Lots of people who committed crimes were jailed this month and spent their Christmas time behind bars.

Here are just some of the criminals including, drug dealers, fly-tippers, rapists, murderers and sex offenders and thieves who committed crimes and were locked up in December.

Kane Renton

A child sex offender who was exposed by paedophile ‘hunters’ in a video live-streamed to thousands online was locked up.

Footage of the ‘sting’ was broadcast on Facebook after Kane Renton was caught engaging in sexually explicit chats with someone he believed to be a nine-year-old girl.

But the 35-year-old from Thanet was in fact messaging a decoy profile set up by members of the Broken Dreams group, who challenged him about his depraved actions and filmed the confrontation for their 75,000 followers.

In the 100-minute clip, Renton admitted messaging the ‘youngster’, telling the amateur detectives he was “disgusted” with himself and “knew it was wrong,” but the footage was passed to police and Renton was later charged with a series of sex offences.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how he had indulged in his warped behaviour with the 'youngster' over four days in October 2022 and within seconds of having initiated contact he had told the ‘child’ he was "horny" and asked if she wanted to be "naughty" and take her clothes off.

Renton of High Street, Ramsgate, even told her he feared “getting into trouble" because she was "so young" and at one stage raised concerns about the police finding out, but he also requested topless photos, saying “Don’t tell anyone Ok?...Cos it’s wrong”, sent images of his genitals, and instructed her on how to perform sex acts on herself.

But his worries about being caught came to fruition when members of the Broken Dreams team knocked on his door in November 2022 and more than two years later, Renton was jailed after admitting two offences of attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and one of attempted sexual communication with a child.

Renton was jailed for 32 months and, on release, will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender notification requirements.

Aden Maynard

A drug dealer claimed he was “out enjoying a walk” despite stashing a haul of cocaine in some brambles.

Almost 220 grams of the illegal substance were discovered in woodland near Hornbeam Avenue in Tunbridge Wells but it turned out Aden Maynard wasn’t just out for a stroll but had a leading role in a drugs supply chain across West Kent.

He has now been jailed after he was initially seen acting suspiciously by police outside an address in Hornbeam Avenue.

Patrols had attended a disturbance in the area on July 13. Maynard was seen wearing a shoulder bag and after spotting officers he ran into nearby woodland. When was found by one PC he no longer had the bag and claimed he was simply out enjoying a walk.

Sniffer dog Charlie was brought in to help search and led officers to an area in the woods near an abandoned fridge where the bag was hidden in dense foliage and contained drugs with an estimated street value of at least £30,000.

More than £1,400 cash was also recovered along with phones and a lock knife and Maynard was arrested. A review of one of the mobiles linked it to a drugs network known as the AD line.

The police probe also led to the recovery of CCTV from shops in Swanley and Westerham, which showed him paying for the phone to be topped up.

A sales receipt was also found in the shoulder bag for a TV and oven and this led officers to a retailer in Orpington where security footage showed him buying the goods and Maynard, of no fixed address, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, ketamine and cannabis.

He also admitted counts of possessing drugs with intent to supply, as well as charges of possessing a knife in public and possessing criminal property, namely the cash seized. The 21-year-old was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to three years and four months.

Jamie Bamblett

A fly-tipper who repeatedly dumped waste, including asbestos, over a wide area was jailed.

Jamie Bamblett, 37, from Snodland, pleaded guilty to seven offences at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court.

He used Facebook to advertise his scrap metal removal business and he would take money from households for removing their waste, but fly-tipped it in various locations across the Sevenoaks district.

He was caught by Sevenoaks’ council’s environmental enforcement team who traced back the origins of waste left in Ide Hill, Kemsing, Sevenoaks, Brasted, Crockham Hill and Edenbridge to him.

The fly-tips included asbestos and a mix of household, commercial and construction materials.

Bamblett was handed a 120-day custodial sentence on each offence, to be served concurrently and was also ordered to pay £4,665 in fines, costs and compensation on his release.

Cllr Irene Roy, the council’s cabinet member for cleaner and greener, said: “This prosecution is a great result for our environmental team.

“They were able to trace the fly-tipped waste back to Bamblett through the people who hired him and fly-tipping is illegal, and we will not tolerate it.”

Ranbir Singh

A sacked HM Revenue and Customs officer who helped her husband launder £3.3million was caught after leasing an expensive Bentley car and enjoying lavish holidays.

Kuldip Badesha used the taxman’s systems to produce letters including fake National Insurance numbers and signatures.

The 46-year-old then handed the details to her partner Ranbir Singh who opened two of 85 bank accounts with them and then used them to launder money between 2015 and 2018.

Singh, 46, and his wife, a former compliance officer, of Cockpit Pilot’s View, Chatham, met before he was jailed for 11 years for kidnap in 2008 and continued the relationship while he was in prison.

They married while he was on weekend release in May 2013 but Badesha did not change her name or tell HMRC of her marriage, or her partner’s arrests and convictions and the criminal money began to be laundered while Singh was on day release and continued after he left prison on licence in June 2014.

