Office Co-Ordinator Defrauded Property Firm

The co-ordinator of a property company kept tenants’ deposits for herself, dishonestly used the firm’s credit card and secretly paid her own cleaning company, a court heard.

Tianna Melius, 23, who has recently found another job with a London estate agent, received a suspended prison sentence today and was ordered to repay some of the money she took.

Melius, of Queen’s Mead Road, Bromley pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by abuse of position to make gains of £4,496.47; £1,415.50 and £327 between January 14 and February 18, last year.

Croydon Crown Court heard she worked for Brixton property company Lexadon and on two occasions transferred tenants’ deposits to her own accounts.

She also used the company credit card to spend £800 at Argos and £615 at IKEA and used Lexadon funds to pay her own company, Speedy Cleaners, £387.

“Her responsibilities included dealing with money, she had use of the company credit card and handled the tenants’ deposits,” said prosecutor Nicholas Mesure.

The first £2,446 deposit she took “bounced back” to Lexadon’s account and there was no loss and the second deposit of £2,050, due to a female renter, ended up in Melius’ account.

“The tenant Lucy Snowden did chase it and it is only as a result of her chasing it that the fraud was discovered,” added the prosecutor.

Melius was arrested on June 30. “She denied she was dishonest when she was interviewed,” said Mr Mesure, applying for £3,792 compensation to Lexadon.

“She has recently obtained a job with a an estate agency and she would like to pay the amount in full,” said Sarah Fairbairn, defending. “She admits she took the money and is embarrassed about it.

“She had a difficult childhood and upbringing and her relationship with her mother broke down when her boyfriend was arrested for a firearms offence.

“He died in a 2020 car crash and she was homeless as her mother would not take her back.

“She was living in a hostel and felt unsafe and was desperate for her own home. She was rejected for a loan and needed a deposit for a private rental.

“Out of desperation she chose to commit these offences as a last resort and is extremely remorseful.”

Recorder Katherine Deal QC told the first-time offender: “You abused your position as office co-ordinator to benefit yourself, but it was not a sophisticated fraud.

“There was some early panicky efforts to avoid a confrontation with your employer and it is disappointing how ready you were to look for money that was not yours.

“I hope this was a one-off offence in extreme circumstances that will not be repeated.”

Melius was also ordered to complete 150 hours community service work, twenty-five days of a Probation Service-ordered rehabilitation activity requirement and pay Lexadon £1,000 compensation.

Drunken Troublemaker Racially-Abused Street Warden

A drunken troublemaker racially-abused a council street warden and threatened police when he was arrested outside a Clapham pub.

Eritrean-born Ammanuel Kesete, 31, had to be held down in front of the Two Brewers pub, Clapham High Street by security staff while waiting for police to arrive.

He caused trouble in the pub and called a Wandsworth Council street warden a “Paki” during the melee.

Kesete, of Bridges Drive, Dartford, Kent pleaded guilty to racially-aggravated threatening behaviour towards local authority employee Mohamed Ali on October 16, last year.

He also pleaded guilty to racially-aggravated threatening behaviour towards a PC Grey and threatening behaviour towards a PC Hoskin.

Croydon Magistrates Court heard Kesete, who receives Universal Credit and is in dispute with his neighbours, has three previous convictions.

Police were called to the pub, where they saw an aggressive Kesete shouting in the street while being restrained by the pub's security staff.

He was handcuffed, but somehow managed to slip out of them during the struggle.

Officers said his arms were flailing as he threatened to spit at the officers.

The court heard in 2020 Kesete was the victim of a stabbing and on another occasion attempted to self harm while in police custody.

His defence representative complained Kesete has no support network, concluding “he needs help.”

The magistrates sentenced him to a twelve-month Community Order, which includes 150 hours community service work, plus sixty days of monitored alcohol abstinence.

He was also ordered to pay £100 costs, a £95 victim surcharge, plus £50 compensation to each of the three victims.

“There was a racial element to these offences,” announced the magistrate.

Guilty: Troubled Young Woman Caught On Southbank With Razor Blade

Croydon Magistrates' Court

A troubled young woman, who travelled to London to self-harm with a razor, has been convicted of possessing a blade in public.

