A Lincoln paedophile caught in a sting, a dealer selling cocaine and heroin and a 25-strong drug gang were among those jailed in the first month of 2020.
Here’s a summary of notable court reports in The Lincolnite and Lincolnshire Reporter from January 2020:
Patrick Malone
He has been jailed for two years and ten months
A Lincoln man found himself caught in a paedophile hunters sting after sending explicit messages and pictures to what he believed to be teenage girls.
Patrick Malone, 34, set up a meeting with someone he believed to be the girl on WhatsApp, but when he turned up he was confronted by members of a paedophile hunter group. He has since been jailed for two years and 10 months.
Jeaihan White was jailed for three years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
Police found thousands of pounds worth of crack cocaine and heroin when officers raided a student flat. Officers discovered the tenant of the flat in Danesgate House, Lincoln, in bed on her laptop and surrounded by books. However, a search then revealed 188 wraps of crack cocaine and 58 wraps of heroin which were divided into street deals.
The cocaine and heroin was being sold by her boyfriend Jeaihan White, who was jailed for three years.
The drug gang have now all been sentenced. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
Drug dealers involved in bringing vast amounts of cocaine and heroin into Lincolnshire were given lengthy jail sentences at the end of a series of court cases which have taken place over several months. In total 25 people were sentenced in connection to the major investigation.
A drink driver from Spalding killed a mum with two kids in the car after overtaking a lorry and crashing into slowing traffic ahead. Adam White was jailed for nine years.
Katy Cunningham, 46, from Peterborough died at the scene. She had her two children in the car with her, aged 8 and 11 at the time, who both suffered life-changing injuries.
Christopher Webster was jailed for 10 years. Photo: Nottinghamshire Police
A 30-year-old man from near Lincoln, who deliberately started a fire at his ex-partner’s house and also threatened a woman and her daughter with a knife, was jailed for 10 years. Christoper Webster, of Victoria Terrace in Newark, appeared in court on January 7.
Mark Harrison has been jailed for three years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
Mark Harrison was jailed for three years after trying to force his way into the bedroom of his victims as they clung to the door handle to keep him out. He entered through a bungalow window in Revesby Drive in Skegness and growled as he went towards a man who retreated into his bedroom.
Adam Clifton was jailed for two years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A man who was disarmed by a heroic shop worker as he tried to a rob a Boston store at knifepoint was jailed for two years. Adam Clifton slashed the air with the knife in the direction of the shop worker after entering Cooper’s Food and Drink store in Red Lion Street on October 15.
A 23-year-old Grimsby man defrauded an elderly family member out thousands of pounds. Harrison Davies used the 79-year-old victim’s bank cards to fraudulently order items online without her knowledge or permission. Davies was sentenced to two years in jail – he was given a four month sentence for perverting the course of justice, which will run concurrently to the two years.
Mark Himsworth was jailed for 15 months. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
Mark Himsworth, 39, was jailed for 15 months after breaking into his mother’s home and stripping off because she did not invite him round for Christmas.
Mark Oliver has been jailed for 12 months. Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A former boxer from Mablethorpe repeatedly punched his partner in the face after she told him their relationship was over. Mark Oliver, 51, was jailed for 12 months.
Prolific Grimsby shoplifter Kieran Kauss has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail. Photo: Humberside Police
A racially abusive and violent Grimsby shoplifter, who stripped naked in a local shop and caused thousands of pounds of criminal damage, has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail. Kieran Kauss, 24, of David Street in Grimsby was jailed for 50 weeks.
A lorry driver from Spalding was jailed for eight months and disqualified from driving for two years and four months after he killed a cyclist while on a hands free phone to call his wife. Marek Witulski, 40, was driving his HGV southbound on the A141 near Chatteris in Cambridgeshire on December 3, 2018 when the collision occurred.
Spotted an error? Please notify us by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
A ‘street artist’ in Lincolnshire who has spent the past two years decorating potholes to make them look like bugs in an act of defiance has set out on a new mission, flagging up craters on an airfield near to her house.
Karan Chapman Holland, a founding member of artistic protest group Bugsy Pothole on Facebook, went to Spilsby Airfield on Tuesday, January 25 to highlight the number of potholes in the area.
Bugsy Pothole invites people to “draw the council’s attention” to potholes by spray painting around the hole and creating a bug shape.
The group was created in February 2020 and has amassed more than 2,100 members in that time, setting out on a mission to “bug these councils into action”.
Bugsy Pothole has been running since 2020, putting pressure on councils to fill in potholes across Lincolnshire. | Photo: Karan Chapman Holland
Karan says she started the Bugsy Pothole group in 2020 following an incident which saw her drive into a pothole full of water, causing her car tyre to burst.
“I started it after hitting a pothole two years ago and decided to take revenge with spray paint”, Karan told The Lincolnite.
