Thursday 26 November 2015
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Last 'National' demo of 2015 announced
The EDL have announced that the last 2015 national demo will be held in Bradford to highlight the child grooming case which starts on the 9th November at Bradford Crown court.
We will be supporting this demo and transport will be booked. If you would like to attend and travel with us then please contact us.
We will be supporting this demo and transport will be booked. If you would like to attend and travel with us then please contact us.
Tuesday 30 June 2015
Attempted child abduction in North Shields
Police are investigating a suspicious incident involving a 15-year-old girl in North Tyneside.
It happened on Monday, June 29, between 9.15am and 9.45am on Suez Street in North Shields. The teenager was walking along the street when a small red car with tinted windows approached her and stopped. A man walked towards her asked her for directions. He then asked her to come in the car and when she refused he grabbed her arm. The teenager ran off and was distressed by the incident but otherwise unharmed.
The man who approached her is described as being black with large afro-style hair, dark clothing and a local accent there was another man in the rear of the car.He is described as black with little waves cut into his hair wearing a dark blue woollen buttoned up jacket.
Neighbourhood Inspector Mark Storey said: " We know these type of incidents do cause concern in the community and we are carrying out a number of enquiries in order to identify the two men.
"If anyone has information about this incident they are asked to contact police."
It happened on Monday, June 29, between 9.15am and 9.45am on Suez Street in North Shields. The teenager was walking along the street when a small red car with tinted windows approached her and stopped. A man walked towards her asked her for directions. He then asked her to come in the car and when she refused he grabbed her arm. The teenager ran off and was distressed by the incident but otherwise unharmed.
The man who approached her is described as being black with large afro-style hair, dark clothing and a local accent there was another man in the rear of the car.He is described as black with little waves cut into his hair wearing a dark blue woollen buttoned up jacket.
Neighbourhood Inspector Mark Storey said: " We know these type of incidents do cause concern in the community and we are carrying out a number of enquiries in order to identify the two men.
"If anyone has information about this incident they are asked to contact police."
Thursday 25 June 2015
Man stabbed in Newcastle Leazes Park by pair who asked to use his phone
The 21-year-old victim was left with three 'minor puncture wounds' after the attack today in Newcastle Leazes Park
A man was stabbed in a city centre park in what has been described as an ‘unprovoked attack’.
The 21-year-old victim was in Leazes Park in Newcastle when he was approached by two men at around 2.10pm today.
They asked to use his mobile phone before stabbing him. The victim suffered three minor ‘puncture wounds’, which police say were caused by an ‘unknown sharp instrument’.
One of the offenders is described as black, of stocky build, around 5ft 9in tall and had a shaven head. He was wearing a light grey hoody.
The second male is also described as black, around 5ft 6ins tall and was wearing dark jeans and top at the time.
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 extension 69191 or independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A man was stabbed in a city centre park in what has been described as an ‘unprovoked attack’.
The 21-year-old victim was in Leazes Park in Newcastle when he was approached by two men at around 2.10pm today.
They asked to use his mobile phone before stabbing him. The victim suffered three minor ‘puncture wounds’, which police say were caused by an ‘unknown sharp instrument’.
One of the offenders is described as black, of stocky build, around 5ft 9in tall and had a shaven head. He was wearing a light grey hoody.
The second male is also described as black, around 5ft 6ins tall and was wearing dark jeans and top at the time.
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 extension 69191 or independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Monday 22 June 2015
Police investigating report of rape in Newcastle city centre are appealing for witnesses.
A woman was attacked by a 'thin, Asian (muslim) man wearing a light grey hoodie' in Exhibition Park during early hours of Sunday morning.
Police are appealing for information after a report of rape in Newcastle city centre in the early hours of Sunday.
At around 3am the woman was walking through Exhibition Park when she was approached by a man who punched and threatened her before raping her.
He is described as Asian, 5ft 7ins tall, of thin build and around 25 to 30-years-old. He was wearing a light grey hoodie.
Officers are appealing for anyone with information to contact them.
Inspector Mark Farrimond said: “We understand the concern to communities this incident will have caused and would like to reassure people we are doing everything we can in order to find the man responsible.
“We are appealing for the public’s help and ask that anyone who may have been in the Spital Tongues or Exhibition Park area at the time, or who recognises the man from his description, to come forward as they may have vital information to assist us.
“Extra officers will be in the city centre as part of the investigation to carry out enquiries as well as offer reassurance to the public.
He added: “Newcastle is a safe city but we would ask people to take precautions and plan ahead after a night out in the city centre. Try and get pre-arranged lifts or taxis home and stay with friends.
“If walking, stick to main roads and well-lit areas and let people know where you are at all times.”
Any witnesses are asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 extension 69191 quoting reference 197 21/06/15 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Police are appealing for information after a report of rape in Newcastle city centre in the early hours of Sunday.
At around 3am the woman was walking through Exhibition Park when she was approached by a man who punched and threatened her before raping her.
He is described as Asian, 5ft 7ins tall, of thin build and around 25 to 30-years-old. He was wearing a light grey hoodie.
Officers are appealing for anyone with information to contact them.
Inspector Mark Farrimond said: “We understand the concern to communities this incident will have caused and would like to reassure people we are doing everything we can in order to find the man responsible.
“We are appealing for the public’s help and ask that anyone who may have been in the Spital Tongues or Exhibition Park area at the time, or who recognises the man from his description, to come forward as they may have vital information to assist us.
“Extra officers will be in the city centre as part of the investigation to carry out enquiries as well as offer reassurance to the public.
He added: “Newcastle is a safe city but we would ask people to take precautions and plan ahead after a night out in the city centre. Try and get pre-arranged lifts or taxis home and stay with friends.
“If walking, stick to main roads and well-lit areas and let people know where you are at all times.”
Any witnesses are asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 extension 69191 quoting reference 197 21/06/15 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Schoolboys bought bomb-making materials and talked of blowing up Tyneside school, Eldon Square and Parliament
Two Tyneside youths discussed creating home-made bombs to 'go out with a bang' and ordered chemicals online.
Two Tyneside schoolboys bought bomb-making materials off the internet and discussed blowing up the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, a local school and Eldon Square.
The troubled youngsters, 15 at the time, started amassing chemicals, pipes and fuses to make devices based on a recipe in the “Anarchist’s Cookbook”.
A court heard the pair were caught in conversations on Skype talking about:
going on a drug-fuelled rampage
killing families in their homes
making a beheading video
referencing Lee Rigby and Raoul Moat
expressing a desire to spend their final days as wanted men.
A mobile phone seized from one of them was found to contain messages, chat and links relating to making explosives, Molotov cocktals, bottle bombs, nail bombs, acetone peroxide, the uses of chlorine and the Taliban. Other material showed references to a hatred of Jews and black people.
One of the youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also discussed Newcastle shopping centre Eldon Square as “somewhere he could go out with a bang”.
The family of one of the teenagers raised the alarm and police found them in possession of chemicals, fuses and pipes.
Although the materials had not been made into bombs, Army experts said they could have been used for viable improvised explosive devices.
The two boys, now 16, have now been sent to youth custody for 12 months at Newcastle Crown Court after they admitted conspiracy to make an explosive substance for unlawful purpose.
Prosecutor Nick Dry said one of the defendants had been confronted by his parents last year after they became concerned about him.
Mr Dry said: “They had noticed a change in him over the past year or so when he had started to show them photographs of drugs, money and weapons, tell sick jokes about 9/11 and, latterly, tell them that he was making a bomb.
“In fact, Skype communications between the defendants in October and November last year confirms they were doing just that.
“The conversation reveals that they were looking to sell drugs in order to fund the purchase of materials to make pipe bombs and a firearm.
“Potential targets discussed included a local public school, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and a random shopping centre.
“Escape plans were discussed along with potential suicide, both defendants stating that it was what they had wanted for a long time and agreeing to source the constituent parts of pipe bombs.”
Within a short time, a box of fuses arrived at the home of one of the boys, who also bought and cut down lengths of pipe which he told his parents were for a school project.
After being confronted by them about the fuses, which his parents had intercepted and confiscated, he told them he was going to blow himself up on the school field.
Mr Dry said: “He reported his father’s seizure of the fuses to (the other youth) then they discussed using bottles, nails and flamethrowers as alternatives and considered addressing packages of items purchased on the internet to neighbours to avoid interception by their parents.
“(One of them) was keen that he end his own life, suicide his priority although happy to go along with (the other one’s) desire to kill others with a view to being remembered.
“Orders were then placed for various chemicals with a view to making explosives, addressed to a neighbour.”
However the materials were delivered to his own home and his parents opened the three packages. There was half a kilo of aluminium powder, a kilo of sulphur and 250ml of acetone.
The boy initially claimed it was for a school project but then admitted it was to make “flash powder”, an explosive substance.
Mr Dry said: “He then informed his co-defendant of the seizure and the two discussed their options, again using Skype.
“Their conversation was captured and revealed plans for a drug-fuelled rampage, wherein they spoke of killing families in their own homes, referencing Lee Rigby and Raoul Moat, and expressing their desire to spend their final days as wanted men.
“One was also keen to make a beheading video and vowed not to be taken alive.”
In December last year the mum of one of the youths searched his room and found powders which turned out to be paracetamol, caffeine and sucrose, substances commonly used to dilute drugs.
She called the police, who also seized the aluminium powder, sulphur and acetone.
On his way to the police station the boy, who has mental health issues, was singing to himself, including the words “No surrender”.
A phone seized from him was found to contain images of knives, a replica gun, bullets, money, a bag of white powder, along with video files showing a car crash and a staged explosion.
A message to the other boy read: “Fam found something, deciding if to report me, I could get life or worse if they check everything else”.
The day after his arrest, another package arrived, containing three tubs of potassium nitrate weighing 1.5 kilos, and was intercepted by police.
The other boy was also arrested and was found to have six metal pipes in the garage, another in the kitchen and a bag of fuses.
Mr Dry said: “A mobile telephone seized from the same location was interrogated and found to contain messages, chat and links relating to making explosives, Molotov cocktails, bottle bombs, nail bombs, acetone peroxide, the uses of chlorine and the Taliban.
“Other material evinced a hatred of Jews and blacks.
In police interviews one of the boys admitted they had been assembling devices based on a recipe in the Anarchist’s Cookbook and said they wanted to blow themselves up.
Mr Dry said: “He says whereas he wanted to blow himself up in the middle of a field he said his friend had more homicidal tendencies and intended to take others with him, discussing Eldon Square in the centre of Newcastle as somewhere he could go out with a bang.”
Sentencing the pair, Judge John Milford QC said: “Police discovered contacts between you in discussion about targeting a number of different establishments, locally and nationally, with bombs.
“In the event, because of the intervention of your parents and police, no explosives were created and no bombs were made.
“But the potential of such items in the hands of disturbed teenagers, which you both undoubtedly were at this time, is frightening.”
Geoff Knowles, defending the boy whose parents found the materials, said he suffers from a mental health condition and was a “lonely young man who was clearly isolated from his peers” and was vulnerable.
Mr Knowles added: “There was no physical attempt to create any device and flash powder is not lethal.
“It’s clear he was struggling with a number of issues in his personal life at this time.”
Shaun Routledge, for the other youth, said: “Thanks to the actions of their parents, this offending was stopped in its tracks.
“Since they were sending ridiculous Skype messages and talking nonsense, they have calmed down and are looking to the future”
Read: HERE
Two Tyneside schoolboys bought bomb-making materials off the internet and discussed blowing up the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, a local school and Eldon Square.
The troubled youngsters, 15 at the time, started amassing chemicals, pipes and fuses to make devices based on a recipe in the “Anarchist’s Cookbook”.
A court heard the pair were caught in conversations on Skype talking about:
going on a drug-fuelled rampage
killing families in their homes
making a beheading video
referencing Lee Rigby and Raoul Moat
expressing a desire to spend their final days as wanted men.
A mobile phone seized from one of them was found to contain messages, chat and links relating to making explosives, Molotov cocktals, bottle bombs, nail bombs, acetone peroxide, the uses of chlorine and the Taliban. Other material showed references to a hatred of Jews and black people.
One of the youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also discussed Newcastle shopping centre Eldon Square as “somewhere he could go out with a bang”.
The family of one of the teenagers raised the alarm and police found them in possession of chemicals, fuses and pipes.
Although the materials had not been made into bombs, Army experts said they could have been used for viable improvised explosive devices.
The two boys, now 16, have now been sent to youth custody for 12 months at Newcastle Crown Court after they admitted conspiracy to make an explosive substance for unlawful purpose.
Prosecutor Nick Dry said one of the defendants had been confronted by his parents last year after they became concerned about him.
Mr Dry said: “They had noticed a change in him over the past year or so when he had started to show them photographs of drugs, money and weapons, tell sick jokes about 9/11 and, latterly, tell them that he was making a bomb.
“In fact, Skype communications between the defendants in October and November last year confirms they were doing just that.
“The conversation reveals that they were looking to sell drugs in order to fund the purchase of materials to make pipe bombs and a firearm.
“Potential targets discussed included a local public school, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and a random shopping centre.
“Escape plans were discussed along with potential suicide, both defendants stating that it was what they had wanted for a long time and agreeing to source the constituent parts of pipe bombs.”
Within a short time, a box of fuses arrived at the home of one of the boys, who also bought and cut down lengths of pipe which he told his parents were for a school project.
After being confronted by them about the fuses, which his parents had intercepted and confiscated, he told them he was going to blow himself up on the school field.
Mr Dry said: “He reported his father’s seizure of the fuses to (the other youth) then they discussed using bottles, nails and flamethrowers as alternatives and considered addressing packages of items purchased on the internet to neighbours to avoid interception by their parents.
“(One of them) was keen that he end his own life, suicide his priority although happy to go along with (the other one’s) desire to kill others with a view to being remembered.
“Orders were then placed for various chemicals with a view to making explosives, addressed to a neighbour.”
However the materials were delivered to his own home and his parents opened the three packages. There was half a kilo of aluminium powder, a kilo of sulphur and 250ml of acetone.
The boy initially claimed it was for a school project but then admitted it was to make “flash powder”, an explosive substance.
Mr Dry said: “He then informed his co-defendant of the seizure and the two discussed their options, again using Skype.
“Their conversation was captured and revealed plans for a drug-fuelled rampage, wherein they spoke of killing families in their own homes, referencing Lee Rigby and Raoul Moat, and expressing their desire to spend their final days as wanted men.
“One was also keen to make a beheading video and vowed not to be taken alive.”
