Lake Tragedy: Tributes To Mum And Daughter

The family of a mother and daughter who died on a boat in the Lake District have paid tribute to "two beautiful girls" who were "taken too soon".

Kelly Webster, 36, and her daughter, Lauren Thornton, both from Leyland in Lancashire, died while on a boating holiday on Windermere.

Police believe a generator may have caused the deaths, releasing carbon monoxide. The deaths are not being treated as suspicious.

In a statement issued by Cumbria Police, relatives of the pair said: "Our two beautiful girls taken so tragic and so too soon. We all love you so very much words will never say. Our hearts are broken and we will miss you forever.

"Kelly and Lauren ... never forgotten."

Windermere is in the Lake District

Lauren's father, Neil Thornton, said: "My darling daughter lollipop, you were everything to me, a light has gone out that will never be replaced.

"Sweet dreams, goodnight, god bless, Daddy."

Police said the third person on the boat, Ms Webster's partner Matthew Eteson, 39, raised the alarm on Monday afternoon after he experienced serious breathing difficulties.

Ms Webster and Lauren were treated by paramedics and airlifted to Royal Lancaster Infirmary where they died.

Mr Eteson, the boat's owner, was released from hospital yesterday after receiving treatment.

Detective Inspector Mike Brown, who is leading the investigation, has said: "What we are looking at specifically is an after-market generator that has been fitted in the engine compartment of the boat which we believe may be the cause of this.

"But, again, it's still early stages in the investigation so we can't rule anything out."

Cumbria Police said officers are continuing their inquiries on behalf of the coroner.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iain Banks Announces He Has 'Months' To Live

Best-selling author Iain Banks has announced he has cancer and only several months to live.

In a statement posted on his website, the 59-year-old Scottish novelist revealed he is in the final stages of gall-bladder cancer and is unlikely to live "beyond a year".

"I am officially Very Poorly," he says. "After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, but that - it turns out - is the least of my problems.

Banks is considered to be among the 50 greatest British writers since 1945

"I have cancer. It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes.

"The bottom line, now, I'm afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I'm expected to live for 'several months' and it's extremely unlikely I'll live beyond a year.

"So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last."

Mr Banks writes mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, which includes the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies.

Enthusiasts of his work took to Twitter to express their sadness and share memories of some of his best remembered novels.

In 2008, The Times said Mr Banks belonged in their list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.

Some of his best-known works include The Wasp Factory, published in 1984, and Complicity, published in 1993, which was later made into the film Retribution in 2000.

His statement announced he had withdrawn from all planned public engagements and that his publishers were doing all they could to bring the publication date of The Quarry forward.

He also announced his intention to marry.

"I've asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry - but we find ghoulish humour helps). By the time this goes out we'll be married and on a short honeymoon".

Mr Banks revealed he was weighing up the possibility of undergoing treatment in an attempt to prolong the time he has left to live.

"There is a possibility that it might be worth undergoing a course of chemotherapy to extend the amount of time available," he said.

"However, that is still something we're balancing the pros and cons of, and, anyway, it is out of the question until my jaundice has further and significantly, reduced."

A website is to be set up where friends, family and fans will be able to leave messages for the author.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man City's Tevez Fined For Driving Offences

Footballer Carlos Tevez has been fined and ordered to do 250 hours of community service after pleading guilty to driving while disqualified and without insurance.

The Manchester City striker admitted the offences in his native Spanish with the aid of an interpreter as he stood in the dock at Macclesfield Magistrates' Court.

The court heard the player had suffered a "frightening" experience and a "salutary lesson" after being taken into custody and arrested by police last month.

Tevez, who earns £200,000 a week, received the community order for driving while disqualified, was banned for six months, and fined £60.

For having no insurance, he was fined £1,000 and was ordered told to pay £85 in costs.

The maximum penalty for driving while disqualified is six months in prison.

Reporting from court, Sky's Becky Johnson said: "He (Tevez) carried out an interview today with a probation officer in which he said he was sorry and said he wanted to give something back to the community.

"His lawyer made it clear his client did recognise how serious the offences are and was unlikely to ever do anything like that again."

Mike Boliver, the Probation Service officer, told the court the footballer had no previous convictions so rehabilitation was not appropriate and neither was a curfew order because of the travel involved with his job.

Mr Boliver added: "He was very clear when talking to me this has been a very salutary lesson. I think the seriousness and significance of this type of offence, I think the likelihood of this happening again is very, very slim.

