'Thoroughly evil' boyfriend and lovesick teacher among UK criminals locked up in May

Two care workers who drugged and sexually abused a vulnerable child were also put behind bars last month

A 'thoroughly evil' boyfriend will spend at least 35 years behind bars for plying his partner with cocaine before fatally strangling her on the night she planned to end their relationship. Kieron Goodwin was one the notorious criminals jailed in the UK last month.

A lovesick teacher who brutally stabbed a colleague after failing to accept their on-off relationship had ended was also among the offenders put behind bars in May.

Others jailed last month include two care workers who drugged and sexually abused a vulnerable child they were supposed to be looking after and a voyeur doctor who secretly recorded people using cameras hidden in air fresheners.

Six men and women will also spend time behind bars after being convicted of spying for Russia on an industrial scale.

A drug dealer who caused an explosion that killed a seven-year-old boy and a drug driver who ran a red light, resulting in a crash that killed a four-week old baby, have also been locked up.

Lengthy sentences are handed to some of the worst offenders each month. These are some of the most shocking court cases that have been widely reported in the UK in recent weeks.

Barbara Roe

A mum has been jailed after she crashed her car at high speed on a blind bend, killing her nine-year-old son.

Barbara Roe, who is diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder, was driving at more than 76mph as she was overtaking a white Ford van, colliding head-on with a DAF lorry with a trailer of livestock.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that the 39-year-old, who had been exhibiting symptoms of mania, had been “racing” against the van on the A354 Salisbury Road, at East Woodyates, north Dorset, in a bid to pass it.

Roe had been driving at speeds in excess of 90mph along a stretch of dual carriageway just before the fatal accident, which happened on March 25 last year.

Her driving had prompted witnesses in a Porsche, which had been overtaken moments before the crash, to say out loud: “That is so irresponsible that is an accident waiting to happen.”

The crash caused her Citroen hire car to become “airborne”, with the engine becoming detached by the force of the crash and landing “30 yards” from the vehicle.

Describing his son, Zac's dad Josh Roe said: “He was such an amazing boy, full of life, fearless, clever and he had such a kind heart. He would light up any room he went in, he was one of a kind. My heart is broken beyond words, I miss Zac so much.”

Sentencing Roe to five years in jail for causing death by dangerous driving, Judge Robert Pawson said: “She will carry a life sentence, that burden of knowing for the rest of her life that it was her actions that caused the death of her son.” Roe, of Ludgershall, Wiltshire, was also banned from driving for seven-and-a-half years.

Lydia Mugambe

A United Nations judge was jailed for six years and four months after being convicted of forcing a young woman to work as a slave.

Lydia Mugambe, 50, was found to have taken “advantage of her status” over the Ugandan woman in the “most egregious way”, while she studied for a PhD in law at Oxford university.

Mugambe, who is also a High Court judge in Uganda, stopped the woman holding down steady employment and forced her to work as her maid and provide childcare, prosecutors said.

Judge David Foxton, sentencing Mugambe at Oxford Crown Court, said it was a “very sad case”, outlining her legal accomplishments, including work concerning the protection of human rights. Mr Foxton added that the defendant “showed absolutely no remorse” for her conduct and that she looked to “forcibly blame” the victim for what happened.

In a written statement, read to the court by prosecutor Caroline Haughey KC, the victim described living in “almost constant fear” due to Mugambe’s powerful standing in Uganda. The young woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that she “can’t go back to Uganda” due to concerns of what may happen to her and added that she may never see her mother again.

Mugambe was found guilty in March of conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness after a trial.

In footage released by Thames Valley Police (TVP), the defendant appeared shocked when an officer said he was arresting her at her address in Oxfordshire under the Modern Slavery Act on February 12 2023. She then had a conversation with the officer, in which she said: “I am a judge in my country, I even have immunity. I am not a criminal.”

Thames Valley Police said: “Any immunity Mugambe may have enjoyed as a UN judge has been waived by the office of the United Nations Secretary General.”

Dr Ju Young Um

A doctor installed hidden cameras inside air fresheners in a bathroom, secretly recording 24 people over the course of more than three years.

Dr Ju Young Um was found guilty of 23 voyeurism offences following a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court and has now been jailed for 18 months.

The 34-year-old anaesthetist installed hidden cameras at his property in the Hyndland area of Glasgow, which had been partially rented out on Airbnb, the court heard.

One of his victims became suspicious after noticing two air fresheners which appeared to be facing the toilet and shower, prosecutors said. On closer inspection, hidden cameras were discovered inside the plastic containers, and a further search found a third camera inside a smoke alarm.

The victim contacted police and the cameras were seized along with a mobile phone, laptop and storage device which contained recordings of several people.

Um was also found guilty of covertly filming people in private situations within staff accommodation at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.

Fraser Gibson, procurator fiscal for Glasgow and Strathkelvin, said: "Ju Young Um carried out these invasive offences in a calculated and premeditated manner. He abused a position of trust to significantly violate the privacy of numerous individuals for his own sexual gratification."