In December last year the mum of one of the youths searched his room and found powders which turned out to be paracetamol, caffeine and sucrose, substances commonly used to dilute drugs.
She called the police, who also seized the aluminium powder, sulphur and acetone.
On his way to the police station the boy, who has mental health issues, was singing to himself, including the words “No surrender”.
A phone seized from him was found to contain images of knives, a replica gun, bullets, money, a bag of white powder, along with video files showing a car crash and a staged explosion.
A message to the other boy read: “Fam found something, deciding if to report me, I could get life or worse if they check everything else”.
The day after his arrest, another package arrived, containing three tubs of potassium nitrate weighing 1.5 kilos, and was intercepted by police.
The other boy was also arrested and was found to have six metal pipes in the garage, another in the kitchen and a bag of fuses.
Mr Dry said: “A mobile telephone seized from the same location was interrogated and found to contain messages, chat and links relating to making explosives, Molotov cocktails, bottle bombs, nail bombs, acetone peroxide, the uses of chlorine and the Taliban.
“Other material evinced a hatred of Jews and blacks.
In police interviews one of the boys admitted they had been assembling devices based on a recipe in the Anarchist’s Cookbook and said they wanted to blow themselves up.
Mr Dry said: “He says whereas he wanted to blow himself up in the middle of a field he said his friend had more homicidal tendencies and intended to take others with him, discussing Eldon Square in the centre of Newcastle as somewhere he could go out with a bang.”
Sentencing the pair, Judge John Milford QC said: “Police discovered contacts between you in discussion about targeting a number of different establishments, locally and nationally, with bombs.
“In the event, because of the intervention of your parents and police, no explosives were created and no bombs were made.
“But the potential of such items in the hands of disturbed teenagers, which you both undoubtedly were at this time, is frightening.”
Geoff Knowles, defending the boy whose parents found the materials, said he suffers from a mental health condition and was a “lonely young man who was clearly isolated from his peers” and was vulnerable.
Mr Knowles added: “There was no physical attempt to create any device and flash powder is not lethal.
“It’s clear he was struggling with a number of issues in his personal life at this time.”
Shaun Routledge, for the other youth, said: “Thanks to the actions of their parents, this offending was stopped in its tracks.
“Since they were sending ridiculous Skype messages and talking nonsense, they have calmed down and are looking to the future”
Read: HERE
Wednesday 10 June 2015
North East EDL announce regional demo
The North East EDL is pleased to announce that a regional demo will be held in North Shields on August 1st.
You can view our event page by clicking > HERE <
Sorry
We at the North East English Defence League would like to apologise to you for our recent inactivity over the last month on our blog. Unfortunately life outside the EDL has to take precedence sometimes and that is what happened with our blog admin.
However, we are pleased to announce that although our blog was quiet our footsoldiers were not.
The NE EDL have held a number of counter protests against left wing demo's and meetings....we really have got the local left on the run hahaha.
We are also pleased to announce a regional demo will be held in North Shields on August 1st and a link to the event will be post on here as well as any other news regarding the demo.
Thank you and NS
However, we are pleased to announce that although our blog was quiet our footsoldiers were not.
The NE EDL have held a number of counter protests against left wing demo's and meetings....we really have got the local left on the run hahaha.
We are also pleased to announce a regional demo will be held in North Shields on August 1st and a link to the event will be post on here as well as any other news regarding the demo.
Thank you and NS
Sunday 12 April 2015
North East EDL 'meet & greet' announced
The NE EDL is pleased to announce that we will be holding our long awaited meet & greet in Newcastle
Our popular meet & greet's are the perfect opportunity for anyone wanting to come along and meet other NE EDL members and supporters as well as your local division organiser, ask questions or hear about local issues.
The North East EDL will also be supporting the March for England (MfE) rally in Blackpool on the 25th April this year to celebrate St Georges Day.
We have a coach booked and will be taking payment at this meet and greet for anyone who would like to attend with us.
The cost will be £20.00 per seat & we have pick up points throughout the North East. This is a not a demo but a family orientated procession to celebrate the patron saint of our country and all are welcome to travel with us.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not an EDL event so please leave EDL colours in the house. We will be making this an all day event so we will be leaving early(ish) and our coach will not be leaving to return till early evening (8 or 9 oClock).
Details can be found on our facebook event page >> HERE <<
Our popular meet & greet's are the perfect opportunity for anyone wanting to come along and meet other NE EDL members and supporters as well as your local division organiser, ask questions or hear about local issues.
The North East EDL will also be supporting the March for England (MfE) rally in Blackpool on the 25th April this year to celebrate St Georges Day.
We have a coach booked and will be taking payment at this meet and greet for anyone who would like to attend with us.
The cost will be £20.00 per seat & we have pick up points throughout the North East. This is a not a demo but a family orientated procession to celebrate the patron saint of our country and all are welcome to travel with us.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not an EDL event so please leave EDL colours in the house. We will be making this an all day event so we will be leaving early(ish) and our coach will not be leaving to return till early evening (8 or 9 oClock).
Details can be found on our facebook event page >> HERE <<
Drunk Afghan pizza chef hurled racist abuse at fellow drivers after causing A19 crash chaos in Sunderland
Drink-driver caused fire-car pile up. Called fellow motorists ‘white trash’. Was restrained after threats to kill family.
A DRINK-driver who was responsible for rush-hour chaos after he caused a five-car pile-up last month has been banned from the roads.
Afghan refugee Ahmad Reshad Rasooli, 23, ploughed into other cars on the A19 – pushing them into each other like dominoes during the morning rush-hour on Thursday, March 19.
When a dazed Rasooli got out of his Nissan Almera he had to be physically restrained by members of the public as he hurled racist abuse at them, Sunderland magistrates heard.
The accident caused hours of traffic chaos after the road was blocked and tailbacks at one point reached nearly an hour.
Lee Poppett, prosecuting, said a witness described seeing the green Almera weaving across both lanes before clipping the central reservation in thick fog and “very poor” driving conditions.
He followed it north until it approached the A19 junction with the A690 Durham Road, where the slow-moving traffic was “bumper to bumper”.
He said: “The Almera ploughed straight into a Peugeot. This pushed the Peugeot into the car in front and so forth. In all, five cars were involved.”
A second witness said Rasooli got out of the car and walked to the central reservation where he used the barrier to hold himself up.
He said that, when he spoke to him, he appeared drunk.
Mr Poppett said Rasooli became aggressive when the keys were taken from him as he walked back to his mangled car. He said: “Other people helped restraining him and he began to push them.
“He aimed a punch at one of the drivers, which missed.
“He had to be restrained and was shouting ‘I’ll kill you, let me see your face. I’ll come round and I’ll kill your family’.”
The driver of the Peugeot said he then shouted: “I’ll take you all on, you white pieces of trash.”
“He was detained by the drivers until police arrived,” Mr Poppett added.
After Rasooli, of Lort House, Shieldfield, Newcastle, was arrested he told police he had been to a family gathering in London, where he had drank vodka.
He had then set off at 1am for the long drive home to Newcastle, with his cousin as a passenger, and hit the rush hour as he drove north on the A19.
By the time a breath test was carried out at 8.30am – over seven hour after he left the capital – he had 55 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath – the legal limit being 35.
He admitted drink-driving.
A probation report said Rasooli, a pizza chef, came to the UK from Afghanistan in 2007 because of problems in his own country and has leave to reside permanently here.
Victoria Oliver, defending, said that while there were many aggravated factors, he only faced a charge of drink driving.
“It’s fair to say that he has never been in this predicament before,” she said. “He has a clean driving licence. He was in shock. He was going back to his vehicle. It was at that point that others decide he was going to drive away.
“There was no way he was going to drive his vehicle. It was still entangled in the vehicle in front. There was nowhere for him to go.”
She added: “It is fair to say that in his shocked state he has not acted in the best of ways. He has seen a threat and lashes out.”
Rasooli was sentenced to a six-month tagged curfew from 8am until noon seven days a week.
He was banned from driving for 16 months an told to pay £85 costs and a £60 surcharge.
A DRINK-driver who was responsible for rush-hour chaos after he caused a five-car pile-up last month has been banned from the roads.
Afghan refugee Ahmad Reshad Rasooli, 23, ploughed into other cars on the A19 – pushing them into each other like dominoes during the morning rush-hour on Thursday, March 19.
When a dazed Rasooli got out of his Nissan Almera he had to be physically restrained by members of the public as he hurled racist abuse at them, Sunderland magistrates heard.
The accident caused hours of traffic chaos after the road was blocked and tailbacks at one point reached nearly an hour.
Lee Poppett, prosecuting, said a witness described seeing the green Almera weaving across both lanes before clipping the central reservation in thick fog and “very poor” driving conditions.
He followed it north until it approached the A19 junction with the A690 Durham Road, where the slow-moving traffic was “bumper to bumper”.
He said: “The Almera ploughed straight into a Peugeot. This pushed the Peugeot into the car in front and so forth. In all, five cars were involved.”
A second witness said Rasooli got out of the car and walked to the central reservation where he used the barrier to hold himself up.
He said that, when he spoke to him, he appeared drunk.
Mr Poppett said Rasooli became aggressive when the keys were taken from him as he walked back to his mangled car. He said: “Other people helped restraining him and he began to push them.
“He aimed a punch at one of the drivers, which missed.
“He had to be restrained and was shouting ‘I’ll kill you, let me see your face. I’ll come round and I’ll kill your family’.”
The driver of the Peugeot said he then shouted: “I’ll take you all on, you white pieces of trash.”
“He was detained by the drivers until police arrived,” Mr Poppett added.
After Rasooli, of Lort House, Shieldfield, Newcastle, was arrested he told police he had been to a family gathering in London, where he had drank vodka.
He had then set off at 1am for the long drive home to Newcastle, with his cousin as a passenger, and hit the rush hour as he drove north on the A19.
By the time a breath test was carried out at 8.30am – over seven hour after he left the capital – he had 55 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath – the legal limit being 35.
He admitted drink-driving.
A probation report said Rasooli, a pizza chef, came to the UK from Afghanistan in 2007 because of problems in his own country and has leave to reside permanently here.
Victoria Oliver, defending, said that while there were many aggravated factors, he only faced a charge of drink driving.
“It’s fair to say that he has never been in this predicament before,” she said. “He has a clean driving licence. He was in shock. He was going back to his vehicle. It was at that point that others decide he was going to drive away.
“There was no way he was going to drive his vehicle. It was still entangled in the vehicle in front. There was nowhere for him to go.”
She added: “It is fair to say that in his shocked state he has not acted in the best of ways. He has seen a threat and lashes out.”
Rasooli was sentenced to a six-month tagged curfew from 8am until noon seven days a week.
He was banned from driving for 16 months an told to pay £85 costs and a £60 surcharge.
'If you can't speak English you shouldn't be driving taxis,' County Durham cabbie claims
Would-be taxi drivers will be tested on their maths and English skills as part of a revamped application process in County Durham
County Durham cabbies should have a good grasp of the language before they can ply their trade, drivers have claimed.
Taxi bosses have backed the move which could see would-be drivers facing tests of their numeracy and literacy if they want to receive a hackney carriage or private hire licence in County Durham.
Cabinet members will be asked to agree next week to a 12-week consultation on the proposal.
Alan Shield, chairman of the North West Durham branch of the National Taxi Drivers Association, said: “If you can’t add up, you can’t give change.
“If you can’t speak English, how do you know where your fare is going to?
“I’m not racist, but if you can’t speak English you should not be driving taxis.
“If someone jumps into a taxi and says ‘take me to Stanley’ and the driver says ‘Que? I’m from Barcelona – no English’ it’s not good enough.
“I think this is a valid point.”
The move is part of a raft of measures set to shake up the taxi industry. Improved safeguarding measures for child passengers are set to be put in place, as well as restrictions limiting the age of vehicles used as cabs and their emissions.
There will also be new regulations regarding limousines.
Chris Chandler, of Sunniside, is the director of the National Taxi Association, said: “For anyone coming to Durham or Chester-le-Street, a taxi driver is generally the first contact a member of the public has.
“If they have insufficient command of the English language and if they can’t write a receipt out properly it doesn’t look good.
“I don’t have a problem with people from other countries coming into this trade. We’re supposed to be a diverse community, but I just think if I’m going to work at 6am I want everyone on a level playing field.”
Andrew Goodchild, taxi operations manager at Durham City Taxis which employs 47 drivers, backed the proposals for the literacy test.
However, he said the introduction of a new knowledge test which covers the entire county has been seen as an overly severe measure by the county.
Mr Goodchild said: “In terms of literacy, if the driver can’t speak, or read, English he can’t work with directions.
“I don’t know what standard it would have to but it would have to be so you can communicate.”
He added: “It’s too advanced.
“They are purposefully trying to make it hard but the average age of a taxi driver is in the mid-40s and they will put off new blood.”
Mr Shield said: “If I had to sit this again, I’d go back to driving buses.
“It’s that hard.”
Councillors will vote on the consultation at their meeting in County Hall, Durham, on Wednesday.
County Durham cabbies should have a good grasp of the language before they can ply their trade, drivers have claimed.
Taxi bosses have backed the move which could see would-be drivers facing tests of their numeracy and literacy if they want to receive a hackney carriage or private hire licence in County Durham.
Cabinet members will be asked to agree next week to a 12-week consultation on the proposal.
Alan Shield, chairman of the North West Durham branch of the National Taxi Drivers Association, said: “If you can’t add up, you can’t give change.
“If you can’t speak English, how do you know where your fare is going to?
“I’m not racist, but if you can’t speak English you should not be driving taxis.
“If someone jumps into a taxi and says ‘take me to Stanley’ and the driver says ‘Que? I’m from Barcelona – no English’ it’s not good enough.
“I think this is a valid point.”
The move is part of a raft of measures set to shake up the taxi industry. Improved safeguarding measures for child passengers are set to be put in place, as well as restrictions limiting the age of vehicles used as cabs and their emissions.
There will also be new regulations regarding limousines.
Chris Chandler, of Sunniside, is the director of the National Taxi Association, said: “For anyone coming to Durham or Chester-le-Street, a taxi driver is generally the first contact a member of the public has.
“If they have insufficient command of the English language and if they can’t write a receipt out properly it doesn’t look good.
“I don’t have a problem with people from other countries coming into this trade. We’re supposed to be a diverse community, but I just think if I’m going to work at 6am I want everyone on a level playing field.”
Andrew Goodchild, taxi operations manager at Durham City Taxis which employs 47 drivers, backed the proposals for the literacy test.
However, he said the introduction of a new knowledge test which covers the entire county has been seen as an overly severe measure by the county.
