Arms Dealer Continues Extradition Battle

An Eastcote arms dealer, wanted in the United States for smuggling weapons, told an extradition hearing on today: “I am a human being and do not deserve to be torn away from my family to some federal penitentiary for the rest of my life.”

Father-of-two Guy Denon Savage, 42, of Daymer Gardens, told District Judge Nicholas Evans at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court: “The court should show the same deference and dignity for my life as you hold your own.

“What is the point in human rights if they cannot be exercised.”

Savage – ex-boss of Northolt weapons manufacturer Sabre Defence Industries – is accused of breaching licence restrictions placed upon the export of weapons including M16 assault rifles and gun paraphernalia.

The United States government are seeking to extradite Savage for trial and he will learn his fate on November 30 when District Judge Evans will give his written ruling.

Representing himself during the all-day hearing Savage challenged the extradition on multiple grounds including medical, lawfulness and that it was a breach of his human rights, including the right to family life.

“The United States have failed to show there is a case and if there is no case in the USA there is no case for extradition,” added Savage, who failed to have the entire hearing adjourned to pursue a High Court appeal.

“I have been denied every opportunity for fairness in these proceedings,” he added.

“I have not been asked a single question about the indictment except after I had been shot at, beaten up, had the stuffing knocked out of me and asked if I consented to these proceedings. My answer was: ‘No’.”

Savage constantly clashed with District Judge Evans after his request for another adjournment was refused.

“You are very nearly in contempt of court. Please move on,” asked the judge. “I have made the ruling you can appeal it later.”

When asked by the defendant if he stood by his oath of office District Judge Evans told Savage: “I find the question impertinent. Let’s move on.”

Savage has made a Habeus Corpus application in the USA and served a writ on the US government, but the court refused to hear further details.

Savage complained: “You will not allow me to proceed properly. These matters will be passed to the High Court. All I have asked is for the court to recognises statutes it is obliged to under law.”

He also complained about the costs of bringing professional witnesses to give evidence on his behalf. “Justice is only available in the court if I am able to pay for it.

“I am not a lawyer, I am a free man trying to exercise my rights here,” added Savage. “This is a vindictive prosecution on behalf of the US authorities.

“They want to prosecute me because it is in their financial interests to do so.”

He told the court the two things that stopped him committing suicide after his arrest was the fact it was his father’s birthday and the prospect of leaving his two daughters fatherless.

Savage handed in a 140-page and 70-page argument objecting to his extradition to the court along with a confidential medical report by Dr. Susan Thompson on mental health grounds.

Mr. Peter Caldwell, representing the US government, challenged Savage’s application on medical grounds.

“The government’s view of that report is that it’s conclusion is not one that the government readily accepts.”

Steel Pipe Sales Boss Dodges Jail For £640K VAT Scam

A sales manager with a steel pipe company - who cheated the taxman out of £640,000 by smuggling cheap Chinese-manufactured parts - has dodged prison with a suspended sentence.

Michael Kirk, 42, of Middlecot Close, Orrell, Wigan played a key role in providing paperwork, which supported the scam, masterminded by his ex-boss who has fled the country.

"You were very much the first port of call for the dishonest information provided to Customs and Excise," Croydon Crown Court Recorder Phillip Sapsford QC told first-time offender Kirk.

"Your firm gained an unfair advantage over those who complied with the rules," he added, sentencing the defendant to twelve months imprisonment, suspended for a year, and ordering him to perform 100 hours community service.

Kirk pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of duty payable on goods said to be from Japan between January 1, 2003 and July 31, 2006 and goods said to be from India between February 1, 2006 and January 31, 2008.

The parts were subject to a 58.6% tax - nicknamed 'anti-dumping duty' - imposed to thwart importers unfairly undercutting rivals within the EU.

The company, Ashby Scott Ltd. of Unit A, Shell Green Estate, Gorsey Industrial Estate, Widnes was convicted on the same two counts.

Company director John Sutton, 64, of Cheriton Fitzpaine, Crediton, Devon and Park Farm House, Newton St. Margarets, Hereford was also found guilty in his absence.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest and he is believed to be hiding somewhere in Canada.

Kirk's lawyer Mr. Graham Robinson told the court: "He is a hardworking man and before he foolishly got himself involved in this, a thoroughly decent man."

Kirk is now a 25% shareholder in Ashby Scott Manufacturing Ltd. - netting £2,300 per month and with £2,200 monthly out-goings.

His only real asset is the family home he shares with his wife and 15 year-old daughter.

