It is the last month of the year and we have our final round-up for 2024 of the people jailed in Wales. Every month we feature the criminals locked up for the most serious crimes.
This month, they include a killer who brutally murdered his neighbour. At the time of the murder, 57-year-old Brian Whitelock was on licence after being given a life sentence for causing the deaths of a man and his own brother. You can read our coverage of the dramatic trial here
The mother of a police officer who sexually abused hundreds of children online was also sent to prison. Rebekah Edwards had buried a phone used by her son in the garden. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
There were also a number of men jailed for attacking women. Michael Hayles carried out a horrific assault on his wife of two months by pulling her up by her hair and striking her. While Daniel Gibson squeezed his partner’s throat so hard she thought she was going to “explode”. Gibson had lost his temper because his girlfriend’s child was crying with teething pain.
Here are the criminals and their crimes:
Brian Whitelock
(Image: South Wales Police)
The killer brutally murdered his neighbour Wendy Buckney while on a “self-indulgent spree” of drug and alcohol abuse and in order to satisfy his own pleasures, a judge said. Whitelock stripped his 71-year-old victim naked and beat and stabbed her to death in her own home in August, 2022, inflicting so many injuries it was not possible for a pathologist to accurately count them all. Read his sentencing here.
At the time of the murder 57-year-old Whitelock was out of prison on licence having been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 18 years in 2001 for beating a man to death and torching his body during a drinking session at a house in the Blaenymaes area of Swansea.
Rebekah Edwards
(Image: South Wales Police)
The mother of a police officer who sexually abused hundreds of children online hid phones that police were looking for during their investigation. One of the phones was buried in a garden in the grave of a cat. Lewis Edwards, 25, psychologically manipulated, bullied, threatened and exploited his victims and blackmailed them into sending indecent images of themselves.
A search warrant was executed at the defendant’s home in Heol Ty Cribwr on February 8 last year, which he shared with his parents. A number of electronic items were seized from the property and Lewis Edwards was asked for PINs and passwords but responded “I don’t want to say at this time”.
Robert Norris
(Image: South Wales Police)
He was jailed for almost five years for laundering £125,000 in criminal-obtained money. Much of the money is believed to have come from dog breeder, pub owner and car dealer Norris’s connections with the drugs world.
Swansea Crown Court heard Norris involved his partner in his money laundering operation during the course of their toxic and abusive relationship, meaning she too ended up in the dock. After being handed his prison sentence, Norris was disruptive in the dock and shouted abuse at the judge, resulting in him being charged with contempt. Read more here.
Louise Parry and Wayne Thomas
(Image: South Wales Police)
She paid her former boyfriend £200 to attack her partner in his home and he turned up with a replica gun and an army knife. Thomas held the knife to the victim’s throat and shot a blank cartridge in the gun.
Parry, 41, had been in a relationship with her partner for six months, during which time she was abusive and violent towards him. After an altercation between her and the victim, she contacted Thomas, 57, and paid him to carry out a horrific assault.
Natalie Arroyo
The supply teacher groomed a 15-year-old boy by sending naked pictures of herself over Snapchat and told him she wanted to have sex with him. She told the boy she would leave her husband for him and sent him a video of herself performing a sex act.
Arroyo, 33, began sending sexual messages to the underage teenager while she was working as a progress coach and a supply teacher. The victim was described as “vulnerable” when the defendant began contact with him.
Jamie Laver
(Image: South Wales Police)
The prolific burglar was caught and later jailed after police were able to identify him using new AI technology. South Wales Police said that Laver, 30, was caught after a social media appeal and retrospective facial recognition (RFR).
Following his sentencing, the force said Laver broke into homes and flats in the Roath and Splott areas of Cardiff. The thief had stolen a 72-inch television from student accommodation and jewellery of great sentimental value from the home of a grandmother. Laver was caught on CCTV in the Co-op on Splott Road using a bank card from a burglary committed minutes earlier on April 22, 2024.
