Leeds Crown Court Sentencing Results

Jack Trotter, 23, of Dewsbury Road, Cleckheaton, was central to a gang committing 15 burglaries or attempted burglaries over eight months ending in January 2015 in areas like Heckmondwike, Dewsbury, Gomersal, Cleckheaton, Huddersfield, and Bradford. They stole £150,000 worth of cars and jewellery, including a £35,000 Audi from Suffolk Rise, Sheepridge, by breaking patio locks, and a £16,500 car from Spinners Avenue, Cleckheaton, using a bamboo pole with a hook through the letterbox to retrieve keys days before Christmas, ruining the family's holiday.

On February 27, 2015, at the Wharfeside Inn in Slaithwaite, Callum Purcell, after being barged into by the victim outside the pub, engaged in a tussle. Later, he followed a witness back into the pub, drew a meat cleaver from his jacket, and swung it at the victim's head, causing a 12cm cut to his face which required hospital treatment. Purcell was on bail at the time and on April 10, 2015, was found with an extendable baton at the Coach and Horses in Linthwaite.

Ian Watkins was arrested following the execution of a drugs warrant at his Pontypridd home on September 21, 2012, when a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized. Analysis of the equipment uncovered his depraved behaviour involving child sexual offences, including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.

Lewis Morley tormented his ex-partner by turning up at her home and putting her windows through. Despite a restraining order and two suspended sentences, he continued to harass her.

Lee Reeve turned out the lights and stabbed his partner repeatedly with a fork during a campaign of domestic violence that lasted several days in September 2024.

Harpreet Gosal took part in the conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, present at the staged gun threat at her home in Ash Hill, Shadwell on 31 July 2020 to incriminate the victim in her sister-in-law the victim's wife's divorce case, along with subsequent threatening calls and the Huddersfield shop attack.

Harry Mahoney was convicted as a conspirator in the violent armed robbery on 26 September 2015 at a specialist car repair business in Holbeck, Leeds, where two men armed with a revolver and machete assaulted the owner and stole Porsche Carrera GT parts worth £140,000. The victim was bound, beaten, slashed, and left injured.

Gyaltse Yolmo laundered more than £580,000 as part of a large-scale computer support scam. Between November 2015 and January 2019 he was the sole director of UK Infotech Technology Ltd, one of several companies receiving payments from victims misled into paying for unnecessary or meaningless computer repairs at inflated prices.

Hardeep Sangha was involved in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, including staging a fake doorstep gun threat at the victim's home in Ash Hill, Shadwell on 31 July 2020 to frame her ex-husband in a divorce dispute, arranging threatening phone calls, and organising an attack on her ex-husband's parents' convenience store in Huddersfield on 2 September 2020 causing £2,000 damage.

Glen Atchinson knocked a man unconscious on 6 July 2024, then stamped on his head leaving him with a fractured skull.

Glen Russell, 38, was seen by a resident performing a solo sex act in his parked car beside a play park in Wakefield while children were playing nearby. He was repeatedly looking towards the children. A resident filmed him before he drove off. He was arrested about a week later and refused to answer police questions. At Leeds Crown Court he admitted outraging public decency. The court heard he had previously been given a nine-month suspended sentence at Sheffield Crown Court in July for downloading hundreds of abuse images and attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child. Recorder Ruwena Khan activated the suspended sentence in full and added two months, giving a total of 11 months' imprisonment.

James Baines, 27, admitted dangerous driving, driving while banned and having no insurance. He led police on a chase in a stolen car on Outgang Lane in Bramley on September 19.

James Fairburn was involved in seven attacks on cash machines in Darlington, Bradford, Keighley and Huddersfield, as well as two burglaries where vehicles were stolen for use in the crimes. The attacks between October 2017 and February 2018 involved pumping gases into the machines to cause explosions, resulting in thousands of pounds of damage and more than £300,000 stolen.

