HERE are the criminals who appeared at crown court this week.

Below you will find nine who have been sentenced between Monday, June 9, and Friday, June 13.

Tahir Syed

An international heroin trafficker who abducted and murdered own uncle in a violent but ultimately fruitless search for £600,000 in missing drug money is beginning a life sentence in prison.

Tahir SyedTahir Syed (Image: National Crime Agency) Tahir Syed, 42, will serve a minimum of 34 years and 153 days after a reduction of 1,308 days for time spent in custody.

Syed kidnapped and killed 39-year-old bus driver Asghar Badshah, who had been entrusted with the drug money that vanished.

He was beaten to death in the cellar of a disused bank in November 2019.

After the murder, Syed fled the country. He was arrested in Turkey in 2021 and extradited to the UK in 2024.

James Howell

A delivery driver who smuggled £3.5m of drugs around the Bradford district has been jailed.

James Howell James Howell (Image: West Yorkshire Police) James Howell, 36,  was sentenced to six years in prison at Bradford Crown Court after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and being concerned in the supply of cannabis.  

Jonathan Cuthbert, Luke Mountain, and Liam Briggs

A convicted cannabis farmer who set up a new grow in a woman’s home within months of him being released from prison is beginning a six-year jail sentence.

Jonathan Cuthbert, 32, of Cambridge Place, Bradford, intimidated the victim into giving over her house to a cannabis farm.

Jonathan CuthbertJonathan Cuthbert (Image: West Yorkshire Police) When it was raided by police they found 70 plants with an estimated value of £23,000 growing in the attic and main bedroom.

Luke Mountain, 33, of Chapel Street, Bradford, who helped set up the “sophisticated” operation, was handed a 22-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

Liam Briggs, 35, of Deep Lane, Brighouse, who assisted by bypassing the electricity supply, was given 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Robert Ramsden

A masked man who tried to rob two newsagent shops with an imitation firearm is beginning a 30-month jail sentence.

Ramsden, 46, of Freshfield Gardens, Bradford, went into Saffron News on Saffron Drive in Allerton and demanded cigarettes at gunpoint but left when the shopkeeper wielded a golf club

Robert RamsdenRobert Ramsden (Image: West Yorkshire Police) Minutes later he entered Hilltop Newsagents on Allerton Road, where he pointed the gun at a man behind the counter and told him: “Put all the money in the bag.”

However, he was wrestled to the floor by the shopkeeper and a customer and held there until police arrived.

The firearm was later found to be a gas-powered BB gun.

Ramsden received to 30 months for the first attempted robbery, 28 months for the second, to be served concurrently, plus nine months for each of the offences of possessing an imitation firearm, and one month for possession of cocaine, all to be served concurrently leading to a total of 30 months imprisonment.

Matthew Axon

A man who sent angry, aggressive, and confrontational messages has been locked up for more than two years.

Bradford Crown Court heard how 39-year-old Matthew Axon had been banned from contacting his ex-partner last August but was indirectly contacting her within two months of a restraining order being made.

Matthew Axon Matthew Axon (Image: West Yorkshire Police)

That put him in breach of a 15-month suspended sentence order, which was imposed for stalking.

Axon, of Dawson Terrace, Bradford, is now beginning a 28-month prison sentence.

 

Huy Van Nguyen

A Vietnamese national found working as a gardener at a large cannabis farm in Keighley was jailed for 27 months.

Huy Van Nguyen, 34, faces being deported when he is released.

Huy Van Nguyen and the former bingo clubHuy Van Nguyen and the former bingo club (Image: WYP/Google Street View) Nguyen was arrested after being found inside the former Gala Bingo Club on Alice Street in Keighley on March 26 last year.

The grow, containing 200 plants capable of producing £105,000 of the drug, was described as a “top-end commercial operation or a low-end industrial operation” given the yield, the volumes, and the complexity of the operation.

Vijay Parmar

A man who threatened to set fire to his former partner’s home during a drunken argument escaped prison “by the skin of his teeth”.

Vijay Parmar, 35, of Commercial Street, Slaithwaite, was “eight out of ten drunk” when he stuffed toilet paper under a bedroom door where his now ex-partner had sought refuge.

As he tried to set it on fire with a lighter, he said: “I’m going to set fire to the house.”

He was handed 19 months imprisonment for making threats and 18 months, to run concurrently, for intentional strangulation, both suspended for 18 months.

Lee O’Reilly

A street dealer who hid heroin and cocaine “in his bum cheeks” avoided prison.

During a strip search after a suspected drug deal, Lee O’Reilly told officers that he had some drugs “in his bum cheeks”.

A black bag was found that contained 26 wraps of heroin valued at £260 and 21 wraps of cocaine valued at £470.

O’Reilly, 47, of Grape Street, Bradford, was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months and ordered to complete 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a nine-month drug rehabilitation programme.