Anthony Cross QC is a former chairman of the Criminal Bar Association who has spent 40 years prosecuting and defending rapists, conmen, drug dealers and bent coppers.
Since becoming a judge, he’s also presided over trials involving, among other things, a one-armed child sex pervert caught by online ‘paedophile hunters’, a cyclist who broke a pensioner’s hip via ‘wanton and furious’ riding, a concert pianist who spiked a female student’s drink and then raped her, and a Britain’s Got Talent star who ran a £300,000 Ponzi scheme.
You might have thought, therefore, that little would surprise this grizzled veteran of the legal profession. But you’d be wrong.
Human resources manager Timilehin ‘Yvette’ Olasemo made eight separate claims for bounce-back loans on behalf of her employer Essex Cares Ltd, obtaining £297,000 in the process
Last month, Judge Cross made headlines by delivering a remarkable courtroom speech demanding an inquiry into the astonishing circumstances that resulted in the ringleaders of a violent crime gang getting their hands on £145,000 in Covid ‘bounce-back’ cash.
One of the crooks was Asif Hussain, who ran an international ‘chop shop’ operation that stole and then exported luxury cars to the Middle East.
Despite the fact that he had 48 previous offences on his criminal record, including a four-year jail term for drug dealing, he was able to obtain a £50,000 state-backed loan.
The money was wired to his company, German…
