Newcastle Crown Court Sentencing Results

Leon Watson, 35, from Sunderland, joined an anti-immigration protest on 2 August 2024 that turned violent. He threw missiles at police, handed items to others to throw, blocked a taxi and shouted at the driver while encouraging others to attack the car. Up to 1,000 people were involved in the disorder which included attacks on Asian-owned businesses, looting, petrol bombs, damage to a mosque, seven police cars and a police office destroyed by arson. Watson admitted riot.

Marlon Mullings, 53, became angry after being asked to leave Soho Rooms nightclub and threatened to come back. Around 15 minutes later, he returned with a knife hidden up his sleeve and confronted security staff. The knife was dropped to the floor before Mullings was restrained and arrested by police.

Matthew Andrew Leiper cleared land he owned south of Berwick-Upon-Tweed, dumped scrap vehicles and waste, and lit bonfires causing smoke to fill nearby homes between March and July 2020. Environment Agency officers visited in March 2020, warned him to stop, but found continued activity including smouldering waste in June 2020.

In July 2021, Kieran Phillips, then 17, entered his girlfriend's home in Sunderland while she was lying on her bed. He was holding a Rambo-style knife, which he had previously used to throw at items. Despite her request to put it away, he swung it at the bed between her legs, laughing, which terrified her. She moved her legs, and the knife struck the top of her right foot, causing a large cut requiring stitches. Phillips blamed her for moving and threatened to injure the other foot if she told anyone. She initially lied to hospital staff about the injury, claiming it was from garden shears, but reported it to police three years later. The attack has left her unable to compete in gymnastics, affected her coaching work, caused ongoing physical pain and numbness, and deteriorated her mental health.

Wilson, 63, had been made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order after a conviction for exposure. The order banned him from entering a railway station or travelling on a train while under the influence of intoxicants. He was caught drunk on a Metro at South Gosforth.

Kern Rayne subjected his partner to more than two-and-a-half years of domestic abuse, violence and controlling behaviour between January 2023 and September 2025. The court heard he threw a bottle at the victim's head, repeatedly punched her, poured coffee and bleach over her, damaged her kitchen worktop and car, and sent repeated messages demanding she prove her whereabouts. He displayed significant sexual jealousy and what the judge described as 'cocaine-fuelled paranoia', repeatedly making unfounded accusations of infidelity while boasting about his own affairs. He also lied to and gaslighted the victim and isolated her from family and friends. The judge said Rayne had failed to take responsibility and continued to blame the victim.

Keith Casey, 32, confronted two men in Byker, Newcastle, on 16 April, shouting about them being 'foreigners' and 'asylum seekers'. He picked up a hammer from their tool box and brandished it towards them, then smashed the car windscreen. One of the men broke his shin bone and damaged knee ligaments when he fell during the encounter. Casey was intoxicated at the time and was arrested after trying to run away.

Jonathan Evans threatened to kill the son of a woman after she made a report about him to police. The woman called 999 in June and told officers Evans had made threats to her and her property. He was arrested and bailed with conditions not to contact her or attend her address. Two days later he saw her in South Shields, told her to drop the charges and warned he would kill her son. Later that day she received a series of phone calls and Evans turned up at her house but was chased away by a neighbour. He admitted perverting the course of justice.

John Tyas and Kai Gray were at Monkseaton Metro station on the evening of January 21 when they fired air pistols from the hip at advertising hoardings and in the direction of members of the public. The pair were wearing balaclavas and had pellets. A concerned member of the public alerted police, who arrested them and seized the weapons. Metro services were held for 12 minutes, causing a total delay of 90 minutes. Tyas pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

MacFarlane, from South Shields, admitted multiple child sex offences. Between June and November 2023 he met a nine-year-old boy through a PlayStation, moved contact to Snapchat, sexually abused the child online and pressured him into sending videos of him performing graphic sex acts on another nine-year-old. MacFarlane also messaged a 13-year-old boy he had met on Facebook, twice met up with him and filmed the child performing a sex act upon him, then offered money to do it again. He had indecent images of children on his phone and tablet. After arrest and release under investigation, he was made subject of an interim sexual risk order banning contact with under-18s, but he breached it within months by having three 16-year-old boys round to his home and hiding one in a cupboard when police called. He also had undisclosed devices containing more indecent images.

Kai Gray and John Tyas were at Monkseaton Metro station on the evening of January 21 when they fired air pistols from the hip at advertising hoardings and in the direction of members of the public. The pair were wearing balaclavas and had pellets. A concerned member of the public alerted police, who arrested them and seized the weapons. Metro services were held for 12 minutes, causing a total delay of 90 minutes. Gray pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Jenna Thompson, 40, of Jarrow, catfished her best friend by posing as a man and his son, sending menacing messages with pictures of grenades, crossbow, and references to a new shooter, extorting £23,446 in 87 bank transfers between November 2023 and July 2024, leaving victim with 16p.

