Jailed in the North East
CRIMINALS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE IN FEBRUARY
BURGLARS, fraudsters and violent criminals are all among the offenders locked up last month.
Benjamin Thompson was locked up for 12 years for sexually assaulting and raping a woman in Gateshead.
The 25-year-old held a blade to the victim’s neck before raping her.
Thompson, of King Edward Street, Gateshead was also given an extended licence of five years as well as the prison sentence.
Burglar Kirk Watson was locked up for 40 weeks for raiding two Newcastle bars.
The 34-year-old broke into Tup Tup Palace and then Filthy’s, stealing £39 of vodka from Tup Tup, and a Samsung tablet, a mobile phone and alcohol from Filthy’s. Watson, of Lonnen Drive, Swalwell, Gateshead, has 124 previous offences on his record.
Two Spanish drug mules were caught brazenly trying to import high-value drugs packed into familysized suitcases at Newcastle Airport.
Friends Carlos Gonzalez-Cortes and Leon Espada travelled on the same flight from Alicante with large cases as if they were going on holiday - but instead of packing clothes all that was inside was cannabis. The pair, who admitted importing the cannabis, have each been jailed for 16 months.
Two dealers who sold drugs from luxury cars in Sunderland have been jailed. Safiq Iqbal and Mursalin Ali peddled cocaine and MCAT from a BMW X5 but were caught by an undercover police officer.
Both were locked up after admitting drug supply offences.
Iqbal, 24, of Thornhill Crescent, Sunderland, pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine and was jailed for three years.
Ali, 26, of Northcote Avenue, Sunderland, admitted supplying MCAT and was jailed for seven months.
A council worker who siphoned off £197,000 of public funds has been jailed for 27 months.
Stephen Ramsey, 51, of Gosforth, Newcastle, was working in the finance department of Warwickshire County Council, when he diverted social care money into his own bank account over a five-year period to fund his gambling addiction.
A man who smashed a stone jug over a victim’s head was sent to prison for two years.
Mark Smith, 35, of no fixed address, hit the other man with the ornament as the victim tried to calm him down when Smith started smashing items.
Smith has 102 convictions and admitted unlawful wounding.
Steven Dodd was jailed for 28 months after stealing his grandparents’ life savings.
Drug addict Dodd, 33, of no fixed address, walked into his grandparents’ home in Hexham and stole £27,000 from their bedside drawers.
Dodd went on a spending spree and £20,000 of the cash has never been traced.
A man who drove into a police car after being cornered by an officer was jailed.
Shaun Morgan refused to stop for officers in North Shields, who halted their pursuit as Morgan drove near a youth club.
He was spotted again, and officers blocked off Morgan’s Renault Megane. Morgan then drove at the police car. Morgan, 23, of St Stephen’s Way, Percy Main, North Shields, admitted dangerous driving, driving with no insurance and having no licence.
Shuaib Muhammad was locked up for two-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to stalking.
He was hired to do work at a woman’s house in Newcastle, and copied a set of her keys before entering her home while she was at work.
Muhammad left a sex toy in her bathroom and items of other women’s clothing in her home.
Newcastle Crown Court heard as well as committing a sex act in the house, Muhammad, 24, of Marshall Wallis Road, South Shields, made silent phone calls to the customer, stole her clothing and hacked her Facebook account to find out more about her.
When the married dad was arrested, police found women’s clothes, in various styles and sizes, as well as a sex toy, in his van. Brothers John and Michael
Clamp have been jailed for burglary. The pair, who have been burgling homes for 20 years, stole thousands of pounds worth of valuables in a three-hour heist after targeting one of Michael Clamp’s neighbours.
John Clamp, 34, of Heathfield Crescent, Kenton, Newcastle, was jailed for 54 for months while Michael Clamp, of no fixed address, got 52 months at Newcastle Crown Court after they pleaded guilty to burglary.
Brian Ellis was jailed for eightand-a-half years for raping a woman.
The 48-year-old, from Verne Road, North Shields carried out the attack in North Shields in 2015.
An online troll is back behind bars after being caught carrying out fraud on Facebook. Reece Elliott was locked up in 2013 after his online threat saw 3,000 children kept out of classrooms in the USA.
After being released, Elliott took to Facebook offering to sell bogus products, before keeping the conned customers’ money.
Newcastle Crown Court heard there were potentially 125 victims of the fraud, which was worth between £12,500 and £20,000.
Elliott, 29, of Fossway, South Shields, was jailed for 22 months.
Grant Foster was jailed for four years after carrying out terrifying burglaries at the homes of two expartners.
Foster, 36, of Rosyth Road, Red House, Sunderland, trashed their homes and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage. He also left weapons behind in their properties, leaving both women distressed.
Callum Sexton was jailed for 16 months after stealing a police car when an officer attempted to help him.
Sexton, who had been living in a hostel, stole the BMW patrol car after police were called to help Sexton when he was ejected from a taxi.
Sexton - who had downed a bottle of vodka - then sneaked into the driver’s seat and sped off, driving dangerously and erratically before losing control and crashing.