Badesha was arrested by HMRC’s anti-corruption officers in 2018 and was dismissed after investigators discovered she was living beyond her means, such as leasing an expensive Bentley car and enjoying long-haul holidays. During a trial at Southwark Crown Court in September, she pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office while acting as a public officer.

Singh admitted to converting and transferring criminal property.

At their sentencing hearing, Badesha was handed a 14-month suspended sentence and Singh was jailed for six years.

Ben Hanger

A “dangerous man with a predatory pattern of behaviour” who sexually abused a young girl was jailed.

Ben Hanger, of St Agnes Gardens, Sheerness, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday (December 4) to four years in jail.

The 34-year-old had admitted a sexual assault against a girl under 13 and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and he was also ordered to serve an additional five years on licence.

Hanger abused the young girl at a property in Gillingham between 2016 and 2017 and the offences were reported to Kent Police in 2021.

He was arrested at HMP Elmley, where he is already serving a 15-year extended sentence after he was convicted of attempted kidnap in a different trial in December 2022.

Hanger was jailed for that offence after he attempted to kidnap a schoolgirl in January 2021.

The latest sentence will be served on top of the term he is already serving.

DC Thabi Hollingsworth said: “Hanger is a dangerous man with a predatory pattern of behaviour, and I’m pleased he has been sentenced accordingly.”

Seyi Odeyemi

A rapist jailed for a hotel sex attack on a woman so drunk she could not stand had been previously investigated by police over six similar allegations.

Seyi Odeyemi, from Ashford, had been on the radar of police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) following past reports of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault against other complainants - but no charges were ever brought.

However, concerns about his behaviour were such that a court imposed what is known as a sexual risk order (SRO) in May 2022 and this meant before engaging in any sexual activity the 23-year-old was required by law to obtain what is known as “express consent”.

But in September last year, the university-educated sexual predator took full advantage of his victim when she was said to be “significantly intoxicated”, incapable of agreeing to sex and, at times, not fully conscious and having offered her a lift home from a nightclub in north London as she waited for an Uber, he drove her to a hotel in Gravesend where he had a pre-booked room, stripped her naked and raped her.

As well as it being suspected that he may have spiked a wine bottle he had in his car and from which she was drinking on the journey, he later boasted to a friend that he had continued to have sex with her after she passed out.

Odeyemi, of Adams Drive, Willesborough, denied rape and breach of the order but was convicted by a jury following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court in August this year.

Having returned to learn his fate earlier this month, the former psychology degree student has started a 15-and-a-half year extended prison sentence for what Judge Catherine Moore said were his “depraved and selfish sexual desires”.

Once free from prison, Odeyemi will be subject to stringent controls for 20 years, including having to give prior notification of his convictions to anyone he plans to engage in sexual activity with, including hugging and kissing, and not to drive any vehicle unless police are aware of its details.

Diana Mikova

A one-woman crimewave given a number of chances to stay out of prison is behind bars following a prolific seven-month campaign of offending.

Mum-of-three Diana Mikova had narrowly avoided jail last year after being convicted of a series of thefts to fund her drug habit - including stealing a friend’s iPhone.

But the 27-year-old soon returned to her old ways, and between March and October this year committed 20 separate offences.

During the crime spree, she stole from shops, assaulted a police officer, swiped an electric bike worth £2,500 and raided an Airbnb she had previously stayed at by using a key code to gain access.

It left magistrates with little choice but to jail the opportunist thief, who cried as she learned her fate at Margate Magistrates’ Court, because last February - while pregnant with her third child - she was handed a 26-week suspended prison sentence for a number of theft-related offences.

But this month her failure to stay out of trouble was laid bare as she appeared via videolink at the Thanet court and admitted 12 counts of shoplifting, theft of a pedal cycle, burglary other than a dwelling, assault on an emergency worker, assault by beating, failing to attend a drug appointment, vehicle interference and two counts of theft from a vehicle.

Mikova was jailed for 38 weeks for the thefts, burglary, car thefts, the assault on Ms Ward and the assault on the police officer and she received no separate penalties for the vehicle interference and failing to attend the drug test.

No further order was made for court costs or compensation to her victims as magistrates believed it would hinder the progress she had started to make on improving her life since being in custody.

Aaron Conway and Joseph Barnes

Two men who deliberately hit a teenage boy with a stolen car and knocked him into the path of an oncoming vehicle which ran him over were jailed.

Tafari Thompson-Mintah, 16, was on his moped in Sevenoaks Way, Orpington on October 9 last year when he was struck by a red Mercedes car and veered into the path of an orange Vauxhall Mokka.

Despite the emergency services providing urgent medical treatment, Tafari sustained profound head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation was launched by the Met Police and the Grove Park youngster’s killers were handed lengthy prison sentences.

Aaron Conway, 39, of Villas Road, Plumstead and Joseph Barnes, 41, of Byfleet, Surrey appeared at Woolwich Crown Court. The court heard Tafari had been in a relationship with Conway’s daughter which had broken down, leading to a series of disputes.

