33 criminals locked up in Yorkshire in May - from sick rapist and thieving carer - Leeds Live
As the months roll on, so do the wheels of justice across Yorkshire as more criminals enter the court docks. Some leave the court the same way they came in - through the security doors - but others are taken away in a van to begin their time behind bars.
May has been another busy month, with some of the region's most dangerous criminals locked up by the courts in Yorkshire. The month saw sentences passed for Qadeer Hussain, who killed nine-year-old Alice Williams who was on her way to a summer fair when he ran a red light and hit and killed her, and child rapist Alexander Sherwood, who fled from Rotherham to Liverpool to avoid being caught when his brave victim came forward.
Below are the criminals and their crimes which they were put behind bars in May.
Aston Martin
Sick voyeur Martin who had filmed a woman in the shower and then masturbated into her underwear was put behind bars for three years and six months after a court heard how he asked what he thought was a 13-year-old girl if she wanted to be used as a sex toy.
He was on bail when it was discovered he was using the KIK messaging app to contact what he thought was a teenage girl named Molly. The conversation quickly turned sexual, with Martin referencing himself "sharing" Molly with a friend.
Bakari Jobade
Jobade was jailed for 22 months after he threatened to smash the windows of a van while children were inside during a dramatic street disturbance last year.
He also threatened to "bomb houses" and shoot the call handler of a migrant charity before arming himself with a "very dangerous" concrete slab.
Lewis Coneron
Speeding Mercedes driver Coneron seriously injured one of his passengers who urged him to slow down before he collided with a tree in Ripponden.
He was jailed for two years.
Mohammed Hussain Khan
Khan - the victim of an unprovoked mosque stabbing - has himself been put behind bars in May after he assaulted a woman in his car.
During the hour-long ordeal, Khan punched the woman, kicked her to the head and pulled out her hair. At one point, he threatened to take the woman to the moors and kill her and even took her mobile phone.
He was jailed for 22 months.
Emmanuel Jerome
Brighouse burglar Jerome finally faced justice this month after he creeped into an elderly resident's home and stole TV equipment.
He was jailed for 985 days.
Michael Kirkaldy
Evil predator Kirkaldy was jailed for 16 years and made the subject of a two-year extended licence after a court heard how he abused a girl for nine years.
The girl was just five-years-old when Kirkaldy first preyed on her. His offending finally came to light when he bravely reported him to police as an adult.
Bradley Ashton-Fearnley
"Prolific" paedophile Ashton-Fearnley was jailed in May for his "long history" of being involved in child abuse images.
Officers discovered indecent images and conversations with others where he requested images on his devices. Ashton-Fearnley, also known as Trevor Emmett, admitted to seven counts of making an indecent photograph of a child. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order and was jailed for five years.
Mark Harrison
Harrison - who once received an award for helping to save a life - left a man with seven fractures in his face, nose and jaw after punching him in the face at the top of some steps outside the Sun Hotel, Shipley, in December 2023.
The punch caused the victim to miss two steps as he fell before hitting his head on the ground. Harrison asked officers: "How is he?" As he was arrested two days later.
He was jailed for 18 months.
Alexander Sherwood
Rotherham child rapist Sherwood fled to Liverpool before his victim bravely came forward and disclosed his sick crimes and he was arrested.
Sherwood was jailed for 19 years for four counts of rape, four counts of assault by penetration, two counts of assault by touching, one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and one count of causing a child to watch or look at an image of a sexual nature.
Daniel Hirst
Drug dealer Daniel Hirst was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after being arrested by police in nothing but his underpants. He tried to hide a cocaine stash down the toilet before being carted away after officers raided his home under a warrant.
A search led officers to find small pieces of white rick inside the toilet pan and then £10,815 of crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis and £1,635 in cash around the rest of the house.
Dean Armitage
Former NHS nurse Armitage was locked up for 18 months after it was discovered he cost a hospital trust more than £70,000 by making fake claims for shifts he did not work.
His offending was described by a judge as "persistent, sophisticated and determine."
Lewis Darcy
Drug dealer Darcy was caught in Huddersfield after he was stopped by officers on patrol.
