These are some of the most serious, high profile and prolific offenders who were jailed in the final month of 2025.
All information comes directly from Sussex Police.
5. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
A prolific shoplifter has been sentenced after admitting his latest series of offences in court. James Menghe, 38, targeted retail stores across Worthing between October and December. His latest spree put him in breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) to prevent his offending. Menghe was identified and arrested by officers from the Worthing Neighbourhood Policing team. At Crawley Magistrates’ Court on December 23 he admitted 11 shop theft offences and eight breaches of a CBO. Menghe, of Ivy Arch Road, Worthing, was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison. The court was told how the first offence was identified at Sainsbury’s at Lyons Farm on October 10 where he stole gin bottles. On October 15 he entered the Co-op in Goring Road and stole laundry detergent, then on October 17 entered the Co-op in Rowlands Road where he stole wine bottles. He targeted the Co-op store in Rowlands Road with further thefts, twice on November 5 where he took meats, on November 9 he stole biscuits and salmon, and then stole again on December 3 where he stole chocolate pretzels and later stole meats. Menghe stole meat, salmon and gammon from the Rowlands Road Co-op on December 6, then targeted the Co-op in South Street, Tarring, by stealing meats on December 7 and December 16. Photo: Sussex Police
6. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
A dangerous driver who killed another man in a head-on collision has been jailed for eight years. Tony Daniels had been driving with his wife Jade northbound on the A29 Shripney Road, Bognor Regis, on the evening of June 26, 2024, when they were struck by a black Audi A3 travelling in the opposite direction. Despite the best efforts of passers-by and paramedics, Tony, from Felpham, was tragically declared deceased at the scene. He was 46-years-old. Jade was taken to hospital with serious injuries, as was the Audi driver, identified as 25-year-old Louie Everitt, of The Croft, in Bersted.Several witnesses reported him speeding, tailgating and overtaking other vehicles shortly before the collision. One witness reported him driving “like a lunatic” and grossly in excess of the 40mph speed limit. Police responded to the scene, where Everitt was reported to smell strongly of alcohol. However, he refused to provide a sample of saliva or blood for analysis to test if he was over the legal limit. Everitt was subsequently arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, causing death while driving uninsured and failing to give permission for a test on a laboratory sample, having caused a death. At Portsmouth Crown Court on December 23, he was sentenced to a total of eight years’ imprisonment, reduced from 12 years for his early guilty pleas. He must serve at least two thirds of his sentence before being released on licence, and is also disqualified from driving for five years from his release date. Photo: Sussex Police
7. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
Prolific shoplifter Lee Cummings, 23, has been banned from entering a number of shops across the county. This follows a spree of numerous offences that all took place within a month. Between November 3 and November 28, Cummings stole over £940 worth of goods including 28 bottles of wine, four crates of beer, multiple bottles of spirits, 22 packs of laundry products, eight beef-joints and other meat products, seven Yankee candles, and multiple boxes of Lego. On November 28, Cummings was arrested in connection with the reports. The following morning, he was charged with 16 counts of theft from a shop and appeared at Brighton Magistrates court. He pleaded guilty to all offences, and was sentenced the same day. Lee Cummings, 23, of Ivy Arch Road, Worthing, was jailed for 20 weeks and given a three-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) banning him from entering any Co-Op, B&M or Marks and Spenser store in Sussex for the duration of the order. He was also ordered to pay a £184 surcharge. Photo: Sussex Police
8. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
A drug-driver who killed one person and seriously injured two others in a head-on collision has been jailed. Niall O’Malley was driving his black Audi S3 when – for reasons unknown – he veered onto the wrong side of the road and into the path of an oncoming car. The incident occurred on the A26 at Ringmer around 7.25pm on May 26, 2024. The driver of the Peugeot 2008 involved – a woman from Uckfield – tragically died from her injuries in hospital four days later. She was 28. Her partner and front seat passenger – a 30-year-old man from Uckfield – was able to extract himself from the vehicle but sustained serious injuries. O’Malley also sustained serious injuries, as did his front seat passenger – a 24-year-old woman from Uckfield. While in hospital, a blood sample was taken from O’Malley which confirmed he had 2.9 microgrammes of cannabis per litre of blood in his system. The legal limit is 2 microgrammes. The 30-year-old, of Nevill Road, Uckfield, was subsequently charged with causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit for cannabis, and two counts of causing serious injury by careless driving. He pleaded guilty to all offences and appeared before Hove Crown Court on November 28, where he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 89 months. His Honour Judge Gold commented that there was a “brief but avoidable distraction” resulting in O’Malley crossing into the opposing carriageway and colliding with another car, and that the “consequences were tragic”. The Judge said that the sentence would have been eight years, but he reduced it due to O’Malley’s early guilty plea. Photo: Sussex Police