Barber Shop Murder: Record Label Boss Stabbed Through Heart

Murderer: Anthony Allen

A barber shop customer stabbed a record label boss chasing a debt through the heart when a violent brawl broke out between the pair.

Anthony Allen, 34, of Tillet Close, Harlesden had a knife in his pocket when Crispin Siddon, 34, walked into Cutz Barbers in nearby Craven Park Road.

Siddon – known as DJ Skeng – and the co-owner of GB Records punched Allen in the face, demanding: “Where's my money?”

He was armed with an afro comb, but CCTV pictures in the busy shop showed Allen responding with five jabbing motions while holding what he claimed was a common Swiss Army knife.

He was convicted by an Old Bailey jury of murder and will be sentenced on January 19.

It was the second trial after a jury failed to reach a verdict last year when Allen claimed he was acting in self-defence.

An investigation was launched following the stabbing on Friday, May 5, 2017, by the Homicide and Major Crime Command.

During the fight, Crispin sustained several stab wounds to his body and critically one stab wound to the heart.

He was taken to Central Middlesex Hospital, but was sadly pronounced dead at 3.20pm.

Allen was arrested on Monday, May 8 and charged with murder the following day.Detective Inspector Simon Stancombe said: "On the fifth of May, last year Anthony Allen decided to secrete a knife in his jeans before going out for the day.

“He was not to know that a few hours later he would be involved in a fight with another man, Crispin Siddon.

DJ Skeng - Crispin Siddon

“Allen used that knife to stab Mr. Siddon through his heart, ending his life.

"Mr Siddon was a loving son, brother, father and husband. His family are left mourning his death and wondering how someone could carry a knife so casually and use it in such a callous way."Crispin’s sister Keshia Siddon, said: "I feel as though as piece of me is missing.

“From when I was a baby, my brother looked after me and expressed how much he loved his little sister.

“When our younger sister came along we were both overjoyed. All he wanted was the best for us and for us to make everyone proud.

"When our nephews came along he would always say he wants his sons to do well in education just like his sisters.

"Whenever we were together or on the phone he would say: ‘I love you sis’ and spoke about how he couldn’t wait to see me graduate.

“The last time I was with him the last thing he said to me was: ‘I love you sis, I got you’. This will stay with me forever.

"Words cannot describe how much we miss him."

Maxine Siddon, Crispin’s mother, said: "Crispin encouraged his sisters to work hard and do well in their studies and do better than himself.

“He was a generous person who would always try to help others and could always put a smile on your face if you felt down."

Teen Stabbed His Mother 23 Times

A teen stabbed his mother twenty-three times when cannabis use triggered a violent psychotic episode.

Jamil Jabbie, 19, of Hereford Retreat, Peckham repeatedly plunged the blade into the 51 year-old victim at the address.

He pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to inflicting grievous bodily harm, with intent, on May 17, last year and will be sentenced on January 17.

Police and emergency medical services were called just after 7.19pm to reports of a woman suffering multiple stab injuries.

The victim was taken to hospital in a critical condition, but fortunately survived the ferocious attack.

Jabbie had fled the scene, but was later arrested at an address in Lewisham and charged the next day.

He was originally charged with attempted murder, but a GBH plea was accepted.

Jabbie will remain in custody.

Suspected Bus Pervert Wanted For Allegedly Groping 12 Year-Old Girl

Police are hunting this suspected pervert, who they believe groped a young schoolgirl on a crowded early-morning bus.

Parminder Thindh, 36, is wanted for an allegation of sexual assault against a 12 year-old schoolgirl on an east London bus on July 7, last year.

The schoolgirl boarded a route 101 bus from Manor Park at 8.15am and remained standing.

The suspect boarded the bus near Ruskin Avenue and stood next to the girl.

As the bus became more crowded, he allegedly began to touch her without looking at her.

The victim hoped he would stop touching her, but when he didn't, she got off the bus a stop early and had to push his hand away as she did so.

