Blog

CambridgeshireLive (Reach) — Home / all sections · Council and records · todayWork to restart on car-sized sinkhole in Cambridge ‘as soon as possible’• CambridgeshireLive (Reach) — Home / all sections: “Work to restart on car-sized sinkhole in Cambridge ‘as soon as possible’” is included because it may affect council services, records, neighbourhood decisions or daily routines.

High-speed chase driver jailed

Sean Kimber, 49, of Manor Close, Little Wilbraham, was jailed after leading police on a high‑speed chase through residential streets.

He sped off when officers tried to stop his car in Milton Road on May 5, hitting more than 70mph in 30mph zones and forcing pedestrians and cyclists to dive out of the way.

He later admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, criminal damage, and using fraudulent registration plates.

Kimber was sentenced to one year and three months in prison at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday, July 17.

Road‑rage attacker used metal pliers

Craig Easton, 32, of Halley Square, Glasgow, was jailed for 10 months after a road‑rage attack in Cambridge city centre.

On March 27, he drove erratically, swerved in front of another vehicle, and forced it to brake before an argument broke out and both drivers got out of their cars.

Easton admitted affray and dangerous driving and was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on July 2.

He was also banned from driving for one year and five months.

Trio behind massage parlour prostitution ring

Khondakar Hasan, 40, Liu Xu Hopkins, 55, and Benjamin Hopkins, 57, ran a prostitution network through “massage” businesses across England, including Moon Star Therapy in Fore Hill, Ely.

Women were told to dispose of tissues and other evidence in public bins to hide sexual activity from the police.

All three admitted conspiracy to control prostitution for gain.

At Swindon Crown Court on Friday, July 17, Liu Xu Hopkins, from Bristol, was jailed for two years, while Benjamin Hopkins, also from Bristol, and Hasan, from Leicester, each received 18 months.

Partner electrocuted and stabbed in her sleep

Ashley Hudson, 40, of Southwell Close, March, tried to kill his partner just days before he was due to move out after their relationship ended.

He attacked her as she slept, using a Taser on her back and stabbing her repeatedly before forcing her into the shower and fleeing with a knife, clothes, and both their phones.

Despite severe injuries, she escaped and raised the alarm.

Hudson claimed he “blacked out” but was found guilty of attempted murder at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday, July 3, and jailed for 24 years.

Child sex offender who posed as caretaker

David Pearce, 70, of March, was jailed for 18 years for a series of historic child sex offences.

In 1990 he pretended to be a caretaker at a lido in Barking, east London, and told four children he was searching for lost keys.

He lured them into a changing area, forced them to strip, and touched them indecently; the youngest was just eight.

Pearce admitted seven sexual offences at Snaresbrook Crown Court on May 6 and was sentenced at the same court on Friday, July 3.

Barber murdered in Cambridge hostel

Liam Rush, 31, was jailed for murdering well‑loved Cambridge barber Granville Graham, 58.

Mr Graham was stabbed 17 times at a hostel in Chesterton Road in the early hours of February 25, 2025, and Rush fled, leaving behind an Anglo Arms knife.

He handed himself in at Parkside Police Station eight hours later and later admitted murder.

Rush was sentenced to 23 years in prison at Peterborough Crown Court on Thursday, July 9.

Burglary pair made “alarming” threats

Sherry Smith, 25, of Green Lane, Northstowe, and Timothy Stone‑Parker, 30, of no fixed address, carried out two burglaries in a day in June last year.

They broke into a home in Balsham, stealing cash, tech, passports, and jewellery, then targeted a property in Upware where the resident was threatened with a tool before they stole her car.

Arrested days later in Linton, they were linked to the crimes by CCTV, clothing, and tools.

Smith was jailed for three years and three months for burglary and drug‑related offences, while Stone‑Parker received four years and six months for burglary and being concerned in the supply of drugs.

