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Kenneth Graham demanded cash from the terrified Middlesbrough assistant warning her: “I’ve got a gun and I’ll shoot you”

Kenneth Graham

A robber who held up a late night store telling the terrified, lone assistant “I’ve got a gun” was jailed for three years.

Kenneth Graham, 21, arrived at the Premier shop in Middlesbrough on his bike at 9.30pm as assistant Ann Wilson was outside taking a cigarette break.

As she went behind the counter to serve him he demanded she hand over the money saying: “I’ve got a gun and I’ll shoot you”.

He was standing in front of her with his right hand inside his jacket rummaging around for something.

Prosecutor Rachel Masters told Teesside Crown Court that Miss Wilson started to panic and she hit the wrong button on the till, but eventually she took out a handful of £5 and £10 notes.

Graham, who was wearing gloves, said ‘Don’t you dare touch your phone’ and he left returning immediately to repeat ‘Don’t use your phone.”

Miss Masters added: “She was crying uncontrollably thinking that he had a gun.

“She saw a man at the cash machine and he called the police. Graham was identified as a possible suspect and he was positively identified soon after.

“She said later that she recognised him as the robber of the store having known him in the area where she lived.

“The incident left her extremely upset and scared, worrying if the person knew her and came back.

“She said ‘I feel sick about the whole incident’. When she was going to be a witness she asked for special measures.

“She said ‘I’m suffering panic attacks. I have been receiving regular support from the Victim Support network. I am struggling to do my work but it’s something I have to do because I need the money to pay my bills.”

Graham had 16 convictions for 29 offences including drugs,assault theft and burglary.

Jim Withyman, defending, said that Graham came from a respectable family but he had been threatened over a drug debt after he turned to drugs while mourning the deaths of two close friends.

He said that Graham, whose parents were in court supporting him, wished to apologise through him to Miss Wilson for the terror and upset he caused to her.

Judge Michael Taylor told Grham: “She is finding it very difficult to come to terms with what happened.

“People like her perform a valuable serviced to the public, and the message has got to out that those who commit these sort of offences will always received substantial prison sentences.

“You said that you had a gun and she was not to know whether you had one.”

Graham, of Ottawa Road,Middlesbrough, was jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to the November 3 robbery of the store on Longlands Road, Middlesbrough.

Gazette Live

He was jailed last year for his role in the EDL rioting at the Birmingham demo in 2013. More info here.

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A NEWPORT man has been fined after posting racist comments on Facebook.

Jason Gwyer, aged 32, of Brown Close, was convicted of a racially aggravated public order offence after posting racists comments on Facebook in relation to the annual Ashura march which takes place in Newport.

The march organised by the Islamic Society for Wales was to commemorate the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain who was killed in Karbala, Iraq, more than 1,300 years ago.

The details of the march were published in the Argus in November, 2014, and Gwyer posted a photo of the article along with racist comments on his Facebook page on November 12, 2014.

Gwyer posted: “Need this to go viral!!!! Muslims think they are going to have a nice little march thru my city on Sunday!!! think not!!! Need as much force as possable. We need to stand up and tell these vile pigs where to go!!! Who is with me??? Please share.”

He was found guilty at Newport Magistrates Court and fined £165. He also had to pay costs of £620.

He was also charged with producing class b drug cannabis and possession of a class b drug which was cannabis. He pleaded guilty to both offences.

He received a 12 month community order, a £100 fine and the drugs were ordered for destruction.

PC Ricky Thomas, investigating officer, after the hearing, said: “Gwent Police will not tolerate any type of hate crime in our communities. We will investigate it and put evidence before the courts for the offender to be dealt with.

“I hope this serves as a warning to people who think that by posting on social media sites that it is anonymous in some way – it isn’t and it’s still an offence. We would encourage anyone who has concerns about anything they see on social media to report it to us on 101.”

South Wales Argus

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DRUGS CHARGES ... clockwise, from top left, Thomas Allen, Deborah Ritchie, Daniel Sayers and Adam Sayers.

DRUGS CHARGES … clockwise, from top left, Thomas Allen, Deborah Ritchie, Daniel Sayers and Adam Sayers.