"Mr. Kirk as an employee received no direct benefit," added Mr. Robinson. "He was persuaded by Mr. Sutton that the tax would be paid.

"Unfortunately there were problems in Mr. Sutton's markets, particularly Iran, that resulted in the disappearance of his markets. Everybody's understanding was that Mr, Sutton, through his companies, was going to pay."

A total of £175,000 tax has now been paid.

"It was as a result of your information that the customs tariffs were completed and the duty evaded," Recorder Sapsford told Kirk.

"However, in certain circumstances you always deferred to Mr. Sutton and you were let down by the company and Mr. Sutton."

Kirk was also fined £10,000 with the alternative of six months' imprisonment and was ordered to pay £10,000 costs within three years.

The sentencing of Sutton and the company was adjourned until December 12.

At the start of the trial prosecutor Mr. Julian Christopher QC told the jury: "It's about smuggling. Smuggling comes in all shapes and sizes and one type is the smuggling of Chinese pipe fittings."

To protect European manufacturers the European Commission agreed to impose the tax on carbon steel imports from China.

"The country outside the EU is dumping its products at an artificial price into the EU," said the QC.

The court was told between 2003 and 2008 Ashby Scott Ltd. avoided over £640,000 duty in relation to thirty-one importation's the defendants claimed had come from Japan and India.

"None of that was paid because the pipe fittings were not sent directly from China, but from Japan and later from India," added Mr. Christopher. "The anti-dumping duty ought to have been paid.

The parts were bought from APCO a Chinese/British venture involving a UK company called TFF International - of which Sutton was the managing director and nominated legal representative.

His company had invested $150,000 US into APCO and the Chinese $350,000 US and TFF agreed to handle all the marketing and imports and exports.

The parts were shipped from Dalian, China to Osaka, Japan then immediately re-shipped to Felixstowe and delivered to Ashby Scott Ltd.

Cocaine-Smuggling Crimper's Short Cut To Jail

A struggling Wigan hairdresser, who smuggled £395,000 worth of cocaine from the Caribbean in a bid to save her failing business, has been jailed for six years.

Nigerian-born mother-of-three Nneka Fazackerley, 35, of Wigan Lower Road, Standish Lower Ground claims she was hired by a mystery man via Facebook to smuggle the class A drugs.

She pleaded guilty to the importation of 2.6 kilos of 100% pure cocaine at Gatwick Airport on August 7.

Fazackerley had just flown in from St. Lucia with her daughter’s boyfriend, aged twenty, but the pair were stopped by customs men before boarding their connecting flight to Manchester.

After her handbag tested positive for cocaine Customs retrieved her suitcase and hidden among tins of powdered baby milk and powdered ice tea was the cocaine wrapped in a plastic bag in a plastic container.

Prosecutor Mr. Hamish Reid told Croydon Crown Court: “The defendant, together with a man, arrived in the UK from St. Lucia in transit. They were going to be flying to Manchester.

“They were stopped and initially failed to acknowledge each other.

“She had gone into the green channel and her handbag, when swabbed, gave a reading for cocaine and she said she did not know how that could happen.

“She said she had not been forced to carry anything to the country.

“Her bags were examined and inside were tins of powdered baby milk and powdered ice tea as well as plastic containers,” added Mr. Reid.

After the “swallow size” plastic bag of cocaine was found Fazackerley was arrested along with her daughter’s boyfriend who also had traces of cocaine on his luggage.

“She said she had financial problems. She ran a hairdressing salon that was in some difficulty,” explained the prosecutor.

“She was sent to St. Lucia knowing she would be carrying back something illegal in her bags, she knew it would be drugs, but not what drugs.”

Her daughter’s boyfriend was also quizzed, but eventually released without charge.

“He said she received telephone calls in St. Lucia and would walk away from him and would go away on her own.”

The boyfriend, a St. Lucian native, claimed he travelled to the island to visit his mother, but bad weather made this impossible.

Fazackerley told investigators she was happy to travel with him because he knew the island well.

She was charged the same day at Crawley Police Station and immediately pleaded guilty the following morning before Mid Sussex magistrates.

“As a courier she is anticipating a custodial sentence,” Fazackerley’s lawyer Mr. Nick Brown told the court. “She started a hairdressing salon that went bad.

“She has personal debts of two to three thousand pounds and started the business in very tough conditions.”

The first-time offender has daughters aged fifteen and sixteen from her first marriage and a four year-old daughter from her second marriage, which was described as “violent and controlling.”

“She was at rock bottom when approached by a man on Facebook to take something back from St. Lucia and he paid for the tickets,” added Mr. Brown.

