Here is our monthly round-up of the criminals who have been locked up for some of the most serious crimes in Wales over the past month. They include several thugs who attacked partners, or former partners, including one who threw his young girlfriend down the stairs.
There was also a trusted school worker who downloaded vile videos of children being abused, and a man who attacked and repeatedly punched a female police officer.
WalesOnline also covered the case of two conmen who ran a fake modelling agency and ruined the lives of several women after exposing intimate pictures of them online for cash. The victims had no idea they were involved in a scam until it was too late. You can get more courts news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Here are the criminals and their crimes:
Rhys Thompson
A young woman who was just 17 years old when she met a man she would fall in love with but went on to abuse her and beat her in fits of jealous rage gave a heartbreaking statement in court.
The victim's statement was read to the court as Thompson, 28, was sentenced for throwing her down the stairs and slapping her round the face after accusing her of cheating with other men. He later told her: "I wish I killed you".
Matthew Bateman
The trusted school IT worker downloaded and shared vile photos and videos of children as young as two being sexually abused.
Bateman's online activities only came to light after he arranged to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old girl for a drive in his car and a burger. In fact the defendant was communicating with members of a so-called paedophile hunter group who confronted him at the agreed rendezvous point in a local park.
Caeran Roderick
The violent robber befriended a man on a night out and led him to an isolated area before putting him in a headlock and brandishing a knife.
Roderick, then 19, took Luke Long's wallet and phone during the frightening incident which took place in Cardiff in the early hours of September 1 last year. The victim was left "shocked and upset" by the robbery and said he "couldn't believe what was happening to him."
Andrew Lock
The thug carried out a "sustained" assault on his partner of three weeks before using racial insults towards a police officer who arrested him. A court heard that large amounts of blood were discovered at the scene of the assault.
The 37-year-old caused actual bodily harm to his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin Evans, at her home in Caerau, Bridgend, on the evening of February 23. The defendant had been drinking and was found in possession of amphetamine and cannabis when he was subsequently arrested by police.
Barry McElroy
He was pulled over by police in west Wales, strip searched and found to have heroin hidden in his underpants. McElroy was stopped by officers from Dyfed-Powys Police on October 15, 2021, near the Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire.
When he was arrested and taken into custody, the 47-year-old was strip searched and a black pouch was located in his underwear.
Stephanie Knight and Matthew Walters
The cannabis dealing couple were caught after eagle-eyed police officers saw customers coming and going from their Swansea Valley flat.
When the property was raided, officers found a haul of cannabis worth almost £11,000 along with phone messages which showed the drug was being bought and sold in kilo quantities.
Matthew Barnes
He was under the influence of magic mushrooms and Xanax when he headbutted a police officer and punched her repeatedly in the face. He also grabbed another officer by her hair and shook her.
Concerns were raised after Barnes was seen acting "bizarrely and erratically" in Ebbw Vale singing the words "Dog" and "God" and appeared confused.
Joshua Leatherland
The petulant thug punched and stamped on the head of a hotel receptionist after being told there were no rooms available. He also assaulted a woman who had attended the hotel with him.
Leatherland, 23, assaulted receptionist Thundiyil Abraham at the Ibis hotel in Newport in the early hours of July 16 when he became angry when told there was no vacancy. He left Mr Abraham with severe injuries including a hairline fracture to his rib which was said to be extremely painful.
Mark Harrigan
The paedophile sexually assaulted a young girl who didn't report the abuse she suffered until she was an adult. He was also found in possession of indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images.
Harrigan, 40, of Cardiff, was arrested after the victim reported the matter to police in 2021 and electronic items were seized. Read what he was sentenced to here.
Neil Ahearne
The grandfather sent a photo of his penis to someone he thought was an 11-year-old girl and asked if she "wanted to be f***** by a paedo c***". When police raided his home they found phones containing indecent images of children and extreme pornography.
The 58-year-old, of Gilfach Goch, told the girl, who was in reality a decoy, that he enjoyed having sex with young girls and wanted to meet up with her. He used an account under the name of Danny Smith when he made contact with the decoy, named Dani, who told him she was 11 years old and still at school.
