Strange Crimes

[lupinwick]

Why?

Police are on the hunt for a thief who stole a urinal from a pub in Hampshire.

The man is thought to have spent 40 minutes removing the white toilet bowl after ordering half a pint at the Royal Oak pub in Southampton.

He then stuffed the urinal in a rucksack and left the pub making sure he wiped his fingerprints off the door as he went.

But his exploits were caught on CCTV and after reviewing the tape landlord Alan Dreja handed it over to police.

"It's unbelievable," said Mr Dreja, 46, who has been landlord at the Royal Oak in Houndwell Place for two years.

'Professional job'

His wife Suzie Dreja added: "We were stunned as he did it at about 5pm.

"He had wandered in and ordered half a pint of Fosters, took a few sips and went into the toilet a few times.

The suspect was captured on CCTV with a bulging rucksack

"He did a very professional job. He turned off the stop cock and capped off the pipe.

"Our staff had thought we had taken it off for repair and it was not until the evening we noticed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6234445.stm

 

[Peripart]

Why?

Police are on the hunt for a thief who stole a urinal from a pub in Hampshire.

I think he was probably just taking the piss.

 

[ginoide]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1105225.mostviewed.urinal_pinched_from_pub_toilets.php

A THIEF has stolen a urinal from the toilets of a Southampton pub.

Landlord Alan Dreja has expected to find the odd missing ashtray or bar mat but he was shocked to discover someone had gone into the gents' loos and removed the item from the wall.

The "un-loo-usual" theft happened at the Royal Oak pub in Houndwell Place while the bar was open.

The man thought to be responsible had casually enjoyed half a pint of Fosters before strolling into the men's toilets and removing the urinal.

He was then captured on the pub's CCTV cameras walking out of the bar with a bulging rucksack on his back.

It was only when a family member went into the toilets just before closing time that the urinal was found missing.

Advertisement continued...
Mr Dreja, 46, has run the pub for two years with his wife Suzie.

The man is thought to have been in the toilets for about 40 minutes during which time other customers used the loo but didn't see the man removing it.

The theft was reported to police who believe the urinal could have been stolen by someone who may be doing cut-price plumbing work in the area.

 

[gerardwilkie]

Man with bad teeth mugs walkers

A Mediterranean man with bad teeth who may have carried out two robberies in Edinburgh is being sought by police.
Both incidents happened within a couple of hours of each other on Saturday.

At 1905 GMT, a 22-year-old woman was walking down the steps at Buccleuch Place when she was punched on the back and knocked to the ground and mugged.

An hour later, a 29-year-old man in Middle Meadow Walk near the Old Royal Infirmary was shoved and mugged by the man who was carrying a knife.


The victim tried to push the suspect away but noticed he had a knife.

A second suspect pushed the victim from behind while the first suspect threatened him, demanding his mobile phone and wallet.

After handing them over, the suspects headed away towards Melville Drive.

The description of one of the suspects was similar in both cases, leading police to believe the same man was responsible for both crimes.

He is of Mediterranean appearance, possible Moroccan, in his early 20s, 5ft 10ins to 6ft, with a thin build, freckled cheeks and dark brown hair.

He had distinctively bad and broken teeth, and was possibly wearing a single metal brace.

Only one suspect was seen by the first victim, however the second man may have been hiding close by .

He wore a light-coloured jumper, light-coloured jeans and possibly a white scarf.

The other man is described as about 5ft 10ins, white and of medium build.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said: "Only one suspect was seen by the first victim, however the second man may have been hiding close by.

"One of the suspects has distinctively bad teeth with a brace fitted and he is of Mediterranean appearance.

"We would appeal to anyone who has seen this man, or knows who he is, to come forward."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6240573.stm

 

[WhistlingJack]

Why?

Police are on the hunt for a thief who stole a urinal from a pub in Hampshire.

I think he was probably just taking the piss.

 

[rynner2]

Appeal flushes out urinal thief

A shamefaced thief caught on CCTV as he walked out of a Hampshire pub with a urinal in his rucksack has handed himself in.
The 42-year-old man, who has not been named, handed himself in to police in Salisbury on Monday evening.

