While 2020 has been the strangest year for many with our lives put on hold, the courts have continued to work to ensure that justice is served against those who break the law.
Killers, rapists, drug dealers, carjackers and burglars are among those now serving time in prison for crimes committed across Coventry and Warwickshire.
Among those jailed in 2020 were:
- the murderer of teenager Ramani Morgan who was stabbed to death at a house party
- a thug who broke a student paramedic's jaw in an unprovoked attack
- a "dangerous" sex offender who attacked women aged 18 to 92
- the driver who killed a 22-year-old man while racing against another car in Coventry
- a former X-Factor contestant who committed more than 30 sex offences over a 22-year period
We've pulled together the stories of 111 criminals put behind bars over the past 12 months and you can see them all below:
January
Emmanuel Lukenga's killers
A teenager who stabbed a young father to death and then bragged about it on social media is now serving a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years behind bars.
Enroy Ruddock used a "Rambo knife" to stab Emmanuel Lukenga as a feud between rival estates in the city escalated into violence.
Emmanuel, known as Manny, died at the scene in Tile Hill in June 2019.
Ruddock, 19, was found guilty of murder and sentenced alongside 23-year-old Bradley Richardson and 19-year-old Matthew Brankin who were also convicted of killing Manny.
Richardson was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years and Brankin life with a minimum term of 19 years.
All three also received concurrent 27 month sentences for arson.
They will serve their minimum terms before they can be considered for release, if they are released they will remain on licence for life.
Ruddock, Brankin, Richardson and a fourth man, Kyle Kinchen, had all previously pleaded guilty to arson at an earlier hearing.
Kinchen was jailed for 27 months, while Rilee Madden, 19, was sentenced to a community order with 100 hours unpaid work and a rehabilitation requirement after being found guilty of handling stolen goods.
You can read the full story here.
Jamie Hislop
Jamie Hislop was just seven months away from being released from a sentence for stabbing two people outside a city nightclub when he simply walked out of an open prison.
The 30-year-old was jailed in 2017 for stabbing one man in the head and another in the chest outside the former Club M in Coventry earlier that year.
He was finishing the latter part of the custodial time of his sentence at HMP Spring Hill when he packed his bags and walked out - his absence only noted after he had rang his own mother who in turn rang police.
Hislop later told a court he absconded because of his mental health issues. However, a judge jailed him for a further two months for the charge of escaping from lawful custody.
Vaseli Baicu
The "dangerous" sex offender assaulted women aged between 18 and 92 in Coventry while posing as a charity collector.
Vaseli Baicu attacked some of his vulnerable victims - who included a 92-year-old who suffers from dementia and an 80-year-old recovering from a stroke - in their own homes.
The 26-year-old also stole items from some of his victims, including £600 from the purse of an elderly lady.
He was jailed for over six years after admitting charges including sexual assault, burglary, trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence and fraud.
Swallaxadin Bashir
The serial fraudster turned up to sit a dozen driving theory tests for other people at centres throughout England and Wales.
Bashir, from Foleshill, tried to tell staff at different test centres that he had "changed his features" when they realised he did not match the photographs on provisional licences presented to them.
He had already been jailed twice before for similar crimes and was sentenced to a further 11 months behind bars.
Gerald Aldridge
A pensioner who downloaded sick child sex images to his phone shouted "I can't do this" as he was led away to begin his prison sentence.
Gerald Aldridge, 71, from Coventry, was found with over 600 indecent images and movies, and was jailed for 12 months.
A judge told him: “These are pictures not of some fictional scenario, but of real children being subjected to horrific sexual abuse. In looking at these images you are directly contributing to the rape and abuse of those very young children."
Fletcher Allinson
While under investigation for dealing heroin and crack cocaine, Allinson assaulted a woman in her own home and forced her to take him out in her car.
His offences led to charges including false imprisonment, possessing a bladed article and assault and possessing class A drugs with intent to supply being brought against him.
The 26-year-old from Rugby pleaded guilty to them all and was sent to prison for a total of four years and four months.
February
Child rapist on run for three years
Ransford Buabeng fled to Ghana and was there for over three years before being brought back to the UK to face justice.
The 34-year-old raped a teenage girl in back in 2012 - he was living in Rugby at the time - and it wasn't until 2016 that he was set to face a crown court trial.
However, he skipped bail and fled to Africa where he remained until he was finally arrested and then extradited back to British shores in 2020.
He is now serving the 10 years in prison that he was sentenced to while absent from his trial.
Buabeng had plied his victim with alcohol and then raped her along with another man, Christian Acheampong, who is already behind bars for 15 years for that attack and another, also on a teenage girl.
Cash machine gang
This violent gang ripped cash machines from banks and supermarkets during a three-month rampage that included robberies and car thefts.
One of their horrific crimes also saw a security guard attacked with hammers and a crowbar.
The foursome were jailed for a total of 61 years for their parts in the crime spree that included robberies in places such as Balsall Common and Solihull.
Orlando Bundy
Bundy was racing his car against another driver when it slammed into and killed Adeel Gul just yards from his home in Coventry.
His cowardly actions then saw him drive off from the hit-and-run and then dump his car in "a calculated, cold-hearted" bid to escape justice.
A judge said that Bundy was "showing off" as he tried to keep pace with another car as they raced through the city and he was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving following a trial.
The 22-year-old was jailed for six years and banned from getting behind the wheel for eight years.
Kevin Miles
Knife robber Kevin Miles threatened staff during a campaign of terror at Co-op shops.
He targeted three stores, including two in Nuneaton, and fled with cash during one incident.
Miles was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison at Warwick Crown Court after he admitted one count of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery.
Avtar Singh Dhillon
Dhillon called a passenger on a Coventry bus a "n*****" and then threatened to "stick" a woman after pulling out a knife.
The shocking incident happened at 8am in the morning while children were on the bus on their way to school.
He even told one youngster who stood up to him that he would cut her face.
Dhillon, 48, was sent to prison for two years for offences including possessing a bladed article and a racially-aggravated offence of threatening behaviour.
Scott McGregor
McGregor's time behind bars began after being caught in the act of a class A drug deal in Rugby.
Officers witnessed the deal and a search was undertaken at a property where they found a quantity of suspected heroin, weighing scales and foil wraps. It was believed the drugs had a street value of around £1,200.
McGregor, from Rugby, was jailed for three years.
