THESE criminals from across west Wales are among those who were handed the longest sentences in 2023.
The defendants included a husband and wife and their son who were all part of a family drugs gang, two friends who attacked a woman in her own home with a knife and bleach, rapists, paedophiles, sex offenders and drug dealers.
They were sentenced to a combined 153 years and nine months.
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Here is a round-up of cases from the last six months of 2023. The defendants’ details are correct as of their date of sentence.
You can read the round-up from the first half of this year here.
SAUL HENVEY
Saul Rowan Henvey, 47, from Tregaron, was jailed for more than 20 years after subjecting three women to terrifying ordeals.
Henvey he met a woman in Lampeter on May 6, 2021, and told her he loved her after leading her into the woods, before raping her.
He was arrested and charged the following day after a manhunt in Lampeter and the wider Ceredigion area.
While he was in custody, police officers continued the investigation and revisited a previous allegation of rape from May 2019, where the victim said Henvey approached her when she was alone in her front garden and manipulated her into letting him in, before he raped her.
This victim continued to be manipulated by Henvey for several months before she reported what happened to domestic violence support officers, who contacted the police in January 2020.
At the time, the case wasn’t progressed because of evidential issues, but the behaviours reported matched that of Henvey’s other attack.
After being charged with the Lampeter attack, a further allegation came to light when another woman saw the charge reported in the media.
The woman came forward and reported that Henvey had raped her in the Llanddewi Brefi area between March and April 2021. The woman was at home and Henvey manipulated her into letting him stay the night by claiming he was homeless, and on two separate occasions, she woke up to find him raping her in her own bed.
He was jailed for 21 years at Swansea Crown Court, and will serve a further six years on extended licence – for a total 27-year extended sentence. Henvey has also been placed on the sex offenders register for life and indefinite restraining orders were granted to all three of the victims.
DOMINIC DEWICK
Paedophile Dominic Dewick was found guilty of 20 historical offences against two young girls between 1993 and 2017.
Dewick, 45, of Harrier Road in Haverfordwest, had denied all charges, maintaining that both girls had fabricated their evidence – calling the charges “sick”.
Following a four-day trial, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on each of the charges on August 4.
The court heard during the trial that one victim had been just seven years old when her abuse started, with it continuing until she was 15. The second victim was abused between the ages of nine and 12.
Dewick was jailed for four years for the abuse of the first victim, and a further 13 and a half years for abusing the second victim. He will also serve an additional two years extended licence period.
He was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
EVAN JONES
Rapist Evan Jones was jailed for the “persistent sexual abuse” of a young girl over several years the 1980s.
Jones was found guilty of historical sex offences – dated between 1984 and 1988 – following a trial earlier this month. These included two charges of rape and nine of indecent assault. He was acquitted of a further count of rape.
All of the offences involved the same victim, who was aged between eight and 11 at the time. The defendant was aged between 28 and 32.
The court heard that Jones “took advantage of being alone with [the victim]” when accompanying her while she was horse riding.
“He stole my innocence,” the victim said in a statement read out in court. “That I can never get back.”
The 67-year-old, of Dre-Fach Felindre, was handed a total determinant sentence of 15 years, with a further one year extended licence. He must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
KATHRYN LLEWELLYN and TERESA MORGAN-PETERS
Kathryn Llewellyn and Teresa Morgan-Peters were found guilty of a masked attack on a woman in her own home on Pen-Y-Bryn in Ystradgynlais in the early hours of November 1 last year.
During the trial, the jury heard that the victim had messaged Llewellyn’s partner, after she heard Llewellyn had been posting about her on social media.
Llewellyn went over to Morgan-Peters’ home – which was “around 150 yards” from the victim’s – and the pair drank together on the evening of October 31.
The victim reported having eight phone calls from a withheld number that night between 1.13am and 1.29am – some being silent and some were “like clowns cackling”. They were later found to be from Morgan-Peters’ phone.
Llewellyn and Morgan-Peters went to the victim’s home, both wearing masks. Llewellyn attacked her with a Stanley knife and Morgan-Peters threw bleach at her.
The victim suffered multiple severe knife wounds, and was taken to hospital after she escaped to a neighbour’s home.
After being found guilty at trial, both women were jailed for 10 years for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, burglary, and Llewellyn for having the Stanley knife, and Morgan-Peters for having a lock knife which police found in her car.