The man, from Salisbury, Wilts, told police he had taken it from the Royal Oak pub in Southampton as a "souvenir".

After being reunited with the urinal, delighted landlord Alan Dreja said he may put it on display in the pub.

"Three policemen returned it," said Mr Dreja.

"The publicity which surrounded the theft seems to have flushed him out."

The tale of the stolen loo has been reported as far afield as Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand.

The space left behind when the thief expertly unplumbed his prize has already been filled, so now the landlord has a dilemma.

"I don't know whether to put it on display in the bar, or put it on eBay", he said.

The thief has been given a caution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hamp ... 245861.stm

 

[gerardwilkie]

Woman held for dumping husband's body lied in missing person's report
A woman arrested for abandoning her husband's body after murdering him lied when she filed a missing person's report in an apparent bid to mislead police, it has emerged.

Kaori Mihashi, 32, from Tokyo's Shibuya-ku, allegedly murdered her husband, Yusuke, at their apartment on Dec. 12, before she mutilated his body and abandoned the parts in Tokyo.

She filed a missing person's report with police on early Dec. 15 saying, "He hasn't come home after leaving for work on Dec. 11."

When describing her husband's physical features, Mihashi falsely said, "There is a scar from an operation on his chest."

When officers asked why Mihashi waited several days before contacting police about her missing husband, she cited domestic trouble between them. "He has failed to come home several times in the past," officers quoted Mihashi as saying.

She also apparently tried to prevent being suspected of involvement in her husband's disappearance by calling his employer, a foreign-affiliated securities firm.

On Dec. 12, Mihashi called her husband's firm, saying that he didn't come home the night before and asking whether he was in the office.

After receiving Mihashi's report about her husband, police launched an investigation and learned that a security camera in their apartment building captured Mihashi's husband on film on early Dec. 12, although she said that he hadn't come home. Police then carried out a DNA test on body parts found near Kabukicho in Shinjuku and learned that the DNA matched that of his mother.

Asked about her motives for the murder, Mihashi reportedly cited regular disputes with her husband. "I have argued with him over a variety of things. He also beat me up," officers quoted Mihashi as saying. (Mainichi)

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070112p2a00m0na010000c.html

 

[ramonmercado]

Chinese body parts found in mail

A man and woman have been detained in China on suspicion of murdering a man and posting his body parts to three different cities.
Last week police in Qingdao city opened a package which was dripping blood, and found it contained a human torso, the China Daily said.

A few days later, a head and arms were reportedly found in parcels sent to Beijing and Jiangyin.

"The case is thought to involve a murder for love," the newspaper said.

The man and a woman were caught on closed-circuit television, mailing the three boxes from a Guangzhou shipping company.

The packages were reportedly labelled as medicine and machine fittings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6262129.stm

 

[escargot]

a head and arms were reportedly found in parcels sent to Beijing and Jiangyin.
"The case is thought to involve a murder for love," the newspaper said.

I dread to think what they'd send you if they DIDN'T like you.

 

[rynner2]

Couple 'built stealth boats for drug-runners'
Marcus Leroux

E-mail 'boasted of low radar signature'
£12m was found at home in Suffolk

A couple sold “uncatchable” speedboats to drug smugglers while running a seemingly reputable boat-building business that counted the police among its customers, a court was told yesterday.

The £350,000 boats could exceed 70mph (112km/h) and were virtually untraceable on radar. Many were painted grey or black to make them less visible in water.

Ipswich Crown Court was told that Neil Davison, 39, and Ellen George, 41, had altered the boats, known as ribs, to make space for up to six tonnes of drugs. The prosecution alleges they knew that their clients included smugglers who trafficked drugs between Africa and Spain. In an e-mail sent to a potential customer, Mr Davison boasted that his boats were “uncatchable” and had a “low radar signature”, the jury was told.

The couple were arrested in March 2004 in a joint operation by British and Spanish customs officers. Revenue & Customs had placed them under surveillance after Spanish authorities seized several boats. The couple’s business, Crompton Marine, also sold vessels to Spanish police.

When police searched the couple’s home in Lowestoft, Suffolk, they found £1.2 million in cash stuffed in holdalls and hidden in cupboards and under the stairs. A further €1 million (£657,000) and £39,000 in cash was found at a home where Mr Davison was staying in Málaga.

