A man who slit the throat of a teenage salesman in a chilling attack and a former town councillor embroiled in a drug dealing chain were among those thrown in jail across the county in November.
Here’s a summary of notable court reports this month:
Colin Clarkson
Colin Clarkson, 51, has been jailed for over 10 years. Photo: Humberside Police
Colin Clarkson, 51, of Heneage Road in Grimsby was jailed for 10 years and eight months after slitting the throat of a teenage salesman in a chilling attack outside an Asda supermarket in Grimsby.
During the attack he whispered ‘random murder’ into his victim’s ear and he will serve an extended five years on licence after his release. After the attack Clarkson calmly walked into the fruit and veg section of the supermarket and sat down on the floor to eat a punnet of raspberries. Luckily the victim survived.
Former Gainsborough Town Councillor and licence holder for the White Hart Hotel Sharon Hopkinson.
Former Gainsborough town councillor Sharon Hopkinson was jailed for three years and six months for her part in a drug dealing chain in Lincoln.
Hopkinson, 45, of the White Hart Hotel in Gainsborough had already surrendered her alcohol licence for the venue and stepped down from her role on the council after she was convicted as part of a conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine earlier this year.
Seven people have been jailed for a total of over 47 years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
Seven people, including Sharon Hopkinson, were jailed for a total of over 47 years after being found guilty of a conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine in Lincoln.
Police action was carried out in various locations including Lincoln’s High Street and Portland Street.
The conspiracy centred around a property in the Bailgate area of the city, which was being used to prepare significant quantities of Class A drugs for onward sale in Lincoln.
The other six sentences were as followed:
Norman Foreshaw, 39, of White Hart Hotel, Gainsborough was jailed for 16 years.
Roger Bayes, 48, of Keddington Avenue, Lincoln was jailed for 12 years.
Charlie Murray, 28, of Washington Street, Hull was jailed for four years and seven months.
Elon Williams, 24, of Washington Street, Hull, was jailed for four years and seven months.
Robert Sharpe, 50, of Greetwell Gate, Lincoln, was jailed for three years and 10 months.
Dwan Fowler, 31, of Jarvis Close, Lincoln, was jailed for two years and seven months.
James Hewitson, 36, of Newark Road, Lincoln, who was found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court on September 11, will be sentenced at a later date.
Samuel Warner from Lincoln has been jailed for two years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
Samuel Warner, 46, from Lincoln was jailed for two years for offences against minors after being filmed by a group of so-called paedophile hunters. ‘Hunter group’ Justice4Kids claimed to have posed as young girls in order to bait Warner online.
A video in which a group appear to confront him near to the Lincoln city centre police station has been viewed more than 26,000 times on Facebook. In the video, Warner is accused of arranging to meet with what he believed to be a minor and sending images. He tells them he “doesn’t know why” he exchanged messages.
Warner will also be subject to a 10 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and have to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.
William Gaskin and Riley Smith were both jailed for over three years. Photo: North Yorkshire Trading Standards
A 42-year-old Lincolnshire man was one of two people jailed for over three years for property repair scams targeting elderly and vulnerable victims.
William Gaskin, of Rose View Drive Travellers Site in Holbeach and Riley Smith, 42, of Sunrise Meadow Travellers Site, Needingworth Road, Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud elderly and vulnerable victims.Both Smith and Gaskin were jailed for three years and nine months.
James Quantrill has been jailed for four years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
James Quantrill was jailed for four years after seeing fire to his girlfriend’s flat after she told him their relationship was over. Quantrill, 28, of Willesby Road, Spalding, admitted a charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered as a result of the incident at Ms Parsons’ flat on September 2 this year.
The court was also told that Quantrill was given a five year sentence at Nottingham Crown Court in January 2008 for manslaughter following an incident when he was 16. Quantrill and another teenager kicked and burned a helpless 27-year-old man before throwing him into the River Welland in Spalding.
Michael Bradbury, 30, drove off without helping the three seriously injured riders.
An uninsured motorist who seriously injured three cyclists when he fell asleep at the wheel has had his jail sentence cut by nine months. Michael Bradbury, 30, was jailed for 45 months earlier this year after a court heard how he drove off without helping the riders despite knowing “he had hit something”.
Among his victims was Colchester dentist Bill Tweddell, 58, who was immediately knocked unconscious and suffered multiple injuries in the collision which left him paralysed and wheelchair bound. A later hearing at Lincoln Crown Court was told on Monday, November 5 that the prison guidelines used to sentence Bradbury, from Sleaford, were too high. The sentence was then reduced from 45 months to 36 months.
(L-R) Andrew Hurns and Lucasz Orywal have been jailed for causing the death of a pregnant mother in a horrific crash on the A17.
