Maidstone Crown Court Sentencing Results

David Fuller, a 67-year-old hospital electrician, murdered the victims, aged 25 and 20, in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987, by beating and strangling them before sexually assaulting their bodies. He was arrested in 2020 following a DNA breakthrough. Additionally, between 2008 and November 2020, he sexually abused the bodies of at least 102 women and girls aged nine to 100 in hospital mortuaries, recording the acts on video. These abuses occurred at the Kent and Sussex Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital, where he worked in electrical maintenance since 1989.

Ephrain Akinwunmi-Streets participated in the group attack on the victim on October 6, 2017, in Gillingham, involving stabbing, punching, kicking, and stamping. The attack was a revenge assault by the G10 gang following a bike theft and prior clashes. He was part of the silent, calculated mob that trapped and killed the defenceless victim without mercy. Additionally convicted of an affray on October 1, 2017.

Jordan Dania participated in the gang murder of the victim on October 6, 2017, in East Street, Gillingham. As part of the G10 group, he joined the revenge attack triggered by a bike theft and prior violent clashes. The teenagers, armed with knives, smashed the victim's car and pursued him to a narrow garden where they punched, kicked, stamped, and stabbed him four times, ignoring his pleas for mercy. The assault was silent, ruthless, and calculated.

Shezakia Daley was part of the five-member gang that murdered the victim on October 6, 2017, in Gillingham. The attack stemmed from gang rivalries and a stolen bike, with the hooded and masked group ambushing the victim in a car, smashing windows, and then chasing and stabbing him multiple times in a front garden. Daley used a knife in the joint assault, contributing to the savage beating that severed an artery. He also admitted to threatening two men with a machete outside the Fleur de Lis pub the day before.

Victor Maibvisira, known as Vee, led a gang attack on October 6, 2017, in East Street, Gillingham, as revenge for a stolen bike and prior confrontations between C4 and G10 gangs. The group smashed the windscreen of a Renault Clio where the victim was sitting, then chased and attacked him in a narrow front garden. Maibvisira stabbed the victim four times, including a fatal wound severing an artery in the right armpit. The victim begged him to stop, shouting 'Stop, that’s enough Vee, I get the point. I am sorry.' Maibvisira's DNA was on the knife sheath found at the scene, and a witness saw him stab the victim. He had previously threatened to kill the victim and brandished a Ninja-type sword.

Tyler Ralph joined the gang in the fatal attack on the victim on October 6, 2017, in East Street, Gillingham. The group, armed with knives and wearing masks, targeted the victim in a revenge attack over a stolen bike. They smashed car windows, chased him to a front garden, and assaulted him with punches, kicks, stamps, and stabs. Ralph was fascinated with knives and thought carrying them was glamorous. He participated in the cold, calculated killing without showing mercy.

In the late 1970s, John Aldridge, then a maths teacher at Bedgebury Park girls’ boarding school near Cranbrook, Kent, raped a teenage pupil during a visit to his flat. He groomed her by leading her to believe they were in a relationship, making her feel safe and in his thrall. She returned regularly despite the abuse, where he undressed her, touched her, and forced himself on her, taking her virginity. Rumours led to confrontation by the headteacher; Aldridge initially claimed tutoring but confessed to sex and was sacked. The victim reported him years later after seeing his name on a list of convicted paedophiles, following her parents' death. The school closed in 2006.

On the evening of May 6, 2017, Charlie White, Alex Macdonald, and Jimmy Buckley went out intending to steal a lawnmower. They came across the victim sleeping rough in a tent in the Loose Valley Conservation Area in Tovil, Maidstone. White and Macdonald carried out a joint attack on the 21-year-old homeless Romanian man using a meat cleaver and a heavy piece of wood, inflicting blunt force trauma to his head and body. His body was discovered the next morning, May 7, 2017, by a dog walker. The attack resulted in multiple skull fractures, facial bone fractures, broken ribs, and other injuries, leading to his death approximately 30 minutes after the assault.

On the evening of May 6, 2017, Alex Macdonald, Charlie White, and Jimmy Buckley went out intending to steal a lawnmower. They came across a 21-year-old homeless Romanian man sleeping rough in a tent in the Loose Valley Conservation Area in Tovil, Maidstone. Macdonald and White carried out a joint attack on the 21-year-old homeless Romanian man using a heavy piece of wood and a meat cleaver, inflicting blunt force trauma to his head and body. The victim's body was discovered the next morning, May 7, 2017, by a dog walker. The attack resulted in multiple skull fractures, facial bone fractures, broken ribs, and other injuries, leading to the victim's death approximately 30 minutes after the assault.

John Dickson, 27, assaulted the 20-year-old victim in a shopping centre car park in Broadstairs, Kent, on October 2016, following a dispute over a Facebook post insulting Dickson's ex-girlfriend Chloe Lemare. The attack was organised by Christopher Pollard after receiving threatening messages. Dickson restrained the victim in a chokehold and repeatedly kicked his head, leading to the victim's death from asphyxiation. The victim, who had Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD, was discovered by workers and pronounced dead at the scene.

Michael Bowditch was with the 17-year-old victim when she fell into the sea at the Port of Ramsgate, Kent, on May 1, 2016. Despite being present, he failed to assist her, call for help, or contact emergency services, leaving her to drown. He later reported the incident to the police several hours afterwards, and his actions were deemed grossly negligent.

Richard Donovan, while drunk, followed the 59-year-old homeless man to his tent on wasteland in Canterbury, gave him a beer, talked to him, and then shot him dead with a sawn-off shotgun on or around August 4, 2015, after becoming paranoid. He fled the scene, threatened a woman who he told about the crime, and later sold the gun. The victim's remains were undiscovered for 10 months.