Mr Goodchild said: “In terms of literacy, if the driver can’t speak, or read, English he can’t work with directions.
“I don’t know what standard it would have to but it would have to be so you can communicate.”
He added: “It’s too advanced.
“They are purposefully trying to make it hard but the average age of a taxi driver is in the mid-40s and they will put off new blood.”
Mr Shield said: “If I had to sit this again, I’d go back to driving buses.
“It’s that hard.”
Councillors will vote on the consultation at their meeting in County Hall, Durham, on Wednesday.
EDL planning demonstration in Solihull over Catherine-de-Barnes Muslim cemetery plans
Gathering planned for later this month after planning application is submitted for a third time
The English Defence League is planning a demonstration in Solihull to protest against proposals for a Muslim cemetery in a nearby village.
Members will gather in the town centre on Saturday, April 18 in connection with plans for burial plots at Catherine-de-Barnes.
Proposals for the scheme were submitted to Solihull Council for a third time last month.
The plans for the burial ground were turned down twice last year after planners said the development would blight Green Belt land.
But Cemetery Development Services Ltd, the agent working on behalf of the applicant, has continued to insist there was a need for a dedicated Muslim cemetery to resolve a shortage of plots for followers of Islam.
The first application for planning permission for the cemetery was for 7,000 plots.
That was reduced to 4,000 in the next application.
The current proposal asks for permission to build a 3,333-plot cemetery with storage, toilet facilities and a garden.
The EDL announced the demonstration on Facebook.
It said: “The Solihull Division alongside the United Midlands will be holding a local demonstration in Solihull town centre on Saturday the 18th April 2015.
“The reason for this local demonstration is because of the third proposed Muslim burial plot in Catherine-de-Barnes.
“We have chosen to do the demonstration in Solihull town centre as Catherine-de-Barnes comes under the Solihull borough and we feel we will have more of an impact in the town centre than turning up in a small area a few miles down the road.”
Thirty arrests were made as the EDL staged a rally in Dudley in February against plans for a new mosque in the town.
The English Defence League is planning a demonstration in Solihull to protest against proposals for a Muslim cemetery in a nearby village.
Members will gather in the town centre on Saturday, April 18 in connection with plans for burial plots at Catherine-de-Barnes.
Proposals for the scheme were submitted to Solihull Council for a third time last month.
The plans for the burial ground were turned down twice last year after planners said the development would blight Green Belt land.
But Cemetery Development Services Ltd, the agent working on behalf of the applicant, has continued to insist there was a need for a dedicated Muslim cemetery to resolve a shortage of plots for followers of Islam.
The first application for planning permission for the cemetery was for 7,000 plots.
That was reduced to 4,000 in the next application.
The current proposal asks for permission to build a 3,333-plot cemetery with storage, toilet facilities and a garden.
The EDL announced the demonstration on Facebook.
It said: “The Solihull Division alongside the United Midlands will be holding a local demonstration in Solihull town centre on Saturday the 18th April 2015.
“The reason for this local demonstration is because of the third proposed Muslim burial plot in Catherine-de-Barnes.
“We have chosen to do the demonstration in Solihull town centre as Catherine-de-Barnes comes under the Solihull borough and we feel we will have more of an impact in the town centre than turning up in a small area a few miles down the road.”
Thirty arrests were made as the EDL staged a rally in Dudley in February against plans for a new mosque in the town.
EDL protesters stage demonstration outside outside London mosque
Far-right protesters today staged a demonstration outside a London mosque as worshippers attended Friday prayers.
Around 100 members of the English Defence League held a demonstration outside the London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre near Regent's Park.
EDL members were heard chanting - to the tune of the Beach Boys' Sloop John B - "it's our country, we're taking it back" as prayers were held.
Radical cleric Anjem Choudary was among those worshipping at the mosque as protesters chanted anti-Islamic messages and wielded banners and placards outside.
Around 100 police kept them away from the front of the mosque, although trouble threatened to escalate when a handful of far-right demonstrators surged down the pavement towards a group of Muslims.
The protesters, who said they were antagonised by some of the worshippers, had to be restrained by officers.
Scotland Yard said there were no arrests during the protest.
Speaking outside after prayers, Mr Choudary told Muslims not to vote at the forthcoming election.
He also handed out leaflets entitled "why it is strictly forbidden to vote in Islam".
One passage read: "Only God can make things lawful and unlawful. If a human being does this ... this is considered the most heinous crime."
However, he was accused by some worshippers of encouraging anti-Islamic protests
Around 100 members of the English Defence League held a demonstration outside the London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre near Regent's Park.
EDL members were heard chanting - to the tune of the Beach Boys' Sloop John B - "it's our country, we're taking it back" as prayers were held.
Radical cleric Anjem Choudary was among those worshipping at the mosque as protesters chanted anti-Islamic messages and wielded banners and placards outside.
Around 100 police kept them away from the front of the mosque, although trouble threatened to escalate when a handful of far-right demonstrators surged down the pavement towards a group of Muslims.
The protesters, who said they were antagonised by some of the worshippers, had to be restrained by officers.
Scotland Yard said there were no arrests during the protest.
Speaking outside after prayers, Mr Choudary told Muslims not to vote at the forthcoming election.
He also handed out leaflets entitled "why it is strictly forbidden to vote in Islam".
One passage read: "Only God can make things lawful and unlawful. If a human being does this ... this is considered the most heinous crime."
However, he was accused by some worshippers of encouraging anti-Islamic protests
Demo relocation news
The English Defence League has relocated its 9 May demonstration from Woolwich to Walthamstow.
And we have broadened the purpose of the demonstration to embrace more aspects of the continuing assault from Islamification in the UK. We will, of course, continue our campaign to have a permanent commemorative memorial located at the site where Fusilier Lee Rigby was killed almost two years ago.
But our May 9 demonstration will not be as limited in scope as we had planned for Woolwich. The quiet respect that would have characterised our Woolwich demonstration to commemorate the fallen soldier will be replaced by a vigorous march and a forceful set of hard-hitting speeches. Two days after the General Election, we will be reinforcing the need for government action across a wide range of issues:
• the grooming and abuse gangs
• the continuing spread of mosques
• the heightened pressure to permit sharia law to edge its way into the UK
• the radicalisation of young UK Muslims
• the intrusion of unlabeled halal foods
• uncontrolled mass immigration
• the failure to act against female genital mutilation
• the corruption of our school curriculum by a misguided focus on diversity
• and the political correctness and timidity that allow all these to flourish.
These are all issues of concern across the country, but they have been downplayed by politicians and the media. We will keep ALL these issues on the national agenda.
And of course we will always remember the murder of Lee Rigby and all that it signifies about what needs to be corrected in this country.
And we have broadened the purpose of the demonstration to embrace more aspects of the continuing assault from Islamification in the UK. We will, of course, continue our campaign to have a permanent commemorative memorial located at the site where Fusilier Lee Rigby was killed almost two years ago.
But our May 9 demonstration will not be as limited in scope as we had planned for Woolwich. The quiet respect that would have characterised our Woolwich demonstration to commemorate the fallen soldier will be replaced by a vigorous march and a forceful set of hard-hitting speeches. Two days after the General Election, we will be reinforcing the need for government action across a wide range of issues:
• the grooming and abuse gangs
• the continuing spread of mosques
• the heightened pressure to permit sharia law to edge its way into the UK
• the radicalisation of young UK Muslims
• the intrusion of unlabeled halal foods
• uncontrolled mass immigration
• the failure to act against female genital mutilation
• the corruption of our school curriculum by a misguided focus on diversity
• and the political correctness and timidity that allow all these to flourish.
These are all issues of concern across the country, but they have been downplayed by politicians and the media. We will keep ALL these issues on the national agenda.
And of course we will always remember the murder of Lee Rigby and all that it signifies about what needs to be corrected in this country.
Three Newcastle muslim men appear in court in connection with Operation Sanctuary
Mohammed Khalique, Nadeem Aslam and Jahangir Zaman from Newcastle faced allegations including rape and drug supply
Three more men have appeared in court charged with offences including rape and drug supply as part of Operation Sanctaury.
Jahangir Zaman, 41, of Hadrian Road, in Fenham, was in the dock accused of two counts of rape and one of supplying mephedrone.
Mohammed Khalique, 23, of Beaconsfield Street, Arthur’s Hill, was facing allegations of rape and administering a substance with intent to stupefy/overpower to allow sexual activity.
Nadeem Aslam, 41, of Belle Grove West, Spital Tongues, Newcastle, was accused of permitting the use of his premises for supply of a class B drug and supplying mephedrone.
The men appeared separately for brief hearings at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where Zaman and Khalique entered no pleas to all their charges.
Aslam pleaded not guilty to the two allegations he faces.
Fiona Varley, prosecuting, said the charges were all related to Operation Sanctuary and should be sent to the crown court to tie-up with other defendants who are already going through the court process.
Ms Varley said: “This is part of Operation Sanctuary, so it’s not suitable for this court.
“There are other matters in relation to this at the crown court and I would ask for it to go there.”
None of the defending solicitors made an representations.
District Judge Bernard Begley said: “You will next appear at the crown court on April 7.
“You must be there for 9.45am. If you fail to attend, you could be fined or sent to custody. If you breach any of your bail conditions, you could also be sent to custody.”
Aslam, Kalique and Zaman were each released on conditional bail to next appear at Newcastle Crown Court on April 7.
A further man facing charges in connection with Operation Sanctuary didn’t attend at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court but had his case sent to Newcastle Crown Court in his absence.
Abdul Khayum, 23, of Hampstead Road, Benwell, is charged with two counts of rape.
Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2014 with a wave of arrests after receiving a report expressing concern for one girl.
But as the investigation continued detectives discovered a widespread problem of vulnerable women and girls being abused.
And Operation Sanctuary was subsequently broadened to include all incidents of females being sexually assaulted after being targeted because of their vulnerability.
Three more men have appeared in court charged with offences including rape and drug supply as part of Operation Sanctaury.
Jahangir Zaman, 41, of Hadrian Road, in Fenham, was in the dock accused of two counts of rape and one of supplying mephedrone.
Mohammed Khalique, 23, of Beaconsfield Street, Arthur’s Hill, was facing allegations of rape and administering a substance with intent to stupefy/overpower to allow sexual activity.
Nadeem Aslam, 41, of Belle Grove West, Spital Tongues, Newcastle, was accused of permitting the use of his premises for supply of a class B drug and supplying mephedrone.
The men appeared separately for brief hearings at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where Zaman and Khalique entered no pleas to all their charges.
Aslam pleaded not guilty to the two allegations he faces.
Fiona Varley, prosecuting, said the charges were all related to Operation Sanctuary and should be sent to the crown court to tie-up with other defendants who are already going through the court process.
Ms Varley said: “This is part of Operation Sanctuary, so it’s not suitable for this court.
“There are other matters in relation to this at the crown court and I would ask for it to go there.”
None of the defending solicitors made an representations.
District Judge Bernard Begley said: “You will next appear at the crown court on April 7.
“You must be there for 9.45am. If you fail to attend, you could be fined or sent to custody. If you breach any of your bail conditions, you could also be sent to custody.”
Aslam, Kalique and Zaman were each released on conditional bail to next appear at Newcastle Crown Court on April 7.
A further man facing charges in connection with Operation Sanctuary didn’t attend at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court but had his case sent to Newcastle Crown Court in his absence.
Abdul Khayum, 23, of Hampstead Road, Benwell, is charged with two counts of rape.
Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2014 with a wave of arrests after receiving a report expressing concern for one girl.
But as the investigation continued detectives discovered a widespread problem of vulnerable women and girls being abused.
And Operation Sanctuary was subsequently broadened to include all incidents of females being sexually assaulted after being targeted because of their vulnerability.
Is Britain losing the war against radical Islam?
Some stories are almost too predictable. Take this one.
Three schoolgirls from Britain disappear to Syria, apparently in order to join Islamic State and become ‘jihad brides’, or more precisely ‘jihad rape prizes’. There is a huge public outcry. In particular the families of the girls – and others in the Muslim communities – ask why the police did not know that these girls were planning to go to Syria. Before long Keith Vaz – never one to miss the lowest form of bandwagon – hauls police chiefs in front of his Parliamentary committee. There the police chiefs are made to apologise for not knowing the movements of the three schoolgirls. There is also much talk of the need for the British police to ‘rebuild trust’ from Muslim communities in the wake of this appalling oversight.
And then, piece by piece, the real story comes out. An early sign that something was not right could be spotted in the croc idea that the Muslim communities of Great Britain – whose leadership have spent recent years campaigning against any and all surveillance on Muslim communities in the UK – in fact expect the British police to keep such a close eye on young Muslims that they should know their intentions and movements better than the people who sleep in the room next door (ie. their own families). Sure enough it then turns out that the lawyer representing the families turns out to himself epitomise the problem. Tasnime Akunjee, who has spent recent weeks berating the police for their ‘failures’ turns out to be a man who has previously said that British Muslims should not cooperate with the British police – a very commonly expressed opinion among British Muslims. He also turns out to believe that the security services ‘created’ Michael Adebolajo who killed Drummer Lee Rigby.
Then there is another discovery — about the families of the girls, that is the people who seem to believe that the British police should know more than they do about the movements of their own daughters. In the last day we have discovered something very interesting about the father of one of the girls – a certain Mr Abase Hussen.
Just last month Mr Hussen gave evidence to Keith Vaz’s Parliamentary Committee. Indeed the committee’s report, released last week, quotes Mr Hussen’s evidence. As part of a fairly slick PR campaign Mr Hussen was also recently photographed holding a teddy bear and implying that Islamic extremism was a totally alien thing to his daughter, the 15 year old Amira Hussen. But now it turns out that the story is quite different. Some people have looked again at footage from a demonstration in London in 2012. Was this a rally calling for peace and harmony? Nope. It was a rally organised by Anjem Choudary and was a full-throated extremist rally, with burnings of American flags and everything.
Footage from this rally shows the same Mr Hussen without his teddy bear. Indeed he is marching at the front of the protest, behind a banner that says, ‘The followers of Mohammed will conquer America’. An American flag is being burned just in front of him, and also in attendance is one of the killers of Drummer Lee Rigby, Michael Adebowale.
I don’t suppose that Keith Vaz will have any sleepless nights or reconsider his grandstanding. I don’t suppose the British police will feel confident enough to ask for any type of apology, and I doubt anyone will ask for one on their behalf. But this little story funnily enough contains a microcosm of one of the most significant manias of our time. It was rather well summed up the other day in part of a piece by Newt Gingrich titled ‘We’re losing the war against radical Islam’:
‘We have been refusing to apply the insights and lessons of history, but our enemies have been very willing to study, learn, rethink, and evolve.
