Lots of people who committed crimes were jailed this month and are now spending time behind bars.

Here are just some of the criminals including burglars, conmen, sex offenders, shoplifters, rapists and violent offenders who committed crimes and were locked up in September.

Carlton Gregoire

A burglar who broke into a home by scaling a lamppost before threatening the victim with a knife and bottle was jailed.

Carlton Gregoire and two criminal accomplices travelled to the home in Dartford in a Hyundai, parking near to The Brent on May 2.

It was then that two of the men covered their faces as they climbed a lamppost to access the property before forcing a window open.

The occupant of the house was then threatened by two men holding a knife and bottle, prompting him to flee from the scene and hide behind some cars until the offenders left and officers were alerted. Investigators recovered CCTV that showed the men arriving in the Hyundai.

Further inquiries revealed the car had travelled from the Romford area prior to the incident, before returning there.

Detectives went on to prove Gregoire had access to the vehicle and had travelled to the scene when the offence was committed.

Gregoire, of Felstead Road, Newham, London, was arrested in Romford on June 4 and was later charged with aggravated burglary.

He pleaded guilty at Maidstone Court Court and the 29-year-old was sentenced to three years and nine months’ imprisonment.

Andrew Rickards

A paedophile who hid behind fake personas in twisted online chats to encourage a teenage girl to send him indecent photos and engage in sex acts ended up losing his ‘marriage and friends’.

Canterbury Crown Court heard Andrew Rickards initially posed as a 14-year-old girl with the username 'Amybum' to engage with the victim in January 2022.

Under that guise of being 'Amy from Ashford', the pervert then introduced his second false identity - that of a man of varying ages called 'James' - into his depraved communications. Having told the 13-year-old that 'James' was 36 and would be "driven crazy" by her, 'Amy' handed over his online account details for the social media platform, Discord.

The younger girl then contacted him, resulting in Rickards, who this time said he was 28 and kept details of his address limited to 'in Kent', indulging in what were described as "sustained and persistent" sexualised conversations over the course of several days.

Undeterred by her age, these included him asking for photos of the victim wearing her school uniform and lifting up her top to reveal her bra, as well as inviting her to join him in bed and be "little spoon". He also described himself as a "sexual dominant turned on by cute, little girls", and prosecutor Kieran Brand explained how at one stage Rickards posed as both 'Amy' and 'James' in the same online chat, asking if the girl was prepared "to do stuff" and have threesomes with them.

There was even talk of taking her shopping at Ann Summers to buy sex toys, but the court heard the victim was also hiding her true identity - that of an undercover officer - and with the usernames traced to his home, Rickards was arrested in April that year.

The 39-year-old of Arden Drive, Ashford, later admitted two offences of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, two of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, six charges of publishing an obscene article and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image and three counts making indecent images of a child depicting abuse across all three categories of seriousness.

Jailing him for a total of two years and 10 months, Judge Simon Taylor said the use of two different personas demonstrated "sophisticated and highly manipulative" offending and on release, he will be subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Mark Royle

A convicted paedophile who had downloaded child abuse images on a secret phone was caught out when its alarm sounded during a routine police visit.

Mark Royle had denied having any undeclared internet-enabled devices when officers from the Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) team carried out a routine check at his home in Chatham in March last year.

But Maidstone Crown Court was told that as they chatted to the 58-year-old, a ringing sound suddenly erupted and was traced to his bathroom and in an effort to hide his deviant criminality, Royle then claimed it belonged to a female friend - only for it to be unlocked with his fingerprint.

Stored in the gallery were more than 400 indecent images, both moving and stills, of all categories of seriousness and depicting children between the ages of five and 12 and he later claimed his illicit downloading from the dark web was "very regimented" and likened it to an addiction.

As well as the hidden phone, police also recovered an iPad, two laptops, two hard drives and a second phone, all of which Royle had not disclosed or was restricted from having under the terms of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and his sex offender notification requirements.

The court heard the offences, which also included a failure to disclose a username, had been committed while he was on licence from prison and Royal, of Chestnut Avenue, Chatham, who has been on the sex offender register since 2006, later admitted nine SHPO breaches, a failing to notify charge, and three offences of making indecent photographs of children.

