Murderer, stalker, thugs and robbers among the North Wales criminals jailed in May

Offenders jailed for most serious offences by judges in North Wales

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A murderer who brutally killed his former friend is among the people jailed in North Wales last month. A man who turned up outside a Rhyl bar with a and a bungling robber caught after leaving his DNA at a crime scene also feature in our latest rogue's gallery.

The list of individuals locked up in May 2023 for crimes committed across the region is made up exclusively of men. Judges felt their offences were so serious they deserved to spend time behind bars.

Other individuals to have made the list include a jealous ex-lover who stalked his former partner to the point that she had to move into a tent to feel safe. The court hearings of a man who cut off part of a carer's earlobe and thugs who hugged and high-fived after knocking a defenceless man out cold are also featured.

Read more: Man left permanently scarred after chaotic attack in Welsh kebab shop

All the individuals featured are now serving time behind bars. Here is a summary of the cases dealt with in North Wales' courts last month.

A man was left partly-blinded in one eye after being punched by a jealous love rival. Thomas Lloyd's vision was so badly damaged he had to have a titanium plate and screws fitted in his face as his eye socket was reconstructed.

His attacker Robert Ditu, 25, had been in a relationship with a woman called Angel Ward but when she ended it, he stalked her and assaulted her new friend Mr Lloyd when he saw him in the street.

Ditu, of Chester Road East, Shotton, a former business student, admitted stalking Ms Ward and wounding Mr Lloyd, causing him grievous bodily harm (GBH). A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed Ditu for 16 months for causing GBH and eight months for stalking, to run consecutively, making a total of two years.

A man was left in a coma for more than two weeks after a thug punched him at a family pub. Benjamin Parsonage was knocked unconscious in the attack.

Defendant Andrew Aldred, 35, who armed himself with a scaffolding pole, was said to have been provoked, but a judge told him he could have killed Mr Parsonage. The victim suffered brain injuries, and multiple fractures in his skull and ankle.

Aldred was jailed for two years for affray. He will serve half that term, less the ten months he has been on remand. Once released he will be on licence for a year.

An inmate bit a prison officer's cheek and assaulted two other guards during an incident at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham. Michael Cullen is already serving a 15-year jail term for wounding.

Caernarfon Crown Court said it was believed he had touched a prison officer's back and when she told him not to he denied it and turned violent. The 37-year-old pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm on a male officer - an emergency worker - and two counts of assaulting two other officers - both also emergency workers.

A judge heard Cullen had already had earnings, gym access and privileges withdrawn for a total of 70 days so she reduced his sentence to eight months imprisonment to run on top of his existing jail term.

A pair of violent men ganged up on a defenceless man and left him knocked out cold as they hugged and high-fived, a court heard.

The unknown victim was assaulted by Jordan Cross, 28 of Llys Onnen, and Rob Rawlinson, 29, of Isfryn in Old Colwyn along with two other unidentified men in September 2022, outside Station Road in Colwyn Bay.

The police were alerted to the fact that four men had ganged up on the one victim. He was pushed to the ground before being punched, kicked and stamped into unconsciousness, Mold Crown Court heard.

A violent thug, locked up for brutalising his former partner, was back behind bars after he admitted harassment and breaching a court order not to contact her.

Winstanley, 31, of Alderwood Avenue in Liverpool, was made subject to a year-long restraining order when he was locked up for kicking and stamping on the face of partner Brittany Gannon, from Greenfield, Flintshire.

Despite the order remaining in place, Winstanley breached it by sending letters to Ms Gannon whilst he was behind bars. The court heard that, once the relationship began again in January 2023, he would binge on alcohol and drugs and become violent again.

A man was ordered to leave a bar but came back with a knife. It took three door staff to wrestle Florin Ursu to the ground who then spat in one doorman's mouth.

Police were called and the 29-year-old was arrested, Caernarfon Crown Court heard. A judge said carrying knives causes people great concern and the doorman had feared he could catch something from the saliva in the "disgusting" incident in Rhyl in April.

