Two gunmen who shot a 'gentle giant' dead on his doorstep and a man who murdered two sex workers more than 20 years apart were just some of the notorious criminals locked up in the UK this month.

The police officer who killed ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson and a multi-million-pound fraudster at the head of a large-scale international drugs conspiracy were also put behind bars in June.

Other offenders jailed include siblings who force-fed kebab to a sleeping man causing him to choke to death, a businessman who bombarded MPs with a string of 'vile' emails including death threats and a carer who forged the will of a wealthy landowner before starving him to death to inherit a slice of his £3.5 million fortune.

These are some of the shocking court cases that were widely reported in the UK last month.

Gary Allen

Gary Allen murdered Samantha Class in Hull in 1997 and Alena Grlakova in Rotherham in 2018

Gary Allen was told he must serve a minimum of 37 years in prison for murdering two sex workers more than 20 years apart by a judge who said what he did was “wicked”.

Allen, 47, was jailed for life for killing mother-of-three Samantha Class in Hull in 1997, and mother-of-four Alena Grlakova in Rotherham in 2018.

He had been cleared of the murder of Ms Class in 2000, but this acquittal was overturned in 2019 after “compelling” new evidence was personally presented to Appeal Court judges by Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill QC.

The judge, Mr Justice Goose, rejected a suggestion from the prosecution that Allen should be given a whole-life tariff but, setting the minimum term, he said: “I doubt it will ever be safe to release you into the community.”

A jury heard harrowing details of how the body of 29-year-old Ms Class, who was working in the sex industry, was found by children on the banks of the Humber in October 1997.

The court heard that he had attacked her "with savage violence" by using a ligature to strangle her and driving over her body in his car.

Samantha Class (left) and Alena Grlakova (right)

Ms Grlakova’s body was found naked in a stream in Rotherham in April 2019, four months after she was last seen on Boxing Day 2018. The 38-year-old had been strangled.

She was from Slovakia and moved to the UK in 2008 but, after becoming estranged from her husband and children, she started work in the sex industry.

Allen had previously told a probation officer of his dislike of sex workers and women in general, saying: “I like to frighten them. I like to cause pain. I like to make them cry. I like blood. I like to hurt them. I enjoy it. It makes me feel good.”

Ashley Wright

Ashley Wright was jailed for sexual activity with a child

A young woman who admitted child sex offences against a 15-year-old boy at a secure training centre was jailed for two years and two months.

Ashley Wright, 26, abused a position of trust to incite the child to engage in sexual activity while she was working as a secure care officer, Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard.

She admitted the offence, along with sexual touching and engaging in sexual communications with a child.

The court heard that one of Wright’s colleagues had noticed her and the teenager engaging in inappropriate behaviour in front of other children at the facility, including “inappropriately touching each other’s thighs underneath a desk”.

When the colleague confronted her, Wright, from Wigston in Leicestershire, told them: “I’m not doing anything wrong”, the court heard.

When police searched Wright's home in September 2020, they found photographs of the victim, who was described as a "vulnerable child", touching her naked breasts and of them kissing, along with an eight-page “love letter".

Defence lawyer James Francis Keeley described Wright as a “hard-working young woman” who was “deeply ashamed” of her behaviour.

Her sentence was reduced by one-third due to Wright entering early guilty pleas, but the judge said he had also considered the fact she continued the relationship with the victim while under police investigation.

Colin Smith

A driver who killed two cyclists after speeding in a stolen car while under the influence of cannabis was jailed for 11 years.

Colin Smith, 23, was driving at approximately 70mph on a 40mph road in Speke, Liverpool, when he collided head-on with two cyclists and hit two cars, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Clare Killey, 45, a mother of two from Childwall, died at the scene of the crash on February 28, 2019, and Anthony Cope, 39, a father of two from Halewood, died 18 days later in hospital.

Katy Nicholson, a passenger in a car, suffered a broken collarbone and lifelong damage to her mobility due to the accident.