The court heard a total of 317 category A images were found, together with 46 in category B and 62 classified as category C.

Judge Charles Macdonald jailed Royal for two years and four months and he was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a SHPO for 10 years.

Steve Adams

A 67-year-old man was jailed after subjecting a girl to repeated sexual abuse.

Steve Adams, of Marine Parade, Sheerness, first abused the teenager in 2019 and continued for a year, when she reported it.

Adams denied the sexual assaults but a jury at Maidstone Crown Court found him guilty.

He was jailed for a total of 13 years.

Investigating officer DC Gemma Willis said: “Adams took advantage of a young woman for his own sexual gratification.

“His prison sentence means he can no longer harm anyone else and I hope that brings some comfort to the victim.”

After the trial, Adams’ victim told KentOnline the abuse had ruined the last few years of her life.

She added: “No sentence will ever be enough but if I’ve stopped him doing it to someone else, then that’s all that matters.”

David Spowage

A child sex abuser was locked up for 14 years after a jury “saw through his lies”.

David Spowage, from Rochester, committed offences including rape, sexual assault and taking an indecent image of a child, against a teenage girl in August 2022.

He was arrested and later charged after the victim reported the crimes.

The 39-year-old denied the offences but a jury at Maidstone Crown Court found him guilty at an earlier trial and he was later jailed for 14 years.

Investigating officer DC Ellie Allen said: “Spowage targeted the teenager for his own sexual gratification.

“He denied the charges and put her through the ordeal of a trial, hoping to not be found guilty but the jury saw through his lies.

“I want to commend the victim’s bravery and courage in reporting his offending.

“His lengthy sentence will ensure he can no longer harm anyone else.”

Stephen Lloyd-Jones

A Kent man was among a gang to be jailed for smuggling £35 million of cocaine to the UK by boat.

Stephen Lloyd-Jones, Kursat Kizilkaya and Tiamo Zanaj were found guilty of a conspiracy to bring the Class A into the country after a five-week trial.

Lloyd-Jones, from Folkestone, and Zanaj, 33, from Ilford, were sentenced to 24 years and 22 years imprisonment respectively with Kizilkaya, 33, being sentenced at a later date.

The trio were caught by police having returned to Eastbourne with 350kg of cocaine on a boat used to collect their illicit haul from a cargo ship in the English Channel and they were part of a wider criminal enterprise to smuggle an enormous quantity of cocaine into the country.

Lloyd-Jones played a leading role and was referred to as the captain of the boat and was responsible for sourcing everything needed to receive drugs from a large container ship in the Channel, just north of Guernsey, under the cover of darkness in February 2023.

He purchased a 35ft Kingfisher Sport Explorer boat, for £100,000 and kitted it out with a crane capable of lifting a ton in weight, floatation devices, radar equipment, navigation devices, Wi-Fi, a satellite telephone and spare fuel tanks and the 56-year-old was also given instructions on how to communicate with the cargo ship using coded signals from a laser pen.

Images found on Zanaj’s phone demonstrated how the cocaine had been wrapped in 1kg blocks before being loaded into waterproof holdalls and subsequently loaded into giant white sacks that were collected from the cargo ship and towed behind Lloyd-Jones’ boat.

The 350kg of cocaine found on the boat by police had a wholesale value of between £8 million and £9 million, and a street value of potentially £35 million.

Duncan Hornby

A 60-year-old who wickedly set fire to a house in a bid to murder the two occupants was jailed for life.

In what was described as an "unimaginably brutal and callous" act, Duncan Hornby poured petrol throughout the Faversham property and then waited several minutes for the fumes to build up before igniting them.

The result was a massive explosion and inferno in the early hours of July 6 last year which destroyed the terraced house and damaged three neighbouring homes.

The intended victims of the murder bid were forced to jump to save their lives, one from an upstairs window and another through a hole caused by the blast in a wall.

It was later discovered the accelerant, which Hornby had retrieved from a rear garden outbuilding, had been poured in several places, including at the bottom of the stairs and on the landing.

Hornby, of no fixed address but from Faversham, ran away and hid on marshes until he was found and arrested 17 hours later and he went on trial at Maidstone Crown Court earlier this year, where he denied two offences of attempted murder but was convicted by a jury.

