Chelmsford Magistrates' Court Sentencing Results

Buster Digby was followed by police from Festival Leisure Park in Basildon on 21 March and abandoned a Porsche in Courtauld Road. He crossed the wrong side of the road and travelled the wrong way around a roundabout. He pleaded guilty to five driving offences, including driving while disqualified.

Alan McDonnell, 29, was jailed after a high-speed police pursuit on 19th December 2025. A Roads Policing officer spotted his grey Audi A4, flagged as uninsured, in Basildon. Although he initially stopped, McDonnell sped off, drove dangerously through Basildon, joined the A13 and reached speeds of up to 115mph while undertaking vehicles. He later drove the wrong way along a slip road before abandoning the car on Cook Road, Dagenham, and fleeing on foot. Essex Police worked with the National Police Air Service to track him using thermal imaging, and he was arrested while lying on the ground.

Samantha Aitkin admitted driving a Kia Cee'd on Southchurch Road, Southend, on August 16 with 82 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. She was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on September 29.

Lazarus Willmott, 59, of Harlow, made six abusive 999 calls to Essex Police call handlers over 26 minutes on the morning of Sunday 23 August 2026. During each call he was abusive and wished harm on officers. After being arrested at his home and taken into custody, he racially abused an officer. He admitted the offences and was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates Court the following day.

Mr Figg carried out unsafe, non-compliant, and substandard building work at the home of the homeowners, including failing to notify Basildon of stages of work, failing to install suitable suspended floor, adequate cavity wall insulation, wall and roof insulation, failing as Principal Contractor to plan, manage and monitor work, demonstrate necessary skills, transfer load safely, provide adequate support to floor joints and end bearings for steel beams, and contravening compliance notices requiring replacement of ground bearing slab with suspended floor slab, remedy defective steel beam installation, and removal of load bearing internal wall. Example of unsafe work: steel beam propped up by loose collection of blocks.

On April 14, 2025, Shay McQueen, 27, was driving at around 40mph on Parkway in Chelmsford city centre after drinking beer and playing darts with a friend. He collided with a female pedestrian who was crossing against a red light while the vehicle lights were green, throwing her into the air. The victim suffered serious injuries including a broken pelvis, broken hip, and bleeding and swelling on the brain, requiring two-and-a-half months in hospital. McQueen stopped at the scene and later attended the police station. Breath test showed 55 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, exceeding the drink-drive limit.

Tarmac Building Products Limited failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery at its manufacturing plant in Linford, Essex, on July 22, 2022, leading to an employee's legs being crushed by moving frames on a production line track. The company had prior near misses on the same section of track that were not adequately addressed, and required control measures identified in a risk assessment years earlier were not implemented until after the incident.

Andy Carroll was spotted by a police officer using his mobile phone behind the wheel of his Range Rover in High Road, Epping, on 20 July 2025, while filming an anti-immigration protest outside The Bell Hotel. The protest was in response to an asylum seeker living there being charged with and later jailed for sexual offences. Carroll argued he was filming to prove to a friend why he was running late to meet them.

Christopher Allen, of Eight Ash Green, breached a Stalking Protection Order by repeatedly following young women around Witham and Colchester in June 2024. He was arrested on July 2, 2024, after the women reported his behaviour.

Morufat Bamigboye was caught driving a Vauxhall Astra on Lodge Lane in Grays without third-party cover on March 20. She admitted the offence and was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.

Tio Jayasinghe was caught driving a Ford Puma on Western Esplanade without due care and attention at 7.23pm on March 28. He was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on September 17, fined £246, given six penalty points and ordered to pay £130 costs and a £98 surcharge.