Teesside Crown Court Sentencing Results

John Welsh, 58, a security guard, was enlisted by the drugs gang to make deliveries during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. On one journey from Darlington to Fenham on 7 April 2020, he delivered £10,000 in cash and 200g of cocaine to a gang in Newcastle and returned with a 1kg block of cocaine and 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition. He claimed he did not know what was in the parcels.

Robert Wright, 64, was recruited by the drugs gang to grow cannabis plants at his home in Darlington and in a neighbouring house accessed through the shared loft space, as part of their diversification during the 2020 pandemic lockdown.

Peter Sowerby, 63, of Tiverton, punched and kicked his partner so hard it caused a bleed to the surface of her brain and lasting health problems including seizures, preventing her from working in her previous hospitality career. The attack occurred in August 2021 following a night out with friends.

Luckvindar Singh, 41, used social media sites to contact a profile he believed belonged to a 12-year-old girl and began grooming her before turning the conversations sexual. He repeatedly messaged the account, paid compliments and escalated to sending intimate videos of himself. In February 2025, Cleveland Police arrested him at his home and seized electronic devices. Digital forensics found the video sent to the victim along with four further videos classed as extreme pornography. He was charged with two counts of causing a child to watch or look at an image of sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Andrew Malone, 52, of Broadwell Road, Easterside, Middlesbrough, attacked his elderly mother on 15 October 2025 after she refused to give him a lift to the gym. He seized her by the throat, strangled her while threatening 'I'll strangle you here and now', causing her to fear for her life. She escaped when he loosened his grip and contacted police. On a separate occasion, he brandished a kitchen knife at her, threatening 'I'll do 20 years and spit on your grave', before apologising and returning it. Additional incidents included refusing to leave her house while drunk in 2024, assaulting an officer during arrest by bending back their finger, and threatening to burn her house down with her inside.

Samantha Donovan concealed criminal property to the value of £145,837 between 2019 and 2021, using her business Teesside Furnishings as a cover to hide drugs money from her partner Aaron Thirlwall's wholesale supply of class A drugs. During raids on her Guisborough home on October 19, 2020, and a year later, police found a bullet-proof vest, fake handguns, drugs in pillows, Rolex watches, a machete, nine mobile phones, and £10,740 in cash. Receipts showed purchases of luxury items like AirPods, laptops, and gaming equipment. Heroin, cocaine, and bulking agents were found in vehicles registered in family names but driven by her. She claimed housing benefits and tax credits while funding luxury cars, holidays, and watches with the proceeds.

On 5 November 2025, Craig Pollock got into a white BMW despite attempts by bystanders to stop him. He drove away with the driver's door still open, entered a main road at speed in the wrong lane and struck an elderly pedestrian who was crossing the road. The victim was thrown into the air and suffered fractures to the neck, skull, shoulder and pelvis. Pollock failed to stop and soon afterwards collided with another car, causing serious damage and minor injuries to an occupant. Police later found he had been driving with diazepam in his blood above the legal limit.

Craig Neill and Amy Cave left a child with life-threatening injuries including a fractured skull, significant brain injury requiring temporary skull removal, fractured jaw, both wrists broken in three places, extensive bruising across the body including head and neck, and burns to the hand. The injuries were caused by blunt force, significant force, and sadistic behaviour, inflicted deliberately. Emergency services were called to a house in the Branksome area of Darlington on May 26, 2025, after reports of an unresponsive child. Neill and Cave were arrested, denied responsibility, but were found guilty following a trial.

Craig Neill and Amy Cave left a child with life-threatening injuries including a fractured skull, significant brain injury requiring temporary skull removal, fractured jaw, both wrists broken in three places, extensive bruising across the body including head and neck, and burns to the hand. The injuries were caused by blunt force, significant force, and sadistic behaviour, inflicted deliberately. Emergency services were called to a house in the Branksome area of Darlington on May 26, 2025, after reports of an unresponsive child. Neill and Cave were arrested, denied responsibility, but were found guilty following a trial.

On June 15, 2022, Eleanor Wilson, driving a light blue Ford Ka, pulled out from the slip road junction at Ingleby Arncliffe on the A19 southbound, crossing the carriageway to join the northbound route without properly looking, colliding with the victim who was riding his Yamaha MT motorcycle in lane two. The impact caused the victim to be thrown 40 feet into the air, resulting in fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene despite first aid from bystanders and paramedics.

Daniel Crawford, 33, from South Bank, broke into a woman's home by climbing through her window at night, causing her serious distress. He also parked outside her address, followed her in his car, and threatened her through her car windows. This was part of a campaign of harassment. He has a history of violence, including entering another woman's property uninvited, seizing her by the neck and threatening to kill her in April 2022, and dousing a former girlfriend with shampoo, plus a July 2022 conviction for battery after striking, throttling, and kicking a lorry driver following a road collision.