The court heard Smith, of Lower Road, Halewood, was more than twice the legal limit of cannabis and was driving a stolen white Ford Fiesta with false number plates and fraudulently acquired insurance.

Smith initially fled the scene, but later returned and identified himself as the driver to police.

Smith killed cyclists Anthony Cope, 39, and Clare Killey, 45

He was found guilty following a trial of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing serious injury due to dangerous driving.

Before the trial he admitted four counts of fraud relating to his vehicle insurance, one count of receiving stolen goods and one count of drug driving.

He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years and four months.

Lucy Thornton

Lucy Thornton, 28, was jailed after forming an 'inappropriate relationship' with a prison officer she fell in love with

A prisoner officer was jailed over her 'inappropriate relationship' with an inmate, who she went on to have a baby with, and his brother.

Lucy Thornton "fell in love" with offender Aaron Whitaker while she was working as a prison officer at HMP Altcourse in Merseyside, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

She then had a baby with him while he was released on parole.

Thornton, 28, of Orford, Warrington, admitted two counts of misconduct in a public office for her relationships with Whittaker, who was serving time for a wounding offence, and his brother and fellow inmate, Haden Whittaker.

During a search of Aaron Whitaker's cell, officers found a piece of paper with the name Lucy and a phone number, which was later linked to Thornton. Later searches uncovered mini mobile phones in the cells of both brothers.

The court heard there was evidence of hundreds of calls and text messages between Thornton and the two convicts while they were in prison.

In June 2019, Thornton was suspended from her job after a “play fight” between her and another inmate, in which officers witnessed her rolling "around on the floor" with the prisoner "on top of her" at times.

She was arrested the following month and a phone containing the contact number for Aaron, stored as 'My Baby', was found at her Warrington address.

When she was interviewed, Thornton said she and Aaron Whittaker had developed mutual feelings in February 2019 and he gave her his number so she could call him when she was off duty.

She said she contacted Haden Whittaker as a friend and was also in touch with their mother.

Thornrton was jailed for 10 months after the judge imposed a 15 months sentence reduced by a third to reflect her guilty plea.

Jamie Taylor and Taylor Pountney

Jamie Taylor (left) and Taylor Pountney (right) have been jailed for manslaughter

Two men were jailed for the manslaughter of a street attack victim who was punched and kicked after his wife was racially abused.

Jamie Taylor was jailed for four years and Taylor Pountney was given a three-year term for killing 23-year-old Amaan Momand, West Midlands Police said.

Mr Momand was fatally injured as he protected his wife in the Maypole area of Birmingham, suffering one punch and a single kick at about 4.30pm on September 19 in 2019.

Officers said racial abuse was shouted at Mr Momand’s wife after the defendants passed her in a car.

Following the attack, passers-by tended to Mr Momand before paramedics arrived and he was taken to hospital in a critical condition, where he died three days later from a head injury.

Taylor and Pountney fled the scene but CCTV footage was used to identify them and track down the red Peugeot car they drove away in.

Pountney, 18, of Trittiford Road, Yardley, Birmingham, was found guilty of manslaughter after a trial at Nottingham Crown Court, while Taylor, 23, of Tidworth Croft, King’s Heath, Birmingham, had previously pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Benjamin Monk

Benjamin Monk, the police officer who killed ex footballer Dalian Atkinson

A police officer found guilty of the manslaughter of ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson was jailed for eight years.

Pc Benjamin Monk, 43, tasered Mr Atkinson to the ground before kicking him twice in the head, leaving two bootlace imprints on his forehead.

The former Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town striker, who played eight times for Manchester City, went into cardiac arrest and died in hospital around an hour after an ambulance was called to the scene of the incident in Telford, Shropshire, in August 2016.

Monk, an officer with West Mercia Police, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter following a six-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Jurors heard that the officer deployed his taser three times, including once for an "excessive" period of 33 seconds.