‘The cultural jihadists have learned our language and our principles — freedom of speech, freedom of religion, tolerance — and they apply them to defeat us without believing in them themselves. We blindly play their game on their terms, and don’t even think about how absurd it is for people who accept no church, no synagogue, no temple in their heartland to come into our society and define multicultural sensitivity totally to their advantage — meaning, in essence, that we cannot criticize their ideas.
‘Our elites have been morally and intellectually disarmed by their own unwillingness to look at both the immediate history of the first 35 years of the global war with radical Islamists and then to look deeper into the roots of the ideology and the military-political system our enemies draw upon as their guide to waging both physical and cultural warfare.’
Mr Hussen came to this country from Ethiopia and used at least part of his time here to denounce this country and campaign to radically change it. When something happens to his family his first instinct is to attack the authorities of the country which has given him sanctuary. That is not of course surprising. What is surprising is that our societies are at such a stage of weakness that we assume that it is the institutions of our society that have gone awry rather than anything closer to the girls’ home.
There are reasons for this. Perhaps we genuinely think that only Britain and British institutions can be guilty. Perhaps we think it might be more complicated than that, but look out at the situation we have allowed to come about, think ‘crumbs’ (or words to that effect) and try to delay the realisation a bit longer. Or perhaps we’re just suicidal. A society that reacts in the way ours has to the disappearance of these three schoolgirls, and sucks up the claims of their families and legal representatives so completely happily is, I think, suffering from that final possibility.
LINK: Click
Three schoolgirls from Britain disappear to Syria, apparently in order to join Islamic State and become ‘jihad brides’, or more precisely ‘jihad rape prizes’. There is a huge public outcry. In particular the families of the girls – and others in the Muslim communities – ask why the police did not know that these girls were planning to go to Syria. Before long Keith Vaz – never one to miss the lowest form of bandwagon – hauls police chiefs in front of his Parliamentary committee. There the police chiefs are made to apologise for not knowing the movements of the three schoolgirls. There is also much talk of the need for the British police to ‘rebuild trust’ from Muslim communities in the wake of this appalling oversight.
And then, piece by piece, the real story comes out. An early sign that something was not right could be spotted in the croc idea that the Muslim communities of Great Britain – whose leadership have spent recent years campaigning against any and all surveillance on Muslim communities in the UK – in fact expect the British police to keep such a close eye on young Muslims that they should know their intentions and movements better than the people who sleep in the room next door (ie. their own families). Sure enough it then turns out that the lawyer representing the families turns out to himself epitomise the problem. Tasnime Akunjee, who has spent recent weeks berating the police for their ‘failures’ turns out to be a man who has previously said that British Muslims should not cooperate with the British police – a very commonly expressed opinion among British Muslims. He also turns out to believe that the security services ‘created’ Michael Adebolajo who killed Drummer Lee Rigby.
Then there is another discovery — about the families of the girls, that is the people who seem to believe that the British police should know more than they do about the movements of their own daughters. In the last day we have discovered something very interesting about the father of one of the girls – a certain Mr Abase Hussen.
Just last month Mr Hussen gave evidence to Keith Vaz’s Parliamentary Committee. Indeed the committee’s report, released last week, quotes Mr Hussen’s evidence. As part of a fairly slick PR campaign Mr Hussen was also recently photographed holding a teddy bear and implying that Islamic extremism was a totally alien thing to his daughter, the 15 year old Amira Hussen. But now it turns out that the story is quite different. Some people have looked again at footage from a demonstration in London in 2012. Was this a rally calling for peace and harmony? Nope. It was a rally organised by Anjem Choudary and was a full-throated extremist rally, with burnings of American flags and everything.
Footage from this rally shows the same Mr Hussen without his teddy bear. Indeed he is marching at the front of the protest, behind a banner that says, ‘The followers of Mohammed will conquer America’. An American flag is being burned just in front of him, and also in attendance is one of the killers of Drummer Lee Rigby, Michael Adebowale.
I don’t suppose that Keith Vaz will have any sleepless nights or reconsider his grandstanding. I don’t suppose the British police will feel confident enough to ask for any type of apology, and I doubt anyone will ask for one on their behalf. But this little story funnily enough contains a microcosm of one of the most significant manias of our time. It was rather well summed up the other day in part of a piece by Newt Gingrich titled ‘We’re losing the war against radical Islam’:
‘We have been refusing to apply the insights and lessons of history, but our enemies have been very willing to study, learn, rethink, and evolve.
‘The cultural jihadists have learned our language and our principles — freedom of speech, freedom of religion, tolerance — and they apply them to defeat us without believing in them themselves. We blindly play their game on their terms, and don’t even think about how absurd it is for people who accept no church, no synagogue, no temple in their heartland to come into our society and define multicultural sensitivity totally to their advantage — meaning, in essence, that we cannot criticize their ideas.
‘Our elites have been morally and intellectually disarmed by their own unwillingness to look at both the immediate history of the first 35 years of the global war with radical Islamists and then to look deeper into the roots of the ideology and the military-political system our enemies draw upon as their guide to waging both physical and cultural warfare.’
Mr Hussen came to this country from Ethiopia and used at least part of his time here to denounce this country and campaign to radically change it. When something happens to his family his first instinct is to attack the authorities of the country which has given him sanctuary. That is not of course surprising. What is surprising is that our societies are at such a stage of weakness that we assume that it is the institutions of our society that have gone awry rather than anything closer to the girls’ home.
There are reasons for this. Perhaps we genuinely think that only Britain and British institutions can be guilty. Perhaps we think it might be more complicated than that, but look out at the situation we have allowed to come about, think ‘crumbs’ (or words to that effect) and try to delay the realisation a bit longer. Or perhaps we’re just suicidal. A society that reacts in the way ours has to the disappearance of these three schoolgirls, and sucks up the claims of their families and legal representatives so completely happily is, I think, suffering from that final possibility.
LINK: Click
Five arrested on suspicion of human trafficking
Police have arrested five people on suspicion of human trafficking offences.
A man and a woman, both of Slovakian nationality, attended a police station in Newcastle early in the morning of March 29th. They informed police that they had been subject to human trafficking and that they were being exploited for work.
Enquiries were carried out and later that day officers arrested two men aged 22 and 38, and three women aged 24, 18 and 37, on suspicion of trafficking people into the UK for exploitation. They have been bailed pending further enquiries.
Northumbria Police said enquiries were ongoing and asked for people with information to contact them.
The Salvation Army human trafficking helpline can also be contacted in order to report instances of human trafficking on 0300 303 8151.
A man and a woman, both of Slovakian nationality, attended a police station in Newcastle early in the morning of March 29th. They informed police that they had been subject to human trafficking and that they were being exploited for work.
Enquiries were carried out and later that day officers arrested two men aged 22 and 38, and three women aged 24, 18 and 37, on suspicion of trafficking people into the UK for exploitation. They have been bailed pending further enquiries.
Northumbria Police said enquiries were ongoing and asked for people with information to contact them.
The Salvation Army human trafficking helpline can also be contacted in order to report instances of human trafficking on 0300 303 8151.
Afzal Amin quits Dudley North election race over EDL row
Afzal Amin has resigned as Tory candidate for Dudley North following the row over his links with the EDL.
A party spokesman said: “Afzal Amin is resigning as Conservative candidate for Dudley North with immediate effect.
“Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps has welcomed Mr Amin’s decision and thanked him for his work in the past.”
The Conservative Party will now select a new candidate to fight the constituency.
Mr Amin, who was filmed in discussions with former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, initially said he would fight the allegations in the hope of staying on as parliamentary candidate in the Tory target seat.
But party sources said he had resigned as candidate "with immediate effect", a day ahead of a planned disciplinary hearing.
A party spokesman said: “Afzal Amin is resigning as Conservative candidate for Dudley North with immediate effect.
“Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps has welcomed Mr Amin’s decision and thanked him for his work in the past.”
The Conservative Party will now select a new candidate to fight the constituency.
Mr Amin, who was filmed in discussions with former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, initially said he would fight the allegations in the hope of staying on as parliamentary candidate in the Tory target seat.
But party sources said he had resigned as candidate "with immediate effect", a day ahead of a planned disciplinary hearing.
Hunt for Newcastle sex attacker after 14-year-old girl assaulted in Walker
Teen groped by hooded man while walking along Eastfield Avenue in Newcastle
A sex attacker is being hunted after a teen was assaulted on a Newcastle street.
The 14-year-old girl was groped as she walked along Eastfield Avenue at just before 8am on Monday, March 16.
Police say a man followed her a short distance on foot before touching her ‘inappropriately’ over her clothing.
The girl was left shocked and upset by the incident, said officers.
The offender was wearing a black coat with the hood pulled up.
Northumbria Police’s Neighbourhood Sergeant for the area, Matt Bruno, said: “We have additional officers in the area carrying out enquiries and to reassure local people. We’d ask for anyone with information to contact police.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 ext 69191 quoting reference number 189 16/03/15 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A sex attacker is being hunted after a teen was assaulted on a Newcastle street.
The 14-year-old girl was groped as she walked along Eastfield Avenue at just before 8am on Monday, March 16.
Police say a man followed her a short distance on foot before touching her ‘inappropriately’ over her clothing.
The girl was left shocked and upset by the incident, said officers.
The offender was wearing a black coat with the hood pulled up.
Northumbria Police’s Neighbourhood Sergeant for the area, Matt Bruno, said: “We have additional officers in the area carrying out enquiries and to reassure local people. We’d ask for anyone with information to contact police.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 ext 69191 quoting reference number 189 16/03/15 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Acklam pair who carried out £2m frauds jailed for total of more than 11 years
Muhammed Asif Ali sat in the dock alongside his son and wife who received suspended sentences for their part in one of the conspiracies.
A Teesside businessman sat in the dock alongside his son and wife as he was jailed for six and a half years for fraud totalling more than £2m.
Muhammed Asif Ali, and partner in crime Carol Ann Bainbridge, 48, were previously convicted by a jury of conspiring to defraud the former regional development agency One North East of £500,000.
The pair also faced a separate charge of £1.6m mortgage fraud, alongside Ali’s son, Mohammed Salman Ali, 28, and, wife Ghazala Ali, 45.
For her part in both crimes, Bainbridge was jailed for five years.
Teesside Crown Court heard how they defrauded the now-defunct One North East between June 2008 and October 2009.
Prosecutor Andrew Haslam told a previous hearing they took money from the agency and kept it for their own ends in a bank account in Ali’s name.
He said just over £519,000 of taxpayers’ money was paid out by One North East on the basis of false information, and was spent.
He said Ali, 56, of Acklam Road, Middlesbrough, used other people’s identities and appointed “stooges” as company directors, giving him control while hiding his involvement and diverting creditors.
The case concerned a company, Well Springs Green Lane Ltd, and its failed development in Spennymoor, County Durham.
Ali and Bainbridge also took part in the £1.6m mortgage fraud alongside his wife and son where they used false identities or the identities of unsuspecting third parties as well as falsifying incomes to defraud a number of fincial institutions.
Angus McDonald, prosecuting yesterday, said Ali Sr “played a leading role” in the conspiracy while Bainbridge “operated in partnership” with him.
Nigel Ingram, defending Ali Sr, said: “References show he is a man held in high regard in some quarters.
“You are not dealing with a man involved in fraud who was involved in a particularly lavish lifestyle.”
Katy Rafter, for Bainbridge, a mother of Skerne Way, Darlington, said she was “of previous good character before she was involved in this conspiracy”.
In sentencing she asked the judge to take into account that her client had some “genuine mental health difficulties”.
Tanveer Bashir, for Salman Ali, said he “wasn’t a prime mover in the fraud and wasn’t a big mover of the money.
“In reality he wasn’t someone who would have been caught up in this had it not been for the company he kept, ie, his father and mortgage brokers.”
Mohammed Qazi for Ghazala Ali, a mum-of- three of Acklam Road, said but for her relationship with her husband “would she have embarked on this criminality?”
“One of the reasons she was lending support to the (mortgage) applications was that she thought she could retain the security of the family home.”
Ali Sr and his son, also of Acklam Road, admitted taking part in the plot.
Bainbridge and Ghazala Ali denied the conspiracy and were convicted after a trial in December 2013.
Judge Les Spittle, described the frauds as “quite sophisticated” and told Ali Sr: “You are devious and manipulative in your dealings”
Salman Ali was given 22 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid community work. His mother Ghazala Ali received 24 months suspended for 18 months with a supervision order.
All defendants were also barred from being a company director for 15 years.
A Teesside businessman sat in the dock alongside his son and wife as he was jailed for six and a half years for fraud totalling more than £2m.
Muhammed Asif Ali, and partner in crime Carol Ann Bainbridge, 48, were previously convicted by a jury of conspiring to defraud the former regional development agency One North East of £500,000.
The pair also faced a separate charge of £1.6m mortgage fraud, alongside Ali’s son, Mohammed Salman Ali, 28, and, wife Ghazala Ali, 45.
For her part in both crimes, Bainbridge was jailed for five years.
Teesside Crown Court heard how they defrauded the now-defunct One North East between June 2008 and October 2009.
Prosecutor Andrew Haslam told a previous hearing they took money from the agency and kept it for their own ends in a bank account in Ali’s name.
He said just over £519,000 of taxpayers’ money was paid out by One North East on the basis of false information, and was spent.
He said Ali, 56, of Acklam Road, Middlesbrough, used other people’s identities and appointed “stooges” as company directors, giving him control while hiding his involvement and diverting creditors.
The case concerned a company, Well Springs Green Lane Ltd, and its failed development in Spennymoor, County Durham.
Ali and Bainbridge also took part in the £1.6m mortgage fraud alongside his wife and son where they used false identities or the identities of unsuspecting third parties as well as falsifying incomes to defraud a number of fincial institutions.
Angus McDonald, prosecuting yesterday, said Ali Sr “played a leading role” in the conspiracy while Bainbridge “operated in partnership” with him.
Nigel Ingram, defending Ali Sr, said: “References show he is a man held in high regard in some quarters.
“You are not dealing with a man involved in fraud who was involved in a particularly lavish lifestyle.”
Katy Rafter, for Bainbridge, a mother of Skerne Way, Darlington, said she was “of previous good character before she was involved in this conspiracy”.
In sentencing she asked the judge to take into account that her client had some “genuine mental health difficulties”.
Tanveer Bashir, for Salman Ali, said he “wasn’t a prime mover in the fraud and wasn’t a big mover of the money.
