Warwick Crown Court Sentencing Results

John Finch subjected his girlfriend to controlling or coercive behaviour and violence, including grabbing her, strangling her, pushing her against a door, sending threatening texts, and on one occasion throwing a TV remote at her, punching her, and pressing his foot on her head, causing her to lose consciousness. She suffered a fractured rib and a punctured lung and was in hospital for a week. The judge described the offending as violent and belittling and said it was aggravated by being committed in her own home.

On 28 June, police were called to Knole Close, Rugby, about a quad bike being ridden repeatedly. Officers saw Jay Skinner riding the bike along Bilton Road with a passenger before it turned into Stowe Drive; he was stopped after getting off. The quad bike belonged to his mother and had been taken without her permission. Skinner was disqualified from driving at the time and had no insurance. He was subject to an eight-month suspended prison sentence imposed in January 2017 for four offences of dangerous driving, connected to riding off-road motorbikes in Rugby town centre between 1 and 22 October 2016, including doing wheelies, going through red lights and driving the wrong way round an island.

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

Kerrianne Cole, 40, previously of Rugby, rented a property in 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 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 house in Rugby. 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.

John Woodhead drove his Audi S8 dangerously in Coventry on May 10, crashing through the front wall of a family's home and into the hallway where it collided with the stairs. Three young children were in the house at the time. Woodhead climbed out of the driver's window and walked away, leaving his injured partner in the car, and later refused to provide a breath specimen. The judge said he could have killed all three children if they had been in the living room.

At the end of March 2017, Hope approached the victim near a shop in Rugby, made threatening comments, and punched him in the face. He aimed a second blow which the victim dodged, and the victim punched Hope before running to a nearby chip shop.

Joseph Maduka used a false Dutch identity card to secure a job as a carer at Drovers House Care Home in Rugby. He had originally entered the UK on a legitimate visitor's visa but remained and obtained the fraudulent document. He was discovered when police searched the shared address of him and co-defendant Osazee. He pleaded guilty to possessing a false identity document with improper intention.

Justice Osazee used a false French passport in the name David Seglie to obtain employment as a carer at Drovers House Care Home, a dementia care facility in Rugby. A background check revealed the passport was not genuine, leading to a police investigation. Osazee was arrested and admitted obtaining the fake document to find work. He pleaded guilty to possessing a false identity document with improper intention.

In January 2018, Kalib Townsend moved back to his parents' address in Rugby. On 3 January, while his parents were away, he and his older brother began to argue. Townsend became very angry and aggressive, and the brothers grabbed hold of each other. During the scuffle, Townsend bit his brother's cheek with considerable force, causing a wound. He let go and left the house, then returned and threw further punches before being told to leave. Police arrived and arrested Townsend; he claimed he had been acting in self-defence. He subsequently pleaded not guilty to wounding with intent, but on the day of his trial pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of unlawful wounding on the basis of excessive self-defence.

Karl O’Sullivan phoned his daughter and threatened to kill her and other family members. He then went to his former partner’s home carrying a knife with a ten-inch blade, shouted threats to stab her, banged on the door, slashed at bushes, and poked the knife towards her chest. Other people contacted police and officers arrested him at the scene smelling of drink and unsteady on his feet. He later pleaded guilty to making threats to kill and admitted affray.

On 30 July, police on patrol in Rugby found Shephard's VW Polo stationary in the road. When officers activated their blue lights, he sped off. Later, other officers spotted the Polo near a recycling centre, but when they tried to block him, he drove away again, travelling on the wrong side of the road and the wrong way round a roundabout, narrowly avoiding an oncoming vehicle. The pursuit was abandoned due to the risk to the public. Shephard eventually stopped at Riverside Academy, where a minor collision occurred between his car and a police vehicle. A breath test showed he was one-and-a-half times the legal alcohol limit. He had no driving licence or insurance.

On 17 November last year at around 2pm, Karmarni Bailey was involved in a fight in Market Place in Rugby town centre. He pulled a black imitation handgun from his rucksack and pointed it at others involved and at bystanders who were trying to help. Armed police responded to reports of a firearm being drawn, arrested Bailey at the scene and seized the weapon, which was later found to be an imitation firearm.