Monk claimed to have acted in reasonable self-defence while “terrified” of 48-year-old Mr Atkinson, who had a heart condition, was undergoing dialysis treatment, and was smaller and lighter than the officer.

Mr Atkinson had smashed a window while suffering a mental health crisis near to his father's home.

Monk told the court he could only remember delivering a single kick at the victim’s shoulder - but forensic imaging showed Monk's boot had come into contact with Mr Atkinson's head on two separate occasions.

As well as the marks to both sides of Mr Atkinson’s forehead, a pathologist found 15 areas of “under-the-skin” bruising, including marks to his neck, shoulder, shoulder blade, flank, buttock, thigh, bicep, elbow and shin.

Jack Yarwood, Michael Burke, Daniel Adamson and Stuart Watson

Daniel Adamson, Jack Yarwood, Michael Kedie, Michael Burke

Members of an “evil” machete-wielding gang of robbers terrorised a young family in their home and committed a string of violent convenience store raids.

A judge said the offending of Jack Yarwood, 35, Michael Burke, 40, Daniel Adamson, 35, and Stuart Watson, 41, was so serious that life terms were required to protect the public.

A court heard that a “conservative estimate” of at least 100 victims had suffered the effects of their violent crimes across Greater Manchester and Cheshire between May and November 2019.

The balaclava-clad gang mainly targeted mid-size convenience stores around closing time with machetes as their weapon of choice, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Shop staff were subject to threats and occasional use of violence, including being dragged, to steal cash from safes and tills with the defendants linked to up to 29 separate robberies.

Yarwood, of Water Street, Salford, was jailed for a minimum term of 10 years and 42 days before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board.

Burke, of Winchester Road, Trafford, was sentenced to a minimum term of 15 years and three months, and Watson, of Kingsway Park, Trafford, must serve at least eight years and 10 months.

All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery.

Adamson, of Hurst Avenue, Sale, was convicted of the same offence after a trial and was sentenced to a minimum term of 13 years.

Mason Sani-Semedo and Cameron Robinson

Mason Sani-Semedo and Cameron Robinson

Two “evil” gunmen shot a “gentle giant” dead on his doorstep in a case of mistaken identity.

Chad Gordon, 27, was blasted in the face when he opened his door to a pair of assassins, who had travelled to his north London home on a stolen moped intent on revenge.

The shooting, during the first coronavirus lockdown last year, was said to have been in retribution for the death of the killers’ friend Jemal Ebrahim, who had been stabbed five days before.

However, Mason Sani-Semedo and Cameron Robinson went to the wrong address and shot Mr Gordon instead.

Mr Gordon, who had autism, was described as a shy and quiet “gentle giant”, and the “last person anyone would want to kill”.

'Gentle giant' Chad Gordon

On May 18 last year, the gunmen, armed with a 9mm handgun, had gone to Wiltshire Gardens in Haringey, north London, where Mr Gordon lived with his grandmother and aunt.

They knocked on the front door and fired instantly when it was opened by Mr Gordon.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Sani-Semedo, 19, from Tottenham, north London, and Robinson, 20, of Dagenham, were found guilty of murder and possession of a gun with intent.

They were both jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years.

David Noble and Nicole Cavin

Siblings Nicole Cavin, 24, and David Noble, 34, who have been jailed for manslaughter

A brother and sister were jailed after their friend choked to death when they force-fed him kebab meat on a train.

Siblings David Noble, 34, and Nicole Cavin, 24, put kebab meat down the throat of 56-year-old David Clark after he fell asleep while drunk.

On March 2 in 2019, the pair were travelling to Barrow, in Cumbria, following a day out in Blackpool when they were joined by the victim and his friend, who got on at Lancaster after attending a football match.

The siblings had been drinking during the day and boarded the train with more alcohol and kebabs, a court in Preston heard last month, while Mr Clark and his friend Jon Waite, who had been at the Lancaster FC v Farsley Celtic match, had drunk up to 15 pints each before joining their friends on the train.

