Warwick Crown Court Sentencing Results

Dominic Licursi was involved in a conspiracy to distribute counterfeit £20 banknotes across the UK between July 2 and July 31, 2022. Around £164,000 worth of counterfeit notes were recovered during the investigation. Licursi was stopped driving on the M45 towards Coventry on July 21, 2022, and officers found a cardboard box containing 74 bundles of counterfeit £20 notes worth around £148,000. Messages indicated he had collected counterfeit notes in Essex and was trusted by others in the conspiracy.

In March 2017 police executed a warrant at Lloyd Patton's Rugby home. He told officers he had been downloading material and deleted most of it. A computer tower seized contained over 100 indecent images of children and five movies, all recently downloaded. He also possessed extreme pornography involving sex with animals. He claimed curiosity and said he had deleted the files, but they remained accessible. He had no previous convictions.

Liam McMahon attacked a man in his 20s with a vodka bottle around the head in Park Road, Bedworth, on April 1 last year. The victim suffered severe brain injuries, was left unable to walk or talk properly, and now requires around-the-clock care. McMahon was identified by police enquiries and arrested the following day.

On 24 April police executed a search warrant at a three-bedroom house in Long Itchington and found 123 mature cannabis plants distributed across the living room, all three bedrooms and the loft. The property was equipped with a good-quality ventilation system, insulation, thermometers, heating and lighting equipment, spare bulbs and plant food. Kristian Roulet had a camp bed in the living room and all other windows were blacked out. He initially denied involvement but later admitted his function was to water the plants. The potential street value of the crop when mature could have been up to £66,000.

Krzysztof Stanczyk was involved in a large scale cannabis factory at a home on Howkins Road, Brownsover, Rugby. In February, police raided the property and discovered a large scale drugs factory with evidence of a recently harvested cannabis crop, growing equipment, dried Skunk type cannabis with a potential street value of around £3,000, and £1,500 in cash. He was sentenced on October 5, 2015.

Police raided Kyle Kinchen's Coventry home in September after receiving intelligence linking the address to stolen motorbikes. Officers found a loaded revolver in the pocket of a coat hanging on his bedroom door, along with four bullets, more than £10,000 in cash, cannabis, cash bags and a stab-proof vest. He gave no comment in interview and was charged with possession of firearms, criminal property and cannabis.

Lackston Powell went to a house in Milverton Road after a relationship ended, knocked on the door and shouted aggressively, climbed onto a shed, had a physical confrontation with a man, left and returned with a knife, and later returned with another man. He admitted affray and possession of an offensive weapon.

Liam Adams attacked the victim after an encounter at Midas night club. He punched the victim repeatedly, stamped on his chest, and kicked him to the head, leaving him unconscious with a fractured eye socket, a minor brain contusion, and broken teeth. Adams then called an ambulance himself, put his jacket over the victim, and waited nearby until police arrived. The victim had no memory of the attack.

Kerrianne Cole, 40, previously of Ashwood Court, Rugby, rented a property in Thomson Close, Rugby, in October 2015 on a six‑month lease. The house was converted into a cannabis factory containing 69 plants at various stages of growth, growing equipment, and evidence of a previous harvest, with a potential street value of up to £39,000. She pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and was jailed for 20 months at Warwick Crown Court.

Klaudi Mehmetaj was involved in the production of cannabis at a house in William Street, Rugby. In October 2020, police officers on patrol followed a BMW driven by Vilson Hoxha due to non-payment of speeding fines. Hoxha picked up Mehmetaj from the William Street house. The car was later stopped in Gavel Road, and a search revealed a large quantity of cash and the smell of cannabis. A subsequent search of the house uncovered cannabis plants with a street value of over £116,000. Mehmetaj pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and possessing criminal property.

Mark Summerton, a bus driver of Izod Road, Rugby, had indecent images of children and extreme pornography on his computer. Police executed a warrant at his home in June of the previous year, seizing his Packard Bell computer tower and a separate hard drive. Officers found movies and still images of children being sexually abused, and movies involving animals. The images were obtained using a peer-to-peer file-sharing website. Summerton pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornography. He initially claimed he acted out of curiosity but later admitted partial sexual gratification.