Kaveh Nazari, Seyed Hangeroudi and Smerdis Hakhamanesh
Four men were sentenced for their parts in a “well-organised and professionally-operated” conspiracy to smuggle Iranian asylum seekers into the UK. The Swansea-based scam involved the creation of fake identities and travel documents and the booking of dozens of flights on carriers including Ryanair and EasyJet.
The illegal activity first came to light after the discovery of selfies taken onboard aircraft in 2019 which led to a four-year long investigation that revealed a conspiracy stretching from Iran to south Wales. Swansea Crown Court heard that while four men were identified and charged, their accomplices – both in the UK and around the rest of Europe and including those at the top of the gang – were yet to be traced and prosecuted. The total number of people brought into the UK by the gang is unknown.
Patrick Ryan
(Image: West Midlands Police)
The killer punched a man in the face and broke his jaw, which led to his victim undergoing operations for titanium plates to be fitted. The attacker was previously jailed for manslaughter after he caused the death of a man he punched in the face.
Ryan, 34, had been out in Brecon town centre on March 9 last year when he approached a group including his victim Ethan Long. He began speaking to women in the group but was not getting the hint to leave them alone.
Mason Rudy
Mason Rudy, 20, carried out a campaign of sickening domestic violence against his partner after standing on her neck and threatening to kill her
(Image: Gwent Police)
The thug carried out a campaign of sickening domestic violence against his partner after standing on her neck and threatening to kill her. He told the victim: “You f****** rat, I’ll f****** kill you.”
Rudy, 20, of Cwmcarn, Caerphilly, was extremely jealous throughout his relationship with his victim and falsely accused her of cheating on her. On one occasion, he sent threatening messages to her boss which led to the end of her employment.
Drugs gang
Anthony Evans (left) and Connor Jones
(Image: South Wales Police)
A member of a drug dealing gang told the undercover police who swooped on his car and arrested him: “You boys do your jobs, we do ours”, a court heard. He also told them they had “got lucky this once” and said he had “a funny feeling about today”.
Sending four members of the gang to prison a judge said drugs damaged lives and blighted communities, and said everyone who involved themselves in supplying Class A drugs knew what sentence awaited them if arrested. He said the defendants had taken a gamble and lost, as people did week-in, week-out around the county.
Christopher Deakin
(Image: North Wales Police)
The man previously jailed for attempting to murder his wife is back behind bars after exposing himself to schoolgirls. Deakin, 55, drove past young girls on two separate occasions while performing a sex act. He admitted two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of children. A judge called it a worrying case and jailed the defendant for 20 months.
The court also heard Deakin had been jailed for eight years in 2007 for attempted murder. His wife suffered 22 stab wounds after Deakin flew into a rage because he thought she was seeing another man.
Colin Morris
(Image: Gwent Police)
The paedophile filmed himself raping children aged two years old and younger which he went on to distribute to like-minded people in group chats. He went on to attempt to rape a child who was just eight-and-a-half months old.
Morris, 48, was arrested at his home in Blaenau Gwent and when asked if he was in possession of indecent images of children, he replied: “On my phone.” He took officers to his bedroom and two mobile phones were seized. Read his sentencing here.
Kevin Marshall
(Image: North Wales Police)
A man was stabbed in his own home after a gang forced their way into the property. The victim was asleep in bed at his home in Holyhead before waking when he heard shouts.
Marshall, Vari Heeps and the victim’s ex-partner, Lisa Stewart, were heard shouting outside the house at around 3am on June 13 this year. The victim rang police, but while he was still on the call, his window was smashed before his door was forced open. Read what happened here.
Dylan Fuller
(Image: South Wales Police)
A man returning home with his shopping was robbed by two males who then mocked him by eating some of his stolen food in front of him. A judge said Fuller and his 16-year-old accomplice had been “lurking” in Swansea’s High Street when they spotted their victim and took the opportunity to rob him.
