Here are some of the criminals including thugs, thieves, drug dealers, killers and perverts who were locked up in Kent in March
Published: 05:00, 01 April 2023
There were lots of people who committed crimes and lost their freedom last month.
Here's just some of the criminals including thugs, thieves, drug dealers, killers and perverts who were locked up in March.
Raymond Wallace
A cook who repeatedly stabbed a rival with a sharpened metal bar in a "violent and sustained attack" was jailed.
Raymond Wallace, of Margate, rained blows on delivery driver Joshi Thomas-Johnson when a gathering at flats in his hometown turned sour.
The 49-year-old went on trial at Canterbury Crown Court in November accused of attempting to murder Joshi Thomas-Johnson.
But jurors cleared the D Suga Hut chef of the charge, instead convicting him of the lesser charge of wounding with intent.
Mr Thomas-Johnson told the court in an impact statement he had suffered flashbacks, feelings of isolation, and considered leaving the country following his ordeal.
Handing down a nine-year prison sentence last month, Judge Simon James labelled the assault a “violent and sustained attack with a highly dangerous weapon.”
Wallace, who was known to Mr Thomas-Johnson, inflicted the violence after a row broke out at a late-night gathering, jurors heard last year.
Armed with a “metal rod with sharpened edges,” Wallace jammed the handle into his victim’s eye, before the violence intensified, prosecutor Martin Yale said.
Sam Secord, William O'Brien, Kai Haruna and Charlie Saunter
A twisted drugs gang filmed the moment they stripped a man naked, tied him to a chair, stabbed him and set him alight with an aerosol can flame thrower.
The victim was knifed multiple times in the throat, cheek and face as the thugs threatened to "pop his eye out".
He'd been lured to the property in Gravesend after warning his friend about a local drug dealer known as CJ who had been cuckooing his friend's home.
Last month, four men received sentences totalling more than 50 years after the man had boiling water poured over him, a dog set on him and was jumped on repeatedly until he passed out.
Charlie Saunter, 23, William O'Brien, 20, Kai Haruna, 20, and Sam Secord, 30, all appeared at Maidstone Crown Court.
They admitted a variety of charges including causing grievous bodily harm with intent, burglary, robbery, false imprisonment and drug dealing.
Saunter, of East Sussex, received an extended prison sentence of 17-and-a-half years, while O'Brien, from Greenwich, was given an extended sentence of 15 years.
Londoner Haruna received an extended sentence of 12 years and three months while Secord, of no fixed address, was jailed for five years and three months.
Tony White
A thug manipulated his girlfriend by threatening to "terrorise" her and repeatedly saying he would kill himself.
Tony White, of Ramsgate, mentally and physically abused the young woman, before launching a campaign of harassment from inside his prison cell.
When the 19-year-old discovered suspicious texts on White’s phone she told him the relationship was over, but White “made the first of a series of threats that he’d kill himself if she left him”, prosecutor Peter Forbes said at Canterbury Crown Court.
The macabre pattern quickly became a weekly event, where White sent images of him cutting, bleeding, and handling boxes of pills.
During a night out with friends, he hunted her down, spat in her face and pushed her into a wall and dragged her from a friend’s parked car and ordered her to go home with him, in a disturbing ordeal in January last year.
Following his arrest, White called the woman from HMP Elmley to make vile threats and attempted to convince her to stop supporting the prosecution.
White pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including controlling behaviour within a relationship and also admitted criminal damage, sending malicious communications, assault and perverting the course of justice last year and sentencing was adjourned.
Last month he was handed a 39 month jail sentence.
Paul Stone
A bogus charity collector who attacked an 80-year-old woman before stealing her purse was jailed for more than six years.
In August, thug Paul Stone knocked on the pensioner's door in North Street, Strood, claiming he was collecting money for charity.
When the victim turned to get her purse the 46-year-old, of no fixed address, pushed her in the chest and knocked her to the ground before grabbing the purse and running.
Officers arrived quickly on the scene after being alerted by neighbours and tried to search for Stone.
