TikTok star Mahek Bukhari and more of the worst criminals locked up in 2023

The past year has seen several murder trials take place at Leicester Crown Court[1], including the case of two deaths on the A46, which saw TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother among four people convicted[2] of murdering two young men by ramming their car off the road. Three others were jailed for manslaughter in the trial. The case made international headlines.

Other shocking crimes included the murder of a 75-year-old man by his own grandson[3], Benjamin Dunlop, who punched and stamped on the pensioner at his home. Others jailed included Mason Mills, who fatally stabbed[4] Kieron Moore who had attacked him with a plank of wood, thinking he had been flirting with his girlfriend. During the autumn there were three murder trials ongoing at the same time at the court in Wellington Street - two men who killed a father by cutting him 196 times with knives[5] at a house in Westcotes, Leicester, a Glenfield woman who killed the baby girl she was set to adopt[6] and Kyle Morley, who beat his friend to death[7] in a children's playground in Hugglescote, near Coalville[8].

Below are the murderers, killers and thugs responsible for some of the worst crimes in the county recently:

Richard Hefford

A dad was jailed after driving drunk and causing a crash that seriously injured two people, including his four-month-old daughter. The baby girl was being held in the arms of a woman in the back of Richard Hefford's car when he smashed into an oncoming vehicle. The crash left the baby with skull fractures, brain haemorrhages, broken ribs and various cuts.

Hefford, who had been drinking for more than five hours that day, was nearly twice the drinking-driving limit and was going at nearly twice the speed limit on Ambleside Drive, Eyres Monsell[10]. There were two people in the vehicle Hefford crashed into. One suffered head and neck injuries, while the driver was left with a smashed and dislocated elbow which is still being treated five months later.

Hefford, of Kelso Green, was jailed after pleading guilty to drink-driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was jailed for two and a half years and banned him from driving for 51 months. Read the full story here.[11]

John Jessop

A killer[12] fatally stabbed a "loving and caring" mother-of-three in her own home.

John Jessop was captured on CCTV in the moments after the brutal murder of his former lover Clair Ablewhite, having cycled 17 miles to commit the killing. Clair, who lived in Colston Bassett, near Melton[13], was discovered on Saturday, February 26 last year by her father and police after being murdered the previous evening. The 47-year-old was found in her pyjamas and had suffered a number of serious stab wounds to her neck and chest.

CCTV from Clair's neighbour had captured the sounds of the brutal murder[14] and a hooded figure leaving her home - a person who was later identified as Jessop, who the mum-of-three had recently ended a relationship with. The 26-year-old had met Clair through a dating app, with messages between the pair uncovered when Clair's missing phone was recovered from a stream. The couple's relationship spanned the six months prior to the murder and ended over concerns about their age difference.

Jessop was jailed for 20 years. He was told he must serve at least 17 years and eight months behind bars. Read the full story here.[15]

Catalin Barladeanu

A driver killed another man after crashing into him while they were racing each other along a main road.

Catalin Barladeanu, 24, of Burder Street, Loughborough[16], left a barbecue at the same time as 35-year-old Oliver Dolici and the pair were travelling in convoy together just after midnight on Sunday, May 17, 2020. Eyewitnesses have said the pair were racing each other along Ashby Road when they collided, resulting in Mr Dolici's BMW coming off the road. His car then hit a lamppost, a wall, and five parked cars before coming to a rest on its roof, with debris being thrown from the collision and damaging two nearby homes.

Mr Dolici sustained serious injuries and died at the scene, with Barladeanu fleeing in his Mercedes before the emergency services arrived. After being found guilty by a jury at Leicester Crown Court[17], Barladeanu was sentenced to three years and three months in prison for causing death by dangerous driving. Once he is released, he will face a two-year ban from driving and will be required to take an extended test.

Read the full story here.[18]

Benjamin Dunlop

A man who slaughtered his own grandad, punching and stamping on him before trying to saw his head off, had told his mother days earlier how he "felt better when he killed things". Benjamin Dunlop, 27, murdered Ronald Dunlop the day after the pensioner's 75th birthday. During a sentencing hearing at Leicester Crown Court[19], Judge Timothy Spencer KC heard about Dunlop's long history of attacks on family members, and his admission to his mother, Emma Dunlop, about killing animals.

