Preston Davey and Henry Nowak killers among UK criminals jailed in June

Jamie Varley and Vickrum Digwa were among the notorious killers jailed in the UK last month.

Varley inflicted a fatal sexual assault on the 13-month-old boy he had adopted and will now spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder. Digwa stabbed Henry Nowak before telling callous lies about him, which resulted in police at the scene cuffing the victim as he lay on the ground dying.

Other offenders put behind bars in June included a stepmother who killed a five-year-old child by forcing her into a scalding hot bath and a mum who her one-year-old son with a lethal cocktail of prescription medications and milk.

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A Met Police officer with a ‘need to control women’ was jailed for a series of rapes, while the former chief executive of the Scottish National Party (SNP) was locked up for embezzling more than £400,000.

Others jailed in the last month include a magistrate who was part of a major crime ring, two men who were spying for China, and a Brit who groomed a vulnerable American man to shoot himself on a video call.

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.

Vickrum Digwa

The man who murdered Henry Nowak was jailed for a minimum of 21 years in June. The 18-year-old student died after being handcuffed by police while suffering from a fatal stab wound inflicted by Vickrum Digwa.

After the 23-year-old Sikh man was handed a life term, Mr Nowak’s family hit out at the “shocking” treatment of their son by police and called for urgent action to address a “national emergency” of knife crime. Digwa stabbed Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade, which he carried as part of his religion.

He was found guilty at Southampton Crown Court of the murder of the finance student from Chafford Hundred, Essex, in Belmont Road, Southampton, on December 3 2025, and of carrying a knife in public. Digwa was filmed by his victim telling him “I am a bad man” moments before the knife attack, which included two stab wounds to the back of Mr Nowak’s legs and a fatal wound to his heart.

Judge William Mousley KC said Digwa had a small knife hidden from view called a kirpan, which is a strict requirement for Sikhs to have at all times. But he also possessed the bigger murder weapon, which the judge also described as a kirpan.

He said: “You are a member of an order of Sikhs called the Nihang who have a tradition of having a second knife, or kirpan, and that is often fully visible, believing that the guru will look favourably on that. You observed that tradition in your everyday life, at work and in public. However, it was not a strict requirement; that is borne out by the fact that neither your brother nor father, who arrived on the scene after you had stabbed Henry, were so dressed.”

The judge told the defendant, who showed no emotion: “In addition to killing Henry, and the irreparable harm to those close to him, you have also caused real suffering to others who knew him. You have brought shame upon your family, your community and your religion. Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country which have made many Sikhs worried about their own safety even though they have done absolutely nothing wrong.”

Giving evidence, Digwa told the court that Mr Nowak, who he described as drunk, had racially abused him, before punching him and knocking his turban off. He said that he had stabbed Mr Nowak to the back of his legs in self-defence after Mr Nowak had threatened him and grabbed him by the hair, but said he had not realised at the time he had caused the fatal stab wound to his chest.

But the prosecution said that Digwa had told a “wicked lie” to police who attended the scene, by telling them that he had been the victim of a racist attack. He also “lied” by telling officers that he had not stabbed Mr Nowak, despite the student’s pleas for help as he told the police that he was injured. This led the officers to arrest Mr Nowak, and put him in handcuffs, moments before he collapsed and became unconscious, dying despite their efforts to give him first aid.

Helen Spree

A corrupt prison watchdog boss smuggled cannabis to a killer serving a life sentence. Helen Spree, 63, struck up an inappropriate relationship with Dylan Westall, 35, as she engaged in explicit phone chat and exchanged sexual images and videos.

The ex-businesswoman, who enjoyed a “successful career” as a sales director for a global firm, started voluntary work in 2017 as a member of an Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) which scrutinises conditions for prisoners and monitors how they are treated. She was later appointed chairwoman of HMP Liverpool’s IMB in January 2021.

A search of her home address following her arrest in August 2021 revealed she had two custom-made pillows with Westall’s face embossed on them, which also sported a gun, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Westall was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years in 2019 for the manslaughter of James Meadows, 17, who was shot in the head while on a motorbike in Huyton, Merseyside.

During the search of Spree’s home, it was also noted by officers she had a tattoo on her chest of a bumblebee holding a love heart, with the word “Masterpiece” underneath. Spree explained it was a nickname her friend called her but the tattoo later matched images and descriptions found in messages exchanged between her and Westall. A thank you card from Westall was also discovered which read: “You Master Piece. Hugs and Kisses, Dylan xxxxx.”

Mother-of-two Spree also sexted two other inmates at HMP Liverpool over a 20-month period which led to her bringing in the Class B drug, along with mobile phones, Sim cards and phone chargers. Details of the requests from Westall, Thomas Porterfield, 44, and a third inmate, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were found in messages on her phone.

Spree, of Hale Bank Avenue, Huyton, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to misconduct in a public office, conspiracy to supply cannabis and conspiracy to convey prohibited items into prison. She was jailed for five years and three months.

Helen Tillcock

A woman who was in a “brewing conflict” with her neighbour over noise before she stabbed her 11 times with a large kitchen knife was locked up for six-and-a-half years. Helen Tillcock, 43, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court for the “frenzied” attack on Sarah Hodges, who was knifed repeatedly to the face, head and chest on July 20 last year.

