Eight-Times Banned Driver Caged For Hit-And-Run Death Crash

An uninsured banned driver - serving his eighth disqualification - was "driving like an idiot" when he crashed into an oncoming car while speeding on the wrong side of the road - killing the lone female occupant.

Steven Palmer, 28, (pic.bottom) who has an "appalling" driving record lost control on a bend while exceeding 60-66 mph in a 50mph zone and crashed into a black Audi TT driven by 38 year-old Louise Clark.

"You left that scene immediately after," Judge John Dennis told Palmer yesterday at Isleworth Crown Court, jailing him for five-and-half years. "There was no attempt to go to Miss Clark with succour or call the emergency services and your driving record is appalling"

Palmer has a previous dangerous driving conviction when his vehicle crashed through the front of a house and ended up in an OAP lady's living-room during a police chase, plus convictions for aggravated vehicle taking; drink driving and driving while disqualified and without a licence and insurance.

"This case concerns the tragic and unnecessary death of Louise Clark, a young woman of thirty-eight," Judge Denniss told Palmer. "You have heard about the devastating effect your driving had on that family.

"She was a gregarious young woman……deeply loved by those that knew her."

Palmer had borrowed a pal's blue Honda Civic hire car and was seen tailgating another vehicle and overtaking it at speed moments before he crashed into Miss Clark (pic.top) at 6.30pm in Harvil Road, Uxbridge on December 30, last year.

The collision left her trapped inside her vehicle with shattered legs and multiple injuries, including a serious brain injury, and she was cut from the wreckage by the fire brigade and rushed by air ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, but her life support machine was switched off on January 8 after suffering numerous strokes.

Prosecutor Mr. Paul Cavin said witness James Baker was following the speeding Palmer along the unlit semi-rural road, which has several dips and humps, and told police: "It overtook as it crested one of the humps and was either all or almost all on the wrong side of the road.

"It continued driving fast and continued out of sight. I thought he was driving like an idiot."

Moments later he arrived at the crash scene, but Palmer had fled and after initially refusing to surrender to police, who had his DNA from blood on the driver-side door, have gave himself up the day Miss Clark died.

"He must have been travelling well in excess of the speed limit, despite warning signs, plus a warning side of a double bend and 'slow' written on the tarmac," explained Mr. Cavin.

Globe-trotter Miss Clark, of Ickenham, had visited 50 countries, worked at a Harefield bar and had two younger brothers.

In a victim impact statement read to the packed courtroom, full of relatives for the victim and the defendant, her mother Beryl said: "Losing a daughter in such a callous and devastating way has taken away her life and our lives.

"Louise was a very family-orientated daughter, who loved life and loved her family…..Everyday is unbearable, but you carry on. You have to.

"We will never see her married or see her children or the grandchildren she would have given us.

"I saw Harvil Road blocked off by the police and as soon as we saw the police at our front door we knew something tragic had happened."

Beryl described the "nine agonising days" her daughter clung to life. "Every day the doctors gave us a glimmer of hope and then took it away.

"A future without her scares me. We are left with a deep ache of emptiness without her…that will for ever break our hearts."

Palmer's lawyer Mr. Selwyn Shapiro said: "The defendant didn't intend to cause death or serious injury. This was a catastrophic misjudgment case."

Judge Denniss told Palmer: "Mercifully she was unconscious and was so immediately after the collision. The impact was avoidable and was caused by your dangerous driving.

"You have never had a driving licence and have committed offences after offences of driving dangerously or disqualified and have been sent to prison for it."

He also disqualified Palmer for six years and ordered him to pass an extended driving test before he is ever granted a licence.

Palmer pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing death while disqualified and uninsured.

The maximum sentence is fourteen years imprisonment.

Afterwards, Louise's family released this statement: “Louise was a loving daughter, a sister who was a joy to be with, a caring aunt, a supportive grand-daughter and cousin who was a very best friend.

“Her death is an unimaginable torment and a raw pain every morning when we wake and every night when we try to sleep.

“We would like to praise the police for their unstinting support to us during this time.

“They have been all you could wish for – in particular Bruce Wilson and Stephen Pidgeon of the Northolt Collision Investigation Unit.