“In reality he wasn’t someone who would have been caught up in this had it not been for the company he kept, ie, his father and mortgage brokers.”
Mohammed Qazi for Ghazala Ali, a mum-of- three of Acklam Road, said but for her relationship with her husband “would she have embarked on this criminality?”
“One of the reasons she was lending support to the (mortgage) applications was that she thought she could retain the security of the family home.”
Ali Sr and his son, also of Acklam Road, admitted taking part in the plot.
Bainbridge and Ghazala Ali denied the conspiracy and were convicted after a trial in December 2013.
Judge Les Spittle, described the frauds as “quite sophisticated” and told Ali Sr: “You are devious and manipulative in your dealings”
Salman Ali was given 22 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid community work. His mother Ghazala Ali received 24 months suspended for 18 months with a supervision order.
All defendants were also barred from being a company director for 15 years.
Three North East registered sex offenders are 'missing'
New figures show whereabouts of 396 UK offenders unknown, including two in Northumbria and one in Durham.
Three sex offenders have gone missing in the North East police have revealed.
New figures have shown 396 convicted perverts on the sex offenders’ register in the UK are wanted because their whereabouts are unknown, including some who have been missing for more than a decade.
And two of those were being monitored in the Northumbria Police area, while one was in County Durham.
One convicted sex offender in Northumbria disappeared in May 2002, while the whereabouts of the other has been unknown since November 2008.
Registered sex offenders - including rapists and paedophiles - are required to inform police and probation officers of their addresses and are supposed to be monitored by officials working under multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA).
But in freedom of information responses 39 forces revealed there were missing registered sex offenders in their areas.
Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was abducted and killed in 2000 by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting, said: “It’s completely unacceptable that any registered sex offenders have disappeared from authority management, putting the public at risk.
“It’s time to take some serious proactive action to bring them back under the police radar.”
The NSPCC described the figures as “alarming” and said its own research had found there was just one police staff member responsible for every 50 registered sex offenders.
Jon Brown, the charity’s lead for tackling sexual abuse, said: “About half of those on the register are offenders who have raped or sexually assaulted children, or committed online child abuse image offences, however most just receive one police visit a year after they have been released from prison and a period of supervision.
“The monitoring of registered sex offenders in communities needs urgent attention by the Government to ensure it is fit for purpose.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The UK has some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with sex offenders and we are committed to ensuring the system is as robust as possible.
“It is for the police to manage offenders in their area, but we work closely with forces to ensure legislation is effective and that officers have all the tools they need.”
And Deputy Chief Constable Michelle Skeer, who is the National Policing Lead for the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders, added: “Protecting the public from sexual and violent offenders is a key role for the police service.
“A large proportion of the recorded wanted or missing sex offenders are, following investigation, either known or believed to be living abroad or have returned to their country of origin. When registered sexual offenders (RSO’s) are missing or wanted in the UK, all police forces are alerted. If they return to the UK, there are several processes in place to ensure that they are brought to the attention of police and arrested where appropriate.
“The UK has some of the most effective tools in the world to manage RSO’s. While the reality is that the risks posed to the public by such individuals can never be completely eliminated, there is significant evidence that the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) successfully keeps them to a minimum.
“The new Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPO) and Sexual Risk Orders (SRO) mean that, for the first time, we can safeguard children or vulnerable adults abroad as well as in the UK. “Along with the Shengen information system (SIS II) these will significantly enhance the existing procedures and processes we have in place.”
New figures have shown 396 convicted perverts on the sex offenders’ register in the UK are wanted because their whereabouts are unknown, including some who have been missing for more than a decade.
And two of those were being monitored in the Northumbria Police area, while one was in County Durham.
One convicted sex offender in Northumbria disappeared in May 2002, while the whereabouts of the other has been unknown since November 2008.
Registered sex offenders - including rapists and paedophiles - are required to inform police and probation officers of their addresses and are supposed to be monitored by officials working under multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA).
But in freedom of information responses 39 forces revealed there were missing registered sex offenders in their areas.
Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was abducted and killed in 2000 by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting, said: “It’s completely unacceptable that any registered sex offenders have disappeared from authority management, putting the public at risk.
“It’s time to take some serious proactive action to bring them back under the police radar.”
The NSPCC described the figures as “alarming” and said its own research had found there was just one police staff member responsible for every 50 registered sex offenders.
Jon Brown, the charity’s lead for tackling sexual abuse, said: “About half of those on the register are offenders who have raped or sexually assaulted children, or committed online child abuse image offences, however most just receive one police visit a year after they have been released from prison and a period of supervision.
“The monitoring of registered sex offenders in communities needs urgent attention by the Government to ensure it is fit for purpose.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The UK has some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with sex offenders and we are committed to ensuring the system is as robust as possible.
“It is for the police to manage offenders in their area, but we work closely with forces to ensure legislation is effective and that officers have all the tools they need.”
And Deputy Chief Constable Michelle Skeer, who is the National Policing Lead for the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders, added: “Protecting the public from sexual and violent offenders is a key role for the police service.
“A large proportion of the recorded wanted or missing sex offenders are, following investigation, either known or believed to be living abroad or have returned to their country of origin. When registered sexual offenders (RSO’s) are missing or wanted in the UK, all police forces are alerted. If they return to the UK, there are several processes in place to ensure that they are brought to the attention of police and arrested where appropriate.
“The UK has some of the most effective tools in the world to manage RSO’s. While the reality is that the risks posed to the public by such individuals can never be completely eliminated, there is significant evidence that the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) successfully keeps them to a minimum.
“The new Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPO) and Sexual Risk Orders (SRO) mean that, for the first time, we can safeguard children or vulnerable adults abroad as well as in the UK. “Along with the Shengen information system (SIS II) these will significantly enhance the existing procedures and processes we have in place.”
Wednesday 18 March 2015
Operation Sanctuary: Four Newcastle men charged with offences including rape and drug supply
Jahangir Zaman, Shiek Zaman, Nadeem Aslam and Abdul Khayum will appear before Newcastle Magistrates' Court on March 30
Four Newcastle men have been charged with offences including rape, drug supply and kidnap as part of Operation Sanctaury.
Jahangir Zaman, 41, of Hadrian Road, in Fenham, has been charged with rape and supply of mephedrone.
Shiek Zaman, 32, of Yewvale Road, Fenham, is charged with kidnap, falsely imprisoning another and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.
While Nadeem Aslam, 41, of Belle Grove West, Spital Tongues is charged with permit the use of premises for supply of mephedrone and supply of mephedrone, and
Abdul Khayum, 23, of Hampstead Road, Benwell, has been charged with rape.
All four will appear before Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on March 30.
Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2014 with a wave of arrests after receiving a report expressing concern for one girl.
But as the investigation continued detectives discovered a widespread problem of vulnerable women and girls being abused.
And Operation Sanctuary was subsequently broadened to include all incidents of females being sexually assaulted after being targeted because of their vulnerability.
Four Newcastle men have been charged with offences including rape, drug supply and kidnap as part of Operation Sanctaury.
Jahangir Zaman, 41, of Hadrian Road, in Fenham, has been charged with rape and supply of mephedrone.
Shiek Zaman, 32, of Yewvale Road, Fenham, is charged with kidnap, falsely imprisoning another and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.
While Nadeem Aslam, 41, of Belle Grove West, Spital Tongues is charged with permit the use of premises for supply of mephedrone and supply of mephedrone, and
Abdul Khayum, 23, of Hampstead Road, Benwell, has been charged with rape.
All four will appear before Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on March 30.
Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2014 with a wave of arrests after receiving a report expressing concern for one girl.
But as the investigation continued detectives discovered a widespread problem of vulnerable women and girls being abused.
And Operation Sanctuary was subsequently broadened to include all incidents of females being sexually assaulted after being targeted because of their vulnerability.
Acklam pair who carried out £2m frauds jailed for total of more than 11 years
Muhammed Asif Ali sat in the dock alongside his son and wife who received suspended sentences for their part in one of the conspiracies.
A Teesside businessman sat in the dock alongside his son and wife as he was jailed for six and a half years for fraud totalling more than £2m.
Muhammed Asif Ali, and partner in crime Carol Ann Bainbridge, 48, were previously convicted by a jury of conspiring to defraud the former regional development agency One North East of £500,000.
The pair also faced a separate charge of £1.6m mortgage fraud, alongside Ali’s son, Mohammed Salman Ali, 28, and, wife Ghazala Ali, 45.
For her part in both crimes, Bainbridge was jailed for five years.
Teesside Crown Court heard how they defrauded the now-defunct One North East between June 2008 and October 2009.
Prosecutor Andrew Haslam told a previous hearing they took money from the agency and kept it for their own ends in a bank account in Ali’s name.
He said just over £519,000 of taxpayers’ money was paid out by One North East on the basis of false information, and was spent.
He said Ali, 56, of Acklam Road, Middlesbrough, used other people’s identities and appointed “stooges” as company directors, giving him control while hiding his involvement and diverting creditors.
The case concerned a company, Well Springs Green Lane Ltd, and its failed development in Spennymoor, County Durham.
Ali and Bainbridge also took part in the £1.6m mortgage fraud alongside his wife and son where they used false identities or the identities of unsuspecting third parties as well as falsifying incomes to defraud a number of fincial institutions.
Angus McDonald, prosecuting yesterday, said Ali Sr “played a leading role” in the conspiracy while Bainbridge “operated in partnership” with him.
Nigel Ingram, defending Ali Sr, said: “References show he is a man held in high regard in some quarters.
“You are not dealing with a man involved in fraud who was involved in a particularly lavish lifestyle.”
Katy Rafter, for Bainbridge, a mother of Skerne Way, Darlington, said she was “of previous good character before she was involved in this conspiracy”.
In sentencing she asked the judge to take into account that her client had some “genuine mental health difficulties”.
Tanveer Bashir, for Salman Ali, said he “wasn’t a prime mover in the fraud and wasn’t a big mover of the money.
“In reality he wasn’t someone who would have been caught up in this had it not been for the company he kept, ie, his father and mortgage brokers.”
Mohammed Qazi for Ghazala Ali, a mum-of- three of Acklam Road, said but for her relationship with her husband “would she have embarked on this criminality?”
“One of the reasons she was lending support to the (mortgage) applications was that she thought she could retain the security of the family home.”
Ali Sr and his son, also of Acklam Road, admitted taking part in the plot.
Bainbridge and Ghazala Ali denied the conspiracy and were convicted after a trial in December 2013.
Judge Les Spittle, described the frauds as “quite sophisticated” and told Ali Sr: “You are devious and manipulative in your dealings”
Salman Ali was given 22 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid community work. His mother Ghazala Ali received 24 months suspended for 18 months with a supervision order.
All defendants were also barred from being a company director for 15 years.
A Teesside businessman sat in the dock alongside his son and wife as he was jailed for six and a half years for fraud totalling more than £2m.
Muhammed Asif Ali, and partner in crime Carol Ann Bainbridge, 48, were previously convicted by a jury of conspiring to defraud the former regional development agency One North East of £500,000.
The pair also faced a separate charge of £1.6m mortgage fraud, alongside Ali’s son, Mohammed Salman Ali, 28, and, wife Ghazala Ali, 45.
For her part in both crimes, Bainbridge was jailed for five years.
Teesside Crown Court heard how they defrauded the now-defunct One North East between June 2008 and October 2009.
Prosecutor Andrew Haslam told a previous hearing they took money from the agency and kept it for their own ends in a bank account in Ali’s name.
He said just over £519,000 of taxpayers’ money was paid out by One North East on the basis of false information, and was spent.
He said Ali, 56, of Acklam Road, Middlesbrough, used other people’s identities and appointed “stooges” as company directors, giving him control while hiding his involvement and diverting creditors.
The case concerned a company, Well Springs Green Lane Ltd, and its failed development in Spennymoor, County Durham.
Ali and Bainbridge also took part in the £1.6m mortgage fraud alongside his wife and son where they used false identities or the identities of unsuspecting third parties as well as falsifying incomes to defraud a number of fincial institutions.
Angus McDonald, prosecuting yesterday, said Ali Sr “played a leading role” in the conspiracy while Bainbridge “operated in partnership” with him.
Nigel Ingram, defending Ali Sr, said: “References show he is a man held in high regard in some quarters.
“You are not dealing with a man involved in fraud who was involved in a particularly lavish lifestyle.”
Katy Rafter, for Bainbridge, a mother of Skerne Way, Darlington, said she was “of previous good character before she was involved in this conspiracy”.
In sentencing she asked the judge to take into account that her client had some “genuine mental health difficulties”.
Tanveer Bashir, for Salman Ali, said he “wasn’t a prime mover in the fraud and wasn’t a big mover of the money.
“In reality he wasn’t someone who would have been caught up in this had it not been for the company he kept, ie, his father and mortgage brokers.”
Mohammed Qazi for Ghazala Ali, a mum-of- three of Acklam Road, said but for her relationship with her husband “would she have embarked on this criminality?”
“One of the reasons she was lending support to the (mortgage) applications was that she thought she could retain the security of the family home.”
Ali Sr and his son, also of Acklam Road, admitted taking part in the plot.
Bainbridge and Ghazala Ali denied the conspiracy and were convicted after a trial in December 2013.
Judge Les Spittle, described the frauds as “quite sophisticated” and told Ali Sr: “You are devious and manipulative in your dealings”
Salman Ali was given 22 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid community work. His mother Ghazala Ali received 24 months suspended for 18 months with a supervision order.
All defendants were also barred from being a company director for 15 years.
Over 60 children in Stockton at risk of being groomed for sex exploitation - task force warns
Following The Jay report into Rotherham child abuse scandal, local authorities are reviewing their own Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing, Trafficked protocols
More than 60 children in Stockton were identified as potentially at risk of being groomed for sex exploitation, a review has found.
But the true scale of child exploitation in Stockton “is unknown” warned a new task force, and must be investigated further - including seeking evidence from children.
And while strong measures are in place to tackle what children’s charities warn is a growing problem, there is “no room for complacency”, say council chiefs.
Following The Jay report into the Rotherham child abuse scandal - which criticised the Metropolitan Council for failings in the handling of abuse - local authorities are reviewing their own VEMT (Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing, Trafficked) protocols for identifying and dealing with the problem.
The Department of Education defines sexual exploitation of children as involving exploitative situations and relationships where young people receive things like food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes affection, gifts, or money for sexual activities.
The Task and Finish Review of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) found that in Stockton during 2013/14 a total of 61 children and young people were looked at under sex exploitation protocols
Of these 46 were female and 15 male, 59 were under 18 and 42 were thought at risk of child sex exploitation.
