Maidstone Crown Court Sentencing Results

Marli Casaletto was an inmate at HMP Rochester serving time for aiding a robbery gang. Between January and November 2023, he used three different mobile phones on rotation from within the prison to communicate with a prison officer, exchanging around 300 phone calls, video calls, and handwritten letters. He was released in May 2024.

Rosie Smith worked as a prison officer at HMP Rochester. Between January and November 2023, she exchanged around 300 phone calls and video calls with an inmate and wrote handwritten letters in which she called him the 'love of my life'. The contact was uncovered when screenshots were found on her phone.

Foord subjected his partner to prolonged controlling and coercive behaviour and physical violence. He controlled her social media, isolated her from friends and family, forced her to bark like a dog, damaged her phones, spent her money on gambling, drugs and alcohol, dragged her by the neck, banged her head on the ground, threatened her with a knife and threw a brick through a window. He was arrested in December 2025 and found in possession of cocaine.

Bannon collided with a 27-year-old pedestrian in Cliffe at around 2.10am and failed to stop. The victim was found by a member of the public and declared dead at the scene. Car parts left at the scene were later matched to Bannon's damaged vehicle, and he was arrested after officers forced entry to his home.

Between November 2023 and April 2025, Dane May conducted a sustained campaign of stalking against his two brothers, one a professional footballer, and their mother. He made threats of violence, rape and death, bombarding them with calls and messages, often while intoxicated. He flew a drone over the other brother's home to confirm his presence, rammed the other brother's security gates with his Ford Ranger, and threatened to kill the other brother and burn down their mother's house. On 30 April 2025, believing his family had given statements to police, Dane May went to the other brother's West Malling home, kicked and smashed glass doors, used a garden chair to try to break in, then struck the back door three times with a paving slab until it gave way. He entered holding the slab and attacked the other brother, kicking or stamping on his thigh. The other brother managed to overpower and restrain him until police arrived. The professional footballer, then a Huddersfield Town player, had been threatened with harm to him and his children, causing him to install high-tech security and plan escape routes. Their mother was forced to move away from Kent out of fear.

On 20 July 2024, Luke Wells was seen driving a red Vauxhall Astra erratically and at high speeds along Queenborough Road in Halfway, Isle of Sheppey. At approximately 7.41pm, the vehicle collided with a grey Peugeot that was turning right at a junction. All four occupants of the Peugeot were injured; the front seat passenger sustained life-threatening injuries including multiple fractures, while the driver and another passenger also suffered fractures. Witnesses saw the driver flee on foot towards Queenborough, removing his sandals. Police traced Wells to his home, where he denied involvement and claimed to have sold the car. Officers found evidence he had shaved his hair and beard to disguise his appearance. Forensic evidence from the car matched his DNA. He pleaded guilty to the offences and was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court.

On 20 July 2025, Helen Tillcock stabbed her neighbour the victim 11 times in a communal garden at their homes on Barnsole Road, Gillingham. The attack followed a noise dispute, with Tillcock drunk and deliberately slamming her door. She stabbed the victim in the face, head and chest with a kitchen knife. Tillcock claimed self-defence and that she had the knife for making cheese and crackers, but the jury rejected this. The victim called an ambulance and was found slumped in her bathroom. Tillcock hid in a boiler cupboard before being arrested. The pair had once been friendly but relations had soured.

Christopher Robinson subjected his wife, a mother of three, to a prolonged campaign of abuse over approximately 18 months, beginning when she was pregnant. The abuse included strangulation with a phone charger cable, beatings, whipping with tea towels, degrading treatment, and controlling behaviour such as activating a tracker on her phone and threatening suicide. The children were forced to witness assaults, and Robinson took their phones to prevent them calling for help. The abuse came to light after a child contacted a relative, leading to police intervention. Robinson pleaded guilty to controlling or coercive behaviour, intentional strangulation, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Collette Gibson was driving northwards on the A249 Maidstone Road towards the Key Street roundabout when she abruptly stopped her blue Vauxhall Zafira without warning. A grey BMW hit her vehicle and a Harley Davidson motorcyclist collided with the BMW at 3.20pm on Saturday, April 23, 2022. The rider, a man in his 50s, was declared dead at the scene. Gibson, 55, of South Ockendon in Essex, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

Nathan Uren, 24, of Sittingbourne, first came to police attention in 2021 after indecent images of a child were traced to his address. He was charged in October 2023 with multiple sexual communication offences. He pleaded guilty in January 2024 to making and distributing indecent images of children and encouraging others to create such content but was released on conditional bail pending sentencing. In October 2025, police found a mobile phone containing 16 indecent videos of a child and undisclosed social media accounts at his home. Following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court, he was found guilty of further sexual communication with children offences and sentenced on 19 May 2026.