The victim was granted an indefinite restraining order against both defendants.
STEPHEN LEYSON, LYNNE LEYSON and SAMSON LEYSON
A husband and wife and their son were among five members of a large-scale drug gang operating out of a Carmarthenshire farm who were jailed for almost 30 years combined.
Police raided the Leyson’s address – Pibwr Farm, near Capel Dewi – in the early hours of October 27, 2021, and recovered cannabis worth around £15,615 stashed in the bathroom, a nearby field and in a dog shed.
A plastic bag filled with cocaine worth around £60,000 was also found hidden in a bush, while officers also recovered £17,190 in cash and a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.
Stephen Leyson and his wife Lynne – who failed to attend the sentencing hearing – were arrested.
Forensic tests were carried out, and on November 29 last year, police raided the farm again and arrested the Leysons and Andrew Jenkins, while Ritchie Coleman – who was linked to the gang by the forensics – and Emma Calver-Roberts – who was found to have drug-related messages on her phone – were arrested in a raid at Vetch Close in Pembroke.
Stephen Leyson, 55, was jailed for a total of 11 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, possession of the firearm, and possession of criminal property.
24-year-old Samson Leyson, was handed a six-year sentence for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
Lynne Leyson, 52, was later sentenced in her absence, where the judge described her as “the dominant force” in the Leyson family drugs gang. She was sentenced to nine years.
Coleman, 33, was jailed for two years and four months to conspiracy to supply cocaine, and for conspiracy to supply cannabis, while Jenkins, 51, of North Hill Road in Mount Pleasant, was jailed for nine months for conspiracy to supply cannabis.
ANDREW MANN
Andrew Mann, 28, of Old Heath Road in Wolverhampton, was jailed for a total of eight years after running over a man and admitting a series of drug offences.
On April 15, 2020, Mann asked a woman out on a date. She rejected him, saying she was still in love with her ex-partner.
Mann showed up outside the house she was at in Pembroke Dock, and showed her friend he had a knife in his car. He told her he would kill her ex-partner, then himself.
He drove to ex-partner’s home in Milford Haven, but he wasn’t in. He was alerted to Mann’s intentions, and came back armed with a wrench.
Mann ran him over, fracturing his tibia and fibula, before continuing to drive through a wooden fence, a garden, and a partial fence, causing £1,374.16 in damage.
He was arrested in Johnston after his car broke down.
Mann also faced a series of charges as part of a drugs gang based in Haverfordwest.
He was found to be in possession of 48.29 grams of cocaine – valued at £6,035, £125.20 in cash, and 1.66 grams of MDMA when the car he was in was stopped on the A40 on July 20, 2020.
When officers searched his home, they found £32,280 in counterfeit cash, 19.27 grams of MDMA, 1,847 grams of amphetamine – worth around £20,430, a further 53 grams of amphetamine mixed with MDMA, around 64.1 grams of cannabis, 1,727 flualprazolam – a Class C drug – tablets, and around 500 etizolam – also a Class C drug – tablets, as well as smaller quantities of MDMA, amphetamine, and THC.
Mann pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of a knife, criminal damage, and possession with intent to supply cocaine, MDMA, amphetamine and a Class C drug, possession of cannabis and a different Class C drug, and having counterfeit currency.
SIMON HOWARD
Simon Howard, 32, from Llanybydder, “showed predatory behaviour” as he attempted to groom who he thought was a 12-year-old girl on social media.
The court heard that Howard was talking to who he thought was a 12-year-old girl on social media. The profile was actually being run by an undercover officer from Tarian - the Regional Organised Crime Unit for southern Wales.
The content of the conversations showed that Howard acknowledged he was talking to a child, and he went on to graphically describe numerous sexual acts and plan to meet with the child.
Howard pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communication with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, and was jailed for six years on October 9.
He must register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period of time.
NATHAN GRIFFITHS
Nathan Griffiths became “obsessed” with and “forced himself” on a young girl, before threatening to injure her mother if she reported the attack.
He had denied two offences of rape, dating back to between January 2014 and January 2015, but was found guilty of both charges by a jury in July.
During the trial, the jury heard that the offences took place at a property in the Newcastle Emlyn area, while the victim was alone with the defendant.