The Task and Finish Group - made up of representatives from the council and partner agencies - were also made aware of a number of current live investigations.
But “the true scale of the problem was not known and victims often did not recognise themselves as being victims of abuse,” the report went on.
Other findings included:
• The grooming and exploitation of young people could take many different forms and both perpetrators and victims could come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds
• The majority of victims lived at home, however, looked after children accounted for “a disproportionate number of victims”
• Boys and young men can also be victims and women could be perpetrators primarily in helping to procure victims. Sometimes victims were also perpetrators.
• In Stockton, the occupations of known perpetrators were varied with no recurring themes.
Stockton’s A Way Out outreach and prevention charity also highlighted issues to the committee, including:
• There was an extremely high incidence of childhood sexual exploitation among women involved in “survival sex work”.
• Young girls and boys did not realise they were being subjected to online exploitation
• The development of an online educational course for children and parents as a preventative measure would be beneficial
But agencies were proactive in Stockton in tackling child exploitation, the Task and Finish Group reported.
Multi agency working “allowed the sharing of intelligence”, although this was harder when children moved out of the borough/area, its report said.
Stockton Council and partners were “proactively seeking intelligence about CSE activity”.
All local schools had “a designated safeguarding officer and all staff received safeguarding training.”
But the committee said it “is acutely aware that this important issue merits further investigation.
“The Task and Finish Group believe that it is vital that feedback from children is also sought to assess the quality of the council’s and partners’ response to this issue.”
Councillor Ann McCoy, Stockton Council’s Cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The report found there was strong commitment from all Stockton Borough Members, officers, partners and providers to tackle this problem and strong measures were in place.
“By definition this is a difficult issue to quantify because victims do not always recognise themselves as being victims of abuse so we know there is no place for complacency. We will look at the group’s recommendations carefully to see how we can continue to improve to tackle this problem, identify those who need our support more quickly and make our young people aware of the dangers associated with inappropriate relationships.
“Anyone who would like to report concerns about Child Sexual Exploitation in Stockton Borough can contact 01642 527764 or firstcontact@stockton.gov.uk”
More than 60 children in Stockton were identified as potentially at risk of being groomed for sex exploitation, a review has found.
But the true scale of child exploitation in Stockton “is unknown” warned a new task force, and must be investigated further - including seeking evidence from children.
And while strong measures are in place to tackle what children’s charities warn is a growing problem, there is “no room for complacency”, say council chiefs.
Following The Jay report into the Rotherham child abuse scandal - which criticised the Metropolitan Council for failings in the handling of abuse - local authorities are reviewing their own VEMT (Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing, Trafficked) protocols for identifying and dealing with the problem.
The Department of Education defines sexual exploitation of children as involving exploitative situations and relationships where young people receive things like food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes affection, gifts, or money for sexual activities.
The Task and Finish Review of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) found that in Stockton during 2013/14 a total of 61 children and young people were looked at under sex exploitation protocols
Of these 46 were female and 15 male, 59 were under 18 and 42 were thought at risk of child sex exploitation.
The Task and Finish Group - made up of representatives from the council and partner agencies - were also made aware of a number of current live investigations.
But “the true scale of the problem was not known and victims often did not recognise themselves as being victims of abuse,” the report went on.
Other findings included:
• The grooming and exploitation of young people could take many different forms and both perpetrators and victims could come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds
• The majority of victims lived at home, however, looked after children accounted for “a disproportionate number of victims”
• Boys and young men can also be victims and women could be perpetrators primarily in helping to procure victims. Sometimes victims were also perpetrators.
• In Stockton, the occupations of known perpetrators were varied with no recurring themes.
Stockton’s A Way Out outreach and prevention charity also highlighted issues to the committee, including:
• There was an extremely high incidence of childhood sexual exploitation among women involved in “survival sex work”.
• Young girls and boys did not realise they were being subjected to online exploitation
• The development of an online educational course for children and parents as a preventative measure would be beneficial
But agencies were proactive in Stockton in tackling child exploitation, the Task and Finish Group reported.
Multi agency working “allowed the sharing of intelligence”, although this was harder when children moved out of the borough/area, its report said.
Stockton Council and partners were “proactively seeking intelligence about CSE activity”.
All local schools had “a designated safeguarding officer and all staff received safeguarding training.”
But the committee said it “is acutely aware that this important issue merits further investigation.
“The Task and Finish Group believe that it is vital that feedback from children is also sought to assess the quality of the council’s and partners’ response to this issue.”
Councillor Ann McCoy, Stockton Council’s Cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The report found there was strong commitment from all Stockton Borough Members, officers, partners and providers to tackle this problem and strong measures were in place.
“By definition this is a difficult issue to quantify because victims do not always recognise themselves as being victims of abuse so we know there is no place for complacency. We will look at the group’s recommendations carefully to see how we can continue to improve to tackle this problem, identify those who need our support more quickly and make our young people aware of the dangers associated with inappropriate relationships.
“Anyone who would like to report concerns about Child Sexual Exploitation in Stockton Borough can contact 01642 527764 or firstcontact@stockton.gov.uk”
Friday 6 March 2015
Operation Sanctuary: Newcastle woman is charged with prostitution and trafficking offences
Carolann Gallon, 20, of Hareside Court in Newburn will appear before magistrates on Monday charged with prostitution and trafficking offences
A Newcastle woman has been charged with prostitution and people trafficking offences as part of Operation Sanctuary.
Carolann Gallon, 20, of Hareside Court, in Newburn, is accused of trafficking people within the UK for exploitation and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
She will appear before Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2014 with a wave of arrests after receiving a report expressing concern for one girl.
But as the investigation continued detectives discovered a widespread problem of vulnerable women and girls being abused.
And Operation Sanctuary was subsequently broadened to include all incidents of females being sexually assaulted after being targeted because of their vulnerability.
Carolann Gallon, 20, of Hareside Court, in Newburn, is accused of trafficking people within the UK for exploitation and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
She will appear before Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2014 with a wave of arrests after receiving a report expressing concern for one girl.
But as the investigation continued detectives discovered a widespread problem of vulnerable women and girls being abused.
And Operation Sanctuary was subsequently broadened to include all incidents of females being sexually assaulted after being targeted because of their vulnerability.
Newcastle victim of female genital mutilation fears Tyneside girls are at risk
Prosecutors ready to get justice for victims of barbaric crime here in the North East
After being subjected to the horrors of female genital mutilation as a child, this mother is today on a mission to help stop Tyneside girls from suffering.
Score of youngsters in Newcastle have been identified as being at potential risk of the barbaric practice, which is commonplace in some parts of world.
But although female genital mutilation (FGM) has been illegal in the UK for 30 years, there has never been a successful prosecution because so few women come forward.
Today the victim, who lives in Newcastle’s East End, has spoken out about her ordeal as she takes on the role of FGM community champion.
The 40-year-old, who underwent the practice as a child in Gambia, said: “I can’t remember exactly how old I was but I can absolutely remember the pain. It is one of those things you will never forget.”
In the part of Africa where she comes from, more than 90% of girls were subjected to the practice, which some cultures see as a way of preparing women for marriage, or a way of controlling a woman’s sex life.
However, after becoming a nurse she began to realise just how barbaric FGM was.
And since settling in the UK nine years ago with her family, she is determined to do all she can to stop other women suffering.
“Where I come from you just accepted it was something that happened,” she said. “But in the long run when you get married and have children it continues to affect you.
“You go through the pain and psychological trauma all your life. My pregnancies were very difficult.”
The woman, who the Chronicle has agreed not to name, is now working with Newcastle City Council’s Shine sexual health service to reach out to Tyneside women.
“I just want people to know that it is criminal,” she said. “The problem with FGM is that nobody talks about it.
“People shouldn’t be afraid of speaking out because the more we talk about the more people will be aware, and the better chance we have of the practice being stopped.”
The Crown Prosecution Service’s chief crown prosecutor for the North East, Gerry Wareham, said prosecutors in the region are trained and ready to deal with FGM cases should they be reported.
“If we are ever going to prosecute anyone we need victims to come forward,” he said.
“Our priority is to stop this happening. But at the same time we want to make it clear as a deterrent that it is a criminal offence.”
Those convicted of carrying out FGM could be jailed for up to 15 years.
Mr Wareham added: “We want to make sure victims are aware that if they do come forward they will be treated sensitively and supported.
“We know how difficult it would be to come forward, but we have got people specially trained in the nature of the offence.”
Estimated figures suggest more than 160 girls under the age of 15 living in Newcastle may be at risk.
Roya Tazaee, a community development worker at Shine, has heard anecdotal evidence of girls being taken out of the country to undergo FGM.
“We know that it is practised here and women in the North East are suffering the effects of it,” she said. “We want to eradicate it in the next generation.”
After being subjected to the horrors of female genital mutilation as a child, this mother is today on a mission to help stop Tyneside girls from suffering.
Score of youngsters in Newcastle have been identified as being at potential risk of the barbaric practice, which is commonplace in some parts of world.
But although female genital mutilation (FGM) has been illegal in the UK for 30 years, there has never been a successful prosecution because so few women come forward.
Today the victim, who lives in Newcastle’s East End, has spoken out about her ordeal as she takes on the role of FGM community champion.
The 40-year-old, who underwent the practice as a child in Gambia, said: “I can’t remember exactly how old I was but I can absolutely remember the pain. It is one of those things you will never forget.”
In the part of Africa where she comes from, more than 90% of girls were subjected to the practice, which some cultures see as a way of preparing women for marriage, or a way of controlling a woman’s sex life.
However, after becoming a nurse she began to realise just how barbaric FGM was.
And since settling in the UK nine years ago with her family, she is determined to do all she can to stop other women suffering.
“Where I come from you just accepted it was something that happened,” she said. “But in the long run when you get married and have children it continues to affect you.
“You go through the pain and psychological trauma all your life. My pregnancies were very difficult.”
The woman, who the Chronicle has agreed not to name, is now working with Newcastle City Council’s Shine sexual health service to reach out to Tyneside women.
“I just want people to know that it is criminal,” she said. “The problem with FGM is that nobody talks about it.
“People shouldn’t be afraid of speaking out because the more we talk about the more people will be aware, and the better chance we have of the practice being stopped.”
The Crown Prosecution Service’s chief crown prosecutor for the North East, Gerry Wareham, said prosecutors in the region are trained and ready to deal with FGM cases should they be reported.
“If we are ever going to prosecute anyone we need victims to come forward,” he said.
“Our priority is to stop this happening. But at the same time we want to make it clear as a deterrent that it is a criminal offence.”
Those convicted of carrying out FGM could be jailed for up to 15 years.
Mr Wareham added: “We want to make sure victims are aware that if they do come forward they will be treated sensitively and supported.
“We know how difficult it would be to come forward, but we have got people specially trained in the nature of the offence.”
Estimated figures suggest more than 160 girls under the age of 15 living in Newcastle may be at risk.
Roya Tazaee, a community development worker at Shine, has heard anecdotal evidence of girls being taken out of the country to undergo FGM.
“We know that it is practised here and women in the North East are suffering the effects of it,” she said. “We want to eradicate it in the next generation.”
Thursday 5 March 2015
Newcastle teenage sex victim should be placed in secure accommodation for own safety
Judge said 17-year-old girl from Newcastle had been a 'very significant victim of child sexual exploitation'
A teenage girl thought to have been sexually exploited by MUSLIM men should be placed in secure accommodation for her own safety, a family judge has ruled.
Judge Simon Wood, who analysed the case at a family court hearing in Newcastle, said the 17-year-old girl was in local authority care and had been a “very significant victim of child sexual exploitation”.
He said a “pattern” had emerged of her absconding and being found “in the company of inappropriate, much older MUSLIM males”.
He said one man believed to have been with her had recently been charged with more than 20 offences linked to child sexual exploitation.
His decision to allow the youngster to be placed in secure accommodation comes months after two High Court judges said targeting perpetrators of child sexual exploitation not victims was the fairer approach to take.
Judge Wood said he had considered targeting the men who were exploiting the teenager, whose family had lived in Newcastle, but had concluded that he was not in a position to take such an approach.
He said he had been giving “chilling evidence” about the girl from a senior detective.
The detective had “impressed” on him that as long as the teenager was in secure accommodation she was “safe” and “could not be raped or worse”.
And local authority social services staff had echoed those concerns.
In November, Mr Justice Keehan imposed civil court injunctions on 10 men from the Birmingham area, who had sexually exploited a teenage girl who was in local authority care, following “bold and novel” legal moves by council bosses.
Police said there was insufficient evidence to secure criminal convictions against the men.
But Mr Justice Keehan imposed injunctions barring the men from contacting the teenager, and from approaching girls they did not know, following applications by Birmingham City Council.
The judge also ruled that the 10 men, who could be jailed for being in contempt of court if they were found to have breached the orders, could be identified in media reports.
Mr Justice Keehan, who had analysed evidence at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London, said he hoped that more local authorities would use civil courts to target men who sexually exploited vulnerable girls.
“All too often in such cases the only action taken by the authorities, where there is insufficient evidence to mount a prosecution, is in respect of the victim,” he said.
“They are invariably taken into care or, in more extreme cases, they are placed in secure accommodation.”
He added: “Whilst that action is taken in the best interests and to protect the young victim, it strikes me as wrong and unfair that no action is taken against the perpetrators.”
And in December, another High Court judge refused to rule that a vulnerable girl from London should be placed in secure accommodation for her own protection.
Lawyers for Barking & Dagenham Council told Mr Justice Hayden, at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London, that social workers were concerned about the relationship a man was having with the girl, who was in council care.
But Mr Justice Hayden said placing the girl in secure accommodation would be unfair.
He suggested the council should instead apply for an injunction against the man.
Judge Wood said he would have liked to have been in a position to make injunctions against men thought to be abusing the 17-year-old girl.
“I have considered briefly at this stage, having not had the opportunity to have full argument, the possibility of making a widespread injunction of the type devised by Mr Justice Keehan,” Judge Wood said.
“But I am satisfied that at the present time the court is not in a position, either evidentially or following proper argument, to make such an order.”
He added: “I would have liked to have been in a position to do so.”
Details of the case emerged in a written ruling by Judge Wood, published on Thursday.
Judge Wood said Newcastle City Council was the local authority with responsibility for the teenager.
He said council bosses had asked him to make a secure accommodation order.
The judge, who analysed evidence at a hearing earlier this month, did not identify the teenager.