The pair had been friendly and shared Christmas dinner together as neighbours at their ground floor flats in Gillingham, Kent, before relations “soured over the years”, the court heard. Tillcock, of Barnsole Road, Gillingham, had been cleared of attempted murder during a trial at the same court in January, but was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

On the night of the attack, Tillcock, was drunk, “antagonising” and “deliberately and loudly” slammed the front door which could be heard by Ms Hodges, who responded by shouting at her. Ms Hodges went to her back garden, which was separated from Tillcock’s flat by a fence. Tillcock met her outside having left her home with a knife in her hand.

The defendant had told the jury she had the knife because she was planning to make a snack of some crackers and cheese, but then said she was unaware she had the knife in her hand as she left the back door. Judge Catherine Moore said it was “not credible”. She told the defendant: “You were well aware you had the knife as you went to the door.”

The judge also said the jury clearly rejected her claim of self-defence, adding: “I accept you sustained injuries, I find you were the aggressor and injuries you sustained were where Sarah Hodges responded.” Tillcock had complained about noise to others including her landlord and Judge Moore said it was clear in the lead up to the night of the attack she was “increasingly frustrated” with Ms Hodges.

Prosecutor Rio Pahlavanpour told the court Ms Hodges was not completely clear what happened after going outside but she recalls being struck and blood down her face. She slumped down in her bathroom and called an ambulance, he said.

Tillcock was hiding in a boiler cupboard in a neighbouring flat when officers eventually located her and arrested her, the court heard. Arrest footage shows Tillcock in a cupboard with a police officer saying: “Mate come out, come out, come out.”

Zulkernain and ArmaanAhmed

A driver who mowed down and killed a “purely innocent boy” as he walked along a pavement will serve at least 30 years in prison before he is considered for release.

A judge said 16-year-old Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Taleb was “tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time” when Zulkernain Ahmed, 21, hit him, throwing him into the air, as he drove down the wrong side of a busy Sheffield street to target a group of e-bike and moped riders.

Last month, Mrs Justice Tipples jailed Ahmed for life on the anniversary of Abdullah’s death on June 4 2024, fixing a minimum term of 30 years.

Jurors in Ahmed’s trial were shown what a judge called “chilling” video footage of how Ahmed’s Audi S3 drove at the balaclava-clad riders, knocking one over a hedge. It then showed how the vehicle ploughed into the teenager, also known as Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al-Yazidi, who was seen throwing and catching a water bottle as he walked along the pavement moments before the collision.

Ahmed, of Locke Drive, Darnall, was found guilty of murder earlier this year. He was also found guilty of causing e-bike rider La’rome Divers grievous bodily harm with intent and attempting to cause the other two riders – who have never been identified – grievous bodily harm with intent.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Ahmed was out looking for Mr Divers following a dispute over e-bikes, and he had taken a baseball bat with him.

Ahmed’s brother – father-of-one Armaan Ahmed, 27, who was a back seat passenger in the Audi – was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter. He was also found guilty of causing Mr Divers grievous bodily harm. He was jailed for 17 years.

Anwar Ashraf

A 39-year-old man stabbed his ex-partner 17 times in a “ferocious” knife attack at the office building where she worked after becoming “obsessed” that she was cheating on him. Anwar Ashraf was convicted after a trial at Winchester Crown Court following the attack on Carla Skeites using a kitchen knife which happened at the premises 3600 Parkway in Whiteley, Hampshire, at about 9am on April 30 2025.

He had previously pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a knife but he had denied that he wanted to kill her. The court heard that the defendant, of Southsea, had told police after the attack: “What would you do if your partner cheated on you? How would you react?”

Judge Paul Dugdale jailed Ashraf for 26 years, imposing an extended sentence with a five-year period on licence once released from custody. He also issued a restraining order for life.

He told him: “You carried out what can only be described as an horrific, ferocious attack on her and it is the level of ferocity that causes this court real concern.” He added: “It’s a miracle that she survived, it’s not clear if she will ever be near to how she was before and it’s not clear if the pain she suffers every day will go away.”

Addressing Ashraf, who the court heard had a drinking problem and was suffering from a mental health crisis, he added: “It’s all very well talking about alcohol addiction and addictions but we have to take responsibility for our actions. You knew the effects it could have on you and the effects have been devastating.”

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Skeites said she still suffered flashbacks and nightmares and was undergoing counselling for anxiety. She described being in hospital for 10 days following the attack and not knowing if she would survive the emergency surgery.

Emma Barnett

A mother poisoned her one-year-old son with a lethal cocktail of prescription medications added to milk in a baby bottle. Emma Barnett will spend a minimum of 22 years behind bars for murdering her son Oakley.

The 36-year-old, of Debden, Essex, killed the toddler before he could be taken into care after a family court hearing ordered that he be removed from her. Barnett had denied murder but was found guilty following an earlier trial.

The judge, Mr Justice Derek Sweeting, told Cambridge Crown Court that Barnett had arranged to join a family court hearing remotely on November 8 2024. He said that before the hearing started she drove her car to Epping Forest and then collected medications that had been prescribed to her on the way home.

Barnett laid a false trail, creating the impression she had gone to a friend’s house and later to Epping Forest, when in fact she was hiding in the loft at her address with her son. She added the antihistamine promethazine, which can induce sedation, and the antidepressant mirtazapine to juice and milk in Oakley’s baby bottles.

