Teens who carried out a series of revenge shooting in Peckham, an Orpington drug dealer and a Bexleyheath thief were also jailed.
Here are the names and faces of the men and women sentenced to prison time in October 2024.
Shane Simmonds
Shane Simmonds (Image: Met Police) Shane Simmonds, 39, murdered his wife Tia at their home on Parbury Road, Forest Hill, on New Year’s Day.
Tia’s mum said just days before the killing they had all enjoyed a “normal family Christmas with food and games”, but Simmonds’ internet history later revealed that he had been planning his wife’s murder for at least a month.
On December 2 he had searched “how long for a dead body to smell” and in November he researched sleeping pill deaths.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said while their kids were out of the home on January 1 Simmonds mixed 30 sleeping pills into two drinks, telling Tia it was a “health shot”.
Tia took only a few sips due to the taste, so Simmonds got a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her twice in the neck as she got out of the shower.
He then covered her body in bedding and clothing then hid it in the attic, Ms Heer said.
Simmonds then cleaned the scene before he picked their children and Tia’s mum up from Bromley, telling them Tia had gone out with a friend and later that she was staying in a hotel.
On January 3 he turned up at Lewisham Police Station and told the reception officer “I f***ed up big this time, I killed my wife”.
Simmonds was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years.
Najma Ali
Najma Ali (Image: Met Police) Najma Ali, 18, has been jailed after she slashed a woman with a knife in Grove Park.
The incident took place after an argument between the manager of the assisted living facility on Launcelot Road and Ali, a tenant.
On December 22 last year Ali smashed up the office including throwing a chair at a TV screen.
While in the office she also forced entry to the cupboard where knives were kept and was seen taking them back to her bedroom.
Later that day the victim spoke to Ali about what had happened and explained the house rules to her, the court heard.
“The defendant became increasingly confrontational and rushed across the room to her shouting shut the f*** up,” Ms Anucha explained.
Ali had removed one of the knives from her waistband and was holding it as if she was about to stab her.
The victim put her hands to her face and went to hold the knife, at which point Ali pulled it back and sliced the woman’s fingers.
Ali was later arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to criminal damage, threatening a person with a bladed article and Section 20 grievous bodily harm.
A statement read on the victim’s behalf at Ali’s sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday (September 30) said: “The whole incident doesn’t feel real, almost like it has been a scene from a movie.
“I feel I’m lucky as I was told the cut was just a few centimetres from me losing movement in my hand.”
The woman said she fears that Ali will retaliate against her in the future as she knows where she works.
Read the full story – Girl, 18, slashes woman with knife in horror Grove Park attack
Rowan Jones, Rahim Al-Kamara, Kumarl Best and Jahvarn Warren
Top: Rowan Jones and Rahim Al-Kamara. Bottom: Kumarl Best and Jahvarn Warren (Image: BTP)Four young men were jailed after a man was repeatedly stabbed with a 17-inch blade on a train from Grove Park to St John’s.
On November 21 last year at about 7.30pm they boarded a Southeastern train at Grove Park station.
At Hither Green station a 19-year-old man boarded the train and was confronted by the four.
Rowan Jones and Jahvarn Warren grabbed the victim’s coat and slapped his face while Kumarl Best produced a huge knife and stabbed him multiple times.
The victim fell to the floor but the group continued their attack, kicking and punching him whilst Rowan Jones filmed it.
The four then retreated to their seats on the train at which point the victim hobbled to the next carriage where he collapsed onto a seat holding his thigh where he had been stabbed.
The group then ran off the train at St John’s while the victim limped off and was helped by members of the public.
He was taken to hospital where he was treated for a large stab wound to his thigh, a smaller wound to his thigh and several defensive wounds to his hands.
They were all sentenced to time in young offenders institutions:
- Kumarl Best, 19, of Hunter Road in Thorton Heath, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon. He was sentenced to 31 months.
- Rowan Jones, aged 21, of Maud Chadburn Place in Clapham, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm, affray and possession of a weapon in private and received a 21 month sentence.
- Jahvarn Warren, 19, of Castillon Road in Hither Green, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and affray and received an 18 month sentence.
- Rahim Al-Kamara, aged 21, of Hatfield Close in New Cross, pleaded guilty to affray and was sentenced to 17 months.
Tyreke Smikle, Kai Davis Francis, Duan Correa, Shaquille Marsh, Tyreece Quartey, Malachi David Francis and Timothy Newton
Seven men jailed for Peckham shootings (Image: Met Police) Seven men were jailed for a series of shooting in broad daylight in Peckham.
