Teenage Girl Molested In Street: Do You Know This Suspect?

Police hunting a sexual predator, who molested a 13 year-old girl early one morning, have released this CCTV image of their suspect.

The teenager reported being approached by a man in Norfolk Road, Thornton Heath at 6.48am on November 21, last year.

The suspect grabbed the victim, dragged her along the road, and sexually assaulted her.

Following a struggle the girl managed to escape.

The suspect is described as a black male, 5ft 6ins tall, with hair in cornrows. 

At the time of the offence he was wearing a black puffer jacket, grey trousers and black shoes.

Detective Constable Penelope Rea investigating said: “I am very keen to hear from anyone who can identify the male in the picture. 

“If you think you have seen this male or know who he is please get in touch.

“Your call could remove a criminal from your area or you could help eliminate someone from our enquiries.”

The child continues to be supported by specially trained officers.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting 3835365/19, Tweet @MetCC or call independently charity Crimestoppers 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111.

NOT GUILTY: Ex-Met Cop Poster Girl Cleared Of Info Leak

A former poster girl for the Met’s firearms unit was cleared on Friday of leaking confidential information after claiming she was exposing ‘corruption and prejudice’ against BAME staff within the police watchdog organisation.

Carol Rita Howard, 41, worked on a short-term contract as an investigator for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which she later took to an employment tribunal.

She lost the £144,000 race claim after the tribunal heard she complained of victimisation whenever she was unhappy at work.

Howard brought 33 allegations against the IPCC, but her ‘witch hunt’ claim was ruled to be groundless.

While at the IPCC she sent 101 emails from her work account to her personal hotmail account, which included sensitive personal information of police investigations, Croydon Crown Court heard.

Howard, of Coulsdon Road, Coulsdon always admitted then passing on the information to her solicitor, but insisted this was to assist her “whistleblower” case against the IPCC.

She claims the IPCC discriminated against Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff.

In 2014 she successfully won a £37,000 pay-out from her former employer The Metropolitan Police after it was ruled she was “bullied, harassed and victimised” while one of only two black officers in the 700-strong Diplomatic Protection Group.

The jury took around thirty minutes to unanimously acquit her of one count of unlawfully obtaining personal information under the Data Protection Act between March 28, 2017 and April 6, 2017, including victims, witnesses and service users.

They also found her not guilty of another count under the Act of unlawfully disclosing the same personal information to her solicitor between the same dates.  

The former Lambeth and Croydon borough officer’s gun-toting image was used on security posters at the 2012 London Olympics and she served The Met between 2001 and 2014.

The court heard she was hired by the IPCC on October 31, 2016 and did not deny accessing the information, which included the probe of a serving police officer, accused of sexual offences and sending it to her solicitor.

“She admitted forwarding the emails to herself and sending them to her solicitor,” prosecutor Eva Niculiu told the jury. 

“Her reasons for sending them out was to get legal advice for her ‘whistle-blowing’ employment tribunal claims of corruption and prejudice at the IPCC against BAME staff.”

Howard was employed by the IPCC for approximately five months. “Her employment ended on the basis of suspected security breaches,” explained the prosecutor.

“In the days up to April 6, 2017, 101 emails had been sent from the defendant’s IPCC email address to her personal hotmail address and all of these contained personal data.

“She also retained a copy of her ‘blue book’, which was used to report on her work at the IPCC during investigations.”

The IPCC reported Howard to the Information Commissioners Office, which prosecuted the case and interviewed her under caution on September 5, 2018.

“When she was questioned he said: ‘I clicked on the emails. I didn’t go through every document.’

“She had daily access to personal information,” added Ms Niculiu. “The IPCC is a public body overseeing complaints made against the police in England and Wales.

“On her first day at work at the IPCC the defendant signed a security procedure form, agreeing not to disclose information.”

The IPCC has since re-branded itself as The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

X-Factor Star Gets Suspended Prison Sentence For Iceland Race Assault

Former X-Factor star Rachel Hylton received a suspended prison sentence yesterday for screaming at an Iceland supermarket worker: “You f***ing black man. Go back to Africa.”