Swansea Crown Court heard former law and politics student Fuller had been self-medicating for his mental health issues with alcohol and so-called street Valium tablets at the time of the robbery, and that it happened while the defendant was being investigated for allegedly assaulting a shop worker. Sending the 25-year-old to prison a judge told him that people were going to be allowed to walk the streets of Swansea without people like him making “no-go areas”.
William Hanson
(Image: South Wales Police)
The rogue builder conned “elderly and vulnerable” people out of thousands of pounds by telling them they had to have work done on their homes that wasn’t actually needed and “grossly” overcharging them.
Hanson, 50, told people they required building work which totalled more than £175,000. Read more here.
Kellie Mears
(Image: South Wales Police)
The serial shoplifter stole more than £2,000 worth of items from several shops in order to fund her heroin addiction. On many occasions she returned to the same store to steal.
Mears, 37, has committed more than 100 thefts during her criminal career but continued her shoplifting spree on September 5 when she entered a Tesco store in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff. She took nine bottles of high value alcohol, including champagne, which came to a total of £367.
Shane Bowen and Rhodri Manning
A drugs phone – complete with a contacts book of users – was bought and sold between dealers, a court has heard. Bowen sold the dugs phone to Manning who continued supplying customers until police executed a search warrant and seized the mobile device.
The defendants appeared at separate hearings at Swansea Crown Court to be sentenced for cocaine dealing but WalesOnline understood the phones being used by the dealers were, in fact, the same device which had simply been traded from one to the other. Both defendants were sent to prison.
Jordan Sandu
(Image: South Wales Police)
The delivery driver was dropping off more than just parcels in a bid to support his family. Sandu turned to supplying cocaine as an “easy” way of making extra money after finding his family in financial difficulties.
A judge at Swansea Crown Crown said it was clear from everything he had read about the 24-year-old that he had done well in education and had gone on to find employment but then began “associating with negative elements”. Sending the defendant down, the judge told him he had made a “grave mistake” in getting involved in drugs and had let down those close to him. Sandu’s barrister said his client was concerned that he was now going to miss the birth of his second child while he was in prison.
Dean Follows
(Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)
The intruder who stole a bank card in a knife-point robbery in the victim’s own home used it to buy a lottery scratch card which won him £50. At the time of the robbery, Follows was on police bail having been arrested for breaking into the warehouse of a well-known chain of shops.
Swansea Crown Court heard Follows had 69 previous offences on his record including a dozen burglaries and two robberies, one of which saw him fracturing his victim’s skull with a hammer. The 43-year-old’s barrister told the court his client realised he was facing a lengthy prison sentence and felt that at this current stage of his life “that may not be a bad thing”.
Trevor Hegarty
(Image: South Wales Police)
He pressurised a vulnerable woman into letting him use her toilet with boasts that he had stabbed multiple people and had been to prison. Hegarty then returned to her house while she was asleep and stole her new Nike trainers. At the time of the burglary Hegarty was on police bail for burgling a bar.
Swansea Crown Court heard Hegarty had moved to Swansea from his native Ireland to work in his dad’s driveway-laying business but, unable to access his mental health medication in Wales, he had resorted to self-medication with controlled substances. Sending the 29-year-old to prison, a judge said the way he had pressurised his vulnerable victim had been “pernicious”.
David Davies
(Image: Gwent Police)
The father attacked a man with a metal pole and left him with a laceration to his head and a broken nose, jaw and wrist. When police came to arrest him he was found in possession of 400g of cannabis.
Davies, 44, and his son were sitting on benches near Caerphilly Castle on May 11 when the victim began chatting with the defendant’s son. An argument broke out between them and they began fighting and rolling on the floor.
Joseph Tucker
(Image: Gwent Police)
The teenage drug dealer was found in possession of up to £12,000 worth of amphetamine when police raided his home. It was the second time he had been found in possession of large quantities of the drug.
