With a county as big as ours, there is guaranteed to be no shortage of crimes.
But some of them are ones that chill to the bone, with details kept under wraps until the day those who commit them face our region’s courts. West Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Police, and South Yorkshire Police have had their work cut out for them throughout the year dealing with serious and petty criminals alike.
Detectives work hard to establish the circumstances of any crime – but the stakes are raised when the family of a person killed on the other end are left waiting for answers.
During the past year, a number of killers have been locked up in Yorkshire. Some meant to kill their victims and found themselves confessing to the crimes or being convicted by a jury, and others claim they did not mean to take a life – even after they have been found guilty.
Below is a round-up of all of the killers locked up in Yorkshire in 2024.
Ian Mitchell and Sarah Pearson
Ian Mitchell
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Sarah Pearson
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Sick Pearson and Mitchell murdered his stepfather Stephen Kershaw and then went on a bender with his money.
The cruel couple were caught on CCTV buying items at shops including JD Sports and River Island while Mr Kershaw’s body was stuffed in an alcove in his own bedroom.
After they were arrested, Pearson told a man she had sex with what they had done. She went on to admit the crime to two prison officers and was also recorded in a prison van discussing it with Mitchell.
They were both handed life sentences with minimum terms of 22 years for Mitchell and 19 years for Pearson. Read the full story here.
Marcus Osborne
Monstrous Marcus Osborne will die in prison
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Double-killer and rapist Marcus Osborne was made the subject of a very rare whole-life order after he murdered Katie Higton and new partner Steven Harnett in a merciless attack at her home in Huddersfield.
Osborne, 35, lured Katie home to her address in Harpe Inge, Dalton, in the early hours of May 15 last year after she enjoyed a cinema date with Steven. He attacked her “immediately” at her front door, subjecting her to 99 separate injuries with a knife.
He went on to invite two people round to view the bodies before the emergency services were called. Osborne had also raped another woman during the terrifying attack. Read the full story here.
Molly Mycroft
Molly Mycroft
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Reckless Mycroft killed a Yorkshire woman after being filmed in her car dancing to music with her phone in her hand. She was careering through 30mph roads at 70mph.
She ended the life of 20-year-old Sarah Oliver in a collision in Wheatley Road, Doncaster, on August 2, 2022 and handed a nine-year sentence. Read the full story here.
Roger Harriott
Roger Harriott
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Harriott – the father of teenage murderer Jovani Harriott – was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years for the merciless murder of his sister, Sandra.
Sandra left her home in Ripon Avenue on May 26 last year when she was attacked. Harriott had lay in wait for her before stabbing her with a Samurai sword. Read the full story here.
Ryan Patient
Ryan Patient has been jailed for the manslaughter of Jake Rainton
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Patient finally faced justice earlier this year when he was convicted of the manslaughter of Jake Rainton and jailed for 10 years.
Jake was killed after he was hit in an “unprovoked attack” after a night out in Huddersfield town centre on July 15 last year. Patient was on a stag do at the time and fled the scene after inflicting the fatal injuries. Read the full story here.
Daniel Midgley
Daniel Midgley has been jailed for causing death by dangerous driving
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Window salesman Midgley killed beloved dad-of-two Parvin Vekaria in a head-on crash in Calderdale in April 2022.
Midgley was on his way to visit a potential customer when he caused the collision. He was jailed for four years and eight months. Read the full story here.
Daniel Balazs
Daniel Balazs
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Balazs was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years after he stabbed and killed 28-year-old Daniel Micska. He struck him to the chest using a 12cm knife in Barnsley and left Daniel to bleed out.
Read the full story here.
Joshua Chapman
Chapman was jailed for nine years and four months after causing the deaths of Louis Banks, Aaron Bell and Tommy Shevels. He lost control of his Alfa Romeo and collided with a tree on the B6268 between Bedale and Masham in July 2022, killing his passengers.
Read the full story here.
Lisa Ellwood
Lisa Ellwood
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Ellwood was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years for the murder of her husband Ryan in August last year.