Chiara Hudson, 23, told the trial she also threatened to throw herself in front of a tube train.

“I had come down to London to try and kill myself,” she told Croydon Magistrates Court, where she was convicted of possessing a bladed article in Southbank, Southwark on March 2.

Hudson, of Park Avenue, Shawbury, Shrewsbury was bailed to return to court for sentencing on May 16.

She had been locked-up since her arrest and was remanded in custody at HMP Bronzefield until the court bailed her at the conclusion of the trial on condition she live and sleep every night at her home address.

The trial heard Hudson was in possession of a three-and-a-half centimetre long razor blade broken into two pieces.

Police found her near the Royal Festival Hall at 1.15pm with superficial cuts to her arm, which she admitted were caused by a razor blade.

Hudson told the trial she had called the police herself after hearing they were looking for her.

“I got a call from the British Transport Police, saying they were looking for me all night and I then called the police to tell them where I was.

“The British Transport Police had calls from my Probation Officer saying I was missing and may have had a blade on me.

“I told them: 'I don't trust you. I don't want you near me. I'm fine.'

“Mentally I was not in a good place, I was suicidal.

“I was detained at Embankment Station by the police for threatening to jump in front of a train.”

The court heard police took Hudson into custody when she admitted having the blade.

She pleaded not guilty on the basis she had the reasonable excuse of self-harm for possessing the blade and prosecutor Corran Helm said: “The Crown will say this is not a reasonable excuse to carry a blade in public.”

PC Chris Lawrence told the trial: “She called the police and said she had a blade on her and wanted to harm herself.”

Finance Chief's Hotel Fight With Mistress

A finance boss, who assaulted his mistress during a bloody drunken row in a City hotel, has received a suspended prison sentence.

Father-of-three Damien Druce, 43, the commercial manager of a bridging loan company, bit the woman’s nose and put his hand over her mouth, the court heard.

The pair secretly met-up during the business trip in a room at the London Central Bank Hotel, St. Swithin’s Lane after an evening drinking wine, Inner London Crown Court was told.

Former Cheshire East councillor Druce, of Old Mill Lane, Macclesfield pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting Sarah John, causing her actual bodily harm, on December 9, 2020.

Three further counts of assaulting her at the same hotel on November 2; at NOX Hotel-Waterloo in November 25 and her Salford home on October 9 were dropped by the prosecution.

“The background on the Crown’s description is this was a volatile relationship,” said Judge Freya Newbery. “She was someone you had been having, to use the old-fashioned word, an affair with.

“This was a work-based relationship and it was not one-way. Ms John was quite capable of being volatile and you drank together as well and that never assisted that situation.

“You were both staying in the same hotel in that working relationship and having got back after drinking wine a trivial argument started, with anger on both sides.

“You lunged at the victim and you grabbed her by the throat, but this is not a strangulation case, but your use of that motion to push her backwards.

“At one point you had your hand in her mouth and your fingers down her throat and she was pinned down by you.

“As you were shouting into her face she bit your finger while it was in her mouth and you bit her on the bridge of her nose, which she recalled as being ‘absolutely excruciating.’

“It did break the skin and there was some blood and she had a chip to her front tooth and bruising to her shoulder blades.

“The tooth was not chipped by a blow from you, but from movement during the dynamic violent situation,” added Judge Newbery. “There was also bruising to her forehead and nose and other grazes and bruising.

“She took a taxi home all the way back to Salford and does not want to be involved further and has not filed a victim impact statement.”

Druce’s lawyer Terry Pedro told the court: “He makes no excuse for this offence and does not want me to defend his actions.

“He recognises it was wrong to use violence and he is ashamed of the actions he has taken and that he is back before a court.

“He has a senior job in mortgage and finance and there are a considerable amount of people who rely on him. He is in well-paid employment.”

The court heard that Druce’s marriage recently ended. “He has got a lot of debts because of his divorce,” said Judge Newbery.