Thindh is described as 5ft 8ins tall, of medium build.

Detective Constable Lee Warrington, from Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command, said: "We would like to talk to the man pictured about this sexual assault which left the young victim extremely distressed.

“Sexual assaults are totally unforgivable and we will always investigate these types of offences thoroughly.

“If you know how we can reach Mr Thindh, we would like to hear from you."

If you recognise the man pictured, please contact the police on 101 or via Twitter @MetCC.

Alternatively, call Cirmestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.

Scottish Entrepreneur's £125K Headbutt

Headbutt: Mark Emlick

A wealthy Scottish businessman head butted a one-time colleague and friend in a Michelin-starred restaurant  - leaving the victim spitting blood - after a deal left him £125,000 out of pocket.

Mark Emlick, 55, Chairman of Edinburgh based specialist real estate and asset management company Consensus Capital Group plc, based in Craigmillar Park reacted to being told: “Jog on for your money,” the court was told yesterday.

Emlick, who lives in a £3 million townhouse in Cotswold Mews, Battersea, located across the Thames river from Chelsea Harbour was placed on a twelve-month community order and must complete 80 hours community service work.

He pleaded guilty that on October 17, last year he assaulted Marcus Watson at Nordic-themed Aquavit restaurant at St. James’s Market, Carlton Street, near Piccadilly Circus.

Westminster Magistrates Court was told Emlick, who once appeared on Sky TV’s ‘Who’d Be A Billionaire?’ show enjoying a £9,000-a day Botswana safari had downed four gin and tonics.

He had invested £250,000 in a business venture with neighbour Mr. Watson, a friend of twenty years and professional associate for seven years, but lost half the money when the company folded.

His lawyer Mr. Andrew Copeland said CCTV captured the assault as the men chatted at the restaurant bar. “You can see the head going to the face, the nose area.

“The explanation is his loss of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds and being told to: 'Jog on for your money,' is what provoked him.

Off His Brolly: Mark Emlick

"They are at the bar and there is a conversation for a minute and a half. Something must have been said by Mr. Watson for the defendant to react the way he did, which was purely momentary.

“It is somebody he knows, a friend who he feels has exploited this situation and the company’s been wound up and he knows he is not going to get the money.”

Magistrate Joanna Barley told bespectacled Emlick: “It was a short incident and it was a single blow. However it did happen in a public place and alcohol was involved.

“It was a headbutt, a very serious way of hurting someone,” she added also ordering him to pay £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

Prosecutor Miss Aislin Rice said it was 9pm and the pair had been enjoying a polite conversation that turned ugly with insults from Emlick.

“He asked if he was a pussy and had a vagina. He head butted him to the left side of his face, causing a laceration to the inside of the mouth.”

Mr. Watson, who had holidayed with Emlick and their partners, told police. “He head butted me to the left side. Following the headbutt I had cuts and abrasions and bleeding from my teeth cutting the inside of my mouth.”

Bloody: Marcus Watson

He was taken to the A&E department of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and added: “I’m struggling to understand and I have been anxious about going out after the attack.

“He lives in the same road, we are near the same shops and I’ve lost my confidence.

“My family see that I am anxious and I’m concerned about bumping into him. He has meetings in the area and I’m embarrassed about being attacked and not being able to defend myself.”

Miss Rice added: “His ability to interact with clients has been effected and he was subdued in his first week back in his office and colleagues noticed that.”

Initially Emlick tried to lie his way out of trouble telling police: “I turned my head to talk to Mark. I did not realise how close he was. It was not deliberate, it was accidental.”

Mr. Copeland told the court: “One of these deals unfortunately went sour, this defendant had invested two-hundred and fifty thousand in Mr. Watson’s business.

“It did not turn out to be what he hoped it was and Mr. Watson elevated his salary and bought himself a new Range Rover.

“He specifically moved to Battersea to be near his friend Mr. Watson.

