Maidstone Crown Court Sentencing Results

Mark Caprile, a visually impaired driver from Holden Park Road, Tunbridge Wells, struck and killed 76-year-old pensioner Nigel Knight with his white Volkswagen Transporter van while driving at around 24mph in a 20mph zone on Culverden Down near the entrance to Tunbridge Wells FC's ground in 2023. The victim was crossing the road after watching a match with his son Paul Knight when the collision occurred, causing him to fall backwards and strike his head on the pavement. He was rushed to hospital and died four days later. The crash could have been avoided if Caprile had braked one metre earlier. He had not had an eye test for 10 years and failed to meet the legal vision requirements for driving (acuity of 0.5 in at least one eye). Officers noted he should have seen the pedestrians from 40 metres away.

Halim Lashi, 31, of Croydon, was arrested with Bertie Payne on 24 January 2025 in Bluewater car park while handling £50,000 in cash. He was involved in money laundering for the drug gang supplying class A drugs across east Kent.

Karen Gordon, 52, of Ramsgate, allowed her home to be used for storing drugs as part of the Thanet drug gang led by Bertie Payne. The gang supplied 24kg of cocaine, 10kg of ketamine, and 5,000 ecstasy tablets across east Kent from August 2024 to January 2025.

Ryan Page, a registered sex offender, created fake social media accounts under the names 'Jim White' and 'Ryan Wenham' on Snapchat, and 'Ryan Chantilly' on Facebook in 2023, breaching his court-imposed internet restrictions following his 2008 conviction for rape. He was arrested in November 2024 at The Grand Burstin Hotel in Folkestone, charged with four counts of failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements, denied the charges, failed to appear for trial in October 2025, was convicted in absentia, arrested in Somerset on March 9, 2026, and sentenced the next day.

On November 2, 2023, Ahmed Boshmakov was driving a Mercedes C220 at night on a wet surface in Longfield Road, Tunbridge Wells, potentially at double the 30mph speed limit. He collided with a BMW emerging from a junction, causing his vehicle to spin and hit a parked van. The crash broke his pregnant partner's back (two broken vertebrae in her lower spine), broke her waters, and led to their baby being born extremely prematurely on November 19, 2023, with enduring medical conditions including a shortened lifespan. Witnesses estimated his speed at 60mph. Although the BMW driver contributed, the prosecution stated the collision would not have occurred if Boshmakov had driven sensibly and within the limit.

On March 15, 2023, Dawn Simon was interrupted by police while meeting convicted drug dealer Graham Marriott in the car park of Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre in Gillingham to allegedly pay the final £50 instalment for a £4,000 Rolex watch. She fled the scene in her white Mercedes-Benz, smashing into a police car during a chase, before abandoning the vehicle and hiding in bushes near Quaife Engineering on the Gillingham Industrial Estate. She was arrested wearing red slippers, pyjamas, a long black coat, and a Rolex watch. Police found £900 hidden in her buttocks, £300 in her handbag, and upon searching her home, discovered £7,500 in cash, designer clothing, perfumes, sunglasses, handbags, and cutting agents for cocaine. DNA matching Simon's was found on drug wraps discarded by Marriott. She claimed she thought the officers were robbers and did not see or hear the police lights or sirens.

Malcom Nix, a registered sex offender from Gillingham, was subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order requiring that any internet-enabled device he used be capable of retaining and displaying his browsing history. On 9 September 2025, investigators visited his home and he handed over his mobile phone. Officers found he had been using private browsing mode, a direct breach of the order. He was charged the following day, pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court, and was sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment.

Over a five-month period between June and November 2025, Aaron Nugent assaulted the victim multiple times and controlled where she could go and who she could speak to. He followed her, turned up unannounced at locations she planned to visit, and was offensive. He threw a brick through the window of her home and climbed into the property when she refused to let him in. During a two-hour ordeal while drunk, he repeatedly punched and slapped the victim, grabbed her round the neck causing bruising, and threatened to kill her. He was arrested on 28 November 2025 and later charged with non-fatal strangulation, controlling and coercive behaviour, actual bodily harm, assault by beating, threats to kill and criminal damage.

Lee Webster, aged 39 from Maidstone, reoffended just six weeks after release from prison by using a false name and claiming to be 28 to send explicit messages and images to someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl. He also attempted to arrange a meeting for sexual activity. Webster was arrested at his home in Fairmeadow and charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to facilitate a child sex offence, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and failing to comply with sex offenders’ register requirements. He attempted to conceal evidence by deleting social media apps from his phone.

Michael Tucker attacked a man in a shop in Chatham on 19 August 2025, brandishing a knife due to a grudge following a previous incident. The victim defended himself but sustained a laceration to his hand. Tucker was arrested the following day and later admitted all charges.

Andrew Hamilton, 50, of Hoo, held a significant role as a drug runner in Frank Harris's reactivated cocaine network. Arrested on January 11, 2025, in New Cut, Chatham, during a drug deal; officers seized cocaine valued at £2,840 and £640 cash. While on bail, on April 11, 2025, a warrant at his home led to his attempted flight with deal bags, gloves, phone, pepper spray, and ammunition; search found cocaine valued at £480-£640.