George admitted money-laundering and possession of criminal property at an earlier hearing and is awaiting sentence. Mr Davison remains on bail in Spain where he faces drug-smuggling charges.

Simon Draycott, QC, for the prosecution, said that one prototype boat made and fitted-out by Crompton Marine could travel at 50mph with a load of six tonnes and five people on board. “This was such a powerful boat, it could carry a lot of drugs, a lot of contraband and still go so fast it could outrun any maritime craft,” he said.

“The ribs were built, sold and transported to southern Spain, North Africa and Morocco.”

Details of the boats emerged yesterday at the trial of Ian Rush, who is accused of selling Crompton Marine boats to drug dealers after the arrest of Mr Davison and George.

Mr Draycott told the court: “Davison, George and Rush knew those buying the boats wanted them for one reason — to transport drugs and contraband from North Africa to southern Spain. They also knew that the money used to pay for the boats was coming from the proceeds of crime.”

Police allegedly found plans for a 108ft (33m) boat that was big enough to carry five smaller boats. It was never built.

The couple left a paper trail of forged documents at their home, Mr Draycott said. The papers included forged ownership and competency certificates, which were handed over with the boat to help to hide the buyer’s identity.

Mr Rush, 42, of Butterwich, Lincolnshire, denies a charge of conspiracy to obtain criminal property. Philip Hackett, QC, for the defence, described Crompton Marine as “a moneylaundering outfit” using a web of offshore accounts and fake invoices, but stated that, after the arrest of Mr Davison and George, Mr Rush ran the business entirely properly.

He said that Mr Davison and George had generated £2.7 million in assets and moved £16 million across borders between 1998 and 2004, and that it was unlikely that all of this money came from sales of boats. He said that Mr Rush had never built boats like those described by Mr Draycott.

The trial continues.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 28,00.html

 

[lupinwick]

New kind of joyriding

It was 1:15 a.m., and the Great Train Robbery was under way.

In his home near the tracks in Nelsonville, Bill Evans, awakened by two blasts from the engine’s air horn, bolted out of bed.

The president and conductor of the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway knew one of his engines should not be running the tracks at that hour.

Two runaway boys with an apparent taste for super-size joy rides were at the controls of the dark blue, 125-ton locomotive with yellow stripes. They were headed for Logan.

With a 16-year-old pushing all the right buttons and levers, and his 13-year-old accomplice riding shotgun, the engine rumbled up the line.

Hocking County Sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Matheny waited at a crossing and flicked on his cruiser’s spotlight. He saw someone in the cab as the engine went past at 25 to 30 mph.

The chase was on, with Matheny attempting to keep the locomotive in sight from side roads near the tracks as the engine passed through five crossings.

Finally, 12 miles outside of Nelsonville, the one-time Chesapeake & Ohio engine pulled to a stop. The boys, with hands in the air, surrendered to Matheny near Rts. 33 and 328 at the edge of Logan.

Source

 

[rynner2]

Skydiver charged with murder after love rival fell 13,000ft to her death
David Charter and Rory Watson in Brussels

Victim's headcam filmed her death
Parachute looked sabotaged, say police

A married woman who was having an affair with a fellow skydiver plunged 13,000ft (4,000m) to her death after her love rival and best friend tampered with her parachute, police say.
Els Van Doren, 37, fell to earth in a garden in front of a group of onlookers. Els Clottemans, 22, has been charged with her murder.

Minutes earlier the pair had joined hands in a star formation with two other skydivers including Ms Clottemans’s boyfriend, a Dutchman named only as Marcel, who police say was having an affair with Mrs Van Doren.

While he and Ms Clottemans broke away at 4,000ft when their parachutes inflated, Mrs Van Doren, a mother of two, was unable to open either her main parachute or the reserve and crashed to her death in the town of Opglabbeek, Belgium.

Her final moments were filmed by her own head-mounted camera.

Wally Elters, a witness at the aerodrome from which the fatal flight departed, told Le Soir: “I was working on my plane when I heard someone on the ground screaming and pointing to the sky.

“I looked up and saw a black spot falling quickly to the ground. It was wriggling about and it was pretty obvious it was a person.

