Crime

A CROOKED mortgage broker has been jailed for three years for masterminding a £2.4million housing fraud.

Varinder Amrit, 48, of Augustus Close, Stanmore, amassed what Chelmsford Crown Court heard was a 'property empire' with the help of an 85-year-old middle man and two accountants.

A HANDGUN was found on the central reservation of the Watford By-pass on the very fringe of Stanmore.

The A41 was closed by police from its junctions with Junction 4 of the M1 at its northern end and Spur Road at its southern end while officers recovered the weapon.

A police officer was taken to hospital after being assaulted.

The 33-year-old was knocked to the ground by a man who then stamped on his head and made him lose consciousness in Hillside, Edgware, on Saturday, June 2.

A burglar was jailed for four and a half years for two burglaries at Harrow Crown Court on Monday .

Sonny Bruce, 33, of Honeypot Lane, was arrested on December 20 last year at an address in Streatfield Road, Harrow, after the occupants woke up to find him searching through drawers and detained him until police arrived.

A LAWYER and his wife have been convicted of running an immigration racket so lucrative they kept more than £250,000 in cash in a cupboard.
Vijay and Bhawna Sorthia, 35 and 31, of Langland Crescent, Stanmore, were convicted at Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday of perpetuating the scam at his Migration Gurus business in High Street, Wealdstone.

JOIN a yogathon in Stanmore to help raise money for local and international charities.
A group of instructors will be holding a sponsored session at Swaminarayan Temple, Wood Lane, Stanmore, on Saturday, May 12, between 9.30am and 1pm.

THREE boys accused of causing a large fire at a Belmont Circle service station have been committed to Crown Court.

The youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear at Harrow Crown Court on Tuesday after appearing at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Tuesday last week.

A suspected robber is to appear at Isleworth Crown Court for allegedly mugging 71-year-old Joanna Weaver in Hartington Close, South Harrow, on December 20 last year and leaving her needing 40 stitches.
Saturnin Barwinski, 25, of Rosens Walk, Edgware, appeared at Ealing Magistrates' Court on Monday accused of four robberies and two handling stolen goods - the other offences allegedly happening in Barnet and Ealing.
He will appear at the crown court on June 4 for a plea and case management hearing.

A 33-year-old man will stand trial accused of possessing a seldom-seen hallucinogenic drug that is found on the skin of some species of toads.
Devin Ford, of Camrose Avenue, denied possessing bufotenine, a drug that placed in the same class as cocaine and heroin, at Harrow Crown Court on Monday.
He is alleged to had the substance on him on September 5 last year at Harlesden Police Station in Craven Park, Harlesden.
Ford, whose unconditional bail was continued, will stand trial in the week commencing May 21 at the same court.

Police are hunting two men who injured a woman when they tried to steal her handbag in Edgware.

The 53-year-old victim was walking alone in Argyll Gardens, Edgware, at 5.55pm on December 23 when one of the men grabbed her handbag. She fell and sustained minor injuries to her knee and shoulder. The men, described as black and wearing hooded tops, ran off empty-handed towards Burnt Oak Broadway.

The woman walked from Watling Avenue, Edgware, turned right into Burnt Oak Broadway, then left into Highlands, before being attacked as she approached Argyll Gardens.

If you witnessed the attack or have any information on it, call Harrow Crime Squad on 020 8733 5409 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.