A drunk man who drove a stolen Range Rover at speeds of more than 70mph and a "violent and abusive" rapist are among those who have been jailed in Suffolk this week.

Sam Stopher and Perry Walker

Stopher, 28, and Walker, 27, were both convicted at Ipswich Crown Court of being concerned in the supplying of cocaine.

Walker, of Humber Doucy Lane, Ipswich, was also convicted of possession of CS spray and has been jailed for four years and two months.

Stopher of The Street, Aldham, was jailed for two years and eight months.

On Thursday, May 20, 2021, officers from the Serious Crime Disruption Team executed a warrant at a property on Humber Doucy Lane with Walker found to be the only person at the address and arrested.

Two phones and a CS canister were recovered and a further two warrants were executed at Sandpit Close in Ipswich and a property at Aldham where electronic devices namely USBs and mobile phones, along with some clear zip seal bags were recovered.

On Tuesday, May 25 2021 Stopher, who at the time lived at the property searched by police in Aldham, handed himself in at the Police Investigation Centre in Martlesham and he was arrested.

Subsequent enquiries established that their criminal operations took place between 5 October 2020 and 20 May 2021 with analysis of their mobile phones showing they were running an active drug network in Ipswich with bulk text messages being issued to their phone contacts to generate drug deals

Samuel James

The 31-year-old of Fuchsia Lane has been jailed for 15 years for repeatedly raping a woman.

James had denied five offences of rape and two offences of assault by penetration and following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court in September he was convicted of three of the rape offences.

He was cleared of the remaining two offences of rape and the offences of assault by penetration.

In addition to being jailed James was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for life and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for the same period.

He will have to serve two thirds of his prison sentence.

In an impact statement the victim accused James of irreparably damaging her and described him as a “danger to all women he comes into contact with.”

Leroy Clarke

Clarke, who has more than 100 previous convictions, has been jailed for 12 months after he drove a stolen Range Rover at speeds of more than 70 mph during a police chase in Ipswich.

The 32-year-old of no fixed address in Ipswich, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, drink driving, driving with a licence and driving without insurance.

In addition to being jailed for 12 months he was banned from driving for 30 months.

Sentencing him Judge David Pugh said: “The risk to other road users was very high and it was fortunate, no thanks to you, that no-one was injured.”

On April 24 police officers saw the vehicle being driven without lights in Nacton Road and began following it with the blue lights on their car illuminated.

They had followed the Range Rover on roads including Clapgate Lane, Rands Way, Beatty Road, Packard Avenue, Queens Way, Kings Way, Shackleton Road and Heather Avenue.

During the pursuit the vehicle had been driven without lights at speeds of 70-80 mph along residential streets and had gone over red traffic lights, the court heard.

The Range Rover had eventually come to a halt when it hit railings after a tyre burst as it went over a speed bump.