Tucker, 19, was visited by police who conducted a search warrant at his home in Newport on September 20. In the defendant’s bedroom was a Nike shoulder bag which contained four bags of amphetamine which amounted to 1.2kg.
Joseph Thomas-Mullen
(Image: South Wales Police)
The courier who delivered cash between the leader of an organised crime gang (OCG) in south Wales to the leader of a similar gang in Liverpool was arrested at Cardiff Airport. It is estimated he couriered in the region of £260,000, which was used to purchase cocaine.
Thomas-Mullen, 49, was based in Caerphilly but was a member of the Liverpool OCG which was in business with Luke Mattan, a Cardiff dealer who was involved in the supply of 12kg of cocaine. The defendant would collect money from Mattan on behalf of the upstream supplier in Liverpool before delivering the cash to Merseyside. Read the sentencing here.
Adam Benasghir
(Image: South Wales Police)
The teenager robbed a former soldier who was visiting Cardiff as part of a bucket list following his terminal cancer diagnosis. The victim was hit to the head during the theft and suffered seizures as a result.
Benasghir, now 20, carried out the robbery against Martin McCreed in the Hayes area of the city centre on May 20. The 61-year-old victim had been to a number of pubs on the evening of May 19 and was walking back to his accommodation when he was approached by the defendant and a girl under the age of 18.
Robert Wilkins
Robert Wilkins, 27, left a police officer covered in blood and with a fractured eye socket after repeatedly punching him in the face
(Image: South Wales Police)
The thug left a police officer covered in blood and with a fractured eye socket after repeatedly punching him in the face. The officer stated he “genuinely felt he was going to die”.
Wilkins, 27, was in breach of a restraining order when he turned up at his former partner’s home in Cardiff on May 17 and caused damage to her windows and a makeup mirror. The police were contacted and officers Michael Reid and Olivia Joy attended.
Clive Leonard
(Image: South Wales Polixe)
He raped two intoxicated males in separate attacks more than two-and-a-half years apart, a court heard. A judge said Clive Leonard had encountered his victims by chance then taken advantage of the situations to “satisfy his sexual lust”. Read his sentencing here.
John Raymond Ward
(Image: North Wales Police)
The burglar who stole a duvet from a stroke survivor felt “prison has become his home”, a court heard. Ward broke into a house and took the duvet – but ditched it because it was too heavy.
The owner of the house discovered the break-in when she got up in the night and found a window was open and the house was cold. Now the victim felt “jittery and anxious”, the court heard.
Billy Hearn
(Image: Dyfed Powys Police)
He robbed a cyclist of his bike and bit him on the face during a terrifying city centre attack. The victim has been left with a scar on his nose which he says is a daily reminder of what happened to him.
Swansea Crown Court heard the incident happened in Swansea city centre on a Saturday evening in June. Sending the 28-year-old robber to prison, a judge said the incident had not only directly affected the victim but would also impact the wider public’s feeling of security. Hearn’s accomplice, Nikita Davies, 38, was handed a suspended sentence.
Stephen Lane
(Image: National Crime Agency)
The paedophile in Wales paid for children in the Philippines to be sexually abused over the internet so he could watch over a live stream. His victims included children as young as six, who were forced to engage in sexual acts for his sexual gratification.
Lane, 55, of Monmouth, would make contact with individuals in the Philippines through chat logs in order to view live footage of children being sexually abused. He would provide payment in order to access camera footage and would expose himself while directing how the child would be abused. Read his sentencing here.
Bruno Duarte
(Image: South Wales Police)
The drug dealer in charge of a drugs line was found in possession of up to £400 worth of crack cocaine when police raided his home. He had sent more than 250 text messages in just six days with the drugs line.
Duarte, 22, was found to be the subscriber of a drugs line which was being investigated by police. Messages were sent from the phone advertising the sale of crack cocaine and the number was being used by multiple handsets.
