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Fleetwood ‘neighbour from hell’ jailed for perverting course of justice

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March 5, 2019
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A “neighbour from hell” who waged a campaign of harassment against a couple on his street has been jailed after deleting potential evidence.

Preston Crown Court heard Barry Carr, 67, lied to officers and erased CCTV footage requested as part of the latest investigation into complaints made against him.

Just days after a failed appeal against his conviction for harassment saw his suspended sentence increased, he was caught on film “being obstructive” to police officers who had requested to see footage from one pf his many CCTV cameras.

Carr, of Rossall Gate, Fleetwood, Rossall, Fleetwood, was jailed 18 weeks after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

The court heard he showed “no remorse” for his crimes.

Sentencing him yesterday, Judge Robert Altham said: “This defendant had been engaged upon a campaign of harrassment against his neighbours. This was to make their lives extremely difficult.”

The court head how, on February 12 last year, a neighbour had returned home late and thought he saw an infra-red light from one of Carr’s CCTV cameras shining on him as he walked up his drive.

Police visited five days later and requested to take the CCTV footage from his hard drive, which Carr then deleted.

Judge Altham said: “The court saw 20 minutes of body camera footage of police at the scene and it’s fair to say that the defendant was obstructive and difficult from the beginning. The police officers could not have been more accommodating.

“The officers legitimately wanted to seize the defendant’s CCTV recording equipment and the defendant had various objections, deliberately misunderstanding what the police wanted to do, suggesting that they would break the equipment by seizing it, when plainly that was entirely fanciful.

“He insisted on logging off the system before it was seized, and under the guise of doing that he re-formatted the hard drive.”

He added that Carr had then lied and said he had not deleted the footage.

He later admitted deleting it, but lied again when he said this was because he wanted to erase embarrassing footage of him around the house.

He was found guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice. He was found not guilty of two counts of breaching a restraining order, which had been imposed at an earlier hearing.

Daniel Harman, defending, said Carr, a retired fish and chip shop owner, had gone most of his life without a criminal conviction before being convicted of harassing his neighbours in October 2017.

He said: “Going to prison, for some people, is water off a duck’s back. Its an occupational hazard. Mr Carr has spent the past four days in prison, For a man of his age, that’s a life changing experience.

“The most important thing in his life is his dog, Snowy, a female dog 12 years of age. She is his life and they have never been apart.

“He has spent months trying to get the diet of Snowy down to a fine art, which he has managed to do. He’s clearly concerned about Snowy and is keen to see her again.”

Judge Altham said Carr was “just a lonely man who seems to spend his time with his dog, which is a perfectly normal use of his time, and bothering his neighbours, which is not”.

But he did not agree that a suspended sentence was an appropriate punishment for Carr’s crimes.

He said: “There was, it seems to me, an arrogant belief that he knows best, and he is not subjected to the rule of law. A keen desire not to engage with the police when investigating this matter shows the extension of the contempt he feels for the rights of his neighbours.

“There is an absolute lack of remorse, even today, from the defendant. At no point has he showed one shred of recognition of the seriousness of what he has done.”

Carr – who had previously told magistrates at a hearing in relation to earlier offences that he was being described as a “neighbour from hell” – was sentenced to eight weeks in prison for breaching his suspended sentence, and 10 weeks in prison for perverting the course of justice.

He sat with his face in his hands as Judge Altham read out his sentence.

PC Kevin Berry, who attended the sentencing, said: “Justice has been served today and the appropriate sentence has been given to Mr Carr.”

Blackpool Gazette

Carr is an ex BNP candidate.

Hard-man jailed after Newcastle nightclub shooting

By
September 21, 2018
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A WELL-known hard man has been jailed after being convicted of an offence relating to the ride-by shooting of a nightclub bouncer.

John Henry Sayers was given a three-and-a-half-year sentence at the Old Bailey on Friday after being convicted of perverting the course of justice, a court official said.

During the trial, jurors were told the defendant was “a man to be feared” who had “acquired and promoted a reputation” and would not allow his name to be disrespected.

He had initially been accused of ordering the attack on doorman Matthew McCauley outside the Tup Tup Palace on June 6 2015, but was found not guilty of conspiracy to murder, alongside co-defendant Michael Dixon, 50. Both men are from Walker, Newcastle.

Prosecutor Simon Denison QC had claimed Sayers ordered the attack after his son was turned away from the Newcastle nightclub weeks earlier, but this was rejected by the jury.

The 54-year-old was also cleared of conspiracy to possess a shotgun with intent to endanger life, while Dixon was found guilty of the same offence and given a life sentence with a minimum of eight years, the court official said.

Sayers and a third defendant, Michael McDougall, 50, were convicted of perverting the course of justice over a false statement given in 2017.

