What judges had to say to these criminals jailed in March and April

Royden Davies outside Swindon Crown Court

Paedophile former soldier Royden Davies was given 22 years in jail for what Judge Peter Crabtree branded a “campaign of rape”.

Notwithstanding some of the allegations were more than half a century old, Swindon jurors unanimously found him guilty of rape, indecency with a child and indecent assault. They were unable to reach a verdict on an allegation of buggery.

One of the now 77-year-old’s victims told the court: “What happened to me was horrendous. It will never go away. No one can ever give me back my childhood.”

READ MORE: Paedophile 77-year-old faces threat of dying in prison after he’s found guilty of rape

Notorious robber's bizarre admission to detectives

Repeat robber Richard Hunt told detectives the violence he’d used against his latest vulnerable victim wasn’t excessive as he hadn’t “shot or stabbed him”.

Judge Jason Taylor QC jailed him for 10 years this week, telling the 38-year-old: “It’s notable from the pre-sentence report you show no remorse, empathy or any reservations about doing what you need or want to do irrespective of the consequences for others.

“I cannot ignore that when I consider public safety. It might be, as you put it, water off a duck’s back to you – it isn’t to the court.”

You can read the judge’s full sentencing remarks here.

READ MORE: Robber bound victim's wrists then made off with £13,000 cruise fund

'You made your wife's life a misery'

Mohit Wadhwa outside Swindon Crown Court

Taxi driver Mohit Wadhwa, 37, isolated his wife from her family, beat her, demanded she take out a loan and was verbally abusive during their decade-long marriage.

He was found guilty by a Swindon jury earlier this year of coercive control and assault. Last month, Judge Taylor sent him to prison for three years and seven months.

The judge said: “You isolated your wife from her friends and family and with the latter you made her choose you over them to the extent that she didn’t see her parents between 2008 and 2018. Of course, I will only sentence you for the indicted period for when this law was in force [from 2015], but it is notable that your control was such that her mother never even met her grandson before she sadly passed away.

“That lack of compassion and the cruelty is striking but it fits with your character that I had an opportunity of observing at the trial.”

He added: “All in all, over this prolonged period of time you made her life miserable and you treated her with no respect. She was yours to do with as you pleased – a chattel, not a wife.”

READ MORE: Taxi driver who abused his wife showed 'not one iota of remorse', judge blasts

Child rapist's 'campaign of rape'

A child rapist subjected his young victim to a “campaign of rape”, said the judge who sent him down for 18 years.

Imposing an extended sentence comprised of 18 years’ imprisonment and a further five years on licence, Judge Taylor said: “Your brazen offending coupled with the risks that you were prepared to take to gratify your sexual desires is deeply concerning.

“It was cunning, it was planned, it was determined, it was predatory, it was manipulative.

“When seen in conjunction with your distorted and twisted view of her initiating or consenting to behaviour it reveals a troubling lack of empathy and insight which undoubtedly in my view heightens the risk to other young girls.

“In my view, you will require extremely close management and monitoring on your release and an extended sentence not only manages that risk but also facilitates lengthier and more in-depth work to continue and indeed for your attitudes to be tested.”

READ MORE: 18 years for paedophile who carried out 'campaign of rape'

Armed robber held up betting shops

Hanman raids one of the bookmakers'. Circled in red: the pistol, which was never recovered Pictures: WILTSHIRE POLICE

Armed robber Dean Hanman, 39, robbed a string of bookies to try and raise funds for an operation.

He had been waiting for the operation – understood to be on his lower leg – since 2017 but the procedure kept being delayed.

The former foreman, who has 140 offences on his record, turned to prescription and street drugs to manage the pain before hatching a doomed plan last year to fund the operation privately through armed raids.

Judge Taylor said the NHS wait was “no excuse” for his spree. He jailed him for 10 years and 10 months.

READ MORE: Armed robber who held up bookies at gunpoint 'stole to pay for private operation'

The Tinder guardsman who scammed women

Sweetheart fraudster Nathan Walker, a 29-year-old British Army guardsman, persuaded women he’d met on dating apps to give him tens of thousands of pounds.

The Afghanistan veteran persuaded three women to part with £33,300 in loans or by paying for items like tickets and phone top-ups.

Sending the guardsman to prison for two years and eight months at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Jane Miller QC told the conman his offending had been “systematic, calculated and despicable”. She accused him of promising his victims a romantic future and trading off his “military glamour”.

READ MORE: The Tinder guardsman who conned women out of thousands

The 'drunken thug' jailed for five years

On one occasion, Ricketts was found with cannabis, cash and a phone Picture: CPS WESSEX

Kyle Ricketts, 21, carried out a spree of unpleasant offences - including some while subject to a suspended sentence for drug dealing. 

He was part of a gang that robbed another teen at knifepoint and he repeatedly struck out at police officers.

Judge Taylor said: “This was a spree of offending where you were behaving like a drunken thug and people were either frightened by you or injured by you because your behaviour was so out of control.”

READ MORE: 'Drunken thug' jailed for robbery and spree of other crimes