The faces of the men and women who have been locked up for the most serious crimes in the past month
Here is our monthly round up of the criminals who have been locked up for some of the most serious crimes in Wales over the past month. They include a man who punched, kicked and stamped his neighbour unconscious, and then calmly called 999, Lee Thomas died and Michel Nuttall was sentenced after being convicted of manslaughter.
The two members of a nationwide criminal network were also jailed for life last month for a murder plot involving a James Bond-style gun. And there were a further nine men jailed for attacks on women, bringing the total number of men who have been sentenced to prison for abusing women so far this year to 40,
Welsh Women's Aid says that violence against woman and girls in Wales is at "epidemic rates", and have called on the UK and Welsh Governments to do more. You can read more about that here.
READ MORE: Man baffled as thief raids his car but all they took was a Greggs sausage roll
Here are the faces of the criminals locked up for the most serious crimes in Wales during May 2022:
He punched his neighbour Lee Thomas to the ground then kicked and stamped on the unconscious man's head following an early morning confrontation in the victim's flat. With the bleeding man laying at his feet, Nuttall calmly called 999 and explained to the operator what he had done to his friend. Hear the 999 call here.
Nuttall was convicted of manslaughter following a trial at Swansea Crown Court last month - the 32-year-old had denied charges of murder and manslaughter, claiming he had been acting in self-defence when he "lashed out" at Mr Thomas. In the 999 call made at around 5.30am Nuttall told the operator: "Basically he started on me, and I f****** punched him a few times in the face and stamped on his head several times... there's a bit of blood... I am surprised he is not f****** dead."
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and will serve two-thirds of that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
The two members of a nationwide criminal network were jailed for life this month for a murder plot involving a James Bond-style gun.
Fontaine supplied a 9mm Makarov self-loading pistol used to murder Abdullahi Mahamoud in a bagel shop in Enfield, north London, on March 19 2020. Weeks later, he helped arrange to supply a new Walther PPK handgun to Cardiff career criminal Sinclair to murder Keiron Hassan, and others in a rival group.
In messages on EncroChat, Sinclair referred to the gun – made famous by Sean Connery in the 007 film Dr No – as a “James Bond ting”. Following an Old Bailey trial, Fontaine, 36, from Hackney, north London, and Sinclair, 34, from Cardiff, south Wales, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder and a string of other offences. Read the full story here.
The drugged-up driver led police on a 20-mile high-speed chase during which he deliberately hit three cop cars. The chip shop worker raced along Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire roads at speeds touching 110mph and even after having the front tyres of his car punctured by police continued to drive at breakneck speeds on just the bare rims of the wheels. At one stage he slammed into the side of a police car which had parked across the road to block his path.
When police managed to box in the defendant's car and bring the pursuit to an end he was found to have a cocktail of drugs in his system including ketamine, cocaine, cannabis and Valium with the reading for ketamine being 14 times over the legal driving limit.
Teenager Strickland was involved in the robbery of Ryan O'Connor. who was subsequently murdered, was on bail for drug offences along with his sister at the time of the victim's death. Mr O'Connor 26, was stabbed to death by Joseph Jeremy, 18 and Lewis Aquilina, 20, in Newport.
The 19-year-old was found guilty of robbery along with his co-defendants and Kyle Raisis, 18, following a trial at Newport Crown Court. He was armed with a knife and a balaclava when he was driven to the Alway area of the city from Cardiff on June 10 last year.
Strickland, of Clos Briallen, Caerau, was on bail at the time for being concerned in the supply of cocaine between August 30, 2020, and March 13, 2021, and possession of cocaine with intent to supply, along with his sister Noreen O'Driscoll, 26, of Parker Road, Ely. Both later pleaded guilty to the offences. Read how long they were sentenced to here.
The police officer who used to catch criminals now finds himself living among them after he was jailed for perverting the course of justice. The disgraced PC rang Crimestoppers and made a false report that a woman had shot a drug dealer - which resulted in armed police turning up at her place of work.
His trial heard that he made up the bogus claim after becoming "obsessed" with the 21-year-old Mia Pitman. Masum, who has since been booted out from South Wales Police, denied he'd done anything wrong but was convicted following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.
