Maidstone Crown Court Sentencing Results

On Friday 30 September 2022, Anthony Finnis, 36, from Wymondham, Norfolk, travelled to a coffee shop in Dartford, Kent, to meet a 12-year-old boy he had arranged to abuse online. He brought a Thor fancy dress costume as the boy's supposed favourite Marvel superhero and described his sexual desires in detail. Police arrested him upon arrival. He pleaded guilty on 3 October 2022.

On 19 January 2018, Barry Bonner, 41, and Paul Dudley, 33, went to a private home in Snodland. Bonner grabbed a large kitchen knife and threatened to stab a teenage boy who answered the door and his dog. The homeowner, who knew both men, arrived and tried to calm the situation, but Bonner and Dudley punched him repeatedly and attempted to stab him. They also struck the victim with a chair leg until it snapped. The victim managed to force them out and called police. Officers arrested both men at Snodland railway station shortly afterwards.

Bobby Turner, 23, of Beckenham Road, Beckenham, part of 12 masked gang stole motorcycles worth £140,000 from Noatum Logistics warehouse, Isle of Grain, early July 5 last year, via half-open shutter. High-speed chase to Dartford Crossing.

On 28 February, Bogdan Joja stopped his lorry at Medway Services and reserved the space next to him for his father. Two men in another lorry parked in the reserved space. An argument escalated when Traian Joja arrived. Bogdan, assisted by Simion Rafaila, repeatedly punched one victim to the head. The victim fell to the ground and suffered a seizure. The victims suffered broken bones and bruising and were treated at hospital. Bogdan was additionally charged with grievous bodily harm.

Bradley Cain from Maidstone was driving his Ford Fiesta over the speed limit at around 9.24pm on Saturday 2 September 2023 in Church Hill, Charing Heath, when he collided with the 28-year-old victim and the victim's young child who were crossing the road. He was under the influence of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine, and speeding. Rather than stop, he carried on driving, abandoning his car at the junction with Egerton Road after colliding with a bollard. He was tracked running through residential properties to his home address, covered in mud and scratches. The victim suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene; the child was hospitalised with non-serious injuries.

On 26 January 2018, Billy Beck and Shaun Barton targeted a man in his 20s in a supermarket car park in Sutton Road, Maidstone, who had agreed to buy gold from Beck for £700. They got into the rear of the victim's car, instructed him to drive to a nearby housing estate, then attacked him with knives. Beck grabbed the victim around the neck and tried to stab him while demanding cash. Barton tried to stab the victim through the open driver's door, stole £1,520 from his pocket, and threatened the victim's friend. The victim suffered a cut to his jaw and facial grazes.

Billy Nutt, a singer and pub landlord, was convicted of indecently assaulting a four-year-old boy. The boy told his mother, leading to Nutt's arrest. Saliva found on the boy's underpants matched Nutt's DNA. Nutt admitted tickling the boy and blowing raspberries but denied sexual assault. He was jailed for four years at Maidstone Crown Court on 20 March 2015.

Sonny Coster repeatedly beat the victim around the head with empty half-pint glasses during an unprovoked attack at the Station House Pub in Barden Road on 3 December 2022. The victim was playing pool with a friend when Coster, who was unknown to him, rushed inside from the pub garden, armed himself with a glass in each hand, attacked from behind with a large overhead swing, knocked the victim to the ground, and continued beating his head, face and neck. The victim required urgent hospital treatment for multiple bleeds to the brain, broken teeth and ribs.

Soufyan Yahyaoui, aged 41 and of no fixed address, attended an elderly woman’s home in Tunbridge Wells on the evening of 12 May 2020. After ringing the doorbell and claiming to check on her welfare, he forced his way inside, assaulted her leaving her unconscious with injuries including a bleed to the brain and carpet burns from being dragged along the floor. Attempts were made to sexually assault her. Nearby residents challenged him after hearing a disturbance; he fled on foot but was pointed out to police and arrested soon after.

Lewis Barovbe and Stephen Gillard repeatedly attacked a vulnerable victim at his home near the Tideway in Rochester on 4 July 2022 and 7 July 2022. They were using the property to store supplies of Class A drugs. After the victim panicked and flushed a large quantity of crack cocaine down the toilet, they demanded £1,000. Barovbe kicked the man several times and stabbed the side of his head with scissors. Three days later, Barovbe assaulted the victim again, smashed a mirror over his head, and stabbed him several times with a shard of broken glass. Gillard dragged the victim back inside when he tried to seek help. The victim was forced to clean up blood with bleach and dispose of the broken mirror.

On 23 July 2021, Stephen McCreadie entered a house on the Isle of Sheppey uninvited where a woman he knew was living. He repeatedly punched her in an unprovoked attack in front of her young children. The woman fled and he pursued her, striking her face multiple times while threatening to kill her. She suffered three broken ribs, bruising and scratches, requiring hospital treatment for eleven days. Following the incident, he sent abusive text messages threatening further violence to her and her family.

Shuangyan Hu was part of a nationwide Chinese crime group running multiple brothels. She was arrested during a police raid and found in possession of £8,000 cash. Mobile phone evidence showed the gang's exploitation of vulnerable women and boasts about wealth. She was convicted of controlling prostitution and money laundering.

Zubair Butt and Shyanne Porter ambushed a lone woman known to them from behind a wall in Luton Road, Chatham, at around 8.20am on 26 February 2019. They repeatedly punched and kicked her as she lay defenceless on the floor. Butt also grabbed her phone and deliberately smashed it on the ground. The victim suffered numerous head injuries treated at a London hospital.

On 28 February, Simion Rafaila assisted Bogdan Joja in repeatedly punching a victim to the head during a parking dispute at Medway Services that escalated into violence. The victims suffered broken bones and bruising and were treated at hospital.

On 26 January 2018, Shaun Barton and Billy Beck targeted a man in his 20s in a supermarket car park in Sutton Road, Maidstone, who had agreed to buy gold from Beck for £700. They got into the rear of the victim's car, instructed him to drive to a nearby housing estate, then attacked him with knives. Beck grabbed the victim around the neck and tried to stab him while demanding cash. Barton tried to stab the victim through the open driver's door, stole £1,520 from his pocket, and threatened the victim's friend. The victim suffered a cut to his jaw and facial grazes.

Scott Gunn was driving at 87mph, well above the 60mph limit, on an icy road where other cars were driving at low speeds. He hit a couple and their dog who were walking down a country lane, killing the couple and the dog.

On 20 April 2017, shortly after midnight, Scott Valero-Stewart was driving along Whitehall Road in Longfield while disqualified from driving. He lost control, and the car swerved wildly, struck trees, and flipped onto its roof. Two passengers suffered serious injuries, a third had minor injuries. Valero-Stewart then told police that two other men had been driving and had run away, leading to a search involving officers and a helicopter. It was later discovered he had bought the car the night before and was already subject to a 24-month suspended sentence for a 2016 dangerous driving offence.

Sergejs Mikulovs, a 42-year-old lorry driver from Strood, lost control of his articulated lorry whilst attempting to negotiate a bend near the junction with Willow Wents on Seven Mile Lane, heading towards a depot in Paddock Wood. The incident occurred at around 6.40pm on 12 July 2021. The lorry had reached almost 60mph on a stretch of road with a 50mph limit, crossed onto the wrong side of the road and collided with a Vauxhall Corsa, causing the car to catch fire and forcing it onto a grass verge. A woman and her adult daughter inside the Corsa suffered serious, life-changing injuries and were taken to a London hospital.