All of the criminals jailed in Essex in 2023 from murderers, sexual …
Well, here we are at the end of another long and busy year for Essex crime. 2023 has had no shortage of outrageous court stories in our country, from the likes of reality TV stars to stone-cold killers. The likes of Chelmsford, Basildon, Ipswich and Snaresbrook Crown Courts have been on full throttle in the last 12 months, with notable cases also being heard at the Old Bailey.
From a killer wielding a crossbow, to an arsonist starting nearly 30 fires, to a revenge porn case that took the country by storm, Essex has been the epicentre of some of the most brazen, shocking and downright bizarre crimes. In one month, one robber decided to target his own former bakery, whilst an organised crime boss was dragged back to the UK from Thailand in another month.
There have, sadly, been no shortage of killers this year either, with multiple homicide cases taking place in Essex, with some still to be heard in the courts. We have also seen “ruthless” gangs take over whole neighbourhoods using fear and violence, even getting children to deal drugs for them.
Thankfully in these cases, lengthy jail terms have been passed, and these people are now safely where they belong, behind bars. This list of those locked up this year is enormous, but we hope their stories are informative for the people of Essex – and a deterrent on others considering a life of crime.
January
The man who tried to brutally murder his ex in a jealous rage
David Richards has been jailed for 27 years for the attempted murder of his ex partner (Image: Essex Police)
Essex mum Alex Alam was viciously attacked by former Dreamboys director David Richards at her home in Stock in April last year. Ms Alam, who had previously been in a relationship with the 42-year-old, was assaulted, tied up and slashed with an axe by Richards.
He had stalked her and waited for hours outside her home before attacking Ms Alam when she let her dogs out. Her injuries caused her to have more than 100 stitches.
Richards, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of attempted murder on November 15 following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court. He denied attempting to kill Ms Alam but a jury convicted him within three hours. He was jailed for 27 years.[3] In March this year, Richards died in prison[4].
The son who dragged his mother into the world of drug dealing
Tye and Jane Cook, both from Rayleigh, were jailed for a collective ten years for conspiring to sell £750,000 of cocaine (Image: Essex Police)
Tye Cook became involved in a huge operation to shift £750,000 worth of cocaine across Essex and beyond after “foolishly” taking a loan from a friend of a friend and then “dragging his mother into the criminal justice system”.
Cook, 30, and his mother Jane Cook, 50, both of Worcester Drive, Rayleigh, were arrested in May last year after Tye was pulled over on the A127 near the town along with another man. The van was searched by police and 7.3 kilograms of cocaine were discovered in four blocks inside a compartment.
Phone messages revealed that Jane had told Tye to get rid of the drugs but was “calm” about the situation and that if she were to remove it, she “wanted £100” for the trouble.
Ms Harper also detailed to the court the circumstances in which Tye had been investigated, as he had previously been followed by officers and observed to carry out suspected drug deals in secluded areas of Essex and also near the A1 in Peterborough. The duo were jailed for a collective nine years[5].
The cocaine dealer who tried to smuggle drugs inside himself to Iceland
Essex drug dealer Bradley Pryer tried to smuggle cocaine inside himself into Iceland (Image: SWNS/Organised Crime Partnership)
Bradley Pryer, 24, and fellow crook Cain Adams, 23, of Grays and Stanford-le-Hope, were caught by a sniffer dog with more than £6,000 of coke hidden inside themselves.
The pair were arrested at Stansted Airport in April last year, before they boarded a flight to Reykjavik. They were sniffed out by a drugs dog and found to be carrying cocaine – which they had hidden in their own bodies.
The cocaine described as “high purity” had a combined estimated UK street value of £6,300, but would have been worth around three times that in Iceland. Messages from Pryer indicated an intention to send similar quantities of cocaine a week to Iceland by using similar drug mules. He was jailed for 12 years[6].
The pervert who used secret water bottle cameras to film women and children
Dean Gordon covertly filmed women and children with secret cameras on water bottles and coat hooks (Image: Met Police)
Dean Gordon, 41, had numerous hidden cameras on objects such as bottles and coat hooks to secretly record people in states of undress.
Gordon, 41, of Rosewood Court, Leytonstone, was jailed at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday (January 16) having previously admitted three counts of making and ten counts of taking indecent photographs of children; possession of extreme pornographic images and possession of a prohibited image of a child.
The court heard that Gordon covertly recorded the children naked or semi-naked. In one case, he sexually abused a young girl whilst she lay asleep and recorded himself abusing her. He also covertly recorded multiple women naked as well. He was jailed for six years and eight months[7].
The ‘dangerous and manipulative’ child rapist
Kevin Smith, 57, has been locked up for 27 years after subjecting “vulnerable” girls to sexual abuse (Image: Essex Police)
Kevin Smith, 57, was found guilty of multiple sex offences against young girls, including nine counts of rape against a child under 14.
Smith, of Kimpton Close, Ongar, will serve a further five years on licence. An investigation into the predator was first launched last year when multiple victims came forward to report that they had been abused several years ago. Smith was arrested and charged and, following a two-week trial, he was found guilty of nine counts of rape against a child under 14[8] and four counts of indecent assault.
Three of his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, bravely spoke about their experiences and the “trauma” that Smith left. One of them said: “It’s taken me a lot of time and strength to speak about this, but the result has made me feel strong enough to do so.”
The man and woman who attacked a person in their own home
(Image: Essex Police)
Gary Haliben, 39, and Sarah Hooks, 42, have been sent to prison for an aggravated burglary in Chelmsford on January 30, 2021. The pair forced their way into the victim’s home two years ago. Arriving at around 10pm, they pushed the victim, in his 30s, inside when the door was opened.
Over a two-hour period, the victim was repeatedly assaulted and threatened by Haliben, who was brandishing a knife and demanding cash. The pair took turns to search the property hoping to find large amounts of cash – instead, they fled with £40 from the victim’s wallet and some personal possessions. They were jailed for a combined 12 years[9].
The young woman who killed a pensioner and fled
Hivda Altuntop has been jailed for seven years (Image: Essex Police)
Hivda Altuntop killed 73-year-old Penelope Ann Coggan in a crash in Great Oakley in April 2021. Altuntop, 21, was convicted in November at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Furthermore, she was found guilty of another eight offences relating to two incidents that occurred on March 18 and April 24 last year. Altuntop was driving a silver Vauxhall Astra when she crashed into pedestrian Penelope in Harwich Road on April 24, 2021.
Sadly, Mrs Coggan was pronounced dead at the scene, but Altuntop, of High Street, Harwich, failed to stop at the scene. She was however detained after she crashed the car further along Harwich Road.
When arrested she was found to be in possession of cannabis and a small kitchen knife. It was also discovered she did not own the car she was driving. She was jailed for seven years[10].
The ‘gun nut’ who had his own weapons workshop
Raymond Nugent, from Hornchurch, described himself as a “gun nut” after police found a huge cache of homemade weapons in his house (Image: Met Police)
Raymond Frederick Nugent, 73, was caught after a tip-off from the National Crime Agency (NCA) led detectives to discover his enormous cache of weapons which he’d amassed over many years.
Nugent, of Coltishall Road, Hornchurch, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday (January 20) to seven-and-a-half years in prison, having been found guilty at an earlier hearing of 45 firearms offences.
The NCA alerted the Met after intelligence revealed that Nugent had imported a blank-firing weapon from the Czech Republic. Nugent was arrested and taken for an interview at an east London police station as police continued to search the address.
Even from initial inspection, it was apparent to specialist officers at the scene that he was in possession of viable firearms. They were seized and taken for examination.
Incredibly, several of these were items Nugent had made from scratch himself at his workshop, using drills and vices to create weapons fully capable of firing. An expert pointed out during the trial that one weapon Nugent had produced was in fact 25 per cent more powerful than a factory-produced firearm of similar calibre and style. He was jailed for seven and a half years[11].
The killer who murdered a man in his hostel room
Mahi Noor, 25, of Lea Bridge Road, Leyton was found guilty on Tuesday, January 24 following a trial at the Old Bailey of the murder of 32-year-old Abdi Khadar Adan. (Image: Met Police)
Mahi Noor, 25, of Lea Bridge Road, Leyton was found guilty on Tuesday, January 24 following a trial at the Old Bailey of the murder of 32-year-old Abdi Khadar Adan.
His accomplice, Kieran McHugh, 31, also of Lea Bridge Road, Leyton pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to perverting the course of justice and was given a 20 month sentence. He was acquitted of murder and manslaughter. McHugh has been and will continue to be detained at a specialist facility under the Mental Health Act.
The court heard that on August 22, 2021, Abdi went into Noor’s bedroom, only to come out six and a half minutes later bleeding profusely after being stabbed through the neck. He was rushed to hospital, but despite the best efforts from the Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance Service and the London Air Ambulance, he was sadly pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
Meanwhile, Noor and McHugh made a sharp exit from the hostel and disposed of the murder weapon – in a futile bid to hide it from the police. Noor was later jailed for a minimum of 20 years[12].
The gang who spread a web of cocaine and violence through Colchester
Jake Goodspeed (top L), Luke Welham (top M), Jack Tyrer (R), Kian Rulten (bottom M), and Stephen Ford (bottom L) have been jailed for a combined total of almost 40 years (Image: Essex Police)
Five members of a dangerous crime group have been jailed for a combined total of almost 40 years for their involvement in the supply of Class A drugs in Colchester and serious violence in the city. Stephen Ford, Kian Rulten, Jack Tyrer, Luke Welham and Jake Goodspeed were all sentenced on Wednesday (January 25).
Ford and Rulten ran the F&K line in Colchester[13] between April 2021 and July 2022, being responsible for a significant supply of cocaine through two marketing phone numbers. Over that period of time, thousands of drug deals were made and an absolute minimum of 1.5kg of cocaine was sold for an absolute minimum of £100,000.
Over the course of the investigation, officers were able to overwhelmingly prove that all five men were part of the operation. Although the line was overseen by Ford and Rulten, Welham and Goodspeed were both responsible at different times for holding the line. Tyrer was used as a runner. They were all sentenced for their roles in the operation earlier this month[14].
The father and son who murdered a man they robbed
Ernesto Elliott (Image: Met Police)
Ernesto Elliott, 45, of Parquier Road, and Nico Elliott, 23, of Walthamstow, were found guilty by a jury after a trial at the Old Bailey.
The court heard the father and son were involved in the fatal stabbing of 35-year-old Nathaniel Eyewu-Ago, who chased them to Barge Walk on June 2 last year, after they robbed drugs and cash from him. As the incident took place in the middle of the day, there were a number of witnesses, including an off-duty police officer, PC Luke Dowling, who called 999.
PC Dowling was commended by the judge for his work in maintaining the forensic exhibits safe at the scene and his efforts in giving first aid to Nathaniel, who despite the best efforts of the officer and paramedics, died in hospital on June 8 as the result of a fatal stab injury to his heart. Ernesto and Nico Elliott were arrested later the same day on suspicion of murder. They were later convicted and sentenced to 26 and 12 years in jail at least.[15]
February
The attacker who sexually assaulted women on buses in Essex
(Image: EssexLive)
Sinan Adali, 31, was sentenced to 35 weeks imprisonment at Thames Magistrates on February 22. Adali sexually assaulted women as they travelled alone on buses in Walthamstow as well as Camden and Hackney between November 2022 and January 2023.
He sexually assaulted one woman for 30 minutes whilst she slept on a bus. The 31-year-old, of no fixed abode, was caught after detectives used CCTV to link him to the offences[16]. He was arrested while waiting for a bus on February 3.
The vile paedophile who shared his abuse on the dark web
Keenan Ridgway, 21, of Croft Bank, Skegness, has been jailed for six years and three months (Image: NCA)
21-year-old Keenan Ridgway who took 318 images and videos of himself sexually abusing a child and then uploaded them into the dark web has been jailed, three years after Essex Police first tried to track him down. The force found videos of the depraved assaults in early 2020, but couldn’t trace the offender’s identity.
Ridgway took hundreds of images of him abusing his victim on two separate occasions in Lincolnshire, starting in 2018, which were shared online. Ridgway, of Croft Bank, Skegness, was later found with around 30,000 indecent and prohibited images on his devices and was found to have distributed more than 450, including those of babies.
The Essex Police investigation was closed when officers failed to trace him, but the National Crime Agency (NCA) resumed enquiries after Interpol flagged six images of the victim being sexually assaulted.
The images could be traced back to Lincolnshire and had been distributed to someone in Miami, in the US. He was later jailed for six years and three months[17].
The ‘relentless’ fraudster who stole £2.3million
Clint Canning has been jailed fr nine years for conspiracy to defraud
Conman Clint Canning and his wife Eleise Wallace lived a “lavish lifestyle” in their Essex farmhouse, enjoying luxury holidays and buying expensive watches, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Now they face losing the £1m farmhouse near Chelmsford the court heard, as it is about to be repossessed. Canning, 45, convinced his victims to place bets on company share or asset prices with the false promise of big returns if they guessed correctly.
The practice is now illegal but was allowed at the time of the 2014 fraud. Canning, originally from Dublin, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud while Wallace, 37, was acquitted of that charge but found guilty of laundering £900,000 of the ill-gotten gains. Canning was jailed for nine years[18].
The gang of people smugglers including a mum and her daughter
Firdos Ahmed, 29, was stopped by Border Forces at Harwich Port (Image: Home Office/PA Media)
A gang of people smugglers – four women and three men – aged between 24 and 51, smuggled at least 14 migrants from the Middle East to the UK, including people from Palestine, Kuwait and Syria.
Their crimes started to unravel when Border Force officers stopped 29-year-old Firdos Ahmed, of Feltham, London, at Harwich Port in Essex. She was carrying a French ID card in someone else’s name.
A search of her phone found a collection of fraudulent documents and messages with other members of the gang, including her mother, 51-year-old Zarina Abdulla, from Leicester.
The members of the British/Palestinian network undertook people smuggling activities between December 2017 and December 2018. Read the full sentencing details here[19].
The con artist who stole £13,000 from a woman in a romance fraud
Emmanuel Scotts was described as a “vile, manipulative man” for conning an Essex woman out of £13,000 in a romance fraud (Image: Mark Lundrigan )
Emmanuel Scotts’ victim met him on the dating website Ourtime. He claimed to be trader on the financial markets and recently divorced. Scotts showered Vicky – not her real name -with attention and even came to her house and had sex with her before he started asking for money.
In reality, Scotts was married and Vicky was just one of several women he was exploiting[20]. In November 2022, Scotts, 55, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding four women out of more than £320,000 following an investigation by City of London Police.
One victim lost £232,000. Last year, 191 cases of romance fraud were reported across Essex, and Action Fraud reported an estimated £88 million was lost to romance fraudsters in the UK with £1.6 million of this from victims in this county.
The ‘despicable’ man who sexually abused two girls
Patrick Wakefield jailed for total of 13 years for sexual offences (Image: Essex Police/EssexLive)
Patrick Wakefield was described as “despicable” by the police officer who investigated him after he “forced” his victims to relive their abuse and give evidence at his trial.
Wakefield, 51, appeared at Basildon Crown Court last week (February 14) and was sentenced for 13 sexual offences in connection to two victims over a six year period. Wakefield received ten years in prison for the rape of one girl and a further three years for causing/inciting another girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Essex Police received a report of sexual abuse of a child in December 2020 and an investigation was launched. Wakefield was arrested that same month and following this concerns arose about another child victim after his digital devices were examined. Read the full sentencing details here[21].
