COURT: Your weekly round-up of who has been jailed this week

• AN unlicensed and uninsured driver who “revved” away from the scene after fatally injuring a motorcyclist was jailed for 15 months.

Conor Stott-Webster

Conor Stott-Webster “panicked” and hit a car while speeding away leaving John JJ Naylor dying at the roadside, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Stott Webster, 25, of Springhead Road, Thornton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mr Naylor by careless driving at 7.42pm on October 3 last year.

He also admitted driving dangerously after the crash on Cottingley Road, Allerton, Bradford, failing to stop after an accident and driving without a licence or insurance.

Mr Naylor, 30, the father of three children, was an experienced on and off-road motorcyclist. He was described by his sister Sherron as “the nicest most genuine person with the biggest heart.”

Prosecutor Stephen Wood said that Stott-Webster was driving a Ford Focus he had just bought for £300 when it struck Mr Naylor’s Yamaha YXFR 125.

Gary Cater, a passenger in the Focus, described Stott-Webster as “showing off” shortly before the collision, speeding, over revving and doing a handbrake turn. Mr Cater asked him to slow down, the court was told.

Mr Cater said they were stationary behind a red car and the next thing he was aware of was “a massive bang.” He could not recall if the Focus was moving and said he could not get out because of the central locking.

Stott-Webster drove off for a short distance before they abandoned the vehicle in Meadow Court.

Malcolm Royle, who was outside the Royal Dragon Chinese takeaway, saw the Focus “turn quickly on to Stone Street”. The bike collided with the front nearside of the vehicle, throwing the rider in the air.

“Mr Royle did not see the car make any indication of an intention to turn right,” Mr Wood said.

Mr Royle called 999 and was helping Mr Naylor when he heard “the sound of the car’s engine revving and reversing.”

“He noted that it was dragging bodywork along the road,” Mr Wood said before it “made off at speed down Stone Street.”

Damian Barber, who was driving a red VW Polo, heard a loud bang and saw smoke and then the Focus suddenly accelerating away. Mr Barber was heading for Cottingley at below the 20mph speed limit when the Focus mounted the kerb to his right “and “began to overtake me in an appalling manoeuvre.”

The Focus hit the front side of the Polo and sped off.

“In my opinion, he was trying to get away, making a conscious decision to leave the scene,” Mr Barber stated.

Mr Naylor died from blunt force head and leg injuries the court was told.

Mr Wood stated that Mr Naylor’s speed just before the collision was between 40 and 45mph. The bike’s front headlamp was illuminated making it “conspicuous to other road users.”

The accident investigator, Robin Crispin, concluded that “the collision was instigated by the Focus driver turning right across the path of the motorcyclist.”

Sherron Naylor said in her victim personal statement that she had lost her best friend. Mr Naylor never had a bad word for anyone and never a bad word was said about him.

“The loss of my brother has left an emptiness in our hearts,” Miss Naylor said. “He was only 30 and had his entire life ahead of him.”

Stott-Webster had left her brother to die at the side of the road.

Saf Salam, Stott-Webster’s solicitor advocate, said: “Nothing that I can say will  reverse the tragedy that took place on that fateful evening.”

Of Stott-Webster, Mr Salam conceded: “He failed to have proper regard to a vulnerable road user, and he should have taken extra care near a motorcyclist.”

 Stott-Webster had a momentarily lapse of concentration when he turned across the path of the motorbike.

He panicked after the crash. He was very remorseful and would have to live with Mr Naylor’s death for the rest of his life.

Judge Jonathan Rose told Stott-Webster that Mr Naylor died as a result of his driving. “You have never had a driving licence so you are lacking the basic skills to drive on the road,” he said.

Stott-Webster had gone out to buy cannabis and he was showing off and driving too fast before the “dreadful accident.”

“You made a last-minute to turn across the path of Mr Naylor, giving no indication,” Judge Rose said.

Mr Naylor’s bike was well lit and, although he was perhaps going too fast, and although his visor would have obscured his vision, there was no evidence as to whether it was down at the time.“

No sentence that this court can pass can ever redeem the harm that has been caused,” Judge Rose said.

Stott-Webster was banned from driving for three years and seven months.

• AN eighth drug trafficker netted by the police crackdown on mobile street dealers in Bradford East was locked up for three and a half years.