Callum Haines Fowler
(Image: South Wales Police)
The violent rapist laughed when he punched and kicked his victim causing her to flag down a motorist for help. She later described the fear she felt that night and said the thug’s actions still “haunt” her.
Haines Fowler, 37, of Cardiff, raped his victim and attempted to rape her on a further two occasions on the same night. The victim described his actions as “torture” with him physically assaulting her not long after committing the sexual offences. Read his sentencing here.
Michael O’Connell
(Image: South Wales Police)
A judge branded this 30-year-old man who assaulted and abused his partner a “violent bully” who is “immaturely jealous” and who has childish temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his own way. The judge said courts would do all they could to protect women from men like O’Connell.
Swansea Crown Court heard that in addition to physically assaulting his partner the defendant sought to undermine her confidence, threatened to throw acid over her, and constantly accused her of being unfaithful to him. O’Connell’s barrister told the court his client realised he had issues in his life which needed to be addressed.
Huw Jones
(Image: South Wales Police)
The “aggressive bully” physically assaulted his partner after she had been diagnosed with cancer and told her what to eat and wear. It was later revealed he was also having a relationship with another woman and bought her identical clothes to ones he bought for his victim.
Jones, 58, of Abercynon, was in a relationship with his former partner for three-and-a-half years, during which time he isolated her from her grown up daughters and her family. He was characterised as “unpredictable” and “oppressive” during the relationship.
Lance Hamer
(Image: Gwent Police)
He choked a mother and daughter after he was invited to their home and had to be tasered by police after arming himself with a glass bottle. He caused the victims to headbutt each other by using their hair to pull them together.
Hamer, 32, had known his victims for a long time and was invited by the mother to attend the home she shared with her daughter in Blaina. He had recently lost his sister, who was a friend of the mother.
Christopher Flavin
(Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)
The former teacher and youth football club chairman was said in court to be a “committed, calculating, and dangerous paedophile” who had spent his life grooming and abusing young boys.
Making Flavin the subject of an extended sentence as a dangerous offender a judge said it was clear that, despite the 72-year-old’s “advancing years”, he was was still offending – and still seeking to blame his victims. Read his sentencing here.
Bradley Verren, Matthew Ahern, Lucien Rousselle and Luke Montgomery
(Image: Gwent Police)
The dealer who ran a drugs line with more than 100 customers reached speeds of 121mph during a police chase. More than a kilo of heroin and 25g of crack cocaine was discovered after police executed a warrant.
Verren, 24, Rousselle, 50, Ahern, 45, and Montgomery, 22, were involved in the drugs operation based in Newport. Verren played a leading role in running the drugs line which they used to supply heroin and crack cocaine in the city.
Michael Hayles
(Image: South Wales Police)
The bully carried out a horrific assault on his wife by pulling her up by her hair and striking her. He also put his hands in her mouth and pulled them apart, causing her to bleed.
Hayles, 29, had been married to his wife for just two months when he unleashed a vicious attack upon her in Pontypridd on October 30. There had been a history of violence in the relationship, with the police being called on the defendant on a number of occasions.
Ian Vaughan
(Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)
The “impatient” van driver caused a horror smash when he overtook a lorry and slammed into an oncoming car. The collision happened on a stretch of road with double white lines prohibiting overtaking but Ian Vaughan “deliberately” chose to ignore them.
Swansea Crown Court heard the driver of the oncoming car was an off-duty policeman on his way to work who suffered a smashed wrist which had effectively ended his frontline policing career. Sending the defendant to prison the judge said the case was another reminder that when people got behind the wheel they were responsible not just for their own safety but for the safety of all other road users too.
Jordan Coles
(Image: South Wales Police)
He subjected his partner to a series of brutal attacks which saw him variously punching, throttling, and biting her on the face “so nobody would fancy her”. A judge said she had no doubt Coles was a danger to women with whom he had relationships.
