Two men charged with walking stick killing
May 28, 2009
Reginald Baker, a 75-year-old pensioner, was attacked and brutally beaten with his own walking stick, ultimately leading to his death. The vicious assault, which was fully captured on CCTV cameras, was carried out by two men, Jobey Barney and John James.
It is thought that Barney, 25, and James, 19, were after the old man’s savings, but when Baker refused to give up the hiding place, the pair began to get violent in an attempt to force the information from him.
Baker, who had been suffering from cancer, ended up with a broken neck and back, along with every single rib being shattered.
Judge John Royce ruled the two men guilt, telling them:
“You both pursued this sickening, prolonged, callous and vicious attack before leaving this old man dying.”
Both men were given life sentences; Barney will face a minimum of 30 years, while James will be serving a term of 28 years.
The camera that brought the men to justice had only been installed by police a week earlier due to another burglary, in which £2,300 was stolen from Baker. The two men went through with up to 35 minutes of torture of Mr Baker before fleeing and proceeding to have a normal night out drinking with friends.
Roller shutters hide £7m drug stash
January 27, 2009
Police have managed to obtain a drug haul worth £500,000. The drug raids took place in Leeds, Batley and Cleckheaton. The huge drugs cache wasn’t the only successful find during this set of operations. Police drug squads also managed to locate £100,000 in cash and a stun gun. A stun gun can omit a potentially harmful strong electric shock. The raids were carried out ate three strategic locations in close succession to one another.
This follows on from news last year where drug raids resulted in a huge find for drugs police. They raided a garage in Wakefield in October 2008 and found a drug load hidden in flower boxes behind a set of roller shutters in the garage. The total value was estimated at around £7 million at the time.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said:
“A woman in her forties from Leeds has been arrested in connection with the matter and is detained at a police station in Wakefield to be spoken to by officers.
“Further enquiries are still ongoing by Wakefield District CID.”
There have been several key drug raids in the last 12 months, enforcing the polices view that they really are getting tougher on drugs crime.
UK police sued for £2m by female cops
January 16, 2009
Two serving women police constables mustered up enough courage to sue the Metropolitan Police in the UK for £2 million.
The alleged cases of sexual harassment, perhaps merits the proposed action by the women constables. One of the female police officer claimed that while at the police station, her groin was repeatedly groped.
In the other case, a male officer pulled down his trousers and asked her to perform a sex act on him as he drove on patrol. WPC Julie Facey aged 33, and Paul Church 35 are bent on bringing the lawsuit over the alleged actions of three Essex based cops.
According to Facey, the first officer pestered her for sex. While Church said that he sexually assaulted her repeatedly.
That was not all. Another officer allegedly kissed one of the women, and quizzed her about her underwear.
According to Facey’s complaint, the third officer called her a “cute babe” and said
“Until I get another fit bird on the team, you’re not going anywhere. I need a reason to come in every day.”
Britain’s generous gesture a £500K payout for injured victims
November 30, 2008
The aftermath of last week’s atrocities, during which a British businessman was killed, resulted in advent of a new funding system so as to match the maximum £500, 000 payout to UK citizens injured in a terror attack.
According to the Guardian report,
“The London law firm Lovels said it was entering advanced stages of talks between the government and 10 big travel insurers to evolve a compensation system for Britons caught up in terrorist atrocities abroad.”
Last month, Tessa Jowell, the minister for humanitarian assistance, agreed the situation was unsatisfactory. She said: “We must find a solution and not be prompted by the next atrocity alone.”
It was two years ago, when the government offered assurance that it was seeking to extend the amount given to UK victims abroad. Trevor Lakin’s, son Jez died in the 2005 Shram el-Sheikh bombings along with his girlfriend Annalie Vickers. Trevor opined “the government should stop offering ‘excuses’ for the delay.
Apparently, there seems to be some difficulty in determining what constitutes a violent crime abroad and a terrorist incident, but the fact remains that a system where a terrorist victim’ on a British soil receives a certain amount and a victim abroad gets nothing needs to be rectifed.”
Gordon Brown feels it is too early to confirm UK links with the Mumbai attacks
November 30, 2008
According to the British Prime Minister Gordon, there was no evidence to confirm reports that Britons of Pakistani origin were involved in the world’s probably worst terrorists attack.
On the evening of 26th November, Mumbai was subjected to one of the world’s horrifying and large scale terrorist attack witnessed so far.
After Indian government sources revealed that some of the gunmen were British, London’s Evening Standard newspaper, carried a report on the matter.
A British security source told Reuters that the reports may be speculative but at the same time might contain “elements of truth”.
“We are keeping an open mind. It is likely to take a little bit longer before we can say categorically one way or the other.”
Brown said
”He had talked to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the attacks, in which more than 140 people were killed and hundreds of others injured. At no point has the prime minister of India suggested to me that there is evidence at this stage of any terrorist of British origins. But obviously there are huge investigations that are being done and I think it would be premature to draw any conclusions at all.”
Hannah Foster murder case trial
November 27, 2008
Trevor and Hilary Foster have fought a five-and-a-half year long battle to get justice for their eldest child. This was after the accused, Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, managed to flee to India. As they spoke of their relief after he was finally behind bars in Britain, the parents protested against a life sentence that could see him getting released in 22 years.