“We struggle to come to terms with why Louise should have been deprived of her life and future while Steven Palmer has his.

“We cannot understand the justice of our family suffering the death of Louise when Steven Palmer is still alive and his family still have him.

“What we and her many, many friends are enduring is made worse by how she died needlessly at the hands of Steven Palmer, who despite his protestations of remorse, is and will remain a danger to the public by his driving.

“He has an appalling record and far from learning from his court appearances and imprisonment, has progressed to what was almost inevitable – killing an innocent young woman.

“His present protestations of remorse are the result of being caught and an attempt to receive a lesser sentence.

“A man with an ounce of compassion for his actions would not have fled the crash to save his skin, leaving Louise barely alive in her wrecked car.

“A man with a conscience would not seek to hide from the police for nine days while Louise was fighting for her life in hospital with her grieving family at her bedside.

“A man taking responsibility for his actions would not wait to surrender to the police only when he knew arrest was imminent.

“A man with any sense of contrition would not say “no comment” during interviews about her death.

“For the better running of the courts, the law requires Steven Palmer be given a lesser sentence for pleading guilty and saving court time.

“His plea of guilty should be seen in this light and not as evidence of genuine remorse for his actions. He would have been convicted on the evidence.

“We stand here today in grief but who will be standing here the next time Steven Palmer gets behind the wheel of a car and causes another death or injury.

“Will it be yet another family mourning the death of their innocent relative or will it be Steven Palmer’s own family lamenting his death.

“The answer lies in Steven Palmer’s hands, but on his record, the prospects are bleak.”

Detective Sergeant Stephen Pidgeon from the Northolt Collision Investigation Unit said: “Steven Palmer has received a significant sentence today for killing Louise Clark.

“Whilst the Judge has acknowledged his guilty plea this has at least saved Louise’s family and friends the further suffering that the wait for a trial would bring and was no doubt provoked by the strength of the case against him.

“It cannot be ignored that on the 30 December 2012 having caused Louise injuries that would eventually result in her death Palmer left her at the roadside and only surrendered to police as the result of media appeals, arrests of his associates and a number of warrants executed at addresses linked to him.

“It was clear to him that he had no other realistic options but to give himself up.

“I would like to thank Louise’s parents for the trust and support they have shown in my team and whilst I accept that the sentence today can in no way be considered justice for Louise and her family it does send out a warning to others who drive on the road with a complete disregard for the law and the safety of other road users.”

Benefit Cheat Kept £197K Divorce Pay-Out A Secret

A benefit fraudster - granted payments because of her alcoholism - continued pocketing thousands in handouts while keeping her £197,000 divorce settlement a secret.

Kim Sargent, 47, swindled over £50,000, but avoided prison this week after a senior judge declared: "Sentencing policy does not require a court to crush a defendant."

Prosecutor Mr. Silas Reid told Croydon Crown Court: "She legitimately claimed benefits, including income support, because of her inability to work due to alcoholism."

However, Sargent kept her 2007 divorce settlement a secret and for over three years continued claiming benefits despite her bulging bank account.

Sargent, of Penge High Street, Penge pleaded guilty to failing to disclose information regarding her excess capital in relation to claims for income support and housing and council tax benefit between February 19, 2007 and October 18, 2010. 

She also pleaded guilty to fraud by falsely representing she had no capital on November 1 and 14, 2007 in relation to claims for income support and housing and council tax benefit.

A total of £53,281 was overpaid, with the bulk just over £32,000 in housing benefit and the prosecution are pursuing confiscation.

"When questioned she denied the offences and said her mother dealt with all the affairs," added Mr. Reid. "The money is now long gone in relation to the divorce settlement."

The Recorder of Croydon Warwick McKinnon told Sargent: "It is an awful lot of money you obtained that you were not entitled to because you failed to disclose your substantial divorce settlement.

"If you had disclosed it you would not have been entitled to any of the money at all."

Regarding her alcoholism he told Sargent: "That has been a problem for a number of years now."

She was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for twelve months.

OAP Had Loaded Antique Double-Barrelled Pistol In Garden Shed

A pensioner, who kept a loaded 135 year-old double-barrelled pistol in his garden shed, dodged the tough new minimum sentencing rules and escaped prison with a suspended sentence. 