March
Killer rolled up body in carpet
John Allison rolled up his friend’s body in a piece of carpet and hid it in a cupboard under the stairs after stabbing him to death.
The carpet fitter was jailed for life, with a minimum sentence of 22 years, for the murder of Daniel Pitham in Bedworth in May 2019.
After the murder, Allison and Scott Warner hid Daniel's body then contacted friends and acquaintances about borrowing a van or car. During the trial, the prosecution alleged that their plan was to dispose of the body in a disused quarry.
Warner received a three-year prison sentence after previously pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.
Also jailed was Allison’s wife, Toni, after previously being found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Tekle Lennox
Lennox was so desperate to evade capture that he drove his Mini into a police officer, throwing him on to the bonnet and speeding along with him on the car for more than 40 metres.
PC Christopher Burnham suffered serious injuries, including a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, and was in hospital for three weeks, including being placed in an induced coma.
Lennox was eventually arrested and pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to with intent to resist or prevent his arrest.
A judge jailed him for seven years and he was handed a five-year driving ban.
Below: The events that led up to PC Burnham being hit by Lennox's car
Collen Chikore
The 42-year-old from Coventry was part of a "highly organised criminal gang" that scammed charities, schools and even a church out of £750,000.
Chikore produced high quality counterfeit cheques and invoices which were then used by runners up and down the country to trick banks.
Over 220 counterfeit cheques were used over a 30-month period and the fraud network's crimes were finally brought to an end when eagle-eyed bank workers spotted what was happening.
An investigation by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) led to the gang being sentenced to a combined total of over 27 years in prison at Inner London Crown Court.
Chikore's sentence for conspiracy to commit fraud was six years and two months behind bars.
Carjacking gang
The brazen gang of carjackers targeted lone female drivers threatening their terrified victims with knives, hammers and imitation guns.
As well as going for drivers, they also robbed shops and held up a heavily pregnant shop assistant at gunpoint during a robbery in Solihull.
Below: Watch the gang's crimes caught on CCTV
Ringleader Paul Doyle, along with 22-year-olds Luke Mander and Joshua Barrett, struck at least 46 times in just 11 weeks between October and December 2018.
Doyle was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment, while Mander and Barrett were handed 16-and-a-half and 18 years respectively.
A fourth man, 18-year-old Kier Carter, admitted being involved in the car thefts at an earlier hearing and was jailed for three years.
Connor Kierans and James Chandler
Two grown men jumped out of a van and launched an "utterly despicable" and racist attack on a 15-year-old Coventry schoolboy and his university student brother.
The victims were walking home after playing basketball at the park when they were viciously attacked in the street by Connor Kierans and James Chandler.
The thugs, fuelled by drink and drugs, repeatedly punched and kicked the brothers, while hurling sickening racist abuse at them.
The younger brother required treatment at an emergency eye clinic following the attack in Aldermans Green.
Kierans, 32, and 35-year-old Chandler both pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault and were jailed for over six years in total.
Paul Knight
This vindictive man posted naked pictures of a woman who had rejected his advances to her parents' home and her place of work.
Paul Knight printed off the flyers, which advertised his victim's services as a prostitute and included her phone number, after finding the private image while repairing her computer.
The 52-year-old even took out his vengeance on her parents, smashing windows at their home and damaging their car.
He was found guilty following a trial at Warwick Crown Court of disclosing a private photograph with intent to cause distress and two charges of causing criminal damage.
Knight was jailed for 16 months and made subject to a restraining order banning him from having any contact with his victims for seven years.
Mary Seal
Seal stole tens of thousands of pounds from the Coventry firm where she worked - forcing the boss to make his own daughter redundant.
The 62-year-old was jailed for 20 months after admitting to stealing around £38,000 from ECA Toolfast Supplies in Henley Green.
The money was taken over a four-year period and the firm's boss told CoventryLive of the "betrayal" he and Seal's colleagues all felt from what she had done.
Gary Baines said: “She took dishonest advantage of her senior position and trusted status. She stole systematically from our striving company merely to fund her increasingly extravagant lifestyle."
Shanice Burden
Burden tried to smuggle more than £2,000 worth of drugs in to the Creamfields Festival by hiding them inside her body.
The 22-year-old from Tile Hill had four different kinds of drugs - cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and ketamine - concealed internally inside a condom when she was singled out by a sniffer dog.
She claimed she had been threatened at knifepoint by an unknown group of males to take the drugs into the festival.
But she was jailed for 27 months after a judge at Warwick Crown Court rejected her account and told her she had been "no innocent dupe".
Asif Khan
The teenage thug threatened a taxi driver with a brick during a robbery and then smashed the cab's windscreen.
Khan, 18, had hailed the taxi in Coventry and, after being dropped off, he reached through the driver’s window and grabbed his money box, before damaging the cab's window.
Khan was tracked down by police and arrested and is now serving three years in a young offenders Institution having admitted robbery, two counts of theft, two counts of assault and criminal damage.
Jonathan Laws
Jonathan Laws pleaded guilty to eight counts of theft which took place at shops across Nuneaton between February 29 and March 19.
Dubbed a 'prolific offender', Laws was jailed for 16 weeks having been arrested, charged and then appeared in court in less than 24 hours.
Fuel thieves
Three men caught stealing diesel were charged and thrown in jail just two days later.
The trio targeted three garages in Binley Woods and Rugby on Saturday, March 28, and stole fuel to the value of more than £260.
Later that same day police stopped a van in Northamptonshire and Patrick Ward, Jonathon Ward and a 30-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons were arrested.
They were each jailed for three months and fined £100 for breaching the coronavirus lockdown.
April
Thomas Wilson
Wilson threatened to spit in a female police officer's face as he was arrested over an alleged road rage incident in Coventry.
A judge told the 19-year-old, from Binley, he should be “thoroughly ashamed" of himself and jailed him for six months.
Officers arrested him on March 31 in London Road after it was claimed he spat at a lorry driver and brandished an axe during an altercation in Brinklow Road.
He resisted arrest and suggested he had Covid-19 symptoms before threatening to cough and spit at the officer.
Watch Wilson's threats and those others in the video below:
Sabrina Moustakim
This thief stole a doctor's bag from a car in Coventry during the Covid crisis.
Moustakim struck on April 22 in Hillfields and was arrested a few days later after officers reviewed CCTV.
