This is Leicestershire --
More than 200 staff were evacuated from an Argos warehouse when a worker deliberately started a fire, a court heard.
Vipesh Patel (25) was caught by CCTV cameras coming out of a locker room, after starting the fire.
He has been jailed for three years.
Patel admitted arson, recklessly endangering the lives of the workforce at the Argos national distribution centre, in Magna Park, Lutterworth.
Leicester Crown Court was told that "between 200 and 300 workers" were on the night shift when the fire alarm sounded at 11.50pm, on Sunday November 11.
The depot was shut down for three hours, causing £50,000 losses to Argos and about £3,000 in employees' lost wages.
"It was a small fire, but caused huge disruption," said Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting.
Shift manager, Mark Steadman, and Phil Blackburn, a staff fire marshal, found thick black smoke in the men's locker room and extinguished a small fire on top of some lockers.
A blue rucksack and plastic lunch boxes, which had melted, were "well alight." The police and fire service also attended but no-one was hurt.
Patel, of Donnington Street, Highfields, Leicester, had been doing agency work at the warehouse for two or three weeks before committing the offence, for which no explanation was given.
Mr Dunne said Patel, who has never been in trouble before, was identified by his hat and clothing, after CCTV footage was inspected.
He was the only person to enter the locker room in the 15 minutes before the alarm being activated.
When questioned, he admitted it was him on the footage, saying he went there to get a knife to cut boxes. He was in there for less than two minutes.
He told the police he was a "social smoker" and had a cigarette lighter with him, but said he wasn't responsible.
He also denied being the culprit – after entering a guilty plea at an earlier hearing – when being interviewed for psychiatric and pre-sentence reports.
However, Jagvir Sangherra, mitigating, told the judge Patel did not wish to vacate his guilty plea and wanted sentencing to proceed.
There was no value given for the cost of smoke damage to the locker room.
The court heard that Patel, "an active voluntary worker," was suffering from mild depression and had seen his GP for medical help.
Judge Robert Brown said: "He comes from a good and decent family, testimonials speak well of him and there are all the pluses in his life – and then he does this. It's a serious matter."
He told Patel: "As a result of the fire you set, 200 to 300 people in that building were potentially at risk and the place had to be evacuated, with no work taking place for three hours.
"You have mild depression, but you don't have a mental illness that needs treatment.
"It was a deliberate act that needs to be punished.
"Why you did it isn't clear." Reported by This is 20 minutes ago.
More than 200 staff were evacuated from an Argos warehouse when a worker deliberately started a fire, a court heard.
Vipesh Patel (25) was caught by CCTV cameras coming out of a locker room, after starting the fire.
He has been jailed for three years.
Patel admitted arson, recklessly endangering the lives of the workforce at the Argos national distribution centre, in Magna Park, Lutterworth.
Leicester Crown Court was told that "between 200 and 300 workers" were on the night shift when the fire alarm sounded at 11.50pm, on Sunday November 11.
The depot was shut down for three hours, causing £50,000 losses to Argos and about £3,000 in employees' lost wages.
"It was a small fire, but caused huge disruption," said Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting.
Shift manager, Mark Steadman, and Phil Blackburn, a staff fire marshal, found thick black smoke in the men's locker room and extinguished a small fire on top of some lockers.
A blue rucksack and plastic lunch boxes, which had melted, were "well alight." The police and fire service also attended but no-one was hurt.
Patel, of Donnington Street, Highfields, Leicester, had been doing agency work at the warehouse for two or three weeks before committing the offence, for which no explanation was given.
Mr Dunne said Patel, who has never been in trouble before, was identified by his hat and clothing, after CCTV footage was inspected.
He was the only person to enter the locker room in the 15 minutes before the alarm being activated.
When questioned, he admitted it was him on the footage, saying he went there to get a knife to cut boxes. He was in there for less than two minutes.
He told the police he was a "social smoker" and had a cigarette lighter with him, but said he wasn't responsible.
He also denied being the culprit – after entering a guilty plea at an earlier hearing – when being interviewed for psychiatric and pre-sentence reports.