The thug that caused a brain injury with a single punch
Frederico Andrade-Dos Santos (Image: Essex Police)
Frederico Andrade-Dos Santos fled the scene after causing serious injuries to his victim in Colchester last year.
On the evening of January 7, 2022, the 21-year-old was with friends, having left a nightclub in Colchester, when he became involved in an unprovoked assault on a man in the town. Andrade-Dos Santos ran over to the victim and with one punch, knocked him to the ground.
The victim was knocked unconscious after he struck his head on the raised kerb. Andrade-Dos Santos and his friends ran off. Nearby security staff heard the disturbance and rushed to provide first aid before the victim, 30s, was taken to hospital where it was confirmed he had a bleed on the brain. Read the full sentencing details here[22].
The men who tried to kidnap school girls
(Image: Kent Police)
On November 6, 2018, Jordan Godfrey from Romford, and Brett Parker from Dagenham, were travelling in a stolen Ford Focus in Swanley when they approached several females in quick succession, under the pretence they were seeking directions.
The first woman was approached at 8am. She was offered a lift when the car stopped next to her but walked away. Minutes later, the vehicle pulled up next to a teenage girl walking on London Road, Swanley. The child was asked to get into the car to give directions and when she refused was followed. The men only drove away after she pretended to make a phone call.
At around 8.30am, a woman heading towards the train station was then targeted. After the car blocked a footpath in front of her, Parker grabbed her arm and tried to force her inside. The victim resisted and managed to make her way to safety.
Godfrey and Parker then drove to a nearby private car park, where they collided with a stationary vehicle. The men saw two women trying to take photos on their phones of the damage and began screaming at them to hand over the devices.
Godfrey put his arm around the neck of one of the women and dragged her to the floor. They eventually fled and the stolen Ford Focus was later abandoned in Maidstone and recovered by police.
Forensic examination of the vehicle and clothing it contained identified both offenders. Parker’s DNA was also recovered from the coat belonging to the victim he had tried to pull into their car. Read the full sentencing details here[23].
The killer who murdered a woman and plundered her wealth
Serkan Kaygusuz, 42, who has been found guilty at the Old Bailey (Image: PA)
Former supermarket worker Serkan Kaygusuz, 42, befriended 70-year-old Norma Girolami at a local swimming pool and took advantage of her generosity to get his hands on £300,000.
When Ms Girolami turned off the “money tap”, he set about killing her, concealing the body and helping himself to her remaining wealth, the Old Bailey was told on Wednesday (February 22). Kaygusuz, who claimed unemployment benefits and lived with his parents in Crouch End, north London, spent her money on a luxury lifestyle well beyond his means.
He had a £20,000 car, designer clothes, a new games console, and visited sex workers. He also went on a trip to Turkey for cosmetic procedures on his nose and teeth and a hair transplant while hoarding around £120,000 in the bank.
Kaygusuz declined to give evidence in his trial and was found guilty of murdering Ms Girolami in her Highgate home after a jury deliberated for just 19 minutes[24]. Ms Girolami had last been seen alive in Leigh-on-Sea when she took a day trip there from London.
March
The reality TV star who uploaded intimate videos without consent
Mugshot of Stephen Bear (Image: Essex Police)
Stephen Bear uploaded a video of himself having sex with Georgia Harrison, known for her appearances on Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex, in the garden of his home to his OnlyFans account in November 2020, and also shared the video on WhatsApp. The footage had been captured on Bear’s CCTV cameras, but Georgia never consented to it being shared.
Bear, 33 of Bryony Close, Loughton appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on March 3[25] where he was sentenced after being found guilty of voyeurism, disclosing private sexual images without consent and breach of bail conditions.
Judge Christopher Morgan has sentenced Bear to 21 months in jail. The judge said prison was the “only appropriate” punishment for his actions. Bear will also be subjected to notification requirements often known as being placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Bear denied two counts of disclosing private sexual images or films with intent to cause distress and one count of voyeurism. But at Chelmsford Crown Court the jury of nine men and three women convicted him of all counts after a week-long trial.
The shoplifter banned from stores in two towns
Kyle Sherwin, 36, of Dowland Close, Stanford le Hope, has been jailed for 28 months and banned from entering certain shops in Stanford le Hope and Southend for five years (Image: Essex Police)
Kyle Sherwin, 36, previously committed offences while on bail as well as during the term of a suspended sentence.
The 12-month suspended prison sentence was activated at the hearing on February 24 and Sherwin, of Dowland Close, Stanford le Hope, received a further 16-month prison sentence for nine thefts, totalling £667.50, from the Co-op in Stanford le Hope High Street in January 2023.
He was also issued with a five-year criminal behaviour order[26]. This forbids Sherwin to enter the Co-op in Stanford le Hope High Street and Tesco Express stores in King Street, Stanford le Hope, and the Kursaal, Eastern Esplanade, Southend.
The man who attacked a stranger from behind and left him unconscious
Darryl Bright, 38, of Ben Wilson Link, Chelmsford, attacked a stranger on Duke Street in Chelmsford on November 15, 2022 (Image: Essex Police)
Darryl Bright, 38, attacked his victim, a man in his 50s, from behind as he was walking up Duke Street towards Rainsford Road in Chelmsford to meet his wife at around 9.50pm on November 15 when he walked past a group of people outside Home Foods.
Bright was part of the group and attacked the victim. He punched the man in the back of his head, causing him to fall to the floor unconscious. On regaining consciousness, the victim called his wife who, on seeing his injuries, took him to hospital. The victim was left with amnesia and a fractured thumb.
Bright admitted causing GBH without intent[27] and was jailed for two years and three months.
The ‘cowardly’ child rapist who was caught after his victim bravely spoke out
Ian McCarthy, of Aveley, has been jailed for 16 years for raping a child in Essex (Image: Essex Police)
Ian McCarthy has spent the last year using an “absurd” story to claim his victim was lying, because he “couldn’t face the consequences” of his actions, a court has heard.
Judge Samantha Cohen blasted McCarthy for his “cowardice” as she jailed him for more than a decade for a string of crimes against the girl. McCarthy, 43, of South Ockendon, was arrested following allegations made against him at the end of 2020. His 15-count indictment included five counts of raping a child, plus sexual assault, inciting a child to watch sexual activity and sexual activity with a child.
McCarthy initially confessed his crimes to police when he was arrested, but later tried to retract them, claiming he “didn’t know” why he said it. McCarthy later changed his pleas to guilty in January this year[28] and was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on March 8 where he was given a 19 year sentence.
Drug dealers who ran the ‘Chadwell cartel’ after being ‘inspired by Kray twins’
Robert Smith (L) and Ismet Salih, both from Grays, Essex, who were jailed for a combined total of more than 25 years for drug offences (Image: National Crime Agency)
Robert Smith, 37, headed an organised crime group which supplied cocaine and cannabis to the Chadwell St Mary and Grays areas, using Ismet Salih, 33, and Lee Twigg as his trusted seconds in command.
Smith and Salih, both from Grays, referred to themselves as the ‘Chadwell Cartel’ in EncroChat exchanges. Messages between the pair also revealed their aspirations of becoming gangsters like Ronnie and Reggie Kray.
Smith used the handle ‘demonfern’ to source the cocaine from a Dubai-based seller, who went by ‘blacknarco’ and ‘darkestnarco’. Salih and associate Lee Twigg collected the cocaine from Smiths’s suppliers in the UK and then stored and distributed the drugs for him. They also ensured cash from the sale of the drugs made it back to the suppliers.
Smith and Salih were charged with drugs and money laundering offences and admitted these at Basildon Crown Court[29]. They were jailed for 16-and-a-half years and nine years respectively at the same court on March 8.
The drugged up driver who killed a beloved young woman
Drug-driver Ashley Loveday killed 21-year-old Grace Payne in a head-on crash on the A13 (Image: Met Police)
Ashley Loveday killed a 21-year-old woman driving the wrong way along the A13 in Dagenham. Loveday, 39, of Avondale Road, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on March 9 after he previously admitted causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking.
The crash happened at around 2.35am on November 25, 2022, after a van, which Loveday was driving in the wrong direction on the Essex-bound carriageway, collided with a black Toyota Prius.
The van had failed to stop for Essex Police officers prior to entering the A13. Essex officers had followed the vehicle using the correct side of the road. Grace Payne, aged 21 and from the Upminster area, was a passenger in the Prius. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Loveday later admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for 14 years[30].
The killer who stabbed his ex’s new partner while they slept
Marek Hecko murdered Adrian Ellingford by stabbing him in Chelmsford as he slept (Image: Essex Police)
Marek Hecko, 26 of Rookes Crescent, Chelmsford was convicted of murdering 44-year-old Adrian Ellingford[31] by a jury in less than a day.
Mr Ellingford was stabbed in a property in Nelson Grove, Chelmsford on July 25 last year. He had been asleep with his partner while Hecko infiltrated the home with a knife from his own kitchen and stabbed him twice. He tragically died from his injuries.
Chelmsford Crown Court previously heard how Hecko had been in a relationship with Mr Ellingford’s partner beforehand but she had broken it off. However, he remained obsessed with her, arriving at her workplace and home uninvited and sending her lengthy messages and videos.
Things came to a head that night when Hecko bought two bottles of wine and walked to the home, which was captured on CCTV. He left one bottle at the scene having drunk the alcohol, and then also left the handle of the knife, with his DNA on it, in the hallway, as it had snapped off when he stabbed Mr Ellingford.
Hecko was given a life sentence for the murder by Judge Christopher Morgan after his conviction[32]. He put forward no mitigation and still maintains his innocence.
The man who lured his ex to a bank and stabbed her 18 times
Robin Ibrahim stabbed his ex after luring her outside a bank (Image: Met Police)
Robin Ibrahim, 28, of Brock Place, Tower Hamlets, was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment at Basildon Crown Court on Friday, March 10.
He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place at the same court on Thursday, September 22. The court heard that on June 28, 2021, Ibrahim asked his ex-girlfriend to meet him outside a bank in High Street, Hornchurch, so he could give her the substantial amount of money he owed her.
They had a conversation outside the bank, having missed its opening time, before the victim and Ibrahim made their way back to a nearby car park in Billet Lane where her vehicle was parked in order for him to pass over the promised money. When they got to the car park, Ibrahim grabbed a knife from his bag and attacked the victim as she fell to the side of her car.
He stabbed her 18 times before he was stopped by members of the public[33] who bravely intervened. Officers swiftly attended and arrested Ibrahim on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
The shoplifter caught hiding behind a sofa
Louis O’Brien, a prolific shoplifter, has been jailed for eight weeks and banned from entering certain shops in Clacton and Holland-on-Sea for two years (Image: Essex Police)
Louis O’Brien, of Orwell Road, Clacton, will spend eight weeks in prison. The 30-year-old was described as a prolific offender in Colchester Magistrates Court. O’Brien was arrested last month after police were called to a disturbance at an address in Potter Close, Clacton.
O’Brien was found hiding behind a sofa, Essex Police says. Prior checks revealed he was wanted for breaching a suspended sentence imposed on November 10 last year. At a hearing on March 13, O’Bried admitted eight counts of theft from a shop. He was jailed for eight weeks and issued with a two-year criminal behaviour order[34].
This forbids O’Brien from entering Co-operative stores in Old Road and Coopers Lane in Clacton and Frinton Road, Holland-on-Sea; and the Boots store in Pier Avenue, Clacton, on his release from prison.
The rapist who attacked a woman then ‘tried to cover it up’
Shelton Tapfumaneyi given a 13 years jail sentence (Image: Essex Police)
Shelton Tapfumaneyi, 24, from Oxford was initially charged with rape and released on bail in 2019 after a woman reported that she had been raped following a night out in Manchester city centre.
He then caught the attention of Essex Police in 2020 when a woman reported that she was raped in Basildon. Tapfumaneyi was subsequently arrested on August 24 and then charged with one count of rape against a woman over 16.
But it was decided to join both charges together for the trial and he was found guilty of the offences. He appeared at Basildon Crown Court on March 10 where he was given the 13 years jail term[35], which he must serve at least two-thirds of the sentence.
The thief who is banned from Lakeside Shopping Centre
Callum Watt, of Godman Rd, Grays, has been banned from a Lakeside store for two years and from riding a bike. He was jailed for 14 weeks and ordered to pay £154 victim surcharge (Image: Essex Police)
Callum Watt has been banned from taking his bike to an Essex shopping centre – after using it to flee after stealing from a shop. The 21-year-old targeted the House of Fraser store at Lakeside four times between September 2022 and February 2023.
Watt left his bike near the store entrance before grabbing designer jackets and t-shirts from a rail in the shop. He then went back out to his bike and pedalled away. He also stole items including a bank card from a Mercedes A180, with the card then used at BP Orsett South. A few days later he stole[36] four cans of lager from the petrol station at around 5.35am.
Watt, of Goodman Road, Grays, later returned to the shop to steal more lager that afternoon. His crime spree came to an end a short time later when he was arrested that evening in Romford[37].
The ‘evil’ paedophile who accused his victim of lying
John Bliss jailed for 15 years (Image: Essex Police)
John Bliss, from Gwent, Wales, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on March 16 after he was found guilty of seven sexual offences against a child.
An investigation was launched in 2020 when a girl contacted Essex Police and reported multiple sexual assaults in Harlow. Bliss, 43 was arrested and continuously denied the offences.
He was then charged with rape, five counts of sexual assault, and causing a child to engage in sexual activity. He was also issued with a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order[38] in addition to his sentence.
The shoplifter who ‘intimidated’ staff
James Coleman, of York Rd, Southend, has been jailed for 28 weeks and banned from entering certain shops in Southend and Westcliff for two years (Image: Essex Police)
James Coleman caused shop staff to “feel fear and intimidation” has been jailed and banned from entering some Co-op stores in south Essex. Coleman has been forbidden from entering the chain’s shops in Southend and Westcliff after admitting a string of thefts.
At Southend Magistrates’ Court on March 13, Coleman admitted 15 counts of theft from a shop involving more than £1,600 of goods.[39] He failed to appear at court on February 27 to answer nine charges and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
Six days later the 34-year-old was spotted by police in Southend High Street where he was arrested by officers. He was subsequently charged with another six thefts. Coleman, of York Road, Southend, was jailed for a total of 28 weeks, after magistrates were told he was a prolific offender.
Coleman was also ordered to pay £914.40 compensation and issued with a two-year criminal behaviour order. This forbids him to enter Co-op stores in Sutton Road, Southend, and London Road, Westcliff.
The rapist who ‘preyed upon’ his victim after taking her home from a club
Miridon Bera took a woman home from a club in Colchester and raped her (Image: Essex Police)
Vile rapist Miridon Bera who “preyed upon” a woman at a club before luring her back to his flat to attack her has been jailed. Bera had targeted a woman at a club in Colchester in July 2019. Evidence showed the 30-year-old then led her back to his flat where he attacked her.
At the conclusion of his trial at Ipswich Crown Court in February, the jury found Bera, of Talavera Crescent, guilty of one count of rape. On March 21 he was sentenced at the same court to eight-and-a-half years in jail.[40] The conviction follows an investigation by Essex Police’s Adult Sexual Abuse Investigation (ASAIT) team and the Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse in Essex (CARA).