Conway had been determined to threaten and intimidate Tafari, and, on the afternoon of his death, he and Barnes stole the Mercedes with Barnes at the wheel and Conway in the passenger seat.

They then chased Tafari at high speed before swerving towards him and deliberately knocking him off his scooter and he was then thrown into the path of an oncoming car.

The two suspects then fled the scene before abandoning the Mercedes shortly afterwards, but Barnes, who was convicted of murder following a trial earlier this year, was sentenced to life imprisonment and will serve a minimum of 25 years.

Conway, who had previously been convicted of manslaughter, was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment.

Huseyin Kalyoncu

A thug convicted of murdering his disabled girlfriend after he viciously punched, kicked and stamped on her was jailed for life.

Huseyin Kalyoncu, a driver at an Edenbridge takeaway, was told by a judge he will have to serve a minimum of 19 years before he can apply for parole for his "savage attack".

Jurors heard at the 33-year-old's trial in October how Sonia Parker was left unconscious and dying on the living room floor of their home after he struck her with extreme force in a row over her use of WhatsApp.

He later admitted that in the days before the sustained attack he had previously assaulted her out of jealousy over her social media use, but despite 51-year-old Ms Parker being found to have suffered a total of 69 external injuries, some healing and including 24 fractures to her ribs, chest and back, as well as liver and spleen damage, Kalyoncu had told a 999 call handler that on that day he had "hit her a little".

He was said to be "panicked, distressed, sweating and crying" when paramedics arrived at Ms Parker's maisonette in Styles Close, Four Elms on May 5 this year and his partner was found lying face-up with extensive bruises "from head to toe", said prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC.

Despite the efforts of paramedics, Ms Parker died at the scene from what was subsequently recorded as blunt-force trauma injuries to her head and torso and a pathologist also concluded that some of her injuries had predated her death by about a month.

Before the start of his trial, Kalyoncu had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, accepting his actions had caused Ms Parker's death, but denied he had intended to kill her or cause really serious harm.

Jailing Kalyoncu, Judge Julian Smith said the violence inflicted during the relationship was of "increasing regularity and apparent force" until the day he murdered her in a "brutal and senseless" way and once he is released, he will be on licence for the rest of his life.

Girdaware Basra and Onkar Basra

Two brothers who raped a vulnerable child were locked up for a combined 25 years.

Depraved duo Girdaware Basra and Onkar Basra, from Gravesend, committed the offences in the early 1990s.

A police investigation was launched three years ago after the victim came forward in 2021 to report her ordeal and Girdaware, 68, of Northcote Road, Gravesend, and Onkar, 57, now of Regent Place, Rugby, Warwickshire, were charged with raping a girl and unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl.

The 68-year-old was also charged with indecently assaulting a girl and both men denied committing the offences but were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court following a trial.

Earlier this month Girdaware was jailed for 14 years and Onkar was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment, but police never released a picture of Onkar after their sentencing.

Investigating officer DC Caroline Morton said: “These lengthy sentences reflect the gravity of the crimes carried out by both brothers.

“Their victim lived with the memory of their crimes for many years before feeling able to come forward to let us know.

“Reliving her ordeal during the trial has been difficult for the victim and I wish to commend her immense courage and I hope the sentences offer her some closure.”

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

To see who was locked up in November, click here.

Cameron Jeffery

A “cold and calculated” knifeman who terrorised six teenagers in three menacing robberies was locked up.

Wielding what was described by one as a machete, Cameron Jeffery and an unidentified accomplice targeted their victims within just a few miles radius of his Hawkhurst home over two consecutive nights.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that having “patrolled and prowled” the area, he robbed a 19-year-old as he sat in his car with his girlfriend in Staplehurst in the early hours of August 4 when the vehicle was also damaged.

Three boys aged 17 were then mugged less than 24 hours later as they were chatting on a bench in Cranbrook High Street and two of them told police how a knife blade was chillingly held to their faces as aggressive demands for their belongings were made by their two balaclava-wearing assailants.

Then, late at night on August 5, two 17-year-olds carrying camping gear were robbed near Bedgebury Forest and the court also heard that less than a month earlier Jeffery, 21, of Vale Road, Cranbrook, had hoodwinked the seller of a £1,750 Nissan X Trail into letting him test drive the vehicle, only to abandon it in a severely damaged state.

The elderly owner was not only left with a car worth just £350 scrap but also had to pay £320 for its recovery.

Jeffery, who has six previous convictions for 23 offences including assault, battery and affray, was arrested on August 6 and gave a ‘no comment’ interview, but later admitted four offences of robbery, two of having a bladed article and one of theft, and asked for a further two robbery charges to be taken into consideration.

But on jailing him for a total of four years and eight months, Judge Julian Smith said he was a “willing participant” in a joint enterprise and got involved “with his eyes open.”

Ian Hamilton

A violent serial rapist described as a “monster of the night” who attacked women in their sleep was jailed for more than 40 years.