The 32-year-old was charged with theft and appeared at Coventry Magistrates' Court on April 29 where magistrates sent her to prison for eight weeks.
May
Teen who stabbed a father to death
Lewis Billings stabbed Robert Burgess in Coventry and left him to die in a garden while the victim's three-year-old daughter was alone inside the house.
Billings was 17 when he killed Mr Burgess and a court order had previously prevented his identity or photograph being published. However, the order has now been lifted and his name and picture can be revealed.
As we reported in our Coventry newsletter, Mr Burgess' body wasn't found for several hours until a family member visited the property in Bell Green after becoming concerned at not hearing from him.
Billings, who is now 18 years old, callously ran from the scene after striking the fatal blow in October 2019. He was eventually found and originally charged with murder, but instead went on to plead guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter.
He was jailed for six years and four months - a sentence that Mr Burgess' loved ones branded a "joke" and say "gives teenagers permission to basically go out and stab someone".
Daniel Ilea
Ilea, a married security guard, "damaged a child's life" by paying a 13-year-old girl to have sex with him.
He tried to flee the country once his crime emerged but was stopped at Dover as he attempted to leave British shores.
The 40-year-old, from Meriden, went on to admit paying for the sexual services of a girl and two charges of possessing an offensive weapon. He was jailed for four years.
Halloween killer
Ethan Tucker is now serving just four years at Her Majesty's pleasure for stabbing a man to death on Halloween 2019.
Cain Jackson was stabbed by 18-year-old Tucker in Rugby and tragically died at the scene.
Tucker was arrested that same night and was originally charged with the murder of Mr Jackson, 24, but went on to plead guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter in April.
As we reported in our newsletter, the plea was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service and Tucker was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court to four years and four months in prison.
Jordan Richardson
This drink-driver hit speeds of 80mph in a 30mph zone during a chase with police.
Jordan Richardson, who drove towards police officers as he made his bid to escape, was found to be three times the drink-drive limit.
And the 26-year-old from Solihull was jailed for two years and two months after admitting dangerous driving and driving while over the alcohol limit.
He was also banned from the roads for six years.
Anthony Ward
Ward pulled over motorists while pretending to be a police officer and then tried to steal their cars.
The 19-year-old from Ryton-on-Dunsmore even used a blue light to convince his victims he was a real officer, before the cars were driven off.
He often left victims alone on long stretches of road and in the early hours of the morning.
Ward pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and three counts of attempted theft and was sentenced to more than three years imprisonment in a Young Offenders Institute.
Brenda Collins
After travelling to the Midlands from London, this woman tried to steal from a blind pensioner.
Fortunately she was caught in the act by the victim's grandson and police were called to arrest her.
Collins, 50, who was on licence from prison at the time, pleaded guilty to burglary and was sentenced to four years and six months behind bars.
June
Petricia Gheorghita
This rapist who attacked two sex workers in Coventry was caught after a miniature car air freshener helped police link him to the shocking crimes.
Petricia Gheorghita picked up his victims in the city's red light district and then drove them to secluded country lanes before attacking them.
His victims bravely spoke out and "provided excellent descriptions of their attacker" and his car, including a "distinctive vial of air freshener dangling from the rear view mirror".
When police stopped the warehouse worker in Hillfields in December last year they believe he was scouting the area for his next victim. Gheorghita had raped his two victims, and assaulted a third, between August and November in 2019.
The predator, aged 36, of Culworth Court, Foleshill, was found guilty at Warwick Crown Court of two counts of rape against a woman in a car.
Gheorghita was then jailed for 13 years, including being seen as a dangerous offender which meant he will be under an extended period of supervision of eight years after his release from prison.
He will also sign the sex offenders' register for life.
Gary Pensom
Pensom is now serving a two-and-a-half year jail term for stabbing his neighbour.
His victim suffered multiple injuries during an incident in Tile Hill in September 2019 after the injured man was found in Nickson Road.
Pensom, 57, was arrested and later charged with wounding offences and stood trial at Warwick Crown Court.
He was convicted of unlawful wounding and was handed the prison sentence, as well as being made subject to a 10-year restraining order.
Drug dealers found at house 'production line'
Two men were jailed after a class A drugs production line was found during a police raid in Coventry.
The discovery was made when officers swooped on a property in Wyken back in July 2018 after receiving intelligence about what was happening at the house.
Cocaine and heroin worth up to £45,000 and cannabis were recovered, with police saying the kitchen area acted like a class A production line.
Akbar Ali and Juhel Ahmed, both from Coventry, were arrested and later charged with supplying class A drugs.
They both pleaded guilty to the charge and Ali was sentenced to seven years and 10 months, while Ahmed received six years and four months behind bars.
Burglar recognised from Facebook appeal
Terry Gregg was found carrying Rolex watches and a wallet stolen from a city home.
He was spotted by a member of the public who recognised his face from a local Facebook page appeal to identify the person believed to be responsible for a burglary.
The 54-year-old was detained and found with two Rolex watches, two Hugo Boss watches and a wallet with ID for Mellowdew Road in Stoke.
Officers attended that address, where the owner was gardening and realised that her house had been ransacked, with money and jewellery having been stolen.
Gregg admitted to the break-in was sentenced under the third-strike rule which means that burglars who strike at private homes three times will be locked up for a minimum of three years.
Arsonists caught on camera
Two bungling arsonists who torched a car on a driveway in a residential street in Coventry were caught just two hours later.
James Connolly and Sean Gillon were caught on camera numerous times in the build-up to the fire and the immediate aftermath, and when caught by police they smelled of petrol.
They doused two cars with fuel in Hall Lane, Walsgrave, at around 6am on January 13. A BMW 420d was destroyed in the blaze but petrol thrown over a Citroen C4 on the same driveway failed to ignite.
Their catalogue of errors continued afterwards when they claimed Connolly's Toyota Auris had been stolen, but a witness had seen two people matching his and Gillon's descriptions smashing up a Toyota nearby.
Officers also found the vehicle’s car keys dropped at the scene of the arson.
They went on to admit arson and attempted arson, with Connolly pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice in relation to his bogus car theft claim.
Connolly was jailed for 40 months – including seven months for perverting the course of justice – while Gillon was sentenced to 27 months.
Justin Jones
Jones was jailed for nearly a decade after threatening a woman with knives inside her own home.