Tevez celebrates after scoring a goal last November

"Mr Tevez would welcome a chance to put something back into the community. Clearly, he is fit for unpaid work."

Passing sentence, chair of the bench Elizabeth Depares told the defendant: "Mr Tevez, you must realise you are a role model to thousands, if not millions, of fans but nobody is above the law. You should not have been driving.

"We have heard that you are sorry and it is now up to you to ensure you will not be brought back to court again."

The court heard the Argentinian player has not yet got a UK driving licence, partly because he has struggled to pass the theory test which is conducted in English.

Tevez's guilty plea followed his arrest near his home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, last month.

The 29-year-old player was stopped as he left a golf club in a Porsche Cayenne on March 7 after an anonymous tip-off to police.

In January, he was banned from driving for six months after admitting two counts of failing to provide information relating to incidents in which his Hummer vehicle was clocked speeding.

Tevez did not attend that hearing at Manchester Magistrates' Court.

He was represented by his solicitor who told the court the footballer failed to respond to documents because he did not recognise the word "constabulary".

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nobel Peace Prize Taken In Newcastle Burglary

A gold Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the 1930s has been stolen from the Lord Mayor's Mansion House in Newcastle.

The thieves who broke into the building's cellar also made off with a lock of hair from Admiral Lord Collingwood and antique silverware.

The items were valued at around £150,000, Northumbria Police said.

The Nobel prize was awarded in 1934 to former foreign secretary Arthur Henderson for his work on international disarmament.

Police appealed for help tracking down the items, which were stolen in Jesmond on Monday night.

Newcastle Temporary Superintendent Bruce Storey said: "The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 93 times to 124 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2012 and so the stolen item is extremely rare, recognisable and historically important."

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

SSE Fined £10.5m By Ofgem Over Mis-Selling

Energy provider SSE has been fined £10.5m by industry watchdog Ofgem for repeated mis-selling to householders.

The regulator said the proposed penalty is the largest it has made against an energy firm.

It relates to failures at "every stage" of the sales process for telephone, in-store and doorstep activities.

Ofgem said: "The level of fine reflects the seriousness and duration of breaches, the likely substantial harm that they have caused and the likely gain to SSE."

Ofgem found that a failure of SSE's management arrangements meant that insufficient attention was paid to ensuring compliance with obligations.

The watchdog said this enabled misleading and unsubstantiated statements to be made by sales agents to potential customers about savings.

SSE is one of Britain's "big six" energy suppliers and has admitted its selling procedures were below an adequate level.

On its website, SSE said: "We've been busy making lots of practical changes to make it simpler, fairer and easier for you to deal with us.

"We're building a better way to do business, and we believe the changes we are making will improve the energy industry for good."

Many consumers struggled to understand firms' complex tariff structures

The watchdog said the company's various selling techniques had brought the company into disrepute.

"Ofgem found failings at all stages of SSE's sales processes, from the opening lines on the doorstep, in-store or over the phone through to the confirmation process which follows a sale," the regulator said.

"In particular, SSE consistently failed, over a prolonged period of time, to conduct its sales activities in a way that would provide clear and accurate information on prices and potential savings to enable customers to make an informed decision about whether to switch suppliers."

Although SSE terminated doorstep sales in July 2011, the failures in telephone and in-store sales persisted, Ofgem said.

"Today's fine sends a clear message to suppliers that Ofgem will hold to account those companies which fail to treat consumers fairly.

"It is time for the energy industry to take note and get behind Ofgem's reforms to rebuild trust and make the market simpler, clearer and fairer for consumers."

Ofgem does not have legal power to require companies to award consumer compensation.

It has argued for powers of redress and said it was encouraged that the Government has backed its call over new powers.

The regulator said the when the Energy Bill powers come into force they will further strengthen Ofgem's ability to take more targeted action against companies that are found in breach of their licence.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

First Charges In Savile Sex Investigation

A man is to be charged as part of the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal - the first charges under Operation Yewtree.

Driver David Smith will be charged with five sex offences including two of indecent assault on a boy under 14 in 1984 and two of gross indecency on a boy under 14 at the same time. 

The CPS says he was a driver for a number of organisations but he was not Jimmy Savile's driver.

The BBC has acknowledged he was employed by them on occasions and would transport guests for the Corporation.

