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Tag: Bristol Crown Court

  • Notorious fraudster Mark Acklom released from Spanish prison – court told

    Notorious fraudster Mark Acklom released from Spanish prison – court told

    A court has learned that a serial fraudster who was sentenced in the UK after defrauding his ex-girlfriend of £300,000 has been freed from a Spanish prison.

    After being released from a term of almost six years for defrauding Carolyn Woods of Gloucestershire out of her life savings, Mark Acklom was extradited to Spain two years ago.

    In 2016, midway through a three-year sentence, he had already left Spain.

    The British man was located in Switzerland and returned to his country of origin.

    However, it has since been revealed to a UK court that the 50-year-old was released from a Spanish prison after spending an additional two years.

    There have been several sessions at Bristol Crown Court over the past four years to determine how much money Acklom gained from his crimes and his assets in relation to the fraud against Ms. Woods, which started in 2012.

    The Proceeds of Crime Act has been used by the prosecution to attempt to recoup the funds taken from his ex-girlfriend.

    Acklom pretended to be an MI6 spy and Swiss financier while dating Ms. Woods.

    He asserted that he knew fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, was friends with celebrities Nicky Clarke and Chris Evans, and was involved in MI6 missions. He also claimed to have communicated with Hillary Clinton.

    Acklom received a four-year prison sentence in 1991 for committing a £466,000 mortgage scam while pretending to be a City stockbroker. He was 16 years old at the time.

    He allegedly used his father’s credit card to make purchases totaling £11,000, conned a former teacher out of £13,000, and racked up a £34,000 account with a charter-jet firm.

    A four-day hearing to assess his financial responsibility in connection with Ms. Woods’ romantic fraud was scheduled to take place in November, but it has been postponed owing to the judge’s unavailability and will now take place in 2019.

    The court was informed that Acklom’s solicitors had filed fresh motions with the court alleging abuse of the legal system; the Crown will have time to respond.

    The prosecutor, John Hardy KC, told the court that he was pleased with the decision to push back the entire hearing until 2024.

    Reading between the lines, Mr. Hardy remarked, “I understand Acklom has been released from his Spanish detention. We do not anticipate that he will seek to attend the hearing in person, but he may try to attend remotely.”

    Judge Martin Picton set a four-day administrative hearing that would commence on April 16, 2024, for the 10th of November.

    There was no information provided regarding Mr. Acklom’s whereabouts, despite the fact that his wife and two children reside in Spain.

  • Timothy Schofield given a 12-year prison term over sex abuse

    Timothy Schofield given a 12-year prison term over sex abuse

    On Friday, Timothy Schofield was given a 12-year prison term at Bristol Crown Court.

    After a trial at Exeter Crown Court earlier last month, Schofield, 54, the brother of television personality Phillip Schofield, was found guilty of 11 sexual offences involving children, including two counts of engaging in sexual intercourse with a child.

    He had “exploited [the victim’s] innocence at this stage of his life for your own sexual gratification,” Mrs. Justice Cutts told him during Friday’s sentencing.

    ‘It was wrong on every level for you to behave as you did.

    ‘He felt forced to do what you wanted, trapped and unable to escape. He felt he couldn’t tell anyone and did not do so for many years. You took away his ability to be the teenager he should have been – carefree, relaxed, happy. It is clear to me that you became utterly obsessed with him.’

    Mrs Cutts went on to commend the boy on coming forward to report the abuse.

    In a victim impact statement, the victim, who was a teenager at the time of the abuse, said he had become ‘numb to life.’

    ‘Before Tim was arrested, I felt I had no freedom. I often felt panic, stress and fear. I felt like I was trapped in a loop of fear and anxiety of the abuse happening again,’ he said in a letter read to court by Robin Shellard, prosecuting.

    ‘It was only after Tim was arrested that I felt safe. It was only after Tim was arrested that I felt free – free to be me, free to be happy, free to be relaxed.’

    The boy added in the statement via PA: ‘I feel more blunt, I feel more bitter, I feel numb to life.