The 25-year-old was caught fleeing the scene of the crime on Woodway Lane, Coventry, just before midnight on New Year's Eve 2019.
Police were called by the victim and when officers arrived they spotted Jones on the driveway in her car, having stolen the keys, along with a quantity of cash.
Jones, from Wyken, jumped from the running Toyota Yaris and tried to flee, but he was Tasered and arrested.
He went on to admit a charge of aggravated burglary and was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.
Retirement village thief
An 85-year-old woman found Terri-Anne Hancox at her front door and invited her in - only for Hancox to steal money from her retirement village home.
Luckily she was recognised from CCTV footage and arrested two days after the incident at Earlsdon Park Village in February.
Hancox was later charged with burglary and eventually jailed for three years and two months.
Lee Hyndman
This Nuneaton man was put behind bars for county lines drug offences.
Lee Hyndman pleaded guilty to possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and possession of a bladed article - he was jailed for 42 months.
The 40-year-old was arrested by members of Warwickshire Police CID after they witnessed a drug deal in the town and he was found to be in possession of 13 individual wraps of heroin and crack cocaine, and a quantity of cash.
Hyndman’s mobile phone was also seized and following examination, revealed that he was offering drugs for sale.
Cocaine and cannabis dealer
When police stopped Manjinder Pama's car in Nuneaton they found Class A drugs, cash, scales and two mobile phones.
Following the search of his vehicle, officers then searched his home and found more cocaine and cash, as well as cannabis.
But the police didn't stop there as they also discovered even more cannabis, cocaine and scales in a car parked on his driveway.
All of this led to Pama, 39, being charged with possession of cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply.
He pleaded guilty and was jailed for 45 months.
July
Phillip Blackwell
Blackwell was jailed for life for more than 31 sex offences committed over a 22-year period, including an attack in Warwickshire.
His horrific crimes included rape, sexual assault and voyeurism and took place in Nuneaton, Birmingham and Cornwall, and date back to 1997.
He was finally caught and brought to justice, and Blackwell, 56, was jailed for life and told he will serve a minimum of nine years after admitting his reign of terror.
In a heart-wrenching statement following his imprisonment, the victim of his Nuneaton attack - who was just 18 when Blackwell raped her as she walked home alone in Weddington on May 30, 1998 - said: "The past 22 years have by no means been easy. This changed me forever. To know that this man has done what he done to so many over the years sends sickness to the core.
"His brutal acts forever replayed in his victims' minds. Shattering people into tiny pieces and having to learn how to fix yourself back together the best you can whilst living with the demons in your own head."
You can watch the moment Blackwell was arrested below:
Thug who spat in officer's eye
The video below shows the shocking moment a "vulgar thug" spat in a police officer’s eye.
Temisan Oritsejafor, 41, was locked up for eight months for the attack on PC Annie Napier at a block of flats in Coventry, which came in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis.
Oritsejafor was on bail at the time of the attack, in Attoxhall Road, for assaulting another police officer just weeks before and was sentenced for both crimes at the start of July.
Mark Conway
Conway was jailed for over a decade for falsely imprisoning and raping a woman in Nuneaton.
Following the "horrifying attack", Conway went on the run and was eventually found by an unsuspecting charity as he slept in a tent in Derbyshire.
It was only as the charity volunteers tried to get him somewhere to stay that his true identity came to light and police were able to arrest him.
The 53-year-old admitted the offences and was given an extended jail sentence which consists of 10-and-a-half years behind bars.
He will have to serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before the Parole Board will even consider his release – and may not be freed until he has served the whole sentence.
Once he is released, Conway, who has to register as a sex offender indefinitely, will remain on licence and at risk of being recalled to prison, for the rest of the 10-and-a-half years and then for a further seven years.
Samba Faal
This gang member was knocked unconscious as knife gangs clashed at the busy Resorts World shopping centre.
Faal, who is a member of street gang 23 Drillas who record drill music, was in one of two groups who traded punches and knife blows after bumping into each other by chance.
As they clashed, Faal, from Coventry, was punched to the ground and knocked out, before two men from the other group jumped on him.
The 21-year-old was jailed earlier in the year for his part in the violence, but the full details were not released until July when finally all five of the men involved had been put behind bars.
West Midlands Police also released footage of the incident which you can watch below:
Violent robber
A Coventry man who evaded capture for over a year was finally jailed for his part in a series of violent robberies.
Scott Bowman was part of a gang which targeted shops across the Midlands in 2018 - they were armed with crowbars and on one occasion tied up staff with cables before getting away with £13,000, stamps and lottery cards.
And, while five people were convicted for their involvement in the robberies last year, Bowman fled to London in December 2018 and wasn't found until January this year - back in Coventry.
Bowman, 30, of Sewall Highway, pleaded guilty to two robberies on the second day of his trial and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with an extended five-year licence period.
The other members of the gang were sentenced to a combined total of almost 60 years in prison - plus extended periods on licence.
You can read the full story here.
Michael Crews
Crews was given a 20-year sentence for abusing children as young as six.
Described by police as an “extremely dangerous man”, Crews admitted 27 child sex offences involving eight children, all under the age of 11.
The offences took place between 1996 and 2016 in Exhall and Bedworth.
Warwickshire Police launched an investigation in 2018 when two men came forward and said they were abused by Crews when they were young boys.
The investigation uncovered the full extent of his offending and the paedophile, now aged 71, admitted crimes including indecent assault and on assault by touching.
Carly Lane
Lane, 31, assaulted two police officers in Rugby during lockdown.
Officers were called to reports of a disturbance and attempted to help Lane, who punched two police officers in the face before spitting blood at them.
She pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court and was jailed for five months for assaulting an emergency worker.
Ryan Clarke
Police spotted wanted man Ryan Clarke on the streets of Coventry and he was in prison less than 24 hours later.
He was wanted over an assault in the city and was arrested, charged and in the dock at Coventry Magistrates' Court in no time after being spotted in Foleshill on July 20.
Clarke, 25, admitted attacking his female victim, who was punched and pushed in to a lamppost and a vehicle, and was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison and also made subject of a restraining order.
Ahmed Habarugira
This “prominent” drug dealer was jailed for over five years after trying to hide heroin and crack cocaine in a public toilet at Pool Meadow bus station after being stopped by police.
Ahmed Habarugira - who also goes by the name Wheezy - was already on bail on suspicion of drugs offences when he was stopped by officers in the city centre.