Retired John Bertrum Barnes, 80, (pictured) of Sunningdale Road, Sutton was facing a five-year minimum after the police raid on his suburban home and found the WW1 “trophy”.

He pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to possessing a firearm, without a certificate, namely a 9mm Belgian Flobert Calibre Rimfire tuckaway shot pistol on June 2, last year.

A family dispute brought officers to the defendant's home and after learning of the gun a specialist sniffer-dog found the location of the firearm, which Barnes had refused to divulge.

His lawyer told the court: “The most significant thing for Mr. Barnes is the loss of his good character.

“The fact of his arrest and coming to court and losing his good character has been an enormous event in his life, a matter of extreme significance.

“So many people come to court and don't give a fig about their character, but you will see the effect of his arrest and coming to court has had on his marriage.

“It has been a rollercoaster and traumatic between Mr. and Mrs. Barnes. She is here today and is understandably anxious.

“Happily the question of divorce has passed, but it demonstrates the extraordinary turbulence that has effected Mr. Barnes and his family.”

Judge Stephen Waller, who must sentence such offenders to a minimum of five years imprisonment, except in “exceptional circumstances” told Barnes: “You were found in possession of a firearm and thirty-six rounds of ammunition.

“You did not tell the police where the gun was and police made a search with a firearms dog and it was in an outhouse at the bottom of your garden and loaded with two cartridges.”

The gun is not recognised as a powerful firearm and is best suited to vermin control.

“You told police it was a world war one trophy handed down by your grandfather.

“You also told the police you bought ammunition for it in Frances five years ago to test it and shot at a jam jar.

“You are an intelligent man and you should not have bought ammunition for it and having successfully test-fired it you should not have kept the ammunition.

“You should have sought legal advice. Firearm legislation in the UK is very strict for good reason.”

Barnes was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for twelve months, and ordered to pay £550 costs.

The gun and ammunition were forfeited

Insurance Fraudster Exposed When Son Unknowingly Tipped-Off Investigators

An insurance fraudster, who successfully claimed nearly £17,000 in unemployment mortgage and salary cover, was exposed when his son told investigators: “My dad's at work.”

Mechanic Anwar Dadabhoy, 47, of Lakeside Avenue, Ilford, was recorded by an undercover surveillance team running a local car repair business while pocketing compensation from two insurance companies.

He was even watched driving away from his home early in the morning in a car adorned with his firm's livery.

The first-time offender pleaded guilty at City of London Magistrates' Court today to fraud by false representation between August 16, 2011 and March 2, last year in relation to £8,885 in mortgage protection insurance paid by Aviva.

He also pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation between August 14, 2011 and June 10, last year in relation to £6,110 in employment insurance paid by AGEAS.

Prosecutor Mrs Kerry Roder told the court Dadabhoy (pictured) put in claims on both policies, declaring he had become unemployed on August 13, 2011.

“From time to time checks were made and on January the eighth, last year a call was made to the defendant's home and the person who answered said they were Mr. Dadabhoy's son and that he was at work.”

The next day the defendant tried to dig himself out of trouble by contacting his insurers.

“He said his son was not well and that he had been out at the Jobcentre the previous day.”

A surveillance operation was mounted, which recorded Dadabhoy regularly leaving for work at 8am in a Smart car adorned with a AD Motors advertising.

“He was seen working on vehicles and wearing latex gloves and gave an undercover investigator his business car and a quote to inspect a vehicle,” 
explained Mrs Roder.

“He was seen dealing hands-on with inspections and repairs even though he declared he was still unemployed and had not taken on work.

“He later said he was suffering with depression and was doing voluntary work at his son's garage.”

Dadabhoy was questioned at home on July 4, last year and admitted he was the sole owner of AD Motors, but had ceased trading on April 27 due to lack of custom.

He agreed to repay his insurers at the rate of £50 per month and has paid £200 so far.

The insurers also incurred additional costs of £2,941 in surveillance and investigation charges and a confiscation order is being sought.

Because the magistrates are limited to making confiscation orders up to only £5,000 Dadabhoy was bailed to appear at the Old Bailey for sentencing on a date to be fixed.