Um will remain on licence for a further nine months once he is released from prison, during which time he will be subject to close monitoring and supervision. His name has been added to the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Kieron Goodwin

A 'thoroughly evil' man who plied his partner with cocaine and then fatally strangled her on the night she planned to end their relationship will spend a minimum of 35 years behind bars.

Kieron Goodwin, 33, denied killing 29-year-old Olivia Wood but was found guilty of murder after a five-week trial at Bristol Crown Court. He was also convicted of 15 other offences against Ms Wood and three other women, including rape, assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and intentional strangulation.

Judge Martin Picton imposed a mandatory life sentence for murder and nine other concurrent life sentences for the sexual offences.

He said Goodwin was "clearly highly dangerous", telling him: "You are a highly manipulative, deviant misogynist and selfish narcissist and a thoroughly evil individual. The term evil is thoroughly deserved in your case."

The court heard that Goodwin had been in a relationship with Ms Wood for less than three months when he strangled her in July last year. It followed a campaign of physical and psychological abuse in which Goodwin threatened to harm himself, forcing Ms Wood to take time off work.

WhatsApp messages also showed he tried to pressure her into having sex with another man, despite her repeatedly refusing. She also transferred him more than £6,000 to help pay his bills, which he spent on cocaine.

READ MORE: Her bags were packed ready to leave him, so he murdered her

In the early hours of July 30, Goodwin made a 999 call to the ambulance service reporting that Ms Wood was not breathing, and she was taken to hospital. Police were called 10 minutes after paramedics arrived at his flat where concerns were raised about her injuries.

During the police investigation, a packed suitcase and bags filled with Ms Wood’s clothes and toiletries was found. The court was told this suggested she was planning to leave.

Goodwin, of Portway, Frome, admitted controlling and coercive behaviour against each of the victims, but denied the other offences, claiming the women had consented to the sexual activity.

Leo Walby

A teenage Muslim convert shared so-called Islamic State (IS) videos and propaganda on Telegram and TikTok.

Leo Walby, 19, from Swanley in Kent, told police officers in October 2024 that he had created the accounts because he saw others doing it and wanted to join the trend, having converted to Islam 18 months earlier.

Walby, who was assessed as mildly autistic, was referred to the Government’s anti-terror programme, Prevent, in 2017, but the case was closed without any engagement with his family, the Old Bailey heard.

Judge Anthony Leonard KC, sentencing, said the defendant’s posts were “intelligently and carefully planned” after he was “sucked into extremism”.

On Walby’s Telegram account were posts requesting donations to support an IS fighter, videos of suicide bombings, footage of a Western soldier being killed by an explosion, and a poem which praises martyrdom in support of jihad and fighting non-believers, prosecutors said. He also used the black IS flag as the logo for the channel, the court heard.

Among the posts on his TikTok account, which had more than 1,500 followers, were videos saying “only true Martyrs’ fight for Allah’s cause” and that “Muslims will fight and trade their lives for paradise”, prosecutors said. He also posted a speech from Abdullah Yusuf Azaam who the court heard “is known as the father of global jihad” with links to Osama bin Laden.

Walby admitted six charges of dissemination of a terrorist publication on dates between July 10 and August 20 last year and a further offence of failing to comply with a Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) notice by refusing to provide a password. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Matthew Jones

A teacher who brutally stabbed another teacher after failing to accept their on-off relationship was over has been put behind bars for 12 years.

Matthew Jones, 29, stabbed Emma Kirk, 25, around 15 times with a knife, inflicting injuries to her neck, head and face. The attack was so brutal and frenzied it took five men to drag Jones off his victim and even then he tried to strangle her, a trial at Bristol Crown Court heard.

The court heard that Jones attacked Miss Kirk because he would not accept she did not want to see him again.

Sam Jones, prosecuting, said the two met at university, becoming “really good friends” and later “romantically involved” by being “intimate on one or two occasions”.

The attack took place on February 26 last year in Bath, Somerset, after Miss Kirk told Jones she did not wish to see him again but agreed to meet to return gifts he had bought her.

An off-duty police officer, members of the public and paramedics went to assist Miss Kirk in the lane close to Dransfield Way, and administered first aid. When Jones was arrested he told the police he was "a monster", the court heard.

Mr Jones told the court: “Emma Kirk made it clear she did not want a relationship. She described it as him having an unhealthy obsession with her. He could not take her ‘no’ to him as an answer so he decided that if she did not want to be with him, she wouldn’t be with anyone else.”

Jones later told police it was Miss Kirk who had brought the knife to the scene, and he had taken it from her during a struggle in which they both ended up on the floor.

The defendant, of Ivy Avenue, Southdown, Bath, was found not guilty of attempted murder and having an article with a blade or point in a public place. He previously admitted grievous bodily harm with intent – meaning he had intended to cause Miss Kirk serious harm but had not intended to kill her.