He was breaching his bail conditions by being at the bus station and was taken to the nearby cubicle for a full search due to suspicions he had drugs.
Habarugira was discovered with no drugs on him but a blue ball consisting of heroin and crack cocaine was found next to a toilet brush.
The 27-year-old claimed ignorance but body-worn camera footage showed he had thrown it from his back pocket as the search began.
Habarugira, from Wood End, pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.
Cornelius Connors
Footage shows the moment Connors attempted to steal CCTV at the scene of one of his distraction burglaries.
The Solihull man targeted properties across the West Midlands, West Mercia and Nottinghamshire, and would claim to be from the water board and once inside, would turn on the taps, or ask residents to check the meter - while he ran upstairs and raided bedrooms.
On other occasions, he would claim to be from the council or an engineer.
He stole thousands of pounds in cash from victims, along with sentimental items and jewellery.
CCTV captured the movements of the 49-year-old, and one property even had the incident recorded, thanks to HD cameras installed inside.
Connors attempted to steal the recording equipment, but officers from West Midlands Police were able to download the footage from a central database.
In total, Connors pleaded guilty to 11 distraction burglaries and was sentenced to eight years for each offence, all of which will run at the same time.
Read the full story here.
Anthony Connors
The burglar committed a spate of burglaries over a three-day period in Warwickshire in September 2019.
He appeared at Warwick Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to burgling houses in Leamington, Rugby, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Atherstone and Coleshill.
Connors was jailed for three years and nine months.
August
Billy Ormiston
Ormiston was jailed after raiding three stores in Nuneaton.
The 30-year-old from Atherstone admitted entering B&M in Nuneaton as a trespasser and stealing perfume and a bag for life.
He also pleaded guilty to stealing two Easter eggs worth £22 from the Co-op.
Ormiston also admitted stealing washing products worth a total of £103 and a crate of energy drinks from Haunchwood service station and using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour which was racially aggravated.
He appeared at Coventry Magistrates' Court and was sent to prison for 18 weeks due to a 'record of previous offending'.
Ormiston was also fined £100 and ordered to pay £370 compensation and a £122 victim surcharge.
Kellie Smith
A former teaching assistant in Coventry was found to have plied a pupil with affection, drink and drugs -before having sex with him in a Nuneaton hotel.
Kellie Smith was jailed for two years and eight months at Warwick Crown Court.
The court heard that Smith, 28, "groomed and took advantage" of the 15-year-old victim.
The Nuneaton resident was brought to justice by the Nuneaton Serious and Complex Crime Team.
Warwick Crown Court heard that Smith "bought (her victim) sweets" before having sex with him twice in a Nuneaton hotel room in March last year.
Smith, who had been a teaching assistant since March 2016, had also given the boy vodka and cans of Stella Artois lager and smoked cannabis with him in her car.
Smith then took her victim to the hotel, checking in in the early hours of the morning.
Anthony Chilton
Coventry man Anthony Chilton stabbed his neighbour on his own doorstep during a row and put him in a coma.
He confronted and stabbed his victim three times in Blythe Road, Hillfields, on March 4 this year.
It left the man in his 30s with a damaged heart and lung, and in a coma for a week.
He fortunately pulled through and has now recovered from his injuries.
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "The attack followed a disagreement and 47-year-old Chilton was quickly arrested from his home by officers.
"Chilton denied being the attacker, including at court, but with witness statements we were able to build a strong case of evidence against him."
Chilton was convicted of wounding with intent and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
John Burnham
A yob who punched a female police officer in the face at Coventry Railway Station was jailed for 28 days.
John Burnham, from Birmingham, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker and appeared at Coventry Magistrates' Court the following day.
He admitted the attack, which left the officer with minor injuries.
Magistrates said it was a "deliberate attack on a public servant" by the 21-year-old.
Stefan Watkin
A Warwick man was jailed after breaking into a home and stealing items from inside.
Stefan Watkin stole cash, chocolate and an empty mobile phone box during the burglary at a home in Leamington on May 11.
He was linked to the crime thanks to fingerprints found at the scene and arrested a couple of weeks later.
Watkin, 44, of Theatre Street, Warwick, was sentenced after pleading guilty to burglary and was jailed for two years and four months.
Simon Milburn
Banned driver Simon Milburn was jailed after committing seven driving offences in two weeks.
The 33-year-old was caught driving whilst disqualified and uninsured on three occasions in the space of a fortnight.
He was stopped by police on July 21 and July 30, was interviewed and reported to the courts.
On the third occasion (August 4), he was stopped on Countess Road and was arrested after being found to be over the drink-drive limit.
Milburn, of Park Road, Bedworth, pleaded guilty to three counts of driving while disqualified, three counts of driving without insurance and one count of drink-driving.
He was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and has been disqualified from driving for the next four years.
PC Ryan Walker from the North Warwickshire Vehicle Crime team said: “It’s clear Mr Milburn has problems understanding court orders - maybe he can spend the next few months getting to grips with them."
September
James Rowley
When asked to stop driving dangerously and recklessly on his off-road bike, James Rowley reacted by punching the man who had approached him.
Sadly, Joe Higgins never regained consciousness from the attack in Radford and died the following day in hospital.
Rowley, 21, lay low for two days after the incident, before finally handing himself in to police.
He tried say that Mr Higgins had been aggressive towards him and he himself was the “softest, nicest guy you ever come across”.
But CCTV and social media footage obtained by investigating officers, plus accounts provided by witnesses, contradicted Rowley’s version of events and he eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
He was imprisoned for nine years.
Police also released dashcam footage of Rowley driving dangerously on his bike, which you can watch below:
David Lee Bradley
A burglary gang targeted expensive cars and jewellery as they struck across three counties in the space of just a month.
Among them was David Lee Bradley, from Wood End, Coventry, who was involved in 12 break-ins across the city, as well as Southam, Wolston, Long Lawford, Cawston, Nuneaton, Lutterworth, Warwick, Brandon, Hatton and Sharnford.
Bradley, 29, was handed a jail sentence of nine years and nine months after admitting conspiracy to burgle.
The offences took place between December 2018 and January 2019.
Joel McCaffrey
Joel McCaffrey was jailed for 30 months after being convicted of two charges against children following a trial at Warwick Crown Court.
As we reported in our Coventry newsletter, he was found guilty of attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity and attempting to communicate in a sexual manner with a child.