Two Nottinghamshire men who caused the death of a pregnant mum from Bradford after towing an unroadworthy van for 27 miles through Lincolnshire have had their jail sentences cut by five months. Lukasz Orywal, 32, and Andy Hurns, 28, towed the unroadworthy van before losing control of the vehicle in a crash which killed 26-year-old Aneta Zdeb on the A17.
Orywal and Andy Hurns had each been jailed for three years and nine months earlier this year after they both admitted causing the death of Aneta Zdeb by dangerous driving. However, a hearing at Lincoln Crown Court on Tuesday, November 6 was told both men were entitled to full credit for their guilty pleas. The original sentence for both men was reduced to three years and four months.
Neil Amess, 34, of Gaunt Close in Spalding was jailed for five years for committing sex offences against two 15-year-old girls. He pleaded guilty to charges involving one of the girls of sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following sexual grooming and sexual communication with a child.
He sent sexually explicit messages to the girls and met up with them. He went on to give them alcohol after taking them back to his flat in Spalding and subsequently had sex with one of them. He also admitted a charge of sexual communication with the second 15-year-old girl.
He was given an extended licence which means he will be at risk of being returned to prison for five further years after his initial sentence expires. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Alex Cawood-Charlton was jailed for 18 months. Photo: Nottinghamshire Police
Alex Cawood-Charlton, 26, has been jailed for 18 months after being arrested by armed police on the University of Lincoln campus back in May. He was also among four sentenced in relation to an armed burglary in Worksop.
Porcher Toynbee, 22, knew the victim of the robbery and made arrangements to visit him – but instead of making a friendly house-call she brought three masked men with weapons. The victim suffered what is believed to be an axe injury in the incident in Norfolk Street in Worksop, at around 9pm on May 14 2018.
His injuries included a 10-inch gash to his head and a fractured eye socket. The investigation later led detectives to identify Toynbee’s boyfriend Aaron Meehan, 37, and friend Cawood-Charlton as two of the three masked men. Toynbee’s father Alan O’Neil, 45, was identified as being involved in plotting the robbery.
Left tor right – Aaron Meehan, Porcher Toynbee and Alan O’Neil have all been jailed. Photo: Nottinghamshire Police
Meehan, of Wiltshire Road, London, was jailed for four years
Toynbee, formerly of Bawtry Close, Lincoln, was sentenced to three years
Sebastian Mocny has been sentenced to 12 months in jail. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A burglar who raided the home of a disabled 90-year-old woman as she slept has been jailed for 12 months. Sebastian Mocny smashed a kitchen window to get into the property on New Hammond Beck Road, Boston, and went on to search rooms in the house.
Mocny, 37, of Paddock Grove, Boston, admitted burglary on the night of July 16-17. He asked for a further offence of burglary of the Black Sluice Centre in Boston to be taken into consideration.
A Lincoln woman “feared for her life” when her former partner broke into her home and attacked her. Jake Coyle, 27, of Hamilton Road, Lincoln was the subject of a restraining order when he turned up at her home on the Ermine West estate.
His former partner, Whitney Swann, refused to let Coyle into her home on a Sunday night but he put a slab through the rear lounge window. Coyle admitted assaulting Ms Swann and causing her actual bodily harm, breach of a restraining order and damaging property as a result of the incident on September 23.
He also admitted two charges of common assault to police officers. As a result, Coyle was jailed for 30 months and given a five year restraining order banning him from contacting Ms Swann.
Jack Harrison, 19, from Top Road in Winterton was jailed for 10 months after committing a series of offences on the day of a Scunthorpe United game earlier this year. Harrison was sentenced for ABH, throwing a flare and exposure for offences committed on Tuesday, May 1 when Scunthorpe were playing Plymouth Argyle at home.
He assaulted a man from Devon in a McDonald’s restaurant, which resulted in the victim needing 22 stitches to his face and being concussed for a number of hours. Harrison bragged on social media about what he’d done which was picked up by Humberside Police’s colleagues at Devon and Cornwall Police.
A subsequent investigation led to Harrison being arrested in August. He has been jailed for ten months, been given a six year football banning order with full conditions, and in addition has been put on the sex offenders register for exposure.
Jonathan Davies
Jonathan Davies, 43, of Freer Gardens in Louth was jailed, as well as being disqualified from driving for 12 months, after his aggressive driving put others on the road in danger. Davies was charged with dangerous driving on January 20, 2017 after an incident on the A16 between North Thoresby and Holton Le Clay.
He was driving a green VW Golf at the time and overtook another motorist at North Thoresby, but then pulled up and slammed on his brakes in the middle of the A16 causing the car he’d been following and all other traffic to come to a complete stop. He then jumped out of his car and verbally abused the victim.