“If it was more serious it would have been charged as an actual bodily harm.

“There is some history to this matter. They would go on holiday together as a foursome, they know each other extremely well.”

Emlick’s girlfriend Nicki Murray was in court and she was also at the restaurant when the two men met face-to-face for the first time in eighteen months, describing Mr. Watson as “rude and goading,” towards the defendant.

Mr. Copeland said the men stepped outside for a chat, out of earshot of others to ease the tension and the assault occurred when they returned inside.

“It is a sparsely-populated restaurant and not even the person behind the bar sees it. It was over so quickly.

“The defendant went there hoping to put it behind him and to use his words: ‘Let’s move on’. This is one act of violence in a one-off situation.”

in February, 2016 Emlick was fined £700 at Perth Sheriff’s Court for hurling threats at ex Jaime Duffin, 39, who he wanted to abort their daughter Gracie, born in May, that year.

Afterwards Emlick said: “I have known Marcus Watson as a friend and business partner for over twenty years.

“What started as a disagreement over my lost investment in Adoreum Partners has unfortunately escalated into an argument and a momentary loss of control on my part, which I very much regret and for which I apologise completely.”

The court declined to make a restraining order prohibiting Emlick contacting Mr. Watson or award any compensation.

Drink-Drive Woman Had Young Child With Her

Camberwell Green Magistrates Court

A woman was caught drink-driving at over twice the limit with a young child in her car.

Marguerita Doyle, 42, of Navarre Road, Brixton has been banned from the roads for nearly two years by magistrates who expressed concern for the youngster in her care.

She pleaded guilty to driving a black Citroen in Ackerman Road, Brixton on December 28, last year with excess alcohol in her breath and being drunk in charge of a child, aged under seven years-old, on the same occasion.

Camberwell Magistrates Court heard Doyle had 89 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Sentencing had been adjourned until today for the preparation of a pre-sentence report by the Probation Service.

“We have serious concerns about the activities you have displayed before us,” the bench chairperson told Doyle. “You say you are better now.”

She was placed on a twelve-month community order, which includes thirty-five days rehabilitation and a ninety-day alcohol abstinence requirement.

Doyle was also disqualified from driving for twenty-two months and ordered to pay £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

“We have thought hard with this child in the forefront of our minds,” the chairperson told her. “We came close to use sending you into custody, you jeopardised this child when you were in drink.”

Gangland's Jimmy Tippett Jailed For Nicking Young Designer's £50K Diamond Ring

A notorious gangland criminal, who has penned two books and served multiple jail terms, received two-and-a-half years yesterday for scamming a young jewellery designer out of a  £50,000 diamond ring.

The copycat con, almost identical to an audacious jewellery heist carried out by Jimmy Tippett, 46, several years ago triggered the designer’s, mental health collapse.

Tippett - author of ‘Kill or be Killed’ and ‘Born Gangster’ - is the son of late bare-knuckle boxer Jimmy Tippett Snr. aka ‘The Guv’nor of Lewisham’.

Tippett Jnr. was born into a criminal aristocracy and friends of his family included gangland A-listers Ron and Reggie Kray and ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser.

“You are a practiced and experienced fraudster, who exploits the weaknesses of others for your own selfish rewards,” Blackfriars Crown Court Judge Deva Pillay told him.

“Despite the eloquent mitigation advanced on your behalf I’m afraid the time has come for the public to receive a respite from your actions.”

Now living in Arundel Place, Brighton he pleaded guilty to stealing the diamond ring from 23 year-old designer Tatiana Sieff on March 14, last year during an elaborate con that involved a Hatton Garden jewellers, a trip to the East End and finally a swish Mayfair casino.

He asked the court to defer sentence for six months so he can secure two more book advances, totalling £20,000, and negotiate a film rights payment so he can pay compensation.

However, Judge Pillay announced: “That is not going to happen. It is custody today.”

