This week saw police boss Caroline Henry set foot in a court room as a defendant as she was sentenced after being clocked speeding five times. The 52 year old, from Giltbrook, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire, faced a district judge at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on Monday, July 18, after pleading guilty to speeding five times in the county.
She received a hefty fine amounting to £2,450, prosecution costs, a victim surcharge of £190, and 15 penalty points on her licence, as well as a six-month driving ban. Afterwards she gave an interview to Nottinghamshire Live about the personal trauma she was enduring at the time. Read the full story here
In a separate case robber Paul McDonald, 48, of Mary's Court, off Duke Street, in Derby, was sentenced after he tried to raid a shop armed with a cardboard toilet roll tube. A frightened teenage cashier, believing McDonald was gripping a deadly firearm, immediately handed over a small amount of cash to him.
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McDonald then fled the shop in Wollaton Steet, Nottingham city centre, but the same cashier then gave chase and heroically tackled him to the ground.
And it was only then that McDonald’s lethal weapon was in fact revealed as an empty cardboard loo roll. He admitted robbery and having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence, following the hold-up on April 14 this year, and was sentenced to three years in prison. Read the full story here
A court also heard how an arsonist set fire to a woman's house whilst she was inside with her two daughters. Danny Fretwell, 24, of Griffin Road, Sutton in Ashfield, deliberately started the blaze at the victim's house in Mansfield following an argument on October 13, 2021.
The family managed to escape from the house and called the emergency services.
Nobody was injured, but the blaze caused around £20,000 in damage. Fretwell pleaded guilty to a charge of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered at Nottingham Crown Court on February 16.
He appeared before the same court on Tuesday, July 19, where he was sentenced to three years in prison. Read the full story here
And Joshua Gittins, 23, of no fixed address, was jailed for a total of 18 months after he told officers over the phone that he had stabbed a woman in Exchange Row, Nottingham city centre. In reality he had struck the woman on the forehead with what is believed to be the handle of the blade. The victim, a woman aged in the 30s, sustained bruising in the attack but was otherwise unharmed.
Gittins, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to assault by beating and possessing a bladed article in a public place, and wasting police time, relating to an incident on March 6 when he falsely claimed that somebody was carrying a gun. Read the full story here
On Friday, July 22, James Gill, 39, of Doncaster, was jailed for nine years over the manslaughter of 75-year-old Neil Robinson. Mr Robinson was the, "unwitting victim of an unprovoked road rage attack by the defendant", explained Sarah Knight, prosecuting.
He pushed Mr Robinson, who had been crossing Ranson Road, Chilwell, and he fell to the ground where he hit his head. He died in hospital six days later. Read the full story here
And "prolific offender" Shane Green was jailed after leaving his blood at the scene of a burglary. He smashed his way into the Lammas Leisure Centre, in Sutton-in-Ashfield, causing more than £2,500 of damage and making off with more than £13,500 of goods.
Green, of Woods Hill, Sutton-in-Ashfield, admitted burglary and was jailed for one year and eight months. Read the full story here
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Caroline Henry: Judge tells speeding Nottinghamshire crime commissioner why limits are important
