Every week, London’s Courts take in the dregs of an increasingly unhinged city. Every week, they dispense justice - as London’s court Reporters watch on from the press gallery.

Court reporters are witnesses to the front lines of modern crime. From the bleak to the bizarre. The tawdry to the tragic.

Old Bailey Weekly is the show that lets you hear what the court reporter saw. Straight from the mouths of those who were there.

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This week in court:

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A Somali killer was jailed for at least 32 years for knifing a woman to death two days after slashing three other strangers’ faces.

Mohamed Nur, 35, grabbed 31-year-old Johanita Dogbey and stabbed her three times in the neck in a random attack near Brixton’s O2 academy in south London on 1 May last year.

Nur refused to attend his sentencing, saying there was ‘no point’ coming and the judge said rare proceedings would begin to punish him for the ‘clear contempt’ shown.

But Court News UK's Guy Toyn says that it's wrong to force prisoners to attend court.

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Two ‘fixers’ for a people smuggling ring that flew Albanians into the UK in a light aircraft have been jailed for a total of over five years. Former Italian restaurant owner Myrteza Hilaj, 50, who came to the UK in the 1990s, acted as a travel agent and ‘go-to man’ for fellow countrymen desperate to get into the country

Court reporter Tom Masters was covering the sentencing, and can reveal that this was a deluxe end-to-end travel agency, charging £10 000 per seat. They were caught with over 3000 forged passports.

Every week, London’s Courts take in the dregs of an increasingly unhinged city.

Every week, they dispense justice. As London’s Court Reporters watch on from the press gallery.

Court reporters are witnesses to the front lines of modern crime.

From the bleak to the bizarre.

The tawdry to the tragic.

Old Bailey Weekly is the show that lets you hear what the court reporter saw.

Straight from the mouths of those who were there.

****

This week in court:

- The Eunuchmaker Gets Life

- The Allahu Akbar Accountant Goes Down For Two Years

- And The First Dates Doctor Is Struck Off

In December of last year, 60 year old Malcolm Hodges entered a guilty plea at Westminster Magistrates court. What he pled guilty to was a bit complicated. But it was essentially having too many bank accounts.

Now, Hodges has finally received his sentence. He was sent *back* to jail — for two years and four months, and his debit and credit cards have been destroyed.

Why were the police so interested in one man’s savings?

It turns out that Mr Hodges has been in and out of jail for many years, as court reporter Guy Toyn explains.

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Over time, his troubles have compounded, by his continued refusal to wind his neck in, heed warnings, to see sense — or just generally to stop waging jihad against the body that certifies chartered accountants….

The case of Marius Gustafson is also known as the Eunuch Maker.

Gustavson is a 49 year old Norwegian national, who, from his base in South London, orchestrated a global ring that traded in sexual dismemberment. And was described at a three-day sentencing at the Old Bailey variously as "a lunatic", "an arch-manipulator" and "a butcher".

For months last year, various hearings were held, to determine whether there would be a trial at all of him and his nine fellow-accused. Because existing case law all but ruled out a not guilty verdict, it was felt that it would be a waste of money.

Eventually, all pleaded guilty. And as they’ve been receiving their sentences, court reporter Jack Hudson has been keeping an eye on proceedings.

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In 2018, Dr Thomas Plimmer appeared on the TV show First Dates, then filmed in Paternoster Square, a stone’s throw from The Old Bailey.

Plimmer was a self-professed sex addict made a range of interesting pornographic videos, and regularly invited women back to his doctor’s surgery for what the tabloids would no doubt call steamy sex romps.

Recovery has only come at rock bottom, with a General Medical Council hearing that has resulted in him being struck off.

Scott Wilford, the editor of Court News UK, was keeping an eye on proceedings, via a video link.