At his sentencing hearing Hornby represented himself, having dispensed with his legal team and maintained, as he did when he gave evidence, that he had never intended to harm the people in the house.

Judge Julian Smith ordered he serve a minimum term of 20 years and because he had already spent 427 days on remand, he was told as he stood in the dock that he could apply for release in 18 years and 304 days' time, but even then any decision to free him would have to be made by the Parole Board.

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 August, click here.

Kiernan Hughes-Mason

A former Kent footballer was branded a “violent coward” after assaulting a two-year-old girl, leaving her with life-changing injuries.

Kiernan Hughes-Mason was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and child cruelty after the youngster was found with serious injuries in January 2020.

The 32-year-old denied the charges but was found unanimously guilty following a trial at Basildon Crown Court, in Essex.

Hughes-Mason, who has previously played for Maidstone United, Welling and Hythe Town, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

On January 31, 2020, Hughes-Mason called paramedics after he claimed he found the young girl conscious but unresponsive in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

The East of England Ambulance Service arrived within nine minutes and rushed the child to Southend General Hospital.

Her injuries were so severe she was placed in an induced coma and taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital for further treatment where doctors identified 17 different injuries and she remained in a coma for 14 days.

Hughes-Mason was arrested and later charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and child cruelty in November 2022.

Terry Gruber

A driver who reported his car as stolen after he had been involved in a collision which left a dog walker dead in the road was jailed for less than a year.

Terry Gruber, who has numerous previous convictions for motoring offences, was left with a smashed windscreen and dented panelling on his Fiat Panda from the impact with grandfather Anthony Gower.

But Maidstone Crown Court heard that instead of stopping to investigate, help or call the emergency services, he simply drove off, taking what was said to be “an unusual route” to abandon the car at a local sports ground.

He then tried to create a false alibi through a friend as to his whereabouts that night before ringing police about 12 hours after the fatality on August 6, 2020, to lie about its theft and the 41-year-old also made a similar false claim in a call to his insurance firm.

In the meantime, Mr Gower, who was 52, had suffered multiple injuries following the collision in Pembury Road, Tonbridge, and despite the efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene and his dog was found in the area, unharmed.

But although Gruber was initially charged with causing death by careless driving, the Crown Prosecution Service later reviewed the case and, after deciding there was no realistic prospect of conviction, offered no evidence to that offence.

He therefore appeared for sentencing after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice in respect of his call to police, and dangerous driving in relation to him driving after the collision when his vision was impaired by the smashed windscreen, but Gruber, who at the time was living in Tonbridge High Street, was never charged with failing to stop or failing to report an accident.

Gruber, who now has an address in Hull, has 22 previous convictions for 51 offences, including several for driving while disqualified, without insurance, and drink-driving, as well as violence, public disorder and deception and was jailed for 11 months and subject to a two-year driving ban.

Michael Porter

A traumatised mum was forced to flee her home after her son turned up drunk, aggressive and threatening to kill her.

Michael Porter was in breach of a five-year restraining order banning him from going within 100 yards of her property in Westgate-on-Sea when he arrived on April 10 this year.

The addict was described as raging, pulling his hair, and bizarrely blaming his mother for "not smuggling him into France for detox", Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Having pursued her to a neighbour's home, he became more and more furious and the threats to kill continued and his mother was left so scared and shaken up she could not speak and in the meantime, Porter returned to her home in Carlton Road East, where he was found by police asleep on a bed and arrested.

In victim impact statements read at the 40-year-old's sentencing hearing, she described her son "getting worked up, madder and madder, in a clear rage".

But she said despite her fear, she felt a sense of shame at having called police on him, but Porter, of no fixed address, admitted two offences of making threats to kill, possessing cannabis, and breach of a restraining order which had been imposed in 2021 following a conviction for offences in relation to his mother of common assault, threats to kill, and criminal damage - just three of the 87 crimes he has notched up over the years.

A report prepared by the probation service ahead of sentencing concluded there was at present no realistic prospect of rehabilitation, and recommended Porter would actually benefit from a "substantial" term of imprisonment so he could take advantage of the courses offered by the prison service.

