An East Cowes man who threatened a group of teenagers riding around Parkhurst Forest with a spanner and threatened to shoot and bury them in the forest has been sentenced to a community order.
51-year-old Darren Appell, of York Avenue in East Cowes, previously appeared before the Isle of Wight Crown Court on 18th September this year, where he pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon, namely a spanner, as well as a Section 4 public order offence, which saw him threaten to shoot and bury multiple teenagers.
Today (Thursday), Appell entered the dock at the Isle of Wight Crown Court once again, where he was sentenced for crimes he committed while protecting a young person.
Tim Devlin, prosecuting, told the court that on 30th October 2025, Appell entered Parkhurst Forest from Noke Common and approached a group of teens riding their bikes on a dirt jump track.
Mr Devlin told Judge William Ashworth that whilst the group were in the forest, an argument between the youths had taken place, which resulted in one of the children’s tyres being let down and threats being made with a knife.
Because of this, Appell stepped in and asked which member of the group had let the air out of the tyres and who had made threats with a butterfly knife.
The conversation then stopped before continuing at the enterance to the forest by which point Appel was becoming increasingly agitated.
The defendant pulled a spanner, which the children thought was a knife, out of his pocket and showed it to the them, using it to threaten them before going on to say: “How would you like it if I had a gun and shot you and buried you in this forest?”
The court was then shown a video of Appell making the threat, standing in front of the children with his arm behind his back, pretending to pull out a gun and pointing it at the kids saying “How woud you like it if I threatended you with a gun” before saying “I’ve got a gun here”.
Following this, the children went home and told their parents, which saw an appeal launched on Facebook to identify the man in the video (Darren Appell), to which the defendant replied.
In a series of Victim Impact Statements read to the court, many of the children reported long-term issues with sleeping, saying that they have nightmares and often sleep with their parents in a bid to ‘feel safe’.
Another of the victims wrote that the incident ‘changed his life forever’ leaving him too scared to go out on his bike like he used to, he said he was left feeling like he cannot trust adults he isnt familar with.
When sentencing, Judge Ashworth told the defendant that he wanted to scare the youths and that although he does display remorse, “no one can listen to those victim statements and not be moved”. Judge Ashworth told Appell that “we need young children to look up to adults and trust them.”
Darren Appell was sentenced to a 12-month community order with an 80-hour unpaid work requirement and ordered to pay £500 costs.
