Norwich Crown Court Sentencing Results

Chelsea Townsend carried out a spree of shop thefts across Norwich, stealing items including meat and chocolate from multiple stores. She was already banned from all Co-op stores in the city under a Criminal Behaviour Order imposed in June 2024 and repeatedly defied that order. She admitted eight shop thefts and six breaches of the order, and a further 13 offences were taken into consideration, bringing the total dealt with in a single hearing to 27. Police described her as well known across Norwich for persistent offending, targeting stores and taking hundreds of pounds worth of stock in single incidents.

Paul Yate, 75, of Main Road in Clenchwarton, was found with 4,500 indecent images of children on his electronic devices. He appeared at Norwich Crown Court on Thursday and was jailed for six months.

On May 1, 2025, Zak Greenacre was travelling along Gayton Road on an off-road motorbike when he lost control, mounted the pavement and hit a bus shelter where two pedestrians were standing, before driving away. The impact left an 84-year-old woman with a fractured knee and a woman in her 50s with broken limbs. He appeared at Norwich Crown Court on 19 May 2026.

On 14 June 2025 at around 11.50pm, Humberto Alenxender Fernando was driving on Brandon Road, Thetford, after a night out. He was speeding at 63mph in a 30mph zone, lost control, collided with a brick wall, causing the vehicle to roll. His female passenger suffered extensive injuries requiring over two months in hospital. Fernando was over twice the drink drive limit (77ug breath, 127mg blood).

On September 6, 2025, Marley Rodgers drove a blue Ford Connect van along the B1116 in Weybread and deliberately struck a pedestrian known to him, causing injuries to the forearm and a shattered elbow requiring hospital treatment. In a separate incident on June 12, 2025, in Diss town centre he wielded a machete measuring around one-and-a-half feet long during a fight. He was sentenced on May 12, 2026.

On 17 July 2025 at 9.18pm, Claire Bridger stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife in his chest and under his arm following an argument about their pet dogs being put down. This occurred at The Street in Bramerton after their separation. She arrived in her car, initially calm, but became hysterical upon learning the dogs had been euthanised, drove her car into him slowly, then stabbed him after he turned away. She also bit him on the thigh, thumb, arm and shoulder while they were on the ground. A neighbour intervened and took the knife. The victim suffered life-threatening injuries.

Jaidon Mitchell, 22, of Hitchin Road, Stevenage, and Joshua Knight, 23, of Caponfield, Welwyn Garden City, carried out an unprovoked assault on three victims in the early hours of 21 February 2025 on King Street, Great Yarmouth. Knight used a broken bottle during the confrontation. The victims sustained serious, life-changing injuries, with ongoing physical, emotional, and financial consequences, including persistent fear, anxiety, strain on family and friends, and psychological harm. Police were alerted to reports of fighting, but the attackers had left by the time officers arrived; both were arrested within an hour.

Jaidon Mitchell, 22, of Hitchin Road, Stevenage, and Joshua Knight carried out an unprovoked assault on three victims in the early hours of 21 February 2025 on King Street, Great Yarmouth. Mitchell used a knife, inflicting stab wounds to one victim's leg, eye, and ear while the victim was walking home from work. The victims sustained serious, life-changing injuries, with ongoing physical, emotional, and financial consequences, including persistent fear, anxiety, strain on family and friends, and psychological harm. Police were alerted to reports of fighting, but the attackers had left by the time officers arrived; both were arrested within an hour.

Air Products PLC owned and maintained the SafeChill system at Banham Poultry’s chicken factory in Attleborough, Norfolk, which used nitrogen gas to chill slaughtered chickens. Defective exhaust ducting allowed nitrogen to be expelled into a confined space, displacing oxygen and causing the deaths of the pest controllers on 3 October 2018. Despite prior concerns and alterations, the system was not made safe.