The 38 year-old singer, who made the Series 5 final, claimed the colour of her skin meant she was innocent of a crime, telling police: “How can I be racist? I’m black myself.”

Hylton, now living in a Croydon B&B was caught stealing £26 worth of food from the store and also grabbed the man’s neck and pressed her finger into the face of a female staff member.

“These were racial words. It is not acceptable is it?” magistrate Terry Carpenter told her. “You can’t abuse anyone racially.

“We have heard you say you can’t be racist because you are black, but it is possible to be racist to someone of the same colour.”

Hylton, of Japstow Hotel, Campbell Road pleaded guilty to stealing food items from the local Surrey Street store on February 16, last year.

She also pleaded guilty to assaulting Peter Njoku; using racially aggravated threatening behaviour towards him and assaulting Abigail Kelly.

Prosecutor Nahiedh Khan told Croydon Magistrates Court on Friday it was 2.50pm when Mr. Njoku spotted Hylton placing items into her shopping trolley and walk past the check-out tills.

“He approached her and asked to see inside the trolley, but she refused, claiming the contents had been purchased at another store.

Hylton: X-Factor to Z-Factor

“The trolley was opened and the food items found inside and then the defendant started shouting and arguing with the sales assistant and security guard.”

The court heard Hylton shouted: ‘He’s a f***ing African. You f***ing black man. Go back to Africa.”

The prosecutor explained: “She was arguing and pushed Mr. Njoku and threw two shopping baskets at him and shouted abuse at other members of staff.

“She grabbed hold of Mr. Njoku’s neck and demanded the return of her bag, saying her mobile phone was inside.

“She threatened a female member of staff, shouting in her face and poked her aggressively in the face with her finger, saying she would come back to beat her up.”

Hylton left, but when she returned hours later to apologise and retrieve her bag she was arrested.

She had taken chicken, strawberry cheesecake, ice cream, lamb chops and other food items.

Her lawyer Shelly Burroughs told the court: “She has struggled with substance abuse issues for some time and has voluntarily sought treatment after this incident.”

Hylton has attended sessions with Croydon’s Turning Point -  a drug and alcohol recovery service. “She is hoping to go into residential treatment.

“She is stable and has moved accommodation because where she was, was unhealthy and she has sought to live a drug-free life.

“She is not impressed by her behaviour that day and is remorseful. It was very unpleasant and she has seen herself on CCTV.”

Hylton was sentenced to twelve weeks imprisonment, suspended for twelve months, ordered to pay £50 compensation to each victim, plus £85 costs.

Rabbi Gets 8-Year Driving Ban For Mowing Down Two Pedestrians

Rabbi Berisch leaving Harrow Crown Court

A Rabbi, who lost control of a powerful Jag while parking it for an elderly lady - mowing down two pedestrians and demolishing a pharmacy - has received an eight-year driving ban.  

Ralph Berisch, 75, of Woodstock Avenue, Golders Green was sentenced to twenty-two months imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered to complete sixty hours community service work.

He was captured on CCTV carrying one terrified man, 44, who thought he was going to die, on the bonnet of the car and colliding with an OAP, 79, who made what he thought was a final prayer.

A Harrow Crown Court jury unanimously convicted Berisch of two counts of causing serious injury while driving dangerously in Golders Green Road on March 28, 2018. 

He lost control of the lady’s car after agreeing to help her park it and kosher butcher David Richards suffered 13 fractures to his left leg and pensioner Simon Elkouby also received a leg break and broken toe.

“When asked for help you agreed and the roads and pavements were busy as Passover approached,” Judge Rosa Dean told the rabbi.

“You did not pause as you should have done to adjust the seat and familiarise yourself with a car far more powerful then yours. A car in the wrong hands is a lethal weapon.

“You reversed the car at speed, you put too much pressure on the accelerator and crashed into the car behind you. You should have paused, but you put it into drive and pressed the accelerator.