“Your previous convictions were when you were a much younger man, twenty years-old or so and there is an offence of violence , being drunk and disorderly and driving offences.

“You take a keen interest in the community with charitable work and the Probation Service describe you as a pro-social member of the community,” the judge told Druce.

“I don’t believe anything like this is ever going to happen again. You are an intelligent person and you do not want to put forward excuses.

“You have shown insight and remorse and you know this cannot happen again.”

Druce was sentenced to twenty weeks imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months and ordered to pay £2,000 costs.

He must also attend up to 40 sessions of the Probation Service’s building better relationships programme and 40 days of a recommended rehabilitation requirement.

Druce was also made subject to a two-year restraining order, prohibiting contact with Ms John or visiting her Salford home.

“Neither of them want anything to do with each other for a couple of years,” concluded the judge.

School Deputy Head Accused Of Rubbing Girl Pupils' Legs

A school deputy headmaster groped the legs of five teenage girls in his office “for his own sexual gratification,” a court heard.

Matthew Childs, 33, denies rubbing his hands and legs against four fourteen year-olds and a fifteen year-old in his private office at Purley’s Harris Academy.

Croydon Crown court heard the married father-of-two, of Ladygrove, Pixton Way, Forestdale would squeeze knees and run his hands up the skirts of the pupils.

He has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of sexual activity with a child on various dates between January 1 and June 30, 2019.

The jury were played the police interview of the first girl, aged fourteen years-old, who said: “I would get detention often and seeing he was in a high place of power get him to talk about it and take it off.

“I would have to sit near him and his leg would rub up and then his hand brushing over my knee, his hand on the knee and then squeezing and up my leg.

“He attempted to touch the underneath of my thigh,” added the girl, revealing her family were reluctant to report the alleged incident.

“My mum did not want to call the police in case it was a misunderstanding and she told me to move away from him.”

Earlier prosecutor Paul Casey told the trial: “He was a teacher in a position of trust, a vice-principal, what was known as a deputy head.

“He had oversight at the secondary school where pupils trusted him and came to see him to air problems and he had a safeguarding role.

“He acted as a de facto court of appeal at Harris Academy and abused that power and his position of trust for his own sexual gratification.

“He touches, with his hands and his own legs the legs of girls who came into his room,” added the prosecutor. “The repetitive nature of that activity is at the heart of the case.

“This happened repeatedly in similar circumstances. There is a sense of modus operandi here.

“Mr Childs may suggest these girls have got together to do him in by making false allegations to ruin his life and career.”

Police were first alerted by Croydon local authority on June 18, 2019 of complaints from three of the girls and two more came forward in the following weeks.

The first girl said Childs touched her on at least six different occasions and the second girl, also aged fourteen, said there were at least two incidents.

“He would brush his fingers against and up my leg and get higher,” said the second girl.”

The third girl, aged fifteen years-old, said: “I felt like he touched my leg. I moved my leg and felt it again.”

The fourth girl, 14, had to write a statement in Childs’ office. “His knee kept touching me,” she said.

The fifth girl, 14, said there was another pupil in Childs’ office when he touched her. “He placed his hand on my leg and did it again and started moving his hand up my skirt.

“He was talking to us about using a condom to have sex with someone and started talking sexually to us.”

Mr Casey told the jury: “There is an increasing boldness from Mr Childs in the nature of his language and conversation and touching a girl in front of another.”

When questioned Childs said the first girl had effectively “started a protest” within the school.

The second girl had skipped lessons and confided in him she had sex with a boy in a disused Waddon flat.

“I had to report what she told me. She’s got it in for me,” said Childs.

He said the third girl had “issues in life” and would visit his office “to chat and unload,” conceding it was possible there had been accidental contact when he turned in his chair.

Regarding the fourth girl Childs said his headmaster warned him there was a “possibility” of accidental touching.

Childs said the fifth girl got into shouting matches with other pupils  and “would stir it up.”

The prosecutor told the trial: “Maybe this was an opportunity, you may feel, to get his retaliation in first and trash those making a complaint.”

Trial continues…………. 

