February 5, 2019 8.11 am This story is over 60 months old

Behind bars: Lincolnshire criminals locked up in January

They were jailed for a range of offences

A driver who caused a horror crash along with several paedophiles, were among those jailed across the county in January.

Here’s a summary of notable court reports from last month:


Richard Hunt

A jury trial found Hunt guilty in under two hours.

Richard Hunt, 31, of Virginia Drive in Louth was jailed for seven years after carrying out a sex attack on a four-year-old while on bail for an assault on another young girl.

Hunt denied the offences, but a jury took less than two hours to convict him at Lincoln Crown Court.

Hunt denied two charges of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13. The charges related to separate incidents on February 5 and August 30 last year.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Read the full story here.


Matthew Stimson

Matthew Stimson abused several young girls.

Matthew Stimson, 26, from Burringham near Scunthorpe, was jailed for seven years for abusing young girls in Lincolnshire.

He abused several young girls in the area and even hid a girl in his home.

He has been given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and is required to sign on the sex offenders register for life after a string of offences over a year and a half.

Read the full story here.


Shane Chamberlain

Shane Chamberlain admitted causing the crash.

A driver who caused a horror crash, killing his best friend and seriously injuring three others was jailed for five years.

Shane Chamberlain, 25, had been drinking in a pub with friends before he lost control on a bend and collided head on with another car.

Chamberlain veered into the wrong lane of the A16 at East Keal near Spilsby and struck a couple driving in the opposite direction.

Chamberlain’s rear seat passenger Nathan Ardron, 24, was killed and a second passenger Benjamin Gibson was seriously injured.

Glenys Bark, 56, was so badly injured she spent almost three months in hospital. Her husband Nigel, 64, was also seriously hurt.

Chamberlain, of Birch Grove, Alford, admitted causing the death of Nathan Ardron by driving dangerously on August 17 2017. He also admitted three charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He was banned from driving for five and a half years.

Read the full story here.


Shaun Hutson

Shaun Hutson. Photo: Humberside Police

Shaun Hutson, of no fixed abode, was jailed for eight years for armed robberies where he threatened staff with a gun and knife.

On September 11 he threatened staff with a kitchen knife at McColl’s on Grimsby Road in Cleethorpes. He also threatened shopkeeper John Patel at Premier Extra Convenience Store on Wellington Street in Grimsby with a firearm on September 20.

The third raid took place on September where he threatened staff with a handgun at Farmoods on Garabaldi Street in Grimsby on September 22.

Hutson was arrested on September 26 when a number of items were recovered from a property on Guildford Street where he was staying.

Read the full story here.


Keith Gray

Keith Gray has been jailed for eight years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Keith Gray, 65, of Fen Road, Metheringham, was jailed for eight years after sexually abusing a young girl.

Gray began abusing the girl when she was just seven years old. The court heard how he repeatedly touched the girl over a three year period. He also forced her to perform a sex act on him on a number of occasions.

The offences first came to light when the victim revealed what had happened to her mother and sister.

Gray admitted eight charges of indecent assault committed between September 1983 and December 1987. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Read the full story here.


John Vickers

He had been taking money for years. Photo: Lincoln City FC

Former general manager at Lincoln City FC John Vickers was sentenced to 14 months in prison for fraud against the club.

Vickers, who joined the club in 2006, admitted £35,000 of fraud and submitted a guilty plea at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court.

Vickers, 48, London Road, Bracebridge Heath, was sentenced to prison after a hearing at Lincoln Crown Court on January 18, where it was heard that the money was used to fund his gambling addiction. £3,225 has since been repaid to the club.

Read the full story here.


Johnathan Challis-Wagstaff

Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Johnathan Challis-Wagstaff, 24, of St Bernards Avenue in Louth was jailed for two years and eight months after grooming a girl.

Challis-Wagstaff knew the girl was under 16-years-old at an early stage in their contact through Facebook but pursued her regardless. He proceeded to make several requests for the child to meet him for sex but she turned him down.

He sent the girl a video of him performing a sex act on himself and asked her to send him indecent images. He also incited her to perform a penetrative sexual act.

He has been placed on the Sex Offender Register for life and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

Read the full story here.


Philip Chapman

Philip Chapman has been jailed for 30 months. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Philip Chapman, 26, of Coleridge Gardens, Lincoln, was jailed for 30 months after carrying out a street robbery in a desperate bid to get cash for drugs.

Chapman struck as his victim was walking along Outer Circle Drive in Lincoln after she was dropped off by a friend in December.

On December 2 2018, he went passed her and crocked down at the side of her. He tried to pull her bag out of her hand. He yanked it out of her grasp and ran across the road with it.

Two days later Chapman attacked a 79-year-old woman in the car park of the Tesco store on Wragby Road.

He admitted robbery on December 2 and attempted robbery on December 4. He also admitted eight charges of shoplifting and a further charge of attempting to steal a mobile phone from a Tesco during an incident in November.

Read the full story here.


Bayo Awonorin

Photo: National Crime Agency

Bayo Awonorin, 44, from Bexley, London, was jailed for nine and a half years for his role in an NHS fraud and money laundering investigation.

Awonorin has been wanted by police since 2013 and was also the subject of a BBC Crimewatch appeal, as well as the National Crime Agency’s 10 most wanted fraudster’s campaign.

