Some of the criminals with Suffolk links who faced justice in September, including people from Ipswich, Felixstowe, Mildenhall and Haverhill
It has been a busy month for the courts, with sentences handed out to people across the county.
While some were punished for more minor offences, others received long jail terms for the more serious of crimes.
These are some of the people with Suffolk links who faced justice in September.
Driver tried to evade police on A14
Our first case is of a van driver who tried to give officers the slip.
Damian Taylor, of Sproughton, was sentenced at Suffolk Magistrates’ Court on September 4 – after being arrested on September 2.
The court heard how Taylor, who was driving a Ford Transit, tried to evade officers by taking an exit slip road at the last moment on the A14 at Beyton.
However, his attempt to make a getaway was thwarted, as he was eventually stopped in Tostock Road.
He was handed a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
Man sentenced after multiple sexual assaults
Next, a man from Haverhill was arrested for multiple sexual assaults.
John Morton, of Chedburgh Place, was found guilty of three counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and three counts of sexual assault after a trial earlier this month.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
In addition, he was also banned from contacting the victim directly or indirectly and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
Prolific robber assaulted and fell asleep in victim’s home
Also in September, a prolific robber who caused serious injuries to a man he knew was sentenced.
Jonathan Quinn, 42 of Denmark Road, Lowestoft, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court on September 4.
He admitted to robbery and two counts of causing actual bodily harm.
Back in October 2022, Quinn entered the flat of a man in his 60s, hit him around the head with a frying pan and demanded his phone and bank card.
Quinn then fell asleep at the man’s flat.
He was sentenced to 32 months in prison for the robbery and four months for the ABH cases, totalling three years.
Drink-driving A14 lorry driver
Up next, a lorry driver appeared in court this month after his HGV was spotted going ‘all over the road’.
Afikile Dubula, of Lessingham, in Orton Brimbles, Peterborough, pleaded guilty on September 12.
He drove on the A14 at Kentford while not wearing a seatbelt and driving with excess alcohol, 109 micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath.
He also admitted driving a vehicle for more than four and a half hours without a minimum break of 45 minutes.
He received a £50 fine, a community order, and a 28 month disqualification from driving.
Uncles and nephew jailed after break-in
Also, a man and his two uncles were jailed after they broke into someone’s house and beat him, motivated by a ‘tragic feud’.
Aaron Squirrell, 26, of Ipswich, appeared in court alongside 44-year-old Shaun Squirrell, of Shotley, and 39-year-old Christopher Squirrell, of Woodbridge, on September 13.
The men smashed through the door of a house in Shotley and cornered one of the occupants, kicking and punching him while he lay on the floor.
All four people in the house at the time were known to the defendants, and the home’s owners – a couple in their 70s – were also treated roughly by the gang.
The trio were each handed a prison sentence of 30 months.
Felixstowe man’s knife and hammer attack
A man from Felixstowe was sentenced this month after a ‘vicious’ attack.
Jamie Lepicq, 44, of Hall Field, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court on September 15.
After entering the house of a couple, he entered the bedroom, pushed a woman to the ground and stabbed the man, who was known to him.
He also hit him with a hammer, leaving him with two broken teeth.
He was jailed for 10 years.
Robbers assault 89-year-old man
Two men from Ipswich who tried to convince their victim they were police officers before robbing him were jailed this month.
Lee Corani, 40 of Fitzgerald Court, and Christopher Cullen, 45 of Silk Street, were sentenced on September 15.
The court heard how the pair broke into the home of an elderly man in Cliff Lane, also in the town, during the early hours of February 12.
The victim, who was 89 at the time, woke up to the sound of banging on his front door.
In order to get the victim to let them in, the pair said they were police officers, after he shouted at them.
Once inside, they grabbed the victim and ordered him to reveal where his money was.
The victim then searched and found bank notes. The pair then left the scene alongside the third person.
They were each sentenced to four years and one month in prison.
Drug-dealing gang jailed
Four members of an Ipswich-based gang were put behind bars this month.
Oleg Asenov, 26; Katrin Sukalinska, 31; Radostin Butsov, 27 – all of Mimas Way, Ipswich – and Aleksander Borisov, 27, of London, appeared in court on September 15.
The four pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply.
Asenov will spend 33 months behind bars; Sukalinska, 27 months; Radostin, three years; and Aleksander, three years and two months.
A fifth member of the gang will be sentenced at a later date.
Conman farmer scammed people out of £500k
Also this month, the law finally caught up with a fraudster farmer after a national manhunt.
Wayne Parker, formerly of Mildenhall, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court on September 19.
Last year, he admitted to 19 animal welfare offences, including kicking a pregnant cow, and failing to adequately feed a flock of sheep.
In a separate trial last October, he was convicted of defrauding a number of people and firms out of more than £500,000, after racking up debts he was unable to repay.
After being convicted of fraud, the defendant was granted bail, on the understanding that he would use the time between trial and sentencing to get his affairs in order.
Instead, he went on the run, sparking a nationwide manhunt – and was arrested near Basingstoke.
He will spend five years behind bars – and still owes more than £12,000 in fines to Suffolk County Council.
Man jailed for ‘horrific’ attack on father
Next, a man who punched and kicked his father while wearing steel-toed boots in a 'horrific' attack was sentenced.
Chaz Thacker, 31, of Bury Road, Cockfield, punched his father, dragged him out of a car and kicked him while he lay on the ground in an unprovoked attack.
In two other incidents, in 2021 and 2022, he smashed up a holiday home and damaged vehicles sitting in a line of traffic.
He was jailed for more than four years.
Science teacher groomed and sexually assaulted student, among other sex offences
Also this month, a science and technology teacher who groomed and sexually assaulted a pupil was jailed.
Mark Langford, 55, formerly of Beccles, was sentenced on September 25, after pleading guilty to several charges in July.
These included indecent assault, indecency with a child, perverting the course of justice, offences relating to indecent images of children – making, possession and distribution – and possession of extreme pornographic images.
Langford exchanged images on various peer-to-peer sites, and accessed a cloud-based storage platform used by paedophiles to trade child sexual abuse material – and online chat logs recovered revealed he would discuss abuse with others.
Langford was sentenced to nine years and two months in prison.
14-year-old boy breaches order in place after admitting 18 offences
And finally, a 14-year-old boy, known as a ‘prolific offender’ was handed a custodial sentence in September.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Norwich Magistrates’ Court on September 25, where he was handed an eight-month Detention and Training Order.
This was in breach of an 18-month rehabilitation order placed on him by magistrates on September 18, with the boy admitting more than 18 offences, including driving whilst disqualified, handling stolen goods and assaulting a police officer.
He had also been subject to a previous youth rehabilitation order, issued by magistrates on July 18.
