A promising young footballer who ran a drug line, two men who tried to break into a popular pub and a pair who used a stun gun to terrify an elderly couple during a break-in were among the criminals put behind bars in Suffolk this week.

Ismail Menevili and Carlos Reich

Ismail Menevili, and Carlos Reich, were jailed for a total of nearly ten years after a kidnapping during which a man suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung after being stripped and repeatedly beaten.

Menevili, 29, of Church Street, London, and Carlos Reich, 26, of Charlton Road, Lower Edmonton, admitted kidnap, affray and unlawful wounding after the incident which happened in Colchester.

The victim, who was a drug user, had got into debt with the “Drake” drug line operated by Ismail Menevili and Carlos Reich and had been ordered to deal drugs to settle the debt, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

After refusing, the pair found him nearby and forced him into a Nissan vehicle and took him to Elm Close in Tiptree.

During the 15-minute journey, he was held in a headlock and on arrival at Elm Close he was stripped and beaten before being left in the street.

He was taken to hospital and found to have four broken ribs and a punctured lung and was discharged from hospital a week later, said Mr Rose.

Reich was jailed for 62 months and Menevili was sentenced to 53 months, less time they have spent in custody and on a qualifying curfew.

Augustin Dumitru

Augustin Dumitru, 38, was jailed for 20 months after being involved in a mass armed brawl in Ipswich town centre.

Dumitru, of Caldwell Hall Road, Ipswich, admitted violent disorder on November 23, 2019, and having a knife.

During the incident, Dumitru was seen running out of a Portuguese cafe in Norwich Road with a knife and joining in the violence, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Joe Bird, prosecuting, said the incident "erupted" outside a Portuguese café in Norwich Road, Ipswich, shortly after 10.25am as a result of an ongoing dispute between the Pitigoi and Stefan families.

He played CCTV to the court which showed the brawl spill across the road in view of bystanders, including a mother and three children, who took refuge behind the counter of a dry cleaners.

Two men and two women suffered injuries including stab wounds.

Christopher Pindi

Christopher Pindi, 21, was jailed for 40 months after running the Maxwell drug line in Ipswich.

Pindi, of Bensham Grove, in Thorton Heath, London, admitted being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin between August last year and February this year and possession with intent to supply heroin.

A promising young footballer who attended Colchester United academy and had trials with a number of clubs, Pindi was arrested by police in London.

When his phones were examined they showed he had been involved in the operation of the ‘Maxwell” drug line, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

He had become involved in the world of drug dealing to pay off the debt and had used a 17-year-old youth as a runner to transport the drugs to Ipswich.

The court heard that Pindi’s phone showed he had sent more than 1,600 bulk text messages advertising the sale of drugs.

Barry Sharp and Gary Thompson

Barry Sharp and Gary Thompson were jailed for a total of 25 years after a raid at the home of a terrified elderly couple who they stunned with an electroshock weapon before assaulting and tying them up.

Sharp, 45, formerly of Thurston, near Bury St Edmunds, and Thompson, 46, of Sidney Road, Ludlow, Shropshire, denied conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary but were convicted by a jury by 11-1 majority verdicts after a trial.

The court heard that the victims were at their home in Halstead Road, Fordham, near Colchester, in November 2018 when two men arrived in a van pretending to be delivering a bouquet of flowers.

When the woman who lived there said they had the wrong address and tried to shut the door the men barged in and used a stun gun on her in the hall.

During the raid, the male victim was told his elderly wife would be raped if he didn’t open their safe and she was tied up and left unable to see or hear after having her cochlear implant knocked out and her head covered, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The female victim was struck in the face with a monkey’s fist - a weighted rope - and her husband was left with the imprint of a shoe on his face after one of the intruders stamped on him.

Sharp, who Judge Peters described as being without “pity, remorse or decency”, was jailed for 13 years and Thompson was locked up for 12 years.

Ayoub El Abib Amrani and Mohamed Hafidi

Ayoub El Abib Amrani and Mohamed Hafidi were sentenced for a total of six months after trying to break into a popular Ipswich pub armed with an array of tools including a crow bar and a hatchet axe.

Amrani, 25, and Hafidi, 23, who both reside at the Holiday Express Inn in Birchwood Road, Dedham, both pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and going equipped for burglary.

Police were called around 4.40am on Sunday after the pair were seen by a witness looking into windows at the Mermaid pub on Yarmouth Road, Suffolk Magistrates' Court heard.

Police officers then saw two men matching the description on London Road near the junction with Hadleigh Road and stopped them, the court heard.

Both men were searched by officers and El Abib Amrani was found to have a pair of gloves, a black balaclava, a metal chisel and a crow bar was discovered inside his trousers.

Hafidi was found in possession of a pair of gloves, a balaclava, a hatchet axe, a silver hammer, a small amount of herbal cannabis and a Samsung mobile phone.

Magistrates jailed El Abib Amrani for 12 weeks, and revoked his previous community order.

Hafidi also received a 12-week prison sentence but his term was suspended for 12 months, with 80 hours of unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

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