Eight Shropshire criminals jailed this April for dealing drugs, assault and paedophilia
Courts in Shropshire were busy this month as they heard a range of cases - and sent many people to jail for their crimes.
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From an ex-soldier and father-of-three who molested a child to burglars who raided a flat, these offenders have all been brought to justice.
The Shropshire Star also reported on a man who attacked a policewoman in a “booze-filled rampage” this April.
After a long month of sentencings, here are eight criminals who appeared before judges and have been jailed.
Desmond Rodgers
A Scouts and church treasurer who stole more than £170,000 and ploughed it into a crypto scam black hole was jailed this April, too.
Desmond Rodgers, aged 51, took tens of thousands from St Andrew's Church in Shifnal as well as Scout groups in Shifnal and Madeley, before being conned out of it himself.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard how Rodgers siphoned money from the organisations in transactions of up to £20,000 at a time.
He took £126,000 from the church, £16,600 from the Shifnal Scout group and £28,300 from Madeley Scouts - leaving the group with just £21.50 in its account.
Rodgers was jailed for 32 months and is expected to be back on the dock this September to see if any monies can be recouped.
Jacques Du Plessis
This April, a Newport man was jailed for more than eight years after he sexually assaulted a boy a number of times, recording one of the incidents on his phone.
Jacques Du Plessis, aged 51, started talking to the victim on Snapchat and arranged to pick him up in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, last year.
He was reported to the police last May, which led to the following charges being brought against him: three counts of engaging in sexual activity with a boy, one count of meeting a boy following grooming, making indecent/pseudo photographs of a child and distributing an indecent/pseudo photograph of a child.
Du Plessis pleaded guilty to all the charges and was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
Dreece Bateman
After a booze-fuelled rampage in June last year Premier Stores, Queens Road, Donnington, Telford, 28-year-old Dreece Bateman was jailed this April.
Staff had refused to let him take items without paying first. CCTV footage of Bateman’s uncle and his uncle’s partner arriving at the shop to try and diffuse the situation was shown at Shrewsbury Crown Court during the sentencing.
In the footage, Bateman bit his uncle’s face and thumb before getting violent.
When being taken down by officers, Bateman punched a policewoman in the face and had to be pepper sprayed before he attempted to bite another female officer and spit on her.
Bateman pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a knife in a public place, criminal damage, two counts of assaulting an emergency worker and one racially aggravated public order offence.
He was jailed for 36 months with a five-year restraining order.
Christopher Perry and Christy Chilton
This month, Shrewsbury Crown Court, sitting at Telford Justice Centre, heard of two burglars who ransacked a flat and stole a watch belonging to a woman’s dead father.
The incident happened in a flat in High Street, Market Drayton, last November.
After booting in the door, Perry and Chilton stole around £800 worth of items including a TV, a mobile phone, a gaming monitor, headphones, an iPad, an Xbox controller and the watch.
Both pleaded guilty to the burglary charge and Perry was jailed for 21 months, while Chilton was jailed for 18 months.
Benjamin Ellsey
Benjamin Ellsey, of no fixed abode, was spotted in the Shropshire county town in March last year by police officers who believed he was a member of the suspected 'Fire Line' county lines drug dealing operation.
The 34-year-old was arrested and strip searched. Officers found seven wraps of crack cocaine in his jogging bottoms, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told this April. Police also found a mobile phone with 77 calls relating to drug dealing in his possession.
Ellsey was jailed for two years and three months.
William Clark
Ex-soldier and Telford father-of-three William Clark was jailed this April after molesting a child and “begging” her to keep it a secret.
Clark admitted to kissing and touching the girl, then urging her not to tell anyone to stop him “getting into trouble”.
Shrewsbury Crown Court, sitting at Telford Justice Centre, was told that the victim is still suffering nearly 18 months on from the offence, which took place in September 2023.
Clark pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a female and was jailed for 14 months with a 10-year restraining order, banning him from contacting the victim. He must also sign onto the sex offenders register for 10 years.
Michael Langley
Michael Langley, 47, from the Telford and Wrekin area, was jailed at Shrewsbury Crown Court this April.
The sentencing hearing came after Langley was found guilty of one charge of sexual assault on a minor by touching during a trial.
Langley was sentenced to three years in jail and was added to the sexual offenders’ register.
