Wiltshire criminals jailed in 2022

Throughout, 2022 many defendants were brought before the courts to face punishment for some shocking crimes they committed.

The Swindon Advertiser, Wiltshire Gazette and Herald and Wiltshire Times has been at the forefront in covering court cases and seeing that justice is being done.

Here are some of the biggest cases that our reporters have covered.

Trevor Fernandes

Trevor Fernandes abused an American teenager online, demanding she perform sexual acts on herself and threatening to share intimate images to her contacts unless she complied with her every demand.

He made her call him ‘master’ or ‘master Trevor’ and demanded evidence that she was complying on his command ‘check’.

Among the depraved acts, she was forced to carry out was a sex act on a newborn baby and on her pet dog.

Fernandes was jailed for 14 years on August 11 after the jury convicted him of all 16 charges including seven of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and nine of making indecent images of a child.

Josh Kellock

Kellock was sent to prison after he hit a pub-goer over the head with a glass - an attack which later forced his victim to have his eye removed.

The defendant was involved in the row at the Royal George pub in Purton on a summer's evening in August 2020, which saw bystanders forced to intervene.

Victim Nigel Hopgood has since had to give up his job as a driver and is “no longer the outgoing, fun-loving person he was,” the court was told during the hearing.

Kellock was jailed for 21 months at the start of the year and will serve half before being considered for release.

Patrick Dean Williams

A rapist described by his victim as an "evil, depraved creature" was given a life sentence in April after the judge said his risk to women was "extremely high".

He was unanimously convicted by a jury of a string of sexual offences at Swindon Crown Court.

Williams has sexual and physical assault convictions against women ranging over a 20-year period, with the first offence taking place in 1996.

The 46-year-old's latest victim was his third rape victim in addition to sexual and physical assaults.

She came to court to read out her victim’s personal statement before sentencing and spoke of the "incredible trauma" she had suffered, describing it as a "never-ending nightmare" that made her feel "dirty".

The defendant will serve a minimum term of 14 years in jail before being allowed to apply to the parole board.

David Nyre

A “lonely” father-of-two was snared by undercover cops when he thought he was telling the mother of a nine-year-old girl that he wanted to sexually abuse her daughter.

Nyre would send graphic messages to a woman he met online, and had arranged to meet her and her daughter.

He would list the horrific acts he wanted to perform on the child which included tying her up.

However, the woman was an undercover police officer, and Nye was arrested when he tried to meet them at a restaurant in Chippenham last July.

Judge James Townsend jailed Nye for three years, whilst he must also sign on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Creighton Muirhead

Creighton Muirhead was jailed in March after he was convicted of abusing children at a Swindon school.

The defendant was the headteacher at Ruskin Junior School in between 1995 and 2008.

Where he sexually abused a total of 19 children in what was labelled as “a study in the failure of child protection” by the judge.

Muirhead, who remained unmoved during the hour-long hearing as details of his offending was read aloud, was jailed for a total of 11 years, after he was unanimously convicted by a jury of 23 counts of indecent assault earlier this month following a six-week trial.

The 67-year-old has been added to the sex offenders' register indefinitely and will not be allowed to work with children for the rest of his life.

Brian Smith

A taxi driver from London travelled to Swindon with the intention to rape and sexually abuse a 9-year-old girl.

Brian William Smith had been speaking to a person online he thought was a mother who was going to allow him to rape her nine-year-old daughter.

But it turned out to be an undercover police officer, who arrested him as he arrived at Swindon train station, armed with Vaseline and condoms.

He was jailed for two years and eight months, having pleaded guilty on an earlier occasion.

Marlon Joao

Marlon Joao was sent down after he dragged a police officer along a dual carriageway from the side of his car.

The dad was stopped by the officer, who herself is a mother on April 26 for driving the wrong way down the A419.

She had been on patrol on the northbound carriageway approaching White Hart roundabout when she saw the bright headlights coming towards her.

However, whilst Joao was initially compliant, he soon started to ask to move his vehicle. When PC Joanna Halewood refused to let him, he grabbed her arm, and sped off, dragging her a “short distance”.

Joao, was initially charged with attempted murder but was dropped by the CPS.

He pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

The defendant was jailed for 32 months, and was banned from the roads for 28 months at Salisbury Crown Court on June 22.

Jason Ranford

The boss of a former nightclub was jailed earlier this year after assaulting his wife.

Jason Ranford previously ran the Brunel Rooms, pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court in June.

Ranford, of Hinton Parva Lane, was previously sentenced to 38 weeks imprisonment in February after he hurled a glass at a man's head in an unprovoked attack at a Christmas party last year.

James Emrys Lewis

A former paratrooper-turned lorry driver killed a father when he fell asleep at the wheel of an articulated lorry.

James Emrys Lewis was travelling along the M4 in the early hours of September 24, 2020, but failed to notice that traffic had stopped ahead of him because of a rolling police roadblock.

He ploughed into the back of the stationary lorry in front having been in cruise control at 86 kilometres per hour (53 miles per hour).

The family were left devastated beyond repair when Simon Clover was killed in the collision.

The lorry’s emergency braking system, which featured audible and visual alarms, activated before Lewis eventually hit the brakes just seven metres before impact and at only 24 per cent pressure.

Judge Taylor jailed Lewis for five years and two months, after giving a 25 per cent discount for his early plea.

During sentencing, the judge described the incident as ‘utterly avoidable’

The defendant was also banned from driving for five years, extended by 31 months to take into account the period he will spend in custody.

Lewis must also take an extended retest before he is allowed to hold a licence again.

Ross Grant

A man broke into the home of a woman before proceeding to rape her.

Ross Grant, from Trowbridge, was found guilty of one count of rape by a jury after deliberations that lasted just over four hours on Tuesday, August 16.

The woman was sleeping alone in the “security and comfort of her own home” last autumn thinking she was alone when she awoke to find the naked man on her bed, the court was told.

He left the house and went on the run for five months, before eventually being tracked down to Oxford.

On August 24, the defendant was sent down for six years at Swindon Crown Court.

Colin Davies

A rapist labelled a “bully” and a “dangerous man” will be monitored for more than a decade after he left his victim constantly looking over her shoulder.

Colin Davies spat at and punched his victim in the face as she begged him to stop during a brutal assault minutes before he went on to rape her.

He was deemed dangerous by Judge James Townsend, who passed an extended sentence totalling more than a decade.

The defendant was also labelled a “significant risk” to women.

Judge Townsend imposed a 12-year extended sentence – comprising a nine-year custodial element and three-year extended licence period.

It means that Davies will serve at least two-thirds of the custodial element before he is eligible to be considered for release by the Parole Board, but will be monitored and subject to licence conditions until the end of the full 12 years.

He was told to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and was banned from contacting the victim, directly or indirectly, until further order.

James Cooper

A woman who moved to Swindon to get away from her former partner was tracked down and assaulted by him on multiple occasions.

James Cooper travelled 60 miles from Southampton to find the woman.

He assaulted her on two separate occasions, including grabbing her by the throat, fracturing her cheekbone and kicking her in the groin.

Cooper then lied in his police interview and defence statement, prosecutor Adrian Fleming told the court, claiming the victim sustained the injuries from falling off a bike.

The defendant’s trial was delayed in January, after he turned up to the court drunk, fell asleep, and then ran off after waking up. He was arrested and the next day changed his pleas to guilty.

The court heard that the victim had “nothing but problems” with Cooper after he tracked her down to Swindon.

Judge Jason Taylor QC jailed the 50-year-old for two years and eight months after he was charged with causing actual bodily harm and one count of causing grievous bodily harm.