Jailing Porter for two years and eight months, Recorder Christine Wilson remarked on his remorse and progress since the offences, telling him that he appeared to be "a very different person" when not taking drugs and the restraining order remains in force but was extended from five years to indefinite.

Mark Gaade

An arsonist torched his flat, endangering the lives of neighbours, just hours after police had found him at a railway bridge threatening to jump.

Fuelled by eight cans of lager, crack cocaine and sleeping pills, Mark Gaade started two fires - one under his bed and the other in the living room - in what a judge described as "selfish, self-centred and highly dangerous” behaviour.

A family of four residing above the 51-year-old at the council property in Strood were among those who fled in a state of fear and shock, and with the children dressed in their pyjamas.

Their home was left uninhabitable, toys and other belongings worth £8,000 destroyed, and the youngsters, both said to be asthmatic, traumatised and Gaade, a dad of two, was found by firefighters sitting on his blazing bed amid dense smoke, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

Although he could not recall doing so, he had also turned on taps, flooding the communal stairs and a flat below and the cost to residents, as well as repairs to the building and provision of emergency accommodation, was said to total more than £40,000.

He was originally charged with arson with intent to endanger life but the prosecution offered no evidence after he pleaded guilty to the less serious, alternative offence of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Judge Gareth Branston said although he had "some sympathy" for Gaade’s personal difficulties and accepted that there had been no intent to harm others that night, he had to consider public protection when it came to deciding the appropriate punishment.

Jailing him for two-and-a-half years, Judge Gareth Branston remarked: "Those actions by you were selfish, self-centred and carried out with no real thought for the potential consequences for the adults and children who lived in the flats.

Stephen Pyle

A sex offender who repeatedly targeted a vulnerable child was jailed for more than 15 years.

Stephen Pyle, of Bracken Lea, Chatham, was charged with rape of a child, four counts of indecent assault and five counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

He pleaded not guilty but was convicted on all counts following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court which heard the 66-year-old was living in Chatham in the 1990s and encouraged young children to visit his address when they played truant from school.

Alcohol and drugs were available at the property and Pyle started to groom one of the youngsters and gave them massages that over time became increasingly indecent and he went on to commit multiple sexual offences against a child over a two-year period.

In 2017, the victim disclosed the sexual abuse they had suffered to a third party, who then contacted the police and Pyle was arrested and officers also seized a desktop computer that was forensically examined and found to contain 17 indecent images of children, of which three were the most serious category.

Pyle was then arrested again and his laptop computer was also recovered on which investigators located a further 34 illegal images of children and five of these were of the most serious category.

Pyle was sentenced to a total of 17 years in jail and when he’s released he will be the subject of an extended licence period of four years.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order will also be imposed indefinitely.

William Rayo Garcia and Edwin Montano-Olaya

Two burglars who smashed through patio doors to steal jewellery and designer goods were locked up.

William Rayo Garcia and Edwin Montano-Olaya broke into two homes in Cherry Garden Avenue, Folkestone.

Investigating the break-ins, which took place on April 30 and May 17 this year, officers linked a black Nissan Note to both offences.

Further inquiries established that the vehicle had driven down from north London on the days of the two break-ins.

The car was tracked down and stopped in east London on Thursday, June 27, and Montano-Olaya and Rayo Garcia were inside.

They were both arrested and brought to Kent for interview and inside the vehicle, officers found a black hooded top, a crowbar, a torch, screwdrivers and gloves.

Montano-Olaya, 44, and Rayo Garcia, 37, were charged with and later admitted two counts of burglary.

The two men, both of White Hart Lane, north London, were jailed for four years at Canterbury Crown Court.

David Smith

A depraved pensioner who groomed a vulnerable teenager he met online by paying him hundreds of pounds in cash was jailed.

David Smith knew from the outset of speaking to the boy in a Kik chatroom that he was underage and, as soon as the communication switched to WhatsApp, it turned sexual, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The 68-year-old, described as "dangerous and manipulative", asked the youngster for explicit photographs and to perform sex acts on camera and pestered him even when he was at school and into the early hours when his parents were asleep.

The victim later told police how he had been profoundly affected by the online abuse and cruelly bullied by his peers after they heard about his ordeal and the court heard Smith transferred a total of £845 to the teenager over the four months that they were talking.