Convicted murderer McDougall, who is serving a life sentence, told “a pack of lies” by trying to claim he was the gunman in the incident, jurors heard.

As a result, he was given two years to run consecutively after his current life sentence

Sayers had previously been cleared of ordering another murder – the doorstep shooting of a man in 2000 – and subsequently cleared of nobbling the Leeds jury in that case.

However, he is a convicted robber and tax evader and is said to be a name to be feared in Tyneside.

Northern Echo

Details of the murder conviction can be found here.

Drink driver who left teen girls seriously injured after horror seaside smash is sentenced

By
September 17, 2018
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Geoffrey Ewart, from Grangetown, left one girl scarred for life after bombing around Scarborough in a BMW 330

Geoff Ewart appeared at York Crown Court to admit a dangerous driving charge

Geoff Ewart appeared at York Crown Court to admit a dangerous driving charge

A banned drink-driver who seriously injured two teenage girls in a seaside horror crash has been jailed.

Geoffrey Ewart, from Grangetown, bombed around Scarborough in a BMW 330 when the car careered off the road and tumbled down a steep embankment.

The 30-year-old – who ignored his passengers’ frantic pleas to stop – ran from the wrecked vehicle, leaving the two girls trapped inside.

Prosecutor Andrew Semple said one of them suffered catastrophic injuries including broken bones and was left immobile for weeks.

Mr Semple said the car, which had come off its wheels, had £12,500 of damage in the smash on Castle Road on June 24 last year.

Police found Ewart at a nearby taxi rank at about 1am.

Ewart, of Grisedale Crescent, was breathalysed three hours later by which time his alcohol level had dipped, but experts worked out that at the time of the accident he would have been about one-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit.

The offshore oil rigger admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle-taking, drink-driving, having no insurance and driving while disqualified.

Ewart once faked own 21st birthday party to evade justice

York Crown Court heard that the BMW belonged to Ewart’s father and that his son had taken it without his consent before setting off for Scarborough.

After picking up his passengers, he began to drive “very fast”.

Mr Semple said: “One of the girls said her head was forced back into the seat by his speed.”

He rejected their pleas to let them out before the car left the road and clattered through bushes as it rolled down the embankment.

The older girl suffered a broken shoulder and fractured pelvis.

Her injuries were so serious she was transferred to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where she underwent several operations, had two blood transfusions and remained bed-bound for three weeks.

It was another six weeks before she could move without a wheelchair or crutches.

She was left scarred for life with a 14cm injury on her arm.

The younger girl suffered whiplash injuries and had to undergo 10 weeks of physio.

Scarborough crash followed ‘night of sheer stupidity and madness’

Ewart had three convictions including one for violence and perverting the course of justice in 2010, when he was jailed for punching a man repeatedly during a street brawl in Middlesbrough.

Ewart tried to evade justice on that occasion by faking his own 21st birthday party and using falsified photos from the pub ‘shindig’ in a forlorn attempt to convince police he was elsewhere at the time of the incident.

Following his release from prison in December 2014, he was caught drink-driving and given a 12-month ban.

Ewart’s barrister James Kemp said the horror crash in Scarborough followed a “night of sheer stupidity and madness”.

But Judge Richard Wright QC slammed Ewart for his “dangerous, show-off” driving and “callous” decision to leave the girls in the car as he fled the scene.

“You have shown little or no remorse towards your victims,” he added.

Ewart was jailed for two years and eight months, and given a five-year driving ban.

Gazette Live

From 2016.

Tipu’s killer set for new jail term after claiming to be Tup Tup Palace shooter

By
August 21, 2018
Uncategorized
Michael McDougall.

Michael McDougall.

A killer who murdered a takeaway boss has been found guilty of perverting the course of justice after claiming to be a gunman responsible for a nightclub shooting.

Michael McDougall, 50, previously of Hylton Avenue, Marsden, South Shields and now an inmate of HMP Wakefield, has been found guilty of the charge following a trial at the Old Bailey in London.

The offence relates to a drive-by shooting outside Tup Tup Palace in Newcastle, on June 6, 2015.

A 24-year-old doorman was shot in the arm when a gunman on a motorbike opened fire using a sawn-off shotgun.

McDougall was jailed for a life sentence of 34 years in April 2016 after he was found guilty of shooting Sunderland dad-of-two Tipu Sultan.

The 32-year-old businessman had run the Herbs & Spice Kitchen takeaway in Lake Avenue, Marsden, South Shields, with his family.

McDougall was also found guilty of two charges of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

His co-accused Michael Mullen, 24, of Hawthorne Avenue, Cleadon Park, South Shields, who had taken McDougall to and from the murder scene on the back of a motorbike, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

He was jailed for 12 years.

