Three men were jailed for a total of more than 20 years in February for supplying £6million worth of cocaine.

The trio were arrested on October 6, 2020, during the course of a drug operation in Redbridge

All three pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court on November 25, and were sentenced on February 4 at the same court.

Lazarus John Loizides, 27, of St Anthony’s Drive, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment.

Joe Sawyer, 26, of Fieldhouse Close, Redbridge, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Robert Beckley, 31, of Church Road, West Malling, Kent, was sentenced to four years and four months’ imprisonment.

Deer in Epping Forest could be culled over the next five years to bring the numbers down to 150.

The City of London Corporation is looking at bringing the numbers of deer down from an estimated 600 to 800 to a “more sustainable level” in the 8,000-acre wood which runs from Forest Gate to Epping.

The number of patients catching Covid at King George Hospital and Queen’s Hospital spiked in December because on-site tests were not catching the new variant.

About a fifth of patients who have tested positive for Covid at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) hospitals since the start of the pandemic definitely or probably caught it in hospital.

The trust reported nine Covid outbreaks since the start of the pandemic in November 2020 and a report prepared for a board meeting showed there have been 10 more since.

In more positive news related to the pandemic, Epping Market resumed after five weeks off.

The Monday market was put on hold in response to rising coronavirus infection rates on January 13.

The historic 800-year old market re-opened on February 15, with essential traders only.