THESE are the crooks who have been put behind bars in 2021 so far. The Echo has compiled the biggest cases so far to come to court this year, with five crooks jailed.
Sex offender Laurence Bourne, 68, was accused of abusing a child on numerous occasions in Basildon. He has been convicted of abusing a child over a three-year period 30 years ago. Bourne, of Brackendale Court, Basildon, was arrested in June that year as part of an investigation by Essex Police’s Quest team. He was later charged with seven counts of indecent assault. He denied the charges but was convicted following a trial at Basildon Crown Court.
A VICIOUS thug said he’d “kill” his partner in front of their child and then threatened to break her legs while stalking her. Mehmet Akguc has been jailed after he put his hand over his partner’s mouth, shouted at her and approached her with a razor threatening to cut her hair. The 22-year-old was staying with his girlfriend at her flat in Kelting House, Basildon and had been celebrating a birthday with her and their child who was less than a year old. The three people got home on September 19 last year and a row started brewing between the two in the early hours of the morning on September 20 over the contact he was having with their child and the involvement of the woman’s mother.