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.
9. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
An Eastbourne man convicted of 11 counts of child sexual abuse has been jailed. John Simpson, 52, of Sheffield Park Way in Eastbourne, appeared at Lewes Crown Court on November 13, where he was jailed for a total of nine years and six months. In 2011, Simpson groomed and repeatedly sexually abused a teenage girl, convincing her they were in a ‘normal relationship’. The abuse continued for a number of months, before the victim was able to cut contact with Simpson. The victim reported Simpson’s offending to police as an adult in 2021 and was supported by specialist officers while an investigation was carried out. Simpson was subsequently arrested and charged with 13 counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of causing/inciting a child to commit sexual activity. At Lewes Crown Court on September 3, 2025, he was found guilty of nine counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of causing/inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He was found not guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child. Simpson was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison, will be a registered sex offender for life and was given an indefinite restraining order against the victim. Photo: Sussex Police
10. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
A domestic abuser who attempted to strangle a woman has been jailed. Thomas Taylor, 30, left the victim, a woman known to him, in fear over his actions. He strangled her, and threatened to disclose private intimate images in an effort to control her. The victim came forward and reported her experience to Sussex Police. Taylor was arrested and charged, but continued to try to intimidate the victim while on remand in prison. She said: “I am still impacted by the trauma he caused and the ongoing fear of what he will do next.” At Lewes Crown Court on November 21, Taylor was sentenced for intentional strangulation, witness intimidation, and for threatening to disclose a private photograph or film in an intimate setting. He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, and will serve an additional three years on licence because of dangerousness. This means he will not be automatically released halfway through his sentence on licence, but will instead only be able to apply for parole after serving two thirds of his sentence. If granted parole, he will remain on licence to serve the remainder of his sentence for an additional three years. Taylor, of West Court Place, Broadwater, was found guilty of intentional strangulation after a trial in September. He admitted the second charge of threatening to disclose a private photograph or film of a person in an intimate setting. The victim said Taylor committed the offences after consuming drugs such as cocaine. The victim said: “His behaviour became more volatile, frightening and dangerous over time. I lived in a constant state of alert, afraid of how he would act, what he was planning to do, and who he was going to terrorise next because it wasn’t always me, but it would be my fault somehow due to his cocaine-fuelled delusions. I am still impacted by the trauma he caused and the ongoing fear of what he will do next.” Taylor has been made the subject of a restraining order that prevents him contacting the victim, and the order lasts until 2040. Photo: Sussex Police
11. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
A Heathfield man found with thousands of illicit pictures has become one of the first in the county to be sentenced for creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material. James Castell, 40, of High Street in Heathfield, came to the attention of Sussex Police in October 2024, when he was linked to the online distribution of an indecent image of a child. The image appeared to have been created using artificial intelligence (AI). Shortly after, Castell was arrested by officers from the force’s Online Child Abuse Team (OCAT), who searched his home and seized a number of digital devices. The devices were found to contain over 3,800 indecent images of children, including 640 of the most serious, Category A images. Indecent images in Category A depict penetrative sexual activity, bestiality and/or sadism. The date range of the images stretched as far back as 2016. AI software was also found that uses text to generate images, alongside evidence that Castell was responsible for distributing the initial AI indecent image and searches online that indicated a sexual interest in children. Castell was subsequently charged with three counts of possession of an indecent/pseudo-photograph of a child, possession of a prohibited image of a child and distributing an indecent/pseudo-photograph of a child. He appeared at Hastings Magistrates' Court on October 8, where he pleaded guilty to all charges. At Lewes Crown Court on December 19, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, and made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order significantly controlling his use of digital devices and access to children. He will also be a registered sex offender for ten years, and order to complete rehabilitation activity and 240 hours of community work. Photo: Sussex Police
12. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December 2025
A former University of Sussex student who raped or sexually assaulted five women, including four fellow students, has been jailed. Alex Patel-Wills, 26, of Grove Road in Barnet, was sentenced to 25 years at Lewes Crown Court on December 19. Sussex Police launched an investigation after a woman reported being raped by Patel-Wills at a property in Brighton on October 31, 2021. The victim was supported by specialist officers while Patel-Wills was arrested on suspicion of rape shortly after. Over the following weeks, further enquiries identified four more victims spanning several years from 2018 to 2021. A woman in her then-late teens, who was known to Patel-Wills, reported being raped and sexually abused by him on multiple occasions in Brighton between 2018 and 2019. At around the same time, a woman also in her late teens was raped by Patel-Wills at a property in London while in a vulnerable state. Two more women reported being raped in 2020 - in May, 2020, Patel-Wills sexually assaulted a woman at a property on campus in and, four months later, raped another woman at his home in Brighton. He was subsequently charged with five counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration, and remanded in custody. At Lewes Crown Court on October 16, the jury found Patel-Wills guilty of offences relating to every victim, namely four counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual assault by penetration. He was found not guilty of one count of rape and one count of assault by penetration. Patel-Wills’ sentence will be served as 19 years in custody, with a further six on extended licence. Photo: Sussex Police