Archive

Tag Archives: NEI

Drug-driving Sunderland dad led police on chase through city centre before crashing into lamppost

By
February 15, 2023
Uncategorized

A Sunderland dad high on drugs has been jailed for a 60-second early hours danger drive where he powered blindly down a walkway while being pursued by police.

Unlicensed and uninsured Kieron Wright, 30, is starting 40 weeks behind bars for his cannabis-fired 50mph antics at the wheel of his Ford Focus.

After his arrest, Wright, of Rosedale Street, Bishopwearmouth, admitted he was so drugged up he could not recall getting into the motor.

He was caught on police dashcam driving above the speed limit in city centre High Street East at 1.47am on Friday, November 11.

Footage shows him flinging his motor over speed bumps while being pursued and stopping only when he jammed it between a lamppost and railings in Coronation Street.

A blood test showed he was over the legal limit for cannabis derivative THC, and illegal amphetamine was also found in the vehicle.

At South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Kathryn Meek told him his drug taking had made him oblivious to the danger he posed to unsuspecting pedestrians.

She said video showed his driving was “completely out of control” – and confirmed he had confessed to having no recollection of taking the wheel due to drugs.

Prosecutor Lesley Burgess said: “Police state he was driving at up to 50mph in a 30mph area.

“Officers describe it as being a residential area and on two occasions his car mounts the footpath.

“He then collided with railings and was arrested for dangerous driving. A roadside swab was positive for cocaine.

“A swab at the police station showed he was under the limit for cocaine, but a blood sample showed he was over for cannabis.

“He was also found to not have insurance or a driving licence, and checks found a small bag of white powder in the car. It was amphetamine.”

Wright pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, possession of a single wrap of class B amphetamine and drug driving at an earlier hearing.

He also admitted driving without a licence, driving without insurance and failing to stop for police.

His reading for cannabis derivative THC was 2.2mcg per litre of blood. The legal limit is 2mcg.

Footage showed Wright also driving on Sans Street, Borough Road and Hendon Road.

David Wright, defending, said the pursuit had been short and dashcam showed no other drivers or pedestrians.

Mr Wright added: “It’s less than 60 seconds before he comes to a stop. I don’t think we see a single person or a car during the clip.

“If the custody threshold is crossed you do have the option of imposing a suspended sentence of up to 12 months.

“The Probation report does contain a lot of positive information. He has expressed to me that he does want help with his drugs’ use.”

Judge Meek jailed Wright for 40 weeks for dangerous driving, 12 weeks for drug-driving and four weeks for drug possession, to run concurrently.

She banned him from driving for 40 months, due to a drink-drive conviction in 2013, and he must take an extended driving test. He must also pay a £187 victim surcharge.

Sunderland Echo

Billy Charlton jailed for distributing image of child performing sex act with animal

By
February 3, 2022
Uncategorized

A hate speaker who was jailed over a series of public protests against sex offenders has been locked up after distributing a video of a child having intercourse with an animal over WhatsApp.

William Charlton, known as Billy, was given a prison sentence in 2019 over speeches he gave at a series of planned demonstrations in Sunderland.

Charlton was jailed for 21 months in September 2019 and was told by the judge he was “an intelligent, articulate, skilled public speaker but also a manipulator and bully” who had caused a “toxic atmosphere” in the city.

By that time, police had already seized his phone after a video had been found, that he had sent to another man who had been arrested for an unrelated matter, which featured a child engaged in a sex act with an animal.

Charlton was convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court last summer of sending the video clip to over 40 of his contacts over WhatsApp.

The 57-year-old had insisted he did not view the 18 second video, which featured a boy aged between 10-14 with the animal, before he forwarded it on and had no reason to suspect its contents were illegal.

Prosecutor Ian West told the court today: “There is no suggestion he is a paedophile or gained any sexual gratification from watching or distributing theimage, nor did he intend any of the recipients to receive sexual gratification from it.

“He just has, it seems, a sick sense of humour.”

Charlton, of Sidmouth Road, Gateshead, was convicted of distributing a Category A image of a child.

He had also admitted possessing extreme pornography in relation to an image involving an adult female engaging in sexual activity with an animal.

And he had also pleaded guilty to another offence of extreme pornography, again involving an adult.

Judge Sarah Mallett today jailed Charlton for a total of three years and said he must sign the sex offenders register for life.

The judge told him: “It is accepted by the prosecution you did not have any sexual motivation in distributing the image and that is one of the factors I have to consider.”

But the judge said any distribution of such image risks “potential exposure to a large number of people” and the fact the video was already in the public domain was no consolation to the child featured in it.

Judge Mallett said Charlton has been assessed as “unlikely to engage mindfully in offence focused work” with the probation service and has “not proved to be susceptible to changing views”.