“Above it were three people in parachutes coming down slowly. Then it hit the ground. It was an appalling moment.”

Police say that video footage taken by Mrs Van Doren as she tried to open her parachute provided evidence that led them to suspect that a fellow club member had sabotaged the equipment. A spokesman said: “A close inspection of the parachutes leads us to believe they had been meddled with.”

An employee at the airfield in Zwarteberg added: “It is very rare for one parachute not to open, but for two to fail is virtually unheard of.”

At Mrs Van Doren’s funeral, about 1,000 people heard her sister deliver a bitter eulogy. “You did all you could during that final jump to save yourself,” she was quoted as saying in the Belgian press. “But someone did not want you to live.”

Ms Clottemans was arrested and charged after a two-month investigation. She denies the allegations but is being held in custody before a court appearance later this month.

Police became increasingly suspicious of Miss Clottemans after discovering the affair between Mrs Van Doren and Marcel. All three had skydived togther for several years.

Ms Clottemans, a secretary, is understood to have attempted suicide hours before being brought in for questioning by detectives for a second time last month. She is said to be suffering from a personality disorder and is receiving treatment.

Police have also disclosed that Ms Clottemans had previously been arrested for attempting to run over an American boyfriend. He escaped injury and she was released without charge.

According to the Belgian media, Marcel tried to arrange his liaisons so that neither woman found out about the other. His affair with Ms Clottemans began a year ago and he would spend Friday evening through to Saturday morning with her.

In the afternoon, he would meet Mrs Van Doren after she had spent the morning working in her husband’s jewellery shop. Their relationship had begun some years earlier and the two would spend the night in nearby Eindhoven, before returning to the skydiving club the next day.

Despite Marcel’s precautions, Ms Clottemans appears to have found out about her rival, although Mrs Van Doren was unaware that he was also involved with her close friend.

A statement from the public prosecutor said: “A thorough investigation of the available evidence and analysis of the motive provide sufficient reason for arresting the suspect. The investigating magistrate charged her with murder, issued an arrest warrant and had her locked up in Hasselt prison.

“In order not to jeopardise the smooth running of the investigation, no further information will be supplied. As has already been suggested in the media, the motive for the crime is most probably in the passionate area. The accused denies the charges.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 87,00.html

 

[filcee]

Doctor gives stripper a hand -- literally

Doctor gives stripper a hand -- literally
Fri Feb 2, 9:18 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A doctor pleaded guilty on Thursday to stealing a severed hand, which he gave to a stripper who displayed it in her New Jersey apartment...

source

 

[ramonmercado]

Mobile thrift shopper finds purloined crosier
Associated Press

MOBILE ? A gold crosier shepherd?s crook stolen from Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb?s unlocked parked car has been recovered by a man who bought it at a thrift store in west Mobile.

It?s the second item stolen from the car that has been recovered in recent weeks by thrift store shoppers. A pectoral cross worn by bishops was returned to Lipscomb last month.

Clinton McInnis of Chunchula said he paid $10.96 for the crosier on Jan. 26 to add to his walking cane collection. It is valued at $6,000, church officials said.

McInnis and his wife, Donna McInnis returned the crosier to Lipscomb on Saturday.

McInnis said he knew the staff wasn?t a cane when he came home and put it together but still had no idea exactly what it was.
McInnis said he read in the Press-Register about the return of the pectoral cross and then realized what he had bought.

The archbishop personally accepted the crosier at the church offices and presented the couple with a photographic history of the archdiocese to thank them for returning the crosier.

Stolen items still missing include a pallium, which is a white band ornamented with six small black crosses that can only be replaced by the Vatican; a gray traveling case with church papers; and four mitres, ornate headdresses with decorative tails called lappets.

Lipscomb?s car was parked in front of a home in west Mobile on Christmas Eve when he discovered the items were stolen.

www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs. ... 04010/1006

 

[Timble2]

Liar's statues stolen

Possibly not that strange, but laughing at Jeffery Archer always brightens up the day.

Lord Archer's sculptures stolen

Garden sculptures belonging to Lord and Lady Archer have been stolen from their property in Cambridgeshire.
The valuable life-size sculptures were sawn off their base before being taken from the garden in Mill Way, Granchester, early on Tuesday evening.

