Here are some of the people who faced justice at Teesside Crown Court in the last month.
A man who murdered his younger brother, a drink driver who killed a taxi driver, violent thugs and drug dealers, were all locked up.
BROTHER MURDERER
A sibling rivalry which occasionally descended into violence came to a catastrophic conclusion when a drink and drug fuelled brawl ended with a fatal stabbing.
Inderjit Klare stabbed his younger brother several times with a kitchen knife and left him to bleed to death on the floor of their family-owned fish and chip shop.
The 43-year-old disgraced pharmacist, of Eve Lane, Spennymoor, severed an artery in Jasreet Klare’s right arm when he plunged the knife straight through his arm as he attempted to defend himself.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Inderjit waited for 90 minutes before calling the emergency services and by the time they arrived he had bled to death – an outcome which could have been prevented with basic first aid.
Jurors convicted him of murdering his 40-year-old brother in the early hours of October 9 last year in the family-owned fish and chip shop on Tenters Street, Bishop Auckland.
He said: “It is reasonable to conclude that the fatal injury was inflicted early in the attack that injury was not in an area which would usually lead to death.
“The later injuries were not life-threatening in themselves and it does not appear that those injuries were inflicted to cause anything other than serious injury.
“On the other hand, the persistence of your attack aggravates the seriousness of this offence and I cannot overlook the failure to do anything to save your brother’s life."
BLIND DRUNK
A ‘blind drunk’ driver whose car burst into flames when he killed a taxi driver in a high-speed crash has been locked up.
James Hobson had downed up to ten pints of lager and eight shots of tequila before stumbling out of the pub and climbing behind the wheel of his hired Mercedes C-Class when he eventually remembered where he had parked it.
The 33-year-old transport company owner reached speeds in excess of 100mph as he attempted to lose a pursuing police vehicle by undertaking cars and driving through red lights after leaving the Highfield pub.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Hobson was driving on the wrong side of the road when he smashed into a taxi driven by Malik Ameer Abbas.
The 27-year-old from Middlesbrough died after a late-night crash on the A172 at Dixons Bank, on March 29 last year.
The court heard how Hobson had racked up a bar bill of £116 before driving at dangerously high speed whilst on a Facetime call to his partner.
The Recorder of Middlesbrough Paul Watson KC told Hobson his driving was ‘some of the worst’ he had seen in recent years.
“You are a 33-year-old with two convictions for driving with excess alcohol, as a result of one of those incidents, you wrapped a car around a lamppost – it may have been a long time ago but you didn’t learn your lesson,” he said.
Hobson was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.
ROAD RAGE
A ‘callous’ motorist left a cyclist lying on the ground with a broken pelvis after he smashed into the rear of his car after he deliberately braked in front of him during a road-rage incident.
Seconds before the collision, Michael Evers deliberately swerved in front of the hospital porter after he overtook him when driving over a mini-roundabout.
Footage from the cyclist’s helmet camera showed the 48-year-old driver weaving across the road before twice slamming his brakes on as they travelled along Parkside in Darlington.
The cyclist suffered a broken hip and was forced to take time off work to recover from his injuries.
Recorder Anthony Kelbrick branded Evers ‘callous’ as he locked him up for 21 months.
“You are a danger to other road users,” he said. “What you did on that day was a deliberate act of road-rage, when another road user protested about your inconsiderate driving.
“You must have known that the victim had been knocked off his bike but you callously drove off leaving him in the road badly injured."
Sam Faulks, mitigating, said his client had shown remorse for his actions on April 1 last year but accepted that a custodial sentence was likely but urged the judge to pass a suspended sentence.
He was banned from driving for two years after his release from custody.
VIOLENT THUGS
A pair of thugs who brutally attacked a man have ben locked up after they knocked their victim unconscious and continued the assault while he was prone on the ground.
Shaun Chester and Nathan Bain violently assaulted the man following dispute outside Burger King in Darlington town centre.
CCTV footage showed Chester throwing several punches at the victim before being grabbed in a bear-hug and his friend Bain started pummelling the victim from behind.
Uzma Khan, prosecuting, said Chester was biting the face of the victim as he held him in a bear-hug before kicking and punching the man when the pair knocked him to the ground.
The court heard how the row started when the victim's partner get into a dispute with another woman and the man tried to intervene but Chester told him "leave them to it" before starting to throw punches.
Bain lashed out at the victim’s partner as she tried to intervene saying: "I don’t give a s*** about hitting a lass".
