Two used car dealers operating out of Bideford, North Devon, have been found guilty of selling dangerous and unroadworthy second-hand cars.
At Exeter Crown Court on 21 July 2016, Paul Fitzgerald John Hussey received a suspended sentence and was ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and Adam George Wallis was ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work.
In summing up the judge said it was only by luck that their activities had not led to a ‘serious road accident.’
The pair, who operated out an industrial estate in Bideford, pleaded guilty to supplying dangerous...
Two rogue traders have been jailed for two years at Exeter Crown Court today (Friday 17 June) after conning 17 elderly and vulnerable Devon residents out of £70,000.
Following a prosecution brought by Devon and Somerset Trading Standards, both Bryan Ferren, 38 and Kevin Hogg, 41, of Clifton Court, Clifton Road, Paignton, had pleaded guilty to five offences under the Fraud Act 2006.
During sentencing, Judge Graham Cottle said the men had ‘abused the trust of their customers.’
The court heard that Ferren and Hogg systematically conned the pensioners over a 13-month...
Christopher Cooper, aged 48 from Trallong, Brecon has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison following thefts from churches throughout England and Wales.
Christopher Cooper appeared at Hereford Crown Court last Friday (6 May 2016) where he admitted to 37 thefts from churches, dealing in tainted cultural items and fraud. The sentencing has made West Mercia Police one of the first forces in the country to secure a conviction of dealing in tainted cultural items.
The investigation began in 2013 after a man in Kent was arrested for purchasing a gorilla's head...
On Friday 6 May a man from Starcross was sentenced at Truro Crown Court to 28 years in prison for historic sexual abuse dating back to the 1990s.
Robert Singleton, 33, was convicted of committing ten serious sexual assaults against four young girls in Starcross and nearby villages between 1995 and 2013.
At the conclusion of the trial at Exeter Crown Court on Friday 29 April 2016, Singleton (pictured) was found guilty by the jury of all of the offences.
The court heard that one of the victims was as young as five when the abuse started and Singleton threatened her...
A man from Newton Abbot has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison at Exeter Crown Court today [Thursday 5 May 2016] for child sex offences.
Nigel Robin Smith, 40, of Queensway, Newton Abbot, was arrested in September 2015 and charged with number of offences of sexual activity with two young girls who were aged between 12 and 14 at the time of the abuse.
Smith (pictured) was remanded in custody and pleaded guilty to eight sexual offences and two offences relating to the supply of cannabis.
Smith’s arrest was part of an ongoing investigation, called...
A man has been jailed for 22 years after being convicted of a string of historic sexual assaults on two young girls.
Paul McLean (pictured) was found guilty following a six-day trial at Truro Crown Court on Wednesday 3 February, and sentenced on Friday 5 February.
McLean, 50, of Talaton Road, Whimple, Exeter, was charged with 32 sexual offences relating to two young girls that were committed between 1992 and 2007 in Malvern, Worcestershire and Newquay, Cornwall.
McLean was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault, four of sexual activity with a child, four...
The directors of a long established family-run home care agency today spoke of their shock and anger after a former member of staff was found guilty of fraud.
Melanie Harris, from Fremington, was convicted of the crime when she appeared before Exeter Crown Court.
Harris, aged 44, spent thousands of pounds belonging to a vulnerable client to support her own lifestyle.
Emily Whittaker, a Director and Registered Care Manager of Cygnet Care (Devon) Limited, said she was horrified when the crime was uncovered.
She said: “We were devastated when the crime came to...
An Exeter man has been sentenced at Plymouth magistrates after illegally subletting his Local authority council flat when he was living somewhere else.
David Mukanirwa, 31, of Darwin Court was prosecuted under S1(2) of the prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 for subletting his Exeter flat on two occasions whilst he lived in Swindon after advertising it for rent on Gumtree.
Mr Mukanirwa pleaded guilty and said that he told the council that one of the subtenants was his girlfriend so that he could get permission from them for her to stay there. However, she said that...
