The summary of the cases to be heard in court this week is in the gallery below:
Cowardly drunk driver Jason Ward ran off after hitting a 59-year-old woman with his van in Elland Road – leaving her to die.Pedestrian Vanessa Barnes had just left the Planet Ice rink after watching her son play for Leeds Knights on December 10 last year. As she walked along the pavement at about 7.30pm, she was struck by a Ford Transit van driven by Jason Ward.Ward had spent three hours in a Morley pub with his girlfriend, drinking six pints of lager before getting behind the wheel. During his sentencing hearing this week, Leeds Crown Court heard that he was drunk, and his intoxication would have impacted his driving.Ward, of Throstle Road, Middleton, was jailed for eight years and four months and must serve two thirds of his sentence in prison. His disqualification from driving was extended for 66 months. (Photo: West Yorkshire Police)
Qasim Ahmed was caught with cocaine and heroin between his buttocks after being stopped outside a fish and chip shop - and then denied it was his.Ahmed was taken to the police station for a full search, and officers found 50 wraps of cocaine and 40 wraps of heroin concealed between his buttocks worth an estimated £900.He pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and sent to prison for three years. (Photo: West Yorkshire Police)
Cocaine-fuelled Jack Duree from Wakefield strangled his girlfriend and called her vile names during a campaign of coercive behaviour.Duree constantly accused his now-ex partner of cheating. The 26-year-old gaslighted and belittled her, pulled clumps out of her hair and drained her money to buy crack cocaine.Duree was jailed for two years and handed a 10-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim. (Photo: WYP)
Leeds man Jack Beale, 26, threatened to rape and kill the mum of his late child after the pair lost their baby.The victim believed that Beale would go ahead with the vile threats when he turned up at her home in the middle of the night and smashed her window.Judge Rodney Jameson KC handed Beale a two year prison sentence, which he suspended for two years. At the request of the defendant, he also issued a restraining order preventing Beale from contacting the victim or going to her home. (Photo: Adobe Stock/David Silverman/Getty Images)
Bradley Pickles appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week to be sentenced for breaching a non-molestation order and a restraining order. The 28-year-old turned up at his ex-partner’s home the day after the restraining order was made, following his conviction for harassing her earlier this year.The defendant began sighing and muttering under his breath as the judge, Recorder Tony Watkin, considered his sentence. When Judge Watkin told him he should be aware that muttering would not help him, Pickles said: “I’m aware, mate."To which the judge replied: “I’m not your mate, I’m your honour.”Pickles was locked up for two years and his restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim was extended until April 2028.
Tahir Nazir, 40, of West Park Street, Dewsbury was sentenced to a total of 21 years and nine months for starting a fire which took the life of a man and seriously injured five others.He was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Monday for manslaughter for starting the fire at a multi-occupancy residential property on Queen Street, Dewsbury on Sunday, April 10 2022.The fire took the life of Nicolae Alin Gavrila (35) who was inside the property at the time. Mr Gavrila's mother said in court: “As a result of Nicolae’s death, I feel like I have categorically lost a part of me. I feel like there will always be a part of me missing, and my life will never be the same.”
A teenage inmate joined in an attack in Wetherby Young Offender Institute which left the victim “covered in blood”.Mckenzie Meeson, along with three co-defendants, rained punches on a fellow inmate who had recently moved into their unit in the Leeds juvenile prison.Meeson, who was 17 at the time but is now 18, was sentenced to eight months at Leeds Crown Court this week. His three co-accused, who cannot be named due to their age, have already been sentenced to eight months in custody by the youth courts. (Photo: National World)
A Wakefield paedophile who “showed no remorse” over his horrific child sex offences “deserves to be behind bars”.Ben Cooper, 33, was sentenced to eight years at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday after he was convicted of the offences, which occurred against a young girl at an address in Castleford in April 2022.Cooper, of Ken Churchill Drive in Horbury, was arrested following a disclosure by a family member and later charged with two counts of penetration and one count of sexual touching. (Photo: West Yorkshire Police)
The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged Thursday, snapping 14 straight hikes following a shock slowdown to UK inflation and one day after the US Federal Reserve also hit pause. Also Thursday, Sweden's Riksbank and Norway's Norges Bank each raised their key interest rates by a quarter-point.
A man who was killed in a hit-and-run on New Year's Day in 2022 was left barefoot miles from home with no phone and no money by police, a court has been told. Gareth Roper was killed by a motorist driving without a licence three miles from his home in Bamfurlong, near Wigan, who later handed himself into police the same day. Jamie Evans, 30, of no fixed address, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
Anthony Sanchez, 44, protested his innocence as he was strapped down in the death chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. While Sanchez maintained he had nothing to do with the 1996 killing of 21-year-old Juli Busken, he took the unusual step of opting not to present a clemency application to the state's pardon and parole board, which many viewed as the last chance to spare his life. Ahead of his execution, Sanchez criticised his former lawyers and thanked his supporters, including his spiritual adviser who was in the chamber with him.
A missing brother and sister, aged 10 and 11, were found driving their mother's car more than 200 miles from home. The siblings were stopped by police in the early hours of the morning, according to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. Although the stolen car the 10-year-old boy was driving belonged to their mother, police said she opted not to press charges and drove the three hours north to collect her children.
A missing two-year-old girl who got lost in the woods near her home was found asleep on one of her two family dogs like a furry pillow - while the other "kept her safe". "She laid down and used one of the dogs as a pillow, and the other dog laid right next to her and kept her safe," lieutenant Mark Giannunzio said.
Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence on 2 March after the body of two-month-old Victoria was found in Brighton
Police are on the hunt for an "unidentified male" after a woman was raped twice in the space of nine days on a Scottish island. The victim, who is in her 40s, was attacked in the Creagorry area of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. The investigation is being led by specialist officers from Police Scotland's national Public Protection Unit.
More than 11,000 Venezuelan soldiers stormed a notorious prison, finding a nightclub, zoo, swimming pool and casino inside. It was described as a "little city" and was used as the headquarters of the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Members are said to be behind hundreds of murders as well as human trafficking, prostitution, extortion, robberies and kidnappings.
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