These are some of the murderers, paedophiles, rapists, thugs, drug dealers and liars locked up in 2021.

Thame murder

 

Benjamin Eyles and Nathan Braim Picture: TVP

Benjamin Eyles and Nathan Braim Picture: TVP

 

Nathan Braim, 21, received a life sentence in February after jurors at Oxford Crown Court convicted him of murdering 19-year-old Joshua Harling.

The Headington man was stabbed in a street fight with Braim and Benjamin Eyles on July 22, 2020.

He got into his green VW Polo to drive away - but crashed on Chinnor Road, Thame. His car landed on its roof. Despite the attempts of doctors, who lived nearby, and paramedics to save Mr Harling’s life he died at the scene.

Braim was given a minimum term of 19 years after jurors unanimously convicted him of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a weapon.

The jury heard victim Mr Harling had struck out with a metal bar on the night of the murder. Braim retaliated by stabbing him at least twice, including a fatal stab wound to the chest.

Judge Ian Pringle QC told Braim and co-defendant Benjamin Eyles, who received eight years for manslaughter: "No sentence that I make pass and nothing I can do today will ever compensate for the devastating loss of the actions of you both.”

He added: "You Nathan Braim knew what you had done. [Eyles] then gave you a lift back home. The knife has never been found, only you know where it was disposed of or concealed.”

Earlier this month, Braim received another nine years after he admitted taking part in a mugging spree a month before he murdered Mr Harling.

READ MORE: Joshua Harling killers sentenced

Life sentence for 'evil' barrister

 

Anisah Ahmed Picture: TVP

Anisah Ahmed Picture: TVP

 

A lawyer who hatched a ‘Fatal Attraction’ style plot to get back at a former lover was given a life sentence.

Anisah Ahmed was the first person ever to be given life for perverting the course of justice earlier this year.

She repeatedly made up lies about Iqbal Mohammed and even roped in her ex-boyfriend Mustafa Hussain as she invented claims that the married barrister had raped, stabbed and tried to kidnap her.

Sentencing her to life and ordering she serve at least four-and-a-half years behind bars, Judge Michael Gledhill QC described Ahmed’s actions as ‘malicious, even evil’. He recognised life sentences were a last resort but concluded there was a high risk she would commit serious offences and that risk could not be managed with a stringent restraining order.

However, that life sentence was overturned by the Court of Appeal in November and replaced with a 10 year jail term and an indefinite restraining order.

The appeal justices concluded that there had not been enough information for him to conclude that Ahmed was a ‘serious danger’ to the public forever.

Ahmed’s attempts to falsify evidence to frame Mr Mohammed were called ‘calculated, sophisticated, sustained and repeated’ by the court.

“It is quite clear that the Appellant was intent on destroying her victim’s life, and she came close to doing so,” Mr Justice Knowles said.

However, he added that, although the offending justified a ‘long sentence’, she had not committed a serious violent or sexual offence that – according to a landmark 1997 appeal case – might attract a life sentence.

READ MORE: ‘Evil’ barrister will no longer serve life behind bars

Rapist could die in prison

 

Joseph Whitbread Picture: TVP

Joseph Whitbread Picture: TVP

 

Child rapist Joseph Whitbread, 70, could die in prison – after a judge sentenced him to 16 years’ imprisonment.

The High Wycombe man, who performed sex acts in front of his young victim, will serve at least two thirds of his 16 year prison sentence before he can be considered for release – meaning he will be 81 when he is finally allowed out.

His lawyer told Oxford Crown Court earlier this year that the paedophile pensioner had had a heart stent fitted and suffered from lung condition COPD. His deteriorating health meant he may die in prison or be 'very infirm' when he is released.

Whitbread was found guilty of a catalogue of sexual offending, dating back two decades. Prosecutor Russell Pyne said: “The victim described it as a ‘habit’, essentially. This is what the defendant would do.”

Sentencing him to 16 years’ imprisonment and ordering he serve an additional year on licence as an offender of particular concern, Judge Daly said Whitbread had groomed his victim and abused her trust.

“I have considered the question of dangerousness. On the face of it you have committed appalling offences against your victim. Your activities on the internet indicate that you are somebody who has got an unnatural interest in young children from a sexual point of view,” he said.

“But I have got to consider the public and I have also taken into account the sentence that I have passed of 16 years' imprisonment. I bear in mind that you will serve two thirds of that before release on licence and you will be subject as far as [the rape charge] is concerned to an additional period on extended licence of one year.”

