12 court cases that have rocked Derbyshire in 2023

2023 saw some truly shocking cases of vilence, abuse and degradation go through Derby’s court. Here, reporter Martin Naylor selects one he covered from each month of the year.

January

Teenage drug dealer Usman Nazir was found with a loaded gun in his jacket pocket at the Normanton barbers where he went to get his haircut. A search of the then 19-year-old’s Derby flat also uncovered a second loaded pistol on a table along with a formidable arsenal of fearsome weapons.

Analysis of his mobile phones showed a photograph of him next to a large quantity of cash and drugs and a message alongside it which referenced him to receiving “a good weekend’s takings” from supplying cocaine and cannabis.

And the now 21-year-old is fearing his first taste in an adult prison where he knows people linked to him previously being stabbed in a gang attack in St Peter’s Street will be looking for him. Jailing Nazir, of Great Northern Road, for five years, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “Against a background you no doubt decided that protection was the best form of defence and for reasons best known to you, you got yourself involved not only in drugs but firearms and serious firearms at that and that attracts a five-year minimum sentence in prison.” Nazir pleaded guilty to possession of firearms, possession of ammunition and possession with intent to supply cocaine and cannabis.

(Image: Derbyshire Constabulary)

February

A 31-year-old Derbyshire man who has never been in trouble before carried out an “unfathomable” glassing on someone in a pub while out celebrating Halloween.

Derby Crown Court heard how Ashley Flint’s victim now feels “paranoid” when out in public that people will judge him as a thug due to the s-shaped scar his attacker left him with. The defendant, who months before the assault had come to the UK after working in Australia as a logistics manager, took exception to something the victim said to him about his girlfriend while they were talking in a bar. Now he is tasting custody for the first time in his life.

Jailing Flint for two years, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “You have never been in any type of trouble before and over and above that until this dreadful event you were someone who made a worthwhile contribution to society.

There is absolutely no doubt you are a man of positive good character. “Something must have been said to cause you to do what you did, there can be no other explanation. What you then did can’t be excused but it can be explained and what we have is a complete one-off in an unfathomable incident in which you have not just damaged two lives but the lives of others.

“He has been left with an s-shaped scar on his neck and the psychological repercussions it is having on him are serious. You pleaded guilty in front of me in December and it would be an understatement to say I was astonished because people never normally plead to (an offence such as this).” Sarah Allen, prosecuting, said the incident took place in the Tipsy Toad, in Bakewell Road, Matlock, on October 29, 2022.

Ashley Flint, of West Street, Riddings, jailed for two years for a serious assault at a pub in Matlock (Image: Derbyshire Police)

March

Derby man Sunil Sidhu had a “potentially lethal” gun on him when he jumped out of a window and knocked himself unconscious falling onto a flat roof.

The weapon found with the Sinfin 40-year-old was a blank firing pistol which had been converted to shoot real ammunition. And police found a second gun – this one an imitation – in a bedroom when they investigated his crimes. Jailing him for five years, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “You were caught with two firearms, one was prohibited and there is a basis of plea in your case which is important in order for me to assess what the seriousness of the offence is.

“Your basis of plea is that you went to the address because of a legitimate reason.

You said the firearm was there and you say you did not threaten her (an ex-partner) with it and of course you tried to get away.” The offence took place at an address in Copper Leaf Close, in the Stockbrook area of the city, on October 8, last year. Sidhu, of Sinfin Lane, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and possession of an imitation firearm.

Sunil Sidhu, aged 40, of Sinfin Lane, Derby, jailed for five years for possession of a firearm (Image: Derbyshire police)

April

A Derbyshire bus driver has been jailed for six years[1] for the historic sexual abuse of a teenage boy.

Mark Gadbsy, of Cross Side, Ashbourne,[2] committed the heinous acts when he was in his 20s but his sickening crimes went unpunished for years. The 41-year-old lived a normal life and was even featured in a national newspaper for weight loss before the victim, who was 13 years old when the abuse started, came forward to tell his story. He had been targeted by Gadsby after being driven to school by him on the bus.