The ‘callous’ killer who murdered his mum’s neighbour and left her body for days
‘Callous’ Ilford murderer Jamie Cook (Image: Met Police)
Jamie Cook, 31 admitted murdering 67-year-old Hilary Round along with two charges of fraud. Snaresbrook Crown Court heard an investigation was launched after police were called at 1.29pm on October 12 last year following concerns for the welfare of a resident at an address in De Vere Gardens, Ilford. Hilary’s body was found at the address after police forced entry.
Cook was arrested a short time later at an address in Horns Road, Ilford, where Hilary’s bank card was found. The Met Police had been called to De Vere Gardens after Cook had rung his mother, who lived in the flat below Hilary, and told her that he had killed her neighbour “three or four days ago”.
A post mortem established the cause of death as compression to the neck. Homicide detectives analysed CCTV and identified Cook using Hilary’s bank card in supermarkets and fast food outlets on 6 and 7 October. A dressing gown cord found in his mother’s flat was identified as the suspected murder weapon.
Cook, of Asthall Gardens, Ilford, was charged with murder on October 14 and admitted the charge on March 16 this year. He was sentenced on March 23 to life[41] with a minimum jail term of 20 years and 205 days.
The paedophilewho ‘ruined’ four children’s lives during almost 20-year long ordeal
Matthew Rivett, 44, of Stokefelde, Pitsea, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of 28 offences in November last year, including multiple counts of rape and assault by penetration (Image: Essex Police)
Matthew Rivett, 44, of Stokefelde in Pitsea, has been jailed for just over two decades after being found guilty of 28 offences. Rivett sexually abused four children in Pitsea and Canvey Island during a reign of terror lasting between 2002 and 2019. The abuse came to light when some of the offences were reported to Essex Police in 2020.[42]
Further allegations were reported the following year. As the investigation continued, one of the survivors disclosed Rivett had filmed some of the abuse. Rivett appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Friday, March 24 where he was sentenced to 22 years in jail. He will serve two thirds of that sentence in custody.
The ‘cruel’ predator who preyed on woman during night out to rape her
Rory Miles (Image: Essex Police)
Rory Miles, 32, was convicted last month of sexually assaulting a woman at an address in Dunmow. He had assaulted her following a night out in late 2018 before she was able to get away from him and call for help.
It led to Miles, of Harris Green, Dunmow, being charged with rape. He was found guilty of one of the five charges he faced. Three others will remain on file as no verdict was reached. On March 27 he was sentenced to four years in prison[43] and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
The ’emotionless’ killer who murdered his partner and hid her body
Gary Bennett murdered his partner Madison Wright in the Basildon area between July 22 and July 30 (Image: Essex Police)
Gary Bennett, 37, of Caister Drive, Pitsea, murdered his partner Madison Wright, 30, when she was going to leave him. Bennett screamed “how f***ing dare you” to the jury at Basildon Crown Court after they convicted him of murder on March 28 in less than four hours.
Ms Wright was last seen on July 22 last year and her body was recovered in Way Tyler Country Park a week later on July 30. Bennett had killed her in his flat and dumped her body under shrubbery, branches and fence panels in the following week.
In her sentencing remarks, Judge Samantha Leigh said Bennett is a “do as I say, do as I want” person. She said: “Previous convictions of domestic violence and clear evidence that when the jury verdict was returned you shouted at the jury ‘how dare you, there’s no evidence’ is the true character of a man who previously sat in the dock crying.”
Judge Leigh said she was satisfied the allegations Madison had made about controlling behaviour by Bennett “were true”. Bennett was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison[44] before being eligible for parole.
April
The drug gang who left £10,000 in cash lying around
Mirel Zenelli, 33, of Hutton Rd, Shenfield, was jailed for six years for conspiracy to supply cocaine (Image: Essex Police)
Mirel Zeneli, 33, and Ben Chadwick, 23, have been jailed for six and three years respectively for their involvement in an organised crime group[45]. It comes after a ten-month investigation by Essex Police into a group dealing drugs in the south of the county.
During the investigation, officers carried out warrants at the homes of three men identified as part of the crime group. Officers seized cocaine with an estimated street value of around £110,000, several thousand pounds of cannabis and around £10,000 in cash that was left lying around.
Mirel Zeneli took a leading role in the group that dealt in cocaine and cannabis between September 2021 and July 2022 and focussed on some of our biggest towns and Chelmsford. Ben Chadwick and Laurie Landman both played key roles within the organised crime group in conspiring with Mirel Zeneli to supply large amounts of cocaine for financial gain.
The manipulative predator who lied to women about having sex with them
Kevin Kombi (Image: Met Police)
Kevin Kombi, 29, of Beambridge, Basildon, Essex contacted two women through social media to falsely tell them either he or someone else has had sex with them in order to meet them. The claims were not true and caused the women significant harassment, alarm and distress.
Kombi had previously pleaded guilty to three separate breaches of a Sexual Risk Order (SRO,) which was issued to him in July 2019. The SRO was issued by Essex Police after he sent numerous messages to a woman implying that he had sex with her and he watched others have sex with her without her consent.
The first breach occurred in July 2021 when Kombi contacted a woman and made false claims that he had witnessed her having sex with another person. He used this false information to engineer a meeting with her – both the contact and the meeting breached the terms of his order.
He appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court and was sentenced to four years and five months’ imprisonment.[46] He will also be added to the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was implemented for 20 years to prohibit him causing further harm to women.
The couple who lured a man to be killed in a car park
Daniel Gaudin, 23 and Shannon Rule, 22 were convicted of shooting their victim multiple times in Morden (Image: Met Police)
Daniel Gaudin, 23, shot ten times at the man. He did not personally know the victim, but became aware of him when he was sent a video of his girlfriend, Shannon Rule, of Ashwood Road in Chingford, Essex, engaging in sexual activity with other men. Gaudin then spent the following days plotting his attack whilst Rule agreed to lure the victim to a meeting outside a Sainsbury’s in Morden, London.
Gaudin had hidden himself a short distance away and opened fire, MyLondon[47] reports, causing life-changing injuries to his victim. After what was described as a “catastrophic and ridiculous overreaction”, both Rule and Gaudin, of Cranleigh Close, Waltham Cross, were jailed for a combined total of 57 years[48].
The man who slashed a guard’s neck with a razor
Geoffrey Ryan has been jailed for attempted murder (Image: Essex Police)
Geoffrey Ryan had been drinking in The Lounge in Market Square, Braintree on September 9 last year before the incident took place.
The 53-year-old arrived at the venue at about 4pm and initially seemed content. However, as his drinking continued, he began to cause issues with other customers. At about 9pm, two members of security staff arrived to start their shift and Ryan soon approached them and abused them.
Soon after, at about 9.30pm, a group of women reported Ryan had been harassing them. Ryan was warned by security staff, but he continued to religiously abuse them. When he didn’t stop, he then threw a drink over the victim. Ryan was then escorted out of the venue as he continued to try to assault the door staff.
Despite being told to leave, Ryan continued to abuse the security staff and, after an exchange, he approached the victim, flicked a cigarette at him and threatened to kill him. A short time later, he left the area and appeared to be walking towards a nearby taxi rank.
Shortly before 11.30pm, a hooded Ryan returned to the town centre driving a Seat Ibiza and parked in a parent and baby car park in Sainsbury’s. From there, he walked to The Lounge and immediately approached the victim and used a razor to slash the victim’s neck.
Ryan was convicted of attempted murder and on April 5 was sentenced to 28 years in jail[49]. He will also serve an extended three-year licence and will not be eligible for release for at least 19 years.
The driver who ran over two brawlers
Bristan William, 20, who was sentenced to seven years in jail, at the Old Bailey in London, after he was found guilty of deliberately driving his car into a group of people and injuring two men (Image: PA)
Bristan William, from Barking, had been seen parking his blue BMW on the pavement and going into Revolution bar at 10.45pm in London on July 26 last year. Just over an hour later, he got back into the vehicle after a fight broke out in the street between two groups of men.
He drove towards them, hitting an unknown man, before doing a three-point turn and driving at the group again, all of whom managed to avoid being hit. He then turned the car around and steered directly at two men as they attempted to flee.
The first victim was thrown into the air and hurled against the wall of a building. He suffered a dislocated shoulder, fractured nose and three separate spinal fractures. The second victim was thrown across the bonnet of the car and roof, before being propelled 100 yards down the road. He sustained a ruptured ligament in the knee from the impact of the vehicle.
William was arrested on August 4, 2022 and went on to plead guilty to two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and dangerous driving. On April 13, he was sentenced at the Old Bailey to seven years in prison[50]. He was disqualified from driving for five years to run upon his release.
The ‘dangerous’ attacker who stabbed a man multiple times
Billy Alder, 23, of Ward Close, Basildon, has been jailed for seven years (Image: Essex Police)
Billy Alder, 23, was one of two people who approached a man in his 20s as they walked along Laindon Link at around 9pm on February 28 last year.
Alder pulled a large knife and struck the victim with it. The victim ran off but was chased by Alder and the other person, a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, into Great Knightleys where he was attacked again.
A member of the public shouted out, causing the attackers to flee. The victim was left with numerous injuries to his back, side and legs. Officers arrested Alder at his home address in Ward Close, Basildon, on March 5. The 17-year-old was also arrested four days later.
Alder later admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was jailed for seven years on April 14[51] while the teenager was jailed for four years and nine months.
The fraudster who stole £250,000 in an online betting set-up
Jon Howard has been sent to prison for five years for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation (Image: Essex Police)
Jon Howard, 40, of Tawney Lane, Stapleford Tawney, has been sent to prison for five years.[52] He was given the sentence when he appeared at Basildon Crown Court on April 13. He was also convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud against bank Santander.
Howard was part of a syndicate which created online accounts to bet without the limitations placed on a single account. He, therefore, collected bonuses to which he would never otherwise have been entitled. Howard was accused of being central to the criminal enterprise which dated back to 2008 and involved over 1,000 online betting accounts.
Throughout the fraud, it was estimated he received £236,000. The court heard how people willingly gave their details to Howard who then impersonated them to access Bet365 services. This enabled him to utilise bonuses and circumvent the company’s checks and balances.
The driver who crashed headlong into a taxi full of people
Driver Sean Dray, from Clacton, has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
Sean Dray tried to overtake a vehicle in Frinton last year but crashed into the taxi which spun out of control and hit a tree.
On Saturday, July 23, 2022, Dray, 30, was driving his BMW X5 at speed along Walton Road at around 10.30pm when he overtook one car on a blind bend along the single carriageway. He crashed into the taxi and then the wall of a house.
The force of the rear impact caused the taxi, a Toyota Avensis, to spin out of control, coming to a stop when it crashed into a tree. When police arrived, two people were trapped in the taxi which had extensive damage and needed assistance from emergency partners to get out and four people from the taxi sustained serious injuries.
He was jailed for three years on April 19[53] for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The drugged-up driver who killed his friend in a 100mph crash
Kane Gornall has been jailed for causing the death of his friend Jake Blease (Image: Essex Police)
Kane Gornall, 27, was jailed on Thursday (April 20) for causing death by dangerous driving. On September 25 that year, Gornall’s blue Ford Fiesta left the B1018 Witham Road and crashed into a tree shortly after midnight. Gornall, of Flemming Way, Witham, had been driving when the crash occurred.
Police found he had been driving at more than 100 miles an hour before the crash occurred. Sadly, 25-year-old passenger Jake Blease died at the scene. Gornall was jailed last week for four years and eight months[54].
May
The rapist who sexually assaulted his victim as she slept
Shaun Western has been jailed for raping the woman in Colchester (Image: Essex Police)
Shaun Western was caught raping his victim a she woke up, and then fled the house when she scramed. Western’s victim now lives with severe depression and anxiety following the rape in September 2018, and struggles to leave the house.
She has had to endure years of waiting and delays due to the Covid pandemic but now, almost five years after she was attacked, Western, 24, of Edward Paxman Gardens, Colchester, has been jailed for six years and six months.[55] He was convicted of rape following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, where he tried to claim the sex had been consensual
The predator who targeted a stranger in the street
Luke Bennett, of Springfield, has been convicted of raping a stranger in Chelmsford (Image: Essex Police)
Rapist Luke Bennett “offered to help” his victim before leading him into an Essex alleyway and sexually assaulting him has been jailed. Bennett had found his victim unwell in Chelmsford[56] city centre, raped him, called an ambulance but then left as paramedics arrived.
The 28-year-old of Townsend, Springfield, found the victim in the early hours of the morning in August 2019 where he was unwell. Bennett offered to help him, only to walk the man into an alleyway where he raped and sexually assaulted him.
Bennett called for an ambulance and waited with the victim but left when the paramedics arrived. He was arrested nearby a few hours later. Bennett was later charged with rape and sexual assault.
He was found guilty following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court last year and has now been jailed for eight years and six months.[57]
The holiday camp manager who lured teens into sexual acts via webcam
Custody image of Cameron Osman (Image: NCA / SWNS)
Cameron Osman, 44, used the alias ‘Lizzielemon’ on social media and pretended to be a teenage girl to strike up sex chats with more than 70 teenage boys around the UK, including in Braintree, Essex.
He posed as a 16-year-old girl on Instagram and other sites, before moving the victims to video calls on Google Hangouts, Discord and Skype. But Osman never identified himself, instead telling victims his camera was broken, police said.
Investigators in the United States uncovered chat logs showing sexual messages by Osman with underage boys in 27 countries. His conversations with his victims revolved around a fantasy online world with Osman pretending to be a teenage girl.
Osman, who has been remanded in custody[58], will be sentenced on June 30 this year.
The drug-fuelled arsonist who set fire to bins
Chris Weedon has been jailed for a string of arson in Rayleigh (Image: Essex Police)
Chris Weedon claimed he “wasn’t himself” when he started the fires in Rayleigh in July 2022. Weedon, 28, of Waltham Road, Rayleigh carried out a rampage in Rayleigh High Street on the night of July 4, setting fire to multiple commercial bins which owners discovered burnt out and melted.
In one such incident, the smoke from the flames managed to travel upwards to flats above the businesses, potentially putting residents’ lives at risk. Weedon set fire to bins outside Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, Cancer Research UK, the famous Pink Toothbrush nightclub, another independent business and the Rayleigh Motorist Centre.
He later went on to admit four counts of arson and one count of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison[59] but was released shortly after having spent nearly a year in custody already.
The paedophile confronted in an allotment
Frank Baldwin, of Braintree, has been jailed for sexual communications with what he thought was a child (Image: Cambridgeshire Police)
Frank Baldwin sent vile messages to a decoy profile online including whether she “had had a boy between her legs yet”.
Baldwin, 48, of Blackmore End, Braintree, first began talking to the girl, who was actually a decoy from an online child activist group, on Facebook in January 2021. Baldwin told her he liked her profile picture and made inappropriate comments about her body and the clothes and underwear she was wearing.
In March of that year, he asked the decoy if she, “had had a boy between her legs yet”, and continued to talk to her in this manner, as well as sending her pornographic images and videos. These chats went on for months into the summer of 2021.
In August of that year, members of an online child activist group confronted him at an allotment in Chippenham, East Cambridgeshire. Cambridge Police were called and Baldwin was arrested at the scene. He was jailed for two years and two months[60].
