It has been another busy year for judges, juries and magistrates across Sussex.
Here we take a look at some of the criminals locked up during the summer of 2023.
All of the information below comes from either Sussex Police or our reporters attending court in person.
5. Locked up in Sussex 2023: These are some of the criminals jailed between May and August
Four men involved in a reported shooting in St Leonards have been sentenced over their roles, Sussex Police have said. Police said Jackson-Lee Scriven, 23, Cornel Florea, 21 (pictured), Hayden Inglis, 29, and Robert Murphy, 34, approached a vehicle outside a gym in Theaklen Drive, St Leonards. Police added that they surrounded the vehicle, which drove away from the scene. During the incident, witnesses saw and heard shots being fired at the vehicle, and saw a knife in the hand of one of the men surrounding the vehicle which belonged a victim who is not known to the men. The shots had been fired from an imitation firearm. Police responded rapidly to the incident at 7.10pm on January 24, with armed response officers attending the area. Four suspects were traced to a location at Churchill Court in Stonehouse Drive nearby. Footage showed the group had returned to the address after the incident. Officers searched the address and located the imitation firearm and a knife inside. They made four arrests, and those men were charged. Florea, 21, unemployed of Cambria Crescent, Gravesend, was charged with affray and possession of a bladed article. Murphy, unemployed of Bristol Road, St Leonards, was charged with affray. At Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday, May 24, the four men admitted the charges. Florea was sentenced to 20 months in custody. The court imposed a 20-month suspended sentence on Murphy, and ordered him to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. Photo: Sussex Police
6. Locked up in Sussex 2023: These are some of the criminals jailed between May and August
A drink-driver has been sentenced for causing death by careless driving after a single vehicle collision near a West Sussex village, Sussex Police have confirmed. Police said Marcus Phillips (pictured) was driving southbound on the A2037 between Henfield and Small Dole in the early hours of May 29, 2021. A black Vauxhall collided into a tree, Sussex Police added. Police said Patrick Calum O’Sullivan, known as Calum, of the Broadbridge Heath area of Horsham, was a passenger in the vehicle and was tragically pronounced dead at the scene, aged 24. Phillips, now known as Marcus Saunders, left the scene and later attended accident and emergency where he was treated for injuries, Sussex Police added. Police said he was tested for alcohol which showed he was over the prescribed limit at the time of the collision. At Hove Crown Court on February 17, he admitted causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit for alcohol, and causing death while uninsured, Sussex Police confirmed. Police said Phillips, 22, a landscape gardener of Mannings Heath near Horsham, appeared before the same court for sentencing on May 18. For the offence of causing death by careless driving whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit he was sentenced to five years and one month in prison, Sussex Police added. Police said he was ordered to serve half of this sentence in custody and the remainder will be spent on licence subject to conditions. Phillips also admitted the charge of causing death while uninsured, and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, which will be served concurrently, as part of the overall sentence of five years and one month, Sussex Police confirmed. Police said he was disqualified from driving for five-and-a-half years and ordered to take an extended re-test before driving again. Photo: Sussex Police
7. Locked up in Sussex 2023: These are some of the criminals jailed between May and August
A Sussex paedophile priest, who was found with more than 20,000 indecent images of children, has been given a four-year jail sentence. Vicar David Renshaw, 63 – who was made priest in charge of Holy Trinity and Christ Church in Worthing in December 2019 – boasted online about corrupting boys with drugs. A jury – members of which were offered counselling after hearing the graphic details of the case – found Renshaw had more than 22,000 files of indecent images and videos on a hard drive at his Worthing home. Sussex Police said these consisted of three counts of possessing indecent images of children; three counts of making indecent images of children; possessing prohibited images of children; and possessing extreme pornographic images of animals, namely dogs and horses. The reverend, of Wallace Avenue, Worthing – a vicar since 1985 – was found guilty of eight offences following a trial which concluded at Hove Crown Court on February 7. Police said Renshaw came to the attention of authorities in June 2019 after an illegal image was identified on a file sharing website in New Zealand. The account was attributed to Renshaw via his email address and IP address, so officials alerted the National Crime Agency, who in turn alerted Sussex Police. Police seized a number of devices after obtaining and executing a search warrant at his address in August 2020. A total of 22,504 illegal images were discovered. The RSPCA also seized a number of dogs, cats and chickens that were found in a ‘severely malnourished state’. Renshaw was arrested and charged with the offences – ‘all of which he denied’, police said. Renshaw’s sentence also included a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and the destruction of all offending material. Photo: Sussex Police
8. Locked up in Sussex 2023: These are some of the criminals jailed between May and August
A Chichester man who raped two vulnerable women in the city has been jailed for 21 years. Forty-year-old Ion Gheorghe Tanasie, of Pound Farm Road, Chichester, has been condemned for the ‘brutal’ attacks, and informed he must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence, police have said. He was convicted of ten offences in the town after a jury reached its verdict at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday, February 24. The first incident occurred on the evening of July 24 last year, when Tanasie raped a woman within the grounds of St Paul’s Church, according to police. Following the ordeal, the victim was able to make her way back towards the town centre, where she bumped into some friends who reported it to police. From examination of the woman’s clothes, Tanasie was nominated as the suspect. While there was no trace of him on the UK DNA database, he was identified through checks with Interpol. As enquiries continued, police received a report of another rape on the evening of September 19 last year in The Hornet. Again, the woman was able to report the incident shortly after it occurred. Following a CCTV trawl of the area, Tanasie was identified as the suspect. Within days he was located and arrested, and charged with the following offences for the first incident: rape, sexual assault, and two counts of assault by penetration. He was also charged with the following offences for the second incident: rape, attempted rape, assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and two counts of sexual assault. By this time, detectives had linked the two cases and Tanasie was therefore remanded in custody to prevent further offending and to protect the public from harm. He denied the offences and the case went for trial, where he was found guilty by jury of all ten charges against him. He was remanded in custody and appeared before Salisbury Crown Court on Wednesday, May 17, where he was sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by six years on licence. Photo: Sussex Police