She said she couldn’t believe how quickly the group took off in popularity, but is just glad a light is being shone on the pothole issues in Lincolnshire.
“It was a shock to me, we were in The Sunday Times a few months ago and have regularly been on national news.
“It’s important to me because we have got a serious problem in Lincolnshire with potholes.”
Karan says the council track her progress and have filled in the potholes weeks after she sprays them. | Photo: Karan Chapman Holland
Upon visiting the Steeping Aerodrome on Tuesday, otherwise known as Spilsby Airfield, Karan noticed the size and severity of the potholes and made sure to mark them out in the only way she knows how at this stage, turning them into bugs.
She says there were more to spray, but ran out of paint and will be heading back there to highlight the issues on Wednesday.
With February half-term imminent, a series of pop-up free-to-all activities have been organised across Lincoln city centre to keep the family entertained during time off school.
Running every day from February 12 to 20, the activities will be situated across various locations in Lincoln, including the Waterside Shopping Centre and the Cornhill Quarter.
The activities have been organised by Lincoln Business Improvement Group, and are funded through the European Regional Development Fund and the Welcome Back Fund.
Arts and crafts workshops will be up around Lincoln this half-term. | Photo: Lincoln BIG
The money has been allocated to Lincoln by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lincoln BIG says it wanted to bring something “exciting and new” to the city, while also encouraging people to get out the house as coronavirus restrictions are gradually lifted.
Various street performances will be held in the city centre. | Photo: Lincoln BIG
All activities will be free of charge and all families are welcome to take part in the fun.
The full activities list is:
Arts and crafts workshops, such as hula hooping and making balloon animals
Makendoo workshops for painting and making both spring and space themed things (rockets, stars, flowers, butterfly masks etc)
Street performances and characters, including puppetry walkabout, Granny Turismo, speed painter Jon Hicks, physical comedian Ian Marchant and a cookery demonstration like no other from Lee Whittingstall and Hugh Fearn
The mother of a man who was allegedly stabbed to death by his partner told a jury the couple would “bicker a lot”
Charlie Stevenson, 21, is alleged to have deliberately stabbed Christopher Higgs, also 21, with a kitchen knife at her home in Portland Street, Boston.
Mr Higgs, from Spalding, was found with a single stab wound to his heart after Ms Stevenson called the ambulance service to her property on July 14.
His mother, Jody Manchester, today (Tuesday) gave evidence from the witness box at Lincoln Crown Court.
Police investigating an alleged murder at the property on Portland Street, Boston. | Photo: David Dawson
She told the jury Christopher had an older brother called Charlie, and two sisters called Paris and Paige.
He grew up in Surrey, and was diagnosed with ADHD and then autism when he was 12.
“He relied very heavily on routine, things could not change,” Ms Manchester added. “He was also fussy about clothes and food.”
The jury heard Christopher was taken into care at the age of 12, but still had regular contact with his mother, seeing her six times a year.
Mr Higgs later decided to return to his family, and undertook a carpentry course, before meeting Ms Stevenson in 2018.
Officers in boiler suits at the scene of the incident. | Photo: David Dawson
Ms Manchester said: “Sometimes they were alright, but they did bicker a lot.”
Asked by prosecution barrister Christopher Donnellan QC, if she saw injuries to Christopher during his time with Charlie, Ms Manchester replied: “Yes.”
When asked by Mr Donnellan what the injuries were, Ms Manchester stated: “Black eyes, scratches down his neck, and a lot of the time his clothes were ripped.”
Ms Manchester said she had regular conversations with the couple on Facetime after they had a baby.
But Ms Manchester told the jury she did witness one incident at her home in Surrey where Ms Stevenson punched Christopher who responded by pulling her hair.
Ms Manchester said she told Christopher “to let go”, and Ms Stevenson picked up a kitchen dish which was taken off her by one of Christopher’s sisters.
The jury heard Mr Higgs was moving backwards and forwards from Surrey to his brother’s home in Spalding, while Ms Stevenson and their child were living in Boston.
Ms Manchester admitted she was aware Christopher should not have been staying at the house in Portland Street because of a bail condition from an incident involving Ms Stevenson.
The defence argue Mr Higgs could also be violent towards Ms Stevenson.
Under cross-examination from James Newtown-Price QC, defending Ms Stevenson, Ms Manchester replied: “I have never seen it, but it is possible.”
Ms Manchester admitted she was aware of occasions where Mr Higgs was alleged to have assaulted Ms Stevenson.
She accepted there was also one occasion where she had to call the police after Mr Higgs became violent towards her partner.
When asked about the level of violence between the couple, Ms Manchester replied: “It was equal.”
She also accepted Mr Higgs would regularly use cannabis.
Charlie Stevenson, 21, of Portland Street, Boston, denies murder on July 14, 2021. The trial continues.
Whatsapp