The CCTV caught Chester punching a Burger King worker who had come out of the now-closed takeaway in an attend to break up the fight.
Miss Khan said the victim suffered a fractured ankle which resulted in him requiring surgery and losing thousands of pounds in lost wages.
In a victim impact statement, he said he continues to suffer pain from his ankle as a result of the attack at around 8pm on July 12, 2019.
Chester, of Clarence Corner, Newton Aycliffe, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and an additional offence of affray.
While Bains, of Dickens Street, Spennymoor, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
Recorder Aisha Wadoodi sentenced the pair to 15 months in custody for the brutal attack.
She said: “Mercifully for you both, people intervened to stop the attack.”
'PERSISTENT' DEALER
A ‘persistent’ drug dealer who was caught four times in four months has been locked up.
William Todd was initially caught with heroin and crack cocaine when police officers stopped him in Darlington town centre.
A search of his home, in March last year, revealed he had cash and drug paraphernalia stashed away, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, described the 35-year-old as a ‘persistent’ drug dealer after he was picked up twice in June and a further time in July.
He said a total of £5,893.50 was seized from the defendant across all four of his arrests, while drugs worth between £5,500 and £6,000 were also recovered.
Mr Sabiston said Todd was spotted on Duke Street, Darlington, on June 25, and tried to flee the area but was arrested inside his campervan which was parked on a nearby street.
He said a search of the vehicle resulted in £2,300 in cash being seized and £3,000 worth of Class A drugs.
Todd was stopped ten-days earlier he was found to be in possession of cannabis.
His final arrest happened on July 25 when he was stopped on Parkside, Darlington, with £1,000 in cash and nine wraps of crack cocaine worth between £200-£250.
Todd, of HMP Durham, pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of Class A drugs – heroin and crack cocaine – with intent to supply; possession of cannabis; possession of heroin; and possession of amphetamine.
Recorder Aisha Wadoodi sentenced Todd to a total of four years and six months for all offences.
She said: “The prosecution described you as a street dealer and there is no proceeds of crime act as that reflects the fact that you didn’t make anything out of this – you were repaying a debt to your own drug dealer at the time.”
CANNABIS FARMERS
Two Albanian men behind a £500,000 cannabis farm have been locked up after police smashed their way into three town centre buildings to discover hundreds of plants.
Cleveland Police recovered 578 plants when they raided an address on Raby Road, Hartlepool, in January, and discovered the gang had knocked down adjoining walls to increase space for their illicit enterprise.
Teesside Crown Court heard how the two men, Vladimir Cela and Kreshnik Sulvovari, were arrested following a short police pursuit when they sped away from the scene.
The 32-year-old Cela, who was the driver, had receipts in his pockets from a company which sold hydroponic equipment which was watering the cannabis.
The judge said that they had played a significant role in the cannabis production in the town.
Recorder Anthony Kelbrick said that they had been supplied with a van and they were trusted to buy the equipment to set up the farm.
The plants could produce up to 48 kilos of cannabis worth up to £486,000, said prosecutor Daniel Ingham.
The men now face a Proceeds of Crime confiscation case on September 1 to seize any assets they may have.
Cela, of no fixed abode, was jailed for three years and five months and 36-year-old Sulvovari was locked up for three years and three months after they pleaded guilty to the production of cannabis.
The judge told the pair, who appeared over a Video link from Durham Prison, that they would serve half the sentence with a reduction for time spent on remand, when the Home Office would likely deport them back to Albania.
Cannabis plants were growing in rooms throughout the building and officers dismantled the specialist equipment that had been fitted to cultivate the drug.
CAUGHT RED-HANDED
A drug dealer has been jailed after being caught red-handed selling heroin and crack cocaine near a children’s play area.
Mark Fuller’s arrest was caught on police body-worn camera footage after a member of the public reported his suspicious behaviour in Middlesbrough town centre last month.
When the 29-year-old was arrested he was in possession of crack cocaine worth £740, heroin worth £100 and £365 in cash, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Fuller was caught operating near the children’s play area at Ayresome Gardens on March 12.
The court heard how a search of nearby property revealed that the defendant had access to weighing scales and plastic zip-lock bags.
Following his arrest, Fuller, of Shrewsbury Road, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply.
Recorder Anthony Kelbrick sentenced Fuller to 32 months for supplying Class A drugs.
He said: “You have previous convictions, albeit none for drug offence but I take little account of them. You were subject to a community order at the time of the offending and again it could aggravate your position but it doesn’t in these particular circumstances.”
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