Petrifying predators and clumsy crooks: The Essex criminals jailed in …
As we continue through the summer of 2023, we have once again seen a huge number of people come through our justice system. We've seen a vile sex abuser who left his victim "petrified" to go to the police and a careless criminal who was arrested after leaving his glasses at the scene of a crime.
We've seen a man jailed for some of the worst coercive and controlling behaviour which left his partner fearing she would be murdered, a fraudster pretending to be the police to con his victims, and another burglar who stole a dog during a massive spree across Essex.
We have also seen not one, but two cases where a lorry driver was so tired at the wheel, they caused serious crashes which both ended a life and severely impacted another.
Below is a list of all of these criminals and their crimes which have landed them with substantial time behind bars throughout the month of July 2023.
The devious couples who used sham marriages to stay in the UK
Selvin Daniel Woodbridge (Image: Essex Police)
In 2017, Essex Police received information about Ibrahim Ojikutu, of Campus Avenue in Dagenham, regarding a separate criminal matter and executed warrants for his arrest.
Before the start of their investigation, it appeared Ojikutu had arrived in the UK as an international student in December 2009, and later married Kady Cain in May 2012. They divorced in October 2016. Separately, Mutiat Titilope Bello had also come to the UK in January 2010 as an international student and married Selvin Daniel Woodbridge in October 2011. The pair divorced in September 2017.
However, a police investigation found that all four were known to each other. Ojikutu and Bello already had children together throughout this period, and they had used their relationships in the UK to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the country.
Shortly after their applications were approved, they applied for their divorce. Police also found messages between Woodbridge and Cain showing they were previously in a relationship, also had a child together, and the marriages were for financial gain. They were all sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court[2] at the beginning of July.
Ojikutu was sentenced to four years in prison while Woodbridge was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. Bello received a two-year sentence suspended for two years with 150 hours community service, and Cain received an 18-month sentence suspended for two years with 40 days rehabilitation.
The crook who stole a dog during a burglary spree
Shane Smith committed nine burglaries including one where he stole someone's dog (Image: Essex Police)
Shane Smith, 31 of Gypsy Lane, Little Dunmow admitted 13 burglary-related offences from a seven-month period between August 2022 and March 2023.
Smith's spree came to an end in March when he was arrested after being connected to burglaries and attempted burglaries in the Braintree district. He was responsible for breaking into nine homes, and stealing items including bank cards, phones and televisions. During one burglary, Smith also stole a West Highland Terrier, which has since been reunited with its owner.
This work tied Smith to burglaries in locations including Dunmow, Great Bardfield, Hatfield Peverel and Takeley. He was swiftly charged with nine counts of burglary dwelling, one count of attempted burglary and three counts of fraud by false representation. At Chelmsford Crown Court on July 10 he was jailed for seven years.[3]
The man who killed a woman during a mass brawl convicted for a second time
Bobby Nethercott has been convicted of the manslaughter of Michelle Cooper (Image: Essex Police)
Bobby Nethercott from Jaywick, was jailed for 8 years for the manslaughter of Michelle Cooper when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday, July 12.
Bobby Nethercott had gone for drinks at The Never Say Die Public House in Broadway, Jaywick, on Friday, April 23 2021. After he left, he made his way with others to a house in Beach Way, where he assaulted forty-year-old Michelle in the street.
An ambulance treated Michelle at the scene for a serious head injury after she lost consciousness, before conveying her to hospital. Michelle’s condition rapidly deteriorated, and she was placed into an induced coma upon arrival at the hospital.
Michelle, from Clacton, never regained consciousness and, sadly, died of her injuries in hospital on Sunday, April 25, two days later. On March 21, 2022, the jury found Bobby Nethercott guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to a total of eight years for manslaughter and two counts of ABH.
However, Nethercott lodged an appeal and was acquitted of the manslaughter conviction but remained in prison for other convictions. He was re-charged and stood trial for manslaughter at Chelmsford Crown Court[4] on June 26 this year and was convicted again, and jailed.
The drug dealers who used children to do their dirty work
Leon Frroku (Image: Essex Police)
The Pablo line, which brought Class A substances to the streets, operated in the Southend area, exploiting a vulnerable drug user by using her home as a base.
Officers responsible for dismantling the network found Leon Frroku, 20, and Nathan Muskitta, 23, ran a sophisticated operation which differed from the typical illicit set-ups regularly uncovered by police specialist teams. Frroku was identified as the dealer responsible for directing the runners on the ground, while Muskitta was behind the sending of bulk marketing messages advertising Class A drugs to vulnerable users.
Nathan Muskitta (Image: Essex Police)
Frroku played a leading role in the scheme, despite breaching a suspended prison sentence imposed just last year for his role in a separate drugs line, which was also dismantled by officers. He was the main controller of the divert phone lines and directed runners – including a juvenile – to undertake the dangerous work of dealing Class A drugs on the streets.