One sculpture is of a girl doing a handstand, and the other is of a shepherd and four sheep.

Cambs Police appealed for witnesses and said the thieves would have needed a large vehicle to move the items.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/e ... 341287.stm

Published: 2007/02/08 07:54:09 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[stu neville]

One sculpture is of a girl doing a handstand, and the other is of a shepherd and four sheep

..and according to Archer all given to him personally by August Rodin as a token of his admiration (little Jeff taught him all he knew, you see .)

 

[rynner2]

Blue Badges: More of a hindrance?
By Geoff Adams-Spink
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website

According to the Local Government Association, half of the blue badges in London are being abused. What needs to be done to restore the credibility of a scheme that was originally designed to make life easier for disabled people?

When the Barnetts - from Ilford in Essex - emerged from hospital to return to their car, they had to walk through shattered glass scattered all over the pavement.

They feared the worst and the worst was what they found: their car window had been smashed so Dianah Barnett's blue badge could be stolen.

"When we came out we realised that all the other cars had been broken into, all for their blue badges - there must have been eight or nine cars in a row," she recalls.

The badge has now been stolen twice and the Barnetts have to visit the hospital once or twice a week, often for the whole day.

They no longer take any chances: they either pay £3.50 an hour in the car park or Martin Barnett sits in the car with the blue badge.

With the cost of parking escalating and London's congestion charge at £8.00 a day, disabled parking badges are now a valuable commodity.

They can change hands for as much as £1600 on the black market, according to police and local government sources.

Residents who live close to Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium, in north London, say that, on match days, their streets are full of vehicles displaying blue badges from which emerges a group of fit young men off to see the match.

Gary Griffiths heads a team of parking enforcement officers who make it their business to identify offenders.

Islington Council estimates that as many as 400 extra blue badges appear on the streets when Arsenal are at home.

Griffiths and his team approach a stocky, white-haired man who they suspect is using a badge illegally.

His badge was issued by Camden Council but he gives an address several miles away in Romford, Essex.

He is unable to explain why his badge was not issued by his local council and a police officer is called to interview him.

Later he told us his badge was "legitimate, but not mine".

Asked whether what he is doing amounts to fraud, he says that he supposes that it is.

And when pressed as to whether he is behaving fairly, he replies:

"No, not really I suppose."

Islington Council is using new powers available in England since September last year giving parking attendants the right to inspect disabled parking badges.

Previously, only a police officer was able to do so.

Although the badges include a picture of the holder, when it is displayed in the windscreen, the photograph is face down.

But very few authorities are using this new tool to clamp down on fraud as much as Islington.

The Five Live report asked all of the London boroughs and several other large cities whether they were inspecting blue badges.

Of the 40 local authorities contacted, 12 replied.

Just under a half said the power was not being used at all.

Others said they did not keep records about blue badge inspection - though this does not necessarily mean they are not doing so.

The City of London said it would not start to carry out inspections until staff had received appropriate training.

And the London Borough of Newham thought only the police had the power to inspect badges.

The government says that it has made the new powers available - something it describes as "key changes to tackle abuse of blue badges".

"Updated guidance for local authorities, which will remind them of their blue badge enforcement powers, will shortly be available," a spokesperson said.

One expert told us that a blue badge would save the holder, on average, £5,000 a year if they parked in a city centre every day for work.

With the price of parking continuing to rise and London's congestion charge zone about to be extended, criminals are likely to continue to regard the blue badge as hot property.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6365635.stm

rynner says: seize and crush the cars of anyone using these bages illegally!
(good for the environment, too! 8) )

 

[rynner2]

Cannabis factory found by chance

A large quantity of cannabis was seized when police who had been called to a burglary came across hundreds of plants over three floors of a Bristol house.
Officers arrived at the house on Gloucester Road in Horfield early on Sunday and saw four men leaving the property in a white Transit van.

Inside the house police found what the men had been trying to steal - about 600 mature cannabis plants.

The basement had also been dug out to make room for more plants to be grown.

Police officers found what appeared to be bundles of American dollars in the hallway of the property.

