CRIMINALS jailed in March for Dorset offences include a man who raped a woman while she slept, two rogue traders and a woman who bit a police officer and a bar maid.
The courts are continuing to operate and deal with cases, including jury trials, throughout the pandemic.
The list below includes 17 offenders that were put behind bars by judges last month.
Their combined sentences totalled 50 years and three months' imprisonment although some of them could be released on licence part way through their time behind bars.
All of the criminals committed offences in Dorset, with the cases heard at Bournemouth Crown Court and Winchester Crown Court.
The offenders' names and a summary of what led to them appearing in the dock are as follows:
Marti Nicholas David Reynolds
Rapist Marti Nicholas David Reynolds was jailed for four years after sexually assaulting a woman while she slept in her Bournemouth home.
Reynolds was sentenced by at Bournemouth Crown Court on March 5 after he had been been found guilty of rape following a trial in December last year.
The defendant, 29, and of Baardwyk Avenue, Canvey Island, was told he would spend two years behind bars before he can serve the rest of his sentence on licence.
Reynolds was a student in Bournemouth when he committed the attack in October 2017.
The incident came to light when a woman contacted Dorset Police to say Reynolds had admitted to having sexual intercourse with a woman as she slept. He was arrested the same day.
Officers made contact with the victim – who is aged in her 20s and knew Reynolds as a fellow student – to take an account from her. The victim told police that she had been out drinking with friends in Bournemouth town centre on the evening of October 22, 2017.
She returned home to her address and went to bed, allowing Reynolds to stay with her as a friend. She woke in the early hours to discover Reynolds raping her and she got up and left.
- Read more: Marti Reynolds jailed for four years for Bournemouth rape
- As it happened: rapist Marti Reynolds is sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court
Ronaldo Zani
A man who was deported from the United Kingdom after being caught with cocaine returned to the country within months and was dealing drugs in Bournemouth.
Ronaldo Zani was arrested in October 2019 having been found with several wraps of cocaine when police stopped a vehicle in the town.
He was not charged in relation to this incident, in which he gave a different name, as it was deemed to not be in the public interest when he was to be deported immediately.
However, in April last year officers attended a flat in The Triangle area and as they were knocking on the door Zani came up the communal stairs.
The defendant confirmed it was his flat they were knocking on he put out his arms and said "just take me". A search of his flat found cocaine and cash.
Zani pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to supply cocaine, possession of criminal property and possession of a fake identity document. He was jailed for three years.
Mark John Parsons
Director Mark John Parsons defrauded the Bournemouth construction company he worked for out of thousands of pounds to fund his gambling addiction.
Parsons abused his position as operations director of GR Westbuild Ltd over a 10-month period.
The defendant, of Garfield Close, Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire, instructed customers to pay him directly in cash or arranged for invoices to be paid into his personal bank account.
A hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court was told this money, in the region of £40,000, was used by the 40-year-old defendant in a failed attempt to win back money he had lost gambling.
The defendant was jailed for two years and two months after admitting charges of fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.
Rachel Marie Tubbs
A drunken woman who bit a barmaid and a police officer during a "disgusting" incident in a Bournemouth pub was jailed for 22 months at Bournemouth Crown Court.
She had been found guilty at an earlier hearing after denying causing actual bodily harm to bar worker Susan Hillesdon as she tried to evict her from the Kings Arms in Wallisdown Road on December 13 2019.
Tubbs, 47, of Award Road, Wimborne, admitted assaulting an emergency worker, namely a police officer, on the same occasion.
The court heard she screamed abuse at officers before biting the PC on his arm in the back of a police car.
Thomas Edward Turner and Aaron Brown
Two rogue traders who targeted elderly and vulnerable homeowners and undertook “unnecessary and inadequate” work charging thousands of pounds were jailed.
Thomas Edward Turner, 41, who lived on a traveller site in Dorset, became involved in a fraudulent building company known as All Seasons when he owed money to the owners of the site.