Violinist Sentenced For Downloading Thousands Of Child Sex Images

An award-winning violinist, who continued downloading sick images of children after a police raid on his home for identical offences, has been sentenced.

Christian Halstead, 45, who studied at the prestigious Royal College of Music, admitted having nearly seven thousand indecent pictures and movies of youngsters.

He is leader of the Whitehall Orchestra and has also performed with the London Mozart Players and City Chamber Orchestra.

Halstead, of Appleton Road, Blackheath was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court.

He received twelve months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months and was placed on an 18-month Community Order.

Halstead must also complete 200 hours community service work and up to thirty days of a Probation Service-ordered rehabilitation activity requirement.

The court also made him subject to a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he must pay a £140 victim surcharge.

He previously pleaded guilty when he appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court to three counts of making indecent images of children on various dates between March 2, 2017 and March 18, 2019.

These were 1482 Category A images, the most serious and involving sexual abuse; 1950 Category B images and 3439 Category C images.

Prosecutor Emek Yagmur told the court on that occasion: “The defendant was arrested in 2017 after reports of internet activity from his premises.

“Police attended and seized a number of items and while under investigation this defendant has used the internet to download more images from facebook; Kick and Tumblr.”

Halstead has no convictions for similar offences.

While at the Royal College of Music Halstead won the Concerto Award, plus other prizes and performed before poet and author Lady Ursula Vaughan-Williams.

He has also performed as a freelance violinist with St. Paul’s Sinfonia, was a founder member of the Southbank Sinfonia and was First Violin with the Abraxas Ensemble.

Threatening Caller: "I Don't Know If I Am Guilty Or Not"

A Derby man, currently locked-up in top-security HMP Belmarsh, told a court last week he does not know if he is guilty or not, despite previously admitting making threatening phone calls to his local constabulary.

Danesh Joshi, 49, appeared in custody at Inner London Crown Court, where he complained of suffering from memory loss and anxiety.

“I am at Belmarsh. I was at Thameside and somebody made an allegation about me that I was going to kill my probation officer, but did not take it forward.”

Previous offender Joshi, of Portland Street, Cavendish earlier pleaded guilty to making threatening phone calls to Derbyshire Police and persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety on December 18, last year.

He admitted the offences when he appeared via videolink at Croydon Magistrates Court, where a charge of making threats to kill were dropped.

“I have been suffering from memory loss and it is a complicated situation,” he told Judge Freya Newbery from the dock.

“I am also suffering from anxiety and have not had my medication and realistically I don't know if I am guilty or not.”

Judge Newbery told Joshi: “These offences potentially cross the custody threshold,” and the court heard the maximum sentence is two years imprisonment.

“I married an individual who caused problems, blackmailed me and threatened to put me away for a very long time so I could not go to the police,” added Joshi.

“I have been removed from my own home, which is mortgaged and she is still there and I'm in London with life-sentence prisoners giving me bad advice.”

Joshi was not represented for his second Crown Court hearing and Judge Newbery told him: “You are an educated and articulate man. Why don't you press the Governor there to get a number for a solicitor?

“You don't want to leave this too long because you're in custody and you need to get a solicitor.”

Joshi was again remanded in custody until May 3 to obtain a legal representative.

"Intoxicated" Fashion Grad's Covid Mask Row

A drunken fashion graduate threw a Covid-19 warning sign and a glass picture frame at a bar worker when asked to wear a mask, a court heard today.

Kayla Jones, 26, was visibly intoxicated and insisted she was exempt from the mask mandate when greeted at The Rye pub, Peckham Rye on April 24, last year.

CCTV was played to Croydon Magistrates Court showing Jones flinging the laminated A4-sized sign, which was on an entrance table and the picture frame, smashing it.

Jones, of Goxhill Close, Birchwood Lincoln, whose ambitions to set up her own business within the fashion industry were wrecked by Covid, will return for sentencing on May 23.

She pleaded guilty to assaulting Sam Ayling; causing criminal damage to the pub’s property and being drunk and disorderly.

Prosecutor Corran Helme told the court it was 8.50pm when Jones entered the pub with a female friend.