James Gettings, 35, of Landseer Walk, Bramley, Leeds, appeared alongside Phil Hoban. A video showed him mocking Muslim people praying during the anti-immigration demonstration in Leeds city centre on 3 August 2024. He admitted the offence at a previous hearing.

James Holmes, a registered sex offender with illegal images of children, failed to comply with his notification requirements. His whereabouts were unknown for a period, causing him to breach a previously imposed suspended sentence.

James Oldfield was already banned from driving when he was pursued by police on the M62 and M18 in West Yorkshire. He reached 120mph, cut across traffic and repeatedly rammed police cars before losing control and hitting the central reservation. He was found with a can of lager and refused to provide a breath test. Earlier he had threatened a family member with a baseball bat and damaged a fence. The judge said it was a matter of fortune that his driving did not result in multiple fatalities.

A telecommunications engineer utilized electronic payment gateways to fund and explicitly direct the torture and sexual abuse of seven young children overseas.

On 18 July 2024 in Harehills, Leeds, Iustin Dobre, 37, 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 was filmed holding a lighter next to the bus seats and throwing missiles at police.

Jacinta Hunter and her son operated a waste site at Queens Mill Road, Huddersfield, under Hunter Group (Yorkshire) Limited, holding an environmental permit. Repeated breaches found in 2015 and 2016 inspections: huge piles of waste pushing against broken perimeter fence, shredded waste stored improperly. Failed to comply with orders to move waste and repair fences. Verbal abuse to Environment Agency officers by Samuel Hunter. Fire risk advised by West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service but no fire breaks introduced. Site caught fire on 18 August 2016, smouldering until 30 August 2016, cleared by March 2017 at cost of £1,142,131 to Kirklees Council. Waste volume 825-1383 tonnes.

On 11 August 2024, Jack Sweeney attacked his step-sister at the family home after her ringing phone woke him. He threw and stamped on her phone, then grabbed her by the hair and smashed her head against a wheelie bin and a brick wall. He later armed himself with a bread knife and tried to go upstairs after her, and after being stopped he retrieved a sawn-off shotgun and attempted to go upstairs again before being forced outside. He hid the dismantled shotgun and two cartridges under a vehicle; officers recovered it.

Irfan Hanif Patel, acting as a sole trader, purchased counterfeit Abel and Cole cranberry sauce in December 2020 and supplied it to his brother Mohammed Patel, director of Stock Up Direct Limited. The company supplied over 1,000 jars to a wholesaler, reaching food businesses including in Kirklees. Neither had registered food businesses with Kirklees Council, trading illegally without hygiene inspections. Premises inspected, food seized and destroyed under Kirklees Magistrates’ Court order in February 2021. Sauce confirmed counterfeit by Public Analyst and trademark holder.

Inderjeet Gosal participated in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by staging a fake gun threat at his own home in Ash Hill, Shadwell on 31 July 2020, pretending to be shocked and calling 999, as part of a plot linked to his sister's divorce from the victim, including threatening phone calls and the shop damage in Huddersfield.

Justin Swaddle, who called himself 'Epstein', spent months targeting children online, persuading them to send him explicit photos and attempting to blackmail a teenager into sending nude photos.

Kamal Bains, a letting agent, failed to ensure working smoke alarms were installed at a rental property on Alder Street in Huddersfield despite repeated requests from tenants who moved in May 2015. A fire on 20 February 2016, believed caused by an electrical fault in equipment in the boys' bedroom, killed a three-year-old victim and a two-year-old victim who were asleep upstairs. No smoke alarms were present; a full reconstruction confirmed they would have activated in time to save the boys.

Kai Kennedy was convicted as a conspirator in the violent armed robbery on 26 September 2015 at a specialist car repair business in Holbeck, Leeds, where two men armed with a revolver and machete assaulted the owner and stole Porsche Carrera GT parts worth £140,000. The victim was bound, beaten, slashed, and left injured.