Five Years For Rapist

A Croydon rapist is starting a five-year sentence after he was convicted by a jury of the offence.

Sean Leroy Clarke, 36, (pictured) of Sundridge Road, Addiscombe denied the charge throughout and forced the victim to give evidence of her ordeal.

Clarke was found guilty at Croydon Crown Court of raping the woman at a flat in Sanderstead Road, Sanderstead on June 28, last year.

He was told he will have to serve half of the sentence in custody before he is relased on licence.

Clarke was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

Schoolteacher Accused Of Touching Teen And Sending Flirtatious Online Messages

A french language schoolteacher touched and slapped a 14 year-old pupil's bottom and called the boy "sexy" and "honey" during Facebook chats that continued into the summer holidays, a court heard.

Teacher Arnaud Barge, 38, (pictured) repeatedly spanked the teen in a "jokey fashion" in front of classmates and would tuck the boy's school shirt into the front of his trousers.

"He said Mr. Barge made sexually suggestive comments towards him and paid him more attention than others in the class," prosecutor Mr. James Dawes told the Croydon Crown Court jury.

"He said for the last couple of years he would touch him on the bottom in a jokey fashion and this touching and these comments made the boy very uncomfortable."

Barge, of St. Paul Street, Islington has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust between June 19, 2009 and December 2, 2011.

The court heard Barge was a respected teacher at the Orpington's Priory secondary school, but was suspended in December, 2011 after the pupil reported him to another member of staff.

The boy shared Facebook messages Barge sent him during the 2010 summer holiday which read: "Oh darling. I'm loving our little game," and "Night, night. Kiss, kiss."

Other messages included: "How's my favourite little poker?" and "I know you're not that bad sexy."

Mr. Dawes explained: "The staff were alarmed by such messages between a boy of that age and a teacher in his late thirties."

Barge was questioned by the head teacher. "He said he may have touched him, but did not intend the boy to feel uncomfortable and said he had not spanked his bottom."

One of the boy's classmates was also spoken to. "He said Mr. Barge would stand a little closer to the boy and sometimes pull up his trousers and tuck his shirt in, putting his hand down the front of his trousers, not too far, but enough to tuck his shirt in.

"The same classmate said Mr. Barge once approached a group of boy's and asked if they were talking about the complainant's balls," explained Mr. Dawes.

"He also slapped the complainant's bottom ten to fifteen times as if it was a joke to the class."

Barge answered "no comment" during his first police interview on December 12, 2011, but when questioned a second time on March 23, last year claimed his attention was motivated by the boy being a "underachiever" and a "target student."

"He denied that he slapped the boy's bottom in class or tucked in his shirt, but accepted the Facebook comments were a mistake and said he should have used a more formal way to contact a pupil," said Mr. Dawes.

"He said he meant nothing sexual, but it was just the way he is and described himself as a lively person."

Trial continues……………

Bosses Of Indian 'Slave' Who Was Repeatedly Raped And Beaten Convicted

A cruel boss, who repeatedly raped an Indian domestic servant, who was used and abused by him as a “sexual toy” and by two women as a “general dogsbody” have been convicted.

The 39 year-old vulnerable and illiterate mother-of-four became a virtual slave of the family for six years, despite repeated complaints to the police and social services.

She was also scalded with boiling water, burned with a hot iron, beaten and threatened that if she complained her throat would be cut and her body buried in a back garden, Croydon Crown Court heard.

She worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, between October 2004 and October 2010, which even at a minimum wage rate should have seen her paid £172,288. In reality she received just £2,364.

Butcher Enkarta Balapovi, 53, (pic.top) of Charlbert Street, St. John's Wood was convicted of five counts of rape.

Optician Shashi Obhrai, 53, (pic.mid.) of Pembroke Road, Northwood was convicted of causing actual bodily harm and threatening to kill the victim.

Secretary Shamina Yousuf, 33, (pic.bottom) of Pavilion Way, Edgware was convicted of causing actual bodily harm.

All three will be sentenced on May 16.

After the verdicts the victim said: “They have treated me so badly that I worry at night that they will come for me.

“When I think of Salim (Balapovi) I feel like my wounds are reopened. I can't move on - he raped me.

