Bristol Live reports from the city's courts every week.
This reporting forms an important part of the UK's open justice system, that justice can be seen to be done. Some of the key benefits of open justice include ensuring public confidence and respect in democracy and the administration of justice.
It also deters people from committing crimes and thereby the details of those crimes becoming public knowledge. Here are the criminals we reported on who were jailed in May 2022. You can read more about why we publish defendants' names and addresses here.
Read more: Man appears in court for sex attacks and 'upskirting'
Macauley Tomlinson, four years
A court was shown the horrific moment when a driver being chased by police ran into a student in Bristol city centre. And instead of stopping he drove for some 100 metres with her clinging to his bonnet.
Single amputee Macauley Tomlinson had been seen on Hotwells Road pulling a screaming woman into his specially adapted Ford Kuga, Bristol Crown Court heard. Police called in found the Kuga in Millennium Square and tried to stop it, but Tomlinson sped off - colliding with the student and also unsighting a police driver, causing him to hit a taxi and seriously injure a passenger before Tomlinson was arrested after a police stinger device was deployed.
Tomlinson, 26, of Bevington Close, Midsomer Norton, pleaded guilty to two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving on April 30. Judge William Hart jailed him for four years.
Read the full story here
Jayne Dodd, three years and 10 months
In 2017 Jayne Dodd walked out of Bristol Crown Court after defrauding her elderly step-father of £63,000. As she left to start a suspended jail term she told the Bristol Post: "I’m glad it’s all over.”
What the sentencing judge didn't know then was, for the previous 13 years, she had stolen more than £500,000 from her brother. And when she returned to the same court today (May 27, 2022), this time she didn't walk out.
Dodd, 61, of Wynter Close in Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to theft from Stephen Cox between December 2004 and February 2017. The recorder Mr Andrew Langdon QC jailed her for three years and 10 months.
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Adelaja Brown, five years, nine months
A man who fractured a police officer’s cheekbone in multiple places has been jailed. Adelaja Brown, 32 of Easton, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday (May 25) after he made threats to police and punched an officer as he attempted to resist arrest.
The officer was left in need of surgery after the incident. Jurors unanimously found Brown guilty of assault causing grievous bodily harm with intent to resist arrest at the end of the trial on Tuesday, May 24.
The jury heard how police were called to the St Pauls area of Bristol following disorder on Friday, May 29, 2020. Brown was found in a nearby street by officers seeking to identify suspects for the incident, Avon and Somerset Police said.
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Gang of four, 40 years
Four men have been jailed for a combined total of more than 40 years after an attempt to steal cash and drugs from a dealer ended in serious injury.
Ky-Shan Muir, Jonathan Markland, Shane King and Ilyaas Skinner attempted to gain access to a property on Ivy Lane, Weston-super-Mare on January 31, 2021. They appeared for sentencing at Bristol Crown Court on Friday (May 27) on multiple offences.
The four defendants drove from London to Weston-super-Mare on the day in question to break into the home of Connor Browning, who had amassed more than £30,000 in cash, drugs and designer clothes.
Read the full story here
Damian Gill, 20 months
A cafe proprietor forgives an employee who stabbed him after a work do.
Stephen Melhuish gave Damian Gill a job and accommodation at Faces Cafe in Weston-super-Mare, Bristol Crown Court heard. But after a staff Friday night out Gill tackled Mr Melhuish about other employees and, in a tussle that ensued, stabbed him in the neck with a 12-inch kitchen knife.
Gill, 30, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to wounding after the incident on October 1 last year. He appeared for sentence at the court today. (May 26, 2022)
The recorder Mr Richard Smith QC jailed him for 20 months. He told Gill: "You are genuinely remorseful. You have bettered yourself in prison."
Read the full story here
Anthony Rodriguez-Taylor, three years and seven months
A member of a gang of car thieves who stole an estimated £500,000 of high value vehicles around Bristol was jailed.
Anthony Rodriguez-Taylor was identified committing break-ins both by DNA and distinctive clothing. Bristol Crown Court heard in one raid a stolen Mini Cooper was used to smash into a garage and the gang also used blow torches and jemmies to force entry.
