The names and faces of Bedfordshire’s most notorious criminals who were locked up in 2021

A lot of criminals were locked up in Bedfordshire this year and many of them will be staying in prison for many years to come.

In Bedfordshire many paedophiles, murderers, terrorist supporters and violent offenders committed crimes this year.

However Bedfordshire Police have performed important detective work which led to many of these offenders being sent to prison for a very long time.

READ MORE: The latest crime news from Bedfordshire

Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody highlighted some of the important work done by Bedfordshire Police this year.

High profile cases the show covered included that of Sandel Hornea, who broke into a home and assaulted a young girl and members of her family and prolific paedophile Carson Grimes, who raped many children over a period of around 20 years.

Below we have collated a list of some of Bedfordshire’s most notorious criminals who were sent away this year.

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Ibrahim Anderson

Muslim convert Ibrahim Anderson, from Luton, arriving at the Old Bailey in London

Terrorist supporter and Muslim convert Ibrahim Roger Anderson, 44, was jailed for sharing “extremely graphic” extremist videos on social media.

Anderson, a car mechanic from Luton, told an undercover police officer he wanted to see London under the Islamic State flag.

He pledged support for the terrorist group, unaware the woman he was speaking to on Facebook and Telegram was a covert officer.

Anderson was handed a seven-year jail sentence at the Old Bailey on September 1 this year, after admitting a string of terror offences.

He had previously been jailed for three years in 2016 after being convicted of trying to drum up support for Islamic State outside Topshop in London’s Oxford Street.

Sandel Hornea

Sandel Hornea saying

Hornea had served a nine-year jail term in Italy for sex trafficking

Violent thug Sandel Hornea was put behind bars this year after he attacked a 14-year-old girl, her aunt and elderly grandmother during an attempted burglary at their home in Luton.

The story of how police caught Hornea, a 36-year-old Romanian man, was featured on Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody.

Hornea entered Britain in 2019 despite having a string of convictions across Europe, including for sex trafficking.

He entered the property by posing as an Amazon delivery driver and then knocked the grandmother to the floor and dragged her into the kitchen as she screamed in agony. The woman suffered a bleed to the brain.

He then punched her teenage granddaughter in the face and dragged her across the floor while she was screaming.

He was sentenced in October to 11 years in prison. It is likely he will be deported after he completes his sentence.

Carson Grimes

Serial child rapist Carson Grimes from Luton was found guilty of 11 counts of rape and other abuses against children

Serial child rapist Carson Grimes

Carson Grimes is one of Bedfordshire’s prolific paedophiles ever convicted and the investigation was documented by 24 Hours in Police Custody.

Grimes, 65, targeted vulnerable young children, particularly boys, and plied them with alcohol and drugs, before raping and sexually assaulting them.

His reign of terror on Luton’s children lasted 20 years according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Grimes, who also went by the name Carson Phillips, sexually abused children aged between 5 and 15 years old from 1982 to 2002.

In October he was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison.

Ibrahim Khan

A custody photo of Ibrahim Khan

A custody photo of Ibrahim Khan

Ibrahim Khan, 16, was jailed on November 30 for the murder of teenager Humza Hussain.

Khan, from Luton, was named after BedsLive challenged the reporting restrictions put in place due to his age.

The attack outside Challney High School for Boys on Stoneygate Road, Luton, took place on June 8 earlier this year.

He was sentenced to life and will serve at least 16 years in prison. He smirked at his victim’s family after he was sentenced.

Trevor Housden and Daniel Brown

Mugshots of Trevor Housden, 47, and Daniel Brown, 44 from Dunstable who were sentenced to 13 years behind bars

Trevor Housden, 47, and Daniel Brown, 44 from Dunstable were sentenced to 13 years behind bars

Trevor Housden, 47, and Daniel Brown, 44, both from Dunstable, beat a man up before ordering him to jump from a 30-foot balcony in October last year.

The victim visited the men where they held him against his will and eventually caused him life-changing injuries.

The two offenders tied him to the chair and subjected him to a sustained violent attack, hitting him with a bat several times over a period of hours.

They then took him to the balcony of the flat where they threatened him and ordered him to jump. Feeling he had no other choice, the victim jumped despite the around 30-foot drop.

The two thugs were each sentenced to 13 years in prison for subjecting the victim to the “truly horrifying ordeal”.

Deon Ellis

Custody picture of Deon Ellis, 32, who has been sentenced for two years and four months for stealing and injuring a dog in Luton, Bedfordshire

Deon Ellis, 32, has been sentenced for two years and four months

Deon Ellis, 32, a “despicable” thief left a dog with multiple stab wounds, then deliberately swerved his van to hit the animal.

Dognapper Ellis, from Luton, stole the dog in June last year after threatening its owner with a knife.