Graeme Lamb and his mother Brenda operated an illegal money lending business through Percuniam Solutions Ltd between October 2014 and November 2019, issuing 361 loans to 78 people ranging from £50 to £1,500 with interest rates of 40% to 69.5%, receiving total payments of £173,299.35. Neither was authorised to conduct credit business. Investigation triggered by anonymous tip to England Illegal Money Lending Team hotline, involving Sunderland Trading Standards and Northumbria Police.

Harry Bertram, 19, of Sunderland, stormed into his aunt's home during a family gathering over a misplaced vape belonging to his mother. After threats, he repeatedly punched her in the face, causing her to fall and lose consciousness intermittently. After a brief pause, he produced a small black knife from his waistband and slashed her face, causing a deep three-inch wound requiring hospital treatment. He kicked the door and threatened to burn the house down as he left. Incident linked to relapse on crack-cocaine.

On 14 September 2025, after a family left a restaurant in Newcastle, one threw a lollipop at Hasan Mohammed's taxi to slow him down as he was travelling fast. Enraged, he turned around and deliberately drove at the group at about 33mph, striking a grandfather who suffered multiple broken bones and required a prosthetic shoulder. He narrowly missed others, including a woman with a one-year-old child.

Ian Hume slashed a man's face with a broken bottle during an altercation in Sunderland city centre in July, leaving the victim with a permanent scar on his cheek. CCTV showed an altercation starting before Hume struck the victim to the side of the face with a broken bottle. The victim believed the attack followed a comment about football. After the attack, Hume told people the victim was 'dying in town' and claimed he had stabbed him in the neck with a bottle. He later told police he was 'disgusted with himself'.

Jackson Roberts attacked his former partner in Sunderland, strangling her on 11 June 2022 and again in November 2022. The victim said the first attack was the day she 'died mentally' and that she was left with PTSD, flashbacks and trust issues. Roberts admitted two charges of intentional strangulation, pleading guilty on the basis that the incidents occurred during arguments in a toxic relationship after he had taken drink and drugs.

Dean McLellan pushed a frail 78-year-old woman backwards after telling her 'out of my f***** way' while she was talking to a baby in a pram outside a shop in Hebburn. She fell onto concrete, suffering a broken wrist and a fractured vertebra. McLellan walked away callously while she lay in agony. The victim required hospital treatment, a cast and splint, and subsequently needed increased care.

Dawn Taylor, 56, of Prudhoe, was recruited by David Wilkinson to stalk and attack his ex-partner police officer. She followed instructions to surveil the victim's address and car, sending photos and logs. Messages exchanged with Wilkinson detailed plans to attack with gun, acid, hammer, knife; discussions of GBH, trackers, and escape routes. She attended the property multiple times but later backed out and informed authorities.

Declan Fahey deliberately drove his Mazda flatbed truck into a quad bike carrying four people on Redworth Road, Shildon on March 5, after his friend's quad bike was stolen earlier that day. The collision sent the riders flying through the air, causing a 16-year-old to suffer multiple fractures to his skull, face, and thigh. Fahey drove off without providing assistance and later refused to accept responsibility.

On November 20, 2025, Donna English attacked a woman she had previously been friends with. After a dispute about money, the victim went to the rear of English's home. English armed herself with a corrosive liquid, believed to be ammonia, and sprayed it on the victim's face and back, then followed her to another street and sprayed it directly into her eyes, saying 'I'll get it in your f****** eyes'. The attack left the victim blind in one eye and with permanently limited blurry vision in the other, unable to care for herself or her children. English then sent bogus and disingenuous messages to falsely claim the victim was the aggressor.

Elton Rustemi was found inside a commercial-scale cannabis farm in Easington Lane after a police raid in July. Officers found 270 plants growing across several rooms with specialist heating, lighting and ventilation equipment, and the electricity had been bypassed. Rustemi admitted cultivating cannabis.

Police were called to an address in Sunderland on 13 February. David Gooch was woken and told to get dressed and leave. When an officer shone a torch to help him see, Gooch produced a revolver-style BB gun loaded with rubber ammunition. One constable, believing it was a handgun, ran and yelled 'gun', while another drew a taser and ordered Gooch to drop the weapon. He complied and later apologised. Gooch described it as a moment of madness and said he did not intend the police to fear for their safety.

David Hoyle, 43, was seen carrying a sword through a residential street in Gateshead while shouting and searching for those he believed had robbed him of a gold chain. CCTV showed him walking with the sword before handing it to his then-partner, who threw it over a wall before police arrived. Hoyle claimed he had taken the sword from a robber and was not intending to confront anyone, but the judge rejected his account. The court concluded he had likely returned home, collected the weapon and gone back out seeking revenge. He admitted possession of a bladed article and cannabis.

On 19 December 2025, David Kelly was travelling on a Jet2 flight from Turkey to Newcastle when he became intoxicated and abusive. He shouted racist abuse, made a homophobic remark, stated 'Hitler knew' and performed a Nazi salute. He singled out a Turkish passenger, calling him a terrorist, and distressed a young family who were moved away from him. He refused to sit down and fasten his seatbelt as the aircraft prepared to land. Police were waiting at Newcastle Airport and arrested him. He pleaded guilty to being drunk on an aircraft and a racially aggravated public order offence.