THOSE SENT TO PRISON LAST MONTH
SAD CUSTODY PIC OF CRIMINAL AMONG
A GRANDMOTHER whose face showed the ravages of drug addiction and a man who shot at two good Samaritans with an imitation firearm were among the criminals who faced the courts last month.
Heather Bailey and Mark Liney were subsequently jailed for their crimes.
Here are the criminals jailed in December:
MARK LINEY
Recovering alcoholic Mark Liney was sleeping in a tent after an argument with his partner and shot at two women with an imitation firearm, but they were left terrified as they thought the shot was real, a court heard.
Liney had pitched his tent behind Stapenhill Methodist Church, in Short Street, Stapenhill, following the argument, before shouting and swearing at the women who had been asked to find him so he could charge his phone.
It was a blank firing handgun which he had pointed at them that led to them fleeing and hiding behind a van they were so scared.
Liney, of Short Street, Stapenhill, appeared via a video link at Stafford Crown Court from HMP Hewell, Worcestershire, on December 6.
The 34-year-old had previously admitted that on October 13 while in Stapenhill he had in his possession an imitation firearm, namely a blank firing handgun with the intention of causing a person to believe that unlawful violence would be used against them or another.
He also admitted affray by using or threatening unlawful violence on the same date. He was jailed for two years.
WILLIAM HOWARD
William Howard binged on cocaine and snatched cash from a supermarket till before driving his distinctive orange work van into a swamp, a court heard.
A cordon was set up around Tesco Express, in Hearthcote Road, Swadlincote, in August after Howard pushed a shopper in the face and stole £160 from the till before fleeing in his bright-coloured van.
Howard, of Westfield Road in the town, pushed a female shopper in the face in a “rugby-style hand off” as he ran out of the Tesco Express store he had just stolen from, Derby Crown Court heard. A brave fellow shopper chased after him but backed off when the 25-year-old gestured he had a hammer in his waistband. And despite a last minute plea from the defendant’s father to the sentencing judge for leniency, he was jailed for 16 months.
ANDREW EDROP
Drug dealer Andrew Edrop was caught in broad day light with heroin and crack cocaine by police during a stop and search operation.
Edrop, of Thornley Street, Burton, was sentenced to 36 months behind bars at Stafford Crown Court on Tuesday, December 14, after pleading guilty to drugs offences.
The court heard how the 28-year-old was stopped by officers on Summerfield Road, in Tamworth, at around 3pm on October 13. A quantity of class A drugs, two mobile phones and £287 in cash were discovered by the officers and he was arrested.
Edrop was subsequently charged with one count each of possession with intent to supply heroin and of crack cocaine.
He was jailed for three years.
HEATHER BAILEY
The custody mugshot of Heather Bailey showed a sad descent into the “ravages” of drug addiction after the grandma-of-six was caught helping flood the streets of Burton with heroin and crack cocaine.
Bailey, of Wyggeston Street, Burton, was one of four people who were part of “The Marley Line” that helped move the Class A drugs into Burton and Derby. She had 110 previous convictions.
Bailey appeared alongside Omar Malik, Akaash Hasham, Akeel Saleem, all of Derby, after their phones were linked.
A court heard their cars were stopped by police, with wraps of the drugs, phones and cash found on each of them. Bailey admitted possession with intent to supply class A drugs and possession of a knife.
The 58-year-old’s long history of drug addiction started when she was introduced to heroin by an ex-partner aged just 17.
Derby Crown Court heard that she had recently slipped back into addiction after she lost her home and her manager position at a warehouse following the Covid pandemic.
The court was also shown a photo taken before her relapse which “encapsulates the way drugs can ravage someone in the throes of addiction”, her defence solicitor Carl Temple-vasey told the court.
She was jailed for two years.