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14 Devon criminals given the toughest prison sentences so far in 2023
Some offences are so serious that justice demands a long prison sentence. Exeter Crown Court reserves its toughest sentences for serious sexual crimes and murder.
So far in 2023 there have been no murder trials – though four are planned for later in the year. That means most of the criminals in this list have been convicted of sexual offences, often involving children.
All the people in the list below share the same fate – at least six years in jail. They include a nasty street robber, drug dealers and rapists. Perhaps surprising is the absence of violent offenders convicted of inflicting serious physical injuries.
Here DevonLive looks back at the court cases which have led to the longest sentences handed out at Exeter Crown Court in 2023.
A violent street robber grabbed a stranger and threatened to rape her unless she handed over her belongings. Benjamin Grossman put the terrified woman in a headlock and threw her to the ground before snatching her £500 iPhone and Apple watch.
He told her: “Give me your things or I’ll rape you.” The drug addict ran off with her belongings and later sold the expensive smart watch to a woman at a cashpoint machine for £20.
The woman told police she thought she was going to die during the incident. She still suffers flashbacks of the man standing over her demanding she hand over the items.
The 37-year-old, who has a long criminal record, admitted robbery and was jailed for six years and eight months. The judge added an extra four years on licence because of the danger he poses to the public.
SIX YEARS AND EIGHT MONTHS
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A 30-year-old Cullompton man was jailed for his part in a huge drug conspiracy linking Liverpool and Devon. Dean Hooson was part of a gang arranging the supply of heroin and cocaine for sale on the streets of Devon.
His role was to run two graft phones advertising the sale of heroin and cocaine to users in the town. The lines, one known as Peter Andre, were used to send out dozens of messages.
Hooson was caught in a police investigation called Operation Harbinger that led to the arrest of 16 people and the seizure of heroin and cocaine. The probe found that Hooson was in contact with some members of the gang running similar drug lines in other parts of Devon.
A judge at Exeter Crown Court said Hoosen had a management function within the organised crime group and some awareness of the scale of the supply, although he was not a ringleader with much influence over others.
SEVEN YEARS
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An entrenched paedophile was caught by undercover police sending sick sexual videos to what he thought were 12-year-old girls. Daniel Keenor used encrypted chat sites to share movies of very young children being abused by adults.
The 46-year-old also suggested meeting up with the girls to have sex and give them drugs. What he did not know was that the ‘children’ were undercover police officers.
Cops went to his house in Paignton and arrested him. Keenor is a registered sex offender with a long history of similar offending.
Exeter Crown Court was told he had previously completed a sex offender programmes to change his deviant behaviour but it had not worked. He admitted 18 offences relating to the sharing and possession of indecent images and to attempting to engage children in sexual communication and activity.
Recorded Mathew Turner said he posed a risk of offending again. He jailed him for seven years and nine months and added an extra sentence of two years and nine months to be served on licence.
SEVEN YEARS AND NINE MONTHS
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A 24-year-old man from London was jailed for his part in a county lines drug operation linking London and Exeter. Martell Williams was part of a gang sending out bulk text messages to addicts offering the sale of heroin and cocaine.
He made a number of trips from the capital to Devon and Cornwall in 2018 to restock supplies and collect cash, Exeter Crown Court was told. He was caught after two other members of the gang were arrested in Exeter.
Williams was traced by police after the arrest of fellow drug supplier Shaun Roberts in Exeter in 2018. Roberts was part of a county lines gang operating from a house in Arena Park. Williams admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine between April 30, 2018 and June 15, 2018.
EIGHT YEARS
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A 26-year-old Exeter man was jailed for raping a 12-year-old boy. Christopher Houghton committed multiple sex assaults on the child and tried to buy his silence by offering gifts.
He also took indecent photos of his victim and shared them with another paedophile. The boy told his parents about what had happened and Houghton was arrested.
The defendant, of Brunswick Street, pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault against a child under 13, four charges of raping a child, and one each of making and distributing indecent images.
EIGHT YEARS
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A Devon man was jailed for a predatory sexual assault on two boys during a camping trip more than two decades ago. Philip Rendle, aged 60, provided the boys with booze before committing the offences.
He gained the trust of the boys’ families who felt their children were in safe hands. Rendle groomed the children, aged 13 and 14 at the time, by giving them money to play in amusement arcades and allowing them to drive his car.
He had a dark past that included a police caution for molesting a Boy Scout a decade earlier. Rendle, of Ashburton, was convicted of three offences of indecent assault, one by penetration.
