IT'S been another busy month at Reading Crown Court with years and years of prison sentences handed out.
This month has seen a murderer, two care home workers and a physically abusive father all locked up.
Here’s who is now behind bars after being sentenced at Reading Crown Court in May.
A self-proclaimed ‘anti-misogynist’ has been locked up after he was convicted of raping and sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl.
Jonathan Liebling, who has previously gained notoriety lobbying for cannabis legalisation, groomed the girl with the class B drug before sexually abusing her over a period of four days in July 2021.
The 54-year-old, of Mount Pleasant, Reading, was slammed by a judge for his lack of remorse and empathy towards his victim.
This led to Liebling receiving an extended prison sentence after he was deemed a ‘dangerous’ individual.
Liebling was handed a 27-year prison sentence for two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, sexual assault, supply of a class B drug, and two counts of intimidation of a witness.
He will be eligible for release after fourteen years should a parole board decide he can be free.
However, he will serve the remaining years of his sentence on licence.
A care home worker who attacked two dementia patients during his night shift has been jailed.
Marcin Choinkowski, of Foxglove Close, Winkfield Row, was found guilty of verbally and physically abusing two dementia patients by pulling their hair and smacking them in the mouth on two occasions in August 2020.
Choinkowski was handed a 12-month prison sentence, of which he will serve half before he is eligible for release.
The 50-year-old was sentenced on Monday, May 9.
Chris Finch
A drug-dealer has been handed a hefty prison sentence after he was caught supplying cocaine.
Christopher Finch, of Oxford Road, Reading, was found in possession of the Class A drug, as well as cash and mobile phones, on Essex Street in Newbury on March 24.
Appearing at Reading Crown Court yesterday (May 9), the 39-year-old admitted to dealing cocaine.
He was sentenced to six years and four months imprisonment.
Darren Watkins
A serial offender pinned a woman in her 70s into the corner of a bus stop before sexually assaulting her, a court has heard.
Darren Watkins, of Westbourne Road, Sandhurst, was locked up after committing the ‘deeply unpleasant crime’ earlier this year.
The 48-year-old, who has 91 previous convictions including one for masturbating in public, has now been banned from catching buses between Bracknell and Sandhurst.
This comes following an incident at a bus stop on Yorktown Road on March 14, 2022.
Watkins a 28-month prison sentence for sexual assault at Reading Crown Court on Monday, May 9.
The man was given a 28-month prison sentence for sexual assault at Reading Crown Court on Monday, May 9.
Daniel Powell
A London man has been locked up after having sex with a 13-year-old girl in multiple public places.
Daniel Powell, of Lambeth, ‘manipulated’ the girl into falling in love with him and ‘took advantage of her’, Reading Crown Court heard.
The 34-year-old was slammed by a judge for having a “deeply entrenched and enduring sexual fascination” with young girls after Powell’s previous interactions with children were revealed.
Powell was handed a 14-year prison sentence, up to eight of which will be served in custody.
The London man was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, May 11.
Micky Smith and Tommy Buckland
Two men have been jailed in Reading Crown Court after attacking a disabled elderly man on Eton high street.
Micky Smith, 37, of Sutton Lane, Slough and Tommy Buckland, 35, of Montrose Way in Datchet pleaded guilty at their trial on Wednesday, May 11 to one count of assault occassioning actual bodily harm.
Both were sentenced to one year and nine months in prison.
The assault occurred on Eton High Street on September 19 2021 where the victim was loading items into his car.
The pair lifted him into the car and threw him in the rear of the vehicle and slammed the boot down on him.
A Windsor man has been jailed after eight years of sexually abusing underaged boys.
Kenneth Burman, 86, of Sheepcote Road, Windsor was sentenced to prison for six years at Reading Crown Court on Friday, May 13.
A unanimous jury found him guilty of five counts of indecent assault that took place between 1972 and 1980 on boys under the age of 16.
