South Essex criminal jailed in court in March

From drug cases to child sex offences the courts have seen a range of cases.

A rapist has been jailed for 13 years after attacking two women including one in Basildon.

Shelton Tapfumaneyi, 24, of Champion way, Oxford, was jailed at Basildon Crown Court on Friday after being convicted of two counts of rape.

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He stood trial at the crown court last year where he was concicted of rape.

He was cleared of one count of sexual assault.

The first incident took place in the Manchester area in 2019. 

The second incident took place in Basildon in August 2020.

A Pitsea man has been jailed for 21 years for the "unspeakable" murder of his girlfriend.
Gary Bennett, 37, of Caister Driver, Pitsea has been sentenced today at Basildon Crown Court after being guilty of the murder of Madison Wright, 30, at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

Ms Wright, 30, of Pitsea, went missing on the morning of Friday, July 22.

On Saturday, July 30 a body was discovered at Wat Tyler Country Park, which was cordoned off from the public for several days. 

During the trial, the jury were told Bennett killed his girlfriend, put her body in the boot of her own car, and drove around in it for a few days before burying her in Wat Tyler Park.

A CHILD rapist who “destroyed the lives” of his victims has been convicted of 28 serious sex offences and jailed for 22 years Matthew Rivett, 44, was convicted of the offences, which took place in south Essex, following a trial at Basildon Crown Court.

He left one of his victims with “severe psychological harm” after the abuse.

He was convicted of two counts of indecency of a child, nine counts of rape of a child, four counts of assault by penetration, enticing a child to engage in a sexual act, and 12 counts of sexual assault.

He was jailed for 22 years at Basildon Crown Court on Friday.

A RACIST man has been jailed for a distressing attack where he told a Latvian woman to “go back to her home country”.

Daniel McCaffrey, 49, now of Basildon, had a “history of antagonism” with the family of a man who was living alongside him in supported housing accommodation Berryfields, Colchester.

After a complaint was launched about a nine-hour party McCaffery held overnight on March 18 last year, the fellow resident’s mother came to voice her concerns.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard McCaffery took affront to this and upon seeing her leave the manager’s office, launched a vile tirade of frightening and racist abuse towards her.

Judge Christopher Morgan said the defendant, who has an acquired brain injury, was drunk at the time and branded his words “disgraceful”.

McCaffery, now of School Lane, Basildon, admitted racially-motivated harassment and breaching a suspended sentence order.

He was jailed for 13 weeks after Judge Morgan said he took “little responsibility” for his behaviour.

Mirel Zenelli, 33, and Ben Chadwick, 23, were jailed for being part of a drugs gang that flooded south Essex with cocaine and cannabis.

Police raided a number of homes in Billericay in July last year and drugs with an estimated value of over £112,000 and £10,000 cash were seized.

Zenelli, of Hutton Road, Shenfield, and Ben Chadwick, of Stock Road, Billericay, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Chadwick also admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis. Zenelli was jailed for six years, and Chadwick was jailed for three years.

A SEX abuse victim targeted by his music teacher in Benfleet as a child has revealed how he feared he would “take the abuse to the grave” with him. 

Stephen, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, was one of two boys abused by Andrew Dutton in Benfleet in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Last year, Dutton, then 63, was sentenced to 17-and-a-half-years in prison.
Stephen described him as “a disgusting, manipulative, remorseless child sex abuser” who “ruthlessly exploited my vulnerability as a teenager and young adult for his own sexual gratification”.

Stephen said: “I didn’t realise what had happened to me was sexual abuse, until, probably, my late twenties.

“But I was living on my own then and I thought my parents wouldn’t be able to deal with it if I told them. I thought, ‘You’re just going to have to take it to grave with you’.

“That’s when I disclosed it to my wife and then it was about a year later that I decided to come forward to the police.”

In a new video, Stephen talks about his experience of reporting the crimes and how his “fantastic” senior investigating officer, Detective Constable Emily Monk of the force’s Quest team, helped bring Dutton to justice.

Quest investigates non-recent child sexual abuse cases where the victim is now an adult and the abuser was an adult family member or in a position of responsibility.

They have a 100 per cent record at securing convictions for cases that have gone to court.

Stephen visited Southend police station and passed a note to the person on reception. He was then taken to a side room to meet a specialist officer before Ms Monk took on the case.

Another of Dutton’s victims was tracked down over the course of the investigation and 18 months after Stephen first reported the abuse, Dutton was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault and five counts of indecency with a child at Basildon Crown Court.
Reflecting on the conviction, Stephen said: “I never thought when we walked into that police station, that he would end up being in prison for 17-and-a-half years now.”