Colchester court round-up: drug dealing mum, vile ex, and road killer

Some will now be in a prison cell, counting down the days until October 2025 when they are released from prison.

Others will look back on October 2024 as the time they avoided going to jail by a hair’s breadth.

Here are the defendants who were jailed last month, and those who we could walk past in the street next time we’re out in town.

Ryan Thomas and Alison Kirby – the drug dealers who recruited vulnerable teenager to do their dirty work

Colchester’s proximity to London unfortunately means Essex can sometimes feel like it is being flooded with drugs from the capital.

Essex Police pour huge amounts of resource into catching offenders, and their efforts paid off when Ryan Thomas and Alison Kirby were arrested

The two had run the ‘Ace’ line and arranged for a 15-year-old boy to be transported to various locations in Colchester so he could sell the class A substances to addicts.

The teenager was reported missing from his London home in March and was found by police officers ten days later in Rosemary Avenue, Colchester, where he had cocaine wraps, heroin, and £560 in cash.

Jailed - Ryan Thomas had yet another drug dealing conviction added to his list of previous (Image: Essex Police)Ipswich Crown Court heard last month how officers traced texts from the boy to devices owned by Thomas and Kirby.

Thomas’s address was raided in Romford and officers attended Kirby’s address in Chinook where they round notes of customers’ names and phone numbers, as well as set of scales hidden underneath a mattress.

Both admitted being involved in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.

Ryan, of Norman Crescent, Brentwood, was jailed for five years and eight months whilst Kirby, of Chinook, Colchester, was jailed for two years.

Birkin, Henry, and Moncur – a High Street fight which took years to be brought before a court

Towns and cities across England will always have fights and scuffles on Friday and Saturday nights, and it means the police often have to intervene.

In August 2020, Alexander Birkin, 24, Carmen Henry, 23, and Luke Moncur, 23 were involved in a fracas which involved one of the victims being kicked whilst he lay defenceless on the ground.

The incident started at 1.30am when Henry was provoked by a derogatory comment made by a passerby outside a taxi rank, Ipswich Crown Court heard last month.

Henry started swinging her arms at the passerby before Burgin joined in and started throwing punches.

Moncur then got involved as well and Burgin later kicked someone whilst they lay defenceless on the ground.

Off-putting - a judge said people would be deterred from the city centre by mass brawls (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest) Birkin, of Furze Crescent in Colchester, Henry, of Charles Pell Road in Colchester, and Moncur, of Glebe Way in Jaywick, all admitted one charge of affray.

Sentencing the defendants, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said: “We have seen the affray is a particularly unpleasant public disorder episode in the High Street of Colchester.

“It’s the sort of incident that should not happen on public streets – you can see the cars trying to serve to get out of the way and one of you could have been knocked over.

“People walking by would have been frightened and put off Colchester High Street seeing what was going on.”

All three were sentence to an 18-month community order and a £95 surcharge.

Birkin and Moncur were fined a further £200.

Gary Beswick – the abusive ex-partner who left former girlfriend 'a shell' of her former self

When the facts about Gary Beswick’s offending were read out at Colchester Magistrates’ Court last month, Gary shook his head in the dock.

He had bombarded his ex-partner with incessant messages left his victim “broken” and “a shell” of her former self.

Beswick, 39, breached a non-molestation order in June when he called and texted Danielle Barnes more than 160 times, in one message telling her he hoped her new baby would be born dead.

When he was reported to the police he gave a no-comment interview but later admitted two breaches of a non-molestation order.

Guilty - Gary Beswick admitted breaching a non-molestation order (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest) It was argued at Colchester Magistrates’ Court that Beswick, of Station Street, Walton, had suffered from depression and was unable to cope with the breakdown of his relationship.

But a victim impact statement read out on behalf of the victim said Beswick’s actions had left her housebound.

Beswick was sentenced to a one-year community order consisting of 80 hours of unpaid work and was also ordered to pay £199 in costs.

Karl Alford and Joseph Clarke – staff who worked together to steal from GO Outdoors

Despite being in positions of responsibility, Karl Alford and Joseph Clark saw fit to steal scores of valuable products from their employers, GO Outdoors.

