From a nightclub gunman to a road rage driver who deliberately ran over a cyclist, these are some of the most serious and shocking cases to reach the courts.
Paedophile magician and former teacher
Kevin Doig, 66, from Bexley, sexually abused a nine-year-old girl.
Doig, a magician and former schoolteacher, sexually touched a nine-year-old girl.
He also admitted three charges of possessing indecent images of a child and one charge of possessing prohibited images of a child.
Doig spent 32 years as a schoolteacher before becoming an eleven plus tutor, and had also appeared in pantomimes and worked as a magician.
He was chair of the Young Magicians Club, a youth initiative run by magician membership group The Magic Circle, from 2011 to 2022, and was the group’s child protection officer for more than a decade.
Doig was jailed for two years and two months.
Read the full story – Bexley paedo magician who abused girl & held 1,700 child abuse images jailed
Bexleyheath nightclub shooting
Marvin Bulle and Carlos Parks have been jailed after a man was shot in the face at point-blank range after a fight at a nightclub in Bexleyheath.
The 30-year-old was left critically injured on January 4 outside a nightclub on Bexleyheath Broadway, after being shot following what police described as a “minor altercation.”
He had been at the club with a group and was attacked as they left the venue. One of the attackers was knocked unconscious.
A short time later a gun was fired twice at the victim, with one bullet striking him below the eye.
He spent eight days on a critical care ward, almost losing sight in his right eye and suffering a bullet lodged in his spine.
DI Raymond Sekalongo described the victim’s survival as “nothing short of a miracle”.
Bulle, 33, was caught on ambulance dash camera footage shooting the victim at point blank range.
Parks, 35, acted as the getaway driver who crashed just 100 metres from the shooting scene.
Bulle was jailed for 35 years’ for attempted murder while Parks was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment after being found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Read the full story – ‘Miracle’ survivor of Bexleyheath nightclub shooting sees attackers jailed
ULEZ bomber
Kevin Rees, 64, of Harcourt Avenue in Sidcup, used a home-made bomb to explode a ULEZ camera.
He used a metal cylinder filled with explosive powder to cause the blast on Willersley Avenue in Sidcup at around 6.45pm on December 6, 2023.
Rees was found guilty of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court in January.
Prosecutor Simon Denison KC said the ULEZ camera had been installed at around 12pm that day but within a few hours been cut down by another activist named Stephen Harwood-Stamper.
Rees later placed a home-made explosive containing a substance commonly used in commercial fireworks next to the camera, lit the fuse, and walked away.
“Willersley Avenue is a residential avenue with houses on both sides and is a bus route. At that time of day there is significant vehicle trafficking passing through and pedestrians walking past,” Mr Denison said.
The explosion sent shrapnel flying into a parked van and a passing car, where a piece “mercifully” missed the driver.
Another piece of metal was also carried more than 100m and damaged the frame of a child’s bedroom window.
“People nearby said they felt their houses shake, it was sheer chance that nobody was killed or caused seriously injured,” Mr Denison said.
The 64-year-old was jailed for 15 years a judge concluded that Rees’ offending had a “terrorist connection”.
Road rage driver ran over cyclist
Mark Okotie, 44, from Peckham, deliberately ran over a cyclist in New Cross.
Okotie deliberately swerved his van into the cyclist on New Cross Road, leaving him with multiple fractures.
Okotie was transporting blood destined for hospitals on March 20, 2024, when he manoeuvred his van into the left lane without looking, coming close to the cyclist.
The cyclist remonstrated with Okotie before riding off. Okotie then drove at speed to get in front of him before slowing down to “cut him up”, the court heard.
The cyclist believed Okotie was doing this deliberately and, after catching up with the van, spat at him, with spit trickling through the van window.
Okotie then deliberately swerved into the cyclist, who is in his 20s, causing serious injuries.
Video footage shows Okotie’s van moving across the road and into the cyclist’s path before knocking him from his bike and running him over.
Okotie was jailed for three-and-a-half years but was not disqualified from driving.
Read the full story – New Cross road rage driver mowed down cyclist who spat at him
Kingpin of twisted monkey torture network
Bartosz Poklek, 30, of Hartslock Drive in Abbey Wood, was ringleader of an international network of “zoo sadists” dedicated to torturing and killing monkeys for entertainment.
Poklek distributed “horrific” cruelty videos which sold for up to 500 dollars a time, wrote scripts for how the animals should be tortured and directed the way the monkeys would be killed, including them being clubbed to death with a hammer.
Some of the monkeys were also dressed up as babies as they were violently attacked, sparking growing concerns that the animals are being used as “proxies” by people who want to view sadist abuse of children.
He played a leading role in the “monkey hate” online community, running chat groups and distributing thousands of “abuse on demand” videos and images.
Poklek was sentenced by Judge Christopher Grout to three years and three months in prison.
The judge laid out details of the “despicable” online community, telling the court: “It is no exaggeration to say that as a lawyer or as a judge I have never encountered such a horrific case of animal abuse in my life.
The judge said Poklek will be set free after serving around a third of his prison sentence, and he also put pressure on Parliament to consider toughening the penalties for animal abuse which currently have a five-year maximum.
