The biggest court cases of the week in Sheffield - in case you missed them

Here is a round up of the biggest cases heard at Sheffield Crown Court.

Barez Ahmad

Barez Ahmad, aged 21, of Washington Road, Sharrow, was jailed for 21 months for after pleading guilty to one count of robbery.

The court had heard that the victim and his girlfriend were walking home from a friend's house in the early hours of Sunday, March 7 2021 when they were beckoned into an alleyway by a man, who they thought needed help.

DS Matthew Penn said: “Once in the alleyway, their exit was blocked by a second man. The men demanded money and made three transactions using the victim’s mobile phone, totalling just over £300.”

Ahmad was identified from CCTV footage and arrested.

DS Penn added: “This was a frightening incident for the victim, who responded in good faith to someone he thought needed help.

“We are committed to bringing offenders like him to justice and I hope the public are reassured by this result.”

DANIEL CASSIDY

Daniel Cassidy was locked up after causing multiple fractures to a man’s head and leaving his victim fearing that his eye would fall out.

The 25-year-old, of Longley Hall Road, Longley, attacked his victim while he was sleeping, leaving him with multiple fractures to the right side of his face and needing treatment to realign his jaw.

Prior to the incident taking place on May 20 last year, Cassidy, the victim and their respective partners spent the evening at Cassidy’s home, drinking alcohol and taking cocaine while listening to music.

At around midday the following day, after becoming tired, the victim lay down on Cassidy’s floor and began to fall asleep, which is when he was kicked and stamped on.

Cassidy pleaded guilty grievous bodily harm and was sentence to 30 months in prison.

COLIN NORFOLK

An elderly sex-offender was jailed for repeatedly breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Colin Norfolk, 67, of Richmond Road, Sheffield, had been made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order after he had accumulated repeated convictions for indecent exposure.

The court order prohibited Norfolk from wearing clothing that facilitated the indecent exposure of his genitals in a public place.

But between February and September, 2020, police struggled to locate and monitor Norfolk at his flat and when he had been seen he was obstructive so a camera was installed outside his home to capture his movements.

He was seen on the camera leaving the flat wearing a coat, a hat and a short, floral mini-skirt that came just above his knees and flip-flops.

When he was taken into custody he was found not to have been wearing underwear.

The court order also banned Norfolk from possessing devices capable of securing images without authorisation and that such devices should be available for inspection and he should co-operate with police.

When police searched his home, six mobile phones were seized and only one of them had actually been registered with the police.

He was jailed for 24 months.

JOEL NORMAN

A Sheffield drug-dealer was jailed after he was caught supplying cocaine and heroin to undercover officers during a citywide police operation.

Joel Norman, aged 22, of Bowden Wood Avenue, near Handsworth, Sheffield, admitted seven counts of supplying class A drug cocaine between February and May 2021 and he also admitted one count of supplying heroin from May 4, 2021.

Sheffield Crown Court heard he was arrested after a police sting where dealer phone lines were infiltrated by police across the region.

An undercover officer contacted a line and received marketing messages about drug availability and arrangements were made for Norman to supply her with cocaine on six occasions between February and May, 2021.

Another undercover officer also arranged to meet the defendant on May 4, 2021, and he was supplied with cocaine and heroin.

Clarkson Baptiste, defending, said Norman was someone who had been coerced into the offending and a report suggested there were grounds to believe Norman had been the victim of modern-day slavery.

He was jailed for four years.

BLAKE HOUGHTON

A teenager who targeted a motorcyclist and a cyclist with accomplices in the street before stealing their bikes has been put behind bars.

Blake Houghton, aged 19, of Staveley Road, Sheffield, had been part of a masked, four-strong gang in a car when they cornered and threatened a motorcyclist on Shirecliffe Road, Sheffield, before one of the gang fled on the motorbike.

Houghton had also been with another man on a motorbike when they trapped a cyclist on East Bank Road, Sheffield, and threatened him before Houghton took his bicycle and rode away with the bike.

Houghton was jailed for 27 months after pleading guilty to two burglaries, two robberies and to a dangerous driving offence

Chris Aspinall, defending, said: “The life he has led since he was 12-years-old would cause disappointment and despair over the opportunities he was not given as a very young man.”

DANIEL GREENWOOD

A thug who twice breached a restraining order by contacting a former partner while stubbing out a burning cigarette on his face has been jailed.

Sheffield Crown Court heard on March 9 how Daniel Greenwood, 30, of Guest Street, Hoyland, Barnsley, was put behind bars again after his latest two breaches of a restraining order on January 7 and January 10.

Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, said Greenwood breached his restraining order on January 7 after he attended his ex-partner’s home and when she refused to give him money he became irate and flailed his arms about before he stubbed out a cigarette on his own face and refused to leave.

Greenwood further breached the order when he visited his ex-partner’s home again and during a heated argument in the early hours of January 10 he jumped onto a breakfast bar and scuffled with her before he once again burned a cigarette out on his face.

Ms Hollis outlined Greenwood’s previous offending explaining that he had initially been subject to a non-molestation order in September, 2020, but after two breaches he was given a restraining order which he originally breached by attending his ex-partner’s home, threatening her with a knife and assaulting her.

Greenwood was subsequently given a 14-month custodial sentence for those matters but after he was released he breached the restraining order again by visiting his ex-partner’s home and then received a suspended prison sentence, according to Ms Hollis.

However, Ms Hollis added that Greenwood then committed his latest breaches on January 7 and 10.

Greenwood pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a restraining order and was jailed for 14 months.

NEIL DAY

Neil Day, of Standhill Crescent, Barnsley, was jailed by a judge who said the dangerous driver ‘had little or no regard for the safety of other motorists’.

The 31-year-old crashed into two cars, fled and lied to the police to cover up his tracks afterwards.

Day, who was sentenced to 14 months behind bars, sped off after the crash as he left the car park of New Lodge Co-op in Barnsley.

Shortly after the crashes had taken place, someone contacted South Yorkshire Police and reported that Day’s Corsa had been stolen.

They said they had been working on the car, they had left the keys on the floor, and the keys had been stolen…about half an hour before the road traffic collison.

Day denied that he had been driving the Corsa at the time of the accident, and maintained that the police report about hios car having been stolen was correct. He also filled in police forms to that effect.

But he later accepted that he had lied and that he had been involved in the collision.

He pleaded guilty to charges of perverting the course of justice and dangerous driving.

MORE: Sheffield Crown Court: Jail for driver who crashed into two cars, fled and blamed his crimes on thieves