Ian Hamilton, 63, from Dover, raped and indecently assaulted 11 women and girls over 23 years, some of whom he left with broken bones - another he disfigured after sinking his teeth into her nose.

Hamilton was put behind bars at Inner London Crown Court earlier this month for 42 years and one month, with a judge describing him as “cunning and sadistic” and a “monster of the night”, with Judge Silas Reid adding: “What you have done with many women in this case has shaped their whole outlook on life and they live with the horrors you have put them through.”

Hamilton’s depravity came to light when women gave strikingly similar accounts of his violent sexual behaviour in Dover and Canterbury between 1976 and 1999, some of which took place while they were asleep and he was charged with numerous sexual offences after the police’s cold case team reviewed a 1988 investigation into an attack on a girl in the village of Hersden.

This, in turn, linked him to a 1992 report concerning abuse he inflicted on a child in Dover in the mid-1980s and detectives began tracing and interviewing people who had come into contact with Hamilton around that time. This led to several women revealing they had also been the victims of violence and sexual abuse at his hands.

Officers identified a further nine women who had been victims of sexual offences between 1977 and 2000 and as a result, more than 50 previously unreported offences were investigated and Hamilton was arrested at his home in Snodland in March 2024.

Following a trial Hamilton was convicted of 12 counts of rape, 37 counts of indecent assault, three counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm and he pleaded guilty before trial to three counts of making indecent images of children, inflicting grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and indecency with a child.

Upon his release, Hamilton must serve an additional two years on extended licence.

Michael Leahy

A knife-wielding thug attacked an elderly woman on her doorstep after she refused to wash his tracksuit.

Michael Leahy was drunk and high on cocaine when he called at the pensioner’s Swanley home.

The 61-year-old had come armed with a serrated knife which he repeatedly jabbed towards her face during the terrifying ordeal near London Road after the pensioner had previously done laundry for Leahy as a favour when his washing machine was broken.

But when the elderly woman denied his demand he repaid her earlier kindness with violence. Leahy gripped her neck and Maidstone Crown Court heard that, at the same time, he was holding a serrated blade which he repeatedly jabbed towards her face, stomach and arms.

A struggle ensued for several minutes before another elderly person came to the victim’s aid, and between them they managed to push Leahy out of the property. The pensioner suffered cuts, abrasions and bruising but fortunately avoided serious injury.

The attack happened in February of this year and Leahy - previously of Oliver Road, Swanley - was arrested at the scene and the weapon was found discarded in the victim’s home.

He admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm but denied a more serious charge of attempted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but was found guilty after a trial.

Earlier this month Leahy was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, of which he must serve at least two-thirds before he can apply for parole and was also made subject to a 10-year restraining order.

Roma Lawson

A former porn star twice given a chance by a judge to clean up her act was placed behind bars after being told her "time has run out".

Roma Lawson sobbed in the dock at Canterbury Crown Court and begged for yet another reprieve as reality dawned on her that she was going to prison.

She pleaded she would "do anything" and needed to be with her young daughter and seriously ill mum, but the tearful 36-year-old was bluntly told alternative options to immediate custody had been exhausted after she had failed to turn her back on a life of drugs and crime.

It was in July this year she had been given a second opportunity by Judge Edmund Fowler to prove herself when he put sentencing for two assaults on paramedics and criminal damage of an iPad on hold for three months.

But within a few days of that deadline, Lawson embarked on a three-day shoplifting spree in Herne Bay, pilfering alcohol, coffee, champagne and Ray-Ban sunglasses and adding insult to injury, she also failed to engage with the probation service as required by the conditions of the deferment and had previously breached a suspended sentence order imposed for theft offences.

The court heard Lawson stole eight bottles of alcohol worth £116 from Tesco on October 1 and then £45 of coffee from the Co-op eight days later and later the same day she walked out of Sanford Opticians with a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses worth £129, before stealing two bottles of champagne worth £73 from an M&S store on October 19.

Jailing Lawson for what he described as "just short of 13 months", Judge Edmund Fowler told her that having previously taken an exceptional course because there was "a glimmer of hope", immediate imprisonment was now inevitable.

Lawson was jailed for nine months for the SSO breach, plus 12 weeks consecutive for the two assault offences and four weeks consecutive for the theft charges, but no penalty was imposed for criminal damage.

Bebi Ibram

A man who sexually assaulted a homeless woman was locked up after he left his shoe at the scene.

Bebi Ibram was in Gravesend High Street on September 9 when he spotted his vulnerable victim sleeping in a shopfront doorway.

The 38-year-old laid down beside her before removing her clothing and sexually assaulting her. When she woke up screaming it caused another man to confront Ibram, who then fled the scene and left his shoes behind.

Attending officers seized the shoes and investigators examined CCTV in the area and a local constable identified Ibram from the footage and forensic examination of the seized footwear later recovered his DNA.

Ibram, of Parrock Street, Gravesend, was arrested nearly three weeks later on September 27 and charged with sexual assault.

He pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court and earlier this month he was sentenced to one year and three months in prison.

This included the activation of two suspended sentences. He will also be required to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

DC Chloe Smith said: “Ibram chose to target a very vulnerable woman and no doubt hoped he would get away with his crime, fortunately a man came to her assistance and her cowardly attacker fled the scene.”

Wayne Blackburn

A “violent” and “untrustworthy” man has been sent back to prison after he forced his way into a stranger’s home before headbutting the victim and biting his thumb.

The entirely random and unprovoked assault occurred on the day Wayne Blackburn, from Swanscombe, was released from jail on licence on October 17.

Having been released at 10am, by 9.30pm the 43-year-old had become intoxicated and forced himself into an address of a stranger and was asked to leave by the resident who had no idea who he was.

However, the offender suddenly punched and headbutted the man several times and caused serious injury by biting the victim’s thumb as he tried to defend himself. But his assaults didn’t stop there.

After Blackburn left the premises, he went to a second home in the village, knocked on the door and tried to enter when the door was open, but was forced out by the person who lived there. The police were called and Blackburn was arrested and recalled to prison.

He later pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to unlawful wounding and assault by beating and on December 18, Blackburn, of Milton Street in Swanscombe, received two years and four months’ jail time and was ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation to the victims of the wounding within 18 months.

DC Maria Pereira said: “This man was released from prison on licence and was given the opportunity to show he had reformed but sadly, he failed to live up to this hope and promptly assaulted two people in their own homes.

“The assaults were entirely random and unprovoked and Blackburn is patently a violent and untrustworthy individual and further period in prison will certainly reassure the residents on Swanscombe.”

Mariusz Lojko

A construction worker who continued to drive while banned was locked up after being spotted swigging a can of beer before getting behind the wheel of his BMW.

Polish national Mariusz Lojko has an “appalling record”, having racked up several drink-related convictions over the course of 12 years.

He’s since been jailed after deciding to drive home from an early morning shopping trip with his wife in Gravesend.

Medway Magistrates’ Court heard Lojko was spotted by a security guard downing beers outside Lidl at the Imperial Retail Park at 9.20am and a photograph taken of him behind the wheel was passed to police and when officers caught up with him at his home, they discovered he was disqualified and driving without insurance.

A breath test revealed the 47-year-old was under the limit but he was charged with driving while disqualified and without insurance and admitted the offences when he appeared in the dock on December 3.

Deputy District Judge Claire Furlong heard he committed the crimes while on a suspended sentence he’d been given last year for drink driving.

She decided he would spend his Christmas without his wife and children in a prison cell and said he was a danger to the public as he repeatedly flouted court orders not to get behind the wheel - he had other driving convictions in 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020 as well as the 2023 conviction for drink-driving.

The court heard dad-of-three Lojko, of Nansen Road, Gravesend, committed the latest offences on October 15 and he was jailed for 10 weeks for the offences and banned from driving for a further eight months.

Simon Montgomery

A former teacher who sexually abused a pupil during the 1980s was jailed.

Simon Montgomery taught at Dulwich College Preparatory School, now Dulwich Cranbrook in Coursehorn, Cranbrook.

The former science teacher and boarding school housemaster exploited his position to repeatedly assault a young boy under his care and the 70-year-old, of Littlefield Road, Rainham, began grooming his victim by instructing him to stay behind after lessons, before showing him explicit magazines.

This moved on to repeated instances of sexual abuse in both the classroom and at a nearby sports facility and his sentence came after the allegations were reported to the police in December 2022.

Montgomery was arrested and later confessed to officers during interviews, confirming the victim’s name before being asked and he was charged with two counts of indecent assault and gross indecency with a child and a further charge was added of making indecent images of a child in connection to material found on one of his digital devices.

Montgomery pleaded guilty when he appeared in magistrates court and he was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on December 19 to three years and four months in prison and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

During the sentencing hearing it was revealed that although Montgomery has no previous convictions, he was cautioned in 2006 for three offences of sexual activity with a child in respect of children he had taught, but now a convicted sex offender, the disgraced former teacher will have to sign on the sex offender register for life and will be subject to the sexual harm prevention order for 15 years.

He will also be subject to regulations barring him from working with children.

Harry Marshall

A teenager who threatened to kill a post office worker in a terrifying armed robbery was identified by his 'L'-plate moped and distinctive jacket.

An eagle-eyed police officer recognised the description of the getaway vehicle as one he had stopped just two days before the raid at the store in Broadstairs.

Having also viewed CCTV and compared the crash helmet-wearing robber's distinctive Mercier-branded clothing to photos on social media, the constable was able to name Harry Marshall as the perpetrator.

As a result, the 19-year-old was arrested just four hours later, and found stuffed down a sofa where he had been sitting was £200, with a new £10 note in his wallet. Marshall, from Deal, later pleaded guilty to robbery, possessing a bladed article and possessing an offensive weapon.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that the Dumpton Post Office in Ramsgate Road was targeted by the teen and a male accomplice at around 6.40am on August 3.