Jason Maguire and Oliver Pendleton
The two conmen who ran a fake modelling agency were said to have ruined the lives of several women after exposing intimate pictures of them online for cash. The victims had no idea they were involved in a scam until it was too late.
Pendleton, of Clwyd Avenue in Abergele, admitted to fraud as well as having a computer to perform function with intent to secure authorised access. Maguire, of Caradoc Road in Prestatyn, faced the same charges alongside 11 breaches of his sexual harm prevention order and six charges of creating indecent images.
Jonathan Sutton
He launched a series of attacks on his partner during which he ripped off her clothes before throwing her out of the flat in acts designed to degrade and humiliate the woman.
On one occasion Sutton's victim was left wandering the streets shoeless and in a torn dress, and on another was forced to wrap herself in a bed sheet as she walked to the shops. Sending the 41-year-old defendant to prison, a judge told him he had treated his partner "like a punch bag".
Ashley Fulford and Kallum Owen
The two cocaine dealers were caught when police stopped the van they were dealing from and have been ordered to hand over the profits of their business - but while one must cough up almost £11,000 his co-accused only has £91 to his name.
Swansea men Fulford and Owen were caught red-handed selling the Class A drug to a user on a Swansea street, and a search of the pair's vehicle found another two-dozen ready-to-sell deals in the glovebox. The defendants' homes were then searched.
Bryan Alex Hosking
The drunken man threw a kitten across a room and then threatened to kill a woman with a kitchen knife. Hosking was at a flat with his female victim and a friend on May 22.
All three had been drinking, and at a certain point the woman, Miss Megan Tucker, fell asleep with a kitten on her chest. She woke to find Hosking picking up the kitten and tossing it across the room. She said that he looked like he was going to bite the animal’s head, and she proceeded to grab it from him.
Phillip Bowler
The learner driver claimed he sped away from police because it was Halloween and he was spooked by the blue lights on their patrol car.
Bowler raced through multiple red traffic lights as he drove off from cops, and narrowly missed a pedestrian who was crossing the road in front of him. While being investigated for those matters the defendant went on to headbutt a woman in the face then arm himself with a kitchen knife during a confrontation outside his house.
Leo Bailey
The teen, who was involved with a "professional and sophisticated" gang which stole cars from across south Wales, went on the run from police for 15 months.
Despite apparently remaining in Swansea during his time at large, Bailey avoided being arrested for more than a year until the car he was travelling in crashed, and police were called to the scene. A judge said he wanted an explanation from a senior officer as to why police seemingly did "little or nothing" to find the defendant during his time on the run.
Corey Fethney
The young plasterer who turned to selling cocaine during the Covid pandemic referred to himself as "the boss" and had a number of people working for him in the drug trade.
Fethney continued dealing in the Class A drug even after police raided the house he shared with his mother and seized his phones, simply acquiring a new mobile and carrying on.
Charlie John-Downs
The talented young rugby player became a "runner" for a heroin and crack dealer after running up debts through his use of cannabis. Teenager John-Downs was told by his supplier that he could pay off what he owed if he became a street dealer delivering the Class A drugs to users and collecting cash.
But the 19-year-old defendant was photographed carrying out a deal and when officers raided his flat they found more than 60 ready-to-go heroin and crack deals, weighing scales, and £1,000 in cash.
Amir Khan
The motorist with a "dreadful" record for drink-driving and driving while disqualified led police on a chase through residential streets after attending a popular carnival.
Khan drove through red traffic lights, went the wrong way down one-way streets, and forced other drivers to take evasive action as he tried to get away from pursuing officers. When the 28-year-old was eventually stopped he was found to be three times over the drink-drive limit.
Ricky Morris
He committed a "vicious and unprovoked" assault on the mother of his five-week-old son in the middle of Swansea city centre because he didn't like the name she had chosen for the child. Morris, 31, approached his former partner Jodie Harris as she was out shopping with the child in a pushchair on May 13 this year.
Paul Jones
He was caught with £3,000 worth of heroin in his dressing gown when police raided his house. Officers also found weighing scales containing traces of both heroin and cocaine, phones full of incriminating messages, £940 in cash, and a stash of bicarbonate of soda - a key ingredient in converting coke into crack cocaine.
