Masked Robbers Admit Christmas Raid

Five balaclava-clad robbers who raided a trendy Bromley boutique days before Christmas, snatching £10,000 worth of designer clothes, admitted their roles in the raid today.

The gang targeted Roma Boutique, Widmore Road, at 11am on December 21, last year and terrified staff and customers, escaping in a van stopped a few minutes later by police.

They are: Liam Riley, 23, from Finchley, North London; Kyle Tamaklo-Jones, 18, and Daryl Edwards, 23, both from Upper Sydenham; Nico Georgiou, 24 from Charlton and Jay-Jean Baptiste, 22, from Upper Norwood, South-East London.

“This is five-handed, mob-handed,” said the Recorder of Croydon Warwick McKinnon. “There is planning, they are wearing balaclavas and force is used to carry out the robbery on more than one person.

“It is obvious they were all in this together,” added the Judge, indicating his sentencing range was three to seven years’ imprisonment.

The court was shown CCTV footage from the shop (pictured) clearly showing the gang intimidating staff and customers and pushing and grabbing anyone who got in their way.

Police recovered all the clothing.

Owner Nick Khatibi, 38, said he had not seen anything like it in the 16 years he has run the boutique. “You just don’t expect something like this to happen here in the middle of the day.

“I already have good security and I used to have an entrance buzzer, but how much more can I spend? It is not an easy time for us.

“I really think that the police need to be more active to stop things like this happening.”

Mr. Khatibi claims the raiders snatched £1,000 from the till, which is denied by the defendants.

Police did not recover any money.

The gang were remanded in custody for sentencing on April 1.

Ex-Co. Boss Claims Ignorance Of Chinese Fakes

The alleged ringleader of a multi-million pound counterfeit-medicines plot - Europe's biggest ever - told a jury this week he did not know the drugs were Chinese-manufactured fakes.

Folkestone-born Peter Gillespie, 64, of Carey Close, Windsor, Berkshire - formerly of High Street, Bovingdon, Hemel Hempstead - is accused of being motivated by "pure greed" when selling three types fake life-saving medicines.

"I did not know these were counterfeit," he told the Croydon Crown Court jury. "I have been twenty-five years in the pharmaceutical business. I had never seen a counterfeit.

"Counterfeits are extremely rare in the pharmaceutical business, but like buses three come along here."

Medicine watchdogs ordered a Class One recall of all suspected drugs - taken by heart and cancer patients and the mentally ill - resulting in shelves cleared in pharmacies all over the country.

Charges were brought following a two-year investigation by the Medicines and Health Care products Regulatory Agency, part of the Department of Health into Consolidated Medical Supplies Ltd.

The company, of Unit 14, Sherrington Way, Lister Road, Industrial Estate, Basingstoke, had its Wholesale Dealers Licence revoked by the MHRA on January 8, 2008.

The prosecution claim banned company director Gillespie was secretly running the company, which rose from the ashes of Staines-based Discpharm, which the defendant had run.

"I only wanted to be a consultant, I could not be a director," Gillespie told the court. "I filed my own bankruptcy, my lawyers loaned me the money to file for bankruptcy."

Qualified chartered accountant Gillespie, who turned his back on a future in the City to bail-out a struggling pharmaceutical company, launched the re-branded Discpharm on August 1, 1986.

He admits he was excited by the vast potential profits available - as much as 100%-plus - by simply re-labelling cheaper European medicines for the U.K. market.

"When I started I only wanted to deal with large companies to ensure I would be paid and latterly only dealt with multi-national companies," Gillespie told the jury.

"Frankly, I was amazed at the profits. Some were over 100%. I thought this looked a very interesting business.

"I thought it was much too potentially profitable to ignore and for me it was easy to see where we can concentrate on the products where we were making a lot of money."

Medicines from France, Italy, Belgium and Spain were all re-packaged in English, first with the help of a team of middle-aged women Discpharm employed and then with more efficient machinery.

"They had been historically cheaper in Europe than the UK and we were working on that margin," explained Gillespie.

The company was one of the first to supply Lloyds Pharmacy when it only had twelve stores and continued supplying when it had over one thousand branches.

"We were selling tens and twenties of thousands, which allowed me to buy in large volumes from European wholesalers.

"Being an accountant I just wanted to make as much money out of it I could.

"We were making profits of over one million pounds a year. We were making so much money it was beyond my wildest dreams," added the defendant.

The charges relate to 'Casodex', used to treat advanced prostate cancer, 'Plavix', a drug prescribed to prevent blood clots and prevent heart attacks for angina patients and 'Zyprexa' a anti-psychotic drug prescribed to schizophrenic and bipolar patients.