Ursu, of East Parade, Rhyl, pleaded guilty to possessing the knife in Water Street, Rhyl, and was jailed for 12 months. He also admitted to battery on Connor Poole but there was no separate penalty for that offence.

A man who attacked the mother of his children for months has been branded a "danger to women" by her. Stephen Roberts, of Craig-y-Don in Llandudno, admitted to engaging in controlling/coercive behaviour against Rebecca Williams.

The 31-year-old, who refused to leave his prison cell for sentencing, failed to attend his trial in July and managed to avoid the police for nearly seven months. He has also since missed two previous sentencing hearings.

Prosecutor Dafydd Roberts said the drawing-out of the court process by the defendant amounted to "a final attempt to control his former partner".

A woman woke up in the middle of the night to find a burglar staring at her. Wayne Williams, previously of Beach Road in Bangor, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court where he admitted burglary with intent to steal.

Prosecuting, Sion ap Mihangel, said he targeted an address on Edmond Street in the city on April 5. The court heard a young woman lived in a bottom floor flat and had left the window ajar due to warm weather.

She closed the curtains and went to bed at around midnight, said Mr ap Mihangel. She woke up in the early hours of the morning "by the sound of heavy breathing".

A mental health patient threatened to behead his former partner and cut off her limbs after she told him he would no longer have contact with their child. Cieran Turner, 24, admitted making threats to kill.

A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for a year. Prosecutor Robert Edwards said Turner had been a voluntary inpatient at the Hergest Unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor on April 1 this year following concerns he would harm himself.

But on April 3 he received a phone call from his former partner telling him she would no longer allow him contact with their child. Soon afterwards he told someone in the unit he was having thoughts about "beheading" his partner and "cutting off her limbs".

A grieving mum broke down in court as her son's killer was jailed for a minimum of 22 years. A judge described the stabbing to death of Steven Wilkinson, 23, as "terrifying and needless".

A jury at Mold Crown Court found Jamie Scott Mitchell, 25, of Lexham Green Close in Buckley, guilty of the murder in Buckley.

The judge branded him a "dangerous individual" and gave him a life sentence. He warned him he may serve more than 22 years if deemed unfit for release in 2045.

A man stabbed his stepfather and a carer over a "something and nothing" comment. The woman had told Charles Pears, who has autism, not to disrespect her but he went into a "blind rage".

The 27-year-old picked up a large knife and cut off part of her ear lobe. When his stepfather intervened, Pears stabbed him three times in the stomach and once on the arm.

He had to have a blood transfusion and surgery for a perforated bowel following the incident in Newtown on November 23. He survived and stands by his stepson.

A man with paranoid schizophrenia attacked a woman's pensioner husband as he was being driven along the A55. Daniel Lewis, 29, who was once rescued from the English Channel by a passing ship, rained punches down on the 75-year-old.

The pensioner pulled the handbrake of the car, being driven by his wife, and fled the vehicle only for Lewis to continue to punch and kick him on the expressway.

Lewis, of Peatwood Avenue, Kirkby, Merseyside, had befriended the victim's wife when they were both inpatients at the Heddfan psychiatric unit at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

A robber who forced a man in a North Wales pub to open a safe and tied him up was caught after his DNA was found on cables ties. Warren Jennings went on to rob another man in a similar raid the following month and is serving eight years and four months for that offence.

A judge condemned the 36-year-old's "robbing ways" and added two and a half years in jail to that sentence.

The court heard that Jennings, of no fixed address, had struck at The Railway pub in Denbigh in September 2021 with three accomplices who are still at large. The later robbery in October that year was in Flintshire.

A road rage drug driver accused of attacking another motorist after being annoyed by his driving had "dual standards," a judge said.

Wayne Parry, 36, unemployed, of Llwyn Onn, Rhos on Sea, was jailed for six months and banned for 45 months at Llandudno magistrates court.

Prosecutor Alys Haf said Parry had tailgated his victim who’d left the A55 at Penmaenmawr and then punched him when he stopped his car. The victim's daughter had been crying.

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