- who would sell FAKE METAL DETECTORS for finding buried land mines "for up to £40,000 each and sold more than 6,000 in Iraq alone" - this ex-cop, that's who - as if his police pension wasn't enough [paid by the taxpayer] - SEE the full appalling story below =
Crooks locked up in April for crimes including murder, rape, fraud and theft
Sentences ranged from 14 weeks to life in prison
Here is a roundup of criminals jailed in April.
Child sexual abuse images - three years
A Tintinhull man who downloaded hundreds of indecent images of children - including babies being seriously sexually abused - has been jailed for three years.
George Scott Tweedie - a former Chief Petty Officer in the Navy - committed the offences over a nine month period and was found to have been accessing a large number of photographs and movies spanning all three categories of seriousness - some showing images of babies and toddlers.
The 57-year-old defendant, of Church Street, appeared in the dock before Judge David Ticehurst at Taunton Crown Court.
Sentencing, Judge David Ticehurst said: "One of your children has just had a son. How would you feel if that little boy appeared in one of the videos that turned you on? His life would be destroyed. He would be psychologically damaged.
"The images you were viewing were horrific. To think that adults could do that to another human being - to a child - is beyond comprehension. And not content with just looking at those images and videos, you chose to share them with other like-minded individuals."
The judge handed down a combined sentence of three years in prison, and ordered the computer equipment be forfeit. He also made Tweedie the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and he will be on the sex offender's register for the rest of his life.
Fraud - jail term extended for refusing to pay back proceeds
A Somerset conman and former policeman has been given 842 days longer in prison for failing to forfeit cash and assets worth nearly £8million.
James McCormick, 62, of Langport , was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of three counts of fraud following a trial in 2013. He had a business selling fake detectors for up to £40,000 and sold more than 6,000 in Iraq alone.
A judge later ordered McCormick to pay back £7,944,834.70 following confiscation proceedings.
This included £4 million from the sale of a house in The Circus in Bath, an £88,000 parking spot, a luxury villa in Cyprus, a £345,000 motorcruiser as well as a family home in Somerset, which he jointly owned with his wife.
McCormick, who was due to be released from HMP Dartmoor, appeared at North Somerset Magistrates Court via video link where he refused to meet a £1.8million shortfall.
At the hearing, the court stated that McCormick benefited to the sum of £21,354,169.79 from his fraudulent offending. Assets including property in Somerset, vehicles, a luxury yacht and a flat in Bath have been seized, as well as £4,421,813.03 held in bank accounts.
A total of nearly £2.6million in compensation has been handed over to countries affected by the fraud, including Bahrain, Republic of Georgia, Republic of Iraq and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Animal welfare - 18 weeks
A woman has been jailed for 18 weeks and banned from keeping horses for life after leaving two horses to suffer with horrendous untreated injuries.
*** WARNING - The photos in this part of the article show graphic images of the horses' injuries ***
Highbridge resident, Lynda Spalding, appeared before Weston-super-Mare Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (April 26) where she was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to three charges under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
RSPCA officers responded after concerns were raised for their welfare and discovered two horses owned by the 56-year-old had suffered deep wounds to their forelimbs.
Ms Spalding pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to two horses and failing to provide veterinary care for the animals.
She was also in breach of a five-year disqualification order which banned Ms Spalding from owning horses until 2019.
Theft - 14 weeks
A man who built on his previous convictions for theft by stealing hundreds of pounds worth of Lego and other items has been jailed for 14 weeks after breaching a suspended prison sentence .
Lewis Robert Webb was caught legging it out of the Street Sainsbury's store with his arms filled with bags of stolen goods.
When CCTV at the store was checked they discovered the defendant had committed a similar offence at the store the previous week where more Lego was taken.
Webb, 31, living care/of an address in St Stephens Street, Bristol, failed to turn up for a previous hearing before Somerset Magistrates so was brought before the court in Yeovil after being arrested on a warrant.
He pleaded guilty to stealing packs of Lego , electric razors and electric toothbrushes belonging to Sainsbury's at Street on April 3.
He also admitted the theft of packs of Lego of an unknown value from the same supermarket on March 29.
Theft - two and a half years
A woman who admitted syphoning off £122,500 of her partner's cash has been jailed for two and a half years by a judge.
Amanda Wood, 55, from Wiveliscombe Road, Preston Bowyer, near Milverton appeared before Judge David Ticehurst at Taunton Crown Court on Wednesday after admitting a charge of theft which took place between April 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016.
After the relationship broke down and the victim moved out, she discovered the home had belonged to someone else, and that Wood had spent all the money on two campervans and other items.
Judge Ticehurst sentenced Wood to two and a half years in prison and warned her she is also facing a Proceeds of Crime hearing to try and claw back some of her ill-gotten gains.
A pensioner from Sherborne who sexually abused six young boys while working as a boarding school housemaster has been jailed.
Sexual abuse - 6 years, 7 months
82-year-old Roy Griffiths taught at now-defunct Lincoln Cathedral School in the 1960s.
Although he had denied committing any offences throughout the police investigation, Griffiths admitted the charges which dated between January 1963 and July 1970 during a previous hearing.
He was sentenced to six years and seven months.
Drink driving - 18 weeks
A disqualified driver who was caught committing two drink driving related offences in Chard, one where he was nearly four times over the limit, has been jailed for 18 weeks and given a 46 month ban.
Dariusz Stefankiewicz was already subject to a suspended prison sentence for two previous drink drive offences last year when he was found by police sat in the driver’s seat of a car with the lights on and the keys in the ignition.
He then failed to show up for his court hearing and was arrested by police after being caught driving a car while uninsured after he had been boozing again.
When he was questioned by officers he replied: “What can I say? I need to pay for what I’ve done”.
Rape - 24 years
A paedophile who raped two girls, one of whom was as young as six, has been jailed for 24 years.
Lee Gantley, of Sadler Street in Wells, carried out the horrific assaults on his victims during the 1980s.
Gantley was convicted of three counts of rape against a girl between the ages of six and eight, and two further counts of rape against another girl aged between eight and 11 following a trial at Hove Crown Court.
The 46-year-old was also convicted of six counts of indecent assault and further charges of gross indecency and false imprisonment.
Driving offences - 6 months
A teenager who sent a motorcyclist flying 10 metres in a crash at a car park has been sentenced.
Peter Long Quach, 19, of Yeovil, admitted causing a collision in Sherborne that left a teenager with a serious leg injury after he was impaled on his own motorbike.
On August 21 2017, the rider of a motorbike, a 17-year-old provisional licence holder, had entered the car park on Ludbourne Road and was driving through it when a Volkswagen emerged from a lane to the left and collided with the nearside of the motorcycle.
Quach was sentenced to six months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution when he appeared before Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, April 6. He was also disqualified from driving for 15 months.
Murder - life sentence
A man who murdered his wife and left their two young sons to find her body has been jailed for life.
Andrew Tavener repeatedly stabbed his wife, Claire, in a vicious assault at their Nailsea home sometime overnight between Sunday, 7 January and Monday, 8 January.
The 45-year-old then fled his Brendon Gardens address and attempted to take his own life by lying in front of a train.
The couple’s two young sons were left to discover their mother fatally injured before the eldest called the police.
