Essex Police Dispatch - issue 186
Essex Police Weekly Update
News 13 January to 19 January
Enhancing road safety to prevent fatal collisions
Essex Police is committed to promoting road safety and reducing the number of fatal collisions on our roads in 2025.
As part of our ongoing efforts, we want to raise awareness about the importance of road safety and encourage responsible driving behaviour as part of the Vision Zero campaign.
Our Roads Policing Unit are a team of officers dedicated to road safety. Each day they patrol our roads to ensure the roads are safe, to keep traffic moving and to identify those involved in the criminal use of our roads.
Sadly, in December last year, there were seven fatal collisions across the county.
Head of Roads Policing, Mr Adam Pipe, said:
“Every year, thousands of lives are lost due to road collisions. By prioritising road safety, we can significantly reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries, ensuring that more people return home safely to their families.
“Some collisions result in severe injuries that can have long-lasting effects on individuals and their families so it’s important to us to work with partners to ensure road safety.
“Safety is as simple as ABC… Always Be Careful.”
Witham: Man charged with murder
Detectives investigating the death of a man following an incident in Witham have charged a man with murder.
Emergency services were called to an address in Philip Road on Wednesday 8 January after reports of a man sustaining a head injury.
He was taken on to hospital for further treatment, but sadly later died.
Essex Police are in a position to name him as Thomas Collier, aged 79.
Initial enquiries resulted in the arrest of a 41-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
A murder charge has since been secured against Jimmy Collier, 41, of Philip Road, Witham.
He appeared before magistrates on Friday 17 January and was remanded in custody until a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday 20 January.
Our investigation is ongoing and we continue to maintain a visible policing presence in the area.
Officers secure more than 2,540 charges of shop theft during 2024
‘Tackling shoplifting is a team effort’, say our business crime officers, who work closely with retailers and business partners to target shoplifters and bring them to justice.
During 2024, our officers made 1,397 arrests for shop theft offences* in Essex, secured 2,545 charges** and solved 102 more offences than in the previous 12 months.
Sergeant Christian Denning says:
“We understand how shoplifting affects communities. Related confrontation and anti-social behaviour can make people feel less safe.
“Affected businesses suffer significant financial losses, which can be passed on to customers through higher prices and, if stores are forced to close, that leads to local job losses.
“So it’s in everybody’s interests to work together to tackle shoplifting – it’s a team effort.”
Colchester: Pair sentenced after serious assault
A man and woman have been jailed for a total of more than 11 years after seriously assaulting someone in Colchester.
Alex Potter and Bibi Stone assaulted their victim at an address in St John’s Avenue on 13 April 2024, close to the city centre, leaving them with serious head injuries and a knife wound to his body as they took their wallet and a jar of loose change.
Officers arrested 39-year-old Stone, of Deck Place, within 30 minutes of the assault, but Potter, 32, of Tony Webb Close, attempted to evade authorities for a week before handing himself in.
Their victim was given urgent treatment at the scene before being moved to hospital. Thankfully, their injuries have not proved to be life-changing.
Both defendants admitted causing criminal damage but denied the other charges against them: they were charged with aggravated burglary and wounding with intent, with Potter also charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and Stone was charged with causing grievous bodily harm.
A jury found them both guilty of all counts, and on Friday 10 January 2025 a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court sentenced Potter to eight years in prison, with Stone imprisoned for three years and nine months.
£500,000 of golf clubs recovered
This week, officers has been working to stop those using the roads for criminal purposes.
During the week, officers made a total of 19 arrests, recovered more than £500,000 in stolen golf clubs and eight vehicles which had been reported as stolen.
On Wednesday night, five people were arrested after a vehicle of interest was identified by our dog unit travelling on the A13 towards Basildon.
When it was stopped, officers discovered it was full of new golf clubs which had been reported as stolen in Hampshire. In total, their value is about £500,000.
Further checks confirmed the vehicle in which the golf clubs were hidden had been reported as stolen from Southend early this week.
Whilst the three occupants of the van were being arrested, a second vehicle of interest passed by and was spotted by the officers.
After the second vehicle failed to stop, officers followed safely and the vehicle then stopped, with two occupants attempting to flee from the scene. However, both were caught very quickly thanks to the work of a dog unit.
All five men were arrested on suspicion of theft of motor vehicle and theft from a motor vehicle.
Chelmsford: Man jailed for child sexual offences
A Chelmsford man has been jailed for six years for child sexual offences following a swift investigation by our specialist officers.
In October 2024 officers from the Management of Sex Offenders and Violent Offenders team acted on information from the National Crime Agency that Lee Bergstrom was committing offences and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.
