Maidstone Crown Court Sentencing Results

Between 2019 and 2021, committed a series of vicious offences across Medway and Edenbridge, including stabbing a man in the arm with a broken glass bottle in Gillingham on 10 August 2019 after an argument outside a property in Livingstone Road, robbing a woman of her car keys in Rochester on 20 September 2019 after throwing a paving slab through a window, and assaulting four Kent Police officers in Edenbridge on the night of 24/25 September 2021 while in possession of a knife and breaching a restraining order, biting one officer and requiring a taser to subdue.

Emma Weller staged her own robbery, attempted rape and stalking, framing her former lover the victim, a prison officer. Over around 3 months in 2020, she created fake social media accounts to send herself and her new partner harassing messages purporting to be from the victim, leading to his arrest on 23.04.20 for stalking and harassment. She created a fake dating profile 'Tara' to threaten her own rape on 27.05.20 in Mote Park, resulting in the victim's second arrest. The next day on 28.05.20, she falsely alleged being robbed and sexually assaulted by a masked assailant matching the victim's description, leading to his third arrest for robbery and attempted rape. Police investigation revealed Weller was behind all fake communications and self-inflicted injuries.

During the afternoon of 13 November 2023, Edward Midgley entered the reception area of the Medway Police Station in Purser Way Gillingham. He poured fluid from a jar over the counter, used a lighter to set fire to a rag soaked in an accelerant and threw it onto the counter, but the burning rag went out. A member of police staff raised the alarm. An officer sought to detain Midgley as he tried to leave and was assaulted. Midgley was taken into custody.

Edward Riding was driving an ambulance on the A21 near Tonbridge on January 5, 2022, when it partially mounted the kerb and collided with the back of a parked cement truck. His crewmate, student paramedic the victim, died in the crash. He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

In the early hours of 17 September 2020, near Chatham in Common Road, Blue Bell Hill, Lleshi was stopped by police while driving a Ford Kuga. Suspected of possessing controlled drugs, he reversed into one officer, injuring her, and injured a second officer trying to restrain him. He ran over the first officer a second time before fleeing. The vehicle was found abandoned with cocaine worth £1,000-£2,000 in the footwell. Lleshi fled to Italy, was arrested on 5 April 2023 pursuant to a European Arrest Warrant, and extradited.

Dean Luckhurst was convicted of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity between February and March 2018. In November 2018, he contacted a girl via social media, starting a sexual conversation and sending her an indecent photo of himself. In February 2019, he arranged to meet the victim at Teynham Railway Station, led her to secluded woodland nearby, gave her cannabis, and had sexual intercourse with her. He then kept sending sexual messages until the abuse was reported to Kent Police in March 2019. Luckhurst was arrested in Ramsgate on 5 April 2019.

Images and videos of indecent photographs of children, ranging from Category A (most serious) to Category C, found on his laptop during a routine police visit to his address in Shipwrights Avenue, Chatham. He claimed the images came from discarded SD cards he found in a box.

On 14 April 2018, a violent disorder broke out after a conference at a local theatre in Sevenoaks, spilling into Bligh's Meadow car park. Deirdre McTucker grabbed a woman by the hair and punched her repeatedly in the face.

Dennis Fletcher committed sexual offences against boys aged under 16 and made an indecent video relating to incidents at the Junior King’s School in Canterbury.

In March 2013, Derek Gale set fire to curtains at his Boundary Road home in Ramsgate during a drink-fuelled row with the victim as their eight-year relationship disintegrated. He told her 'you’re not going to get out of here alive'. She escaped with their two children aged five and two. A neighbour rescued their one-year-old baby from an upstairs bedroom through dense smoke using a mobile phone torch. Gale dragged the flaming curtain rail into the street and fled to his parents’ house without assisting his family. Neighbours extinguished the fire with pots of water.

Dimeiro Campbell and a 16-year-old boy approached a teenager in Gillingham town centre on High Street on 9 March 2023 and stabbed him multiple times after a short conversation. The victim suffered multiple injuries including an arterial bleed from a wound in one of his arms. They fled the scene but were identified via CCTV, arrested on 10 March, and one knife was recovered near Campbell’s home in Gillingham.

On 19 February 2017, officers from the Met's Trident and Area Crime Command carried out surveillance in Ramsgate, Kent. Armed Kent Police stopped two vehicles on the M2 near Maidstone as they headed back to London. A Colt .455 self-loading pistol and 49 rounds of matching ammunition were seized. Forensic tests linked Dion Williams to the crime, but he had already left the UK. He was arrested on 5 September 2018 shortly after returning to the country and charged the next day. He was convicted of conspiracy to transfer a prohibited weapon and conspiracy to transfer prohibited ammunition.

On 5 January 2019, while serving a sentence at Maidstone prison, Diqueon Blackwood received a supervised visit. He moved his chair and table closer to his visitor and touched their hand, breaching visiting rules. When officers intervened, he exploded in violence, punching one officer repeatedly and assaulting two others who rushed to help. The attack stopped only when staff restrained him. One officer suffered a serious facial wound and another had a head cut. Blackwood was arrested and charged with wounding with intent, actual bodily harm, and assaulting an emergency worker.

Chloe Glew, 23, of no fixed address, repeatedly stabbed a man in his 30s, known to her, at a flat in Brokes Way, Tunbridge Wells on 9 November 2021 at around 9.45pm. The victim suffered three puncture wounds to his torso, received first aid from neighbours, and was airlifted to a London hospital. Glew lied to police claiming she was trying to help and someone else was responsible, but confessed to several witnesses.

Maricel Stanescu and Ciprian Mihai carried out a distraction theft spree targeting over 30 businesses across Kent, Sussex, and Surrey between 16 and 26 April 2019. They entered shops, salons, and surgeries, with one distracting staff by speaking a foreign language and brandishing a leaflet while the other stole mobile phones. Police tracked a Volkswagen Passat linked to up to 35 thefts and arrested both men as they drove into Tunbridge Wells on 26 April. They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle at Maidstone Crown Court. Detective Constable Tony Hatcher indicated they were part of a wider organised crime network.

On 8 March 2020 in a communal car park in Cooper Close, Greenhithe, a group attempted to steal motorcycles owned by Christopher and Colin Nourse. The brothers armed themselves with firearms; Christopher shot at the thieves, injuring a bystander in the arm. Evidence included bullet casings, gunshot residue, DNA, CCTV, and a discarded handgun.

Between November 2019 and January 2021, Daniel Cooper subjected a Maidstone woman to repeated assaults, continuous mental and emotional abuse, and controlling behaviour. He isolated her from friends and family, removed her keys to prevent her leaving home or using her car, stopped her attending social events, made incessant phone calls and messages demanding to know her whereabouts, forced her to eat against her will, punched and slapped her in the face, placed her in a headlock, dragged her by her hair, threatened to kill her if she left him, and forced her to wear make-up to hide her injuries.

Connor Hurn, 26, created fake teenage profiles to contact two 14-year-old victims from January 2022 until his arrest in September 2024. He pretended to be a 16-year-old boy, sent explicit images and demanded indecent content. Kent Police arrested him after four days of abuse against the second victim. He faced charges including engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child, and sending a photograph or film to cause alarm, distress or humiliation.