“The staff member was greeting customers near the entrance and the defendant was asked to wear a face mask.”

The CCTV showed her friend was masked, but Jones was not.

“She said she was exempt and became agitated and loses control while visibly intoxicated,” explained the prosecutor.

“She picked-up the A4 sign, which was about wearing a mask, from the table and threw it at Mr Ayling.

“It bounces off his arm and then she pics up a picture frame and throws it at him and it smashes on the floor.”

The CCTV then showed Mr Ayling quickly pushing Jones out of the pub and blocking the door to prevent re-entry.

“It is hitting with the use of a weapon equivalent,” added Mr Helm. “There are two occasions when she throws the items at the complainant.”

The court heard the offences were “out of character” and Jones publicly apologised to both the victim and the court.

“We are going to need to know a little bit more about you,” said magistrate David Taylor, bailing Jones for a pre-sentence report on condition she does not enter The Rye pub.

Cousin Gets Life For Shocking Street Stabbing

Stabbed: Tesfa Campbell

A needy cousin, who constantly pestered a relative for cash, clothing, food and cannabis, was sentenced to life earlier this month for fatally stabbing him as the pair strolled along the street.

Jerome Bailey, 40, plunged a blade into the abdomen of his second cousin Tesfa Campbell, 40, severing two major blood vessels and left him bleeding to death.

He was convicted by a Croydon Crown Court jury of murdering his cousin in Latchmere Road, Battersea on July 3, 2019.

The court ordered Bailey must serve a minimum of eighteen years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie said: “Bailey has never confirmed why this meeting between the two cousins ended with Tesfa losing his life at the hands of another family member.

“However, it is clear that Bailey’s violent attacks had devastating consequences, which will continue to have an impact on many people’s lives for years to come.”

Bailey, of Greenock Road, Streatham fled the scene with a distinctive bright yellow JD Sports stringed carrier bag and its contents, which Mr. Campbell had been carrying.

The jury were shown CCTV footage of the pair walking near Latchmere Leisure Centre at 2.45pm, where Mr. Campbell worked out daily, moments before he was stabbed.

Four days later police caught Bailey hiding out at a house in Victor Road, Teddington and in the rear summer house of the property they found two yellow JD Sports bags, along with evidence of cannabis and an Oyster card Bailey used to travel to the meeting.

Prosecutor Mr. John Price QC told the court friends and relatives of Mr. Campbell confirmed his relationship with Bailey had become strained in the weeks before he died.

“The two men were second cousins and knew each other very well and Mr. Campbell’s brother says they were close and that he had a ‘soft spot’ for Bailey.

“In the past he had helped him out by lending him money, but lately they had been arguing and Mr. Campbell told friends he was waiting for one final big argument and then he was going to cut him off.

“Relatives say Mr. Campbell always spoke of Bailey’s money problems and that he would call looking for money, food, clothing and cannabis.

“Mr. Campbell himself said he loved Bailey like a cousin and gave him money, but he always came back for more.”

The pair exchanged phone calls shortly before the stabbing and it was 2.45pm when passers-by saw them in a confrontation.

“Mr. Campbell was stabbed to death. It happened in broad daylight,” said Mr. Price. “The prosecution allege it was this defendant who stabbed Mr. Campbell.

Murderer: Jerome Bailey

“That killing was an act of murder committed as part of a robbery.”

A passing estate agent dialled 999 and his call was played to the jury. “He’s just been stabbed. I saw the whole thing happen. There’s a lot of blood,” said the witness.

“The killer made off in the aftermath of the stabbing and Mr. Campbell collapsed to the ground at the scene,” explained Mr. Price.

He was rushed to King’s College Hospital, Camberwell, but was pronounced dead at 7.41pm that evening.

When Bailey was arrested he told officers: “What do you mean he’s murdered? How can I be under arrest for my cousin’s murder?

“F***ing hell this is a madness. How the f***ing hell am I a suspect?”

Bailey had also shaved off his distinctive top bun hairstyle.

After the trial Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding said: “I am pleased with the unanimous guilty verdict reached in this case. 