Passing sentence, Judge Julian Lambert said Jones was “dangerous” and passed an extended sentence comprising of a 12-year custodial term, with an extended licence period of four years – describing it as an “extreme case”. Jones was also made subject of an indefinite restraining order not to contact Miss Kirk.

Kejuan Malone

Kejuan Malone killed a “kind and selfless” father by punching him multiple times outside a club. The 33-year-old has been jailed for more than five years for manslaughter.

Malone hit Kevin Taylor, 51, five times outside Decode Lounge in Lichfield Street in Walsall shortly before 5am on December 7 last year, with the final blow causing him to fall back and hit his head on the pavement.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Malone, of Osprey Close in Hall Green, Birmingham, made no attempt to help Mr Taylor as he lay unconscious and instead left the scene in a car with his friends.

CCTV footage from outside the club showed Mr Taylor had been moving from group to group talking to people and “trying to be sociable” before he approached Malone and his friends, who he did not know. While the interaction was initially cordial, Mr Taylor appeared to lightly push Malone, who “took exception” and hit the victim twice in the face.

After getting his phone out to start filming, someone else knocked the device to the ground and as he bent over to pick it up, Malone punched him again twice in the head and neck. The final punch was more “forceful”, the court heard, and led to Mr Taylor stumbling backwards and hitting his head on the pavement.

The court was told no-one initially came to help Mr Taylor as he lay unconscious, with some bystanders taking pictures and videos of him while on the ground. A member of the public did then try to administer first aid and paramedics were called but they could not revive him and he was pronounced dead at 5.20am.

Jailing him for five years and four months, Judge Michael Chambers KC accepted Malone felt genuine remorse for his actions and had pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the earliest opportunity, but said it would have been obvious to him at the time that Mr Taylor was vulnerable and intoxicated.

He said: "As a result of your unlawful violence in a public place, you caused the untimely death of Mr Taylor. He was clearly a decent, hard-working family man. He was obviously much loved. He was clearly and obviously vulnerable because he had had a lot to drink, as he was perfectly entitled to do."

Abdirahman and Abdullahi Ibrahim

A car driver who hunted down and deliberately rammed an e-bike rider, leaving him to die at the roadside, has been jailed alongside his brother.

Abdirahman Ibrahim, 21, “weaponised” his Seat Leon after seeing friends Liam Jones and Tayzhon Johnson “showboating” on electric off-road bikes in August 2023, Birmingham Crown Court was told.

Judge Andrew Smith KC said Mr Jones, who was described in court as the fun and bubbly “spark” of his family, had done nothing to prompt Ibrahim to chase him. The 22-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene after being knocked off his e-bike into a concrete post in Moat Lane, having been rammed twice by the Seat.

The judge said the two men had realised they were being followed and went down a one-way street in a bid to get away from the car, but Ibrahim drove at speed along another nearby road to catch them.

Ibrahim, of Bonham Grove, Yardley, was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 22 years.

Ibrahim’s brother, Abdullahi Ibrahim, also of Bonham Grove, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender and was jailed for two years and 10 months. The court the 22-year-old, who was a rear seat passenger in the Seat, was involved in efforts to hide the vehicle in the hours after the murder.

Benjamin Clarke

An “obsessed” constituent made repeated threats to kill his MP and harm his wife.

Benjamin Clarke was branded “dangerous” by a judge after he said he wanted to “firebomb” Bishop Auckland Labour MP Sam Rushworth, among other serious threats. Teesside Crown Court heard Clarke continues to harbour violent thoughts about the politician.

The 32-year-old was jailed for 18 months and ordered to serve an extra 18 months of supervision once released.

Clarke, of Durham Street, Bishop Auckland, contacted his MP in August on social media, saying: “I cannot wait until your next public appearance, you will be lucky to leave it in one piece.” Mr Rushworth contacted police and blocked his constituent on social media.

Clarke told a mental health practitioner the following month that, if he could find Mr Rushworth, he would “smash his head off the pavement until he dies” and that he would firebomb his house or office, and “lock the doors so I could hear him screaming”. Asked if Clarke meant what he said, he told the health worker: “I’m going to do it, it’s just a matter of time.”

Clarke, who was charged with a malicious communication offence and making a threat to kill, admitted the charges in December, and was granted bail.

In February, he contacted the emergency services saying he was suicidal and told a paramedic the MP had ruined his life, that he wanted to burn down his house, and if Mr Rushworth’s wife was there he would harm her too, but not the couple’s children. The paramedic was so concerned that he contacted his management and the police were called.

Sue Hurst, prosecuting, told the court that Clarke clarified to officers: “I didn’t say I was going to kill him, I said I wanted to kill him.”

Clarke admitted two counts of making threats to kill – once when he was on bail – and a malicious communications offence. The judge also imposed a restraining order preventing Clarke from contacting Mr Rushworth or his wife and children, from commenting about them on social media, or from attending his home address or places where he works.

Orlin Roussev, Biser Dzhambazov, Ivan Stoyanov, Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev

Six Bulgarians have been convicted of spying for Russia on an industrial scale.

Ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, who led the spy ring from a rundown guesthouse on the east coast of England, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in jail. He had admitted his role along with his second-in-command, Biser Dzhambazov, 44, who was jailed for 10 years and two months and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, who was handed five years and three weeks in prison.

Female “honeytrap” agents Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, and competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March of activities which police have said put lives and national security at risk.

Mr Justice Hilliard jailed Ivanova, of Harrow, north-west London, for nine years and eight months, saying she had “thrown in” her lot with her partner Dzhambazov and become an “enthusiastic” participant.

Gaberova, of Euston, north London, was jailed for six years, eight months and three weeks, having found spying for Russia to be “exciting and glamorous”, the judge said. Her ex-boyfriend Ivanchev, of Acton, west London, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The spy ring, which operated over at least three years, is believed to have been one of the “largest and most complex” enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil. The network engaged in a series of surveillance and intelligence operations targeting people and places of interest to the Russian state.

The defendants’ spy activities ranged between the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro. They discussed deploying “lashes queen” Gaberova as a honeytrap to snare a high-profile journalist, dropping 100 litres of pigs’ blood on the Kazakhstan embassy in London by drone, and kidnapping a man in the UK.

In mitigation for “naive” beautician Gaberova, Anthony Metzer KC said her case was “tragic” as she would never have got involved but for her infatuation with Dzhambazov, who had falsely claimed to have cancer and be working for Interpol while retaining his relationship with partner Ivanova.

He told the court: “We say she was controlled, coerced into this conspiracy by Mr Dzhambazov. She fell in love with him and continued on her evidence to have feelings for him, not only on the date of her arrest but continued to have feelings for him even as she gave evidence, even though she was shocked, appalled and manipulated by him.”

In a televised sentencing, Mr Justice Hilliard commended officers for their “extremely thorough and determined investigative work”. He noted the defendants were “motivated by money” and lived “very comfortably” on the substantial sums they were paid. Using the UK as a base to plan spy operations against the safety and interests of the nation was a “very serious offence”, Mr Justice Hilliard added.

Reece Galbraith

A drug dealer was put behind bars for manslaughter after causing an explosion while making cannabis gummy sweets.

Reece Galbraith and his friend Jason “Jay” Laws were using a Newcastle flat as a drugs lab when the blast ripped through the building in the early hours of October 16 last year. The explosion killed Laws and seven-year-old Archie York, who was asleep in the flat above.

Galbraith, of Rectory Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, admitted two counts of manslaughter as well as possessing and supplying cannabis and was jailed for 14 years at Newcastle Crown Court.

Archie’s mother, Katherine Errington, shouted “you killed my son” at Galbraith as she read her victim impact statement in court. She sobbed as she told the defendant: “You brought gas canisters into a building where families lived. You ran a drugs operation under the floor where my children slept. You took risks for profit and didn’t care who got hurt. You killed my son.”

The blast in Violet Close, Benwell, wrecked the street and made families homeless. The court heard it destroyed six out of the 12 flats in the block and was followed by a “fierce fire” that caused so much damage the whole block has since been demolished.

Police investigating the explosion discovered that the flat operated by Galbraith and Laws was used as a “drugs lab” to produce cannabis concentrates, known as “shatter” or “butane honey oil”, in a highly dangerous process. The product was then turned into cannabis edibles, also known as “gummies”.

READ MORE: Man who killed boy, 7, in explosion while making cannabis gummies jailed

Archie was asleep on the sofa with his father when the blast ripped through the home he shared with his parents and baby brother Finley. Ms Errington was pulled out of the rubble by Archie's father Robbie York, who also found seven-week-old Finley, covered in dust but “astonishingly unharmed”, in the wreckage. But Mr York could not find Archie and they were told later that he had died.

At the time of the explosion, Galbraith was already being investigated for being concerned in the supply of cannabis, after police stopped his car in April and found cannabis bush, a set of scales and cannabis sweets. Officers later found 250 cannabis sweets, moulds and 300g of a sweet mixture when they searched his house and he was released pending further investigation.

Jailing Galbraith, the judge, Mr Justice Cotter, said: “Archie York was just a seven-year-old with a wonderful and exciting life ahead of him. His parents have so movingly explained, their world was shattered on October 16 when their flat was blown apart and they woke up buried under the rubble, dazed, bleeding and terrified to realise their precious son had been lost.”

Mya and Isaiah Marsh

A brother and sister murdered a drug dealer in a daylight knife attack that was caught on CCTV after a row about a £200 cannabis debt.

Bank worker Mya Marsh, 23, and 21-year-old Isaiah Marsh were each ordered to serve a term of 20 years by a judge at Birmingham Crown Court.

A jury found the siblings guilty of murdering 21-year-old Minister Enfrence, who died of at least 12 serious knife wounds after Mya called her brother to the scene.

A three-week trial was told Mr Enfrence did not appear to behave in a threatening way during his initial dealings with Mya, who was trying to buy drugs in the Medway Grove area of Kings Norton, Birmingham.