The wife who picked up her killer husband from the scene of a double murder
Vepkhvia Laliashvili killed two men in a “frenzied” double murder in Ilford, just hours after being pictured in “good spirits” buying alchol with them (Image: Met Police)
Former Georgian police officer Vepkhvia Laliashvili, 53, killed Lithuanians Dainius Kulboka, 44, and Jonas Semenas, 45, in Ilford after a drunken Russian new year celebration in 2021.
Laliashvili, who worked in the motor trade, had shared five bottles of brandy with the two friends before he grabbed knives and stabbed Mr Kulboka eight times and Mr Semenas 52 times. The sound of the attack could be heard on a doorbell camera opposite the house, with one of the victims pleading with the killer to stop.
Laliashvili called his wife, Aurika Sivolova, to pick him up from the property in Tavistock Gardens before emergency services arrived. In a basis of plea, Sivolova said she had been “frightened” of her husband and was not used to defying him. She wept in the dock when admitting to perverting the course of justice.[61]
The drug lord who hid 3.5kg of cocaine inside a bag for life
Jack Jacovou has been jailed for his role in a £235k drugs operation (Image: Essex Police)
Jack Jacovou was a major player in “exploiting” people through drugs in north Essex and was arrested as part of an intelligence-led operation by Essex Police shortly before Christmas 2021.
Officers raided a property in Whitehall Close, Colchester, shortly after 7am on December 23. During a search of the property, officers found a bag for life containing four blocks of powder cocaine inside an ottoman. In total, the blocks contained 3.5kg of cocaine.
A second home was then raided in Thorpe Road, Kirby Cross during which officers found 2.8kg of cannabis. In total, police seized £234,900 worth of drugs in the raids.
Jacovou, 41, of Thorpe Road, Kirby Cross, was subsequently charged with possession with intent to supply Cocaine, possession with intent to supply cannabis and being concerned in the supply of cocaine. He admitted all counts and was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday May 3. He was sentenced to six and half years in prison.[62]
The armed robbers who raided premises across the county
James Mansbridge jailed for 102 months (Image: Metropolitan Police)
On December 24, 2021 at around 9.18am when James Mansbridge, 48, and Wayne Byrne, 41, threatened a delivery company driver with a gun and a knife on Broomhill Road, Goodmayes.
They stole the van and drove it to a cul-de-sac in Dagenham where they transferred the stolen content to a BMW X5 bearing a false number plate. A third member, Lana Clayton, 42, then drove them away from the scene.
Clayton, from Woodford, pleaded guilty to robbery, but Mansbridge, from Chelmsford, and Byrne, from Romford, pleaded not guilty. The same BMW car was used as a getaway vehicle in an armed robbery at a convenience store in Romford on January 2, which all three pleaded guilty to.
Wayne Bryne jailed for eight years (Image: Metropolitan Police)
Clayton recced the shop on Mawney Road before Mansbridge and Byrne committed the robbery armed with a gun. The pair stole a quantity of cash and Clayton drove them away from the scene.
The two men then carried out an armed raid on a supermarket on Gale Street, Dagenham, on January 21. Mansbridge terrorised staff with an imitation firearm, while Byrne did this with a knife, before stealing cash and cigarettes.
Mansbridge was jailed for eight and a half years and Wayne Byrne for eight years.[63] Clayton was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The Met Police officer who sexually assaulted a child
(Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)
Farhan Ghadiali, 44, was not on duty at the time of the incident. Ghadiali, of Fyfield Road, Woodford Green, was charged with sexual assault of a child by touching following an incident at a party in 2019.
The 44-year-old, who has since been dismissed without notice, was off-duty at the time of the incident and later found guilty of sexual assaulting a child[64] under the age of 13 after a re-trial. The jury took just 2.5 hours to come to their unanimous guilty verdict.
Judge Christopher Morgan told Ghadiali: “This was a serious offence against a very young child”. He said that the offence had “caused her profound psychological issues.”
The judge said that Ghadiali’s conviction had brought his police career to an end, adding: “You may find it very difficult to find employment in future”. He sentenced Ghadiali to 30 months in prison[65] and made him subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order. The defendant showed no visible reaction as he was led to the cells.
The prolific thief barred from five shops in Southend
Prolific thief Joe Linnen has been jailed and barred from five different stores (Image: Essex Police)
Joe Linnen has been barred from entering major stores in Southend following his crime spree across the city.
Essex Police’s Business Crime Team worked to get Linnen, 28, prosecuted for multiple theft offences which has seen him handed an 18-week jail term at Southend Magistrates’ Court on May 17[66]. As part of his sentencing, Linnen, of no fixed address, has been slapped with a criminal behaviour order which bans him from entering the locations.
They include the Tesco in Royal Terrace, Southend, the HMV store in Southend High Street, Co-Op in Hamlet Court Road, Westcliff, Marks and Spencer in Westcliff High Street and the Sainsbury’s store in London Road, Southend. The order will run for two years until May 16, 2025.
June
The organised crime boss extradited from Thailand
Richard Wakeling, 55, from Brentwood, being arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. He has now been extradited to the UK and jailed (Image: PA)
Richard Wakeling, 55, from Brentwood, arrived back in the country on Thursday evening and appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday afternoon (June 2).
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said that he was immediately jailed for 11 years[67] after being convicted in his absence. The NCA said Wakeling was found guilty of trying to import £8 million worth of amphetamine suspended in liquid in 2016, but fled the UK on the eve of his trial in 2018.
At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of a passport in another identity. The NCA began its investigation into Wakeling’s organised crime group after Border Force officers stopped a truck boarding a Channel Tunnel train on April 9 2016.
The truck contained plastic drums carrying the drugs. The driver was transporting furniture from Italy but stopped at Ternat in Belgium, where phone evidence showed he was directed to collect the drugs. The NCA said the entire importation was set up by Wakeling, who was in contact with drug suppliers in the Netherlands and liaised with two other UK offenders to arrange the journey.
The brothers who stole cars and took them to chop shops
Samuel (left) and Thomas Eddleston (Image: Staffordshire Police)
Samuel and Thomas Eddleston, 29 and 28, have been sentenced to around two and a half years jail time each for breaking into cars and driving them away from Stoke-on-Trent, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
According to StokeLive[68], the brothers drove five vehicles to Essex on cloned plates where they were stripped for parts. They targeted 12 high-end vehicles, including Range Rovers, Jaguars and an Audi, in a ‘sophisticated’ conspiracy between September and November 2021.
The Eddleston brothers took 11 of the vehicles then drove them to an Essex chop shop in a ‘get-rich’ scheme. The brothers were arrested at their home in Union Street, Hanley, on November 25, 2021. A search discovered a key fob and a device capable of starting cars.
One of the cars stolen by the Eddleston brothers was a £23,000 Range Rover Evoque stolen from Goms Mill Road in Longton, in the early hours of September 27, 2021. It was later seen in Acton Street, Birches Head, and was driven to Essex on cloned plates on October 5, 2021 and was later sold.
A number of stolen vehicles were found at a garage in Romford, Essex on October 12, 2021, including the Range Rover Evoque. Both defendants pleaded guilty to charges[69] of conspiracy to steal and handling stolen goods. Thomas Eddleston also admitted possession of a CS canister.
The crook whose victim called 999 on him mid-burglary
Damian Mills, of no fixed abode, Southend
Damian Mills, of no fixed abode, Southend[70], was jailed for six years and nine months after he was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on June 9 after he pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at an earlier hearing.
The 32-year-old forced his way into a property in Leigh[71] shortly before midnight on January 26, when he was armed with a kitchen knife and a Stanley knife and demanded money from the victim and his family.
While Mills searched the house, he was unaware that one of the occupants, in bed upstairs, had called 999. When police arrived just 20 minutes later, Mills was arrested in the garden of the property. No money had been taken, although Mills was found to be in possession of the victim’s mobile phone and had a hammer concealed in his clothing.
The controlling rapist who threatened to kill his victim
(Image: Essex Police)
Thomas Thorpe-Keen, 23, of Heybridge, has been sent to prison for 14 years.[72] Thorpe-Keen, of Creasen Butt Close, came to the attention of detectives following concerns about his relationships with underage girls.
He was given a Sexual Risk Order and Criminal Behaviour Order which held a number of conditions – including not allowing him to be in the unsupervised company of anyone under the age of 18, which he breached continuously.
Thorpe-Keen targeted the 15-year-old victim and started a relationship with her. He stalked, coerced and controlled the young girl, watching for when she could be home alone and raped her multiple times throughout the relationship.
He was arrested after he had raped the victim, left the address and then broken back into the property through the living room window before threatening to kill her. Enquiries showed that he had called the victim over 100 times and waited outside her address before leaving the area, eventually being arrested in the North of England a few days later.
The man who tried to murder someone by stabbing him in the neck
Curtis Butler (Image: Essex Police)
Curtis Butler has been locked up after launching a vicious attack and attempted murder in a street in Westcliff. Butler, 23, of Great Gregorie, Basildon, was convicted in April of stabbing his victim in Valkyrie Road shortly after midnight on October 30, 2021.
The victim, a man in his 20s, had been walking with friends over the bridge between Station Road and Valkyrie Road when Butler, wearing a balaclava, approached him, said something to him, and stabbed him.
After he fell to the floor, Butler stabbed the victim again in his neck and body before running off towards Station Road. One of the victim’s friends administered first aid before seeking help from nearby houses, at which point the emergency services were called.
Officers helped give first aid while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. The victim had sustained a collapsed lung and required life-saving surgery. Officers managed to trace Butler to a block of flats in Grovesnor Road where further witnesses provided further evidence that Butler was responsible for the attack.
Butler was arrested in April 2022 and subsequently charged with attempted murder and possession of a knife or sharp-pointed article in a public place. He denied the charge but was found guilty on April 17 following a trial at Basildon Crown Court and has now been jailed for 24 years.[73]
The crook who terrified people in their own homes
Jerome Jean, 33, of Dericote Street, London (Image: Essex Police)
Jerome Jean, 33 of Dericote Street, London appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court on June 14 after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary and possession of class B drugs.
Shortly before 9pm on January 23, Essex Police were called to reports of an aggravated burglary on London Road in Abridge. Three men forced entry into a house on the street, where the victims were at home.
One of the men held a large knife to the victim’s neck and demanded money. The attackers then stole a designer handbag before leaving the house. The victims were shaken but had not been harmed, police confirmed.
Officers found blood at the scene,[74] which was matched with Jean’s blood. They also found that Jean’s phone had been in the Abridge area at the time of the attack. Jean was arrested on February 14 at his home in London, and was further arrested for possession of cannabis, a class B drug.
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The obsessive man who followed his neighbour to the UK, killed her and dumped her body
(Image: Metropolitan Police)
This is the face of a jealous man who murdered a woman he was so obsessed with that he followed her from Pakistan to the UK. Muhammad Arslan, 27, of Ilford, was found guilty of killing Hina Bashir, 21, after a trial at the Old Bailey.
Arslan forced a patterned face mask into the mouth of Ms Bashir after she visited his shared flat on the border of Essex and London last July. Arslan claimed he had only meant to quieten her after he confronted her over naked photographs of her that he had been sent.
The prosecution rejected his explanation as “elaborate and concocted”[78] and asserted he had killed her out of anger and jealousy. Arslan admitted manslaughter on the first day of his trial but denied murder and perverting the course of justice by concealing Ms Bashir’s body.
The man who murdered his best friend
Rakar Rahimi (Image: Essex Police)
Rakar Rahimi has been locked up for life for cruelly stabbing his friend Bako Azad Sheikha to death in Colchester. Mr Sheikha, 22, had come to the UK from Iraq to build a new life and be safe, but Rahimi, 23, murdered him following a row in September last year.
Chelmsford Crown Court previously heard[79] how Bako had been ordered out of the flat he shared with Rahimi at knifepoint, before being stabbed multiple times and left for dead in Distillery Lane on September 12.
Rahimi, who denied murder but was convicted by a jury[80] on Wednesday (June 21), threw the murder weapon away and then drove away from the scene in Mr Sheikha’s car, and attempted to flee to France before he was stopped and arrested in Dover. Mr Sheikha tragically did not survive his wounds and died at the scene.
The shop worker who exchanged sweets for sex
(Image: Essex Police)
Christopher White, 37, was said to give his victims sweets, cigarettes and alcohol in exchange for sexual activity.
White, of Mill Lane in Birch, was sentenced to 14 years in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court after being found guilty of several sexual offences against children. An investigation into White after it was reported that he had been sexually exploiting young girls whilst working in a shop in Layer De Haye between 2007 and 2009.
The victims, who were children at the time, met White when they would visit the shop he worked in Layer de la Haye. White was in his 20s at the time of the offences.
After his arrest in 2019, he was charged with two counts of rape of a child under 13, one count of sexual assault of a child under 13, one count of sexual assault of a child over 13, two counts of sexual activity with a child under 13 and one count of sexual activity with a child over 13.
He was remanded into custody. On May 19, he was found guilty of all offences. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.[81] White must serve at least nine years and four months before being eligible for parole.
The gang boss who smuggled fugitives out of the UK
Gang leader Mohammed Hossain from Woodford Green (Image: NCA)
Mohammed Mokter Hossain, aged 54, of Gaynes Hill Road, Woodford Green, was arrested in May 2021 after the National Crime Agency snared him using surveillance and undercover tactics.
The investigation – codenamed Operation Symbolry – has now dismantled the London-based crime group operated by Hossain, who used a network of complicit lorry drivers to move people in both directions across the Channel. These included a number of fugitives who were seeking to leave the UK as they were wanted for serious crimes such as child abuse and murder.
Hossain co-ordinated the movements of drivers and arranged for taxis to drop off migrants[82] at their pick-up locations. Following his arrest a ledger was found outlining details of the hundreds of men, women and children who had used his services. It also noted the amounts he had charged them.
The murderer who bought his weapon online with a fake ID
Emadh Miah has been convicted of murder (Image: Met Police)
Emadh Miah, 18, of the West Midlands, killed Sadiq in Leytonstone on August 6 last year. Miah, who was 17 at the time, travelled from Birmingham to London on August 4 and is believed to have been in possession of at least one 15-inch Rambo-style knife that he had bought online using a false name fake ID.
The killer took a train to Stratford where he hired a bike and then made his way to Leytonstone. He was seen pulling his hood up, wearing gloves and using a surgical mask to conceal his face when he made his way to the street that Ghulam, 18, lived and then waited.
When Ghulam arrived, he was also on a bike. Miah took out a knife and Ghulam cycled off. Miah continued to wait for Ghulam and when he returned a short while later Miah ran after him and stabbed him in the back. Miah then went back to his bike and cycled off.
Miah had taken steps to evade detection, he had turned off his phone prior to travelling to the scene and the clothing and knife were never recovered. Miah was located in Walsall on August 9 and arrested on suspicion of murder before being charged.
At court, he admitted manslaughter but pleaded not guilty to murder. However, the jury found him guilty of murder.[83] Miah was also sentenced in relation to a separate incident that took place in 2021.
The man found with a huge knife at a train station
Suwilanji Siwale was jailed just 24 hours after being found with a knife (Image: British Transport Police)
Suwilanji Siwale was seen looking “nervous” by a ticket inspector who became suspicious and detained him, finding the enormous weapon within his clothing.