Just weeks after he was jailed McDougall launched an appeal against his conviction, which was denied by a judge.

Today, McDougall was found guilty of perverting the justice over a false statement made in 2017 as part of the inquiry into the Tup Tup incident.

The court heard the convicted murderer told “a pack of lies” by trying to claim he was the gunman, jurors heard.

He was jointly charged and stood trial alongside John Henry Sayers, 54, of Fossway, Walker, Newcastle, and Michael Dixon, 50, of no fixed address, who were accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess a firearm.

Sayers, a well-known hard man, has been cleared of ordering the ride-by shooting of a bouncer because his son had been thrown out of a nightclub, but has been told he still faces a prison term for perverting the course of justice.

The court heard doorman Matthew McCauley was lucky to survive the shooting, which also left two other members of staff injured.

Sayers was accused of ordering Dixon to carry out the shooting after his son was ejected from the club weeks before.

An Old Bailey jury deliberated for more than 30 hours to find Sayers and Dixon, both from Walker in Newcastle, not guilty of conspiracy to murder.

The pair gave audible sighs of relief in the dock as they were cleared of the offence.

Sayers was also acquitted of conspiring to possess a shotgun with intent to endanger life, while Dixon was found guilty by a majority of 11 to one.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC told serving prisoner Dixon he would take into account that he had already been convicted of another offence committed around the same time.

A fourth defendant – Russell Sturman, 26, from Gosforth, Newcastle – hugged his co-accused in the dock after being cleared of assisting an offender.

Before the trial started, there had been an unsuccessful application by the prosecution to try the case without a jury and it was held well away from Sayers’ home turf in the North East.

Sayers had already been cleared of ordering another murder – the doorstep shooting of a man in 2000 – and subsequently cleared of nobbling the Leeds jury in that case.

However, he is a convicted armed robber and tax-evader and said to be a name to be feared on Tyneside.

Sayers’ son had been thrown out of the trendy Tup Tup Palace and was punched by a doorman weeks earlier.

Prosecutor Simon Denison QC said Sayers had “acquired and promoted a reputation”, and he wouldn’t allow his name to be “disrespected”.

Sayers’ reputation “as a man to be feared” meant “doors are opened for his family”, he added.

“Of course, that only lasts as long as the reputation is believed to be justified – which means that if his family is disrespected, violence has to follow.”

The family was given free entry to clubs without having to queue and free access to VIP areas “just to avoid serious trouble”.

The convicted defendants were remanded into custody to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, September 21.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “This case was thoroughly investigated by a team of dedicated detectives.

“The evidence was subjected to careful scrutiny before a decision was taken to charge and it was only right that this evidence was put in front of a jury.

“We respect the decision the jury has made.”

Sunderland Echo

Michael McDougall was convicted of murder in 2016 and details of that murder can be found here

Mother at centre of controversial BNP video jailed

By
March 14, 2018
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A MOTHER of three who was at the centre of a controversial BNP video has been jailed.

Helen Forster, of Park Place, Gravesend, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to 11 months in prison for perverting the course of justice and common assault.

The 32-year-old admitted both charges, which related to an incident in Fort Gardens, Gravesend, on May 23.

She was given an additional nine months in jail for breaching a suspended sentence.

In May, Forster was given a 10-month suspended prison term after being convicted of intimidation.

In that case the court heard she had encouraged a group of children to throw eggs and fire an airgun at the home of her neighbour Meherjan Miah, who lives there with her young children.

Following Forster’s conviction for intimidation, it was reported in the media she was a member of the British National Party.

However, Paul Golding, BNP councillor for the Swanley St Mary’s Ward of Sevenoaks District Council, vigorously denied she had ever been a member of his party, calling the reports “outrageous lies”.

In a video, Cllr Golding said Forster “is not a member of the British National Party and she never has been”.

He added: “I contacted our membership department and asked them to check all of our records going back many years and she is not on there whatsoever.”

Cllr Golding interviewed Forster in the video and she denied ever being a member of the BNP.

However, News Shopper discovered she was registered as a member of the party under a different name – Helen Colclough.

The video was made as part of Cllr Golding’s Operation Fightback campaign, which aims to expose so-called media lies.

When asked to explain why his video on Forster contained a lie, he said he was unaware she was a member of his party under a different name at the time of making the video.

News Shopper

From 2009

Fake NHS worker found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting vulnerable Sheffield women

By
March 28, 2017
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A fake NHS worker who gained the trust of vulnerable Sheffield woman and plied them with alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting them, has been jailed.

Dean Chambers, aged 49, of Green Oak Road, Totley, was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault, one count of perverting the course of justice in relation to two victims which took place in his home.