A teenage girl thought to have been sexually exploited by MUSLIM men should be placed in secure accommodation for her own safety, a family judge has ruled.
Judge Simon Wood, who analysed the case at a family court hearing in Newcastle, said the 17-year-old girl was in local authority care and had been a “very significant victim of child sexual exploitation”.
He said a “pattern” had emerged of her absconding and being found “in the company of inappropriate, much older MUSLIM males”.
He said one man believed to have been with her had recently been charged with more than 20 offences linked to child sexual exploitation.
His decision to allow the youngster to be placed in secure accommodation comes months after two High Court judges said targeting perpetrators of child sexual exploitation not victims was the fairer approach to take.
Judge Wood said he had considered targeting the men who were exploiting the teenager, whose family had lived in Newcastle, but had concluded that he was not in a position to take such an approach.
He said he had been giving “chilling evidence” about the girl from a senior detective.
The detective had “impressed” on him that as long as the teenager was in secure accommodation she was “safe” and “could not be raped or worse”.
And local authority social services staff had echoed those concerns.
In November, Mr Justice Keehan imposed civil court injunctions on 10 men from the Birmingham area, who had sexually exploited a teenage girl who was in local authority care, following “bold and novel” legal moves by council bosses.
Police said there was insufficient evidence to secure criminal convictions against the men.
But Mr Justice Keehan imposed injunctions barring the men from contacting the teenager, and from approaching girls they did not know, following applications by Birmingham City Council.
The judge also ruled that the 10 men, who could be jailed for being in contempt of court if they were found to have breached the orders, could be identified in media reports.
Mr Justice Keehan, who had analysed evidence at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London, said he hoped that more local authorities would use civil courts to target men who sexually exploited vulnerable girls.
“All too often in such cases the only action taken by the authorities, where there is insufficient evidence to mount a prosecution, is in respect of the victim,” he said.
“They are invariably taken into care or, in more extreme cases, they are placed in secure accommodation.”
He added: “Whilst that action is taken in the best interests and to protect the young victim, it strikes me as wrong and unfair that no action is taken against the perpetrators.”
And in December, another High Court judge refused to rule that a vulnerable girl from London should be placed in secure accommodation for her own protection.
Lawyers for Barking & Dagenham Council told Mr Justice Hayden, at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London, that social workers were concerned about the relationship a man was having with the girl, who was in council care.
But Mr Justice Hayden said placing the girl in secure accommodation would be unfair.
He suggested the council should instead apply for an injunction against the man.
Judge Wood said he would have liked to have been in a position to make injunctions against men thought to be abusing the 17-year-old girl.
“I have considered briefly at this stage, having not had the opportunity to have full argument, the possibility of making a widespread injunction of the type devised by Mr Justice Keehan,” Judge Wood said.
“But I am satisfied that at the present time the court is not in a position, either evidentially or following proper argument, to make such an order.”
He added: “I would have liked to have been in a position to do so.”
Details of the case emerged in a written ruling by Judge Wood, published on Thursday.
Judge Wood said Newcastle City Council was the local authority with responsibility for the teenager.
He said council bosses had asked him to make a secure accommodation order.
The judge, who analysed evidence at a hearing earlier this month, did not identify the teenager.
Muslim who raped 'very young girl' locked up for 11 years after being branded a risk
Amaan Ghafoor is told by a judge: 'What made you carry out this dreadful act, only you know'
A teenager who raped a very young girl has today been locked up for 11 years as a judge branded him a 'risk to young girls'.
Amaan Ghafoor is still “in denial” after he was found guilty of rape unanimously by a jury following a trial last month, the court heard.
The 18-year-old was brought to justice after the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told of his “disgusting” and “horrible” actions when he was 17.
But Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, told Ghafoor at Teesside Crown Court: “She was too young, too naive to have fabricated that account.
“The fact that she was able to describe the event in such detail in my judgment convinced the jury that she could not have imagined it or fabricated it.
“There was certainly no reason for her to have lied.
“As to what made you carry out this dreadful act, only you know because you are still in complete denial as to having carried out that act.”
The judge said Ghafoor, in his “arrogance”, did not believe she would tell of what he did, or that she would be believed.
He said Ghafoor failed to recognise the effects of his behaviour on “a bubbly, lovely, normal child” who was too young to know it was a sexual act.
“You have no insight into the impact of your offending upon her, and the terrible consequences of your offending upon her," added the judge.
“It may be that you carried out this offence by way of sexual experimentation.
“It is clear to me that you at present pose a risk to young girls.
“It may be that as you grow older and become more mature, you will recognise the enormity of that which you have done.
“This is still a very serious offence and only a significant sentence can follow it.”
He locked up Ghafoor, who had no previous convictions, for 11 years.
Ghafoor was given a sexual offences prevention order and will be on the sex offenders’ register, both indefinitely.
Anne Richardson, defending, said college student Ghafoor was immature and insular, and he expected custody.
She added that the normal, loving and caring people who knew him “could not believe that he committed such an offence”.
Ms Richardson added the victim did not have to endure cross-examination in the trial and those around her made efforts to minimise the long-term effects on her.
“They have acted in a way that means that she is not constantly reminded of this,” she added.
“It is hoped in the passage of time that wounds will be healed.”
The judge said: “It may be, because of her extreme youth and her naivety, she will actually forget about this. I don’t know.”
In the trial, Ghafoor denied that he did anything improper.
He could not think why she would make up the allegation and said nothing could have been misconstrued by her.
A teenager who raped a very young girl has today been locked up for 11 years as a judge branded him a 'risk to young girls'.
Amaan Ghafoor is still “in denial” after he was found guilty of rape unanimously by a jury following a trial last month, the court heard.
The 18-year-old was brought to justice after the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told of his “disgusting” and “horrible” actions when he was 17.
But Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, told Ghafoor at Teesside Crown Court: “She was too young, too naive to have fabricated that account.
“The fact that she was able to describe the event in such detail in my judgment convinced the jury that she could not have imagined it or fabricated it.
“There was certainly no reason for her to have lied.
“As to what made you carry out this dreadful act, only you know because you are still in complete denial as to having carried out that act.”
The judge said Ghafoor, in his “arrogance”, did not believe she would tell of what he did, or that she would be believed.
He said Ghafoor failed to recognise the effects of his behaviour on “a bubbly, lovely, normal child” who was too young to know it was a sexual act.
“You have no insight into the impact of your offending upon her, and the terrible consequences of your offending upon her," added the judge.
“It may be that you carried out this offence by way of sexual experimentation.
“It is clear to me that you at present pose a risk to young girls.
“It may be that as you grow older and become more mature, you will recognise the enormity of that which you have done.
“This is still a very serious offence and only a significant sentence can follow it.”
He locked up Ghafoor, who had no previous convictions, for 11 years.
Ghafoor was given a sexual offences prevention order and will be on the sex offenders’ register, both indefinitely.
Anne Richardson, defending, said college student Ghafoor was immature and insular, and he expected custody.
She added that the normal, loving and caring people who knew him “could not believe that he committed such an offence”.
Ms Richardson added the victim did not have to endure cross-examination in the trial and those around her made efforts to minimise the long-term effects on her.
“They have acted in a way that means that she is not constantly reminded of this,” she added.
“It is hoped in the passage of time that wounds will be healed.”
The judge said: “It may be, because of her extreme youth and her naivety, she will actually forget about this. I don’t know.”
In the trial, Ghafoor denied that he did anything improper.
He could not think why she would make up the allegation and said nothing could have been misconstrued by her.
Named and shamed
Whilst local councillors and Vera Baird the police commissioner remain silent over this we wont...
Eisa Mousavi, 39, of Todds Nook, Newcastle has been charged with sexual assault by touching on a female 13 or over; intimidating a witness/juror/person assisting the investigation; rape of a female aged 16 or over; supplying or offering to supply a class B controlled drug; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Monjur Choudhury, 30, of Philip Place, Newcastle has been charged with permit use of premises for supply of drugs; supply or offer to supply class B controlled drugs; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Redwan Siddquee, 30, of West Road, Newcastle has been charged with causing or inciting prostitution for gain; supply or offering to supply a class B controlled drug.
- Mohammed Hassan Ali, 32, of Bentinck Street, Newcastle has been charged with a sexual act on a female and possession of mephadrone with intent to supply.
- Abdulhamid Minoyee, 31, of Gainsbrough Grove, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; supply or offer to supply cannabis; sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over.
- Ebrahim Ali, 38, of Wetherby Grove, Gateshead has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug; supply or offer to supply a class A controlled drug; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; arrange child prostitution; rape of a female aged 16 or over.
- Habibur Rahim, 32, of Kenilworth Road, Newcastle has been charged with sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over; administering a substance with intent; sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over; supply or offering to supply a class B controlled drug; supply or offer to supply cannabis; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Ibrahim Rousel, 34, of Manor Gardens, Wardley has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over and administering a substance with intent.
- Mohammed Khalique, 22, of Beaconsfield Street, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug.
- Mohammed Azram, 33, of Croydon Road, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; supply of mephadrone; supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug; sexual assault by touching a female aged 13 or over; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Nadeem Aslam, 41, of Belle Grove West, Newcastle has been charged with possession of cannabis; possession of mephadrone; supply of mephadrone; permit the use of premises for supply of drugs; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Prabhat Nelli, 31, Corporation Road, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B drug and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Taherul Alam, 29, of Normanton Terrace, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug; permit the use of premises to supply drugs; sexual assault by touching on a female 13 or over; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Yassar Hussain, 25, of Canning Street, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; permit the use of premises to supply drugs; assault occasioning actual bodily harm; possession of mephadrone; possession of amphetamine; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Jahangir Zaman, 41, of Hadrian Road, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Badrul Hussain, 34, of Drybeck Court, has been charged with rape of a female aged under 16; supply of mephadrone; permit the use of a premises to supply drugs and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Abdul Sabe, 37, of Dean House, Newcastle has been charged with possession of cannabis; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; non-penatrative sexual activity with a girl 13 to 15; supply or offer to supply cannabis; sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over and administering a substance with intent.
- Karzan Mohammed, 23, of Graingerville South, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female under 16; falsely imprison/detain another; supply or offer to supply cannabis; assault occasioning actual bodily harm; administering a substance with intent; rape of a female aged 16 or over and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.
- Saiful Islam, 32, of Strathmore Crescent, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged under 16 and supply or offer to supply cannabis.
- Nashir Uddin, 33, of Joan Street, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class A controlled drug; supply of mephadrone; permit the use of premises for supply of drugs; rape of a female under 16; causing or inciting prostitution for gain; failing to surrender to custody/respond to bail.
Eisa Mousavi, 39, of Todds Nook, Newcastle has been charged with sexual assault by touching on a female 13 or over; intimidating a witness/juror/person assisting the investigation; rape of a female aged 16 or over; supplying or offering to supply a class B controlled drug; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Monjur Choudhury, 30, of Philip Place, Newcastle has been charged with permit use of premises for supply of drugs; supply or offer to supply class B controlled drugs; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Redwan Siddquee, 30, of West Road, Newcastle has been charged with causing or inciting prostitution for gain; supply or offering to supply a class B controlled drug.
- Mohammed Hassan Ali, 32, of Bentinck Street, Newcastle has been charged with a sexual act on a female and possession of mephadrone with intent to supply.
- Abdulhamid Minoyee, 31, of Gainsbrough Grove, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; supply or offer to supply cannabis; sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over.
- Ebrahim Ali, 38, of Wetherby Grove, Gateshead has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug; supply or offer to supply a class A controlled drug; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; arrange child prostitution; rape of a female aged 16 or over.
- Habibur Rahim, 32, of Kenilworth Road, Newcastle has been charged with sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over; administering a substance with intent; sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over; supply or offering to supply a class B controlled drug; supply or offer to supply cannabis; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Ibrahim Rousel, 34, of Manor Gardens, Wardley has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over and administering a substance with intent.
- Mohammed Khalique, 22, of Beaconsfield Street, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug.
- Mohammed Azram, 33, of Croydon Road, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; supply of mephadrone; supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug; sexual assault by touching a female aged 13 or over; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Nadeem Aslam, 41, of Belle Grove West, Newcastle has been charged with possession of cannabis; possession of mephadrone; supply of mephadrone; permit the use of premises for supply of drugs; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Prabhat Nelli, 31, Corporation Road, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B drug and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Taherul Alam, 29, of Normanton Terrace, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug; permit the use of premises to supply drugs; sexual assault by touching on a female 13 or over; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Yassar Hussain, 25, of Canning Street, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged 16 or over; permit the use of premises to supply drugs; assault occasioning actual bodily harm; possession of mephadrone; possession of amphetamine; causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Jahangir Zaman, 41, of Hadrian Road, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class B controlled drug and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Badrul Hussain, 34, of Drybeck Court, has been charged with rape of a female aged under 16; supply of mephadrone; permit the use of a premises to supply drugs and causing or inciting prostitution for gain.
- Abdul Sabe, 37, of Dean House, Newcastle has been charged with possession of cannabis; trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation; non-penatrative sexual activity with a girl 13 to 15; supply or offer to supply cannabis; sexual assault by touching a female 13 or over and administering a substance with intent.
- Karzan Mohammed, 23, of Graingerville South, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female under 16; falsely imprison/detain another; supply or offer to supply cannabis; assault occasioning actual bodily harm; administering a substance with intent; rape of a female aged 16 or over and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.
- Saiful Islam, 32, of Strathmore Crescent, Newcastle has been charged with rape of a female aged under 16 and supply or offer to supply cannabis.
- Nashir Uddin, 33, of Joan Street, Newcastle has been charged with supply or offer to supply a class A controlled drug; supply of mephadrone; permit the use of premises for supply of drugs; rape of a female under 16; causing or inciting prostitution for gain; failing to surrender to custody/respond to bail.
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Submitted by a supporter and worth a read
I hate the BBC with their Leftist, pro Islam, anti white propaganda.
Today, they published the results of a poll of questions put to Muslims living here. The BBC proudly and smugly announced that only 27% of Muslims in Britain (I refuse to use their term 'British Muslims) support Islamic terrorist attacks like the Charlie Hebdo atrocity in Paris.
Phew, that's OK then, only 27%. But is it?
Let's break these figures down a bit shall we?
Official governmental figures show that there are slightly under 3 million Muslims officially living here. Many reputable sources state that it's more like 4 million when illegals are taken into consideration. Forget the fact that they're outbreeding us at a rate of 4 to 1 so this figure will rise yearly.
So, 27% of 4million = 1,080,000. I'll modify the third sentence in this post.