Later that evening a witness saw Ellis deliberately driving the van to hit the dog. Fortunately the dog made a good recovery.

He was found guilty of both theft and criminal damage in relation to the dog following two linked incidents in Luton and Corby last summer.

On June 18, at Huntingdon Crown Court, Ellis was jailed for two years and four months.

Steve Arnold and Barry Gavin

Steve Arnold was found guilty of murder

Steve Arnold was found guilty of murder

Steve Arnold, killed his uncle Michael Fletcher in an “evil and frenzied” attack in September 2020 and was sentenced this year.

Arnold, of Butterworth Path, Luton, was handed a life sentence at the Old Bailey on October 29 this year, having been convicted of murder in September. He will serve a minimum of 27 years in prison.

A second man, Barry Gavin, 51, who lived with Arnold, was convicted of manslaughter and fraud in relation to the killing, and today was jailed for 15 years for his role in Mr Fletcher’s death.

Barry Gavin was convicted of manslaughter and fraud after the killing of Michael fletcher by his nephew Steve Arnold

Barry Gavin

Last year, on 30 September, Arnold set out from his house armed with a knife and was instructed by Gavin to rob Mr Fletcher and use the money to buy alcohol.

Once inside Mr Fletcher’s home, Arnold launched his vicious attack, causing 47 separate injuries. It is still not known what prompted Arnold to launch such a sustained and violent attack on his uncle.

Daniel Gilbert

Daniel Gilbert being questioned by Bedfordshire Police during 24 Hours in Police Custody

Daniel Gilbert being questioned by Bedfordshire Police during 24 Hours in Police Custody

The investigation of Daniel Gilbert was featured on Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody.

His baby suffered life-limited injuries after he violently shook the child in August 2017.

Paramedics were called to an address in Luton on August 9, 2017, where the baby was discovered floppy, bleeding from the nose and in cardiac arrest.

Gilbert, 23, of Hyde View Road, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, was found guilty of Section 20 GBH on 22 May 2019 following a three-week trial at Luton Crown Court.

Des and Gary Pickersgill

Gary Pickersgill and his father Des outside Luton Crown Court

Gary Pickersgill and his father Des are accused of stealing £1.5million worth of Chinese jade and ivory antiques

Father and son thieves Des and Gary Pickersgill stole £1.7m worth of antiques from an elderly widow, taking advantage of her vulnerability and failing health, a court heard in September his year.

Des Pickersgill, 83, who had once been the woman’s gardener, and his son Gary, 42, helped themselves to the oriental pieces from unlocked display cabinets during visits to her country cottage.

Then they tricked top London auction house Bonhams into selling the pieces, which were hundreds of years old, by making out they were theirs to sell.

One item, an apple green jade bowl, made Gary £1m at auction and a jade teapot was sold for over £500,000.

Des Pickersgill was jailed for six years and his son Gary was jailed for eight.

Gregory Robinson

Gregory Robinson

Gregory Robinson

Gregory Robinson was jailed at Luton Crown Court in July for stalking a woman and damaging her car between December 2019 and January 2020.

He sent threatening messages to the victim in a campaign of abuse through messages and phone calls from various phone numbers, which came to a head on December 27, 2019, when he smashed the windscreen of her car.

A week after that incident, the victim called the police when she felt like she was being followed. Robinson was arrested shortly after and his discarded and damaged phone was recovered.

Robinson was sentenced to five years and five months imprisonment for stalking with an additional 36 months added on extended license. He was also sentenced for one count of criminal damage which will be served concurrently.

Barry Price

Barry Brice, of no fixed address, was found guilty of raping two teenage girls

Barry Brice, of no fixed address, was found guilty of raping two teenage girls

The investigation into rapist Barry Price, who was 24 as of January this year, was featured on Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody.

The “callous” and “self-entitled” sexual predator was found guilty of four counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and two counts of false imprisonment.

Bedfordshire Police let Channel 4 follow their investigation and they found that he used a fake Facebook profile, pretending to be a 17-year-old boy, to arrange to meet young girls.

In October 2019, he arranged to meet a 16-year-old girl and then raped her in his car after forcing her to put her phone into aeroplane mode.

He then drove her to a property in Cambridgeshire where he raped her again. He then took her to a nearby railway station, callously telling her “good luck getting home”.

Price was sentenced to 19 years behind bars.

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Adam Latchford

Adam Latchford, from Barton-Le-Clay, was jailed after stabbing his partner in the chest three times before stabbing himself in the chest.

Latchford, who was 56 in May this year, told his partner he was going to stab her in the early hours of August 9, 2020, after an argument had escalated.

He went to the kitchen to get a knife, then stabbed her three times in the abdomen and chest.

Latchford was sentenced in May 17 at Luton Crown Court, to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to the charge of attempted murder.