“This was very bad driving. The distressing footage clearly shows the devastation you caused and it is a miracle no-one was killed. Two people suffered serious injury and the shop was destroyed.

“Maybe because it was glass-fronted their lives were spared. I shudder to think what would have happened to those two men if it was a wall.

Rabbi mowing down pedestrians

“One onlooker thought a terror attack was unfolding and Mr. Richards still walks with a limp, needs a crutch and cannot walk long distances and I salute his remarkable stoicism and he holds no bitterness towards you.”

Over £70,000 of damage was done to ‘Victoria Pharmacy’ and the Jag remains damaged in a pound. 

“Mr. Elkouby said what he thought were his final prayers while trapped under the car and he suffered broken bones and severe bruising.

“I accept this was a dreadful accident and I accept you are sorry although I don’t think you have really taken responsibility for your actions and you were not a particularly impressive witness,” the judge told Berisch.”

The rabbi resumed driving short distances to his synagogue and to local shops three months after the incident, but this was criticised by the Judge Dean. “That you continued to drive some time after I think was unwise.”    

Although his own vehicle, a Toyota Yaris was also an automatic the X-type Jag was over twice as powerful and the rabbi lost control in a few seconds.

Mr. Richards said: “I heard a really, really loud excessive revving behind me and the next thing I was on the bonnet, hurtling at speed.

“I thought I was going to die and at the last second it swerved into a pharmacy. I realised my leg was broken and everything was blurry.

“I know the Rabbi behind the wheel, he is a good man it was one hundred per cent and accident and he will be suffering. It has effected my life, but I’m happy to be alive.”

Seconds from disaster: Berisch at the wheel

Mr. Elkouby saw the car coming toward him, but did not have time to avoid being struck and carried into the pharmacy.

He later told police: “A car came across the pavement and hit me directly as I tried to escape. I lost consciousness and woke up under the car and said a prayer as I thought I was going to die.”

An obviously distressed Berisch told police on the scene: “I put the car in drive, I don’t know what happened. It took off, I couldn’t control it.”

His lawyer Rachna Gokani told the court: “He wants the court to know how sorry he is for what happened and at the scene he was asking how were the injured individuals.

“Both men have been warm and kind and generous toward him and Rabbi Berisch visited the pharmacy and apologised to the owner.

“For six months his family say he was a shell of himself and depressed. He was trying to help someone he knew.

“He accepts he must be punished for these serious offences and community service gives him the chance to give back to the community he has harmed.”

Ex-Met Police Firearms Poster Girl Denies Taking Sensitive Info

A former poster girl for the Metropolitan Police’s firearms unit unlawfully took sensitive personal information to expose ‘corruption and prejudice’ against Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff, a court heard.

Carol Rita Howard, 41, worked on a short-term contract as an investigator for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which she later took to an employment tribunal.

The former Lambeth and Croydon borough officer’s gun-toting image was used on security posters at the 2012 London Olympics and she served The Met between 2001 and 2014.

Croydon Crown Court heard she was hired by the IPCC on October 31, 2016 and does not deny accessing the information, which included the probe of a serving police officer, accused of sexual offences and sending it to her solicitor.

“She admitted forwarding the emails to herself and sending them to her solicitor,” prosecutor Eva Niculiu told the jury. 

“Her reasons for sending them out was to get legal advice for her ‘whistle-blowing’ employment tribunal claims of corruption and prejudice at the IPCC against BAME staff.”

Howard was employed by the IPCC for approximately five months. “Her employment ended on the basis of suspected security breaches,” explained the prosecutor.

“In the days up to April 6, 2017, 101 emails had been sent from the defendant’s IPCC email address to her personal hotmail address and all of these contained personal data.

“She also retained a copy of her ‘blue book’, which was used to report on her work at the IPCC during investigations.

The IPCC reported Howard to the Information Commissioners Office, which is prosecuting the case and interviewed her under caution on September 5, 2018.