The group includes Tyreke Smikle, 26, Kai Davis Francis, 25, Duan Correa, 21, Shaquille Marsh, 26, Tyreece Quartey, 25, Malachi David Francis, 21, and Timothy Newton, 18.
Their involvement in violent incidents came after an acquaintance of Smikle and Newton was stabbed in Peckham in the early hours of May 7, 2023.
Following the stabbing, Smikle and Newton visited the victim in the hospital.
Afterwards, they collected a bag containing weapons and, along with the rest of the group, planned to seek revenge on those responsible for the attack.
CCTV footage showed the group, wearing balaclavas, splitting up between three vehicles, including a stolen moped.
Smikle was carrying a loaded shotgun, while the others were armed with machetes and knives.
During their rampage, the group pursued a vehicle before Smikle fired a shotgun through the driver’s window.
A second shot was fired at another vehicle on a nearby street.
The chase ended with the third victim’s car crashing and flipping over as it attempted to flee.
As the victim tried to escape on foot, Smikle followed him into a garden and shot him in the leg at close range. Witnesses later reported seeing the group with a large machete.
None of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries.
Read the full story – Seven men jailed after series of broad daylight shooting in south east London
Danny Smith
Danny Smith (Image: Met Police) Danny Smith, 32, of Berrylands in Orpington, has been jailed after 1.4 tonnes of cocaine were imported to Kent from Costa Rica.
He was part of a gang responsible for importing and distributing huge quantities of cocaine.
The cocaine was found in a container of bananas which arrived on a ship at the Port of Sheerness.
The following night the gang came to the port and took the cocaine to a yard in Longfield for onward distribution across the UK.
In October 2023 members of the gang from Kent, London, Cambridgeshire, Staffordshire, Manchester, Cleveland and Northumbria were arrested.
Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply and import class A drugs and was jailed for 16 years and eight months.
Read the full story – Orpington man jailed after 1.4 tonnes of cocaine found in banana shipment
Jacob Thanuharan
Jacob Thanuharan (Image: Met Police)
Jacob Thanuharan, 51, of Cecil Road in Croydon, has been jailed for 11 years for sexual assaults against four children.
The assaults took place between 2000 and 2015, when the victims were aged between four-and-15-years-old.
Three out of the four victims were sexually assaulted when they attended his house for private tutoring.
Thanuharan denied the offences but at trial a jury found him guilty of eight counts of sexual assault.
Sherene Small
Sherene Small (Image: BTP) Sherene Small, 50, of Torridon Road in Hither Green, was jailed for terrorising shop staff at Fat Face, Oliver Bonas and JD Sports.
Small’s drug addiction has seen her rack up 263 criminal convictions spanning three decades.
Most recently she admitted six counts of theft, one attempted theft, assaulting an emergency worker and possessing crack cocaine all committed between July 2023 and May 2024.
They include thefts from Fat Face at Waterloo Station, Oliver Bonas at Victoria Station, JD Sports in Brixton and the theft of a shopper’s handbag on Regent Street.
Judge Darren Reed said Small’s thefts followed a “depressing” modus operandi where she went into shops, “brazenly” stuffed items into a bag and left without paying.
In total she stole over £1,200 worth of goods from shops as well as a handbag and contents worth over £1,500 from the shopper on Regent Street.
Small was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison.
Read the full story – ‘Truly prolific’ Hither Green thief with 260 convictions terrorised shop staff
Gary Parks
Gary Parks (Image: Kent Police) Gary Parks, 35, of Okehampton Crescent in Welling, has been jailed for eight years for a series of robberies and burglaries.
At midnight on April 3 an Audi and a Mercedes were stolen from Wilmington after the owner discovered the keys had been stolen from inside their home.
Investigating officers discovered Parks and his associates had used hire vehicle to travel to the scene.
Nine days later on April 12 Parks was also responsible for the theft of £6,400 of perfume from Boots on Sevenoaks High Street.
Parks and two accomplices entered the shop and stuffed the items into rucksacks before fleeing the shop.
Then in the early hours of June 4 Parks travelled to Dartford High Street in a Land Rover Discovery.
They then forced entry the doors of Savers and stole £3,300 worth of perfume.
Parks was eventually arrested in Plumstead on June 18 and has now pleaded guilty to house burglary, a shop burglary, two thefts of motor vehicles, theft from a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property and theft from a shop.