Ibrahim Gul

Ibrahim Gul was weighing out and bagging up his own stash of heroin to sell in the city centre when he was snared by undercover officer Libby working for Operation Errantdance.

It was his second conviction for dealing Class A drugs and Gul was warned by the judge imprisoning him that the sentences would only get longer.

Gul, 21, of Ravens Avenue, Dewsbury, pleaded guilty to three offences of supplying crack cocaine and heroin between March 26 and 28 and possession of heroin with intent to supply on November 13.

Prosecutor Philip Adams told Bradford Crown Court that Gul approached Libby on Nuttall Road in central Bradford and told her he was selling drugs.

She asked for a wrap of heroin and he sold it for £10 from a stash of about ten wraps that he had on him.

Gul gave her the number of the Lloyd Line and the following day he rang her and said drugs were being sold. She and a male addict waited for him next to some gardens and bought a wrap each for £7.

On March 28, Libby called the Lloyd Line and after receiving no reply, she got a text saying drugs were again being sold. She called at 5pm and Gul, who was caught on a covert camera, sold her a wrap of crack cocaine.

When the police searched his home, they seized dealer scales from his bedroom, rolls of plastic bags, bags with the corners cut off, a Kinder Egg and a package of heroin with a street value of £237.

Mr Adams said Gul’s role with the Lloyd Line was significant, with everything he needed to prepare and sell the drugs.

Gul made no comment when he was interviewed by the police.

His barrister, Shufqat Khan, conceded that he had a previous conviction for selling Class A drugs when he was a juvenile.

Gul was only 20 at the time he was caught by Operation Errantdance and he had been held in custody since November 17, his first taste of prison.

He lived with his mother and had worked in a warehouse after leaving school with no qualifications.

Gul intended to use his time behind bars to gain qualifications so that he could get a job on his release.

Judge Jonathan Rose said that Gul wasn’t a drug addict he was selling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets solely for his own profit.

Drug traffickers like Gul perpetuated crime because users stole, burgled and robbed to fund their habit, or were drawn into dealing themselves.

• A GOOD Samaritan was violently robbed of his car by three beggars he had just generously given five pounds to, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Florin Copcec

The man was set upon by the young Romanians who drove off in his VW Passat after grabbing him from behind, putting an arm across his mouth and seizing the vehicle keys.

The car-jacking in broad daylight in the centre of Halifax left the victim with pain in his back, shoulder and leg and “a different outlook on life,” the court heard.

The oldest gang member, Florin Copcec, 18, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, was locked up for two years and four months in a young offender institution while his 16-year-old accomplice from Leeds was sentenced to a two year youth rehabilitation order and a six month electronically monitored curfew.

The third accused, who was 17 at the time, was arrested and charged but had since disappeared.

Copcec, also known as Sandu Novacovic, and the youth pleaded guilty to robbing the man of his car when he came out of a café in George Square just after seven in the morning.

The pair, who were assisted by a Romanian interpreter during the court hearing, were begging in the square with the third teenager. The man felt sorry for them and handed over five pounds for them to share.

They followed him, grabbed him from behind and dragged him backwards. He was intimidated and let go of his keys because he feared he would be stabbed or bitten.

Copcec drove off in the car with the other two but they were stopped two hours later when the police boxed them in on the M61 near Leeds.

All three made no comment when questioned by the police.

The man said in his victim impact statement that he no longer felt safe. “It has changed my whole outlook. My bubble has been burst,” he said.

Copcec had a previous conviction for theft from the person at London’s Victoria underground station. He stole cash, a wallet and a passport from a woman’s bag and was locked up for breaching the community order.

Saf Salam, solicitor advocate for Copcec, conceded that he was disqualified from driving at the time but said he had no previous convictions for robbery.

Copcec made no physical contact with the victim himself but he drove a significant distance in the stolen car which was an aggravating feature.

He was immature and lacked thinking skills, Mr Salam said.

Copcec’s family had moved back to Romania and he would be deported to join them.

Judge Jonathan Rose said the victim gave the three a generous donation.

“You should have thanked him, instead you and another man, cowards that you are, robbed him, that was your way of repaying his generosity,” he said.

Copcec was banned from driving for 32 months.

• A BURGLAR who forced a dog flap to break into a house and steal car keys was jailed for more than three years.

