ONCE again the courts of south Essex have been putting away some of the most vile people.

This week has seen a host of criminals sent to prison for multiple years from crimes ranging from dealing drugs, causing the death of others and child abuse.

Below is a round up of some of the criminals of south Essex sent to jail this week.

Peter Gill

Echo:

Peter Gill was caught trying to arrange a drug deal...in the car his own mother was driving.

The 23-year-old was found with £10,000 worth of cannabis stashed away in his home, under the nose of his parents who had no idea he was an addict.

He was jailed for two years and four months.

Damian Draper

Echo:

Damian Draper has been jailed for a year for damaging a house and car, plus spitting and coughing on police officers during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He abused the officers after one of them was forced to punch him so he could be subdued.

He had previously tried to start a fight in the middle of the A127.

Draper was jailed on Tuesday.

Matthew Toms 

Echo:

Vile paedophile Matthew Toms was given an 11 year sentence, including five years on licence, for a string of child abuse charges.

Toms posed as a 14-year-old boy online to lure under age girls into sex acts, and also filmed himself sexually touching a girl.

He was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on Wednesday.

Jerome Lee

Echo:

Laindon drug dealer Jerome Lee was found by undercover police officers on the street.

He had been arranging drug deals with known users and when police searched his house they found cannabis and Class A drugs, and a Rambo-style knife.

He claimed the drug lords made him do it and would "shoot up" his home.

He was jailed for five years and eight months.

Bradley Lane

Echo:

A drugged up driver on cocaine, Lane was working a double shift and then tried to drive home on the M1.

Tragically, his tiredness meant he let his car drift into a parked car on the hard shoulder.

The crash killed 19-year-old Chloe Palmer, who died in hospital from her injuries.

Lane, of Pretoria Avenue, Laindon was jailed for 30 months.