Colchester Murders: £20,000 Reward On Offer

Police investigating the murders of a Saudi student and a vulnerable man in Essex say they have recovered 38 knives during their search.

The update on the investigation came as Crimestoppers announced a reward of £10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Nahid Almanea's killer.

The 31-year-old was stabbed 16 times as she walked along the Salary Brook Trail footpath in Colchester on June 17.

Police are looking into a possible link between Ms Almanea's murder and that of Jim Attfield, who was stabbed 102 times on his arms, hands, back, neck and head in what police described as a "frenzied" attack two months earlier.

Police look for clues in the hunt for Ms Almanea's killer

A £5,000 reward that was previously offered for information about his death has been doubled to £10,000.

Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Worron, of Essex Police, said the 38 knives recovered so far were being examined to see whether any of them were used in either attack.

Hundreds of officers from several different forces have spoken to more than 100 witnesses and carried out door-to-door inquiries at 325 houses, he added.

On Tuesday, police said they were trying to trace a man who may have followed Ms Almanea four days before she was killed.

Ms Almanea was seen on CCTV the day before she was attacked

Witnesses said the man walked behind two women as they came out of a house in Stanley Wooster Way at around 8.45am on June 13.

He is described as white, in his 30s, around 5ft 10in tall and with short, dark hair. He was dressed casually and was wearing dark jeans.

Police have said they do not have evidence that the murders of Ms Almanea and Mr Attfield are linked or that a serial killer is involved.

However, "parallel" investigations are being carried out and they have admitted there are obvious similarities.

Witnesses are asked to contact the incident room at Essex Police on 01245 282103. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 55111.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Legal Challenge To Assisted Suicide Ban Lost

Campaigners have lost their latest legal challenge at the Supreme Court over the "right to die" for disabled people.

Jane Nicklinson, the widow of "locked-in syndrome" sufferer Tony Nicklinson, brought the case along with paralysed former builder Paul Lamb and another disabled man, known only as Martin, who want to make it legal for doctors to help their patients end their lives.

Justices at the Supreme Court were ruling on whether the current ban, set out in the 1961 Suicide Act, is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

They ruled against Mrs Nicklinson and Mr Lamb by a seven-to-two majority, although five of them said they had the power to declare that a ban on assisted suicide breaches the right to private and family life.

Mrs Nicklinson, whose husband started a campaign to change the law before his death in 2012, aged 58, said the ruling felt, in part, like a victory.

"This is something Tony started and it's very, very important to me," she said.

"I feel very strongly (that people should have the right to die) and I'll take this as far as I can."

Speaking through a computer he controls with his sight, Martin said he welcomed the judgment, but added: "This whole process has been excruciating, slow and tedious."

Saimo Chahal, the solicitor representing Mrs Nicklinson and Mr Lamb, said: "Parliament must now review the law and the ban on assisted suicide to take account of people ... who have made a clear and settled decision to end their lives.

"It's been charged with grappling with the issue and the Supreme Court has said that if it doesn't, they'll consider making a declaration of incompatibility next time round."

Disability rights campaigner Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson is among those who called for the law on assisted suicide to remain unchanged.

However, Sarah Wootton, chief executive of the charity Dignity in Dying, said: "The Suicide Act is now over 50 years old and is out of touch with the problems facing dying Britons in the 21st century.

"Public opinion is resolutely in favour of change and now the Supreme Court has clearly indicated that it is only a matter of time before the law is reformed."

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Strike By French Air Traffic Controllers Slammed

Airlines have been forced to cancel hundreds of flights to, from and across France on the second day of a six-day walkout by air traffic controllers.

The stoppage comes at the height of the tourist season and follows a rail strike that affected services abroad and domestically and is still continuing in some parts.

According to the country's civil aviation watchdog, about one in five flights travelling to and from several big cities in the south, or taking off from Paris to the south, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, were cancelled on Tuesday.

