Latest news with #LewesCrownCourt
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
'Sexual predator', 68, posed as taxi driver to target 'intoxicated women', taking latex gloves, condoms and Viagra with him, court told
A sexual predator posed as an 'unofficial Uber ' to pick up 'vulnerable and intoxicated' women, a court heard. Graham Head, 68, had latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets and a balaclava in his silver Mercedes estate when he was arrested. In his home, business cards advertising him as a 'N-Uber driver' were emblazoned with the slogan 'Safe and Reliable - For All Occasions' underneath one of his phone numbers. Head, of Pevensey, East Sussex, is accused of kidnapping, attempted rape, and sexual assault of a 25-year old woman, along with assault by penetration and sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman - all of which he denies. He claims that he offered the 25-year-old a lift home but did not touch her and never met his other alleged victim. On Monday on the first day of his trial, jurors at Lewes Crown Court were told Head was a 'sexual predator' who 'slipped up' the night he was arrested by police. Opening the case, Paul Jarvis KC said: 'The defendant is a sexual predator. Basing himself in Pevensey and ostensibly working as an unofficial Uber driver or taxi driver. 'He was also looking for vulnerable young women who he could sexually abuse. 'He carried Viagra and condoms with him, either on his person or in his car, as well as latex gloves. He would use the latex gloves to minimise the risk of leaving traces of his DNA on his victims.' Head had two mobile phones and was 'savvy enough' to know that if he kept them on while he was driving, the network provider could record his movements so kept them in flight mode while he was searching for victims, the court heard. The two attacks are said to have taken place in the early hours of August 19 2022 in Hove Park and November 18 2022 outside the alleged victim's home. Mr Jarvis said the first victim, who was 19 years was 'intoxicated and vulnerable' when she was sexually assaulted by the defendant in Hove Park.' He said the second victim, aged 25, was also vulnerable and intoxicated in the early hours of the morning when Head kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her in his car and then drove off leaving her distressed on the roadside. On both occasions the defendant was driving his grey Mercedes estate motor vehicle with the registration number L21 GRH, the prosecutor said. The 25-year-old was able to remember the 'L21' portion of Head's number plate which led to police pulling his car over and arresting him the same night, jurors were told. Mr Jarvis said: 'He slipped up on November 19 2022 in two respects. 'First because his victim was alert enough to be able to memorise part of the licence plate for the police to be able to identify his car when they saw it. The 25-year-old had been on a night out and had consumed alcohol and cocaine, the court heard. She said a man pulled up alongside her and told her he was an Uber driver who had just finished his shift but would give her a free ride home. Journeys from Middle Street, in Brighton, where the victim left Monarch Bar, to the victim's home address were found after analysis of the satnav in Head's Mercedes. Mr Jarvis said: 'He saw (the victim) in the early hours of the morning on November 18 2022, he realised that she was vulnerable and intoxicated. 'He offered to give her a life home but his real plan was to drive around until he was satisfied she was fast asleep so he could sexually assault and rape her. 'He drove close to her home address and tried to rape her in the back seat of his car but she came to and kicked him away.' The 25-year-old has since died and will not give evidence in this trial. The trial continues.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Pevensey man accused of posing as Uber driver to abuse women
A driver allegedly posed as an "unofficial Uber" driver to pick up "vulnerable and intoxicated" women he could abuse, a court Head, 68, had latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets and a balaclava in his silver Mercedes when he was arrested in November Head, of Pevensey in East Sussex, is accused of assaulting an 19-year-old woman he picked up near Hove Park and kidnapping, sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a 25-year-old woman after picking her up in Brighton city denies the charges, saying that he offered the 25-year-old a lift home but did not touch her and never met his other alleged victim, jurors at Lewes Crown Court were told. The court was told on Monday that Mr Head was a "sexual predator" who "slipped up" the night he was arrested by his home, business cards advertising him as a "N-Uber driver" were emblazoned with the slogan "Safe and Reliable - For All Occasions" underneath one of his phone two attacks allegedly took place in the early hours of 19 August and 18 November, Jarvis KC, prosecuting, said that in the first attack a 19-year-old woman was "intoxicated and vulnerable" when Mr Head sexually assaulted her in Hove the second incident, Mr Head is said to have picked up the 25-year-old woman from Middle Street in Brighton after telling her he was an Uber driver who had just finished working and would give her a free Jarvis added that Mr Head then tried to rape the woman in the back seat of his car after driving near to her was arrested the same night after the woman came to and kicked him away, memorised part of his number plate and reported the incident to police, Mr Jarvis told the 25-year-old woman has since died, the jury was Head had two mobile phones and was "savvy enough" to know that if he kept them on while he was driving, the network provider could record his movements so kept them in flight mode while he was searching for victims, the court trial continues.