They had been playing Minecraft together, when Griffiths asked her multiple times for oral sex. The victim refused each time.
“She was refusing to do what he wanted, but there came a point he forced her to do so,” prosecutor Robin Rouch said.
Griffiths forced the victim in to oral sex, before he then vaginally raped her.
The jury heard the defendant had developed an “unhealthy interest” in the victim, causing her to be “really worried” about seeing him even after she no longer lived in the area.
She said she blocked him – and several accounts she believed to be him – on social media.
The police became aware of the allegations after the victim reported them to another party around the time of her 18th birthday.
Griffiths, of Golwg Y Castell in Cardigan, was jailed for six years for each offence, both running concurrently. He must register as a sex offender for life, and his victim was granted an indefinite restraining order against him.
RICHARD THOMAS
Drug dealer Richard Thomas was sent to prison after being busted twice in six weeks.
Police raided Thomas’ address on Heol Y Garreg Las in Llandeilo on May 3. Inside, Thomas was sat next to two bags of cocaine – totalling six grams and worth up to £800 – and had £860 in cash next to him, with another £335 out on the living room table.
He claimed to have only been at the address to buy a car – which was why he had the cash – and that the drugs were for his personal use.
His phone was seized, and it was later found that messages showed he had been dealing cocaine and cannabis back to August 2022.
At just before 9pm on June 13, police stopped a car driving on Pontamman Road in Ammanford. There was three people inside – one of whom was Thomas.
As the vehicle was searched, the officers noticed Thomas fiddling with his waistband and underwear. They discovered he had discarded a bag of 28.7 grams of cocaine – worth a potential £3,600 – behind him.
Thomas’ phone revealed he had resumed dealing almost immediately after he had been released under investigation for the previous offences.
At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, it was determined that Thomas had profited to the sum of £210,556.60 from his offending. It was agreed that Thomas had an available amount of £11,119.83, and a confiscation order was made for that amount.
RHYS LONG
Sex offender Rhys Long’s crimes were described as indefensible, with his own barrister admitting: “Nothing I can say about the offending or these offences will assist the defendant”.
Long, 22, was sentenced to a total of five and a half years in prison, with an extended sentence of a further three years on licence.
Long admitted causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, three offences of making indecent images of children, three offences of distributing indecent images of children, four breaches of a sexual harm prevention order.
The police attended Long’s address on March 22 and found he had six social media accounts in names other than his own – which put him in breach of his sexual harm prevention order – and on a phone seized from a safe in his bedroom, officers found Long had sexual conversations with a 14-year-old boy from Lincolnshire who he referred to as “kiddo” and “little one”.
The child later told police the defendant was aware of his age, and that they had masturbated with each other over FaceTime.
Across his phones were indecent images of children, conversations with other Snapchat users discussing and sharing links to images of child sexual abuse, as well as an application that wiped cached data – also banned by his sexual harm prevention order – which had been open and appeared to be in the process of deleting data when officers arrived.
Long, of Cynghordy Road, Llandovery, was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
JORDAN COONEY
Jordan Cooney, 28, of Dewing Avenue in Manorbier, had been drinking and smoking cannabis at his victim’s Pembroke Dock flat before he attacked him.
The defendant was “raining blow after blow on him” and demanded his debit card and PIN, hitting him in the face between each word.
His victim said that he had sustained between 20 and 30 blows to his face and said that he had never been punched so hard in his life.
When his victim tried to escape Cooney ran after him and dragged the man back into the flat by his hair and again punched him repeatedly.
The court heard that Cooney knew his victim was due to be paid his benefits at midnight on September 26. He went to a cash point in Pembroke Dock shortly after midnight and tried to withdraw the cash.
At 2.22am on September 27 he withdrew £500 from his victim’s account.
He then returned and attempted to withdraw the remaining £160 from the account but was refused as he had already reached the maximum daily withdrawal.
Cooney was arrested in Monkton on the afternoon of September 27 when police found him in possession of two bags of cocaine worth around £100.
He initially denied the offences, but later admitted robbery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, fraud and possession of cocaine.
Cooney was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.
GARY BLOUNT
Convicted paedophile Gary Blount was accused of showing no remorse as he was jailed for sexually assaulting a young child.
Blount, 44, of Cwmfelin Boeth in Whitland, was charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child – who was aged five or six – between 2014 and October 2016.