Passengers also experienced delays on other services.

Some 20% of flights are expected to be cancelled today with easyJet confirming 150 of its 1,400 scheduled services would not be operating though some could still be affected by delays.

Those who are travelling have been warned not to go to the airport "without having been guaranteed that their flight is maintained".

Ryanair was forced to cancel more than 200 flights on Tuesday, and is set to cancel more than 250 today.

The airline slammed the strike, calling on the EU Commission "to remove the right to strike from Europe's air traffic controllers, who are once more attempting to blackmail ordinary consumers with strikes".

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) airlines group also condemned the action.

IATA head Tony Tyler said: "Unions bent on stopping progress are putting at risk the hard-earned vacations of millions of travellers, and from the public's perspective, the timing of the strike could even be regarded as malicious.

"In addition to vacationers, businesspeople undertaking important trips and those awaiting urgent shipments will all face hassles and uncertain waits as flights are cancelled, delayed or diverted around a major portion of European airspace."

Twenty-eight easyJet flights were cancelled, while British Airways said eight flights had been affected.

The majority of Air France's flights were unaffected by the strike, with only 10% of short and medium-haul journeys scrapped.

Not all air traffic controllers are striking, but those who have walked out are protesting against what they say is a lack of sufficient funding for a sector they say is in dire need of modernisation.

They want airport fees for airlines to increase by 10%, while companies want them to decrease.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bizarre Message Sent After BBC News App Error

The BBC has apologised after two bizarre messages saying "Push Sucks! Pull Blows!" were sent to users of its news app.

The message was pushed to smartphone and tablet users

A push notification - usually used to send breaking news alerts - was sent out twice saying: "NYPD Twitter campaign 'backfires' after hashtag hijacked.

"Push sucks! Pull blows! BREAKING NEWS No nudity in latest episode of Game of Thrones!!! MORE BREAKING NEWS IIIIIII like testing"

Many surprised users took screenshots of the messages and posted them to Twitter.

The BBC later sent out a tweet and a push notification saying: "We apologise for previous two test push notifications which were sent in error to BBC News app subscribers."

A spokesman told Sky News that the BBC is in the process of testing new app features and a test message was sent by mistake.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pair Jailed For Life Over Leicester Fire Deaths

Two men convicted of starting a house in fire in Leicester that killed a mother and three children have been jailed for life.

Tristan Richards, 22, and Kemo Porter, 19, were given minimum terms of 35 years and 25 years respectively after setting the house alight in a bungled revenge attack.

The pair were convicted at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday after a trial that revealed their "misguided and impulsive" arson attack was intended to avenge the fatal stabbing of one of their friends, 20-year-old Antoin Akpom.

Shehnila Taufiq and her three children died in the attack

But they mistakenly set fire to the wrong house and Shehnila Taufiq, who was in her 40s, her 19-year-old daughter Zainab and sons Bilal, 17, and Jamal, 15, all died as the blaze ripped through the house in Wood Hill in September last year.

On Monday, Shaun Carter, 24, was found not guilty of four counts of murder over the blaze, but guilty of four counts of manslaughter.

Nathaniel Mullings, 19, Jackson Powell, 20, Aaron Webb, 20, Akeem Jeffers, 21, and 17-year-old Cairo Parker were all also cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter. 

Carter was sentenced to 15 years, while Mullings was ordered to serve 15 years in a young offenders' institution.

Webb, Powell and Jeffers were all sentenced to 12 years in prison.

After their deaths, Dr Taufiq said he would "deeply miss" his family

Parker was given eight years detention on account of the fact he was under 18 years of age.

When he was convicted there had been tears from the public gallery and cries of "he's only a baby!".

The trial against all eight defendants heard how they had intended to attack the house of another man they believed was involved in the death of Mr Akpom.

But they got the address wrong and mistakenly poured petrol through the letterbox of the Taufiq family before setting it alight.

