London courts sentenced a range of offenders in September, from a 75-year-old man who strangled a fellow theatregoer to four men involved in a tear-gas attack at Heathrow Airport that forced the closure of Terminal 3. Among those jailed were a fraudster who stole nearly £92,000 from a breast cancer charity, a Household Cavalry soldier who plotted to rape a child, and a man who helped a prison escapee obtain cash.
Theatre strangler and wedding fraudster
Malcolm Potier, 75, a former Scottish Laird, was sentenced to two years in jail after grabbing a woman by the neck during a performance of We Will Rock You in the West End. According to the court, Potier's partner told fellow theatregoer Kirsty O'Donnell to keep quiet as she sang along. When O'Donnell replied, "That's a bit rude," Potier said, "I'll show you what rude is," before pressing down on her neck. Potier had previously been jailed in Australia for attempting to arrange the murder of his ex-partner.
In a separate case, Tameem Choudhury, 29, of Gujarat House, Stoke Newington Church Street, Hackney, was sentenced on September 1 to two years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering. Choudhury exploited his position within Breast Cancer Now's finance team to transfer almost £92,000 into his own account, spending it on personal debts, cash withdrawals, wedding and honeymoon expenses, luxury purchases, and transfers to family members.
Prison escapee helper and machete murder
Adeel Khan, 32, from Waltham Forest, East London, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for assisting former soldier Daniel Khalife, who escaped from HMP Wandsworth on the underside of a food delivery truck. Khan, who worked with Khalife in the prison kitchen, organised a way to get Khalife £400 in cash after his escape. He was sentenced on September 4.
On the same day, a violent trio were jailed for life after stabbing 36-year-old Gregory Catillo Volquez with a machete in North London. Footage showed two of the men wielding the weapon and a crutch as Volquez was stabbed 22 times; the crutch was used to repeatedly rain down blows. Volquez, a father of a young daughter, was pronounced dead in the street by paramedics. Benito Ramirez Kones, 20, Carlos Akum Metumbe, 22, and Italian national Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22, were jailed for a combined total of 68 years.
Rape plot soldier and speedboat killer
Graham Jarvis, 38, a Household Cavalry soldier, was jailed for 12 years on September 10 after plotting to rape a baby. Jarvis believed he was striking a deal with a woman he met online to sexually abuse her children, planning to travel from his Central London barracks to her home in Wales. In reality, he was chatting with an undercover police officer posing as the mother of two daughters, one a seven-year-old girl and the other a 10-month-old baby.
Jack Shepherd, 39, originally jailed for manslaughter over the death of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown in a speedboat crash, was jailed again for violently assaulting his girlfriend. He pinned her down and punched her during an argument, and stabbed her with sharply pointed barbecue tongs after she remarked that he had burned a pizza. He was jailed for 20 months on September 14, with a further four years on extended licence.
Heathrow tear-gas attack and mother's killer
Four men were jailed on September 16 after an incident of "serious and sustained" violence in which tear gas was sprayed at a Heathrow Airport car park, causing some people to vomit blood. The airport's Terminal 3 was closed for hours following the incident, when tear gas was sprayed in the face of a woman who had her suitcase taken. Tyrone Richards, 31, was jailed for 27 months; Anton Clarke-Butcher, 25, received 21 months; Omoneke Whyte, 31, was jailed for 23 months, as was Denzel Eduardo, 29.
Richard Clayton, 45, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years on September 28 after strangling his own mother, Angela Clayton, to death at their home in St George's Square, Newham, on February 17. The Old Bailey heard that Clayton phoned a sex line eight times before calling 999. These sentences reflect a range of serious offences dealt with by London courts during the month.
