A string of Essex criminals have been jailed so far this month for offences ranging from domestic abuse and burglary to dangerous driving and serious sexual crimes.
Reality TV personality Stephen Bear has been jailed for 16 months.
This follows repeated breaches of a restraining order against his ex-partner, Georgia Harrison.
Stephen Bear was found to have posted about Ms Harrison on social media between March and July 2025, despite a court order banning him from doing so.
The posts, which appeared on platforms including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, included degrading comments and calls for others to target Ms Harrison online.
The five-year restraining order was imposed in 2023 after Bear was found guilty of disclosing private sexual photographs and films of Ms Harrison with intent to cause distress, and voyeurism.
He had previously been sentenced to 21 months in prison for his crimes.
Despite having his social media accounts removed, Bear continued to use other profiles to post about Ms Harrison.
Aaron Hudson, 32, had accused the woman her of having an affair with another man before cornering her and smacking her several times, fracturing her eye-socket in two places.
Arming himself with a kitchen knife, Hudson then turned up at the house of the man he believed was having an affair with his girlfriend before he was arrested by police, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
Hollie Davies, prosecuting, said the incident lasted several hours and started when the victim returned home on April 27 this year, having dropped off one of their children from school.
The court heard the victim was so scared of Hudson she contacted a friend who also came to the address to support her.
Hudson then spat at the woman before punching his girlfriend in the face repeatedly.
He then smashed a window at her victim’s mother’s house and confronted a nearby postman and accused him of having an affair with his girlfriend.
Hudson went round to the man’s house armed with a knife and started kicking his front door.
Police arrived and threatened to taser Hudson, who was wearing gloves and a ski mask.
After returning from hospital, the woman found her TV had been smashed by Hudson shortly before the incident began.
Hudson, of John Mace Road, Colchester, admitted two counts of criminal damage and one count each of unlawful wounding, common assault, making threats to kill, and possession of a bladed article.
Abigail Robinson, mitigating, said Hudson – who has 22 convictions for 33 offences – lost his father at a young age and was then abandoned by his mother, causing him to have attachment issues in relationships.
She said Hudson was “ashamed of his conduct on the day in question”.
Recorder Claire Davies KC jailed Hudson for two and a half years and imposed a restraining order preventing him from contacting his ex-partner for five years.
Callum Lackenby, 18, of Seaforth Road in Westcliff, was sentenced to three years in prison at Basildon Crown Court on Monday, August 3, after admitting to four offences.
These were connected to the theft of a BMW during a burglary in Billericay in February.
He also admitted a further 27 offences related to dwelling burglaries and vehicle thefts.
Caner Yakut, 18, of Havengore in Basildon, was identified as Lackenby's associate in an organised crime group. He was jailed at Basildon Crown Court on Friday, July 20.
The pair's offences were uncovered by the Norfolk Operation Converter team, originally tasked with investigating five burglaries in Woodbridge, Suffolk, between January 29 and 30.
As enquiries progressed, officers identified Lackenby and Yakut as members of a wider organised crime group and began connecting them to offences in Surrey, Thames Valley, Sussex, Suffolk, Essex, and Hampshire.
Their criminal activity included the theft of high-value vehicles such as Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Mini Countryman, Seat Ibiza, and Renault Captur models.
The group targeted homes to steal car keys and drive away vehicles, often while residents were asleep.
Yakut admitted to multiple offences, including robbery, dwelling burglary, handling stolen goods, theft, driving without insurance, possession of cannabis, and failing to stop for police.
While on remand, further investigation linked him to 24 dwelling burglary and vehicle thefts.
Lackenby was also found to be responsible for additional offences through the Converter team's investigation.
Paul Gibson, 36, of Schoolfield Road, Grays, was jailed at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday (July 30).
He had pleaded guilty to six charges in March.
Gibson admitted subjecting the victim to controlling or coercive behaviour.
The charge said that between April 2025 and February 2026, he monitored who the woman spoke to, made threats to harm anyone she had a relationship with and called her names.
The abuse had a “serious effect” on her, the court heard.
Gibson pleaded guilty to three further charges involving the same victim, all committed on February 1.
He admitted damaging the lock on her door, threatening to headbutt and smash her windows, and assaulting her by beating.
The defendant also accepted two driving offences: driving whilst disqualified and without insurance, again on February 1.
Recorder Jeremy Benson sentenced Gibson to 18 months in prison.
James Connors, 40, of Ripple Road, Barking, hit two vehicles with his van last month and drove off both times.
He later pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to stop after an accident.
Both incidents occurred in Southend on July 11.
His Vauxhall Vivaro caused damage to a Toyota in Hartington Road, plus another vehicle in Southchurch Road.
He also admitted a charge of dangerous driving on London Road.
In addition, Connors pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified and without insurance.
He appeared for sentence at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (August 12), sitting as a satellite courtroom for Basildon Crown Court.
Judge Richard Conley sentenced him to one year in prison, plus a two-and-a-half year driving ban.
Connors must also pass an extended test before he is allowed to resume driving.