The Taufiq family, originally from Pakistan, had a home in Ireland for 15 years before the children moved to the UK with their mother five years ago, to receive an Islamic education.

(L-R top) Jeffers, Parker, Powell (L-R bottom) Webb, Mullings and Carter

After their deaths, the children's father, Muhammad Taufiq al Sattar, a surgeon working in Ireland, said he would "deeply miss" his "beautiful" wife, daughter and two teenage sons.

Speaking outside court after the sentencing, Dr Taufiq said: "I'm satisfied at the sentence and I accept everything.

"My family is with me 24/7 spiritually and these are the main motives for me. My own belief, religion, my God and my family are with me and these are the main motives for me to continue which I have been doing for the last nine months and will continue until my last breath.

"I'm going back to Dublin tonight where I will continue working at the hospital as well as helping at the community centre."

Dr Taufiq said he would be selling the family home, which had been uninsured at the time of the attack.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cameron Says Leveson Dealt With Phone Hacking

Hacking Trial Jury Watch Is A Waiting Game

Updated: 2:47pm UK, Wednesday 25 June 2014

By Jim Old, Sky News Producer

I'm not a fan of the public restaurant at the Old Bailey. For a start, it's not really public.

Unlike most English courts, you can't just walk in off the street and wander around the Bailey.

The word restaurant is probably stretching a point too. Think 1970s bus station refectory with cuisine to match.

However, the restaurant (shall we just call it a canteen?) is the traditional gathering place for journalists on "jury watch", the frustrating age-old process of waiting for a jury to return with verdicts.

Twelve good citizens are shepherded into a room at the end of a trial.

The door is locked and they're guarded by a jury bailiff who is sworn at the beginning of every day to keep them in a "private, convenient place" and "suffer no one to speak to them" until they've finished their deliberations.

No one, not even the bailiff, knows what is being said in that room.

There is no way of telling if they're progressing harmoniously or if they're locked in some fierce factional stalemate.

So what does the journalist do? He or she turns up at the court daily at 10am.

The jury file in, the bailiff is sworn and they file out again.

The journalist scrutinises their faces for some tiny indication of how things might be going.

He knows it's pointless to speculate but can't help himself.

How are they looking? Why are two jurors no longer sitting next to each other? Why is A smiling and B looking at her feet?

In the closing weeks of the hacking trial, jury-staring by all parties (defendants, lawyers and press) became so intense, the judge had to tell us to avert our eyes when they came into court.

Sitting around waiting for something to happen does not come naturally to reporters and as the days turn into weeks a certain anxious impatience can creep into the press pack.

Prolific hacking trial tweeter Peter Jukes described the jury watch atmosphere in the canteen as "semi-studious, semi-raucous ... like a school library when teacher's absent."

I'm not afraid of a bit of raucousness but I was afraid of failing to hear the tannoy announcement calling us all back to court 12.

After eight months covering the trial, the idea of missing the verdicts was enough to stop my heart.

With the jury locked in deliberation and no clues as to when it would end, Sky News always had a minimum five-strong team at the Old Bailey.

With all the other colleagues poised to leap into action back at Sky News HQ, I felt a weight of expectation on my shoulders. I could not imagine life after a missed hacking trial verdict.

So I sat in an empty courtroom (with a couple of other nervous types) and stared at the wood panelling behind the jurors' empty seats while listening to the soft hum of the air-conditioning.

When the jury did come back with their verdicts, I was ready (oh so ready) and waiting.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hacking Trial Jury Discharged On Final Charges

Jurors who failed to reach verdicts on four final charges in the phone-hacking trial have been discharged by a judge who criticised the Prime Minister for comments that could have caused the case to collapse.

Andy Coulson, the former Number 10 spin doctor, and the ex-News Of The World (NOTW) royal editor Clive Goodman had been accused of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office by paying police officers for two royal phone directories.