Lee Wooding, aged 65, from McAlpine Crescent, Maidstone, abused children over a period dating back 20 years. His offences included filming himself licking ice cream off children's stomachs due to his fetish for bellies and navels, grooming them with gifts, encouraging strip poker, kissing them, and making one touch his penis. The abuse was reported to police, leading to his denial and trial in November 2025 where he did not give evidence and accused victims of lying. Victims described confusion, fear, and numbness in impact statements.

Ryan Bamblett, 28, from Bishops Oak Ride, Tonbridge, stalked three former work colleagues over six years, causing serious alarm and distress. He excessively messaged one victim after she left her job in 2018, continuing despite blocks and police reports in April 2019, using withheld numbers and false names, and creating a fake social media profile in her name. He sent sexual messages and a photo of his penis to a second victim starting six months after she left a convenience store job in November 2022, with contacts every three to six months until June 2024, using another colleague's name. After a short intimate relationship ended in late 2022, he stared intensely at the third victim at their supermarket workplace, then made harassing calls from random numbers in summer 2024, including sounds of masturbation on at least four occasions. Victims reported feeling terrified, vulnerable, powerless, filled with dread, isolated, violated, and unsafe, leading to significant lifestyle changes.

On February 1, 2024, at around 6pm on St Williams Way, Rochester, a 30mph road, Charanjit Singh-Shokar drove his Volvo S60 at significant speed while over the alcohol limit (126mg in 100ml urine, limit 107mg) and traces of cocaine in system, rear-ending the victim's Kia Sportage which had pulled out from Fairlead Road junction. The impact propelled her vehicle 30 metres, flipping it onto its side, damaging a parked car and garden wall. The victim suffered eight broken ribs, two fractured vertebrae, collapsed lung, blood clots, requiring a week in induced coma and nearly a month in hospital; she has 30% lung capacity and heart damage. Defendant stayed at scene, assisted, but failed breath test. No charges for cocaine. The victim unable to drive, suffers ongoing pain and exhaustion.

Raymond Copping, aged 62 from Fareham in Hampshire, committed multiple child sex offences spanning over 30 years, some in Maidstone. The abuse involved grooming through gifts and treats, performing a sex act on himself in a tent with a child, and continued despite apologies. He manipulated victims by threatening they would be hated and disbelieved. Arrested in 2021 after one victim reported him, prompting another to come forward. Victims suffered severe ongoing psychological harm including anxiety, nightmares, hypervigilance, and damaged trust and intimacy.

On 20 April 2025, Andrew Wedderburn travelled with another man to Medway, where they approached a man believed to have been involved in a previous dispute. After a verbal altercation, the victim was pulled to the ground and stabbed. Wedderburn fled the scene, leaving the victim with serious injuries. Police stopped the car he was travelling in on the A2 at Gravesend about 90 minutes later and found blood-stained clothing. He was linked to the attack through CCTV and later pleaded guilty.

On 20 April 2025, Djorn Anderson travelled with another man to Medway, where they approached a man believed to have been involved in a previous dispute. After a verbal altercation, the victim was pulled to the ground and stabbed. Anderson fled the scene, leaving the victim with serious injuries. Police stopped the car he was travelling in on the A2 at Gravesend about 90 minutes later and found blood-stained clothing. He was linked to the attack through CCTV and later pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article.

Ryan James set fire to his bedroom and living room and locked the door behind him, leaving neighbours in the building to scramble for their lives. He had stashed valuables in a local gym locker beforehand. Neighbours tried to kick down his door to save him, unaware he had already left. He was arrested two days later wandering the town centre.

Following a family party in Lordswood on 26 November 2021, Tryon Francois drove a Ford Transit van dangerously in Chatham after swapping seats with his cousin. He mounted pavements, struck brick walls and iron fences, and hit a wall where the victim was standing, throwing him into a front garden. The impact also ruptured a gas main. He attempted to flee the scene before being arrested. He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Tyron Francois was driving a Ford Transit van without a licence or insurance, under the influence of cocaine, when he struck and killed the pedestrian on Luton Road, Chatham, Kent, on November 27, 2021. The crash occurred shortly after swapping seats with his cousin, following a family party where both were intoxicated. Dashcam footage showed dangerous driving including swerving, clipping kerbs, jumping a red light, and the impact that threw the victim into a front garden, rupturing a gas main. He fled the scene and was arrested hours later, testing positive for cocaine.

David Francois, intoxicated after consuming alcohol at a family party, initially drove the Ford Transit van dangerously on the wrong side of the road, swerving and nearly crashing, before allowing his unlicensed and intoxicated cousin Tyron Francois to take over despite knowing he could not drive. He encouraged and coached Tyron during the dangerous driving, laughing and joking as captured on dashcam, leading to the fatal collision with the pedestrian victim on Luton Road, Chatham, Kent, on November 27, 2021. David remained at the scene but lied to police about driving and his alcohol consumption, and assaulted four officers. The jury convicted him of sharing responsibility for the victim's death.