Newcastle Crown Court Sentencing Results

David Lionel Baker, formerly of Startforth, groomed a 15-year-old girl after contacting her on Facebook. He forced the girl into a sex act at a Newcastle hotel.

In November 2024, following an initial assault on a woman in Sunderland over a blocked driveway, the woman and her partner returned to check on a friend. Further violence flared, and Milley became involved as an accomplice. He and another man joined the initial attacker, and the group followed the woman and her partner before attacking the man, who later needed 27 staples. Milley admitted causing grievous bodily harm to the man and affray.

Darren Robertshaw was visiting HMP Northumberland when he dropped a blue package from his clothing onto the ground and kicked it towards an inmate he was visiting. The package contained 12.8g pregabalin, 18.2g buprenorphine and 195 zopiclone tablets, all Class C drugs. He told an officer he did not know the inmate and that someone put him up to it because he was in debt.

Danielle Johnson admitted using an electricity supply that had been bypassed at her home in North Tyneside between August and November 2022. The case followed a fatal house fire in January 2023 in which her 18-year-old daughter died. Prosecutors offered no evidence on a manslaughter charge after receiving expert evidence that the electricity meter may not have caused the fire and that other third-party involvement could not be ruled out. The judge noted the tragic background and her loss, and imposed a two-year conditional discharge.

Langley was a passenger in a car driven by Reece Hepplewhite when Hepplewhite drove at the victim in South Shields, killing the victim's dog. Langley had argued with the victim online and sent a voice message threatening to chop the dog's head off and put it on a pole. During the incident he shouted at Hepplewhite to run the victim and his dogs over. Langley claimed there was no intention to kill the dog.

Daniel McColl inflicted grievous bodily harm on an infant, leaving the child with a fractured thigh bone and multiple broken ribs. The injuries were discovered when the baby's nappy was changed at home, prompting an urgent hospital admission. Medical staff confirmed a spiral fracture to the left thigh and several rib fractures. McColl admitted responsibility for the injuries during police interviews.

Peter Robinson began a relationship with the victim after meeting her on November 5 last year when she was sleeping rough. Between November 12 and December 7, he subjected her to a sustained and systematic course of controlling and coercive behaviour, repeatedly attacking her, threatening her with a knife or knuckleduster, restricting her movements and locking her inside his bedsit when he went out. A passer-by recorded her screams and alerted police. When officers attended on December 7, they found blood and the victim had a burst lip, black eye, redness around her neck and a swollen jaw. Robinson admitted false imprisonment and controlling and coercive behaviour.

Hepplewhite was driving a car with Daniel Langley as passenger when he drove at the victim, who was homeless, in South Shields, killing the victim's dog. The incident arose from an online dispute after Langley threatened to harm the dog. The victim moved out of the way and one dog ran off, but the car returned and struck and killed the other dog. Hepplewhite claimed the car hit an icy patch and that he did not intend to kill the animal.

Riley Robinson was sentenced for dangerous driving in Sunderland. He received a 30-month custodial sentence and a four-year driving ban.

Richard Naylor bit off part of a stranger's lower lip during an altercation outside a pub in Sunderland on 3 May. CCTV captured the victim, who was intoxicated, repeatedly confronting Naylor and his friend, prodding and pushing Naylor, and later throwing or hitting him with an advertising board. Naylor put the victim to the ground and bit his lower lip, severing about a third of it. The severed flesh was later found outside the pub and could not be reattached, leaving the victim permanently scarred. Naylor said he believed the victim had a knife and that he acted in excessive self-defence.

Michael Storey, 56, from Gateshead, believed he was chatting with the mother of a nine-year-old girl online but it was an undercover police officer. During a two-week police sting in February, he admitted young girls were a 'serious turn on', said he would 'love' non-consensual sex with them, sent lewd photos of himself, and demanded depraved images of the child. He contacted a Snapchat profile claiming the woman abused her eight-year-old niece and suggested teaming up. Another Telegram profile posed as a woman who enjoyed watching men abuse her nine-year-old daughter; Storey agreed and detailed his plans. They set a date for the abuse but police intervened.

Matthew Crook, 27, caused a deadly crash on the A1 near Newton-on-the-Moor in April 2017. Driving the wrong way, Crook smashed head-on into the victim's car, fatally injuring the 33-year-old father of three. The victim died at the scene after his car burst into flames. Crook and his female passenger survived with serious injuries. Crook was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, and the Crown Prosecution Service accepted his plea to causing death by careless driving.

Musa Qaushi, an Albanian university student, was arrested inside a property in Sunderland where police found 351 cannabis plants across four growing rooms and one drying room. A drugs expert valued the potential yield at between £19,000 and £88,500. Qaushi admitted cultivating cannabis and had no previous convictions. His barrister said he was studying for a degree in Albania, was enticed by the offer of money, and had no involvement in or knowledge of the wider criminal operation.

On the evening of February 21, 2021, Moaaz Siraj and four others, wearing masks and hoods and carrying weapons, descended on a property in the Byker area of Newcastle. They shouted threats and banged on windows while the occupants were making dinner, but fled when they spotted an occupant with a phone. Siraj was identified via CCTV and witnesses, arrested at his home in Heaton where matching clothing and a balaclava were recovered.

Mohammed Miah, a Fenham taxi driver, was convicted of a child sex offence following a police sting operation.