58 of the most notorious criminals locked up in the UK in 2020
| Date | 31 December 2020 |
| Published date | 31 December 2020 |
| Publication title | Manchester Evening News: Web Edition Articles (England) |
The teenager who threw a six-year-old boy off a balcony at the Tate Modern gallery and sick serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga were just two of the notorious criminals locked up for their crimes this year.
In London, a double murderer who hid the bodies of two women inside a freezer in his flat, and a gunman who shot a mother and her son after sneaking into their home, were both handed lengthy prison sentences.
Elsewhere, a man 'obsessed' with serial killers and horror films who murdered a stranger with the help of his boyfriend was locked up, as were the three teenage killers of newlywed police officer Andrew Harper.
We've taken a look at some of the biggest court cases that shocked the nation last year.
Here are 58 of the most notorious criminals locked up in 2020.
January
Reynhard Sinaga
The details of a truly horrifying case came to light in January when student Reynhard Sinaga was exposed as Britain’s worst rapist.
The 36-year-old raped up to 200 men who were out clubbing in Manchester over the course of two-and-a-half years.
A court heard how he would lure drunk men back to his city centre apartment before poisoning them with GHB, raping them and filming it.
Sinaga was convicted of raping 44 men, aged 17 to 36, over two-and-a-half years -but police believe around 150 more victims could still come forward based on the hundreds of hours of video footage they have seen.
Detectives say many of his victims are unlikely to know they were raped because of the memory-wiping effect of the drug Sinaga used to knock them out.
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Sinaga was eventually caught after a teenager woke up while he was being raped and beat the sex attacker so badly he had to be hospitalised.
During his unprecedented crime spree, depraved Sinaga carried out 136 rapes, eight attempted rapes, 13 sexual assaults and two assaults by penetration.
The rapist was initially given a 30-year minimum jail term by Judge Suzanne Goddard QC, who described Sinaga as an 'evil serial sexual predator'.
The Court of Appeal ruled this month that his jail term would increase to at least 40 years.
Mohammed Choudhry
A jealous and controlling husband who became 'consumed with anger and resentment' after finding out his wife had an affair was found guilty of brutally murdering her.
Mohammed Choudhry, 36, stabbed his 33-year-old wife Saima Riaz more than 75 times at their home in Smallbridge, Rochdale.
She suffered 'particularly severe' cuts to her neck 'suggesting an attempt at decapitation', prosecutors said.
Four knives were recovered from the scene containing Ms Riaz's blood and DNA.
Choudhry claimed to have no memory of the horrific attack and told the court he loved his wife.
But a jury took less than 20 minutes to unanimously find him guilty of murder.
Ms Riaz, a mental health nurse at the Royal Oldham Hospital, had told others she was 'afraid' of her husband, and that he had assaulted and threatened her.
Choudhry was jailed for life with a minimum of 28 years during a hearing at Manchester Crown Court.
Kamil Kopec
A man who tried to stab a mum and baby to death leaving them with 'some of the worst injuries police had ever seen' was jailed for 21 years.
Kamil Kopec, 28, locked the victims inside a property and launched the brutal knife attack in the early hours of July 24 last year in Hereford.
Police were called at around 3am and found a mother and her nine-month-old baby had both been stabbed.
The baby had a cut to the head and mother had multiple wounds including a stab wound and cut to her neck.
The courageous mum managed to escape through a window with her baby despite her serious injuries.
Kopec, of Hereford, went on trial accused of attempted murder, which he only pleaded guilty to on the final day of his four day trial.
February
Reece Dempster
Burglar Reece Dempster was jailed for the 'sadistic' sexual assault and murder of an 89-year-old woman in her own home.
A judge branded the 23-year-old a "very dangerous man" as he sentenced him to a minimum of 34 years in jail at the Old Bailey in London.
The court heard how Dempster, who had been drinking and smoking crack, broke into the widow's home in Tottenham, London, while she was asleep in August last year.
He sexually assaulted his frail victim before battering her around the head and inflicting fatal injuries.
Dorothy Woolmer, 89, was described as "independent" and "feisty" and the court heard that her death had brought "extreme amounts of heartache" to the family.
Dempster had previously visited Mrs Woolmer's home around a month before the attack when he carried out some gardening work.
On the night he broke in, he attacked his victim while she was still in bed.
He left the next morning after taking her purse and two bottles of alcohol from the house and vomited several times as he fled.
