There won’t be much to look forward to in 2024 for these 40 killers, rapists, child abusers, drug dealers, thugs and thieves — and for many years still to come.
All were jailed during 2023 and received some of the heaviest sentences handed down by judges at Northampton and other crown courts…
29. GEVIN PASHA
The 22-year-old was sentenced to 11 years in December for his part in a double kidnapping where two men were grabbed in a car park in Reading as part of a blackmail plot, driven to Northampton and held captive in a bedsit for five days before police found them at an address in Hunter Street in December 2021. One of the victims had injuries consistent with cigarette burns to his hands and reported being attacked with weapons and starved of food. Pasha, of Gray Street, Northampton, was found guilty at Reading Crown Court of two counts of false imprisonment and one count each of conspiracy to blackmail, conspiracy to kidnap and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was sentenced alongside three others from London, Reading and East Sussex. Photo: Thames Valley Police
30. ARBER ALLIU, DRITAN DUKA, BRUNO LEPURI, MARIGLEN AZIZAJ, ARIF BEHARI, ROMARJO ALIRAJ, ELIS LLANAJ & IONUT TURCA
Alliu (top left) led a wholesale drugs supply operation, using Bar Café Milano in Northampton’s Wellingborough Road as a front for moving huge volumes of cocaine aided by his associate Duka (top, second left). Lepuri (top, second right) acted as the group’s delivery man — often using Behari (top right) and Azizaj (bottom left) as drivers. Aliraj (bottom second left), Llanaj (bottom right) and Turca (bottom right) were also among a total of 13 men who were sentenced to a collective total of 91 years for their parts in the conspiracy. Police raids in July, August and September 2022 uncovered drugs, cash plus designer watches including Rolex, Brietling, Versace and Tag Heuer. Aliliu, 42, of Cyclamen Close, Northampton, got 14 years and Duka, aged 42, of Adnitt Road,: 10 years, five months. Lepuri, 23, of Grove Road, was sentenced to 10 years, 10 months; Azizaj, 28, of Goldings Road, to two years, 11 months; Behari, 52, of St Johns Street, to three years, seven months; Aliraj, 29, of Prentice Court, to two years, eight months; Llanaj, 33, of St Johns Street, to four years, 10 months; and Turca, 32, of Cowper Street, to four years, nine months. Two more defendants are still to be sentenced. Photo: Northamptonshire Police
31. JOSEPH MARTIN JAMES ARNOLD
Arnold was sentenced to nine years in December after pleading guilty to six counts of sexual activity with underage girls and one count of sexual assault linked to the Abington Street statue hang-out in Northampton. The 33-year-old, previously of Ashcroft Gardens, was charged after Northamptonshire Police launched Operation Antigua in 2020. Since then, multiple victims have reported offences against them — including young women who Arnold sexually abused when they were underage. Photo: Northamptonshire Police