Aaron Brown, 22, of Somerset, allowed the use of his bank account twice to transfer cash from the fraudulent jobs to the value of £25,000.
Turner pleaded guilty to participating in fraudulent business and Brown was found guilty at trial.
Judge Stephen Climie sentenced Turner to two years eight months imprisonment and Brown to ten months imprisonment.
Matthew Kenneth Timothy Bates
A drug dealer was jailed after being caught with ketamine, ecstasy and cocaine in Swanage.
Matthew Kenneth Timothy Bates was sentenced to two years and nine months after pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, possession and intent to supply a class B drug and resisting a constable.
He was caught after being spotted with the drugs wraps on his lap while sat in a parked car.
The resisting charge came after Bates, aged 32 and of Higher Days Road, Swanage, tried fighting officers as they tried to detain him.
Bates was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on March 8, after admitting the offences at the same court during a hearing on September last year.
Andrew Roy Donoghue
Burglar Andrew Donoghue ran from the Dulsie Road, Bournemouth property when his victim woke up at midnight to find an intruder rummaging through drawers in their bedroom.
The same man was also found inside a property in Rosemount Road in Bournemouth.
Donoghue, 38, of Suffolk Road, Bournemouth admitted two charges of burglary and was jailed for four years and four months.
At around midnight on Monday, September 21, last year the occupant of a home in Dulsie Road was asleep when they woke to find an intruder going through the drawers in their room. The man ran out of the room and out of the front door.
It was discovered that a ceramic pot of coins and a bottle of aftershave had been stolen. Damage was also caused to the front door.
Officers reviewed CCTV from properties in the road and Donoghue was identified as the suspect. An identification procedure was carried out and the victim positively identified the defendant.
At around 10am on Wednesday October 14 a woman returned to her home in Rosemount Road and heard someone in the rear of the property.
She went toward the rear of the house and saw a person running away. She discovered somebody had searched the premises and a number of items had been taken including laptops, GHD hair straighteners, a bank card and a silver hip flask.
Natalie Bernadette Carr
A drug dealer was found hiding in a bush by police after they saw her with known drug users while she was being investigated for supplying illicit substances.
Natalie Bernadette Carr, 38, was jailed for three years and eight months after admitting drug dealing offences in Bournemouth.
She was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Tuesday, March 30, after pleading guilty to three charges of possessing a class A drug with intent to supply and possession of a bladed article, which all dates back three years.
On the afternoon of July 18, 2018, police officers executed a warrant at an address in Prince of Wales Road.
Carr answered the door and a search of the premises revealed a various drug paraphernalia including scales and needles.
The defendant was found in possession of a set of keys, which opened a locked safe in the address. Inside the safe was a quantity of heroin and cocaine as well as more than £1,500 in cash.
The total value of heroin and cocaine was valued at around £7,810 by a drugs expert.
Carr was subsequently released under investigation as officers continued with their enquiries.
On the afternoon of October 25, 2018, officers were on patrol in an unmarked vehicle in the Lansdowne area when they saw the defendant with three known drug users.
When they saw officers, Carr walked off down Grove Road and following a search was found hiding in a bush nearby. The defendant was searched and found to be in possession of a number of wraps of white and brown powder. A pocket knife was also found in her bag.
A subsequent search of the accommodation she was staying in resulted in further class A drugs being seized.
Thomas Michael Joseph Peers
Drug dealer Thomas Michael Joseph Peers was caught peddling heroin and crack cocaine with another man from a Bournemouth hotel room.
Peers, 29 of Childwall Lane, was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting two offences of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.
At around 11.20am on Thursday January 19 2017 Dorset Police received a report that a suspicious white powder had been seen in a room at a hotel in Grove Road and that the smell of cannabis had been detected from the same room.
An officer attended but Peers, who had been staying in the room, had already packed up and left.
Following enquiries by officers, his car was located in the car park of another hotel nearby later the same day.
