A son bent on revenge who stabbed his mother, a former police officer who performed a sex act over a young girl, and a festival goer who tried to force his way on stage…
These are just some of the people sentenced at Reading Crown Court in February.
Not all of them were sent to prison, however, with a lucky few handed suspended sentences.
Here are their names and their reasons for being in court.
Justin Cansdale
A family will no longer be tormented after a Bracknell man who followed his wife’s car using a GPS tracker was locked up.
Justin Cansdale, formerly of Wokingham Road, Bracknell, admitted to stalking his former spouse and children from April to September 2021.
The 49-year-old sent letters to his daughter which ‘made it clear’ he had been watching her after he referenced her change in hair colour, how fast she was driving and her new job despite being banned from contacting her.
This came after Cansdale was handed community orders for breaking into his family’s home using a ladder and sending his ex-wife more than 200 emails before the stalking started.
Cansdale’s stalking culminated in him placing a GPS tracker on his ex-wife’s car and tracking her location to Portsmouth where she was meeting a new partner.
His Honour Judge Dugdale, sentencing, said: “The sentence I pass needs to reflect the fact there are three victims who have been seriously badly affected by your behaviour.
“Offending of this is extremely serious. In our society we have a right to move on in life.
“When a relationship breaks up both partners have a right to move on without harassment from an ex partner.”
Cansdale was sentenced to 30 months in prison for two counts of stalking with intention of causing alarm or distress, one count of stalking without fear, and one count of breaching a restraining order.
He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, February 28.
Daniel Franklin and Frankie Harris
Two young men have been jailed for more than a dozen years after a love rival was stabbed in an argument over a woman.
Friends Daniel Franklin and Frankie Harris, both of Maidenhead, were locked up after an altercation at flats on Shoppenhangers Road in April 2021 which left the victim clinging on for life.
Reading Crown Court heard how the incident occurred after Harris had started speaking to a woman who worked as a ‘social influencer’.
She had parted with her former partner after they had been arguing due to his concerns over her line of work, the court heard.
The woman met with Harris on April 14, 2021 when her former partner encountered them together at around 10pm.
The two men got into an altercation and Harris called his friend, Daniel Franklin, to back him up for support.
Franklin brought a knife with him to the scene and stabbed his friend’s love rival, leaving him needing life-saving surgery at the John Radcliffe hospital.
Her Honour Judge Nott, sentencing, said the lives of all three men involved were “turned upside down” on the day of the incident.
“The victim almost lost his life and he is still suffering mentally and physically because of your actions”, the judge added.
“Your only saving grace is through the skills of the surgeons at the John Radcliffe hospital, this is not a murder and the two of you are not looking at spending the rest of your lives in prison for murder and manslaughter.”
She sentenced Franklin to 9.5 years in prison for wounding with intent and Harris to 3.5 years in prison for the same conviction.
Harris and Franklin were sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, February 28.
Patrick Benjamin
Patrick Benjamin
A Reading man who set himself on fire after a heroic young boy prevented him from murdering his partner has been locked up.
The female victim was left with severe injuries including an open wound to her chest and neck, slash injuries on her arm, and defensive injuries on her fingers.
It took an intervention from a young boy to get Patrick Benjamin, of Lulworth Close, Reading, to stop his crazed early morning attack in December 2020.
Benjamin then fled the scene and set himself alight at a car park before passing motorists put out the blaze.
Following a trial in September 2021, Patrick Benjamin, of Lulworth Close, Reading, was convicted of attempted murder.
The incident occurred on December 10, 2020 after Benjamin and his partner, who he had been together with for ten years, had been arguing.
He told her he was going to leave her and so she refused to let him sleep in their bed despite Benjamin’s repeated requests to do so.
At 6am, the woman was lying on her stomach with her head on pillow when Benjamin got on top of her and put his hands around her.
He started cutting her chest and neck with a stanley knife, causing injuries that would put her in hospital for more than a month.
The woman’s screaming woke up a boy who was present in the house at the time of the incident.
His brave intervention prevented Benjamin from carrying on his attack and forced him to flee the scene, prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson told Reading Crown Court.
The boy called a relative who then alerted the emergency services. The woman was taken to hospital for treatment.
Benjamin drove to a car park before setting himself alight. He survived the horrifying suicide attempt after passing motorists stopped to put out the blaze.
He was himself taken to hospital where he spent a considerable time in a coma before continuing his treatment for two months.
Her Honour Judge Norton, sentencing, said this case was “unusual and extremely sad.”
Benjamin was handed a thirteen-year prison sentence for attempted murder.
The Reading man was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, February 23.
