These are the names and faces of the individuals locked up in December 2025.
Prison escape plot
East Londoners Aryan Noor Ali and Junead Ahmed were jailed over a “sophisticated” plan to break Ahmed and two other crooks out of Chelmsford Prison.
Ahmed, 36, of Warley Road, Brentwood, was convicted of fraud in 2023 after admitting to posing as a doctor to rent a property he could not afford and buy a home worth more than £2 million.
In June of that year, Ahmed was awaiting sentence for those offences and was on remand at HMP Chelmsford.
On June 21, the prison received an email that purported to be from the Royal Courts of Justice, stating that Ahmed was to be released on bail.
The order appeared to be genuine, with a number of identifying marks, and the process for release was begun. Later that day, Ahmed was released from prison custody.
A day later, the prison received two further emails from the same email address that also included apparent orders for the release of two other prisoners, Adam Mohamed and Charlie Whittaker.
However, suspicions were raised and a member of prison staff carried out further checks with the Royal Courts of Justice and found out no release orders had been made for the two men.
Ahmed had been incorrectly released and police found out he had contact with his wife Nazash Akhtar, and Whittaker’s mum, Charlotte Whittaker.
On June 23, Essex Police officers attended an address in Greenway, Shenfield, to arrest 38-year-old Akhtar.
While there, officers had heard suspicious activity in the property, which led them to believe someone may have been finding a hiding place.
When officers searched the home, they found Ahmed in the loft, and he was arrested on suspicion of escaping from lawful custody.
Ali, 20, of Monteagle Avenue in Barking, was described as the “tech man” behind the scenes throughout the plot.
He was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.
Ahmed was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
High street shoplifter
Bradley Barber, 37, of Princes Road, Romford, stole from shops in Upminster, Elm Park and Brentwood.
The offences took place in Elm Park between September 11 and 17, along with thefts in Upminster on October 27, and at the BP garage in Rayleigh Road in Brentwood.
Estimated losses from the thefts totalled more than £1,000.
He was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison and handed a five-year criminal behaviour order (CBO) banning him from the following areas:
- Several retail areas in Havering and Barking and Dagenham.
- High Street, Elm Park including the Broadway, St Nicholas Avenue and Elm Park Avenue.
- High Street, Upminster, including St Mary’s Lane, Corbets Tey Road, and Station Road.
- Hornchurch High Street, including Billet Lane, North Street, Appleton Way and Station Lane.
- Merrilands Retail Park in Dagenham, as well as Dagenham Heathway, including Millard Terrace and the shopping centre.
Read the full story – Romford man jailed after Havering and Brentwood shoplifting
Knifepoint robber
Luca Gentry-Prosper, 19, of Ash House on Isle of Dogs, was jailed for his role in a knifepoint robbery in Kent.
The victim awoke to a man standing over him with a knife, before he was tied up as his home was ransacked.
Three men broke into the house in Ashford at around 3am on July 20, 2024, after the victim had fallen asleep on his sofa.
He was threatened and punched while the two other men ransacked the property.
During the ordeal, the victim was repeatedly interrogated about the location of valuables, and his hands were bound with tape.
Despite his injuries, the victim managed to escape the property while the suspects’ backs were turned.
Shortly afterwards, the offenders fled the scene in the victim’s car with multiple items of designer clothing, jewellery, a small quantity of cash and the victim’s mobile phone.
Police identified the suspects’ car travelling from east London into Kent in the early hours of July 20.
Following the offence, the suspects were tracked leaving Kent and returning to London where the vehicle ended its journey at around 4am.
Alongside Gentry-Prosper, Sukhjeevan Singh and Adheem Misson were identified as the perpetrators.
They each pleaded guilty to assault, false imprisonment and possession of a weapon.
Gentry-Prosper was jailed for six years.
Misson, 20, of Telscombe Cliffs Way in Peacehaven, East Sussex, was jailed for six years.
Sukhjeevan Singh, 27, of Gascoyne Road, Hackney, received a two-year suspended sentence.
