedly kicked the victim while Stevens hit him with a hammer, and Challenor stamped on the man's head, leaving him unconscious for about 90 seconds.

On December 28, Paul Ashurst assaulted his girlfriend during an argument at her home in east Hull, repeatedly hitting her while she was on the floor, causing bruises to her arm, shoulder, and hip. When police arrived, he lunged at an officer with a six-inch kitchen knife, leading to Tasers being used to subdue him. This incident followed prior violent offences, including an 18-month suspended sentence for intentional strangulation on August 27, 2023, where he threatened and strangled a woman he had just met.

On 18 June 2025, Vitkauskaite, a woman known to the victim, invited him to her home in Cottingham. Hours later, as he attempted to leave, he was grabbed and dragged into a nearby garage service pit by men she had invited round. He was then subjected to a series of violent assaults with weapons including a hammer and held for approximately eight hours. The victim sustained life-threatening injuries and spent five days in a critical condition.

On 18 June 2025, a man was lured to a property in Cottingham and later grabbed and dragged into a garage service pit by a group of men. Romano was among those who subjected the victim to violent assaults with weapons including a hammer over several hours, imprisoning him for approximately eight hours. The victim was left in a life-threatening condition for five days. Officers later recovered firearms and weapons from the property.

On 18 June 2025, a man was lured to a property in Cottingham and later grabbed and dragged into a garage service pit by a group of men. Hussain was among those who subjected the victim to violent assaults with weapons including a hammer over several hours, imprisoning him for approximately eight hours. The victim sustained serious injuries and was in a life-threatening condition for five days. Firearms and weapons were recovered from the property.

On July 23, Connor Dunne, 23, of west Hull, suddenly attacked a man in his 60s from behind near his home in west Hull, at about 4.15pm. The victim was standing next to his electric bicycle valued at £1,150 when Dunne struck him heavily on the right shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground. Dunne grabbed the bicycle and rode off, dragging the victim along the ground, which ripped his tracksuit bottoms, skinned his left kneecap, injured his right middle finger, and caused further fractures to his already weakened hips. The victim chased after Dunne despite pain and breathing difficulties. Dunne, realizing Malm Street was a dead end, turned back, stopped, threw the bike down, and tried to run, but was detained by a nearby builder until police arrived.

Rachael Robinson broke into a house in east Hull on 30 July 2025 and stole a strimmer, lawnmower battery, clothes, household items, food and toiletries. She admitted the offence and was sentenced at Hull Crown Court on 11 February 2026.

On June 28, 2025, Preston Cockburn, 53, of Hull, met a woman outside St Stephen's shopping centre in Hull at about 10pm. He punched a man she was talking to, then grabbed and squeezed her throat with both hands, restricting her breathing. He pushed her into a bush, causing a scraped knee, and punched her body numerous times during a scuffle, resulting in a permanent disfigurement to her little finger despite surgery and physiotherapy. She also suffered bruising, grazes, flashbacks, and sleeping problems. Cockburn was arrested but abusive towards police. He breached a two-year restraining order on September 25, 2025, by going to a previous girlfriend's home in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, where he was found hiding under a bed. He was remanded in custody on October 16, 2025. He also breached a two-year suspended prison sentence from April 26, 2024, by failing to attend probation appointments in Hull.

On March 9, 2025, Emma Peak refused to leave the minor injuries department at Hull Royal Infirmary, leading to a confrontation with a female security guard. She tried to headbutt and bite the guard, ripped her T-shirt, and threatened to slit her throat. On May 1, 2025, at a pub in Hessle Road, west Hull, Peak, appearing under the influence of drugs, threatened a disabled DJ in a wheelchair with a hammer, saying she would murder him and forcing him out of his chair; a customer took the hammer from her, and she stole his beer before leaving. Later at Clough Road police station, she became abusive, threatened to shoot a police sergeant, spat in his face (hitting his eyes and mouth), and the next morning spat in a female detention officer's face and smeared excrement in her cell.

On May 16, 2025, Ryan Elton and an accomplice approached a man over a £1,500 drug debt, blaming him for a police seizure of drugs from his home. The accomplice attacked the man with a golf club and cosh to the head and body, and Elton joined in by kicking him to the head with ferocity, rendering him unconscious. The attackers then helped him up. On May 25, 2025, Elton, masked and on an electric bike, approached the same couple, threatened the man, hit the woman on the leg with a large red pole causing her to fall, ran over her leg, and punched the man repeatedly in a garden until realizing police were alerted. The couple were left in great fear. Elton was arrested on June 5, 2025.

On June 4, 2025, Shaun Garner, 39, of Hull, attempted to burgle the home of a 77-year-old woman in east Hull by fiddling with her front door lock while she was inside. He was spotted by the victim, who saw him crouched down, and he fled by running to a neighbouring property and jumping over a fence. Garner was identified from CCTV footage by police. The incident occurred in daylight, causing the victim significant anxiety; she changed locks costing £150 and installed a doorbell camera for £320. Garner was under the influence of Pregabalin at the time and had lost his job and home recently.

Amanda Johnson, 38, of Butterfly Meadows, Molescroft, Beverley, subjected her former husband to a relentless campaign of bullying after their 2015 marriage ended in separation last year. She inundated him with abusive and threatening text messages, including name-calling, general hate, and sarcastic messages to make him jealous upon learning of his new relationship. There were 25 missed calls and 67 text messages filled with abusive remarks, followed by 18 more texts and another call. She screamed at him over the phone, yelled insults like 'cheating c***', hurled objects, put his possessions outside the property, and confronted him shouting and screaming. On March 8 this year, she punched him with a clenched fist on his arm without warning. She also drove slowly past his new girlfriend's home and posted abusive social media comments calling him 'cheating, lying scum of the earth'. The stalking occurred between September 1 last year and April 29 this year, causing him significant distress. She persisted despite knowing the conduct was unwanted.

Reece Drew, 30, of west Hull, attacked his girlfriend during arguments related to his secretive past, including a five-year sexual harm prevention order he failed to disclose. On November 23, 2024, at around 5am, he picked her up by her arms, shook her violently, squeezed hard, threw her into a plastic tub, and then onto the sofa, leaving her with bruises. On November 29, 2024, after she wanted to leave his house, he pinned her against a wall, strangled her by squeezing her neck, and threw her onto the floor. She called 999. He was arrested on February 26, 2025, in Silver Street, Hull. He has 11 prior convictions, mostly domestic-related, including harassment and threats to kill.

Matthew Mills, 41, of west Hull, strangled his girlfriend between August 1 and 31, 2024, during an argument fuelled by jealousy, restricting her breathing in a sustained attack. In a second incident between November 1 and 30, 2024, while she was pregnant, he grabbed her by the hair, threw her into a fireplace causing a red mark injury, and threatened to kick her in the stomach to get rid of the baby. This was the third partner he had subjected to violence.

Shirin Shamsaee, 37, of Beverley, became agitated and lashed out at two police officers during an arrest on May 8 when handcuffs were being applied. She hit one officer in the face, causing a cut and bleeding, and kicked the other, causing pain but no injury. She was given a one-year community order with 15 rehabilitation days on July 8 but breached it by failing to attend on October 24 and 31. She was on remand in custody prior to sentencing.