Maidstone Crown Court Sentencing Results

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.

On 14 April 2018, a violent disorder erupted after a conference at a local theatre in Sevenoaks, spilling into Bligh's Meadow car park. Dale Lutton was filmed landing punch after punch on a victim during the brawl.

David Haley, a 40-year-old convicted sex offender, ignored a Sexual Harm Prevention Order by accessing hundreds of illegal images of child sexual abuse on his mobile phone. On 5 September 2021, police made an unannounced visit to his home in Marden and examined his phone, which revealed the images. He used an online alias 'Amy' to share illegal images online, discuss abusing young children with other users, and configured apps to delete messages and images after viewing.

David Kemp, aged 40 from Chatham, engaged in sexually explicit conversations online with a girl he believed was 13-years-old between 4 April and 13 April 2022. He sent explicit images and arranged to meet her in Medway. He was detained by Kent Police’s Paedophile On Line Investigation Team at Strood Train Station on 13 April 2022.

David Knight used social media apps including TikTok under the profile FireKnight2017 to befriend a young boy, sending inappropriate and explicit messages and attempting to meet the victim alone. New allegations reported to Kent Police in August 2022. Arrested on 16 August 2022. Police analysis of his phone found searches including ‘nude junior archives’ and ‘kids’ nudists chase game’. Of no fixed address.

David Dolor, along with Eran Phillip, produced cannabis in a vacant property on the Warsop Industrial Estate, Hever Road, Edenbridge, between October 2013 and February 2016. Police were alerted by a strong smell of cannabis and found a sophisticated production setup in three locked rooms. The electricity meter had been tampered with to abstract energy without payment. Forensic analysis of a cigarette butt matched Dolor. The estimated street value of the plants was up to £103,320.

During the morning of 14 October 2020, officers executed a search warrant at a rental property in Headcorn Road, Biddenden, finding a self-loading pistol, silencer, magazine and loose ammunition hidden in a wardrobe. David Fitzgerald was present and arrested. A further search of a nearby storage unit he leased uncovered a bolt-action rifle and ammunition wrapped in a towel. Encrypted messages sent by Fitzgerald to criminal associates between March and June 2020 indicated he possessed firearms, including the seized pistol, that were for sale.

Involved in production of cannabis as part of a large-scale operation with farms in Ashford, Canvey Island and Hertfordshire between August 2019 and August 2020. Found at Ashford address with 121 cannabis plants. Over 485 plants seized overall.