Nicholas Baldwin

Nicholas Baldwin and his accomplice made off in the occupier’s VW Tiguan after raiding the address in Green Close, Steeton, on November 10, Bradford  Crown Court heard.

Baldwin, 21, of Valley View, Baildon, pleaded guilty to the break-in at 4am and to raiding bicycles valued at £1,400 from a housholder’s garage in Aireville View, Crosshills, the same morning.

Baldwin, who was on a video link to Leeds Prison, also admitted two attempted house burglaries in Baildon on April 5 last year. He had since been sentenced to 18 months in a young offender institution for house burglary and was on bail and on licence when he committed the November offences.

Prosecutor Mark Brookes told the court that a homeowner in Walker Wood, Baildon, heard a loud bang at dead of night. He discovered that his garage was damaged, and a chisel and a lawn edger had been left at the scene. Baldwin’s DNA was on the chisel, Mr Brookes said.

Shortly afterwards, Baldwin was caught on CCTV trying the rear door of another house in Baildon.

He made no comment in his police interview and was bailed.

Mr Brookes said Baldwin and his accomplice forced a dog flap backwards to burgle the car keys from the property in Steeton and steal the car. The householder discovered the kitchen door open and her vehicle missing.

She was now worried and anxious in her own home, the court heard. The car was recovered soon afterwards, and the bikes were also found nearby. Swabs on the handlebars were a DNA match for Baldwin.

Giles Bridge said in mitigation that the two attempted burglaries in Baildon were before Baldwin was locked up for 18 months in January for similar offending.

Mr Bridge said this would be Baldwin’s first sentence in an adult prison and the second offence of house burglary on his record.

He had worked as a painter and decorator and been employed in a factory but he had fallen in with the wrong company after his release from custody.

Judge Jonathan Rose jailed Baldwin for a total of 37 months.

He told him that house burglary was an intrusion into homes where people were entitled to feel safe.

A couple with a young child had been left distressed and afraid when strangers broke into their home while they were sleeping.

• A 49-YEAR-OLD man who posed as a teenage boy to watch underage girls undressing on Skype and MSN video chat was jailed for two years.

James Nicholas

James Nicholas told one child she “looked hot in her skirt” and said it was a shame she had knickers on.

Nicholas, of Pot Lane, Steeton, near Keighley, sat in the dock with his head bowed as prosecutor Stephen Wood told how he had encouraged girls aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity over a period of around seven years.

Nicholas went on chat logs to watch the girls undressing, greeting them: “Hey gorgeous,” and “Hi sexy,” and commenting “nice bra” and “when do you get out of your uniform; I want to see?”

He pleaded guilty to seven offences of attempting to incite a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and three offences of making indecent photographs of children.

Mr Wood said that Nicholas’s home was raided by the police on April 19, 2015.

When his Apple MacBook ‘Pro’ and desktop computer were examined, the police found chat logs and indecent images and videos of children.

Beginning in 2008, the video chats included a request to see a girl’s breasts but she replied “not today I’m running late.”

In one conversation, a girl said she was 15 and Nicholas replied “me 2.”

One girl told him she was in the cadets and they were in contact while she was in the school gym doing PE. Later, she tells him she is nearly 16 and he claims to be 16.

When one child told Nicholas that “he could be 50 for all I know,” he replied that he wished he was but that he had all his working life ahead of him. He asked if he could see her in the shower, but she said no.

Nicholas asked other girls to show him their breasts and vaginas, telling one he was masturbating while looking at her on a web-cam.

The victims came from across the United Kingdom and overseas, one being resident in the United States.

Nicholas had stored 25 category A still and moving images of children, 13 at category B and 169 at category C on his computers. One moving image showed a girl aged 11 to 13 removing her lower clothing to indecently expose herself.

Mr Wood said Nicholas groomed some of his victims, lied about his age and recorded and stored images.

Defence barrister, Mark Kelly, said Nicholas had a good job and no previous convictions.

The last offences were committed more than four years ago.

He never intended to meet any of the girls, and he felt profound shame and remorse.

Judge Jonathan Gibson jailed Nicholas for a total of two years. He made a ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and Nicholas must sign on the sex offender register, also for ten years.

The judge said the defendant posed as a boy aged 15 or 16 when he was a man in his forties. He groomed the girls and retained the images on his computers.