The judge said that following the family court hearing that ordered Oakley’s removal, social workers and police sought to find Barnett to remove Oakley. “As the evening progressed concern grew for your welfare and Oakley’s safety,” the judge said.

He said that Barnett’s car was found at Epping Forest leading to a search with a helicopter and police dogs. Police attended her address shortly before midnight and “heard the sound of a baby crying coming from the loft”, the judge said.

He said an officer tried to talk her down but at 12.16am on November 9 “the situation changed dramatically – in answer to a question from a police officer you said ‘I killed him’.” The judge said officers “immediately forced entry” and found Oakley unresponsive and that Barnett had tried to take her own life. Oakley died in hospital on December 31 2024.

Clifton George

An electrician stabbed a judge’s daughter to death in a frenzied rage before blowing up their home in a gas explosion. Clifton George, 45, killed his partner Annabel Rook, 46, by stabbing her 31 times during a row at their east London home after she had said they should end their 10-year relationship.

George killed her on the night of June 16 last year at their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, punching and throttling her before arming himself with a kitchen knife. George was heard shouting “you lied” as he committed the murder, and the court heard he had flown into a rage after finding out that Ms Rook had kept a secret from him which had been told to her in confidence.

In the aftermath of the killing, George started a fire in the basement in order to cause a gas canister explosion which ripped through the house, causing around £400,000 of damage. At Snaresbrook Crown Court, Mr Justice Constable KC sentenced George to life in prison and ordered that he serve at least 23 years in prison before becoming eligible for release.

He said George had the ability to be friendly and fun, but told him he had “another troubling side to your character”. The judge said an overwhelming picture emerged of his “rage, anger, and volatility”, adding that George had a “pronounced temper” which could be sparked by trivial matters and “perceived slights”.

Turning to Ms Rook, the judge said a picture of her “shone brightly” through the testimonies of friends and family as a person who was “kind, attentive, funny, and altruistically motivated, and someone whose instinct was to support, to listen, and to improve the lives of others.” He rejected George’s claim at trial that he had been provoked by Ms Rook pushing him, the judge said that would have been “completely out of character”.

Ms Rook’s father, retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, branded George “utterly selfish” while her mother Susanna Rook called him “a wicked, totally narcissistic, damaged person”. Delivering a victim impact statement in court, Mrs Rook held back tears as she hailed her daughter as “optimistic, inclusive, and full of fun”.

George was convicted at trial of murder and he admitted arson over the gas explosion he triggered after stabbing his partner to death. He attempted to claim loss of self-control as a partial defence to the killing, but this fell apart thanks to evidence of his short fuse, angry outbursts at Ms Rook during their relationship, and at least one incident when he had been violent towards her.

Stefania Glowka

A daughter who strangled her elderly mother with a belt on Christmas morning before attempting to take her own life was jailed for eight years. Stefania Glowka, 64, killed Tamara Glowka, 86, at their home in Devizes, Wiltshire, on December 25 last year.

Glowka pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and was acquitted of murder by a unanimous jury following a trial at Bristol Crown Court. Judge Julian Lambert told Glowka that determining the correct sentence in the case was “difficult”, with Glowka stating she wishes to serve her sentence and then take her own life following her release.

The judge said: “This is an utterly extraordinary and deeply sad case. Your mother had no one else in the world but you. You had no one else in the world but your mother. You were devoted to one another and you loved your mother as deeply as she loved you. You showed extraordinary kindness to your mother and you gave her the highest level of care.”

The court heard Glowka had been the primary carer for her mother, who she lived and shared a bedroom with, and who had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Jurors were told Glowka, who never married or had children of her own, said she wanted to “let mum go” after both women experienced a deterioration in their mental health.

Glowka prepared her mother’s favourite meal on Christmas Eve, with the women spending the evening together before going to bed. Overnight, Glowka struggled to sleep and felt she had no energy to continue to care for her mother. She later told police it was a “spur of the moment” decision to strangle her using a belt as she rose from her bed to use the bathroom in the early hours of the morning.

Glowka then laid next to her deceased mother and attempted to take her own life, in what the judge described as “the most determined effort”. The judge said: “You did not succeed in your attempted suicide and when you awoke either from sleep or unconsciousness you rang the police and told them what you had done. You admitted responsibility at the scene and when interviewed by the police.”

When officers arrived at the property, Glowka directed them to a box containing documents including a letter addressed to a close friend. This stated: “I killed my mum as I cannot continue to look after her and I love her too much to put her into an institutionalised care.” Two psychiatrists assessed Glowka and believed she was suffering from a recurrent depressive disorder, the court heard.

Mohammad Tajik and Alnour Ali

Two small boat pilots who steered overcrowded craft became the first people to be sentenced for a new offence of endangering others during a Channel crossing.

Afghan national Mohammad Tajik, 32, was sentenced to two years in prison at Canterbury Crown Court over a dangerous journey on January 17. At the same time, Sudanese national Alnour Ali, 26, was sentenced to 27 months for a crossing on April 9.

Sentencing them, Judge Simon James said: “The inherent dangers of seeking to navigate one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world in a vessel which was never designed to undertake such a journey are obvious. However, the risk of death and serious injury are significantly increased when boats have no navigational aids, are overcrowded, and those on board are not adequately equipped with safety equipment.”