The officers became suspicious after spotting a man leaving his car to bang on a door. They noticed a smell coming from the vehicle and searched it, discovering three bags of cannabis and wraps of class A drugs. In total, they found between £1,500 and £2,100 worth of drugs. The man was then identified as Darcy.
He was jailed for four years.
Daniel Field
Evil Field has been jailed after being found guilty of a raft of sex offences. He was put behind bars for 15 years after being found guilty o 14 sexual offences against three victims in Huddersfield and Middlesbrough.
The offences were said to have taken place over a four-year period. He was found guilty of five offences of rape, three of sexual assault, two of causing a female to engage in sexual activity and four offences of assault by penetration.
Field was living in Huddersfield between 2018 and 2020, targeting three women who he knew were vulnerable. He was then later linked to earlier sexual offences, including rape, in 2016 on a woman in Middlesbrough, following ongoing police investigations. He was charged with the offences in early 2023.
David John Hampshire
Sick headteacher Hampshire targeted a five-year-old child and sexually abused them for eight years. He was finally caught in December 2022 when his first victim bravely told their parents about the abuse, which finally stopped when they were 13.
It later emerged that Hampshire had attacked a three-year-old who had reported the abuse at the time.
He was jailed for 22 years and eight months.
Stephen John Mitchell
Mitchel was told "the gates of hell are waiting" after he was convicted of grooming and repeatedly a primary school boy over several years.
He plied the boy with food and cartoons before sexually abusing him, a court heard. In a moving victim impact statement the victim, now an adult, told Mitchell: "You no longer control me, and you cannot destroy me or my family. I am closer to my family than I have ever been and can enjoy a life outside work. I used work as a tool to push my thoughts and feelings to the back of my mind and worked long, long hours.
"No more, I can now enjoy a life where you have no power. I have come through this as a much stronger person. I will never forgive you Mitchell, the gates of hell are waiting for you."
Mitchell was jailed for ten years and nine months.
Adil Zafar
Halifax rapist Zafar was described as a danger to women by detectives after he was jailed for 18 years.
He had been found guilty of three offences of rape, strangulation, sexual assault by penetration and coercive and controlling behaviour.
Tasham Mahmood
Mahmood was jailed for causing the death of Carol Andrew, who was hit by a grey Seat Leon as she crossed White Lee Road in Batley in July 2021.
He was jailed for four years.
Safraz Ahmed, Hassan Ali, DAvid Burnett, Rafaq Ali, Komal Kurshid, Kaukab Khan and Iqrab Choudhury
The seven were jailed in May for their roles in trying to cover up the "sadistic" murder of Mohammed Feazan "Fizzy" Ayaz, who was tortured before being killed. During the cover-up, a suspect was able to flee the country to Pakistan.
The still-wanted man, named previously as Akaash Rafiq, was driven from West Yorkshire to London where he travelled by Eurostar to Paris and then flew to Pakistan via the Middle East. On Friday, May 9, at Bradford Crown Court, Safraz Ahmed, 36, of Brantwood Drive, Bradford, and Hassan Ali, 30, of Thorn Lane, Bradford, were locked up for four years and nine months and three-and-a-half years respectively for helping the suspect evade justice.
A jury heard at a trial in January how they travelled with Rafiq and another man in Seat Ibiza following the shocking murder of Mohammed Feazan Ayaz, 20, known as Fizzy, at an industrial unit in Denholme back in July 2019. Mr Ayaz was tortured and beaten to death inside one of the units before his naked body was dumped at the side of a road in Allerton, Bradford.
Three men have already been jailed for his murder.
Two men David Burnett, 43, of Clayton Avenue, Bradford, and 38-year-old Rafaq Ali, of Kensington Street, Bradford, were sentenced after they were involved in deleting CCTV footage from cameras at the industrial unit. Burnett was jailed for 20 months and Ali was locked up for 14 months.
Two women Komal Kurshid, 32, of Athol Road, Bradford, and 37-year-old mother-of-three Kaukab Khan, of Galsworthy Avenue, Bradford, were given jail terms of 15 months and six months respectively. The jury heard that Kurshid was Rafiq’s girlfriend at the time and that some items taken from the unit such as a television and bucket with Fizzy’s blood on it were later found at Khan’s home.