Gullaid Ibrahim and Adam Nur

Adam Nur and Gullaid Ibrahim were jailed for 12 years between them

Adam Nur and Gullaid Ibrahim were jailed for 12 years between them

Gullaid Ibrahim and Adam Nur, who were involved in county lines drug dealing, tried to blackmail family members of a woman they gave money to via Snapchat.

In October last year, a woman who lived in London with links to Bedford responded to an advert on Snapchat asking if she wanted to earn some money.

She was told she would receive a £6,000 payment into her account, from which she would take a cut. Within days, the woman started receiving phone calls and texts threatening her and her family over the cash.

Gullaid Ibrahim and Adam Nur were involved in a series of distressing threats and blackmail attempts in Bedford last year. Nur was involved in the ‘Sergio’ drugs line, which operated between London and the Thames Valley Police area.

The pair were jailed for a total of 12 years in September between for their crimes.

Thomas Brooks

Thomas Brooks

Thomas Brooks

Thomas Brooks, 41, from Luton was jailed for nearly seven years for three counts of sexually abusing a child.

Brooks met a teenage girl several times, plying her with drugs before engaging in sexual activity with her.

In January 2021, officers from Bedfordshire Police called him a “cold manipulator who took advantage of a teenage girl for his own gain”.

Officers praised the victim for reporting his actions to the police.

David Leahy

David Leahy wearing an Adidas t-shirt in a police mugshot

David Leahy burgled the homes to feed his drug habit

Luton burglar David Leahy, 42, was caught after he used his victim’s Amazon Prime account.

In November 2019 he broke into a Luton home and stole electronics and jewellery.

But when he used a stolen computer to buy two films on his victim’s Amazon Prime account, the game was up as police found his location and arrested him.

He was sentenced at Luton Crown Court to 26 months on February 24 for one count of burglary, with the six other offences taken into consideration.

Sidney Sales

Sidney Sales, 63, from Tomlinson Avenue, Luton was convicted for 3 years for preying on an eight-year-old girl

Sidney Sales, 63, from Tomlinson Avenue, Luton was convicted for 3 years for preying on an eight-year-old girl

Paedophile Sidney Sales, 63, was put behind bars for sexually abusing a girl who was just eight-years-old.

Sales, from Tomlinson Avenue in Luton, was sentenced on February 1 this year for one account of sexual activity with a child under 13 and one count of engaging in sexual activity with a child.

Sales targeted the girl and sought her out for his own “sexual gratification”.

The crime was reported to police after a school assembly talk from the NSPCC which gave her the courage to confide in a family member.

Sales was sent to jail for three years for his crimes.

Deangelo Brown

Deangelo Brown, 23 from Luton raped a 15-year-old girl on her way to school in an alleyway

Deangelo Brown, 23 from Luton raped a 15-year-old girl on her way to school in an alleyway

Rapist Deangelo Brown, 23 as of January this year, was sentenced for raping a teenage girl after targeting her while she was waiting for the school bus.

On March 10 last year Deangelo Brown, from Luton, demanded the victim follow him after suggesting he had a weapon and took her to an alley near Harlesden High Street where he raped her. He gave her £10 as he left.

Brown was jailed for nine years and will spend four years on licence.

Michael Fensom

Michael Fensom, 78, of Coronation Road in Cranfield, Bedfordshire sexually abused a boy from the age of ten to fifteen

Michael Fensom, 78, of Coronation Road in Cranfield, Bedfordshire sexually abused a boy from the age of ten to 15

Michael Fensom, 78, was convicted this year of the historical five-year long campaign of sexual abuse of a boy which started when he was ten years old.

Fensom, of Coronation Road in Cranfield starting abusing the victim in 2000. The abuse stopped about five years later in the victim’s mid-teens when he was attending middle school.

Telling how Fensom had sexually abused and indecently assaulted him, using excuses to get him on his own at his home, and on trips out, the victim said: “I’ve had to live for years knowing about it, keeping it a secret, writing off my life.

“Since the start of this whole thing with the police, it’s not easier to live with, but it feels like there’s more support there than you could ever imagine.”

Fensom was sentenced at Luton Crown Court on January 26 this year to nine years and six months in prison, with an extended 12 months licence period.

Omar Hasan

Omar Hasan custody picture

Omar Hasan

Paedophile Omar Hasan, who had lived in Luton, was convicted of raping a girl who was aged just six or seven.

“Sickening” Hasan, who had previously lived in Luton and Borehamwood, groomed the girl in Borehamwood when she was aged six or seven, by giving her chocolates and showing her pornography on his mobile phone.

He was convicted by a jury at St Albans Crown Court of oral rape of a girl under 13, attempted rape of a girl under 13, exposure, sexual assault of a child under 13, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to watch a sex act.

On December 9 Hasan, 26, was sentenced to 16 years behind bars and given an extended sentence of a further five years by the judge.

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