Here's a round up of the top cases in the court from this week.

A DISABLED man became a drug dealer as he wanted to be liked after being bullied and exploited, a court heard. Yusuf Ayoob, 33, of Southchurch Avenue, Southend, along with Gheoghe-Leonard Balan, were stopped by police in May in a hire car with £630 and 21.8grams of cocaine worth £2,160. The court heard how Ayoob’s mother was injected with a substance on the black market in Zanzibar causing him to have deformed hands and arms, and was bullied for most of his childhood. Both men were jailed.

A THUG threatened to shoot his two noisy neighbours and told them he “would kill them if they didn’t shut up”. Florin Iascurschi, 33, of Warrior Square, Southend, pointed an imitation gun at two women in a fit of rage after demanding they kept the noise down. Iascurschi was living in a neighbouring room to the women in a house of multiple occupancy. He told the pair he would kill them and waved the gun in their faces, before armed police rushed to the incident on October 7, 2020. Iascurschi was sentenced to six months in prison but due to the amount of time he spent in custody he was released.

A BOUNCER hit a man as hard as he could before leaving him unattended and unconscious in the road, a court heard. Leslie Wiseman, of Whitehouse Meadows, Eastwood, claims he acted in self defence when Paul Wallington suffered catastrophic injuries in the early hours of Christmas Day, 2018. Mr Wallington, 25, died days later after being involved in the incident outside the Vine Bar, in Brentwood. Wiseman denies manslaughter and is standing trial at Basildon Crown Court, where an eye-witness gave evidence.