FOUR drug dealers were arrested when police launched an undercover operation to tackle city centre crime.

Officers who posed as users ‘Gary and Emma’ were easily able to buy drugs from strangers they met while hanging around the busy streets of Sunderland.

Over a period of weeks the covert cops were regularly offered and sold cannabis.

On one occasion they were able to buy diamorphine during a deal that took place near Hudson Street Primary School.

As a result of the operation, Adam Sayers, 27 and Deborah Ritchie, 28, both of Somerset Street, Daniel Sayers, 31, of Hill View Square and Thomas Allen, 29, of Guildford Street, all in Sunderland, all admitted drugs charges.

All four have dozens of previous convictions for a variety of offences.

Prosecutor Micahael Hodson told Newcastle Crown Court; “This was an investigation into crime generally, in the centre of Sunderland.

“The prosecution say Adams Sayers is the busiest of all and he involved his girlfriend Miss Ritchie.

“Daniel Sayers made the first approach to the two officers, who were sitting on a wall in Sunderland town centre.

“The crown submit they are street dealers.”

The court heard the first meeting with the undercover officers was in early April last year.

The operation came to an end in August when the home of Sayers and Ritchie was raided and 14 wraps of cannabis were found.

Between those dates the officers had been able to purchase small amount of drugs, in exchange for cash, cigarettes and even razors.

The deals were often arranged via mobile phone after the initial street meeting in April.

Adam Sayers, who admitted supplying and offering to supply cannabis, was jailed for nine months.

Ritchie, who admitted supplying and offering to supply cannabis, was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with a two month curfew.

Allen, who admitted supplying cannabis, was sentenced to four month imprisonment, suspended for 18 months with supervision and a two month curfew.

Daniel Sayers, who admitted one charge of supplying diamorphine, was jailed for nine months , consecutive to a sentence he is serving for unrelated offences.

Judge Paul Sloan QC told them: “Your offending was detected as a result of a police operation where two undercover officers were deployed to operate covertly in Sunderland.”

The judge said he accepted Ritchie, who has turned her back on trouble and is co-operating fully with officials who are trying to help her, and Allen, who has no previous convictions for drugs offences and has settled down with a family, were lesser involved.

The court heard the diamophine handed over by Daniel Sayers during his brief involvement was worth less than £10 and he exchanged it for 100 cigarettes.

Alec Burns, defending, said the class A drug was in prescription tablet form, which got ground down during the exchange near the school.

Mr Burns said; “It was not someone who had heroin ready to supply, it was someone who improvised at the time.”

The court heard Adam Sayers has been diagnosed with health problems and has vowed to turn his back on trouble.

Sunderland Echo

The EDL supporter in this article is Tommy Allan

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Craig McLaughlin, 21, of Grange Road, Layton, pleaded guilty to an offence of threatening with an offensive weapon. His arrest followed an incident in the Hatfield Avenue area of Fleetwood on September 21 last year.

Craig McLaughlin, 21, of Grange Road, Layton, pleaded guilty to an offence of threatening with an offensive weapon. His arrest followed an incident in the Hatfield Avenue area of Fleetwood on September 21 last year.

Swinging a baseball bat at a stranger in the street has left a Blackpool man facing a six-month spell behind bars.

Craig McLaughlin swung the weapon towards a man riding past him on a bicycle, causing the cyclist to almost fall off his bike.

A court heard the defendant had consumed alcohol as well as cocaine beforehand and had no real recollection of what happened.

McLaughlin, 21, of Grange Road, Layton, pleaded guilty to an offence of threatening with an offensive weapon.

His arrest followed an 
incident in the Hatfield 
Avenue area of Fleetwood on September 21.

Mercedeh Jabbari, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said a man was riding towards a junction that afternoon when he noticed a man coming out of a gateway which led to the rear of some flats.

He told the court: “As he rode past the defendant, Craig McLaughlin, was rushing 
towards him saying ‘you think you’re hard, don’t you?’

“He began swinging the bat towards him.

“The male almost fell off his bicycle, but managed to swerve. He hit the kerb.”

The man contacted the police while keeping McLaughlin, who continued to shout, in sight.

While the man was on the phone to the police, the defendant had taken his top off and was running around.

He subsequently dropped the bat.

The prosecution said McLaughlin then showed passive resistance towards a police officer.

He would not providing any details of who he was.

McLaughlin had 35 previous offences on his record.

In October he was given 12 weeks prison for breaching a suspended sentence made in April of last year.

Julie Taylor, defending, said McLaughlin had drunk far too much at the time and had also taken cocaine.

She said: “He had had an argument.

“He had the baseball bat for his protection.

“He picked it up and after that he really hasn’t any recollection of making a threat towards the man.

“He accepts his guilt.

“He simply has no recollection, but accepts the man would have been extremely fearful during the incident.

“It is something for which the defendant has expressed remorse and wishes to 
apologise to him and to the court.”

Ms Taylor added that the prison term passed after the offence last September had been a real wake up call for him.

McLaughlin had given up drinking to excess and now only occasionally smoked cannabis.

BBC News

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Clockwise from top left: Ashley Rowland, James Cocks, Melvyn Parker and Jason Harris were sentenced on Friday over violence during last year's EDL protest

Clockwise from top left: Ashley Rowland, James Cocks, Melvyn Parker and Jason Harris were sentenced on Friday over violence during last year’s EDL protest

AN English Defence League supporter who hurled a fire extinguisher at police officers at “almost point blank range” as violence flared in Birmingham has been jailed.

Ashley Rowland was among up to 300 people involved in bloody clashes with police during a demonstration in the city centre on July 20 last year.

Thirty officers were injured with one needing hospital treatment.

Judge Richard Bond said Rowland was the most heavily-involved of more than 50 defendants due to be sentenced over the violence and had moved between various pockets of trouble.

He chanted racial and anti-religious slogans with others and aggressively confronted officers in Centenary Square.

And Rowland tried to scale a wall outside the International Convention Centre and threw a plank of wood which hit a police officer after he and other demonstrators raided a building site.

Outside the Hyatt Hotel, he picked up three pieces of a metal hotel sign which he also threw at a police cordon, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

At one point four officers became trapped on Broad Street and were surrounded.

Judge Bond told Rowland: “You picked up a fire extinguisher and forcefully threw it at the trapped officers.”

Rowland, 25, of Mexborough, South Yorkshire, had previously admitted a charge of violent disorder and was jailed for 31 months.

Three others were also sentenced for their roles in the trouble today.

Melvyn Parker, 47, of Mansfield, and James Cocks, 35, of Binton Close, Redditch, were both sentenced to two years while Jason Harris, 40, of Eccles, Salford, was jailed for 20 months.

James Cocks was sentenced to two years

James Cocks was sentenced to two years

They had also pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

Passing sentence, the judge said the atmosphere before the 2,000-strong demonstration was “highly charged” following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby on a street in London.

The trouble lasted for around two hours and broke out at seven sites as EDL supporters tried to break through a police cordon and reach counter-demonstrators.

The worst violence was in Centenary Square where missiles were thrown, officers were kicked and punched and portable toilets were used as weapons.

Gerry Bermingham, for Rowland, said he had set up a small business since the incident and was trying to rehabilitate himself.

Nigel Stelling, for Parker, said he was “out of control” with drink and drugs when he joined the EDL.

A total of eight men have now been jailed for their roles in the violence.

Yesterday, four other defendants were jailed for a total of more than six years for their parts.

Birmingham Mail

A MAN accused of stealing fuel from several petrol stations faces trial.

Conrad Ayscough, of Hall Cross Road, Lowerhouses, was before Kirklees magistrates yesterday.

He faces four charges of making off without payment between February 4 and 23.

The 46-year-old is alleged to have stolen petrol from Birchencliffe Service Station as well as from service stations in Lockwood Road, Lockwood, and Wade Street and Salterhebble Hill, both in Halifax.

Ayscough denies the charges together with an additional charge of driving whilst disqualified.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a small quantity of class B drug amphetamine on February 23.