They were unsuccessful, so focused on examining CCTV and were able to identify the thief, who was captured emptying the purse into his pockets and chucking bits on the floor.
Police were able to recover the items Stone had thrown on the floor and identified them as belonging to the victim.
The day after the incident, an officer in the town recognised Stone in Gillingham High Street and arrested him.
He was charged with robbery and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court last month and was jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Ben Richardson
A "greedy" businessman who defrauded the tax man of more than £2 million to help fund a lavish lifestyle was jailed for six years.
Ben Richardson, 47, put some of the ill-gotten cash towards buying a luxury cottage near Deal, where he has been living with his wife, Dawn.
She also took part in some of the frauds, with the couple enjoying a "glamorous" way of living, including having expensive cars and horses.
Mrs Richardson wept as her husband was led away from the dock after being jailed last month.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how Mr Richardson ran a series of failing construction companies for nine years and used them to defraud HMRC of more than £2 million by cheating on VAT returns and not paying tax.
He used £219,123 of the cash to help buy Ilex Cottage in Temple Way, Worth, which was previously run as a bed and breakfast.
The court heard that when the frauds with various companies were discovered, Richardson tried to blame his accountant for the errors, but he pleaded guilty on the fifth day of his trial to seven frauds, which netted him £2,177,246.
Mrs Richardson received a 17-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, a year after admitting five fraud charges, involving £708,212, and was made subject to a four-month tagged curfew.
To see the criminals locked up in February, click here.
Temidayo Awe
A honeytrap killer who seduced and drugged a man who posed on Instagram wearing fake Rolex watches, was locked up.
Saul Murray, 33, died during a robbery-gone-wrong after he met a Gillingham woman at his flat after she and another woman gave him a sedative after engaging in sexual activity with him.
He had been targeted by Temidayo Awe, 21, and another woman, Surpreet Dhillon, 36, after he posted pictures of the imitation designer watches on social media.
They visited him at his flat in Luton and drugged the dad-of-six, but the sedative failed to knock him out, and Ikem Affia, 31, Cleon Brown, 29, then arrived to rob him and killed him after stabbing him on February 27, last year.
The gang were seen on CCTV leaving his flat and Affia was seen carrying a knife and police also traced a Mercedes hired by the gang at the scene of the crime, it as also revealed in court the Rolex watches Murray was wearing were fake and he had no expensive items in his home.
A jury found Affia, of Shore Place, Hackney, London, guilty of murder following a trial at Luton Crown Court.
Dhillon, of Carnarvon Road, Stratford, and Brown, 29, of King Edward's Road, South Hackney, and Awe, of Saunders Street, Gillingham were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
Affia was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 25 years and Brown was sentenced to 11 years, Dhillon was given a 10-year sentence and Awe was jailed for seven years.
Henry Okoh
A dealer who was found with cocaine just two weeks after appearing in court for drugs offences was locked up.
Henry Okoh, 31, was initially arrested on October 3 after police conducted a search warrant at an address in Rainham Road, Gillingham.
Officers from the County Lines and Gangs team found and seized seven wraps of cocaine and later that day a second search was carried out at a second property in Balmoral Road, Gillingham which was connected to Okoh.
Inside more cocaine and herbal cannabis was discovered, as well as two sets of digital scales and £3,500 in cash.
Okoh, of Medway Drive, Gillingham, was charged with drug supply offences and pleaded guilty at Medway Magistrates' Court the following day.
He was granted bail pending sentence, but on October 19, he was stopped in a car heading towards Gillingham and more cannabis and cocaine was found and lead to him being arrested again along with Chloe Caseley, 26, who was found to be in possession of five deals of the Class-A drug.
Both were charged with possessing cocaine with intent to supply, while Okoh was also charged with possessing cannabis with intent to supply and driving without a licence or insurance and he was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court last month to three years and six months and his licence was endorsed with 10 points.
Caseley, also of Medway Drive, was given a one-year sentence, which was suspended for two years, and she was ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work.