“Sustained campaign of violence” on partner

Benjamin Davies, 32, of Slade Way, Chatteris, was jailed for three years after a “sustained campaign of violence” against his partner.

Over up to six weeks he assaulted her daily, punching and kicking her, throwing objects, and strangling her to stop her speaking, at one point restricting her breathing.

The abuse ended only after anonymous messages and a neighbour’s report led police to intervene; officers forced entry to his home on November 20 and arrested him.

Davies admitted actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation, intentional suffocation, and three counts of criminal damage.

Fenland arsonist targeted cars across district

Rolandas Fedorenko, 25, of Waterlees Road, Wisbech, set fire to vehicles in Chatteris and Wisbech in a series of deliberate attacks.

He torched a Nissan Juke in Furrowfields car park, Chatteris, on April 1 last year using a lit toilet roll and plastic, damaging a nearby van and fence, then set further fires under cars in Palmers Place and behind Market Place in Wisbech later that year.

Fedorenko admitted six counts of arson and was jailed for 14 months at Cambridge Crown Court on July 10.

Man told partner “today is the day you are going to die”

Daniel Howard, 38, of Pentelow Close, Murrow, near Wisbech, was jailed for more than four years after a terrifying attack on his partner.

Following threats to “slit the throats of everyone in the household”, he grabbed her by the throat, stopped her from breathing, and told her: “Today is the day you are going to die.”

Howard later told officers he had “lost [his] temper” and admitted what he had done.

He pleaded guilty to intentional strangulation, two counts of making threats to kill, assault by beating, and criminal damage.

Controlling ex-partner jailed

Martin Plaice, 50, of Thurlands Drove, Upwell, near Wisbech, subjected his ex-partner to a controlling and coercive campaign after their relationship ended in March 2025.

Despite bail conditions banning him from contact, he repeatedly turned up at her home, bombarded her with calls and messages, and made threats and abusive comments.

Plaice admitted engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship and was jailed for two years and four months at Peterborough Crown Court on Thursday, July 2.

Killer dismembered victim and buried body

Karl Hutchings, 48, was jailed for life for the murder of 55‑year‑old Julie Buckley, whose dismembered body was found in 10 pieces in a shallow grave in Wimblington.

He eventually gave police a map showing where he had buried her, but only more than seven months after she was last seen alive.

Sentencing him to a minimum of 19 years and 254 days at Cambridge Crown Court, Judge Mark Bishop said he had “deprived her of any dignity in death by dismembering her body into 10 pieces”.

Kidnap-style chase after partner bundled into car

Aamir Mahmood, 33, of Huntly Grove, Peterborough, was jailed for six years after bundling his partner into a car and then driving dangerously as armed police gave chase.

He dragged her into his Volkswagen Golf on Thorpe Road on February 5 after she tried to run away, and later told her that if they crashed he would “drive into a wall on your side so you die first”.

Mahmood admitted false imprisonment and dangerous driving and was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on July 17.

He was also disqualified from driving.

Knife-point robbery in Peterborough underpass

Hiwa Azari, 20, of Huntly Road, Peterborough, was jailed for three and a half years after a late‑night robbery in the Foundry Walk underpass near the Lido swimming pool.

At about 11pm on August 5, 2024, he and two teenagers blocked a man riding a scooter, surrounded him, and pointed a kitchen knife at his stomach before stealing the scooter.

Azari admitted robbery, attempted robbery, and possessing a knife in public and was jailed for 42 months at Cambridge Crown Court on July 1.

Single punch killed stranger in city street

Ashley McMillan, 32, of Oundle Road, Peterborough, was jailed for six years after killing 63‑year‑old John McGarry with a single punch.

McGarry was found with a serious head injury in Broadway, Peterborough, in the early hours of August 30, 2025, and later died in hospital on December 12.

Moments before, McMillan had punched another man.

He admitted manslaughter at Peterborough Crown Court on June 25 and was sentenced at the same court on July 17.