Leeds Crown Court Sentencing Results

Steven Chadwick, a former Scout Master, abused two young boys in the late 1980s. He used his positions in the Scouts and a local church youth club to befriend one boy's family and groom him before the abuse took place. One survivor described waking up to images of the abuse nearly 40 years later and suffering anxiety, depression and self-destructive behaviour as a result.

He tried to groom a child on Facebook. A pre-sentence report found he still denies a sexual attraction to children.

Part of Operation Tourway investigation into child sexual abuse in Kirklees between 1999 and 2012, where eight young girls were victims of rape, sexual abuse, and trafficking.

Part of an Albanian gang that ran five commercial cannabis farms across West Yorkshire between 2024 and 2025, growing cannabis with a street value of more than £3m. In contact with property owners. Sites included 192 Alverthorpe Road, Wakefield (3 Oct 2024); Newgate House, Pontefract (8 Oct 2024); 17a Wakefield Commercial Park, Horbury (19 Feb); Unit 8 Beckbridge Industrial Estate, Normanton (19 Mar); former social club Moldgreen Top, Huddersfield (9 Apr 2024).

Wieslaw Michniewicz was a leading member of a Leeds-based trafficking ring that recruited women, mainly from Poland, by offering fake jobs as childminders, bar staff or shop assistants. The women were instead forced into prostitution, working up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, and had to hand over all their earnings. He fled before trial but was extradited and kept in custody until trial.

Cameron Boylan drove a Nissan X-Trail that picked up the main defendant after a fatal stabbing in Huddersfield. He was subsequently arrested and charged with assisting an offender, and received a suspended prison sentence.

Between June 2015 and April 2017, Bryan Walker managed businesses operating from the former Bowman’s Site in Lincolnshire near the A52, including as registered director of Eco Green Logistics Limited, allowing too much waste into site leading to unsafe storage and fire risk. Site permit revoked in March 2017.

Bofta Gentian fled from the authorities and was later caught driving on the A1(M) with a boot full of cannabis on 19 December.

Catalin Barbu sparked chaos in Harehills last summer through violent disorder and arson, leaving local residents rattled and parts of the streets scarred by damage.

On 18 July 2024 in Harehills, Leeds, Celan Palaghia, 21, joined a mob that set a double-decker bus alight and overturned a police car after four children from a Roma family were taken into care. He led people to the bus, attempted to turn it over and threw a brick at police.

Connor Callaghan stole a JCB mini digger from a site in Leeds on New Year's Eve. He was jailed for dangerously riding an e-bike through the streets, including going through red lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, going the wrong way on a roundabout, and narrowly missing a car before losing control and falling off, and for being in possession of crack cocaine.

Connor Charlton was filmed driving at 191mph on a motorway in West Yorkshire and drifting his BMW around a roundabout, tyres screeching, almost colliding with a van. He was also involved in a scheme in which other drivers took penalty points for speeding offences in return for cash.

He arranged to meet what he believed was a teenage boy at a hotel in Leeds city centre, but was actually talking to an undercover police officer.

Declan Bickerdike, a serving prisoner, entered the cell of a fellow inmate at HMP Wakefield on January 7, 2023, distracted him and attacked him from behind with an unknown weapon. When the victim collapsed, Bickerdike kicked him, causing injuries that included partial hearing loss. He was convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent.

David Moores drove a Ford Mondeo as a weapon to target two men on West Street, South Kirkby, on August 16 2023. He drove at speed towards both men, mounted the kerb and collided with them. One man was hit in the right leg and knocked from an electric bicycle, suffering a broken toe and cuts and bruises. The car then struck the second man, who was walking his dog; the dog was killed instantly. That man suffered fractured ribs, a broken left shoulder, two breaks in his left arm and both lungs collapsed. The court heard Moores was seeking revenge after an earlier incident.