The gang of thugs mugged two schoolboys and then used one of them to gain entry to a nearby flat where they assaulted the occupants and stole hundreds of pounds in cash.
Between them, Parkin, Key, Gibson, and Barker have committed more than 230 offences including numerous robberies and burglaries, serious assaults, possession of knives and offensive weapons, thefts, and drug matters. Sending them all the prison, a judge described what the quartet did as "brazen and shocking" and he imposed extended sentences on two of them as dangerous offenders.
The 21-year-old man "cared only for his own selfish sexual desires" when he raped a teenager. Roberts pinned his victim down as he attacked her, and then told the terrified young woman not to report what had happened to family members or the police.
Roberts denied rape, telling his trial at Cardiff Crown Court that the sexual contact had been consensual. But a jury rejected that version of events and convicted him. Read how long he was sentenced to here.
She armed herself with a kitchen knife and threatened to "slice up" a neighbour as the victim's terrified young son looked on. Heale was described by witnesses as foaming at the mouth and "acting like a madwoman" as she ranted in the street on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
She then turned her aggression on the police who responded to 999 calls, subjecting officers to half a hour of abuse and threats. Swansea Crown Court heard Heale has experienced a number of traumas in her life including seeing her brother sentenced to life in prison for murder when she was aged just 15.
The successful recruitment consultant who lost his business and home in the Covid pandemic turned to dealing Class A drugs to make ends meet and support his young children.
Hicks was caught red-handed with a stash of cocaine deals and hundreds of pounds in cash when police swooped on the car he was sat in a car park. When officers checked his phone they found a message that he had received just minutes earlier asking how long he was going to be because his contact had people waiting for their delivery.
The burglars crept into the home of a 90-year-old woman in the dead of night and ransacked it while she slept.
The terrified pensioner woke to find a stranger in her bedroom rummaging through her bedside cupboard. She pressed the panic button on her wrist to raise the alarm, and Lewis and Morris fled from the house.
Merthyr Crown Court heard how the pair were caught thanks to a police sniffer dog, CCTV footage, a trainer recovered from a nearby river, and local knowledge. The victim of the burglary has since passed away, and police said it is "tragic that she had to endure something as awful" in her final months.
He stabbed his friend with a carving knife following a row at a birthday party about oral sex. Morris plunged the weapon into his mate's thigh, and when police arrived he told them he was the "suspect", using his fingers to make quotation marks in the air as he said the word. The victim sat on the floor bleeding heavily through his jeans, and officers performed emergency first aid until an ambulance arrived.
Sending the defendant to prison, a judge told him that anyone who uses a knife to inflict serious injury must expect immediate custody.
The passenger who was caught travelling without a ticket has been jailed for a violent disturbance which saw him abusing, threatening and struggling with police who were forced to put a spit hood over his head.
As fellow passengers looked on, Harris fought with officers in Swansea's High Street station for some 20 minutes during which one of the officers suffered a dislocated shoulder. The defendant repeatedly threatened to kill police, challenged them to a fight, and warned them he was "juicy" and "tasty" after taking steroids. Sending him to prison, a judge said his behaviour had all the hallmarks of what was colloquially known as "'roid rage".
The paedophile who tried to groom a young girl on Instagram was caught after a mum became concerned about changes in her daughter's behaviour.
The mother asked to look at the schoolgirl's mobile and saw she had sent a friend a screenshot of a conversation she had had with a man on the social media site during which the unknown male had asked her for a photo, and discussed meeting. The mum subsequently contacted a so-called paedophile hunter group which took over the youngster's accounts. Read the full story here.
A drug-dealing couple was found with around £2,000 worth of cannabis after police raided a house in Cardiff. Mobile phone evidence proved both of them were involved and aware of the enterprise.
Hill, 27, and Aimee McCue, 26, were both concerned in supplying cannabis to customers with the operation based at McCue's home in Splott. Officers executed a warrant at the house on January 13 last year where they discovered 368.1g of cannabis and £895 in cash.