The judge said Charlton has a “very limited prospect of rehabilitation” in the community.

During his trial last summer, Charlton told jurors he would regularly receive and send “daft jokes” over the messaging app on his phone and did not alwayswatch them.

He added: “It was just daft joke messages, things like that, you know what I mean.

“I would just forward them on, not even thinking about it most of the time.”

Charlton insisted he had not watched the video featuring the animal and child, that he had received from someone else.

He added: “It wasn’t something I would expect from him.

“He knows if he sent me images of children I would kick off with him, as I would anyone else.”

Charlton told jurors he is a “proud father and grandfather” and would receive and send messages thinking they were “daft jokes”.

He added: “Now, being branded a paedo over a stupid video I’ve never even seen, I would tell all my friends and family, get off it all.

“If you send something and you are not aware of it, you could be sitting here.”

His barrister Chrisopher Rose told the court today Charlton had a “crass, indifferent” attitude to the image and there was no sexual motivation behindthe offences.

Mr Rose said Charlton is not heavily convicted and added: “Since his release he has been of good character. He has not committed any further offences.”

Mr Rose said Charlton now leads and “isolated life” after the “public shaming”.

Sunderland Echo

Sunderland man given cannabis plants by friend landed in court after police called at his home

By
January 24, 2021
Uncategorized

A man given five cannabis plants as reward for helping a pal clear away a drugs farm was caught when police called at his home on an unrelated inquiry.

Kieron Wright, 27, at first refused to come to the door of his home in Grafton Street, Millfield, Sunderland – and his mum even denied he was at home.

When he then climbed out onto a roof to shout to ask them what they wanted on Tuesday, September 8, officers could already smell the drug from the street.

Wright then came clean about his crime – but his openness led to him being charged with a more serious offence, magistrates in South Tyneside were told.

They heard he told police how he had attained the batch, meaning he was charged with cannabis production rather than possession.

Prosecutor Marc Atkins said: “Officers attended an address in Grafton Street, in order to arrest the defendant for another offence.

“The defendant’s mother said he wasn’t at the property, but the defendant then climbed out of the loft and came onto the roof and asked what they wanted.

“He refused to come down to the door. To his credit, he told them that he had cannabis in the loft that they could also smell.

“After about ten minutes he let them in. There is cannabis bush on the loft floor and some more hanging on a radiator.

“He told officers that he had helped a friend dismantle a cannabis farm and that he was given five plants.

“There was 215g of cannabis, which was for his own use. There was no equipment for commercial production.”

Mark McAlindon, defending, said Wright had previously used crack cocaine and switching to cannabis was a way to move to a lesser drug.

He added: “The yield from the drugs was about 40g. It’s now an offence of some age.

“This could have been charged as possession, but it was production due to what he said in his interview.”Wright was fined £120 after pleading guilty to production of a controlled Class B drug, and must pay £85 court costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

Sunderland Echo

Woman backs partner’s bid to have nine-year jail term cut – despite being stabbed 14 times with a sword

By
November 23, 2016
Uncategorized

A thug whose girlfriend forgave him after he stabbed her repeatedly with a 12in sword has failed to persuade top judges to cut his sentence.

Paul Hutchinson, of Hereford Road, Hillview, Sunderland, left the woman with a fractured rib and 14 stab wounds in total to her chest, legs, arms and neck from the attack.
The 48-year-old was jailed for nine years at Newcastle Crown Court after being found guilty of wounding with intent in May.

His victim gave evidence in his trial and asked the judge not to lock him up.

She also wrote to the Court of Appeal, supporting his bid to have his sentence reduced.

Judge Jeremy Carey QC told the court she wrote she “doesn’t consider herself a victim” – and even suggested she was partly to blame for the incident.

But the judge said that, despite what his partner now says, at the time of the incident she was in fear and “vulnerable” – having been subjected to an hour-long ordeal.

He said judges are familiar with cases of domestic violence involving victims who wish to “forgive and start again”.

The court heard police arrived at the woman’s home during the early hours of November 30 last year and found her screaming, covered in blood and holding a tea-towel to her neck.

She told an officer in the back of an ambulance Hutchinson had attacked after drinking heavily.

She described being dragged by her hair, punched and kicked and then stabbed again and again.

Hutchinson had two earlier convictions for violence towards previous partners.

He was aggressive when arrested and told a female police officer he would “get her raped” if she didn’t let him out of the van.

The crown court heard he was hardworking and a supportive family man, who should have received a shorter jail term.

Dismissing his appeal, Judge Carey said the sentence was “not excessive” for the “sustained assault”.

Sitting with Lord Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, he added: “In our view, the judge was right not to regard the views of the victim as anything more than part of a narrative in this case.