Robert Smith and Ismet Salih
Two drug dealers who idolised the Kray twins were jailed following a £1.6million drugs bust on the M25 near the Dartford Crossing which was linked to them.
The haul was one of several Robert Smith, 37, and Ismet Salih, 33, were running after authorities seized more than 220kg of cocaine all connected to their criminal network.
As part of a joint operation between the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Met Police, it was discovered the duo aspired to be like East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray.
The pair made profits of more than £1.25 million from selling cocaine and cannabis to areas around Essex and Smith and Salih referred to themselves as the "Chadwell Cartel" in encrypted messages.
Smith used the handle 'demonfern' to source the cocaine from a Dubai-based seller, who went by 'blacknarco' and 'darkestnarco'.
Salih and an associate collected the cocaine from Smiths’s suppliers in the UK and then stored and distributed the drugs for him.
The duo exchanged more than 6,000 messages, predominantly about the sale of cocaine before they were arrested in September 2021, with investigators finding three kilos of cannabis with a wholesale value of up to £15,760 in Salih’s garden shed and evidence of a previous cannabis grow in his loft.
Smith and Salih, from Essex, were subsequently charged with drugs and money laundering offences, which they admitted at Basildon Crown Court, before they were jailed for 16-and-a-half years and nine years respectively at the same court last month.
Steven Gowton
A cowardly addict with “thug life” tattooed on his chest left a pub landlady with head injuries after hurling a rock through her window.
Steven Gowton, of Ramsgate, launched the jagged block of flint through The Hussar window in Garlinge, near Margate.
The missile smashed the window and cracked open Michelle Greig’s skull as she set out dining tables, causing her to collapse.
Gowton, 36, fled the scene leaving the mum in a heap on the floor fearing for her life, he then tried disguising his appearance.
Bleeding heavily from her head, Mrs Greig believed she was dying while drifting in and out of consciousness.
“All I thought about was leaving my children motherless,” she told a court.
Gowton was jailed for two years at Canterbury Crown Court last month, where Mrs Greig told of the terror she suffered at his hands.
Recovering from a fractured skull, bruising to the brain and vertigo, she has since been forced to shell out on revamping her property with blast proof windows.
Michael Humphery-Smith
A fraudster who fleeced £43,000 from his father’s beloved family business was locked up.
Michael Humphery-Smith, of Boughton-under-Blean near Faversham, siphoned customers while working for his dad’s Folkestone firm, Ancestors.
But the 43-year-old’s ruse was blown apart when he accidentally sent his father Nicholas a fraudulent bill, clearly revealing the foul play.
Nicholas described his “total shock” at being duped by his “best friend, partner and son,” during the trial at Canterbury Crown Court last year.
The heartbroken father appeared in the public gallery at the same court last month, as Humphery-Smith was locked up for two-and-a-half years.
“Your offending involved some significant planning as you incorporated a company and conducted your own business, while still employed by Ancestors,” Recorder Janet Bignell KC said.
Formed in 1992, Ancestors provided memorabilia for major museums and historic sites, with royal palaces and Westminster Abbey among its clientèle.
At the trial in August last year, jurors heard Nicholas employed his son as a sales manager in 2017, when Ancestors boasted a 20-strong workforce and £1.5 million turnover.
Stephen Jenkins
A man was jailed for stabbing another following an argument over a kitchen.
Stephen Jenkins approached a man he knew in a multi-occupancy residence where he lived in Knightrider Street, Maidstone, on December 14.
The two had previously disagreed over the use of a communal kitchen area and this time the argument escalated into a fight where Jenkins suddenly pulled a knife from his coat.
He stabbed the victim in the side before fleeing the scene while the emergency services were alerted by others.
The victim, who was in his 50s, was taken to hospital for treatment and his attacker was found and arrested on the same day.
While at the police station, Jenkins also caused damage to a phone in the custody area.
He was charged and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to wounding with intent and criminal damage.
Last month, the 48-year-old was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment.
Phillip Henry
A man who had sex with a former mayor's horse was unmasked - as he was jailed for eight months.