Marshall, dressed in black, wearing gloves and with his dark visor pulled down, was brandishing a large knife with a 6 to 7in blade as the second man stood close to the door and he then began to threaten the lone staff member saying he would kill him and managed to reach in the till and make off with £1,800.

Marshall, of Fairfield Road, Hay Hill in Ham, was later found just a few miles away and though some cash was found down the side of the sofa, the remaining money stolen was never recovered.

The court heard that other than a conviction in January this year for possessing cannabis for which he had been given a 12-month conditional discharge, Marshall, now 20, was of good character and was jailed for two-and-a-half years for the post office offences.

Abbie Lucas

A drunk woman so intoxicated she could not remember stabbing a teenager in the back with kitchen scissors claimed she acted in self-defence.

Abbie Lucas told police that on the day she attacked the young man she had downed several bottles of wine in what had been a "three to four-day bender".

Her victim, who was 19 at the time, had only known Lucas for a few weeks and was staying at her flat in temporary housing accommodation in Whitstable and he later described their relationship to police as "friends with benefits", Canterbury Crown Court heard.

But it was as he bent down to retrieve his belongings following a row in which Lucas had scratched his neck with her acrylic nails that he was then stabbed by the 30-year-old and he had to be airlifted to hospital in London and needed five stitches to a 6cm wound described as a "stab hole".

Lucas was found by police hiding under a staircase in the property's basement and the bloody scissors were discovered the following day in a bush outside. When interviewed, she said she did not remember attacking the teenager, had "blacked out" from her heavy drinking, and "did not want to remember".

Lucas, now of Clifton Place, Margate, denied wounding with intent as well as the alternative, less serious offence of unlawful wounding.

The jury cleared Lucas of wounding her victim with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm but found her guilty of wounding.

She returned to court for sentencing earlier this month and was jailed for one year.

Ambrose Treeby

A prolific burglar who targeted a vulnerable 91-year-old pensioner was sent to prison for entering her home uninvited and taking £30 from her purse.

Ambrose Treeby, who has seven previous convictions for 20 offences, visited his victim at her flat and pretended to be concerned about an ill neighbour before swiping the money when the woman went to check on her dinner.

Treeby, of Queen Street, Paddock Wood, went to a property on September 15 in Sevenoaks where he spoke to the victim, who was home alone, and pretended to show concern for a neighbour who was taken to hospital.

The 40-year-old, who was stood at the front door, stepped into the property and asked his victim if she could get a pen and write down the neighbour’s number and despite going to get a pen and giving him the number, the woman said Treeby “looked agitated” and didn’t take the number down properly.

Treeby then asked the pensioner, who is registered disabled, if she could change some money up – something the court heard was an attempt to find out if she had any money to steal – before the woman went to the kitchen briefly to check on her dinner.

When she returned she said Treeby was still agitated and quickly made an excuse to leave and the victim soon realised a £20 and £10 note had been taken from her purse.

Treeby who admitted burglary was sentenced to two years and 146 days in prison at Maidstone Crown Court earlier this month.

He was also ordered to pay his victim compensation.

John Cooper

A violent rapist who “poses a very real danger to women” was locked up for almost 20 years.

Last year, police officers received a report from a victim that John Cooper, of Whitehill Lane, Gravesend, had raped, sexually assaulted and physically attacked her multiple times.

The 29-year-old was immediately arrested and taken into custody before being charged with rape, sexual assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intentional strangulation.

He was remanded in custody and while detectives were completing their inquiries, they found a second woman who said the suspect had put her through a similar ordeal in 2018.

Cooper was produced from prison on May 23, interviewed, and received further charges of rape, sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He pleaded not guilty, however, he was convicted following two separate trials at Woolwich Crown Court.

The sex offender was jailed on December 20 for 18 years, of which he will have to serve at least two-thirds before applying for parole.

When he is released from prison, Cooper will have to serve an additional seven years on licence and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and have to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Peter Wrotchford

A dangerous rapist jailed after he posed as a taxi driver to carry out sex attacks on an unconscious teenager was handed more years behind bars for unrelated abuse of a young girl.

Depraved Peter Wrotchford, from Folkestone, who was previously locked up for 18 years, was told by a judge he was a "victim-blaming, sexually-preoccupied predator" with no remorse, empathy or insight.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that the 48-year-old targeted and groomed his latest victim before molesting her and then sinisterly warned her not to tell anyone or there "would be consequences".

But the brave child did reveal the abuse and used Play-Doh to demonstrate to police the horrors she endured at Wrotchford's hands and she also recalled how the paedophile abused her while ignoring her protests, and she would be left feeling "annoyed, sad and scared".

The former Army soldier and community volunteer was arrested and during a search of his home officers found a container marked "Peter's Memory Box" under his bed and inside were a number of sex toys including a rubber replica of a small child's torso.

The sex offender, previously of Ashley Avenue, Cheriton, denied abusing the youngster but following a trial in April this year he was convicted of two offences of assault by penetration which pre-dated Wrotchford's abduction and rape of a drunk young woman in September 2022.

