CRIMINALS jailed in November include sex offenders who groomed children, a drug dealer, and fraudulent police officers.
The list below includes some of the offenders that were put behind bars by judges during November for offences in Dorset.
Some custody images of the people featured have been released by police forces, while others did not have a custody image or the police force was unable to issue an image.
The offenders' names and a summary of what led to them appearing in the dock are as follows:
Rapist who grabbed woman by throat in sex attack
On the night of Friday, February 22, 2019, the defendant and the victim, a woman who was known to him, were at her home on Portland and watching a film together.
Puncher began touching her in a sexual manner and the victim clearly told him to stop.
At around 1.50am on Saturday, February 23, 2019 the defendant made further advances and proceeded to grab her by the throat as he raped her.
Following the incident, Puncher left the property and then texted his victim to apologise, before asking her not to tell anyone.
Puncher reported himself to the police in the early hours of Sunday, February 24, 2019 stating he wanted to hand himself in in relation to an incident that had happened on Portland.
The victim made a report later that morning and Puncher was arrested shortly afterwards.
In police interview, Puncher claimed they had engaged in consensual sexual activity and denied he had raped his victim.
Drug dealer dealt drugs ‘to pay for food’ after failing to find work
Karl Farrant, of Lehthay Close, Sherborne, has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years after admitting four Class A drug offences when he appeared at Preston Crown Court, in Lancashire.
The 26-year-old was arrested after a member of the public found wraps of heroin and crack cocaine worth more than £5,000 on the street in Barrow-in-Furness on Thursday, September 17 2020, said prosecutor Stephen Parker.
The drugs contained blood which was matched with the defendant - leading to him being brought in for questioning and later released under investigation.
Mr Parker told the court the defendant was later under surveillance during Cumbria Police’s Operation Medusa in May 2021, where he was seen making transactions with known drug users.
"Police observed a group of known drug users congregating on a street in Barrow," he said.
"Police then carried out observation on a suspected drug deal taking place before going in. There was a brief struggle before the defendant dropped the bag."
In the bag contained wraps of heroin and crack cocaine as well as £190 in cash.
Defence lawyer Claire Brocklebank told the court Farrant had plans to better himself and become a law-abiding citizen when he came out of prison.
"He ended up in Barrow and his ambition was to start fresh," Ms Brocklebank said - referencing his previous reliance on drugs and alcohol.
"Because of the pandemic work was thin on the ground.
"He became involved in the supply of drugs in order to pay for food.
"He has since been diagnosed with anxiety and depression."
'High-risk' sex offender caught talking to '12-year-old girl' in police sting
A 'high-risk' sex offender who was caught in a police sting when he believed he was engaging in sexual communications with a 12-year-old girl has been jailed.
Carl Richard Newton Cracknell, aged 36, thought he was messaging a girl named Sophie from Worcester. However, he was actually talking to a police officer posing as a young schoolgirl.
Cracknell was sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court on Friday, November 26, after he pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, one count of attempting to cause a female aged 13 or under to engage in a sexual activity and one count of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
The order means a person is prohibited from contacting or speaking to children under the age of 16 unless they have consent from their parents or guardian, and can't be in public places where children are likely to be.
All the offences took place in Dorchester between January 13 and February 25 this year.
Prosecuting, Timothy Akers, told Salisbury Crown Court that Cracknell, of HM Prison Winchester, started talking to the decoy profile on the messaging app Kik.
Mr Akers said that 'Sophie' told Cracknell she was 12 years old and Cracknell told her he was a 35-year-old man from Dorset.
Mr Akers read out the sexual nature of Cracknell's comments to Sophie to the court which said he wanted to kiss her, touch her and get in the shower with her and asked her questions like, 'what would you do if my hand was inside your shorts?'.
The defendant would tell Sophie that he really did love her and instructed her on how to masturbate, saying that she would 'enjoy it'.
Mr Akers said that on March 19 officers from Dorset Police attended the defendants address and took his Huawei mobile phone. In interview Cracknell said he was 'annoyed' at what he had done, saying: "I thought I had changed."
When he was told the child he had spoken to was an undercover police officer it was said that Cracknell 'gasped' and 'appeared relieved'.
He admitted to the offences and to deleting the Kik messenger app off of his phone, something he is prohibited from doing under his SHPO.
Former Dorset PCC worker jailed after police sting
A former civil servant who worked for the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner has been jailed for repeatedly engaging in sexual communications with two underage 'girls'.
