Gambler's £100,000 Losses Spark Slots Rampage

A luckless punter who blew £100,000 gambling smashed three video slot machines during a violent rampage in his local bookies after yet another losing run.

Punters and staff looked on in disbelief as angry 26 year-old Alek Gjjekaj, who had started feeding  £200 into four slot machines simultaneously, picked up a stool and smashed three of them, in a  £15,000 wrecking spree.

Scaffolder Gjjekaj pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the slots in his local Coral's Bookmakers, Clapham High Street, Clapham on December 15, last year.

Inner London Crown Court heard gambling addict  Gjjekaj had blown £100,000 and was still £30,000 in debt due to betting which also wrecked the relationship he had with the mother of his nine month-old child.

Prosecutor Mr James Benson told the court Coral's staff took £200 cash out of the defendant's bank card which he then began feeding into the four machines, becoming increasingly angry and frustrated at the lack of a pay-out.

"He picked up a stool to chest height and smashed it down on the first machine," explained Mr Benson. "He continued to smash two more machines ignoring the shouts of the manager."

Gjjekaj fled, but was traced through his bank card and when quizzed by police admitted he was angry about losing money on the video machines.

He was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, placed under probation supervision for two years and ordered to pay £5,000 compensation and pay £150 costs.

 

Dozy Burglar Kips On Job

Dozy burglar Richard Parsons was caught napping by police during a nighttime break-in, after kipping in an upstairs bedroom - his pockets stuffed with valuables.

The homeless 37 year-old had already alerted neighbours after noisily smashing his way into the smart house, causing  £1,500 worth of damage.

He pleaded guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court to burgling 96 Highgate Road, Kentish Town on April 4 stealing a £300 watch, antique scent bottle, brass cigarette lighter, bottle opener, WW2 tea and sugar box, silver pocket watch and chain and a games console.

The court heard Parsons, on a suspended sentence for a similar domestic burglary, tried to break his way through the front door before smashing the bay windows and gaining access.

After rifling through the house he fell asleep on the bedroom floor and was quickly arrested by police called to the scene.

Luckless Parsons misfortune continued with an embarrassing medical condition forcing him to wear a nappy while on remand at Wandsworth Prison and being at the mercy of teasing inmates during showers.

“The people of this country deserve protection,” Judge John Hillen told Parsons, jailing him for two-and-a-half years plus six months for breaching the suspended sentence.

“The invasion of other people’s homes is not to be tolerated,” added the Judge.

Snubbed Nightclubber's Rape Bid

An angry nightclubber snubbed by a flirty blonde - thirteen years his senior - during a boozy evening out was caught with his trousers down, after trailing the victim home and trying to rape her, a court heard today (Monday).

The woman, who had downed a cocktail of of lager, whiskey and wine, and admits she smooched with the stranger who chatted her up at the late-night club screamed "rape" and was rescued by police alerted by worried neighbours.

John Cheruiyot,37, denies attempting to rape and indecently assaulting the 50 year-old outside Samuel Lewis Trust Buildings, Vanston Place, Fulham in the early hours of January 21, 2004.

Blackfriars Crown Court was told the victim walked alone to the nearby Havana Bar, in Fulham Road just before midnight following an all-day family get-together celebrating her sister's birthday.

"She had a fair amount to drink that evening and by this time she was feeling very drunk indeed," prosecutor Mr Toby Fitzgerald told the jury. "She was flattered by the attentions of the defendant, who was much younger and she kissed him in the nightclub."

The woman snubbed Cheruiyot's offer to go back to his place, but was confronted by him outside her home at 2.15am. 

"He appeared angry and told her she had led him on and then left the club," explained Mr Fitzgerald. "He pushed her to the ground then pulled her jeans halfway down and pulled her knickers down."

Neighbours called 999 after hearing the woman's cries of "rape" and when officers quizzed Cheruiyot he claimed his trousers were hanging off because they were simply too big for him.

The trial is expected to last four days.

Tamberlin Bully-Boys Shoot The Messenger

Powerful friends and colleagues of hit-run drink-driver Leyton Tamberlin, the wealthy finance guru, who crashed into a taxi - fracturing a tourist's skull - have forced the axing of the Oxford graduate's photo from this site.

Claiming copyright the mystery complainant threw their weight behind the caged criminal's damaged reputation and talked blogspot into withdrawing the photo - despite it's open availability on the internet.

The 32 year-old Investment Professional with Mayfair's prestigious TDR Capital, of 8 Lancaster Stables, Lambolle Place, Hampstead, was jailed for eight months at Blackfriars Crown court for driving dangerously in Finchley Road, Hampstead on August 15, last year. (Story posted below).

His sentence provoked worldwide outrage (see comments posted on Daily Mail website) after it was revealed he was over double the drink-drive limit after drinking wine, cocktails and a martini during an all-day corporate bash at the posh Metropolitan Hotel.