Endangering others during a journey by sea to the UK is an offence that came into force in January as part of new border security legislation. Tajik was the first to be convicted under the new law, having pleaded guilty at the same court on April 21.

Prosecutor Daniel Bunting said: “He was piloting and let go of the tiller with consequences no one was in control. He had no experience or knowledge of piloting a boat, he was asking others to look on YouTube for assistance.” Following his sentence, Crown Prosecution Service’s Katie Quincey added he let go to “hide” among the other 70 passengers on board, including a toddler, as a rescue boat approached.

Of Tajik’s crossing, footage was shown to court of the boat overcrowded with people sitting around the edge “which did not appear to be a safe way of travelling”, Mr Bunting said. He added the Crown’s case against him was in relation to the conditions, the time of year being very cold in January.

In Ali’s case, drone footage was played in court of the boat with 74 people on board, where Ali is seen driving while wearing a pink hat. Passengers are seen straddling the side of the boat, with some legs dangling in the water. Judge James said that the video shows just how dangerous crossings are, with people packed into “every inch of available space” and it was “merely by luck and good fortune” those on board were rescued.

Under the new offence, those who endanger or risk another life at sea could face up to five years in prison, or up to six years if they are in breach of a deportation order. The charge includes physical or psychological injury and covers journeys by water to the UK from France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Sarah Ngaba

A “callous and uncaring” mother murdered her seven-week-old daughter by shattering her skull in a fit of rage. After the attack, Sarah Ngaba visited a shop to buy a lottery ticket before seeking medical help for her daughter Eliza.

Ngaba was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years and 154 days after a judge described the killing as “the culmination of increasingly hostile behaviour” towards the infant. She was found guilty of murder in May after jurors were told severe injuries from violent shaking and an impact to the head in November 2019 contributed to the infant’s death from an infection in August 2022.

Ngaba, formerly of Briarwood in Brookside, Telford, Shropshire, was jailed for 14 years for wounding in 2021 and charged with murder after Eliza’s death. The 32-year-old’s murder trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told she sought to conceal what she had done by lying to medics and police.

Mrs Justice Brunner praised the dedication of Eliza’s “remarkable” foster parents, Laura and Gary Haynes. Having heard a statement from the foster parents saying they loved Eliza dearly and missed her “bright and sunny nature” every day, the judge said: “Theirs was a stable and caring household and they clearly brought much love and happiness into her life.”

Turning to Ngaba in the dock, the judge criticised her for booking a taxi to take Eliza to hospital, delaying medical help and failing to maximise her daughter’s chances of effective treatment. Ruling that Eliza’s head was likely to have been struck against a wall, the judge told Ngaba: “The distribution of injuries shows this was not a momentary attack. The trigger for you losing your temper is not clear. The result of that assault was immediately catastrophic. It would have been obvious to you straight away that Eliza had serious injuries but you continued to act in a callous way. You deliberately delayed and you deliberately concealed Eliza’s terrible state. Instead you put your interests above hers.”

The judge said it was an unusual feature of the case that Ngaba had already served six years and 211 days of her 14-year sentence for wounding, meaning that time period should be subtracted from a minimum term that would have been 19 years. Gordon Aspden KC, addressing the court in mitigation, said Ngaba had joined the Anglican community while serving at HMP Foston Hall in Derbyshire, where the chaplain described her as a model prisoner and “never violent”.

Dylan Phelan

A British man who “groomed” a vulnerable 21-year-old in the US to kill himself over a video call was jailed for six years and four months. Dylan Phelan, also 21, from Morley, West Yorkshire, was in an online group that repeatedly goaded Travis Dyer to shoot himself in Louisiana in October 2024.

Mr Justice Cotter, sentencing at Leeds Crown Court, said Phelan was motivated by “morbid curiosity” and that Mr Dyer, who was struggling with his mental health, needed help and support. Phelan admitted encouraging suicide, making an indecent image and possessing extreme pornography.

The judge told him: “You wanted to feel like you had control over the actions of another. You showed no respect for the life of Travis Dyer.”

The court was told that Mr Dyer had suffered a series of tragic losses in his family, including losing his mother and sister to drowning. His great-grandmother Vivian Mahoney, who followed proceedings from the US via a videolink, said in a victim statement: “Travis Dyer was a shy, smart and resilient young man who survived more tragedy than most endure in a century. He was deeply adored and had a bright future ahead of him. That future was stolen.”

Andrew Pettersen, prosecuting, said Phelan joined an online community on messaging app Discord, where people shared thoughts about their mental health, but this was not a support group. In the run up to killing himself, Mr Dyer had carved Phelan’s name into his body, the court heard. On October 20 2024, he was on a videocall with the defendant and two others, known as Mads and Rob, the court heard, when Mr Dyer took his own life.

Phelan encouraged him several times to pull the trigger, the court heard, and laughed when he finally did. He kept a recording of the suicide on his computer, months later telling a female acquaintance about what happened. She was horrified and later told his mother, and last March Phelan went to Elland Road police station in Leeds and confessed to his involvement in Mr Dyer’s suicide. Police went on to find an indecent image as well as extreme pornography on his digital devices.