No-one has been arrested so far and an appeal for information has been issued by police.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/6374653.stm

 

[gerardwilkie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6375543.stm

Used loo paper sent to BBC host

Chiles hosts Premiership football round-up Match of the Day 2
BBC presenter Adrian Chiles is reportedly among a number of the corporation's stars to have been sent soiled toilet paper in the post.
Match of the Day 2 host Chiles said he had received about eight packages, which he described as "disgusting".

"The smell is not something you want first thing in the morning," he said.

The BBC would not confirm claims by the Sun newspaper that other presenters had been targeted, adding it did not like to comment on individual cases.

The corporation said in a statement: "From time to time, BBC presenters and staff do receive malicious and nuisance mail, although we do try to intercept it wherever possible.

"We try to avoid commenting on individual cases because, very often, those sending such mail gain pleasure from publicity.

"When we can identify the sender of such materials, they can expect a visit from the police."

 

[rynner2]

the police should have good DNA evidence!

 

[gerardwilkie]

Don't know if this is a 'strange crime' as such, but it certainly defies belief:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6376181.stm

Police probe restaurant shooting


Police have launched an investigation into the shooting of two young children at a McDonalds restaurant.
The girl and boy, both aged 11, were hit by BB gun pellets in a Dundee branch of the fast food chain.

Tayside Police said the culprit whad been described as a seven-year-old boy wearing in-line skates.

The girl suffered an injury to her face, while the boy was shot on the back of his head and back in the incident at 1550 GMT on Saturday.


The youngsters, who were not seriously injured, were hit as they waited in a queue at the branch on Reform Street.

Insp Alan Szwec said: "All firearms are capable of causing serious injury and BB guns should not be mistaken as toys - they can cause just as much fear and alarm as the real thing.

"I would urge anyone who knows who is responsible for this incident to get in touch with us before someone is seriously injured."

The boy responsible for the shooting was described as being of small build and wore black tracksuit bottoms and a hooded top.

 

[ramonmercado]

'Ritualistic' murder victim named
A spiritual healer murdered in a "ritualistic killing" in Bedfordshire last month has been named.
Beds Police said the man, whose body was found in a car park in Luton on 29 April, is believed to be Alfusaine Jabbi, 22, from The Gambia in Africa.

He had been living in the UK since 2003 and worked as a spiritual healer

Published: 2006/05/09 09:33:29 GMT

Man charged in healer murder case

Alfusaine Jabbi, from Gambia in Africa, was found in a park
A man has been charged in connection with the murder of a spiritual healer who was found dead in a park in Luton, Bedfordshire.
The body of Alfusaine Jabbi, 22, who was also known as Mr Wahib, was found in Leagrave Park on 29 April 2006.

Imran Khan, 26, of Rondini Avenue, Luton, was due to appear before magistrates in the town.

Tariq Shaffi Malik, 28, of Selbourne Road, Luton, appeared in court earlier charged with the same offence.

Rubina Shah, 37, of Willow Way, Luton, was earlier charged with conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice in connection with the case.

Guhar Sultana Mirza, 26, has been charged with perverting the course of justice.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 378261.stm

 

[rynner2]

FLEEING PRISONER KNIFES WIFE TO DEATH
EXCLUSIVE
By Aidan Mcgurran 22/02/2007
AN inmate on the run from an open prison went home and stabbed his wife to death in front of his children yesterday.

Police were alerted after a young boy ran out of the block of flats shouting: "Help.

Someone is killing my mummy, someone is killing my mummy."

Dad-of-eight Anthony Sweeney was allowed out of the low-security prison for a physiotherapy appointment.

But it is believed he travelled home in the afternoon and killed his wife, who neighbours named as Lisa Sweeney.

Detectives launched a manhunt after the blood-stained suspect went on the run.

A police helicopter was scrambled and a 37-year-old man was arrested just over an hour later. Sweeney is thought to have been jailed for a raffle tickets scam.

A police source said: "It would appear this guy had permission to leave the prison and attend a physio appointment. But instead of returning he headed home and this poor woman was killed.

"We are still trying to discover why this happened. He was sent to prison for a relatively minor financial crime - nothing to do with violence."

A neighbour at the smart housing complex in Colchester, Essex, said: "It is really shocking, they were such a nice quiet family.