The 38-year-old, from Dunchurch, but formerly of Eastern Green in Coventry, committed his crimes in March 2019 in Coventry.
McCaffrey was also made to sign the sex offenders' register for life and made subject of 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
He was also ordered to pay a £170 victim surcharge, which goes towards organisations who support victims of crime.
Pensioner who raped disabled girl
James Reeve admitted raping a disabled seven-year-old girl as well as a string of sexual assaults and possessing indecent images of children.
The 68-year-old from Leamington was arrested after the victim told police about the offences in August last year.
Reeve was jailed for nine years for rape and also received sentences of between 18 months and seven-and-a-half years for seven counts of sexual assaults and one count of possessing indecent images. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Reeve was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life for the offences that took place in Rushden in Northamptonshire.
Ryan Manning
In his desperate efforts to get away from police, 31-year-old Ryan Manning managed to fall off his scooter during a chase in Coventry.
He fell to the ground at the corner of Marion Road and Kingfield Road, in Foleshill, and then tried to flee on foot.
The moment he fell to the floor on his scooter was caught on the dashcam of a police car and the image can be seen below.
He was tracked down and brought before the courts facing charges including dangerous driving and trespass.
He pleaded guilty to all the charges against him and was jailed for six months and banned from driving for two years and three months.
October
Sukhbir Singh Phull
The teenager was jailed for life for murdering 16-year-old Ramani Morgan at a house party in Coventry.
Sukhbir Singh Phull dragged Ramani out of the party and attacked him after he was left "humiliated and angry" when his advances to Ramani's girlfriend were rebuffed.
He pulled a knife out as violence erupted in the Stoke area of the city and stabbed Ramani a number of times.
One of the stab wounds pierced the youngster's heart.
Ramani stumbled in to nearby Clay Lane where he collapsed, before being taken to hospital where he died shortly before midnight on February 29.
Phull, 18, was found guilty of murder following a trial at Warwick Crown Court and was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 17 years, at the same court.
A 17-year-old male, also accused of Ramani's murder, was found not guilty during the same trial as Phull.
Raouf Houri
Drug dealer Raouf Houri was jailed for nine years after police found a haul of drugs, guns and cash at his Coventry home.
Police raided his home in Hillfields earlier this year and found a holdall containing two shotguns and a revolver, along with ammunition.
Class A drugs with a total street value of £35,000 were also found, while officers also found £21,500 in cash.
In court, the 41-year-old pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs but denied any knowledge of the firearms.
A trial began at Warwick Crown Court, but on the second day Houri changed his plea on the weapons charges to guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence.
DC Scott Gould, from West Midlands Police force CID, said: “Houri revealed at court that he had a £400 drugs debt and because of this he had been asked to hold the firearms, drugs and cash.
“He is now paying a heavy price for the errors of his ways, but not only that, we will be seeking to recover more of his ill-gotten gains under the Proceeds of Crime Act."
Alleyway knife attacker
Craig Maddock slashed a man across the face with a knife in a gang-related attack and left his victim permanently disfigured.
The "planned and sustained attack" happened in Leamington and the victim needed urgent surgery after suffering serious facial injuries in July this year.
Maddock and the victim were associates and the motivation for the attack is believed to be related to gang culture, police said.
Maddock was arrested two days after the attack and later charged with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article.
The 34-year-old admitted the charge and was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.
Kevin Costello
Costello produced an eight-inch knife at his former girlfriend’s home before telling her of his dreams of torturing and killing her.
He also told of dreams he had of slitting the throats of another former partner, a young child and then his own.
Costello, 51, was in a ‘zombified’ state according to his Solihull victim when he arrived at her home in August this year.
He removed the eight-inch blade from his trousers, which was wrapped in a blue and white tea towel, and placed it on the table.
Police were called and he was taken to hospital but he was released and turned up at the other former partner’s house the following day where he was arrested after a foot chase.
Costello, who has 22 previous convictions for 56 offences, admitted possession of a knife in a public place and was jailed for eight months.
Alexandru Gheorghe
The 28-year-old was jailed after shining a laser pen into the cockpit of a police helicopter.
Alexandru Gheorghe targeted the helicopter with a bright green laser as it was flying over Warwick on May 6.
He was jailed for four months after admitting a charge of directing a laser beam towards a person providing air traffic services.
Karl Kali
A mum was so desperate to escape a violent attack by boyfriend Karl Kali that she jumped from a window and fractured her back.
After plunging to the floor, the victim was dragged back inside her flat by drunken Kali who had turned up at her Solihull home to confront her, as he believed she had told police about him breaching lockdown.
The mum was eventually rescued by police after sending a pleading WhatsApp message to a neighbour saying "Help me."
Kali, 37, of no fixed address, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he admitted a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.
In passing sentence Judge Avik Mukherjee said: "She sustained a horrific and brutal assault at your hands when you were drunk and you thought she had grassed you up to the police which suggests to me an element of revenge."
John Cronin
John Cronin convinced a Coventry woman they were a couple before pocketing £4,000 of her cash.
The cruel conman's victim was so taken in by his lies when he first fled with her money she was concerned for his welfare and reported him to police as a missing person.
It was only as officers made enquiries they found cruel Cronin, 49, had spun a web of lies in an effort to rip off his victim.
As the truth dawned, the 57-year-old woman gave officers details of Cronin, and the tactics he had used. With the help of other witnesses and an investigation into his bank and telephone records, the conman was arrested at his home in Solihull.
He went on to plead guilty to a charge of theft and was eventually sentenced to 28 months in prison and ordered to pay his victim £2,000 in compensation.
November
Jaydon James' killers
Frank Kenfack and Abdi Hussein Abdi were both jailed for life for killing 16-year-old Jaydon James in Coventry.
The teenager was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" according to police when bad blood between two rival gangs in the city spilled over in to violence.
Jaydon was stabbed to death next to a church in Wood End after being chased by his attackers in November 2018.
Kenfack, 18, of no fixed abode, and Abdi, 21, from Bell Green, were found guilty of murder by a jury at Warwick Crown Court following a six-week trial.
They were both sentenced to life imprisonment with Kenfack to serve a minimum of 17 years and Abdi at least 21 years behind bars.
Both were also found guilty of two counts of wounding with intent against two of Jaydon's friends and were given shorter concurrent sentences to run alongside the murder sentences.