Cole’s advocate told Swansea Crown Court his client now realised his behaviour towards his partner had been “abhorrent to say the least”. He said it was conceded there was a “disturbing pattern of behaviour” in so far as his client’s relationships with women were concerned, and said there was clearly work which needed to be done to address issues in his life and in his childhood which lay at the root of the behaviour.
Guy Lawrence Miles
The 49-year-old man was jailed for more than two decades for serious sexual violence against a child. Guy Lawrence Miles, of Palmerston Road, Bournemouth, who was convicted of three counts of rape and indecent assault, appeared before Caernarfon Crown Court. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Police launched an investigation into Miles in February, 2021 following a report he had historically raped a child in Bangor. Having groomed the victim, he went on to violently assault and abuse her over two years, leaving her too scared to defend herself or report him.
Barry McCollum
(Image: North Wales Police)
The 32-year-old man was returned to jail after persistently contacting his ex-partner despite a court order in place to stop him.
A North Wales Police statement said: “Barry McCollum, of Trem Engan, Penygroes, visited the victim’s home and shouted through her letterbox, before returning on two occasions asking for money and clothes. She told him to go away and leave her alone, but later that day, he rang her from a withheld phone number and made threats against her and her family. He was arrested later that day.
David Parton
(Image: Tarian)
The paedophile comedian arranged to meet a 12-year-old girl for sex and took condoms, lubricant, and a range of “spanking items” including a paddle and leather strap with him. Police also found Viagra tablets and bedding in Parton’s car when they swooped on the vehicle in a busy retail park.
Swansea Crown Court heard that the child the 58-year-old defendant had arranged to meet was in reality an undercover police officer working online to catch sex offenders. Handing Parton an extended sentence as a dangerous offender, a judge said that, given the age of the child the defendant believed he was meeting, his intention had been to commit an act of rape on her. Read his sentencing here.
Anurag Sharma
(Image: Gwent Police)
The rapist who worked for a private childcare company raped a woman and sexually assaulted her. After the police were called, he escaped on the back of a lorry heading to France and remained at large for months.
Sharma, 21, raped his victim when she was extremely intoxicated and vulnerable. The assault made her think the “world would be better off without her”. Read his sentencing here.
Daniel Gibson
(Image: South Wales Police)
A woman felt like her head would “explode” as her partner squeezed her throat. Gibson had lost his temper because his girlfriend’s child was crying with teething pain.
Swansea Crown Court heard Gibson had a series of convictions involving a previous partner. A judge described his offending history as “disturbing” and said he posed a risk to partners and former partners. The defendant’s advocate said his client remained in a relationship with the woman he assaulted and that they were now expecting a child.
Sean Murphy
(Image: South Wales Police)
He raped a woman in her own home after travelling to Wales to meet her. Murphy then assaulted his victim a number of times including by banging her head against the wall.
Swansea Crown Court heard an impact statement from the victim of the sexual violence in which she said the experience had left her feeling “broken” inside. The 52-year-old defendant was jailed for seven and a half years and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. Police praised the bravery of the victim and said without her coming forward “a very dangerous man would still be on the streets”.
Liam Jones
(Image: South Wales Police)
A boys’ night out turned to violence after one of their number broke a glass bottle on his head and stabbed his friend in the side. The victim went “floppy” and collapsed, and his friends thought he was going to die.
Jones, 27, was out drinking with friends in Porth, Rhondda, on October 4 when a disagreement arose among the party. Most of the group wanted to attend Squares nightclub, which the defendant objected to because he was banned.
Last Paradzayi
(Image: South Wales Police)
He beat up his mother and left her covered in blood and told police he had been waiting to “smash” her and that he should have killed her. Paradzayi’s mum said her relationship with her son had been characterised by violence and abuse and though she loved him she had now realised he was never going to change.