Annabelle Mitchell
A former therapist who stabbed a man in the back with a kitchen knife has been given a suspended sentence.
Annabelle Mitchell, 53, formerly of Maplin Park, Slough, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, February 21.
At about 11.20pm on August 26, 2020, Mitchell stabbed a man in his 40s, in the back with a kitchen knife in Maplin Park.
A jury unanimously found Mitchell guilty of section 20 wounding on January 10 at the same court.
Earlier this week Mitchell was sentenced to a year and two months in prison, suspended for two years.
She will also have to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirement.
Michael Sines, Lisa Fletcher and Lisa Dunbar
Lisa Fletcher, Michael Sines, Lisa Dunbar
A trio of robbers have been jailed after they pinned down a man and threatened him with a ‘knife’ in a terrifying late-night robbery.
Michael Sines, Lisa Fletcher and Lisa Dunbar robbed the man of his bank card and a torch but were really ‘looking for drugs’ after taking off his shoes in the middle of the road at gone 1am.
The victim was walking through Salt Hill Park and onto Windmill Road when he was confronted by Dunbar on March 21, 2021. The pair knew each other.
Sines then grabbed the victim around the neck and produced a stanley knife.
Prosecutor Brian Reece said the Sines uttered ‘I’ve got a knife, give me everything you’ve got.’
The victim was wrestled to the ground by Sines and pinned down by Dunbar and Fletcher, who proceeded to punch him.
The trio searched the man’s pockets and took off his shoes in the middle of the road at 1.40am.
He was heard shouting ‘get that knife away from me’ by neighbours.
They took the victim’s bank card and torch but did not take his mobile phone or scooter.
Mr Reece said: “It is clear what what they hoped to find was something small and well-concealed.
“Clearly it was drugs they were looking for.”
Sentencing, Her Honour Judge Campbell said she believed Sines brought the knife to the incident and that he played a ‘leading role’.
Sines, of Riverside Park, Addlestone, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for robbery and using a bladed article to make threats and will serve another two years on licence following his release.
Dunbar, of no fixed abode, was handed a 38-month prison sentence for robbery.
Fletcher, also of no fixed abode, was handed a 32-month jail term for robbery.
The trio were sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday, February 18.
Keiron Sherwood
A son who was bent on ‘revenge’ causing him to stab his mother in a “wholly unprovoked” attack last year has been jailed.
Keiron Sherwood, of no fixed abode, had harboured an ‘animosity’ towards his mother since his teenage years which culminated in the almost-fatal attack on Martins Lane, Bracknell on August 28.
Keiron Sherwood
The incident occurred when Sherwood was at his mother’s residence in August last year.
Here, Sherwood had a disagreement with his mother about whether she was going to give him a lift somewhere.
Sherwood then stabbed the woman, in her fifties, four times in what prosecution counsel Christopher Amis described as a ‘prolonged assault’.
The victim’s lung was punctured and she suffered spine injuries from the assault and a brain injury from the resulting fall.
The crazed defendant’s brother then tried to assist his mother, but Sherwood turned around with the knife and caught his sibling with the blade.
His brother fell over and Sherwood kicked him in the head three times.
Sherwood then stole his mother’s car before being arrested.
His Honour Judge Dugdale said the reality of the situation was that Sherwood “very nearly killed” his mother.
“Why you did what you did that day is unclear”, he continued.
“There was a disagreement in the kitchen about whether she could give you a lift.
“On her evidence, wholly unprovoked, you stabbed her in the back four times.
“Each wound was an inch wide and two penetrated her to a significant degree.
“She was in hospital for ten days. There is no doubt the injuries you caused that day were life-threatening.
“That is why I say you nearly killed her.”
Sherwood was handed an extended prison sentence of 13 years for wounding with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and theft of a motor vehicle.
Eight years of this will be spent in custody, whereas the remaining five will be spent on licence.
The 36-year-old was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday, February 18.
Jermaine Walker
Jermaine Walker
A VIOLENT attacker who left his victim with a broken nose, punctured lung, and broken ribs has been jailed for nine years.
Jermaine Walker, of Linden Road, Reading pleaded guilty to the vicious attack in which he stole £180 from his victim.
The 37 year old targeted the victim - a man in his thirties - as he withdrew the cash from an ATM in Morrison's car park on Basingstoke Road.
The victim was left with a number of injuries when it happened on December 11, 2020, shortly after 2.30am.
Injuries including a broken nose, fractures to his face, broken ribs and a punctured lung. The victim required hospital treatment, he has since been discharged.
Walker was arrested on February 21, 2021, and charged on May 28, 2021.