“Shashi Obhrai put a hot iron on my arm when I asked her for my earnings to be paid.

"These people are dangerous they have ruined my life and kept me away from my children. Each should be punished for their wrongdoings."

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Sumner of the Trafficking and Prostitution Unit, said: "This victim came to the UK to earn enough money to provide her children back in India with a better life, but instead the defendants made her own life a living hell for over three years.

"She is deeply traumatised yet found the courage to seek help and face her abusers in court because she does not want these people to able to hurt anyone else."

Prosecutor Miss Caroline Haughey told the jury: "Each of these defendants have collectively and severally taken advantage of her, abusing her in their own way and when she either becomes a threat or a nuisance is passed on to the next party until she is no longer wanted.

"Their view of her has resulted in a prolonged and continued abuse of her.

"Each of the defendants knew of her lack of education, expectation and awareness both in the U.K. and India and used that to get her to comply with their wishes whether as a domestic worker, sexual toy or general dogsbody."

The court heard the victim was never paid her promised wage, had her passport confiscated, was fed scraps and leftovers, including food spat out by the defendant Obhrai's children, and slept in a garage and on the floors of various properties.

"Each of these defendants treated her with contempt, ignoring her basic rights and taking advantage of her naivety, her vulnerability and her ignorance," explained Miss Haughey.

"Tragically various state agencies failed her too, ignoring her repeated pleas for help, not adhering to their own investigative practices, and it could be said ignoring the obvious."

The family successfully applied for a visa, allowing the victim to work in the U.K., promised to pay her £480 per month and she moved into the Pavilion Way address with Yousuf, her husband and their child.

"She slept in the garage or on the floor of the child's room…..She was expected to wash, cook and clean for the family and be at their beck and call.

"Yousuf was short-tempered and aggressive with her," added Miss Haughey. "She recalls being beaten around the head, causing her ears to bleed, and Yousuf poured boiling water over her hands and forbid her to receive any medical treatment."

When Yousuf threw a cup at the victim, causing a two inch cut to her foot, she was arrested, but the husband threatened her into dropping the allegation and the police did not pursue the complaints she made to them.

After two years and eight months with the couple, who paid just £24 for that period, the victim escaped with the help of a Pakistani stranger at a supermarket.

Desperate to get her passport back she agreed to move in with Balapovi and his wife, where she massaged their legs and feet and was forced to work for £2-per hour at a sandwich shop downstairs.

"It was while at this address she was subjected to a catalogue of sexual assaults by Balapovi," said Miss Haughey, explaining the first incident involved the defendant ripping off the victim's pyjamas and raping her on the only bed in the flat.

"She describes how this happened repeatedly, usually on weekends, Mondays and Tuesdays. She says it happened for: 'As long as I lived in the house'."

After four months with the couple the victim was assisted by a charity and her rape complaints reported to the police, but she was then handed over to Obhrai and her ordeal continued.

Her daily routine included cooking for eight people, washing, cleaning, looking after Obhrai's sick mother and enduring beatings, hair pulling and threats at the hands of the defendant - eventually leaving her no option but to attempt suicide by slashing her wrists.

She was hospitalised after being pushed down a flight of stairs, struck with a rolling pin, burned with a hot iron and suffered stomach cramps and vomiting when forced to eat out of date food, the jury were told.

Again the victim fled and reported the abuse to police, but no action was taken and the beatings continued, with Obhrai threatening to slit her throat and bury her in the back garden.

Eventually she contacted the charity Kalayaan, which campaigns for justice for migrant workers, who referred her to the U.K. Human Trafficking Centre and an investigation began.

Fake Cancer Conwoman Jailed For £20K School Scam

A primary school teaching assistant, who tricked her friends and work colleagues into believing she had terminal brain cancer in a £20,000 scam, has been jailed for eighteen months.

Mother-of-four Ursula Rose, 42, (pic.top) had a fundraiser to finance private Harley Street treatment and concerned colleagues plunged themselves into debt by taking out loans or withdrawing money from their own childrens' accounts to help.

"You were very much admired by your colleagues and they believed you when you said you had a brain tumour," Croydon Crown Court Judge Jeremy Gold QC told her. 

"This was a gross betrayal of their trust. Good people with the best of intentions were completely taken in by your lies.