Swansea Crown Court heard that after being arrested the 31-year-old racially abused and spat at police officers, and called himself a racist. Paradzayi refused to leave his prison cell for the sentencing hearing and, sending him down, a judge said the defendant was too much of a coward to stand in the dock and face his punishment.
Liam Moone
(Image: North Wales Police)
The HMP Berwyn prisoner was caught “red-handed” after a visitor slipped drugs worth up to £10,000 into his trousers. Prisoner Mooney, 34, was handed an additional sentence after being spotted receiving the drugs.
A court heard he kissed the visitor while she placed drug packages into his trousers at the Wrexham jail, but they were spotted on CCTV and rumbled by guards. A judge said the pair were caught “red-handed”. Mooney was already serving a sentence for burglaries.
Lewis Morgan
(Image: Gwent Police)
The dad caught dealing Class A drugs was spared jail — only to spurn his second chance by driving while high. Morgan was arrested after a foot chase through the centre of Rhymney in Caerphilly county.
Cardiff Crown Court heard the 29-year-old came across police officers patrolling Rhymney High Street on December 1 and alerted their suspicions by running away. The officers soon caught him and found a small amount of cannabis in his possession. They described him as slurring his words and appearing “intoxicated and irritated”.
Jeffrey Hallett
(Image: South Wales Police)
The cocaine dealer was caught after a lunchtime foot chase by police officers. Hallett took to his heels after realising he had been spotted by officers as he carried out a deal.
Swansea Crown Court heard Hallett was a “classic example” of a street dealer selling the drug to which he himself was addicted. The 26-year-old was jailed for 40 months.
Neil Skiffington
(Image: Gwent Police)
He was banned from calling the police but bombarded the force with messages and called one a “b****.” Skiffington, 41, was made the subject of a restraining order in 2019 and as part of that was not allowed to contact the emergency services unless in the case of a genuine emergency.
However, between July and September last year Skiffington, from Cheptsow, contacted Gwent Police on nine occasions. Read his sentencing here.
James Birmingham
(Image: South Wales Police)
He pushed his way into a woman’s caravan in the early hours of the morning and sexually assaulted her. Birmingham pushed and threw the woman around the static home “like a rag doll” before carrying out a sex act on her.
Swansea Crown Court heard details of a statement from the woman in which she described the devastating emotional and psychological impact of the attack. She also described the “indignity'” of having to give evidence at her trial in front of strangers and of having her integrity challenged in court.
Jonathan Keegan
(Image: South Wales Police)
He exposed himself and performed a sex act near a school. Keegan had a dozen previous offences of exposing himself and outraging public decency on his record but an experienced probation officer had been unable to find the causes of his behaviour.
Sending 53-year-old Keegan to prison a judge told him there seemed to be no sign of him stopping his behaviour. He warned the defendant that if he continued to offend in the same way the courts would lock him up for longer and longer periods.
James McCarthy
(Image: South Wales Police)
He launched a “vicious” assault on a stranger outside a town centre food takeaway. McCarthy punched his victim to the ground and then delivered a series of stamps and kicks to the man’s head as he lay defenceless on the floor.
Merthyr Tyfdil Crown Court heard CCTV operators were able to track the movements of the defendant in his distinctive “Valley Commandos” jacket following the assault and directed police officers to his whereabouts. McCarthy’s barrister told the court her client was regretful for his actions and realised he was facing an immediate custodial sentence.
Abul Hushain
(Image: South Wales Police)
He wanted to “rent” a drug dealing phone line from the boss of an organised crime group. Hushain’s connection to the OCG came to light following a car chase by armed police which saw him racing at 60mph through residential streets and speeding through a busy junction on a red traffic light before finally crashing.
Swansea Crown Court heard that following the defendant’s arrest police found a “safe house” above a corner shop which was being used as a base for drug dealing operations. Jailing the 25-year-old for six years and five months a judge said it was clear from everything he had read about Hushain that he had not been brought up to behave in the way he had been behaving.