Muskitta was entrusted with holding the main Pablo line phone. Officers managed to track more than 4,000 outgoing advertising messages across a 23-week period.
At Basildon Crown Court on Friday, July 7, Frroku, of Colne Drive, Shoeburyness, was sentenced to eight years and two months imprisonment[5], while Muskitta, of Boscombe Road, Southend, was jailed for three years.
The exhausted lorry driver who caused a terrifying crash
Ivan Zhyhan has been jailed for causing a serious crash on the M11 (Image: Essex Police)
Ivan Zhyhan denied that he was too tired to be driving the lorry when he crashed into a van in front of him which then crashed into another lorry.
Shortly before 10pm on February 13, 2019, police officers were called to a three-vehicle crash that occurred between junctions eight and seven on the southbound carriageway of the M11 near Harlow. At the time of the crash, there were matrix warning signals illuminated over the carriageway indicating that there was a lane closure ahead, resulting in queuing, stationary traffic.
Zhyhan was driving an articulated lorry and was travelling at 45mph when he ploughed into the back of a stationary Renault Kangoo van in front of him, shunting the van into the rear of the stationary articulated lorry in front of him. Zhyhan was later arrested at the scene.
During an interview, he claimed he didn’t see the van until he was around 20 metres away from it despite other vehicles travelling slowly and the van’s hazard lights illuminated. Following a seven-day trial, a jury found him guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving[6] and he was remanded in custody. On June 29 at the same court, Zhyhan was sentenced to two years and four months in jail.
The bumbling crook who left his glasses at a crime scene
Eugene Solari, 53, has been jailed for six years after he left his glasses at the scene of an attempted robbery in Wickford (Image: Essex Police)
Eugene Solari, 53, had conducted online research to identify the home address of someone selling a high-value watch.
The seller left details of their former address, in Wickford, on social media with new occupants since moving in. Solari, of Southchurch Road in Southend, visited the home in August 2020 and pushed his way inside as he threatened the occupant. He made demands for money or the watch. The occupant fled the address with Solari leaving via the front door.
When he left, he was confronted by the victim's husband who had just got home. A scuffle followed and Solari's glasses were left at the scene before he fled in a car driven by accomplice Richard Forward, 57, of Warwick Drive in Rochford.
Solari was later identified from DNA evidence left on his glasses, and the victim was able to positively identify Solari. Appearing at Basildon Crown Court for sentence, Solari, of Southchurch Road, Southend, was sentenced to six years in jail[7]. Forward admitted one count of dangerous driving and was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, at the same court on Friday 14 July.
The child rapist who told his victims it was 'their little secret'
Mark Smith, 30, who forced a young girl to engage in a sexual act, has been jailed for 13 years and six months. Smith, of Florian Avenue, Sutton. (Image: Essex Police)
Mark Smith, 30, of Florian Avenue in Sutton, was sent to prison after admitting rape and assault by penetration involving a child.
Smith forced a girl to engage in a sexual act at an address in Canvey Island in 2016. The victim reported that he had threatened her and told her that it was their “little secret”.
She said she felt too embarrassed and scared to tell anyone what happened and was left feeling it was her fault. As a result of the assault, the victim experienced significant struggles with her mental health to the point that she needed professional help. Following this, in August 2019, the offences were disclosed to Essex Police.
Smith was arrested the following month and when initially interviewed denied remembering the incident stating he couldn’t recall if he was at the address on that day. He was later charged with rape and assault by penetration and admitted the offences at Basildon Crown Court on March 30 last year.[8] He was jailed for 13 years and six months.
The lorry driver who killed a police officer
PC Tris Baker, who has been named as the victim of the fatal crash in Roxwell on September 23, was described as "perfect" by his partner (Image: Essex Police)
PC Tris Baker was off duty when the car he was driving was struck by a lorry on the A1060 in Roxwell on September 23, 2021.
The 41-year-old was a Children and Young Person Officer based in Brentwood. The driver of the lorry – Robert Harrison, 38, of St Clair Close, Clacton – was charged with causing death by dangerous driving following an investigation by police.
Officers looked into Harrison’s sleep history, and it transpired that he was vulnerable to falling asleep in monotonous situations such as driving on a familiar road, sleeping only between five and six hours per night and requiring strong doses of caffeine in order to carry out his day-to-day responsibilities.
Harrison was convicted by a jury following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court in June, and on July 20 he was jailed for seven years and will be disqualified from driving for five years[9].
The drug dealer whose product killed two people
Ahmed Khelifi has been jailed for supplying drugs that led to the death of two people (Image: Essex Police)
Ahmed Khelifi, 39, had a £1,000 stash of heroin laced with etonitazene – the same powerful substance discovered at the scene where a man and woman were found dead in Basildon last month.