But after sitting through eight months of evidence at the Old Bailey, the jury could not reach even a majority verdict and were discharged.

Ex-newspaper editor Andy Coulson has been convicted of phone hacking

It means stinging criticism of David Cameron can now be reported for the first time.

The judge, Mr Justice Saunders, said he was "very concerned" about comments the Prime Minister made while the jury was still deliberating.

"What has happened is unsatisfactory so far as justice and the rule of law are concerned," he said.

The News Of The World was shut down in the wake of the scandal

The move to discharge the jury comes after Coulson was found guilty of plotting to hack phones between 2000 and 2006 while working at the NOTW.

The scandal, which cost the 46-year-old his job as the Prime Minister's communications director and led to the closure of his former newspaper, involved a list of high-profile targets, including Kate Middleton and Prince William, actor Daniel Craig and murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

The incriminating email in which Coulson said "do his phone"

His former colleague Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie Brooks were cleared of the charges they faced.

Shortly after those verdicts were delivered, Mr Cameron led the way in what the judge called "open season" by apologising for hiring Coulson in 2007.

Sky's Home Affairs Correspondent Mark White, at the Old Bailey, said: "Those comments were very prejudicial, suggesting Coulson had been dishonest.

An emotional Rebekah Brooks was cleared of all charges

"There was a move by the legal counsel for Coulson and Goodman to have those remaining counts thrown out ... because they felt the jury wouldn't be able to reach fair conclusions.

"However, in essence, that argument is a moot point for the moment because the jury hasn't been able to reach verdicts."

At a heated Prime Minister's Questions, Labour leader Ed Miliband accused Mr Cameron of "wilful negligence" by "bringing a criminal into Downing Street".

David Cameron and Ed Miliband clashed at Prime Minister's Questions

His opposite number replied with regular references to the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics, saying the report "made no criticism of my conduct".

The judge praised jurors for their "enormous patience and tolerance" and said they shown "exceptional" dedication.

A decision on whether to hold a retrial will be made next week, with sentencing possible on Friday.

Coulson faces up to two years in prison.

Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, of the Metropolitan Police, which launched Operation Weeting to investigate phone hacking at the NOTW, said: "Throughout the investigation, we've done our best to follow the evidence without fear or favour.

"We were conscious of the sensitivities and legal complexities of investigating a national newspaper containing confidential journalistic material.

"This investigation has never been about an attack on press freedom but to establish whether any criminal offences had been committed."

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Billie Piper To Star In Phone-Hacking Play

By Lucy Cotter, Arts and Entertainment Correspondent

Billie Piper will star in a new play at the National Theatre inspired by the phone-hacking scandal.

Great Britain, which premieres on Monday, is fictional but based around the relationship between the press, politicians and police.

Sir Nicholas Hytner said the play would not prejudice the trial

Sir Nicholas Hytner who is directing the play says it does not touch on anything which could prejudice the jury in the hacking trial, however lawyers advised them not to put the production on until Monday.

The play was written by Richard Bean, who was behind the award-winning hit One Man, Two Guvnors. He has admitted he could only write when angry with "no one coming out of it well".

Ms Piper will play Paige Britain, the ambitious young news editor of The Free Press, a tabloid newspaper locked in a never-ending battle for more readers.

Sir Nicholas insisted her character was not based on Rebekah Brooks, the former Chief Executive of News International, who was cleared of phone hacking charges on Tuesday.

But he conceded Richard Bean was inspired by what he saw as "an unhealthy network of relationships at the top of society between press, police and politicians".

Great Britain opens at the Lyttelton Theatre on Monday 30th June.

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Doctor Cleared After Helping Patients Die

A former doctor who gave lethal injections to seven terminally ill patients to help them die has been cleared over poisoning charges at a French court.

Nicolas Bonnemaison had faced life in prison over the allegations. His lawyer said the acquittal was "enormous" and would add weight to the debate raging in France over the legality of assisted suicide.

