Yorkshire courts: Veteran jailed for gun smuggling and driver cleared of dangerous driving after boy's death

An Afghanistan war veteran has been jailed for nine years and ten months after attempting to smuggle illegal firearm kits from the United States to the UK.

Wade Priestley, 34, tried to import Polymer 80 handgun kits - legal in the US but prohibited in Britain - by travelling to America and mailing the kits back to the UK.

Prosecutors revealed that Priestley had “glamourised” his illegal enterprise by creating promotional videos set to music to attract potential buyers for the dangerous weapons.

In a separate case, six people have been sentenced for their involvement in a large-scale disorder that saw bottles, bricks, and fireworks hurled at police officers.

The chaos unfolded during a violent incident earlier this year. Andrew Allison, 18, of Firbank Grove, Halton Moor, William Njie, 18, of Potternewton Crescent, Leeds, and Taylor Bulloch, 20, of Shelley Crescent, Oulton, were all convicted of violent disorder and are due to be sentenced on November 8.

Meanwhile, a driver who struck and killed a 12-year-old boy on the M62 in West Yorkshire has been cleared of dangerous driving.

Shahid Ilyas, 48, was driving a black Toyota when he hit Callum Rycroft, who had run across the motorway on August 5 last year.

Although prosecutors argued that Ilyas had driven dangerously after the collision by failing to stop despite the severe damage to his windscreen, a jury at Bradford Crown Court acquitted him of the charge on Friday, October 11, after just over an hour of deliberations.

In Teesside, 25-year-old Trenton Marlowe of Overdale Road, Middlesbrough, was sentenced to nearly ten years in prison for the manslaughter of a 52-year-old man.

The unprovoked attack took place on January 22, 2024, resulting in the victim’s death. Marlowe was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court to nine years and 11 months in prison, along with a five-year extended licence.

Former Doncaster police officer Stuart Trentham, 40, has admitted to sending inappropriate and sexualised messages to a vulnerable victim of crime.

Trentham, who resigned from the force, faced a misconduct hearing where it was determined that he would have been dismissed without notice had he not already stepped down.

He has been bailed until his sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday, January 6.

In another case, a Yorkshire child sex offender has been jailed after an NSPCC tip-off led to his conviction.

Darren Hinson, 55, was found guilty of 16 counts of sexual abuse against two girls, whom he had abused when they were aged between 4 and 10 years old.

Hinson’s crimes, which spanned several years, were brought to light after detectives from Cleveland Police’s Child Abuse Vulnerability and Exploitation (CAVA) team contacted the victims, who confirmed the abuse.

Hinson was sentenced to 22 years in prison at Teesside Crown Court on August 16, 2024.

Lastly, An ex-football coach and former Doncaster teacher who sexually abused two boys over the course of a decade has been jailed.

John Staveley, 55, of Hale Hill Lane, Doncaster, sexually abused two boys, with his offending taking place over the course of a decade from the late 1990s.

The 55-year-old was found guilty of nine counts of gross indecency with a boy under 14 years of age, two counts of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 16 and one count of causing or inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

On Friday (Sept 27), Staveley was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years, at Sheffield Crown Court.