Paul Dunleavy
The teenager who declared Adolf Hitler his hero and offered to build weapons for people online was jailed for terrorism offences.
Paul Dunleavy had joined an online extreme right wing group in 2019 and was found to have videos of terror attacks from across the globe on his mobile phone, as well as documents on firearms, explosives and military tactics.
When police searched the 17-year-old's bedroom they found knives, air rifles, face coverings, camouflage face paint, shotgun cartridges and bullet casings.
A notebook was also seized containing swastikas, details of lone wolf attacks and a mocked up logo representing an extreme right group he wanted to form.
Dunleavy, from Rugby, who can be named after a judge ruled it was in the public's interest to know his identity, was sentenced in November to five-and-a-half years for collecting terrorism information and the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism.
He admitted nine counts of collecting terrorism information under section 58 of the Terrorism Act and last month a jury found him guilty of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism under section 5 of the Terrorism Act.
Killer driver
Russell Averis caused the death of a 90-year-old man in a horror crash.
Averis crashed into John Sassons Taylor's car at 55mph after running a red light on April 3, 2019. While Mr Taylor was trapped in his white Peugeot 208 and pleading for help, two men, one Averis, were "shouting and screaming at him and were clearly blaming him for the collision", a court was told.
Mr Taylor died in hospital two days later as a result of his injuries.
A forensic reconstruction officer concluded that if Averis had been travelling at the 30mph speed limit in his BMW when the lights went from green to amber he could have comfortably stopped his car in the 55 metres available to him.
Averis was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to death by dangerous driving. He was also disqualified from driving for 56 months.
Pub raiders
David Hodges and Noel Lacey struck at a string of pubs around the Midlands, including one in Coventry.
The Phantom Coach pub in Canley fell on to their hit list in September of this year, having only been allowed to reopen weeks earlier after the first national lockdown.
The burglars also raided pubs together in Oldbury, Rubery and Droitwich.
Lacey was charged with four counts of burglary, while Hodges was charged over seven pub burglaries in total.
Both men, who are from Birmingham, were also charged with taking a vehicle without consent, with Hodges further charged with other motoring offences.
They pleaded guilty to the charges and Lacey was handed 32 months in prison and Hodges four years.
Jamie Davies
Davies launched an attack on a student paramedic that was so horrific it left his victim needing a metal plate inserted to fix his broken jaw.
An ambulance crew had come to Davies' aid at his home in Earlsdon after he reported having breathing difficulties.
However, he returned their kindness by attacking Chris Cooling and punching him in the face, leaving injuries that would require surgery and mean the medic is still yet to return to work.
Davies, 21, fled the the scene but was arrested the following day and later charged with causing grievous bodily harm.
He entered a guilty plea and was jailed for seven years and two months at Coventry Crown Court.
Mr Cooling, 40, said: “This incident has had a massive impact on me - I have so far lost seven months of my life to this attack and I am not yet able to resume my career, a career that I love.
“It is sentences like this that will make people stop and think before they do something similar, yet too often the sentences do not reflect the effect such incidents have on us."
Martin McDonagh
Police released shocking dashcam footage of a driver jumping through red lights as he flees from officers - while a baby was unrestrained in the back seat.
Martin Joseph McDonagh, 27, was jailed for 26 months and banned from driving for more than four years after admitting a raft of driving offences, including dangerous driving, as well as child neglect.
Watch: Dashcam footage of the pursuit of Martin McDonagh
The incident happened when McDonagh failed to stop in his vehicle for Warwickshire Police officers in Rugby.
Speaking after McDonagh was sentenced, a spokesman for the force said: “Martin McDonagh had no consideration for the safety of other people.
“He jumped a red light causing others to stop to avoid a collision and narrowly missed two pedestrians.
“The most shocking of all is his total disregard for the safety of the child who throughout the incident was unrestrained on the back seat of the VW Bora. Fortunately the child was not injured in the incident."
Read the full story here.
£29.5million frausters
Mohammed Zeb Zaheer and Mohammed Iqbal Khan, both from Coventry, were jailed for 12 years in total for their part in a £29.5 million tax relief fraud.
Zaheer and Khan were prosecuted over a bogus IT project which saw them claim to be developing a healthcare system for two countries in the Middle East, alongside the architect of the crime - Matthew Sutherland, from Leamington.
Sutherland, 44, used his company to claim tax relief of £29.5 million against a purported £137 million spend on the fake project.
Zaheer, 37, and 53-year-old Khan were the front men for companies used to carry out the fraud, which came to light when HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) requested supporting documents for the claim.
All three men were charged with fraud in March 2018 and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, but were found guilty after an 11-week trial.
Sutherland was jailed for nine years, Khan for seven years and Zaheer for five years.
Sutherland was jailed in his absence as he is in Dubai and is too ill to travel.
Alexande Zyberi
It was at the start of November that police released the mugshot of Alexande Zyberi who was jailed for running a cannabis set-up at a home in the city.
The 42-year-old is serving a 15-month prison sentence after police raided a property in Rookery Lane, Holbrooks, and found the drugs den.
Around 650 cannabis plants were discovered by officers from Coventry North West Police on September 12.
Zyberi, of no fixed address, was charged with, and admitted, producing a class B drug.
David Webster
Having been arrested over a pub fight, Webster phoned someone from police custody and asked them to "lose" CCTV footage of the brawl.
He was heard asking a woman to get rid of the footage following the incident at a pub in Rugby on November 13, 2019.
His attempts to evade justice didn't go to plan and the 46-year-old was before the courts charged with wounding and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and admitted the offences.
John Aled Jones
The 38-year-old was jailed after downloading and distributing more than 200 indecent images of children.
John Aled Jones was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to four counts of distributing an indecent photograph of a child, three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child, and breach of a sexual harm prevention order.
Police officers received intelligence that Jones had been distributing indecent images and went to his home address in Atherstone on October 8 to arrest him.
Officers seized his phone and found 226 indecent images, many of them category A - the most serious type.
They also found evidence he had distributed an indecent category A video and seven indecent photographs, including two category A.
Jones was also convicted of breach of a sexual harm prevention order which was put in place following a previous conviction for making indecent images of children. He had deleted his internet history, something this order prohibited him from doing.
Christopher Sharkey
Christopher Sharkey is behind bars after trying to flee from police in Stratford and crashing his car.