"Disgusting" Phillip Henry, of Dover, attended Canterbury Crown Court last month wearing a face mask, sunglasses, a flat cap and with his hood up.
He has gone to similar lengths to cover himself up when arriving at previous hearings.
But pictures then emerged of Henry when he appeared outside court for a separate offence six years ago.
During last month's hearing, the 35-year-old argued he was suffering from stress and bereavement during the horse's "appalling" ordeal.
KentOnline previously reported how Henry was caught with his trousers around his ankles and violating Betty, a cob, inside a livery in Dover but he fled after being discovered and was later arrested after his DNA was found in a sample taken from the mare.
He initially denied a charge of sexual penetration of a living animal, namely a horse, but admitted the “vile” act when he appeared at Canterbury Crown Court in February.
When a judge jailed Henry for eight months at the same court last month, he could be heard saying: "Oh, that's not good."
Jamie and Danielle Estabrook
Cousins posed as lovers as they tried to smuggle three people hiding under coats in a car into the UK.
Jamie and Danielle Estabrook, 36 and 33, told Border Force officers at the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles, France, that they were returning from Paris after touring potential wedding venues.
But when the SUV was searched, a five-year-old girl and her mother were found crammed in the rear footwell under a jacket.
Officers also discovered a man stowed in the boot of the rented Peugeot, during the search in January 2020.
Canterbury Crown Court heard last month that Jamie recruited Danielle for a payment of £2,500 to be the “soft face” of the conspiracy.
Together with another man they plotted to bring the Turkish nationals in via the Folkestone outbound terminal.
The trio, who live in Essex, were jailed for a combined total of 11 years after admitting their roles in the people smuggling conspiracy before trial.
Jamie, who has 23 convictions and 63 offences including burglary and robbery, was handed four years' custody and Danielle was handed three years.
Paul Freeman
A prolific burglar was jailed following a series of overnight crime sprees.
For around a fortnight, Paul Freeman targeted victims across the Medway Towns in Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham.
Just before midnight on December 30, the 39-year-old went into a porch in City Way, Rochester, but ran away when he was disturbed by the resident.
Nine days later, Freeman was walking past a house in Great Lines, Gillingham, when he saw a man had left his backpack in the porch while parking his car and he took the opportunity to steal the bag which had several items in it including a wallet and bank cards.
The victim immediately searched the area and got the backpack back after confronting Freeman, who had kept the man’s bank cards and tried to use four of them to buy a bottle of alcohol in a shop.
On January 12, Freeman then went to an address in Scott Terrace, Chatham, and tried to open the doors of parked cars before attempting to force open the front door on a house and left swiftly on a bicycle.
Police officers recognised him in footage recovered from doorbell cameras and CCTV at the shop and he was arrested and later charged.
Freeman, of no fixed address, admitted two burglaries, an attempted burglary and fraud, when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court last month where he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years.
Simeon Koroma
Members of a drugs gang were jailed after a police search found £15,000 of cash in a shoebox alongside other evidence of dealing.
The money, along with multiple mobile phones, were found at the home of 24-year-old Simeon Koroma in Cherry Orchards Drive, Rainham during a raid last July.
Koroma appeared at Maidstone Crown Court, where he was jailed for five years and nine months for his part in running the 'MJ' drug network, dealing heroin and crack cocaine.
Alongside him were 19-year-old Justin Duyile, of Charles Street Greenhithe, 45-year-old Natalie Riley of Grange Road, Gillingham and 30-year-old Curtis Davies of no fixed address.
Duyile was locked up for two years and two months, Davies for one year and eight months and Riley was given a two-year suspended sentence and told she must carry out 250 hours unpaid work for her involvement.
Davies and Riley were believed to be working for the 'MJ' county line drug network as 'runners' while Duyile acted as a middleman.
Officers from the County Line and Gangs team continued their investigations and were able to link Koroma to the network.
Various mobile phone numbers were linked to him and CCTV evidence showed him buying credit to top up the phones with and police found £15,000 hidden in a shoebox under his bed.
Alfie Bean and Riley Day
Two drug dealers were locked up after crack cocaine, heroin and a burner phone were found at their home.