Darren Cross, a 42-year-old registered sex offender from Ditton near Maidstone, was visited at home by officers on 3 February 2026. A search of his phone revealed new undisclosed online profiles, deleted internet history and attempts to sexually communicate with a child he believed to be 13. He was charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, two counts of failing to comply with sex offenders register requirements and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on 14 May 2026.

Danuska Pullia, a 47-year-old teaching assistant of Iwade, in Kent, hit, pinched and spat at vulnerable pupils at a school in Sittingbourne between September 2021 and July 2023. She spat at a child who had spat at her and pinched another child's nose to remove a chocolate bar from their mouth. She was reported by colleagues and investigated by Kent Police.

On September 15, 2024, just before 8pm, Tyler Luckhurst, then 22, was driving his grandmother’s blue Mercedes C200 along Lower Road in Minster, Sheppey, while over the drug-driving limit with cocaine, ketamine and benzoylecgonine in his system. He overtook two cars at speed, attempted to pass a third at the brow of a hill, crashed into an oncoming vehicle driven by one victim, then collided with another car driven by another victim, causing his vehicle to flip. He was flung into bushes. Both women suffered serious injuries including broken bones, bruising and a punctured lung. Luckhurst fled the scene but later admitted responsibility at hospital.

Jay Bishenden, 24, from Castle Rough Lane in Sittingbourne, was using unauthorised devices. Officers attended his address on November 13, 2025, with a warrant and found two mobile phones and a laptop with evidence of him using a private browser.

Gillingham resident Andrew McPherson, 53, was visited by officers at his home on January 12 as part of a regular schedule of visits. They identified a laptop and phone showing signs of regular use, including internet usage. He was arrested and charged with breaching his SHPO.

On June 10, 2023, at the Aldi store in Langley Park, Edmett Way, Maidstone, Anthony Wickham, a 67-year-old retired carpenter from Bearsted, strapped a mobile phone to his right foot with the camera facing upwards to record beneath women's skirts without their consent. He followed multiple women around the store, making unusual movements with his foot to capture upskirt footage. One victim confronted him after noticing the phone, but he refused to show it and left. CCTV confirmed his actions. Following a police appeal, former customers identified him. Upon arrest in July 2023, devices seized from his home revealed 140 images and videos of voyeurism, including footage of an unknown woman using a toilet (not recorded by him) and three deleted indecent images of children aged 7-14 depicting sexual acts. Internet searches showed interest in upskirt and spy camera content. The incident caused lasting distress to the victim and her son, affecting their sense of safety.

On May 24, 2024, during the victim's wedding ceremony at Oakwood House Register Office in Maidstone, Antonia Eastwood threw black paint over her sister-in-law, the victim, splattering her wedding dress, face, eyes, and skin just moments before the ceremony was due to start. The attack was a revenge act stemming from an ongoing family feud, exacerbated by a false accusation that the victim had tried to trip Eastwood at her own wedding in Dover in September 2023. The incident caused over £5,000 in damages and loss of revenue to the venue, which had to close for repairs. Eastwood fled the scene but was later interviewed by police, initially responding 'no comment'. She admitted the revenge motive in a pre-sentence report. The attack ruined the wedding, leading to the victim suffering depression, inability to work, and loss of her £1,800 dress, which could not be cleaned.

Macauley Sanna, 22, of Five Oak Green, Tonbridge, crashed ambulance head-on in Badsell Road, Paddock Wood early March 5, 2022 after drinking beer/spirits, fled scene leaving girlfriend, hid with family help to avoid alcohol testing.

Michelle Sanna, 51, of Five Oak Green, Tonbridge, with children Macauley and Mollie, hid Macauley after head-on crash with ambulance in Badsell Road, Paddock Wood early March 5, 2022. Lied about contact, switched off phones to avoid detection and alcohol testing. Macauley fled scene after drinking.

Mollie Sanna, 19, of Five Oak Green, Tonbridge, helped mother and brother hide Macauley after head-on crash with ambulance in Badsell Road, Paddock Wood early March 5, 2022, lying about contact to avoid detection.