It begun with text messages asking the boy to meet up, before Gadsby began to give the boy lifts in his Ford Fiesta and eventually began to physically abuse the victim[3] on a country lane in Staffordshire.

That abuse then progressed to taking place in public toilets and in Gadsby’s mother’s house when she was out at work. As well as the physical acts, Gadsby also groomed the victim and threatened to tell others about the abuse, which “ruined his teenage years.” The victim, who is granted automatic anonymity under the Sexual Offences Act, released a statement, saying: “I do get upset about it still and I just think why did he need to do that?

Mark Gadsby has been jailed for six years (Image: Derbyshire Police)

May

Drug-using Derby electrician Thomas Dexter was jailed for four years and eight months for slashing a friend down the back with a Stanley knife in what a judge called “a revenge attack” outside a pub.

The 39-year-old, of :Littleover, caused his victim a “vicious” 15-inch wound down his back which required 39 stitches and led to him having to take weeks off work unpaid. In a victim impact statement, the man, a rugby player and former doorman, told how his attacker “could have killed me” when he was attacked b y the defendant outside the White Swan pub, in Littleover.

Jailing Dexter, Judge Martin Hurst said: “This caused a serious injury and left a serious scar and there was an element of revenge. I have made reference to the question of revenge and (your barrister) has argued that you were aggrieved on that day but not vengeful.”

The incident took place on May 15, last year when the victim was walking back to his flat from the Shepherd Street pub and he was approached by Dexter. The victim heard a click behind him which was a Stanley knife. Prosecutor Steven Bailey said: “He felt himself being grabbed from behind and then felt a stinging sensation and only realised he had been stabbed when people outside the pub told him about the blood on his top.

In fact he was remarkably calm. “It opened up through the skin and required a lot of stitches.” Judge Hurst replied: “It’s a vicious wound.” Dexter, of Elvaston Drive, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article in public.

He has previous convictions including dangerous driving, drink-driving and drug-driving. Jeremy Janes, mitigating, said his client’s actions were not an act of revenge and instead were “three or four seconds of stupidity” in which Dexter “erupted”. He said: “Throughout his life he has struggled with his mental health.”

As well as the jail sentence, Judge Hurst handed the defendant a restraining order not to contact the victim directly or indirectly until further order.

Thomas Dexter (Image: Derbyshire Police)

June

Derbyshire scout Douglas Whitelam sexually abused two young boys for a number of years, plying one of them with booze before carrying out sex acts with him and which led to the victim becoming an alcoholic. The paedophile, a former Rolls-Royce worker, made the victims touch him sexually and he did the same to them on many occasions. The now 70-year-old recently-divorced dad-of-two was arrested when one of the men came forward in 2016 to report what happened to him as a youngster and the second one reported his abuse two years later, but the defendant denied anything ever happened.

That meant both had to relive their ordeals at a trial.

Jailing the defendant, of Hilton, for 13 years, Judge Martin Hurst said: “(The first victim) suffered significant psychological damage as a result of what you did to him. You deliberately isolated him, took him into your bedroom and you clearly groomed him. “The psychological impact on (the second victim) has been severe, your behaviour took place over a sustained period of time and he was particularly vulnerable.

It seems to me your latent homsexuality was the root cause of this and you felt unable to reveal it to either your ex-wife or your children.” Whitelam was initially on trial in 2021 but a jury failed to reach verdicts and were discharged. Then, following a five-day retrial trial, in March of this year at Derby Crown Court, the defendant was found guilty of a number of counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 14 and indecency with a child.

In 2003, he was an Assistant District Commission and was involved with the Derby North movement when he was handed a Medal of Merit by the Scouts. As well as the prison sentence, Judge Hurst placed Whitelam, of Field Close, on the sex offender register for life and handed him a lifetime sexual harm prevention order.

