THE YEAR is drawing to a close, however, despite the ongoing covid pandemic, the courts have been busier than ever.
Here we round up some of the crimes and cases from 2021 that shocked Daily Echo readers the most.
Boy 'repeatedly stabbed man with zombie knife' in Southampton
A boy plunged a knife into his victim's neck during an attack in Barnfield Road.
The youngster, who was just 14-years-old at the time, had moments before launched a lump of concrete through the man's front window.
However, the incident was a case of mistaken identity.
The boy was sent to a young offender institute for four years.
Man who raped three-year-old girl while on day out with her family is jailed
Graham Medway raped a toddler in Fort Victoria Country Park on the Isle of Wight.
Her parents say the incident changed their beloved daughter and is something they will have to live with forever.
He was locked up for a total of nine years.
Jealous man 'killed ex-girlfriend' after seeing her on Tinder date
Abdelaziz El Yechioui Ourzat was jailed for life for murdering Cristina Ortiz-Lozano.
Police raced to Spear Road in Southampton following his 'frenzied attack'.
His victim's family were left emotionally destroyed'.
Scout leader groomed 14-year-old schoolgirl before getting her pregnant
Scout leader, Richard Crook started a sexual relationship with a youngster from Southampton.
He would take the girl to hotels.
A crown court judge said he represented a continued danger to young girls
'I feared people would die': Teen jailed for shooting terrified Southampton shoppers
Kieron Gomm shot at shoppers in Above Bar Street with an imitation gun.
The incident caused panic and sparked an armed police response.
Gomm was jailed for 14 months.
Hampshire paedophile jailed for third time for grooming girls
Simon Biss has a history of grooming young girls has been branded a significant risk to children.
He was jailed for a third time earlier this year for sending sexual messages to who he thought was a teenage girl.
He was in fact speaking to a police officer.
Two men filmed sex attack in Southampton hotel room
Rameen Farooqy and Pankaj Bangarh treated their victim no better than an object for their own sexual amusement, a court heard.
They filmed themselves sexually assaulting a woman at the Winston Hotel in Southampton.
They were each jailed for eight years and must register as sex offenders for life.
Man jailed for two years after sexually assaulting girl, 4, in city play park
Giovanni Sagaria assaulted a youngster in the Houndwell Park play area in Southampton.
He pleaded guilty to sexual assault in September 2021 and was sentenced to two years imprisonment earlier this year.
Woman ‘murdered baby' and left body in Hythe woods
Silipa Keresi was jailed for life and must serve a minimum of nine years in prison.
She was convicted of murder by a jury after it was heard she had wrapped her son in a towel and left him by a tree off Shore Road, Hythe.
His body was found by a dog walker.
Albanian crime gang jailed for kidnapping man in Southampton
A gang was locked up for almost 40 years for a kidnapping at a cannabis factory on St Andrews Road.
Video clips played at court showed a gang member holding an imitation handgun and another armed with a metal pole.
Their victim was eventually set free.
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