Leeds Crown Court Sentencing Results

Claudiu Gangal took part in disorder in Harehills, Leeds on 18 July 2024. The unrest erupted after police assisted social workers who were taking four children into emergency foster care. Hundreds of people took to the streets, a police car was flipped over and a double-decker bus was torched. Gangal pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for two years.

Leeham Stewart, a former county lines drugs operation leader, was found in possession of an undeclared mobile phone on 6 August 2026 after a car he was in attempted to ram a police vehicle. He had previously been made subject to a serious crime prevention order banning him from having a phone unless police knew about it, and had breached that order before while in custody. He pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court and received 13 months imprisonment.

Samir Jagirdar, 58, used his scrap jewellery company to accept large amounts of cash and buy gold grain, which was smuggled to the UAE under fake invoices as part of a scheme that laundered £266 million of criminal cash. He was the seventh man sentenced in the investigation. Police found 146 fake gold bars, one real bar, cash, and a cash-counting machine at his Hatton Garden business, Pure Nines, which was used as a front to make it appear a legitimate gold dealer. He regularly delivered cash to Bradford-based jewellers Fowler Oldfield.

Karam Tofeek was driving a grey BMW X5 in Huddersfield when he was pulled over by officers who suspected he had no insurance. After initially pulling to the side of Leeds Road on July 23, he refused to turn the car's engine off, then rammed into a police car in front of him while two officers were still inside. No officers were seriously injured. He was convicted of driving a vehicle dangerously and jailed for one year and nine months. He was also disqualified from driving for three years and seven months and fined £187.

Jan Hajnala, 49, a registered sex offender subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, travelled to Huddersfield and stayed overnight at a friend's home where a young girl was present. The mother was unaware of his previous offending and did not know he was prohibited from staying in a household with a child under 16 without permission. He previously pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court in November 2022 to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and received an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 24 months with 120 hours unpaid work and a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He later breached the order on two occasions and admitted failing to comply with notification requirements and breaching the terms of his suspended sentence.

Colin Agyei, a delivery driver, drove a black Nissan Note through a one-way back street in Beeston on 7 July 2022 as a shortcut. A five-year-old child ran into the road and was struck; the child died in hospital shortly afterwards. Agyei left the scene. He was found guilty after trial of causing death by dangerous driving. The court heard he was driving at around 15mph on a road where a safe speed was no more than 7mph.

Elliot Tasker was arrested at his home in Huddersfield on 12 March 2026 after police received intelligence that an Instagram account linked to him had uploaded indecent images of children. His devices contained 51 Category A, 48 Category B and 46 Category C indecent images, 1,773 prohibited images of children and 33 extreme pornographic images. He had distributed illegal material via Discord, Zangi and Instagram, and had online conversations with other users describing sexual interest in children, including requesting material involving younger children and babies and expressing fantasies about sexual activity with a child.

Paul Benstock committed more than 40 offences between 1998 and 2020, including physical and sexual assaults against adults and children and 14 counts of rape. He was convicted at Leeds Crown Court and sentenced to 37 years imprisonment. He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Mukisa Kibaya, who was on licence for child sex offences and subject to a sexual harm prevention order, approached an 11-year-old girl in the street in Leeds within hours of being released from prison. He was in a state of undress, with his trousers undone and underwear showing, and asked her for a glass of water before following her into her home, where her father told him to leave. He had made similar requests to other residents and was later arrested at his bail address.

Ateeq Hussain, 22, subjected a neighbouring family in Leeds to a six-month campaign of harassment, abuse and violence. Incidents included throwing nitrous oxide canisters at the property, smashing windows, kicking in a car door, and setting fire to a car and the family's front garden. Hussain filmed some of the damage on his mobile phone for a fake TikTok account and was heard saying he had a new car to smash. The offending was said to be linked to the victim's daughter marrying a mixed-race man.