The judge also wants to ensure Tatiana is paid £10,032 compensation by Tippett - the raw cost of the diamonds she used.

Prosecutor Mr. Shub Banerjee told the court the ring has a Bond Street retail value of £40-50,000, but Tatiana’s mother, Joanne Stoller, had contacted Tippett on facebook to secure a knock-down £14,000 sale.

She knew Tippett’s late father and believed the defendant may have Hatton Garden contacts who would buy the ring.

The young designer had invested £7,632 of her own money into a large emerald-cut diamond, plus £2,400 on ten smaller surrounding diamonds on top of her time and skill designing and manufacturing the ring.

Her mother met Tippett and an unknown accomplice driving a VW in Baker Street and the trio travelled to Hatton Garden - the centre of London’s jewellery trade.

‘They arrived and the defendant got out of the car and went into a nearby jewellers and whilst the defendant was in the jewellers Mrs Stoller remained in the car with the other man.

“The defendant returned to the car in ten minutes and said they needed to go to Bethnal Green Road to get the money and after another ten minutes there he said the money was being couriered to the Palm Beach Casino, Mayfair,” said the prosecutor.

Tippett then made an excuse that he needed to use the lavatory and told Mrs Stoller he would meet her in the May Fair Hotel bar with the money.

“She called him and he said he was signing for the money and twenty minutes later she called him again and he said he was counting the money.

“That was the last time she spoke to him and further calls went to voicemail. She went into the Palm Beach Casino and asked the staff if anybody had been in and Mrs Stoller felt that she had been blocked by the defendant on facebook.”

Tippett was arrested in Brighton on June 9 and taken to Islington Police Station, where he tried to lie his way out of trouble. “He said he had gone into the jewellers to buy a watch.”

In her victim impact statement Tatiana said: “After the theft my mood plummeted, I stopped sleeping, I had terrifying nightmares of other possessions being stolen.”

She was admitted to the private Nightingale psychiatric hospital on May 23, where she remained until August 19 and then received five-day a week out-patient care.

Tatiana was prescribed anti-depressants and was diagnosed with OCD, PTSD, panic disorder, agoraphobia, depression and psychosis.

“This took over my whole existence, I heard voices in my head and had suicidal ideas,” she said. “I feel I’ve lost six months of my life in mental health as a reaction to the crime.”

She stopped seeing family and friends, including her beloved grandmother. “I am not in the right frame of mind.”

Tatiana said she was left with a “£11,500 hole in my pocket” adding: “It was all the funds I had invested into my little business.

“Psychologically I have not been able to work and the agoraphobia prevents me seeing clients.”

The court heard Tippett had a conviction for theft and assault in 1990; received six months for theft in 1993; a suspended sentence for burglary and handling three years later; twelve months for theft in 1997; eight months for theft in 1999; 33 months for affray and GBH in 2005 and 27 months for a similar jewellery scam in 2013.

He has paid the full £30,450 compensation in that case after stealing jewellery from a woman dealer during a meeting at the Bromley Court Hotel in August, 2012.

“The circumstances are remarkably similar,” said Mr. Banerjee. Tippett claimed he was buying expensive pieces on behalf of a Saudi businessman, who wanted to treat his nieces.

“She had with her several hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of jewellery and the defendant asked to take two-hundred thousand pounds worth outside to photograph it in better light and he did not return.”

Tippett’s lawyer Mr. Thomas Quinton told the court: “He has some small celebrity from the book that he’s published in regard to his background.

“He identifies with his father very strongly, they share the same name.

“ His father’s background in boxing and connections with the Kray brothers meant he grew up with a sense of growing up in a gangsters world.

“In his teens and twenties he was definitely embarking on a career as a criminal. The world in which he grew up in had certainly left its mark on him.”

Tippett ended up living in Kingston-upon-Hull under the witness protection programme after giving prosecution evidence at a 2006 murder trial.

