As Simon Welsh and Jake Shaw - the killers responsible for the murder of beloved Rotherham dad, Lee Davies, await sentence next month (June 2025), we have taken a look back at some of the longest sentences ever passed down in Sheffield.
Among the crimes which have led to the 32 defendants pictured here serving time in His Majesty’s prisons are gangland murders; killing three members of the same family and some of the most despicable and systematic child abuse ever committed in Britain.
Two of the defendants pictured here will die behind bars, after being handed whole-life sentences.
The rest have received sentences of between 19 and and 38 years, with those serving the shortest sentences included on the list due to the combined total length with their criminal co-accused.
All 32 are all currently behind bars.
Some of the defendants admitted their crimes, while others were found guilty following a jury trial.
1. Longest sentences ever handed out at Sheffield Crown Court
All of the criminals pictured here were sentenced to decades behind bars during hearings at Sheffield Crown Court, after being convicted of some of the most heinous crimes South Yorkshire has ever seen | Mix, other pictures in series
2. Zoe Rider and Nicola Lethbridge: Women jailed for life for murdering 'kind' Sheffield man in 'sadistic' attack at his home
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
3. Hanzel Scott
“You are a selfish bully who takes what he wants, by force if necessary,” a judge told a South Yorkshire kingpin who was on bail for charges arising out of his multi-million pound drug empire when he savagely raped two teenage girls. Drugs empire The ill-gotten gains from Hanzel Scott’s ‘extraordinary’ and ‘sophisticated’ criminal enterprise, through which he flooded the streets of South Yorkshire with kilograms of cocaine, led to him living the lifestyle of a millionaire, Sheffield Crown Court heard. A conservative estimate of the amount Scott, aged 42, generated through the sale of Class A drugs between January 2018 and June 2020 is believed to have been in excess of £292,000. Judge Graham Reeds told a hearing held on November 6, 2024 that police believe the true amount Scott raked in is likely to be ‘much more’. Following his arrest, Scott was subsequently released on bail, and it was after Scott was released back into the community that he attacked, degraded and raped, two teenage girls, in separate, shocking incidents. Neither of the girls can be named for legal reasons. Scott was in his 40s at the time of both attacks, the court heard. Scott - who winked and gave a thumbs up as his sentence was being passed down - prolonged, exacerbated and compounded the girls’ ordeals by denying the offences, and forcing them to give evidence during a trial at the same court, following which jurors convicted him of a total of seven sex offences, including five counts of rape. The remorseless sex offender even had the audacity to smirk and shake his head while the girls’ statements were being read to the court during today’s sentencing hearing. Jailing Scott for 24 years, Judge Reeds told him: “During the trial, I formed a clear view of you, as a selfish bully who takes what he wants, by force if necessary.” Scott, of Sovereign Court, Doncaster, was also told he must remain on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely. | SYP
4. Alison Moss and David Webster: 53 years for 'brutal' murderer
Murderous couple, Alison Moss and David Webster, killed popular Sheffield man Craig Wild at Alison Moss' flat in Fox Walk, Walkley in a 'brutal and sustained attack' in which he suffered 117 separate injuries many of which were carried out by by two knives and a screwdriver. Moss, formerly of Fox Walk, Walkley was found guilty of Mr Wild's murder, following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court in 2017, while her partner David Webster pleaded guilty prior to trial. Webster, formerly of Leppings Lane, Hillsborough was jailed for life, to serve a minimum of 24 years and two months; while Moss was jailed for life, to serve a minimum of 29 years. | SYP