Alford, 38, was working at the company when he gave Clarke, 21, store gift cards in the hope they would go undetected when they stole thousands of pounds’ worth of products.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard how Alford stole £7,956.97 of rucksacks, battery packs, and tents from the store in Colchester Retail Park between March and October last year.

During the same period, Clarke, who was a retail assistant at the store, issued refunds to Alford and “knowingly accepted gift cards which he used to purchase items from the store”, the court heard.

Dishonest - Karl Alford and Joseph Clark stole from their employers, GO Outdoors (Image: Google Street View) It was argued Clarke, of Horrocks Close, Colchester, had been “encouraged” by Alford to give him refunds he was not entitled to.

Both admitted theft by employee, with Clark ordered to repay £678.40 to Go Outdoors and undertake 60 hours of unpaid work.

Alford, of Prince Philip Road, Colchester, will be sentenced on Wednesday, December 11.

Daniel Chappell – the dangerous driver whose 'gobsmacking behaviour' during trial was slammed by judge

ONE of the most high-profile cases to come before the court this year in north Essex was the trial of Daniel Chappell.

He denied causing death by dangerous driving when he hit, and subsequently killed, Alliyah Bell whilst driving his Ford Kuga in August 2021.

The court heard he had been travelling at nearly 40mph in Hythe Hill when he fatally struck the 17-year-old.

Miss Bell died 11 days later after her life support was switched off, with medical experts describing her injuries as "catastrophic".

During the trial Chappell, of Prince Philip Road, Colchester, said he had been blinded by car headlights shining in the opposite direction when the collision happened.

Chappell was found guilty but did not face jail, instead receiving stern words from the judge Jamie Sawyer about his conduct on social media during and after the trial.

He said: "For a defendant to be in that position and post on social media… I ask this question rhetorically, what on earth was Mr Chappell thinking?

Gobsmacking - a judge said Daniel Chappell's behaviour when he shared social media posts during and after the trial as 'gobsmacking' (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest) "Those reports are not things that have been sought out by members of the public. There were newspaper articles written about him.

"During the course of a trial where somebody lost their life, that is gobsmacking behaviour."

The court heard Chappell had convictions prior to the 2021 incident of alcohol misuse, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and malicious communications.

Since then, he has been convicted of criminal damage and racially aggravated harassment.

Chappell was given a one-year sentence suspended for two years, 30 days of alcohol rehabilitation activities, 120 days of alcohol abstinence monitoring requirements, and 300 hours of unpaid work.

He was also banned from driving for two years.

Emma McDougall – the mum-of-five who dealt anti-depressants to fund a luxury lifestyle of holidays and designer handbags

If anyone batted an eyelid when they noticed Emma McDougall enjoying a lifestyle of Gucci bags and luxury holidays, they would have been even more shocked when they found out how she funded it.

The answer was a complex operation of ordering prescription anti-depressants from abroad and selling illegally to other users.

McDougall, 38, earned more than £100,000 a year from dealing gabapentin, zopiclone, etizolam, tramadol, temazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, pregabalin, and tapentadol in an operation described by a judge as “essentially a home pharmacy”, Ipswich Crown Court heard last month.

Peter Gair, prosecuting, said police uncovered the scale of her offending when they investigated the phone of one of her customers, who had died from an unrelated drug overdose.

Police searched McDougall’s address in Colchester in July 2022 while she was away on holiday in Venice with her then fiancé Joe Gooch.

Dealer - Emma McDougall sold prescription anti-depressants to users to fund a luxury lifestyle (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest) Inside, officers found boxes containing “many thousands of tablets of class A and class C” drugs with a combined street value of more than £55,000.

McDougall, now of Honeybee Grove, Tiptree, admitted one charge of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, and eight charges of possession of class C drugs with intent to supply.

Judge David Wilson spared McDougall jail because of her commitments looking after four of her five children, including her role as primary carer for one who has severe autism and ADHD.

McDougall was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for 18 months in addition to rehabilitation and trail monitoring requirements.