At the time of his warped communications, which were also conducted over the Telegram app, Smith was on bail having been caught out in a police sting for similar behaviour and unbeknown to the pervert, the 12-year-old boy he was grooming over a month-long period was an undercover officer, but having been bailed, he continued to groom the other boy, even telling him about his arrest, and to send him money.

Smith, who has two previous convictions for possessing indecent images in 2002 and 2006, was re-arrested in February this year and gave a 'no comment' interview but he later pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence in respect of the undercover officer.

But it was not until the first day of trial when the teenager had attended court that offences of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication with a child were admitted.

Jailing Smith for a total of nine years, of which he will have to serve at least two-thirds before he can apply for parole, Judge Philip Statman said he posed a significant risk of harm to children and that once he is released any licence period will be extended by two years and will also be subject to lifelong sex offender notification requirements and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Damien McCann

A man was punched and kicked to the ground in a town centre before being robbed.

Having beaten his victim, Damien McCann stole a phone from him while he lay helpless on the floor before running away.

The man was jumped from behind at Maidstone Bus Station on the evening of January 5, 2020.

The victim, who was known to McCann, was left with multiple injuries including a fractured tooth.

The 28-year-old of Brompton Lane, Strood, was later arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and robbery.

He appeared at Maidstone Crown Court and pleaded not guilty.

But, following a trial, he was convicted and he was jailed for two years and nine months.

Investigating officer DC Mark Giles said: “The sentence imposed reflects the viciousness of McCann’s attack and I hope it brings some comfort and reassurance to the victim and his family.”

Joshua Clelford

A speeding driver crashed into a car while being pursued by police and left three women with life-changing injuries.

Joshua Clelford was at the wheel of a Vauxhall Astra when he ploughed into a Toyota Aygo on Shottendane Road in Garlinge near Margate on May 24.

The 24-year-old, who did not have a licence and was uninsured, drove at speed and jumped a red light before ignoring a Give Way sign and smashing into the Aygo, driven by Susan Hughes and she and her two passengers Jenny Steadman and another woman suffered multiple injuries between them, including fractures to ribs, wrist, spine vertebrae, collarbone, breastbone, elbow and thighbone.

Two of the women had to be airlifted to London's King's College Hospital, with one remaining in intensive care for two weeks and Canterbury Crown Court heard that Clelford had been chased for as long as seven minutes by officers as they wanted to speak to him about an earlier incident on May 5 when he had deliberately driven his car at his ex-girlfriend's partner.

On that occasion he was behind the wheel of a Seat Ibiza when he mounted a pavement in College Road, Margate, and then rammed the rear of a man’s car, causing it to spin in the road and as the man got out, shouting at Clelford to do the same, only to see the Ibiza, which was bearing false plates, being driven at him.

The court heard how the victim sought sanctuary to avoid being hit and Clelford fled the scene which then led police on a chase when they tried to apprehend him 19 days later.

Clelford, a building labourer of Argyle Avenue, Margate, was interviewed by police and claimed not to remember where he was on May 5, but when shown a camera recording of the incident involving the victim, he admitted to recognising his ex-girlfriend in the video and he later admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to the victim, causing serious injury by dangerous driving to Mrs Hughes, Mrs Steadman and the third woman, and driving without a licence and without insurance.

On jailing Clelford for a total of six years and imposing a five-year driving ban with an extended test requirement, Recorder Geraint Jones KC told him he had deliberately used his car as a weapon in "horrifying and appalling" conduct and said his actions three weeks later had ended "far more seriously", leaving his victims with life-changing injuries.

Karl Brazier-Denning

A prolific thief described as being “stuck in a rut” of offending stole Champagne and smoked salmon during raids at two hotels – just weeks after being released from prison.

Karl Brazier-Denning – who has 45 convictions for 116 offences – is back behind bars after breaking into the guesthouses in Folkestone earlier this month and later being identified by police on CCTV.

The 30-year-old, who is from the Folkestone area, but homeless, had previously appeared in court in July, during which time his solicitor said he was “trapped in a cycle” of offending because he had no cash or somewhere to live and at the time he admitted two counts of stealing food and alcohol from a Tesco store in Margate as well as swiping three packs of lamb steaks from Waitrose in Ramsgate.

