JUSTICE can be brutal for the most serious criminals in Essex.

Often, the crimes committed are so heinous and despicable that the criminals deserve strong words when they are jailed.

This week, a host of criminals have been sent behind bars for a considerable period of time – and they have been sent on their way by judges who have given them many words to think about.

Here is a collection of some of the best sentencing remarks by judges this week for the most serious criminals.

Judge Samantha Cohen had little time for John Morgan’s protests at his sentence and pre-sentence report.

Morgan was given a 16 year sentence for a brutal attack on a woman, and her father, with a hammer, knocking her to the floor and bashing her father’s head in.

Judge Cohen said: “You became so enraged that all reason left you and you persisted in violence.

“Your parting words were that she got what she deserved.”

As Morgan protested, Judge Cohen told him to “be quiet” before jailing him for 12 years and six months with an additional three years and six months on licence.

Drug dealers will often go to lengths to cover their tracks.

However, Judge Andrew Hurst was not impressed by one such drug dealer.

Judge Hurst oversaw the trials and sentences of three men – Malik Ali, Devon Thompson and Barry Smith – who were convicted of or admitted their roles in a huge heroin and cocaine operation in south Essex.

Judge Andrew Hurst branded Ali as “lazy”, stating there was “overwhelming evidence” that Ali was involved in the operation which saw heroin smuggled from Pakistan to Basildon.

He said that Smith, who had tried to clear the package in customs, had been “naive” and was “exploited”, and that family man Thompson had “inexplicably” gotten himself involved in the crime.

The three men were jailed for a collective 28 years.

Judge Cohen further lambasted another violent crook in court this week – Billy Sharp, who decided on a whim to rob a Co-Op store in Wickford.

Sharp had threatened the member of staff behind the till with a knife, taken the cash, threatened another woman with a knife and fled the store – only to be arrested shortly afterwards.

When sentencing him to five years in jail, Judge Cohen told Sharp: “The victim of the robbery was a man doing a job whilst at university to earn cash.

“He needed money, but he decided the best way to do it was to get an honest job and work hard for it, wholly unlike you."

Finally, Judge Cohen swiftly dealt with vile Daniel Hayward for breaching his restraining order against his ex-partner.

Hayward subjected the woman to a tirade of abuse including threatening to shoot her.

When sentencing him to two years in jail, Judge Cohen said: “It’s difficult to see you in any other way then a person that has an uncontrollable temper.

"You are abusive and aggressive and threatening when things start not going your way.”