Isabel Nunes, aged 34, from Berkley Close in Rochester, perverted the course of justice following a fatal crash on October 29, 2022, in City Way, Rochester, caused by her partner Isidoro Olim. After Olim called her 15 times post-crash, she arrived at the scene and falsely told police she was the driver of the BMW, providing a detailed account of her supposed driving, allowing herself to be arrested, and complying with breath test and sobriety checks. She feigned injury while in custody to make her account more credible and deleted the call history from her phone before handing it over for examination. She was charged in October 2024 and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

On October 29, 2022, Isidoro Olim, aged 35, from Berkley Close in Rochester, was driving his blue BMW 118D at 77mph in a 30mph zone along City Way, Rochester, after consuming four pints of alcohol, including one just six minutes prior. He ploughed into the rear offside of a Skoda Fabia carrying four victims at around 11.45pm, with an impact speed of 65mph. Two of the victims, who were not wearing seatbelts, died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso; one victim was ejected from the vehicle. The other two victims suffered serious injuries. Olim had drunk at a bar in Rochester and his blood alcohol level five hours later was below the legal limit, but the prosecution argued he may have been over the limit at the time. He initially lied to police, claiming his wife was driving, refused a breathalyser, and called her 15 times to come to the scene. He was charged in October 2024 and pleaded guilty before trial earlier in March 2026.

On December 27 at 8.43pm, Mario Pascoal, 35, of Thornton Heath, London, chased a person with a knife through Maidstone High Street. He was identified via CCTV, pursued by police and a member of the public, and arrested near Maidstone Crown Court after throwing a duffel bag containing class A and class B drugs, two mobile phones, cash, and a leather weapon holder into the River Medway. Phone messages confirmed drug supply activities. The arrest occurred four minutes after the initial 999 call.

Cora Upple, 22, from Rainham, breached a five-year restraining order imposed in 2023 for persistent harassment of the EastEnders actress, the victim, who plays Amy Mitchell. In 2024, Upple bombarded the victim with hundreds of messages, leading to a nine-month suspended sentence for 15 months imposed by magistrates. On May 10, 2025, Upple sent a follow request to the victim's mother, via Instagram, and on June 9, 2025, followed her account, breaching the extended restraining order. Initially denying wrongdoing and claiming accident or impulse to apologise, Upple pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court in January 2026. The actions caused serious harm and distress to the victim personally and professionally, and impacted her family. Upple has previous convictions and a history of disobeying court orders, assessed as high risk of reoffending and causing serious harm.

Thomas Bull, 32, from Gillingham, began a relationship with the victim in early 2024, initially using dates and gifts. He then engaged in obsessive behaviour, digital harassment, isolation from friends, regular physical assaults including choking her so she needed hospital treatment, forced entry into her home, urinating on her clothing and furniture, and stealing two watches. Arrested on December 30, 2024.

Amie Bray deliberately set fire to her home in Gillingham, at approximately 11:00 p.m. on May 5, 2025, endangering neighbouring residents. During the police response, she became combative, kicking one officer while being detained and slapping a second officer while being placed into a holding cell.

Lauren Kinrade from Sittingbourne made 20 false reports to police over a six-month period between August 2023 and February 2024, claiming her former partner had sent her malicious and threatening emails, including threats to rape and kill. She set up an email address in his name while acting as his carer in August 2022, and after their romantic relationship ended in November 2022, she sought a non-molestation order in June 2023 by sending five fake emails posing as him. She made 13 calls to police and seven witness statements, leading to the victim being charged and remanded in custody for over three months at HMP Elmley. The false emails were traced to her home IP address and recovery phone number. She also conducted internet searches on tracking IP addresses from emails. Her actions worsened the victim's health, including his bladder cancer and Parkinson’s disease, causing significant distress, financial loss, and reputational damage.

On June 16, 2026, at around 7.40pm, David Fowkes, driving a Vauxhall Corsa, approached a pedestrian walking along Bayham Road, Tunbridge Wells, after a round of golf. With no pavement, the pedestrian was on the right-hand side. Fowkes left insufficient space, leading to the pedestrian expressing dissatisfaction. An argument escalated, Fowkes exited his vehicle and punched the man once, knocking him backwards to hit his head on the floor, causing serious injuries requiring hospital treatment in London.