"You even forged documents to continue your fraud and your fraud, I'm afraid to say, must be categorised as calculated and wicked.

"It makes it all the more sad that you used your effervescent personality to deceive those who trusted you."

Rose, of 32 Westgate Road, South Norwood - who worked at the local Saint Thomas Becket school (pic.bottom) - denied she invented the illness, claiming the victims volunteered to help her through money troubles, even describing her self as the victim of a "witch hunt."

Prosecutor Miss claire Robinson told the court: "The Crown allege that Ursula Rose repeatedly made false representations to friends and work colleagues that she was suffering from cancer, that she had tumours in her head.

"She did this to get their sympathy, to get loans of money from them. This was dishonest and calculated to make people feel sorry for her.

"Over a number of years she repeatedly told friends and colleagues that she was severely ill with cancer and she was doing it in order to gain money from people."

Fellow teaching assistant Gillian Trype (pic.mid.) gave the defendant £3,000 after Rose convinced her she feared dying on the operating theatre table during a £37,000 private operation and felt her husband would not cope financially.

"She told her and others that the brain tumours were growing aggressively and she was going for daily chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.

"She was told by Ursula Rose that one of the tumours was wrapped around a main artery near her temple and it could kill her at any moment.

"She said it was terminal and at level four and she needed an operation that was too dangerous for the NHS so was paying thirty-seven thousand pounds to go private.

"Mrs Trype's two daughters had money in their savings and she borrowed that, intending to repay it with a lump sum from her pension," explained Miss Robinson.

Rose took time off work for the non-existent 'operation' and when she returned told colleagues it had been partially successful, but a £7,000 American wonder drug could combat the remaining life-threatening tumour.

In June, 2009 staff attended a fundraiser at Croydon's Bar Txt, contributing to a collection aimed at raising money for the new drug.

Another member of staff, Allison Patmore, gave Rose £6,500 as a deposit on a £40,000 private Harley Street operation - again claiming it was too dangerous for the NHS.

Mrs Patmore took out a £6,200 loan, plus £300 cash from her bank account, accepting Rose's claim she would be repaid when her home was remortgaged.

Rose told long-time friend Michelle Willis she had only six months to live and needed a strong dose of radiotherapy - knowing her pal had money remaining from a recent house sale.

Mrs Willis gave her £5,000 and a few weeks later Rose asked for another £5,500 to avoid her home being repossessed. The friend convinced her own daughter, Sarah, to give Rose the money.

Eventually the school's headmaster, Noel Campbell, received confirmation from Rose's doctor at Mayday University hospital that she never had cancer.

"He said she did not, and never had, brain tumours, but suffered from tension-like headaches."

Rose then resigned in February, 2010, telling the headmaster she had been given the cancer all-clear and was cured.

During the trial Rose stuck by her denials, telling the jury: "I never said I needed an operation or that I needed money for a special operation in America. I don't know why my work colleagues would say that.

"It seemed like a bit of a witch hunt," complained Rose. "I never sent texts to anyone, saying my cancer was terminal."

The court heard Rose had serious financial problems and after remortgaging her family home in 2007 was left with monthly payments that increased from £800 to £2,000 per month.

Her lawyer Mr. Christopher Bertham said: "Mrs Rose expresses shame and regret and has asked me to say that to the court, and she is sorry for her behaviour.

"At the time she was operating under not only financial stress, but she was stressed gravely about her state of health as well.

"There is no doubt that the fears and concerns that she had were real enough, but her expression of the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis that she told her colleagues did not reflect the truth."

She was convicted of four counts of fraud, by falsely representing that she had a life-threatening illness, on various dates between September 30, 2008 and July 31, 2009.

Compensation proceedings to collect £15,000 owed to her victims have begun.

Five Years Is Just The Tonic For Liquid Cocaine Smuggler

A Wolverhampton teenager, caught at Gatwick Airport trying to smuggle £160,000 worth of liquid cocaine inside bottles of tonic, has been locked-up for five years.

Neiko Nicholas Dinham, 19, of Willenhall Road had just stepped off a flight from Jamaica when he was stopped by officers from the UK Border Agency.

He pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court (pictured) to importing 583 gms of 43% pure cocaine on February 2.

Prosecutor Mr. Julius Capon told the court Dinham was stopped because his luggage was heavier on arrival at Gatwick than the weight recorded on departure from Montego Bay – indicating what customs describe as a “rip in.”

The smuggling operation involved corrupt baggage handlers adding the tonic bottles to Dinham's luggage after he checked-in.

Dinham claimed he did not visit Jamaica intending to return with cocaine, but bowed to pressure from drug smugglers once on the island.

Care Assistant Gets Ten Months For Cruelty To Mentally Ill OAP's

An abusive care assistant, who sparked a mass cover-up at a home for the mentally-ill after a shocked "whistleblower" - who witnessed systematic cruelty - reported him to social services, was jailed for ten months yesterday.

Police found potentially incriminating documents and official paperwork had been shredded at Bromley's Lauriston House, a seventy-bed residential home for mainly elderly residents suffering dementia, brain damage and other serious disabilities.

Care assistant Marc Harwood, 44, (pic.top) of Howard Way, Bromley denied ill-treating a 92 year-old one-legged female dementia sufferer and two other elderly residents at the home in Bickley Park Road, Bickley.

"The position at the care home was not a happy one and you will hear from care assistant Niluka Ralalage, (pic.bottom) who became shocked at some of the practices going on," prosecutor Mr. Matthew Farmer told the Croydon Crown Court jury.

"She was shocked at the rough treatment and abuse Mr. Harwood meted out to the patients and it is sad to say the management ignored what she told them.

"You could call her a whistleblower and she went to Bromley social services and the subsequent enquiry found the home's management were uncooperative and a lot of documents had been destroyed and shredded.

"Thirteen members of staff were suspended and dismissed, including the manager and assistant manager, and some of the nursing staff were reported to their disciplinary body.

"The culture that was prevalent at the home was one of abuse and neglect."

The court heard 92 year-old Molly Gravenell, who has had one of her legs amputated and is immobile, was being moved from her bed to a wheelchair by Harwood.

"She was being hoisted from her bed and Mr. Harwood was getting angry with her for not bending her remaining leg. It was rigid and fixed, which did happen sometimes.

"He began shouting in Molly's face: 'Bend your bloody leg' and when Niluka intervened told her: 'You're new, you don't know these people, she's a drama queen.'

"His face was twisted and Molly had tears in her eyes as he shouted at her: 'You just eat and sleep. You're a pain in the backside."

On another occasion Molly had a mysterious black eye after Harwood brought her breakfast. 

"He must have seen it and should have reported it so she could get care and attention," explained Mr. Farmer.

Another elderly resident, Cathleen Hill, who had suffered a brain tumour, a stroke and was paralysed down one side and was blind in one eye was being cleaned in her room by Harwood after soiling herself.

"Niluka saw that Mrs Hill was completely naked and Mr. Harwood was extremely angry, shouting: 'Look at this fucking woman. Look at what she's fucking done.'

"He told the resident: 'You're a pain in the backside, kill yourself, cut your throat.

"He said: 'I'm going to fuck you,' and had his thumb extended in front of her, moving it back and forth, simulating sex."

Brain-damaged resident Frank Lord, who was another stroke victim and paralysed down one side, had also soiled himself and was being cleaned by Harwood.

"He was handling him really roughly and flung his arm with a lot of force," explained Mr. Farmer. "Frank was screaming and seemed to be in a lot of pain.

"Mr. Harwood said: 'He's an idiot just a nuisance. He's paralysed, how can he feel pain? He's a drama queen.'

"The screaming continued with Mr. Harwood shouting: 'Don't fuck me or I'll fuck you back' and he slapped Frank really hard on the stomach."

Harwood also pretended he had fed patients when he had not and lied that he had taken them to the toilet and changed their incontinence pads, the jury heard.

Sri Lankan buddhist Miss Ralalage, who still works at the home, told the jury: "I treat the residents like my own parents or grandparents. I have become very close and attached to them."

Harwood was convicted of three counts of ill-treating each patient, wilfully neglecting Mrs Gravenell, assaulting Mr. Lord and wilfully neglecting other unnamed residents between February 1 and August 12, last year.