Arrested dad urged his partner to drop charges
BEHAVIOUR IS BRANDED ‘ARROGANT AND STUPID’
A DAD was branded “brazen, arrogant and stupid” after phoning his partner and telling her to drop the charges while at a police station following his arrest.
Stephen Kindley had been arrested over an allegation of controlling behaviour and was taken to Bedlington Police Station to be questioned.
He tricked officers into letting him use his phone by asking if he could ring his workplace to say he would not be in that day.
Instead, in front of officers and on CCTV, he phoned his partner and told her to drop the charges as police would not let him go to work.
Now Kindley, who was not charged over the controlling behaviour, has been given a suspended prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court for perverting the course of justice.
Annalise Haugstad, prosecuting, said Kindley was arrested in Ashington and taken to the police station in the early hours.
She added: “On being checked into the custody suite his mobile phone was taken from him.
“Just before 5.30am he set about a deliberate ruse to speak to his partner.
“He asked to contact his work to inform them he would not be in that day.
“He said his number was in the phone and police staff handed him the phone.
“He was then heard to say “Nicola, drop the charges, they will not let me go to work.”
When interviewed, Kindley said he only told her he would not be at work and claimed he did not realise it was her who had made the allegation against him.
He denied asking her to drop the charge. However the 41-yearold, of Torrance Close, Ashington, went on to plead guilty to perverting the course of justice.
Judge Amanda Rippon sentenced him to four months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with rehabilitation.
She told him: “You should understand, most people, 99% of people, who plead guilty to that offence go to prison because it is considered one of the most serious non-violent offences a person can commit.
“That is because if someone attempts to pervert the course of justice the system is undermined.
“What you did was a brazen, arrogant, rather extraordinary attempt to pervert the course of justice in full view of police officers and on CCTV.
“It was also stupid and inevitable you would be caught.”
Judge Rippon said she would take the “exceptional” course of suspending the prison sentence.
She said Kindley’s son, who is awaiting sentence for serious matters, had caused the family stresses and difficulties.
The judge also said Kindley needs to understand his partner is allowed to make her own decisions, including phoning police “if you frighten her.”
Shaun Routledge, defending, said: “He has strived to turn his life around and had not been in trouble for years. He and his wife are together.”
LYING belly down on the grass, I slowly creep forwards on my elbows. The sun has already disappeared, wiped out by heavy rainclouds and the thick, suffocating cloak of night. All that remains of day is a tangerine glow streaking the horizon, illuminating a bull giraffe below a boscia tree.
Beautiful to behold, the scene is a struggle to capture on camera, as I race against the rapidly fading light. But it’s moments like these – so ephemeral they verge on illusion – that have the power to create pictures worth a thousand words.
Twelve years ago, when I first went on safari, I haphazardly hit the shutter button on my camera, snapping at stationary hippos and reframing photos of sleeping lions every time they twitched a whisker. Overwhelmed by a new, fresh environment, I didn’t want to miss a minute. By keeping a visual diary, I hoped I could package up that feeling of excitement, freeze it in time and take it back home with me.
Today, most of those files are gathering digital dust on untouched hard drives, but images I cherish are the ones with a story to tell.
Photographer and guide Paul Goldstein has spent years studying Africa’s wildlife through a lens. But several standout pictures have defined his career.
“It was early October, and we’d been following a cheetah and her cubs for four days,” he says, as we drive in darkness across Kenya’s Naboisho conservancy.
“The cubs were playing on a stump, but 400 meters ahead I saw a tree, so I positioned the vehicle and told my guests to stay with me on this one. I knew those cubs wouldn’t be able to walk past without treating it like a leisure centre. But I didn’t expect the mum to go up it as well.”
The picture of seven tree-climbing cheetahs, was highly commended at the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition in 2011. That same year, an image Paul took of flamingos taking flight at dawn over Lake Nakuru was also exhibited in the prestigious exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum.
More than a decade later, and given ample time to reflect during the pandemic, Paul is on a mission to take people back to the roots of crafting a decent photograph. His training ground is Kenya’s Maasai Mara, where he co-owns three Kicheche camps in the conservancies, tracts of community-owned land bordering the national reserve. Dividing my time between camps in Naboisho and Mara North, I’m hoping to achieve a digital reset. Of all the safari destinations in Africa, the Mara ranks highly with professional photographers, many of whom regularly stay at Kicheche: talents such as Greg du Toit, Jonathan Scott and Art Wolfe have all signed their names in the camps’ guest books.
For starters, the concentration of wildlife is unbeatable. Naboisho, for example, currently has the highest density of lions in East Africa – a claim I can verify after seeing lions on every game drive.
We watch cubs clambering over fallen branches, mothers carrying newborns by the scruff of their necks, and males parading golden crowns in the syrupy morning light.
One remarkable sight involves seven juveniles drinking from a hippo pool, sipping with their eyes set firmly on the heavyweight honkers who could snap their jaws at any time.
It’s tempting to zoom in on the cubs, but Paul insists “the story is the hippo” – making it essential to shoot wide to fit all the characters in frame.
Paul looks at his watch: “That’s 11 minutes from camp.” Timing, I learn, is everything. Every day, there are several plotlines to follow. Moving between each scene as it unravels, Paul is in constant conversation with his guides. Rather than driving around aimlessly, hoping to strike it lucky, movements are carefully considered.
But along with finding the action, light and background are key to crafting a beautiful photo – and the Mara delivers on all fronts.
Heading out shortly after 5.30am, we arrive on the plains as the sky begins to burn and long shadows start to form. Desperate to fill our canvas with a subject, we search for an animal.
In the end, we settle for a herd of
Anticipation is the most vital ingredient for a wildlife photo. You want the audience to ask ‘what happened next? Photographer and guide Paul Goldstein