Death crash driver, £2m steroid plotters and a thief who swiped £50k of jewellery among criminals locked up in November
A dangerous driver who killed a 20-year-old man, two plotters in a £2m steroids scheme and a thief who stole £50,000 of jewellery were among criminals locked up in North Wales in November.
A controlling man who made his partner look at the ground and others who breached court orders were also jailed. Judges felt guidelines meant they had to sentence these offenders to imprisonment for their various crimes.
Here we take a look at a summary of these cases. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
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Brendon Williams
A man strangled a bus passenger in a row about teeth. Brendon Williams got off the bus but later brandished a knife and punched a different victim in a separate incident that night.
The 36-year-old, of Bryntirion, Dolgellau, pleaded guilty to charges including strangulation and unlawful wounding. A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for a total of 35 months.
Prosecutor Ryan Rothwell said in the first incident in June a woman called Charley Bromley was with her girlfriend on the T2 Caernarfon to Dolgellau bus. Ms Bromley got a beer out of a bag and Williams turned round and asked if she would share it.
Iain Butterworth
A thief walked into a North Wales shopping centre before making off with jewellery worth more than £50,000. Iain Butterworth went into the Deiniol Shopping Centre on Bangor High Street while it was closed, before smashing his way into an antiques shop.
The 50-year-old, of Plas Marchogion, Maesgeirchen, Bangor, filled a plastic bag with jewellery worth around £56,100 before fleeing the shopping centre. He appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court after admitting theft and criminal damage and was jailed for two years and eight months.
The court heard that on March 25, 2023, Butterworth trespassed into the shopping centre while it was shut, and used a tool to break the glass doors of the shop. The theft was caught on CCTV and Butterworth was identified.
Lee Ablitt
Christopher Thompson
A gym owner and doorman who used self-storage containers in Rhyl to store large quantities of steroids have been jailed for conspiracy to supply class C drugs. They had stored "industrial" amounts, across North Wales and the north-west of England, totalling 1,326,000 steroid tablets and 64,870 millilitres of liquid steroids worth a total of between £1.5m to £2.1m, Mold Crown Court heard.
Lee Ablitt, 51, from the Warrington area, was stopped driving on the M56 for being a disqualified driver. When police searched the vehicle they found multiple boxes of class C drugs.
Data recovered from Ablitt’s phone revealed that Christopher Thompson, 49, from Wigan, was also involved in the criminal enterprise, with Thompson sending lists of drugs to Ablitt that customers were requesting. A police drug expert valued the seized drugs as worth between £1.59m and £2.1m.
Martin Roberts
A man who was banned from seeing his former partner turned up in her garden leaving her "petrified". The woman had already installed CCTV cameras which sent her notifications about any movement outside her home in Rhyl.
She spotted Martin Roberts from her window and was frightened because she was alone. She then saw the 43-year-old defendant smash two of her car windows.
Police were called and Roberts, of River Street, Rhyl, admitted breaching a restraining order and causing criminal damage. A judge at Mold Crown Court jailed him for 21 months.
Daniel Peter Smith
A Conwy man has been jailed after pleading guilty to drug driving - with police warning motorists to be responsible in the run up to Christmas. Daniel Peter Smith, 33, of Ronald Avenue, Llandudno Junction, appeared before Llandudno Magistrates Court.
The court heard that he had been driving his Vauxhall Astra on Greenfield Road, Colwyn Bay earlier this year. He was stopped by an officer from the Roads Crime Unit shortly after 9pm on February 25 due to driving at excess speed.
He failed the roadside drugs test after testing positive for cannabis. He was arrested and taken to custody where further tests were done. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
Paul Flynn
An HGV driver stopped on the A55 on Anglesey had been convicted of a drugs plot and deported. Paul Flynn, who had been travelling between Ireland and North Wales, said he thought his deportation order was over.
But it had not lapsed and a judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for four months for knowingly entering the UK in breach of a deportation order. Prosecutor Elen Owen said Flynn, 58, of Castle Park, Ashbourne, County Meath, Ireland, had been convicted of an offence in London and served with a deportation order in June 1995.