The court heard Mya had been given the morning off work at the time of the killing, having informed her employer of mental health problems.

Passing sentence on the pair, Judge Simon Drew KC said the attack at about 10am on November 5 last year had been ferocious and happened after Mya took a kitchen knife to the scene.

The jury, which unanimously convicted the siblings, was shown CCTV footage of Mya passing a knife to Isaiah during the stabbing. After the killing, the court heard, Mya went to her workplace “as if nothing had happened” and slept at a different address in the evening, while Isaiah told police he had lost his phone when he handed himself in.

The judge said the CCTV footage of the killing was “truly sickening” to watch and said Mr Enfrence had suffered a “traumatic and painful death” – with his life “ended in a terrifying and violent way”.

The judge told both defendants: "This was an attack by two people on one. That attack was unprovoked. Members of the public, including a child in a pushchair, passed very close by while the attack was taking place."

The defendants, both of Teviot Grove, Kings Norton, had denied murder and alternative charges of manslaughter.

Andrew Campbell

A former police officer who had extreme far right views stashed a “treasure trove” of weapons inside his home.

A court heard that Andrew Campbell, 42, amassed a collection of potentially deadly modified firearms, as well as crossbows, knives, batons and knuckle dusters.

The former cop, who was dismissed from Nottinghamshire Police in April 2017 for gross misconduct, was jailed for five years and 10 months for possession of an air rifle and a sound moderator without a certificate and two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon, in relation to CO2 powered revolvers, at Nottingham Crown Court.

Campbell’s home in Nottingham Road, Toton, and a storage unit connected to him were searched in January, and a “treasure trove” of weapons were discovered, prosecutor Anwar Nashashibi told the court.

These included 11 air rifles, one of which was found in his storage unit, and CO2 powered and imitation firearms, some of which had been modified to increase their power. Mr Nashashibi said the search also turned up a baton in the living room, whips and other contact weapons in the dining room and a metal cosh on the stairs, as well as a box of batons and sticks and a box of catapults in his bedroom.

After his arrest, Campbell told police he used the air rifles to shoot rats and as target practice in his garden and that he never took them out of the property. But Mr Nashashibi said messages Campbell had sent to others indicated threats to use them against intruders, and also suggested he had “extreme” far right views, including references to using the weapons, which he had heavily modified, on Muslims and pro-Palestine supporters.

Two other counts on the indictment faced by Campbell, of collection of information contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000, were ordered to lie on file.

Craig Nunn

A drug-driver went through a red light and crashed into another car, killing a four-week-old baby.

Craig Nunn, 40, was jailed for 14 years at Worcester Crown Court for causing the death by dangerous driving of Harley Wilkinson and seriously injuring his father Jake Wilkinson in a crash in Worcestershire just after midnight on October 26 last year.

The court was told Nunn had taken amphetamines and was nearly two times the drug-drive limit in his Ford Focus when he smashed into a black Suzuki Vitara being driven by Harley’s mother Imogen Bradley, who was driving home with her partner after picking their son up from her sister’s home.

Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard said Mr Wilkinson, having been “frustrated” trying to get Harley into his car seat, had him on his lap in the back seat for what should have been a short trip home.

Nunn, who was driving in the direction of Kidderminster, crashed into the rear offside of Ms Bradley’s car so hard having careered through a red light that her vehicle spun nearly 540 degrees and Harley was ejected out of the window and into the road. Ms Orchard told the court it was Nunn who alerted Ms Bradley to Harley’s whereabouts, telling her: “Your baby is over there.”

Despite attempts to save his life, Harley suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and died at the scene while Mr Wilkinson suffered a cervical spine fracture, a severed artery and a blood clot in his neck. Pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer said it was not possible to say whether Harley would have survived the collision if he had been strapped into his car seat.

Nunn initially tried to claim his brakes had failed but no faults were found with his vehicle and the court was told he would have had approximately 11.4 seconds between his traffic light changing from green to red until the collision occurred.

Data from his vehicle found he was travelling at around 90mph on a 70mph dual carriageway before the speed limit changed to 40mph ahead of the junction and the speed at the point of impact was greater than 36mph, experts said. A driver who had stopped at the red light estimated Nunn was going between 40mph and 50mph through the junction.

Nunn, of Sandy Lane in Stourport, was jailed for 14 years for causing death by dangerous driving, as well as concurrent sentences of three years for causing serious injury to Mr Wilkinson, two months for possessing the weapons and three months for driving with a specified drug above the specified limit.

Shakeil Thibou

Shakeil Thibou stabbed a woman to death in front of her three-year-old daughter during Notting Hill Carnival’s family day. The killer was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years behind bars.

Thibou, 20, stabbed Cher Maximen, 32, in the groin as her young daughter was close by on August 25 last year. Judge Philip Katz KC said Thibou’s “brazen” attack had been carried out in broad daylight in front of families and the police.

Moments before he stabbed Ms Maximen, Thibou had carried out an “equally horrifying attack” on a man who was backing away from him, his Old Bailey trial heard.