Aleena Ramzan, 27, took part in a six-month campaign of harassment, abuse and violence against a neighbouring family in Leeds. The offending started in March 2025 and included throwing nitrous oxide canisters at the family's home, smashing windows, setting fire to a car and the front garden, and painting offensive language on a fence. Ramzan sent messages in a family group chat encouraging attacks, including sending an image of a baseball bat and saying she wanted to knock a family member out. The court heard the hostility was linked to the victim's daughter marrying a mixed-race man.

Reece Manley was riding a Kawasaki motorcycle on the A6110 ring road in Leeds on 26 March 2022 when he struck a 75-year-old pedestrian as the victim crossed the road. The victim died in hospital later that night. Manley told a witness and a police officer that the pedestrian 'came out of nowhere'. The court heard Manley held a full A2 licence permitting motorcycles up to 35kw, but the Kawasaki had an output of 53kw, so he was not licensed or insured to ride it. He was also convicted of a number of driving offences, including driving at 100mph in a 40mph zone.

Nathan Rivers was a staff member at a Bradford-based scrap jewellery business used to launder criminal cash. He was convicted of money laundering for his part in an operation that processed criminal cash on a large scale between 2014 and 2016, with funds used to buy gold exported under fake invoices. He received a suspended prison sentence with a curfew requirement.

Joe Conway, 40, was subject to a sexual harm prevention order following a 2021 conviction for making indecent images of children. During a routine police check at his home on 16 November 2022, officers found a deleted category B indecent image of a child on a Sony Xperia phone. On 13 February 2024, during a further check with a detection dog, he initially produced a phone and a laptop, but after being warned, he revealed numerous other devices, including mobile phones, cameras, SIM cards, a USB stick and storage devices. He admitted making indecent images of children and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Baqa Haider was convicted of money laundering for his involvement in a £266 million money laundering operation linked to a Bradford-based scrap jewellery business. Evidence showed he was involved in creating fake shipping invoices and travelling to Dubai to export and deliver gold purchased with criminal cash. He was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court.

Gabriel Levy made anonymous telephone calls to two Manchester mosques on the afternoon of 4 October 2025. He told one person who answered that he would come to the mosque and kill them, and told a member of staff at the second mosque that he would kill them, using Islamophobic language. He later told police the calls were made in response to an attack on a Manchester synagogue two days earlier. Mobile phone examinations uncovered hate speech and Islamophobic and racist messages.

Hakam Ghaith used an accelerant to set a police vehicle alight on Calverley Street, Leeds, on 1 November 2025 during a demonstration. He did not know whether anyone was inside the vehicle at the time. No one was injured, but the vehicle was damaged and taken out of service.

On 1 March 2024, Rosemarie Ozsko stopped at traffic lights at the junction of Waterton Road and Dewsbury Road in Lupset, Wakefield. Her view was obstructed by stuffed toys hanging from the rear-view mirror. As she took the left-hand filter lane, she struck an 80-year-old pedestrian who had begun to cross the road. The pedestrian died in hospital the following day. Ozsko stopped at the scene and passers-by assisted with first aid until emergency services arrived. Investigators determined the stuffed toys had a significant effect on visibility.

Robert Hunter, 37, carried out a 10-month campaign of harassment against his former partner of 16 years after she ended the relationship due to his persistent drug abuse. He sent repeated threats, including threats to stab her in the face and burn her house down, and left a voice note saying he would cut her throat and stand over her lifeless body, which was overheard by a family member. The victim said she was left exhausted and mentally broken. Hunter told police immediately after his arrest that he was not sorry. His defence said his sustained drug abuse had led to a period of psychosis and that he had begun detox in custody.

Ellis Thornton fired four shots at a residential property in Halifax in January 2023, hitting two ground-floor windows; the occupant was not injured. He fled the UK that month and was later arrested in the United States for an unrelated incident before being extradited back to the UK in April 2026.

Usman Khan had been reported as a missing person before he was caught driving dangerously in Brighouse. An officer signalled him to stop; he almost stopped but then accelerated, reaching speeds of 70mph and 90mph in a 30mph zone, and drove through two red traffic lights before losing control of the car.