Jason Rory Samuel Mumford, aged 47, thought he was messaging a 12-year-old girl named 'Toby' and a 13-year-old girl named 'Paris' - sending them videos of himself performing sexual acts and also inviting them to perform lewd acts on themselves. However, Mumford was actually talking to police officers from two separate operations running decoy profiles.
All the offences took place in Dorset between September 15, 2020 and October 14, 2020.
Mumford, of Bottels Road, Warboys, in Huntingdonshire, was said to have also engaged in conversation of a sexual nature with Toby and also sent a short video of himself performing a sexual act.
Mumford was sentenced to an immediate 32-month custodial sentence and has been made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, as well as being placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely, and ordered to pay £190 victim surcharge.
Fraudulent Dorset Police officer his 'undermined' colleagues
A former Dorset Police officer has been jailed after defrauding the force out of around £150,000 when he claimed he was unfit to work.
PC Matthew James Littlefair, 36 and of Alderholt, was seen running with his dog, playing football with his children and cycling at a time when he was telling Dorset Police colleagues he was in chronic pain.
Judge Robert Pawson told Littlefair his actions “undermined the professional reputation of your colleagues” in a year which has seen more high profile cases of officers breaking the law lower public confidence in police forces.
The defendant, who since the offending has been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, was jailed for two years and three months after pleading guilty to an offence of fraud by false representation.
Salisbury Crown Court heard how Littlefair had misrepresented his physical and mental abilities between October 30, 2017 and July 16, 2020, following a “minor crash”.
He told officers he “could barely leave the house”, but a health app on his phone showed he had taken more than 10,000 steps a day between March 24, 2020 and May 13, 2020.
Activist blocked M25
An Insulate Britain activist from Weymouth was jailed for blocking the M25.
Nine supporters of the group were jailed at the High Court in London after they admitted breaching an injunction by taking part in a blockade at junction 25 of the motorway during the morning rush hour on October 8.
Some of the group glued themselves to each other and two glued themselves to the road, causing disruption for over an hour and a half on the busy motorway.
Ana Heyatawin, 58, and Louis McKechnie, 20, were jailed for three months, while Ben Buse, 36, Roman Paluch-Machnik, 28, Oliver Rock, 41, Emma Smart, 44, Tim Speers, 36, and James Thomas, 47, received four-month sentences.
Ben Taylor, 37, was given a longer sentence of six months “to deter (him) from committing further breaches” after his submissions to the court on Tuesday were described by Dame Victoria Sharp as “inflammatory” and a “call to arms”.
Ms Smart, of Weymouth, announced her intention to go on hunger strike immediately and said in a statement, released after she and the other activists were taken to the cells by security officers, that the Government is “betraying us”.
London drug dealer jailed for having cocaine and heroin in Bournemouth
A man has been jailed for dealing crack cocaine and heroin in Boscombe as part of a county lines operation.
Aaron Smith, 25, of Thornton Heath, pleaded guilty to possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply in Boscombe in July this year, drugs he was selling to pay off a debt incurred for losing drugs in Croydon.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard how plain-clothes officers saw Smit dealing in Boscombe. He was found with 14 wraps of crack cocaine and 28 wraps of heroin with a potential street value of £500.
A phone and £175 cash was found and the phone was being used to receive orders and for him to receive instructions and where and how to sell the drugs.
Recorder Jane Rowley sentenced Smith on the basis that he played a significant role.
He was sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment.
Drug dealer jailed for more than eight years
A drug dealer spat out wraps of class As when he was confronted by police officers in Bournemouth town centre.
Fahim Mohamed, 21 and of no fixed abode, was jailed for eight years and three months for drug offences at Hull Crown Court.
This was after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine in Hull, and two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply and one count of possessing a class B drug in Bournemouth.
On Thursday, October 10, 2019, officers witnessed the defendant, who had previously been seen involved in suspected drug deals in the area, approach a group of known drug users in the area of Old Christchurch Road. He was seen walking up Old Christchurch Road a short time later and was detained by police for a search.
Officers suspected he was storing something in his mouth and told Mohamed to open it. As he did, he spat out a number of wraps containing suspected class A drugs. A total of 34 wraps were seized and found to contain heroin and crack cocaine.
Man with sex offending history had indecent images of The Simpsons
A man with a “flagrant disregard” for the police and court orders who had previously been jailed for the rape of a nine-year-old girl has been put behind bars again.
Stephen Leslie Mertens, 68, of Dudley Gardens, Bournemouth, pleaded guilty to being in possession of four cartoon images depicting sexual activity involving children in May 2018.
He also admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order on August 12, 2021 by refusing to give the password to his phone to police, and failing to comply with the sex offender’s notification order requirement between June 24, 2019, and August 8, 2021.
