Some of the defendants accepted their guilt in pleas to the court, while others were convicted after a trial.
Each defendant here has been jailed between August 13, 2023 and September 13, 2023.
Their combined sentences total 62 years, 4 months.
The Star has also published full court reports for every defendant featured here, and you can find links below:
- Joshua Hammond: 42 months behind bars for Sheffield thug who attempted to strangle and suffocate parents in booze and crack-fuelled rage
- David Hodson:'Depraved' paedophille jailed for seven years, six months for sexual abuse of three girls
- Callum Zide; Rahim Ahmed; Rachel Murdoch and Bernice Beal: Sheffield drug gang jailed for 24 years, 10 months
- Demetrios Patsalides: Twisted man, aged 73, jailed for 12 years for raping two young girls over a number of years
- Paul Singleton: 30 months' custody for man who sent sexual messages to young girl
- Kevin Dou, Li Jia and Ji Shuaida: Trio jailed for 12 years, two months for vicious assault in Sheffield karaoke bar
Anyone wishing to report a crime should call South Yorkshire Police on 101.
Call 999 in an emergency.
1. The 11 defendants pictured here have all been jailed over the last month
Top row, left to right: Joshua Hammond; David Hodson; Callum Zide; Rahim Ahmed Middle row, left to right: Rachel Murdoch; Bernice Beal and Demetrios Patsalides Bottom row, left to right: Paul Singleton; Kevin Dou; Li Jia and Ji Shuaida
2. 42 months behind bars for Sheffield thug who attempted to strangle and suffocate parents in booze and crack-fuelled rage
A 'violent' Sheffield man who strangled his mother and attempted to suffocate his father, while in a booze and crack-cocaine fuelled rage, has been jailed. Sheffield Crown Court heard how in the minutes leading up to the attacks carried out by defendant, Joshua Hammond, on November 11 and 12, 2022, he had consumed alcohol and crack-cocaine; and had become frustrated after being unable to speak to his daughter over the telephone. It was at this point that Hammond, of Raisen Hall Road, Longley, Sheffield became violent towards his parents, the court heard, during a hearing held on August 31, 2023. “They must have been terrified and heartbroken,” Recorder Kelly said, adding: “You returned to your home, and in the kitchen you approached your mother from behind, grabbing her by her hair, throwing her to the ground, placing both hands to her throat and beginning to strangle her.” Recorder Kelly said Hammond’s father responded to the strangulation attempt by trying to push Hammond off, causing Hammond to focus his attention on his father instead. The court was told that Hammond placed a carrier bag over his father’s face and ‘pulled it tight covering his mouth’. Hammond fled the property prior to police being called, and arriving on the scene; but he returned the following day (November 12, 2022) in the ‘knowledge that police must be looking for him’. Hammond’s parents had locked the doors of the family home to keep him out, but he managed to gain access to the property through an ‘insecure window…having been refused entry,’ the court heard. Recorder Kelly continued: “Your father was scared you would assault him, he had every reason to be…you made various threats to him about being a ‘grass’ and why he had done what he had done, as though it was his fault, not yours. “You grabbed him by the neck and repeatedly called him a 'grass' and assaulted him. You threatened him with a carving knife.” Hammond, of Raisen Hall Road, Longley, Sheffield pleaded guilty to charges of non-fatal strangulation; intentional suffocation; intimidation and threatening with a bladed article in a private place at an earlier hearing. Passing sentence, Recorder Kelly jailed Hammond for 42 months and told him: “Your offending is clearly so serious that only custody is justified, even taking the wishes of your parents into consideration."
3. David Hodson: 'Depraved' paedophille jailed for seven years, six months for sexual abuse of three girls
“It’s not an overstatement to say you’ve ruined the childhood of each of these vulnerable young people,” a Sheffield judge told a ‘depraved’ sexual predator who abused three 12-year-old girls over a period of more than 30 years. The judge, Recorder Richard Wright KC, made the comments to paedophile, David Hodson, after being read the ‘moving’ personal statements of girls he subjected to sickening sexual abuse, and then tried to silence. Sheffield Crown Court was told how Hodson, after abusing the young girls, warned them not to tell anyone, claiming to one of the complainants that it ‘wouldn’t matter’ if she came forward because ‘no-one would believe her’. But after the courageous complainants found the strength to report his offending, Hodson, aged 72, was charged with, and subsequently pleaded guilty to, multiple sex offences, including offences of indecency with a child; three counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and attempting to cause/ incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity. Recorder Wright jailed Hodson for seven years, six months and made him the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, and sex offender notification requirements, which will be in place for the remainder of the pensioner’s life.
4. Callum Zide; Bernice Beal; Rahim Ahmed and Rachel Murdoch: Members of Sheffield drug gang jailed for 24 years, 10 months
Callum Zide’s commercial-scale drugs operation resulted in hundreds of thousands of pounds of Class A drugs being distributed across South Yorkshire between November 2019 and his arrest in July 2021. Judge Sarah Wright sent Zide (top right) to begin a 17-and-a-half year prison sentence last week (September 1, 2023) for his substantial, and leading, role in the operation. During the course of the surveillance operation, SYP determined Zide had a network of associates fulfilling different roles within the operation; and three of them: Bernice Beal (bottom left) Amber Barnett and Rachel Murdoch (bottom right) were brought before Judge Wright on Friday, September 8, 2023 to be sentenced for their involvement. Judge Wright told the trio that ‘each conspirator involved in the enterprise, whatever their role, helped to sustain the enterprise, and helped it to prosper’. She added: “You were part of a huge conspiracy to supply drugs, and must bear responsibility for the overall enterprise.” Prosecuting barrister, Anthony Dunne, said Murdoch was ‘effectively’ Zide’s ‘banker,’ who was charged with responsibility for the hundreds of thousands of pounds coming through the operation; while Beal was responsible for operating one of Zide’s drug lines in Barnsley, and had recruited her then teenage daughter, Barnett, to help her in that endeavour. Beal and Murdoch were each jailed for 30 months, while Barnett was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, and she was also complete 15 rehabilitation activity days. Another associate involved in the enterprise, Rahim Ahmed (top left), aged 30, of Clay Pit Way, Greenland, Sheffield, was sentenced during the same court hearing as Zide on September 1, 2023. Judge Wright sentenced him to 40 months’ custody for charges of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of class A, possessing a controlled drug of class A with intent and possessing criminal property