The couple had been out celebrating her birthday in Wakefield when she stabbed him at their home in Greenwood Court. It was not the first incident where Ellwood had been violent towards him. Read the full story here.
Brandon Varley
Brandon Varley has been jailed for causing death by dangerous driving
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Varley, 21, was jailed for seven years after he killed dad-of-three Tze Chun Tsang in a crash in Pontefract. He had failed to stop for officers after he was spotted acting suspiciously while driving, prompting a police chase.
He hit a silver Ford in which Mr Tsang was the passenger after failing to give way at a junction. Read the full story here.
Brandon South
Footage shows dangerous driver Brandon South careering through residential roads before he hit Robert Chessman
(Image: South Yorkshire Live)
South was jailed for seven years and six months for causing the death of Robert Chessman after he collided with him as he lost control of his Skoda Fabia.
South had travelled at an average speed of 74mph before careering off the carriageway on Haugh Road in Rotherham and hitting the 43-year-old. Read the full story here.
Adam Smith
Adam Smith on Couples Come Dine with Me
(Image: Channel 4)
Couples Come Dine with Me contestant Smith was jailed for 10 years after he caused the death of a teenager.
Oliver Pryde was killed while crossing a Kirkburton road. He was hit by Smith’s Vauxhall Corsa just two weeks before his 19th birthday.
Smith was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving when unfit through drugs and causing death while unlicensed and uninsured. Read the full story here.
Kyle Wright
Kyle Wright
(Image: WYP)
Wright was jailed for three years and 10 months in April after he caused the death of one of his passengers in a road collision in Kirklees. He was driving a Hyundai Terracan with five passengers when he lost control and the vehicle left the road.
Cowardly Wright fled the scene, leaving Curtis Dominik to die. The other four people suffered minor injuries. Read the full story here.
Umer Abid
Umer Abid
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Dangerous driver Abid was jailed for eight years in April after being found guilty of causing the death of Yousaf Razzaq by dangerous driving and seriously injuring his wife Iqra Tabassum.
Abid was driving at 78mph in a 40mph zone at the time of the collision. Read the full story here.
Paul Yates
Yates was jailed for 12 years in May after he killed an innocent father and son who were out cycling together. He drove around Barnsley with his bonnet up and the airbags inflated moments after he was involved in the fatal collision, and also injured a woman and her children. Read the full story here.
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Barrie Barker
Pensioner Barker was jailed in May after being found guilty of causing injury by dangerous driving and causing the death of newly-wed Alexander Firth by dangerous driving.
The 69-year-old was driving a red Mini Cooper on Claycliffe Road in Barnsley at around 1.30pm on April 3, 2022, when he dangerously overtook a car at the brow of a hill and caused a road traffic collision. The dangerous and fatal manoeuvre led to his Mini clipping a blue Vauxhall Astra, being driven by newly-wed Alexander Firth, 34.
Two passengers were also in the car which then went into the path of an oncoming HGV. In the moments leading up to the collision, Barker was witnessed driving the Mini dangerously as he attempted to overtake the Astra despite oncoming traffic. Barker was jailed for eight years. Read the full story here.
Piran Ditta Khan
Piran Ditta Khan was found guilty of murder earlier this year
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Evil mastermind Khan was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for the murder of Bradford PC Sharon Beshenivsky.
Khan was behind the robbery during which Sharon, and her colleague Teresa Milburn, were shot. He went on the run for almost 20 years but was extradited from Pakistan last year before being found guilty during a trial at Leeds Crown Court.
Read the full story here.
Nicola Lethbridge and Zoe Rider
[L-R] Zoe Rider and Nicola Lethbridge have been found guilty of robbery and murder
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Nicola Lethbridge and Zoe Rider were told they will spend 26 years behind bars for the brutal murder of their vulnerable neighbour Stephen Koszyczarski.
The sick duo targeted Stephen and attacked him at his home in Fraser Drive, Sheffield, accusing him of being a paedophile, taunting and mutilating him before inflicting a fatal head injury. Lethbridge, 45, and Rider, 36, filmed some of the horrific attack.
