https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13867819/baby-p-stepfather-denied-parole-hearing.html

Baby P's evil stepfather Steven Barker who tortured the toddler to death will stay behind bars after being denied parole hearing

    Barker, 47, has spent 15 years in jail for killing Baby P and raping a two-year-old
    Unless he appeals the latest parole decision, he will stay in jail until at least 2026
    Baby P's mother Tracey Connelly was recalled to prison earlier this month

By Andy Gardner For Mailonline

Published: 09:17, 19 September 2024 | Updated: 09:37, 19 September 2024

Baby P's evil stepfather's behaviour in prison is so bad that he has been denied a full parole hearing and will remain locked up.  Steven Barker, 47, has spent 15 years in prison for torturing and killing 17-month-old Peter Connelly and for raping a two-year-old girl.  He has been denied parole four times since 2017 but was hopeful that his fifth would result in a full appeal and his eventual release.  However, Barker has been told a review of his jail papers under a Member Case Assessment (MCA) has been unsuccessful.  The MCA is the first stage in the review process that normally leads to a full oral hearing in front of a three person panel.  Barker now has 28 days to appeal the decision and to request a private oral hearing.  The Parole Board confirmed that Barker had been informed of the MCA decision. So far, he has not appealed.  If the status quo remains, Barker will be in jail until at least 2026.  A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: 'We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board refused the release of Steven Barker following a paper review.  The panel also refused to recommend a move to open prison. After a paper refusal, the prisoner has 28 days in which to ask the Parole Board for an oral hearing.   Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.'

A source said: 'Barker also lost his last appeal under a MCA in 2023. It is very rare for a prisoner to have two rejections in a row.  The panel member who read Barker's dossier decided there was enough information to reject his parole appeal.  The documentation has to be pretty damning for this to happen and the outcome has to be clear cut.'

The MCA review included documents on his behaviour in jail and in-depth psychological reports.  Barker has reason to fear the MCA review, as he lost the last one in October 2023.  The review said that Barker had refused to deal with his horrific actions.  This included refusing to take part in 'offence-focused interventions'.  Barker was among three people jailed in relation to the death of baby Peter in 2007.  Peter's mother Tracey Connelly, 42, was released in 2013 before being locked up again in 2015 for breaching her licence conditions.  She is alleged to have been selling naked photos of herself and 'developing intimate personal relationships' online.  She was released in July 2022, but recalled to prison again this month for breaching her license conditions a second time.  She was subject to 20 licence conditions, including having to wear an electronic tag and disclose all her relationships, having her internet use monitored and obey a curfew.  She was also banned from going to certain places to 'avoid contact with victims and to protect children'.

A HM Prison and Probation Service spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions and we do not hesitate to recall them to prison if they break the rules.'

The Parole Board had said at the time of her release in 2022 that she had been cleared for release due to a low risk of reoffending and that probation officers and prison officials supported the plan.  As she is serving an indefinite sentence, it will be a matter for the Board to decide if she is ever released again.  Barker's brother Jason Owen, 48, was given a six-year custodial sentence for allowing Baby P to die, but has also been released.  Little Peter had suffered over 50 injuries, despite being on the at-risk register.  Social workers, police and health professionals made a total of 60 visits to his home over an eight-month period before he died.  His horrific injuries included a broken back, fractured shinbone, damage to the head, and blackened fingers and toes from cigarette burns.  Connelly's lover Barker was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 10 years for raping a two-year-old and given a 12-year term to run concurrently for his 'major role' in Peter's death.  A spokesperson for the Parole Board previously said: 'We can confirm the parole review of Steven Barker has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes.'

Baby P: A timeline of the tragedy that shocked Britain

March 1, 2006: Peter Connelly (Baby P) is born

August 3, 2007: 17-month-old Baby P is found dead in cot

November 11, 2008: Peter's mother, Tracey Connelly, boyfriend Steven Barker and brother Jason Owen are convicted of causing his death

November 13, 2008: Ed Balls orders an inquiry into the role of the council, health authority and police

December 1, 2008: An independent review declares Haringey's child protection services 'inadequate'

December 8, 2008: Haringey Children's Services boss Sharon Shoesmith is sacked with immediate effect

May 22, 2009: Connelly is jailed indefinitely, Barker gets a life term and Owen is given an indeterminate sentence for public protection

October 7, 2009: Shoesmith launches a High Court case against Balls to seek compensation for her dismissal

September 15, 2010: Shoesmith tells MPs she is sorry about what happened but refuses to accept any blame, saying she had no involvement in the care of Baby P

May 27, 2011: The Court of Appeal rules in favour of Shoesmith, saying her dismissal was 'tainted by unfairness'

October 8, 2013: Connelly is recommended for release by the Parole Board

February 14, 2015: Connelly is back behind bars after sending nude pictures to male fans

December 29, 2015: The Parole Board rejects Connelly's first bid for freedom

November 28, 2017: The Parole Board rejects Connelly's second bid for freedom

January 6, 2019: The Parole Board rejects Connelly's third bid for freedom

March 30, 2022: Connelly is recommended for release by the Parole Board

July 2022: Connelly is released and sent to a bail hostel

September 2024: Connelly is recalled to prison after breaching her licence conditions

