Vile child rapist Mohamed Igal jailed for series of horrific attacks on 10-year-old girl

Pic:Mohamed Igal who repeatedly raped a 10-year-old girl 
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A vile child rapist has been jailed for repeatedly attacking a 10-year-old girl who he groomed online. 

Mohamed Igal, 23, manipulated his "vulnerable" victim under the social media nickname “Wavey CJ” after meeting her on an estate in Southwark.

She had recently moved to the capital from overseas to live with her family.

Igal, a Dutch national, repeatedly raped the girl between July 2010 and May 2011, before she moved away from the area, a trial at Woolwich Crown Court heard.

His victim found the courage to come forward about the abuse in 2015 when she was 15 and he had tried to contact her again.

The court heard that he had messaged her to tell her he wanted her to perform sexual acts on him.

Igal, of Harper Road, Elephant and Castle, was sentenced to seven years and nine months imprison on Friday, December 16.

He was found guilty of the rape of a female child under 13 years old by a jury on Friday, November 4 following a trial.

Detective Constable Denise Halliwell, the investigating officer from the Sexual Offences Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: "The victim was very courageous for someone so young.

"She came forward and with her family and wider support network she had the strength to describe to police the defendant's sexual manipulation and exploitation.”

Detective Inspector Jim Aspinall from the Sexual Offences Exploitation and Child Abuse Command said: "This vulnerable victim had a horrendous experience at the hands of this predatory individual and I praise her for the courage she had to come forward and work with dedicated police officers to bring him to justice.”

Porn model tried to smuggle £18m of cocaine from Britain to Australia

Pic:Isabelle Lagace and Melina Roberge

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A porn model has admitted trying to smuggle cocaine worth more than £18 million on a cruise ship from Britain to Australia.

Canadian Isabelle Lagacé, 28, was arrested with two other suspects — a man and a woman — after the liner Sea Princess docked at Sydney harbour in August.

Federal Police said the drug bust was Australia’s biggest-ever through passenger transportation.

Solicitor Louis Ialenti, acting for Lagace, entered the guilty plea at Sydney central local court.

The 95kg drugs haul, which had an Australian street value estimated to be at least $31million, was found in four suitcases — one of which, it is alleged, was in the two women’s shared cabin.

Lagace, from Quebec, sat stone-faced and dressed in maroon in the court beside her co-accused Melina Romberce, 23, and Andre Tamine, 64.

Romberce was dressed in white and Tamine wore green prison clothing.

Lagace was committed for sentencing at Sydney district court on February 3.

Tamine did not enter a plea and he will stand trial on that date in NSW district court. No plea was entered by Romberce and a decision on her trial will be made by the central local court on December 21.

Before their arrests the women had detailed their travels on the £11,000-per-person trip, which started in Southampton, through images shared on social media. 

Images posted on Instagram and Facebook showed them visiting New York, Bermuda, Ecuador, Tahiti, Colombia, Peru and New Zealand.

Romberce, a Quebec jewellery store worker, shared pictures of them riding quad bikes, hiking in Peru and posing in bikinis.

The maximum penalty for smuggling a commercial quantity of cocaine is  life imprisonment.

101-year-old man Ralph Clarke convicted of string of child sex offences

 Pic: Ralph Clarke was found guilty of historic child sex offences 
Crime reporter(wp/es):

101-yea r-old man is believed to have become Britain’s oldest convicted criminal after he was found guilty of a spate of historic child sex offences.

Retired lorry driver Ralph Clarke is facing a possible prison sentence after he was found guilty of 21 counts of abusing two girls in the 1970s and 1980s. 

He also admitted nine charges which related to a young boy mid-way through his trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

On Friday, jurors at Birmingham Crown Court convicted Clarke who sat impassively as the unanimous verdicts were delivered.

He is due to be sentenced next week.

At the start of Clarke's trial, prosecutor Miranda Moore QC said the defendant, thought to be the oldest person to stand trial in a British court, was arrested after two of his alleged victims walked into a police station in August last year.

Before the case was opened by Miss Moore, Judge Richard Bond informed the jury there would be occasions when Clarke left the hearing without permission for personal reasons.

Woman left with 'life changing injuries' after being trapped under bus at busy junction

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A woman was reportedly left trapped under a bus after being hit by a double-decker in south London. 

Police confirmed a woman was hit by a route 35 bus outside Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton during the morning rush hour. 

Witnesses described a "horrible scene" after the crash at about 8am on Friday.

A Met Police spokesman said a female pedestrian suffered a serious leg injury which was described as "life-changing".

She has been rushed to a south London hospital. 

The bus stopped at the scene and no arrests have been made.

Bystanders reported a huge emergency response with one describing Brixton a “big mess”.

One tweeted: "Horrible scene at Brixton. Person under a bus in a bad way. Hoping for the best."

Another added: “Coldharbour lane block off, something just happened near acre lane by town hall. Brixton is a big mess right now."

And another witness said: “Woman under a bus outside Brixton town hall. What are you trying to do at this junction?”

Eyewitnesses urged people to avoid the area as the crash police sparked major congestion on Brixton Hill.

Police have been pictured directing traffic outside the town hall building while several bus routes have been rediverted.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 7:49am to reports of a road traffic collision on Acre Lane.

“We sent an ambulance crew, a paramedic on a motorcycle, an incident response officer and our hazardous area response team to the scene. London’s Air Ambulance was also dispatched. 

“We treated a woman at the scene for a leg injury and took her as a priority to hospital.”

Transport chiefs said the crash was being investigated.

Tony Akers, TfL’s head of bus operations, said: “We were saddened to learn of the incident at Acre Lane in Brixton and our thoughts are with the injured pedestrian at this time.

"A full investigation is underway.”