APRIL started with a gun-toting Morrisons shoplifter and it ended with a policeman who had several inappropriate relationships with women.
This month has seen many a criminal pass through the doors of Reading Crown Court.
Here are the names of thugs, paedophiles, rapists and more who were sentenced last month for committing crimes in Berkshire.
Daniel Gale
A serial offender who has spent almost half his life in prison is back behind bars after threatening to kill a supermarket security guard.
Daniel Gale, of no fixed abode, was once again locked up after setting a fake gun on a Morrison’s employee who caught him and his friend stealing alcohol.
Armed police and a police helicopter were called to the Basingstoke Road supermarket as Gale, 30, chucked the imitation firearm in a bin and tried to flee the scene.
The offence was committed on September 27, 2021, at around 9.45 pm, three months after Gale was handed a suspended sentence for robbery.
Gale received a 58-month prison sentence, of which he will serve half.
He appeared at Reading Crown Court on Monday, April 4.
Pierce Darlow
A Reading man with a history of domestic violence has been locked up after throwing a cannabis grinder at a woman in front of her ten-year-old brother.
Pierce Darlow, 32, of Romany Lane, Tilehurst, was admitted to the Halloween 2021 offence after footage from his own bedroom CCTV camera was seen by police.
Pierce Darlow
It showed Darlow and the woman having an argument in bed just after midnight on October 31, 2021.
The woman got out of the bed and Darlow threw a cannabis grinder at her, hitting her in the face.
The shocking scene played out in front of the woman’s 10-year-old brother, who was laying on the floor next to the pair.
Darlow was sentenced to 12 months in prison for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of drug-driving.
Michael Peek
A Windsor man subjected his partner to a ‘campaign’ of ‘alarming’ controlling behaviour in a two-month relationship, a court has heard.
Michael Peek, of Whitley, Windsor, confronted his girlfriend at her children’s school and threw himself on top of her car when she tried to break up with him.
The pair met on a dating app in January 2021 and entered into a relationship towards the end of the month.
Prosecutor Simon Wilshere told Reading Crown Court of Peek’s string of jealous behaviour, which included:
- Threatening to kill her neighbour after she said hello to him in a Co-op convenience store
- Pulling her daughter out of his partner’s bed because he wanted to sleep with his girlfriend
- Threatening to kill her children’s pets
For one count of engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour, Peek was sentenced to eight months imprisonment suspended for two years, and told to take part in 30 sessions of a relationships course, take part in 40 days of rehabilitation activities and complete 175 hours of unpaid work.
Wezley Small
A Reading man strangled his girlfriend in the early hours of the morning after drinking ‘20 to 30’ bottles of beer.
Wezley Small, of Palmera Avenue, Calcot, avoided jail for the ‘isolated’ incident.
The 38-year-old caused multiple injuries to his partner, who he assaulted after overhearing a phone call in which she said she was not happy in their relationship.
Small was handed a 22-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
He must take part in 30 days of a rehabilitation programme and abstain from alcohol for 120 days.
Gordon Waterson
A music teacher at a Wokingham private school has been spared jail despite “using every spare hour” to download more than 10,000 indecent images of children.
Gordon Waterson, who now lives on Clinton Road in Edinburgh, also distributed images of young boys being abused in order to join smutty group chats where ‘like-minded people’ would discuss child porn.
The 33-year-old taught as the Director of Music at Ludgrove School, an independent boarding school for boys aged 8-13 in Wokingham where parents pay £9,775 per term.
He was suspended by his employers in July 2020 after it emerged Waterson had been downloading indecent images -- including material featuring boys aged between two and ten-years-old -- since 2015.
Waterson was spared jail after he was handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years.
Gordon Waterson worked and lived at Ludgrove School.
He will have to take part in 180 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation activities as part of his sentence.
Holly Towell and Rochelle Black
Two drunk women repeatedly punched and kicked a love rival in a ‘terrifying’ ‘revenge attack’, a court has heard.
Holly Towell, of Glebelands, Thatcham, and Rochelle Black, of Ochil Close, Newbury, were today spared prison because the former is pregnant and the latter was told she would lose her job if she was locked up.
The pair have now been told to stay away from their victim -- who miss Towell has known for eight years -- until further notice.
A judge handed Towell a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and Black a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
Kyle Foster
A Slough thug “should be ashamed of himself” after beating up a vulnerable man and leaving with permanent breathing difficulties.
Kyle Foster, of Grampian Way, escaped a prison sentence after admitting to punching and kicking a man in the face.
The 24-year-old will instead carry out unpaid work and has been banned from drinking in an effort to rehabilitate.
Brandon Gillas
A man punched a policeman six times in quick succession and left him writhing on the floor.
This was one of seven separate assaults against police officers that landed a Reading man in jail.
Brandon Gillas, of King’s Road, has been locked up after spitting, punching and kicking on-duty officers in three separate incidents over the past year.
Five Romanian nationals
Five Romanian nationals have been locked up for their roles in the rape, kidnap and assault of a young girl over the course of five years.
The group were today jailed for almost four decades after the girl, who was nine years old when she was brought to the UK in 2015, suffered “unimaginable” and “incomprehensible” sexual abuse.
Reading Crown Court heard a heartbreaking testimony from the now-teenage girl as revealed her struggles in being able to tell people about her horrific past.
The bulk of the abuse was inflicted by a 59-year-old man -- who we can’t name due to a court ruling -- as he raped her from an early age at their Slough address.
After being raped again in late 2020, the girl escaped the home through a window and ran across live train tracks at Slough train station to evade the man and a 39-year-old woman, who was also central in her years-long abuse.
Yet just four months later, the girl was kidnapped by three Romanian men in Crowthorne before police were able to find her and bring her to safety.
Marius Bucur
Her Honour Judge Campbell sentenced the group as follows:
- The 59-year-old man, of London, was handed a 24-year prison sentence for one count of rape of a girl under 13, five counts of rape, one count of grievous bodily harm, and one count of kidnap. He will serve 15 years of this sentence before he is eligible for release on licence.
- The 39-year-old woman, of London, was given six years and six months in prison for one count of GBH and one count of kidnap. She will serve half before release.
- Marius Bukur was handed a two year, six month prison sentence for kidnap. He will serve half before release.
- Nutel-Virgil Papadache was handed a four-year prison sentence for kidnap. He will serve half before release.
- Alexandru Olteanu was handed a two year, six month prison sentence for kidnap. He will serve half before release.
Oliver Perry-Smith
A former Thames Valley police officer checked the number plate of a woman before using police computers to find and visit her.
Oliver Perry Smith
Oliver Perry-Smith, formerly a police constable, was locked up for pursuing “several women” over the course of a few years.
Reading Crown Court heard how the 38-year-old “took advantage of his privileged position” as he went after “emotionally vulnerable women” using police computers.
Perry-Smith, of Denman Drive, Newbury, was charged with misconduct in public office and computer misuse after he formed sexual relationships with several women over the course of four years.
He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison
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