Officers were given access to his room. Peers and Joseph Mercer were inside and nearly 100 wraps of suspected class A drugs were seized. Officers also found around £1,000 in cash, several mobile phones and weighing scales in the room.
The wraps were analysed and found to contain heroin and crack cocaine.
Co-defendant Mercer, 25, of Daisy Lane, Liverpool, had pleaded guilty to the same charges at an earlier hearing at the same court and was sentenced on Wednesday, October 21, 2020. to 30 months in prison.
Peter Barney
A convicted sex offender breached a court order designed to protect women from his offending .
Peter Barney had already served a three-year sentence for an offence of assault by penetration carried out while he was working as a gardener in 2013.
Barney, 59, of Verwood Road, Three Legged Cross, was made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for an indefinite period.
The order stated that he could not be alone in the course of his employment with any female not related to him in any property or garden.
But on March 11 last year a woman was alone at her Wimborne home when Barney knocked on the front door and asked if she wanted any gardening work done.
As they spoke in the porch and the front garden, initially the woman did not recognise him but she came to realise that she did know him and had been made aware previously of the order he was subject to.
She said that during their interaction Barney made her feel very uncomfortable and made comments about her ‘beautiful eyes’.
As the woman went to call her husband, Barney left her garden and she heard a vehicle drive away. She reported the matter to police and Barney was arrested the following day.
At court he admitted breaching the order, but denied making a comment about her eyes and claimed much of the interaction took place on the pavement outside her property rather than in her garden. After hearing evidence, a judge dismissed Barney’s version of events in favour of the victim’s account and jailed the defendant for 21 months.
Darren Martyn Shaw
A man told a woman “it was all in your head” after sexually penetrating her with his finger without consent in her own home.
Darren Martyn Shaw, 35, of Talbot Road, Bournemouth, pleaded guilty to and was jailed for assaulting a woman by penetration while staying as a guest in her house on January 2, 2019.
The victim, who was 18 at the time, went out with friends on the evening of Tuesday, January 1, 2019, in Bournemouth town centre.
In the early hours of January 2 her group of friends met up with the victim’s boyfriend and the defendant, who was known to her boyfriend, but the victim had not met before.
They all went back to the victim’s address. The victim went to sleep, and she woke at around 7am to find the defendant sexually assaulting her.
She woke her boyfriend and told him what had happened. Police were called and officers attended the address, where Shaw was arrested. Shaw was jailed for two years.
- Read more: Man jailed for sexually assaulting friend's girlfriend
- Read more: Man told victim "it was all in your head"
James Thomas Alexander Riley
A wrestler “saw red” in a staged fight and kicked his opponent in the face.
James Riley, 33, of Prunus Close, Ferndown, pleaded guilty to and was sentenced for unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm to Robert Wilson at the Scout Hut in Cherry Grove, Ferndown on February 8, 2020.
The defendant, who owned and was head coach at his own wrestling company called Fightstar, was jailed for 21 months.
Prosecuting, Tom Evans told the court how Riley is a former professional wrestler with more than 17 years’ experience. His wrestling name was Jay Knox.
Mr Wilson joined Riley’s eight-week training programme and in February a bout was arranged between the two.
The fights would usually be rehearsed, but because of the late notice, Mr Wilson was told Riley would call the moves out as the fight went on, with Riley scripted to win.
However, when the defendant was struck in the back, as rehearsed, he “saw red” and his “nerves lit up like a Christmas tree”.
He proceeded to kick Mr Wilson in the face “like a football”, breaking his eye sockets, jaw and teeth. Mr Wilson was rushed to A&E and required facial reconstruction surgery.
- Read more: "Reckless" wrestler jailed for kicking opponent in the face "like a football"
- Read more: Ferndown wrestler James Riley jailed for GBH during scripted bout
Kastriot Aliaj
A man who played a “significant role” in the production of cannabis at the largest factory ever discovered in Dorset has been jailed for five years.
Kastriot Aliaj, 31, an Albanian national, was found guilty of the production of cannabis and possession of criminal property when he was found with just over £3,000 relating to the factory.