Banham Poultry Ltd failed to properly assess the risks posed by concentrated nitrogen or take steps to ensure the venting system remained safe at their chicken factory site in Attleborough, Norfolk. This failure contributed to the deaths of two pest controllers, the two victims, on 3 October 2018, when nitrogen gas displaced oxygen in a narrow passageway due to defective exhaust ducting.

Carl Louro engaged in inappropriate contact with girls as young as ten between January 1, 2023 and October 10, 2023, after obtaining their phone numbers. The contact involved inciting girls to engage in sexual activity (youngest aged ten), sexual communication with a girl under the age of 16, and possessing indecent images of a child.

Jonathon Lofthouse, 48, of Trafalgar Road, was convicted of affray, involving the use or threat of unlawful violence towards another person. The offence relates to his actions as the managing director of Carers Elite, a care provider supporting people in Downham and surrounding villages.

David Boughen breached a suspended sentence order, originally imposed for possession of a knife in a public place, by engaging in a fight in King's Lynn town centre on May 3, 2025. The fight involved a verbal altercation with the victim, escalating to punches and fighting on the floor, with both accompanied by partners and friends who tried to intervene. The incident was captured on CCTV.

Erikas Anzelis, a 43-year-old from Boston, Lincolnshire, participated in a 'chop shop' operation in Upwell, where stolen vehicles worth £217,195, including two Porsches, two BMWs, and a Mercedes, were dismantled for parts. The vehicles were stolen from Wiltshire, Hampshire, Thames Valley, and Greater Manchester, and efforts were made to hide their identities. The site was discovered on November 23 as part of Operation Moonshot, leading to his arrest and charging.

Irmantas Spudys, a 45-year-old with no fixed address, participated in a 'chop shop' operation in Upwell, where stolen vehicles worth £217,195, including two Porsches, two BMWs, and a Mercedes, were dismantled for parts. The vehicles were stolen from Wiltshire, Hampshire, Thames Valley, and Greater Manchester, and efforts were made to hide their identities. The site was discovered on November 23 as part of Operation Moonshot, leading to his arrest and charging.

Kevan Reddington connected with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl on a social media platform and sent explicit messages via WhatsApp, but it was a decoy, leading to his arrest and sentencing.

Police seized 17 devices from Matthew Rout, 39, previously of Ferry Road, Heckingham, near Loddon, and discovered 373 category A images, 151 category A videos, 307 category B images and 28 videos, and 278 category C images and 18 videos depicting child abuse.

Barrie Williams, 35, from The Common, Botesdale, Diss, engaged in sexual communication with an undercover officer posing as a girl under 13, making graphic remarks about oral sex and other acts, as part of his attempts to incite sexual activity.

Jamie Gibson, 41, of High Street in Hunstanton, committed offences against his former partner between March 1 and 11, 2024, including entering her kitchen when the back door was open. The victim felt powerless and trapped, living a hidden life; Gibson's solicitor said he was not equipped to handle the relationship ending.

Malcolm Waite, 68, a retired engineer from Meadow Drive, Hoveton, Norfolk, was heavily intoxicated, with his Lexus containing a half-empty bottle of vodka. On July 31, 2023, he swerved onto the pavement of the A149 Wayford Road at Stalham, hitting and killing 20-year-old the victim and injuring a 16-year-old pedestrian who suffered cuts and bruising. Waite failed to stop, continuing for 800 metres before veering off the road, hitting a road sign and lamppost. He was found inside the car with glazed eyes and slurred speech, later admitting to hospital staff he had drunk 'two bottles'.

Derek Campbell, during a violent argument with his former partner, grabbed her chihuahua named Snowy by the neck and flung it against a door in a home on Philadelphia Lane, Norwich, on February 2, 2024, breaking the dog's neck and causing its immediate death. This followed an assault where he pinned the victim against a wall, hit her with a bottle of wine, and punched her. The act was described as sadistic, involving significant force, and caused pain, fear, and distress to the animal. Campbell was arrested a couple of days later.