The other four defendants are: Peter's brother Ian Gillespie, 58, of Marsh Baldon, Oxford; Ian Harding, 58, of Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire; James Quinn, 69, of Virginia Water, Surrey and Richard Kemp, 61, of Flint Mountain, Clwyd.

All five have pleaded not guilty that between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007, they conspired together and with others to defraud pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists, the public and holders of Intellectual Property Rights in pharmaceuticals by dishonestly distributing for gain counterfeit medicines.

They also deny two counts each of selling or supplying the three drugs without authorisation and selling or supplying counterfeit goods, namely the three medicines, between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.

Peter Gillespie alone denies one count of breaching a company director disqualification order between July, 2005 and June, 2007, following his bankruptcy.

The drugs were manufactured by the notorious Chinese pharmaceutical counterfeiter Lu Xu aka Kevin Xu, currently serving a prison sentence for a similar scam in the United States.

His bogus drugs were imported via Singapore and Belgium before being ferried and driven into the U.K and distributed by the five defendants, allege the prosecution.

Dope Nicks Bank Cash And Leaves Passport Behind

Dopey thief Colwyn Eastman was easy to catch after snatching £1,250 from a bank - he left his passport on the counter.

The 30 year-old was queuing in the Halifax, George Street, Croydon (pictured) when a cashier suddenly slipped and fell off her chair.

Eastman quickly took his chance to dive over the counter and grab the cash before fleeing the branch.

Unfortunately for him he left his passport behind - which he brought for identification purposes- and went on the run after realising police were on his tail.

A month later Eastman, of Horley, Surrey, handed himself into police on February 7 and was sentenced to four months imprisonment by Croydon Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to theft.

A police spokesman said: "Eastman took the opportunity to steal the money when the cashier had tripped over, but made our job of identifying him very easy by leaving his passport in the bank."

Ex-Screw Back Behind Bars

An ex-prison officer is starting an eleven-year Busman’s Holiday after being caged for having sex with his former girlfriend’s vulnerable daughter, who has learning difficulties.

Nigerian-born Isaac Sunday Sampson, 38, (pictured) of Florence Road, Feltham, Middlesex took advantage of the 20 year-old woman on multiple occasions.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport after fleeing home and will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life, following his conviction by an Isleworth Crown Court jury on three counts of sexual activity.

Detective Sergeant Katie Lilburn, formally of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Sapphire unit, said: ”For over a year, Isaac Sampson used his position as a trusted family friend to abuse an extremely vulnerable young woman.



“Today I would like to pay tribute to the immense courage of the victim who has given evidence against this man.



“We take all allegations of rape and sexual assault extremely seriously, and I would also like to take this opportunity to appeal to any further victims of Isaac Sampson, or any rape and sexual assault, to contact the police.

“All calls will be treated confidentially.”

The court heard that Sampson had been in a close relationship with the victim’s mother for several a years.

After this relationship ended he instigated a sexual relationship with the woman’s daughter at his home address, and at a Hounslow park.


December 28, 2008 the victim’s mother called police to report the incidents and Sampson was arrested on April 7, 2009 and charged on July 9.

A warrant was issued for his arrest when he dodged attending his trial and he was arrested on November 16 when he returned from Nigeria.

Date-Rapist Who Attacked Drunken Women Caged For Fifteen Years

A serial date-rapist, who picked-up two young drunken women in a nightclub and in the street, attacking them after persuading them to return to his Brighton flat, has been locked-up for fifteen years.

Patrick Mark Geary, 39, (pictured) of Warwick Mount, Montague Street, claimed both women were consensual partners – describing one as a “She-Wolf” – as he tried to dodge justice.

Judge Austin Issard-Davies sentenced him at Inner London Crown Court yesterday after he was convicted at a Hove Crown Court trial.

Police believe that he may be responsible for other sexual assaults and are appealing for any other victims to come forward.

His first victim, a 21-year-old local woman, reported Geary to the police in February 2007 after she met the defendant in a nightclub and went to his flat with a friend.

She passed out in an armchair, but could not be roused to go home by her friend and woke to find Geary trying to rape her.

She kicked him away and fled the flat, reporting the incident immediately to local police.

Geary was arrested and denied attempted rape, but due to the lack of witness evidence he was not charged and was released pending further enquiries.

The second victim, a 23-year-old woman, was approached by Geary as she sat on a street in Kemp Town after leaving a barbeque drunk on Saturday, June 6, 2009.

He took her back to his flat and gave her a cup of tea.

The victim says her memory then went blank and the next thing she remembers is Geary raping her twice.

She fled his flat and reported the matter to police.