Then in 2015 he was convicted for his part in a conspiracy involving Class A drugs and jailed for 10 years at Blackfriars Crown Court in London. But on October 8 this year a police officer on general traffic duties stopped his HGV lorry on the A55 at Gaerwen.
Lee Roberts
A Wrexham stalker turned up on his former partner's doorstep despite being banned. Lee Roberts breached a restraining order not to approach his ex.
He admitted breaching a restraining order during a suspended sentence. A judge at Mold Crown Court jailed Roberts, of Isycoed, Gwersyllt, for a total of 19 months.
Prosecutor Joshua Gorst told how Roberts had been in a relationship with a woman. But in July he was convicted of stalking her and given a 12-week sentence, suspended for two years, and an indefinite restraining order.
Jackie Welsh
A 61-year-old man has been jailed for an unprovoked attack on a woman in a pub. John Welsh, of Bodlondeb Terrace, Holyhead, appeared before Llandudno Magistrates Court charged with affray and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Welsh, also known as Jackie, admitted the offences and was jailed for 26 weeks. He is also banned from entering all licenced premises in Anglesey, Gwynedd and Conwy for two years.
In the early hours of Monday, October 28, Welsh assaulted a woman at the George Hotel in Holyhead. Following an altercation with another man in the pub, Welsh threw a drink over the victim, who was sat next to the man. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
Kian Owen
A dangerous driver who crashed into another car before running away from the scene could have killed someone, a judge said. "Immature" Kian Owen was said to have put lives in "grave danger" when he got behind the wheel.
After the late-night crash on the A496 by the sea wall in Barmouth on September 13, the 22-year-old ran away from the scene. He admitted dangerous driving and two other motoring offences and was today jailed for 16 months.
A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court told Owen, of Wenaullt Uchaf, Dolgellau: "Quite frankly you could have caused very serious injury or death to other road users, yourself or your passenger."
Nicholas Lessiter
A controlling man told his partner he "owned her" during their "poisonous" relationship. Nicholas Lessiter's behaviour led to his victim's daughter being removed from her home by social services.
The 33-year-old, of Gwynfryn Avenue, Rhyl, admitted controlling and coercive behaviour towards the victim and was jailed for 18 months. A judge today told him the daughter, 19, who has special needs, was rehomed because his relationship was so "poisonous".
Mold Crown Court heard Lessiter and the victim began a relationship in February this year, said prosecutor Myles Wilson. Lessiter became jealous, controlling and verbally abusive, calling her "fat".
Trystan Gameson
A "jealous and controlling" man has been jailed after strangling his former partner. Trystan Gameson's victim felt she couldn't breathe in the incident at her home.
Eventually the 29-year-old defendant let go and she ran to the bathroom with their child. He was convicted of intentional strangulation and other assaults.
A judge at Mold Crown Court said the offences were too serious to suspend prison sentences and jailed him for a total of 27 months. The court heard about three assaults on three separate days by Gameson, of Spring Lodge, Wrexham, on his then partner.
William Williams
A man who is "frightened to death of prison" has been jailed after repeatedly breaching court orders. William Williams, 22, was given "chance after chance" but ignored rulings not to contact his former partner.
Williams said she was one of the few people who ever helped him but a judge said he had a duty to protect the woman and the value of court orders. The judge at Mold Crown Court jailed Williams, of Crescent Road, Wrexham, for six months for each of three breaches of court orders, with two running concurrently.
Prosecutor Simon Rogers said Williams and the woman had been in a relationship for some two years. But he was given a restraining order not to contact her.
Roger Peter Brenninkmeyer
A dangerous driver was travelling at nearly 100mph when he collided with another car killing a "caring and gentle" 20-year-old motorist. Driver Roger Brenninkmeyer's BMW had hit an embankment on a rural road, overturned, collided with the victim's car and spun into a field, stopping 99 metres away.
Droy Darrock-York died in the collision near Pwllheli. A woman who brought him up from the age of four told Caernarfon Crown Court said: "The world is a darker place without Droy. He was the sunshine to my day'.
Brenninkmeyer, 60, was "paranoid" because he wrongly believed he faced financial ruin but he did not intend to kill himself on that trip near Pwllheli in June, 2022, his barrister argued.
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