He had ended up in the care of his grandad after a hostel had kicked him out for vandalism and threatening to kill the manager's cat. Dunlop, who lived with his grandad in Hart Drive, Measham, near Coalville[20], also had a history of drug and alcohol abuse and mental health problems. Some violent outbursts towards his grandad had forced Ronald to flee the house and sleep in his car to get away from his violent grandson.

Dunlop was given a life sentence, with a minimum of 15 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole. Read the full story here.[21]

Aaron Carter

A dangerous driver who killed a 14-year-old girl after smoking cannabis was banned from ever driving again. Aaron Carter, 38, was speeding along Braunstone Lane, in Leicester, when he pulled out to overtake another car and suddenly pulled back in to avoid an oncoming vehicle.

His Vauxhall Astra hit the kerb and rolled over several times. As it flew across the pavement it collided with schoolgirl Tehleigher Bunting, who had been walking along the road arm-in-arm with a friend at 11am on the morning of Wednesday, October 26, last year. Carter was jailed for nine years.

After Carter was sentenced, Tehleigher's family released a statement in which they laid bare their heartbreak at her loss. They said: "There isn't a day that passes when we don't miss her. Her loss has impacted the entire family, particularly her siblings who miss her dearly.

Not only was she a daughter and a sister, she was a best friend to all of us." They added: "We love you, Tehleigher, and we always will. Our light, our beautiful girl, our life." Read the full story here.[22]

Christian Taylor

A drunk driver who killed a man[23] after going the wrong way up the M6 in Leicestershire before ploughing head-on into his vehicle was jailed.

Christian Taylor had more than double the legal limit of alcohol in his system and had been seen swerving between lanes in the moments before the fatal crash, near Lutterworth[24], last year. The 41-year-old former prison officer had been driving his black BMW 5 Series in the early hours of Friday, October 14 after a night of drinking in Stratford-upon-Avon with a friend and consuming more than his prescribed amount of medication. How Taylor managed to enter the M6 southbound near junction 1 for Lutterworth and Rugby in the wrong direction is still unclear.

However, it caused a devastating collision when he smashed head-on with a blue Nissan Juke near the Catthorpe Interchange - the point where the M1 and the M6 meet - a short time later. Rear near-side passenger David Draghita died a day in hospital after suffering "catastrophic" injuries in the impact. Taylor, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving as well as three counts of causing serious injury, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years by Judge Timothy Spencer KC.

Read the full story here.[25]

Kameron Grant-Smith

A man who attacked two dads with a machete as they were walking to the park with their young children was jailed for eight years. After being threatened by the pair, Kameron Grant-Smith fetched a machete from his car and slashed the first man in the skull, forearm and hand before the man managed to flee with his four-year-old son. The second man also suffered a gash to his skull as Grant-Smith repeatedly swung the machete at him, striking him at least 10 times as he lay over his two-year-old daughter to protect her from the blows.

The second man also suffered slashes to his elbow, neck and inner thigh in the attack outside St Margaret's Church in central Leicester[26]. At Leicester Crown Court[27] Grant-Smith, who had pleaded guilty to two counts of wounding with intent and one of possessing a bladed weapon[28], appeared for sentencing and the CCTV footage of the attack was shown in court, as well as "gruesome" photographs of the lacerations the two victims, aged 25 and 32, had received. Judge Timothy Spencer KC said he had reduced the sentence Grant-Smith would be getting due to the "severe provocation" that led to the "appalling and deeply shocking" attack, which left the four-year-old boy traumatised.

He said that without his guilty plea and the background to the attack, Grant-Smith would have been jailed for 14 years instead of eight. Read the full story here.[29]

Mason Mills

A murderer was jailed for life for fatally stabbing a man with a kitchen knife. Mason Mills' victim Kieron Moore had attacked him with a plank of wood thinking he had been flirting with his girlfriend.