He was extradited from the US to the UK in September 2018 so he could later stand trial, and he has now been sentenced.

Awonorin is the fourteenth suspect to be convicted and brings to a close the largest and most successful fraud and money laundering investigation undertaken by Lincolnshire Police – Operation Tarlac.

Read the full story here.


Wayne Jones

A prisoner who was serving a life sentence at HMP North Sea Camp fled from the open prison just days after being transferred in, Lincoln Crown Court was told.

Wayne Jones, who was given a life sentence back in 2001 after admitting a charge of rape, was discovered missing during an evening check of inmates on November 25, 2018.

The 39-year-old made his way as far as Sleaford before being spotted and arrested the following morning.

Jones, formerly of Stockport, admitted escaping from custody on November 25. He was given a six month jail sentence.

Read the full story here.


Joshua Lake

Joshua Lake pictured by Lincolnshire Police.

Joshua Lake, 25, of Daniels Crescent, Long Sutton was jailed for 30 months after officers investigating a stolen vehicle managed to uncover a stash of illegal drugs at a vehicle workshop.

Lincolnshire Police targeted the workshop on Bridge Road, Long Sutton, in August 2017 after a stolen Audi A5 car was spotted outside.

The car, which was stolen five months earlier from Essex, had been cloned and fitted with false number plates.

Nathan Lake, who ran the workshop, denied he knew the vehicle was stolen.

Joshua Lake admitted charges of possession of cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply. He also admitted conversion of criminal property relating to the £390.

Nathan Lake, 28, also of Daniels Crescent, Long Sutton, admitted unlawful production of cannabis and a further charge of acquiring criminal property in relation to the stolen Audi car.

He was given an 18 month community order with a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 20 days.

Read the full story here.


Mick Connors & Patrick Cash

Mick Connors (left) and James Cash (right).

Two prolific burglars who targeted houses across Lincolnshire and Leicester have been jailed for over 12 years.

Mick Connors, 49, of Arbour View Court, Northampton, and Patrick James Cash, 49, of Elizabeth Road, Rothwell, pleaded guilty to nine charges of burglary.

All the offences occurred at properties in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire on July 4 last year.

Cash was sentenced to seven and half years imprisonment, and Connors was jailed for five years and three months.

Read the full story here.


Nadine Warwood

Nadine Warwood.

A woman from Mablethorpe, who attacked her neighbour with a hammer in a dispute over parking, was jailed for 12 months.

Nadine Warwood, 42, was angry after her neighbour Benjamin Colvin asked her friend to move his van from a parking space on Fitzwilliam Street, Mablethorpe.

Warwood admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm as a result of the incident on April 7 last year.

Read the full story here.


Billy & Lauren Griffin

Lauren and Billy Griffin. Photo: Humberside Police

A brother and sister became the final members of a Manchester gang, who dealt drugs on the streets of Grimsby, to be jailed.

Billy Griffin, 28, of Biddisham Walk, Manchester, was one of an eight-strong county lines gang who admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin between October 2015 and October 2016.

He and his co-accused sister had been on the run since the other gang members were sentenced.

He was jailed for four years and 10 months after a hearing in Grimsby on Monday, January 7.

Lauren Griffin, 25, of Biddisham Walk, Manchester was sentenced to five years and 10 months in jail. This takes the total jail term of the eight gang members to 48 years.

Read the full story here.


Phong Phan & Dinh Muoi

Phong Phan, 31, and Dinh Muoi, 47, have both been jailed. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Phong Phan and Dinh Muoi were jailed after police uncovered a cannabis farm with the potential to produce £150,000 worth of the drug.

The discovery was made when police raided a detached house in Euston Close in the Skellingthorpe Road area of Lincoln.

The search revealed that each of the four bedrooms had been converted to grow cannabis.

Phan and Muoi each admitted production of cannabis. Phan was jailed for 14 months and Muoi for a year.

Read the full story here.


Teresa Wilson

An addict who was caught shoplifting alcohol from a shop asked a judge to be jailed.

Teresa Wilson, 48, walked out of an Aldi store in Spalding without paying for three bottles of gin. She was initially given a community penalty, but wasn’t happy with the ruling.

Moments after leaving the dock at Lincoln Crown Court she asked for to be sent to jail. As a result, Wilson returned to the dock and was jailed for six months.

Wilson of Double Street, Spalding, admitted theft of three bottles of gin worth £59.97 on November 6 last year.

She also admitted breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed at the Crown Court in July 2018 for burglary and breach of a conditional discharge imposed by Lincoln Magistrates’ on January 24 2018.

Read the full story here.


Baby abduction

A 23-year-old woman from Sleaford, who abducted a baby and took her to Ireland in breach of a court order, was jailed for 12 months.

The woman, together with her partner, who cannot be named due to a court order to protect the child’s identity, entered the house where the child was living as part of a care order and took her away in the middle of the night.

The couple drove to Stranraer and took a ferry to Northern Ireland. The pair then travelled to the Republic of Ireland with the five-month-old girl.

The woman subsequently turned up at a Gardai Station in the Republic where she gave herself in and handed over the child to the authorities.

She admitted a charge of taking a child aged under 16 out of the United Kingdom between April 18 and 21 2018.

Read the full story here.