However, Jagvir Sangherra, mitigating, told the judge Patel did not wish to vacate his guilty plea and wanted sentencing to proceed.
There was no value given for the cost of smoke damage to the locker room.
The court heard that Patel, "an active voluntary worker," was suffering from mild depression and had seen his GP for medical help.
Judge Robert Brown said: "He comes from a good and decent family, testimonials speak well of him and there are all the pluses in his life – and then he does this. It's a serious matter."
He told Patel: "As a result of the fire you set, 200 to 300 people in that building were potentially at risk and the place had to be evacuated, with no work taking place for three hours.
"You have mild depression, but you don't have a mental illness that needs treatment.
"It was a deliberate act that needs to be punished.
"Why you did it isn't clear." Reported by This is 20 minutes ago.
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire -- Members of a drugs gang who used boys as young as 14 as couriers have been jailed. Reuben Crawshaw, Jahzeal Kennedy, Mohammed Rafik and Kahliil Dahir were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court today for their part in the conspiracy. During a police operation, taxis were twice stopped on the M1 in Leicestershire and on each occasion around half a kilo of crack cocaine was found stored in a Ritz cracker box. The drugs had a combined estimated street value of £57,000. It was established that the 230-mile round trip was made at least 18 times, with money taken down from the Leicestershire gang to an address in Hackney, in East London. The drugs were then obtained from dealers operating in Merton, in South London, and brought back north. The total estimated value of the drugs the Leicestershire gang obtained has been put at around £487,000. Occasionally, the couriers would also collect cash from a Nottingham-based crime group to purchase the drugs in London. Crawshaw (31) of Beveridge Street, Barrow-on-Soar, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply crack cocaine following a three-and-a-half week trial at Leicester Crown Court last week. He was jailed for 13 years. Jahzeal Kennedy (32) of Steines Lane, in Humberstone, Leicester, had already pleaded guilty to the offence at an earlier hearing. Kennedy was sentenced to seven years in prison. Taxi driver Mohammed Rafik (31) of Welland Street, Highfields, Leicester, helped the gang by driving the couriers to and from the capital. He was also convicted of conspiracy. Rafik was jailed for seven years. His employers were unaware of his involvement until informed by the police. The company gave statements in support of the prosecution case during proceedings. One of the couriers Kahliil Dahir, now 19, of Guthlaxton Street, Highfields, Leicester, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and has been jailed for five-and-a-half years. Kennedy was also sentenced for one count of possessing cocaine with intent to supply and another of possessing heroin with intent to supply. He was given prison sentences of two years for each offence, both to run concurrently with his seven-year sentence. Afterwards, DCI Chris Hewgill, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, which investigated the gang, said: "Crawshaw and Kennedy tried to distance themselves from the conspiracy and reduce suspicion about the activity by using children as couriers. They had also somehow managed to persuade a driver working for an otherwise respectable taxi firm to help them to transport money and drugs up and down the M1. "Although Crawshaw tried to deny his involvement, the evidence against him from telephone records and surveillance confirmed that not only was he involved but he was, in fact, directing the operation. "This investigation was an excellent example of how covert tactics and well-planned, intelligence-led overt interventions, such as the vehicle stops on the M1, can obtain the evidence that can curtail a criminal conspiracy to transport a very dangerous an destructive drug into the East Midlands and to sell it on the streets of our towns and cities."
Reported by This is 2 days ago.
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire --
This is Leicestershire -- A spiritual leader was taken to hospital after being attacked in the early hours of the morning in Leicester. Sri Satguru Uday Singh Ji, the spiritual head of the Namdhari community worldwide, was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary for treatment after the assault. Police were called to the Gurdwara Namdhari in Linden Street, Leicester, at approximately 5.25am on Sunday August 11 following a report of an assault. Officers attended the scene where Sri Satguru Uday Singh Jiwas found to have been assaulted. A 26-year-old man was arrested at the scene and remains in police custody. At this time police believe it was an isolated incident, which was carried out by a single person. Investigations are ongoing and police would ask anyone who has information about the incident or was in the Linden Street area between 3am and 6am on Sunday August 11 to contact them on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Reported by This is 2 days ago.