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- BBC News
Teen sentenced to eight years for Hailsham stabbing of Billy Ripley
A 17-year-old has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stabbing a man with a blow that "penetrated his heart" in an East Sussex town teenager can now be named as Rhys Hedges, who turns 18 in three days' time, after reporting restrictions were lifted by the judge.A jury at Lewes Crown Court previously cleared him of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter after he said he stabbed 20-year-old Billy Ripley in self-defence in were called to the Vicarage Field area at about 18:20 BST on 29 August 2024 to reports that a man had been stabbed following an altercation. Mr Ripley was treated by paramedics but died at the scene from a single stab Honour Judge Christine Laing said the sentencing could not "begin to quantify the immeasurable loss and void" Hedges had left for those who loved Billy Ripley, and was not intended to. She told Hedges: "It is to punish you for your actions on that day."Billy was also regularly carrying a knife. "And knife is frankly an understatement, these were weapons of substantial size, machetes and zombie killer knives, fearsome weapons that will inevitably do dreadful damage if used against someone's body, even if that was not your intention."You could easily have got on your bike and cycled away if you were in fear of him as you claimed. "Rather, you ensured you attracted his attention by at the very least standing in his view on the edge of the road or by calling to him."The two of you then both came together in the entrance to the graveyard to have a knife fight, plain and simple." She added that there was no evidence that any more than one blow from his weapon struck Mr Ripley, but that blow had "penetrated his heart and caused him an un-survivable injury".The judge said "something drastic" had to be done to stop young men from having these weapons and carrying them in public. "No matter what your intention - or lack of one - when you use a blade of that size against someone, really serious harm or death is the almost inevitable outcome," she the trial the jury heard Mr Ripley had stabbed the boy twice in the arm, and the boy said he "moved back" and "tried to defend himself".
BBC News
14-05-2025
- BBC News
London man jailed for sexually assaulting woman on Gatwick flight
A man who sexually assaulted a woman while she slept on a flight has been jailed for more than six Jussab, 66, was sitting next to the victim, a woman in her 20s, while travelling on an overnight Qatar Airlines flight to Gatwick from Doha in Qatar on 27-28 was charged with one count of sexual assault by penetration and two counts of sexual assault, and was found guilty in Lewes Crown Court on Monday, Jussab, of Swinfield Close, Feltham, was jailed for six-and-a-half years as part of an extended sentence. 'So traumatising' It means he will not be released automatically half-way through his sentence, but will instead have to serve at least two-thirds of the sentence in prison before he can be considered for assaulted the victim after she fell asleep with headphones on, covered in blankets, while watching a film on the woke up to find he was sexually assaulting her and reported this when the plane landed, police had admitted touching the woman, but told police she had led him on and was "asking for it". The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "It has felt so hard and so traumatising to think that anyone would ever want to do that to me."She added: "The shock and disbelief at what I have experienced will never go away and I will never understand how or why anyone would do that to a person."Speaking after the case, Det Insp Darren Taylor said: "This was a shocking case and a crime which has a long-term impact on the victim and other victims like her."
BBC News
09-05-2025
- BBC News
Surrey man not guilty of Brighton Beach rape
A man from Surrey has been found not guilty of raping a woman on Brighton Beach. Mohammed Adam, of Chequers Place, Dorking, received the verdict at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday. The 23-year-old was handed a restraining order on acquittal for four years. Sussex Police previously said an attack happened between 03:40 and 04:00 GMT on 23 October on a section of beach west of Brighton Pier. Mr Adam was arrested after a woman reported being raped to officers two days earlier.