“She has seen first hand the effects drugs can have on people, being in prison and with hindsight would never have got involved.”

Judge John Tanzer told Fazackerley: “The only possible sentence that can be passed is an immediate custodial sentence.

“You are a woman who has a number of difficulties.

“Any time you spend in custody will feel a long time with your medical problems and being kept away from your family.

“You were a woman of some vulnerability and were no doubt exploited.”

The judge also made a five-year travel restriction order.

Boozy WPC Driven Into During Mini-Cab Fare Row

A mini-cab driver who reversed into two boozy women - one of whom was an off-duty police officer - when they failed to pay the full fare during a night out in Croydon has been banned for dangerous driving today.

Pakistani father-of-three Hamad Bhatti, 42, had driven the women to their destination and admits in "one moment of madness" reversing into them during the 4am dispute.

Croydon Crown Court (pictured) heard the women threw what money they had onto the front seat, but it was short of the full fare.

First-time offender Bhatti, denied, but was convicted by a jury of dangerous driving and was sentenced to a twelve month community order, including 200 hours community service work and disqualified for a year.

"They were out enjoying themselves and had a few drinks," Recorder Phillip Sapsford QC told Bhatti. "The jury disbelieved you, what you told the jury was not the truth.

"You are now going to look for a new form of work.

"When I first considered this case I thought it was worthy of imprisonment. One of the victims said she could taste blood and felt something warm down her face.

"They were certain you reversed into them."

Bhatti will also have to pass the extended driving test before his licence is returned.

People-Trafficking Pimps Jailed For Prostitute Plot

Two pimps who trafficked young Eastern European women for prostitution – plying them with ecstasy and cocaine and holding them to an £80,000 debt – have both been locked-up.

Punters were charged up to £200-a-time to have sex with the girls at exclusive West London addresses, leaving the duped victims feel “sick” and “disgusting.”

Sergey Konart, 41, (pic.top) received ten years and Ekaterina Kolesnikova, 26, (pic.bottom) received two-and-a-half years imprisonment after admitting trafficking and prostitution charges.

Southwark Crown Court heard officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command arrested the pair in December, last year.

Two addresses were searched in Chelsea; two in Bayswater and one in Earl’s Court, plus a Knightsbridge safety deposit box held by Konart.

The pair - part of a ruthless Russian-based organised criminal network - recruited vulnerable young women to come to the UK by promising them well-paid jobs as waitresses, shop assistants or dancers. 



Once in the UK they took the girls’ ID’s, passports and travel documents and forced them to work as prostitutes to pay-off an £80,000 debt bond.

They were threatened with violence and plied with ecstasy and cocaine to gain compliance. 



One victim said the work she was forced into made her “skin crawl” and made her feel “sick” because many of the clients were “disgusting”.

She “hated” her life and knew it was very harmful to her health and was having a large impact on her mental state.

Another victim stated: “I felt used and thrown away.”



Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland said: “Konart and Kolesnikova recruited vulnerable young women on the promise of well paid employment in the UK.

“On their arrival in London they were forced into prostitution in some of the capital’s exclusive areas.”

Wheelchair-Bound Looter Locked-Up

A wheelchair-bound looter - caught on CCTV with a huge flatscreen television snatched from a shop in South-East London during the capital's week of rioting - has been jailed.

David Christopher Knott, 18, of Bromhedge, Eltham, was recovering from a broken leg when he decided to join in the mad frenzy for high-value electrical goods along with the rest of the mob.

He pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court to handling the stolen ALBA television, stolen from Argos, Powis Street, Woolwich.

CCTV footage showed Knott waiting in his wheelchair outside the warehouse store for an accomplice who places the television in his lap and wheels him away.

Knott was sentenced to twelve months custody.

Danger Party-Drug 'Meow Meow' Seized By Police

A police operation has resulted in the seizure of £100,000 worth of notorious party-drug 'Meow Meow' when a car was stopped in North-West London.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Central Task Force stopped the silver Vauxhall Vectra in Sudbury Drive, Wembley, which contained 51 kilos of the drug stuffed inside four cardboard boxes.

Class B Cathinone Derivative - nicknamed 'Meow Meow' - has been linked to several deaths and seizures amongst young people.

The 26 year old male driver of the car was arrested on suspicion of possession, with intent to supply, the drug and was taken into police custody.

Detective Inspector Colin Stephenson said: "This arrest and seizure has disrupted a significant supply of Meow Meow within London and the Home Counties.