Douglas Anthony Whitelam has been sent to prison for 13 years (Image: Derbyshire police)

July

Drug addict Emma Nicholls burgled and attacked an 87-year-old woman in her Allenton home during which she repeatedly punched the victim to the face and body and who bravely fought back despite her age. In a statement the pensioner, who walked into her living room to find the 39-year-old defendant sitting on her sofa, told how she “felt her heart racing” as she struggled with the heavily-convicted criminal on the floor.

Jailing her for 17 months Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “I have to say, and I don’t mean this in an insulting way, but you cut a very sad picture.

“You are typical of someone whose life has been ravaged by drugs and it is not a long life either, you are only 39. Having said all that, this case is not just about you, it’s about the victim and this was a very nasty experience for this lady.” The incident took place at the victim’s address on June 10, this year Nicholls, of Portlan Street, Normanton, pleaded guilty to burglary, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and battery.

Mr Gosnell read out part of a victim impact statement made by the 87-year-old. He said: “She has a stoic attitude which should be commended but she feels very hurt describing the defendant as being very strong during the assault and she is now more fearful and nervous than she was before.”

Emma Nicholls has been jailed following the assault (Image: Derbyshire Police)

August

Teenage gunman Tafa Whittaker was jailed for 18 years for shooting landscape gardener Luke Taylor in the stomach in broad daylight in Mackworth. In a victim impact statement, the father told how he still has no idea why the then 17-year-old decided to hunt him down, pull out a shotgun and fire it at him as he stood on the back of his works van.

Following a trial at Derby Crown Court earlier this year, a jury convicted the former Murray Park Community School pupil of attempted murder. In his statement, Mr Taylor, said: “I did not know Tafa Whittaker prior to this and I still don’t know why he did this to me. I was in hospital for a month, had multiple operations and was in an induced coma.

“When I woke up I had no idea what happened to me and I was so concerned about what happened and I just wanted to get home and see my wife and children.

My whole life has changed and can never go back to what it was and I am very lucky to be alive. “I can’t believe how lucky I am but my life will never go back to what it was.” The trial in February was told how Whittaker rode on a scooter to Ilford Road and shot Mr Taylor once before fleeing and discarding the shotgun, he said in a nearby stream and which has never been found. Earlier that day the victim and a friend had deliberately driven his white works van at a group of teenagers, including the defendant, during an altercation.

Immediately afterward Whittaker, now 18 and of Wild Street, went to his home, collected a shotgun he claimed to have found months earlier in a field, and went “scouring” for his victim and shot him. Jailing Whittaker, Judge Jonathan Bennett said: “This was a shooting that caused horrendous injuries and he only survived due to the efforts of the medical staff. Physically he will never be the same again, he suffers paranoia and fear.

I do not accept there was any provocation and (when you gave) evidence there was a coldness, even blaming your victim. One of the most tragic and astounding aspects of this case is your age.” Whitakker will serve two-thirds of his sentence behind bars before being released on licence after 12 of them.

Tafa Whittaker shot Luke Taylor in Mackworth (Image: Derbyshire Police)

September

Jealous and violent abuser Ashley Bell lured his ex-partner to his Derby flat where he subjected her to a three-hour beating.

During the attack, the 31-year-old punched the mother-of-two in the face and head, strangled her and even blamed her for making him act in the savage way he was[4] . The defendant also told the terrified woman he would bite her nose off and burn her private parts with an iron and the assault only came to an end when the doorbell rang and the victim was able to climb out of a window and summon help from a passer-by.

He then pretended to be her and used her Facebook account to call a man he believed the woman might have been seeing behind his back to meet her, but when he turned up Bell and his accomplice Kurt Miller[5] assaulted him and smashed his car windscreen with a baseball bat. But the offending didn’t end there as when that man called the police and told him what happened, Bell threatened to harm him, his family and his home if he did not drop the charges.

Jailing him for four years at Derby Crown Court,[6] Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “You behaved in the most appalling way. You slapped her, punched her, went through her Facebook account and put your hands around her throat. “She thought she was going to pass out.

You straddled her and said to her ‘I am going to bite you f****** nose off, I don’t care if I go to prison’.” The incident took place in August last year and Bell, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation and witness intimidation.