According to witnesses, Mr Clark had fallen asleep when the siblings, who were also sitting with Cavin’s boyfriend, began inserting meat into his mouth.

Mr Clark eventually woke up and vomited, but collapsed into the aisle as he attempted to stand up, the court heard.

Cavin, who was employed as a carer at the time of the incident, removed some meat from the victim’s mouth, but a piece of chicken the size of a golf ball had become lodged in his throat, the court heard.

Paramedics were called to the scene and managed to remove some more food from the victim’s throat.

He was rushed to hospital, where he tragically died the following day.

Noble, of Main Street, Grange-Over-Sands, was jailed for three years and three months, while Cavin, of Market Street, Flookburgh, was jailed for three years.

Aram Sheibani

Aram Sheibani

A multi-million pound fraudster at the head of a large-scale international drugs conspiracy with links to Colombia was jailed for 37 years.

Iranian refugee Aram Sheibani, 40, of Trafford, funded a lavish jetsetting lifestyle through fraud, money laundering and drugs offences.

He built a £5 million property empire in the UK and Spain by masquerading as a legitimate businessman while falsifying his earnings to facilitate further borrowing.

But between 1999 and 2010 he only declared his income on five occasions when he attempted to explain his amassed wealth with forged documents, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Police raided his luxury apartment in Bowdon, Altrincham, in April 2019 and found a safe containing £167,000 in used notes at the address with a Porsche Panamera, worth £24,000, parked outside.

Sheibani attempted to destroy evidence before they entered the address in Delamer Road as he smashed up an encrypted Encro phone, used by high-end criminals, and threw it down the toilet.

A total of £1.2 million in cash was seized from searches at various properties belonging to the defendant, along with the recovery of cryptocurrency valued at £1.3 million and original artwork from Banksy and Andy Warhol gained through illegitimate means.

During his fraudulent activity Sheibani was a frequent worldwide traveller with trips to Dubai, Amsterdam and Ibiza where he enjoyed lavish yacht parties and also had a host of luxury vehicles including two Bentleys, a Porsche and a gull wing Mercedes.

Following a 10-week trial Sheibani, who came from his native Iran to the UK with his family in 1986, was convicted of numerous offences including conspiracy to supply cocaine, fraud, money laundering, forgery and perverting the course of justice.

Lewis Peake and Michael Wilson

McMyler
From left: Lewis Peake and Michael Wilson, who have been jailed for Steven McMyler's death along with two teenagers

Two men were jailed over the killing of a Wigan man in a failed attempt to take his £11,000 watch.

Steven McMyler, from Marsh Green, was found with serious injuries in the grounds of Wigan Parish Church on August 6 last year.

The 34-year-old joiner and dad-of-two was later pronounced dead by medics at the scene.

Lewis Peake, from Bolton, was alleged to have recruited a group of four people from Merseyside to assault Mr McMyler, so he could steal his Rolex.

After a three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, he was found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob, along with three members of that group - Michael Wilson, from Kirkby, and two teenagers aged 17 and 14 who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard that Peake had a string of previous convictions - including racially aggravated common assault, affray and possession of a bladed article - and previously spent time behind bars for burglary.

Michael Wilson was deemed to have no relevant previous convictions and was described as 'naïve' and a 'very young 20-year-old', while the two teenagers had no previous convictions.

Peake, 30, of James Street, Little Lever, was sentenced to 13 years in prison, while Wilson, 20, of Northfield Close, Kirkby, was sentenced to nine years' detention.

The 17-year-old was jailed for eight years, while the 14-year-old was jailed for six years.

Paul Ritchie

Paul Ritchie, 35, pleaded guilty to 28 counts of sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety

A businessman bombarded MPs with a string of “vile” emails including death threats.

Paul Ritchie, 35, pleaded guilty to 28 counts of sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety over a six-month period between March and August 2019.

