Labour MP Reports Constituent For Israel Emails

A constituent of Labour MP Helen Hayes bombarded the politician with anti-semitic emails, calling for the worldwide eradication of all jews, a jury heard last week.

Austin Crick, 57, who holds a masters degree from the London School of Economics is now in the dock at Southwark Crown Court after the MP reported him to police after years of communication.

The East Dulwich resident also attached images of injured and dead Palestinian children to the messages, which concerned the ongoing Israeli-Gaza conflict.

The trial heard he mistakenly believed Liverpool-born Hayes, the MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, was jewish and repeatedly referred to “your jews” in his emails. 

Crick has pleaded not guilty to the racially aggravated harassment of Hayes between December 16, 2021 and May 21, 2024.

He also denies four further charges of sending a communication, with intent to cause stress and anxiety, that was indecent and grossly offensive on dates between February 21 and April 9, 2024.

“The frequency and tone of the emails escalated,” prosecutor Arabella MacDonald told the jurors. “He said thousands of foreign jews were flying in to slaughter Palestinians as if they were on a safari.”

Crick would claim Israel was implementing its own version of the “final solution” to wipe of the Palestinian people, referring to their “racist genocidal intent.”

So many emails were sent and replied to by the MP’s parliamentary office that the officer in the case PC David Sebastian, produced a 180-page folder of the correspondence.

Crick, who does not deny sending the emails, later told police he was highlighting the conflict to his local MP so she could not deny knowledge  of it later.

He would regularly link youtube video to his emails, referring to “evil jews” and wrote of the “war crimes and sadistic behaviour of the jews,” the court heard.

“These emails about to the racially aggravated harassment of Ms Hayes MP and he should have known they amounted to harassment given the number of times he was asked to stop sending them,” explained Ms MacDonald.

“He was under the impression the MP was jewish and we have free speech, but free speech has limits and he found those limits and rode roughshod over them.”

In further emails Crick told Ms Hayes: “The blood of the Palestinians is on your hands too.”

“He described all jews as vermin, a pestilence on society and said they had to be all got rid of,” aded the prosecutor.

There were also references by Crick to “greedy jews” and that “Gaza is a game reserve for the jews.”

Crick also wrote: “Israel and all jews are evil. They have to be totally and utterly smashed and destroyed…..not only in Palestine, but the whole world down to the last one.”

The MP eventually reported Crick, who used his own email address, to the police and he was arrested on July 27, 2024.

He revealed he was a member of the Labour Party, but quit when Jeremy Corbyn took over and was eager for Ms Hayes to act on the Palestinian issue.

“He said he did not send them to cause distress, but thought his MP was covering up and did not want her to deny knowledge of the conflict at a later date.”

Hayes, the current Chair of House of Commons Education Select Committee is expected to give evidence tomorrow (Wednesday).

Trial continues………….

Wok Are The Injuries?: Judge Demands Kitchen Boiling Oil Update

Guilty: Jinhee Yoo

A judge has demanded a burns update on the victim of a Korean restaurant cook, who doused the chef in a wok of boiling oil, after a defence lawyer claimed there was “no permanent injury.”

Jinhee Yoo, 37, was due to be sentenced for GBH, but will return to court next month after an update on the recovery progress of her victim.

Chef Lim Gye suffered extensive burns at the Jin Go Gae restaurant in Burlington Road, New Malden - injuries that have required skin grafts.

Mother-of-one Yoo, of The Avenue, Worcester Park, Leeds fought the charge, but was convicted by a Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury of inflicting grievous bodily harm, with intent, at the restaurant on May 23, 2022.

She claimed self-defence, insisting she feared being stabbed by Ms Gye, who was chopping onions, but this was rejected by jurors.

Yoo was due to be sentenced this week and her lawyer Joao Arsenio submitted the victim had recovered from the ugly incident, saying: “The complainant has no permanent injury.

“Serious as the injuries are the healing is complete. That is my perception.”

However, Judge Rajeev Shetty replied: “Have you seen people close up with skin grafts? They are significant.”

Prosecutor Peter Pride told the court: “This is a grave injury that resulted in significant long-term injury.”

The prosecutor said the victim’s husband has stated his wife has been depressed since the incident, has gained weight, suffered stress that has spread amongst the family and is still waiting for an apology from Yoo.

“These things are permanent, irreversible,” announced Judge Shetty. “We saw her face-to-face, but that is the area she did not require a skin graft thankfully.

“If you want me to do justice to this case I need an answer. The court needs an update on her physically.

“When she was giving evidence I did not necessarily see how she looks as there are ways of covering yourself up in court when I was just twenty feet away.

“You get itching on scarring on the replacement sites with skin grafts.”

Mr Arsenio continued attempting to play down the injuries, claiming: “The lady didn’t display any scarring when she gave evidence from the witness box.

“There is no suggestion she is scarred for life.”

Bailing Yoo until November 27 Judge Shetty told her: “The prosecution do not have updated information as to Lim Gye’s injuries.

“I will give you bail. You have attended today and you do know you are facing an inevitable custodial sentence.”

