Lewes Crown Court Sentencing Results

On 9 October 1986, Russell Bishop lured two nine-year-old schoolgirls into a secluded den in the woods of Wild Park, Brighton, after seeing them playing nearby. He subdued them by punching one victim in the face and covering her mouth, then strangled and sexually assaulted both girls, with the worst assaults inflicted on that victim, including after her death, due to her earlier rudeness to his girlfriend. Their bodies were found the next day huddled in dense woodland, half a mile from their homes in Moulsecoomb. Bishop was the prime suspect but acquitted in 1987 due to police and prosecutorial errors. New forensic evidence in 2016, including a billion-to-one DNA match on a blue Pinto sweatshirt discarded at the scene and another on the other victim's body, led to his retrial and conviction. He joined the search for the girls to divert suspicion and later tried to blame one victim's father.

On Saturday 29 March 2013, Connah Smith, armed with a hammer, knives, imitation firearm, a jerry can full of petrol, matches and gaffer tape in a rucksack, entered the home of two nurses, the victims, in Dean Street, Brighton. He inflicted a seven-hour ordeal, repeatedly stabbing and threatening to kill them, asking how they wanted to die, holding them under water in the bath, forcing them to lie on a bed where he doused them in petrol and threw lit matches at them. The victims escaped when one claimed to have suffered a miscarriage.

Graham Wheatley raped a 13-year-old girl in Thetford, Norfolk, in 2003, and sexually assaulted her when she was 14 years old in Portslade. The victim came forward to police in 2010 after living in fear for many years. The charges were authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service following an investigation by Sussex Police child protection detectives.

Adam White stabbed the 39-year-old victim to death in his flat in Norfolk Square, Brighton, on Sunday 29 April 2012, following a trivial dispute about drugs and a stolen scooter. Emergency services were called at 7.40pm, and the victim died shortly after 9pm despite treatment by paramedics. A post-mortem confirmed the cause of death as stabbing. White was arrested in Liverpool and convicted by a jury on Thursday 29 November 2012.

On October 26, 2004, in the early hours, George Sithole, motivated by jealousy after his relationship with the victim ended, purchased 1.8 litres of petrol and matches from a Tesco garage where he worked as a cleaner. He poured the petrol into an empty Coke bottle and went to the semi-detached house in Banks Road, Pound Hill, Crawley, West Sussex, where the victim was staying with a family. Sithole set fire to the house, engulfing it in flames within minutes. The victim and her partner escaped by jumping from their first-floor windows, but their six-year-old daughter, whose bedroom was at the back, died from smoke inhalation despite resuscitation efforts by paramedics. Sithole stood outside unaffected, fled to South Africa, evaded justice for seven years, and was extradited to the UK on March 16, 2011.

Peter Foster murdered his partner, Detective Constable, on October 16, 2010, at their home in Haslemere, Surrey, while she was on maternity leave with their second child, who was three months old. The attack began after an argument following a christening, escalating when the victim allegedly swiped at him with a knife. Foster hit her over the head 10 times with a baseball bat and then stabbed her in the throat, rendering her unconscious before the stabbing. The couple's children, the older (three years old) and the younger (three months old), were present during the attack. Foster cleaned the blood-soaked scene, hid the victim's body in a shallow grave in Blackdown Woods near Lurgashall, West Sussex, covered with bracken, and attempted to create an alibi by sending misleading text messages claiming the victim had left him due to an affair. He took the children to his grandmother's house and confessed to police, leading them to the body. Post-mortem showed injuries inconsistent with self-defence, suggesting self-inflicted wounds on Foster.

Sean Iran murdered the 36-year-old victim by hitting him on the head with a heavy blunt object, motivated by drug debts. The victim's body was dumped and set on fire in undergrowth at The Dyke Golf Club in Devil’s Dyke Road, discovered on 4 September 2009 by a witness. Iran, who met the victim in Lewes Prison in 2008 where the victim saved his life during a beating, betrayed their friendship. Iran and family members conspired to cover up the murder.

On March 14, 2003, Graham Coutts strangled the victim, a 31-year-old violinist and special needs teacher, during a sexual assault at his home in Hove, Brighton. He used a pair of tights as a ligature while performing a sex act on himself. After her death, he hid her body in his garden shed for eleven days, then moved it to a storage unit at Big Yellow Storage in Brighton, where he visited it multiple times. On April 17, 2003, he transported the decomposing body to Wiggonholt Common in West Sussex, dumped it in a cardboard box, and set it alight. The remains were discovered on April 19, 2003, and identified by dental records. Evidence included necrophilic images on his computer, traces of her blood on his clothing, and a used condom in the storage unit suggesting post-mortem intercourse.

On 12 February 2025, Donald Excell attacked his cousin, the victim, at her home in Bexhill-on-Sea. He walked to her house carrying an axe and entered through the back door, which she left unlocked for family members. While she was on the phone to her partner, Excell struck her at least four times with the axe, killing her. CCTV showed a man with an axe matching Excell's clothing. He later disposed of the murder weapon and clothing in a lake; they were recovered by police. At his flat, officers found a stockpile of weapons including lock knives, machetes, and axes. Months earlier, the victim had told a family member that she believed Excell was 'a very dangerous person' after he threatened to kill her.

In December 2019, Emma Giles conspired with her father Mark Giles Snr, her brother Mark Giles Jnr and her then-boyfriend Sam Millis to murder the victim, her on-off partner. They paid £3,000 to an unknown assailant. On 21 December 2019, Emma Giles lured the victim to the gate of his home in West Chiltington, where the attacker stabbed him in the chest. The victim survived. Phone and vehicle data showed all four were in the area and in communication before, during and after the attack. They were arrested and convicted following a trial.

Ben Bamford, an 18-year-old drug user from South Street, Crowborough, met the victim, a 52-year-old civil servant, on the Grindr dating app. On February 23, 2016, Bamford visited the victim's cottage in Coggins Mill Lane, Mayfield, East Sussex, with the intention of exploiting him for money to pay off a £400 drugs debt. During the visit, Bamford killed the victim in a prolonged brutal attack using three knives and candlesticks, inflicting more than 40 injuries including significant head and neck injuries and a slash to the throat. There were signs of a struggle throughout the property. Bamford locked the door, fled in the victim's grey Audi TT, and sought hospital treatment for a hand injury sustained during the attack.

Cameron Grocutt, 24, punched the victim, a 66-year-old complete stranger, on the back of the head, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the pavement in Eastbourne, East Sussex, in October. Witnesses described hearing a 'sickening thump'. The victim was taken to hospital and his life support was later withdrawn. He died on 12 November.

Glenn Trevor Williams befriended a teenage girl after meeting her in St Leonards, East Sussex, and lured her to his flat in Bexhill under the pretence of offering help with accommodation and work. He raped the girl, sexually assaulted her, and took indecent images of her. He had previously been convicted of child sexual offences involving sexual communication and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Jamie Vile raped and committed multiple sexual offences against a teenage girl aged between 13 and 15. The offences, including sexual activity with a child and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, took place between 2023 and 2025. He was convicted of six offences following a trial that lasted almost four weeks.