“Unfortunately, we are still no clearer to know why a meeting between the two cousins has ended with Tesfa losing his life at the hands of another family member.

“This undoubtedly a tragic incident that will have a long lasting impact on Tesfa’s family and friends. The nature of the incident is deeply shocking and I hope that this verdict goes some way to help them begin to close this sad chapter.

“I also want to pay tribute to the members of the public who came forward to assist with the investigation and those who stopped to help after the attack.” 

Yob Throttled Female ASDA Worker

Bexley Magistrates Court

A late-night yob has been sentenced for throttling a female ASDA worker during a taxi row.

James Pyne, 26, of High Street, Swanscombe, Kent turned on the woman when she spotted him behaving suspiciously near the store's locked security door.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting Sabrina Fuller outside ASDA in Bexleyheath in the early hours of February 12.

Last month at Bexley Magistrates Court Pyne was sentenced to a twelve-month Community Order, which includes 80 hours of unpaid community service, plus up to twenty days of a recommended activity requirement.

He must also pay £100 compensation to his victim.

The court heard it was 3.00am when the victim heard two males, one of whom was Pyne, outside ASDA shouting and demanding money for a taxi.

She then saw the pair by the store's secure entrance, with Pyne running a bright pink card down the crack in the door.

The victim challenged Pyne and asked him to move on, but he responded by grabbing her around the throat and pushing her against a wall.

He kept his hand around her throat for approximately five seconds while warning: “Don't touch me. Don't ever touch me.”

Accused 'Sugar Daddy' Claims Internet Date Asked For £3K Per Month

An international financial expert, accused of molesting his ’Sugar Baby’ internet date during a drug search, told a jury yesterday she only complained when he refused to give her £3,000 per month.

Graduate Angelo Fernando, 46, says the younger woman consented to the airport-style body search after he claimed to have been drugged and robbed of his watch and cash on another date.

The former City worker, of Chifney Court, Bridle Close, Surbiton has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexually assaulting the woman at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge Road, on August 28, 2019.

The woman, who has a Masters degree in acting, told Inner London Crown Court Fernando touched her between her legs and ran his hands over her breasts during the pre-date frisk near a fire exit.

Both were registered with the SeekingArrangement dating site, which matches ‘Sugar Daddies’ with ’Sugar Babies’.

They sat down for a drink in the hotel bar after the search and Fernando told the trial his date said she was working on a screenplay she hoped would become a sitcom.

“She said she joined the site in order to meet somebody who could provide her an allowance. Somebody who could help her fund the production of the screenplay and contribute towards her university expenses.

“Because the Masters in Acting was quite expensive she was looking for three thousand pounds a month.

“She would see me on a weekly basis in exchange for three thousand pounds a month and wanted the first instalment after the date.”

However, during her evidence the complainant denied asking Fernando for any money and said she only continued with the date to expose him.

“After I rebuffed that her body language changed and she became quite belligerent,” Fernando told the jury. “She was disappointed, it was written all over her face.

“She then started complaining about the search and said how uncomfortable it made her feel.

“She started scratching her leg and that made me subconsciously think: ‘Has she got drugs in her underwear?’

“I was not going to transfer three thousand pounds into the account of someone I had just met.

“She said: ‘I’m going home, this is a waste of time. She leaned in and I gave her a kiss on the cheek and she walked off and that was it.

“I thought she was flirtatious when she first sat down in the alcove. I did not think she was somebody who was mercenary.

“I was disappointed, but it is not unusual for women on that site to project one image, but whose motivations are completely different.”

Fernando - who claims his legal first name is Stefan - admitted using a different spelling of that name on the website and a younger age, but insisted this was for his own protection.

“There are some very unsavoury people on that site. I have been blackmailed, I have been doxxed so I have chosen to be a little discreet so people cannot look me up.”

Describing himself as a financial modelling consultant, Fernando said he paid the dating site’s £60 per month fee, but would never describe himself as a ‘Sugar Daddy’ and did not reveal any financial information.

“I was looking for someone to travel with, to go to nice venues with and had no expectation of a physical relationship,” he told the court. “I would always pay and I would buy presents because they were a friend.”