Mohammed Shabbir, 22, of Rugby, led police on a 16-mile chase lasting just 11 minutes on August 20, reaching speeds of up to 120mph in his Nissan. He sped through residential streets, ran red lights, took blind bends on the wrong side of the road, and drove through the village of Dunchurch at up to 80mph. The pursuit ended when another police car blocked his way. Shabbir was uninsured and panicked after swapping his BMW for the Nissan days earlier.

On an evening in April 2015, Noah Fury's son Matthew Fury struck and killed 39-year-old the victim, a jogger, with his BMW on Coventry Road, Bulkington. Matthew was on the phone to his girlfriend at the time and left the scene. Noah Fury later returned to the scene with his wife and, when asked by police, falsely claimed he had been the driver, saying he had been to get milk and didn't see anything. He was arrested but eventually admitted lying after his son confessed to the police the next day. Noah pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, with his defence describing it as a misguided act of parental love in a moment of panic.

Norman Svenson fell asleep at the wheel of his Jeep Compass while driving on the Fosse Way near Leamington on May 7, 2016. His vehicle drifted across the road and collided head-on with a Kia Venga driven by the victim, with the victim's wife as passenger. All three were seriously injured. The victim's wife died three days later in hospital.

Ola Onubogu was driving home from work along a 30mph road on 22 October when he struck an 11-year-old girl as she ran across the road near a pedestrian crossing. He was estimated to be travelling at 47mph. The victim was thrown into the air and suffered a severe brain injury; life support was withdrawn four days later and she died. A collision investigator found that at 30mph he would have been able to stop before hitting her.

Peter Carrigan had been drinking the night before and climbed through the bathroom window of his ex-partner's home in Coventry in the early hours. He found a friend in the house, grabbed two knives from the kitchen, and punched and stabbed the man in the head and chest. He forced the injured man downstairs while continuing to punch him, and when his ex-partner tried to flee, he grabbed her by the throat, squeezed until she nearly passed out, and slapped her. The wounded man escaped at around 3am and called emergency services from behind a hedge. Carrigan was arrested later that day hiding under a children's bunk bed in blood-stained clothes. The offences took place in October 2020.

Peter Devoisey subjected his ex-partner to a campaign of domestic abuse at an address in Coventry between April and June 2022. In the first assault, he covered the victim's mouth and strangled her before punching her in the face, leaving her with a black eye. After a second assault in which he punched her multiple times, he refused to let her seek medical attention. During a third assault, he grabbed the victim while she was in the bath, pushed her underwater and attempted to drown her. When she tried to escape, he dragged her back into the bath and continued kicking her in the face and strangling her. He had an indefinite restraining order from a previous battery conviction in 2021, but continued to control and intimidate her, moving back into the address and breaching the order.

Peter Ellery broke up with his ex-girlfriend in October 2015 and then engaged in a three-week campaign of harassment, sending threatening texts including threats to shoot her, throw acid in her face, and stab her. On October 31, 2015, he entered her home early in the morning and stood over her bed, expecting to find another man. A few days later, he forced her car to stop and approached shouting. He pleaded guilty to putting a person in fear of violence by harassment. Additionally, when police arrested him, they found cannabis being cultivated in three bedrooms, which he claimed was for personal use.

Paul Faill, a computer expert, downloaded indecent images of children onto a work computer at a business where he had set up the computer system. After he left the company, police received intelligence about the downloads and visited the premises, which could have cast suspicion on his former colleagues. Officers traced Faill to his new workplace, where he was arrested. A search of his Rugby home uncovered a large amount of computer equipment. Initially denying the offence, he later admitted downloading images for a number of years and stated he was sexually attracted to children. Forensic examination found 13 category A images, 7 category B images, and 385 category C images. Some folders on seized computers could not be accessed as Faill claimed to have forgotten the passwords, but he accepted they might contain similar images.