Two teenagers sentenced for violent offences on Isle of Wight
Two teenagers have been handed sentences
Last updated 21st Oct 2026
Two teenagers have been sentenced for violent offences on the Isle of Wight.
Max O'Neill, 18, of Southfield Gardens in Ryde, has been charged with robbery, grievous bodily harm, coercive and controlling behaviour, attempting to kill a badger.
He was sentenced to a total of 16 months in a Young Offenders Institute (YOI), and was handed a five year restraining order relating to the victim of coercive and controlling behaviour.
Noah Critchley, 19, of Downsview in Sandown, was sentenced to a total of 14 months in a YOI for robbery.
Due to the time served on remand, both were released back into the community on licence.
O'Neill had been charged previously with two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of cannabis, robbery, and engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour.
It was heard that on the 21st July 2024, O'Neill attacked a man and a woman in their 40s whilst walking his dog on Binstead Beach, unprovoked.
He assaulted the man from behind, repeatedly punching him in the head and knocking him unconscious.
The man also sustained a leg fracture in the assault.
O'Neill ran off when other members of the public came over to intervene.
On a separate occasion, O'Neill was walking his dog in Salters Park in Ryde on 12th March 2025, when he got into a verbal dispute with another dog walker, a man in his 70s.
O'Neill knocked the man unconscious and continued to assault him on the ground, leaving him with a fractured jaw and two bleeds on the brain.
In a third incident on 8th September 2025, O'Neill committed a robbery with Critchley in Orchard Street, Newport.
The two teenagers threatened to stab a man in his 20s, and also threatened him with O'Neill's dog, before stealing his skateboard, rucksack, and laptop, making demands for money in exchange for the skateboard's return.
Both O'Neill and Critchley were charged with robbery.
Officers reviewed O'Neill's phone during a police investigation and found a video of him encouraging his dogs to attack a badger.
He admitted the offence he was charged with of willfully attempting to kill a badger at a previous hearing on 9th September.
As part of a separate investigation, O'Neill was also charged with coercive and controlling behaviour against a teenage girl between November 2024 and April 2025.
Regarding the grievous bodily harm charges, O'Neill pleaded guilty to the separate offences of causing grievous bodily harm without intent, and admitted the other charges.
Critchley pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to the robbery charge, and they both appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday 9th October for sentencing.
O’Neill also appeared at Isle of Wight Youth Court today (Wednesday 21 October) to be sentenced in relation to the badger offence.
He was banned from keeping dogs for 3 years, handed a 4 month sentence suspended for 12 months, ordered to pay £100 costs, and a £154 victim surcharge.
Detective Inspector Chris Barrow said: “This has been a full team effort between local policing and CID to investigate and prosecute a number of offences perpetrated by Max O’Neill, including a robbery he committed alongside Noah Critchley.
“Among these crimes were unprovoked assaults on members of the public, including an elderly dog walker, leaving the victims with injuries such as fractured bones and bleeds on the brain.
"These were serious and violent offences which caused significant harm to innocent members of the public.
"We will not tolerate this type of violence within our communities, and I hope this outcome provides reassurance that such offending will be thoroughly investigated and offenders brought before the courts."