The 21-year-old of Heronsgate, Frinton on Sea, has now admitted possession of an article with blade or point in a public place following the incident on Thursday June 21 this year. Magistrates at North Essex Magistrates Court gave him a 26 week prison sentence – six and a half months.
The court heard how on June 22, Siwale was spoken to by a Revenue Inspector at Chelmsford Railway Station regarding his lack of valid travel ticket, and officers’ suspicions were raised by his nervous behaviour. He was then detained and searched, and a concealed knife was found in his waist band.[84]
July
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[85] 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.[86]
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[87] 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[88], 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[89] 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[90]. 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.[91] 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[92].
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[93] 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[94] 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[95].
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[96].
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.[97] 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[98].
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.
August
The man involved in a murder over mistaken identity
Rashid Gedel (Image: Met Police)
Met detectives carried out painstaking phone and CCTV work to place the defendants at the scene of the murder of Sven Badzak, and in regular contact with each other. Rashid Gedel, 22, of Fenman Gardens, Ilford and Shiroh Ambersley, 23, of Matthews Close, Wembley were each jailed for 27 years for the murder of Sven[99] and 12 years (concurrent) for Section 18 GBH against a then 16-year-old male – the victim’s friend.
Prior to the stabbing, Gedel and Ambersley walked into a bakery on Kilburn High Road, Kilburn and were clearly seen to stare at two females stood at the counter, before leaving without buying anything. Detectives believe this was an indication that they were actively looking for someone to attack.
Sven and his friend were walking further along the same road, having visited a supermarket. The friend was watching a football match on his phone. Unbeknownst to them, Gedel was fast approaching them from behind. As Gedel got closer to the pair he was joined by Ambersley and Canavan who, until that point, had been on the other side of the road.
When they reached the victims they were heard to say “What are you on?” before stabbing Sven in the chest and the second victim in his back. Sven managed to run a short distance before collapsing in the street.
The paedophile who travelled across the world to abuse children
Christopher Behn who has been jailed for six years at Chelmsford Crown Court (Image: Essex Police)
The National Crime Agency (NCA) along with Europol and Dutch authorities identified that Christopher Behn, 68, was a member of a Europe-wide network who travelled together to abuse children[100] across the globe.
Behn, from Colchester, is serving nine years in prison for a snapshot of his offending – the abuse of 11 children in Myanmar in 2016. He was arrested at Gatwick Airport by the NCA in February 2020, after investigators identified him as appearing in images with another member of the network, a Dutch man who was convicted in the Netherlands.
Behn was detained by officers before he could board a flight to Vietnam. A number of the electronic devices officers seized from him were encrypted, however forensic work led to the recovery of photographs taken by Behn of him abusing children in Myanmar. He was prosecuted for these offences, but it became clear he was involved in offending on a much larger scale, and the investigation continued.
The thug who stole £1,300 and left shop staff ‘helpless’
Billy Bugby has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
Billy Bugby, 32, of Longbridge Road, Barking, admitted the robbery of the Co-Op store in Stanford-le-Hope, Thurrock on April 29 this year.
Bugby and accomplice Daniel Dash, 30, entered the store shortly after 9.30pm, before proceeding to access the area behind the tills. He pulled open a drawer and removed bottles of alcohol and cigarettes, also taking scratch cards from the till area.
The goods were stashed in a bag before the pair left the shop[101]. Witnesses reported seeing a knife and said threats were made towards staff. CCTV footage of them was obtained and just over a week later Bugby was spotted by an officer on patrol on Barking on May 7.
He was arrested and charged with robbery and at Basildon Crown Court on August 8 he was sentenced to two years in jail. Dash, of no fixed address, was arrested on 5 May and is due to be sentenced on Thursday, November 2.
The abuser who threw household items at his partner
32-year-old Ben Barnsley, of Ronald Road, Halstead, launched an attack on a woman at a property in Tendring in January this year. (Image: Essex Police)
32-year-old Ben Barnsley, of Ronald Road, Halstead, launched an attack on a woman at a property in Tendring in January this year.
After shouting abuse, he threw the welly and hoover at her, which struck the victim to her head. When she went upstairs to check herself over for injuries, Barnsley pushed her onto a bed and put his hands on her neck, applying pressure and restricting her breathing for several seconds.
After she managed to break free, Barnsley proceeded to throw a pint glass at her, which struck her and smashed, cutting her hands. Barnsley fled the address when his victim dialled 999.[102] She was left with cuts, a bruise below her eye and a bruise on her neck. Essex Police arrested Barnsley the following day on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The man who stabbed his friend to death with a zombie knife
Perry Coulson has been convicted of murdering his friend Dominic Clark-Ellingford (Image: Essex Police)
Perry Coulson of Lesney Gardens, Rochford, appeared at Basildon Crown Court on August 11 where he was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum 16 years.
A murder investigation was launched on Friday, November 25, 2022, following reports of a man being seriously assaulted at an address in Lesney Gardens, Rochford. Despite the best efforts of emergency services at the scene, 32-year-old father of two Dominic Clark-Ellingford died at the scene.
The call to police came from a family member of Perry Coulson, who he had called for help shortly after the assault. When police arrived, Coulson was sat outside the front of the address in a car. He was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Whilst in custody, Coulson made a number of significant comments[103] including saying “this is what alcohol and cocaine causes, it’s my friend, that was my mate, I can’t believe it.”
The gang who hid £18,000 in concrete
Clockwise from top left: Jimmy Heary, Sheralee Heary, Nicholas Axford and Jasmine Burrows (Image: Essex Police)
Officers carried out simultaneous dawn raids at locations in Canvey Island and Billericay on February 8 last year to tackle the organised crime group’s activities that operated between 2017 and February 2022. At just one address, cash concealed in plastic boxes were found hidden in concrete[104] that, when smashed open, revealed almost £19,000. In total, more than £82,000 cash was seized that day.
One of the group, Jimmy Heary, 59, was arrested at a business address in Furtherwick Road, Canvey Island where officers found £3,685 cash and seized three mobile phones. When they searched his car, a bag containing 63 wraps of cocaine was found.
Meanwhile, at his home address in Oak Road, Crays Hill, officers found a large amount of designer counterfeit fashion items when they entered the property. Sheralee Heary, 52, was home in Oak Road when officers searched the address where they found drug paraphernalia including packaging that matched the drug wraps found at the Canvey Island address.
Officers also found £7,000 cash and more mobile phones. Other arrests made that morning included Jade Sandell, Nicholas Axford and Jasmine Burrows. Police found messages on various phones linking the members of the group, showing that Connal Regan, 28, formerly of Canvey Island was the kingpin in the operation.
The crooks who dressed as police officers to raid homes
Madion Gjonaj and Florin Doci were involved in an armed burglary (Image: Cambs Police)
This group of crooks, who were armed with guns, hammer and crowbars – have been jailed for a combined total of more than 50 years.
Police were called just after 4am on August 4 last year with reports of a disturbance at a house in Sheringham Way, Orton Longueville, Cambridgeshire. A group of five men – Olsi Cakoni, Florin Doci, Tom Dodaj, Malesio Gjonaj, and one person who remains unknown – posed as police officers and armed themselves with guns, hammers, and crowbars.
They forced their way into the home which had been used to stash large amounts of cash[105]. The five men left the house with a large bag containing what is believed to be a large amount of cash and class-A drugs.
They climbed garden fences and dropped some of the weapons and police uniforms, which were later recovered by police. A van used by the group to arrive at the house was dumped in Peterborough. It was later recovered by police, who found some of the fake police uniforms in the back, along with zip ties, a remote CCTV camera and two firearms – one of which was an imitation, the other a viable, loaded handgun.
The woman banned from Boots, Co-Op and Matalan for shoplifting
Sally Burrows has been jailed and barred from six stores for five years (Image: Essex Police)
Essex Police have given Sally Burrows a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) due to her previous history of stealing produce, meaning she is banned from setting foot in the same stores.
The 48-year-old of no fixed address has also been jailed after admitting five counts of thefts from a shop, one count of assault by beating and another charge of failing to provide a sample for a drugs test. On August 16 she was jailed for 24 weeks and was issued the five-year CBO.
The court decided that, due to Burrow’s repeat offending and the nature of her offences, she would have to be sent to prison. Burrows was ordered to pay compensation of £160 in relation to the assault.
The heroin dealer calling himself “Big D”
Sindujan Chandran ran a heroin and crack cocaine supply line called “Big D” (Image: Essex Police)
Sindujan Chandran tried to escape justice by fleeing across the country to Leicestershire, but has now been jailed for his county lines exploits.
Chandran, 33, was identified as the holder of the ‘Big D’ drug line,[106] which has operated in Southend since May 2022. Essex Police’s Op Raptor team became aware of the line during a separate investigation into an unrelated drugs line and in November of 2022, they discovered messages advertising the sale of crack cocaine and heroin.
Over the course of the next five months, officers found the messages came from a particular mobile phone number and traced that back to Chandran. Chandran had topped up that mobile phone number with credit, and located him topping it up on CCTV.
The man banned from all the Co-Op stores
Charlie Hunt-Wragg has been banned from all Co-Op stores in Chelmsford (Image: Essex Police)
Prolific shoplifter Charlie Hunt-Wragg, of Maldon High Street, is barred from entering any of the chain’s stores in the city for three years.
On August 23, Colchester Magistrates’ Court[107] granted a three-year criminal behaviour order (CBO) against the 23-year-old which forbids him from entering any Co-op store in Chelmsford during that time. He is also banned from entering the High Chelmer Shopping Centre in Chelmsford and from remaining in any shop or commercial premises if staff ask him to leave.
Hunt-Wragg was also ordered to carry out 50 hours of unpaid work[108] and to pay a £114 victim surcharge. He had previously admitted three counts of theft from the Co-op store in Melbourne Avenue on June 13 and 16 and July 6, and one relating to the store in Havengore on June 26.
He also admitted stealing from Bodycare in the High Chelmer Shopping Centre on June 28 and from the Co-op store in Torquay Road, Springfield, on July 3 and 13. Household products, including washing detergent, toiletries, confectionery, pet food and litter were among the items he stole.
The arsonist who started a fire after a row
Edward Teagle (Image: Essex Police)
Police said Edward Teagle put residents’ lives at risk when he used a lighter to start a blaze in a communal hallway earlier this year. Essex Police[109] said Teagle, 34, had attended a party before the incident on the third floor of a building in Harwich that housed a set of multi-occupancy flats. While at the party, he had an argument with his partner.
Police said Teagle was “angry and intoxicated”[110], and that he left the flat and went down to the second floor, where he used a lighter to set “several curtains and the carpet” alight in the communal hallway. The building’s alarm system then went off and the fire was put out by residents alerted by the sound and the smoke.
September
The man who travelled in a Call of Duty mask to murder another
Timothy Adeoye who has been handed a life sentence in his absence for stabbing a young rap artist to death while wearing a skull mask popularised by the Call Of Duty video games (Image: Met Police)
Drug dealing “enforcer” Timothy Adeoye, 20, plunged a large kitchen knife into 18-year-old Donavan Allen’s chest at a block of flats in Enfield, north London, on February 7 last year.
Mr Allen was not the intended target, a court heard. Adeoye, known as T-Trapz, denied being the person behind the distinctive mask but he was found guilty of murder, having a knife and threatening another person with a blade.
On Monday (September 4), Mr Allen’s family gathered at the Old Bailey for Adeoye’s sentencing – only to learn he had refused to leave Pentonville prison. In a victim impact read to the court, Mr Allen’s father Orlando said his son was excited about writing lyrics, making rap videos and performing.
He said: “I was there when he was born and held him with my own hands and I used my own hands to shovel the dirt to bury him. Timothy, why did you kill my son?” Judge Philip Katz KC said Adeoye’s decision not to attend his sentencing showed a “lack of empathy, and cowardice”. Adeoye refused to attend the Old Bailey when he was locked up for at least 23 years for murdering 18-year-old Donavan Allen[111].
The killers who left their victim for dead on the pavement
Abubakar Binabdulaziz, 20, (L) of Eton Road in Ilford and Ashraf Binabdulaziz, 25, (R) of Eton Road in Ilford were convicted following the death of Kamran Khalid, 18, in Ilford in 2021 (Image: Metropolitan Police)
Samina Khalid stood for 12 hours in the cold before she could enter the crime scene and see her son Kamran Khalid lying dead after being fatally stabbed.
Kamran was murdered in the early hours of October 28, 2021 in Harrow Road, Ilford following a row with a group of men. Police were called at 3.54am to the road where they found the 18-year-old who had been stabbed 34 times. He was treated at the scene but despite the best efforts of the emergency services, he was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
Following a trial at Basildon Crown Court, two brothers and a teenager were convicted of killing Kamran on July 10 this year. Abubakar Binabdulaziz, 20, of Eton Road, Ilford, and a 17-year-old boy from Ilford, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of murder, while Ashraf Binabdulaziz, 25, also of Eton Road, was convicted of manslaughter.
The judge said there had been “no adequate expression of remorse other than what could be described as self-pity[112]“. The 17-year-old boy was given a life sentence with a minimum of 16 years in a young offenders detention facility. Ashraf was given 11 years in jail for manslaughter, while Abubakar was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in jail before he could apply for parole.
The thug who threatened an innocent boy
Christopher Barden has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
The boy was walking home with two friends in August 2021 when he was approached by 44-year-old Christopher Barden in Manchester Drive, Leigh-on-Sea.
Barden wrongly believed the victim had been involved in an incident involving his daughter. Grabbing the child, he made threats and showed him an imitation firearm he had concealed in his pocket. After the boy reported the incident to his mother, Essex Police was contacted.
Officers arrested Barden a short time later on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and common assault. He answered “no comment” to all questions asked in interview. Barden, of Blenheim Chase, Leigh, was later charged with possession of an imitation firearm, common assault and affray following a thorough investigation.
He denied the charges and faced a trial at Basildon Crown Court in May this year, with a jury convicting him on all three counts. On Friday September 8, Barden was sentenced to two years and six months in prison[113].
The man who flipped a Range Rover then tried to cover it up
Liam O’Brien has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
Liam O’Brien hit a Peugeot which was turning into the driveway of an address in London Road at around 9.35pm on September 3, 2022. Witness evidence described O’Brien climbing out of the car and walking off in the direction of the A12 while talking on a mobile phone, saying “I’ve smashed my car up”. The driver of the Peugeot was not seriously injured.
Moments later, an Audi A1 driven by 30-year-old Max Mayo, was seen approaching the scene of the collision before colliding with the Range Rover. Sadly, Max was pronounced dead at the scene. At 9.40pm, the registered keeper of the Range Rover – O’Brien’s girlfriend Hannah Humphrey – called Essex Police reporting that her car had been stolen.
When officers went to speak to Humphrey the following day, she told them she had arrived home at 9.30pm and the car was already gone. But CCTV footage showed someone coming out of her address at around 9.25pm, getting into the car, and driving off.
During the visit, Humphrey also disclosed details of O’Brien, whose description matched that of the man seen getting out of the car after the collision. Both O’Brien and Humphrey were arrested[114], and O’Brien was taken to hospital for injuries to his head and stomach.
The ‘serious menace’ to Essex Co-Op stores
Scott Butcher, 36, of no fixed address, has been jailed for almost a year after officers linked him to 24 offences in Co-op shops across Colchester (Image: Essex Police)
Scott Butcher, 36, of no fixed address, was arrested on September 8 after officers in Colchester were alerted to a theft which took place at a Co-op store in Wivenhoe. As part of that report, details of a vehicle were given.
