Latest news with #suspendedsentence
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Drink driver nearly four times over limit on M4 near Reading
A man who admitted being nearly four times over the drink drive limit has been banned from driving for three years and given a suspended jail Singh, 25, was found to have 137 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath while driving a Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo on the M4 near Reading on 30 March. The legal limit is 35 of Boxley Road, Chatham, Kent, was sentenced at Reading Magistrates' Court on 22 was given an eight-week jail term, suspended for 12 months, and banned from drinking alcohol for 120 days. He will be able to cut the length of his three year driving ban by 36 weeks if he completes a rehabilitation course by 13 June, was also told to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £154. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Sun
4 days ago
- General
- The Sun
James Argent ditches lawyers who kept him out of jail after he assaulted his girlfriend in Spain
EX-TOWIE star James Argent has ditched the lawyers who kept him out of jail after he assaulted his girlfriend. The former reality TV star is now on to his third legal team since the May 5 assault in Spain. 3 3 Argent, 37, struck a deal with public prosecutors and accepted a six-month suspended prison sentence for the attack on former Miss Sweden Nicoline Artursson, 32, at a rented home. She suffered injuries to her neck, arms, hand and leg. He was hauled to Fuengirola's Court of Violence Against Women and admitted the crime of mistreatment. A well-placed legal source said: 'The individual who was convicted has appointed a new barrister and solicitor.' The new lawyers have not been named but may be involved in negotiating terms of a rehabilitation course he has to attend. The ex-Towie star James Argent was ordered to pay his ex-girlfriend just £250 in compensation for attacking her. Argent, 37, was handed a six month suspended prison sentence after hurting Nicoline Artursson at their Spanish home. He frogmarched her to the door of their picturesque beachfront property and pushed her down a set of steps. Cops wanted to charge Argent with wounding but settled for the lesser offence of 'mistreatment' after he agreed to a plea deal. But court papers obtained by The Sun show Argent - who raked in £5,000-a-week last year - was only required to pay Nicoline a paltry £250 in damages. EXCL James Argent arrested for attacking beauty queen who then fell down stairs in Spain & given 6 month suspended sentence 3
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Multimillionaire's son avoiding prison for his involvement in sale of stolen £4.8 million Golden Toilet is 'laughable', art theft expert Christopher A. Marinello tells new Mail podcast
It is 'laughable' that Fred Doe, the son of a multimillionaire caravan magnate, avoided a jail sentence for his involvement in the sale of a £4.8 million golden toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace, an art theft expert told the Mail's 'The Trial' podcast. Fred Doe, 37, was convicted following a trial in March of attempting to broker the sale of around 10 kilos of the stolen gold on behalf of burglar and family friend James Sheen, 40. Judge Ian Pringle KC sentenced Doe to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years, after accepting that he had strong personal mitigation due to his wife's poor health and the wellbeing of his children. Lawyer Christopher A. Marinello, one of the world's foremost experts in recovering stolen, looted, and missing works of art, said the awarding of a suspended sentence shows ' crime does pay in the UK.' 'It's laughable', Mr Marniello told crime reporters, Jack Hardy and Caroline Cheetham. 'It's not a deterrent. The bottom line is that this was a laughably light sentence. It shows that the judges, and the prosecutors, are disconnected from victims worldwide. 'The sentencing says we do not treat burglaries and art crimes as seriously as other crimes. That we do not realise the scars the victims get when they are robbed, when everything they have worked for is taken away from them. 'That says to criminals – come to London, crime does pay in the UK.' Doe became involved in the conspiracy when he heard Sheen - whom he knew through the traveller community - had snatched the toilet and offered to use his extensive contacts in Hatton Garden to sell the stolen gold. Crispin Aylett KC, defending Doe, told the court that he was a 'bit-part player who succeeded only in delaying James Sheen from converting his gold into cash'. Failing to sell the gold in London, Sheen took it Birmingham, later bragging in a text message to Doe hat he had made £520,000 from selling his share of the gold to an unidentified jeweller. Asked to speculate where the stolen gold could be now, Mr Marniello said: 'It could be anywhere'. Subscribe to The Crime Desk to hear exclusive coverage of the Sycamore Gap trial on The Trial+ Join here Despite the creator of the golden toilet, Maurizio Cattelan, finding amusement in his work of art being stolen, the lawyer was keen to stress that the heist was not a victimless crime. 'It's the insurance company that's the victim here', Mr Marniello said. 'And guess what? The insurance company is going to raise its rates – and who's going to pay for that? You and me. 'When they raise their rates – their stocks go down – and their stocks are owned by our pension plans. We are the victims in all of this.' The 18-carat golden toilet was an artwork called 'America' and was plumbed in at Blenheim Palace for visitors to use at an exhibition in September 2019. But in the early hours of September 14 - just two days after the toilet went on display - a gang of five men came screeching into the grounds of Winston Churchill's birthplace in two stolen cars. Extraordinary CCTV captured the unfolding raid as three of the men smashed their way through a window with sledgehammers and crowbars and emerged just minutes later with the golden toilet. No trace has ever been found. Follow the exclusive Trial podcast for the upcoming sentencing of James Sheen and Michael Jones for their involvement in the theft and sale of the Golden Toilet. To hear the Mail's award-winning coverage of the Golden Toliet trial, as the case unfolds, subscribe to The Crime Desk today.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- BBC News
West Berkshire teacher banned for life over child sex images
A former headteacher who was given a suspended jail sentence for making indecent images of children has been banned from the profession for Heaton, 59, led a number of schools across west Berkshire and worked as a supply teacher in the area between 2015 and admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of publishing an obscene article and was given an eight-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, at Reading Crown Court in March a hearing held in private last month, a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel said Heaton's "very serious" misconduct meant he could never work as a teacher again. Heaton was arrested in May 2022 and he admitted making indecent images at Reading Magistrates' Court in January 2023. He pleaded guilty to publishing the obscene article in March 2023 at the crown indecent images related to category A, the most serious, category B and category C and he was referred to the TRA in November panel found that while Heaton had shown "apparent remorse" over the impact on himself and his employer, he had "fundamentally failed to acknowledge the potential impact on the children involved".It concluded he will never be allowed to have his teaching registration restored. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- The Guardian
Man handed suspended sentence over role in Blenheim Palace £4.8m gold toilet heist
One of the gang members convicted over the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace has been handed a suspended sentence at Oxford crown court. Frederick Doe, 36, also known as Frederick Sines, from Windsor, had been convicted by a jury of conspiring to transfer criminal property. He was accused of offering to find a buyer for the gold and brokering the deal. Judge Ian Pringle KC sentenced Doe to 21 months' imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered him to do 240 hours of unpaid work. Doe was found guilty by a jury at the same court in March of conspiracy to transfer criminal property. He helped one of the men who pleaded guilty to carrying out the burglary, James Sheen, to sell some of the gold in the following weeks, the court heard. The judge said Doe had been of previous good character and accepted that the conspirators may have taken advantage of his good nature. Pringle said Doe was 'targeted' for his legitimate contacts in the Hatton Garden jewellery district. The 18-carat fully functioning lavatory, which weighed about 98kg, was stolen in September 2019 while it was featuring in an art exhibition and is believed to have been broken up and disposed of. None of the gold has been recovered. Two other men will be sentenced in June for their part in the heist. Michael Jones was found guilty of planning the burglary and James Sheen admitted stealing the toilet.
