A man who blackmailed children into sending him indecent images of themselves over social media has today been jailed.

Ishmael Lance Duncan, 24, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment plus a six-year extended licence at Inner London Crown Court on 1 December 2023 after he pleaded guilty to a total of 50 charges relating to child sexual abuse. The charges included blackmail, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child and making and possessing indecent images of children (IIOC).

Four members of an organised crime group and a criminal associate have been imprisoned today (Thursday 7 December 2023)  for their roles in the importation and distribution of huge quantities of cocaine and cannabis, at Stafford Crown Court.

A haulage boss has been jailed today for his involvement in a people-smuggling network linked to the tragic deaths of 39 Vietnamese men, women and children in Essex.

Caolon Gormley, 26, was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration on 27 November 2023 following a trial at the Old Bailey. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on Thursday 30 November 2023.

A man who groomed schoolgirls and abused them on multiple occasions at his home in Rotherham has today been convicted and jailed.

A convicted people smuggler, responsible for the manslaughter of 39 people who died in the back of a lorry in Essex, has today (24 September 2023) been ordered to pay a total of £65,157.65 to victims’ families through a Confiscation Order made by the court today.

Gheorghe Nica, 46, is the final defendant in this series of proceeds of crime confiscation hearings with total orders of £283,802.58, all to be paid by way of compensation to the families of the 39 victims.

On Wednesday 22 November at Liverpool Crown Court, four men were sentenced to a total of 173 years in prison for the murder of Ashley Dale at her home in Old Swan in August 2022, conspiracy to murder Ashley’s boyfriend Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, namely a Skorpion submachine gun, and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

James Witham, 41, Joseph Peers, 29, Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 28, were found guilty of murder by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court. 

A former children’s holiday camp manager who posed as a teenage girl in order to groom children online has been jailed. 

Cameron Osman, 45, was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment plus a five-year extended licence at St Albans Crown Court today (1 November 2023). 

The defendant, from Southampton, pleaded guilty to all 36 charges which included inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, sexual communication with a child, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and making indecent images of children (IIOC). 

Four men have been jailed a combined total of 62 years for conspiring to import 139kg of cocaine into the country hidden in a shipment of bananas.

The CPS prosecuted Robert Ball, 59, Mirgent Shahu, 32, Arman Kaviani, 37 and Florjan Ibra, 30, following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The offenders were all charged with one count of conspiracy to evade the prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug.

A man has pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl in Rotherham in the early 2000s.

The CPS prosecuted Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, 42, as part of Operation Stovewood, a major National Crime Agency investigation into child sexual abuse and exploitation which took place in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, between 1997 and 2013.

Akhtar appeared in Sheffield Crown Court today (17 October 2023) where he pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault which he committed between August 2001 and July 2002.