The father broke his friend's jaw in a alcohol-fuelled "frenzied and violent attack" at a caravan park after he took offence at a comment made about his children's behaviour. The victim also suffered a torn lip and had to take four months off work.
Warner, 29, lashed out at Michael Young at Trecco Bay caravan park in Porthcawl on June 26 last year after drinking nine pints of lager. Initially, the pair wrestled and pushed each other but the situation calmed down after security staff threatened to have the defendant removed from the site.
The callous carer stole thousands of pounds from the elderly and vulnerable couple he was taking care of. Lewis helped himself to more than £9,000 from the couple's saving account, "frittering it away" on clothes and presents.
At the time of the theft, Lewis was in a relationship with the pensioners' granddaughter. Swansea Crown Court heard the victims have been left feeling heartbroken, betrayed, and preyed upon by the actions of someone they trusted.
A man "went nuts" as he walked home from a takeaway with his partner - throwing curry at a wall before launching into a "horrific" and "brutal" 40-minute attack, a court heard.
Michael Williams, of Hazel Walk in Cwmbran, strangled his then-girlfriend to the point she feared she would die. He dragged her by her hair, hit her with keys and knelt on her neck, leaving her with long-lasting injuries and fearful to leave the house.
The drug dealer sold heroin and crack cocaine to an undercover police officer on two occasions. The 41-year-old took part in an enterprise through the use of the "Lewis drugs line" in order to pay off a debt.
The police officer, known as Jack, was given access to the number on March 12, 2020, and contacted a Cardiff -based dealer the next day in order to buy heroin and crack cocaine. The officer was told to head behind the Premier Inn store on Corporation Road where he waited for the dealer.
The burglar stole £12,000 from his mother and sister's home while putting their belongings in the garden and defecating on them. He carried out the offence in order to feed his amphetamine addiction.
Vincent, 60, targeted the home of mother Sylvia Buckley and sister Michele Griggs in North Cornelly, Bridgend, on May 3. He ransacked the house while they were housesitting and put sentimental jewellery and clothes outside which he soiled.
The drug dealer was busted after police saw him driving erratically and swerving across the road in his car. Officers pulled Hughes over and found him to be more than twice the drink-drive limit while he had boxes marked "diazepam" stuffed down his pants. In fact the boxes contained 140 flubromazolam tablets – a strong sedative drug. He also had £230 in cash.
When police examined the driver's phone they found he had made arrangements to supply four people on the evening he was arrested and a subsequent search of his house uncovered a stash of cocaine and weighing scales and a further 1,800 flubromazolam pills.
The pub worker drove into another vehicle after spending the night drinking and taking drugs at a party. Jones had been speeding while giving a lift home to two friends when her car struck another vehicle – injuring one of her passengers so seriously he spent weeks in an induced coma.
Yet in a letter read to Swansea Crown Court the victim, Billy Wathan, said he didn't wish to see his friend imprisoned. She was jailed for a total of 22 months and was told she would serve half of that in custody before being eligible for release on licence. She was also disqualified from driving for four years and 11 months.
He once taunted police with photo of himself standing next to a cop van while he was on the run and was found hiding in an attic after a high-speed chase in a stolen van.
Maynard raced through Swansea in the BT van before jumping into an accomplice's getaway car in an attempt to escape. He then took to his heels ran through gardens and into a house - but his every move was being observed by a police helicopter. Read the full story here.
The sex offender was found hiding a boy and a girl who were from children's homes in a wardrobe in his bedroom. Just weeks after police made the shocking discovery, Roberts took two boys - again vulnerable teens living in care - back to his house where they drank alcohol and took drugs - and he suggested getting amphetamine as it "makes you really horny".
Roberts, who also goes by the name Jamie Whelan, is currently subject to a sexual harm prevention order after being convicted of child abduction.
The thug headbutted his ex-girlfriend after taking her American bulldog and threatening to kill the animal unless he was paid £5,000. Pitman, 24, attacked the woman after she turned up at his address to take the dog back.
The defendant was described as "jealous" during his relationship with his former partner and would accuse her of being unfaithful, which led to the end of the relationship. Following the break-up she moved to her mother's address but kept the dog at her home and would go there in the day to attend to him.
The 19-yer-old pretended he did not have anywhere to sleep for the night in order to stay at a friend's house, before pulling a knife on her.
Martin sent a text message to Amy Brown on October 19, 2021, telling her that he was homeless and had no place to stay for the evening. She took pity on him and invited her to stay the night at her home in Gorseinon, Swansea, even meeting him en route to her house as he did not know where she lived.
The drug dealer bragged to an undercover officer his phone line was making £3,000 a day sold heroin and crack cocaine to pay off a debt. He was part of a county lines operation which saw him regularly travelling between Cardiff and London.
The 28-year-old played a managerial role in the enterprise which saw him looking after the "CJ drugs line", using the tag "Craddock". Between November 2019 and March 2020, the CJ line was estimated to have made £111,000.
The abusive man moved himself and his dog into a friend's house uninvited and threatened to kick his dog to death when he was asked to move out. He also attacked and strangled the woman in front of her son and bit a police officer on the arm during his arrest.
The 42-year-old took over the home of his victim in Newport after she invited him to the property to carry out a number of DIY jobs. Despite being told to leave he remained at the house for two months and became angry when his victim made efforts to make him leave.
Ribena bottles containing drugs and mobile phones were thrown over a prison wall by the two men who were caught on CCTV. They were then stopped by a police officer in a car parked near the prison. Baldwin, 39, and McCabe, 25, were seen trying to sneak contraband into HMP Parc in Bridgend when security officers saw the bottles being thrown over the north wall. Read the full story here.
He hid cameras in the toilets at the care home where he worked and filmed multiple women in secret until he was finally caught out. The 23-year-old, of Tan Y Bryn in St Asaph, Denbighshire, confessed to a charge of voyeurism at his former workplace during an earlier court hearing in March. He was put before a judge after arriving to court late on May 19 for his punishment.
A 12-year-old was abducted outside a train station and driven 120 miles to a Gwynedd campsite. The child was abducted by Jones, 28, and Carr, 40, who threw a blanket over their victim's head before driving from Greater Manchester to North Wales, Manchester Evening News reports.
The pair abducted the child, who was in school uniform, outside Wigan North Western railway station. A hearing held at Bolton Crown Court heard the pair told the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to turn off their phone so they couldn't be tracked.
The controlling and jealous man bit his girlfriend's lip and knocked her unconscious because she wanted to see her mother and her family. He also punched her when he suspected her of planning to leave him and the victim had to escape through a window.
The 28-year-old of Cardiff, began a relationship with his victim after they met on social media but after months of dating, he became abusive and jealous. While the victim said their relationship was good at first she said he would accuse her of flirting with people when in company.
The two burglars went on a week-long crime spree trashed family homes and stole jewellery that held priceless memories. Davies, Rhosymedre, Wrexham, appeared before Mold Crown Court charged with burglary. His co-accused - Tyler Williams, of Abbots Way in Bangor on Dee - faced three burglary charges.
Ryan Rothwell, prosecuting, told the court that Williams broke into a home in Malpas in Cheshire where a family of four lived. The husband, wife and two children left home on August 14, 2020, and went away to Kent for the weekend. Read more here.
The former soldier with a long history of beating and abusing women turned his partner's life into a "nightmare" with his controlling behaviour. Porch – who has 27 previous convictions for violence, "almost all" of which are domestic in nature – used a fake identity on a dating site to hide his past.
Having "lured" a woman into a relationship under false pretences he then effectively took over her life – cutting her off from her friends, monitoring her movements, not allowing her to go to the toilet unless he was present, and controlling which positions she could sleep in.
The sexual predator who went on the run 21 years ago has finally been locked up after being arrested at Heathrow Airport. Williams, 58, from Bridgend, abused a young girl for three years in the late 1990s and fled the UK when he realised his victim had been interviewed by police.
Following a police investigation that has spanned nearly two decades, he was arrested at the London airport in October 2021, as he tried to sneak back into the UK. When he landed, South Wales Police officers were there to arrest him. Read the full story here.
The controlling bully strangled his girlfriend when she was pregnant and held a knife to her throat in a jealous rage. The assaults were so violent his own sister and mother intervened to stop him.
Meachin, 31, of Abercynon, assaulted his now former partner on several occasions during their relationship between November last year and February. The woman was pregnant at the time of the assaults and lost the baby but it's not suggested this was as a result of Meachin's actions.
The thief stole £115,000 worth of machinery equipment from a business after breaking into an industrial estate. The theft resulted in the business losing thousands of pounds worth of work after having to temporarily shut.
Dowding, 53, and another targeted commercial premises belonging to BAS International on Llantarnam Industrial Park in Cwmbran on December 7 last year. When the owner of the business came in the next day to discover the break in and found vehicle injection moulds worth £115k had been taken.
The 20-year-old man spent his days working for the family construction firm - and his nights selling cocaine.
Hopson was caught at a retail park with the tools of his trade in his van including weighing scales and bulking agents to add to the coke. Messages found on his phone phone showed he was charging some customers £20 for making deliveries, and that he also had a "runner" working for him. Some of the people he was supplying were paying money into a bank account in a different name in an attempt to avoid detection. Read more here.
The two teenage cocaine dealers were caught when police swooped on their BMW as it was parked outside a corner shop. Officers found a stash of coke in the Beamer along with mobile phones full of incriminating messages.
Locking them up, a judge said it was clear from everything he had read and heard about the defendants that they came from supportive families, and had not been brought up to be involved in drugs. Read more here.
He spent years sexually abusing two young vulnerable girls and has now been made the subject of an extended sentence as a dangerous offender. Thomas carried out a prolonged "campaign of rape" against one young girl and sexually assaulted another over a six-year period. The abuse started when one of the victims was aged just five. The 42-year-old denied a total of 21 offences but was convicted following a trial at Swansea Crown Court.
The teenage cocaine and heroin dealer was caught after residents reported seeing a car regularly coming and going from their streets and called police. Undercover officers were sent to the area and saw Ngounou in his vehicle. Read more here.
When police raided a house being used as a base by the cocaine dealers they found a missing woman hiding under a bed, and an electronic bank card reader which customers could use to pay for drugs. Inquiries led police to a second house in Swansea being lived in by two former Army friends - in this property officers found almost £31,000 worth of cocaine, along with a cannabis-growing operation and a 9mm bullet which was a "souvenir" of military service. Read the full story here.
The robber pulled a machete and demanded money at his local shop but was given the shock of his life when the brave shopkeeper refused to back down - and then tried to detain him.
Davies, 29, wore a hood and a face mask as he entered the Family Choice Bargains convenience store in Aberbargoed, Caerphilly earlier this year, after drawing up a half baked plan to rob the store on his phone. After bursting in and telling shopkeeper Jeva Logeswaran he was armed, he then pulled out a large blade before demanding money.
But Mr Logeswaran refused to yield to drug addict Davies' demands and instead tried to close the shutters. Read the full story here.
The prolific car thieves went on a spree of burglaries in Cardiff which saw them taking a number of expensive vehicles from driveways. Tuliova, 21, and Tannetta, 22, carried out the burglaries at numerous properties in the Welsh capital between July and September 2021. They also became involved in a police chase which only came to an end when Tuliova crashed into a metal fence. Read more here.
The dad "used his car as a weapon" and deliberately drove at a man who he believed had mistreated his daughter. Craig - who has 116 previous offences on his record - twice tried to run down his victim after a chance encounter on a residential street. Sending the 54-year-old to prison, a judge told him that whatever the rights and wrongs of the issues between the two men the defendant's behaviour had been unacceptable and extremely dangerous.
The drug dealer addicted to crack cocaine and heroin was found to have supplied class A drugs to friends. The 41-year-old was also found in possession of cocaine in Cardiff.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard Richards had been dealing to a small group of people in the Grangetown area of the city. On April 26, he was seen supplying a user with 0.1g of heroin in St Fagans Street. He was later found with 0.5g of cocaine in Ferry Road.
The cannabis dealer who "loves" the drug was caught after police saw him selling it to a child outside shops. Police followed Domaskis' car as he drove away from the street deal, and when they pulled him over they found 21 ready-to-go cannabis deals and £220 in cash. Messages found on one of the defendant's phones showed he had been touch with 14 customers that day, though he refused to reveal the PIN for a second mobile.
Jailed for a year-long spree of offending which saw him deliberately knocking someone down with his car, taking part in a gang assault of a victim in the street, breaking into a house, damaging property, and intimidating witnesses. A judge told the 25-year-old that the residents of the town where he carried out his crimes deserve a "lengthy break" from his activities. He added it was "ridiculous and unjustifiable" that the defendant had been repeatedly arrested and released under investigation during the spree.
The Port Talbot man and his trusted lieutenant were running an "industrial scale" cocaine trafficking operation shipping large amounts of the Class A drugs to communities across south Wales and beyond.
The scaffolder ran the organised crime group while Steven Hughes from Abercynon - known as "Sky Steve" because of his work for the broadcaster - was the courier responsible for driving large quantities of cash and drugs around south Wales. The two men have been jailed for a total of 20 years while a third member of the group, Mark Lapper, had been jailed for his part in the conspiracy which involved distributing drugs in Oxfordshire on behalf of the gang.
He was caught dangerously driving by police and told he was extremely lucky not to get a prison term then did “exactly the same thing” again. Norville was serving a suspended sentence for dangerous driving and driving while uninsured when he was spotted behind the wheel in Ystrad Mynach last month. After officers spotted his uninsured Seat Leon, they turned on the blue lights and signalled for him to move over. However, the 23-year-old had other ideas - and he dangerously overtook cars and ran a red light. Read the full story here.
The drug dealer drove at a police car after he was seen slumped behind the wheel of a car with a crack pipe. He also sold heroin to an undercover officer and stole tools from workmen in order to feed his drug addiction.
Khan, 43, was addicted to heroin at the time he carried out the offences in Cardiff. On February 2, 2020, police officers saw the defendant at 4.30pm in the driver's side of a Toyota slumped forward and unresponsive, despite the engine running.
A man fired a crossbow at a cafe in the middle of the afternoon as part of a "long-running feud" with the owner.
Griffiths had drunk a bottle of wine and six cans of lager before issuing a series of lurid threats over the phone to the cafe boss, then arming himself with the weapon.
Swansea Crown Court heard he fired one bolt at a car parked near the business, then one at the front of the premises while staff were inside. A subsequent breath test showed he was almost twice the legal drink-drive limit at the time.
The paedophile sexually assaulted two young girls after forcing them to drink alcohol and take cannabis. The 47-year-old took advantage of his two victims who were left feeling anxious and depressed following the abuse.
Howells' victims, who were both younger than 15 years old at the time of the assaults, described how they had trusted the defendant but he used their trust to fulfil his own sexual gratification. Howells, of Mountain Ash, maintains his innocence but was found guilty following a trial and was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.
The prisoner who smuggled a phone from one prison to another said he was offered £3,000 for the mobile by fellow inmates. Drug dealer Pullen managed to take the contraband with him when he was transferred from HMP Manchester to Swansea jail in preparation for his forthcoming release. The phone was eventually recovered after being located hidden in the defendant's bum, but an investigation showed that in the preceding months he had made and received more than 2,500 calls and texts from both prisons. Read how much longer he got sentenced for here.
The Albanian entered the UK on a boat before travelling to Wales where he acted as a gardener in a drugs conspiracy. Drazhi looked after a cannabis factory at a property on Commercial Street in Glyncorrwg. He was caught when police raided the property on May 17 this year, and he tried to make an exit from the rear of the property, before being detained in the garden by officers who had surrounded the three-bed mid-terrace house. He was sentenced to nine months in prison
The former police community support officer caught filming young children in a swimming pool changing room had been secretly building up a sickening collection of child sex abuses for almost 20 years.
Land, of Llanfair Talhaiarn, Abergele, had worked in a cyber crime unit at Derbyshire Police HQ before his crimes were exposed. He ended up on the radar of police after an internet address linked to him had been accessing indecent image of children. Find out how long he got jailed for here.