His latest publication of those experiences had helped Tippett keep out of crime. “That book (Born Gangster) was published in 2014 and through successful sales of that book he’s been able to develop the prerequisites to develop film rights and two more books.

“He is, to use the vernacular, a complete ‘coke head’. The way he talks, he’s all over the place, his life spirals out of control.

“He got back on cocaine and the trigger for that was the death of his father in 2016, a man who was a celebrity because of his boxing  and had a rather unfortunate connection with the Krays, an identity the defendant has grown up with.

“He is keen to use his own success through his books and he film rights to repay the victim in this case.”

After his client was jailed Mr. Quinton told the court: “The fact he is in prison means he will not be able to bring off the deals and will not be able to pay.

“He finds it impossible to say because he has no assets and has no job. Being in prison is going to make compensation impossible to pay.”

Not Guilty: PC Cleared Of Domestic Assault

Wimbledon Magistrates Court

A policeman, accused of attacking his girlfriend and smashing a window while aggressively trying to get into her home, had the charges dropped yesterday.

PC Damian Carlin, 41, of Allum Court, Surbiton, Kingston-upon-Thames appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates Court, where the CPS offered no evidence.

The officer, attached to Westminster, was off-duty at the time of the alleged incident at the two-bedroom cottage.

PC Carlin had already pleaded not guilty to assaulting Adrienne Coe at the address on December 1, last year.

He also denied a charge of causing £100 worth of criminal damage to a window and using violence to secure entry to the premises, knowing that was opposed.

Ms Coe responded to a witness summons and attended court for the trial, but insisted she did not want to give evidence.

Kids Publishing Boss Gets Suspended Sentence For Downloading Child Porn

A publishing boss was raided and arrested by police hunting child pornography while responsible for websites including Nursery World and Children & Young People Now.

Stovin Hayter, 59, was head of online content for publishing giants Haymarket Media, having previously been editor of their magazine Children Now.

On Thursday he was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years and must complete 200 hours community service work.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child pornography he had downloaded at his home of twenty years that he shares with his husband in High Street, Acton.

Hayter, a graduate of South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal, joined Haymarket in 2001 and also edited the magazine Young People Now before becoming online chief in 2006.

Isleworth Crown Court heard he downloaded 109 of the most serious hardcore movies, plus two stills; another 48 movies and two stills in the medium range and one still at the lowest range.

The material involved young boys, some as young as twelve years-old, and the court made Hayter subject to a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he must sign the sex offender register for the same period.

“His husband describes him as a broken man,” said Mr. Alistair Polson. “For people who know him well for a long period of his life they are shocked and appalled by his behaviour.”

Prosecutor Mr. Bill McGivern said police raided Hayter’s home on November 22, 2016 while he was there with his husband and when asked if he knew anything about underage indecent images he replied: “I do.”

Computers and other electrical devices were seized, with Hayter giving police his passwords to access the disgusting images of child abuse.

“There had been deliberate online searches of images of young or adolescent boys, some as young as twelve years-old,” said Mr. McGivern.

When quizzed by police Hayter told them: “I do not deny these devices belong to me. I am truly sorry for my actions, I don’t dispute these allegations.”

Hayter had been downloading the indecent images from 2003 to a month before his arrest, describing it as an “addiction.”

He sought counselling after his arrest, but due to the extent of his behaviour had to move on to a psychotherapist.

“Although broken he is a man who can be put together again,” said Mr. Polson.

Judge John Denniss told Hayter: “These offences are very serious. It is said one can make their way to the open prison gates with six clicks of a computer mouse.

“The courts must try to halt the industrial abuse of children and their evil exploitation of children as young as twelve, which you watched.

“You were addicted to pornography and have taken every step you can to deal with that addiction and offending,” he added, ordering Hayter to also pay £300 costs.

Suspended Sentence For Secret Camera Live Nation Exec

A Vice President with global concert giants Live Nation, whose sordid double-life was exposed by a Scotland Yard detective who saw him filming up female commuters’ skirts, received a suspended prison sentence on Friday.

