It has been another busy month in our courtrooms

Several criminals have been jailed in Nottingham this month for some horrible offences

March has seen no let-up in the number of defendants locked up for their crimes across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

From a month which started with a driver being caught by a police dog hiding under a van to a Clifton woman who stabbed a teenager in the back.

Here, reporter Martin Naylor highlights some of the cases he has covered in our courts.

To read more of the stories he has worked on, head to our courts page.

Speeding drink-driver Josh Soar

Drink-driver Josh Soar was jailed for reaching more than 90mph, “tearing” through Sutton-in-Ashfield before crashing his car, running from the scene and being caught hiding under a van by a police dog.

Judge Michael Auty KC told Josh Soar that had he struck anyone driving in the manner he did while two-and-a-half times the legal limit, they would not have survived.

On CCTV played in court, the 27-year-old is heard screaming “get off me, get off me” as Max, a four-year-old German Shepherd, locates him under the vehicle.

(Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

Sending the defendant, of The Oval, Sutton, to prison for 14 months and disqualifying him from driving for five years and seven months, Judge Auty said: “This was as bad a case of dangerous driving these courts see, and you were playing Russian roulette with people’s lives, including his own.

“You drank five or six pints of beer that night and chose to get behind the wheel, and you know all about drink-driving because you have a previous conviction for it, and yet again you chose to drive while under the influence of drink.

“You were also driving far too quickly, tearing through the streets at more than 90mph.

“Nobody could have survived a collision with you at that speed.”

The police chase took place on November 20, 2025, and Soar pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and drink-driving.

He has two previous convictions for two offences.

Rock City phone thief Serigle Ndiaye

Father-of-three Serigle Ndiaye, who has been living illegally in the UK for the past 15 years, carried out an evening-long spate of thefts of mobile phones from students enjoying a night out inside Nottingham’s Rock City.

The cunning 38-year-old targeted youngsters at the Talbot Street venue, removing items from their handbags and then wrapping each in foil, knowing that would make it harder for the owners to track where they were being moved.

And in a separate, similar deception, he and an unknown woman worked together to steal another phone from a woman enjoying a night out celebrating Manchester’s Pride festival.

Serigle Ndiaye (Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

Jailing the defendant for two years, Judge Michael Auty KC said: “I am told you have been in the country illegally for about 15 years, and in those circumstances you are unable to work.

“You have three children, and you work cash-in-hand when it is available, but when that dries up, you resort to criminal activity.

“You have a number of convictions from 2013, mainly theft from other people, and you have been before the courts on eight previous occasions.”

The Nottingham offences took place on October 10, 2025 while the Manchester theft happened on August 23, ;last year.

Ndiaye, of Roderick Street, Upper Wortley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to a number of theft offences and has 41 similar offences on his record.

MMA Fighter Luke Webster

Competitive fighter Luke Webster fractured his own partner’s jaw as she breastfed their four-month-old baby on a bed.

The 28-year-old woke and repeatedly punched the victim to the face, falsely believing she had thrown their young daughter across the room.

The defendant, of Mansfield Woodhouse and who competes in mixed martial arts fights, straddled the woman and started to attack her, dragging her back onto the bed to carry on his assault when she slipped off it.

(Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

Jailing him for two-and-a-half years, Judge Michael Auty KC said: “Precisely what the nature of your annoyance was is not entirely clear because it is either a completely unprovoked attack or a colossal overreaction.

“You are an experienced fighter, you know how to use your fists, and you know how to use them to cause harm.

“On your own pleas, you struck her four or five times, and the blows you struck were wholly unnecessary, brutal and savage.

“She was doing nothing more than looking after your child.

“Her jaw is fractured, it is permanently displaced, and the surgery has left her in very considerable pain.

“She said she loved you dearly, and she cannot comprehend why you did this.

“It was, on any view, a sustained and prolonged assault.”

The attack happened on the bed in the now ex-partner’s home at 7.30am on May 19, last year, and Webster, of Dunsil Road, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm.

He has a previous conviction for the same offence which saw him jailed for two years in 2019.

Stalker Radko Radev

Basford Stalker Radko Radev threatened to pay someone to rape his victim, her sister and her father during a course of shocking offending.

The 37-year-old also bombarded the victim with 300 calls in a single day, followed by 100 more the next.

The defendant then chose to send the woman a photograph of his genitals, chillingly saying he knew where she lived and would “come and end you”.

Radko Radev bombarded his victims with messages(Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

And in a victim impact statement, the woman told how she was “scared he would find out where she lived”.

Jailing him for four-and-a-half years, Judge Michael Auty KC said: “You told her you would find someone and pay them not only to rape you but to rape her sister and her father.

“She was left feeling scared for her whole family, and you then sent her a message saying you would ‘come and end you’

“It is difficult to imagine how more threatening you could have been.

“On September 9, 2025, you bombarded her for over 13 hours with 300 messages, and the following day it was down to 100 calls, but still the bombardment continued.

“In her victim impact statement, she said she lives constantly in fear for her life and the lives of her family.”

