Some of the most recent court stories in Somerset include a Celebrity Big Brother contestant, a failed gunman, a paedophile on the run, and one of the UK’s most wanted men. We’ve followed a number of major crime stories recently and have put them together in this round up.
Alex Male, from Weston-super-Mare, who was responsible for supplying at least 130 kilos of high purity cocaine worth £4.5 million, has been sentenced to four years in jail after evading capture. Similarly, a sexual offender who also fled the country to avoid justice has been incarcerated for numerous years after admitting to a series of appalling crimes.
Below are just a handful of the major cases we’ve been reporting on here at the Bristol Post in recent weeks
Reed Wischhusen
A man who plotted to murder police officers using his collection of homemade firearms failed in his attempt to have his life sentence reduced. Reed Wischhusen wrote a chilling 1,700-word essay outlining how he would exact revenge on the police force that repeatedly denied his application for a shotgun licence, reports Bristol Live.
He detailed plans to target former schoolmates and shoot random members of the public to draw officers to him, before setting off bombs at Avon and Somerset Police’s headquarters. In November 2022, police visited his home near Weston-Super-Mare. The 33-year-old then attempted to shoot himself in the head.
He survived and, despite having a bullet lodged in his head, he charged downstairs with the gun aimed at officers. They shot him in the torso, but then attempted to save his life.
A search of his residence revealed an arsenal of weapons, materials for making bombs, and a police uniform which Wischhusen had taken pictures of himself wearing.
On Wednesday, December 11, his barrister told the Court of Appeal that a Bristol judge was wrong to give him a life sentence in January. Defending, Adam Vaitilingam KC said: “The discretionary life sentence is the sentence of last resort. An extended sentence was the appropriate sentence in this case. There was no reason to extend it [to a life sentence].”
However, these points were dismissed by Lord Justice Davis, who said to Wischhusen: “This was in our judgment a paradigm case for a life sentence.”
Wischhusen, who was tuning into the proceedings via video link from prison, will be eligible for parole in 2035.
Alex Male
A wanted man who flooded the streets of Bristol with cocaine has been jailed. Alex Male, 32, from Weston-super-Mare, was arrested earlier this year in Morocco after a four-year-long manhunt.
He masterminded two organised crime groups which dealt drugs across the south of England. He used Encrochat, an encrypted messaging system favoured by global criminals, to organise both of the conspiracies.
During a three-month spree from March to June 2020, Male oversaw the distribution of at least 130 kilos of high purity cocaine valued around £4.5 million. His involvement made him one of the UK’s most wanted individuals.
Detective Inspector Adrian Hawkins, who led the investigation, said: “The volume of drugs we evidenced Alex Male as sourcing and supplying through our investigation, together with his actions while on the run over the last four years, show what a serious criminal he is.
“It’s easy to look at images of kilo blocks of cocaine or piles of cash and be detached from the misery behind them – people that have been victims of robbery, burglary, theft, gang crime or other violence will know that drugs featured heavily in the cause.
“Alex Male’s time on the run has meant we’ve waited a long time to see him get sentenced, but we, together with our partners in the NCA, CPS and abroad, were never going to give up on bringing him back to face justice.”
Marco Pierre White Jr
Former Celebrity Big Brother contestant Marco Pierre White Jr appeared in court, charged with offences of theft and burglary. The son of famed chef Marco Pierre White, Marco Xavier Pierre White, stood before North Somerset Magistrates’ Court on Friday, November 29.
White was sentenced to 30-weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and was given a nine-month drug rehabilitation requirement and ordered to pay fines and costs.
Avon and Somerset Police released a statement detailing that he was sentenced for committing a non-dwelling burglary at a studio on Meadow Street in Weston-super-Mare on Thursday, September 19, and another at a shop on Cheap Street in Bath on Thursday, October 24.
Pierre White, from Weston-super-Mare, was also found guilty of theft from a store on Winterstoke Road in Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday, October 22.
According to the police statement: “In the Weston-super-Mare burglary, he was seen leaving the premises with goods in his hands, including electronic items and a jewellery box, and was spotted by officers in a nearby street. He dropped the items and ran off but was stopped and arrested a short time later.”
Peter Woolley
Peter Woolley, a 41-year-old from Bristol, has been jailed for 12 years after he pleaded guilty to three charges of attempting to rape a child under 13, as well as one charge of sexually assaulting a child under 13. In addition to his prison term, Woolley received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a restraining order, a lifetime ban on working with children and vulnerable adults. He will also be on the Sex Offenders Register.
Bristol Crown Court heard how he sexually assaulted and attempted to rape a woman in Bristol. After confiding in her mother in 2020, which led to police being informed, but Woolley had fled to Jamaica the day after the most recent attack had taken place.
In a statement from the victim, she said: “I am sensitive to things that never used to worry me. I cry sometimes and get angry and annoyed at little things which wouldn’t have affected me before.
“I like to spend time alone in the dark in my bedroom these days. It is silent and I feel like I am at peace. I sometimes listen to some music when I’m in my room to help me be at peace. I feel uncomfortable around men. I am conscious of what clothes I’m wearing and I feel like men are always looking at me.”
Officer in the case, Detective Constable Elizabeth Howell said: “I have to commend the continued bravery shown by the victim. No one should be subjected to attacks of this nature, but to have had this happen at such a young age, makes this all the more horrific.
“She has shown incredible endurance and courage over the past few years while we attempted to bring Woolley back to the UK from Jamaica and into our custody. In the end, he returned to the UK of his own volition, but we were waiting for him.
“The judge described Woolley as robbing the victim of her childhood, and I only hope this sentence will give the victim and her family some justice as she continues to come to terms with what happened to her.”