Among the defendants included in the list are ones serving time for the most serious of crimes, including murder, manslaughter and rape.
Some of these criminals admitted their crimes by entering guilty pleas, while others were convicted at the conclusion of trials at the same court.
The longest sentence passed during the course of 2024 was one of life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 26 years.

1. Longest sentences handed out at Sheffield Crown Court in 2024
Top row, left to right: Daniel Cheetham; Liam Shaw; Zoe Rider; Nicola Lethbridge Jack Douglas and Rebecca Moore. Second row, left to right: Barney Griffin; Sipho Pfukani; Daniel Balazs; Paul Cousans and Lee Grant. Third row, left to right: Hanzel Scott; Jonathan Jackson; Neil King and David Saynor. Bottom row, left to right: Brett Garbutt; Adam Ali and Mark Hulley | Adobe and SYP

2. Daniel Cheetham and Liam Shaw
Daniel Cheetham and Liam Shaw went on trial at Sheffield Crown Court in March 2024, accused of murdering 35-year-old Carl Dixon, who suffered fatal injuries when he was stabbed seven times during an incident at a property on George Street, Worsbrough, Barnsley, on Tuesday, September 5, 2023. On Wednesday, March 27, 2024, following four hours and 33 minutes of deliberation, the jury of seven women and five men returned guilty verdicts in respect of both men. Cheetham, aged 26, of Underwood Avenue, Worsbrough Dale, Barnsley, was found guilty of murder. 25-year-old Shaw, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of manslaughter. He was acquitted of murder. During a hearing held on Thursday, March 28, 2024, Judge Sarah Wright sentenced Cheetham to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 18 years. Shaw was jailed for 11 years | SYP

3. Zoe Rider and Nicola Lethbridge
Two women have been jailed for a combined total of 52 years for the ‘callous’ and ‘sadistic’ murder of a Sheffield man. 60-year-old Stephen Mark Koszyczarski died in the early hours of August 11, 2023, after being found seriously injured at his home in Fraser Drive, Woodseats, Sheffield, around 30 hours earlier, on the evening of August 9. Jurors convicted Stephen’s neighbours, Zoe Rider, aged 36, and 45-year-old Nicola Lethbridge of his murder, during a Sheffield Crown Court trial, which concluded in May 2024. Duing a Sheffield Crown Court hearing held on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, Judge Sarah Wright jailed Rider and Lethbridge for life for their attack upon Stephen, who was described by those closest to him as ‘kind,’ ‘generous’ and as someone with a ‘heart of gold’. Judge Wright fixed the minimum term each of the two murderers must serve behind bars during the 45-minute hearing, with both defendants told they must serve at least 26 years in prison. Both women were also convicted of one count of robbery, relating to items taken from Stephen’s flat during the course of the attack, and Judge Wright sentenced each of them to 13 years’ imprisonment for the robbery, which will run concurrently to the murder sentence | SYP

4. Jack Douglas, Rebecca Moore and Barney Griffin
24-year-old Sacad Ali lost his life in a fatal knife attack carried out at Ponderosa Park in the Netherthorpe area of Sheffield in the early hours of March 9, 2024, despite the best efforts of medics, police and residents who attempted to come to his aid. Two teenage boys, 18-year-old Barney Griffin and Jack Douglas, aged 17, pleaded guilty to Mr Ali’s murder earlier this year. A third defendant, Rebecca Moore, denied murdering Mr Ali, but was unanimously convicted of the grave offence in a trial that concluded at Sheffield Crown Court in November 2024. Sending the three killers to begin a life sentence on Thursday, November 28, 2024, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told them: “If ever there was a case that demonstrates the true evils of drug peddling and carrying knives, particularly young people carrying knives, this is it. “This case demonstrates what can happen when young people get embroiled with drug peddling, and a drug related turf war erupts.” Judge Richardson jailed Moore, formerly of Springvale Walk, Upperthorpe, Sheffield, for life and fixed her minimum term at 15 years. Due to their age, Judge Richardson told Griffin and Douglas that while they would, in effect receive a life sentence, it would be referred to as detention at His Majesty’s Pleasure. Douglas received a minimum term of 15 years, while Griffin received one of 16 years. Judge Richardson said he regarded the actions, culpability and immaturity of the two males to be ‘almost identical,’ but the seven months’ difference in their age meant they were different chronological ages at the time of the murder, when Douglas was aged 16 and Griffin was 17-years-old. The statutory starting point for the two males was judged to be six years apart, but Judge Richardson reduced the difference in their sentences to one of just a year, in the interests of ‘fairness,’ and after taking mitigating factors and legal argument into consideration. | SYP