The pair, in their 40s, died after unknowingly consuming the opioid, which is of similar or higher toxicity to fentanyl. After examining the woman’s phone, police found the last number dialled was that of a drug line linked to Khelifi.
They searched his home in Gower Chase, Basildon, where they found the same strain of heroin as well as £1,100 worth of crack cocaine and £2,305 of cash hidden in the cushions of the dining chairs.
Appearing at Basildon Crown Court on July 20, Khelifi was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after pleading guilty[10] to charges of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
The fraudster who posed as the police
Kishan Bhatt (Image: Met Police)
During his offending, Kishan Bhatt defrauded nine victims out of more than £260,000 in total but there were numerous further attempts that were blocked by financial institutions or jewellers.
On January 26, 2022, a suspicious jeweller contacted police, who visited the victim at her home address in Colchester. The 90-year-old victim had been contacted by a man at the beginning of the year who identified himself as a police officer stating they had arrested a male with her bank card.
Bhatt, 28, of no fixed address was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment after committing nine counts of fraud by false representation. He was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday, 25 July[11] after pleading guilty on 4 November 2022 at the same court.
The domestic abuser who hit, stabbed and strangled his partner
Chris St Marie has been jailed for coercive and controlling behaviour (Image: Essex Police)
Chris St Marie claimed it “was not right” and that he had “never been abusive” in response when given his jail sentence in court on July 27.
St Marie, 50, of Haileswood, Bishops Stortford, has left his victim feeling like she can never trust a man again after subjecting her to four years’ worth of abuse in her own home. The couple lived in Stansted Mountfitchet and Elsenham at the time of the offences.
St Marie would regularly hit his partner, Victoria Ling, 42, and on one occasion took a knife and stabbed her in the top of the scalp and shoulder. Ms Ling would regularly be forced to stay at her home, had her phone confiscated so she couldn’t contact friends, and if she objected she would be physically attacked. The abuse happened between 2018 and 2022[12].
He was jailed for five and a half years, with an additional six-year restraining order preventing him from contacting Ms Ling after he leaves prison. She bravely spoke to EssexLive about her ordeal, which you can read here[13].
The killers who 'senselessly' murdered a dad in a shopping centre
Muhammad Khan has been convicted of murdering Michael Ugwa in Lakeside Shopping Centre (Image: Essex Police)
Michael Ugwa, 29, was killed at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock on April 28 last year after complimenting a woman. Muhammad Khan, 24, was found guilty of Mr Ugwa’s murder and of affray following an earlier trial at Basildon Crown Court.
Judge Samantha Leigh said she was satisfied so she was sure that Khan had said, in the car on the way to the shopping mall, that he “felt like killing someone today”.
She said Khan was wearing a full-face balaclava, had argued with his girlfriend earlier that day and “was clearly in an aggressive mood”. He had carried a knife daily for “almost 18 months” before the incident, the judge said, and he produced his flick-knife at Lakeside, “one of the biggest shopping centres in England, it was full of people”.
Brandon Lutchmunsing (Image: Essex Police)
Khan was given a life sentence, while Brandon Lutchmunsing, 21, who was found guilty of manslaughter and affray, was sentenced to 13 years in prison with a further two-year extended licence period.[14] Jurors were told how an argument broke out after Mr Ugwa made comments towards Lutchmunsing’s girlfriend.
The vile sex abuser who left his victim 'petrified' to talk to police
Derek Withers has been jailed for ten years for sexually abusing two people (Image: Essex Police)
Derek Withers has been locked up for a decade after sexually abusing two people in Harwich[15].
Withers, 68 of Bowes Road, New Southgate appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday (July 27) where following a week-long trial he was sentenced to ten years in prison after being found guilty of sexual offences against two children. Withers was arrested in December 2020 after two victims bravely contacted Essex Police to report the crimes.
Following an investigation by the Child Abuse Investigation Team, Withers was charged with indecent assault of a girl under 13, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13 and assault of a girl under 13. The victims were assisted by the police and an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) from CARA (Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse) who provide direct support for those surviving after sexual abuse.
References
- ^ The latest court and crime news from across Essex (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ were all sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ At Chelmsford Crown Court on July 10 he was jailed for seven years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was re-charged and stood trial for manslaughter at Chelmsford Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was sentenced to eight years and two months imprisonment (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ a jury found him guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was sentenced to six years in jail (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ and admitted the offences at Basildon Crown Court on March 30 last year. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was jailed for seven years and will be disqualified from driving for five years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after pleading guilty (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday, 25 July (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The abuse happened between 2018 and 2022 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ read here (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was sentenced to 13 years in prison with a further two-year extended licence period. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ sexually abusing two people in Harwich (www.essexlive.news)