Mr Moore had been out drinking on the night of his murder and his girlfriend, who wanted to end things with him, had asked him to go round to her house in Marriott Road on the Saffron Lane Estate, to pick up his things, which she had packed up. He arrived, high on drink and drugs including cocaine, and went to attack Mills, who had been smoking outside his sister's house next door. His first attack was with punches and kicks.

But at one point Mr Moore ripped a plank of wood from the garden fence around the two properties and hit Mills with it. Later Mills went to get a kitchen knife and hid it in his waistband, thinking Mr Moore would attack again. With it, Mills stabbed Mr Moore three times to his abdomen.

One of the wounds cut his lung and windpipe, leaving Mr Moore bleeding to death. The knife handle broke off during the final stab. Mills will have to serve a minimum of 21 years in custody before he is eligible for parole.

Read the full story here.[30]

Joseph Hopkinson

Paedophile drug dealer Joseph Hopkinson was jailed for seven years and two months after arranging to rape a 10-year-old child. Hopkinson hopped off the train at Cheltenham station to find officers from Gloucestershire Police, who had set up the encounter as a sting operation. Hopkinson, of St James Road near Victoria Park[31], Leicester, was unwittingly communicating with officers from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, who work to identify dangerous offenders targeting children online.

He had already been charged with arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence when he admitted to being concerned in the production of cannabis and possession of cannabis with intent to supply. He was found with cannabis on him when arrested, and when Leicestershire Police officers visited his home, they found more of the class B drug. After initially denying all offences, he changed his pleas to guilty on the first day of his trial at Gloucester Crown Court.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life and given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order. You can read the full story here[32].

Henry Smith

A manipulative abuser who raped a woman and controlled her life has been jailed. Henry Smith, 39, made his victim's life a misery, limiting her contact with friends and family and forcing her to give him money.

His abuse was uncovered after he was arrested for stealing from her. When Smith's victim had left her home in Wigston[33] to meet her family on Saturday, June 11, last year, she returned to find cash had been taken. A family member suspected Smith was responsible and called him, leading to his later arrest by Leicestershire Police[34].

It was then that his campaign of abuse came to light. The victim told detectives that he became violent and raped her while they were together in East Goscote, near Syston[35], in October 2021. She also said Smith controlled how she lived her life, by limiting her contact with her friends and family and following her to ATMs to withdraw money for him.

Smith, of no fixed address, initially denied the charges, but pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial[36]. He was jailed for 11 years for rape and given a consecutive, three-year sentence for controlling and coercive behaviour. Read the full story here.[37]

Mahek Bukhari, Ansreen Bukhari, Raees Jamal, Rekan Karwan, Sanaf Gulammustafa, Ameer Jamal and Natasha Akhtar

In one of the biggest Leicestershire murder cases in recent years, the TikTok influencer and her co-defendants were found guilty for their parts in the murder of two men[38] on the A46 in February 2022.

Mahek and her mother, Ansreen Bukhari, of George Earley Close in Stoke, were both given life sentences with minimums of 31 years for Mahek and 27 years for Ansreen. Raees Jamal (29) of Lingdale Close, who was driving the Seat Leon that rammed the victims' Skoda Fabia off the A46 and also recently convicted of rape,[39] got a minimum of 36 years. Rekan Karwan (29), of Tomlin Road, Leicester, was given a minimum of 27 years behind bars.

Natasha Akhtar, Ameer Jamal and Sanaf Gulammustafa, were all convicted by the jury of manslaughter. Gulammustafa (23) of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester, and Ameer Jamal (28) of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester, were each jailed for 15 years, before reductions due to time spent on tagged curfew. Akhtar (23) of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, was given 12 years, reduced to 11 years and eight months due to time on tagged curfew.

Read the full story here.[40]

Lee Smith

A sadistic abuser raped and threatened three children[41] in what became a decade-long reign of terror. Lee Smith inflicted both mental and physical torture on the youngsters and attempted to barricade himself in his home to evade justice. Smith, of Melton's[42] Blakeney Crescent, abused the two girls and one boy over a 10-year-period from January 2012 to December last year.