For photo of Tamberlin visit telegraph.co.uk and type his name into the search bar.

 

Drunken Estate Agent Crashes Into Angry Football Mob

A high-flying young estate agent – tipped for the top at a leading firm selling multi-million pound properties – lost his career and liberty after drunkenly driving into a mob of angry football fans, shattering one man’s leg.

Edward Jephson,28, a sales negotiator for  the exclusive Westminster and Pimlico neighbourhoods with Douglas and Gordon Estate Agents was jailed for fifteen months.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard Jephson, of Elspeth Road, Clapham, ignored a police cordon and drove on the wrong side of the road into a crowd of angry Chelsea football fans, disgruntled at their teams penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester United in last year’s Champions League Final.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in Fulham Broadway, Fulham on May 21 last year and later gave an alcohol breath-test of 93 – over two-and-a-half-times the legal limit.

“This is about as bad a case of dangerous driving as can me imagined,” Judge David Martineau told suited Jephson (pictured above right) who was supported in court by his parents and girlfriend of three years Elouise Thompson, a Mayfair p.a.

“You got into your car in Clapham while clearly drunk and drove towards Stamford Bridge where you drove past a police cordon which had been placed in the road to protect football supporters.

“You did not stop, but drove into them at 10mph, striking two of them and seriously injuring one. You are extremely fortunate not to be facing a charge of ABH or GBH,” added the Judge.

The angry supporters who had packed pubs and bars near the stadium to watch the Moscow final turned on Jephson, who was punched in the face and his VW Golf vandalized.

The Director of Douglas and Gordon, James French, told the court in a statement Jephson made a “significant contribution to sales” and was making a name for himself at the Pimlico office after nine years in the profession.

“He had been muted as a future manager,” said Mr James Harrison, defending. “His promotion is now on hold and he will lose his job if jailed.”

Prosecutor Mr Jai Patel told the court a witness dialed 999 after spotting an obviously drunken Jephson staggering in Elspeth Road at 11pm and struggling with a friend trying to stop him driving.

He was next seen by police approaching Fulham Broadway, where an angry mob were throwing bottles and missiles at officers.

“He drove around a police van and on the wrong side of a traffic island,” explained Mr Patel. “He braked then accelerated towards the crowd on the wrong side of the road, knocking people off their feet and causing others to jump out of the way.”

The VW eventually stopped and was attacked by the crowd with a “staggering” Jephson saved by police.

The defendant asked the arresting officers: “What have I done? Where am I.”

Victim Keith Lockhart suffered a fracture to his tibia and fibula when run down from behind and Sam Filtman later went to hospital with extensive grazes.

 “Mr Jephson looks back on these events with a tremendous sense of shame,” Mr Harrison told the court. “He feels his good character is blemished forever.

“The events will be forever with him and he will never forget what he did in a moment of foolishness.”

The defendant suffers panic attacks and was also depressed that day, added the lawyer, revealing Jephson was driving to his brother’s home near the stadium.

The loss off his job would also almost certainly mean Jephson would also lose his flat because there is nobody to pay the mortgage.

Jephson was also disqualified from driving for three years. A charge of failing to supply a breath-test because he failed to blow a second time was dropped.

Corruption Charges in $40m UN Development Programme

Two ex-United Nations consultants and a solicitor, accused of plotting to collect bribes in relation to a massive $40m pharmaceutical contract to an impoverished third-world country, appeared at City of London Magistrates Court today (Tuesday).

Dutchmen Sijbrandus Arthur Scheffer,56, of  West View Road, Swanley, Kent and Guido Gerbrant Bakker,35, of De Voortweg, Tandon, Netherlands are former consultants to the United Nations Development Programme.

Scheffer is the President and Bakker the Director of World Response, a registered U.K. charity and a United States non-profit.

Solicitor Patrick Neale Orr,41, of  Beaconsfield Road, Surbiton, Surrey, is a partner in a West End Firm.

The three men appeared following a two-year investigation by the City of London Police’s Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit in relation to Global Fund Aid money overseen by the United Nations Development Programme and earmarked for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A Danish-based pharmaceutical company - Missionpharma - which supplies life-saving generic HIV and malaria drugs has also been probed.

All three are charged with conspiring together to corruptly obtain consideration between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2007 in regard to ensuring the award of a $40m contract to supply pharmaceuticals to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They also face two charges of conspiring to money launder between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007 in relation to $400,000 and an unspecified sum.

Finally, all three are also charged with fraudulent trading between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007 in relation to H & C Consultants Ltd which traded for a fraudulent purpose, namely money laundering.

All three men were bailed unconditionally to appear at Southwark Crown Court on August 25.

