Court Reporter
Exeter Crown Court
- Credit: Archant
A grandfather who downloaded ‘unspeakable’ child abuse images has been given a suspended jail sentence.
Raymond Parsons was sent images and videos which included the serious abuse of a young baby by other internet users who he spoke to in chat rooms.
He was traced to his home in Holsworthy by police through his IP address after it was discovered that others were sharing material with him.
Parsons, aged 76, of Coles Mill Close, Holsworthy, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and was jailed for eight months, suspended for 18 months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.
Court Reporter
Exeter Crown Court. Picture: Archant
- Credit: Archant
A drug driver has been banned after he crashed his car during a police chase in North Devon.
James Brogan was so high on cannabis that he lit a cigarette in the wreckage of his vehicle as police tried to free him and giggled while he was being treated in hospital.
He had been celebrating his 24th birthday the night before the crash last July and drove so erratically on the North Devon link road that other drivers alerted the police.
He almost caused one accident by stopping dead and then weaved across the road randomly, causing oncoming cars to swerve away.
Court Reporter
Exeter Crown Court
- Credit: Archant
A confidence trickster founded his own political party in Bideford and stood for election on a platform of ‘honesty and transparency’ while swindling companies out of thousands of pounds.
Timothy Ahlbeck set up a string of companies and claimed to be a duke, lord or doctor while in reality he was an undischarged bankrupt and banned from running any business.
He fleeced creditors by filing false returns which showed he had assets of £200,000 when he was penniless and trying to run a market stall in Newton Abbot.
He registered The People’s Party UK ltd as the name of one of his companies and stood as an Independent in Torbay’s local elections in 2019.
Court Reporter
Exeter Crown Court
- Credit: Archant
A man who took part in a mass brawl on Bideford Quay has been spared an immediate jail sentence after he suffered a serious head injury in a second incident on the same night.
Charlie Lance kicked and punched a helpless man who was on the ground in the stairwell of public conveniences near the Lundy Office on the afternoon of December 30, 2019.
He suffered a significant head injury in an apparently unrelated assault elsewhere in Bideford a couple of hours later.
He needed specialist neurological treatment in hospital and has been left with epilepsy, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Court Reporter
Lewis Brown
- Credit: DC Police
A fugitive who fled police by jumping over walls and fences was caught nine hours later after a car chase along farm tracks.
Lewis Brown shook off two officers when they tried to handcuff him outside his former partner s house in Bideford after a domestic incident.
He was found driving a Volkwagen car on the edge of Barnstaple and tried to give police the slip by driving down country lanes at up to 50 mph.
He came close to hitting two pedestrians after his front tyres were punctured by a stinger device and carried on across a farm track when they shredded and fell off.