MORE criminals have been sent behind bars this week.
The crimes heard in Basildon Crown Court this week range from robbers throwing a petrol station worker to the floor, drug dealers operating as far as Scunthorpe and a thug's campaign of violence across south Essex.
Each of these criminals received more than a year behind bars, with some being put away for much longer.
Here is a round-up of the key cases heard at the crown court this week.
Sam Chambers and Jamie Wilson
Sam Chambers (left) and Jamie Wilson (right) walked into Toomeys Service Station in Westmayne, Basildon, at about 12.55am on January 3, and Wilson waved a knife towards two members of staff behind the tills.
He grabbed one of them and pulled her to the floor. She was told to open the till and Chambers helped himself to bank notes while Wilson emptied 41 packets of cigarettes into a bag.
The pair then fled.
During the robbery, the victim had activated a panic button, alerting the police who caught them shortly after. One of the robbers left a bottle of medicine with his details on it.
Read more here.
Michael Conreen
Michael Conreen has been banned from seeing his dad after falsely imprisoning him.
The 28-year-old of Macdonald Avenue, Westcliff, became angry with his father over a domestic dispute and then carried out the vile crimes.
Conreen imprisoned his father between June 22 and 25 last year.
It is the latest in a string of offences committed by the thug, who in November 2017 was jailed for threatening people with a samurai sword.
Read more here.
Benjamin O'Leary and Jamie Drysdale
O'Leary (left) and Drysdale (right) sent heroin and crack cocaine from Southend all the way to Scunthorpe.
They were found to be at the centre of a drugs operation which dealt Class A substances.
O’Leary, 20, of Hudson Crescent, Leigh, turned to drugs after being put on furlough last year and began taking a group to locations in south Essex and Kent.
O’Leary realised that the men worked under the “Billy Boy” drugs line, but continued to transport people.
They were jailed for a collective seven years.
Michael Strowlger
Strowlger was hauled back before the courts after targeting a series of convenience stores across Basildon.
The notorious 30-year-old crook has been handed various jail terms in recent years, with his latest spree seeing him jump over a counter with a hammer and threaten an employee.
In another theft, he requested various items from the shopkeeper and grabbed the goods off the counter shouting “thanks love” before sprinting from the store.
He was jailed for two years and six months.
Billy Bellfield
Bellfield will spend six years in jail and four on licence after a series of violent attacks including trying to stab teenage girls on a train.
The court heard Bellfield had suffered “significant traumas” in recent years including the murder of his brother, Luke, 18, in Old Leigh in February.
In addition, Bellfield’s mum is battling breast cancer and the 21-year-old was involved in a serious crash which left him with a head injury and broken leg.
Bellfield punched a bus driver and a barman, and threatened punters with a knife, and police officers with a taser.
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