Alison Saunders, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, said: "The CPS has carefully considered the evidence gathered as part of Operation Yewtree in relation to David Smith, who was employed as a driver at the time of the allegations.

"The CPS received a file of evidence on December 21 2012. Further enquiries were necessary and the result of those enquiries was received by the CPS on March 18.

"We have concluded, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, and that it is in the public interest for David Smith to be charged with five offences."

Smith, who was arrested in December last year, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on May 8.

Savile's record of abuse is thought to be unprecedented - with 28 alleged victims being boys and girls aged under 10. However, many of the TV star's accusers only came forward after his death.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rolling Stones Announce Return To Hyde Park

The Stones are rolling back into Hyde Park more than 40 years after they famously played a free concert there to thousands of people.

The gig in the central London park is scheduled for July 6.

"Hyde Park holds such great memories for us and we can't think of anywhere better to perform to our UK fans this summer," said frontman Mick Jagger.

The band's concert on July 5, 1969, was held just two days after the death of founder member Brian Jones.

It marked the live debut of his replacement guitarist, Mick Taylor.

Tickets for the new event - which features three stages - will go on general sale on Friday for £95.

Mick Jagger at the 02 Arena last year

The band also announced a full North American tour, with dates in cities including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Boston as well as Toronto.

Keith Richards said: "We all had such a ball last year, and the energy between the band is so good, we can't wait to get back on that stage where the Stones belong."

The band held a few concerts last year to mark their 50th anniversary – though they incurred criticism because some of the tickets at the 02 Arena cost over £350.

Guitarist Ronnie Wood said the preparation has cost them millions of pounds.

"We feel no bad thing about ticket prices. We've got to make something."

The band is also headlining Glastonbury this year, playing the festival on Saturday June 29.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Joss Stone: Two Guilty Of Plot To Kill Singer

Two men have been found guilty of plotting to rob and kill pop singer Joss Stone.

Kevin Liverpool, aged 35, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 10 years and eight months.

The sentencing of co-accused Junior Bradshaw, 32, was adjourned.

The pair, of St Stephen's Close, Longsight, in Manchester, harboured a deep hatred for the soul artist, the three-week trial at Exeter Crown Court heard.

They were convicted of conspiring to rob and kill the star last summer, they were then planning to dump her body in a river.

The pair set off from their home in Manchester with a samurai sword, knives, bags and gloves crammed in their Fiat Punto, bound for Miss Stone's address in mid-Devon.

Some of the weapons found and presented as evidence in the trial

However, their plan to rob and kill Miss Stone - whose birth name is Jocelyn Stoker - was fraught with problems.

They became lost around seven miles from Miss Stone's home and stopped to ask postman Alex Greening for directions to the property in Ashill, showing him a map with handwritten notes on it, as well as a picture of the 25-year-old celebrity.

The pair had earlier been stopped by police at the M5 Michaelwood services in Gloucestershire at 5am after their Punto crashed into metal railings and a digger.

Officers thought the car was too badly damaged to be driven and left - but the pair continued their journey south.

They were arrested on June 13, 2011, a few miles from Miss Stone's home when concerned local residents - spotting their crash-damaged car - called police.

The damaged Fiat Punto the pair used to drive down south from Manchester

The suspicious uniformed PCs discovered Bradshaw did not have a driving licence and arrested him.

They searched the Punto and found a stash of weapons, including a black-handled samurai sword, three knives, a section of garden hosepipe, two hammers, black gloves and balaclavas.

A further holdall contained a metal spike, black bags and black tape. There were also printouts of AA routefinder maps from Manchester to Devon.

Notes made by Liverpool - who was branded a fantasist by his own lawyer - found in the car and his flat in Manchester included references to robbing, killing and beheading the singer.

Rambling handwritten diaries were also discovered, in which he highlighted the need to buy a semi-automatic gun, a silencer, infra-red sights and a "ninja" sword.

Hammers were also discovered in the Punto by police officers

He called Miss Stone "princess" and other entries referred to "Jocelyn RIP - try to get info. Rob and kill". They also referred to her as a "She devil in flesh".

Giving evidence to the court, Miss Stone admitted there was lax security at her home, but said she only learned of the plot against her from police.

"I had an alarm but I did not really turn it on very much. I didn't really have a lock on my door ... But I do now."

Bradshaw and Liverpool denied charges of conspiracy to murder, the alternative charges of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to rob.