Geary was arrested after being identified by his DNA.

While on bail, police reopened the 2007 rape allegation and the Crown Prosecution Service reviewed both cases and he was charged with both attacks.

Detective Constable Tim Craig of Brighton CID said: “It took great courage and bravery for both victims to tell the police what happened.

“Both have shown an amazing strength of character by coming to court and giving evidence about the monstrosities that happened to them.

“There is no doubt in my mind that locking up Patrick Geary will make the streets safer for everyone in Kemp Town and I am grateful to the people who assisted in this to ensure that he is no longer a danger to the public.”

Mum-Of-Three Caged For Jamaica Drug Run

An Edgware single mother-of-three caught smuggling £47,000 worth of Jamaican herbal cannabis at Gatwick Airport was jailed for nine months yesterday.

Allie Trail, 33, of Briar Walk pleaded guilty to unlawfully importing 16.4 kilos of the drug on a Montego Bay flight on October 6, last year.

Prosecutor Miss Shanaz Ahmed told Croydon Crown Court the drugs were loaded into the defendant’s suitcase after she checked-in at the Jamaican airport.

“On CCTV it could be seen she was then holding a much heavier suitcase, which was intercepted and as she went through the green channel at Gatwick (pictured) she was stopped.

“Her tag was on the luggage and it was searched and the drugs found.”

Trail, who has sons aged fifteen and twenty months and a three-year old daughter, had set off on the £515 return trip on September 21.

She told a probation officer preparing a pre-sentence report she was hoodwinked by a Jamaican man known only as ‘Lee’ and did not know she was smuggling drugs.

“She was taken advantage of by her association with Lee, but she does admit there were circumstances that should have alerted her,” said Mr. B. Patel, defending.

“Lee was a forceful character and she was not likely to profit in direct terms from what happened.”

Judge John Anderson told Trail, who brought her two youngest children to court: “I have grave doubts as to the explanation you gave.

“Before leaving to return to this country you knew what you were doing, you knew what you were carrying. This was a knowing disobedience of the laws of this country.”

Tycoon Admits Shooting Neighbour's Burglar Alarm

One of Britain's richest men pleaded guilty yesterday to arming himself with a shotgun and shooting his next-door neighbour's annoying burglar alarm in an exclusive Central London neighbourhood.

Keen game shooter Peter Shalson, 53, (pictured) of Hamilton Terrace, St. John's Wood was filmed on security cameras climbing over an iron fence and smashing a glass back door before shooting the burglar alarm control box inside his neighbour's (pic.bottom.r.) house.

Shalson, worth around £175m after selling his coat-hanger and packaging business, dramatically changed his pleas a week before he was due to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence, namely criminal damage, on January 3, last year and causing criminal damage to a door, lamp, window and burglar alarm belonging to Norman and Cindy Dawood.

He maintained his not guilty plea to burglary, with intent to cause criminal damage, and this charge will lie on the file.

"Representations have been made by the defence and the case has been reviewed," prosecutor Mr. Roger Smart told the court. "The charges reflect the same course of conduct."

First-time offender Shalson was bailed until March 28 for sentencing on condition he does not contact his next-door neighbours.

"Clearly it is a case where a report would be suitable," said Shalson's lawyer Mr. Mark Haslam. "It is a sad day."

The defendant's £10m home is currently up for sale. "It is on the market and he may not be there very long," added the lawyer.

Other residents rang 999 after hearing shots in the affluent street and the owners of the house - a family of five - returned from a country break to find the back door smashed, the alarm in pieces and an empty gun cartridge on the floor.

Shalson, who regularly shoots at a hunting lodge near Exmoor, Devon was questioned by police ten days later and eventually charged. He had always maintained his innocence until today.

He made his fortune from coat-hanger company Braitrim, which he transformed into a packaging business and then sold for £109m.

Shalson then became a pub entrepreneur with the company Pubfolio and venture capital group SGI.

"It is all very sad," announced Judge John Price, bailing Shalson.

Cheated Investors Applaud Rogue Trader To Prison

A rogue foreign exchange trader, who swindled £14m out of 335 unsuspecting investors, after concealing his shameful criminal past, was jailed for eight years today.

Terence Freeman, 63,(pictured) of King’s Place, King’s Road, Horsham, West Sussex, formerly of Whitehall Lane, Buckhurst Hill, Essex, is the former boss of City-based GFX Capital Markets Ltd.

To ringing applause from approximately twenty-five investors the conman was jailed by Southwark Crown Court Judge Christopher Hardy who told Freeman: “This matter is one of the most serious cases of it’s kind I have had to deal with in nearly twenty years in this court.