Read the full story here.
Rashane Douglas
Rashane Douglas
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Rashane Douglas will spend at least 28 years in prison for murdering two men outside a nightclub.
Douglas, 19, fatally stabbed Joshua Clark, 21, and Haidar Shah, 19, outside Maggie’s in Commercial Street, Halifax, on October 1. Read the full story here.
Alga Lutundo and Halgon Randon
Alga Lutundo has been found guilty of murdering Daneiko Ferguson in Harehills
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Halgon Randon
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Alga Lutondo, 33, and Halgon Randon, 44, will serve 28 years and 26 years respectively for murdering Daneiko Ferguson.
Daneiko, 27, was fatally wounded when he was attacked in Compton Road, Harehills, in the early hours of February 15 last year. Lutondo and Randon planned the attack to get revenge and the pair went on to stab Daneiko five times. A wound to his groin severed his femoral artery causing a catastrophic bleed that resulted in his death.
The 27-year-old was found by a passing taxi driver and taken to hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead a short time later. Read the full story here.
Bardia Shojaeifard
Bardia Shojaeifard has been named as the murderer of Alfie Lewis
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Teen killer Bardia Shojaeifard was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 13 years for the senseless murder of schoolboy Alfie Lewis.
Alfie died after being stabbed outside St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School in the Horsforth area of Leeds, just before 3pm, on November 7 last year. Read the full story here.
Jonathon Hopkinson
Jonathon Hopkinson has been jailed for killing Alice Birchall
Hopkinson was seen hurtling through Leeds streets at 100mph before colliding with and killing 22-year-old Alice Birchall who was on her way home from work in June 2022.
He was jailed for eight years and made the subject of a 12-year driving disqualification. Read the full story here.
Leon Roberts
A passenger in Leon Roberts’ car shared a Snapchat video saying “I’m gunna die” moments before the car ended up in a fatal 100mph collision on Sheffield Parkway
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Drink-driver Roberts killed young mum Sharna Brooke Burgin in a crash as he drove her and other passengers into Sheffield on February 26 last year. He collided with a taxi on Sheffield Parkway and left the scene, and his injured passengers.
Roberts handed himself in hours later and Sharna tragically lost her life. He was jailed for nine years and six months. Following the sentence a chilling video taken by one of Roberts’ passengers, captioned “I’m gunna die”, was released. Read the full story here.
Sanchez Francis and Kieran Doherty
Sanchez Francis, pictured left, and Kieran Doherty, right.
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Huddersfield men Francis and Doherty were handed life sentences in July for the brutal murder of Paul Early.
The pair had stabbed Paul at random before hiding his body in a cellar among pieces of broken furniture. Francis was told he must serve a minimum term of 21 years, and Doherty told he must serve a minimum term of 17 years and six months.
Police had attended at an address on Bradford Road in the Fartown area on the afternoon of June 19 to conduct arrest enquiries for Kieran Doherty in relation to a robbery offence. After arresting Doherty at his home, officers conducted a search of the property and discovered Paul’s body.
Read the full story here.
Reece Lawrence
Hit-and-run driver Reece Lawrence has been jailed
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Lawrence hit and killed mum Michaela Fowles as she crossed the road in Thorpe Lane, Middleton in June this year. Lawrence, 29, had been seen by witnesses swerving and almost colliding with another car before he hit Michaela, Leeds Crown Court heard in July.
It was estimated he had been driving at 88mph in the 30mph zone before hitting Michaela and fleeing the scene. He was jailed for 10 years and disqualified from driving for 15 years. Read the full story here.
Samuel Moore
Samuel Moore has been jailed
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
“Obsessed” neighbour Moore stabbed and killed Karl Williams on Halloween last year following their multiple disputes. Moore had made multiple complaints to West Yorkshire Police about Mr Williams in the month before his death and was on the phone to the force when he stabbed him.