The 35-year-old was arrested at his home address after it was discovered he was using his gaming account to engage with girls under the age of 16. Further investigations revealed that he was also attempting to engage in sexual communications with a girl.
He refused to answer all questions during interview, replying no comment, but there was overwhelming evidence and Bergstrom of Nipsells Chase, Mayland, was charged with attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and an attempted breach of a sexual harm prevention order.
When he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on 16 December, he pleaded guilty to all charges.
Purleigh: Tributes paid to much-loved man after fatal collision
Tributes have been paid to a much-loved young man following a fatal collision.
Detectives continue to investigate the single-vehicle collision, which took place in Hackmans Lane, Purleigh, at around 2am on Monday 6 January.
Tragically, 21-year-old Thomas Chapman, from Brentwood, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Paying tribute to him, his family said:
“Tom was a loving and much-loved son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend.
“There are not enough words to describe Tom.
“He was brave, strong, intelligent, funny, kind, stylish, adventurous, playful, charismatic, compassionate, sporty, spirited, handsome, protective, thoughtful, captivating, loyal, determined, ambitious, resilient, compelling, unique, eternal."
Essex lorry deaths ringleader ordered to pay £182,000
A judge has made a final determination on how much cash is available to be divided between the family of 39 Vietnamese women, men and children who died in Essex in 2019.
A hearing took place on 20 December at the Central Criminal Court during which the available assets of conspiracy ringleader Ronan Hughes were decided upon.
At a previous hearing a month earlier, Hughes gave evidence that the property he had built on land belonging to his parents in Ireland was not an available asset for confiscation proceedings.
But a judge at the Central Criminal Court found that the property in question was indeed an available asset and made a confiscation order totalling £182,078.90 all to be paid in compensation.
It means that as a result of the financial investigation into all concerned, a total of £283,802.58 has been ordered to be paid to the 39 families.
More than 50 years in prison for members of drug network
Three men caught in the midst of a widespread conspiracy to supply drugs in bulk in Essex have been jailed for a combined 51 years.
This follows a lengthy investigation led by specialist officers within our Serious Organised Crime Unit.
It stemmed from a major operation involving the cracking of a bespoke encrypted global communication service.
EncroChat offered a secure mobile phone instant messaging service with 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 in the UK.
Since 2016, international law enforcement agencies worked together to target EncroChat and agencies in France and the Netherlands infiltrated the platform.
The intelligence gleaned through this was then shared via Europol to national law enforcement agencies.
Through studying messages garnered from the EncroChat infiltration in April 2020, officers identified Simon Renoldi, Iain Green, and Matthew Hutchinson as using the handles ‘Typicalknee’, ‘Harshwater’, and ‘Pineappletequila’ respectively.
Let's talk
Upcoming community police events across Essex this week
Monday 20 January
10am to 12pm
Soken House, The Triangle, Rochford Way, Walton on Naze, Frinton on Sea.
10am to 11am
Community Centre,Tanton Road,Flitch Green
10am to 11am
Henham Community Shop,High Street,Henham
11am to 12pm
Costa Coffee, Highbridge Retail Park, Highbridge Street, Waltham Abbey EN9 1BY
4pm to 5pm
McDonald's, High Street, Southend
6pm to 7pm
Fingeringhoe Village Hall, Colchester
Tuesday 21 January
10:30am to 12pm
Witham Town Hall, Heritage Suite, Witham
11am to 12:30pm
Tesco, 77-79 High Street, Epping
11am to 12pm
Cubanos, 195 Elmsleigh Drive, Leigh on Sea
1pm to 2pm
Rochford Market, 22-24 West Street, Rochford SS4 1AL
3pm to 4pm
Costa Coffee, Waterglade Retail Park, Next, Unit 3, Old Road, Clacton on Sea.
Wednesday 22 January
10am to 2pm
Safe to go Stow Hub, 28 The Stow, Harlow, Essex
10:30am to 11:30am
Manningtree Library, High Street, Manningtree.
10:30am to 12pm
Alresford start up Cafe, St Andrews Church, St Andrews Close, Alresford.
11am to 12pm
Tilbury Hub, Civic Square
11am to 12pm
Vange Riverview Centre, Vange, Basildon
11am to 12pm
South Woodham Ferrers Day Centre, 5-7 Heralds Way, South Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford
4pm to 5pm
Hockley Train Station, Station Road, Hockley Essex SS6 7HJ
Thursday 23 January
10am to 11am
Henham Community Shop, High Street, Henham
10am to 11am
Four Acres, Saffron Walden
10:30am to 11:30am
Impulse Leisure Cafe, Blackshots Lane, Grays
11am to 12pm
Wakey Wakey Cafe, 1472 London Road, Leigh on Sea
6pm to 7pm
Stansted Library, Stansted
6pm to 7pm
Royal British Legion, Felsted
Friday 24 January
10am to 12pm
Walton Foodbank, Standley Road, Walton on Naze.