"She had loads of kids and they would all go to the park together. They were church-going types.

"He was very nice, but I haven't seen him around for a few months. I heard he was in jail - which was a big surprise."

Another horrified neighbour said: "One of the little boys came out crying, 'Help. Someone's killing my mummy.'"

Sweeney had been held in the Category D Standford Hill Prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, which holds about 464 inmates.

A source said: "Most of the guys are either serving short sentences or coming to the end of longer ones. There is usually no need to abscond."

Last night the murder scene was cordoned off by police as forensic officers carried out a fingertip search.

Police were questioning the suspect in custody.

http://tinyurl.com/35bo3q

 

[ramonmercado]

Life for 'MI5 fantasist' killer

Stuart Adcock admitted murdering Rebecca Rice
An insurance worker who fantasised about working for MI5 has been jailed for life for murdering his 18-year-old girlfriend in their Suffolk home.
Part-time photographer Stuart Adcock, 34, left model Rebecca Rice, 18, to die after knifing her 10 times at the flat they shared in Pettistree, Suffolk.

Norwich Crown Court heard Adcock killed Miss Rice in August 2006 after she had said she was leaving him.

Adcock must serve a minimum of 16 years before being eligible for parole.

Prosecutor Karim Khalil said Adcock had been violent towards other girlfriends.

"Stuart Adcock has shown over a number of years that he could be charming towards women when he is courting them," said Mr Khalil.

"But once they become his girlfriend he is inclined to become possessive, jealous and domineering.


The 18-year-old's body was found in the kitchen of her flat

"In early 2006 Rebecca Rice became his last girlfriend. The pattern I have just described repeated itself."

Mr Khalil said Miss Rice had become unhappy with Adcock and planned to return to her parents' home nearby.

He added: "She planned to move back home with her parents. Adcock found out about that, whereupon he decided she would not be allowed to go.

"In a frenzied attack, he knifed her many times in the kitchen of their flat and left her to bleed to death."

MI5 claim

Mr Khalil said Adcock, who admitted the murder at an earlier hearing, was an insurance worker who had been employed by a number of companies, including Zurich and Norwich Union.

"But he had told people that he worked for MI5 and was significantly involved in the aftermath of the London bombings in July 2005.

"He said he had been in the Underground and seen all the dead bodies and he had become depressed after that."

Adcock had told another woman he was employed "by the government in confidential work", added Mr Khalil.

'Friendly and bubbly'

Miss Rice was a talented athlete and horse rider who had done well at school and worked as a model, said Mr Khalil.

Friends described her as a "lovely girl "with a "friendly and bubbly personality".

Graham Parkins, QC for Adcock, said his client had been suffering from depression since the end of 2004.

He said Adcock had no "history of real violence" and added: "We may never ever know how it started, what caused him to react or act in the way that he did. It is bizarre in the extreme."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 387163.stm

 

[uair01]

Missing laptop found in ET hunt

By RACHEL KONRAD - AP Technology Writer - Feb 21, 2:28 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, has signed up more than 1 million volunteers worldwide in a search for extraterrestrial intelligence. They've found no aliens yet, but they have at least turned up one missing laptop.

One of the computers on which Melin installed SETI(at)home is his wife's laptop, which was stolen from the couple's Minneapolis home Jan. 1.

Annoyed - and alarmed that someone could delete the screenplays and novels that his wife, Melinda Kimberly, was writing - Melin monitored the SETI(at)home database to see if the stolen laptop would "talk" to the Berkeley servers. Indeed, the laptop checked in three times within a week, and Melin sent the IP addresses to the Minneapolis Police Department.

After a subpoena to a local Internet provider, police determined the real-world address where the stolen laptop was logging on. Within days, officers seized the computer and returned it. No one had been arrested as of Wednesday and the case remains under investigation, said Lt. Amelia Huffman of the Minneapolis Police Department.

Kimberly's writings were safe, and the thieves didn't appear to have broken into her e-mail or other personal folders. But the returned computer contained 20 tracks of rap music with unintelligible lyrics, possibly from the person who stole the computer or bought it on the underground.