Plastic black bags were also found in the vehicle

Defending Liverpool, Philip King QC, said the plot to kill Miss Stone was nothing more than a bungled "fantasy" that was never going to be carried out.

Bradshaw, who has spent time detained under the Mental Health Act in psychiatric units, said he had never heard of the singer until his arrest and that he believed he was on a day out with his friend.

In a statement after the verdicts, Miss Stone said: "I am relieved the trial is now over and that these men are no longer in a position to cause harm to anyone."

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Duncan Smith: MP Complains Over £53 Challenge

A Conservative MP has complained to the BBC about a radio interview in which a market trader claimed he lived off just £53 a week and challenged Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to do the same.

Backbencher Dominic Raab has written to the new director general, Lord Hall, who was on his first day in the job on the day of the interview, complaining it "lacked accuracy".

David Bennett, 51, told Radio 4's Today programme on Monday that he earned around £2,700 last year working between 50 and 70 hours a week.

He said his housing benefit had been cut even though his children stayed with him several days a week, and that his overall income was about £53 per week.

However, it has since emerged that Mr Bennett has an income that is nearly three times the £53 he quoted in his challenge to Mr Duncan Smith.

According to the Daily Telegraph the market trader receives £232 a month in housing benefit and £200 a month in working tax credit. His average weekly income, including market stall earnings, is in reality £156 a week, the paper reports.

Dominic Raab MP

Mr Raab told Sky News: "If (the BBC) are going to put someone up and ambush (IDS) they should check they have got their facts straight first."

He said the Mr Bennett had been used in a "cavalier" way and the point he was making about the Government's spare room subsidy had proved to be "demonstrably false".

Amongst other things, Mr Raab's letter questions how the market trader was selected for the interview and raises concern that Mr Bennett said he was chosen for the radio programme after he put a comment on the BBC's website saying: "Cameron can stick his Big Society where the sun doesn't shine".

It goes on to say the interview "could be perceived as attempting to exaggerate the effect of benefit changes".

The MP for Esher and Walton also Given the subsequent media attention on the market trader the BBC "may well have failed in its duty of care towards Mr Bennett", the MP for Esher and Walton added.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We will respond to Mr Raab's letter shortly, when we have received it.

"His complaint refers to an interview used to illustrate how the changes to the welfare system might affect people. Mr Bennett outlined his circumstances but was also questioned robustly."

During the interview, Mr Duncan Smith, whose ministerial salary is equivalent to around £1,600 a week after tax, stressed he did not know Mr Bennett's individual circumstances.

But asked whether he could live on £53 a week, the former army officer, who married into a wealthy family, replied: "If I had to I would."

This sparked an online petition calling on the Cabinet minister to prove he really could live off what amounts to just £7.57 a day.

 The petition urging Mr Duncan Smith to live off £53 a week for a year has so far attracted signatures from over 375,000 people, the most that a petition on the Government's e-petition website has ever received.

Mr Raab said that the online petition was "totally irrelevant to the substance of the policy".

The Work and Pensions Secretary has, meanwhile, branded it a "complete stunt", telling his local newspaper that he has been unemployed twice so knew what it was like to live on the breadline.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Derby Fire: Philpotts Face Jail Over Deaths

By Tom Parmenter, Crime Correspondent

Mick Philpott made obscene hand gestures from the dock after his defence team had argued he was a "very good father" who had been "unable to grieve".

It happened after he was heckled by members of his wife Mairead's family who were taunting him from the public gallery.

Earlier, the court heard the 56-year-old, who killed six children by setting fire to his home, stabbed a previous girlfriend 13 times, injuring her so badly she still has to take medication.

Philpott's criminal record was laid bare at Nottingham Crown Court, who will tomorrow sentence him and his wife for the manslaughter of their six children.

Mrs Justice Kate Thirlwall heard how Philpott attacked Kim Hill in 1978 leaving her severely injured with a broken arm and finger.

Back (L-R) Duwayne and John, Front (L-R) Jack, Jessie, Jade and Jayden

He had also been given a police caution for slapping his wife and dragging her from their home by her hair.

But his barrister, Mr Anthony Orchard QC, urged the judge pass the minimum sentence on Philpott on the grounds that he was a "good father" who had lost his children.

He said that the father of 17 children by five different women would "have to live with the hatred and hostility of the press and the public for the rest of his life".

Mick Philpott tried to frame his former partner over the blaze

He added that Philpott "faces hostility from other prisoners on a daily basis".