The duo, Alfie Bean and Riley Day, were both been sentenced to more than two years after police tracked the pair down to a shop in Sandgate Road, Folkestone.
Bean, 18, was sought by officers after intelligence suggested he had been making phone calls from a known drug dealing mobile number.
He was located at the store along with his friend Day, who officers suspected was also involved in drug supply and both men were arrested and Bean’s phone was seized.
During a search at premises they shared in the town, heroin and crack cocaine was found along with a burner phone and detectives found links between both men and two county line drug networks in the area.
The phones that were seized showed evidence of drug supply and also had videos of the pair showing their cash and drugs.
Bean, from Rutland Close in Canterbury, and 22-year-old Day, of no fixed address, both admitted charges of possession of crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.
They were both sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court, Bean was given a two-and-a-half year term in a Young Offenders Institute and Day was jailed for two years and eight months.
Lee Cuthbert
A blundering burglar who broke into a house came a cropper when he came face-to-face with a copper.
Lee Cuthbert went into a cottage in Sutton Valence Hill, in August intending to steal.
The officer told how he heard noise and then saw a tattooed arm reaching into the living room before being confronted by the officer, who said: "Can I help you?"
Cuthbert, who had left a bottle of Jack Daniels outside the property, answered: "Are your parents home... I am looking for work? I have spoken to your parents before a few times."
Initially, Cuthbert convinced the officer Connor Randall he had previously spoken to his parents about doing garden work.
But after the parents were contacted and Cuthbert, of The Harbour, Sutton Valence, was arrested, it was discovered he was on prison licence for previous burglaries.
Prosecutor Edmund Fowler said: "The police officer was at home and off duty. But, as it happens, he was wearing his police uniform as he was about to go to work."
Cuthbert, denied the offence, claiming he was just looking for work, but a jury at Maidstone Crown Court did not believe him and the 44-year-old was convicted of burglary and jailed for three years – under the minimum sentence three-strike rule.
Radek Dobias
A man was jailed for his role in importing a semi-automatic gun and live ammunition into the UK via the Port of Dover.
Radek Dobias's DNA was discovered on the weapon which had been concealed in foam in a van.
The Slovakian-made Grand Power Stribog SR9A2 rifle and 465 rounds of ammunition was uncovered by Border Force officers in April 2018.
The driver of the van claimed he knew nothing about the lethal haul, and had been to the Czech Republic to collect a racing buggy for his boss.
Tests by forensic experts revealed Dobias, 42 and formerly of Sunlight Street, Anfield, Liverpool, was linked to the crime.
He was found to be in the Czech Republic and was brought to the UK in March last year after serving a four-year sentence for unrelated theft, criminal damage and forgery offences.
Dobias was arrested at Manchester Airport and charged with attempting to import a firearm and ammunition.
He pleaded guilty in November 2022 and last month was sentenced to 12 years and nine months behind bars.
Enoch Banga
A dad who ran a drugs line showed a judge the price he paid for his involvement in the illicit trade.
Enoch Banga was asked by his barrister to raise his right hand to reveal two missing fingers and a thumb - the result of two shootings.
Judge Julian Smith was told the 28-year-old - who ran a county line network in Ashford - had twice been shot as punishment for losing drugs.
Banga was initially reluctant to reveal his injury but agreed after being coaxed by his defence barrister Ben Hargreaves.
His lawyer told Maidstone Crown Court: "The stark and very ugly truth is that this man from the age of 15 became involved in a criminal drugs gang. His mother died from cancer and his father committed suicide after the death of his sister."
After the shooting Banga and his partner moved to Swanley in 2022 but "the gang caught up with him," he added.
Banga, who now lives in Muswell Hill, North London, was facing a minimum seven-year prison term because he has two previous offences for drug dealing and also faced sentence for offences dating back to 2016 for possessing stolen designer clothes and having 180 counterfeit £50 notes in 2019.
Judge Smith told him he would take a merciful course because of the hand injury and the fact the earlier drugs offences were committed when he was a teenager and jailed him for a total of five years and two months.
