In a busy November for the county’s courts, here are three Watford criminals who have been convicted this month, including a child rapist who will spend 11 years behind bars.

1. Mohammed Sahinur

Watford's Mohammed Sahinur was sentenced to 11 years and six months in jail, after being found guilty of sexual offences, including rape, against children at St Albans Crown Court.

The 29-year-old was arrested by Herts Police in June 2022 following an operation to catch people targeting vulnerable children via social media.

He had been targeting girls as young as 11 since 2021, encouraging them to send sexual photos of themselves and then threatening them if they refused.

He was then charged with 15 crimes, including rape of a child under 13, sexual communication with a child, eight offences of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, four offences of causing a child to watch a sexual act, and sexual assault of a child under 13.

Watford Observer: Mohammed Sahinur.Mohammed Sahinur. (Image: Herts police)

Detective Sergeant Jim Miller from the Child Online Safeguarding Team said: “Not only did Sahinur groom vulnerable young girls via social media, he also met up with one victim so he could physically abuse her as well.

“To make sure these young girls continued to supply him with indecent images he threatened them, telling them he would tell other family members or share the images further.

“This behaviour has had a very detrimental impact on the mental wellbeing being of these young girls.”

2. Chas Wright, Scott Hocking, Mkamba Panda and Paul Robinson

Drug dealers who ran a commercial cocaine supply network in the Watford and Three Rivers areas have been jailed for more than 28 years.

Chas Wright, 28, of Mancroft Road, Caddington, was sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs (cocaine).

Scott Hocking, 26, of St Albans Road, Watford, was sentenced to seven years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs (cocaine).

Mkamba Panda, 31, of no fixed address, was sentenced to seven years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs (cocaine).

Paul Robinson, 62, of Crescent Road, London, was sentenced to four years and 10 months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs (cocaine).

Watford Observer: Scott Hocking, Chas Wright and Paul Robinson.Scott Hocking, Chas Wright and Paul Robinson. (Image: Herts Police)

The four men were arrested in 2022 following an investigation by Hertfordshire Constabulary’s specialist organised crime team, Operation Relentless.

The organised crime group ran the ‘Ace’ drug line for several years dealing cocaine. During the operation, more than nine kilograms of the drug were seized with a street value of around £900,000.

The men appeared for sentencing at St Albans Crown Court on Friday, November 3, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.

3. Micaiah Marley

Watford's Micaiah Marley was among nine gangsters jailed for a total of 116 years after victims were kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured with knives.

The 30-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in prison, plus four years extended sentence, after being convicted of kidnap, false imprisonment, and blackmail.

Fortune Lawson, 27, from Cardiff, ran the band of thugs who kidnapped one of their victims outside his home in London in November 2018 after he was seen wearing a Rolex watch in a Snapchat photograph.

He was lured into meeting Lawson on the pretence of discussing cannabis, but was instead subjected to a “terrifying” ordeal that lasted eight hours and included being stabbed and having boiling water poured on his abdomen and groin.

The victim was forced to arrange for money and the Rolex to be handed over before being released.

Watford Observer: Micaiah Marley.Micaiah Marley. (Image: Herts police)

He spent five days in hospital with “grave” injuries and had to undergo surgery three months later.

In December 2020, Lawson struck again, this time in Cardiff, kidnapping another victim on the pretence of smoking cannabis together.

Instead, he took him to a flat in the city and waterboarded and beat him and threatened him with guns and knives and an “attack dog”.

The victim was forced to call a friend to arrange for £50,000 to be handed over, but the friend called South Wales Police to report a “life or death situation” and unbeknownst to the kidnappers, hostage negotiators were monitoring phone calls.