Teesside Crown Court Sentencing Results

In August 2025, while under sex offender management, Daryl Stokes was caught after his management team suspected him of further offences. Police found more than 800 indecent images of children on his devices, 409 of which were in the most serious category (Category A). Detective Constable Jordan Pascoe described these as the worst he had viewed. Stokes pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs and two breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

On 10 May 2025 in Hartlepool, County Durham, Liam Kenny, 19, after consuming six pints of lager and cocaine, rode a motorbike without the owner's consent and without a licence or insurance. He was speeding in a 20mph zone on Northgate when he struck pedestrian victim, 22, who was waiting to cross the road. The victim was thrown into the air and airlifted to hospital with life-changing injuries including a significant brain injury. Kenny fled on foot but was later arrested; a breath test showed 100mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath (limit 35mcg) and toxicology found he was almost four-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit and 12 times the drug limit.

On 1 April 2024 at around 3.30am, Liam McElvaney and accomplices attended a home in Grangetown. McElvaney fired a .410 shotgun through a kitchen window, striking the victim in the abdomen. Pellets lodged in the victim's liver, and part of his small bowel and gall bladder had to be removed. The attack was revenge linked to a prior burglary at McElvaney's girlfriend's home. McElvaney, aged 23 of Sunderland, was the shooter.

On 11 July 2025, Leighton Watson, aged 19, drove a Honda erratically through Billingham, reaching 70mph in a 30mph zone, mounting pavements, driving through a bush and across a field before crashing into a bollard. He attempted to flee on foot and was found hiding in a garden. Class C drugs were found on him. A prohibited firearm was later seized from a garden in December 2025 with Watson’s DNA on it.

Shane Meir, 21, entered a house in Norton, on October 3 last year. He demanded car keys while brandishing a makeshift shank and then used a razor blade to slash his 19-year-old victim's hand. The victim required surgery and physiotherapy. Meir then ran out of the house and into a neighbour's front garden where he realised he had grabbed house keys, rather than car keys. He lunged towards the victim with a knife, which forced the teen to retreat back into the house.

Joseph Foster, a 38-year-old car valeter from Tame Bridge in Stokesley, got into a row with an innocent stranger waiting at a taxi rank on Albert Road, Middlesbrough, on February 22 after drinking heavily that day. He broke free from a friend restraining him and punched the victim with force, knocking him unconscious to the ground. The victim, out with his family, suffered a broken jaw, injuries around his eyes and nose, required surgery, lost his mobile phone, and stated he no longer wants to socialise around alcohol.

Aaron Drummond, 27, of no fixed address, fled from police in a stolen BMW reported stolen in Haughton, Darlington on January 29, reaching 59mph in a 30mph zone and driving the wrong way down the A66 towards Sadberge, narrowly avoiding pedestrians, oncoming traffic, two HGVs and several other vehicles before abandoning the car. On February 14, he drove a Mitsubishi Outlander the wrong way down the A1(M) with lights off before crashing into another vehicle. He escaped lawful custody from hospital and damaged a pair of handcuffs.

Lee Davidson, previously jailed for three years in 2024 for fraudulently pressuring a retired couple into paying for uncompleted gutter cleaning work, breached his criminal behaviour order by approaching an elderly woman at her home in Hartlepool. He offered to repair her ridge tiles for £120, reducing to £80, provided a roofing leaflet, pressured her to start work immediately, and returned a few days later, leaving her feeling unnerved and uneasy in her own home. The approach was witnessed by PCSO Davenport.

Dwayne Davis was part of a gang that deliberately set fire to a scrap yard in Port Clarence. The fire damaged four vans, a forklift truck, a bus and a storage unit. After the initial blaze, Davis drove the group to another location where a caravan was torched. He was identified from CCTV footage and convicted at trial.

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.

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 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.

Wilson Junior Wunganai, a 38-year-old Zimbabwean national, sold heroin and cocaine in Middlesbrough to fund an appeal against a Home Office refusal of leave to remain. Police put a red Volvo under surveillance and, when officers approached him late on Thursday November 27, he accelerated down a narrow alleyway, where the car became wedged. He ran but was caught, arrested and searched, and was found with £360 of cocaine and crack cocaine. A search of his home found more than £10,000, further cocaine and heroin, and a small amount of cannabis. He was under a driving ban and had no insurance. He pleaded guilty on the basis that he was supplied with the drugs and a phone by someone above him in the drugs gang and had to collect cash from drug users before handing it over to that person.

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, 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.