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One of the major events in Lincolnshire’s agricultural calendar has been cancelled for the second year running due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lincolnshire Farming Conference was set to return to the Lincolnshire Showground on Thursday, February 10, but ongoing concerns surrounding the Omicron variant of coronavirus have meant the event will be shelved once again.
It has been dealt the same fate as last year, when the event was forced into cancellation as the country was in the midst of going through the roadmap steps out of lockdown at the beginning of 2021.
The theme for this year’s conference was due to be ‘healthy soil, healthy minds’, with a series of expert regional and national speakers planned to offer case studies and one to one sessions on the topic, which will roll over to next year.
The new date for the 2023 event is February 9, again held at Lincolnshire Showground, COVID-permitting. Anyone who booked a place to attend this year’s scheduled event will be given a full refund via Eventbrite.
Kelly Hewson-Fisher, chairman of the Lincolnshire Farming Conference, said: “We are sad to announce the cancellation of the 2022 event however, the safety of our community is extremely important to us, and we have to prioritise that by taking the right action.
“The conference is a key fixture for Lincolnshire’s agricultural community, with this decision to cancel being intended to keep them safe and allow us to deliver a first-rate event with greater certainty in the future.
“We look forward to welcoming the Lincolnshire Farming Conference back fully on February 9, 2023, when key industry speakers will focus on the theme of ‘healthy soil, healthy minds’.”
Greater Lincolnshire’s COVID-19 infection rates have more than halved in all authorities according to the most recent figures.
The government’s dashboard for the most recent seven day period to January 19 shows a 61.8% reduction in the region’s average rate from 1,520.3 per 100,000 population to 940.3.
The latest numbers appear to back the Prime Minister’s statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday when he said the Omicron wave looked to have peaked.
Boris Johnson used the falling rates to announce that several plan B measures would be scrapped, including face coverings, the requirement for COVID-passes and the Work from Home guidance.
His announcement was followed by a statement in the evening by Health Secretary Sajid Javid who said: “This is a moment that we can all be proud of.
“The culmination of a brilliant national mission that’s helped us to withstand the Omicron wave and restore more freedom to this country.
“It’s a reminder of what this country can accomplish when we all work together.”
He also indicated that self-isolation rules could soon change.
Greater Lincolnshire’s latest infection rates up to January 19. | Data: gov.uk
The latest figures show however that, as has often been the case during the pandemic, Lincolnshire continues to be behind other areas on the wave.
Despite rates falling by as much as 78.9% in Boston, 75% in South Holland and 64.4% in North Kesteven, the majority of areas have moved up in the national rankings.
This shows the county is not coming down as fast as other areas in the country with Boston moving 201 places up the board even with it’s massive drop in rates.
Just two authorities have dropped down the rankings, top spot sitters North Lincolnshire which has fallen from 89th highest to 97th, and North East Lincolnshire which has gone from 76th to 100th. Both areas have seen a just over 50% fall in cases.
Four authorities sit above the England National average of 986.2, but overall Greater Lincolnshire sits below the line.
A police officer based in Grimsby said he was ‘going to rape’ a junior PC at Humberside Police, in one of two sex attacks on female colleagues, a misconduct hearing has heard.
Christopher Lings, who was responsible for mentoring junior officers, was alleged to have pushed each woman onto a bed on separate occasions, telling one he was going to rape her.
A misconduct panel heard the 35-year-old, who served for 16 years until his resignation in March 2021, behaved in a “sexualised way” to two female junior officers he was supposed to be mentoring, according to the BBC. Lings did not attend this week’s misconduct hearing in Goole.
The hearing was told how Lings became drunk at a party on March 16, 2020 when he allegedly touched and kissed one of the women after pushing her onto a bed and lying on top of her. Olivia Checa-Dover, the force’s legal representative, said he also tried to move his hand up her leg towards her crotch.
The panel chairman Callum Cox said the woman’s housemate heard Lings whisper to the woman that he was “going to rape her” that night. He reportedly repeatedly asked her whether she was a virgin, leaving her visibly shaking and upset. He is also said to have sent her a message containing explicit sexual language in the previous month, the hearing heard.
The incident came three months after Lings allegedly pushed another woman onto a hotel bed in Lincoln and lay on top of her after a Christmas party on December 19, 2019. He was previously given a final written warning in May 2015 after he was said to have behaved “inappropriately” towards three females while he was drunk.
The panel said he would have been sacked had he not resigned, but it is not known whether the alleged assault was the reason for him leaving the force.
His behaviour against both junior officers amounted to serious gross misconduct and a breach of professional standards. Lings was barred from serving for five years.
Humberside Police said it pursued criminal charges against Lings, but the Crown Prosecution Service did not prosecute him, according to the BBC.
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