Biggest cases heard at Sheffield Crown Court - latest round-up

One of the most harrowing cases involved the false imprisonment of an autistic young man, who was locked in an attic by his mum and stepdad.

Matthew Langley, in his early 20s, was found living in squalor and on the verge of death when emergency services were called to the home he shared with Lorna and Craig Hewitt on Walkley Road, Walkley.

Lorna, 43, and her husband Craig, 42, both jailed for six years after being found guilty of causing/allowing serious injury to a vulnerable adult and false imprisonment.

MORE: Sheffield Crown Court: 'Depraved' sex offender with dirty nappy fetish jailed over plan to rape baby

Another shocking case involved a ‘depraved’ man with a dirty nappy fetish who detailed his plans to rape a baby to an undercover police officer.

Lee Haughton was jailed for 14 years after his vile sexual fantasies were laid bare at his sentencing hearing at Sheffield Crown Court, during which Judge David Dixon described his behaviour as ‘abhorrent’ and ‘depraved’.

Haughton, of Wood Street, South Hiendley, Barnsley met an undercover police officer purporting to be a single mother in an online chatroom in June last year.

He was caught and arrested by police three days later, as he travelled to a location he believed to be the woman’s house, carrying a bag containing sex toys.

Haughton pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to engage/facilitate in the commission of a child sex offence; making indecent photographs/pseudo photographs of a child and possessing prohibited images of a child at an earlier hearing.

Judge Dixon described Haughton as a ‘dangerous offender’.

Another paedophile found himself at court after being found with digital devices he was banned from having after his previous offending.

MORE: Sheffield child rapist caught with banned digital devices gets custodial term

Paul Davis, 49, of Callow Drive, Gleadless Valley, Sheffield, was banned from keeping any photographic or digital camera or recording equipment after he was convicted of 17 offences of raping a child, two offences of making indecent images and two of causing a child to watch a sexual activity.

He was sentenced to 14 years of custody in 2008 but released in February, 2017 under an extended licence until April, 2028, while still subject to an indefinite Sexual Offence Prevention Order banning him from having photographic or digital cameras or recording equipment.

A police search of his home unearthed an iPad and Samsung tablet.

He was sentenced to seven months of custody.

MORE: Watch as 'disrespectful' man is caught on camera performing 'donuts' in Sheffield cemetery on day of funeral

A ‘disrespectful’ motorist was banned from driving after he was caught on camera performing donuts in a Sheffield cemetery on the day of a funeral.

Ketan Singh-Baat, 20, was among hundreds of mourners who attended a joint funeral for friends Tyrone Forde, aged 22 and Jordan Caster, 19, who died in a crash on the M1, north of Sheffield, in April 2021.

More than 60 cars, trucks, bikes and quads were involved in a funeral procession through Sheffield to Shiregreen Cemetery as Tyrone and Jordan made their final journey together.

at Shiregreen Cemetery, a police helicopter camera captured Singh-Baat performing ‘donuts’ on land close to burial plots.

South Yorkshire Police said his actions were ‘disrespectful and anti-social’.

Singh-Baat was disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to retake a driving test. He was also made the subject of a community curfew order.

MORE: Sheffield heroin and cocaine dealer caught with cannabis plants is put behind bars

A heroin and cocaine dealer who was caught with cannabis plants at his home was jailed.

Thomas Pryor, 26, of Smelter Wood Court, Richmond, Sheffield, was street-dealing on two occasions and he was also found with 18 cannabis plants during a police raid at his home, according to a Sheffield Crown Court hearing.

Amy Earnshaw, prosecuting, told the hearing on February 17 how Pryor was found to be dealing cocaine and to be in possession of heroin and cannabis after he was seen by police in a Vauxhall Astra at Deerlands Close, Parson Cross, Sheffield, in April 2019, with another man.

Ms Earnshaw added that Pryor was also caught by police while he was on bail at his home on June 23, 2020, with 15 cannabis plants worth thousands of pounds.