Magistrates told him that he faces trial at the Huddersfield court on July 2.

Ayscough was granted unconditional bail.

Huddersfield Examiner

A FIRE on a North Sea ferry which sparked a major rescue operation when it was carrying around 1,000 people was started by a drunk passenger who was smoking cannabis in a cabin, a court has heard.

Boden George Hughes, 26, admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, during a brief hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, where his trial had been due to start.

The fire on the DFDS Newcastle to Amsterdam service happened at around 11pm on December 28 when the vessel was 30 miles off the North Yorkshire coast.

Six people were winched off the ferry by the RAF and helicoptered to hospital.

Hughes, who also admitted affray, pleaded guilty to arson on the basis that he was drunk, was smoking cannabis in a bong, and the fire started when his lighter’s flame set a pile of clothes ablaze.

He had altered his lighter so it produced a constant flame, he claimed.

Judge James Goss, the Recorder of Newcastle, will sentence Hughes, of Fulwell Road, Sunderland, in September.

Hughes was remanded in custody and warned to expect a lengthy prison sentence.

Judge Goss said: “Be under no illusions as to the seriousness of the crimes you have admitted today.

“This (arson) was a very serious offence which will attract a substantial sentence of imprisonment.”

Ian Lawrie QC, prosecuting, said figures will be produced at the next hearing to show the losses incurred by DFDS after the fire.

He said the helicopter rescue alone cost £50,000.

Mr Lawrie said a reconstruction of the fire showed that a blaze in a cabin using the same combustible clothing took just two minutes to engulf the space.

Hughes was guilty of “spectacular recklessness”, he said.

He added: “He was clearly drunk, he was clearly also on drugs.”

After the terrifying experience of a fire and rescue operation miles out to sea, Hughes’s fellow passengers faced the frustration of returning to Newcastle.

Passengers hugged family members in relief at the ferry terminal when they were finally allowed off, with some vowing never to sail again.

Julie Bell and Shaun Richardson, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, were on a weekend away.

At the time she said: “It was like a scene from a movie, a chaotic mess, horrible.

“It was terrifying and I won’t be travelling by boat again. I think I will stay in the UK from now on, it’s a lot safer.”

The King Seaways vessel was carrying 946 people at the time, plus crew.

RAF helicopters from Leconfield near Hull and Boulmer, Northumberland, were scrambled to the vessel along with RNLI lifeboats from Bridlington and Filey.

As he was led away, Hughes, dressed in a grey sweatshirt for the hearing, said: “Thank you, Your Honour.”

Sunderland Echo

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A family were subjected to a terrifying racist attack by a gang of yobs in the west end of Newcastle as they tried to move in their furniture

Daniel McStay, jailed for racist attacks in Elswick

Daniel McStay, jailed for racist attacks in Elswick

Vile racist thugs drove an Asian family out of their new home as they tried to move in.

The Ali family pulled up outside their new house in Elswick, Newcastle, only to be greeted by a seething gang of young yobs.

Boxer Daniel McStay and five or six youths started punching and kicking their car, telling them to get off “their estate” and threatening to kill them.

Terrified Mr Ali, who had his wife and three daughters in the car, frantically began reversing to try to get away as the gang kicked his car.

One of them threw a pint glass of beer at the back of his car, which smashed showering the car with alcohol and glass.

Fifteen minutes later McStay and two youths subjected another man to a racist attack as he waited in his car for his friend outside Elswick mosque.

As McStay, 22, was jailed for eight months, Mr Ali told how the incident had left him and his family scared to move in.

He said: “We had been looking forward to moving in to the new house but now we do not wish to do so.

“My daughters and wife are extremely upset, we have not been involved in an incident like this before.

“My family have been racially targeted for no reason. The damage to my car can be repaired, however mentally we have all suffered.”

Newcastle Crown Court heard the family were taking furniture to the house on Brittania Place, Elswick, around 3pm on March 23, ahead of moving in.

Just after Mr Ali, his wife and daughters, aged, 10, 18 and 19, pulled up, McStay and the others approached from behind, swigging alcohol.