READ MORE: Child rapist, 70, could die behind bars

Convicted wife killer tried to murder woman

 

Stephen Allum Picture: TVP

Stephen Allum Picture: TVP

 

Stephen Allum already had a conviction for killing his wife when he tried to stab another woman to death in Oxford in January.

The 60-year-old received a hospital order in 1998 for fatally stabbing then wife Thelma at the family home.

On January 24 this year, Allum invited his 59-year-old victim into his home.

Within seconds of asking her to go into the back garden, Allum pulled a knife from his jacket and began attacking his victim.

The assault – labelled ‘ferocious’ by the police – only stopped when the knife’s blade snapped in two. Allum tried to throttle the woman, who was stabbed in the chest and also suffered cuts to her face, nose and finger.

Judge Michael Gledhill QC imposed a life sentence, deciding that Allum would spend at least 17 years in jail before he is eligible for release on parole.

READ MORE: Life sentence for attempted murderer

'Psychopath' threatened to bury his victim 'where it would never be found'

 

Gordon Luetchford

Gordon Luetchford

 

A bullying ‘psychopath’ who raped and threatened to bury his victim's body where it would 'never be found' was jailed for 14 years.

Gordon Luetchford subjected the woman to humiliating sexual assaults in 2016.

Judge Nigel Daly told bearded Leutchford, who in 1986 was labelled a ‘psychopath’ by a doctor in South Shields: “In my judgement you knew of [your victim’s] vulnerability both mental and physical and I consider that you exploited that vulnerability to exercise control over her and committed forcible sexual assaults on her.”

He was ordered to spend an extended four years on licence, after Judge Daly ruled he was a dangerous offender. He was found guilty in June of rape, sexual assault and making threats to kill.

READ MORE: Bully raped and threatened to bury his victim where she'd 'never be found'

Burglary gang involved in fatal crash en route to heist

 

Jimmy Loveridge, Albert Johnson and Paul Smith Pictures: TVP

Jimmy Loveridge, Albert Johnson and Paul Smith Pictures: TVP

 

Burglars Jimmy Loveridge, Paul Smith and Albert Johnson were jailed for 19 years over a crash in a stolen Mercedes A-class that killed fourth gang member Rocky Broadway.

The group was cruising at speed down country lanes in the stolen car when driver Loveridge cut a blind bend on the B4011, near Bicester, and crashed into another vehicle being driven by a local farmer.

Judge Michael Gledhill QC said: "The collision was catastrophic. The vehicles had collided when both were travelling at about 50mph.

"Although seriously injured, [farmer Stephen] Mansfield managed to force open the damaged driver’s door and stagger from the middle of the road, where his car had come to rest, to the safety of the verge.

"The consequences of the collision and his injuries have been dreadful – the physical injuries, the damage to his family life, to his work and financially.”

Rocky Broadway, a backseat passenger, was killed in the crash. Loveridge, Smith and Johnson were seriously injured.

A trial at Oxford Crown Court heard that the men were on their way to stage a heist at the Swan Antiques Centre in Tetsworth on the night of the crash on June 10, 2020.

Judge Gledhill said: "A large, sharp, serrated machete-type knife was clearly visible in the front footwell of the Mercedes. There were other burglars’ tools in the vehicle – including chains with hooks, a four-foot-long iron bar and bolt croppers. The two defendants who remained on the scene when the police arrived were, or had been, wearing gloves and balaclavas."

Loveridge, whose address was given as the Kalima Caravan Site, Woking, Surrey, of causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by driving while uninsured, three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, conspiracy to commit burglary with intent to steal, using criminal property and having an article with a blade or point. He was jailed for 10 years and banned from the roads for a decade.

Smith, of the Pennyhill Caravan Park, Camberley, Surrey, was convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary with intent to steal, using criminal property and having an article with a blade or point. He received five years in jail.

Johnson, of Winterbotham Road, Cheltenham, was convicted by the jury of conspiracy to commit burglary with intent to steal and using criminal property. He was sentenced to four years and four months’ imprisonment.

The court heard he was part of a gang that stole more than £30 million from a string of country mansions between 2005 and 2009, for which he was jailed for nine years.

READ MORE: Burglar killed in car crash on the way to raid antiques centre

Rapist took victim to takeaway restaurant 'as a treat'

 

John Weller Picture: TVP

John Weller Picture: TVP

 

John Weller, 36, took his victim to Burger King ‘as a treat’ after molesting the young girl.