NINE YEARS
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Gang leaders orchestrating a huge drug supply operation linking Devon and Liverpool used children to arrange deals and sell heroin and crack cocaine to addicts. In Exeter alone dealer lines were making around £2,000 a day from sales, police found.
Many of the young offenders had street dealer roles but sometimes their involvement went deeper and included directing operations and carrying weapons. Multiple arrests and drugs seizures were made during the investigation and in early February 2022,
A total of 16 defendants have appeared in court. Fourteen have now been sentenced.
Police said afterwards it was an ‘unusual case’ due to the number of young people who took on leading roles in the crimes.
JAMES O’REILLY 12 YEARS
ROBERT HADWIN SIX YEARS AND NINE MONTHS
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A 66-year-old Cullompton man was jailed for raping a child more than 20 years ago. Keith Barons, a retired housing association manager, gave the girl alcohol before subjecting her to a terrifying ordeal.
He was aged in his early 40s at the time and the child 12 or 13 years old, Exeter Crown Court was told. She lived with the trauma of what he did to her for years before going to the police in 2019.
When questioned Barons denied doing anything wrong and claimed she was making up the story. But just before the case was due to go to trial he confessed and now says he is ashamed and sorry for what he did.
13 YEARS
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A man from Bideford was jailed after being found guilty of raping two vulnerable girls in Devon. Michael Schofield, 33, from Bideford posed as a 17-year-old online in order to meet, groom, and abuse two girls, aged 15 and 16.
Schofield was charged with one count of rape, six counts of paying for the sexual services of a child, and three counts of offering to supply a Class A drug. He was found guilty of all counts in a trial in July last year.
Deputy Senior Investigating Officer DS John Crewe said: “Schofield started to speak to one of his victims online in the summer of 2020. Following grooming on Snapchat, Schofield met with the girl in the autumn and paid her for sex with cash and drugs.”
He continued: “This abuse continued until spring 2021 and had a significant impact on the victim’s mental health. Schofield repeated his pattern of grooming on a second teenage girl, who he then met in the summer of 2021, and raped her; Over the next two months Schofield continued to meet the girl, paying her for sex with cash and drugs.”
13 YEARS AND SIX MONTHS
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A personal trainer from Torquay was jailed for raping two women he met online. Justin Reeve assaulted one woman in her home after arranging to help her lose weight and get fit.
He raped the second victim after meeting her on a swingers website. The pair had consensual sex before his mood changed and he turned violent, forcing her to have anal sex and ignoring her pleas to stop.
The 18st fitness fanatic was described as a “monster” by one of his victims. He was convicted by a jury at a trial in February.
Reeve was branded a danger to women by the judge who locked him up for 14 years. He added an extra five years to the sentence to protect women, making a total of 19 years.
14 YEARS AND SIX MONTHS
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A former soldier from Okehampton was jailed for 14 and a half years for multiple historic sex offences against children. Stuart Hood, from Okehampton, sexually abused a boy and two teenage girls.
His offending started when he was a teenager himself in the 1970s and continued when he was a young adult. The prosecution in his trial described Hood as a bully capable of ‘deviant sexual behaviour’ who enjoyed assaulting his physically weaker victims. He chased one with a horse whip and stripped another naked.
Hood, aged 59, was found guilty of 11 offences of indecent assault and indecency with a child during a trial in January.
14 AND A HALF YEARS
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The Court of Appeal has increased an unduly lenient sentence handed to a Devon sex offender. Gordon Suckley was convicted at Exeter Crown Court in February of multiple serious sexual offences against a child.
The 87-year-old was jailed for nine and a half years. But the sentence was appealed by the victim and brought back before the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Lord Justice Popplewell, sitting with Mr Justice Jeremy Baker and Mr Justice Picken, increased the sentence to 15 years and three months. The judges concluded that the original sentence had given too much weight to the defendant’s mitigation and claims of ill-health.
Suckley, of Kingsteignton, pleaded guilty to three offences of indecency with a child and two of indecent assault. The offences took place in Helston in Cornwall when he was aged in his 40s. His victim was just 11 when the offending started and included crimes that today would be charged under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
15 YEARS AND THREE MONTHS
A mechanic was jailed for a campaign of sexual abuse on three boys in the 1990s. David Hargreaves was living and working in Exeter at the time he groomed his teenage victims, a court heard.
Hargreaves, 61, denied the charges but was found guilty of multiple sex offences following a trial. He was given a 23-year sentence of which to serve a minimum of 14 years in prison.
The court heard how Hargreaves befriended and groomed three boys in the 1990s. The abuse of which began when the boys were between 12 and 15 years old. Hargreaves would often buy the boys’ gifts and give them money while all the while indecently assaulting them repeatedly.
23 YEARS
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