His victims included former Commons speaker John Bercow, ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, former home secretary Amber Rudd and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford.

Others targeted were former attorney general Dominic Grieve QC, ex-Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, her successor Sir Ed Davey, and one-time London mayoral candidate and Cabinet minister Rory Stewart.

Ritchie was traced through two email addresses, including one linked to his business Snapr – a property services booking website – and arrested at his flat in Paddington, central London.

The court was told that the correspondence included "threats of violence, such as threats to shoot someone in the face and threats to kill, such as by way of decapitation".

Ritchie, of Dolphinton in Lanarkshire, was jailed for a year at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

Lynda Rickard and Wayne Rickard

Lynda and Wayne Rickard

A carer forged the will of a wealthy landowner before starving him to death to inherit a slice of his £3.5 million fortune.

Lynda Rickard, 62, was found guilty of murdering former auctioneer’s clerk James Sootheran, known as Anthony, 59, at his property in South Newington, Oxfordshire, in March 2014.

She had been paid £47,000 a year to look after his elderly mother, Mary Sootheran, known as Joy, until her death, aged 92, in 2012, and lived at the farm with her American-born husband Wayne Rickard, 66, before they were evicted in 2017.

Rickard admitted helping herself to tens of thousands of pounds of the Sootherans’ money, which was used to fund her family’s lifestyle, including private school fees for her three now-adult children.

She also accepted forging the mother and son’s wills, which would have entitled her to half of Mrs Sootheran’s £1.5 million estate and a third of Mr Sootheran’s £3.5 million fortune.

Mr Sootheran, who owned the farm, including 60 acres of land, was more than six feet tall but weighed less than nine stone, having lost so much weight due to malnutrition, when he was found dead on March 18 2014.

James Sootheran, known as Anthony, (left) and his mother Mary Sootheran (right)

Rykard denied murder, claiming the death of Mr Sootheran – described as “a recluse prone to gross self-neglect” with “complex mental health issues” – was a result of how he chose to live his life.

But she was found guilty in what prosecutors believe is the first successful conviction for murder by deliberate starvation in more than a century.

She was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 28 years, while Wayne Rickard was jailed for a total of 10 and a half years after being found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.

Mohammed Chowdhury

Mohammed Chowdhury was jailed for nine years at the Old Bailey

A “frustrated” wannabe James Bond spy tried to buy a hand grenade allegedly to blow up a police station.

Mohammed Chowdhury, 24, handed over £300 to buy an explosive device on February 5 last year.

At the time, he was in breach of a suspended sentence for waving an axe at a man outside a Tube station.

Having been caught on CCTV, Chowdhury directed his rage against the police, with a possible target being a police station in east London, jurors heard.

Chowdhury was stopped because the weapons dealer was in fact an undercover police officer.

Following a trial, he was found guilty of attempting to possess the grenade with intent, having already admitted four charges of possessing terrorist material.

He was jailed at the Old Bailey for nine years with a further five years on extended licence.

The court heard that while Chowdhury was not radicalised, he was “deeply immersed in the digital world of violence”.

The judge said the defendant did not have a “fixed plan”, but had considered the possibility of detonating the grenade at a police station.

He rejected Chowdhury’s mitigation that his threats were simply childish tantrums.

Ross Willox

Ross Willox, the former prison officer who murdered his friend Emma Faulds

A former prison officer murdered his friend and hid her body in a remote Scottish forest.

Ross Willox killed Emma Faulds after arranging to party with her at his home in Monkton, Ayrshire, on April 28 in 2019.

Ms Faulds was reported missing by her family and her body was found about six weeks later in the Galloway Forest after a major search involving specialist officers and search dogs.

Willox, 42, had denied the charges but was found guilty of murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow in May.

The court heard that Willox placed the body of Ms Faulds in a shallow grave and covered it up and tried to ensure it would decompose more quickly by placing it in a wet area.