Jailing Chambers for five years and three months, Judge Sarah Wright said: “You have been convicted by the jury of sexual assaults after you exploited these vulnerable women with alcohol and drugs, although I accept they took these willingly.

“You also tried to pervert the course of justice sending letters from your prison cell which is a very serious offence.”

Chambers, who lingered before being led away to the cells, showed no emotion as the sentence was passed.

The Sheffield Crown Court previously heard Chambers would visit places like soup kitchens and homeless shelters before gaining the women’s trust and inviting back to his Totley home.

Mr Ian Goldsack, prosecuting, previously told the court the complainants were ‘extremely vulnerable adults’ and ‘females who had all sorts of different difficulties or vulnerabilities’.

“He would present himself as a Good Samaritan; he would gain their trust at least in part through wearing an NHS badge and presenting himself as somebody who would help people with problems or vulnerabilities,” Mr Goldsack said.

“He would invite them back to his home, once there they would be provided with the sort of things they thought they wanted – drugs, alcohol, tablets he seemed to have a ready stock of.”

Chambers also wrote letters from his prison cell to a vulnerable woman, who was not a complainant, asking her to record the women ‘admitting they had lied about the allegations’.

The jury, who took over 13 hours to come to their verdicts, cleared Chambers of six further counts of sexual assault against two further complainants.

He already pleaded guilty to one count of supplying class C drugs during the trial.

Sheffield Star

Man who tried to delete incriminating CCTV footage of stabbing is jailed

By
February 8, 2016
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Kyle Pakes tried to erase footage of the attack by Jonathan Wrigley on Jamie Mulcahy, who suffered serious brain damage and died a year later

Kyle Pakes (left) and Jonathan Wrigley

Kyle Pakes (left) and Jonathan Wrigley

A pub worker who tried to erase incriminating CCTV following the stabbing of a pub worker has been jailed.

Jamie Mulcahy, 26, was left ‘seriously brain damaged’ after he was attacked in Bacup, Lancashire, by pub manager Jonathan Wrigley in November 2014.

He had been receiving round-the-clock care until he passed away on December 5 last year .

Kyle Pakes, of Lennox Walk, Heywood , was instructed by Wrigley the morning after the attack to delete CCTV from the pub which showed the incident outside and Wrigley changing his clothes and washing his blood-covered hands in the sink, Burnley Crown Court heard.

But the court heard that he failed to carry out the task despite receiving telephone instructions from a CCTV engineer and it was later deleted by Wrigley’s cousin Curtis Munro.

Pakes, 22, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was jailed for 10 months.

Stephen Parker, prosecuting, told the court how Wrigley stabbed Mr Mulcahy with a ‘butterfly knife’ during a 20-man town centre fight and then ‘made various attempts to foil the police investigation, one of which involved the actions of this defendant’.

The court heard Wrigley contacted the engineer who had installed the CCTV.

Mr Parker said: “He told the engineer something about his girlfriend and not wanting her to see it and that there may well have been some infidelity.”

Pakes later called the engineer from the pub.

Mr Parker added: “He said Pakes seemed unable to read properly and came across as a bit thick.

“He was really struggling with the man he was speaking to who was struggling to understand the system.”

The court heard Pakes became ‘frustrated’ after two or three minutes and told the engineer to ‘just leave it’.

Munro then went round to the pub and spoke to the engineer for around 10 minutes about deleting the CCTV.

Mr Parker said: “It was believed at the time that Munro had been successful but a technical expert for the police managed to retrieve it.”

Wrigley, 34, of Todmorden Road, Bacup, pleaded guilty to wounding and was jailed for 13 years and six months in July .

Munro, 21, of Queen’s Park Road, Heywood, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was jailed for 16 months at the same hearing.

Judge Ian Leeming QC said it was an ‘extremely serious offence’ and there ‘must be immediate custody’.

Sentencing, he said: “This is a very serious offence but less grave than Munro as there was not the same determined effort and it didn’t work.

“You set about the task maybe out of misplaced loyalty. You were not very skilled at this, even under instruction. The engineer doubted your intellectual capacity and ability generally.

“I accept you’re genuinely remorseful.

“It’s very rare for a sentence for this offence to be suspended and it’s clear that neither a community order nor a fine could be justified. There must be immediate custody.”

Philip Holden, defending, said Pakes was Wrigley’s ‘first port of call’ because he knew he would be an ‘easy touch because of his intellect’.

He said: “Wrigley was a man in his 30s who deliberately sought out this defendant for those reasons.

“Wrigley didn’t want to be anywhere near that pub and wanted to continue to distance himself from it. He was working at the pub and knew his way around it.

“It was a pretty amateurish and poor attempt.”

Manchester Evening News

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