A short time later, just before 11.30am, the vehicle was stopped and Butcher was arrested. During a search of the vehicle, officers found numerous items which had been reported missing from another Co-op in Colchester, in Tamarisk Way, earlier that day.
Once in custody, officers were able to link Butcher to 22 other theft incidents including in Wimpole Road, The Avenue, Iceni Way, The Commons, Weavers Court, in Halstead, and Challis Way, in Braintree. The offences took place in July, August and September. In total, the value of items taken from the shops is more than £3,000.
Butcher was subsequently charged and appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Saturday 9 September, where he admitted all charges and was sentenced to 51 weeks in jail[115]. He was also given a criminal behaviour order (CBO), which bans him from entering all Co-op shops in Essex for three years.
The ‘shady’ drug dealers who tried to pose as a cleaning company
(Image: Essex Police)
Michael Devon, 24, of Partridge Way in Stanway, and George Gorecki, 30, of Widford Close in Chelmsford, have been jailed. Essex Police’s specialist drugs team, Op Orochi, analysed phone numbers and text messages used to market and advertise the sale of illicit substances.
Devon was found to operate as a dealer on a street-level basis, and as a supplier to other dealers in bulk quantities, using his legitimate cleaning business as a front for his criminal activity. Across an extensive investigation, officers examined Devon’s cleaning company, finding although it had a website and Facebook presence, there was no evidence of it being an active business. There were no reviews and no updates.
Officers analysed the phone number linked to the business, finding none of the messages seen were linked to cleaning. The content of the messages instead appeared to be drug related. Officers believed the business was used as a front for Devon’s illicit operation dealing cocaine[116].
Gorecki was found to have sent a message to Devon offering to supply an amount of cocaine for £11,000. In October 2021, officers executed a warrant at Devon’s home address in Colchester, seizing mobile phones and a knuckleduster.
The man who fled to a hotel after driving at a pedestrian
Bailey Ling, 33, of Rayleigh Road in Eastwood has been sentenced to four years in prison for purposefully driving at someone (Image: Essex Police)
Essex Police were called to Rayleigh Road in Eastwood shortly before 1am on February 6 following reports of a collision involving a car and a pedestrian.
Witnesses had seen the car involved drive at speed towards the victim before driving away from the scene. The victim was rushed to hospital in a critical condition. The collision has left him with life-changing physical and neurological injuries.
The driver was quickly identified as Bailey Ling from Eastwood. After fleeing the scene, Ling went to the Holiday Inn hotel at Southend Airport. The car involved was found damaged nearby. Ling attended Southend Police Station at around 5pm on the same day where he was arrested.
Ling has now been sentenced to four years in prison[117]. He was also disqualified from driving for five years, which will commence following his release and he will be subject to a mandatory re-test.
The ‘predator’ who posed as teen girl to get boys to send him indecent images
(Image: Essex Police/PA Wire)
Jay Lang, 24, of Canvey Island, set up accounts on Snapchat and Instagram under the false name of Chloe, claiming to be a 16-year-old-girl. Marc Brown, prosecuting at his sentencing hearing, said Lang “would target young boys aged between 11 to 16 using these social media profiles to first of all engage those young boys in conversation.
“Those conversations would develop, at first flirtatious conversation, then to more sexually-explicit conversation,” he said. He added it would lead to Lang inciting the victims to send indecent videos and photos of themselves.
The prosecutor said that “unbeknown to each of the victims” the defendant was using a screen-recording app on his phone and would save the images, and later use them to blackmail the boys. Lang would reveal himself as a man and ask for further images or demand cash, threatening to publish the images the boys had already sent if they did not comply.
He sexually abused one of the boys in person after they felt they had no choice but to agree to his request to meet, the prosecutor said. Lang also blackmailed another boy into filming himself performing a sex act with a male friend, the court heard.
“He would use the threat of exposing the videos if they refused,” Mr Brown said. “In the case of some victims he did indeed publish the videos.” He said the offending spanned around three years, from 2019 to 2021.
Judge Samantha Cohen, jailing Lang for 21 years with an extended licence period of six years[118] afterwards, told him: “You are a predatory, manipulative and dangerous young man. You have wreaked havoc through the lives of 26 young men and their families.”
The man who called 999 more than 3,000 times
(Image: Essex Police)
Leonard Lowe, 65, made sexually explicit comments to call handlers, reported false crimes and complained about GP waiting times. Lowe, of Appletree Way in Wickford, appeared at Southend Magistrates’ Court on September 21 after pleading guilty to offences of abusing the 999 emergency line.
He was arrested on June 22 after Essex Police had received more than 3,000 calls from him using three numbers over the course of six months. None of the 3007 calls made by Lowe required an emergency response. During these calls, Lowe would make sexually explicit comments to call handlers, report false crimes and complain about GP waiting times.
Following his arrest, he was charged on 23 June with persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience, or anxiety. He was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison and issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order[119] banning him from contacting 999 unless in a legitimate emergency.
October
The woman who stabbed a man with a barbecue skewer
Cayleigh Reid was sentenced to eight years in prison after stabbing a man at a social event in Harlow (Image: Essex Police)
This incident happened in Torkildsen Way when emergency services were called early hours of June 26 after Cayleigh Reid, 26, stabbed a man at a social event.
Reid became involved in a heated argument prior to the stabbing, which involved about five other people reportedly becoming aggressive during the exchange. The woman from Slough told people in the group she intended to arm herself and stab the male victim aged in his 40s.
As the argument escalated, she stabbed the man with a metal barbeque skewer she found in a kitchen drawer. The man suffered life-threatening injuries, which Essex Police stated he only survived following surgery but now lives with serious and long-lasting consequences from the incident. She was found guilty of causing GBH with intent and jailed for eight years[120].
The machete-wielding men who raided a man’s home and murdered him
Dominic Diop (left) and Paul Higgins, from Basildon and Hornchurch, were part of a ganf of five who raided an Ilford home and killed a man (Image: Met Police)
The gang have been jailed for a combined total of more than 90 years after a 30-year-old man was killed in an armed robbery in Ilford. The five men were sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, October 6.
The court heard how on March 19, 2022, 30-year-old Imran Isat was in the living room of his home on Springfield Drive in Ilford watching television with a couple of friends. What he did not know was that five men had decided to break in and rob him, and that his home was being watched.
At around 1.15am the five men began their assault.[121] They broke through the front door, two then broke down the door of Mr Isat’s flatmate while the other three went upstairs to the living room. On hearing the noise Mr Isat went to the living room door to try and keep the men out, but he couldn’t close it.
A struggle began and one of the men, who was holding a large knife, managed to stab Mr Isat through the gap, forcing him backwards. The robbers forced their way in armed with knives and machetes, they were shouting “where’s the stuff?”
Mr Isat said something like “don’t hurt me – take what you want”, but one of the robbers stabbed him, while another struck one of his friends on the head with the flat blade of a knife. One of the robbers then shouted “we’ve found it”, and “let’s go”; they then ran from the scene.
The man who killed his sister in law over “chore arguments”
Nicolae Virtosu blugeoned his sister-in-law with a hatchet (Image: Met Police)
Nicolae Virtosu, 49, was sentenced to at least 28 years at the Old Bailey for the murder of Svetlana Mihalachi. The court previously heard how Virtosu was the victim’s brother-in-law.
Svetlana, her husband, her 12-year-old son and Virtosu all lived together at their home in Ilford. The relationship between Svetlana, 53, and Virtosu was not an easy one with the pair often arguing about chores around the house, noise and money.
Svetlana made it clear that she wanted Virtosu to move out, but he refused. Over time the relationship deteriorated further, with Virtosu continuing to threaten Svetlana – she began to fear for her life. In desperation, she reported Virtosu, who was in the UK illegally, to the Home Office.
On April 9, 2021, police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 2.08pm to reports that a woman had been assaulted at the house in Princes Road. Officers attended and found Svetlana with serious head injuries caused by blows to the head with a hatchet.
The axe was found at the scene and Virtosu’s fingerprints were found on the handle. CCTV enquiries in the area showed that Virtosu had left the house at 12:02am when he was seen walking quickly away along Princes Road.[122]
The man who killed a “devoted and caring” dad near a pub
Jamie Lewis has been convicted of murder at Basildon Crown Court (Image: Essex Police)
Jamie Lewis, 24, from Croydon, was found guilty of murder by a jury at Basildon Crown Court. Lewis, of Bensham Lane, was charged with murdering Matthew Portwood, 42, who was found injured in a car park close to the Iceland supermarket in Furtherwick Road early on February 4. It happened after an altercation outside The Haystack Pub on the island.
Basildon Crown Court[123] was previously told that Mr Portwood, a father-of-two, was a likeable character who would always look out for others. Formerly an employed doorman at The Haystack Pub, he was there as a customer on the night of his death.
In a statement after his death, Matt’s family said:[124] “Matt leaves behind his two young children who he adored greatly. He was a devoted and caring father to his children, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his children.
“Matt had a love for music, in particular his bass guitar. He also had a love for football, supporting local teams. He was a talented drawer, a talent that he would explore with his children. Matt was a well known and loved member of the community in Canvey. Matt will be truly missed by his family, friends and all that knew him. He will forever be in our hearts.”
The ‘dangerous’ man banned from a whole city
(Image: Essex Police)
Shaun Hogg, 42, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting nine different offences. Hogg was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday October 13. The court also heard and granted an application for a criminal behaviour order that bans him from entering Colchester city centre for three years.
Hogg was arrested after officers were made aware of the theft of a Blue Peugeot 208 from Hyena Drive, Stanway, at midday on January 6.[125] Further inquiries found the vehicle had been taken between 9pm and 10pm on the previous day.
Information provided by an off-duty police officer allowed the police to locate the vehicle in Claudius Road. When they came head-to-head with the vehicle, officers got out of the car to approach the Peugeot which then reversed away and crashed into a bollard.
The Peugeot was then driven at the police car, causing extensive damage. The Peugeot then travelled along Mersea Road and turned into Bourne Road, where it again struck a bollard and came to a stop.
The smuggler who shipped in 10,000 people illegally
(Image: National Crime Agency)
Hewa Rahimpur, 30, was sentenced by a Belgian court on Wednesday October 18[126] for being involved in “systematic human smuggling” by supplying boats to the crime group.
Rahimpur, who has been jailed for 11 years, sourced boats in Turkey and had them delivered to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands before they were moved to the north French coast. He was directing the network from his home in Ilford on the Essex border.
The UK National Crime Agency, that led the investigation into the smuggling ring, said the gang would make between £175,000 and £260,000 in profit from each of the dangerous crossings. At that time people were charged between £3,000 and £6,000 per crossing, with around 40 people crammed onto a small boat.
It is believed that the gang were responsible for nearly 10 per cent of crossings to the UK in a 12 to 18 month period. As with other smuggling gangs they openly advertised their services on social media, with officials describing the fight to get the entries removed as like playing “whack a mole”.
The rapist who subjected a woman to a “horrendous ordeal”
Blaine Norton has been jailed for 12 years (Image: Essex Police)
Blaine Norton subjected the woman to violent attacks which ultimately led to the rape in January 2017. Norton, 38, of Falcon Avenue, Grays, was jailed for 12 years on Thursday October 12[127] at Basildon Crown Court with another two years to be served on licence. It follows a conviction for rape, causing actual bodily harm and false imprisonment at the same court on June 9.
He will also be on the Sex Offenders Register for life. Over a period of several years, Norton subjected the victim to violence, culminating in him raping her. On that occasion he forced himself on the victim despite her repeatedly urging him to stop and clearly stating she did not wish to have sex with him.
Detective Constable Richard Clark from Essex Police said: “I want to praise the bravery demonstrated by the victim in this case. Blaine Norton has subjected her to a horrendous ordeal and she has shown great courage coming forward and reporting to us what he had put her through.”
The mum who murdered her “blameless and defenceless” son
(Image: Essex Police)
Eloddie Goncalves-Taborda, 32, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years to be served before she will be considered for release.
Goncalves-Taborda was jailed for the murder of her son Malik when she appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday October 20. At the same hearing her partner, Muritala Olaiya-Imam, was jailed for 10 years for allowing the baby’s death.
Both were convicted of the charges at the conclusion of a seven-week trial at the same court back in July. The jury also found Goncalves, formerly of Harlow, guilty of child cruelty and, alongside her partner, both were found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Mrs Justice Farbey, sentencing the pair at Chelmsford Crown Court[128], said Malik was a “blameless and defenceless” baby. The judge added that Eloddie “put her own selfish interests above those of a baby”.
The man who ‘delayed’ a police investigation into his sexual crimes
(Image: Essex Police)
Detectives have been investigating Jack Harrison, 22, of Chelmsford since June 2021 when he was arrested by Essex Police.
The force received a report from a survivor of sexual abuse that they had been sexually assaulted and Harrison, of Beeches Road, was arrested. Following his arrest, Harrison refused to provide the PIN for his phone, delaying the process of officers gathering evidence.
Despite this, evidence was obtained and Harrison was charged on May 30, 2022, with two counts of sexual assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault by touching. In a pre-trial hearing on July 26, 2023, Harrison entered guilty pleas to one count sexual assault by penetration and a county of sexual assault by touching. He denied the other count of sexual assault by penetration.
He appeared in court on Friday October 13 where he was sentenced to two years in prison.[129] He was also made to sign onto the Sex Offenders Register and issued with a five-year restraining order.
The man who killed someone with a crossbow in a pub
Alfred Turner, convicted of manslaughter by diminished responsibility for the killing of Dave Peck (Image: Essex Police)
Alfred Turner, 44, shot and killed Dave Peck, 51, with a crossbow in a random attack at the Lamb and Lion pub on December 23 last year. He has now been given an indefinite hospital order[130] after admitting manslaughter.
He was given a life sentence at Basildon Crown Court today (Thursday 26 October ) with a Section 45A hospital order. The order means he will be detained at a mental health facility until it is determined whether he is fit to be sent to prison.
On the day of the incident, Turner left his home in Station Road, Westcliff, at around 6.30pm armed with a crossbow. When a man saw him leave his address, he asked Turner what he was holding, to which he replied “it’s a crossbow”.
CCTV from inside the Lamb and Lion showed Turner entering the pub from the door opposite the bar. He then fired the crossbow and hit 51-year-old Dave Peck who was sitting on a bar stool opposite the door. The men did not know each other and the incident has been described as a random attack. Dave was hit in the chest and fell to the floor.
The man who swindled millions from his employers
Rhys Jackson has been jailed for theft and fraud (Image: HMRC)
Rhys Jackson has been locked up for nine years after being convicted of theft and fraud after greed drove him to milk his “cash cow” company of nearly everything it had.
Jackson, 56, of The Green, Chelmsford, was convicted of 20 crimes including theft, fraud, evading VAT and fraudulently claiming Covid bounce-back loans from his bank during the pandemic. While working as the financial controller for JC Watson Refrigeration Ltd between February 2014 and March 2018, Jackson made 638 transfers of money from the JC Watson account to 12 separate personal bank accounts of his own.