Finance Guru Jailed For Drunken Taxi Smash

A finance expert who crashed into a taxi, fracturing a passenger’s skull, following an all-day corporate drinking session at a Mayfair hotel was jailed for eight months on Friday.

Oxford-graduate Layton Tamberlin,32, who was over double the drink-drive limit wrestled with his blazing Audi as it careered at speed along a busy nighttime road, after writing-off the black cab.

Tamberlin, of Lancaster Stables, Lambolle Place, Hampstead, is an Investment Professional with TDR Capital – a top asset management firm – of 1 Stanhope Gate, Mayfair and holds fourteen Company Directorships and Secretarials.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard married Tamberlin – who studied mathematics at Oxford – and described as the moral compass of his ex-university chums – downed wine, cocktails and a martini in the Metropolitan Hotel bar.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and failing to stop after an accident in Finchley Road, Hampstead on August 15, last year.

Father-of-one Tamberlin,  whose wife is pregnant with their second child claims a boozy work colleague, later arrested after the collision for being drunk and disorderly, distracted him causing the crash.

Judge John Hillen told suited Tamberlin : “Your driving was quite terrifying. You had been drinking on and off from 1.30pm in the course of business entertainment and your friend was so drunk he was not acceptable into any taxi.

“You made a decision that was inexplicable, but it was made knowing what you had drunk. You are an intelligent man. You know the limits. You were twice the limit and drove that car for five miles.”

Prosecutor Miss Emma Jones told the court it was just after 9pm when taxi driver Sam Deering picked up Canadian tourist Funbi Taiwo,47, who suffered a fractured skull, bleeding around the brain a perforated eardrum and needed eight stitches to his forehead.

“The taxi driver suddenly heard a massive sound of crashing metal and was thrown forward in his seat and his taxi was shunted into a parked car.

“He saw a dark coloured Audi swerving from side to side with flames coming from the underside. It was making off at a fast speed,” she explained.

The victim had been entering the cab when it was struck from behind. “From getting in the next thing he remembers is lying on the ground bleeding from a head wound,” added Miss Jones.

The Audi S6 estate drove another 600 yards into Greenway Gardens where security guard Pushkar Gurling spotted it. “The car was all over the place and could have hit anyone it was being driven so eratically,” he told police.

The witness pulled the defendant out of the blazing vehicle along with colleague Max Herbertstein. “The passenger was so drunk he couldn’t stand up and then the car burst into flames,” said Miss Jones.

When quizzed by police first-time-offender Tamberlin claimed he hit a lamppost, and told officers he felt sober enough to drive. His breath test of 81 was over double the legal limit of 35.

Tamberlin hired Q.C. Patrick Gibbs in a bid to avoid prison. “He made two inexplicable decisions. The first was to drive and the second was not to stop after the accident.”

“He is a decision-maker which makes these decisions all the more odd. He is clearly a talented man who leads an industrious life and explodes it in forty-five minutes of madness on the Finchley Road,” added the Q.C., urging the Judge to suspend any jail term.

Judge Hillen told Tamberlin : You were distracted by your passenger which effectively led you to losing control of the car befuddled as you were by drink.

“You knew you had an accident and you knew your car was on fire. You were in Central London in a busy thoroughfare driving a vehicle that was ablaze.”

The Judge also jailed the defendant for three months for drink-driving, plus two months for failing to stop to run concurrently with the eight month sentence and disqualified him from driving for five years.

“You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. Up until now you have had an outstanding character and led an industrious life. You are highly intelligent and talented.
“The suffering you have brought to your wife, family and friends are at your door,” added the Judge.

Patient's walkabout ends in tube train death horror

A Coroner found it “astonishing” a suicidal psychiatric patient who brushed past City commuters and threw himself in front of a tube train was allowed to roam free by doctors at a flagship emergency ward.

Jobless Anthony Simkin, 46, of Cornwallis Court, Lansdowne Green, South Lambeth triggered an internal probe by South London and Maudsley NHS foundation Trust who admit mistakes were made.

Mr Simkin suffered fatal multiple injuries at Monument Underground Station on June 24 last year when struck by a westbound District Line tube train.

He simply walked out of the Trust’s Luther King Ward in Landor Road, Stockwell after bungling psychiatrists approved the patient for unescorted leave.

City of London Coroner’s Court heard depressed heroin addict Mr Simkin had previously overdosed on prescription drugs and slashed his wrists three weeks before his death, requiring a blood transfusion at St. Thomas’s Hospital.

“That does seem rather astonishing,” said Coroner Paul Matthews. “He had made three attempts on his life before this.

“They were not cries for help. They were serious attempts on his life. You don’t throw yourself in front of a train if you are not serious.”

Mr Simkin had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act after the wrist-slashing incident and housed at Luther King Ward a Lambeth residents-only unit which prides itself on being a : “Safe and therapeutic environment for clients.”