The defence teams of Philpott's wife Mairead and the couple's friend Paul Mosley also appealed for leniency as part of the mitigation process in the case.

Mairead Philpott wept in court as her barrister described her as a devoted mother who he said was "not a woman who has a heart of stone", but one whose "grief is overwhelming".

He described it as "utter folly" for her to stay in a relationship with Mick Philpott but said that it was her choice to love him.

Philpott and his partner Mairead, 32, started the blaze at their Derby home in the early hours of May 11, pouring petrol in the hallway of the property.

Paul Mosley helped the Philpotts with their deadly plan

Together with Mosley, 46, who will also be sentenced tomorrow, they planned that Philpott should break in by the back door and rescue the children.

But the plot went wrong and fire ripped through the three-bedroom council house in Victoria Road, Derby, with temperatures reaching 500C.

Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, aged eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and 13-year-old Duwayne, all died.

The three had devised the plan to frame Lisa Willis, Philpott's former girlfriend.

Philpott was fighting a custody battle with Miss Willis, 29, who had lived with the couple and slept with Philpott on alternate nights while living at the house.

Mairead Philpott does not have a 'heart of stone', says barrister

Both women were said to have lived happily with one another for a decade but Miss Willis left Philpott three months before the deadly fire taking her five children, four of whom were fathered by him.

In mitigation at court today, Mr Orchard said that the fire had gone "disastrously wrong" because it spread too quickly.

However, the judge countered that even if the children had been saved by Philpott, as intended, the experience would still have been terrifying.

She said: "If the plan had been successful the effect on the children would have been this, would it not - they would have been awoken in their beds with their house on fire and their father coming in to rescue them."

The judge said that she was troubled by Philpott's attitude to women and pointed out that there had been violence in every one of his relationships.

She heard that Mairead had devoted her life to bringing up the children and that they were "happy children" despite their unusual living arrangements.

Temperatures inside the house reached 500C

Her barrister, Sean Smith QC, told the court Mairead "is not a woman who has a heart of stone, her grief is overwhelming".

He said Mairead had spent 12-and-a-half of her 32 years with Philpott and realised it was "utter folly" to stay with him but that she "would do whatever he said, whatever he wanted".

Mr Smith said that she "will be forever known as a child killer" and even when released from prison she would never be able to have children or be involved with children.

After the mitigation speeches for each defendant had finished there were obscene gestures made by relatives of Mairead Philpott towards Mick Philpott in the dock.

He responded by making hand gestures himself before being led away by a team of security guards ahead of sentencing at 3pm.

Jurors at Nottingham Crown Court returned guilty verdicts on manslaughter charges for the pair and co-defendant Mosley, 46, on Tuesday after an eight-week trial.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill's disbelief captured on camera

Upon their conviction, Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill, of Derbyshire Police, revealed how he suspected Philpott as he watched his reactions during a press conference.

He said that officers had been surprised when Philpott wanted to speak to the media five days after fire.

Mr Cotterill said his misgivings were betrayed in a single photograph, taken as he sat alongside Mick, and his wife Mairead.

He said: "In one particular photograph, what I saw there was a guy who was sat there pretending to cry and I've described it as a bit of a sham of a performance and I didn't believe that he was genuinely overcome by grief.

"I thought he was playing to the cameras."

Philpott became known as Shameless Mick for a lifestyle, which saw him take charge of some £2,000 a month in benefits, and claim he needed a bigger council home in which to house his vast family.

His propensity for cashing in on the welfare state propelled him on to television screens in a documentary with Ann Widdecombe and on the Jeremy Kyle Show.

But the role he played in the devastating fire on May 11 that led to allegations he was "acting".

Brothers Jamie and Darren Butler, who live on the same road as the Philpotts, told Sky News how the Philpotts did nothing to help rescue their children and stood like "a couple of statues".

Jamie said: "You watch Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale all the time, and you can see people are acting, because they get paid to act. That's exactly what he was doing, he wasn't being paid for it, but he was acting. There was no emotion, he was motionless, there was nothing."

Even as Philpott went to see the bodies of the dead children at Derby Royal Hospital he attempted to keep up the act.

Mortuary manager Marie Smith described how Philpott had pretended to faint when he saw his children's bodies for the first time.

She said he also asked for alcohol and engaged in horseplay with a police liaison officer days after the tragedy while bemused staff looked on.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More