Mr Foster stated: “We simply cannot accept how a stranger can abduct, rape and murder your teenage daughter – still a child in the eyes of the law – and yet not end his days in prison.”
Kohli was convicted at Winchester Crown Court unanimously. Mrs Foster and her other daughter Sarah – both broke down and sobbed uncontrollably in the court. In a statement that was read out by her sister, Mrs Foster told how her daughter had been left feeling ‘terrified and alone with an evil stranger.’
It read: “She would have been frozen with fear, unable to run or fight – the proverbial lamb to the slaughter.”
Mrs Foster also coped with breast cancer even as she fought for justice, stated her bright daughter would have become a doctor this year had she been alive. In March 2003, Kohli raped her, strangled her and then dumped her on the outskirts of Southampton
A mammoth database of phone, e-mail traffic planned
October 17, 2008
According to a senior law enforcement officer, as part of the high-tech strategy to fight terrorism, the British government is seriously considering setting up a database of all phone and e-mail traffic in the country. In Home secretary Jacqui Smith’s words;
“Britain’s police and security services needed new ways to collect and store records of phone calls, e-mail messages and Internet traffic.
Technological changes have resulted in an online world that is complex and fragmented. New strategies are needed to find some way to collect that data and store it.
Even before the take off, the idea was immediately condemned by the opposition politicians and liberties groups. The UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism laws, Lord Carlile, stated;
“The government should not be allowed to set up a vast data warehouse.”
If having all your information known to the government so easily isn’t bad enough, just imagine the implications it could have in ensuring the security of the data. If it does go ahead let’s just hope they have some good disaster recovery procedures in place, especially after last months security blunder.
Home Officials said one option under consideration was the creation of a database that could store all the phone numbers dialed, websites visited and e-mail addresses contacted by every one in Britain without storage of the contents. But for Chris Huhne, the domestic affairs spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrats, said;
“The proposed step amounted to hatching Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications.”
Polygraph tests to be made compulsory for sex offenders
September 26, 2008
In an attempt to make the streets a safer place, the Ministry of Justice is planning on implementing a series of tests which will determine whether sex offenders with previous records are still a threat to the community. The tests, which will last for approximately 90 minutes, will monitor the heart rate, sweat levels, blood pressure and brain activity of the subject. These polygraph tests will be made compulsory in some areas of England and Wales, and although they will help monitor these offenders, they will not be used as courtroom evidence.
These tests may very well be useful in keeping track of offenders with former records, as previous attempts showed that almost 80% of the test prompted admissions from the offenders. The locations for the pilot which is said to be a three year long process, have not yet been decided, but sources say that they will be around the areas which lie east of England and West Midlands. If the pilot proves to be a success, it will be implemented all over the country.
This in turn, could also be helpful to previous sex offenders hoping to wipe their slate clean, as it will prove their innocence and will expose attempts by them to mislead probation officers. All in all, the implementation of these tests will make for safer streets and hopefully lower cases of molestation and other sex related crimes.
Another data security breach reported
September 17, 2008
Four laptops have been misplaced from a government department, which deals with bankrupt firms, according to the Insolvency Service sources. This is another data security breach that would cause some embarrassment to the government.
Three of the stolen laptops had not much data on them, but the fourth had personal material about former directors of over 120 insolvent firms and also insolvency practitioners, creditors as well as employees of the firms. “The theft of laptops has been reported to Greater Manchester police. They are investigating,” stated the Insolvency Service that has set up a telephone helpline for those concerned with the data loss.
Over the last one year, many government departments have encountered data security breaches. Earlier this month, personal details of prison staff in England and Wales were leaked through a government contractor. Police were called in after a consultancy company lost in August a computer memory stick that contained the personal details of all prisoners as well as the details of thousands of serious offenders and those on drug rehabilitation.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown had ordered an urgent review last year after HM Revenue and Customs lost data on 25 million people.
Three charged for plot to murder Brown.
August 29, 2008
According to reports by The Telegraph, three British Muslims were charged for threatening to murder Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
A plot to assassinate Gordon Brown was foiled in time to prevent any harm. Ishaq Kanmi, a 22 year old youth, from Blackburn, Lancashire has been charged with soliciting murder and belonging to, or claiming to belong to Al Qaeda. The report goes on to mention that he is also facing charges for;
“inviting support for a proscribed organization and for disseminating terrorist publications.”
Abbas Iqbal, a 23 year old youth who is also from Blackburn, is charged with disseminating terrorist publications and also possession of an article for the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.
The third person to be charged for the same offence is Ilyas Iqbal a 21 year old youth. He is also charged for making a record of information likely to be useful by a person committing an act of terrorism
Two of the arrested men were preparing to leave the country at Manchester Airport when the arrest took place on 14th of August, while the third was arrested at work in Accrington, Lancashire.
A fourth was arrested on Tuesday morning in Blackburn. A fifth arrest is currently on the cards.
The timely culmination of an operation led by the Lancashire police, supported by officers from the Greater Manchester Police Counter Terrorism Unit led to the arrests, thus preventing the suspects from fleeing the country.