Denver Clift, 40, of King George’s Close, Rayleigh, was sentenced last week for a single count of dwelling burglary with theft.
A second burglary charge was allowed to lie on file under a plea bargain agreed by the prosecution.
Clift pleaded guilty to breaking into a property in Prince Avenue, Westcliff, on April 29.
He made off with a humidifier and jewellery of unknown value.
A second charge – not pursued under the plea deal – had alleged that on June 3 he targeted another property, this time on Canvey Island.
Clift was said to have broken into a home on Rainbow Road and stolen a leather bag, a DKNY purse, £200 in cash, a chequebook and golf clubs.
He was sentenced on Thursday (August 6) by Recorder John Brooke-Smith, sitting at Colchester Magistrates’ Court, acting as a satellite courtroom for Basildon Crown Court.
He jailed Clift for 18 months.
This was far from Clift’s first appearance in the Echo and our sister paper in Thurrock.
In 2006, we reported how Clift – then 20 years old, living in Tilbury and already subject to an ASBO – had stolen a Ford Fiesta.
That stolen car was then driven by another woman who, under the influence of drugs, smashed it into another car in a head-on collision.
The crash killed the driver’s own teenage children, plus two under-tens in the other car.
Clift received 15 months in a young offenders’ institution for stealing the car, plus two months for contempt of court after refusing to be sworn as a witness in the death driver’s trial.
In 2011, Clift was back in the news after he held up a cashier in a Thurrock convenience store with a kitchen knife.
He was quickly recognised by Essex Police and arrested hours later at Basildon Hospital, where his girlfriend was in labour.
He was taken into custody, missed the birth of his daughter and was ultimately sentenced to three years in prison.
In 2014, he was the subject of an Essex Police wanted appeal, which said he was being recalled to prison for a breach of his licence conditions.
In 2015, he was charged with robbing a man of £10 at knifepoint on a train.
In 2018, he was the subject of another wanted appeal, this time for questioning over a serious assault and a burglary.
In 2021, he was charged with burglaries of one home and three Co-Op stores across Thurrock, plus dangerous driving and other offences.
Noble Nwokocha, 24, of Gordon Road, Basildon, was carrying a revolver originally manufactured to fire blanks but converted into a lethal weapon.
Essex Police arranged with the probation service to arrest Nwokocha on suspicion of drugs offences when he showed up for an appointment in Laindon last October.
As officers entered the office on October 7 2025, Nwokocha exclaimed the F-word, dropped his black coat to the floor and then told officers: “That’s not mine.”
Picking it up and finding it suspiciously heavy, they searched it and found the loaded revolver in the right pocket.
There was a steel ball bearing loaded into it. When test fired after police seized it, it was in working order and capable of discharging fatal shots.
Questioned, he provided a prepared statement in which he claimed he had taken the gun with him because he planned to hand it in to the authorities.
“I did have a black revolver in my possession,” it said.
“It was none mine and I was forced to have it. I brought it to probation to hand it in and hoped that it would show probation that I am not safe.”
He denied any intent to use the firearm in any offences, adding: “This was meant to help demonstrate the danger I am in.”
In 2017, he was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon – a knife in that case.
In 2023 he was convicted of being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine, plus possession of both drugs with intent to supply.
He was on licence for those offences when he attended the probation office in October 2025.
He appeared in court earlier this year charged with possessing the gun, possessing ammunition, Class A drugs supply and attempted robbery.
But all charges other than the gun possession were dropped.
Defence barrister Mark Fraser told Judge Bristow on Thursday that his client maintained his story about having the gun under duress and taking it to probation as evidence to seek help with relocation.
Mr Reece said the prosecution did not accept that story but as it would only make a six-month difference to the final sentence, the Crown would not pursue a trial of issue over it.
As such, said Judge Bristow: “I will sentence you in accordance with your basis of plea.”
He jailed Nwokocha for four years and eight months.
Obi Foley, 19, of Southbourne Grove, Westcliff, was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court last week for two sets of offences, each involving vehicles.
Foley, then 18, committed his first dangerous driving offence on September 2 2025.
He drove a Husqvarna Norden adventure motorbike dangerously around Southend without either a driving licence or insurance.
He also accepted using a mobile phone while driving the bike on the A127 Progress Road.
After admitting those offences, two further charges – of aggravated vehicle taking and using a false number plate – were allowed to lie on file.
Having been arrested for those offences, he then went on a similar rampage on another motorcycle months later.
On February 18 2026, he admitted dangerously driving a Surron electric motorbike in Westcliff, again with no licence or insurance.
He also admitted being in possession of two Class A drugs (cocaine and MDMA, or ecstasy) and one Class B drug (cannabis).
He also admitted being in possession of a machete.
Judge John Bristow sentenced Foley to 20 months in prison and a two-year and nine-month driving ban.
Foley will not be permitted to drive until he has taken an extended test.
The judge also ordered forfeiture of the drugs and the machete.
Keelan Cooper, 22, of Avondale Road, Benfleet, had sexual web chats with what he thought were 12 and 14-year-old girls.
He told the first girl, who said she was “nearly 13”, that he had a foot fetish and asked her for photos of her naked feet.