Kaswayne Williams, along with accomplices, kidnapped a woman in Chatham, Kent, on the night of the incident. They forced her into a car, bound her hands with duct tape, stuffed a sock in her mouth, and drove her over 30 miles to south London. There, he dragged her out by her hair, beat her with a metal baseball bat, punched her with a knuckleduster, and threatened her with an imitation firearm. He demanded £2,000, threatening her family's lives, before dumping her near Nunhead railway station, leaving her for dead. The victim sustained serious injuries and was found by a passer-by.

George Emmett arranged to meet the victim in Chatham, Kent, on the night of the incident to discuss money owed to her. Instead, he assisted in forcing her into a car with accomplices. During the journey, he punched her in the face and beat her with her dog's lead before fleeing. The group demanded £2,000 from her, threatening her family's lives, and left her severely injured near Nunhead railway station after the attack.

Sheneqwa Delpratt drove the car used in the kidnapping of a woman in Chatham, Kent, on the night of the incident. She transported the victim over 30 miles to south London, where the woman was beaten with a metal bat, knuckleduster, and dog chain. Delpratt was involved throughout, including after the victim was assaulted and dumped near Nunhead railway station, leaving her for dead.

Linas Zidonis, along with Aleksandras Zuravliovas and Saulius Tamoliunas, forced their way into the bedsit of the two victims above Vesuvius restaurant in Lower Stone Street, Maidstone, on the evening of October 20, 2013, mistakenly believing the victims had complained about noise. Fuelled by alcohol, the trio conducted a savage two-part attack using fists, feet, wood, a broom handle, and metal bars, inflicting 100 injuries on the victim, who died from his wounds, and seriously injuring the other victim. The attack was unprovoked and showed no mercy, destroying the bedroom and adjacent bathroom.

Saulius Tamoliunas, along with Aleksandras Zuravliovas and Linas Zidonis, forced their way into the bedsit of the two victims above Vesuvius restaurant in Lower Stone Street, Maidstone, on the evening of October 20, 2013, mistakenly believing the victims had complained about noise. Fuelled by alcohol, the trio conducted a savage two-part attack using fists, feet, wood, a broom handle, and metal bars, inflicting 100 injuries on one victim, who died from his wounds, and seriously injuring the other victim. The attack was unprovoked and showed no mercy, destroying the bedroom and adjacent bathroom.

Aleksandras Zuravliovas, along with Saulius Tamoliunas and Linas Zidonis, forced their way into the bedsit of the two victims above Vesuvius restaurant in Lower Stone Street, Maidstone, on the evening of October 20, 2013, mistakenly believing the victims had complained about noise. Fuelled by alcohol, the trio conducted a savage two-part attack using fists, feet, wood, a broom handle, and metal bars, inflicting 100 injuries on one victim, who died from his wounds, and seriously injuring the other victim. The attack was unprovoked and showed no mercy, destroying the bedroom and adjacent bathroom.

Simon Olsen, a 54-year-old homeless former bailiff, murdered his ex-boss, the victim, by shooting him once in the upper abdomen with a double-barrelled shotgun at the tackle shop in Bax Farm Fisheries, Lower Road, Tonge, near Teynham, on November 29, 2013. Motivated by a long-standing grudge, paranoia, and resentment after being fired three years earlier and receiving an eviction notice, Olsen entered the shop at 2.45pm, fired the shot, then fired another into the air before attempting to take a staff member hostage. He had visited the shop multiple times that afternoon claiming he wanted permission to shoot a duck. Olsen was arrested at the scene after police arrived and failed to resuscitate the victim, who was pronounced dead there.

On November 26, 2009, Tomas Uptas strangled the victim with her own scarf in a jealous rage at their home in Canterbury, after their volatile relationship deteriorated due to financial difficulties and his possessive behaviour, especially when drinking. He covered her body with a quilt, armed himself with a realistic-looking BB handgun, and went on a rampage, terrorising people on the streets including putting the gun to a witness's head and pointing it at a postman and a 12-year-old girl, before entering Morrisons supermarket in Wincheap where he waved the gun, causing panic among shoppers. Armed police shot him in the arm when he refused to surrender and aimed the weapon at them. His actions were an apparent suicide-by-cop attempt following the murder.

On 23 July 2018, Lee Vernon called 999 reporting that his six-week-old son was unconscious, but claimed he did not know why. Medical staff discovered fatal head trauma and the baby died three days later in a specialist trauma unit. Vernon told police that the victim had slipped from his grip and hit the sofa arm before falling. However, experts found multiple injuries, some inflicted on at least two previous occasions.

Mark Love was one of 4 masked men who smashed their way into the rural home of Kate and George Digweed, stole cash and lawfully owned guns, and used considerable and gratuitous violence against Mr Digweed including threatening him with a taser. About a month later, Mark Love and others forced their way into the home of Roy Blackman, subjected him to a brutal and frenzied attack causing severe facial and brain injuries leading to his death, and made off with a safe thought to contain around £250,000 in cash. Mr Blackman’s body was discovered stripped of clothes by his daughter the following morning.

Gabriel Culin, who has no fixed address, broke into the victim’s bedroom in Medway in the early hours of 30 August 2019 and attempted to rape her. The woman fought back, forcing him to flee, but forensic evidence linked him to the crime. He was sentenced on 2 December 2019.

Gary Hoyles, 50, committed a series of sexual offences against a young girl in Swale between 2011 and 2017. He admitted to two counts of rape and five counts of sexual activity with a child. The victim endured horrific abuse over several years.