While some of these defendants acknowledged their wrongdoing through guilty pleas, other were convicted after jurors found them guilty at the conclusion of trials.
In addition to sex crimes, defendants have been jailed for a wide range of offences relating to fraud, drug dealing, violence and burglary.
The longest prison sentence passed down by Sheffield judges is one of 19 years, while the shortest is one of a year and 10 months.
5. Haider Darwish: Sheffield drug dealer with tragic background vows to leave city after latest prison sentence
A persistent Sheffield drug dealer snared by police once again has vowed to leave the city once he is released from his latest prison sentence in a bid to stay out of trouble. Before 25-year-old Haider Darwish was jailed again, Sheffield Crown Court heard tragic details of how his life spiralled into crime. When he was a young boy he returned home from school one day to discover that his mum had died. He moved to Sheffield from Iraq as an eight-year-old and ended up in care. He has a lengthy criminal record and came to the attention of police again when officers spotted a group of three males standing on Hermitage Street, near Sheffield city centre, shortly before midnight on August 7, 2024. The judge in the case, Recorder Felicity Davies, told Darwish: “When you, and those accompanying you, saw the police, you immediately separated, and then you ran off into an underpass. “You were carrying a rucksack, which you threw away and continued running. The police retrieved the rucksack and arrested you.” A hearing held on September 24, 2024 heard how a number of items were recovered from Darwish and his rucksack, including a serrated knife within a sheaf, £1,161.50 in cash, 57 wraps of diamorphine, or heroin, worth £580, along with eight wraps of crack cocaine worth an estimated £80, and much smaller quantities of cannabis and cocaine. Recorder Davies sentenced Darwish to five years, eight months, moving down from the minimum seven-year sentence after reducing his sentence by 20 per cent for his guilty pleas and taking his mitigation into consideration. | SYP
6. Gavin Smedley: Jail for burglar who broke into Doncaster shop to steal three guns
A burglar who attempted to steal a number of guns from a firearms store has been jailed. On March 17, an intruder alarm was activated at a local business. Within two minutes of the alarm being sounded, a police officer was on the scene and found Gavin Smedley with three firearms. When confronted by the officer, the 37-year-old dropped the weapons and was arrested. In a police interview, Smedley claimed he had been walking through the car park of the store when he saw the guns on the ground, and he picked them up. However, the hole which had been the cut in the premises’ roof, as well as a wood saw which was recovered near to the scene, suggested otherwise. Smedley pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary and three counts of possessing a firearm without a certificate On Thursday, September 5, 2024 at Sheffield Crown Court, Smedley, of Old Hexthorpe, was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison. | SYP
7. Christian Hemus: Barnsley man who used dog as weapon during Rotherham riots jailed for three years
A Barnsley man who used his dog as a weapon during the violent disorder at Rotherham has been jailed. On Sunday, August 4, officers were subjected to violence outside the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Manvers, Rotherham. Christian Hemus, aged 35, of Clarney Place, Barnsley, has appeared before Sheffield Crown Court on October 3, 2024 for sentencing after pleading guilty to violent disorder and having a dog dangerously out of control. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Hemus attended the riot with his dog, a German shepherd. Footage viewed by officers investigating the disorder showed Hemus using his dog to provoke and cause fear to officers While officers were getting kicked by thugs, Hemus used the opportunity to allow his dog to lunge at officers, showing aggressive behaviour. At one point, the dog broke out of its collar and started running around the crowd, causing a further risk. Hemus, who was wearing a mask during the disorder, thought his identity would be concealed and his actions wouldn’t catch up with him, but CCTV and witness statements enabled officers to identify him as a suspect. During his police interviews, he denied being in attendance and replied no comment throughout. On August 11, when Hemus was arrested in his home, the dog was also seized. Checks carried out in kennels enabled officers to identify specific marks on the dog that confirmed that was the dog at the disorder with Hemus. | SYP
8. John Staveley: Disgraced teacher and football coach jailed over child sex offences
A former teacher and football coach has been jailed for abusing positions of trust to abuse boys. John Staveley, aged 55, sexually abused two boys, with his offending taking place over the course of a decade from the late 1990s. He pleaded not guilty to 12 offences but was handed a nine-and-a-half year prison sentence at Sheffield Crown Court in October 2024 after being found guilty of nine counts of gross indecency with a boy under 14 years of age, two counts of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 16 and one count of causing or inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity. Staveley's first victim reported his attacker's crimes to the NSPCC in 2020, leading to Staveley's arrest and a lengthy police investigation, which saw detectives gather crucial witness statements and screenshots of social media messages. | SYP