Fiona Phippen

A driver killed a pedestrian when she careered off the A1 into a service station forecourt, less than a minute after ending a video-call. Lincoln Crown Court was shown “graphic and shocking” CCTV of Fiona Phippen’s Nissan Qashqai hitting psychology student Urwah Tanveer at up to 51mph, as the 20-year-old stood beside her family’s stationary Mercedes.

Phippen sobbed in the dock as she was has jailed for four years and three months at her sentencing hearing in June. The 45-year-old mother-of-two, of Church Close in Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, pleaded guilty in April to causing both death and serious injury by dangerous driving.

Phippen missed Urwah’s brother by inches and caused multiple fractures to her 83-year-old grandmother, who was sitting inside the Mercedes. The defendant claimed to have been distracted by another car on the northbound A1 immediately before the accident at Foston Services near Grantham in Lincolnshire amid perfect road conditions on the afternoon of June 29, 2024.

The court was told that her victim was planning for her graduation ceremony when she was killed. Urwah, from London, had been awarded a 2:1 by the city’s Queen Mary University and hoped to work in the NHS. The charity shop volunteer died in hospital a day after the crash, while her grandmother suffered hand, chest and rib injuries.

Evidence presented to the court suggested Phippen was using cruise control and failed to brake in the six seconds after she left the A1, while travelling at a “effectively constant” speed between 41mph and 51mph. Passing sentence on Phippen, Judge Simon Hirst said it was accepted that a six-minute WhatsApp video call, using a mobile in a holder on the dashboard, had ended 38 seconds before the crash.

The judge told Phippen: “Exactly why this collision occurred is still unclear. He banned Phippen from driving for seven years and six weeks.

Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley

Jamie Varley was told he will spend the rest of his life in jail for murdering and sexually abusing the baby boy he had adopted with his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley. The ‘sadistic’ school teacher, who was a former head of year at a high school, inflicted “unremitting abuse” on 13-month-old Preston Davey before a final, fatal, sexual assault took his life, Preston Crown Court heard.

Varley was given a whole life term and told he will never be eligible for parole after his conviction for a murder that “shocked the nation”. McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was jailed for 25 years for allowing Varley’s treatment of the child and taking part in the sexual abuse.

Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows, who led the murder investigation for Lancashire Police, said: “Jamie Varley is an evil and monstrous individual who sexually, physically and mentally abused a vulnerable baby for his own sadistic pleasure. I struggle to imagine the horror that Preston endured in his short life.”

Preston had been treated as a “plaything”, the jury at the defendant’s eight-week trial heard, with the child routinely sexually assaulted and physically abused after the couple adopted him aged nine months, before his murder four months later at their Blackpool home. Preston had been removed from his mother Sarah Davey, now 42, by an emergency care order by Oldham Council and placed into foster care at five days old.

The judge, Mr Justice Turner, said Preston had faced “unremitting abuse” and neglect before being killed by Varley during a sex attack. Jailing Varley, he said: “It was you who did this. You murdered him. A whole life order is a sentence of last resort for cases of the most extreme gravity. This is a case of the most extreme gravity. You must stay in prison for the rest of your life. You will never be eligible for parole.”

Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption in January 2023 and Preston began living at their home in Blackpool in April that year. The child had been “thriving”, a little boy who “lit up the room” with smiles, the court heard. But in the just under four months he was in their care, he was routinely ill-treated, had indecent images and videos taken of him, and was sexually abused and physically assaulted, suffering 40 traumatic injuries.

Peter Wai and Bill Yuen

A former British immigration official and a retired Hong Kong police officer were jailed for spying for China. Peter Wai, 41, conducted “shadow policing” operations on Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters living in the UK on the orders of his handler Bill Yuen, 66.

The dual Chinese-British nationals were arrested after a failed bid to snatch £16 million fraud suspect Monica Kwong from her flat in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Following a two-month Old Bailey trial, the pair were convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act. Former Metropolitan Police officer Wai was also convicted of misconduct in a public office by misusing the Home Office computer system to find out about people of interest to Hong Kong authorities.

Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Yuen, from Hackney, east London, was jailed for eight years. In a televised sentencing, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said the defendants’ actions were “deliberate, concerted and serious”.

She told them: “Both of you played significant roles in the enterprise, which was primarily motivated by your enduring affinity with, or loyalty to, the Chinese state despite your dual British-Hong Kong citizenship.” They had caused “real and significant” harm, leaving those targeted in fear and distress, the judge said. She described Wai’s attitude towards his misconduct as “arrogant”, saying he had a “sense of entitlement” to do as he pleased.

The case is one of the first to be prosecuted under the National Security Act, which came into force in 2023.

Helen Flanagan, commander for Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “The activity of Wai and Yuen was truly chilling. They were spying and targeting individuals in the UK who were pro-democracy campaigners and were simply protesting against the Hong Kong and Chinese government and authorities and seeking sanctuary in the UK.”

Jahmel Joseph

A mentally unwell man shot his cousin dead and injured his brother at a family wake. Jahmel Joseph, 29, blasted Jordan Rodney in the eye then hit his brother Omar Joseph in the head and hand at a gathering in Hammersmith, west London, on June 11 last year.