Thibou was found guilty of murder and also convicted of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to 20-year-old Adjei Isaac with intent, and having an offensive weapon.

His brother Sheldon Thibou, 25, was found guilty of violent disorder and assaulting Pc Oliver Mort, who tried to intervene. A third brother, Shaeim Thibou, 22, was cleared of violent disorder but convicted of assaulting Pc Mort.

READ MORE: Man who killed woman in front of daughter at Notting Hill Carnival jailed

Judge Katz said it was “not possible to overstate the impact” of Ms Maximen’s death on her family and friends. "Cher Maximen took her three-year-old daughter to a children’s day at the Notting Hill Carnival," he said. "Instead of them both just enjoying a fun day together, that child witnessed her mother being murdered in front of her."

Shaeim Thibou was handed a six-month jail term suspended for 18 months, while Sheldon Thibou will be sentenced at a later date.

Kerri Pegg

A prison governor was jailed for nine years after having a relationship with a Liverpool drug gang boss, who was known to his criminal associates as 'Jesse Pinkman', the name of the drug dealer in Breaking Bad.

Kerri Pegg, 42, swapped her Honda Jazz for a £12,000 Mercedes C class car, paid for by 34 kilos of amphetamines by Anthony Saunderson, a major organised crime boss.

Divorcee Pegg, described in court as “petite, blonde and bubbly”, signed off on temporary release for Saunderson while she was a governor at HMP Kirkham, Lancashire. When anti-corruption police raided Pegg’s apartment they found expensive jewellery and designer clothes, along with size 10 Hugo Boss slip-ons and a toothbrush with Saunderson’s DNA.

Pegg was seen as a “rising star” in the Prison Service, climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to prison governor in six years.

During her trial at Preston Crown Court, it emerged that Saunderson had developed and delivered a programme titled BADD (Beating Alcohol and Drug Dependency) for inmates at several jails while at the time being a major drug dealer, running an amphetamines factory. Pegg claimed her contact with Saunderson was due to his involvement in the BADD programme.

Pegg was convicted of two counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of possession of criminal property following a three-week trial.

READ MORE: Downfall of corrupt former prison governor complete as she is jailed herself

READ MORE: The rise and fall of the glam prison boss who loved Jimmy Choo shoes, Chanel necklaces and gangsters

The court heard there had concerns about Pegg being inappropriately close to Saunderson since she started at the prison in 2018, with the two often being in her office with the door closed. Saunderson, who was reaching the end of his 10-year sentence for drugs offences, had been one of Merseyside’s most wanted fugitives for his part in importing £19 million of cocaine in shipments of corned beef from Argentina.

The court heard Saunderson put in a release on temporary licence (ROTL) request which Pegg signed off, though she did not have the authority to do so. He was released from Kirkham in May 2019 and within two months, while still on licence, was involved in another massive drug conspiracy.

He was jailed for 35 years at Liverpool Crown Court in August 2022 after law enforcement agencies cracked the Encrochat system – the phone network used by serious organised criminals - which revealed Saunderson’s drug dealing as well as his relationship with Pegg.

Ahmed Ebid

A UK-based people smuggler helped “ruthlessly and cynically” exploit migrants as part of a £12 million illegal boat crossing operation.

Egyptian-born Ahmed Ebid, 42, helped organise the movement of nearly 3,800 migrants – including women and children – on just seven fishing boat crossings from North Africa to Italy between October 2022 and June 2023 and some of them made their way to Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Ebid even told an associate to kill and throw into the sea any migrants caught with phones, in a bid to avoid law enforcement, the NCA said – all while he was living in Isleworth, south-west London. He was living on benefits in a taxpayer-funded home, having arrived in the country as an asylum seeker in 2022, according to reports, despite a previous drug-smuggling conviction in Italy.

The defendant, who is believed to be the first person convicted of organising boat crossings across the Mediterranean from the UK, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to 25 years, having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Judge Adam Hiddleston said Ebid had a “significant managerial role within an organised crime group” and that his “primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking”. The judge told Ebid the “conspiracy that you were a part of generated millions of pounds” and that he must have been a “beneficiary” of “a significant amount”.

Ebid helped with at least seven separate crossings which carried 3,781 people into Italian waters. Each migrant had been charged an average of around £3,200, netting those involved £12.3 million, the NCA said.

The judge told Ebid: "The treatment of the migrants on your orders and in your name was horrifying. They were simply a commodity to you. You talked of them in terms of units, not as people, referring to them as ‘cartons’."

Jacque Beer, of the NCA, said: "Ebid was part of a crime network who preyed upon the desperation of migrants to ship them across the Mediterranean in death-trap boats. The cruel nature of his business was demonstrated by the callous way he spoke of throwing migrants into the sea if they didn’t follow his rules. To him they were just a source of profit."

Jake Balmforth

A football fan killed a supporter of a rival team with one punch.