"It's really, really horrid rap," Melin said. "It makes Ludacris look like Pavarotti."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TECHBIT_ALIENS_LAPTOP?SITE=FLDAY

 

[placeholder]

"It's really, really horrid rap," Melin said. "It makes Ludacris look like Pavarotti."

surely he means "It makes Ludacris sound like Pavarotti"

 

[uair01]

Even in court it remained a mystery why a 52-year old woman was stealing dog's bones (pet treats) from a supermarket. She paid for all her other shopping, but stole the bones by putting them in her pocket. After 14 bone-thefts she was caught by store employees.

The woman claimed her behaviour was caused by the medication she took.

She has to pay a 150-euro fine and gets a one week (suspended) prison sentence.

http://www.ad.nl/fun/bizar/article1107776.ece

 

[MrRING]

Beware the Barbie Bandits!

LINK

Police Flooded With Tips On 'Barbie Bandits'

ACWORTH, Ga. -- Police say they have been flooded with tips about the so-called 'Barbie Bandits.'

Two young women used nothing but sunglasses to disguise their faces and were shown smiling when they robbed a bank branch Tuesday inside a suburban Atlanta supermarket. The two, who police said appear to be between 16 and 24 years old, handed a Bank of America branch teller a note demanding cash, smiled as they waited and walked out with stolen money about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at a Kroger store.

Some media organizations are calling the two the "Barbie Bandits." The case has captured national attention after pictures of the two were captured on bank surveillance video and released by police.

It was not clear whether the two had a weapon. Authorities also did not say what was in their note. Cobb County police spokesman Officer Wayne Delk says their images were captured on bank surveillance video and released by police.

Investigators say dozens of people have called claiming to know the identity of the women. Authorities have not said how much money the two took, but Delk says it is "considerable." Witnesses were unable to tell investigators whether they left in a car.

Delk says it's not clear whether their getaway was captured by any other surveillance equipment in the shopping center's parking lot. The store is in a strip mall in an upscale west Cobb residential neighborhood.

Delk said one of the girls appears to be laughing in a bank surveillance camera image, as though "it's all fun and games to them."

 

[rynner2]

Man, 88, admits killing wife, 86

An 88-year-old man has admitted stabbing his 86-year-old wife to death in Devon.
Herbert Powell, of Strete, near Dartmouth, pleaded guilty at Exeter Crown Court to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

His earlier plea of not guilty to the murder of his wife of 60 years, Irene, was accepted by the prosecutor.

Mrs Justice Dobbs entered a formal not guilty plea on the murder charge and adjourned sentence for reports.

Det Sgt Paul Bean said after the hearing, it was a "very sad" case involving two elderly people.

The death of Mrs Powell in October 2005 came to light after her husband - who was remanded in custody after the hearing - crashed his car in the village of Strete.

Police officers went back to his bungalow where they found her body in bed.

She had suffered head injuries, a cut wrist, and a single stab wound to the chest, which a post-mortem examination revealed was the cause of her death.

The couple's pet cat was also dead on the bed, Det Sgt Bean told the court.

Excess calcium

He also explained that when Powell was questioned about the death of his wife, he said he had to "put her out of her pain."

Det Sgt Bean said Powell suffered from an excess of calcium in the blood, which caused mood swings in the defendant.

The couple were well known in Strete, and were regular churchgoers and lunch club members, said the officer.

Powell, who has been in custody for 16 months, is due to be sentenced at Plymouth Crown Court on 18 April.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6427305.stm

 

[rynner2]

COPS HUNT PONGIE 'N' CLYDE, 70
17/03/2007

TWO elderly muggers are robbing bank customers after squirting them with liquidised POO.

The dirty duo - believed to be a husband and wife aged around SEVENTY - offer to help clean up their victims before snatching their cash.

Albert and Doreen Croucher lost £4,000 as they left a bank after making a withdrawal at Eastbourne, East Sussex, last month.

Mr Croucher, 58, said: "I felt this blast from the buildings above us. The smell was instant and vile.

"Just then a lady came over with tissues and helped clean it off. It was only later that I realised she had fleeced me."

The theft is the third in a few weeks in Sussex.

Other attacks in Brighton have netted £11,500.

A police spokeswoman said: "This is a totally repulsive crime."

http://tinyurl.com/yom6md