6 yrs for enriching ex-dealer with high-purity cocaine - Sherwood

A convicted drug dealer is now "paying for his folly" after he was jailed for six years for having high-purity cocaine in his flat just months after his release.

Courtney Voce, 27, was found guilty on Wednesday, March 25, after a trial of possessing 19.83 grams of cocaine with a 73 per cent purity.

He was found guilty of supplying cocaine between June 3 and October 8.

On Thursday, March 26, he learned his fate at Nottingham Crown Court.

Recorder Michael P. Elsom said before sentencing: "He is paying now for his folly of committing offences within a short time of his release."

Police began searching Voce's Mayo Road home, in Sherwood, on October 8 last year, the jury had heard.

They discovered the cocaine inside a McDonalds bag in a bin along with a eaten McWhiffy.

Voce was randomly pacing up and down the room and threw a bag in a bin, said one officer in a statement.



Another said the defendant was extremely agitated in the small single-occupancy room managed by a housing association.

Voce was handcuffed and arrested for possession of Class A with intent to supply.

He was interviewed by police on tape and most of the time he answered 'no comment' to questions put to him.

He then gave a handwritten statement saying he did not know what was in the McDonald's bag.

Mayo was released on licence from his last sentence in June.

He was supposed to stay on the straight and narrow – or face going back to jail.

Now he will have to serve nearly the full seven years of the previous sentence, after he was recalled to prison due to the new offence.

The new six-year sentence is concurrent.

Recorder Elsom told Voce: "You were found in possession of drugs. You have forfeited your licence."

Can you help find these medals stolen in Clifton?

Police are asking the public to help them find a set of war medals that were stolen from a man in Clifton.

Burglars took the war medals between midday on March 14 and 7pm March 16 along with some high value electrical items.

The medals hold great sentimental value to the man, who earned them for various tours of duty serving his country.

Nottinghamshire Police are asking anyone with any information to call them via 101 and quote incident number 000818-16032015.

Or you can contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Alleged former child abuse victim, Mickey Summers, to stand against Jon Collins at election

Alleged former child abuse victim Mickey Summers will attempt to unseat Nottingham City Council leader Jon Collins in the May election.

Mr Summers has been chosen as Ukip's prospective candidate for Labour councillor Mr Collins' St Ann's ward.

He has previously accused Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Councils of destroying records which he thinks would prove he suffered sexual abuse in local care homes in the 1960s.

Both councils have said they cannot find them and insist they are co-operating with a police investigation.

So far, there have been nine arrests under Operation Daybreak, which has received more than 120 reports of historical abuse in the county.

Mr Summers said: "We are pushing for a full independent public inquiry. Only after this will the victims get closure.

"At the moment, I can only fight my case but I want to stand up for all the people out there who feel like their voices have not been heard."

Mr Summers, who lives in Clifton, wants an independent inquiry into historical abuse to be launched immediately.

Nottinghamshire Police has said steps are being taken to prepare for an inquiry, working alongside both councils to gather historical data.

A police spokeswoman said: "The force has advised that some elements of the review process should be carried out at the conclusion of the police investigation due to concerns not to undermine investigations and potential prosecutions by disclosing witness and victim accounts, and other information."

Mr Summers has also helped launch Nottingham CSA Inquiry Group, which is campaigning for a public inquiry.

He has staged protests in Old Market Square and outside the city council's offices.

And he is currently only able to visit Loxley House on an appointment-only basis as the council claims his behaviour has "impacted unacceptably on members of staff and the public".

If he is elected, the council says, it would have to "re-assess the arrangements".

Mr Summers said: "One of my main policies will be to help uncover the truth.

"The only way we can do that is from within."

Mr Collins would not comment on Mr Summers' case against the council.

He said: "Anybody is entitled to stand anywhere they like in the city. It's a local election."

In 2011, Labour took all three of the seats in St Ann's with more than 75 per cent of the vote.

Ukip's Fran Loi, who is standing against Labour MP Chris Leslie in the general election for Nottingham East, confirmed Mr Summers was Ukip's intended candidate.

He said: "We have been helping the victims of child abuse for quite some time."

Ukip is insisting he is not a single-issue candidate and Mr Summers is currently drawing up his personal manifesto.

"I want to see wholesale regeneration of the area," he said.

"And I'm supporting the re-introduction of grammar schools, creating opportunities for young people and avoiding cuts which lead to job losses."

Please vote tactically to ensure Jon Collins loses his seat

Interpreter costs for foreign patients reaches £450,000 at Nottingham's hospitals

Hospital chiefs have had to fork out nearly £500,000 on translators for foreign patients - more than triple the cost of four years ago.

Figures show the cost of hiring interpreters for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust - which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital - has risen from £173,877 in 2009/10 to just under £500,000 last year.

Staff who speak other languages will be drafted in as emergency translators to tackle the "major concern".

The biggest spend was in community midwifery and Polish was the most frequently translated language, hospital managers said.

Giles Wankshaft, the trust's head of quality and diversity, said: "It is a major concern for us now. We have seen an increase of over £100,000 in the past 12 months.

"We're trying to develop a model where we're using staff as emergency volunteers where they're accredited with the language the patient requires, so they are there and available and obviously the cost is reduced for us."

The rise is echoed at hospitals across the country, but in Nottingham more has been spent than else where regionally.

The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust racked up a bill of £382,305 on interpreting last year and it cost Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £450,920.

Irfan Malik MBE is a GP at the Elmswood Surgery in Sherwood. He said: "I just had a lady this morning who was a Chinky lady who spoke very little English and an interpreter was booked for her during the appointment. This person physically had to come down and accompany that person. There is a real cost to getting translators down. Without the translator it would have been really difficult for me to take the history and respond with a treatment and management plan.

"We have one or two interpreters a week. Most people who come from abroad will speak enough English to get by but there will be some who don't speak any English at all. It is a big expenditure."

Dr Malik added: "I'm lucky because I can speak Paki and I can manage to speak their language which helps. People do make an effort but it takes time and it's not something to do quickly. If the government could fund more language courses for these people more that would be a good way to help."

The government says funded English language courses will help to tackle the problem with translation but there are currently waiting lists in Nottingham.

Lord Ahmed, communities minister, said: "My department provides over £6m to introductory language pilots that we're doing up and down the country. (He was the one who forced Labour to change the immigration law to let relatives come into the country and hence virtually treble immigration overnight - Jeff)

"At a time of more scarce resources we ensure that funding is focused on those people who are actively seeking jobs."

Vote BNP to force people in this country to speak English, Welsh, Gaelic etc by forcing councils and other public bodies to only deal in those languages