The court was told that Dempster later told someone "it wasn't even worth it" as he "only got one hundred quid".
Lee Abbott
A man brutally stabbed a pub landlord to death after he barred him from his pub.
Lee Abbot is serving a minimum sentence of 28 years in jail after a jury convicted him of the murder of Christian Thornton outside his pub in Widnes, Cheshire, in August last year.
During his eight-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court, a jury heard how Abbott told arresting officers: “You don’t need any evidence, I stabbed him to f.”
The court heard how Mr Thornton had banned Abbott from the Hammer and Pincers pub nine days before his death after he was heard bragging about carrying a knife and threatening to burn the premises down.
CCTV footage from the day of the attack shows Abbott walking away from the pub after confronting the landlord before turning around, running back towards him, pulling a knife from a backpack and lunging at him.
Mr Thornton was on the phone to police to report Abbott when he stabbed him 11 times in the space of 21 seconds, the court heard.
Abbott had admitted manslaughter but denied murder on the grounds he did not intend to kill Mr Thornton.
Mr Thornton's wife Pam said Abbott had "destroyed my life and the lives of our three children".
“Since that day, the indescribable pain I have lived with has been multiplied as I watch our children try to come to terms with losing their Dad in such a violent way," she said. “They do so with dignity and strength that would make their Dad proud."
Jordan Metcalfe, Nathan Redmond and Scott Crutchley
The three killers of a man who was brutally tortured and set on fire were jailed for life.
The trio were found guilty of the horrific murder of Jonathan Dews in Wakefield, Yorkshire in September last year.
A court heard how the 42-year-old was viciously assaulted, tied up and gagged in his bedroom by people who he thought were his friends.
His killers then dragged his body into the cellar before setting it alight.
Nathan Redmond, 21, and Jordan Metcalfe, 24, were given minimum terms of 27 years in jail, while Scott Crutchley, 24, was jailed for a minimum of 21 years.
The court heard how Metcalfe began taking advantage of Mr Dews, a known drug user, by using his bank account to deposit money from an online fraud.
The trio decided to murder Mr Dews because 'smackheads always talk', the court was told.
A post mortem examination revealed that Mr Dews had suffered more than 90 injuries, including a cut to his neck and stab wounds to his head.
Mr Dews family described him as "a kind, caring person who would do anything for anyone".
Terence Whall
A man was jailed for murdering a retired lecturer by shooting him with a crossbow outside his home in North Wales.
Gerald Corrigan's partner pleaded with his murderer to explain why he did it as he was convicted of the crossbow killing by a jury.
Terence Whall, 39, shot the 74-year-old outside his Anglesey home as he adjusted a satellite dish in the early hours of April 19 last year, a court heard.
During the trial, which lasted four weeks, the jury was told they 'may never know' the motive behind the killing.
North Wales Police said a parallel fraud investigation was ongoing after claims the pensioner and his partner Marie Bailey handed over £250,000 to convicted fraudster Richard Wyn Lewis, before his death.
The court heard the couple handed money over to Mr Lewis for land which was never bought for them.
They also made payments in cash to Mr Lewis for work he said would be carried out on Mr Corrigan’s mother’s house, as well as £7,000 for a horse, which was supposed to be brought over from Ireland but never was.
Whall initially told police he was at home on the night Mr Corrigan was shot but, when the GPS showed he was not, he said he was in the area because he was having a sexual encounter with friend Barry Williams.
Mr Williams denied the claims.
Whall wad handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 31 years.
March
Michael and Juliana Oluronbi
A Birmingham pastor, who led a ‘voodoo-like cult’ was jailed for 34 years for raping children.
Michael Oluronbi, 60, sexually abused girls as young as nine over a period of 20 years, a court heard.
Four of his victims became pregnant several times and some were taken to abortion clinics or given termination drugs by the twisted pastor.
The court heard how he would take his victims’ clothes off for a 'spiritual bathing' to 'cleanse' them of evil spirits.
The judge who sentenced him said the case was 'one of the worst cases of sexual abuse of multiple children to come before the courts'.
Oluronbi was convicted of 15 counts of rape, seven counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault, while his wife Juliana Oluronbi, 58, was convicted of three counts of aiding and abetting rape after helping arrange some of the terminations.
The pastor was jailed for 34 years, while his wife was jailed for 11 years.
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