CPS News Brief

Teenager sentenced for Derby knife murder

A 16-year-old has been sentenced to 14 years in custody for the murder of 22-year-old Tom Webb, who was stabbed to death in the centre of Derby in January 2016.

Haris Mohammed stabbed Mr Webb after an argument triggered by a passing comment alleged to have been made by one of Mr Webb’s friends. During the argument, Mohammed produced a butterfly knife he was carrying and stabbed Mr Webb in the chest.

He was prosecuted for murder, found guilty by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court and today sentenced to life in custody, with a minimum term of 14 years.

Karen Thompson, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East Midlands said:

“Tom Webb’s murder was a completely senseless and tragic waste of a young life. There was no need for Haris Mohammed to be carrying a knife, there was no need for any kind of confrontation, and there was certainly no need to use the knife on Mr Webb.

“These were all choices made by Haris Mohammed. He claimed that he had acted in self-defence, but the prosecution’s case was that he was the aggressor.

“My heartfelt sympathies are with Tom’s family and friends. They have had to endure a terrible loss and I hope that the conclusion of this case will enable them to start to rebuild their lives.”

Background:

Tom Webb was killed on 19 January 2016. He was walking through the centre of Derby with two friends when one of them was heard to say that a girl with another group was ‘fit’. The four boys in that group went to fetch their friends, including Mohammed, from the nearby McDonalds to follow and confront Mr Webb and his friends.

During the argument, Mohammed produced the knife and threatened Mr Webb with it. Mr Webb said to him that he (Mohammed) would not use the knife and would not stab him. Mohammed then stabbed Mr Webb in the chest and ran.

Five other young people are charged with violent disorder for their part in the argument. Proceedings against these individuals are still active.

Cybercriminal “Sir King Cash” ordered to pay back over half a million pounds

Fraudster Sean Benson, who went by the screen name “Sir King Cash”, has been ordered to pay back £554,000 by a judge at Southwark Crown Court. Benson now has 3 months in which to pay back the money or face a further 5 years in jail. All of the money will be paid back to the victims of the fraud.

Benson bought stolen bank card details from Russian hackers and used them to buy music from his own struggling online business over the course of a year. 

He and his partner spent the money on a lavish lifestyle, including £40,000 on their wedding and a honeymoon in Hawaii. The two were found guilty of fraud and money laundering in July 2015 and Benson was given a 7 year prison sentence.

Anthony Hill, Specialist Prosecutor with the CPS International Justice and Organised Crime Division said: “Criminals need to understand that we do not stop at conviction. If you are a criminal trying to benefit financially from the misery of others, we will go after your ill-gotten gains and return it to the victims. 

“It’s important to cut off this flow of cash, not only so criminals don’t benefit from their illegal activity, but also that their money may not be used to fund further crime.”

Notes to Editors

A Confiscation Order was made in the sum of £554,000. Benson has 3 months to pay and the default sentence for non-payment is 5 years imprisonment.

A Deprivation Order was made in respect of 3 computers and a phone used to commit the crime. 

A Serious Crime Prevention Order was made for a period of 5 years from release from prison.

Jail for men who conspired to illegally bring 18 Albanians into the UK

Two men have been sentenced to a total of nine years for conspiring to bring 18 Albanians illegally into the UK.

Robert Stilwell and Mark Stribling had both pleaded guilty to conspiring to assist illegal immigration at a previous hearing at Maidstone Crown Court. Stilwell was sentenced to four years and four months, while Stribling was sentenced to four years and eight months.

To bring the migrants ashore safely, local lifeboats had to be launched in the early hours of 29 May 2016, supported by Border Force Cutter Valiant and a search and rescue helicopter. The defendants had originally claimed they had rescued the group on their rigid hulled inflatable boat. The rescue took around one and a half hours in difficult conditions, with a mid to rough sea swell and moderate to poor visibility. One woman needed medical treatment, after showing signs of hypothermia.

Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS South East Kris Venkatasami said:

“This was an appalling case where the two defendants tried to bring this group of vulnerable migrants into the UK ashore illegally. Those on the boat had paid 6,000 Euros each to make the trip, which nearly cost them their lives. Not long after leaving France, the battery appears to have failed on the boat and water started flooding in, leaving those on board to frantically try to bail it out as fast as they could.

“Had it not been for the Border Force Cutter Valiant and the local lifeboats, we may well have seen a tragedy just off the British coastline, especially as the only people in the boat wearing life jackets were the defendants. They had deliberately planned to illegally bring people into the UK for their own financial gain and wilfully put the lives of those people at risk.”