    ‘I know I should feel really happy or really sad but I don’t have the ability to emotionally react to what is happening.’

    Late last month, Schofield was sacked from his job as a police IT worker.

    He worked in IT for Avon and Somerset Police and had already been suspended from his job at police HQ in Portishead after he was arrested and charged.

    Following his convictions, a misconduct hearing was chaired by assistant chief constable Will White and he was dismissed without notice.

    Earlier in April, Schofield was charged with 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019 – including two of sexual activity with a child.

    Schofield told the jury while giving evidence that he had watched pornography with the boy – whom he insisted was over the age of 16 at that time – and they had masturbated while sitting apart but denied performing sexual acts on the teenager.

    Following the verdict, Phillip issued a statement condemning the actions of his brother in which he said: ‘As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.’

    The jury at Exeter Crown Court found him guilty of all counts with a majority of 10-2 after more than five-and-a-half hours of deliberation.

    He denied the charges but was convicted of three counts of causing a child to watch sexual activity, three of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, three of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and two of sexual activity with a child.

  • Teenager sentenced to life in prison after his mother called 999 to report his murder to the police

    Teenager sentenced to life in prison after his mother called 999 to report his murder to the police

    A boy who fatally stabbed another teen in Somerset was sentenced to life in prison after his mother called the police.

    In July of last year, a confrontation between two parties broke out in a parking lot in Radstock, when Joshua Delbono, 19, fatally shot Charley Bates.

    During the course of two weeks, a Bristol court heard that when Delbono came home to Frome, his mother dialed 999.

    Having deliberated for seven hours, a jury today found Delbono guilty of murder.

    He has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.

    Delbono had admitted to knifing Charley but denied murdering him – he did so to defend a friend, Delono alleged.

    Bristol Crown Court heard how the killing erupted after two groups of teenagers scuffled in a car park at around 6:30pm on July 31.

    The victim was with a group of six friends at the time when two cars – one driven by Delbono – pulled into the car park.

    Charley had long had bad blood towards one member of the defendant’s group over an alleged £20 debt, the jury heard. But he did not know Delbono.

    But within the space of five minutes, the two groups traded insults while Delbono was inside the vehicle before he stepped out holding a five-inch knife.

    Delbono plunged the weapon into the youngster several times. He alleged three youths sprung at him and he was defending himself.

    ‘Don’t mess with us again,’ he told the victim as he lay bleeding on the concrete, a witness claimed.

    Charley was found by paramedics critically injured but was pronounced dead at the scene. A pathologist report said he suffered a stab wound to the chest and a wound on his arm consistent with trying to defend himself.

    Delbono drove for half an hour to Shearwater Lake near Warminster in Wiltshire to throw the knife away and burn some of his clothing before heading home.  

    Six hours after the stabbing at 12:45am, Delbono’s mother phoned 999 and told them: ‘My son’s killed someone.

    ‘He’s in my house now. I can’t let him go anywhere,’ she said, adding that she felt ‘sick’ by what he had done.

    Delbono was well aware his mum made the call, the court heard. ‘Yes, I’ve told him I’ve got to do it,’ she told the call handler.

    The teen said on the same call that he did stab Charley but wasn’t sure where the knife landed as he had ‘launched it into the air’.

    Detective Chief Inspector Mark Almond from the Major Crime Investigation Team at Avon and Somerset Police said: ‘For much of this trial, Joshua Delbono has been arguing that he did stab Charley but it was in a means to defending his friend.

    ‘One of the lessons for young people is around the dangers of carrying knives.

    ‘Nationally we see that it is a problem and I think every youth who carries a knife, that creates a problem.

    ‘But Josh Delbono stepped into a fight that wasn’t involving any kind of weapons.

    ‘He bought a knife into the mix and someone lost their life and now he will spend a number of years in jail.’

    In a heartbreaking tribute to Charley, his family said: ‘Our beautiful Charley boy. We are all so very proud of you.

    ‘You are desperately missed by so many.’