He left his victim to bleed out. He was eventually found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 13 years. Read the full story here.
Jozeffi Jeffers, Philip Bryant and Emile Riggon
[L-R] Emile Riggon, Jozeffi Jeffers and Philip Bryant
(Image: West Yorjshire Police)
The trio were jailed after being found guilty of murdering teenager Emmanuel Nyabako in Leeds last year. Emmanuel was stabbed and his naked body dragged into a Harehills street to be found. It was said during the sentencing in August that Emmanuel was riding an e-bike in Chapeltown with a youth in the early hours of August 26 last year.
It was said Emmanuel was “not welcome” in the area and was soon chased by two vehicles being driven by Bryant, of Skinner Lane, and Jeffers, of Hyde Park Road. They went on to stab and kill him during a ferocious attack.
All three were handed life sentences with minimum terms of 27 years to be spent behind bars before they go before the Parole Board, which will determine if they are safe to be released. A fourth man, Louis Grant, 28, also known as Louis O-Brien, remains at large and wanted over Emmanuel’s murder. Read the full story here.
George Chalmers
George Chalmers
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Sick Chalmers had a history of abusing partners before he went to murder his girlfriend of six months, Ruth Baker, at his home in Tempest Road earlier this year. Chalmers watched Kes before strangling Ruth with a TV wire.
It was not the first time he had attacked and had assaulted and strangled her during a romantic staycation near Carlisle in November last year. Ruth had described the attack in texts to Chalmers afterwards.
He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years and six months. Read the full story here.
Nathaniel Philip
Nathaniel Philip has been jailed
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Philip killed his “friend” Robert in a drunken row at a Leeds pub following a disagreement over his partner. It was said at Leeds Crown Court that Robert had told Philip not to talk to his wife in a certain way before things got nasty.
The pair had gone outside to “make up” and could be heard shouting at each other before they returned, with Mr Hiscoe being heard to say: “I hit him.” Philip then tried to get Robert to go outside with him and then punched him to the face.
It was said another witness described Philip, of Cobden Terrace, Leeds, as punching Mr Hiscoe “four or five times” before he picked him up and “slammed him to the floor and punched him four or five times.” Philip was jailed for five-and-a-half years. Read the full story here.
Stephen and Cheryl Long
Cheryl and Stephen Long
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Cruel couple Stephen and Cheryl Long were jailed in October for the manslaughter of popular Paul Davinson. Paul was killed during a neighbour dispute which saw him targeted while he walked home from a pub after telling a group of men that he was going to smash their windows.
Stephen Long pounced, grabbing Paul and holding him in a headlock while his wife kicked him a number of times and filmed some of the attack.
The court heard Paul had a pre-existing and unknown heart condition that led to his death. Stephen Long was jailed for eight years and Cheryl Long was jailed for two-and-a-half years. Read the full story here.
Barney Griffin, Rebecca Moore and Jack Douglas
Barney Griffin, Rebecca Moore and Jack Douglas
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Two teenagers and sex worker Moore were jailed for their parts in the murder of Sacad Ali.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how Sacad was lured to Ponderosa Park by Moore before being stabbed and killed by Griffin and Douglas. Douglas was finally able to be named following an application to lift a reporting restriction by YorkshireLive.
All three were handed life terms, with Moore ordered to spend a minimum term of 15 years behind bars. Griffin was ordered to spend a minimum term of 16 years behind bars, while Douglas received a minimum term of 15 years. Read the full story here.
Sipho Pfukani
Sipho Pfukani
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Pfukani was jailed for stabbing Lazarus Makono to death at a house party in Barnsley. He was handed a life sentence for the murder and ordered to spend at least 18 years behind bars.
His co-defendant Terrance Mltoshwa was jailed for 29 months for assisting an offender, and then a fraud from a separate indictment. Read the full story here.
Vincent Morgan
Vincent Morgan
(Image: North Yorkshire Police / SWNS)
Morgan was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of more than 20 years for the murder of his girlfriend, Lisa Welford.
