Sentenced

A couple from Sittingbourne have been sentenced after they claimed their car had been stolen before it was involved in a fatal collision with a motorcyclist.

Stuart Powell was behind the wheel of his wife’s car on Wednesday 12th May 2021 when he pulled out in front of a motorcyclist on the B2005 Swale Way inKemsley, near the Milton Creek Fishing Lake.

Powell, aged 34 and of Miller Close in Kemsley, only held a provisional driving licence and was found to have been using his mobile phone at the time of the collision.

A lorry driver who caused the death of an elderly cyclist in Teynham has been imprisoned for three years.

59-year-old William Magee, of Readers Court in Chelmsford, Essex, failed to properly check his surroundings before pulling out across London Road, shortly before 10.15am on Saturday 13th February 2016 and his articulated lorry collided with a bicycle being ridden by 73-year-old Barbara Phipps from Lynsted (pictured), who died instantly.

A man has been detained in hospital indefinitely after admitting the manslaughter of his own grandmother while visiting her in Sittingbourne.

Stuart Lay, aged 44, of Homewood Avenue, had been charged with the murder of 85-year-old Jean Robertson, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday (Monday 25th April). His plea was accepted and he was sentenced the same day. He has been detained indefinitely under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act. This means he will now be kept in a secure hospital.

Two men, who robbed a pizza outlet in Chatham, have been jailed for a total of over seven years.

On Thursday 28th August 2014 two men entered the outlet on Chatham Hill in Chatham and left with a total of £180, having threatened staff with a knife and wooden bat.

Five days later the outlet was robbed again, with the offenders threatening to stab staff, but left empty-handed.

A man who set up a cannabis factory in his Sittingbourne home has been sent to prison.

Mark Kennett, aged 53 and previously of Harold Road in Sittingbourne, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and possessing LSD with intent to supply after being arrested for the offences in November.