A 30-year-old man has been jailed for four years after a knife-point robbery at a Post Office in Tilehurst.
Gavin Mackie, 30, appeared at Reading Crown Court on May 16, where he pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one count of possession of a bladed article.
The incident occurred on March 23 at approximately 4:45pm, where Mackie jumped over the counter at the School Road Post Office while holding a kitchen knife.
A large quality of money was stolen after he forced a member of staff to open the till.
The offender was chased by the shop manager along Armour Road until he lost sight of Mackie.
A knifeman tried to fly to Portugal after stabbing a young man in the neck outside a popular Wokingham nightclub.
Ki Alvis of Lee, of Carey Road, Wokingham, disposed of a bag of knives en route to Gatwick hours after his ‘entirely unprovoked’ kitchen-knife attack at The Gig House in February.
A first-aider who attended to the victim’s injuries described them as ‘something worse than she had ever seen’.
The 23-year-old offender was today locked up after leaving his victim in intensive care following the ‘unforgivable’ incident.
Ki Alves of Lee was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for one count of wounding with intent and one count of unlawful wounding.
He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, May 18.
The man who murdered a 26-year-old woman before dumping her body in Taplow Lake in 1987 has been locked up for decades.
Donald Robertson, formerly of Slough, was jailed after being unanimously convicted of kidnapping, indecently assaulting and murdering Shani Warren at Reading Crown Court earlier this week.
The 66-year-old was also sentenced for the kidnap and rape of a Slough girl, aged 16 in July 1981.
He was finally brought to justice more than 35 years after Shani Warren was discovered tied up and gagged in Taplow Lake on April 18, 1987.
Robertson was handed a life sentence to serve a minimum of 30 years for murder, two counts of kidnap, indecent assault and rape at Reading Crown Court on Thursday, May 19.
Tatenda Shoniwa
A care worker groomed a vulnerable 17-year-old girl into having sex with him while other residents slept, a court has heard.
Tatenda Shoniwa, of Caversham, formed a relationship with his victim over the course of several months despite being under his care.
The 29-year-old was locked up last month after abusing his position of trust.
Shoniwa was handed a 10-month prison sentence at Reading Crown Court on Thursday, May 19.
Anonymous Reading resident
A father-of-four beat his daughter with a belt buckle twice in two days after learning she had met a boy in town.
The 49-year-old south Reading man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was spared jail despite the “appalling” injuries his child suffered.
A judge told the father that he should be “ashamed” of himself after Reading Crown Court heard of his brutal lashings.
The incidents occurred in October 2021 when the man learned his daughter had been lying about her whereabouts.
The man was handed a 24-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and an order to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.
He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, May 23.
A 29 year-old woman has been jailed for four years after attacking and robbing an elderly woman in her own home.
Jasmine Junor, 29, of no fixed abode pleaded guilty to the robbery in a hearing at Reading Crown Court on May, 23.
The offence happened just after midnight on April 19 when the victim was sitting in her home in Crowthorne Road, Bracknell.
After hearing banging noises on her window, believing it to be a neighbour, she opened the front door where Junor forced her way into the property.
The victim was pinned to the wall by her attacker and pushed further as she tried to stop the intruders entry into her home.
Junor threatened to stab the 90-year-old woman and after seeing a shiny object in her hand, she grabbed the victim’s handbag and escaped with £85 in cash.
A woman ‘thought she was going to die’ when her abusive partner strangled and punched her after she kicked him out of her flat.
Simon Lythe, of Eastwood Road, Woodley, was today finally locked up after committing yet another assault on a woman.
The 28-year-old former army rifleman had previously been spared jail after launching a similar attack on his former partner in 2021.
But last month a judge sent Lythe to prison after telling him he ‘clearly’ has ‘serious issues’ with his anger.
Lythe was sentenced to 31 months in prison for assault by beating, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and breaching a suspended sentence order.
He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday, May 24.
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