He had admitted both offences when he appeared at Margate Magistrates’ Court on July 15, when the bench heard he was being recalled to prison after breaching a suspended sentence he was given for committing other shoplifting offences last year.

At the time his solicitor, Gemma Adams, told the court her client had no address and usually slept at friends’ homes having become “trapped in a cycle”.

Magistrates jailed him for 12 weeks for the shoplifting offences but suspended the term for six months, but after being released from prison on July 25, Brazier-Denning soon started offending again and on September 13, magistrates in Folkestone heard he had broken into the View Hotel in Clifton Road, plus another un-named guesthouse.

While in the dock he admitted two counts of burglary and another shoplifting offence and the court heard he had 45 convictions for 116 offences and 61 of those were theft offences.

Magistrates decided to activate part of his suspended sentence as he had breached it by committing the new offences and locked him up for eight weeks and they also jailed him for eight weeks for the new offences but said that sentence would run concurrently alongside the other.

Ben Champion

A sex offender was jailed for breaching a court order after it was found he had been in contact with children.

In 2020 at Maidstone Crown Court, Ben Champion, of Old Road, Chatham, was convicted of making indecent images of children.

As part of the conviction, he was subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) which placed strict conditions on his behaviour.

These conditions included no unsupervised contact with children, notifying the police if he stayed at a new address for more than seven days and retaining his internet history for inspection by officers.

However, on April 18, police went to Champion’s registered home and found he was living somewhere else.

Inquiries revealed he had been in contact with children and had deleted some of the internet history on his phone.

The 31-year-old was arrested and charged with multiple breaches of his sexual harm prevention order between March and April.

He pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court and was jailed for two years and eight months.

Neil Pavitt

A man was jailed after making indecent images of children.

Neil Pavitt, of Allen Street, Maidstone, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court.

The 48-year-old “monster” faced charges of voyeurism and making indecent images of a child and was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.

Pavitt was put on the sex offenders register for 10 years and given two sexual harm prevention orders and a forfeiture and destruction order relating to his laptop and phone.

Speaking after sentencing, one of his victims said: “Neil Pavitt is a child predator and a monster.

“I despise him for what he has done.

“The custodial sentence brings profound relief and validation after years of pain and suffering.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the dedicated team at Kent Police who worked tirelessly to ensure justice was served.”

Karl Fisher

A “dangerous” paedophile was captured giving a pep talk to himself on a dashcam before he was arrested.

Karl Fisher from Sevenoaks was jailed after a jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault.

The 34-year-old had previously admitted taking indecent images of a child and causing a minor to engage in sexual activity, but between 2018 and 2022 he subjected his young victim to repeated and systematic abuse, including incidents where he would make them wear an eye mask while listening to loud music through headphones.

Fisher admitted to taking indecent images of a child and causing a minor to engage in sexual activity but denied any charges of rape, sexual assault, and witness intimidation.

His trial was heard at Maidstone Crown Court where a jury found him guilty by unanimous verdict and after the judge described him as “dangerous”.

He was sentenced to 19 years and six months behind bars where he’ll need to serve at least two-thirds of his time before he can apply for parole.

In footage seized by police as part of the investigation, Fisher could be heard saying “You’ve got this” and “You’ve still got options” shortly before he found out he was going to be arrested.

Upon his eventual release from prison, Fisher will be subject to an extended license period of four years and he was also added to the sex offenders register for life.

Michael Stanley

A former Kent police officer who swindled members of a horse racing betting syndicate out of £10million was jailed.

Michael Stanley, from Walderslade, was said to have caused "financial catastrophe and devastation" for those who had invested in his Layezy Racing Syndicate (LRS), many trusting him because of his career in the force.

But not only did the 68-year-old "rob Peter to pay Paul" but he also siphoned off as much as £4 million, using the money to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself and his family and Maidstone Crown Court heard he indulged in buying a villa and apartment in Spain, 23 racehorses, numerous expensive cars such as Land Rovers, a Ford Ranger and a Jaguar Mark II classic car, private number plates and jewellery.