“Trial counsel was able to say she did not come across as vulnerable at trial – indeed, quite the opposite.

“But the fact of the matter is that, whatever her demeanour at trial, on the night in question she was, in this court’s view, undoubtedly highly vulnerable.”

Sunderland Echo

ph1

Vandal daubed offensive graffiti on Sunderland pub and house

By
August 25, 2016
Uncategorized

A vandal who painted offensive graffiti on a random pub and house ‘has no idea’ why he did so.

Kieron Wright, 23, used black paint to daub slogans onto the wall of a house in Hylton Road, and the nearby Railway Tavern pub, Sunderland magistrates heard.

The court was told the properties were randomly selected, and had nothing to do with what was written on them.

Prosecutor Lee Poppett said: “This case concerns three offences of graffiti, for want of a better term.”

Mr Poppett said a rented property was defaced twice, on July 3, and July 7.

And on July 4, he repeated the offence on an outside wall of the Railway Tavern.

Mr Poppett added: “There is no suggestion that either of the premises were targeted in any way, or racially motivated in any way.

“Mr Wright has taken it upon himself to write on them in black paint.”

He was identified from CCTV footage and when police searched his house, they found a small amount of cannabis bush.

Wright, of Rosedale Street, Sunderland, admitted three counts of criminal damage, possession of cannabis, and breaching two conditional discharges.

He has 33 previous convictions for a total of 47 offences, five of which were criminal damage.

Tony Southwick, defending, said: “The second incident on July 7, he painted over what he had previously painted. He added a little bit extra.

“This was not targeted in any way. It’s not racially aggravated because he would not have known who the landlord was.

“He has no explanation as to why he has done this.

“He accepts that the small quantity of cannabis in the house was for his own personal use. He tells me it’s barely enough to make one joint.

“He was laid off from work in May and he uses cannabis more or less on a daily basis because he is bored.”

Wright was sentenced to a six-month community order with 10 days’ specified activity.

He was told to pay a £50 fine, and £110 in compensation.

Sunderland Echo

‘I’m not right wing’ claims knuckleduster-carrying man with EDL neck tattoo

By
July 29, 2016
Uncategorized

But Cleveland Police questioned in court over claims Mark Trippett was only stopped because he had a far-right group’s shirt on

Mark Trippett, 35, of Carisbrooke Avenue, Middlesbrough, stopped by police and found carrying a knuckleduster

Mark Trippett, 35, of Carisbrooke Avenue, Middlesbrough, stopped by police and found carrying a knuckleduster

A man wearing a T-shirt seemingly proclaiming him to be a far-right group’s “soldier” was nicked after police caught him with a £1.50 knuckleduster.

Officers stopped Middlesbrough’s Mark Trippett while he was wearing a “right wing” North East Infidels shirt.

However, Trippett – who has EDL tattooed on his neck – insist he doesn’t share their views.

And he’s been spared prison for carrying the knuckleduster after a judge heard there was “no reason” to stop him, other than for his shirt.

Police used stop and search powers as Trippett walked along Corporation Road in Middlesbrough on July 16.

Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday that he had forgotten it was there.

“He said he didn’t intend on using it and it was a daft mistake,” added the probation service.

He handed the knuckleduster straight to police, with his solicitor adding it had been a “serene” incident.

“There were no threats to police and he handed the weapon straight over,” he said.

“Perhaps it was a macho thing at the time, and it wasn’t thought through.”

Trippett, 35, of Carisbrooke Avenue, Thorntree, had been wearing the North East Infidels shirt – emblazoned with the word “soldier” – when he was arrested.

The group marched alongside EDL and National Front members in Stockton last year.

The Teesside branch claim on Facebook the group is a “family”, but in court they were dubbed “right wing”.

However, Judge Martin Walker questioned if Cleveland Police had simply targeted him because of his shirt, with the court hearing there had been “no disorder” in the area to warrant stop and search laws being deployed.

Tracksuit-clad Trippett had pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon, which he claimed he’d bought for £1.50.

Judge Walker warned the offence would almost always carry a jail term.

But he instead handed him a one-year community order, but not without dishing out a dressing down.

“Certainly (the knuckleduster) is only used to cause serious harm to another human being,” added Judge Walker.

“That is what the knuckleduster is for – to enhance the power of the fist.”

Cleveland Police declined to comment. The weapon will be destroyed.

Gazette Live

Two men jailed for “acts of violence” at Dover protest

By
June 24, 2016
Uncategorized
John Boyes, 54, and Thomas Allen, 30, pled guilty to violent disorder


John Boyes, 54, and Thomas Allen, 30, pled guilty to violent disorder

Two Sunderland men have been jailed for acts of violence at the brutal protests in Dover in January.

