Locked up in Sussex 2021: These are some of the criminals jailed between September and December
By Matt Pole
Published 28th Dec 2021, 07:00 BST
It has been another busy year for judges, juries and magistrates across Sussex.
Here we take a look at some of the criminals locked up during the final four months of 2021.
All of the information below comes from either Sussex Police or our reporters attending court in person.
25.
Sarjo Jatta, 44, a doorman, of Eldred Avenue, Brighton, was sentenced to 24 years at Lewes Crown Court on Friday 17 December. The first 20 years will be spent in custody and the other four on extended licence. He had been convicted in September of the rape, sexual assault, and false imprisonment of a woman aged 22 on 8 February 2020, and the rape of an 18-year-old woman who he had met in a club in Brighton on 13 September 2015. Jatta was found not guilty of four counts of sexual assault on a woman aged 19 during December 2011, and the rape of a woman aged 18 on 18 August 2017. He will be a registered sex offender for life. Jatta was charged in March 2020 after the 22-year old victim reported that he had offered her a lift home as she was walking past the city centre casino where he was working a a doorman, but that when he took her to his car he would not let her out until he had raped and sexually assaulted her. He was immediately arrested and police records showed that four-and -a-half years earlier, he had
26.
Mark Hylands, 38, of Bramley Road, Polegate, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on 1 December, having been convicted of seven offences of sexual assault and three of exposure. He was found not guilty of three other sexual assaults and of one exposure. Hylands will be a registered sex offender indefinitely. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further court order, prohibiting him from contacting his victims and from taking any paid work without police agreement. The court heard that while Hylands was working at the shops, first in Eastbourne and then in Hastings, he would engage in sexualised and offensive behaviour against three women working there, as well as carrying out specific sexual assaults and exposing himself to them. Women customers also complained about his approaches to them. Eventually he had to leave the Eastbourne shop where he had assaulted two colleagues, but undeterred he found a job at a similar place in Hastings where he began to behave in exactly the same
27.
Aaron Wilks, 38, unemployed, of Ash Grove, Bognor Regis, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Thursday 16 December, having been found guilty by a unanimous jury on 10 December. He will serve a minimum term of 25 years and was also given, to be served concurrently with the life sentence, six years for blackmail, 30 months for possessing an offensive weapon, 21 months for criminal damage and 20 months for arson. Mark Stoakes, 60, had been at home with his family on the evening of Thursday 8 April, 2021 when they noticed their garden gate was on fire. Mark and his wife ran to the front of their house in Oak Grove to see who was responsible for starting the fire. There, they encountered Aaron Wilks. Wilks was holding a blue bottle and began spraying a liquid towards the victim and his wife. Mark, protecting his wife, stood nearest Wilks and became drenched in liquid - a liquid later confirmed to be petrol. Wilks then produced a flame, which ignited a fire instantly. Mark suffered extensive burns and was tak
28.
George Vakis was seen riding up and down on an e-scooter in London Road, Bexhill at 6.30pm on August 3 while officers dealt with a separate matter. An officer recognised the 19-year-old and walked towards him and directed him to stop. But Vakis kicked the officer, causing him to lose balance and fall to the pavement. He suffered a wound to his hand as a result. Vakis rode away from the area, but the attending officers recognised him from previous stop checks and were able to arrest him. When he was interviewed, he tried to claim the officers had mistaken his identity despite footage of him captured from a police car and on the officers’ bodyworn cameras. Vakis was shown wearing a distinctive pair of Nike trainers in the footage, and was still wearing them when arrested. At Lewes Crown Court on November 19, Vakis, of Thakeham Close, Bexhill, admitted wounding the officer without intent and was sentenced to one year in detention at a youth offenders’ institution. He also pleaded guilty to driving without a lice