The officer, Driss Hayoukane, exposed the seemingly respectable £180,000-a year Andrew MacRae, 43, who had been also filming his female neighbour, a house guest, work colleague and random holidaymakers.

When officers searched his £550,000 matrimonial home they discovered the married dad-of-one eight year-old boy had been secretly filming the neighbour sunbathing while receiving regular intimate waxing.

The house guest was recorded on his motion-detection camera undressing for bed, wearing a “revealing” nightdress and bathrobe.

Inner London Crown Court Judge Jeremy Donne QC told him: “This was undoubtedly a sophisticated, organised, planned and long-running campaign of voyeurism, albeit executed sporadically.”

MacRae was sentenced to twenty months imprisonment, suspended for two years and must participate in a 60-day Sexual Offenders Programme. 

The charity and school coach volunteer he had hoarded approximately 49,000 images and is now receiving sex addiction counselling.

MacRae, of Hartfield, Caynham, Ludlow, Shropshire pleaded guilty to three counts of outraging public decency on July 19, last year, the day of his arrest, and on trains between July 12 and August 21, 2013 and between May 2 and July 4, last year.

He also pleaded guilty to seven counts of voyeurism for the purpose of sexual gratification at his former marital home at in Holmesdale Avenue, Redhill between January 2, 2013 and February 28, last year.

The University of Exeter graduate, who was VP of Finance & Strategic Initiatives, until his sacking was also accused of stealing three items of underwear from a female work colleague, but this charge was dropped.

However, he did admit taking and trying on her underwear and filming himself when she left her gym bag near her desk.

“These offences are rightly considered with revulsion by the public in general and women in particular,” the judge told balding MacRae.

“Women will undoubtedly feel a need to be protected from such behaviour by the knowledge that the courts will deal with offenders severely and men will thereby be deterred from committing such offences.

“On the other hand, you suffer from an illness that can be treated and you have submitted to that treatment.”

Prosecutor Miss Kate Blumgart told the court of his arrest: “On that day a Detective Inspector was on his way to work travelling on Southern Rail from Mersham to Clapham Junction.

“He was off-duty and arrived at Clapham Junction at 7.15am to catch a train to Vauxhall.

“As he was waiting for his train to Vauxhall his attention was drawn to Mr. MacRae standing behind a blonde female in a light summer dress.

 “His laptop bag was placed behind her, near her legs and a gold-topped pen visible at the top of the bag grabbed his attention.

“Mr. MacRae seemed to be changing the angle of the bag and the pen. The female got on the train and Mr. MacRae made his way through an open door and stood next to another female, wearing a red dress.

“He stood very close and again positioned his bag on the floor between the female’s legs, with the pen pointing towards the victim.

“He was holding the straps of the laptop bag and was repositioning it while holding an iPhone in his left hand.”

The officer confronted MacRae while the woman protested the defendant had done nothing. “He said: ‘Yes it is a camera’ and she was visibly shocked.” 

He claimed he bought the pen as a “gadget” and had filmed two female commuters a day for a fortnight for sexual gratification and downloaded the footage when he returned home.

“He said he felt disgusted with himself and felt pressure at home to: ‘Keep up with the Jones’s’” added Miss Blumgart.

Police searched MacRae’s matrimonial home and seized a hard drive from a first-floor office. “There were a large number, thousands of pornographic files.”

Folders had been carefully arranged and included 160 semi-naked shots of unsuspecting women labelled ‘Ibiza 2014.’

In ‘Amazon’ were 50 recordings of his female neighbour, who he had filmed from an upstairs window and through a gap in the garden fence.

“She was wearing a dress siting on the lawn, her knickers are visible and there is another of her receiving an intimate waxing and performing yoga.”

There were 9 recordings he made of trying on her underwear when she trusted him with her house key during a vacation and 21 frolicking semi-naked in her bedroom.