The operation at Sandford Lane Industrial Estate in Wareham had a potential crop yield of between £2.3million and £7.1million.
Police’s attention was drawn to the site after a member of the public, who believed a burglary was taking place, reported concerns about a suspicious vehicle coming to and from the units in December 2019.
Arber Aliaj and Leonard Bruci were sentenced at a previous hearing, however, Kastriot Aliaj was sentenced separately as it was believed he had a more significant role.
- Read more: Why Kastriot Aliaj will serve more time than co-accused
- Read more: Third man jailed for role in largest cannabis factory ever discovered in Dorset
Steven Ian Michael Catling
A career criminal was told he became "nothing less than a one man crime wave" as a judge jailed him for 26 months.
Steven Ian Michael Catling was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court after admitting a total of 31 offences.
Catling's crimes include a spate of shoplifting around £4,000 worth of goods from convenience stores, supermarkets and a petrol garage.
He also committed burglaries, assaults, public order offences and had a phone in prison during a previous custodial term.
Judge Robert Pawson told Catling, 30 and previously of Bath Road, Bournemouth, he had "an appalling record as a career criminal" – 39 convictions for 102 offences.
Mark Robert Bosworth
A man has been sentenced following the death of a man during an assault at an address in Weymouth.
Mark Robert Bosworth, 48, of Dorchester Road in Weymouth, was found guilty on March 11 of the manslaughter of 32-year-old David Andrew Thomson following a trial at Winchester Crown Court. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
During the afternoon of April 4, 2020, a group of residents and visitors were gathered in the courtyard of a shared housing address on Dorchester Road. Some of the group had been drinking large quantities of alcohol.
An altercation occurred involving the victim and a female member of the group, where it is said that she was assaulted.
One of the group rang the owner of the shared house and made him aware that there were people present who should not be there.
At around 4.05pm Mr Thomson went upstairs and was subsequently involved in a confrontation with Bosworth. Mr Thomson was pushed down the stairs.
The owner of the house, who was monitoring the CCTV system, witnessed the assault and made a 999 call to Dorset Police at around 4.10pm. Officers attended, along with the ambulance service, and they found Mr Thomson unresponsive on the courtyard floor.
Later that evening officers received an update from the hospital that Mr Thomson had sustained a serious head injury that was potentially life-threatening. He sadly died on the morning of April 5, 2020.
Following his death, a full investigation was launched by detectives from Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT).
During a police interview, Bosworth admitted to pushing the victim down the stairs, but said that he didn’t want him to sustain any lasting injuries. He said that alcohol had possibly clouded his judgement and he may have exerted a bit too much force.
A post-mortem examination was carried out on April 6, 2020, which concluded that Mr Thomson died as a result of a head injury.
Vytautas Ausrota
A man who attacked a woman and threatened her with a knife as she walked along a coast path in West Dorset has been jailed.
Vytautas Ausrota, aged 30 and of Plymouth in Devon, was sentenced after admitting offences of threatening with an offensive weapon, committing an offence with the intent to commit a sexual offence and assault by beating.
He was sentenced to a total of three years and four months in prison and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for an indefinite period.
At around 3pm on Augsut 29, 2020, the victim, a woman aged in her 50s from Surrey, was walking along the South West Coast path just outside Lyme Regis when she heard a man running toward her from behind.
The woman moved aside, expecting the man to run past, but instead Ausrota rugby tackled her to the ground and knelt on top of her. The victim saw he was holding a penknife with the blade out.
The defendant threatened to kill the woman and said he wanted sex.
Moments later two members of the public approached and the victim asked them for help. They told Ausrota they would call the police if he did not get off her.
The defendant got up and left the scene. Police were contacted and a search of the area was launched.
At 8.08pm that evening Dorset Police received a 999 call from the defendant, who said he had attacked a woman in Lyme Regis and officers were looking for him. Ausrota was located shortly afterwards in Broad Street and arrested.
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