Four members of an organised criminal group have been sentenced for conspiring together to bring millions of pounds worth of illegal drugs hidden among bananas and furniture into the UK.

James Jenkins, 25, Humayan Sadiq, 43, and Connor Fletcher, 25, were found guilty following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court on 19 May 2023 for conspiring to import drugs. They have been sentenced today (28 July 2023) to 15, 27, and 12 years imprisonment respectively. 

Conviction rates play no part in CPS decision making – so we know a story this week “CPS failing victims by cherry-picking cases’ may have caused concern.

In fact, of the cases brought to us by the police we authorise a charge in around 78%. We always prosecute where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so. We never consider how a case may affect our overall conviction rates. More on how we make decisions on individual cases can be read here.

An ex-Government minister and former MP has been jailed for making and distributing indecent images of children.

Today (12 May 2023), Paul Clark, 66, who represented Gillingham between 1997 and 2010 and was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport from 2008 to 2010, was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court today. He has also been issued with a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and must sign the sex offenders register. 

A police officer who left a teenage pedestrian with catastrophic injuries after striking him with her patrol vehicle has been jailed.

Sarah De Meulemeester, 26, was driving the second of three police vehicles responding to an emergency incident on Boxing Day 2020 when her vehicle struck Khia Whitehead on Garner’s Lane, Stockport.

The 15-year-old boy suffered catastrophic harm in the collision and remains in hospital, unable to communicate, with permanent brain injuries.

A man responsible for running a website used by fraudsters across the world has been imprisoned for being involved in a multi-million-pound fraud.