“It is so serious because of the sheer amount of money involved, the number of victims, over three hundred, and the type of victims you were dealing with.

“Not big institutions, but ordinary hard-working families who entrusted you to invest their savings, pensions and inheritances and all is likely to be lost. I have read a number of heartrending impact statements.

“You have an appalling criminal record for dishonesty going back to 1979 and you were bankrupt and disqualified from being a company director.

“Had your investors known this they would have run a mile instead of investing their life-savings with you.”

Throughout 2006 and 2007 Freeman – who had a luxury box at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club – also blew £14,000 a month rent on exclusive Square Mile offices in a bid to look every bit the successful businessman.

“When he posted a large profit he would proudly take phone calls from elated clients,” prosecutor Mr. Stephen Hellman told the court.

“However, after the stock market crash and the Lehman Brothers collapse on September and October 2008 Freeman’s trading fortunes got much worse.”

He lied to customers, falsely inflating profits, when in fact their investments were nose-diving and were not protected by risk precautions Freeman had boasted about.

Freeman tried to secure further investment to bail out his company during an extravagant presentation at five-star Hanbury Manor Country Hotel, Ware, Hertfordshire.

“He presented slides that claimed GFX had been making profits,” explained Mr. Hellman. “Freeman made quite a lot of money.

“He made a number of ad hoc withdrawals from the GFX account. There was a lack of transparency about how he was remunerating himself and he was doing rather well out of it.”

Incredibly, after being charged Freeman started trading again from offices at Gatwick Airport under GFX Capital International Ltd. and was arrested during a police raid, which shut him down on October 7, last year.

The court was told one investor, Hornchurch roofing contractor Peter Beeson, 52, lost his family’s assets of £600,000 after being tricked by bogus statements showing his money had doubled.

“The GFX statement bore out the dream,” he said in a statement. “The dream became my worst nightmare.

“I will have to carry on working as long as I can with no pension or savings,” added dad-of-two Mr. Beeson. “I feel I have let my family down……..I am angry with myself.”

Freeman was not red-flagged by the Financial Services Authority and many customers, including one of the heaviest casualties, went ahead and invested after checking their website.

He pleaded guilty to being knowingly a party to the carrying on of a business, namely GFX Ltd., for a fraudulent purpose, namely the inducement of persons to invest in a ‘Safe’ exchange scheme by making false representations and statements as to the protection and profits of investments.

Freeman, who changed his name from Terry Sparks, was a bankrupt, banned from running a company for fifteen years and had been sent to prison by four different Crown Courts for financial crime between 1979 and 1997.

He also pleaded guilty to engaging in business while bankrupt, acting as a director when bankrupt and acting in contravention of a disqualification order.

Much of the rest was moved straight into a foreign account and blown on holiday homes in Cyprus and France, a top of the range land rover and lavish gifts for his new younger Eastern European bride, including a £120,000 diamond ring.

Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings were adjourned until August 1.

Lambeth Park Sex Attack: E-Fit Issued

This is an E-Fit police have released of a suspect wanted for a sex attack on a 21 year-old woman in a South London park, who was pounced on from behind then chased.

On December 16, last year the victim was walking along a path in Archbishop Park, Carlisle Lane, Lambeth at 3:40pm when she heard footsteps approaching behind her.

The suspect sexually assaulted her then chased the terrified young woman and Lambeth Borough’s Sexual Offences Unit is investigating the case.

Detective Constable Danny Wood, said: “This was a worrying attack on a young woman and we are doing all we can to identify and arrest the man responsible.

“We have also released the e-fit in the hope that someone will recognise him and contact us. 



“I would also urge anyone who was in Archbishop Park on that day, and may now remember seeing the victim running or the suspect, to contact police.”

The suspect is described as a black man who was about 6' 2" tall and of slim build.

He had 'bulging eyes' and was dressed in a dark puffa-type jacket, dark jogging bottoms and a dark coloured top with a hood that he wore over his head. 



Detectives are asking any witnesses or anyone with information to contact them on 07785 382837 or to remain anonymous, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Failed African Refugee Jailed For Sex Attack Outside West End Nightclub

A failed Zimbabwe-born asylum-seeker, whose sex attack on a young woman outside a West End nightclub left her pouring with blood and naked from the waist down, was locked-up for four years yesterday.

Student Admore Chingware, 32, of Whiteley Street, Reading, Berkshire “stalked” the lone woman from ‘Paparazzi’ nightclub,(pictured) even returning to continue the violent attack when chased away by a van driver.

He was convicted at London’s Southwark Crown Court of indecently assaulting the student near Regent Street on January 29, 2004 and assaulting her, causing actual bodily harm.

