Stoke On Trent Crown Court Sentencing Results

Owen Meredith repeatedly strangled and punched his partner. After his first arrest and release, he attempted to access her social media accounts, sent two personalised cards, and emailed her as part of a continued campaign of control and fear. The abuse came to light when the victim spoke out in November 2022.

Matej Ciroka plunged a kitchen knife into a seven-month-old Shar Pei puppy named Aki at a flat in Fenton, on May 13, 2024. Aki suffered a sharp force trauma to his right rib, resulting in his death later that day. He was taken to a veterinary clinic in Stoke-on-Trent with breathing difficulties, where he was found deceased with a two-centimetre deep wound on his right flank. The incident was reported to the RSPCA due to suspected deliberate harm, and Staffordshire Police seized the kitchen knife as evidence. A post-mortem was conducted by the RSPCA.

Daniel Hemmings, 34, a dad-of-four and registered sex offender, began a romantic relationship with a woman in 2022. The relationship deteriorated in June 2023 when she discovered his status on the sex offenders register, stemming from a 2017 conviction for sexual activity with a child under 16. After splitting in 2024, Hemmings engaged in stalking from February 5 to March 4, 2025, while on bail for a separate rape charge. He sent abusive messages threatening to set fire to her house with her and her son inside, to hit and break her jaw, punch her teeth out, and boasted about his sexual preferences for children. All offences were committed whilst on bail for the 2021 rape of a different woman, for which he was convicted in October 2025. The victim reported feeling unsafe, undergoing therapy, sending her son to live with relatives due to fear, and constantly checking for Hemmings outside her home.

Arthur Walker, 68, of Sandyford, was involved in a violent disorder in Hanley on August 3, 2024, following the Southport murders on July 29, 2024. He was at the front of the mob for over an hour, chanting anti-immigration and anti-Muslim slogans, encouraging others to break through the police cordon, filming and uploading footage to Facebook, shouting abuse at officers, making violent gestures, and blocking police vehicles by encouraging protesters to sit down. He left the scene around 12.50pm and took a bus home, later messaging on Facebook about his videos. Identified via police body-worn footage.

On October 4, 2024, heavily intoxicated Jonathan Eardley made a sexual innuendo ('Watch your sn***h') to a teenage girl at Brown Edge park near The Bush pub in High Lane, Brown Edge, North Staffordshire. Challenged by a boy who called him a paedo, Eardley retrieved a hammer from his nearby terraced house, threatened the group who ran off, banged it on park railings, then armed himself with a pocket knife, shouting he would remember their faces. He chased the teens, then confronted a man in the pub's beer garden, pressing the knife to his face causing a slight scratch. The victim feared serious harm and felt shocked.

Between January 2023 and November 2024, Anna Stukova, of Tunstall, bullied and intimidated a vulnerable victim, forcing her to steal from shops, stealing from the victim herself, beating her up, threatening to kill her, threatening her with a weapon, and making her undergo sex work for money. She was convicted of two counts of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, one count of sexual assault, threatening a person with a blade/sharply pointed article in a public place, two counts of assault by beating, two counts of assaulting a person thereby occasioning them actual bodily harm, three counts of intimidating a witness/juror, theft from the person or another, and theft (other), including theft by finding.

Augustine Kiprono, 28, was nearly one-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit when he overtook a lorry on the wrong side of the road on a bend on the A53 between Leek and Endon, colliding with a motorbike carrying the couple. The incident occurred yards from the couple's North Staffordshire farm during a day out in Wales. Kiprono and his four passengers fled the scene, leaving the victims seriously injured. The man suffered a broken left leg, left arm, and a displaced fracture to his leg; the woman fractured her thigh and has one leg shorter than the other. The couple spent over two weeks in hospital.

In 2022, when aged 20, Tristan Shaughnessy engaged in sexual communications with a 12-year-old girl via social media platforms including TikTok and Snapchat, starting from September 9, 2022. He described sexual acts he would like to perform on her, and she responded with messages including asking what he would do if she got pregnant. The girl, who claimed to be 13, hid her phone and believed she was in a relationship with him, storing his contact as 'My World'. Her mother discovered the messages, confronted him, and contacted the police. The girl refused to cooperate with the investigation. No images were requested or sent.