He had put an injured Lisa into the River Derwent after the pair had spent the day together in April this year. Lisa was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital where it was found she was suffering from head injuries, a bleed on the brain, fractured ribs, a fractured collar bone and a severely fractured femur. She was pronounced dead at 7.30am a day later.
Morgan was the subject of a domestic violence protection order, prohibiting him from having contact with Lisa at the time. Read the full story here.
Anne Marie Stevens
Stevens was jailed for eight months in November after she carelessly mowed down a beloved man.
Stephen Young was crossing Greenhowskye Lane in Northallerton on his mobility scooter when he was hit by the Citroen C2 being driven by Stevens. Mr Young, who was 68 at the time of the crash on March 9, 2023, fell into the road. He later died in hospital.
An investigation reviewed CCTV and involved a full reconstruction, and a specialist forensic collision investigator said while Stevens had negotiated the roundabout correctly, Mr Young’s mobility scooter was probably still clearing the carriageway at the time of the crash. Read the full story here.
Laurence Ward
Laurence Ward has been jailed for three years and four months for killing his wife
Evil Ward stabbed and killed his wife Joanne at their home in Rotherham before walking to a relative’s to confess.
He stabbed Joanne through the chest during an argument on June 21 this year .After doing so, Ward, who was also seriously injured, went to a relative’s home where he confessed to stabbing his wife and told them he feared he had killed her. He later told police he left her to die because he was in a state of “shock and panic.”
Police were called to the address at 5.53pm and found Joanne in her living room with fatal injuries. Tragically, paramedics declared her dead at the scene. He was jailed for manslaughter for three years and four months.
Read the full story here.
Jake Brown
Jake Brown has been jailed for the murder of beloved dad Kevin Pokuta
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Murderer Brown shot and killed beloved dad Kevin Pokuta in an act of revenge that was also a case of mistaken identity.
Lester Ramsey, Leon Waite, Adam Mulligan and a 17-year-old boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – were convicted of conspiracy to rob after the group attempted to rob a cannabis farm. During that crime, a car drove at them and Brown later returned to the scene, shooting four times at a vehicle he believed to be the same one.
It was not, and instead he shot and killed Kevin.
Brown was made the subject of a life sentence with a minimum term of 36 years.
Read the full story here.
Charles Pickering
Speeding driver Charles Pickering has been jailed
Selfish Pickering hit and killed Sheffield mum Tracey Rimmington with his car as she crossed the Prince of Wales road in 2022. He had modified the vehicle with a “heavily tinted” windscreen before the collision.
A court heard he was travelling well in excess of the speed limit, at around 60mph in a 40mph zone.
He was jailed for 18 months.
Read the full story here.
Kyan McWhir
Kyan McWhir killed his brother when he punched him in Hebden Bridge
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
McWhir killed his own half-brother John after assaulting him in a street in Hebden Bridge in July this year. Horrified witnesses told how they had heard a “crack” after John was punched and fell to the floor.
McWhir was jailed for five years.
Read the full story here.
Mark Metcalfe
Mark Metcalfe has been jailed for the manslaughter of Terri Jordan
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Evil Metcalfe was jailed for 17 years in December after he was found guilty of the manslaughter and the prevention of a lawful burial of beloved mum Terri Jordan.
Metcalfe assaulted Terri at his home in Harehills after being rejected by her and went on to hide her body in a wheelie bin before dumping it in bushes close to a supermarket.
Terri was missing for 12 days before her body was discovered.
Read the full story here.
Robert Jean
Robert Jean, 47, has been jailed
Jean was jailed in December after he murdered his two housemates in a brutal explosion of violence.
He attacked 65-year-old Khaja Raisoddin Mohammed and 53-year-old Abdullah Mirzada, repeatedly stabbing both men in a frenzied attack at the house in Hill Top Mount, Harehills in September last year.
What caused Jean to launch such a violent attack on the victims has never been established although it may have been related to arguments over rent arrears. He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term fo 34 years.
Read the full story here.
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