Luke James
The convicted sex offender showed a young girl a video on his phone of an animated singing penis.
James had met the girl's mum on a dating website and went to a park with the family but had not disclosed his previous conviction for sexually assaulting a teenager. As part of the suspended sentence for that assault he is banned from having any contact with females under 16 unless their parent or guardian knows about his past.
Samuel Urch
Burglars stabbed a woman's bed and scrawled the word "sorry" on the wall above it. Police caught one of the culprits, Samuel Urch, after finding his blood in the Cardiff flat.
The 30-year-old and his accomplices stole around £1,500 worth of items from the ground-floor home on The Walk, Roath, in August last year. Prosecutor Eugene Egan told Cardiff Crown Court: "Mercifully, the two female students living in the flat were not there at the time."
Daniel Croft and Joshua Morris
A man was left bleeding heavily from the head in a Swansea doorway after a brutal early-morning attack carried out by the two men - one of whom was armed with a metal bar. The incident happened outside the YMCA building in Swansea city centre on the morning of July 10.
At around 5am, an argument broke out between Croft, Morris and their victim, Darren Thomas. After a verbal altercation, Mr Thomas was then assaulted by both men, and stamped on and kicked during the ordeal. A clearly injured Mr Thomas staggered to his feet, but a short time later, on another street nearby the YMCA building, another attack took place.
Lawrence Goldsworthy
The "Jack the Lad" wanted in Manchester following a high-speed police pursuit and found hiding half-naked in his dad's wardrobe in west Wales managed to escape after police took off his handcuffs.
Goldsworthy fled from the house and was on the run from the authorities for nine days before before being caught back in Manchester. He was returned to Pembrokeshire where he flooded his cell by blocking the toilet.
Christopher Burford
He photographed himself as he sexually abused and assaulted a baby. Burford's vile activities were uncovered by police who initially suspected he had been downloading indecent images from the internet and seized his mobile phone for analysis.
The 45-year-old has now been given an extended sentence as a dangerous offender.
Rahman Hafeez
The accountancy student with a £1,000-a-month cocaine habit turned to selling the drug to fund his use. Hafeez's family were unaware of his addiction to the drug and of his dealing operation which he ran from his bedroom in the family home alongside doing his university work.
Jake Fry
He used cannabis to help his ailing mental health but ended up dealing large quantities of the drug after his habit got out of control. Fry, who was first exposed to cannabis at the age of 10, was arrested by police earlier this year when officers received a tip-off that the 29-year-old was selling drugs.
Ryan Martin
The learner driver rang his girlfriend during an 80mph chase with police - and told her "I'm driving your car".
Martin raced off from police after they signalled for him to stop, sparking a chase which would go on for around 12 miles and would see him reaching speeds of 80mph, going the wrong way around roundabouts, and taking blind bends on the wrong side of the road. The pursuit came to an end when a stinger device was used to puncture the car tyres.
Lee Mills
The paedophile sent "vile" messages to a 12-year-old girl and asked if she wanted to meet up while using a computer at a public library. When asked why he sent the message and breached a court order he said he was "bored".
The 40-year-old was visited at his Cardiff home on July 14 after they received information he had been contacting a young girl. The defendant had attended Cardiff Central Library and used a computer to access a "team chat".
Justin Howe
The stalker made a former partner's life a "misery" after incessantly messaging her from multiple phone numbers and following her. The victim became so paranoid and fearful she kept a knife by her bed.
Howe, 43, from Newport, began a relationship with a woman through a dating app but she put an end to it, worrying they were moving too quickly. During the relationship the victim told Howe about her previous partner who was physically abusive towards her and he kept notes on his phone about their conversations.
Andrew Garratt
The paedophile told who he thought was a 13-year-old girl he "wanted to marry her" and said he was sexually attracted to her. When he found out he had been talking to a decoy, he claimed he was lonely following the death of his partner.
The pensioner, of Cardiff, began talking to a teenage girl called Athena in October last year after sending her a friend request on Facebook. He said: "Hi, I'm Andy from Cardiff in Wales, UK. How are you doing?"
