Reading Crown Court Sentencing Results

On August 1, 2025, Thames Valley Police stopped Haneef Sheraz on Parluant Road in Slough and found 20 bags of cocaine valued at £1,520 during a search. He was arrested immediately and charged the next day.

Faith Chareka, a senior emergency department nurse at Wexham Park Hospital, fraudulently claimed for 50 fake shifts over two-and-a-half years between November 1, 2020 and February 1, 2023. Using her senior access to the Health Roster system, she received extra pay of £19,575.41 and 540 hours of time off in lieu. She was sacked by NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust in 2023.

Fraser White, a 24-year-old man, made 34 false grant applications to the Football Foundation, claiming to represent nine real football clubs. He was awarded almost £200,000, all of which he spent himself. The funds were used for personal expenses including £7,000 on designer clothes and trips to the Qatar World Cup and other football matches abroad. He had been a director of the All Star Football Academy in Maidenhead since 2018 and previously worked as a ticketing executive for Reading Football Club for 11 months.

Haroon Zaman hacked into social media accounts and impersonated the account holders to promote fraudulent cryptocurrency investment opportunities to their friends and family. Between January 2021 and June 2023, 17 victims lost a total of £124,479. No investments existed and the funds were stolen outright.

Harvey Drummond was located within a working cannabis farm on Ascot Road on 17th April 2025. More than 400 cannabis plants were seized alongside £2,500 in cash. The drugs had a street value of over £90,000.

On 14 November 2025, police stopped Jamie Allen riding an illegal Sur'ron electric off-road bike on the pavement in Coronation Square, Reading. He attempted to flee but was caught. He had 60 wraps of cocaine, cannabis, and £735.46 in cash. He was charged with possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, possessing Class B drugs, driving without insurance, driving without a licence, and careless driving.

Between 2013 and 2017, Parvinder Matharu set up a fake charity called Sewak in Slough, purportedly to support vulnerable people needing housing. She fraudulently applied for charity funds, obtaining £47,000, which she used for personal gain. The fraud affected Iver United Charity, Wokingham United Charity, the Link Foundation, and one unnamed Buckinghamshire charity. She provided false invoices to cover her tracks.

Involved in the ghost vote scandal which rocked Slough politics during the 2007 local council elections, admitting to conspiracy to defraud and perjury as a Tory candidate.

Simon John Turner targeted victims in Weymouth, conning them out of around £190,000 through fake caravan deals and investments. He befriended a man in his 60s at a caravan park, convincing him to hand over more than £100,000 for a discounted caravan and a supposed property investment that did not exist. He also targeted two other victims, taking more than £76,000 for a caravan purchase, decking and lighting that were never provided. Investigators found falsified invoices and no caravan secured.

Simon Turner targeted a woman from Amesbury in a romance fraud. He met the victim online, built a relationship, and repeatedly asked for money, taking nearly £30,000 claiming it was for vehicles, holidays, and other expenses that never existed.

Stuart Gray, 52, from Spencer's Wood, abused his position as director of Gray Trading Limited between April 2016 and March 2018, secretly transferring large sums of cash from the business accounts without informing his co-director, causing serious harm to the business and partners.

Talwinder Singh was refused permission by Slough council to build a block of six flats in the Manor Park area of Slough but built them anyway. Despite a planning enforcement notice in September 2010, he let the flats to tenants including families with children. He lied to the council claiming the property had been returned to a single dwelling, installed temporary kitchens dismantled before inspections, boarded up attic doors, removed windows from top floor attic flats leaving tenants without natural light, and charged tenants extra for council tax while declaring only one property. The £266,177 represented illegally obtained rent and unpaid council tax confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Slough council received £18,826 compensation for lost council tax and £23,130 prosecution costs. He must return the flats to one or two properties as per original consent and pay all monies within three months or face up to 30 months in jail.