He did the same two months later with a different girl, who had told him she was 14, and also encouraged her to perform a sex act on herself.
But both girls were actually vigilante online paedophile hunters.
After the second incident, they confronted Cooper at his home and called Essex Police.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of attempting to sexually communicate with a child and one count of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged between 13 and 15 to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
Cooper added the first vigilante decoy, calling herself Jessica, on an app called Say Hi in August 2025, prosecutor Robert Colover told Basildon Crown Court on Thursday (August 13).
Cooper, calling himself Tom, then moved the chat to WhatsApp.
“Are you sure you are okay with me being nearly 13?” the ‘girl’ asked him.
He told her, “I have a foot fetish,” and asked her: “I was wondering if you had any bare feet pics please?”
Two months later, in October, now calling himself Bob, he added the second decoy, calling herself Olivia.
“Olivia told him she was 14,” said Mr Colover. “He asked her for a picture of her bare feet.”
The decoy sent him what she claimed was a photo of her feet, which he “praised”.
He then started asking the ‘girl’ if she ever got “horny” and began talking her through how to perform a sex act on herself.
He asked her if she had ever seen a penis before and suggested they trade photos of their genitals.
The following day, he again initiated a conversation about her performing the act on herself.
His chat with ‘Olivia’ lasted only two days, said Mr Colover, yet ran to 54 pages when printed out.
He lost his previous job as a result of his arrest, said the lawyer, but had since got a new job working full-time as a delivery driver ferrying around car parts.
In February 2025, Cooper had lost his father “very suddenly” to bowel cancer, which “had a considerable impact upon him emotionally and on his mental wellbeing.”
But the probation service said Cooper denied having a sexual attraction to children and could provide no explanation for his criminal behaviour.
It assessed him as a medium risk of future sexual offending and of causing serious harm to female children.
Cooper was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Rahim Ghasemi, 40, of The Gore, Basildon, was found guilty after a trial heard he had offered a woman a lift home, then pulled into a remote layby and raped her.
“This was a wicked thing to do to an elderly woman who had done nothing to warrant such treatment,” said Judge Shane Collery KC.
Ghasemi insisted the woman had offered him sex for money but then reported him to Essex Police after he refused to buy her booze on top of the cash.
“Your defence to this was on one view pretty disgraceful,” the judge said.
“Your defence was that she had sold you sex for fifty pounds. The jury rejected that.”
But Ghasemi’s sentencing, at Basildon Crown Court on Monday (August 3), heard he still stood by his defence.
“It is clear that with the probation officer he maintained his innocence, so there was no remorse exhibited by him,” the judge said.
“He refused during the course of the interview to see her as a victim of an offence.”
The trial heard Ghasemi had met the complainant when he worked at the Cosmos takeaway in Basildon town centre, where she was a frequent customer.
In February 2025, the woman – who told jurors she was a gambling addict – caught a bus to Chelmsford and spent an evening in a betting shop.
As she walked back to the bus station, she said Ghasemi recognised her and invited her into a kebab shop he was working at.
He cooked her a free meal and then offered her a lift back to Basildon, as he also lived there.
He claimed the woman told him she had lost all her money in the betting shop and offered to sleep with him for money.
He had also intended to tell the jury he had paid her for sex before, but Judge Collery banned that testimony from being elicited at trial, saying it was uncorroborated.
The complainant claimed she only knew Ghasemi by sight from Cosmos and didn’t even know his name, but jurors were shown evidence he had her in his WhatsApp contacts.
The court heard Ghasemi had been browsing escort and pornography sites on his phone in the hours before his chance encounter with the complainant, and had even written "I need sex" in his phone.
She alleged – and the jury believed – that as Ghasemi drove up the A130, he exposed his erect penis, grabbed the woman’s hand and put it on his genitals.
He then pulled over into a layby, ordered her into the back and raped her.
“It’s a fairly desolate stretch of road, and likely to be so in the dark in the middle of winter,” said prosecutor Richard Potts.
“She knew she could scream as much as she wanted but nobody could hear her,” agreed Judge Collery.
“She said she was scared to death because it was the middle of the night and dark and nobody was there.”
In a victim impact statement, the complainant outlined a string of physical and psychological problems she said had begun since the rape.
“During the night, I wake up screaming because I feel somebody is coming for me,” she wrote.
She said she had lost ten kilograms through loss of appetite, begun drinking heavily and suffered constant back pain.
“Most days I feel dirty because of the incident,” she added, saying she was constantly going to the bathroom to wash.
Even since the verdict, she said, she had contemplated suicide.
Ghasemi – who came to the UK from Iran in 2008 and had no previous convictions – was sentenced to nine years and two months in prison.
After two-thirds he would typically have been released on licence, but while he had indefinite leave to remain in the UK, he was not a citizen.
As such, having received a prison sentence of more than a year, he is liable for automatic deportation by the Home Office.
“I don’t know why, aged 39, you chose to do this,” he said.
“It was a dreadful thing to do. It has had significant and pretty dire consequences for this woman and you know that you should be pretty ashamed of yourself.”
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