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13821713/Son-murdered-Afghan-terror-suspect-taliban-Britain.html

My beautiful boy was murdered by an Afghan terror suspect who posed as a child orphaned by Taliban to sneak into Britain but he'd already killed twice. It's torn my family apart and now authorities are trying to cover it up

By James Fielding

Published: 08:07, 9 September 2024 | Updated: 08:08, 9 September 2024

Peter Wallace is haunted by the last moments of his beloved stepson's life.  Peter wasn't there, outside a branch of the sandwich chain Subway on a Bournemouth street, in the small hours of March 12, 2022, to witness the moment 21-year-old Tom Roberts was stabbed in the chest by Afghan migrant Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai.  But Peter, who welcomed Tom into his life as a one-year-old when he met and fell in love with the boy's mother Dolores, has seen the CCTV footage. It is seared in his memory.  He can recall each agonising second of watching Tom, who aspired to become a Royal Marine, intervene in a heated row between his own friend and Abdurahimzai over an e-scooter.  'I watched the CCTV of his last moments and the last thing he did was put his arms out between the killer I can't bear to say his name and his friend,' says Peter.

'The fact that Tommy had both his arms stretched out meant that he wasn't protecting his body, and the killer straight away reached into his trousers, pulled out a knife and stabbed him.'

Two years have passed, and the grief Peter feels is ever-present and has only been compounded by all that has happened since.  For in the devastating aftermath of Tom's murder, it emerged that this was no simple case of wrong person, in the wrong place at the wrong time.  When he had slipped off a cross-channel ferry into the country, in 2019, Abdulrahimzai had told Border Force officers he was a 14-year-old orphan, fleeing the Taliban.  The truth, however, was very different; in reality he was 19 and had already killed twice before that night, gunning down two fellow Afghan migrants with a Kalashnikov rifle in Serbia in 2018 where he worked as a people smuggler, while zig-zagging his way around Europe.  The numerous failures that left an adult killer free to walk the streets, masquerading as a child, then the catalogue of missed opportunities to spot the red flags that could have served as a warning of the dangers to come were laid bare in the wake of the tragedy.  Blunder upon blunder that heaped agony on Tom's grieving family, who, after Abdulrahimzai's conviction for murder in January last year, accused the Border Force and Home Office of systematic failures which allowed Abdulrahimzai into the country.  They had hoped that a full inquest into his death would lead to some accountability from the authorities.  But last week, those hopes were dealt another crashing blow when, after a number of pre-inquest review hearings, senior coroner for Dorset Rachael Griffin ruled there was no need for a full inquest to take place.  Mrs Griffin ruled the inquest did not meet the criteria for Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights, that the state knew or ought to have known of an immediate risk to an individual's life they have to take reasonable steps to deal with that risk.  She said Tom and Abdulrahimzai were strangers and although there was an 'emerging pattern of violent behaviour and a risk to others of harm', at the time of the murder the illegal immigrant had not used a knife in an act of violence nor made any threats to kill since arriving in the UK in December 2019.

But for Peter, the catalogue of mistakes and missed opportunities is as damning as the senseless crime that robbed him of the boy he loved and raised.  'The killer didn't just take Tommy's life he destroyed my whole family,' he says, sadly.

Peter and Tom's mother Dolores started a relationship in 2001 and married six years later; Peter helping to raise not only Tom, but his elder sisters Patti and Erika. The couple went on to have a son together, William, who is 14.  But Peter reveals that he and Dolores separated after nearly 25 years together last March. Why?

'The strain of trying to be a normal family became too much and we parted ways,' he says. 'It's devastated me because we were so happy before this happened.  I have a cherished memory of myself and Dolores sipping tea in bed on a Sunday, surrounded by Tommy and the other kids playing by our side. It was a really wholesome and lovely experience. But it's all gone now. Only William has kept me going.'

Peter speaks with pride of the boy who he taught to ride a bike and who grew into a strapping young man, albeit one who remained a gentle soul.  'Tommy did not have an aggressive bone in his body,' he says. 'In fact, I don't think he ever had a fight in his life.  He didn't really go out too much either, he was very homely. He and his friends were really keen on keeping fit and healthy.  For the last two years, Tommy had been training at a boxing gym in Christchurch. He never liked hurting anybody so would mainly work-out, train on the punchbags and spar.  I was pleased because he was somebody who wouldn't say boo to a goose and I wanted him to learn how to look after himself because I know how the world can be.  He'd built up an impressive physique and was proud of how big his arms were and how toned he was. He was in really good physical shape.  This is the thing that bothers me, he could have overpowered his attacker had he wanted to or had the chance to, but he didn't have that aggression in him.  We always told him, 'walk away and live another day' and so he was never one who'd go out looking for fights. He was the gentlest kid you could ever meet.'