George Jones
A ram-raider who tried to steal a Co-op cash machine with a van leading to a cross-county police chase was locked up.
George Jones, 31, was given a sentence of four years and nine months at Maidstone Crown Court last month, after admitting conspiracy to burgle and dangerous driving at a previous hearing.
On Wednesday, April 6, last year, three men attempted to drag a cash machine out of the store in Station Road, Longfield.
Two vans arrived at around 4am that day and one was used to break through the front window and a strap was tied around the ATM inside the shop and attached to the chassis bar of the other van.
Two attempts were made to pull the machine out of the shop but the second attempt broke the van's chassis and three men involved then drove away and switched into a third van in Sandbanks Hill.
Officers quickly identified it and found it on the M25.
After a chase which ended in a park in Banstead, Surrey, the van was abandoned and a police dog found Jones, of no fixed address, hiding under a bush and he was arrested.
A shirt linking Jones to the scene and to the vehicle was found nearby.
Shane Seymour
A career criminal who thought he was "untouchable" led police on a 100mph chase down a motorway hard shoulder and crashed - causing his victim life-changing injuries.
Shane Seymour fled after officers attempted to stop a Range Rover reported stolen from Whitstable.
Pursued by a police helicopter, the 29-year-old raced along the M2 from Junction 7 - often using the hard shoulder - before the devastating crash at Junction 3, towards Chatham, his victim suffered a fractured skull, bleeding and a blood clot to the brain.
As officers attended to the injured man, Seymour, of London, ran from the scene but was soon arrested nearby and a police probe would later reveal the SUV was stolen as part of a wider burglary conspiracy worth more than £100,000, involving Seymour and others.
He was jailed for five-and-a-half years at Canterbury Crown Court last month after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and conspiracy to burgle and steal.
The spree involved 33 thefts and burglary offences, where cars, number plates and fuel were taken, with the gang sometimes using hooks to snatch car keys through letter boxes.
The court heard Seymour, of Bruce Castle Road, Tottenham, was a “habitual criminal”, racking up 36 previous convictions for 77 offences, including theft and burglary, and three dangerous driving offences.
He was also handed a three-year driving ban beginning on the day of his release and he was ordered to take an extended re-test.
Gavin Prentice
A burglar who left his DNA after cutting himself at the scene of a break-in was jailed.
Gavin Prentice targeted a house in Riding Lane, Hildenborough, at the end of November while the residents were away.
The 28-year-old, of Carterhatch, Enfield, smashed the glass in a rear door to gain entry, but cut himself in the process and left blood at the scene.
He stole a quantity of gold jewellery but was caught out by police after DNA was confirmed to be his following analysis and he was arrested at his London home.
Prentice pleaded guilty to burglary when he appeared before Maidstone Crown Court last month.
He was sentenced to two years and four months in prison.
DC Celia King, of West Kent CID, said: "Prentice is a prolific burglar who thought he could travel to Kent to anonymously target residents.
"This despicable criminal gave no thought to the impact on his victims; none of the stolen jewellery was recovered and he certainly deserves to serve time in prison."
Christopher Grinham
A man who broke into a home and stole jewellery, a television, and a Mercedes E250 parked on the driveway was put behind bars.
Christopher Grinham targeted a house in Dornden Drive, Langton Green, while the owners were away for the New Year.
Between December 31, 2022 and January 1, 2023, Grinham forced entry to the home and made a mess of the house while searching for things to steal.
Detectives from the Kent Crime Squad identified that the victim’s stolen car had been driven from Tunbridge Wells towards Croydon, accompanied by a hire car.
The hire car had been rented by one of Grinham’s associates and further investigation proved he had travelled to the scene of the crime before returning home.
The stolen Mercedes was later recovered from a road in Addington, Surrey.
On January 11, Grinham, of Kings Walk, South Croydon, was arrested at his home address.
He was later charged with burglary, theft of a car, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.
Grinham pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court and last month, the 43-year-old was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
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Lynn Cox