Martin Barnes pleaded guilty to four charges of possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornography. Police executed a warrant at his home and seized a laptop and memory card. Officers found category A, B and C indecent images of children, including images of children as young as 12 months old being subjected to penetrative sex acts by adult males, as well as an extreme pornographic image involving an animal. The images had been downloaded between April of the previous year and the beginning of February. Accessible images were stored in a folder named after him and remote access software on the computer had not been activated. The judge said children throughout the world are sexually abused to provide such images.

On 20 December at around 2am, police followed a Ford Transit in Rugby after an ANPR alert. Michael Wright failed to stop and drove dangerously for five or six miles through Rugby, Long Lawford and Church Lawford, at speeds approaching twice the legal limit, straddling central white lines, going the wrong way down a one-way street, and turning off the van's lights on a dark country lane. He lost control and crashed, and after being pulled from the overturned van he was found to be almost twice the legal alcohol limit.

Milen Zhelyazkov was caught red-handed transferring boxes of counterfeit cigarettes between Transit-style vans in Coventry on August 3, 2022. He organised the vehicles and coordinated destinations, with messages on his phone containing delivery details and postcodes. The cigarettes were worth around £518,000, with more than £350,000 in duty avoided.

Mirgent Shahu was an accomplice in a plot to import cocaine worth £11 million into the UK. He met Robert Ball at a Costa Coffee in Birmingham on 15 April 2022, then travelled to a storage yard in Coventry where they instructed others to unload drugs from a banana shipment. National Crime Agency officers had been watching their movements and arrested them at the scene.

Police attended a property in Ryton on August 29 after a tip-off about cannabis cultivation. Officers could smell cannabis outside and saw vents on the roof, while inside they could hear fans and found the electricity appeared to have been bypassed. They discovered 568 plants and arrested two men. Mariglend Cela pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was later sentenced at Warwick Crown Court.

Matthew Barker conspired with John Tuff to steal six cars worth £77,000 from garages in Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Coventry. Barker would drive Tuff to garages, where Tuff posed as a customer, obtained keys and drove off with the vehicles while Barker followed in his silver Astra van. Thefts included a VW Transporter from Guest Cars in Rugby, during which Tuff ran over the salesman, causing severe injuries. Other vehicles stolen included a red BMW from Malyon Jones in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a Mercedes from Kia Sandicliffe in Leicester, a Toyota Prius from Farmer and Carlisle in Loughborough, a black BMW Sport from DR Motors in Leicester, and another BMW from Auto Choice in Coventry. Barker was arrested in January 2017.

Matthew Fury was driving a BMW on Coventry Road, Bulkington, when he struck the victim, a 39-year-old father of three, killing him instantly. Fury, who had been on the phone at the time, fled the scene without calling emergency services and drove home. His father later attempted to take the blame, falsely telling police he was the driver. Matthew Fury pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving and was jailed for two years.

Matthew Holland, a 44-year-old train engineer from Cambridge Street, Rugby, police learned in April 2016 that his computer was used to download indecent material. A search of his home found an envelope containing 16 A4 prints of indecent pictures of children, five of them category A. Over 500 further images were found on his computer, some featuring babies and toddlers. When arrested he admitted having the prints, claiming he found them years ago while clearing a relative's loft, but denied involvement with the computer images.

Matthew Morrall drove his BMW 1 series at over 70mph in a 30mph zone in Coventry in the early hours of November 1, 2021. He lost control of the car and hit a pole, with the passenger side sustaining the impact; the passenger, a man in his 20s, suffered fatal injuries. Morrall admitted to drinking vodka and smoking cannabis, and a search of his vehicle found a large bag of cannabis, cash and a mobile phone. Phone records showed he had been drug dealing on the night of the collision.

Max Gall was given a six-month suspended sentence in March for causing £400 of damage by smashing the outside pane of double glazing at a property under renovation in January. He was originally charged with attempted burglary, but his guilty plea to damaging property was accepted. He was ordered to complete 40 hours of unpaid work but completed only 22 hours by early October. A judge adjourned the case for two months to allow him to finish the order, but he still had not done all the hours when he appeared back before the court. The court ordered him to serve two months of the suspended sentence.

Ian McCauley used peer-to-peer software to download a video of a baby girl being raped and other indecent images of children. Police traced the distribution to his IP address and executed a warrant at his home, where his computer was seized. Officers found 45 category A movies showing children subjected to penetrative sex acts, 7 category B images, and 87 category C images. He made full admissions in interview.