Ashley Bell has been jailed for four years (Image: Derbyshire police)

October

Paedophile David Murphy drove 175 miles from Derby to pay an 11-year-old boy for sexual activity. The 40-year-old convicted sex offender, of Cavendish Court, used a false name to make contact with the victim and arrange to meet him.

When they got to the footpath close to where the boy lived he encouraged him to participate in sexual touching and then later sent him GBP65 using Paypal. And he has previous convictions for similar offending and for distributing child abuse images involving young boys.

Handing him a total sentence of 12 years and eight months, Judge Martin Hurst said:[7] “One can’t ignore the fact that you drove 175 miles to meet this boy, having hired a car at the drop of a hat. That’s 175 miles where you had time to think about what you were going to do rather than thinking that you should not be doing it.

“I suspect for those 175 miles you were fantasising about what you were going to do. You deliberately isolated him by taking him to the woods a short bike ride away from his home. There is really no mitigation apart from the pleas you have entered.”

Murphy of Cavendish Court, who appeared over a video link from HMP Nottingham on Friday, October 6, pleaded guilty to charges of meeting a boy under 16 years of age following grooming, causing or inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity, breach of a sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with the notification requirements of being on the sex offender register. In 2013, he was handed a suspended sentence for a similar offence involving a young boy and in 2017 he was jailed for two years for distributing indecent images to like-minded perverts.

David Murphy, of Derby (Image: National Crime Agency)

November Remorseless pensioner Brian Armstrong deliberately targeted a vulnerable elderly neighbour’s flat while she was in hospital, broke in and stole cash, a safe and her medication.

A judge told the heavily 66-year-old, of Wheeldon Close, Ilkeston,[8] that what he committed against the woman was “a wicked offence” knowing she was away from the property. Derby Crown Court[9] heard how she returned home to find it “in a state of disarray” caused by the burglar. But the careless criminal left a knife and spanner he used to force his way into the property and on one of them was found his fingerprints which linked him to the offence.

Jailing him for 21 months, Recorder Graham Huston said:[10] “This is a wicked offence, you targeted an elderly victim who you knew and you burgled her home when you knew she was in hospital.

You had been tormenting this woman over a period of time and she was someone you regarded as ‘a soft touch’ and it is not surprising she is now trying to move as far away as she can get from you. You are a committed criminal and you behave without regard for other people. You have no remorse for your behaviour.”

Brian Armstong has been jailed (Image: Derbyshire Police)

December

Rapist Gary Shaw forced a woman to have sex with other men while he watched. Gary Shaw also sexually assaulted another woman[11] and engaged in controlling and coercive behaviour towards her. The 53-year-old, of Market Place, Belper, forced his victims to recount their ordeals in court after denying the offences.

However, a jury at Derby Crown Court found him guilty of rape, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without their consent, controlling and coercive behaviour and sexual assault[12].

On November 15, Shaw was sentenced to 12 years in prison and handed restraining orders banning him from having any contact with the women. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life. Shaw’s crimes left his victims suffering from anxiety, unable to sleep and feeling frightened.

In a victim impact statement, one of the women said: “I’m angry, upset, anxious.

It’s horrendous.

But I will get through it because he’s not going to put me down.”

Gary Shaw was jailed for 12 years (Image: Derbyshire Police)

References

1. ^ jailed for six years (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
2. ^ Cross Side, Ashbourne, (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
3. ^ physically abuse the victim (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
4. ^ in the savage way he was (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
5. ^ Bell and his accomplice Kurt Miller (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
6. ^ Jailing him for four years at Derby Crown Court, (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
7. ^ Judge Martin Hurst said: (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
8. ^ judge told the heavily 66-year-old, of Wheeldon Close, Ilkeston, (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
9. ^ Derby Crown Court (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
10. ^ Recorder Graham Huston said: (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
11. ^ sexually assaulted another woman (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
12. ^ person to engage in sexual activity without their consent, controlling and coercive behaviour and sexual assault (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)