THE BBC PROUDLY AND SMUGLY ANNOUNCED THAT ONLY 1,080,000 MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN SUPPORT ISLAMIC TERRORIST ATTACKS LIKE THE CHARLIE HEBDO ATROCITY IN PARIS.
The sleeping British public ignorantly listen to the BBC propaganda and swallow it hook, line and sinker, thinking,"27%?, that's not much really". 1,080,000 is one massive army of the enemy within. ISIS/IS marched through two whole countries (Syria and Iraq) with 20-30,000 butchering everyone they saw fit to. Frightening thought.
Back to my main point. The Leftist BBC has just unleashed a very frightening statistic to the British public without the British public realising it.
Classic brainwashing technique.
Thanks Aunty Beeb!
Today, they published the results of a poll of questions put to Muslims living here. The BBC proudly and smugly announced that only 27% of Muslims in Britain (I refuse to use their term 'British Muslims) support Islamic terrorist attacks like the Charlie Hebdo atrocity in Paris.
Phew, that's OK then, only 27%. But is it?
Let's break these figures down a bit shall we?
Official governmental figures show that there are slightly under 3 million Muslims officially living here. Many reputable sources state that it's more like 4 million when illegals are taken into consideration. Forget the fact that they're outbreeding us at a rate of 4 to 1 so this figure will rise yearly.
So, 27% of 4million = 1,080,000. I'll modify the third sentence in this post.
THE BBC PROUDLY AND SMUGLY ANNOUNCED THAT ONLY 1,080,000 MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN SUPPORT ISLAMIC TERRORIST ATTACKS LIKE THE CHARLIE HEBDO ATROCITY IN PARIS.
The sleeping British public ignorantly listen to the BBC propaganda and swallow it hook, line and sinker, thinking,"27%?, that's not much really". 1,080,000 is one massive army of the enemy within. ISIS/IS marched through two whole countries (Syria and Iraq) with 20-30,000 butchering everyone they saw fit to. Frightening thought.
Back to my main point. The Leftist BBC has just unleashed a very frightening statistic to the British public without the British public realising it.
Classic brainwashing technique.
Thanks Aunty Beeb!
Friday 20 February 2015
Newcastle muslim taxi driver slapped and spat on frightened female passenger
Hamzeh Karimi also attacked a fellow cabbie in a seperate assault in Newcastle
A taxi driver slapped and spat on a frightened female passenger he was supposed to be taking home, a court heard.
Hackney cab driver Hamzeh Karimi had picked-up a woman and her two friends in Newcastle when an argument broke out as he drove.
The 31-year-old then pulled over on Jesmond Road, Newcastle, before turning around and heading back to the city centre.
However, as one of the frightened girls tried to open a door, Karimi spat in the woman’s face and slapped her a number of times with his left hand.
The shocked women then all got out of the cab before Karimi drove-off.
But, the rogue cabbie was caught when the girls noted down his registration number and reported him to the police.
Karimi, of Wardroper House, Walker, denied one count of assault at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court but was found guilty after trial earlier this year.
He also denied a further charge of assault, relating to a separate incident just six months later when he attacked a fellow taxi driver, leaving his victim with a “puncture-like” wound to the back of the head.
Reading the facts of the of the first assault, which happened on March 9 last year, District Judge Stephen Earl said: “The defendant, a taxi driver, picks up three females and is asked to take them on a journey.
“During the journey, he repeatedly didn’t trust that they had the means to pay him.
“A verbal argument took place in the car and the defendant stopped the vehicle on Jesmond Road and told them to get out, demanding the fare to that point.
“The females ask for his name and badge number and refused to get out, saying they would not pay any money until he took them home.
“The defendant then began taking them back to the city centre. The girls were very frightened and they tried to open the door to get the defendant to stop.
“He stopped and one female got out. The defendant is then heard making a rasping sound and spat in the woman’s face. He then grabbed her wrist and used his left hand to slap her face a few times.
“He then spat towards another of the women but missed. Both the other women then also get out and say they are going to phone the police.
“The defendant then drives off but the girls take down his registration, which they give to the police.”
The court heard that, just six months later and while on bail for the first assault, Karimi attacked a fellow cabbie=.
Sue Baker, prosecuting, said that offence happened while the pair were both in a taxi que on Hood Street, in Newcastle, on September 1.
She said: “There has been a long-running feud between the defendant and Mr Maroof and it’s unclear who became aggressive first.
“PC Hill witnessed Mr Maroof crouched over with the defendant punching him to the back of the head.”
The court heard that Mr Maroof suffered a puncture wound to his head as a result of the attack.
Karimi had denied both offences but was found guilty after two separate trials.
Giving him an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, District Judge Earl said: “This involves an assault against a member of public who is vulnerable and, in a sense, it is an abuse of trust.
“You were a licenced taxi driver when you assaulted a member of the public being conveyed in your taxi. As a result, you must expect to be dealt with in the custody bracket,”
Karimi, representing himself, still denied the assaults and claimed both the woman and other taxi driver were lying.
As well as the suspended sentence, Karimi was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay a total of £300 compensation and £400 costs.
A taxi driver slapped and spat on a frightened female passenger he was supposed to be taking home, a court heard.
Hackney cab driver Hamzeh Karimi had picked-up a woman and her two friends in Newcastle when an argument broke out as he drove.
The 31-year-old then pulled over on Jesmond Road, Newcastle, before turning around and heading back to the city centre.
However, as one of the frightened girls tried to open a door, Karimi spat in the woman’s face and slapped her a number of times with his left hand.
The shocked women then all got out of the cab before Karimi drove-off.
But, the rogue cabbie was caught when the girls noted down his registration number and reported him to the police.
Karimi, of Wardroper House, Walker, denied one count of assault at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court but was found guilty after trial earlier this year.
He also denied a further charge of assault, relating to a separate incident just six months later when he attacked a fellow taxi driver, leaving his victim with a “puncture-like” wound to the back of the head.
Reading the facts of the of the first assault, which happened on March 9 last year, District Judge Stephen Earl said: “The defendant, a taxi driver, picks up three females and is asked to take them on a journey.
“During the journey, he repeatedly didn’t trust that they had the means to pay him.
“A verbal argument took place in the car and the defendant stopped the vehicle on Jesmond Road and told them to get out, demanding the fare to that point.
“The females ask for his name and badge number and refused to get out, saying they would not pay any money until he took them home.
“The defendant then began taking them back to the city centre. The girls were very frightened and they tried to open the door to get the defendant to stop.
“He stopped and one female got out. The defendant is then heard making a rasping sound and spat in the woman’s face. He then grabbed her wrist and used his left hand to slap her face a few times.
“He then spat towards another of the women but missed. Both the other women then also get out and say they are going to phone the police.
“The defendant then drives off but the girls take down his registration, which they give to the police.”
The court heard that, just six months later and while on bail for the first assault, Karimi attacked a fellow cabbie=.
Sue Baker, prosecuting, said that offence happened while the pair were both in a taxi que on Hood Street, in Newcastle, on September 1.
She said: “There has been a long-running feud between the defendant and Mr Maroof and it’s unclear who became aggressive first.
“PC Hill witnessed Mr Maroof crouched over with the defendant punching him to the back of the head.”
The court heard that Mr Maroof suffered a puncture wound to his head as a result of the attack.
Karimi had denied both offences but was found guilty after two separate trials.
Giving him an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, District Judge Earl said: “This involves an assault against a member of public who is vulnerable and, in a sense, it is an abuse of trust.
“You were a licenced taxi driver when you assaulted a member of the public being conveyed in your taxi. As a result, you must expect to be dealt with in the custody bracket,”
Karimi, representing himself, still denied the assaults and claimed both the woman and other taxi driver were lying.
As well as the suspended sentence, Karimi was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay a total of £300 compensation and £400 costs.
Taxi drivers ‘being treated like criminals’ over child sex abuse sessions
CABBIES in South Tyneside claim they are being “treated like criminals” after plans were revealed which they feel forces them to attend child sex abuse prevention sessions as a condition of their licence.
The council is proposing to make attendance at the training sessions a condition for Hackney Carriage and private hire taxi drivers getting a licence to work in the borough and the new rule would also apply to anyone handling calls in a taxi office.
The move comes in the wake of the Rotherham child abuse scandal.
The Jay Report into the scandal said more than 1,400 children were abused in the town between 1997 and 2013 and found taxi drivers played a “prominent role” in the abuse. Many of the victims were ferried to their abusers in cabs and some drivers were also found guilty of abuse.
A South Tyneside Council spokesman denied taxi drivers were being singled out for special treatment and said other selected groups will also be asked to take the course.
But some borough drivers have reacted with anger at the plan.
Hackney Carriage driver Michael Ridley described it as “an insult”.
He said: “It’s just another example of the nanny state and a complete over-reaction. The council are just making us jump through hoops.
“They are basically treating us like criminals. I am a driver with no criminal record – why should I have to attend a course on child sexual exploitation?”
He added: “A few years ago I was contacted by the Criminal Records Bureau because I had the same name and date of birth as an offender, but a different year. I gave fingerprints and palm prints.
“They are on a database. They know exactly where I am if they need to contact me. I have nothing to hide.
“This is the council being over-zealous. It’s a waste of time and money. When I was doing school runs and I was asked to attend a course on child abuse, which I did because I was told it would be beneficial. This is different – this is an insult to the trade locally.”
Another Hackney Carriage driver, who didn’t wish to be identified, added: “Why should we be associated with what happened in Rotherham? This is South Tyneside. We are being tarred with the same brush and it’s wrong.
“We face enough pressures without the council pointing the finger at us in this way. What are the public going to think of this?”
A report, to be presented to next Friday’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee says the measure was being considered to “ensure all private hire and Hackney Carriage drivers are fully aware of issues relating to child sexual exploitation, and other matters which the council may consider important in the future.”
Drivers will be given seven days notice of attendance at the training sessions and “failure to attend without reasonable cause may prevent renewal of a driver’s licence”.
The council’s licensing committee meets at South Shields Town Hall next Friday from 10am.
Twitter@shieldsgazpaul
Cabbies are ‘eyes and ears of community’
A LEADING South Tyneside councillor says taxi drivers have an important role as the “eyes and ears of the community”.
Coun Tracey Dixon, the council’s lead member for area management and community safety, said many members of South Tyneside Hackney Carriage Association were supportive of the proposal for drivers to attend child sexual exploitation training sessions.
She said: “We are seeking the support of key members of the business community in tackling the issue of child sexual exploitation.
Independent reviews into such cases have concluded that tackling this issue should be everyone’s business and the council is committed to taking a proactive stance.
“Raising awareness in key business sectors – including the taxi trade – is part of our wider, ongoing approach.
“We have met with representatives of the trade – including members of the South Tyneside Hackney Carriage Association and a number of private hire operators – who have been supportive of the proposals.
“Taxi drivers have an important role to play as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the community.”
The council says the proposed training events are designed to give a greater understanding of CSE to teach members of the community to ‘spot the signs’ and to advise people how to report any suspicious behaviour so that relevant agencies can build up an intelligence picture.
WE SAY: Maybe it has something to do with the 134 'Asian' (muslim) taxi drivers who have been arrested for grooming, raping & abusing young children in our region that the police are trying to hide by putting a lot of the nonces up at courts outside of Newcastle so as not to draw too much attention?
The council is proposing to make attendance at the training sessions a condition for Hackney Carriage and private hire taxi drivers getting a licence to work in the borough and the new rule would also apply to anyone handling calls in a taxi office.
The move comes in the wake of the Rotherham child abuse scandal.
The Jay Report into the scandal said more than 1,400 children were abused in the town between 1997 and 2013 and found taxi drivers played a “prominent role” in the abuse. Many of the victims were ferried to their abusers in cabs and some drivers were also found guilty of abuse.
A South Tyneside Council spokesman denied taxi drivers were being singled out for special treatment and said other selected groups will also be asked to take the course.
But some borough drivers have reacted with anger at the plan.
Hackney Carriage driver Michael Ridley described it as “an insult”.
He said: “It’s just another example of the nanny state and a complete over-reaction. The council are just making us jump through hoops.
“They are basically treating us like criminals. I am a driver with no criminal record – why should I have to attend a course on child sexual exploitation?”
He added: “A few years ago I was contacted by the Criminal Records Bureau because I had the same name and date of birth as an offender, but a different year. I gave fingerprints and palm prints.
“They are on a database. They know exactly where I am if they need to contact me. I have nothing to hide.
“This is the council being over-zealous. It’s a waste of time and money. When I was doing school runs and I was asked to attend a course on child abuse, which I did because I was told it would be beneficial. This is different – this is an insult to the trade locally.”
Another Hackney Carriage driver, who didn’t wish to be identified, added: “Why should we be associated with what happened in Rotherham? This is South Tyneside. We are being tarred with the same brush and it’s wrong.
“We face enough pressures without the council pointing the finger at us in this way. What are the public going to think of this?”
A report, to be presented to next Friday’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee says the measure was being considered to “ensure all private hire and Hackney Carriage drivers are fully aware of issues relating to child sexual exploitation, and other matters which the council may consider important in the future.”
Drivers will be given seven days notice of attendance at the training sessions and “failure to attend without reasonable cause may prevent renewal of a driver’s licence”.
The council’s licensing committee meets at South Shields Town Hall next Friday from 10am.
Twitter@shieldsgazpaul
Cabbies are ‘eyes and ears of community’
A LEADING South Tyneside councillor says taxi drivers have an important role as the “eyes and ears of the community”.
Coun Tracey Dixon, the council’s lead member for area management and community safety, said many members of South Tyneside Hackney Carriage Association were supportive of the proposal for drivers to attend child sexual exploitation training sessions.
She said: “We are seeking the support of key members of the business community in tackling the issue of child sexual exploitation.
Independent reviews into such cases have concluded that tackling this issue should be everyone’s business and the council is committed to taking a proactive stance.
“Raising awareness in key business sectors – including the taxi trade – is part of our wider, ongoing approach.
“We have met with representatives of the trade – including members of the South Tyneside Hackney Carriage Association and a number of private hire operators – who have been supportive of the proposals.
“Taxi drivers have an important role to play as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the community.”
The council says the proposed training events are designed to give a greater understanding of CSE to teach members of the community to ‘spot the signs’ and to advise people how to report any suspicious behaviour so that relevant agencies can build up an intelligence picture.
WE SAY: Maybe it has something to do with the 134 'Asian' (muslim) taxi drivers who have been arrested for grooming, raping & abusing young children in our region that the police are trying to hide by putting a lot of the nonces up at courts outside of Newcastle so as not to draw too much attention?
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