Jackson spent his ill-gotten funds on lavish cars, including at least two high-end Audis. He stole a total of £2,946,107 from JC Watson Refrigeration Ltd during that time. At his sentencing hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on October 19, prosecuting barrister Brian Russell said: “The crown say this was the sole reason why this firm went into administration in 2018. Mr Lyman [another director] gave evidence that JCW R Ltd employed about 40 people. When he commenced JCW Mech Ltd, he was only able to employ about five.”
The husband who murdered his wife in a jealous rage
Ertan Ersoy murdered his wife Dr Antonella Casteldevere in Colchester (Image: Essex Police)
Ertan Ersoy, 50, was convicted of killing Dr Antonella Castelverdere, a professor at the University of Suffolk, in June 2022.
Ersoy, who was found guilty of murder unanimously by a jury after less than five hours of deliberations, threw a hearing loop to the floor of the secure dock area and raised his hand in frustration as he left after being sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court. Dr Castelvedere, 52, died shortly after officers were called to a report of an injured man at an address in Wickham Road shortly after 11.45am on June 1.
Officers arrived at the property to find a man with injuries and a woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene a short while later. The jury heard Dr Antonella Casteldevere and Ertan Ersoy married in 2014, and both worked as university lecturers, with Dr Casteldevere working at the University of Suffolk. However, it was a “difficult and rocky marriage”.
Essex Police said Ersoy had begun to believe, wrongly, that Antonella had been unfaithful. This led to Ersoy making covert recordings and “gaslighting” his wife. In the months leading up to the incident, Ersoy had attempted to control his wife’s life[131] and had used listening devices to record her conversations. The court heard the incident on 1 June was the “ultimate act of control”.
The man who attacked his ex with a screwdriver
Adrian Codreanu has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
Adrian Codreanu has been locked up for more than a decade[132] after the terrifying attack in Braintree in 2021. At around 10.30pm on July 2 that year, police were called to the disturbance in the town with the woman, aged in her 30s, sharing how she’d been assaulted by Codreanu, who had been brandishing a screwdriver.
The 37-year-old, formerly of Rifle Hill, Braintree[133], then attacked the woman’s boyfriend as he arrived in his car. The man in his 30s said Codreanu had sprung on him before he could even get out of the vehicle. Codreanu was arrested four days later after he fled to Lancashire. He was charged with causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) and attempted GBH, which he denied.
During his trial at Chelmsford Crown Court[134], the jury heard how the woman had sustained multiple injuries during the attack including marks on her face, scratch marks where the screwdriver connected with her neck and extensive bruising to her arm and ribs.
The ‘terrifying’ thug who stole people’s cars
Levi Whalley committed a series of “terrifying” robberies in Essex (Image: Essex Police)
On 26 September last year, Levi Whalley entered three cars, and tried to get into several others, threatening the drivers in the Leigh and Basildon areas over a space of about 45 minutes.
At around 8.50am, a woman was sitting in her blue Peugeot at traffic lights at the junction of London Road and Herschell Road in Leigh-on-Sea when Whalley approached the vehicle, opened the door and shouted at her to get out. He assaulted and threatened her before driving off in the car.
Shortly after, Essex Police received a call from a member of the public who saw the stolen Peugeot being driven with blown-out tyres on the London-bound A127 near Southend. The caller reported that the driver stopped the car before then trying to get into others.[135]
A short time later, another driver reported seeing the Peugeot on a slip road just off the A127 near Basildon at which point they pulled over to offer their help. The driver of the Peugeot, Whalley, got into the other driver’s car, threatened him and demanded he get out before the motorists drove off with both of them still in the car.
He stopped a short while later at the Nok Bridge turn-off before Whalley got out and headed towards Basildon town centre. He subsequently tried to get into two other vehicles, including pulling a woman out of hers, and trying to drive off before being apprehended by members of the public.
Officers arrived and Whalley was arrested and later charged with one count of robbery, two counts of attempted robbery, one count of failing to provide a specimen for analysis, and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.
The men who brutally attacked a footballer
Alfie Speed has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
Aaron Millest has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
The man, in his 20s, was left seriously injured and requiring around-the-clock treatment after an unprovoked attack near the Purple Emperor pub in Burgoyne Hatch back in 2021.
Police were called to the Quarry Springs area of Harlow by colleagues in the ambulance service shortly before 6pm on January 28, 2021, after a man was found seriously injured. During the investigation, detectives learned an assault had taken place behind the pub 30 minutes prior to him being found.
Alfie Speed and Aaron Millest, both 19, approached the man, whom they knew, in a wooden area behind the pub. A victim impact statement read to the court said the individual was at the pub meeting one of their “closest friends for a smoke and a catch up” but their “world came crashing down” when they were “attacked viciously by two people I knew”.
They explained they managed to escape the initial attack but collapsed elsewhere and were in a coma for 28 days. The victim suffered a number of serious injuries[136] which were “hugely embarrassing and invading”. They said they also felt “completely vulnerable and helpless”.
The dealer found with £3.7million worth of cocaine
(Image: EssexLive)
Police stopped Darren Shand, 45, in Colchester in July this year and found several individually wrapped packages in his vehicle. The packages were suspected to contain drugs and police arrested Shand on suspicion of possession with intent to supply. Further inspection of the packages revealed that they contained a total of 31 kilos (68.3lbs) of cocaine, worth £3.7m, made up of individual one kilo blocks sealed in tape and plastic wrapping.
Shand, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, was charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession with intent to supply cocaine. He was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison[137] at Isleworth Crown Court having pleaded guilty to all charges.
The ‘extremely dangerous’ drug dealers who ran over teenagers
Left to right: Aurel Ukcenaj, Xheni Ukcenaj, and Elton Vata (Image: Essex Police)
A vicious assault took place in Southend on October 11 2022, was related to a dispute by the two groups, one of which owns a large cannabis farm with over 100 plants. Both of the victims were rushed to hospital but luckily survived.
Brothers Aurel Ukcenaj, 32, of Marischal Road, London, who carried out the stabbing, and Xheni Ukcenaj, 27, of Chase Side, Enfield were charged with attempted murder and production of cannabis. Elton Vata, 34, of West Road, Westcliff was charged with production of cannabis.
Officers responded to an incident shortly before 4.25am on the night of the assault following reports of a disturbance in York Road in Southend. When they arrived on the scene, they found two teenage boys, one with serious injuries who was taken to hospital in a critical condition, and another with injuries to his legs.
The men were later jailed for a combined 29 years.[138]
The man caught inside a woman’s house wearing her underwear
(Image: Met Police)
Anthony Debono used his victim’s Instagram account to send obscene messages to her friend, sent her threatening sexual messages directly over WhatsApp and Facebook, and left 64 voicemails describing the disgusting things he wanted to do to her.
Debono, a 44-year-old dad, appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court[139] on November 13 after admitting stalking and cocaine possession on July 6 this year. His terrifying stalking campaign, which began in May this year, reached its climax when the tyre fitter was caught wearing his victim’s grey thong and sniffing coke off kitchen surfaces after police were called to her home on July 4. Debono was known to the victim having initially been cut off after she found photos of her groin on his phone.
When the victim went on holiday to Thailand from May 24 to June 5, Debono let himself into her flat and foraged through her knicker drawer, throwing her underwear all over her bedroom floor and taking photos of them.
When the victim went on another holiday to Spain, Debono returned to her flat and plundered her knicker drawer again, this time draping a pair of red pants over her bathtub. Police were called by a friend and arrived to find cocaine on the kitchen counter, pants strewn over the flat, and Debono wearing a grey thong owned by the victim.
Debono was jailed for 28 months for stalking.[140]
The fraudster who pretended to be a doctor
Junead Ahmed was jailed for fraud (Image: Essex Police)
Junead Ahmed, 33, was sentenced to four years in prison at Basildon Crown Court[141] on November 16 after admitting to six fraud-related charges from an earlier hearing in June. Ahmed, formerly of Hutton, began renting a property in the area in November 2022 and called himself Dr Syed Asad at the time.
He created documents listing his job title as a GP and claimed he was earning enough money to make the monthly rent payments, which criminal funds were used to pay the monthly rent.
The investigation confirmed Ahmed was not a registered doctor, nor had ever practised as one, and he had only adopted the aliases to commit fraud. He then made an offer to buy a property in west Essex valued to be over £2 million in the following month despite no visible means of support.
The dealer caught thanks to a selfie he took on a boat
Darren Stirling, 58, who was jailed for 18 years for his involvement in the supply of large quantities of cocaine, MDMA, amphetamines, cannabis and ketamine in Basildon (Image: Essex Police)
Darren Stirling, 58, was jailed for a total of 18 years at Westminster Crown Court[142] on November 20. Police identified Stirling as the man behind a handle on the messaging service EncroChat who was involved in the supply of illegal drugs in Basildon.
The messaging service, which was used by criminals for its end-to-end encryption, was infiltrated by law enforcement agencies across Europe in an attempt to tackle organised crime.
Essex Police was able to track Sterling down through a photo he had posted to the platform which showed him on a boat he described as his permanent residence. Along with illegal drugs, an encrypted phone and signal jammer, police found over ten million antihistamine tablets.
The ‘ruthless’ gang who used 12-year-old children to deal drugs
Left to right – Jack Albertson, Shakeel Mollony and Anis Houadef (Image: Essex Police)
This group, consisting of eight men and a boy, were responsible for running lines across Epping, Loughton, Debden, Waltham Abbey, and Chingford in London. As part of their operation, the gang used violence, exploited vulnerable people, and used children as young as 12 to supply drugs for them, Essex Police said.
Officers from the Operation Raptor team carried out an enormous investigation resulting in nine raids at properties across west Essex in December 2021. A large amount of drugs and weapons were seized, some of it being hidden inside sweet packets.
Following the raids and arrests, all members of the gang were convicted for their roles in the operation, with many receiving jail sentences.[143] The charges included conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs, possessing knives and imitation firearms.
The smuggler caught out by a casino receipt
Oozy Hughes, 44 (Image: Home Office / SWNS)
Oozy Hughes, 44, was given 15 months in prison on Wednesday[144] after Border Force found the men hidden in the showers and bunks of his van. His vehicle was stopped at Harwich Port in March 2018.
Hughes, also known as Mark Newton, was arrested for facilitating illegal entry to the UK. When interviewed at Chelmsford Police Station, he claimed he had hired the van to drive to Spain and returned to the UK by ferry from Santander.
However, his lies began to unravel when officers discovered the receipt from a casino in northern Belgium in his van, showing he had been there earlier that day to participate in a ‘Fantastic Fridays’ competition to win a 100-gram gold bar.
The arsonist who started nearly 30 fires
Andrew Thorne has been jailed for two years (Image: Essex Police)
Andrew Thorne carried out a string of arson attacks in the Uttlesford district of Essex between February 2022 and May 2023. The fires were at locations including wheelie bins, dog waste bins and bus shelters across Saffron Walden. Thorne, 26 of Inkneild Rise, Great Chesterford appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on November 16 after admitting 26 counts of arson.
Thorne was arrested on Saturday May 27 in connection to the attacks and was swiftly charged as part of the police investigation. At his sentencing hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, he was jailed for two years.[145]
The paedophile who had ‘sleepovers’ with a 13-year-old boy
Luke Tucker, 23, from Colchester, was jailed for a total of seven years at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday (November 22) (Image: Essex Police)
Luke Tucker, 23, from Colchester, was convicted of a number of charges, including causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and was jailed for a total of seven years[146] at Chelmsford Crown Court on November 22.
Tucker had previously been convicted of a sexual offence in October 2022 and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) the following February. The terms of his SHPO significantly limited his contact with anyone under 18, affected his access to the internet, and ability to store still or moving images.
But in February this year, Tucker had struck up a friendship with a 13-year-old boy. Tucker had told the boy he was 16 and over the course of the next month had given him various gifts, stayed at the boy’s address and had him over at his home address.
The rapist who put his victims through a 3-year police and court case
Richard Oliver has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
Richard Oliver, 51 appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday (November 23) where he was sentenced after being found guilty in October this year of nine offences including rape[147].
The investigation was launched in September 2020, when two victims reported to Essex Police that they had been sexually abused. Oliver, of Frobisher Way, Jaywick was arrested shortly after the report and denied all allegations against him.
He was later charged with nine offences including one count of rape and four counts of engaging in sexual activity. All of the offences happened in the Basildon area of Essex. On October 20, he was convicted of all charges by a jury.
The thug who attacked women while riding e-scooters
Jake Carter has been banned from possessing a bike or e-scooter in Chelmsford (Image: Essex Police)
Jake Carter has been jailed for six weeks following the string of attacks where he would assault his victims then flee on bike. The 27-year-old of Meadgate Avenue, Chelmsford has been slapped with a two-year criminal behaviour order which bans him possessing a bicycle, scooter, e-scooter or e-bike in Chelmsford.
All of his attacks were carried out in the city earlier this year. There were multiple assaults reported to police, where Carter had approached the victims and assaulted them before using a bike to leave the area. Earlier this month he was convicted and jailed for the crimes.[148]
The Greggs worker who robbed his old employers
Simon Baisden, 44 was sentenced to three years in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court for the robbery (Image: Essex Police)
Simon Baisden, 44 was sentenced to three years in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court for the robbery, which took place at the Harwich Gateway Retail Park branch in March this year.
The incident was not the first time Baisden had stolen from the Greggs store. On December 11 2022, when he was employed at the branch, Baisden let himself back inside the store after it had been shut for the day and stole a three-figure sum of cash from a safe.
The following day he admitted the theft to the store manager, before resigning his position. But on 9 May this year, Baisden returned to his former place of work armed with a kitchen knife.
Wearing a face covering, he threatened staff who had arrived to open the store at around 5am. Baisden fled on foot with another three-figure sum of cash. Soon after the call came in, Essex Police officers were on the scene, catching Baisden just 15 minutes later.[149]
The ‘Essex Grinch’ who stole presents from Christmas trees
(Image: Essex Police)
Heath Vosper, 31, was convicted of eight counts of attempted burglary and two counts of burglary following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
It follows a spate of break-ins at homes in the Harwich and Tendring areas of Essex in December 2021. On December 20, police were called to a home in Wrabness after the occupants were awoken by the sound of their house alarm.
They checked the property and found evidence of an intruder.[150] They also realised a number of wrapped Christmas presents had been taken from underneath the tree in the dining room.
Vosper was identified as a suspect through footage reviewed by officers, he was circulated as wanted and was believed to be in the Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, area. On January 10, 2022, he was captured on CCTV footage exiting a vehicle near the scene of a burglary in Hopton, Great Yarmouth. Two days later Vosper was arrested in Harwich.
Following his arrest[151], further searches of addresses linked to Vosper recovered items stolen in the Norfolk burglary. Accomplice Shauna Reynolds, 37, of Pound Farm Drive, Harwich, was also arrested and later charged with two counts of burglary, relating to the Wrabness and Norfolk offences.
She was convicted of both following the trial and sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. Vosper, of Crystal Palace Park Road in London, was jailed for four years and three months.
December
The woman-beater who rode a bike to his probation meeting – flouting a days-old court order
Jake Carter has been banned from possessing a bike or e-scooter in Chelmsford (Image: Essex Police)
Jake Carter has now been jailed for nearly a year after the “lack of respect” to his Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) in Chelmsford.