“When she was questioned he said: ‘I clicked on the emails. I didn’t go through every document.’

“She had daily access to personal information,” added Ms Niculiu. “The IPCC is a public body overseeing complaints made against the police in England and Wales.

“On her first day at work at the IPCC the defendant signed a security procedure form, agreeing not to disclose information.”

The IPCC has since re-branded itself as The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

The mum-of-one, of Coulsdon Road, Coulsdon has pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawfully obtaining personal information under the Data Protection Act between March 28, 2017 and April 6, 2017, including victims, witnesses and service users.

She also pleads not guilty to another count under the Act of unlawfully disclosing the same personal information to her solicitor between the same dates.

The trial is expected to last four days……….. 

Trial Collapses: Shambles Or Sabotage?

Cleared: Jefferson Alves Brito

A former model agency boss, accused of a naked drunken rampage in a tycoon’s £2m Knightsbridge flat, has been cleared by a judge who condemned the police and Crown Prosecution Service.

Jefferson Alves Brito, 33, was said to have downed vodka direct from the bottle while demanding food from the housekeeper, who was so scared she called her husband to the address.

Brito, of Academy Place, Isleworth always denied shoving the housekeeper and pushing a kitchen table into her husband at the Cadogan Square flat on September 21, last year.

He was found not guilty of assaulting Mrs Dinka Stoyanova and Mr Borislav Stoyanova by District Judge Angus Hamilton, who announced: “This trial has descended into a farce.”

Brazil-born Brito is the former director of a dissolved company called Dashingmodels Ltd.

The alleged victims struggled to understand prosecution questions and gave no incriminating evidence against Brito.

The owner of the property, Elie Taktouk, had originally accused Brito of destroying high-end property at the address, but this was dropped at the defendant's first Crown Court appearance.

Police investigating the complaint confirmed both witnesses had a good grasp of the English language, but there was no evidence of this during the trial.

Both witnesses had no interpreter to assist them and struggled to understand prosecutor Angela O’Dwyer’s questions at Hendon Magistrates Court.

Brito was also originally charged with causing £42,000 worth of damage to 5 paintings; 2 statues; glassware; candle holders; flooring; rugs; clothing and a mattress belonging to businessman Elie Taktouk.    

This charge was dropped at Isleworth Crown Court, but the CPS continued with the assault charges, with the police officer in charge failing to note the complainants had issues with the english language.

“Nothing that has been said would allow me to convict Mr Brito,” said DJ Hamilton after hearing the confused evidence. “The blame lies entirely with the police and prosecution here.

“The questions were met with utter incomprehension. This is totally unsatisfactory that the case is in this state.

“I am never going to be sure two assaults were committed.

“I am very unhappy. This case emphasises everything that is currently wrong with the criminal justice system and that an officer says Mrs Stoyanova’s english is adequate is astonishing.”

Earlier Ms O’Dwyer said: “The defendant pushed a chair and kitchen table into the husband, contacting his chin, chest and stomach and she was later pushed.”

Mr Stoyanova told the court: “He was naked, drunk and threw glass on the floor and was drinking vodka from the bottle and he was so aggressive, swearing all the time.

“He took a picture from the wall, put it on the bed and tried to jump on it,” he added, failing to give any evidence of the assault allegation.

Mrs Stoyanova said trouble continued for 5-6 hours up to around 10pm. “He put pictures on the sofa and wanted to jump on top  and took a knife and wanted to scratch them.”

She claimed Brito pushed her ”two or three times,” but described it as nothing more than gently placing his hands on her shoulders, which DJ Hamilton ruled couldn’t be disproved as self-defence by the defendant.

“I am horrified that people who say they are victims of crime have been let down by the CPS and the police,” said the judge. “This case is a horrifying mess on anyones opinion.

“It is in such a woeful state the only option is to dismiss both matters. I can never be sure these people were assaulted.

“I am complaining that I cannot judge this case on its merits. It is ridiculous that statement was taken in a manner that suggested she spoke english.