Neil Pallister, prosecuting, said one of them shouted: “You better not be moving here or we will kill you, this is our estate.”

There followed a tirade of vile racist abuse and a 17-year-old started punching the driver’s side window shouting “Get out of here or I will kill you.”

Mr Pallister said: “All of the males were involved in the racial abuse and McStay joined in.

“Clearly Mr Ali and his family were in great fear and he began reversing his car down the street and turned round to drive away.

“As he reversed his car the group began kicking his car and ran after him and his family.

“One of them threw a pint glass which hit the rear window of the car, smashing glass and showering the car with alcohol as they drove away.”

After getting clear of the attack and reporting it to police, the family saw their car had been dented, causing hundreds of pounds of damage.

Mr Pallister said: “They were too scared and frightened to move into the address.”

Just fifteen minutes later McStay and two youths targeted an 18-year-old as he waited in his car outside Elswick mosque.

He was racially abused and told to leave the area and also had his car kicked.

Mr Pallister said: “The victim was very fearful for his safety and he locked his car door but the males continued to shout racial abuse at him.

“Fearing for his safety he felt obliged to reverse away out of the location. As he slowly drove away the gang followed him, waving their hands to shoo him away and one of them kicked his vehicle.”

Police caught up with them nearby and eventually Mcstay was also charged over the earlier attack after his trainer print was found on Mr Ali’s car.

McStay, of Kenilworth Road, Elswick, pleaded guilty to two charges of racially aggravated harassment, racially aggravated criminal damage and possessing cannabis.

He has previous convictions for offences including racially aggravated threatening words or behaviour, arson and affray.

Andrew Walker, defending, said: “These incidents were utterly reprehensible, deeply unpleasant and grossly offensive to those to whom it was aimed.

“It was pathetic in terms of the ignorance of those involved, who should all be utterly ashamed of themselves.”

Mr Walker added that McStay, who he said was not the prime mover, takes part in unlicenced boxing bouts.

Two 17-year-olds involved in the incidents were sent to the youth court to be dealt with.

Newcastle Chronicle

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Wayne Payne who fatally injured five-year-old in accident receives fresh three-year prison sentence for possessing cocaine with intent to supply

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A killer driver who fatally injured a boy of five peddled drugs after being bailed over the tragedy.

Wayne Payne – already serving a five-year jail term for knocking down tragic Cameron Ward – received a fresh three-year prison sentence for possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

The 31-year-old sparked outrage when he callously told Cameron’s family: “S**t happens, life goes on” as he left Birmingham Crown Court after a previous hearing.

A judge who sentenced Payne for the drug offence condemned him as a common street dealer.

Recorder Kevin Hegarty told him: “Society takes a dim view of people dealing in class A drugs.”

Phillip Beardwell, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court that police found almost five grammes of cocaine in a bag hidden inside a cooker at Payne’s home in Mount View, Sutton Coldfield, on October 4 last year.

Officers also recovered two bags of cutting agents from a kitchen worktop, along with a set of electronic scales and £380 stashed under a rug.

The judge said Payne, a self-employed car recovery driver with previous convictions for drugs offences, committed the offence after being bailed in connection with Cameron’s death.

Payne told the court he had used drugs for eight years and claimed he added a cutting agent to the cocaine to make it last longer.

Lewis Perry, defending, said there was no evidence of large-scale commercial dealing.

The three-year term will run consecutively to the five-year sentence imposed on Payne last month after he was found guilty of causing Cameron’s death by dangerous driving.

A jury took just 45 minutes to convict him of the motoring offence.

Jurors heard Payne was doing double the speed limit when his Vauxhall Vectra hit Cameron in Court Lane, Erdington, on April 1 last year.

The schoolboy’s dad John Ward was wheeling the Paget Primary pupil along on a pushbike ahead of mum Katie Lawrence and baby sister Ruby, who was just four-weeks-old at the time.

The trial heard Payne, who was also banned from driving for five years, was travelling at 61mph in a 30mph zone and he had not braked before the collision.

Birmingham Mail

These are screengrabs from Payne’s Facebook account.

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The article about the speeding conviction can be found here.

