Eighty-seven people were jailed in Wales in September for some of the most serious crimes, including a 16-year-old boy who stabbed a teacher in the head, several dangerous offenders sentenced for rape, and a solicitor who passed messages for a drug dealer.
The list includes a 16-year-old boy who was locked up after stabbing a teacher in the head with a kitchen knife while at school. A number of men were handed extended sentences as dangerous offenders for raping women and young girls. One man carried out the horrific crime while his victim was asleep and told her to "keep her mouth shut."
A solicitor also joined his client in prison for passing messages between a drug dealer he was representing and his drug runner. A couple was jailed over their plot to sexually exploit a girl, while another man found himself in prison for striking his neighbour over the head with a hammer after he received a noise complaint.
Once again there is a shocking number of men who were jailed for crimes committed against their partners or former partners. They include one man who was locked up after he strangled his pregnant girlfriend and pulled her by the hair.
Teenager who stabbed teacher
A teenage boy who stabbed a teacher in the head with a kitchen knife was sentenced to four and a half years behind bars. He cannot be named due to his age. He was found not guilty of attempting to murder Vicki Williams at Milford Haven School in Pembrokeshire during the incident last year but was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent following a trial at Swansea Crown Court.
The boy, who was 15 at the time, approached Mrs Williams in a classroom at the end of the day before producing a large kitchen knife from his bag and attacking her. The trial heard that during the attack Mrs Williams thought she was going to die and thought her daughter had seen her for the last time.
Sex offenders and dangerous criminals
James Miller, 49, relentlessly sexually abused a young girl for more than five years. He was a teenager when he began to abuse the primary school-aged child in the 1990s, with the abuse only coming to an end when the girl moved away. Miller subsequently denied any wrongdoing, forcing his victim to go through the ordeal of giving evidence and being cross-examined at trial. In a statement read to the court, the victim said Miller stole her childhood and left her "carrying a horrible secret" for decades. Miller was made subject to a 17-year special custodial sentence as an offender of particular concern comprising 16 years in custody followed by a one-year licence period.
David Walsh, 42, raped a woman while she was asleep and told her to "keep her mouth shut" as he was strangling her. The victim said the sexual abuse she suffered has affected "how she sees herself and lives her life" and she made two attempts on her own life. The woman woke up to find Walsh on top of her, penetrating her. She kept quiet when she was attacked for fear of repercussions at the hands of the rapist. Walsh also strangled the victim when he placed his hands around her neck and applied pressure which affected her ability to breathe. The woman had to strike Walsh in order to get him off of her, and he told her to "keep her mouth shut". The judge found him to be a dangerous offender and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment.
Liam Hobbs sexually assaulted a primary school-age girl and has been handed an extended sentence as a dangerous offender. When Hobbs was arrested for the assaults, police found more than 100 child sex abuse photos and videos on his phone which he had downloaded from the dark web. He went on to deny the sex attacks happened, forcing his young victim to go through the ordeal of giving evidence. A judge at Cardiff Crown Court said the 27-year-old from Cardiff has a "deep-seated and long-held sexual interest in children", while the mother of his victim said her daughter's bravery in reporting the abuse has "protected others from him".
Solicitor jailed alongside client
Ben Garvey, a 38-year-old solicitor from Port Talbot, was found guilty of supplying cocaine and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to three years and six months in prison. A trial at Bristol Crown Court heard how Garvey passed messages between a drug dealer he was representing and his drug runner. The judge in the case told Garvey during sentencing: "You got too close to your client. It’s easy to see you were a good solicitor in many ways and cared about those accused of crime and cared about their families." He added: "You didn’t distance yourself from it, you were weak and no doubt, similar to your use of steroids 13 years earlier, moved with and around those who took drugs."
Daniel Baker was concerned in the supply of cocaine and enlisted his solicitor Ben Garvey to pass messages while he was in custody. Baker was sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment. Jake Blackburn, 28, acted as a drug runner for Daniel Baker and was involved in the conspiracy which saw a south Wales-based solicitor jailed.
Other notable cases
Terrence O'Connor stole more than £200,000 from members of his own family in an "unforgiveable" act of "betrayal". O'Connor secretly set up online and phone banking facilities for his parents, siblings, and widowed grandfather, and used that access to help himself to their money - including draining his granddad's entire life savings - over a period of more than five years. When his offending came to light O'Connor skipped the country and fled to Turkey where he lived for almost a year. He was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.
Sean McCabe, Michael Brain, Daniel Bryant, Jake Thomas, Joshua Pope and Steffan Hopkins were locked up for their roles as part of an organised crime group involved in stealing high-value cars from around Wales and England worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and peddling a range of drugs including cocaine, heroin, and cannabis. The gang used sophisticated electronic devices bought from contacts in the criminal underworld to bypass security and keyless entry systems in order to steal vehicles including Jaguars, Mercedes, Range Rovers, and Land Rovers over a 10 month period. The Swansea-based gang members then changed the identity of the vehicles through the use of fake number plates, resprays and rebadging, and registration documents fraudulently obtained from the DVLA before disposing of them. Sean McCabe, the builder who ran the car-theft gang, was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in prison. Michael Brain was sentenced to five-and-a-half years, Daniel Bryant to four years and five months, Jake Thomas to four years and three months, Joshua Pope to five years, and Steffan Hopkins to 14 months.
Gift Ayoola, 19, encouraged young children to engage in sexual activity online and recorded the footage to sell to paedophiles. Ayoola was paid £5,000 by one paedophile for sickening images and video, and was found with hundreds of images of child abuse. He sexually abused children as young as two-years-old online and communicated with other paedophiles on online group chats, in which he shared videos of the abuse he recorded. Following his arrest, he was found with a "library" of videos and pictures depicting children being abused. Sentencing him to four years imprisonment, a judge said Ayoola partook in a "grievous form of sexual abuse".
The full list of 87 criminals jailed in Wales in September covers a wide range of offences, from violent assaults and domestic abuse to fraud and drugs supply. Many of those sentenced were handed extended sentences as dangerous offenders, reflecting the severity of their crimes and the risk they pose to the public.