He denied the charges, but the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts for each charge in August.
During the trial, the jury heard that the allegations emerged in July last year when the complainant reported Blount would touch her chest, thighs and genitals to a counsellor at school.
He sentenced Blount to five years, running concurrently for each offence. Blount must register as a sex offender for life, and the complainant was granted an indefinite restraining order against him.
MAXIMUS GOLDSWORTHY
‘Successful chef’ Maximus Goldsworthy was jailed for dealing cocaine, cannabis and MDMA across Pembrokeshire over a 14-month period.
Officers found 47.22 grams of cocaine, 433.8 grams of cannabis, and £8,100 in cash an address Goldsworthy shared with his then-partner on Chestnut Way in Milford Haven on May 7, 2021. He was not home at the time, but was arrested in June.
On April 1 last year, police were called to an address in Haverfordwest after reports of a man firing a handgun at some bins. Upon their arrival, Goldsworthy admitted to officers having a BB gun in his bag. Also in the bag was a list of names and phone numbers on – a drugs tick list – cash and more ball bearings.
The address Goldsworthy and his partner shared, on West Street in Fishguard, was searched, and 14.6 grams of cannabis was found. Drug-related messages and notes were also found on the Goldsworthy and his two co-defendants’ phones.
And on June 24 last year, police pulled over a car in which Goldsworthy was a passenger. They noticed he had white powder around his nose. When searched, he had £4,983.35 in cash, 146 MDMA tablets, and 95 grams of cannabis on him, and his mobile phone was seized and was found to have drug-related messages on it.
Goldsworthy, 22, was jailed for a total of four and a half years.
GUY BEDFORD
Guy Bedford stashed £5,700 of cocaine in his underwear just months after leading police on a 100mph chase when three of his tyres had been punctured.
Police pulled over Bedford’s Audi on the A483 near Crossgates on October 25, but Bedford sped off.
He was driving at speeds of 80 to 90mph and was drifting across the road. The police deployed a stinger just after the village of Fron which punctured three of his tyres.
But Bedford carried on, topping 100mph, before he lost control approaching a roundabout. He went straight over the roundabout – destroying the signs – and crashed in to wasteland.
Bedford tried to make a run for it but was later found at the bottom of a ravine.
Just months later, police were called on an unrelated matter in Haverfordwest on January 7, which led them to searching Bedford’s address on North Court, where they found cocaine and cannabis.
Three weeks later, on January 30, police carried out a “targeted stop” on an Audi TT that had travelled from Pembrokeshire to Swansea and Neath before returning to Pembrokeshire. Bedford was the passenger.
On the way to Carmarthen Police Station, Bedford admitted he had hidden drugs in his underwear. When officers pulled over and charged him with possession of cocaine, he said: “No, it’s possession with intent to supply”. He was charged with that instead.
Bedford tried to reach into his trousers to produce the drugs, telling officers he was concerned he would be late for his unborn baby’s baby shower. He had 57 grams of cocaine stashed in his underwear.
Bedford, 26, was jailed for a total of four and a half years and was banned from driving for two years following his release from prison. He will also have to take an extended driving test.
AARON TURVEY
Aaron Turvey was caught with almost 1,500 illegal images, posed as a young woman on Snapchat to trick children in to sending him explicit pictures, and expressed a desire to “kidnap, rape and kill children”.
Police searched Turvey’s home on May 21 and December 22 last year. He was arrested on both occasions, and his laptop, two phones, and USB sticks were seized.
Across the devices, 1,411 illegal images and videos were found. 432 of these were Category A images – the most extreme type, 431 were Category B, 545 were Category C, two were extreme pornographic images, and there was one more prohibited image.
Officers believed 39 of the images and videos were created by Turvey, and the children in these were identified and told officers the defendant had “showed [them] his penis” and had “bribed” them by promising to teach them to play a video game.
Turvey’s phone revealed he posed as a 20-year-old woman on Snapchat in order to solicit indecent images of children – one of which was a 12-year-old – and on the Telegram app he repeatedly expressed a desire to “kidnap, rape and kill children” and shared illegal images.
Turvey, 24, of Heol Llethryd in Pontyberem, was jailed for a total of four years. He will then serve an extended period of a further four years on licence. He must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
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