10am to 11am
South Benfleet Library, 264 High Road, South Benfleet, Benfleet
10am to 11am
Morrison's Supermarket, Centenary Way, Little Clacton.
10:30am to 11:30am
St Peters Church, Great Wigborough, Colchester
11am to 12pm
Havens, Hamlet Court Road, Westcliff
2:45pm to 3:15pm
Bournemouth Park Academy, Bournemouth Park Road, Southend
Saturday 25 January
9am to 10am
Chelmsford Park Run, Central Park, Chelmsford
9:30am to 10:30am
Billericay Library, 143 High Street, Billericay CM12 9AB
10am to 11am
McDonalds, Hartley Brook Road, Clacton on Sea.
10am to 11am
Jaywick Library, Golf Green Road, Jaywick.
10am to 11:30am
Cycle Revolution Colchester ,Unit 1 Peartree Business Centre, Peartree Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 0JN
10:30am to 12pm
Saint Peter And St. Paul, Orsett Road, Horndon on The Hill
11am to 12pm
Sainsburys Rayleigh Weir, 21 Stadium Way, Benfleet
11am to 12pm
Miracle House, Silver Island Way, Wickford, SS12 9NR
Sunday 26 January
9am to 9:30am
Village Hall, Little Chesterford
10am to 10:30am
Community Centre, Great Chesterford
11am to 12pm
Starbucks Coffee Shop, Southernhay, Basildon SS14 1EB
11:30am to 12pm
Village Hall, Walden Road, Littlebury
2pm to 2:30pm
Village Hall, Ashdon
3:30pm to 4pm
Village Hall, Hadstock
For full details of upcoming events, please visit the Essex Police website and enter your postcode.
Crime prevention
Leaving valuable items visible in your car can attract opportunistic thieves.
To try prevent theft, always take out or hide items such as phones, GPS devices, chargers, cash, wallets, purses, sunglasses, jackets, bags, and other valuables.
Do you restrict your partner’s access to friends, family or finances as a way of keeping them close to you?
It’s time to Reflect on your behaviour and break the cycle of domestic abuse.
Get support from The Change Project today.
Be fraud smart
Free AI tools are aiding fraudsters in their crimes, making it harder to spot fakes at a quick glance.
Tips to help avoid these scams:
Look for small details: AI often struggles with replicating hands and hair accurately.
Check for blurriness: Is part of the image blurry or looking odd?
Check the wording: Are the phrases and wording unusual?
Use reverse image search: If you're unsure about an image in an advert or profile, do a reverse image search to see if it's been used elsewhere.
Join our team
Police staff jobs
IT - Senior Software Developer £40,170
Digital Forensic Technician £29,634
IT - Senior Applications Engineer £40,170
IT - EUC Field Operations Engineer £29,634
Tenprint Identification Officer £26,106
Personal Assistant to the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner and Deputy Police Fire and Crime Commissioner £32,244
CCTV Evidence Officer £32,244
Violence Against Women and Girls Co-Ordinator £43,920
Crime Scene Investigator £26,106
Senior Digital Forensic Technician £30,870
Digital Forensic Specialist £38,349
Visit our website for full advert, job descriptions and application form.
This week we remember
Thomas Simmons
Inspector Thomas Simmons joined the Essex County Constabulary on 11 September 1865. He was promoted to Sergeant in November 1877 and later became a second-class inspector in Romford.
On 20 January 1885 Thomas harnessed his white horse and trap and, accompanied by Police Constable 107 Alfred Marden, set out to tour his section. They encountered three known criminals on the road and one of them shot Inspector Simmons. He collapsed after a short pursuit and despite the best efforts of two surgeons, he died four days later on 24 January, 1885.
John ‘Bill’ William Towers
On 22 January 1941, John Towers was a War Reserve Police Constable and was sent with his colleague PC Pyman from Grays police station to Hangman's Wood in Little Thurrock to help collect the body of a suicide victim in a three-wheeled hand-bier. They collected the body and were on route to Grays mortuary in the pitch dark due to the wartime blackout. A lorry hit the bier and John sustained head and body injuries. He later became unconscious died from pneumonia on 26 January 1941.
Read more about other Essex officers on the Essex Police Memorial Trust website.