One of the offenders denied the sex offences he faced but was convicted after a trial, while the others acknowledged their wrongdoing - and consequently received a reduction in the length of their sentence - after entering guilty pleas.
1. Jailed at Sheffield Crown Court in April 2024
All of the defendants pictured here have been jailed during Sheffield Crown Court hearings held in April 2024. Top row, left to right: Craig Green and Kassim Kerrimi. Middle row, left to right: Tyler Harper and Hassan Mohammad. Bottom row, left to right: Isaac Greaves; Stephen Morgan; Stephen Dawson and Glynn Platts
2. Craig Green: Woman is 'a shell of the person' she was before Barnsley abuser's campaign of control
“I’m a shell of the person I was” - Those are the heartbreaking words of a woman who was subjected to a persistent campaign of control, abuse, manipulation and threats at the hands of her partner, which continued even after their relationship came to an end. The woman targeted by defendant, Craig Green, described how the years of ‘control’ he forced upon her resulted in her going from being an ‘outgoing’ person - often described as being ‘the life and soul of the party’ - to feeling so ‘empty,’ isolated from, and unrecognisable to, her loved ones that it left them ‘heartbroken’. Green, aged 38, of Highgate Lane, Barnsley, pleaded guilty to a number of offences including controlling and coercive behaviour, stalking, criminal damage and assault by beating, relating to his treatment of the complainant’s mother, at an earlier hearing. During a hearing held on April 15, 2024, Judge Sarah Wright jailed Green for 28 months.
3. Kassim Kerrimi: Paedophile hunters snare online 'groomer' who tried to lure 'boy' to Sheffield for sex
A 46-year-old man attempted to lure an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old boy to Sheffield for sex only to be snared by a group of paedophile hunters, who were behind the online account he had been messaging and sending explicit images to. As he sent defendant Kassim Kerrimi to prison, taking him off Sheffield’s streets on April 15, 2024, Judge Graham Reeds KC told him: “You believed you were sending these pictures and messages to a 14-year-old boy. “You set about arranging to meet him. You asked him to travel from Manchester - from where you believed he lived - to meet you in a car park that was a few minutes from where you lived…it’s obvious you were intending to take him to your house to have sex with him.” From the outset of the communication between Kerrimi, and the account being used by a group - which refers to itself as North West Predator Hunters - Kerrimi was informed that the ‘boy’ he was talking to was 14-years-old, Richard Sheldon, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court. Kerrimi answered ‘no comment’ to questions posed during his police interview, but subsequently entered guilty pleas to offences of attempting to arrange/ facilitate commission of sexual activity with child and attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child at an earlier hearing. Judge Reeds jailed Kerrimi for 28 months, and told him: “You were confronted by members of the group, which set up the trap that you so voluntarily fell into.” Judge Reeds also made Kerrimi the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, and told him he will be required to sign onto the sex offenders’ register for the same period of time.
4. Tyler Harper: Rotherham dealer now understands scourge of Class A drugs after stint behind bars
A Rotherham dealer who peddled Class A drugs says a stint behind bars on remand means he now understands the impact such substances can have on users. The first set of drug offences committed by defendant, Tyler Harper, were brought to light after a property in Mexborough, near Doncaster, was raided by police, a Sheffield Crown Court hearing held on April 15, 2024, heard. Prosecutor, Amy Earnshaw, said officers recovered a total of 19 packages of heroin and 36 packages of crack cocaine from the property; which were estimated to have a street value of between £3,110 and £85,000 - with the use of ‘mixing agents’. Analysis of the packages, which was carried out by police, ‘forensically linked’ Harper, aged 21, to the drug ‘packaging’ through his DNA. Consequently, police then carried out a search of Harper’s address, where they seized wraps of the Class A drug cocaine, with an estimated street value of £5,900, Ms Earnshaw said. Harper, of Pine Walk, Swinton, Rotherham, answered ‘no comment’ in his police interview, but subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned with the supply of Class A drugs, heroin and crack cocaine, and one count of possession with intent to supply crack cocaine at an earlier hearing. Judge Megan Rhys jailed Harper for 33 months, after coming to the conclusion that his ‘offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified’.