He also spent over £1million on cryptocurrency and approximately £600,000 in silver bullion and the former police sergeant initially set up LRS for family members but it grew in popularity and went on to attract close to 6,000 members from across Kent and other areas of the country, as many as 3,000 individuals were waiting to join by the time of its collapse in February 2019.

The scheme invited people to invest funds of which just 1% of their money would then be used jointly to gamble on horses, often with bets placed on the second favourite in a race not to win and he promised incredible returns, claiming it was "virtually risk-free" and he could turn as little as £1,000 into a staggering £13million in just four years.

The court heard it was "a massive fraud" as actual successes were virtually non-existent and Stanley, who "set up, controlled and marketed" the scheme, made up winnings to over-inflate the monies being held in accounts and he then paid out what were false profits to some members by using more recent investors' cash and a total of £44.2million was said to have been deposited into LRS between 2013 and 2019 through his fraudulent conduct, and although £34million was paid out, there was a shortfall - or "blackhole" of some £10.5million and it was also established that as little as £182,000 was derived from actual gambling over the six years.

Stanley, of Resolution Close, declared himself bankrupt and was eventually arrested, making no comment during the course of five police interviews, however, in March this year at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court he pleaded guilty to five offences of fraud in respect of dishonestly making false representations to members of the group, knowingly running a business for a fraudulent purpose contrary to the Fraud Act 2006, and knowingly running a business for a fraudulent purpose contrary to the Companies Act 2006.

Stanley, a gambler since he was 18, represented himself throughout his court proceedings, but jailing him for six years, Judge Gareth Branston said the fact he had been a serving officer had bolstered his trustworthiness and Stanley was disqualified from being a company director for 15 years and will be subject to a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order on his release and also faces confiscation proceedings at a later date.

Maxwell Rusey

A conman who swindled more than £120,000 from a woman after posing as a covert army officer was jailed.

Over the course of a year, between 2022 and 2023, the victim transferred thousands of pounds 16 times after meeting the man online.

The woman, from Medway, signed up to a website to meet new people when she started chatting to Maxwell Rusey, who was posing as an officer involved in “covert operations” in Mali.

The two messaged back and forth with the man expressing he would wish to live with her upon his return to the UK.

He said he also had a sizeable amount of gold he would need to import back and asked if she could help pay the relevant duties.

She agreed and paid £128,000 into accounts the fraudster claimed belonged to a colleague.

Detectives later found they were set up by Rusey, formerly of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, and in March 2024 he was arrested and later charged with fraud and money laundering offences after a fake passport used to open the accounts was found in his possession.

The 53-year-old admitted to the charges at Woolwich Crown Court and was sentenced to five years behind bars.

John Boswell

A disabled artist who downloaded almost 1,400 child abuse images also created his own sexually-explicit drawings of Peppa Pig.

The hand-drawn sketches by sex offender John Boswell showed the popular children's character with genitals, and were among several similarly depraved cartoon drawings discovered at his home in Maidstone.

The many other illegal images found in his possession had been stored on phones he had tried to hide from police and some were of pictures where youngsters had been superimposed but the bulk depicted real abuse and on victims aged between three and eight, Maidstone Crown Court heard and the sexualised Peppa Pig drawings were discovered in May this year, the 77-year-old, who relies on a wheelchair and walking frame, had appeared in court just a month earlier charged with offences dating back to 2017.

Two years prior to that he had been convicted at Snaresbrook Crown Court of possessing indecent images of children, and his sentence included a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) in respect of his use of digital devices, but it was not until July 2019 however, that the self-confessed paedophile was discovered to have not given up his deviant ways.

Officers monitoring his behaviour paid an unannounced visit to his home and when they asked Boswell to hand devices over for examination, he lied that he could not find his phone and then attempted to not only wipe its internet history but also hide it in his toilet, said prosecutor Nathalie Carter at his sentencing hearing for a total of 13 offences.

When analysed, police found 1,190 indecent photographs of children, depicting abuse across all three categorisation levels and there were also nine prohibited, superimposed images and when interviewed he candidly revealed that during two similar checks by police in October and November 2017 he had failed to hand over his phone in breach of the SHPO.