Sahil Nagpal was driving his Hyundai i40 car along the A171 between Whitby and Teesside on the evening of October 8, 2023, when he made a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre on a rural stretch near Scaling Dam Reservoir, despite solid white lines, a 'hidden dip' warning sign, and a 'slow' marker. This resulted in a head-on collision with a vehicle driven by the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene despite emergency treatment. Three members of Nagpal's family, travelling with him, sustained serious injuries. Nagpal was arrested and charged by North Yorkshire Police.

On June 27, 2025, Kyle Clark, aged 22, was out drinking with friends in Middlesbrough to celebrate the removal of his electronic tag from a prior sentence. At the Swatters Carr Wetherspoon pub, an altercation occurred with his best friend on Bedford Street. CCTV showed the victim punching Clark, who pushed him away. The victim fell, and Clark kicked him once in the head, causing a depressed skull fracture and bleeding on the brain. Clark filmed the incident and posted a TikTok video boasting about it. He stayed with the victim until the ambulance arrived. The victim spent five days in hospital and has recovered. Clark was recalled to prison on his prior sentence and later sentenced for this offence.

On May 2, 2020, Euan Corbett was driving an Audi A3 at speeds between 100 and 120 mph on Knott Road in the North York Moors, attempting to negotiate a bend, when the vehicle left the road and overturned. His passenger and friend, the victim, 21, sustained injuries and died two days later in hospital. Corbett had no driving licence or insurance. At the scene, he lied to a helper, claiming another man was driving and that he had fled, which distracted the police investigation. Instead of calling an ambulance, he did not assist the victim, who was alone due to Covid restrictions. Corbett then fled the country, failing to appear in court, and spent three years in Europe taunting police and the victim's family via social media. While on the run, he ordered associates via Snapchat to 'ping' and 'blow windows in' of people he claimed owed him money, leading to a July 5, 2023 incident where two masked men on a quad bike fired a shotgun at a woman's home in Middlesbrough, smashing her windows.

On August 21, 2025, Michael Hill, 24, of Raby Court, Middlesbrough, who was hooded and riding a dark electric bike while under the influence of cannabis and cocaine, collided with a seven-year-old boy who had stepped onto Westminster Road. Hill, disqualified from driving, fled the scene after the boy suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractures, leaving him wheelchair dependent and requiring ongoing hospital care. Hill broke his arm in the crash, attempted to flee on his damaged bike, then escaped on the back of his accomplice's moped. He was tracked via CCTV and arrested on September 1, 2025, at James Cook University Hospital.

On August 21, 2025, Lee Oliver, 31, of no fixed address, wearing a balaclava and riding a red moped, accompanied Michael Hill during a reckless ride through Middlesbrough. After Hill hit a seven-year-old boy on Westminster Road, causing a traumatic brain injury, Oliver assisted Hill in fleeing the scene by allowing him to jump on his moped. Oliver was arrested on September 1, 2025.

Anthony Crozier, 54, of Rutland Street, Seaham, engaged in online conversations with an individual he believed was another man with access to a 7-year-old girl and young son, sending sexually explicit messages describing how he wanted to abuse the children. Unbeknownst to him, he was communicating with an investigating officer from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) and Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (YHROCU). He was arrested on July 29, 2025, and charged. He appeared at Durham Crown Court on August 29, 2025, and pleaded guilty.

On March 24, 2023, during cleaning of a waste picking line at the Aycliffe Quarry site in Aycliffe Village, an employee became trapped in a section of machinery when the line was accidentally switched on. The incident occurred when a senior supervisor restarted the machinery after mistaking the worker in question for a colleague in similar clothing nearby. The employee suffered a fractured shoulder, torn ligaments and a broken finger. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Stonegrave Aggregates Limited had failed to ensure an isolation procedure was correctly implemented while employees were cleaning machinery. Another serious incident occurred at the site in December 2015, when one worker was killed and another suffered life-changing injuries on a separate waste sorting line due to similar failures to follow proper isolation and lock-off procedures.

Amin Samater, 31, of Greenford Road, Newcastle, met two teenage girls in Middlesbrough town centre, having previously met them a week earlier. The girls informed him of their age, and he referred to them as 'babies'. He booked a taxi and took them to a hotel in Teesside, where he persistently attempted to book a room in person with cash and then over the phone, but was refused. Suspicious hotel staff contacted police. The three were found in a nearby McDonald's after being with Samater for five hours. Upon arrest, he was in possession of cannabis and denied the offences.

On June 13, 2025, Charlie Forsythe, an off-shore worker from South Shields, was drinking and under the influence of drugs when he made a striking gesture towards a homeless man sitting outside The Pig Iron pub on Albert Road in Middlesbrough. Captured on CCTV, Forsythe picked up a piece of paving slab outside the nearby HSBC bank and struck the victim, who fell to the ground. He hit the victim again before fleeing. Tracked by CCTV, he was stopped by police, sweating as if he had been running, and claimed he had seen what happened but was not a grass. The victim suffered five broken facial bones, was unable to open his mouth properly, required surgery, and had a swollen, bleeding cheek. The victim subsequently left the area and missed a hospital follow-up. Witnesses refused to speak to officers.