Khan’s partner Iqrab Choudhury, 32, of Sandford Road, Bradford, was also involved in the clean up and he was sentenced to 12 months in jail. All seven defendants were found guilty of perverting the course of justice following a trial in January this year.
Joshua Anthony Strickland and Robinson Peter Fitch Binks
The two callous thugs forced their way into a man's home and poured petrol over him before setting him on fire.
Strickland and Binks were tracked down after a vehicle they were travelling in was stopped by police in York. They were both found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm. Strickland was also found guilty of witness intimidation and pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon and criminal damage. This came after he attacked a vehicle which belonged to a member of the victim's family and threatened him and his family.
He was also charged and convicted of assaulting a police officer after he kicked an officer in the face.
The pair were sentenced at York Crown Court on May 6, 2025. Strickland was jailed for 14 years while Binks was jailed for 12 years.
Cyril Holmes
Evil former church minivan driver Holmes was jailed in May after he raped a vulnerable woman at his Bradford home. Holmes had walked the woman with her to his home and took indecent photographs of her on his phone before laying her on the floor and raping her.
He was jailed for ten years.
Qadeer Hussain
Halifax dad Hussain hit and killed Alice Williams, 9, as she walked to a summer fate with her mum and brother.
Hussain careered down Kings Cross Road at almost 20mph above the speed limit and ran through a red light before hitting Alice on July 8, 2023. Alice's younger brother Joseph asked witnesses to pick up his sister's shoes after they had come off when she was hit. Alice died after a number of days on life support, with the cause of death given as a "very severe blunt force head injury."
After his arrest, Hussain, 55, attempted to minimise his offending and blamed Alice.
He was jailed for eight years and four months.
Kevin Walton
Predator Walton lured a teenage girl to meet him and then contacted her friends.
He has been locked up for three years and nine months after being convicted of a raft of sexual offences against four girls, including causing a female aged 13 or over to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity and causing a child aged 13-15 to look at an image of sexual activity.
Leeds Crown Court heard his offending took place from late summer last year when he contacted a girl on social media pretending to be a 19-year-old. He then met her in October and committed sexual offences against her in Kirklees.
West Yorkshire Police say he then contacted three of her friends and sent them sexual imagery. Walton was identified and arrested.
Jordan Bedford
Thug Bedford went into a pub and squired chemical at a man in a revenge attack after he smashed a glass near his daughter. He had spotted the man as he stood inside the Black Horse pub and went inside armed with ammonia that had been stored inside a washing up liquid bottle.
Bedford was jailed for 18 months.
Mohammed Numaan
Care worker Numaan targeted two elderly residents and stole "precious" rings from their fingers as they slept. He has been jailed for 20 months for his vile offending which saw him target a 93-year-old woman who had wore her wedding ring for 70 years.
He stole that and two others from her bedside drawer. They had not been recovered by the time the woman died last October so she could not be buried with her "three precious rings."
Numaan's second victim had a diamond ring stolen from her finger and the offence had shattered the trust of the woman and her husband.
He was jailed for 20 months.
Mohammed Shakeel Malik
Malik was jailed for 13-and-a-half years in prison with an extended licence period of five years in May after being caught on camera shooting a man in the chest in a Leeds street.
Days later, he was caught grinning as he boarded a flight to Bangkok from Heathrow Airport.Footage around the time of the shooting on Sunday, August 11, 2024 showed Malik, of Stonegate Edge, Meanwood, riding on an electric bicycle around the area. He was later captured on camera in a fight with a group, which included the victim, opposite the Morrisons Daily shop in Stainbeck Road.
Malik later said it was during this altercation that he had ben robbed of his mobile phone.
Daniel Hayelom
Sick Uber driver Hayelom was jailed in May after being found guilty of raping a woman who was walking home from a night out.
He had finished his shift and had been socialising at an Eritrean church in Beeston, Leeds, before targeting, following and raping the woman in an alleyway on Dewsbury Road. The woman was walking home from a party and was too drunk to consent - a fact which would have been obvious to evil Hayelom as he stalked her for a time before greeting her shortly after 6am on October 22, 2023.
He told her: "Happy day" and then "immediately" sexually assaulted her before continuing his attack.
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