Sean Vincent, 38, of Biddulph, made around 400 attempts to contact his ex-partner via Snapchat, other social media, text messages, and calls from various and withheld numbers after being bailed. The messages included sexual content, intimidation, threats of extreme violence against her and her family (e.g., 'the reapers are on standby'), threats to steal her dad's money, threats to be outside her house, and repeated threats to kill himself unless she spoke to him. The intent was to manipulate her into dropping proceedings, make her feel guilty, and intimidate her. As a result, the victim deleted her social media accounts and became too scared to leave the house alone. The offences occurred while on bail with no-contact orders in place.

Sean Philip Vincent, 38, from Biddulph, was released from prison on bail for another offence on June 17, 2025, with conditions prohibiting contact with the victim. Over the next six days, he bombarded her with around 400 telephone calls, messages, and voice notes using different phone numbers and social media profiles. He was arrested on June 23, 2025, and admitted to the calls. He was charged with intimidating a witness or juror and stalking involving serious alarm or distress.

On June 22, 2025, at 5.27pm, Steven Ridley, 53, of no fixed address, made two calls to 999 while drunk, threatening to place bombs under police cars at Newcastle and Longton using IRA connections. He claimed it would be a bloodbath like 9/11 and he would dress like Rambo. He was arrested and continued making threats during interview. Ridley had been released from Harplands Hospital on March 11, 2025, and was not taking his medication due to alcohol dependence.

Tony Stockdale set multiple fires in Staffordshire in April 2025. On April 23, he set fire to a wheelie bin at Longton Snooker Club on Normacot Road and poured oil on the flames. On April 25, he set fire to a large commercial bin near The Wheatsheaf pub on Church Street in Stoke-on-Trent. In the early hours of April 26, he set fire to a bin near Tesco Express on Hartshill Road, which damaged a fence; a fire in an alleyway on Boothen Road; a wheelie bin on Cranmer Street; a public bin nearby; and four bins on Gerrard Street. He was identified through CCTV, arrested, and initially answered 'no comment' in interviews but later pleaded guilty.

Abdulrahin Abbker, 25, of Stoke-on-Trent, carried out a double stabbing in Hanley Park following an argument in May 2025. He approached two men, pulled a pair of scissors from his bag, and stabbed one in the stomach and the other in the leg. Officers responded to a 999 call and detained him at the scene. Both victims were treated at the Royal Stoke University Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and made full recoveries.

George Gaitley, aged 22 at the time, initiated contact with an underage schoolgirl via a Facebook friend request. Despite knowing her age, he met her the following day and engaged in sexual intercourse, to which she factually consented but was legally unable to due to her age. No contraception was discussed. She became pregnant from this single encounter, gave birth, and DNA confirmed Gaitley as the father. He deleted and blocked her on social media two days after the incident, denied the pregnancy when informed months later, and told her to 'f*** off' in their last conversation. The victim stated the events robbed her of her self-respect, dignity, friends, childhood, and education plans.

On August 19, 2025, at around 5.55pm, Oliver Jones, driving a Volkswagen Golf, rammed a police patrol car after being stopped on Redhill Road in Stone, causing considerable damage to both vehicles. He then fled the wrong way along Stone's High Street, speeding past shops and eateries, narrowly missing pedestrians and a bus. The car was abandoned on Regent Street. On August 21, he was arrested as a passenger in a Land Rover Defender on the A50 in the Potteries.

Justin Evans had a kitchen knife with him in Inglewood Drive, Porthill, on May 16, 2024.

Matthew Stevens, 24, of Bentilee, crashed into a car head-on at 80mph while trying to evade police in a stolen car on false plates, reaching speeds of 90mph and driving on the wrong side of the road; the Audi driver received minor injuries.

On February 20, 2025, an argument ensued between Jack Stubbs and the victim over a missing fizzy drink (alcopop) from the fridge at the family home. The victim became aggressive and argumentative. Stubbs lost his temper, attempted to punch her but desisted, then held her in a headlock restricting her breathing. His mother had to physically separate them. In a further fit of temper, he punched the living room door causing several holes costing £200 to repair. Police located and arrested him. The incident arose against a background of rising family tensions.