Sex offenders, drunken thug, 'nasty bully' and driver jailed

The defendants were accused of running over a man in a revenge attack, sexual assaults, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, assault, and breaching restraining orders.

They were jailed for a combined just under 13 years.

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Here's a round-up of the cases.

Carl John

Carl John ran over his victim in what was described as a 'revenge attack'. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Carl John mowed down his victim with his car in a revenge attack in the early hours of April 15 last year after an incident in a Pembroke nightclub.

John and his brother had been kicked out of the nightclub after an incident. The pair got in to their car, mounted the pavement outside the club, and a witness described them as “looking around” – possibly searching for the victim – before driving off.

They spotted the victim standing on the pavement along Westgate Hill waiting for a taxi, and John drove in to him at speed – “thought to be 30 or 40mph”.

A witness described the victim as being “thrown as high, if not higher, than the car” and said they feared the man had been killed as he was lying “motionless” and with his mouth covered in blood.

The victim was taken to hospital via ambulance. He suffered bruising and swelling to the side of his face and chin, four chipped and broken teeth, and bruising to the chest, collarbone and hip.

John was arrested at his mum’s address in Pembroke Dock that evening. There, he was found with 14 grams of cannabis and a pack of blue pills, thought to be Viagra.

In his police interview, John said that he had driven towards the victim to “scare him” and “didn’t intend to hit him”.

John, 38, of Reynolds Close in Ipswich, pleaded guilty to all charges.

Judge Huw Rees jailed him for four years for attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to do grievous bodily harm. He also handed the defendant an 18-month sentence for dangerous driving and one month for possession of cannabis. These both will run concurrently to the four-year sentence.

John was banned from driving for a total of six years, and the victim was granted a 10-year restraining order.

Darryan Boalstridge-Edwards

Drunken thug Darryan Boalstridge-Edwards broke in to his ex-partner’s house while she was sleeping - just months after she was granted a restraining order against him.

Boalstridge-Edwards was made the subject of a five-year restraining order on July 6 after attacking his ex-partner in her own home – just months after a similar attack. On that occasion, the judge sentenced him to a year in prison, suspended for two years.

Despite this, just four months later he broke in to the home of the woman while both she and their two-year-old child were asleep.

He had been drinking on the evening of November 23, and the next morning, at around 7.50am, he broke in to the woman’s home – near Pembroke – through the patio doors.

The court heard that he was “shouting and screaming in a temper”, and began making threats against any men his ex-partner could have been involved with – while also beating his chest and clenching his fists.

Boalstridge-Edwards, 29, of Brickhurst Close in Johnston, was jailed for two years for breaching the restraining order, and a further six months for breaching his suspended sentence.

Judge Huw Rees ordered that the restraining order will remain in place until July 2028.

Jonathan Strain

Jonathan Strain was caught by a paedophile hunter group. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Paedophile Jonathan Strain sent “vile and explicit” messages to who he thought was a 12-year-old girl.

Strain was jailed for four years and seven months for a series of offences relating to messages he sent to ‘Hannah’ – who he thought was a 12-year-old girl from the Manchester area.

Strain, 37, of Treherbert Street in Cwmann, started messaging ‘Hannah’ on October 13, 2021 on an app called Wink. However, ‘Hannah’ was a decoy account set up by a paedophile hunter group.

The decoy told him that although her profile said 18 years of age, she was in fact 12. Strain told the decoy that he was “looking for horny girls who want video call fun” and was looking for “trading of nude photographs and nude calls”.

The defendant said that he “fancied” the child, asked if she would be his girlfriend and said they could do “girlfriend and boyfriend stuff with each other”.

Strain asked her if she had school the following day and told her not to tell her friends about him as they were a secret, before also instructing the ‘girl’ to delete their conversations from her phone.

He asked to video call her, and the decoy said their phone camera wasn’t working. He continued to video call her, and showed her his penis. Strain then called the decoy again, and performed a sex act on himself on camera.

Strain continued to ask the girl explicit questions, and encouraged her to perform a sex act on herself, and to send him a picture of her breasts, and also offered to buy the girl a phone with a working camera.

The information was passed on to a paedophile hunter group in Wales who went to the defendant’s address on March 6. Strain wasn’t in, and the information was passed to the police, who arrested him later that evening.

“In the police interview, he suggested that he had lost his mobile phone before these conversations took place,” prosecutor James Hartson said.

Strain pleaded guilty two weeks before his trial to attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.

Judge Huw Rees described Strain’s messages to the decoy as “vile and explicit conversations”.

“You have an unhealthy and deviant interest in pre-teenage girls,” he added.

He jailed Strain for four years and seven months. The defendant must register as a sex offender indefinitely, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years.

Stephen James 

Stephen James was jailed for sexually assaulting children in Tenby. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Stephen James sexually assaulted two children in Tenby.

The allegations related to two incidents involving an 11-year-old girl and a six-year-old girl in Tenby town centre on September 16.

James was accused of attempting to intimately touch and kiss the 11-year-old, as well as attempting to sexually touch the younger girl.

James, 51, of Station Road, admitted the two offences.

Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court had previously heard that James observed both children as they walked around the shops on their own, and “took advantage of the children when they were on their own”.

James was jailed for 13 months, and must register as a sex offender for 10 years. He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period of time.

Daniel Phillips

Daniel Phillips, 29, of no fixed abode, was described as having a “flagrant disregard for court orders” as he was jailed for breaching a restraining order.

Phillips had been made subject to the restraining order at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on January 9 last year.

However, he breached the restraining order in Milford Haven on December 21.

Phillips, previously of Haverfordwest, pleaded guilty to breaching the order at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on December 22 and was jailed for 12 weeks.

Graham Potter

Graham Potter was branded by a judge as a “nasty bully” who assaults women when he gets drunk.

The court heard that Potter was “getting verbally abusive” towards the victim at an address in Neyland on November 23, before becoming violent.

He put his hand under the woman’s chin, but she was able to get free.

“He continued to be verbally abusive,” prosecutor James Hartson said, adding that Potter “grabbed her arm and punched her mouth, causing her lip to bleed”.

“They then started scuffling with each other on the sofa and in the bedroom, causing scratches.”

The court heard that Potter smashed the victim’s television and a chair when she left the living room.

Potter, 41, of Picton Road in Neyland, denied the strangulation charge, but admitted assault by beating and causing criminal damage. These pleas were accepted by the prosecution.

Addressing the defendant, Judge Paul Thomas KC said: “You Mr Potter are a nasty bully. You assault women when you get drunk.

“Unless you kerb your drinking and kerb your temper, you will be going back to prison and the sentences will get longer and longer.”

Potter was jailed for 18 weeks for the assault, with a further six weeks for the criminal damage. He was also made the subject of a two-year restraining order. A not guilty verdict was entered on the strangulation charge.