Pryor was also seen speaking to two males on Emerson Crescent, near Sheffield Lane Top, five days later and he was searched by police and found to be dealing crack cocaine and heroin and he was also found with a small amount of cannabis.

Judge Reeds sentenced Pryor to three years and six months of custody.

MORE: Doncaster rapist: man jailed in Sheffield for attacking stranger walking home in early hours

A man who attempted to rape a stranger as she walked home in the early hours in Doncaster has been jailed.

Bariscag Salih, 26, formerly of Wolsley Avenue, Intake, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court to seven years and six months behind bars after pleading guilty to attempted rape, assault by penetration and sexual assault, at an earlier hearing.

The court heard that on August 1, 2021, a young woman was walking home in the early hours of the morning along Armthorpe Road in Doncaster when she was approached by an unknown man, later identified as Salih, who asked if she was okay.

The victim asked to be left alone and continued walking along Armthorpe Road, but was followed by Salih.

As she tried to run away, Salih grabbed her and violently pulled her down to the ground and sexually assaulted her on a grass verge.

MORE: South Yorkshire man caught with a "Molotov cocktail" petrol bomb is jailed

A man who was caught by police discarding a "Molotov cocktail" petrol bomb from a car has been put behind bars.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Jonathan Osbourne, aged 29, of Hoyle Mill Road, Stairfoot, Barnsley, was seen in a parked car on Bridge Street, near Old Mill Lane, Barnsley, with another man before police found material smelling of fuel and broken glass nearby.

Osbourne was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court to two-and-a-half years of custody after he pleaded guilty to having an explosive device and to also breaching a restraining order four times and causing criminal damage.

A robber who held shop staff at knife point and while ordering them to open their tills has been jailed for 13 years.

Gary Day, aged 41, formerly of Mount Street, Rotherham, entered a Lloyds Pharmacy on September 1, 2020, before threatening staff with a knife, forcing them into a back room and making off with tablets and cash from the till.

Two days later, he robbed a McColls convenience store where he again threatened staff with a knife before taking cash from the till, alcohol and cigarettes.

Day pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and possessing a knife and was jailed for 13 years and three months.

A lorry driver who racially abused an NHS worker in Sheffield has been fined after a video of him being confronted went viral on TikTok.

Nicholas Clayton, of Bradfield Road, Hillsborough, launched a volley of abuse at Adnan Hussain following a road rage incident in Grimesthorpe last year.

Adnan Hussain says Clayton told him to ‘get back to your own country’ and used a racial slur.

The incident was witnessed by former Sheffield councillor Ibrar Hussain, who was in Adnan's car, and the pair drove immediately to Clayton’s then employer, Brocklebank & Co Demolition Ltd on nearby Bland Street, to report the incident to his superiors.

There they filmed Clayton in the truck cab as they asked why he had racially abused Adnan Hussain.

“He told me I’m a smelly b*******, I’m a **** and to get to my own country,” Adnan Hussain can be heard saying, with Clayton responding by nodding and saying ‘yeah’.

Asked for his name, the driver replies ‘Dick Turpin’ and subsequently asks ‘why drive like a ****’, before denying he had used a racial slur during the earlier incident.

Footage of that confrontation on February 26 last year was uploaded to TikTok, where it has been viewed 1.2 million times.

Clayton was found guilty of causing alarm or distress by using threatening or insulting words in an incident the court ruled was racially and religiously aggravated.

The 51-year-old, who had pleaded not guilty, was fined £250 and ordered to pay a £34 victim surcharge and £250 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.

MORE: South Yorkshire man called ex-girlfriend 1,000 times over three weeks when relationship ended

A South Yorkshire man who called his ex-girlfriend 1,000 times over three weeks when their relationship appeared in court.

Liam Bannister, 21, was handed a nine month suspended sentence after admitting harassment and perverting the course of justice.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Bannister, formerly of Newtown Avenue, Cudworth, harassed his victim following the breakdown of their relationship, calling her over a 1,000 times within a 21-day period and ‘endeavouring to control her everyday life’.