After Ms Faulds was reported missing, Willox told police he had been partying with her at his flat but said they then went in her car to her flat in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, where he claimed he left her fit and well.

However, police became suspicious about his movements when they found CCTV footage that showed a man driving her car back to her street.

Willox was sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 years for the murder charge, and six years for attempting to defeat the ends of justice, to run concurrently.

Ewan Fulton

Ewan Fulton pled guilty to the culpable homicide of 15-year-old Mhari O’Neill

A 20-year-old man killed a 15-year-old girl by plying her with alcohol and abandoning her on a hill to die.

Ewan Fulton pleaded guilty to culpable homicide at the High Court in Edinburgh in May.

The court heard Fulton, of Livingston, West Lothian, had bought vodka and cigarettes for Mhari O’Neill on December 7, 2018 which they consumed together at Calton Hill in Edinburgh.

The 15-year-old was found dead at the beauty spot by a dog walker the next morning, with a pathologist finding the likely cause of death to be hypothermia with intoxication playing a role.

It was heard Fulton, then aged 18, had left the teenager in a state of partial undress and unable to seek help as he wanted to get to Waverley train station before the last service home.

Fulton had previously admitted culpably and recklessly putting Mhari at risk of death by giving her the alcohol to an extent she became unable to look after herself, having engaged in sexual activity with her.

The charge states he did so with “utter disregard” for the consequences in which she died there and he “did kill her”.

The judge sentenced Fulton to 38 months in prison, backdated to May 24, and placed him on sexual offenders register indefinitely.

Callum Thomas and Nathan Emery

Callum Thomas (left) and Nathan Emery (right) beat their victim so hard that he was in a coma for around three months

Two men left a man for dead on a pavement after beating him with a metal bat.

Callum Thomas, 23, and Nathan Emery, 26, both from Rhondda, Wales, beat their victim so hard that he was in a coma for months before being released from hospital with life-changing injuries.

The 26-year-old man had volunteered to walk a female friend home after a night out in September last year to prevent her walking home alone, South Wales Police said.

He was struck on the hand by a Volkswagen Golf being driven by Thomas, which then circled back round to where the victim and his friend were outside the Chequered Flag garage in Porth.

The pair got out of the car and approached the victim with Thomas carrying a metal baseball bat which he regularly kept in his car.

Thomas repeatedly struck him with the bat, despite the man being on the ground, before they got back in the car and drove off, leaving their victim unconscious with blood pouring from his head.

Both men were arrested shortly after and Thomas was charged with possessing an offensive weapon and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, while Emery was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Thomas was jailed for 13 years and Emery was jailed for three years.

Rovin Mavunga

South Yorkshire loan shark Rovin Mavunga preyed on vulnerable people

A Yorkshire loan shark who threatened his victims on social media was jailed for 16 months.

Rovin Mavunga charged interest rates of almost 100 per cent on loans and pocketed £140,000 in repayments over a 22-month period.

The 24-year-old preyed on vulnerable people, threatening them with violence when they missed repayments, the England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) said.

Mavunga ran an “organised, sophisticated and profitable illegal business”, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

He offered short-term, high-interest loans to 130 borrowers – increasing repayments arbitrarily and adding harsh penalty charges for late and missed payments.

His victims included a single mother-of-two, who was attacked in the street as a result of an unpaid debt and was forced to move away to escape the threats, and an extremely financially vulnerable man who took out 91 loans.

Mavunga was arrested in January 2020 when officers from the IMLT, working in partnership with Doncaster Trading Standards and South Yorkshire Police, executed a warrant at his home and seized electronic devices.

The IMLT said he continued to operate illegally following the arrest, setting up a company called 24/7 Loans in February 2020.

He was subsequently re-arrested in March 2020.

Phone records showed Mavunga made a profit of £25,000 from one group of 35 borrowers and the outstanding loan balance at the time of his first arrest was £100,000.