A drug-dealing university student and a dangerous paedophile were jailed in Suffolk this week.

Ipswich Star: Joy Singarajah was jailed for a total of 15 months at Ipswich Crown Court Picture: ESSEX POLICEJoy Singarajah was jailed for a total of 15 months at Ipswich Crown Court Picture: ESSEX POLICE (Image: Essex Police)

University student caught selling cannabis to plain-clothes police

Joy Singarajah admitted two counts of possession with intent to supply cannabis, being concerned in the supply of cannabis and possession of cocaine at Ipswich Crown Court on July 24.

Singarajah, 23, was serving an eight-month suspended sentence for dangerous driving when arrested on suspicion of trying to sell cannabis to a plain-clothes officer near the Colchester campus of the University of Essex on November 9, 2019.

Officers found him with of 65.7g (2.3oz) of cannabis divided into small bags, 3.3g of cocaine and a phone containing messages to 93 recipients, advertising ‘Top-shelf UK strains’ like platinum cookies and gorilla glue.

Singarajah, of Walthamstow, London, was arrested again on June 2 after police entered a property in the same area and found his ‘constantly ringing’ phone, weighing scales and a tin smelling of cannabis.

Eight days later, while on bail, he was arrested for a third time after being found with 147g (5.2oz) as a passenger in the back of a car stopped by police on the A12.

He was described as a highly intelligent young man who turned to drug dealing to fund his student fees.

Mark Tomassi, mitigating, said Singarajah dropped out of a degree course after a year at Lincoln and started studying for a higher national diploma course in Colchester before student finance became a problem.

He was jailed for 15 months, including three months of the suspended sentence, and the confiscation of £1,010 and an electric scooter Singarajah used for dealing drugs was ordered by the court.

Ipswich Star: Andrew Chaplin was jailed for four years, with an extended licence period, at Ipswich Crown Court Picture: SUFFOLK CONSTABULARYAndrew Chaplin was jailed for four years, with an extended licence period, at Ipswich Crown Court Picture: SUFFOLK CONSTABULARY (Image: Suffolk Constabulary)

Paedophile ‘devoid of any self-control’ tried to meet 14-year-old boy for sex

On July 27 at Ipswich Crown Court, Andrew Chaplain pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child to view images of sexual activity.

Chaplin thought he had arranged to meet a schoolboy after two weeks of grooming on dating app Grindr and WhatsApp – but was instead met by police in Ipswich’s Christchurch Park on February 11, 2020.

Chaplin, 46, of Cemetery Road, Ipswich, who has been on remand at Norwich prison since admitting five offences at magistrates’ court two days after his arrest, refused to leave his cell to hear Judge Martyn Levett hand down a four-year jail term with an extended licence period of eight years upon his release – which must be approved by the parole board.

In 2017, Chaplin was jailed for 20 months for breaching a sexual offences prevention order and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. On that occasion, he lured a 13-year-old boy into a car after exchanging a series of Facebook messages.

He had already been required to sign the sex offenders’ register after being released on licence from a three-year jail term handed down in 2015 for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old boy.

The mother of the 13-year-old boy called Chaplin’s latest sentence “harsher, but still not harsh enough”, and called for mandatory minimum terms for child sex offenders.

“Once is enough – but three times is ridiculous,” she said.

“He came straight out of prison and reoffended. He’s clearly a predator and I’m shocked he was released back into Suffolk.

“He turned my son’s life upside down – he’s never been the same since. I will never forget his face or his name.”