Fernando said his OCD, coupled with once being drugged resulted in a need to search all future dates thoroughly.

“On my third date with one girl she slipped a sedative into my drink at a Charing Cross pub. I became very dizzy and disorientated and woke up in the street several hours later with my watch and money clip missing.”

He explained this to the complainant before they met. “I told her on the phone I would check the areas covered by her underwear, not internally, but on the outside. 

“I told her about the search and she seemed sympathetic and there was no talk of a professional doing it.

“I ran my hand between her breasts and she was not wearing a bra. I started off by running the blade of my hand between her breasts and ran my hand over her stomach and down the sides of her dress.

“She had the same search as anyone I met on that site,” added Fernando, denying he touched the woman between her legs or touched her breasts.

“I searched behind her ears as well, running my fingertips over her ears and asked her to take her shoes off.

“If I wanted to search her more thoroughly I had her consent to do that.”

During her evidence from behind a screen Fernando’s date sobbed as she said: “He started from the ankle up, all the way up and I felt very uncomfortable and told him to stop and he carried on with the other leg and the same thing happened again.”

She said on both occasions Fernando touched her between the legs. “He said it was necessary to have a search.

“He ran his hands down the side of my breasts and said: ‘Oh. You’re not wearing a bra,’ and then ran his hands down the front. It was a slow cupping motion.”

She was convinced by Fernando’s need for security because of his “highly sensitive” work in the US defence aerospace world.

“I thought he was some kind of spy that had a job that required you to have some sort of check,” she said. “He painted a picture really well that excited me and he was someone that I’d like to meet.

“He told me he moved about the world and was not based in London.

“The story of what he was doing, what he did and how he had been spiked and needed this security operation just to go on a date sounded like a different world.”

She felt Fernando had done this before and was careful to avoid CCTV bay taking her to the fire exit. “There was a wet mop and bucket and cleaning sign there and anybody could have walked in, but he said it was a discreet space out of the public eye.”

Denying she asked Fernando for £3,000 per month she told the court: “I signed-up for the website because it sounded exciting. Maybe I went on it because I was bored.

“What ’Stefan’ said to me in the first message sounded very exciting and very dramatic and I was interested to meet him.”

Trial continues………….

Health And Fitness Boss Caught Driving After Smoking Cannabis

Bromley Magistrates Court

A local health and fitness businessman has been banned from the roads after police stopped him in the afternoon driving his Mercedes after smoking cannabis.

Hassan El Barbary, 40, is the boss of The London Fit Club, based in Yeoman Street, Deptford and specialising in health, fitness and well-being.

He was stopped at 5.30pm, hours after smoking cannabis that morning and was over double the legal limit.

El Barbary, of Buckhurst Way, Buckhurst Hill, Essex pleaded guilty to driving his black 1.6 litre Mercedes in Creek Road, Deptford on October 1, last year with excess cannabis in his blood.

The legal limit is two micrograms and his reading was at least five.

Prosecutor Subhanur Chowdhury told Bromley Magistrates Court last month police were on an emergency call with their lights flashing and sirens blaring when the defendant pulled out in front of them.

The officers were forced to stop and tested El Barbary for drugs.

The court was told he has drug-related convictions and convictions for eleven previous offences.

El Barbary said via his lawyer he honestly believed he was in a “fit and proper” condition to drive and was overtaking another vehicle and did not see the police car.

The father-of-two said his business, which offers health and therapy services to locals, suffered “catastrophic losses” of £120,000 during the covid pandemic.

He found his personal stress was “overwhelming” due to recent family bereavements and in a “moment of weakness” smoked the cannabis joint.

There was even recent evidence El Barbary had suffered a mild heart attack, the court heard.

His last criminal offence was eighteen years ago and El Barbary now works with Greenwich Council feeding children and rehabing emergency workers.

He admitted his arrest, prosecution and court appearance caused him “great embarrassment” and was not the behaviour he wanted to set as an example to others.

El Barbary was diqualified from driving for twelve months and fined £365, with £85 costs and ordered to pay a £37 victim surcharge.