Hit-and-run baby killer, terrorist who murdered an MP and celebrity stalker among criminals jailed last month

The terrorist who murdered MP Sir David Amess during a constituency surgery and the cold-blooded killer of London primary school teacher Sabina Nessa were just two of the notorious criminals from across the UK locked up last month.

Other offenders facing lengthy jail terms include a woman who made a ‘to do list’ as part of plans to kidnap, torture and kill a former lover and a hit-and-run driver who killed a two-week-old baby after crashing into his pram.

A drug addict who used her seven-year-old son’s inhalers as a crack pipe was jailed after he died of a fatal asthma attack. A stalker who started a fire in the driveway of Loose Women star Denise Welch’s home has also been put behind bars.

READ MORE: Raft of new UK laws passed this week and how they impact you – including polling stations change and care costs cap

A drink-driving mother of four who killed two of her children when she crashed into a lorry and a football coach who offered children the opportunity to be team captain in return for sexual favours have also been locked up.

These are some of the most shocking court cases that have been widely reported in the UK in recent weeks.

Ali Harbi Ali

The terrorist who murdered veteran MP Sir David Amess in a warped retaliation against politicians who voted to bomb Syria will die in jail after being handed a whole-life prison term. University dropout Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was convicted of murder and preparing terrorist acts by jurors who spent just 18 minutes in retirement.

The so-called Islamic State fanatic carried out his attack at the backbench Conservative MP’s constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on October 15 last year. Ali told his trial at the Old Bailey he had no regrets about the murder, defending his actions by saying Sir David deserved to die because he had voted in Parliament for air strikes on Syria in 2014 and 2015.

The so-called “lone wolf” sent a manifesto on WhatsApp to family and friends seeking to justify his actions around the time of the attack, and told father-of-five Sir David he was “sorry” before plunging a 12in carving knife into him, causing the 69-year-old politician to scream. Sir David received more than 20 stab injuries and died at the scene.

Knife-wielding Ali was later apprehended by two police officers armed only with batons and spray. Dramatic footage of the stand-off was captured on police bodyworn cameras.

Handing down a sentence of a whole-life term in jail, the judge said: “The defendant has no remorse or shame for what he has done – quite the reverse. This is a murder that struck at the heart of democracy.”

James Davis

A hit-and-run driver killed a two-week-old baby after crashing into his pram while using a phone. James Davis was found guilty of causing the death of Ciaran Morris by dangerous driving while uninsured and has been jailed for six and a half years.

Davis, who mounted the pavement in an unregistered BMW after colliding with another car, told his trial he blacked out and could not remember hitting Ciaran’s pram on High Street in Brownhills, near Walsall, on Easter Sunday last year.

Passing sentence on the 35-year-old, the judge made remarks on the “cruelness of fate” of the crash, which happened as 18-day-old Ciaran was being walked in his pram for the first time, while Davis had taken a longer route due to nice weather. The trial heard Davis, who had a teenage passenger, had been travelling at 67mph in a 30mph zone shortly before the tragedy.

Following the impact, which left Ciaran’s mother with broken collarbone, Davis ran off and told a passer-by he “had killed a baby and was going down for a long time”.

After he was found guilty, it emerged that Davis had made 11 previous court appearances for 35 offences, including driving without insurance in 2003, twice in 2004 and again in 2006, drug-dealing, driving while uninsured, drink-driving and theft of a vehicle.

Laura Heath

A drug addict whose seven-year-old son died alone from an asthma attack after she used his inhalers to smoke crack cocaine has been jailed for 20 years. Laura Heath admitted child cruelty and was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter after jurors heard how Hakeem Hussain was found dead in a garden in Nechells, Birmingham.

A trial at Coventry Crown Court was told a school nurse had warned at a child protection conference that Hakeem “could die at the weekend” just two days before his death in the early hours of November 26, 2017. Hakeem, who had been admitted to hospital due to asthma three times in the previous two years, is believed to have gone outside on his own as Heath deliberately “prioritised” her addiction to heroin and crack cocaine, leaving him without an inhaler.

Heath, formerly of Long Acre, Nechells, was staying over at a friend’s flat when Hakeem was found dead at 7.37am. She later told police she had smoked three bags of heroin – two before Hakeem went to bed at 10.30pm and one afterwards, leaving her in a drug-induced sleep.

Toxicology evidence put before the court proved Hakeem had inhaled tobacco smoke in the hours before his death, having also been exposed to heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis through second-hand smoke.