He was found guilty of 11 counts of sexually abusing the underage girl, and sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment at Oxford Crown Court in November.

Judge Nigel Daly ordered the Oxford man serve an extended year on licence as a ‘sexual offender of particular concern’.

He will be on the sex offender register for the rest of his life, a restraining order prevents him from contacting his victim or her family members and he must abide by an indefinite sexual harm prevention order limiting his contact with children.

Officer in the case Det Con Sophie Holliss said Weller was ‘not fit to be in society’.

READ MORE: Jail for sickening child rapist who 'treated' victim to Burger King

Witney man who filmed rapes a 'monster to the innocent'

Sam Burton, 23, who filmed himself raping a baby was slammed as a ‘monster to the innocent’ by the victim’s mother.

The woman told the paedophile in a victim personal statement: “I hope you suffer for what you have done.”

Jailing him for 14 years, Judge Daly told the defendant: “Your actions were so depraved that, quite frankly, they defy belief.

“Not only did you carry out the acts, you decided to record what you did. That, in the end, proved to be your downfall.”

Despite also pasting the heads of people he knew on child sex abuse images and filming himself carrying out his vile abuse, he still claimed he was not sexually attracted to children.

Burton, from Abingdon, was found to be a ‘dangerous’ offender and must serve an extended four years on licence.

READ MORE: 'Monster' who raped baby gets 14 years in jail

Drug dealer caught out by crooked phone messages

 

Malachi Charles and Thomas Webb, the man arrested by police in Cowley Picture: SEROCU

Malachi Charles and Thomas Webb, the man arrested by police in Cowley Picture: SEROCU

 

Organised crime gang lieutenant Malachi Charles’ involvement in the group’s massive drugs operation was uncovered by messages he sent on an encrypted mobile network often likened to a criminals’ WhatsApp.

Charles smashed his way into a house to retrieve wads of dirty cash 40 minutes after another gang member’s arrest in Cowley Road claimed he’d been there to pick up some keys.

But Malachi Charles’ true intention in smashing through the arrested gang member’s front door with a breeze block was unmasked months later when French police cracked encrypted messages on the Encrochat network between the 40-year-old and a criminal known only by his moniker ‘Wasps Pirate’.

Oxford Crown Court heard that after he was charged with perverting the course of justice in June 2020 for breaking into dealer Thomas Webb’s Oxford home 10 months earlier, BMW plant worker Charles sent ‘Wasps Pirate’ a picture of his charge sheet.

The messages, sent via heavily-encrypted ‘EncroChat’ phones, also revealed Charles was involved in supplying tens of thousands of pounds-worth of cocaine – with dreams of dealing up to 10kg of the class A drug every week.

 

Malachi Charles sent this picture of his charge sheet to criminals via EncroChat Picture: SEROCU

Malachi Charles sent this picture of his charge sheet to criminals via EncroChat Picture: SEROCU

 

Jailing him for 12 years and three months for perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to supply class A drugs, Judge Michael Gledhill QC said: “I take a very grave view of people such as yourself - even working under the direction of somebody else – so blatantly and grossly interfering in the course of a police investigation and perverting public justice.”

READ MORE: Cocaine dealer who called himself 'Satin Seal' held down £30k a year job at BMW

Screwdriver 'killer'

 

Aaron McDonalds mugshot Picture: TVP

Aaron McDonald's mugshot Picture: TVP

 

Teenager Aaron McDonald was sentenced to four years and four months in youth detention in March for the manslaughter of Robin Williamson, who died around two weeks after he was repeatedly stabbed with a screwdriver.

He stabbed the 43-year-old on October 27, 2019 after a row outside shops in Wood Farm, Oxford.

Mr Williamson did not go to hospital until a week later and died from his wounds on November 10.

McDonald was initially charged with murder before he admitted the lesser offence of manslaughter.

The teenager could not be named when he was sentenced for manslaughter in the spring, as he was under-18 at the time.

But the manslaughter case was referenced when McDonald was back in front of Judge Ian Pringle QC in October for dealing cannabis.

Around 50g of skunk cannabis was found stashed behind a bathtub when police raided McDonald’s accommodation in January 2020, around a month after victim Robin Williamson’s death.

Judge Pringle imposed another 10 months in custody after he admitted dealing the class B drug.

READ MORE: Screwdriver killer, 18, gets more jail time for cannabis dealing

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