The next day, Joseph, who has schizophrenia, sped away from police, crashed his Mercedes into multiple cars and then ran through gardens to evade arrest. In his defence, Joseph claimed that in his psychotic state he feared Mr Rodney would kill him.

Joseph, of Ealing, west London, was handed a life sentence with a minimum 39-year term at the Old Bailey after a jury found him guilty of murder, attempted murder, having a firearm with intent to endanger life, dangerous driving and possessing a shotgun.

Judge Nigel Lickley KC told Joseph: “You have committed crimes of the utmost brutality. You have murdered Jordan Rodney, a person who showed you support and kindness by shooting him in the face at point blank range.” Mr Rodney was shot at close range in the eye and the defendant’s brother, who survived, turned his head instinctively at the sound and put his hand up to protect his face. Relatives were nearby and “it is only by very good fortune that this is not a case of double murder”, the judge told him.

Joseph committed his crimes “without regard for other people” and put “more lives at risk” as he tried to evade the police, including mounting a pavement, before crashing the car, the judge added. He said Joseph had offered no explanation for his behaviour. The judge said he was satisfied Joseph knew that if he did not take his medication the paranoia would return, and it did, and there was a limited connection between his mental illness and his actions.

Janice Nix

A stepmother was jailed for 12 years for killing a five-year-old girl by scalding her in a hot bath as a punishment nearly half a century ago. Janice Nix, 67, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court for the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard in Thornton Heath, south London, in 1978.

Andrea’s death had been treated as an accident until her older brother Desmond Bernard went to police in 2022 with a new account of what happened, the trial previously heard. Nix, a retired probation officer, was also sentenced for cruelty against Mr Bernard between October 1975 and June 1978, when he was seven-to-nine years old.

Mr Justice Nicholas Lavender, sentencing, told the defendant: “I’m sure that you ran the bath, you knew how hot it was, you told Andrea to get in the bath, she said it was too hot, but you either put her in the bath or made her get into it. And you heard her scream. At the very least the risk ought to have been obvious to you.”

In a victim impact statement he read out in court, Mr Bernard said the abuse he and his sister suffered – which involved beatings with a belt and being forced to eat cat food – led to Andrea’s death and left him “broken”. He said: “The last memories I have of my sister’s life are piercing screams and lying about her death to survive.”

He became emotional as he told the court he continues to suffer from feelings of guilt, anger and shame nearly 50 years after the death of his sister. He then addressed Nix directly, saying: “You took away her future and changed mine forever. Your contrived grief at Andrea’s funeral, the lies, the tears. You fooled my family because they couldn’t imagine the unimaginable.”

The court heard that on June 6 1978, Nix was “furious” after Andrea ignored instructions not to leave the house and to help clean instead. Nix, then called Janice Thomas and in her late teenage years, had been in a relationship with the children’s father, also named Desmond Bernard, and was in effect their stepmother, the court heard. She shouted at Andrea in an “extremely loud” voice before beating her, the trial was told.

Mr Bernard, giving evidence, told jurors he later heard the bath running. He went on: “I could hear Janice shouting: ‘Get in the bath’, and I could hear Andrea saying: ‘The bath is too hot, mummy.’ I could hear Janice shouting: ‘Get in the bath, get in the bath’, and then I heard screaming and splashing. Then I heard the screaming stopped and I could hear Janice calling Andrea to ‘wake up, wake up’.”

Mr Bernard said Nix told him to say it was an accident and that she would never beat him again. Andrea died nearly six weeks after arriving at hospital with burns to 50 per cent of her body, the court heard.

Waleed Saeed

A rapist used Snapchat to target young Muslim and south Asian men thinking they would be less likely to speak to police. Waleed Saeed, 31, was handed a 16-year sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court and investigators believe there may be further victims.

Saeed, of Azalea Close, Ilford, east London, would pose as a young woman or transgender woman on Snapchat and request intimate images, the Metropolitan Police said. He would then exploit the young men for money by revealing his true identity and often threatening to expose them to their families, communities, universities, workplaces and friends.

Two of his victims were aged 15 and 17 and his offending showed “a level of deliberate manipulation and cruelty that caused immense harm”, according to lead investigator Detective Constable Peter Collington. Saeed was sentenced for 17 offences against five victims including rape, blackmail and making indecent images of children, according to the force.

Dc Collington said: “We know Saeed began offending in 2018, deliberately targeting young men from south Asian and Muslim backgrounds on the impression that these victim-survivors would be less likely to contact police.” The probe was launched in August 2024 after a man reported being raped in a London park. The victim told officers that he had exchanged sexual images with someone he thought was a transgender woman, the force said, before Saeed started sending him threatening messages from another account and revealed his true identity as a man.

The young man was coerced into three late-night meetings in a London park during the following weeks. At the meetings, Saeed – while concealing his identity with a face covering – sexually assaulted and raped him, police said. It took officers months to trace the social media accounts to the offender and he was arrested in November 2024. Two seized mobile phones were found to contain intimate images linked to further unidentified victims, some believed to be children.

Saeed was charged with eight counts of rape, blackmail and threatening to share a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state on November 19 2024. He was later charged with a further nine counts in relation to four additional victims on March 25 2025. On March 2 this year he pleaded guilty to charges relating to four victims: two counts of threatening to share photograph or film of person in intimate state; two counts of blackmail; two counts of making indecent photographs or a child; intimidation; distributing an indecent image of a child; and disclosing or threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.