John Boyes, 54, and Thomas Allen, 30, pled guilty to violent disorder at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday June 24.

The two men had travelled to Dover to take part in the demonstrations which quickly devolved into chaos when anti-fascists and members of the far-right clashed.

Allen, who was also in breach of a suspended prison sentence and jailed for a total of 22 months, was recorded being aggressive towards police officers and throwing punches at a number of people.

He was also filmed throwing objects and attempting to steal police equipment.

Boyes, who was jailed for 20 months, was recorded attempting to break through the police cordon and throwing sticks and other objects towards opposition protestors.

Detective Sergeant Matthew Smith of Kent Police said: “The violence committed in Dover on 30 January was totally unacceptable and I hope our actions to date show that we take a very dim view of those who visit the county with the intention of causing trouble.

“We continue to review all available footage captured on the day to identify those responsible, and are hopeful of making further arrests in the weeks and months to come.

“Those convicted so far have been jailed for a total of more than 13 years and I am pleased the courts have seen fit to impose custodial sentences for those whose behaviour during the demonstrations fell way short of what should be reasonably expected in a civilised society.”

The two men are among more than 60 people arrested so far in connection with offences committed on the day.

Dover Express

Tommy allan

john boyes 1

John boyes

Mark Pearson jailed for violent disorder after Dover riots

By
June 8, 2016
Uncategorized

MP

The Right-Wing protester who launched a tirade at a judge in a Dover riot case last week returned to court today… and apologised!

Dad-of-six Mark Pearson had screamed and shouted after appearing by prison video link from his native North East.

Eventually, after being told to keep quiet, the judge pressed the “mute” TV button and the case continued in silence, with Pearson gesticulating wildly.

Today, the 43-year-old sat quietly in the room in Durham Prison to tell Judge Adele Williams: “Your Honour, I do apologise and I am very sorry for the way I went on the other day. I was totally out of order. I shouldn’t have been the way I did (sic)”

But the contrite apology didn’t prevent the judge from jailing him for two years after he admitted violent disorder.

Prosecutor Paul Valder told Canterbury Crown Court how Pearson travelled from his home in Pelton, near Chester le Street, to join a right-wing protest in support of lorry drivers in Dover.

At 3.05pm, Pearson, wearing a camouflage flak jacket and bearing St George flags was caught on camera in Castle Street at the head of a group.

Left-wing thugs then began pelting the group with missiles “which rained down on them”, one of which hit Pearson on the head.

Mr Valder said he is then seen picking up the missile before “suddenly “ running towards the police lines and hurling it back over their heads towards the left-wing protesters.

The court heard that as the rival groups clashed, the left-wing protesters began chanting “Nazi scum” and Pearson with 20 to 30 others then gave a Nazi salute while shouting “Sieg Heil”.

Pearson has a criminal record with more than 80 convictions including eight for public order offences, one of which was racially aggravated.

But his barrister Alexia Zimbler said he denies being a member of any right-wing group, including the English Defence League or the National Front.

She said Pearson had made the 330 mile trip with his 23 year old daughter to support the lorry drivers and was angry that the police weren’t doing more to protect them from the left wing protesters.

“He doesn’t accept that he is a racist and says his views aren’t too right wing.

“But he accepts he lost his temper when the left wingers started shouting “Nazi scum” and reacted accordingly.

Judge Williams told him: “Your behaviour that day was wholly unacceptable. This was serious public disorder on the streets of Dover.”

Kent Today

Far-right thug who performed Nazi salutes and threw objects JAILED

By
June 8, 2016
Uncategorized

Far-right mark pearson

A far-right thug who threw objects at people during demonstrations in Dover in January has been jailed for two years.

Mark Pearson, 42, of The Avenue in Chester-Le-Street, County Durham, was also recorded performing Nazi salutes and acting in an aggressive and threatening manner towards police.

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court today (Wednesday).

Pearson is one of almost 60 people to have been arrested in connection with the Dover protests on Saturday, January 30.

His actions were recorded on film and after being identified he was arrested in Durham on Thursday, March 10.

Detective Inspector Bill Thornton of Kent Police said: “I am very pleased with the sentence imposed on Mark Pearson, which I believe sends a clear message to those intent on causing trouble during such demonstrations.

“He is the eighth person to have been sentenced so far for violence committed on the day, with sentences totalling more than 11 years’ imprisonment. I am looking forward to seeing many more positive outcomes in the weeks and months to come.

“The people of Dover do not want the likes of Mark Pearson coming to their town and displaying such unacceptable behaviour, and we will do everything in our power to ensure those who joined him in committing offences on the day are brought to justice.”

Dover Express