The stalking took place between March and October last year, and Radev, of Radford Road, pleaded guilty to stalking, sending images of his genitals and breaching the order.

In addition to the jail term, the judge issued a 10-year restraining order against the defendant.

‘Savage’ city centre attackers

A gang of teenage robbers filmed themselves as they kicked, punched and stamped on a man in Nottingham city centre in what a judge called “a brutal attack which was utterly devoid of mercy”.

18-year-old Daniel Faulkner had only just met his two younger co-defendants, having run away from his home in Essex and come to see his brother at university.

But having been kicked out of that student accommodation, he chanced upon the two other teens who, as a group, decided to assault and rob the drunk victim.

Daniel Faulkner has been sent to a young offender’s institution(Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

CCTV of the robbery showed them savagely beating the man as he lay on the ground, while Faulkner took out his phone and recorded it.

Sending him to a young offender’s institution for three years, Judge Michael Auty KC said: “It was a brutal attack which was utterly devoid of mercy on a victim who was utterly defenceless.

“The victim was out in Nottingham city centre with friends and at around 2am he decided to go home.

“As he was walking to his bus stop in Friar Lane, he remembered precious little other than a group of young people speaking to him.

“They became aggressive, asking him to hand over what he had, and he politely said ‘no’.

“One of the group started to try and take his property from him, and the next thing he knew, he was on the floor being savagely and brutally assaulted.

“He put his arms up to protect his face, but as we all saw on the footage, he was then kicked and punched repeatedly.

“He was completely defenceless as one of your two co-accused stamped on his head.

“You (Faulkner) even videoed it, and the three of you attacked him for a pitiful return.

“A few pounds and a silver chain, an extraordinary amount of violence for a small reward.

“It is group violence, it is a savage and merciless attack.”

The attack took place at around 2am in King Street in the city centre.

Faulkner, of South View, Great Dunmow, pleaded guilty to robbery.

The younger two attackers, whose identities are protected by law due to their age, were both dealt with at a previous hearing at Nottingham Youth Court and received 12-month detention and training orders.

Clifton back stabber Kirsty Kemp

Alcoholic Kirsty Kemp stabbed a teenage friend in the back while hugging her in a motiveless attack.

The 35-year-old defendant had been drinking and was wearing a dressing gown in which she concealed the blade when she went up to the teen outside Clifton Leisure Centre, held her and plunged it into her.

Mercifully, the victim, who had no inkling at all what was about to happen to her, suffered just a minor injury in the assault.

(Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

Jailing Kemp, of Clifton, for three-and-a-half years, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said: “I don’t accept what you say when you claim you found the knife somewhere by chance and decide to use it.

“That is putting gloss on what happened, and whether there was some misguided jealousy at work here, I don’t know.

“That means, of course, you took the knife with you and with perhaps some ill-feeling towards a person, this happened all against a person who saw you as her friend.

“You had been drinking, she believed you were distressed, she believed you wanted help, and she wanted to console you.

“Having spoken to her and having said you wanted a hug for her, you used that as a pretext to stab her.

“That was an appalling thing to happen.”

The attack on the 19-year-old happened in Southchurch Drive, on Saturday, October 4, last year.

Kemp, of Colesbourne Road, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon in public.

Judge Rafferty said: “It is beyond doubt that you have had a very difficult life and that no one should experience some of the things you have experienced.

“But running away into drink and drugs, as you have done, is not an answer, and neither is carrying a weapon.

“Because if you carry a knife, it is almost inevitable that it will be taken out at some point and used.”

As well as the jail term, the judge handed the defendant a five-year restraining order.

Burglar ‘not jailed for long enough’

Serial burglar Brinsley Forrester blasted a judge for not jailing him for long enough.

The 34-year-old told his barrister he wanted to be locked up for as long as he could so that when he is released, he is not caught in what he called a “doom loop” of reoffending and being put back behind bars.

But when Judge Philip Head handed him 930 days’ immediate custody, the statutory minimum Parliament had decreed for his latest third-strike break-in, the 34-year-old proceeded to tell him “it’s not long enough” over a link from HMP Fosse Way in Leicester.

In response, the judge replied: “I am sorry to disappoint you for not sentencing you for long, but I have to deal with you as the law says.”

(Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

In November 2024, drug addict Forrester was jailed for 27 months for burgling a student’s room at an address in Howard Street in the city centre.

On that occasion, the victim had his wallet and games console stolen while he was watching a football game in the same building.

And in 2023, the defendant was jailed for 15 months when he went on a spree of break-ins in Derby, including two on the same street on the same day.

His most recent incident saw Forrester burgle a house in Holborn Avenue, on July 31, last year, while one of the occupants was inside.

The defendant, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to burglary.

Tony Stanford, mitigating, said: “Mr Forrester is on a doom loop of committing offences, being caught, being sent to prison, coming out with no support, no home, no job and no money, and so the cycle repeats.

“I asked him what he wanted to say to the judge and he told me ‘give me as long a sentence as you possibly can because I need time in prison to sort myself out’.

“He wants to be as strong as he can be, so when he is released, he can hopefully break the cycle.”