At his sentencing hearing earlier this month when he appeared via video link with HMP Swaleside, the court heard Wrotchford, who uses a wheelchair, continues to deny his offending, telling his family "the truth will come out", but still poses a high risk of serious harm to the public, particularly children and Judge Sarah Counsell ordered that a second extended sentence was necessary.

She jailed him for six years with an additional two-year licence period and the sentence will be served consecutively and will start once Wrotchford has reached the two-thirds minimum of his 18-year jail term and he will then be required to serve two-thirds of the custodial element of six years and once released will be subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and sexual harm prevention order conditions.

David Davies

A rapist who abused a young girl and a drunk teenager was jailed for 21 years.

David Davies, from Ashford, was told by a judge that the impact of his depravity on his victims was "immeasurable and long-lasting".

The 46-year-old was convicted of five offences of rape, two of sexual assault, two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and one of assault by penetration following a trial at Canterbury Crown Court in September.

At his sentencing hearing on December 20 it was said that having denied the allegations, forcing his victims to give evidence, he now accepted his guilt, but Judge Simon Taylor KC dismissed his last-minute expression of remorse as "hollow and self-serving".

The court heard the one-time security guard callously ignored pleas from his rape victim to stop, only doing so on one occasion when he was interrupted by a phone call and he also threatened her not to tell anyone, leaving her "terrified" to reveal the ordeal she had suffered.

His second victim was drunk when she felt her trousers being pulled down by Davies and his hand touching her inner thigh, and in mitigation, lawyer Philip Hill said Davies, of Wellesley Road, was "very sorry for all the hurt he had caused".

Having been deemed a dangerous offender, Davies was handed a 24-year extended sentence for public protection and this consists of 21 years' imprisonment, of which he will have to serve at least two-thirds before he can apply for parole and he will only be released once it is considered safe to do so and then an extra three years will be added to any licence period.

Ashley and James Steel

An “untouchable” father and son who were part of an organised crime group supplying vast amounts of cocaine were locked up.

Ashley and James Steel from Maidstone, along with their associate Danny Devall from Hadlow, used the encrypted EncroChat phone service to facilitate the supply of the Class A drug.

James Steel and Devall used the software to secretly communicate with criminals but it was decoded in 2020 by international law enforcement agencies and the decrypted messages were investigated by police who discovered the pair had user handles including Wonderfulninja, Minorlobster and Prizelake.

Using the chat platform, associates were then directed to addresses linked to father Ashley Steel to make exchanges of cash and drugs and in April a search warrant was executed at James Steel’s home in Chartway Street, Sutton Valence, and more than £50,000 in cash was seized.

Vehicles including high-end motorcycles and a speedboat were also found, as well as drugs behind the front grill of a Volkswagen van.

At the same time, searches of Ashley Steel’s house in Middlesex Road, Maidstone, and business units linked to him near Gravelly Bottom Road in Kingswood took place and uncovered 10 kilograms of cannabis and 150 grams of cocaine hidden within a vehicle and £5,000 was also recovered.

The Steels and Devall were arrested and all three were charged with drugs supply offences and at Maidstone Crown Court, James Steel and Danny Devall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and conspiracy to supply cannabis and further counts related to the supply of heroin and ketamine were ordered by the court to lie on file.

Devall, 36, of Common Road in Hadlow was sentenced to eight years and seven months in prison, while James Steel, 40, received eight years and four months and Ashley Steel, 61, was sentenced to two years and two months having plead guilty to possessing cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply and he also admitted possessing an offensive weapon (a knuckle duster).

Kieron Deacy

A thug who left the mother of his child "unrecognisable" from a ferocious beating told police he had "destroyed her face".

Kieron Deacy made a harrowing 999 call after he had viciously assaulted his ex-partner with such force that he broke her jaw in three places.

The young mum had to undergo three hours of surgery to rebuild her face with metal plates following the attack on August 10 and she also suffered a broken nose, lost six teeth and initially stayed away from her young son as she feared she would scare him.

But Canterbury Crown Court heard it was not the first time she had suffered at Deacy's hands as the 26-year-old abuser had assaulted her on three previous occasions, twice while she was holding their baby in her arms, and in attacks that involved headbutting and strangulation.

At the time of his latest violent outburst, he was subject to a lifetime ban on contacting her or going within 150ft of her but it was while together in Folkestone that he unleashed a rage that resulted in him calling the emergency services himself.

Earlier this month the dad, of Marine Parade, Hythe, was jailed, and ruled to be dangerous by a judge and the court heard his 10 previous convictions for 26 offences also include an assault against a different partner as recent as February this year, as well as numerous breaches of restraining orders and offences of battery, criminal damage and sending threatening communications.

Deacy subsequently pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and breach of a restraining order.

He was jailed for six years under what is known as an extended sentence for public protection and will have to serve at least two-thirds of the term before he can apply for parole, and will only be released when it is deemed safe to do so and once freed, he will have an extra two years added to any licence period, with the indefinite restraining order still in force.