“If ever there was a case that demonstrates that the statutory maximum for animal cruelty is too low, this is it”, he said.
Read the full story – The face of Abbey Wood paedo who was kingpin of twisted monkey torture network
Bexley man advertised woman as sex worker
Bosun Osagie, 25, of Bexley, has been jailed for hacking a woman’s social media accounts and using them to advertise her as a sex worker.
Osagie targeted a woman from Wirral in Merseyside in February 2023 by hacking her Snapchat and X (formerly Twitter) accounts.
He used her images to create fake profiles, which he then used to solicit sex work and sell her images online.
Osagie also blackmailed the victim during the course of the offence.
Detective Sergeant Darren Devonport said: “Osagie’s actions have caused deep distress to the victim.
“Not only did he intrude into privacy, he then tried to blackmail her into giving him money. The victim did the right thing and reported it to us.”
He said the force is committed to stopping the possession and distribution of indecent images.
Osagie was jailed for two years and three months.
Read the full story – Bexley man hacked woman’s accounts and advertised her as sex worker
Bungling burglar caught after accomplice used his name
Tyrone Muir, 47, of Lewisham, was jailed for burglary after a police officer identified him using just a single word overheard at the scene.
The incident took place in Lewisham, where PC Max Kelly of the Met’s Territorial Support Group helped secure the conviction through persistent detective work.
PC Kelly attended a burglary in progress on Lee High Road on Thursday, July 16 and reviewed doorbell footage that showed three men breaking into the victim’s home.
Although the distressed victim struggled to provide information about the attackers, he remembered one of them shouting, ‘come on Tyrone, let’s go.’
PC Kelly cross-referenced the name Tyrone with police records in Lewisham.
He then compared potential matches to the doorbell footage and identified serial offender Tyrone Muir as the suspect.
Muir was convicted and sentenced to three years and two months in prison at Woolwich Crown Court.
Read the full story – Lewisham burglar jailed after police crack case using just one overheard word
Man stabbed his own aunt in the face
Zachary Fitch, 28, of Woolwich, stabbed his aunt in the face during an argument over his mum’s funeral arrangements.
Fitch wounded his aunt during an argument outside his home on Prospect Vale on March 20.
Woolwich Crown Court heard that at around 4.30pm on March 20 police received four separate 999 calls reporting the stabbing.
Charlie Austin-Groome, prosecuting, said witnesses described seeing Fitch holding a knife and an incident involving his aunt.
When officers arrived the found his aunt bleeding from a cut to her face.
Fitch admitted that he and his aunt had argued over arrangements for his mother’s funeral.
His basis of plea was that he already had a knife in his hand because he had been cooking inside the house before the incident occurred outside.
During the confrontation, as Ms Enright neared the front door, Fitch wounded her face with the knife.
A forensic report described a superficial wound, around 1cm long, to her left cheek.
Fitch, who had been held in Belmarsh prison since the attack, was sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment on which would result in his immediate release.
Judge Michael Slater said there was “no merit or public interest” in keeping Fitch behind bars any longer, noting that his aunt hadn’t supported the prosecution and described her nephew a “loving, caring and intelligent”.
Abbey Wood drug dealer rammed police car
Kye Ginnelly, 23, of Abbey Wood, hid 100 wraps of heroin and cocaine beneath his moped then tried to escape police by ramming their car.
He was spotted riding the moped at speed along Thames Road in Dartford on June 9.
Officers followed him onto Priory Road, where police said he stopped twice to carry out drug deals.
When officers moved in to arrest him, Ginnelly attempted to escape through a narrow gap between a police vehicle and a wall before deliberately ramming the police car in a further bid to get away.
Police said an officer was assaulted during his arrest.
A search of the moped uncovered 100 wraps of heroin and cocaine taped underneath the vehicle.
Officers also seized £130 in cash, cannabis and mobile phones.
Ginnelly was jailed for three years and seven months.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Jared Williams said: “The supply of drugs causes significant harm to individuals, families and communities.
“Ginnelly’s criminality extended beyond drug dealing and included dangerous driving and violence towards a police officer carrying out their duty.
“This prison sentence has removed a prolific offender from the streets and prevented further class A drugs from being sold in our community.
“We remain committed to disrupting those involved in the drugs trade across Kent.”
Read the full story – Abbey Wood drug dealer hid 100 wraps under moped before ramming police car
Creep masturbated on trains
Roman Scott, of Brunswick Road in Sutton, exposed himself several times throughout the 13-hour span between December 14 and December 15 last year.
The 35-year-old boarded a train at Victoria station on December 14 just after 11pm and sat near a couple of women.
During this time, he began to masturbate before he was kicked off the train by other passengers.
The following morning, Scott was on a train from Southampton to Bournemouth when he again sat near several woman and masturbated.
Hours later, he arrived in Bournemouth, went to the ladies’ toilet and exposed himself to a woman.
He then boarded a train to Manchester, blocked a young woman in a train and started to masturbate.
Scott then exposed himself to another woman and made sexual advances, but as she walked away he followed her down the train and forced her to push past him to escape.
He then sat down and passed out, and rail staff on the train confirmed that Scott was the same man that had been in the ladies’ toilets in Bournemouth.
Scott has now been jailed for six months’ for five counts of exposure.