"It will reinforce the message that the Metropolitan Police Service will continue to combat the criminal networks engaged in drug trafficking"

Pensioner Kills Frail Wife

A pensioner who ended his fifty-seven year marriage by stabbing his frail wife to death has been sent to a psychiatric hospital after admitting manslaughter.

Frank Crowther, 88, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey (pictured) to killing 83 year-old Winifred on December 9, last year at their home in Lumley Road, Sutton.

Police were contacted by a neighbour who was concerned for the welfare of the couple, who not been seen for a couple of days.



Officers entered the house and found Winifred dead with multiple stab wounds and Frank collapsed and unconscious.



A post mortem confirmed she died from her stab wounds.



Frank Crowther was in a critical condition, suffering from pneumonia and some self inflicted wounds and he had also taken an overdose.

The Crowther’s were described as a loving couple, however, in recent years Winifred had become increasingly ill and Frank struggled to cope.



Detective Chief Inspector Amanda Hargreaves said: “This was an extremely sad incident where an elderly man who was seriously ill himself was overcome by his mental health leading to the tragic death of his wife Winifred.

“My sympathies go to the Crowther family who have endured this terrible incident, and I hope that they can all now move on and grieve their loss privately.”

Gang-Busting Cops Nail Two Thugs

Two young East London thugs, who launched a brutal armed gang attack on a pair of drinkers as they left a local pub, have both been locked-up.

Gang-busting Met cops in Operation Connect headed the investigation into the unprovoked attack, involving a large group of youths armed with a variety of weapons – including an iron bar.

Waltham Forest pair Monsur Zaman, 20, (pic.top) received eighteen months and Eren Mehmet, 18, (pic.bottom) received two years at Snaresbrook Crown Court for grievous bodily harm.

On Friday April 8, the victims, aged 41 and 43, were drinking in a Leytonstone High Road pub and were suddenly rushed by the group when they left at around 9:45pm.

One victim fell to the floor during the attack and was repeatedly kicked, punched and hit with an assortment of weapons including an iron bar. 



The second victim shouted at the group, hoping to frighten off the youths, but they simply turned on him.

One victim received 18 stitches to his ear and the other received cuts to his face that also required stitches.



Officers from Operation Connect launched an investigation and quickly identified Mehmet as one of the suspects in the attack.

Evidence recovered from the scene of the attack were sent for scientific forensic examination, which later identified Zaman. 



Operation Connect analyses information from across the Metropolitan Police Service’s intelligence systems along with information from partners and communities in order to produce a centralised MPS database or matrix of the most dangerous gang members in London.

The number of 'high risk' individuals identified from intelligence analysis is likely to top 1,000 and both Mehmet and Zaman were on the matrix. 



There have been more than eighty arrests made under Operation Connect, resulting in gang members charged with offences including robbery, grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and traffic offences.

The team have also seized tens of thousands of pounds in cash.



Detective Chief Inspector Tim Champion said: “This was a vicious attack by the pair which left lasting psychological and physical effects on their victims.



“Operation Connect will continue to work on reducing violence driven by gang culture and to identify and successfully target those gang members on our matrix.

“We would like to thank the bravery of the victims and witnesses for giving evidence and hope today's result will bring some closure.”

Twelve Years For Heroin Dealer

A drug dealer caught with 20 kilos of heroin when undercover cops stopped his car near his East London home has been jailed for twelve years.

Ekram Arslan, 41, of Poole Road, Homerton also had brown powder to bulk out the drugs plus paraphernalia used to prepare the heroin for onward distribution.

He pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court to possessing the class A drug, with intent to supply, on June 7.

Arslan was arrested by officers from the Met’s Central Task Force carrying a shoebox, which when searched contained three block packages of heroin.

His home was searched and in a padlocked shed police found two further boxes (pictured) containing eleven and twenty-one blocks, plus a shoebox containing a single block.

Also found were scales, clingfilm and knives.



Detective Constable Paul Buckle said: “This was a significant recovery of class A drugs which I have no doubt were destined for the streets of London.”

A confiscation and forfeiture hearing is scheduled for early 2012.

Boozy Businessman Fined For Train Guard Blow

A ‘commuter rage’ business development manager, who punched a train guard in the face as he travelled home following an after-work drinking-session, has been left with an £845 court bill.

Anthony Charles Gardiner, 46, of Montgomerie Court, Forest View, Chingford lashed out at Liverpool Street Station, claiming his rail enquiry was met with a “sarcastic comment.”