Read the full story – Welling midnight burglar who stole nearly £10,000 of perfume is jailed
Joshua Chambers
Joshua Chambers (Image: Met Police) Joshua Chambers, 41, stole £203 worth of vitamins and supplements from Boots in Greenwich.
He was jailed for eight weeks at Bexley Magistrates’ Court on October 25.
Chambers had only recently been released from a three month prison sentence he received in June.
On that occasion he had stolen 12 Easter eggs from Bexleyheath Asda.
Chambers was also previously jailed for 16 weeks in 2019 for chocolate thefts in Sidcup and Welling.
On that occasion a police officer was on patrol on Bellegrove Road when he noticed a man being chased by Tesco staff.
PC Robinson stopped and searched Chambers and found he was in possession of five boxes of Ferrero Rocher.
In total between February and July 2019 Chambers stole nearly £1,000 worth of wine and chocolate from The Co Op at The Oval and the Co Op in Blendon Road.
Read the full story – Serial shoplifter steals from Greenwich Boots just after prison release
Michael Kozub, Filip Zablocki and Dominik Mrzyglod
Michael Kozub (left), Filip Zablocki (centre) and Dominik Mrzyglod (right) (Image: Surrey Police) Michael Kozub, Filip Zablocki and Dominik Mrzyglod were at the centre of a criminal empire buying, dismantling and exporting stolen cars.
Kozub, 46, from Tooting, and Zablocki, 31, from Mitcham, were described as the ‘go-to’ contacts for car thieves across the south east of England.
The pair organised stolen cars to be delivered to their chop shop and liaised with an extensive network of convicted car thieves.
A police investigation began after a previous case which saw various criminals convicted of the thefts of over 125 cars.
Officers from the Met, Surrey Police and Hampshire Constabulary set out to bring down the lynchpins of the crime gang who were buying the stolen cars.
Kozub was sentenced to six years and three months for conspiracy to receive stolen goods while Zablocki was jailed for two years and eight months for the same offence as well as possession of cocaine.
Mrzyglod, 46, of Walton-on-Thames, owned a transportation business and was responsible for getting the stolen cars out of the UK.
He also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years and one month in jail.
Mariusz Parafiniuk, 49, of Kangley Bridge Road in Lewisham, was the gang’s mechanic.
He was found guilty of conspiracy to receive stolen goods and received a 15-month sentence suspended for two years and will pay £2000 in costs.
Read the full story – South London ‘chop shop’ bosses were ‘go-to’ buyers for stolen cars
Brendan Morgan
Brendan Morgan (Image: Surrey Police) Brendan Morgan, 21, from Sutton, was jailed for four years for a series of burglaries across Surrey and South London.
Between November and January he worked with Archie Howlett, 21, from Dorkin, to force open people’s front doors and steal car keys.
The pair would target homes with high value vehicles outside then drive off in the cars.
Morgan pleaded guilty to seven such burglaries while Howlet pleaded guilty to six and was jailed for three years and nine months.
They also each admitted their role in a further eight burglaries and vehicle thefts.
Read the full story – Sutton burglar broke into homes with expensive cars outside and stole keys
Ryan Brooks
Ryan Brook (Image: Met Police) Ryan Brooks, 35, has been jailed again after he stole from Co-op just days after being released from prison.
He was given a 12-week prison sentence at Bexley Magistrates’ Court on October 22.
He stole from Co-op in Bexleyheath within days of being released from prison.
Brook has a history of offending despite serving multiple prison sentences.
He was jailed for three months in February for stealing a shopping basket full of share bag sweets from Tesco Express.
By May he was back on the streets and offending again, this time stealing alcohol from Asda in Bexleyheath and laundry detergent from Co-op.
On June 17 he was jailed for six weeks for those thefts.
But by mid-July Brook had been released from prison and stole food and drink from Co-op in Bexleyheath.
He then went on to steal £133 worth of booze from Co-op in Sidcup in August and £60 worth of meat from Co-op in Bexleyheath on October 1.
Shahin Hosein
Shahin Hosein (Image: Met Police) Shahin Hosein, 35, of Borough Hill in Croydon, was jailed for eight weeks after he stole £178 of Ferrero Rocher from Sainsbury’s in Beckenham.
The court heard that Hosein entered the supermarket on May 29 this year and stole large quantities of chocolate.
He was arrested and released on bail the same day but failed to attend court, which led police to release a wanted appeal in July.
Hosein was also wanted on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon in public after he was with a leather cosh in Croydon town centre in October last year.
He was eventually located and pleaded guilty to both offenses.