Relatives of Bonnemaison's patients testified on his behalf during the trial as calls to legalise assisted suicide gather pace. Euthanasia is illegal in Britain and France but lawful in Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Paul Lamb and Jane Nicklinson also argued for euthanasia to be legalised

Mr Bonnemaison's acquittal comes as Britain's Supreme Court declared a ban on assisted suicide, set out in the 1961 Suicide Act, to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Despite the ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal from two disabled men who had argued doctors should have a legal right to kill them if they so wished.

Jane Nicklinson, the widow of "locked-in syndrome" sufferer Tony Nicklinson, brought the case along with paralysed former builder Paul Lamb and another disabled man, known only as Martin, who want to make it legal for doctors to help end their patients' lives.

The court justices ruled against Ms Nicklinson and Mr Lamb by a seven-to-two majority; although five of them said they had the power to declare that a ban on assisted suicide breaches the right to private and family life.

Ms Nicklinson's with her former husband Tony who died in September 2012

The ruling suggests Britain should bring its law in line with the Human Rights Act.

The Supreme Court ruling and the acquittal of Dr Bonnemaison come as another court in France ruled doctors could withhold food and water from Vincent Lambert, who has been in a vegetative state for six years following a motorcycle accident.

It was argued Mr Lambert had communicated his wish to die in such circumstances before the accident that left him tetraplegic. 

But just hours later on Tuesday night, that decision was over-ruled by the European Court of Human Rights, which ordered France to continue to treat Mr Lambert until it had time to properly examine the case.

"He is not sick, he is not at the end of his life, he is not suffering," Jean Paillot, a lawyer for Mr Lambert's parents, told BFM television.

"From our perspective, there is no reason to stop feeding or hydrating him."

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

90-Year-Old Dragged Off Street And Raped

Police in Rochdale have launched an investigation after a 90-year-old woman was attacked in the street and raped.

The woman was attacked as she walked to a butchers in Spotland Road around 6.45am on Tuesday to buy a bacon butty.

She had a £1 coin in one hand and a walking stick in the other.

A hand was placed over her mouth from behind and she was dragged backwards before she lost consciousness.

When she came round she found she had been pulled to the ground and raped.

She managed to pick herself up and walked to the butchers to raise the alarm and the staff called the police.

Superintendent Alistair Mallen said the victim was "really upset, distressed and traumatised".

Looking straight at the camera, he told Sky News: "What I'd say to that individual - and if he's watching me now - get yourself to a police station and explain your actions.

"If you don't, I'll tell you know, we will be knocking at your door in the next 24 hours."

Police want to speak to witnesses who potentially saw the offender

He said earlier: "I am sure the entire community will share our revulsion at this.

"The victim has been through an horrific ordeal and we are all hoping she can make a full recovery.

"She is now being supported by experienced officers and we are doing everything possible to reassure her that we will catch the man responsible.

"This kind of attack is thankfully so rare that it will naturally cause a huge amount of concern in the community.

"I now want people, including the criminal fraternity, to imagine if that had been your mum or grandma. I want to harness these feelings and use them to help the police do their job - catch this man and put him before the courts.

"It may not have struck you as significant at the time, but please, if you saw anything or anyone that you think could be relevant then please call the police."

Police want to hear from people who saw the victim - and potentially her attacker - on Tuesday morning.

The victim is white and was wearing a white summer dress with a flower print and a cardigan.

The attacker is described as a white male but no other details were available.

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk said there was "a real sense of shock and horror" in the community over the attack, and urged anyone with information to "search their conscience" and help police "catch this sick individual".

"Local people are struggling to comprehend how anyone can do this. Our heart goes out to this poor woman. She must have gone through hell," he said.

"Anyone with even a glimmer of suspicion should contact the police immediately."

:: Anyone with information is asked to call police in Rochdale on 0161 856 8470/8420 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. 

More follows...

23.15 | 0 komentar | Read More