There were recordings of him wearing his work colleague’s underwear, plus a recording of the woman at work and recordings of himself wearing the houseguest’s underwear.

On some occasions MacRae “slowed down” the footage made compilations and used techniques to enhance the quality of the pictures.

He made further multiple train recordings of female commuters’ legs and busts, including one unsuspecting female, who found herself in his ‘Eurostar’ file.

MacRae told police he filmed his neighbour being waxed when spotting the firm’s van parked outside her home, describing that as his “trigger.”

“She feels her privacy has been completely invaded and that she respected and trusted the defendant,” explained Miss Blumgart. “She feels extremely angry at the thought of him taking photographs of her.

“She feels violated, she is in disbelief and shock and feels embarrassment at such an invasion of her privacy.”

The woman MacRae was filming when arrested no longer travels on public transport alone. “She feels the incident was incredibly scary and is violated and embarrassed.”

His lawyer Sarah Elliott said: “His marriage has broken down although his wife does consider reconciliation. He’s lost his employment, it was terminated.

“No doubt it will make lurid headlines and that will bring great shame on him.”

Live Nation sacked MacRae after his arrest and the company say they condemn his behaviour.

The judge even ordered MacRae to pay £102 compensation to his former neighbour to cover the cost of changing her locks.

He was also made subject to a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, banning him from owning secret cameras and taking photos on public transport and he must sign the sex offenders register for the same period.

Judge Donne added: “There has been a certain amount of comment in the media in the past year of police being unwilling or unable to pursue allegations of the type in this case, in particular so-called up-skirting.

“As this case clearly demonstrates, a well-trained, diligent police officer is perfectly capable of detecting criminal activity of this kind and dealing with it appropriately.

“Detective Inspector Hayoukane behaved in an exemplary manner and is to be complimented for his actions.”

Sir Samuel Brittan's 'Trusted Friend' Denies Taking £90,000-Plus From The Alzheimer-Sufferer

A ‘trusted friend’ and assistant to veteran business journalist Sir Samuel Brittan, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to taking approximately £90,000 from the Alzheimer-sufferer. 

Michelle Braithwaite, 47, of

Whitstable House, Silchester Road, North Kensington, will return to Inner London Crown Court for a trial on June 11.

Sir Samuel, 83, is the elder brother of the late Sir Leon Brittan, who died in January, 2015 aged seventy-five and was the former Home Secretary to Margaret Thatcher.

He was the first economics correspondent for the Financial Times, where he still writes a column and was the economics editor at The Observer.

Cambridge graduate Sir Samuel is also a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. 

Today prosecutor Mr. John Cammegh told the court: “Sir Samuel was diagnosed with early signs of Alzheimer’s on December 20, 2016.”

There was a recent doctor’s report. “The GP noted no signs of deterioration and he was still taking medication.” 

Braithwaite pleaded not guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position between August 1, 2016 and April 30, in that as a trusted friend and helper she withdrew unauthorised sums of money from Sir Samuel’s Coutts & Co. bank account.

She also faces another count of fraud by false representation on dates between September 1, 2016 and March 31, last year, that she had permission to use Sir Samuel’s American Express card.

Braithwaite also denied that on October 17, 2016 she dishonestly made a false representation in a false document that she had third-party authorisation to use Sir Samuel’s American Express card.

Braithwaite also denied stealing money from from Sir Samuel between August 1, 2016 and April 13, last year.

Judge Jeremy Donne QC set a five-day trial, announcing: “The financial transactions are not going to be disputed, it is what lies behind them.

“The case is she took the money and used these cards either with claim of right or permission.”

Sir Samuel may need the assistance of an intermediary if giving evidence via a video link. “That will be inevitable if Sir Samuel gives evidence,” said Mr. Cammegh.

Braithwaite’s lawyer Mr. Dale Beeson said the trial would take longer than usual. “There is a complainant (Sir Samuel) with a vulnerability issue.”