Despite Boswell's confession, he was released under investigation and not charged until March this year, but even after appearing before magistrates in April this year and being released on bail, Boswell continued with his depravity and, during the further unannounced police visit, his Peppa Pig drawings were discovered and again tried to hide a phone on which police later found a further 204 child abuse images and he also failed to hand over a second phone and two digital cameras, however, those did not reveal any further illegal material.

Boswell, of Union Street, subsequently admitted eight breaches of a SHPO, three of possessing indecent images of children and two of possessing prohibited images between 2017 and 2024 and asked for three further charges relating to the images found following his arrest in May to be taken into consideration and he was jailed for three years and will continue to be subject to a SHPO and sex offender notification requirements on his release.

Daniela Niculai

A predatory thief who followed her target home before robbing her was locked up.

Daniela Niculai snatched a necklace from under her victim’s nose while she was busy unloading shopping from her car outside her residence in Swanley.

The 78-year-old was first targeted by Niculai at around 1pm on April 2 when she went out to a Tesco in Orpington to pick up groceries.

She was parked in a disabled bay when Niculai approached her and tricked her into signing a fake charity document asking for her name and home postcode, but as the pensioner returned home Niculai reappeared offering to help unload the car.

The woman asked to be left alone but she was ignored instead being told that she needed to be hugged and placed her hands on the back of the target’s neck and Niculai then walked back to a car and drove from the scene, and the victim then noticed a gold necklace she had been wearing was missing.

Officers quickly identified CCTV images which showed Niculai’s car, and just hours later she was arrested at her home address in Nightingale Road, Edmonton, north London and the 31-year-old was charged with robbery and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court where two further offences were taken into consideration by the court.

These also involved thefts from elderly victims and happened outside supermarkets in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

Niculai was sentenced to two years and eight months behind bars.

Dylan Skenderi and Reece Parker

A pair of drug dealers who tried jumping out of a window to escape police were jailed.

Dylan Skenderi and Reece Parker admitted to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs after being cornered by police following an investigation into their dealing.

Officers arrived at Skenderi’s home in Barnett Field, Ashford on December 20 where they found Parker attempting to leap from the window and his accomplice was in the garden having already escaped the building and both were arrested and wraps, together with cannabis and various drugs paraphernalia were recovered from the scene, along with several mobile phones.

A search of Parker’s home in Crownfield Road, Ashford also led to a large wrap of cocaine and a large quantity of cash being seized and earlier inquiries into drug supply lines in the town identified telephone numbers used to send bulk messages to drug users.

Between October and December last year, the messages were sent from phone numbers that investigators from the force were able to link to Skenderi and mobile phone evidence also showed that Parker was connected with Skenderi and with a supply line during the same period and the investigation caused to the supply line being dismantled.

While awaiting a court appearance for the initial offences, Skenderi was further arrested on July 24 in Ashford after officers again suspected him of drug dealing.

During the arrest, Skenderi, 19, attempted unsuccessfully to discard a mobile, thought to be a burner phone, and it was seized as evidence.

He was charged with offences relating to dealing drugs between June and July this year and he was sentenced to three years and six months’ in prison at Canterbury Crown Court after pleading guilty to offences of supplying crack cocaine and heroin with Parker, 20, also pleading guilty and he was jailed for two years and nine months.

Shelley Earnshaws

A prolific shoplifter was jailed and prevented from entering a store with a bag that is not clear, on her release from prison.

Shelley Earnshaw was sentenced to more than three months after stealing more than £250 of supermarket goods.

Between Wednesday, July 31 and Friday, August 16, she targeted Morrisons in Milton Regis, Sittingbourne, five times.

Earnshaw stole laundry, toiletry items and meat products with a total value of £264.

Around the same time, she went to the Co-op in Aspen Drive, Sheerness and stole items on two separate occasions – placing them in her bag and leaving without attempting to pay.

Earnshaw, of College Road, Sittingbourne was arrested and charged with a total of seven thefts and pleaded guilty at Medway Magistrates’ Court.

The 31-year-old was sentenced to 100 days imprisonment and a criminal behaviour order was slapped on her which prevents her from entering several specific shops in Swale.

It requires her not to act in a way that causes distress to staff or the public and forbids her from entering a store with a bag unless it is clear, or a small clutch handbag.