Jake Balmforth, 35, hit Tony Johnson, 55, as football fans clashed outside a pub on Blackpool Promenade on the evening of March 4 last year after Blackpool played Burnley. Mr Johnson, 55, from Blackpool, suffered a serious head injury and died in hospital two days later without regaining consciousness.

Balmforth had travelled to the Lancashire resort to watch Burnley and was in the Manchester pub which was a designated pub for Burnley supporters, while Mr Johnson was among a group of Blackpool fans who gathered outside the pub.

During the trouble that followed, Balmforth punched Mr Johnson once in the face, and the incident was caught on CCTV.

READ MORE: Football fan jailed for one-punch killing of rival supporter in Blackpool pub

Balmforth, of Tarvin Close, Burnley, was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury at Preston Crown Court after a six-day trial. Judge Robert Altham, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, jailed him for five years at the same court and he was also given a nine-year order banning him from football grounds.

Eight other men who pleaded guilty to affray will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court on August 4.

Daniel Tatters and Dale Francis

Two men launched a “pure evil” arson attack on a family home, killing a 26-year-old man and leaving his mother with life-changing injuries.

Daniel Tatters and Dale Francis were both jailed for life and handed respective minimum terms of 34 and 36 years for the murder of Akashdeep Singh and three counts of attempted murder.

A three-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Tatters was filmed by a security camera as he smashed and removed a bay window at the home of Mr Singh, before using petrol and a lighter to engulf the living room in flames.

Tatters, 26, and Francis, 37, were told by Mr Justice Wall that their “appalling criminality” had ended the life of Mr Singh and had a “catastrophic” effect on his family.

The judge told the men: “The family are now all traumatised by the death of Akashdeep Singh. I am sure you intended to kill anyone who found themselves in the house at the time of the fire.”

Mr Singh died in hospital hours after the fire after being trapped upstairs at his home in Plascom Road, East Park, Wolverhampton. As well as killing Mr Singh, the judge said the two defendants had caused injuries to his mother which saw her spend almost three months in intensive care and forced the amputation of part of her leg. The court heard she had to be given CPR for 35 minutes at the scene before she could be taken away to hospital.

Tatters, of no fixed address, was caught on CCTV setting the fire while Francis, of Clare Street, Basford, Stoke-on-Trent, acted as a driver and look-out at the scene. Both were unanimously convicted of murder, arson with intent to endanger life and attempted murder after jurors deliberated for more than nine hours.

The judge said he could not say whether or not the men had “identified the wrong house” and had instead intended to kill other victims.

Mr Singh's family said they could think of no reason why anyone would wish to harm them and regarded what had happened as “pure evil” which had taken the life of a “happy, loving and innocent” soul.

David Parish

A patient detained under the Mental Health Act killed an elderly lady after he was able to leave his secure psychiatric unit when the front door was left unlocked.

David Parish, 38, randomly attacked Beryl Purdy with a large golf umbrella he had taken from her porch and inflicted fatal head injuries. Before the attack, Parish had locked Mrs Purdy’s husband, Peter, in the kitchen of their home in Broomfield, near Bridgwater, Somerset.

Parish was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia caused by smoking cannabis and had been detained temporarily under the Mental Health Act at the Rydon Ward in Taunton. Bristol Crown Court heard he had been able to leave the unit on March 27 2023 after the front door had been left unlocked.

Anna Vigars KC, prosecuting, said after leaving the unit, Parish had travelled to the vicinity of Mrs Purdy’s home. Her body was discovered after her husband had alerted a neighbour because he had been trapped in the kitchen by Parish. It was another neighbour who found her body behind the freezer.

The court heard that Parish believed he was receiving messages from birds and that he was under threat from people outside his home. The day before the attack, he was assessed under the Mental Health Act and detained at the Rydon Ward.

Parish fled the ward after leaving to use the toilet while his parents were visiting him. They later raised the alarm when he did not return, the court heard. An investigation is underway into the circumstances of how Parish was able to leave the unit, the court was told.

Parish, of Halyard Drive, Bridgwater, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. He was jailed for six years and told he would serve at least two-thirds of the sentence in custody before he could apply for parole.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saini told him: "The psychiatric experts agreed that at the time you killed Mrs Purdy, you were in an episode of schizophrenic psychosis that reduces what would be murder to manslaughter. Your psychosis was, however, precipitated by the use of cannabis."

Christine Kekkonen

Christine Kekkonen text her mum telling her 'I've done something awful' after fatally stabbing her husband in the neck. The 37-year-old knifed Henri Kekkonen, 41, at their home in Baltonsborough, Somerset in May last year.

Bristol Crown Court heard the defendant texted her mother immediately after the incident, pleading with her to call the police. The court heard the defendant sent a text message to her mum saying: “Mum, please get the police here now. Please. I’ve done something awful.”

When emergency services arrived at the bungalow they found heavy blood staining on the couple’s bed. Police subsequently recovered a knife from the floor on the left-hand side of the bed.

Nicholas Corsellis KC, prosecuting, said Mr Kekkonen had suffered a single stab wound to the left side of his neck.

