A human trafficker, a persistent rapist and a drug dealer who was found with £3 million worth of cocaine are among those who have been jailed in October.
Robert Sheppard
Robert Sheppard threatened shop workers with a knife as he tried to make off with two pairs of jogging bottoms.
The 41-year-old tried to flee after shoplifting the Sports Direct in North Street, Chichester, on September 4 but was arrested minutes later.
Sheppard pleaded guilty to possession of a knife, threatening with a knife, and theft from a shop.
At Lewes Crown Court on October 4, he was sentenced to a total of 20 months in prison and was also ordered to pay a £187 fine and a given a 24-month serious violence reduction order (SVRO).
Patrick McCabe and Ronnie Beckett
Drug dealers Patrick McCabe and Ronnie Beckett triggered a huge police chase involving armed officers after fleeing from a car wash.
McCabe was at the car wash in Copthorne when he saw police and drove away at high speed in his Volkswagen Golf.
During the pursuit, McCabe, who was already a disqualified driver, was seen reaching high speeds with his passenger Beckett in tow.
The 28-year-old’s driving was so dangerous that he only narrowly avoided head-on collisions with other vehicles.
But McCabe and Beckett were tracked by the police helicopter during the chase on July 12.
McCabe, of no fixed address, and Beckett, 19, of Stoneycroft Walk, Ifield, then tried to run from the vehicle.
At Lewes Crown Court on October 6 McCabe admitted dangerous driving, possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply, driving while disqualified and driving without valid insurance.
Beckett admitted possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply, breach of a suspended sentence order and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
McCabe was sentenced to two years and five months in prison and given a new disqualification from driving for five years and four months.
Beckett was sentenced to a total of 17 weeks in prison.
Ryan Breach
Violent attacker Ryan Breach repeatedly assaulted emergency workers.
The 34-year-old was already handed a suspended sentence in March this year following a racially aggravated assault on a police officer in Hove and stealing a bicycle in Worthing.
Breach continued to cause trouble including stealing a bicycle in Worthing in October last year.
On July 7 this year, he assaulted a paramedic and four days later assaulted a man, both in Worthing.
He was charged with three counts of assaulting a police officer at Centenary House custody centre in Worthing in September.
Breach pleaded guilty to all charges and appeared before Lewes Crown Court on October 9 where he was sentenced to 40 weeks in prison.
Daniel Williams
Scout leader Daniel Williams sexually assaulted a young girl in his care.
Williams, from Hassocks, preyed on the girl, aged under 13, from Sussex while he was supposed to care for her.
The 51-year-old former maintenance engineer, formerly of an address in Hassocks, was a Scout leader for more than ten years and committed the offence while acting in this role.
He also admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children.
On October 9 he appeared for sentencing at Lewes Crown Court after admitting assaulting a girl under the age of 13 by penetration at an earlier hearing.
The court sentenced Williams to a term of five years in prison and an additional year on licence to make a six-year sentence in total.
Kevin Wyeth
Sexual predator Kevin Wyeth tried to hide his phone under a loaf of bread to stop officers from finding hundreds of indecent images of children.
Wyeth, 37, was living in a hotel after being released from prison. He had been serving a sentence for sending sexual communications to four children.
When police visited him unannounced in March, Wyeth tried to hide his phone under a loaf of bread next to his bed. Despite his efforts, officers found the device which contained hundreds of explicit images.
Wyeth, of no fixed abode, had also had text exchanges with children believed to be under 15 years old.
Recorder Hardy described Wyeth as a “persistent, repeat, recidivist offender” while sentencing him at Lewes Crown Court on October 12.
He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
Junior Grah
County lines drug dealer Junior Grah was jailed for supplying a town with heroin and crack cocaine.
Grah, 23, admitted being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin to vulnerable people in Eastbourne as well as possession of crack cocaine, and possession of a bladed article.
The 23-year-old, of Fernlea Road, Mitcham, pleaded guilty to the four offences on December 15, 2022 and was remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing.
At Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, October 12, he was sentenced to a total of five years and seven months in prison.
Ion Rudacan
Convicted sex trafficker Ion Rudacan, who was deported from the UK, has been jailed after using a false identity to re-enter the country.
Also known as Ion Paun, the 36-year-old was previously deported and jailed after trafficking women for sex work in the north west of England.
However Rudacan managed to make it back to make it back the UK under a false name and hire a car in Brighton in July.
He was arrested in Marine Parade, Brighton, on September 4, by specialist firearms officers who checked his vehicle.
Rudacan was charged with multiple offences and was remanded in custody.
At Lewes Crown Court on October 10 he admitted three counts of breaching a slavery and trafficking prevention order, breaching a deportation order, three further attempted breaches of the deportation order, and seeking and obtaining leave to enter or remain in the UK via deceptive means.
He was sentenced to six years in prison.
Andrew Lewis
Prolific shoplifter Andrew Lewis stole £18,000 worth of goods from high street stores.
Lewis targeted Sports Direct, Marks and Spencer, Cotswold Outdoor and Gold Arts in Chichester, B&M, Reeves and Sons Jewellers, Sports Direct, Premier and Iceland in Bognor, L Guess Jewellers in Littlehampton and GA Jewellers in Worthing during the month-long crime spree.
The 39-year-old, of no fixed address, was jailed for 20 months at Lewes Crown Court on October 16 for the ten shoplifting incidents and two burglaries carried out this summer.
Charles Durdle
Charles Durdle subjected a woman to months of repeated rapes, violent assaults and psychological abuse.
The 26-year-old, of Blatchington Road, first raped the woman in Hove in April, 2022.
Over the subsequent months, up to September 2022, Durdle continued to rape her on an almost daily basis, isolated her from her family and friends, and controlled almost every aspect of her life.
Durdle was subsequently charged with five counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, and one count each of making indecent photographs of a child, actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour and with breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
He pleaded guilty to all counts and at Lewes Crown Court on Friday, October 20, was given five life sentences to run concurrently, with a minimum jail term of ten years and two months.
Darren Shand
Drug dealer Darren Shand has been jailed after more than 30kg of the drug were found in his van.
Darren Shand was stopped by police who found two holdalls in the back of his Mercedes van.
On closer inspection the holdalls contained dozens of individually wrapped blocks of cocaine valued at over £3.5 million in total.
Shand, 45, was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to all charges.
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