From a cyber hacker, a murderer who killed his partner, to a terrifying attack with a beer bottle on a disabled man, these are just some of the cases heard in court at the start of the New Year.
January also saw two armed robbers brought to justice for a terrifying attack on a lone man in his home.
And one offender went to jail after he was linked to an international drugs ring which posted large and valuable amounts of cannabis and cocaine to addresses connect to him to flood the streets of Nottingham.
Thirteen criminals are featured here who are now in jail.
Raiders stab brave homeowner
Two armed robbers smashed their way into a man's home and repeatedly knifed him before fleeing on a motocross bike and crashing.
Victim Warren Whaley had been asleep at his home when he was woken by a security light as determined raiders forced their way in through the back door in the early hours of December 3, 2020.
Robbers Tristan Fretwell, 25, of Haydn Road, Sherwood, and Connor Edgar, 20, of Ryton Square, Aspley, stabbed Mr Whaley and fled on a motocross bike before Edgar, who was driving, hit a Post Office van.
Both men went on to plead guilty at court.
Fretwell was jailed for six years and nine months for robbery and 26 months concurrently for wounding. He will serve half the sentence and remain on licence for the remainder.
Edgar was handed 32 months in custody for the robbery, six months concurrently for wounding and eight months concurrently for dangerous driving. He was banned from driving for 12 months after his release.
Beer bottle attack on disabled man
John Kemp, 35, of no fixed address, was sent to prison for three and a half years for wounding with intent after he attacked his uncle, who has learning difficulties, with beer bottles on the evening of March 30, 2021.
Mr Kemp, 35, was drinking alcohol with his uncle and father at a property before an argument over relatives owing each other money escalated, Nottingham Crown Court heard on January 24.
Kemp, previously of Emmanuel House on Goose Gate, Nottingham. was handed a ten-year restraining order to protect the victim.
Firefighter attacked with metal bar
Reuben Woolley was jailed for three-and-a-half-years after setting fire to his flat and hitting an emergency worker with a metal bar.
Woolley, 38, of Helston Drive, Bilborough, started the blaze on Sunday, December 20, 2020.
After firefighters went inside, he struck one across his helmet with the metal bar, sending the firefighter to the ground.
He bravely got up, but Woolley delivered another blow.
Fire crews managed to contain and put out the fire.
At the Bridewell Custody suite, Woolley also spat at two detention officers.
He appeared at Nottingham Crown Court and was sentenced for arson, causing actual bodily harm and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
Nottingham man who allowed homes to be used in international drugs ring
Orvil Brown was linked to an international drugs ring which posted large and valuable amounts of cannabis and cocaine to flood the streets of Nottingham.
He was jailed for five years on Wednesday, January 5, after a court heard the drugs were sent to addresses linked to him but in fake names and hidden inside parcels of shot glasses, ashtrays and clothing.
His picture was released by Nottinghamshire Police on Thursday, January 6, alongside a photograph of how some of the drugs were hidden inside their illicit cargo destined for the city.
Brown, 54, of Pine View, Radford, pleaded guilty to conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of cocaine and cannabis.
Robber jailed for seven years
Joanne Duke, of Wingbourne Walk, Bulwell, coaxed her way into an 81-year-old’s home before threatening him with a knife.
Duke befriended the pensioner by talking to him as he sold items outside his flat.
Two weeks later, when she asked to use his toilet, the 45-year-old stole £250 in cash from his living room and threatened him with the knife.
Duke pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday, January 4, and was jailed for seven years.
Man drove armed gang to attack on house
Edmund Mackwar was part of an armed gang that raided a house where cannabis was being grown and attacked the occupant.
Mackwar, 31, of Court Wood Lane, Croydon, was the last of the group to be sentenced. He received six years and seven months at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday, January 4, after previously pleading guilty to aggravated burglary.
He was part of a gang of ten who all pleaded guilty to the same charge after they travelled from London in the early hours of the morning of May 20, 2020, to an address on Myrtle Way in Forest Fields.
The trip to the city was planned with the purpose of entering the property, dealing with who was inside and removing the cannabis and loading it into a VW van and taking it to London.
Mackwar hired and drove the VW van.
Footage was released where they could be seen to smash through the front door of a house.
Cyber hacker jailed
Software engineer Robert Davies was jailed after hacking files of people he knew and complete strangers and using a fake name on Skype accounts.
Davies, 32, of Byron Close, Colwick, was sentenced to 26 months in prison and must sign the sex offenders’ register, be subject to a 10-year restraining order and a sexual harm prevention order.
He pleaded guilty to 24 Computer Misuse Act offences, voyeurism, three counts of possessing indecent images of children, making indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornographic images.
Jailed after shotgun fired at rival gang
Jamal Roberts was in a stolen Volkswagen Golf with other men when one of the others fired a shotgun at another car in Roundwood Road.
At the time, local residents reported hearing a "really loud bang" in the Roundwood Road and Oxborough Road area.
The shooting was among a series of linked tit-for-tat shootings involving two rival gangs in 2019.
Roberts, 23, formerly of Hyson Green, was later arrested along with two other men on June 25, 2019.
Roberts pleaded guilty to a charge of jointly possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence – on the basis that he was in the car at the time the gun was fired and that he helped the other men still in the car to try to get away from the area.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, January 21, Roberts was jailed for seven years.
Ex-doorman jailed for life for murder
After a trial, Matthew Farmer was convicted of the murder of Stacey Clay after he stabbed her repeatedly and tried to strangle her.
Miss Clay, 39, died of her injuries on June 2 last year following the attack in the back garden of her home in Andover Road, Bestwood.
Farmer, of Logan Street, Bulwell, who denied murder, was sentenced in his absence after he is understood to have taken an overdose. His minimum term to serve before parole was set at 29 years of a life term.
Driver found with drugs after high-speed chase
Alistair Cantrill admitted to officers he had "a load of drugs" in the back of his car after being arrested following a 100mph pursuit across the A38 on August 28, 2018.
When the now 23-year-old, of Huthwaite Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield man, was pulled over he told police: “I am going to be honest with you, Sir, there’s a load of drugs in the back of the car.”
Cantrill pleaded guilty to counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply and two counts of possessing Class B drugs with intent to supply.
He had previously pleaded guilty to offences of dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance at a hearing in September 2020.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, January 6, he was jailed for three years.
Burglar claimed he had 'found car' when caught in stolen vehicle
A burglar was jailed for stealing two vehicles in Wollaton after previously insisting he had “just found a car” when he was stopped by police whilst driving one of them.
Marley Blair was sentenced to three-and-a-half-years in prison after admitting to stealing two Mini Coopers during a night-time burglary in Middleton Boulevard, Wollaton.
Following an investigation by Nottinghamshire Police, Blair, 39, of Duke Street, New Basford, pleaded guilty to the burglary and theft of the two cars when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, January 12.
Jail for man who stole priceless war medals during crime spree
Darren Spencer, of Manor Crescent, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, broke into two different places stealing not only money, a till and binoculars but also priceless war medals after smashing into a house in Cowpasture Lane, Sutton-in-Ashfield on 7 July 2021.
Spencer, 44, was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to two charges of burglary.
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