“She was found naked from the waist down save for a pair of jeans around her ankles and she was bleeding profusely,” prosecutor Mr. Hugo Daniel Lodge told the court.

“She has had her confidence shaken. It has effected her social life and effected her confidence in public,” added Mr. Lodge. “It was a distressing incident that has had a profound effect on her life.”

Judge Martin Beddoe told father-of-two Chingware, whose wife has been given indefinite leave to remain in the U.K: “You were fuelled by drink, but that is not a mitigating factor.

“You stalked your victim as she left the nightclub where you had both been present separately,” added the Judge. “It was the early hours, it was dark and you knew how intoxicated and vulnerable she was.

“You followed her and attacked her, striking her to the face, knocking her to the ground, your motive was sexual.

“Having been disturbed by a van driver you ran away and went back and continued your violent sexually motivated attack, pulling down her trousers and knickers.

“You ran off for a second time when the van driver returned and left your victim injured, naked from the waist down and in a state of great distress.

“You did not admit the offence and the victim had to relive the incident, which she had been trying unsuccessfully to put behind you over seven years,” added the Judge. “It is probable one way or another it will effect her for the rest of her life.”

New Husband Killed Father-In-Law And Slashed Mum-In-Law In Horror Knife Attack

An Internet groom, who killed his father-in-law in a "frenzied" knife attack, also slashing his mother-in-law's throat in front of his own two year-old son, was sentenced to life imprisonment today.

Abbas Burhanpurwala, 32, of Copsewood, Werrington, Peterborough, stabbed Ismail Thathia, 58, twenty-five times, using a second kitchen knife after the first snapped in two.

He pleaded pleaded guilty to murdering Mr. Thathia, on September 27, last year and inflicting grievous bodily harm, with intent, on Jaitunbia Thathia, 56, at the family home in Chatsfield, Werrington.

"He was killed in his own home in front of his wife and two year-old grandson by a frenzied attack carried out by this defendant," prosecutor Mr. Jonathan Seely told Southwark Crown Court.

Indian-born Thomas Cook call centre worker Burhanpurwala enjoyed an Internet romance with the couple's daughter Sabera and they gave the thumbs-up to an arranged marriage in 2007.

However, Burhanpurwala became increasingly angered by his wife's long hours at the family's successful Peterborough phone shop and Sabera described him as "possessive", "controlling" and prone to "temper tantrums."

He had even threatened to kill himself and the couple's son Ayaz and once drank cleaning fluid.

Burhanpurwala - obsessed by the prospect of losing his wife and child - arrived at the family home around 2pm, but flew into a violent rage when Mr. Thathia said: "I will call the police."

"The defendant started punching Mr. Thathia in the face, causing him to fall back," explained Mr. Seely. "He got a bread knife from the kitchen and stabbed him to the left side of the chest and the blade broke.

"He got another knife from the kitchen and stabbed Mrs Thathia to the neck, causing blood to pour out.

"The sole purpose of that attack was to enable the defendant to return to the frenzied attack on Mr. Thathia.

As Mrs Thathia stumbled out the front door with a life-threatening wound to her jugular vein Burhanpurwala continued stabbing her husband, leaving the dining-room and hallway splattered with blood.

He received fatal stab wounds to the neck, chest and abdomen.

Mrs Thathia was treated at Peterborough District Hospital and to this day can only eat via a tube inserted in her nose.

A lady passer-by who found her coughing up blood in the street knocked on the front door and Burhanpurwala told her: "Get the police. Tell them what I have done. They tried to take my son away."

The bloodstained defendant hailed an arriving police car confessing "I did it" and told officers through tears: "I would never have done it if she hadn't taken the kid."

Burhanpurwala's lawyer Corrine Ransom told the court: "Mr. Burhanpurwala is deeply, deeply and heartfeltly full of remorse and is aware of the devastation he has brought on the family.

"He was very excited about starting a new life in England, but he was a somewhat isolated man and never developed friendships outside the family.

"He is going to lose his wife and son and by his acts that day he has brought about what he dreaded."

Mr Justice Saunders recommended Burhanpurwala serve a seventeen-and-a-half year minimum before he is considered for parole announcing: "This defendant killed his father-in-law by stabbing him a number of times.

"He also stabbed his mother-in-law, causing serious injuries that she will continue to suffer from for a long time.

"The family have also been devastated by the loss they have suffered. The defendant's son has lost a grandfather and effectively lost a father.

"I accept it is this defendant's fear of losing his son that caused him to react like this on this particular day."

Detective Inspector Dave Grierson said: "This tragic incident was the culmination of a domestic situation but the circumstances in no way justify the violence used by Burhanpurwala."