The 21-year-old man was sentenced to six months in prison and disqualified from driving for 23 months having pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance, driving without a licence and possession of cannabis.
Officers had tried to stop Sharkey’s car at Morrisons in the town when he fled from them and went through two red traffic lights and as the pursuit continued he had a minor collision with another car.
Soon after passing through the second red light Sharkey lost control of his car and collided with railings.
He then fled on foot before being arrested by an officer who also seized two bags of cannabis from Sharkey.
December
Ellie Wain
It was just three days before Christmas when 18-year-old Ellie Wain was jailed for life for stabbing her boyfriend to death.
She had picked up a knife from her home in Willenhall and delivered a number of blows to Kieran Brown - one of which pierced his heart and he died soon after in hospital.
Wain had denied murder, but was convicted by a jury at Coventry Crown Court and handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years. Should she be released, Wain will remain on licence for the rest of her life.
Heart-wrenching statements written by Kieran's family were read out in court when Wain was sentenced.
Kieran’s grandmother said that 18-year-old Kieran was “my world” and the “life and soul of our family”.
Unnamed killers of Babacar Diagne
Sadly we cannot show you the faces of three youngsters who murdered 15-year-old Babacar Diagne.
A judge rejected an application to name the trio - two of who are 16 years old and one is 17 - despite each of them being jailed for life, with a minimum of 16 years behind bars.
Babacar was set upon in a "senseless" attack in Wood End earlier this year and was stabbed 18 times and left for dead.
The ringleader of the killers - who did not know Babacar - had traded glances with the victim, before heading off to find his two accomplices and then hunting Babacar down.
The video below shows the final time Babacar was seen alive on February 5:
Matthew Chibnall
Matthew Chibnall stabbed his landlord to death at their flat in Coventry and then kept his body secret for six weeks.
During that time Chibnall spent Anil Vegad's money on alcohol and it was only when the money ran out that he finally went to police to say he had died.
Chibnall denied being responsible for the death of Mr Vegad, whose body had decomposed as it had lain inside the flat in Eden Street, Foleshill, since Easter Monday.
But he was found guilty of murder following a trial at Coventry Crown Court and was jailed for life at the start of December with a minimum term of 18 years before he can even be considered for release by the parole board.
If he is released he will remain on licence for the rest of his life.
Speaking at his sentencing hearing, Mr Vegad's heartbroken daughter told Chibnall: "You make me sick and I can't even say your name. We address you as a murderer.
"How could you be so heartless? My dad put a roof over your head and you repaid him by literally stabbing him in the back."
Jack Donoghue's killers
These four men will serve at least 51 years behind bars between them for killing 21-year-old Jack Donoghue.
Jack was set upon by the thugs outside a Solihull nightclub, being kicked, punched and eventually fatally stabbed in November 2019.
It was just over a year later that his killers were served justice with Tyrall Blake, also 21, convicted of murder and assault with intent to rob following a trial. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years.
Nile Bennett, 22, was found guilty of manslaughter and violent disorder - he was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years.
Regan Watters and Connor Moore had both admitted manslaughter with Moore being handed seven-and-a-half years in prison and Watters, who also pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rob, jailed for 11 years.
Jack's family wanted police to release CCTV footage of his final moments to show people the horrific realities of knife crime.
You can watch the footage below:
Rumon Ahmed
Ahmed travelled from Coventry to Rugby to sell heroin and crack cocaine - but was caught in the act.
He was spotted by plain-clothed police officers carrying out a deal and was found in possession of a quantity of class A controlled drugs and £330 in cash.
He appeared in court charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs - which he admitted - and is now serving two-and-a-half years at Her Majesty's pleasure.
Former PCSO
Kevin Hathaway formed a sexual relationship with a victim of crime while working as a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO).
He began regularly visiting a woman at her home while on late shifts, after she had initially reported an attempted burglary to West Midlands Police.
An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed that the 38-year-old had nearly 2,300 calls and messages on his work device that were exchanged between him and the woman over a 12-month period.
He was charged with misconduct in public office and pleaded guilty to the offence. He was sentenced to a year in prison at Birmingham Crown Court.
Read the full story here.
Florin Firulescu
Firulescu was driving his car at 69mph on a busy Coventry road just before he ploughed into a 64-year-old woman on a pedestrian crossing, killing her instantly.
A court heard he had also been looking at his dog in his rear-view mirror before realising he was heading straight for Prakash Kaur on Foleshill Road, but he was unable to stop in time.
After initially admitting that he had caused the death of Ms Kaur by dangerous driving – cowardly Florin then applied to change his plea.
Having originally denied the charge, claiming his car was could not do that speed, he then claimed he had been pressured into pleading guilty without being warned he faced a prison sentence.
But after a hearing at Leicester Crown Court a judge rejected his application to revert to a not guilty plea.
Back at Warwick Crown Court, Firulescu, 51, from Coventry was jailed for five years and banned from driving for five-and-a-half years.
James Atkin
James Atkin was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence following the death of his partner who died after being electrocuted.
Atkin had done electrical work on the caravan that he and Deana Simpson shared on his father's farm, but had done a botched job and Deana was electrocuted while preparing food.
He had denied the charge against him, but was found guilty by a jury at Warwick Crown Court and jailed for six-and-a-half years
His father - Trevor Atkin - was sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for two years after he pleaded guilty part-way through the trial to two breaches of Health and Safety regulations Willoughby Fields Farm in Willoughby.
Bernard Morinaj
A police search dog discovered £48,000 concealed in the car belonging to Bernard Morinaj.
The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property in relation to the huge amount of cash after police stopped a vehicle linked to criminal activity on the A46 near Leamington.
Police dog Rufus - trained to sniff out drugs, money and firearms - detected the cash which eventually landed Morinaj a stretch of 15 months in prison.
It was also ordered that the money would be forfeited.
Macauley Colledge
Colledge was sentenced to two years in prison for his part in a vicious bottle attack in Nuneaton which left the victim with facial injuries.
The 22-year-old smashed a bottle in the teenage victim's face after Niall Carnworth had originally punched and kicked him to the floor.
Video footage of the incident posted on social media helped officers identify Colledge and Carnworth as the attackers.
The pair, who are both from the town, pleaded guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.
Colledge was sentenced to two years in prison to run alongside a prison sentence he is currently serving, while 20-year-old Carnworth was given a two-year sentence suspended for two years.
