Round up of cases in the crown courts this week

A DRUG dealer was found with £75,000 of cocaine and cannabis after attempting to flee police in the street.

Macaulay Norton, 27, of Haven Road, Canvey, was jailed at Southend Crown Court yesterday after officers raided his home.

He was stopped in a transit van on Canvey last January after he was spotted throwing suspicious bin bags into the garden of an home on the island.

Prosecuting, Edmund Blackman said: “Police searched his home and found £1,200 in cash, cocaine worth around £20,000, cannabis worth about £30,000 and a small professional cannabis factory with 40 young plants worth about £25,000.

A RAPPER who bragged about dealing drugs in Basildon in his music has been jailed for more than five years.

Olusogo Ajewole, 33, of Caspian Way, Purfleet, who performed under the name B-Levelz, ran the H line which sold crack cocaine and heroin.

He was found with digital scales and crack cocaine, which was being prepared for sale, were on the sofa, where he had been sitting.

The drugs had a street value of about £5,600 and a tub of coins containing about £3,000.

In his music videos, Ajewole wears a mask or balaclava and boasts about making large sums of money by getting young people to sell drugs for him.

His songs also express fears of being followed by the police while the lyrics also state: “Raptor’s got me on edge.”

Detective Inspector Scott Fitzmaurice, of Op Raptor South, said: “Ajewole was literally caught in the act and the evidence we had compiled against him over the course of five months of investigation meant he had no opportunity but to plead guilty.

A SUSPECTED paedophile contacted his victim ten years after he had sex with her in a car park, a court heard.

Christopher Curtis, 46, of Queen Anne’s Drive, Westcliff, is accused of carrying out sex acts with the then-schoolgirl Yesterday, the jury at Basildon Crown Court heard that the offences were committed in 2008, when Curtis made the girl feel “loved and wanted” after they started speaking online.

Ms Davey told the court that in July 2018, he contacted her again.

She remembered what had happened and later went to the police to report it.

Prosecuting, Kate Davey said: “She had other partners after and the defence will say she’s confused with other men, but this is unfair.

“She liked the attention and not the sex.

“It was the school holidays when they met. Since the arrest police have searched his phone and computer.”

A DEALER who turned to “drink and crack cocaine” after the death of his father has been spared jail.

Kyle Grant, 25, of Hardy Court, Rochford operated the “James line” in Southend which saw Class A drugs supplied to users across Southend.

Basildon Crown Court was told Grant’s father had died of motor neurone disease and he lost three other family members in three months, leading him to become more involved in the supply of drugs.

Prosecuting Oliver Weetch said: “On November 11, 2020 he was found with crack cocaine at his home and there was evidence of him being concerned with supply of the drugs.

“In September 2020 police went to his home and saw him talking to another class A drug user, he was detained and he dropped wraps of crack cocaine.

“Police found more wraps and seized a phone for the drugs line called James that supplied class A drugs in Southend.

AN ABUSIVE drunk threatened to shoot a 999 call handler after being thrown out of a town centre club.

Bernard Matsure, 53, of Hastings Road, Southend repeatedly threatened the control room call handler after calling police to report being unfairly kicked out of the venue.

He avoided jailed at Basildon Crown Court yesterday after he admitted to having a drink problem and insisted he’s now cut down on the booze.

Prosecuting Amy Woolfson said: “On March 1 last year at about 1am he called 999 and told the call handler he was being abused but wouldn’t give details.

“He told the worker police knew what had happened and asked him if he needed to get a gun. He then repeatedly threatened to shoot the handler.

“The call handler said he felt alarmed as this sort of thing had happened before and he was annoyed this man had used 999 lines to make the threat and hinder anyone who needed police help.”

Mitigating Alfred Underwood told the court his client’s Achilles’ heel was alcohol but that’s he’s now stopped drinking to excess.

AN ABUSIVE man has been jailed for threatening to kill his former partner and make her “life a living hell” after finding out she had a new partner.

Alex Harris, 28, of Chalk End, Pitsea, wrongly believed his former girlfriend was rekindling the relationship and flew into a rage after finding out she was seeing someone else.

His former partner already had a restraining order against the Harris, which he breached on five separate occasions.

He told the woman that “people are after her” and he “hoped they would kill” her, leaving her terrified to be in her own.

Prosecuting, Nick Bonehill, said: “On August 15 he turned up at her house and screamed and shouted and smashed her phone."