Dennis Ryan

A "petulant and spiteful" man who set his flat alight causing elderly neighbours to be evacuated and almost £200,000 of damage said he had wanted to "p*** off" his housing manager.

Ironically, disabled Dennis Ryan – who has one leg – also told police he started the blaze after staff at the supported living accommodation in Dover had annoyed him by banging on his door regarding a fire inspection.

Having threatened the manager, Karen Chapman, in a text that he would 'Burn down the flat for reaI,’ he then wrote, ‘I don't care, you ugly w****, Bring it on', before he barricaded his door with a plastic box filled with food.

Sitting in his wheelchair in his living room at Buckland Court, the drunk 59-year-old then used a lighter to ignite an envelope and waved it near a smoke alarm, but he said he dropped the burning paper by accident onto the sofa causing a cushion to smoulder, but his attempts to extinguish it failed, resulting in residents, some with dementia, being moved to safety and the fire service having to rescue Ryan, who was found in his bathroom.

He was originally charged with arson with intent to endanger life and pleaded not guilty and this was accepted by the prosecution after he admitted the less serious, alternative offence of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

At his sentencing hearing earlier this month at Canterbury Crown Court, the arson, described by Judge Simon Taylor KC as having been committed in revenge, caused £191,500 in damage to the building and personal loss to some of the 42 residents.

Jailing Ryan for four years, Judge Taylor told him that although he accepted his mobility issues would make prison life more difficult, custody was inevitable.

He added: "It was a revenge attack motivated by spite and petulance, and nothing else."

Corrie Russell

A prisoner who slashed a fellow inmate’s face after a row over spice was handed a 12-year sentence, but his victim says he hopes he learns from his mistakes.

Jak Jones told his attacker, Corrie Russell, that he holds no hate towards him despite a savage assault with a customised toothbrush which had two blades on it which left him with permanent scarring.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Jones is serving a long sentence for murder which was committed when he was 18 in 2003 and he has been left “psychologically and mentally impacted” after being attacked by Russell at HMP Swaleside on Sheppey in April 2021.

Russell, 29, was convicted of wounding with intent following a trial in October and he had been in prison after being handed a 13-year sentence for a similar offence in 2018 where he chased a random man down a street and stabbed him with a hunting knife.

In his sentencing remarks, Recorder Daniel Stevenson detailed how the attack in the jail happened during the Covid-19 pandemic when restrictions were put in place and during that time, Jones’s mental health had deteriorated and he had started to use the common prison drug spice, which Russell had been selling and supplying to him.

After a period of time, Jones worked to get off of the drug and had told Russell he didn’t want it anymore, but the court heard Russell ignored this and continued to give it to him and on one occasion Jones had enough and flushed it down the toilet, to which Russell told him that he owed him money told him he would ‘cut him and f*** him up.

On April 30, Russell had been doing his washing in the laundry room and was on his way back to his cell when he saw Jones walking down the stairs and Russell then ran back to the laundry room where some of his friends were and called Jones to come into the room where there is no CCTV and Russell then “lunged forward” and slashed Jones’s face, leaving him with two 16cm wounds and a “significant amount of blood” pouring from his face.

Russell denied the offence but was convicted after a trial earlier this year and at his sentencing hearing earlier this month Recorder Daniel Stevenson said the attack was “designed to cause disfigurement” and handed him a nine-year custodial sentence and will serve three years on licence, equalling a 12-year sentence which will begin next November after his current sentence for a knife attack in 2018 ends.

Muhamet Mahmutaj

A man who converted a blank firing gun into a deadly weapon before using it in a fight between rival drug groups was jailed.

Muhamet Mahmutaj was one of several men involved in a large brawl on May 2 which also included a catapult and knife.

Mahmutaj, of Giraud Street in East London, fired the weapon during the altercation in the Stanbridge Road and Pine Grove area of Edenbridge and luckily no one was injured but he had attempted to shoot a rival when the gun failed to discharge and he was quickly arrested at the scene by officers who attended.

He claimed he and a friend – who had been stabbed during the incident - were set upon by people they didn’t know and searches led to the recovery of the gun nearby and an 8mm round which had misfired was found within the barrel.

An investigation conclusively matched the weapon to Mahmutaj and inquiries also connected him to a white Audi, which on the previous day was linked to incidents of criminal damage to cars belonging to the rival group and he was charged with possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and with affray.

The 25-year-old pleaded not guilty at Maidstone Crown Court but was convicted after a trial and then sentenced on Friday, December 13 and was jailed for five years.

DI Paul Raines said: “Mahmutaj had every intention of using this converted weapon and attempted to fire it at other people in a residential area, including at very close range. Fortunately, during the incident only a blank round misfired, which jammed the barrel.

“Brandishing any weapon on our streets is completely unacceptable and anyone bringing firearms into Kent and risking the safety of the public will be robustly pursued and prosecuted to the full extent of the law so we welcome the custodial sentence passed by the courts.”