Trust supervisor Claudia Fullalove told the Tuesday hearing an internal enquiry was launched to investigate errors in the case and changes have been made to their procedures.

“I think there were a number of missed opportunities during his period of care,” she admitted. “Mr Simkin seemed to fall below the radar. They underestimated his level of risk.”

She conceded there was no in-depth risk assessment within seventy-two hours of Mr Simkin being admitted – flouting Luther King Ward’s own procedures.

“They felt he did not present with significant risk. The doctors and nurses believed he was showing signs of improvement,” added the supervisor.

 Community mental health nurse Jane Eastaway, based at a different Lambeth clinic the patient regularly visited, had urged the sectioning of Mr Simkin, but felt a mere three weeks was way too early to allow him out.

“I thought it was really soon,” she told the inquest. “I felt anxious he was getting unescorted leave before his medical improvement.”

However, she did not make a fuss. “It is difficult because there is a consultant above me who has made the decision. I did not directly challenge anyone on that.”

The inquest was adjourned until a future date so the psychiatrists who allowed Mr Simkin’s unescorted leave can be called to give evidence.         

Detectives hunt suspect in £10m mortgage fraud probe

Detectives hunting the ringleader of a  £10 million-plus mortgage fraud have released a photograph of an unknown suspect they wish to quiz.

City of London Police raided five businesses in the capital in their search for fraudsters behind the scam which targeted well-known high street banks in 2007 and last year.

DC Julian Brown of the force's Economic Crime Department said : "Our enquiries have so far failed to positively identify a woman (pictured right) who has used the names Joanne Pier and Zoe Fletcher.

"We would appeal for anybody who knows of her whereabouts to get in touch with City of London Police."

The suspect is aged 30 to 35, 5 feet 5" tall with connections in London and Scotland and may speak with a South African accent.

Two Arrests in £50 million Investment Fund Fraud

Police probing a  £50million-plus fund management fraud centered around three disgraced financial institutions made dawn raids in London and Surrey resulting in the arrests of two suspects.

The companies : Business Consulting International (BCI) of 1 Relton Mews, Knightsbridge; John Anderson Consulting and Kenneth Peacock Consulting had their operations frozen by the Financial Services Authority last year and police called in.

City of London Police probing the alleged mishandling of millions of pounds of investors funds made the early morning swoops on three addresses and arrested a 40 year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and fraud by misrepresentation.

A 43 year-old man later surrendered himself to a police station within the square mile  and was also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and fraud by misrepresentation.

The FSA has also issued proceedings against three individuals linked to the consultancies for allegedly taking unlawful deposits and running an unauthorised collective investment scheme.

Det Insp David Manley, from the City of London Police, said: "We are working in partnership with the FSA to tackle this complex investment fraud that involves hundreds of victims and losses suspected to run into tens of millions of pounds.

"It is vitally important for people who have been involved with, or suspect they could be a victim of BCI, John Anderson Consulting and Kenneth Peacock Consulting to contact the City of London Police as soon as possible.

At this early stage, we would like to speak to as many of the investors as possible to maximize the opportunities for gathering evidence to provide a clearer picture to the investigation team."

Jonathan Phelan, Head of Enforcement at the FSA, said: "We are working closely with the police to help investors who might have been victims of this alleged large scale fraud. Anyone who has been in contact with these companies should get in touch with the police."

Police promotions up for grabs in Tomlinson death case

Police insiders claim senior officers will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of "crucifying" the riot cop caught on video shoving newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson to the ground during the G20 protest in the City.

"Stage one was damage limitation," revealed a Met P.C. "The shutters would have come down and the case probably successfully covered up, but the video evidence has put an end to that."

Now a second post-mortem has confirmed the cause of death as internal bleeding with the officer involved being quizzed in relation to manslaughter.

"It is common knowledge some senior officers see crucifying fellow officers as the quickest way to promotion," added the cop. "It will be a few more pips on the shoulder for whoever is involved in either prosecuting the officer or leading the enquiry."

Mr Tomlinson,47, died a few minutes after an unnamed riot cop first struck him from behind with a baton then violently shoved him to the pavement during the April 1 anti-capitalism demo.

The official Home Office Pathologist Dr. Freddy Patel's initial post-mortem resulted in the cause of death given as heart failure.

A second pathologist, Dr. Nat Cary, called in by the Independent Police Complaints Commission disagreed and ruled Mr Tomlinson died from an abdominal haemorrhage.

That finding and the damning video is a nightmare for the Met who now have a cause celebre on their hands and the prospect of a high-profile criminal court case or inquest with the prospect of a jury returning an unlawful killing verdict.

The officer caught on video, a member of the so-called elite Territorial Support Group, reportedly collapsed at home with a panic attack after the video came to light and is currently on sick leave.