These are some of the most serious, high profile and prolific offenders who were jailed in the third month of 2026.
All information comes directly from Sussex Police.
5. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in March 2026
A man who violently assaulted two police officers in Crawley has been jailed. Mohammed Rasool, 44, had been wanted on a warrant for failing to appear in court charged with robbery. Three officers sought to make a safe arrest, but Rasool violently attacked them. He gouged the eyes of two female officers, pulled their hair, bit them and struck them with a mobile phone, leaving them both with significant and permanent injuries. “When I felt fingers over my face like a spider trying to locate my eye socket, I feared the worst,” one officer said. The arrest attempt followed two violent road rage incidents involving Rasool near London Gatwick Airport where he abused and assaulted other drivers. At Hove Crown Court on March 19, Rasool, of Gossops Drive, Crawley, was jailed for six years and ten months in total after he admitted guilty of causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, robbery, and racially-aggravated common assault. The court was told how the first incident happened on May 3, 2024, when a taxi driver was attending the airport to drop off a passenger and seek a new fare. The victim was racially abused by Rasool before being struck. Rasool drove away in a white Toyota Prius, and was identified and arrested. Less than two months later, Rasool as again involved in a road rage incident near the airport on June 28, 2024. Rasool undertook a vehicle and then sharply broke in front of the driver. He got out of his vehicle and went up to the victim, striking him through a car window and grabbing the victim’s mobile phone before leaving the scene. He was charged over the offences and failed to appear before Crawley Magistrates’ Court on May 28 last year, so a warrant was issued for his arrest. On May 31, three officers including a Detective Constable and two Police Constables attended his home address. Officers attempted to safely detain Rasool, who turned violent, striking an officer with a mobile phone and gouging the eyes of the detective. It left the detective with her Photo: Sussex Police
6. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in March 2026
A Worthing man has been jailed for three years following a serious multi-vehicle collision in Climping, which left a woman with life-changing injuries. Adam Stepney, 28, of Gratwicke Road, Worthing, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on March 20 after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was also disqualified from driving for four years. Emergency services were called to the A259 Grevatts Lane at around 5.30pm on May 14, 2024. Witnesses reported that Stepney was travelling east when he crossed the central white lines into the opposing carriageway, resulting in a sequence of collisions before a head-on collision with a vehicle being driven by the victim. The victim, a 60-year-old woman, was struck head-on and taken to hospital with life-changing injuries. She continues to undergo treatment for injuries sustained in the collision. Stepney also sustained serious injuries. Following a detailed investigation, Stepney pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Portsmouth Crown Court on October 13, 2025 and was sentenced at the same court on March 20, 2026. The court heard Stepney had epilepsy and had failed to disclose recent seizures to the DVLA. He suffered a seizure at the wheel, causing him to lose control of the vehicle. In sentencing the judge described the case as “appalling”, highlighting that Stepney knowingly concealed his condition and made a deliberate decision to continue driving, placing others at significant risk. Photo: Sussex Police
7. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in March 2026
An East Sussex man has been jailed for rape. Sussex Police said Jordan Osbourne, 22, of Parkwood in Iden, near Rye, was arrested in February, 2022, after a woman reported being raped. The victim said she was raped in the early hours of January 3, 2022, said police. A Sussex Police spokesperson said: "Osbourne was arrested and taken into custody. He was subsequently charged with rape and, at Brighton Crown court after a 4 day trial on Friday, 6 March, a jury found him guilty. At Hove court on Friday (March 20, 2026), he was sentenced to five years in prison and given a 10-year restraining order protecting the victim." Photo: Sussex Police
8. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in March 2026
A man from London has been jailed for grooming and sexually abusing a young boy in Littlehampton, according to Sussex Police. Matthew Johnston – of Haynes Close in Tottenham – was given a 16-year sentence, the police force announced, on March 24. Police said the 49-year-old ‘subjected the boy to repeated rapes and sexual abuse’, over a period of ‘several years’. A Sussex Police spokesperson added: “Johnston was a regular attendee at Comic Con-style events, and used events based around Star Wars and superheroes to groom the victim. The abuse was reported to Sussex Police in December 2024, at which point the victim and his family were supported by specialist officers and an investigation was launched. Johnston was arrested and subsequently charged with two counts of rape of a child under 13, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, two counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.” At Hove Crown Court on October 10, Johnston was found guilty on all counts, police said. Police added: “At the same court on Monday (March 23), he was sentenced to 16 years in prison, with a further five years to be spent on extended licence after the court judged him to be a dangerous offender. He has also been given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, restraining order and will remain on the sex offenders’ register.” Photo: Sussex Police