A man who kept his dead mother's body in a freezer for nearly three years was among the criminals jailed in the UK in the last month. Other offenders put behind bars in August 2026 included a farmer who shot and dismembered a dad then hid the body, and an illegal immigrant who stabbed his flatmate to death.
A disgraced reality TV star was jailed for breaching his requirements as a sex offender, while a man who drove his electric Jaguar at high speeds on motorways and claimed it would not brake in a “frighteningly stupid” attempt to avoid paying his car finance was sent to prison. Others jailed in the last month include a man who tried to murder his ex-partner by repeatedly stabbing her in front of their daughter on a street, and four fugitives who fled to Portugal days after a teenager died in a fatal gang revenge attack.
Christopher Phillips: Mother's body kept in freezer for three years
Christopher Phillips kept his dead mother's body in the freezer for nearly three years, while fraudulently receiving more than £78,000 in benefits. At Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, the 60-year-old admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of Silvia Phillips, 89. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud, by failing to notify the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as Bridgend County Borough Council, that his mother had died.
Phillips received a total of £78,190.92 in state pension, pensions credit, attendance allowance, winter fuel payments, cost-of-living payments and housing benefit payments, which would have ceased had Ms Phillips’ death at their home in Porthcawl been reported. Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, sentenced Phillips to two years and four months’ imprisonment.
The court heard Phillips had left work to become a full-time carer for his mother in the months leading up to her death on March 8 2023. Following her death, for which the cause remains unknown, the defendant purchased a chest freezer and used this to store her body inside the living room of the property. The body of Ms Phillips was found by police officers in February 2026 after concerns for her welfare were raised by the medical practice she previously attended.
Nathan Owen: Fake brake failure to dodge car finance
Nathan Owen, 33, was jailed for four years and three months after he phoned the emergency services to tell them his vehicle was accelerating and not in his control on March 6, 2024. He collided with a police car 31 times as officers attempted to stop him, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Owen drove at speeds of up to 86mph on the M58, M57 and M62 in Merseyside for about 35 minutes, over a distance of about 38 miles.
Sentencing him, Judge Ian Unsworth KC said: “You set in train a course of conduct which caused a significant police traffic operation to be deployed, undoubted alarm to the public and very substantial loss and disruption to others.” The judge said police officers placed themselves in danger because they believed they were dealing with a genuine emergency. Addressing Owen, he added: “You, meanwhile, sought to profit from a lie.”
Investigations found there was no fault with the car, the court heard. Owen pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and two counts of fraud in June. He was banned from driving for a period of five years after his release from custody. A charge of causing a public nuisance was ordered to lie on the file.
Osarenkhoe Atutie: Attempted murder in front of daughter
Osarenkhoe Atutie, 26, admitted the attack on Victory Atutie on Duke Street in the Leith area of Edinburgh on November 11 last year. Atutie admitted the attempted murder at a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, during which the court was told the couple had got married in Nigeria before coming the UK, where they had a daughter.
The attack was ended when three bystanders ran over and held Atutie on the ground until the emergency services arrived. Ms Atutie was left with 12 separate injuries and was taken to hospital where she was found to have suffered a collapsed lung. Lord Cubie said Atutie perpetrated a “sustained attack” which involved repeated use of a knife. The judge imposed a nine-year extended sentence on Atutie when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow, comprising seven-and-a-half years in custody and 18 months of supervision on licence upon release.
He imposed a non-harassment order of indefinite duration on Atutie, banning him from approaching, contacting or attempting to contact Ms Atutie.
Christopher Wright: Murder and dismemberment
A former butcher shot and dismembered a dad then hid the body in a concrete-filled barrel for six years. Farmer Christopher Wright, 73, has been jailed for at least 35 years after being convicted of murdering Richard Dyson, 55, who disappeared in 2019. Mr Dyson who lived in his car on Wright’s land at Hoyland, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was reported missing by his daughter.
Wright shot him in the arm and chest and, over the following days, he dismembered him, bought cement from a builder’s merchant then concealed the body parts in a blue barrel. Wright then put the barrel in a trailer and persuaded an innocent and unwitting neighbour to store the vehicle. Mr Justice Cotter, sitting at Sheffield Crown Court, said: “You had worked as a butcher and were skilled enough to do such a terrible thing, something few ordinary people would have the stomach for.” Wright was convicted of murder, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial as well as firearms offences.
Wright’s childhood friend Karl Schwalbe, 72, was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after helping to conceal the crime. He was jailed for three years.
Other notable jailings in August 2026
Mohammed Al Masri, 25, was jailed for eight years for rape after offering to get an upset woman home in a taxi but instead taking her back to his house where he carried out the sex attack, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard. Disgraced reality star Stephen Bear, 36, was jailed twice during August, including for breaching his requirements as a sex offender after taking a trip to Brazil.
Fraser Garden, 55, was jailed for 13 years and six months for causing the death of John Bell, 74, by crashing into the garden where he was working in a stolen Maserati. Eugeniu Neamtu, 59, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years after being found guilty of fatally stabbing his flatmate Gheorghe Trica, 63, in Walthamstow, east London. Liam Churchman, 37, who called himself the "Pablo Escobar of Buxton", was jailed for a total of five years and nine months for drug offences.
Steven Wales, 61, was jailed for two years and four months at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting hiding the body of an arson attack suspect inside a wheelie bin. Four fugitives who fled to Portugal days after a teenager died in a fatal gang revenge attack were handed jail terms of around 10 years each. Joseph Gibson, 35, was jailed for three years and two months for fraud after claiming he was a special forces soldier turned multi-millionaire cancer patient.