THE former leader of the English Defence League has been jailed for 18-months for mortgage fraud.

Lennon, 31, also known as Tommy Robinson and the founder of the EDL, was imprisoned for his part in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain two mortgages amounting to £162,000.

He made two loans to people wanting to buy property and then pointed them towards a bent woman mortgage broker who helped obtain phoney pay slips and income details.

Before he was led off to start his prison sentence, the court heard the 31 year-old father of three will have to spend his time in custody in solitary confinement because he is now in danger.

His barrister Charles Sherrard QC said that in January 2013 when the Yaxley-Lennon was jailed for 10 month for using someone else’s passport to travel to the USA he had spent the whole time in solitary and was moved to four different jails for his safety.

“Even in solitary he was regarded as being in danger,” said Mr Sharrard.

However, it emerged in court today, that since last autumn when he announced he had left the EDL, citing increasingly racist elements within the group, he has now been alienated by the followers in the organisation he once led.

Yaxley-Lennon founded the EDL in 2009 after five Muslim men demonstrated in Luton against a homecoming parade by the Royal Anglian Regiment.

Mr Sherrard said that “He has alienated another large part of the community who saw him as their leader”

That meant, said the barrister, that Yaxley-Lennon would again have to spend his time away from other prisoners.

“He is on a wanted list for Al-Shabab so the prospect of prison for him takes on another level,” said Mr Sherrard.

The court heard how in the past while still the leader of the EDL Yaxley-Lennon’s home had been attacked and he and his family moved to a safe house.

Today at St Albans Crown Court he appeared for sentence having earlier pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud offences.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring with others to obtain a mortgage by misrepresentation from the Abbey and Halifax building societies.

Judge Andrew Bright QC hearing the case described Yaxley Lennon as the “instigator if not the architect” of some of the frauds.

Passing sentence the judge told him “This was an operation which was fraudulent from the outset and involved a significant amount of forward planning.

Yaxley-Lennon will serve half the 18 month sentence behind bars before he is released.

He described the former EDL leader as a “fixer” by introducing others to bent mortgage broker Deborah Rothschild.

“I am satisfied you took part in a thoroughly dishonest course of conduct.”

The judge said he realised that any prison sentence he passed would be much harder for “Yaxley-Lennon” because of the need to protect him and the fact that he will have to serve it in solitary confinement.

Since leaving the EDL Yaxley Lennon has been travelling around the country with other community leaders promoting cohesion between communities.

On Monday he had been due to attend a Holocaust Memorial Day in Ipswich.

With him in the dock was Steven Vowles 26 of Heron Drive, Bushmead, Luton who admitted conspiring with others to obtain a mortgage by misrepresentation and transferring criminal property.

He also admitted possessing 3.48 grams of cocaine with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

Vowles had been a one time apprentice at Yaxley-Lennon’s plumbing business.

Lisa Moore 28 of Newbury Lane, Silsoe, Bedfordshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain a mortgage by fraudulent misrepresentation.

Mortgage Broker Deborah Rothschild, 44, of Poplar, Toddington, Bedfordshire, pleaded guilty to four charges of conspiring to commit fraud by false representation. The charges involved the obtaining of four mortgages.

Finally a cousin of Yaxley-Lennon, Anjee Darcy, 31, of Hardwick Green, Luton pleaded guilty to two offences of conspiring to commit fraud by misrepresentation and false accounting.

Judge Andrew Bright QC was told how Yaxley-Lennon loans totaling £40,000 to Vowles and later Moore to help them with the deposits for a property in Luton.

But he also introduced them to crooked mortgage broke Deborah Rothschild who specialised in helping people obtain a mortgage who wouldn’t normally be eligible because of insufficient income and capital.

Rothschild the mother of a two year-old son assisted Moore, Vowles and Darcy in their fraudulent applications by providing phoney pay slips and income details.

The fraudulent mortgages she obtain came to a total of £640,000.

She was jailed for 18 months, Vowles was jailed for 27 months and Darcy was given a 15 month sentence suspended for 18 months and told she must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Moore was given a six month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and told she must carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £1,500.

Luton on Sunday