Trial prosecutor Jonathan Rosen told the jury both women had previously worked together at the restaurant in 2017, with Yoo in the senior role.

When she returned she was now under head chef Lim Gye, who criticised her on the day of the attack for leaving the spice pots untidy.

There was a confrontation between the pair, with Yoo grabbing the head chef’s hair and them both rolling around on the kitchen floor.

Ms Gye bit Yoo’s finger in self-defence and they were pulled apart by other staff.

However, not long after they were again in the kitchen together following the lunchtime rush.

 

“She was boiling four to five litres of oil in the wok on the stove and Lim Gye was chopping onions,” explained Mr Rosen.

“They were back-to-back in the galley-style kitchen and Lim Gye thought it was odd she was boiling oil as there were no customers in the restaurant.”

Suddenly, Yoo shouted in Korean: “I can’t take it any longer,” turned and threw the wok full of boiling oil over the victim, burning her back, shoulder, chest, neck and arm.

Lim Gye recalled see Yoo standing there with the empty wok, challenging her to another fight and blocking her escape from the kitchen.

Lim Gye took a cold shower before being taken to hospital by the restaurant boss’s daughter, where she was treated for burns and blisters.

There were blisters to 70% of her back and 12% of her body was treated for burns, with a skin graft taken from her thigh during a second operation.

Yoo claimed a large chunk was bitten out of her finger by Lim Gye and she simply grabbed the closest thing to defend herself from a potential knife attack.

“This was a purposeful and deliberate action,” said Mr Rosen. “She had been boiling the oil for five minutes and there was no threat from a knife.”

Worth The Buzz?: Shoplifter Back Behind Bars

A shoplifter hoping to get buzzed on 15%ABV canned cocktails he flagrantly stole from a shop in the heart of the Square Mile was returned to prison.

Max Couthlan-Lawlar, 26, was recorded on CCTV filling a shopping bag with £72.00 worth of Buzzballz alcohol at the store in Fenchurch Street, City of London.

This CCTV still – recorded from above – shows the thief, who was wearing a baseball-style cap and shorts reaching into the fridge with his right hand and taking the drinks as other shoppers walked around.

Store staff recognised him when he returned to the same shop the following day and alerted police. 

Officers quickly located the thief and arrested him.

Couthlan-Lawlar, who was on parole, pleaded guilty to theft and received a fine, but was returned to custody for breaching the licence of his prison sentence.

Police Constable Skye Brincat, of the City of London Neighbourhood Policing team said:

“Shoplifting is not a victimless crime. It directly impacts businesses, their staff and also shoppers.

“We never view shop theft as a low-level crime and our officers are proactively addressing this issue and working with stores across the City of London by identifying offenders quickly, gathering CCTV evidence and taking swift action against those who steal.

“We will continue our proactive measures in tackling shoplifting, including patrols in retail areas, and encourage retailers to come forward and report any crime so we can start investigations.”

Behind Bars: Getaway Drivers Guilty Of Violent City Of London Watch Robbers

Anderson (L) & Stewart (R)

Two getaway drivers, who were part of a violent knife-wielding watch robbery gang that struck twice within minutes in the heart of the Square Mile, have been caged.

Agandy Anderson, 30, (L) and Kayne Stewart, 27, (R) of Milton Way, Dunstable, were the drivers of two separate vehicles that prowled the City of London hunting for victims in the early hours.

Both pleaded guilty to robbery and Anderson received nine years and six months and Stewart received four years and six months in prison.

City of London Police believe Dogukan Aktas, 26, was also part of the group on the night of the robberies. 

He was last believed to be in Switzerland and officers have spoken to Interpol to assist in bringing him in for questioning. 

On September 8, 2024, just before 3.00am on Appold Street, two men and a woman were walking together following a night out. 

A BMW vehicle approached them at the traffic lights and two male suspects got out of the vehicle. 

The criminals begin to threaten the victims by brandishing knives and demanded their watches.

The suspects removed a Citizen watch worth around £400 from one of the male victims and stabbed him twice across the buttocks. 

In the scuffle the victim also sustained a head wound that bled heavily.

The female victim was kicked in the head by one of the suspects. 

The third victim was approached by one of the suspects who said: “Give me your watch,” putting the victim in a headlock and forcing his head toward the ground. 

The victim released the clasp on his Bulova watch, worth around £200 and the suspect then snatched it. 

Both robbery suspects are assessed to have been armed with a knife each, described by one victim as “zombie knives”. 

Five minutes after the first robbery the gang struck on Curtain Road at the junction of Scrutton Street and Holywell Row.

Two men and a woman were returning to their car when a BMW approached and two suspects got out of the vehicle shouting: “Give me your watch.” 

The victims described the suspects brandishing a zombie knife. 

One victim had his Tissot T-Classic watch, worth £400 stolen aggressively by the suspects and he was hit in the face.

Detective Sergeant Amy Westall, City of London Police, said: “These were exceptionally violent and frightening attacks in which the offenders showed a complete disregard for the safety of their victims. 

“Armed with knives, they targeted people going about their lives, stabbing one victim and brutally kicking a woman in the head in their determination to steal what they believed was high-value watches.

