Criminals jailed in South Essex in April

A FRAUSTER stole nearly £400,000 from victims, and deprived several people of their life savings, by offering them a fake investment scheme over five years.

Jay Delaney, 32, of Baxter Avenue, Southend, left one man bankrupt and took the life savings of several others. She promised high returns on an investments scheme while lying about working for the Royal Bank of Scotland and insurance firm Aviva.

She conned 38 victims out of £388,000 from 2015 to 2020, and gambled away money in the hope she could give the returns she promised. A number of the victims were her close friends.

She appeared at Basildon Crown Court charged with 38 counts of fraud and was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail.

A MAN with a “compulsion to have sex with young girls” has been jailed after being snared by a group of so-called paedophile hunters.

Tony Jones, 55, of Southchurch Road, Southend, was caught having sexualised conversations with an adult who was posing as a child.

He was jailed at Basildon Crown Court. Jones admitted two counts of arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence and attempting to incite a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison and five years on an extended licence.

A POLICE detective praised the specialist officers who caught a persistent paedophile who had more than 800 indecent images of children.

Lionel Bryan, who had previous convictions, was caught with the images and evidence he was having sexual conversations with children online during a regular visit from Essex Police’s Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team (MOSOVO) on July 12.

The 43-year-old was jailed earlier this month.Bryan, of Hastings Road, Southend, was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Basildon Crown Court on April 6, and given a further three-and-a-half years on licence.

A PAEDOPHILE who had sex with a school girl in a car park and then attempted to contact her 10 years later has been jailed for nine years.

Christopher Curtis, 46, was previously found guilty by a jury at Basildon Crown Court of carrying out sex acts with the then school girl.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted of six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.

During the trial, the jury at Basildon Crown Court heard that the offences were committed in 2008, when Curtis made the girl feel “loved and wanted.”

In July 2018, the victim received a social media message from a man asking her if she wanted to rekindle their friendship and to get in contact.

A THUG who left a man with a blood clot on his brain and in need of three emergency operations has been jailed for more than six years.

David Peacock, of Fowler Close, Southend, attacked the victim in High Street, Great Wakering, after being thrown out of a pub.

At his sentencing, Basildon Crown Court heard that police thought the victim was dead due to the amount of blood and swelling on his face.

Peacock also bit two officers who attended the scene.

Good Samaritans rushed to help during the incident on November 27 last year. Peacock was jailed for six years and six months for causing GBH with intent and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. He was also charged with possession of cocaine and cannabis but these will remain on file.

A DRUNKEN thug left a man with a “nasty four-inch cut” in his back after using racial slurs in the street.

Piotr Boryca, of Tavistock Drive, Billericay racially abused one of his victims, who is of Chinese descent, before throwing a bottle at another man and making threats to kill.

The 34-year-old was jailed for a year and two months at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

The court heard the man who was hit by the bottle suffered a four-inch cut to his back.

It was stated that Boryca failed to comply with community orders in the past and there was no option other than a prison sentence.

A WORKER who stole almost £200,000 from a charity has been jailed for six years, despite claiming he was owed the money for unpaid overtime.

Stephen Osborne, of Ilfracombe Avenue, Southend, stolen £187,923, from disabled charity Vibrance, which is based in Southend and Bethnal Green.

After being sacked, the 43-year-old father-of-two stole a further £25,107 from a London-based recruitment firm.

On Friday at Basildon Crown Court, he was jailed for six years after being convicted of three counts of fraud.

At the charity he used a colleague’s card and pin to authorise the payments to his own bank account, using fake payment details.

Osbourne then later stole tax rebate cash for workers at the recruitment firm after being sacked from the charity over fraud claims.

None of the money was paid back and Recorder Oliver Cambell told him the loss had a “serious impact” on the charity which helps disabled people.