The Met said a jury found him guilty of further charges relating to a fifth victim on March 12: four counts of rape of a man aged 16 or over; attempting to rape a man aged 16 or over; causing a male to engage in penetrative sexual activity; threatening to share a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state; and blackmail.

Saeed was handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Protection Order, the force added.

Dion Arnold

A Metropolitan Police officer with a “deep-seated need to control women” was jailed for 25 years for a series of rapes and sexual assaults. Dion Arnold, 33, used his status as a police officer to gain the trust of vulnerable women he met on dating apps and social media, then acted out his fantasies of non-consensual sex.

Guildford Crown Court heard he raped one of his victims when she was asleep, choked a woman with a scarf until she fell unconscious, and told one victim he wanted to role-play breaking into her house to lay in wait. One of Arnold’s victims fell pregnant and had to have an abortion after being raped, and the court heard she twice attempted suicide in the aftermath. Another woman recalled Arnold once telling her: “What are you going to do – call the police? I am the police.”

The former Police Constable, who had worked on domestic abuse cases for the Met, kept a list on his phone of more than 30 women he had slept with, noting down their medical conditions against their names. After the first complaint of rape was made, detectives used the list to track down other victims.

Judge Deborah Charles sentenced Arnold to 25 years in prison with an added eight years on licence, telling him: “You have a deep-seated need to control women.” The judge said Arnold had shown little remorse and harbours “deep levels of misogyny”, and concluded he had targeted women once he realised they were vulnerable and less able to resist his sexual demands.

Turning to his use of his police status, the judge said: “I’m sure you told these women what you did for a living early on in order to ensure the women you offended against placed their trust in you.” She added: “You liked role-playing rape and were aroused by the idea of having sex with a woman who was apparently not consenting. That is not illegal, but what you went on to do most certainly is.”

Arnold, who also served as an Army reservist medic, was found guilty at trial in April of four counts of rape, two charges of sexual assault by penetration and two charges of sexual assault. The judge imposed a 25-year restraining order on Arnold contacting his victims, he is on the sex offenders register for life, and subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

He must serve at least two thirds of his 25-year prison term before applying to the Parole Board for release, and he will serve an extra eight years on licence once the prison term has ended.

Peter Murrell

Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP who embezzled more than £400,000 from the party, was jailed for more than five years. Lord Young sentenced Murrell, the estranged husband of former SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, to a backdated sentence of five years and three months at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Last month, Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzling a total of £400,310.65 over a 12-year period between August 2010 and October 2022. He used the funds to make hundreds of extravagant purchases, including a £124,550 motorhome, cars, jewellery, luxury homewares and designer stationery.

Murrell, 61, entered the dock of the court for sentencing after arriving in a prison van. Lord Young told Murrell he had committed a “calculated crime of dishonesty”, with a “large number of fraudulent acts over a 12-year period while you were chief executive officer of the SNP”. He said the offending increased in frequency and amount over time.

He added: “You found yourself unable to stop this offending, and it was only the detection of the crime that brought it to an end.” The judge said Murrell was responsible for a “significant breach of trust” within the SNP and he used his position to get away with the crime.

Lord Young added: “On any view, the total sum involved in this case was a substantial one, and the embezzlement spanned a long time.” He said it was “difficult to get a clear picture for what drove your actions” given that some of the items bought by Murrell with the money were not even used.

Lord Young said he would have jailed Murrell for more than seven years had he not pled guilty. The sentence was backdated to May 25 of this year, when Murrell’s guilty plea was entered at court.

Suleman Mukaish

A delivery driver raped a stranger in a car park after she had left hospital. Suleman Mukaish, 27, launched his attack on the vulnerable woman in Worthing, West Sussex, on March 11.

Mukaish was arrested two days later at Gatwick Airport with a one-way ticket to Pakistan. He has now been sentenced to eight years and three months in prison and a further three years on extended licence.

Hove Crown Court heard that on the evening of the attack, the victim had attended Worthing Hospital “intoxicated, confused and unsteady on her feet” and then left. Prosecutor Chetna Patel said she was grabbed by the arm by the defendant and taken to the car park opposite the hospital.

She was attempting to hold on to the wall to stop him before she was forced on to the bonnet of a car and raped, the prosecutor said. The victim was left there and found by a member of the public a short time later, and said she had been raped.

Sentencing Mukaish, Judge Christine Henson KC said the woman “was at her most vulnerable when you, a complete stranger, raped her over the bonnet of a car in the car park adjacent to the hospital that she had just left from”. She added: “The impact psychologically on (her) has been immense.”

Megan Murphy

A personal trainer repeatedly drove over a man lying in the road after failing to defrost her windscreen on a winter’s morning. Megan Murphy, 26, told a friend minutes after first driving over Darryl Tomlinson, reversing back over him, then driving over him again: “I’ve ran him over but it’s a smackhead,” Bolton Crown Court heard.

Murphy, from Lord Street, Wigan, had got in her car one morning in January 2025 to find her windscreen and windows frozen, obstructing her view and leaving her unable to see 31-year-old Mr Tomlinson, who had collapsed in the road.