“When you get this day in and day out it gets to you after a while and victims of crime are not getting a fair hearing. It is annoying and nobody takes responsibility.”

He asked the prosecutor to communicate his feelings to the CPS.

Movie Man Accepts Police Caution

An award-winning movie industry boss, who has worked on multiple Hollywood films, has received a police caution for assaulting two men at a landmark St. James’s building, a court heard yesterday.

Robin Pizzey, 47, is the director of Soho-based Goldcrest Post Production Facilities and won an award for his work on Margaret Thatcher bio ‘The Iron Lady’ - starring Meryl Streep.

At Westminster Magistrates Court the Crown Prosecution Service announced both charges had been dropped after Pizzey accepted a caution from police, who usually require some degree of admission from the accused. 

Pizzey, of Bridgewater Road, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was charged with assaulting Samir Tharani and Reece Tharani-Gayton at Carlton House Terrace on December 14.

The building - a Grade I listed Georgian townhouse - is the HQ of the British Academy for Humanities and Social Sciences. 

Pizzey has 92 credits for visual effects in films and television shows, including ’Stan & Ollie’; Murder on the Orient Express’; ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’; ‘Jason Bourne’; both Inbetweeners movies; ‘Quantum of Solace and Eddie the Eagle.

He has 52 credits for Editorial Department, including ‘Captain Philips’ and ‘Alpha Papa’.

In 2012 the Hollywood Post Alliance gave him the award for outstanding colour grading for ‘The Iron Lady’.

Jockey Saddled With Penalty Points

A flat-race jockey has been found guilty of being in charge of his silver Mercedes car while over the drinks limit at Heathrow Airport.

Slade O'Hara, 36, was not driving the five-door hatchback at the time so avoided an automatic disqualification, but was hit with ten penalty points on his driving licence.

The winner of fifty-three horse races, of Church Road, King's Lynn, Wolferton, Norfolk was fined £261, with £85 costs and ordered to pay a £32 victim surcharge.

He pleaded guilty to being in charge of the vehicle, while unfit through drink, on the Terminal Two forecourt on January 26.

The biggest win of O'Hara's racing career was the Group Two Temple Stakes at Haydock Park in 2009 when he rode Look Busy to victory.

Between 2002 and 2016 he secured 53 victories, netting prize money of approximately £440,000.

Chelsea Man Guilty Of Assault

A Chelsea man, who fought a charge of assaulting woman in west London, has been banned from contacting her after being convicted.

Oliver Spitzer, 28, of Daska House, King's Road was found guilty of assaulting Erika Toth in nearby Ealing on October 5, last year.

He protested his innocence and stood trial at Uxbridge Magistrates Court.

After being convicted he was bailed to return for a pre-sentence report.

Spitzer was sentenced to a twelve-month community order, which includes 150 hours community service.

He was also ordered to pay £120 compensation to the victim, £620 costs and a £90 victim surcharge.

The Crown Prosecution Service also successfully applied for a two-year restraining order prohibiting Spitzer contacting Erika Toth.

HOWZAT!: Ex-Cricketer Caught Out By Cops

Court In The Slips: Malcolm-Hansen

A former county cricketer caught driving his BMW while over double the drinks limit has been fined and banned from the roads.

English-born Danish cricketer Richard Johan Anders Malcolm-Hansen, 33, played internationally and for Loughborough University and Leicestershire.

He represented Denmark between 2005 and 2008, including their 2005 ICC trophy campaign.

Malcolm-Hansen, of Caroline House, Dorset Road, Beckenham fought the charge, but was convicted of driving the black BMW 325 in nearby Kent House Road on September 8, last year with excess alcohol in his breath.

He gave a reading of 85 microgrammes of alcohol – the legal limit is 35.

At Bexley Magistrates Court he was fined £1500, with £310 costs, ordered to pay a £150 victim surcharge and was disqualified from driving for twenty months.

Malcolm-Hansen batted right-hand and bowled right-arm offbreak during a career that also included stints with Kent and Beckenham Cricket Club.