Rodriguez-Taylor, 22, of Sea Mills, pleaded guilty to three burglaries, an attempted burglary, theft, a non-dwelling burglary and aggravated vehicle taking. He asked for 27 similar offences to be considered.
Judge Mark Horton jailed him for three years and seven months.
Read the full story here
Wayne Swinford, 16-year extended sentence
A brave student resisted an attempt by her drug-addled neighbour to rob her at knifepoint.
Wayne Swinford greeted the 20-year-old Bristol University student when she returned home to her flat in Brigstocke Road, St Pauls. After asking her for cigarette papers he followed her inside her flat, armed with a blade, and demanded: "Where's your purse, where's your money?"
The plucky complainant suggested they go to a cashpoint, hoping she could raise the alarm. And in the street, after he said she could get him £50, she backed away, told him to leave her alone and Swinford told her: "Let's just leave it then."
Swinford, 38, of Brigstocke Road, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery on March 27. He appeared for sentence at Bristol Crown Court today. (May 25, 2022)
Judge Julian Lambert handed him a 16-year extended sentence. That comprises of 12 years' custody and four years' extended licence.
Read the full story here
Lewis Campbell, three years and three months
A complaint about a dog led to the discovery of a cannabis grow in Montpelier.
Housing association staff visited the flat in Sussex Place after a report that the pet bit someone at the property. Staff discovered Lewis Campbell had sub-let it from the tenant and was growing cannabis behind a false wall.
Police called in found Campbell in a car nearby with more drugs. Campbell, 39, of Boiling Wells Lane in Bristol, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis as well as possessing with intent to supply cannabis flowering head, cannabis resin, amphetamine and MDMA.
The recorder Mr Richard Smith QC jailed him for three years and three months.
Read the full story here
Paul Scriven, 204 days
When Paul Scriven met some women in need instead of helping them he hit them, a court heard.
Scriven was out with mates when they encountered some worse for wear females outside the Za Za Bazaar venue at just gone 2am. Though his pals tried to assist as the women helped a fallen friend, Scriven verbally abused the women - and hit three of them.
The 21-year-old, of Twinnell House in Easton, pleaded guilty to three charges of battery after the assaults on April 16. He also admitted breaching a suspended sentence imposed a month earlier for burglary and theft.
Judge Michael Longman jailed him for 204 days. He told Scriven: "These were unattractive offences of violence which were completely unnecessary."
Read the full story here
Steven Strange, 18 months
A convicted child rapist who formed an acquaintance with a vulnerable 14-year-old girl was jailed.
Steven Strange was banned from contact with children aged under-16 under the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). But he met the girl on Horfield Common, gave her his mobile number and they went on several walks together, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Strange, 34, of Jacobs Wells Road in Bristol, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the SHPO. He also admitted failing to notify his whereabouts under sex offender notification.
The recorder Mr Richard Smith QC jailed him for 18 months. He told Strange: "You have a history of sex offending and non-compliance."
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Matthew O'Neill, five years
A chef from Horfield who admitted disorder at a KIll The Bill Protest in Bristol last year was jailed.
Matthew O'Neill admitted attacking police, bashing at the windows of Bridewell Police Station and fuelling a fire which was started in the wheel arch of an unoccupied police van. He told Bristol Crown Court: "You must understand it's better to hit something than to hurt people."
O'Neill, 31,of Browning Court, pleaded guilty to riot and arson. Jailing him for five years, Judge James Patrick told him: "The police are all public servants who are human beings. What has been done to them dehumanises them. You admit you went overboard."
Read the full story here
Callum Davies, two-and-a-half years
Video footage taken at last year's riot in Bristol shows a 24-year-old man throwing missiles at police officers and using a road barrier to threaten them.
Callum Davies, of Winterbourne, was jailed (May 19) for two-and-a-half years after being convicted of violent disorder following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
He is the 20th person to be convicted of offences at last year's Kill the Bill riots, and 16 of those people have been jailed. Avon and Somerset Police now has released footage of Davies taken on the night.