He pleaded guilty at City of London Magistrates’ Court to assaulting Luke Francis on May 27 after the prosecution dropped a charge that the attack on the black victim was racially aggravated.

“It is a very, very serious incident that has happened,” bench chairwoman Stella Braid told Gardiner. “Mr. Francis was working that day, doing his job and we believe you had been drinking.”

“Mr. Francis says that this has effected him in his work and how he deals with customers,” added the magistrate fining the defendant £480, with £315 costs and ordering him to pay £50 compensation.

Prosecutor Mr. Ijaz Malik told the court Gardiner, who admits he had a few drinks, but denies being drunk, asked platform staff if he was correctly boarding the next train to Chingford and was told: “Yes, sir.”

However, the enquiry quickly escalated into a verbal confrontation with the defendant shouting and swearing.

Mr. Francis approached him and CCTV captured the moment Gardiner swung his arm and punched the guard in the face, causing swelling and bruising around his eye, which required hospital treatment.

The defendant was restrained by staff on the floor and claims he himself was the victim of an assault, insisting he was covered in blood from multiple facial cuts when police arrived.

“The prosecution say it was a deliberate and unprovoked assault,” added Mr. Malik. “The victim says he feels devastated and shocked to be punched by a passenger.”

Gardiner said the row worsened when he felt Mr. Francis was trying to move him off the platform, but accepts his response was “excessive.”

The defendant ran his own business for sixteen years until the partnership was recently dissolved and is now employed in East London.

John Lewis Warehouseman Flogged Nicked Laptops On Ebay

A John Lewis warehouseman who stole ten laptops over five months – selling them for quick profit on eBay after his family’s saving were wiped-out in a Dubai property scam – has dodged jail with a suspended sentence.

Father-of-three Rehmatullah Kadri, 38, of Florence House, Florence Road, Kingston-upon-Thames was finally caught on CCTV hiding two computers in a food processor box.

“What you did was not just dishonest, but a gross breach of trust to your employers and co-employees,” Judge Nicholas Price QC told Kadri at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court.

“John Lewis is a partnership. Profits are shared amongst staff so you robbed not just your employer, but the employees and it was pre-meditated and lasted a long time.”

Indian-born Kadri, who has a first-class honours degree from his home country, pleaded guilty to stealing the laptops from the Kingston-upon-Thames department store between November 1, last year and April 8 and converting criminal property.

The court heard an internal email on August 5, last year alerted management to the strong suspicion the defendant was stealing laptops by hiding them inside other boxes.

He was eventually caught when purchasing a food processor and secretly hiding two laptops, worth £3,600, within the box in the warehouse collection area.

When police searched his home they found £6,710 cash stashed in a safe, which first-time offender Kadri admitted was the profit of eBay sales from eight previous laptops he stole.

The court was told the theft spree began when the defendant’s family lost £24,000 in a Dubai property fraud, despite efforts by the Met police and the local MP to recoup the money.

Kadri wrote a letter to his ex-bosses saying: “I am not sure what led me to do this. The worst thing was betraying my colleagues. John Lewis was like a second home to me.”

Judge Price sentenced the defendant to 30 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to perform 120 hours community service work.

A £6,710 compensation order to John Lewis was also made.

“You are a highly qualified and highly intelligent man that has brought shame on yourself and your family,” Judge Price told Kadri. “You have put your whole family at risk.”

Nightclub Thug Caged

A nightclub thug, who twice flunked his court-ordered community service, was jailed for two months today for violently hitting his victim over the head with a belt and intimidating him with a broken bottle.

Halmat Reza, 20, of The Broadway, Wealdstone claimed migraines caused by three metal plates in his skull prevented him from doing the work, but this was dismissed by a judge.

“I am satisfied you are just not prepared to do this work,” Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court Judge Paul Dodgson told Reza. “You were given one final chance, but did nothing.”

Reza pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour outside the Oceana Nightclub, Kingston-upon-Thames (pictured) on February 10 and was originally sentenced to a community order with 80 hours community service work.

The court heard police were called to a fight and CCTV evidence later showed Reza approaching another young man from behind and striking him over the back of the head with his belt.

He also picked up a bottle, smashed it, and used the weapon to intimidate the victim after the group moved to a nearby car park.

Reza dropped the broken bottle when police arrived, telling them there had been a “bad feeling” in the nightclub and he feared the victim was calling for back-up.

The defendant has only completed six-and-a-half hours of the order, claiming a head injury caused by a violent hammer-attack four years ago restricted his ability to work.

“You have decided to just not bother and the time has come for you to go to prison,” Judge Dodgson told Reza.