“Thanks to the courage and swift actions of the victims in reporting these crimes, and the vital evidence they provided, our investigation team was able to piece together exactly what happened. 

“Combined with the City of London’s extensive CCTV network, which captured both attacks just minutes apart, we were able to identify the offenders, track them down and ensure they faced justice.

The first victim said in his victim impact statement: “My overall feeling is of general fear, for my own safety in life, as well as being fearful of the safety of my loved ones.

“This incident has lifted away a blanket of blissful ignorance and now I really see what the world can be like and what others are capable of.

“I don’t trust any random person when I’m out in the street. 

“When someone walks past too closely, if someone is looking at me in a certain way, or has locked eyes with me for more than a second, I am nervous about what they might do.”

Greg Dyke Fined For Breaking 20MPH Speed Limit

Former Director General of the BBC Greg Dyke was fined yesterday after he was caught breaking the 20mph speed limit in his yellow Fiat 500 near his £5.5m Thameside home.

The 79 year-old veteran broadcaster, of Duck Walk, Twickenham did not contest speeding on the A205 Mortlake Road, near the junction with Taylor Avenue on June 6.

Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court were happy to revert the speeding charge to a fixed penalty ticket, resulting in a fine of just £72, plus a £28 surcharge and no costs.

However, Dyke, who went on to become Chairman of the Football Association between 2013-2016, did also received three penalty points on his driving licence for the offence.

Jailed Again: Specialist Thief Who Cut 17th Century Map From Museum Atlas

Prolific Thief: West

A career criminal, who cut a unique seventeenth century world map from a valuable atlas at the National Maritime Museum for a secret buyer, was sentenced to three years imprisonment today.

Melvin West, 70, used a Stanley blade to slice out the page, depicting Dutch cartographer Frederick de Wit’s double hemisphere 100 Nova Orbis - one of only three in the world.

“It is not just the financial damage, this is an international loss of an item of great cultural significance,” Woolwich Crown Court Judge Charlotte Welsh told him.

“What is lost and damaged is lost and damaged for evermore,” she told West, who between 1969 and 2015 was sentenced for a total of 107 offences in the UK and continental Europe.

He visited The Caird Library at the Greenwich museum on December 19 and 20, 2024 and on February 25, last year, before eventually cutting out the map when left alone on February 26.

“It has a value on the black market and must have been stolen with a buyer in mind and it is with regret we don’t know who you sold it to,” added Judge Welsh. “You have been evasive to say the least.”

West, of Old Church Road, Chingford, east London pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the antique atlas; stealing the antique map, worth £6,000 and being in possession of a yellow and black retractable Stanley knife.

Frederick de Wit is regarded as a master within the world of the ‘Dutch Golden Age’ of cartography, producing the atlas in 1684 with only two other examples in Utrecht and Vienna.

The museum estimated the atlas’s value at £50,000 - reduced to £20,000 after West’s damage with the map page alone worth £6,000 on the black market.

The Metropolitan Police say father-of-two West has a history of specifically stealing high-value unique items in this country and abroad.

West dangled the prospect of retrieving the map page he cut out, obtaining at least two court adjournments and even asking for another chance today to retrieve it.

“The defendant has led the court, the police and the museum on a merry dance. I don’t believe a word of it,” said Judge Welsh, refusing to give West another week to retrieve the map.

Cutting The Atlas: West

The court heard staff found the discarded blade and DNA linked it to West, who was also identified on CCTV as the last person alone in the reading room, where the atlas was damaged.

When police raided his home on March 4, last year officers searched for the map page, which West claims is with a restorer, who will not release it until he is paid in full.

The museum describes it as a “symbolic work of art” and the “harm goes far beyond the monetary value,” revealing they have invested £6,000 in new CCTV cameras and are considering a £5,000 security barrier.

“Mr West is ashamed and embarrassed by the offences and recognises he was wrong,” said Jessica Flain, defending, urging the court to pass a suspended prison sentence, which would allow her client to return the map.

“At the time he was under serious financial pressure and his pension credit did not meet his basic living costs. His offending was financially motivated.

“It was a short-term pressured decision by an old man living in difficult circumstances,” she said of the father-of-two, who had double heart by-pass surgery in June.

West has served lengthy prison sentences for drug dealing in this country, been locked-up in Hungary for burglary and sentenced for theft in France.

“You removed it with a slash of a blade you brought with you for that purpose,” Judge Welsh told West. “You were identified as the thief via DNA on the knife and recorded on CCTV.

“This was a planned offence and today you are again asking for time to retrieve the map from a nameless person, but you have had eight months do that when you were not in hospital or recovery.

“This item is of international cultural significance. It is unique, it is bespoke and experts from all over the world travel to Greenwich to study that map.

“You have a very, very long history of offending in this country and other European countries. You are a career criminal,” added the judge.

“You were stealing a highly significant niche item of high value. Someone stealing an item like that knows what damage they are causing.

“There was a high degree of planning and pre-meditation. You have not changed your ways, it is a reflection of who you are, a person of dishonest character.”

West was also made subject to a ten-year Criminal Behaviour Order, which prohibits him entering any museum or library room unsupervised.