He pleaded not guilty to committing an offence at the riot on March 21 outside Bridewell Police Station, but was convicted by a jury. The court heard how Davies used a road barrier to threaten officers, before throwing missiles and kicking out at them.
Read the full story here
Youth, 16, three years detention
A teenager armed with a large hunting blade chased a youth through Millennium Square and stabbed him right through the leg.
The knifeman, aged 15 at the time, had earlier shoved his victim through the glass door of restaurant Za Za Baazar. He then chased the 16-year-old victim through the packed square and plunged the blade through his leg in front of shocked onlookers.
The defendant, now aged 16 and from Bristol, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a knife on April 21 last year. He appeared for sentence before Bristol Crown Court. (May 17, 2022)
Judge Julian Lambert handed him three years detention.
Read the full story here
Haithum Alsuliman, eight years
"You are a liar. Your are a rapist"
These were the words a judge used to a man who claimed he was the victim after he submitted a Bristol teenager to a terrifying sexual assault. Though he denies wrongdoing, Haithum Alsuliman was not believed and a jury convicted him.
The 35-year-old, of Nags Hill Head in St George, was found guilty of rape following the attack early last year. He was produced for sentence at Bristol Crown Court. (May 16, 2022)
The recorder Mr Millard jailed him for eight years.
Read the full story here
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Gabriel Maroty, two years and 10 months
"I want your bag, I want your coat or I'll stab you in the stomach."
These were the chilling words used by a Southmead man as he robbed a 15-year-old in the city centre of his coat, bag and cash. Police quickly identified Gabriel Maroty as the perpetrator.
Maroty, 20, of KIngswood Crescent, pleaded guilty to robbery and possessing a Rambo-style knife. He appeared at Bristol Crown Court for sentence. (May 13, 2022)
The recorder Mr James Bromige handed him for two years and 10 months' custody.
Read the full story here
Raymond Ellis, five years
It took 35 years - but DNA technology finally put a sex attacker behind bars.
Raymond Ellis targeted a lone 17-year-old girl walking home after a night out in Sheffield, Bristol Crown Court heard. After a chase in which she lost a stiletto heel he struck her in the face with her shoe before taking her to a grass bank, removing her underwear and forcing her to commit a sex act on him.
Ellis then left her tied up with her underwear and fled, probably thinking he had got clean away. But three decades later a review of the case focused on semen recovered on the victim's jacket, DNA recovered matched Ellis and he was arrested in August 2019.
Ellis, 63, of William Street in Bristol, pleaded guilty to indecent assault, carrying a maximum 10 years at the time it was committed in 1987. The court heard that, today, the attack would have been charged as rape carrying a maximum of life imprisonment.
The recorder Mr James Bromige jailed him for five years.
Read the full story here
Lee and Scott McCarthy, four years and three months and five years
Cousins who robbed the same Bristol Co-op seven days apart were jailed.
Lee and Scott McCarthy were armed when they plundered cigarettes and tobacco from the shop in Wyatts View, St Annes, in March. On both occasions they made their escape in a stolen car bearing false number plates.
Lee McCarthy, 39, of Hill View Avenue in Clevedon and Scott McCarthy, 40, of Long Cross in Lawrence Weston, both pleaded guilty to two robberies. They appeared before Bristol Crown Court for sentence. (May 12, 2022)
The recorder Mr James Bromige jailed Lee for four years and three months. He jailed Scott for five years, which included activation of eight months' prison which was previously suspended.
Read the full story here
Jake Matthews, six-and-a-half years
A former drummer convicted of having sex with a sleeping woman was jailed.
Jake Matthews, who used to play with Bristol band Montrose, denied wrongdoing after the historical allegation was made. But a jury convicted him of rape in a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Matthews, 26, of Glena Avenue in Knowle, appeared for sentence. (May 12, 2022). Judge David Evans sent to prison for six-and-a-half years.
The judge told him: "She said she was tired. She fell asleep with you beside her in bed and she had no worries about that.
"It seems you had been hoping for sex. Rather than waiting until she woke you decided to take the sexual gratification you had been hoping for."
Read the full story here
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