Salisbury Crown Court heard how Mertens was found with indecent images of cartoons, including The Simpsons, depicting penetrative sexual acts.
Judge Robert Pawson said the defendant had a “flagrant disregard” for police and court orders and sentenced him to 20 months imprisonment for the refusal to give his password and 10 months for failing to notify the authorities, to be served consecutively, making two and a half years. He was sentenced to six months for the indecent images, to be served concurrently.
Pervert sexually abused girl in Philippines
A man has been jailed for more than 60 sexual exploitation offences related to a child in the Philippines.
Stephen David Aspinall, aged 68 and of Knole Road, Bournemouth, admitted 67 charges including multiple counts of paying for the sexual services of a child, causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography and making indecent images of a child.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court.
The victim in the case was aged between six and nine years old during the period of offending, from December 2017 to September 2019.
After receiving evidence from the National Crime Agency (NCA) relating to online payments made by the defendant to an account in the Philippines, POLIT officers established that Aspinall had made 86 financial payments totalling £2,916.37 to recipients in the Philippines.
On November 7, 2019 officers attended the defendant’s address, arrested him and seized his computers and digital devices.
An examination of the devices revealed evidence of the Skype conversations with the victim’s mother, as well as a large number of indecent images, which are graded between category A and category C, with category A being the most serious.
More than 150 category A images were found, as well as more than 800 category B and more than 3,000 category C images. Many of the images were of the victim in the Philippines.
Shoplifting 'menace' jailed
A “significant menace to shopkeepers" has been jailed for a burglary and a host of shopliftings spanning over the course of a year.
Benjamin James Cook, 38, of HMP Lewes, pleaded guilty to one burglary Pawseidon in the Albany Industrial estate, two assaults and a number of thefts.
He was sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court to two years and two months for the burglary and one year for the shoplifting. The sentences would be served consecutively making three years and two months.
He was given a concurrent sentence of four months for each assault and one month for each of the rest of the thefts.
The two assaults relate to the victim beating someone trying to stop him shoplifting.
The first involves pushing a woman to the ground at the Co-op store in Cookswell, Shillingstone and the second involved him punching a man in the face at the Damory Garage in Blandford. They both occurred on November 7, 2020.
There are then other thefts, including in Wimborne, Fordingbridge, Bournemouth and Poole.
Approximately £10,000 was stolen in total, the court heard, including steaks, chocolate, washing products and an iPhone charger.
The burglary of Pawseidon, a dog rehabilitation centre, involved Cook stealing £7,000 worth of items, including a £2,300 Tag Huer watch and £300 in Scottish bank notes.
Man jailed for burgling dog physio centre
A “prolific” burglar admitted raiding a dog physiotherapy centre the day before burgling a motorhome hire unit.
Philip Martin Bright, 45, pleaded guilty to burgling £7,000 worth of items from Pawseidon with Benjamin James Cook in the Albany Park Industrial Estate in Poole on September 13, 2020.
The day after his plea, August 21 of this year, he attempted to burgle a motorhome unit in the Holton Heath Trading Park, an offence he is currently serving three years imprisonment for.
More than £7,000 worth of items, including watches, clothing and cash was stolen. The offenders also punched a hole in an office door and caused £3,600 worth of damage to the premises.
Judge Robert Pawson sentenced him to three years imprisonment, to be served concurrently with the sentence he was already serving.
Man attacked cyclist in Bournemouth town centre
A man delivered a “heavy and full-on” blow to a cyclist’s face, leaving him with a fractured jaw and partial sight, in an early morning attack in Bournemouth.
Daniel Martin McInerney, aged 30, of Hazelmere Drive, Northolt, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on Andrew Ntiamoah in the Lower Gardens on May 31, 2021.
McInerney attacked a cyclist travelling past his group punching him and pushing him to the ground.
The victim was left with partial eyesight, a fractured jaw and eye socket.
Judge Brian Forster QC sentenced him to 28 months imprisonment for the assault.
Thug grabbed police officer's genitals and spat at him
A man who grabbed a police officer by the genitals and spat at him during Covid times has been jailed.
Stuart Dillon, 42, from Poole was convicted of assaulting an emergency worker while they were at his mother’s address on November 9, 2020.
In doing so, Dillon breached a six-week suspended sentence imposed for assault by beating.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Dillon became aggressive with police conducting a missing persons search and spat towards them before grabbing PC Blagdon’s groin area.
Recorder Charles Morrison sentenced Dillon to ten weeks for the assault, as well as the initial six week sentence he had breached, making 16 weeks in total.
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