The horrific abuse saw Smith inflict mental and physical torture on the trio, with the two girls regularly subjected to sexual assaults and rapes. The boy also faced numerous and vicious attacks at the hands of Smith, while all three faced threats of violence against them. This was used by Smith as a way into manipulating the children into allowing further abuse to happen.

Smith's crimes came to light in December 2022 when a report of the abuse by his victims, who are now all in their 20s, was made to police. However, Smith had no intention of giving in to police when they swooped in to make an arrest as he barricaded himself inside his home on Monday, December 19, last year. In what became a 12-hour stand-off with officers[43], he made serious threats to harm himself and others inside the house if police entered.

He eventually went before a trial Leicester Crown Court in June where he was found guilty of 21 offences, including seven counts of rape. He admitted five more offences, including two counts of possession of an offensive weapon. He was jailed for all 26 charges.

He was handed a life sentence and must serve a minimum term of 15 years and 111 days. Read the full story here.[44]

Kane Brookes

A man unleashed a frenzied stabbing attack[45] on two people in a Blaby home before he was found close by the scene by police. Kane Brookes was known to one of his victims who revealed she now "lives in fear" following the stabbing.

Brookes, of Feildingway in Lutterworth, was at the address in Blaby's[46] Enderby Road on Wednesday, March 15 this year when he attacked the woman, aged in her 20s, with a knife. The frenzied incident saw him stab her several times, including to her head, neck, chest, back, arms and legs. Brookes, 25, also attacked an 18-year-old man inside the home before fleeing the scene.

The man suffered a single stab wound to his chest, with both victims rushed to hospital. The woman required emergency surgery after suffering serious bleeding following her attack. Emergency services were at the scene within minutes, with information quickly leading them to find Brookes close by to the scene.

He was swiftly arrested, while police dogs were deployed with an officer who found the knife used in the attack in a nearby bin. Brookes was charged two days later with the woman's attempted murder as well as the unlawful wounding of the man[47]. He appeared at Leicester Crown Court in June where he admitted to the charges.

He was sentenced to life in prison and will serve a minimum of 13 years behind bars. Read the full story here.[48]

Sam Clark

The family of a dad who died after he was attacked by a stranger in Leicester's High Street have spoken of their grief after his killer was jailed. Darren Bradley, 53, was punched, kicked and pulled to the ground by Sam Clark, 21, after an argument broke out in the early hours of Friday, August 19, last year.

As Clark pulled Mr Bradley - whom he had never met - to the floor, Mr Bradley banged his head, causing serious injuries. He was rushed to hospital for treatment, but died the following day. The assault was caught on CCTV.

Clark, of Mill Lane, Earl Shilton, near Hinckley[49], fled the scene, but was arrested shortly after in a nearby street. At Leicester Crown Court[50], Clark was jailed for three years and two months, having admitted manslaughter at an earlier hearing. Following the sentencing, Mr Bradley's wife, Amanda Bradley, said in a statement: "In losing Daz I have not only lost my husband, I have lost my best friend too.

"We had the best life together and he was loved by all who knew him. What is left now is a massive void in our lives." Read the full story here.[51]

Daryoush Kholghnik and Talib Mombeini

Two men who fell for a fake counterfeit cash plot ended up kidnapping their scammer and torturing him to death.

Daryoush Kholghnik and Talib Mombeini leapt into Tala Tala's car outside his home in Braunstone[52], forcing him to drive them away at knifepoint. He was taken to a house in Harrow Road, Westcotes, Leicester, where the men demanded to be repaid GBP32,000 they had handed over for the illegal scheme. His body, found by police the next day, had 196 knife wounds.

Mombeini, 37, and Kholghnik, 34, both of Vaughan Way, Leicester city centre[53], were jailed at Leicester Crown Court. Kholghnik was found guilty of murder, kidnap and two counts of blackmail. Mombeini was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

He had previously pleaded guilty to kidnap. Judge Philip Head sentenced Kholghnik to life in prison, with a minimum of 31 years before he can be considered for parole. Mombeini was jailed for 18 years and both men, who are Iranian asylum seekers, were warned they could face deportation after their release from prison.