Carter, 27 of Meadgate Avenue, Chelmsford was previously given the CBO on Friday November 24 which banned him from being in possession of a bike or e-scooter in the city centre. Yet on Saturday (December 2), just over a week after the order was passed, officers from Chelmsford Town Centre Team arrested Carter on suspicion of two breaches.
One of these instances included him riding his bike to a probation meeting. He appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates on Monday (December 4) where he was jailed for 11 months[152]. Carter had previously been given a six-week prison term for the various assaults on women in Chelmsford.
The brothers who terrorised a family in a rampage
Jordan Watkins (L), 32, and Danny Watkins (R), 36, both of Rayleigh Road in Leigh (Image: Essex Police)
Danny and Jordan Watkins, 36 and 32 respectively, have been jailed for a combined total of more than eight years. An investigation was launched in May 2023 following reports of an aggravated burglary at an address in Broomfield Avenue.
The victim was at home with young children when two suspects began to try kicking down his door. The victim opened the door and was threatened. The two suspects then smashed the glass panel of his front door and assaulted the victim. The suspects fled the scene before police arrived.
Following their arrests and charges[153], Jordan Watkins pleaded guilty to Section 18 wounding with intent and was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison. Danny Watkins pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and was sentenced to four years and 6 months in prison.
The child rapist who was ‘disgusted’ with his own actions
David Levy, 46, of Cattermole Close in Clacton, pleaded guilty to multiple sexual offences including five counts of raping a girl under 13. He has been jailed for 16 years (Image: Essex Police)
David Levy, 46, of Cattermole Close in Clacton, appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday (December 8) after previously pleading guilty to multiple sexual offences. They included five counts of raping a young girl.
The offending was made known to Essex Police after a brave survivor submitted an online report claiming she had been repeatedly assaulted and abused over ten years by Levy. The offences began when they were a child.
Levy was arrested and following that, he told officers he was “ashamed” and “disgusted” with what he had done. When interviewed, however, he refused to answer the questions put to him.
Despite this, he was charged with six counts of assault of a girl by touching, two counts of sexual assault of a girl, five counts of rape of a girl and one count of rape of a woman 16 years or over. After pleading guilty[154], he appeared in court on Friday December 9 where he was sentenced to 16 years in prison and one further year on licence.
The thief who stole £6k worth of alcohol and tried to flee the UK
Alexandru Cercel, 39, has been jailed for two years after targeting supermarkets all over Britain (Image: Kent Police)
Alexandru Cercel, 39, was convicted of stealing almost £6,000 of alcohol during a two-year crime spree.
Cercel, of Homestead Road in Dagenham, was wanted by several police forces for offences carried out between October 2021 and June 2023. He was part of a criminal gang which stole high value alcohol from shops in Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire.
In one instance, Cercel entered a Cambridge supermarket eight times in one day as he stole spirits with a value of more than a thousand pounds. The most recent theft was on June 13 when he targeted a Tesco in Maidstone. They concealed eight bottles of spirits worth £300.
On July 1, enquiries established he had booked a ferry from Dover to France. His vehicle was located by police officers whilst he sat in the queue to board and he was arrested and later jailed for two years[155].
The robber who held up hotels at gunpoint
Dymtro Shcherbinskyy, 42 of Blossom Close, Romford who played a leading role was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment (Image: Met Police)
Dymtro Shcherbinskyy, 42 of Blossom Close, Romford who played a leading role in the robberies was sentenced to 12 years’ in prison, and Ghislain Kiamuangana, 34, of no fixed address was sentenced to 10 years’ prison time in total.
This included a sentence for theft, after stealing £12,000 from a safe, while working at a hotel in 2021. The two were jailed on December 12 for a total of 22 years[156] for robberies committed at three London hotels, following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
The men entered the hotel in the early hours of the morning with their faces covered and threatened two members of staff with a gun, forcing them into a back office. The employees’ legs and hands were tied and they were forced to provide the combination to a safe. After ransacking the tills and safe the pair stole around £4,000.
Shcherbinskyy was identified following extensive CCTV and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) enquiries, which led detectives to the discovery of a stolen Sprinter being filled up in December 2021 at a petrol station in Lakeside, Essex.
The ‘dangerous’ predator who raped women as they slept
Ricki Lee, who raped two separate women, has been jailed (Image: Essex Police)
Ricki Lee, 28 of Coronation Avenue, East Tilbury appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday (December 7) where he was jailed for three years after being convicted of three counts of rape.
Lee was subject to separate investigations against two separate victims. In both cases, the victims reported that Lee had entered their bedroom and raped them whilst they slept in their own homes. The offences happened in 2019 and 2020 in South Ockendon and Benfleet.
Lee was charged and in October, following a two-week trial, he was found guilty of three counts of rape. He will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life. He was jailed for 16 years.[157]
The thief who stole from nine different shops
Matthew McClements has been banned from nine different shops in Braintree (Image: Essex Police)
23-year-old Matthew McClements kept stealing items such as meat, dog food, aftershave and plastic containers from shops in Braintree.
The 23-year-old of Chaucer Crescent committed nine thefts in the space of two months, from October 11 to December 13. As well as the items mentioned above, McClements also stole cheese, a coat and other storage containers.
All but one offence was caught on CCTV and McClements was identified by officers from the Braintree Town Centre Team. He was arrested on Friday December 15 and later charged with nine counts of theft.
He was convicted at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court and was given an eight week prison sentence[158], suspended for 12 months.
The family who shipped cocaine and assault rifles across the UK
Clockwise from top left; Darren Goodge, gang leader Ross Payton, his sister Shainie Payton, Alfie Malone, Lee Souter and Reece Mort. All but Ross Payton lived in the Harlow area of Essex (Image: Met Police)
A drug kingpin who headed up an organised gang to shift cocaine and weapons across the UK employed many of his Essex-based family in a fleet of covert vehicles. The organised crime group has been dismantled by the Met Police’s Specialist Crime Command after investigating them for more than a year.
The gang were involved in the supply of Class A drugs and weapons leading to the seizure of 200kg of drugs, and quantities of firearms, ammunition and cash. Gang leader Ross Payton employed family and friends including his sister Shainie Payton, her boyfriend Darren Goodge, his uncle Lee Souter, his cousin Jamie Dennison and associate Reece Mort.
The gang travelled across London, the Home Counties and Scotland, transporting drugs, firearms and cash using a fleet of vehicles. They would hide the cocaine in items such as children’s toys and “sophisticated” electronic hides inside their vehicles. The gang were jailed for nearly 90 years collectively.[159]
The man who raped and then robbed a woman
Mustafa Ramzan, 34, of Wenlock Mews in Leyton, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison (Image: Suffolk Police)
Mustafa Ramzan, 34, of Leyton on the Essex border, was found guilty last week of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault by penetration, robbery and criminal damage.
Ramzan was sentenced to ten years in jail. He was given 10 years in jail for rape, with concurrent sentences of imprisonment as follows: attempted rape seven years, sexual assault by penetration six years and robbery four years. He had initially pleaded not guilty to an earlier court hearing.
Ramzan met a woman, in her late 40s, for a pre-arranged meeting in April 2020 in Bury St Edmunds. The pair went to a nearby small room, described as a security lodge on Rougham Road where Ramzan raped her.
The victim left the site in a distressed and partially dressed state and during the incident she was robbed of all of her money amounting £200 leaving just £10, with damage also caused to the victim’s mobile phone. Ramzan was later jailed for a total of ten years[160].
The crook who raided a TOWIE star’s home
Jordan McKenzie-Pryce has been jailed for raiding The Only Way Is Essex star Mario Falcone’s Brentwood home days after taking part in a shooting (Image: Essex Police)
Jordan McKenzie-Pryce, 38, burgled Mario Falcone’s home while he and his family were holidaying abroad last year.
McKenzie-Pryce, a dad-of-three of Leverson Street in Norbury, Streatham, ransacked The Only Way Is Essex star’s home in Brentwood and stole a gold Rolex watch, his wedding ring and other jewellery, “high-end” fashion items including handbags and a Macbook, plus around £5,000 cash, totalling £69,000 worth of goods.
In a victim impact statement read out at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday (December 18), Mr Falcone said the items have never been returned and his social life has been deeply affected due to the fears of leaving their home unoccupied.
The court heard that Mr Falcone, who is now a father of two, had gone on holiday with his family in September 2022, but just days into the break had received a phone call advising him that his house had been burgled.
Following his arrest, McKenzie-Pryce’s home was searched where pictures of some of the stolen goods were found on his phone, along with a floor plan of the Falcones’ home. McKenzie-Pryce was jailed for a total of 12 years.[161]
The choir master who abused young boys
Thomas Rodgers, a choir master from Billericay, has been convicted of abusing young boys (Image: Met Police)
Thomas Rodgers, 44, from Billericay, was arrested in 2019 following allegations of historic sexual assault against two victims.
The Met Police received the report on January 5, 2019 and Rodgers was arrested in February that year. On March 10 this year, he was charged by postal requisition in relation to the allegations.
Rodgers was bailed to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court where, following trial on Tuesday, December 5, he was convicted of indecent assault, and two charges of indecency with a child.[162] He will be sentenced in January 2024.
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References
- ^ Homeless man who ‘deliberately targeted’ babies to steal dummies in Harlow appears in court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ I tried the new Black Sheep Coffee in Chelmsford and found it a refreshing experience (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for 27 years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ died in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ jailed for a collective nine years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for 12 years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for six years and eight months (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was found guilty of nine counts of rape against a child under 14 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ They were jailed for a combined 12 years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ She was jailed for seven years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for seven and a half years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Noor was later jailed for a minimum of 20 years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Colchester (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ They were all sentenced for their roles in the operation earlier this month (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ They were later convicted and sentenced to 26 and 12 years in jail at least. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was caught after detectives used CCTV to link him to the offences (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was later jailed for six years and three months (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ anning was jailed for nine years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Read the full sentencing details here (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was married and Vicky was just one of several women he was exploiting (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Read the full sentencing details here (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Read the full sentencing details here (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Read the full sentencing details here (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ found guilty of murdering Ms Girolami in her Highgate home after a jury deliberated for just 19 minutes (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on March 3 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was also issued with a five-year criminal behaviour order (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Bright admitted causing GBH without intent (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ McCarthy later changed his pleas to guilty in January this year (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Smith and Salih were charged with drugs and money laundering offences and admitted these at Basildon Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ and was jailed for 14 years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was convicted of murdering 44-year-old Adrian Ellingford (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was given a life sentence for the murder by Judge Christopher Morgan after his conviction (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He stabbed her 18 times before he was stopped by members of the public (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for eight weeks and issued with a two-year criminal behaviour order (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He appeared at Basildon Crown Court on March 10 where he was given the 13 years jail term (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ stole (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ when he was arrested that evening in Romford (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was also issued with a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Coleman admitted 15 counts of theft from a shop involving more than £1,600 of goods. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was sentenced at the same court to eight-and-a-half years in jail. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was sentenced on March 23 to life (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The abuse came to light when some of the offences were reported to Essex Police in 2020. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was sentenced to four years in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Bennett was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ have been jailed for six and three years respectively for their involvement in an organised crime group (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ sentenced to four years and five months’ imprisonment. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ MyLondon (www.mylondon.news)
- ^ were jailed for a combined total of 57 years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was sentenced to 28 years in jail (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was sentenced at the Old Bailey to seven years in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ and was jailed for seven years on April 14 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ has been sent to prison for five years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for three years on April 19 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Gornall was jailed last week for four years and eight months (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ has been jailed for six years and six months. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Chelmsford (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ has now been jailed for eight years and six months. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ who has been remanded in custody (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was sentenced to 20 months in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for two years and two months (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ admitting to perverting the course of justice. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was sentenced to six and half years in prison. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Mansbridge was jailed for eight and a half years and Wayne Byrne for eight years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ later found guilty of sexual assaulting a child (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He sentenced Ghadiali to 30 months in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ handed an 18-week jail term at Southend Magistrates’ Court on May 17 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was immediately jailed for 11 years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ According to StokeLive (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
- ^ Both defendants pleaded guilty to charges (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Southend (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The 32-year-old forced his way into a property in Leigh (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ has been sent to prison for 14 years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ and has now been jailed for 24 years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Officers found blood at the scene, (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ signing up to EssexLive’s weekly Court & Crime newsletter. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ press here (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ rejected his explanation as “elaborate and concocted” (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Chelmsford Crown Court previously heard (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was convicted by a jury (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Hossain co-ordinated the movements of drivers and arranged for taxis to drop off migrants (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ However, the jury found him guilty of murder. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ and a concealed knife was found in his waist band. (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)
- ^ ere each jailed for 27 years for the murder of Sven (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ a Europe-wide network who travelled together to abuse children (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The goods were stashed in a bag before the pair left the shop (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Barnsley fled the address when his victim dialled 999. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ made a number of significant comments (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ cash concealed in plastic boxes were found hidden in concrete (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ which had been used to stash large amounts of cash (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was identified as the holder of the ‘Big D’ drug line, (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Colchester Magistrates’ Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Hunt-Wragg was also ordered to carry out 50 hours of unpaid work (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Essex Police (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Police said Teagle was “angry and intoxicated” (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ when he was locked up for at least 23 years for murdering 18-year-old Donavan Allen (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ no adequate expression of remorse other than what could be described as self-pity (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Barden was sentenced to two years and six months in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Both O’Brien and Humphrey were arrested (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he admitted all charges and was sentenced to 51 weeks in jail (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ as a front for Devon’s illicit operation dealing cocaine (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Ling has now been sentenced to four years in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ jailing Lang for 21 years with an extended licence period of six years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison and issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ She was found guilty of causing GBH with intent and jailed for eight years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ At around 1.15am the five men began their assault. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was seen walking quickly away along Princes Road. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Basildon Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ In a statement after his death, Matt’s family said: (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ the theft of a Blue Peugeot 208 from Hyena Drive, Stanway, at midday on January 6. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was sentenced by a Belgian court on Wednesday October 18 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was jailed for 12 years on Thursday October 12 (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ sentencing the pair at Chelmsford Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was sentenced to two years in prison. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He has now been given an indefinite hospital order (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Ersoy had attempted to control his wife’s life (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ has been locked up for more than a decade (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Braintree (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Chelmsford Crown Court (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ the driver stopped the car before then trying to get into others. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The victim suffered a number of serious injuries (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The men were later jailed for a combined 29 years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Snaresbrook Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Debono was jailed for 28 months for stalking. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was sentenced to four years in prison at Basildon Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was jailed for a total of 18 years at Westminster Crown Court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ were convicted for their roles in the operation, with many receiving jail sentences. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was given 15 months in prison on Wednesday (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was jailed for two years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ and was jailed for a total of seven years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ found guilty in October this year of nine offences including rape (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ convicted and jailed for the crimes. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ catching Baisden just 15 minutes later. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ They checked the property and found evidence of an intruder. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ his arrest (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ where he was jailed for 11 months (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Following their arrests and charges (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ After pleading guilty (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was arrested and later jailed for two years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The two were jailed on December 12 for a total of 22 years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ He was jailed for 16 years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ was given an eight week prison sentence (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ The gang were jailed for nearly 90 years collectively. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Ramzan was later jailed for a total of ten years (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ McKenzie-Pryce was jailed for a total of 12 years. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ he was convicted of indecent assault, and two charges of indecency with a child. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ court (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ signing up to EssexLive’s weekly Court & Crime newsletter. (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ press here (www.essexlive.news)