READ MORE: 'Mum, I've done something awful'

The court heard that the couple had married in 2011 and had lived together for 15 years. The prosecution said the defendant had a history of mental health issues and her husband was her primary carer.

Kekkonen claimed she did not mean to kill Mr Kekkonen but she was found guilty by a jury last year. Judge Julian Lambert jailed her for life with a minimum term of 15 years in jail.

Rawal Rehman

A van driver took “at least 20 lines of cocaine” in the hours before he hit a tram and then ran down a three-year-old girl in Manchester city centre.

Rawal Rehman, 36, of Lambton Road, hit Louisa Palmisano, known as Lulu, with his Mercedes Sprinter van while she was walking with her parents on a family visit to the city on February 22.

Rehman left the scene of the crash in Mosley Street at about 10am before he was later arrested. The toddler died in hospital from her injuries.

Rehman pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and Judge Alan Conrad KC sentenced Rehman to 12 years in jail at Manchester Crown Court.

The van driver had visited two massage parlours in the city in the early hours of February 22 and had taken “at least 20 lines of cocaine” in seven hours, the court heard.

READ MORE: Coward who killed girl, 3, in horror city centre incident after ten-hour binge jailed for 12 years

READ MORE: ‘The three of us were standing together holding hands, in the blink of an eye everything changed’

CCTV of the incident was played to the court, showing the family walking along the pavement, with Lulu between her parents, holding their hands. When Rehman failed to stop at a junction, the side of his van was hit by an oncoming tram, forcing his vehicle on to the pavement and into the family.

Rehman, who had his hood up, got out of the van and walked around the vehicle before retrieving his phone and leaving the scene.

Passing sentence, the judge said: "Lulu, in her short life, brought enormous joy to those who knew and loved her. The manner of her death has caused continuing lasting heartbreak for her family. No sentence that I can impose will equate to the loss of a young life."

Rehman had a number of previous convictions, including being jailed in 2017 for three years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after he torched a car involved in a fatal hit-and-run collision which killed a 25-year-old man in Chorlton.

Stephen Hurst and Liam Ramsey

Two care workers drugged and sexually abused a vulnerable child they were supposed to be looking after.

Liam Ramsey, 40, and Stephen Hurst, 46, took the 15-year-old into Durham city centre and plied her with wine and cocktails, then bought £120 worth of class A drugs which they gave her back at the care home.

The victim later told police that because of all the cocaine they had given her last October, she had a nosebleed and went upstairs. The men both entered her room naked and subjected her to physical and sexual abuse throughout the night and into the next morning.

The men were on duty at the time of the offences, being her carers for the day, Durham Police said.

The victim told police about her ordeal and the carers were arrested and charged with a range of offences, including sexual activity with a child, intentional strangulation and supply of a class A drug.

Following a trial, Ramsey, of Sunderland, was jailed for 11 years whilst Hurst, from Richmond, was jailed for nine years. Both will be on the sex offenders’ register for life after they were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court, the force said.

Detective Constable Beth Otty said: "Ramsey and Hurst should have been keeping the victim safe, instead they were the ones who groomed her, sexually assaulted and abused her. She should have been able to trust them and should have felt safe in their company."

Ashirie Smith and Thierry Robinson

Two prisoners killed a fellow inmate who was kicked and stamped on after asking to move cells the day before he was attacked.

Mahir Abdulrahman, also known as Mahir Mohamed, was found unresponsive in his cell at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire at 7.53am on August 20 last year, around half an hour after Ashirie Smith, 19, and Thierry Robinson, 21, were caught on CCTV entering his room.

The 31-year-old Sudanese national suffered multiple abrasions and bruises to his head and neck consistent with a sustained attack, as well as fractures to his ribs, and was pronounced dead at 8.44am despite attempts by prison officers and paramedics to save him, Leicester Crown Court heard.

CCTV released by the force shows the moment Robinson and Smith entered Mr Abdulrahman’s cell at around 7.26am before leaving around 37 seconds later. Smith then re-entered the cell and left again shortly after. Another inmate told a prison officer she should check on Mr Abdulrahman, and he was found slumped in the cell and was later pronounced dead.

The trial was told Mr Abdulrahman had been stamped on and kicked to the head and neck, causing a fatal bleed at the base of his brain, and that he had previously had tuberculosis which had weakened the bones in his neck. Prosecution counsel Michael Burrows KC told the trial that Mr Abdulrahman, who was serving a 35-week sentence for a sexual offence, had asked to be moved from his cell the day before he died because he did not feel safe.

The trial was told Karim had phoned his mother from prison and said other inmates had been “terrorising him for days” and “bullying” him. There was also an alleged incident involving Smith and Robinson the day before Mr Abdulrahman was killed in which he had thrown water from a kettle on them.

The jury found Smith guilty of murder and Robinson not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Smith was jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 and a half years and Robinson was sentenced to 11 years. A third defendant, Shaan Karim, 38, was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter, Leicestershire Police said.