He pleaded guilty to one count of robbery at Reading Crown Court on Friday, February 11, and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Aaron Wilmott
A Reading Festival reveller has walked free from court despite serious assaulting three security guards when he tried to get on stage at the music event.
Aaron Wilmott, of Scythe Way, Bristol, had not slept for 48 hours and was high on a cocktail of drugs when he “went mad” and punched all three employees in the face.
One security guard, who works in the army, sustained a ruptured tendon in their finger and said they were made to feel ‘useless’ as they were unable take part in military activities after the incident.
Aaron Wilmott
Despite being spared jail, Wilmott will have to pay more than £2,000 in compensation to the three festival employees for the injuries they sustained.
The incident occurred at around 9.30pm on Friday, August 27 when Wilmott jumped over a barrier separating performers from the audience.
He was confronted by three security guards who tried to take him back to the crowd.
Wilmott, who is 24, reacted badly to this and became ‘abusive’ to the security guards.
He launched an attack on the officials punching each of them in the face.
One suffered a black eye and sustained bruising and another received a ruptured ear drum and nerve damage to the face causing numbing.
The third security guard, who had worked to build up a career in the army, ruptured a tendon in his finger after Wilmott pulled it back.
The security guard was rushed to A&E after being assaulted by Wilmott.
Wilmott was arrested by police at the festival and his bag was searched.
£100 worth of cocaine and a quantity of cannabis was found. Drugs were later found in his system after tests.
Explaining her decision to suspend Wilmott’s sentence, Her Honour Judge Real said: “It is clear you struggled to understand why you behaved the way you did on that occasion.
“It can only really be put down to the level of drugs and alcohol taken and your immaturity.
“What does really strike through is your genuine remorse.
“Those who assault personnel at Reading Festival can normally expect a prison sentence.
“In your case, the things I have heard means that need not be immediate.
“In your case, there is genuine remorse. You have realistic prospects of rehabilitation and these offence were out of character for you.
“On balance, these factors outweigh the need for immediate punishment.”
Wilmott was handed an 18-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, February 9.
Kevor Shakes
A Reading woman said she is afraid of returning to the town centre after she was kicked in the stomach by a knifeman following a ‘dangerous’ brawl between rival gangs outside a popular pub.
The man who kicked her in the stomach, Kevor Shakes, was last month jailed after he was convicted of assault following a trial.
Shakes, who is 28 and formerly of Kingsley Close, had already admitted to possession of a blade after he was caught on CCTV waving a knife around in a fight between two groups outside The Boundary pub on August 9, 2021.
A woman who ‘intervened’ in the argument, which occurred in the early hours of the morning, was then kicked in the stomach by Shakes.
She fell backwards and hit her head and was taken to hospital for treatment but did not suffer serious injuries.
In a victim impact statement read by prosecutor Jon Sank, the woman said: “Since all this happened I feel anxious going into Readint town centre.
“As part of my job I have to go to Reading town centre and I feel like I can’t do this because of how scared and anxious I feel.”
Sentencing, Her Honour Judge Real said a ‘number of different people’ were involved in the brawl outside the pub at ‘different times’ on the evening of the incident.
She said: “It appeared to involve two rival groups it is unclear to me what the exact background was.
“You brandished a knife in the street towards other males.
“It was a very dangerous situation to be in and a risk to everyone regardless of what side of the argument they were on.”
Shakes was jailed for 21 months at a hearing at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, February 9.
He will serve half this sentence behind bars before being eligible for release.
Judge Real also imposed a ten-year restraining order barring Shakes from contact with his victim.
Daniel Chapman
A rising star IT manager at Fujitsu who created his own drug-dealing brand after being stabbed with a machete will spend the next few years behind bars.
Daniel Chapman
Daniel Chapman, of Wayland Close, Bracknell, sold cocaine, MDMA, cannabis, xanax and other drugs under the ‘Dead Lean Team’ moniker.
The 30-year-old would text customers with messages such as ‘Frosty the Snowman is back’ to indicate he was selling cocaine.
A court heard how Chapman turned to drug-dealing following a decline in his mental health after he was stabbed on a night out two years ago.
He was questioned three times by police between December 2020 and October 2021 after packages from abroad containing MDMA were seized by border force.
Facing multiple charges for drug distribution, Chapman told a female associate that he was thinking of blaming his actions on his mental health.
The woman responded telling him she would get her ‘bent ex-copper father’ to help him out, according to prosecutor Andrew Jordan.
Jed O’Connor, defending, said Chapman led a normal life as an IT delivery manager at Fujitsu prior to launching drug-dealing business.
He was “highlighted for promotion” and had “potential” but his life was turned “upside down”.