Judge Head told them: "He was tortured. Over some hours he bled to death. He was moaning.

He must have been in terrible pain and aware he was approaching death." Read the full story here.[54]

Katie Tidmarsh

A woman convicted of wounding and later murdering her adopted daughter was jailed for life with a minimum of 17 years at Leicester Crown Court. Katie Tidmarsh had been found guilty by a jury of killing one-year-old Ruby Thompson, who had been placed with Tidmarsh and her husband five months earlier by Leicestershire County Council[55].

During her trial, the court heard the injuries caused to Ruby were equivalent to a fall from a second-storey window or a road accident at 60mph. Ruby had been violently shaken and her head had been bashed against a hard object, breaking her skull. In August 2012 emergency services were called to the couple's home in Pickwell Close, Glenfield, and Leicestershire Police[56] arrived to find the baby unconscious and rushed her to Leicester Royal Infirmary[57].

She died in hospital two days later. When questioned by police, Tidmarsh lied and said Ruby had rolled over backwards and banged her head on the rug. Read the full story here.[58]

Kyle Morley

Morley was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years and six months behind bars after being convicted by a jury of murdering his friend, David Bettison.

The attack happened in a playground in Hugglescote, near Coalville[59], after the men had been out drinking in pubs with two other friends. Morley, who had also been taking cocaine that night, admitted he did attack Bettison, who he found in a sexual encounter with his ex-girlfriend, but claimed it was not murder - he never meant to really hurt him and just lost control. But the 43-year-old victim suffered horrific injuries, leaving his face so badly damaged he could no longer breathe.

Morley, 29, of St Bernards Road, Whitwick, also punched his ex-girlfriend hard in the face, knocking her out. Before the trial he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm against the 23-year-old woman. Jailing Morley, Judge Timothy Spencer KC told the father of four: "You murdered David Bettison.

He was loved and admired as a son and a father.

500 people turned up at the celebration of his life, which is a testament to just what a good friend he was to so many. "The two of you were genuine friends. How, Kyle Morley, could it come to this?"

Read the full story here.[60]

References

1. ^ Leicester Crown Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
2. ^ TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother among four people convicted (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
3. ^ murder of a 75-year-old man by his own grandson (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
4. ^ Mason Mills, who fatally stabbed (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
5. ^ cutting him 196 times with knives (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
6. ^ killed the baby girl she was set to adopt (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
7. ^ beat his friend to death (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
8. ^ Coalville (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
9. ^ New arrest over death of Matthew Schofield in Leicester six months ago (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
10. ^ Eyres Monsell (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
11. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
12. ^ killer (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
13. ^ Melton (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
14. ^ brutal murder (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
15. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
16. ^ Loughborough (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
17. ^ found guilty by a jury at Leicester Crown Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
18. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
19. ^ Leicester Crown Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
20. ^ Coalville (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
21. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
22. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
23. ^ killed a man (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
24. ^ Lutterworth (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
25. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
26. ^ central Leicester (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
27. ^ Leicester Crown Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
28. ^ two counts of wounding with intent and one of possessing a bladed weapon (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
29. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
30. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
31. ^ Victoria Park (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
32. ^ here (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
33. ^ Wigston (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
34. ^ Leicestershire Police (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
35. ^ Syston (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
36. ^ pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
37. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
38. ^ murder of two men (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
39. ^ driving the Seat Leon that rammed the victims' Skoda Fabia off the A46 and also recently convicted of rape, (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
40. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
41. ^ raped and threatened three children (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
42. ^ Melton's (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
43. ^ 12-hour stand-off with officers (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
44. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
45. ^ frenzied stabbing attack (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
46. ^ Blaby's (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
47. ^ woman's attempted murder as well as the unlawful wounding of the man (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
48. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
49. ^ Hinckley (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
50. ^ Leicester Crown Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
51. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
52. ^ Braunstone (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
53. ^ Leicester city centre (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
54. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
55. ^ Leicestershire County Council (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
56. ^ Leicestershire Police (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
57. ^ Leicester Royal Infirmary (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
58. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
59. ^ Coalville (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
60. ^ Read the full story here. (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)