Sheffield Crown Court Sentencing Results

Callum Walters waited in a parked vehicle nearby while Samuel Moffett used petrol to set fire to the home of a 78-year-old woman on Oxford Street on 26 November 2024. The victim was still inside at the time. She managed to escape and was treated for smoke inhalation, while the home was severely damaged.

Samuel Moffett used petrol to set fire to the home of a 78-year-old woman on Oxford Street on 26 November 2024 while she was still inside. The property was severely damaged, but the woman managed to escape and was treated for smoke inhalation. Moffett was caught on CCTV starting the fire.

Tommy Petruska beat another drug user at a flat in Barnsley on January 19 following an argument over a crack pipe. The victim suffered a life-threatening stomach injury requiring emergency surgery, broken ribs and a bitten finger. The victim had spent three days unable to eat and vomiting before going to hospital, where a gash in his stomach lining was found to have leaked bile into his abdominal cavity.

John Robinson took a car after the owner got out to check a noise, having consumed a bottle of whisky. He drove dangerously on the wrong side of the road with the driver's door open, crashed into a number of cars, and had no driving licence or insurance. Five months later, while still under investigation, he exposed himself outside a stranger's house and assaulted two emergency workers.

Ashley Smith controlled his partner's life during their three-year relationship, monitoring her messages, demanding she stop seeing friends and becoming jealous when she interacted with other men. After the relationship ended in September 2023, he stalked her, waiting outside her home and calling her up to 100 times a day. He sent insulting messages, contacted her family members, and reached out to men who liked her social media posts. When she began a new relationship in August 2024, he messaged her new partner threatening to find out where he lived. The victim made a formal complaint and Smith was arrested. He failed to attend his trial and was convicted in his absence.

Laura Watton struck two pedestrians with her Mini Cooper after taking a shortcut through a school car park on the evening of February 1, 2024. Both women suffered serious injuries; one sustained wrist and leg fractures requiring knee surgery, and the other suffered an infected blood clot, swelling and bruising. Watton had been leading a football practice session at the site before the collision.

Jake Billam subjected the victim to violence, threats and intimidation over a four-year period. Following a third-party report on 20 March, police received disclosures from the victim and arrested Billam the same day. Evidence included a voice recording of Billam threatening to kill the victim and photographs of injuries sustained by the victim.

Abigail Byrne committed speeding offences while driving on a road in Huddersfield on 29 and 31 January 2025. After receiving notification of the offences, she provided a false or misleading account to avoid a penalty notice, and her partner accepted a speed awareness course and penalty points on her behalf. Evidence from seized devices showed the pair discussed how to manage the situation.

Sharndelle Firth accepted a speed awareness course and penalty points on behalf of her partner after her partner committed speeding offences on 29 and 31 January 2025. Evidence and text messages from seized devices confirmed that the pair discussed how to manage the situation arising from the speeding notification.

Karl Schwable drove to the home of his co-accused on the night of 17 November 2019 after a late-night call and spent about an hour there. He was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, having known what had happened to the victim, though he said he did not help his co-accused afterwards.

Helped to conceal the murder by storing the vehicle containing the victim's body. He was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and was sentenced to three years.

Stephen Greaves spent weeks communicating online with someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl, sending hundreds of sexually explicit messages and a photo of his genitals. The messages were actually being read by a paedophile hunter group. On July 26, 2021, he travelled to Sheffield railway station intending to meet the child, carrying a packet of Viagra. He was arrested by British Transport Police, and forensic analysis of his phone uncovered indecent images of children.

Chantelle Sykes breached a criminal behaviour order multiple times between April and June 2026. Despite being banned from entering or going near Tesco on Fargate and from being in the company of another woman known to police, she visited the shop with that woman on April 29 and May 21. On the May visit, they returned an hour later and verbally abused security staff. On June 9, Sykes threw a container of rice over a police car, forced open the door of a commercial property causing £300 damage, and entered Sheffield Interchange, an area she was banned from. When arrested, she was found carrying a knife and a lighter, again breaching her criminal behaviour order.

Christopher Cave, a former police officer, formed a sexual relationship with a victim of crime while working as an officer in Nottinghamshire in 2004, and the relationship continued until early 2011. Allegations surfaced in 2022 and he was arrested and charged with two counts of misconduct in a public office while serving as an evidence review officer at South Yorkshire Police. He admitted the offences and was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court.

Liam Stapleton repeatedly punched a man in the head, causing him to fall to the floor, before stamping on his head five times and leaving him with severe facial injuries. He called 999 and fled before emergency services arrived, but was later arrested. At a trial at Sheffield Crown Court in April 2026, he was found guilty of wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent.

Christopher Dixon, 68, a registered sex offender from Intake, Doncaster, was arrested after using social media to plot the sexual abuse of two young girls in late 2025. Unbeknownst to him, his communications were with an undercover officer via a decoy account. A raid on his home uncovered several undeclared digital devices, breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He admitted arranging the commission of a child sex offence and the five breaches.

Luke Taylor, 43, of Monk Bretton, Barnsley, engaged in sexual communication with children aged between nine and 11 years old via online social media messaging accounts. He asked them to send indecent images of themselves and threatened to share images if they did not comply. He possessed thousands of indecent images of children. Offending occurred between September 2022 and September 2024. Several children reported these conversations to family members, who contacted police.

On January 25, 2024, in Sheffield, Dean Tolan, aged 36 from Birley, Sheffield, was driving at 58 mph without wearing his required corrective glasses, in violation of his driving licence conditions. He was using his phone via hands-free moments before the crash. Tolan struck 29-year-old the victim, a communications graduate working for South Yorkshire Police, as she crossed the road, causing her death hours later. He failed roadside eyesight tests and attempted to blame the victim, DVLA, and his optician during police interview.