Witnesses tried to alert Murphy, who had also driven the wrong way down the road, the court heard. One witness ran towards Murphy’s vehicle shouting “Stop” and “Go back”, while another sounded their car horn.

Murphy brought her vehicle to a stop just inches from Mr Tomlinson, however due to her frozen windscreen she was unable to see what the witnesses were indicating, police said. She then drove forward, passing over Mr Tomlinson, and moments later reversed back over him. Murphy then drove forward again, causing the front wheel of her vehicle to travel over Mr Tomlinson, who became trapped beneath the driver’s side of the car.

An ambulance arrived shortly afterwards but Mr Tomlinson was pronounced dead at about 6.21am, around 30 minutes after the incident on January 9 last year. Murphy was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, police said.

Purshotam Dhillon, Hardeep Thind and Bikramjit Brar

A magistrate who was part of a major crime ring dealing heroin and crack cocaine across London has been jailed alongside two other men. Purshotam Dhillon, 59, offered an “air of respectability” to gang boss Hardeep Thind by allowing his west London home to be used as a base of operations.

The magistrate, who sat at courts in Ealing, Feltham, and Uxbridge, had drugs and cash stored at his home in Hounslow. Croydon Crown Court heard Thind kept his “Hadi” drugs line, selling heroin and crack cocaine, going with Dhillon’s help despite being locked up in prison.

Dhillon, Thind, of Southall, and two co-defendants, Bikramjit Brar, 46, from Hayes, and Leandrea Lynch, 49, also from Hayes, were all sentenced for their parts in the drug supply operation. Dhillon was sentenced to seven years in prison, Thind – who went by the name Harry Singh – was handed a 12-year sentence, and Brar was jailed for three years and four months. Lynch was given a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence.

The Met said it started investigating the “Hadi” drugs line in January 2024, and identified Thind as the “central figure”. At the time, he was serving a 17-year prison sentence for conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine, as well as possession of a Skorpion submachine gun. He used a mobile phone to direct operations from an open prison, and expanded his operation upon release from jail in October 2024.

Dhillon, who is a drug addict, was identified as a key lieutenant, while Brar was involved in distribution of the drugs and Lynch acted as a runner. Thind and Brar pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, and Dhillon and Lynch were convicted of the same charges after a trial.

Asad Hussain

A man who created a fake Tinder profile of an ex-partner to lure men to her home to rape her was jailed for eight years. A total of 35 men – three on one single occasion – visited her house after Asad Hussain, 36, falsely stated she had a “rape fantasy” and told some to “give the porch door a good shove” to gain entry, Chester Crown Court heard.

Hussain had a short-lived relationship with his victim after he initially contacted her on social media in April 2024 using the alias Mick Renney. She soon rejected his advances when he became jealous, possessive and controlling as he frequently questioned her about other men, the court was told.

He repeatedly turned up at her home late at night to check on her and on one occasion she injured her arm in a fall as he grabbed her wrist to try to take her phone, the court heard. Hussain subsequently contacted her daughter and friends to accuse her of cheating and to make numerous attempts to rekindle the relationship.

Later multiple men started to attend her home address and said she had invited them after they matched on Tinder. Others told her they received messages stating she wanted to engage in a “rape fantasy” and were led to believe if she said “no” it meant she “wanted it more”. One of the men gained entry as he forced open the porch door and smashed a glass panel, the court heard.

Hussain, of Heald Green, Cheadle, used multiple mobile phones as part of his deceit and would park in a nearby location to his victim’s home to operate the fake account. He was convicted by a jury of stalking, assault and failing to disclose the pin to an iPad seized during the investigation.

Philip Clemo, defending, said his client did not accept the jury’s verdicts and told the author of a pre-sentence report: “I have not done anything wrong”. Judge Michael Leeming jailed Hussain for eight years and handed him a 15-year restraining order against his victim and her daughters.

Jagger Strang

A teenager who “idolised serial killers” threatened to bomb his college. Jagger Strang, 18, from Stafford, was reported to the police after he told peers at Stafford College that he wanted to blow up the site in September last year.

On the first day of his trial in May, he pleaded guilty to seven charges, including possession of explosive substances; gunpowder and thermite, and accessing YouTube videos about the manufacture of black powder and how to make a detonator from improvised materials. Strang also admitted making threats to kill students at Stafford College but the prosecution accepted he had “no intention” of actually building a bomb.

At Birmingham Crown Court in June, Mr Justice Mark Wall handed Strang a custodial sentence, locking him up for three years and 11 months in a young offenders institute. The judge stressed the need for “deterrents” and warned that “it is easier now than ever before” for people to buy explosives on the internet.

Judge Wall said: “You persuaded those to whom you spoke that you intended to make good on your threats. You said, for example, that you had identified a particular classroom to blow up because of the number of glass windows it had.”

Strang told fellow pupils that he wanted to “buy a pressure cooker” to build a bomb, and sent them videos of homemade weapons and explosives, the court heard. The judge added that Strang had told other students that he “idolised serial killers” and sent pictures and videos of serial killers to them.

After Strang was arrested, officers searched his property and seized a number of chemicals along with homemade black powder/gunpowder and thermite. A blow pipe was also recovered. They also examined Strang’s mobile phone, where they found “concerning material” including a manifesto and recent internet searches relating to notorious mass killers and instructions on how to make bombs and remote detonators.