Southend machete man sentenced at Basildon Crown Court

Ellis Sutton 19, of Saxon Gardens, Shoeburyness, was arrested after the high-speed pursuit came to a sudden end as he crashed into a parked car.

In his pocket, police found a lock knife and a knuckleduster. He also had drugs in the car, which he was not insured to drive.

But after telling the court he had ADHD and had learned his lesson on remand at Chelmsford Prison, he was set free.

Sutton, who already had convictions for six offences including battery and drugs possession, smashed up two cars in Delaware Road, Shoebury, amid what was described as “a family feud”.

Sentencing him at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday (May 7), Judge Samantha Cohen called it “a very unpleasant causing of criminal damage to two cars belonging to a family with whom you were in conflict.”

On Friday, January 9, brandishing machetes, “You and two others went to the block of flats. You tried to persuade them to come out for a fight,” the judge said.

When they refused, Sutton and his friends climbed atop a blue Ford Fiesta and began jumping up and down, stomping on the windscreen until it was “completely smashed”.

Sutton then used his machete to chop off the car’s wing mirrors and smash them through the window of a second car – a red Volkswagen T Roc – before chopping that car’s wing mirrors off too and running off.

The cars were “essentially wrecked”, Judge Cohen said.

Just under two weeks later, on January 22, police on patrol in Shoeburyness observed a Vauxhall Astra in Saxon Gardens which, when they looked it up, was uninsured.

When they activated their lights and sirens to try to pull it over, the car refused to comply and instead sped off towards the seafront.

There, it led police on an 80mph chase in a 30mph zone, repeatedly swerving across the road into oncoming traffic, before eventually crashing into a parked car.

Officers found Sutton behind the wheel. When searched, he was carrying a knife and a knuckleduster in his jacket pocket and had cannabis in the car.

“You put pedestrians at risk, and of course yourself and police at risk,” said Judge Cohen.

Sutton later told the probation service he had been under the influence of drink and drugs when he committed both sets of offences.

“He has stopped taking drugs and alcohol, which as Your Honour may be aware is not impossible to get hold of in the prison, unfortunately,” said defence barrister Andreas O’Shea.

He said that whilst his client’s crimes were “appalling”, there had been “a degree of provocation”, which had included people attending his own home and smashing windows – an incident which was reported to the police.

“This defendant took the approach of following peer pressure and following the idea that one should not involve the police or indeed one’s parents,” Mr O’Shea continued.

“He is changing that point of view.”

Sutton’s partner of three years gave birth to their child four months ago, he said, and his client wanted to change his ways, move to a different part of the country, marry her and be a good father.

Judge Cohen said she found Sutton’s frankness in his probation pre-sentence interview “impressive” and noted his diagnosis of ADHD, which made him prone to impulsive behaviour which he struggled to control.

“You have expressed remorse and demonstrated in custody that you are learning to control your temper,” she said.

“Given everything I have heard about you, I do see that there is a flicker of hope for your future. Being in prison for the last three-and-a-half months, I know, will have been a salutary lesson for you.”

She sentenced him to 17 months, suspended for 20 months, with a requirement to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and up to 40 days of rehabilitation activities.

He must also complete a course, to be chosen for him by probation, and spend five months with a GPS tracker on his ankle.