“He went out with some friends and woke up some hous later in intensive care with significant injuries caused by a machete attack on him brought about by three men.
“That evening catastrophically affected his life.
“That led to a collapse in his mental health. He tried to live with this life of pain by turning to drugs.
“He then began selling them to feed his habit.
“The irony is that these men [who attacked Chapman with the machete] are all serving sentences of five years.
“That is a sentence he will serve at the very least.”
Chapman learned his fate at Reading Crown Court on Thursday, February 3 where a judge sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in jail for the supply of cannabis, xanax, cocaine, oxycotine, MDMA, tramadol and the importation of MDMA.
Kevin Ahern
Delayed shock caused a Woodley man to go into a six-day coma nearly three months after he was slashed by a burglar in a terrifying night time raid on his family home.
Kevin Ahern
The offender, Kevin Ahern, was last month jailed for 13 years after being convicted of aggravated burglary in December 2021.
A court heard how the incident had made the victim’s life ‘hell’ after he was grabbed by the neck and suffered knife wounds to his hands and cheek by Ahern.
The incident occurred one night in September 2020 when the victim, who was sleeping downstairs, was awoken by Ahern and an accomplice after they made a noise in his garden.
Having turned on the lights in an attempt to scare off the burglars, the victim unlocked the door allowing Ahern to wave a blade through a gap and grab him by the neck.
Ahern and his accomplice demanded money from the victim through the door but the offender was then overpowered by the man’s family and he fled the scene.
He was caught after police matched DNA from the door handle.
Jon Sank, prosecuting, read out a victim impact statement from the Woodley man.
He said: “The burglary has had a massive impact on my mental health and my life.
“I have become scared, angry, emotional and depressed.”
Commenting on the injuries the victim suffered, His Honour Judge Nawaz said: “If that is what happened outside the door, one shudders to think what could have happened if you had made your way inside the premises.”
Discussing the mental toll the incident has taken on the victim and his family, the judge added: “If there was ever a case that shone a light pyschological impact of such offending, here it is.”
Ahern was handed a 13-year prison sentence. He will serve at least two-thirds of this before being eligible for release.
He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday, February 4.
Russell Benn
A Bracknell man has been jailed after setting fire to a store that he was barred from for shoplifting.
Russell Benn, of Ogden Park, scorched the front of Stop and Shop in a “revenge attack” at 3am one night in June 2021.
The 62-year-old also threw the contents of a food waste bin at the shopfront after screaming “I hate you, I’m going to kill you” at the owners.
Reading Crown Court heard how Benn’s dangerous rage culminated in a fire after he poured accelerant liquid onto a box of shredded paper and lit it.
Fortunately, a passerby quickly put out the fire with a bottle of water and the only damage were scorch marks.
It was heard that Benn used to be a regular customer of the Ralphs Ride store but he was barred by the owner after he started causing issues with other customers.
Benn was allowed back into the store but was then banned once again after shoplifting.
Prosecutor Katie Doherty said: “The court may consider this was a revenge attack driven by issues between Mr Benn and the owner.”
Judge Smith sentenced Benn to 11 months behind bars for arson at Reading Crown Court on Friday, February 4.
Andrew Kirkland
A former Met Police officer ‘will not serve an easy sentence’ in prison after he was jailed for sexually assaulting a young girl last year.
Andrew Kirkland, of Stoney Stanton, Leicester, was last month (February 3) convicted of sexual assault after almost three hours of jury deliberations.
The verdict came after a three-day trial in which Reading Crown Court heard how Kirkland performed a sex act on himself over a young girl when he thought she was sleeping in March 2021.
Andrew Kirkland
The lewd and shocking incident came just three days after Kirkland had searched for porn of girls being ‘violated’ while asleep or passed out.
Cries of relief could be heard from the girl’s family in the public gallery as the 42-year-old disgraced former copper held his head in his hands as the the guilty verdict came in.
And now following the trial, this newspaper can reveal that the seedy ex-London-based policeman, was sacked by the Met after he was caught calling chat lines with his work phone back in 2014.
This was one of a number of disturbing revelations to come out during Kirkland’s sentencing as the court also heard that the young girl had to be tested for HIV following the March 2021 incident.
Sentencing, Her Honour Judge Real lambasted Kirkland for his inappropriate behaviour towards a “young and “vulnerable” girl who was asleep at the time of the incident.
The judge said Kirkland “took his opportunity” when he realised the girl was not wearing underwear in bed having watched pornography of sleeping girls just days earlier.
Speaking of the impact the incident had on the girl, the judge added: “This has been difficult not just for the girl but for those close to her.”
Kirkland was sentenced to four years in prison for sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 by Judge Real.
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