Sophie George

A woman who has been locked up for plotting to kidnap, torture and kill a former lover had created a “meticulous” to-do list and a “murder toolkit”. Sophie George, 20, was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

The defendant, of Highbrook Close, Brighton, had arranged to be picked up by the 23-year-old victim on October 10 2020. George, who was 18 at the time, then insisted that he drive her to a location where she collected two filled shopping bags.

George became insistent they drive to a nearby park and grabbed the wheel to control the car, Sussex Police said. George then pulled out a knife and threatened him when he resisted.

After leaving the vehicle, the pair fought in the street and the victim managed to throw the knife into a bush. George bit her victim’s finger down to the bone while he made a 999 call, police said.

After officers arrested George they found the “sinister” contents of her bags, which included “protective clothing, cleaning equipment such as bleach, duct tape and a Stanley knife – all linked to plans to kidnap, murder and ultimately cover up her crimes.” A search of George’s address also found a number of “to-do lists”, featuring plans including “drive to grave site”, “tourture (sic)”, and “walk him to site, kill and bury”.

Toraq Wyngard

A stalker started a fire in the driveway of Loose Women star Denise Welch’s home and left her “terrified”. Toraq Wyngard, 64, was handed a jail term of seven years and seven months at Chester Crown Court.

Just before 11pm on September 19 2020, he started a fire in a skip outside the home Welch shares with her husband, Lincoln Townley, in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The former Coronation Street actress told the court that Wyngard has « permanently scarred » her life following the ordeal.

Ms Welch said she was alerted to the fire by her husband’s “piercing scream” when a member of the public knocked on their door after spotting the flames. The court heard that £4,285 of damage was caused by the blaze, which spread to the garage attached to the couple’s house.

When Wyngard was later arrested nearby, police discovered a four inch kitchen knife in his rucksack. The court heard that he claimed to be a press photographer and police found two cameras in his bag.

On February 10 2021, while Wyngard was released under investigation, Ms Welch and Mr Townley discovered the words “Witch” and “Pimp” along with an upside-down cross had been scrawled on their front gate in blue marker pen, the court was told. CCTV showed Wyngard writing the graffiti and he was captured on CCTV at a nearby shop buying the pen.

Wyngard, of Cannon Street in Salford, pleaded guilty at a hearing last September to stalking, causing serious alarm or distress, between September 18 2020 and February 11 2021. He also admitted charges of possession of a knife, criminal damage, and arson.

Koci Selamaj

An “evil” sexual predator was jailed for at least 36 years for the murder of primary school teacher Sabina Nessa. Koci Selamaj, 36, travelled to London from the south coast to carry out the premeditated attack on a random woman on September 17 last year.

The garage worker targeted 28-year-old Ms Nessa as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, to meet a friend at 8.34pm. CCTV footage captured the moment Selamaj ran up behind her and hit her over the head 34 times with a 2ft-long metal traffic triangle.

He carried her unconscious body up a grassy bank and out of view before pulling up her clothes, removing her tights and underwear, and strangling her before covering her body in grass. Ms Nessa, who taught a year one class at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, was found nearly 24 hours later near a community centre in the park.

Days later, Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the seaside town and pleaded guilty to murder in February. Selamaj refused to come to the Old Bailey for his sentencing and was jailed for life in his absence.

Martin Newman

A drink and cocaine-fuelled van driver killed two young children and injured their mother in a motorway crash. Martin Newman has been jailed for nine years and four months.

The 41-year-old admitted causing the deaths by dangerous driving of Jayden-Lee Lucas, three, and his four-year-old sister, Gracie-Ann Wheaton, at 1.45pm on Saturday February 5. He further admitted seriously injuring their mother, Rhiannon Lucas, being twice over the drink-driving limit and having traces of cocaine in his system.

The family, from Tredegar, had been returning from a birthday party and were heading to Techniquest in Cardiff when their car was hit by Newman’s Ford Transit on the M4 between junctions 28 and 29 near Newport. They had pulled over on to the hard shoulder after Gracie-Ann complained of having a bad stomach and needing the toilet.

Newman, of Croeserw, could be seen driving erratically on Traffic Wales cameras, weaving in and out of traffic and straddling the white line, and was seen speaking on the phone before he crossed three lanes and entered the hard shoulder in what appeared to be an attempt to undertake a lorry.

Ms Lucas’s family have expressed anger at the sentence and said they will appeal for a harsher punishment that better reflects the loss of two children. Judge Daniel Williams acknowledged some will find the sentence “inadequate”, but he said only Parliament can change the law.

Hugh Raymond Holmes

A driver left his female passenger with horrific injuries when he crashed a stolen car off a bridge on to a busy motorway. Hugh Raymond Holmes had taken a Vauxhall Astra from the woman’s son and was driving it “dangerously” when it fell from the A177 flyover in Durham and landed on the central reservation of the A1(M) in January this year.

The 32-year-old drove through a set of red traffic lights and hit a van, veering across three lanes of traffic and going through the crash barrier, Durham Crown Court was told. The car teetered over the motorway before falling and landing on its roof, missing both carriageways.

Prosecutor Robin Patton said Holmes was then seen kicking the driver’s door open and getting out, leaving his passenger trapped unconscious inside. The court heard he tried to blame the woman for the crash, telling witnesses and police she had been driving and had “nicked” her son’s car.

Holmes, of Spennymoor, County Durham, later pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving without insurance and failing to provide a specimen of breath. A judge sentenced him to 32 months in prison. Holmes was also banned from driving for 343 weeks.

Bobby and Gary Ternent

A father and son were both jailed for life for the “sickening murder” of a man who had been a long-time friend, by running over him with a car four times, in a row over £40,000. The Old Bailey heard that witnesses were “horrified” as Bobby Ternent, 32, drove the BMW X6 which crushed John Avers, who was held down by Gary Ternent, 59.

Mr Avers, 47, who was heard screaming in “truly harrowing” CCTV footage, died at the scene in an Iceland car park in Dagenham, east London, in September 2020. Judge Anne Molyneux, during sentencing, described the « sustained and violent » attack as « a ruthless execution ».

Police and medics found Mr Avers in a large pool of blood and he was pronounced dead at 12.22am on September 14 2020. A post-mortem examination found he had suffered multiple injuries, including fractures to the skull, sternum, pelvis, left thigh and 22 ribs.

Both defendants, of Movers Lane, Barking, east London, were found guilty of murder after a trial. Bobby Ternent was told he will serve a minimum term of 25 years while Gary Ternent will serve a minimum term of 23 years.

Russell Marsh

A “possessive” husband was jailed for a minimum of 25 years after he murdered his wife a week after she ended their relationship. Russell Marsh, 29, savagely assaulted Jade Ward, 27, disfiguring her face with a knife and then choking her to death.

Marsh had been told to leave the family home in Shotton, North Wales, after Ms Ward summoned up the courage to tell him she no longer wanted him in her life. But he returned uninvited in the early hours of August 26 last year, as their four sons slept, and attacked her in a side bedroom.

Marsh drove the children to his parents’ home near Chester and later handed himself in to police. He initially claimed the death was accidental, after he said Ms Ward asked asked him to choke her during sex, before he later told the jury she had mutilated herself and then taunted him.

Marsh admitted manslaughter but jurors at Mold Crown Crown rejected his version of events and found him guilty of murder.

Francois Olwage

A counter-terrorism officer has been jailed for five-and-a-half years for arranging to a meet a 13-year-old girl for sex when he was “on duty working from home”. Francois Olwage, a detective constable who was serving with the Met Police’s specialist operations unit, was convicted of three offences of grooming what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl he had met on the Lycos online chat forum, and a fourth charge of abusing his position as a police officer.

Winchester Crown Court heard that the 52-year-old defendant was actually chatting with an undercover police officer pretending to be the girl using the username of Smile Bear, before moving to WhatsApp using the name of Caitlin. The trial was told that after two weeks of explicit sexual conversations in October 2021, Olwage, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, arranged to meet the “girl”, who had told him that she lived in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Peter Shaw, prosecuting, told the jury that Olwage had been listed as “on duty working from home” on October 28 2021, the date he travelled by train to Basingstoke with the aim of meeting the “girl”. Olwage was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Basingstoke by two undercover officers as he was about to buy a McFlurry ice cream to take to his meeting with “Caitlin”.

When searched, the officers found in his bag two condoms, a bottle of lubricant and a packet of Tadalafil erectile dysfunction tablets. There was also a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates which Mr Shaw suggested was a present for the “girl”.

Olwage, 52, originally from South Africa, told the court that he “never believed” Smile Bear was a 13-year-old girl and that he thought it was an adult “playing out a fantasy”.

Michael Black

A former finance boss admitted to stealing more than £1 million from his employers to fund a lavish lifestyle, including foreign holidays and expensive cars, police said. Michael Black, 56, fraudulently pocketed £1.2 million from three businesses he worked for between 2010 and 2019.

Avon and Somerset Police said Black was trusted with company finances at three different businesses. On more than 400 occasions, he abused his position to transfer money from their accounts to his own and disguised the transfers so they did not appear to go directly to him.

In addition, between 2010 and 2016, while working at a bathroom company in Somerset, he also used credit cards and wrote more than 200 company cheques for personal expenditure. He also paid himself illegitimate expenses totalling £36,000.

The money he obtained was used to purchase and extend an expensive family home, pay large mortgage payments, as well as to buy foreign family holidays and expensive cars. The police investigation found Black used company credit cards over four years to make more than 1,000 Amazon purchases, including electrical goods, speakers, books, plus DIY and gardening equipment.

Black was rumbled while he was away on holiday in 2016 and issues arose with payments to suppliers. Close inspection of the accounts identified fraudulent payments.

Black, of Paulton Road in Hallatrow, Somerset pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud. Three further counts were ordered to lie on file. He was jailed for 10 years and nine months and received a 12-year company director disqualification by a judge at Bristol Crown Court.

Mary McCann

A drink-driving mother of four killed two of her children when she crashed into a lorry. Mary McCann, 35, hit the Scania HGV while driving northbound on the M1 near Milton Keynes at about 11.10pm on August 9 last year.

Lilly McCann, four, and Smaller Peter McCann, who was 10 that day, died at the scene, between junctions 14 and 15. A third passenger, a two-year-old girl, was not badly hurt, while the lorry driver, Simon Denton, was left with whiplash.

McCann was in lane one, while the lorry was in lane two, the court was told. Her car drifted into lane two and, in a bid to avoid the lorry, she crashed into it – sending her car spinning.

The mum was driving at 72mph in a 60 zone, with Lilly and Smaller not wearing their seatbelts. Lilly was thrown from the car and found on the roadside, while Smaller was flung around the backseat and found slumped in the footwell, the court heard. A witness heard McCann shout: “God, why didn’t I put their seatbelts on?” in the smash’s immediate aftermath, the court heard.

McCann, of Bamford Avenue, Derby, was jailed for 49 months and banned from driving for seven years and two weeks after admitting two counts of causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink.

Susan Dalton and Alan Barratt

A multimillion-pound pension scam saw almost 250 people duped out of their life savings. Fraudsters Susan Dalton, 66, and Alan Barratt, 62, who helped con victims out of a total of £13.7 million between 2012 and 2014, have both been jailed.

The pair caused “such misery to so many people”, with victims suffering mental health problems and some even attempting suicide, the judge said. The average amount each person lost was £55,000, but some lost many times more.

Dalton and Barratt, who were based in Spain, enticed savers with the promise of unrealistic returns, cash bonuses, and John Lewis vouchers before getting them to transfer their pensions from legitimate schemes to fraudulent ones. The judge was told the cash bonuses, which victims were led to believe were part of a commission payment from the new schemes, were actually taken from their savings.

During the scam, Dalton, from Rochdale, was a trustee for four fraudulent occupational pension schemes and duped 103 victims out of just over £5.9 million, taking around £126,000 for herself, the court heard. Meanwhile, Barratt was a trustee for six schemes and sucked in 139 victims and over £7.7 million of their savings, personally profiting by around £343,000, the judge was told.

The scam’s “mastermind” David Austin killed himself in 2019 after being invited for a police interview under caution, the court was told. Dalton and Barratt were said to have passed the lion’s share of the money to Austin, who used it for his own personal benefit, to fund his businesses, pay others involved in the operation and enrich himself and family members.

Barratt, of Burnham Road, Althorne, Essex, and Dalton, of Brookdale, Rochdale, admitted one count each of fraud by abuse of position. Dalton was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail and Barratt was sentenced to five years and seven months in jail. In addition to their jail terms, both have been banned from being directors of companies for eight years.

Alfie Morel

A football coach has been jailed for 15 years and 10 months for sexually abusing children he “obsessively” pursued on social media and bribed. Alfie Morel, 24, was convicted of nine child sex abuse charges against three boys and a girl.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Morel « manipulated the children so that they would trust and admire him » before starting to message them on social media. He also threatened suicide if they did not do what he wanted them to do, the CPS said.

Morel would take advantage of his victims’ interests and hobbies by playing video games with them, engaging with them on social media and setting up private chat groups. He even offered the opportunity to be captain of a football team in return for sexual favours.

Hampshire Police launched an investigation after a 12-year-old boy said Morel sent him sexual messages on Instagram and Snapchat in March 2021. Three more victims, two boys aged 12 and 13 and a 14-year-old girl, also came forward.

Morel, of Tidcombe Green, Havant, Hampshire, was convicted of attempted rape, two counts of sexual communication with a child, three counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, causing or inciting a child into sexual activity, and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. He also pleaded guilty to sexual communication with the 14-year-old girl. He was cleared of the rape of a child under 13.

William John Ormandy

A rapist was caught on CCTV running away from the scene after he attacked a teenage girl outside a train station. His distraught 18-year-old victim was later found by a group of women who helped her get home.

William John Ormandy, 31, was jailed after pleading guilty to rape. The CCTV footage, published by British Transport Police, shows the 31-year-old sprinting away from Liverpool Lime Street station just moments after the attack at around 2am on Sunday, February 6.

A judge told Liverpool Crown Court that Ormandy “deliberately targeted a lone 18-year-old and isolated her, showing a significant degree of planning”. The court heard how the rapist started talking to the victim as she searched for a taxi to take her home from the station.

He followed her, telling her « you’re georgous » and asking her where she was going before asking his victim to « give me a kiss”. The teenager said « no » and Ormandy grabbed her and tried to kiss her, the court heard He then pulled her into a service alleyway near the station and continued trying to kiss her as she pleaded for him to let her go. Ormandy then raped his victim and left the location, leaving her in a distraught state, British Transport Police (BTP) said.

Ormandy, of Derby Court, Church Road, Merseyside, was jailed for 12 years and three months and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Peter Byrne

A paedophile pensioner carried out ‘harrowing’ sexual abuse on a young boy and girl. Peter Byrne violently raped both of his victims on multiple occasions more than 30 years ago.

They bravely came forward to police after the 76-year-old appeared in court for another sex abuse offence. Byrne, who is originally from Calderdale but now lives in Irlam, was first convicted of indecently assaulting girls under 14 back in 1970 when he was 25. He also admitted further sexual abuse offences in the late 1980s.

In 2016, at the age of 69, he travelled 150 miles to sexually attack an eight-year-old girl only to find out he had been talking to an undercover police officer. Byrne was jailed for 30 months for that offence, but his court case prompted two more of his victims to contact the police. Last month he was convicted of a series of serious sexual offences against them dating back to the 1980s and early 1990s.

Byrne was jailed for offences of rape, buggery and indecent assault. His own barrister David Hall said the pensioner would be ‘a frail old man’ when he becomes eligible for release after serving two-thirds of his 17-year jail term.

Lee Jones

A man who raped, strangled, and imprisoned a woman in Knutsford has been jailed. Lee Jones at first claimed his « horrendous » behaviour was part of consensual sex but eventually admitted a series of crimes.

Jones, 46, admitted raping the victim of two occasions. On the first, he strangled her before motioning to a knife on the floor and making threats to her family. He was arrested on February 26 after the terrified victim messaged family members asking them to call the police for her.

At Chester Crown Court, Jones, of Cross Flatts Street in Leeds, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and also admitted charges of sexual assault by penetration, false imprisonment involving a bladed article and causing actual bodily harm via strangulation. He has now been jailed for 12 years, and given an extended six years on licence. He was also to adhere to the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and sign the sexual offenders’ register for life.

Fartun Jamal

A mother was jailed for causing her baby daughter’s death while keeping her in “squalid” conditions, the Met Police said. Eleven-month-old Nafahat died of a chest infection after weeks of neglect at the hands of 25-year-old Fartun Jamal at her flat in Brent Park, London.

The mother made a series of web searches including “I can’t cope with my child anymore” and “I want to give up my child”, while living with the baby in early 2019, jurors were told during a trial at Harrow Crown Court. She knew Nafahat was unwell with a “very high temperature” and poor appetite but failed to take her to a doctor, the court heard.

Visitors in the weeks leading up to the baby’s death recalled her cot was broken and the flat was overrun with takeaway boxes, dirty plates and nappies. On February 22, social services attended the property after concerns were raised by a babysitter.

They had warned Jamal ahead of their visit and, when they arrived, they found the flat was clean and the situation had improved. A second social services visit, without warning, was planned for March 13 – the day Nafahat died.

When paramedics were called to the property by a neighbour at 12.24pm, Jamal told them she had found her daughter’s body after having a dream the baby had “stopped breathing”. Jamal was charged with one count of causing Nafahat’s death by neglect, two counts of child cruelty in relation to Nafahat, and another count of child cruelty in relation to a different child. Jamal was found guilty on all four counts and jailed for five years and six months.

For the latest news and more from the Manchester Evening News, sign up to our email updates here.