Knifeman against cabbie
Penniless knifeman Brandon King, 20, thought better of robbing the taxi driver who was taking him home.
Although he stopped short of robbing the cabbie, he still held a knife to the driver.
Jailing the Witney man for 18 months at Oxford Crown Court, Judge Michael Gledhill QC said: “There is a very, very small difference between threatening somebody with a knife and stabbing [them].
“He would have been utterly petrified that you were going to stab him. Fortunately, you went no further than threatening him.”
READ MORE: Knifeman planned to rob taxi driver - but changed his mind
Partner was stabbed in the hand
Benjamin Lane stabbed his partner in the hand then broke her nose days later.
Jailing him for 20 months, Judge Ian Pringle QC said he had considered a request from the 29-year-old’s barrister for the sentence to be suspended.
But he concluded: “I do not feel I can. I do not think it would be appropriate for any other punishment than an immediate prison sentence to apply in these sorts of cases.”
READ MORE: Jail for man prone to 'losing his temper' who stabbed partner in the HAND
‘Heartless’ son stole mum’s cash
Derek Moffitt, 70, took more than £70,000 from his mum’s bank accounts after he was given power of attorney over her affairs when she went into a care home.
The woman, who is in her 90s, said in a victim personal statement read to the court: “I trusted him and he took advantage of me. I thought he would take care of me but instead he has knocked me flat.”
Judge Michael Gledhill QC jailed him for two years and four months, telling the defendant: “A message has to go out to people who have control over other people’s financial affairs that if they abuse it the consequences are very serious indeed.”
READ MORE: 'Heartless' son stole £70k from elderly mum while she was in care home
Conservative club knifeman
Irate Dayle Hall believed the two men who attacked him outside the North Oxford Conservative Club may have disappeared inside the venue.
Having returned to the Summertown clubhouse armed with a knife, he tried to get inside.
But the only people in there were a group of children celebrating a 16th birthday party.
Jailing him for eight months, Judge Gledhill said: “A very clear message has to go out that if you carry knives in public with the intention of threatening or using them it will be dealt with by way of an immediate prison sentence.”
READ MORE: Man brandished knife outside Oxford Conservative club as children marked birthday inside
‘Sexy and gorgeous’
Car valet Brendan Malone told a 14-year-old ‘girl’ she was ‘sexy and gorgeous’ then asked an underage boy if he was ‘straight or gay’.
The 56-year-old thought he was talking online to two children. But the profiles to whom he sent sexually-explicit messages were, in fact, operated by volunteers working for vigilante group Saving Our Children Online.
He was jailed for two years.
READ MORE: Man told 'girl' she was 'gorgeous and sexy' but really it was paedophile hunter
Grindr hook-up with ‘teen’
Lonely David Pickford arranged to meet a 14-year-old ‘boy’ he met on hook-up app Grindr near the Kassam Stadium.
But the ‘boy’ with whom Pickford swapped sexually-explicit messages in the hours before the proposed meeting on October 14, 2020, was an undercover police officer trawling the net for predatory paedophiles.
Jailing him for two-and-a-half years, Judge Michael Gledhill QC told the Oxford man: “I am shocked that a man of 55 years of age with your background should be appearing in this court.”
He added: “It is extremely disturbing to read these messages you sent over just a few hours [before the meeting]; quite blatant sexual suggestions of what you wanted to do to that child.
“Within hours on the very same day you were committing charges seven and eight namely engaging in sexual communications with a child of only 14 and making arrangements to meet him later in the day following grooming.”
READ MORE: Man tried to meet 14-year-old 'boy' near Kassam after Grindr hook-up conversation
‘Thames Water’ drugs courier
Former Thames Water contractor Christopher Wood disguised the van he used to courier cocaine across the country.
The 35-year-old wrapped the van with Thames Water livery and also wore water board-branded clothing in order to cover his tracks.
Over just a few months, Wood was estimated to have handed around 23kgs of cocaine, received £449,000 cash and delivered £308,000.
He was given a heavily-encrypted EncroChat phone with the username ‘BasilBanana’, which he used to take instructions from his bosses and send back status reports.
Wood was jailed for five years.
READ MORE: Drugs courier transported KILOS of cocaine in 'Thames Water van'
Family’s ‘pain and anguish’
Killer driver Aron Hicks broke down in tears as he listened to the dreadful impact the fatal crash had had on his victim’s family.
Brian Hunt’s widow told Oxford Crown Court of her family’s ‘pain and anguish’ at the loss of her husband of five decades.
Hicks caused the head-on crash that claimed Mr Hunt’s life on the A417 last year.
Widow Susan said: “Aron Hicks took my husband’s life. He will never understand the effect he’s had on our family. It is unimaginable and unpardonable.”
After he admitted causing death by dangerous driving, Hicks was jailed for three years and four months.
READ MORE: ‘Pain and anguish’ as fatal crash driver jailed
Peeping Tom threw ‘lifeline’ back at judge
Peeping Tom Carl Ford, 29, threw a ‘lifeline’ back at the judge – by breaching his sexual harm prevention order just weeks after his court appearance.
Ford was given the order late last year for multiple voyeurism charges as well as other offences.
He was before an Oxford judge in March for breaching the order. He was given a two week prison term that time.
But when he came back before the same judge last week – this time for deleting a dating app from his phone and using an iPad that had not been registered with the police in order to watch pornography – he was sent down for 28 months.
READ MORE: Jail for Peeping Tom who threw 'lifeline' back in judge's face
Read more from this author
This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward
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