Awdear Khaledi
The hospital patient bit a nurse on the arm after he protested at being moved to a ward for people with Covid-19. As a result of the bite, the nurse needed injections to prevent tetanus and hepatitis. Khaledi, 23, carried out the vicious assault while a patient at Llandough Hospital on May 4, 2020.
Kevin Leigh
The prolific thief targeted vulnerable elderly women in distraction burglaries which left one of his victim's life shattered. The "heartless" burglar carried out the thefts to feed his drug addiction.
The 58-year-old barged his way into women's houses for tenuous reasons and asked them to change bank notes which allowed him to see where they kept money. Upon seeing where cash was being kept, the defendant would ask for a glass of water and run off with the stash.
Matthew Brown
The father was found with more than £11,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis in the home he shared with his pregnant wife and daughter. He was also found with mobile phones which contained messages relating to drug dealing.
Brown's home in Tredegar was raided by police on July 20 who found various bags containing drugs. In total they found 65.6g of cocaine worth up to £6,240 and 434g of cannabis worth up to £5,420.
Lyn Kemp
The grandfather found with 1,000 child abuse images also photoshopped children's heads onto sexual photos. And officers also discovered that the vile 75-year-old had covertly taken photos of a teen sunbathing in her bikini.
Kemp's home in Cardiff was raided by police on May 12 last year after receiving intelligence images of children had been uploaded to his Skype account. Upon being told what he was accused of, he said "Yes I know, I have seen it on my computer".
Declan Hatton
Hatton thought he was talking to a 12-year-old girl when he asked her to masturbate herself but he was unknowingly talking to an undercover police officer. He later attempted to meet the girl but was arrested upon arriving at the meeting place.
He began speaking to a decoy on the Kik messenger app on May 7 last year, with a profile set up under a false name and false location and claimed to be 19 years old. He was in reality aged 30.
Oakley Nunes
The drug dealer threw a bag of crack cocaine out of a car window when stopped by police but the drugs were later found after his phone was examined. He was also found in possession of cannabis and £1,300 made from drug dealing.
Nunes, 20, was the passenger in an Audi car when it was stopped by police following a short pursuit in Newport on August 23 last year. Both the driver and the defendant were searched and a Nokia phone belonging to Nunes was seized.
Michael Ellaway
The prolific car thief broke into someone's home and stole their company car which was never recovered. A judge said his behaviour had "the hallmarks of bullying".
The 38-year-old took car keys from the home of Thomas Bush in Cardiff on July 10 shortly before 8am and took his Virgin Media-owned Ford Focus. At 10am he was seen at his home in Cowbridge Road East, in Canton, where he parked and told people it was his uncle's car.
Liam Caddick-Cairns
The 25-year-old and his partner Tiffany Taylor were found with cocaine and cannabis as well as a phone containing messages related to the supply of Class A drugs after being pulled over by police.
The boyfriend was the primary dealer while the girlfriend drove him and "turned a blind eye", a court heard.
Robin Griffiths
The ex-solider verbally abused and assaulted a traffic cop after members of the public alerted police to a suspected drink-driver. The violent outburst left the officer considering his "thankless" career with the force.
Griffiths was on a suspended sentence at the time of the assault for holding an imitation gun to his partner's head and threatened to kill her after "gorging on vodka and cocaine".
Tyler Issacs
The jealous and obsessive man subjected a former partner to a "relentless" campaign of abuse, threats and intimidation after she ended their relationship.
Issacs was subject to a restraining order after biting the woman on the face when he bombarded her with vile text messages and calls during which he repeatedly said he would kill her. He also turned up at her home forcing her to flee to safety with her children, and on one occasion tracked her down to a pub where she was socialising with friends and assaulted her.
Dalton Raffell
The drug dealer who ran from a car was found with heroin and crack cocaine after he was hunted down and bitten by a sniffer dog. The heroin was discovered after a man found a McDonald's bag containing the drugs on his drive
The 21-year-old was being driven in a car in Rhymney, Caerphilly, at 11.35pm on October 30, 2020, while being followed by police. He jumped out of the car from a rear door as it was moving, along with two other men, with the driver of the Skoda Octavia left behind.
Read next:
- The criminals locked up in August
- The criminals locked up in July
- The criminals locked up in June
- The criminals locked up May
- The criminals locked up April
Find out about crime levels where you live:
