A man who paid thousands for indecent images of children and a driver who killed a cyclist are among the criminals jailed in August in Sussex.
Multiple criminals were put behind bars in the county last month for crimes including setting fire to cars, robbing pharmacies at knifepoint and offences linked to anti-racist counter-protests in Brighton.
Sussex Police also concluded a case where they disrupted a county lines drug gang who trafficked nearly £400,000 worth of cocaine into the county.
Sebastian Chojnacki
Bike thief Sebastian Chojnacki made off with a stolen e-bike after breaking into a locked storage area and cutting through a lock on February 20.
After failing to appear in court in July he was arrested again and eventually pleaded guilty to the theft and failing to surrender to police.
He was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison on August 14 and fined over £2,500.
Laurence Harvey
Online predator Laurence Harvey sent nearly £50,000 to the Philippines in exchange for sexual images of children.
Harvey, 65, claimed he was giving the money to charity but police officers found several devices with sexual images on and messages with children asking them to perform sex acts.
In one instance he paid a woman for indecent images of a child she claimed was her daughter.
He was arrested in May 2022 after the campaign of child sex offences lasting over a decade.
Harvey, of Searles View in Horsham, admitted counts of making and possessing indecent images of a child, arranging the sexual exploitation of a child and arranging the commission of a child sex offence.
He was jailed for nearly five years.
Michael Youssefi
Michael Youssefi threatened pharmacy staff with a knife in a string of armed robberies over the space of a year.
He robbed one pharmacy and attempted to rob another despite having already admitted to stealing opioid tablets nearly a year before.
Youssefi, of Seven Acres Close in St Leonards, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, two counts of possessing a knife in public and one count of attempted robbery.
He was sentenced to a year in jail on August 5.
Damien O’Hare
Despite being banned from every Co-op in Sussex, Damien O’Hare systematically targeted a store in Bewbush near Crawley over the space of four months.
O’Hare, 48, of no fixed address, committed nearly 50 offences after brazenly entering the store in Dorsten Square and taking goods in full view of staff.
When challenged, he threatened to violently assault a female member of staff.
On August 14, O’Hare was sentenced to over three years in jail after admitting 49 offences of shoplifting, breaching a criminal behaviour order and using insulting or threatening language.
Yu Tang and Jiangpeng Wei
Students Yu Tang and Jiangpeng Wei frequently took packages not addressed to them from student accommodation across Brighton.
Since September 2023 over 40 parcels, £3,500 in cash and more than 40kg of drugs were seized by police.
Tang, of Fleet Street, and Wei, of Kingscote Way, both admitted importing cannabis and acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.
On August 14 the pair, both 26, were sentenced to three years and nine months and one year and six weeks in prison respectively.
Michael Rodgers and Kiarash Majidi
Both Michael Rodgers and Kiarash Majidi terrorised a community by smashing the windows of houses and setting fire to a vehicle in a fortnight-long crime spree.
Rodgers, 36, and Majidi, 37, targeted multiple properties by smashing windows with stones and weapons and slashing a garden swimming pool, which flooded a basement.
The pair, both of St Leonards, targeted properties across East Sussex in Hastings and Rye.
They were caught after a crowbar, axe handle and a jerry can of petrol were all found in a car they were travelling in.
After more video footage of the crimes was found on their phones, the pair pleaded guilty to nearly 20 criminal damage charges between them and a count of arson each.
Majidi, of Grand Parade, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison while Rodgers, of Battle Road, was sentenced to two years and four months in jail.
Naim Shala, Kristian Buqa, Christian Violi, Saimir Jaho, Xhonatan Matei and Fatma Hasa
A group of six men were found to be helping bring cocaine from London to Worthing in a county lines operation worth nearly £400,000.
Courier Naim Shala would make regular trips between Wembley and the Sussex coast, delivering around four kilograms of the Class A drug to an address in Pavilion Road.
There, Kristian Buqa would prepare the drugs for sale, distributing them to drivers Christian Violi and Saimir Jaho.
A sixth person, Xhonatan Matei, was also linked to the line after nearly a kilogram of cocaine and £32,000 in cash was seized.
The drugs smuggled into Worthing over the course of five months in 2022 were estimated to be worth between £300,000 and £400,000.
Violi, 34, from Southsea and Jaho, 31, from Hove, were handed two-year suspended sentences.
Hasa, 26, from Wembley, Buqa, 31, from Worthing, Shala, 45, from Newport and Matei, 38, from Dagenham, were imprisoned for between three years and six years and nine months.
Ian Ward
During a huge anti-racism protest descended on Brighton’s Queen’s Road, Ian Ward was seen striking a man in the face and pushing a police officer.
Ward, 53, told police officers he was “the c*** who lumped one of the right-wing c***s” during the unrest on August 7.
In a police interview, after he was arrested days later, Ward told officers that he saw “three smirking w**kers” in Queen’s Road who he thought were goading him and that he “spat at that group as hard as he could”.
Ward raised a fist in salute towards the court as he was taken from the dock after sentencing on August 13.
He was jailed for eight months.
Joseph Clark
In another protest-related case, Joseph Clark was jailed after posting “concerning” social media posts which referenced violent disorder ahead of the Queen’s Road protest.
Clark, 45, of Hayling Rise in Worthing, was subsequently charged with sending an offensive message by public communications network.
He was found guilty and sentenced to 14 weeks in prison on August 9.
Terry Varndell
Terry Varndell was texting and calling on his mobile phone moments before crashing into a cyclist, leading to his death.
David Breen died at the scene of the crash in Birdham on October 26, 2021 – but Varndell failed to stop at the scene.
He was not insured to drive his Vauxhall Zafira.
The former bin man was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after knocking 26-year-old David, originally from Ireland, off his bike while he was cycling home from playing football.
On August 5, Varndell was jailed for six years and disqualified from driving for eight years.
Teenager who stole motorbike
One teenager was caught driving whilst disqualified after dramatically crashing a stolen motorbike while not giving way at a junction.
The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was propelled off the motorbike at the junction of Cranston Avenue and Eastwood Road in Bexhill and flew over the back of another car.
The bike was written off in the accident, but the 17-year-old was arrested and charged with handling stolen goods, driving otherwise than in accordance with a license, using a vehicle without insurance and driving whilst disqualified.
He pleaded guilty to all of the offences apart from handling stolen goods, which was ordered to remain on file. He was jailed for 26 weeks on August 12.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel