The killers, perverts and woman beaters locked up in March

Judges at Sheffield Crown Court have been busy throughout the month of March sending murderers, paedophiles and perverts to prison.

Convicted paedophiles masquerading as babysitters and bitter ex boyfriends from South Yorkshire all appeared in the dock and saw the outside world for one final time before being locked up.

Now they will join the vicious killers and axe-wielding teen who were also jailed this month.

Below is a long list of those sentenced to time behind bars and a collection of the thugs, arsonists and jealous exes who can no longer pose a risk to the public for years to come.

To get the latest email updates from South Yorkshire Live click here.

Debesay Teklehaymanot

Teen refugee Debesay Teklehaymanot armed himself with an axe and robbed three people including a young woman who he attacked.

The 19-year-old spent three nights stalking people in the streets of Sheffield in August 2020 and forced them to kneel in front of him as he took bank cards and car keys.

Teklehaymanot was convicted of the three robberies, possession of an offensive weapon and assault during a trial at Sheffield Crown Court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Anthony McCall

Twisted Anthony McCall had already been jailed for killing his ex-partner with a broken bottle, but just six months after his release in 2019 he poured boiling water over his friend because he was annoying him.

The 63-year-old called 999 and told the operator he had had a “hoo-hah” and was being wound up by his friend.

Police arrived to find his victim screaming in agony and blisters across his neck, back and legs.

McCall, of Birch Park Court, Rotherham, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was sentenced to nine months in prison.

Barry Reddish

Convicted paedophile Barry Reddish had befriended parents as he worked in a local convenience store before they asked him to look after their children overnight.

They had no idea of his history of offending and were happy to leave their young boys with him and allow him to babysit.

As he did so, he was found to be watching Babestation in the middle of the night and, on one occasion, feasted on McDonald’s with two boys.

Reddish, of Roughwood Road, Rotherham, admitted two breaches of a sexual harm prevention order and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Callum Cooke

Arsonist Callum Cooke had become so upset at his ex, who he had been with for a month, that he slashed her tyres, poured paint on her car and smashed her windows.

When the 21-year-old was spotted by his ex-girlfriend’s neighbour, he turned his attentions to their house and smashed their windows too.

That neighbour went on to help identify him due to his “protruding ears” and he was charged with arson and criminal damage.

Cooke admitted his offending and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

Jamie Unwin

Army reject Jamie Unwin drunkenly attacked a man who was making his way home and beat him senseless until he was bleeding.

His victim, aged in his 50s, had been drinking in a pub in Handsworth on September 12, 2019, and was just 50 yards from his home when he was brutally attacked.

Unwin, 23, beat the man for more than 15 minutes and inflicted horrendous injuries, including a broken nose and a wound to his lip.

Unwin, of Swallownest, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced to six years and six months in prison.

Enter your postcode to see crimes reported in your area

John Farnell

Lout John Farnell was jailed for dropping his trousers and urinating on a war memorial in the middle of Sheffield.

He was also sentenced over a row with a neighbour during which his other half knocked a woman’s teeth out.

Farnell, 30, had also lied about his car being stolen after it had been involved in a crash in April 2020.

He admitted outraging public decency, affray, perverting the course of justice, driving while disqualified, driving with no insurance, failing to stop and driving without due care and attention.

Farnell, of Follett Road, Sheffield, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.

Nicholas Holland

Bitter ex Nicholas Holland deliberately rammed his former girlfriend’s car and threatened to kill her new partner’s family if he didn’t cough up £1,000.

Nicholas Holland, from Doncaster, had originally been jailed in prison in July 2020 for the crash which happened just weeks earlier.

The 31-year-old had been with her for six months but she ended the relationship in December 2019 due to his “jealous and controlling behaviour”, Sheffield Crown Court was told.

Holland was released from prison in September 2020 and almost immediately tried to make contact with his ex through two people on Snapchat.

Holland, of Lime Tree Walk, Doncaster, was sentenced to 29 months in prison.

Lee Jones

Violent and abusive Lee Jones urinated in his partner’s shoes, tried to suffocate her by forcing bedsheets into her mouth and smashed a mirror on her back after accusing her of cheating on him.

The paranoid 29-year-old repeatedly subjected his ex to beatings throughout their relationship which began in May 2019.

As Christmas time approached, the 6ft 2 and 19-stone Doncaster thug accused her of looking at other men and would regularly check her mobile phone.

Jones, of Burnham Grove, Scawthorpe, admitted controlling or coercive behaviour and was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Leon Chan

Convicted pervert Leon Chan had already lost his job with a top accountancy firm for upskirting but has now been jailed for filming up the skirt of a schoolgirl as she made her way home on the train.

Leon Chan had already been convicted of an upskirting offence from 2019 when police found 1,500 videos and pictures after he was found following women and girls in a London Topshop store.

The 26-year-old, from Sheffield, committed the latest offence just nine months after being convicted in November 2019.

Chan had been travelling to a dental appointment on a train in Surrey on October 1, 2020, when he began “staring” at his 17-year-old victim.

As she stood up to get off the train, Chan stood behind her and bent down to his bag and held out his phone towards her legs.

Chan admitted one count of recording an image under clothing without consent, breaching a sexual harm prevention order and committing an offence while serving a suspended sentence.

Chan was sentenced to 20 months in prison and will be subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

He will also be on the sex offenders’ register for the same amount of time.

Connor O’Rourke

Connor O’Rourke drunkenly set fire to a house almost killing his own mum and injuring a young woman.

He poured petrol over the area of the front of a house in Wadworth, Doncaster, in June 2020, and lit it with a clipper lighter before fleeing.

Jurors cleared the 22-year-old of arson with intent to endanger life following a trial at Doncaster Crown Court but had admitted arson reckless as to whether life was endangered.

O’Rourke’s mother was left in a life-threatening condition and burns to more than 69 per cent of her body following the fire.

O’Rourke, of Beechfield Road, Doncaster, was sentenced to four years in prison.

Emma Capper

Emma Capper slashed a woman across the face with a Stanley knife leaving her with an eight-inch gash.

Capper had been visiting a friend at Victoria Court in Sheffield on December 9, and went to leave at around 9.20pm.

The 37-year-old and her friend chose to go to another flat in the building to see another woman but she became enraged with her victim who she had previously had arguments with.

Capper, of Lane End, Sheffield, accused her victim of saying unpleasant things about her and pulled the Stanley knife from her pocket.

She admitted wounding with intent and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Enter your postcode to see local issues near you

Jacob Sanderson

Jacob Sanderson bolted from police in his Audi and hit a pedestrian leaving him for dead before setting his car on fire to avoid punishment.

Jacob Sanderson’s horrendous driving in May 2018 left a young man with visible tyre marks on his back, blood pouring from his mouth and head and fractures to his face, shoulder and pelvis.

The 22-year-old had been smoking cannabis on May 6 and was driving his grey A3 through Barnsley when police noticed he was driving dangerously.

While he remained in intensive care, the man who almost killed him had driven 17 miles away and set fire to his car to avoid being caught by police.

Sanderson, of Pogmoor Road, Barnsley, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice. He was jailed for 30 months.

He also told officers and his own dad that his car had been stolen shortly after the collision.

James Cooke

Gunman James Cooke armed himself with a shotgun, machete and meat cleaver and embarked on a three-hour rampage in the middle of Sheffield after popping a Xanax and being consumed by paranoia.

He threw objects at hotel staff, threatened passers-by with knives and brandished a shotgun in front of a man and his two-year-old granddaughter on August 15.

The 26-year-old revealed he had been in fear of his ex-girlfriend’s family and believed he was being hunted after being shot with a projectile by armed police.

Cooke admitted affray, assault, threats with a bladed article, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Judge Michael Slater sentenced him to six years in prison.

David Bestwick

Murderer David Bestwick had been infatuated with 44-year-old Maria Howarth for three years before he killed her on the settee of her home in Sheffield.

Sheffield Crown Court had previously heard Bestwick, 60, sunk 11 pints of Strongbow at his and Ms Howarth’s local pub, the White Swan, in Greenhill on Saturday, September 6.

The pair went back to her house where they unsuccessfully tried to have sex but that Bestwick, in his own words, “had failed to fulfil his duty”.

After his arrest, Bestwick told police they had tried to have sex previously in a friend with benefits situation but had been unsuccessful.

Bestwick, of Chesterfield Road, Woodseats, was unanimously convicted of Ms Howarth’s murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years.