On the night violence erupted into his life, Tom, a part-time DJ, had been out with two friends and was looking for a cab home when, in the kind of innocuous scene that unfolds on many a city street after a night out, one of his friends picked up an e-scooter from the ground outside a Subway sandwich store and joked they should ride it home.  An enraged Abdulrahimzai stormed over and confronted them. Tom initially walked away, but returned when the argument grew more intense.  He carefully placed his hand out to suggest they were of no threat but when the Afghani squared up to him he slapped him away in self-defence. At this point, Abdulrahimzai produced a 10-inch, gold-handled knife from the waistband of his trousers and stabbed Tom, twice.  Recalling the moment the family were told, Peter says: 'It was five or six o'clock in the morning and we got a call from Poole Hospital to say that Tommy had been stabbed and that it was very serious and could we come down.  We got there as fast as we could but when we got there, he'd already gone.  He'd died at the scene, the medics had managed to revive him enough to be taken to hospital but they couldn't save him.  The worst thing was not being allowed to see him. The police needed to keep his body in the mortuary for forensic purposes.  We couldn't hug him one last time and say goodbye. All we had was a bag of his possessions.'

First came the heartache, then, as an investigation unfolded, the revelations.  It transpired that Abdulrahimzai had arrived in the UK on December 26, 2019, hidden in a vehicle on a ferry from Cherbourg and told Border Force officials he was 14, but no age assessment was carried out.  Astonishingly, he was placed into two secondary schools in Bournemouth after claiming to have escaped Afghanistan, where the Taliban had killed both his parents.  Concerns over Abdulrahimzai's real identity and age were raised on several occasions including by his foster carer. His fingerprints were taken a few weeks after arriving in the UK and revealed he had links with Norway and Italy.  The prints were sent to both countries but with no request for any further information. If this had been done it would have revealed his true age.  Neither were Abdulrahimzai's fingerprints shared with Interpol either, not until after Tom's death, when a search revealed that in September 2022 he had been convicted of shooting two men dead in Serbia.  Alarm bells might have rung so many times: when he was expelled from one school for carrying a knife on the premises, when he was removed from care after threatening his foster mother, or when two days before he killed Tom he was stopped by police for carrying a machete.  He was, as Tom's family put it, 'a loaded canon', one that just happened to point at Tom.  There had been so much promise to the life Tom was building.  Ambitious, he'd recently completed an engineering apprenticeship and had submitted an application to join the Royal Marines.  Peter recalls fondly how his stepson excelled at design and technology as a student at St Peter's School in Bournemouth and then at Highcliffe School.  'He moved to Highcliffe and had planned to do A-levels there until he secured a two-year apprenticeship with a local engineering firm,' he says. 'I think he was a little bored of what he was doing to be honest, he was hands-on and liked a challenge and so wanted to continue with engineering but with the Royal Marines.  His father has a military background and Tommy was physically very fit. He signed up and sent off the application a month before he was murdered. We never heard back so will never know if he would've been successful.  Tommy had his whole life in front of him. He was smitten with his girlfriend, Gemma. He told his mother and myself that he was really keen on her. He hadn't bought an engagement ring or anything like that; but I don't think a proposal was too far away. He'd talked about it.'

Instead of new memories, Peter is left with the old ones of the boy he cherished as if he were his own.  'Tommy was a great kid,' he says. 'I taught him to ride a bike and we'd often go out together in the kayak off places like Lymington and Beaulieu and he absolutely loved being part of Sea Scouts. He just loved the water.  He also played rugby for a time when he was about ten. But it was just to keep me happy really because I loved rugby. Tommy was never that keen on playing because he didn't like the thought of getting hurt or, worse, hurting an opposition player.  When he first started playing, he'd chuck the ball away on purpose but gradually he learned how to pass and tackle.'

Peter has had to hold on to those memories in the dark days since Tom's murder.  'I fell into a pit of despair when Tommy died,' he admits. 'I didn't know what to do.  I lost my stepson and then my wife and had to walk away from work because I was becoming too aggressive.  My background is in physiotherapy but most recently I was working for a company selling medical supplies and on a few occasions I got into arguments with customers.  I was warned about my conduct and I knew I had to step back before things became even worse.  People say that time is a great healer but two and half years on and the pain is just as intense perhaps even more so as I've lost everything.  I'm undergoing counselling but I'm not the same man I was. I watched Tommy's last moments played in court. I didn't want to, but I needed to know what happened.  I watched that man pull out a knife and stab the boy that I'd taught to ride a bike, took kayaking and surfing. The blow caused him to stumble towards some bins and fall down on the floor never to get up.  That would change anyone. It's all about learning to cope with what's happened because you never get over it.'

As for his son's killer, he says: 'There were so many warning signs that Abdulrahimzai should not be here yet the Home Office did nothing about it.  It feels like everything is being swept under the carpet and it is a big cover-up.'

At the time of the inquest ruling, a Home Office spokesperson said: 'Our deepest sympathies remain with the loved ones of Thomas Roberts.  We will consider the findings of the coroner's report, but it would not be appropriate to comment further in the interim.'

The Home Office has been contacted for further comment.
 
Bloodstained journey of Afghan double murderer who shot two people dead with an AK-47 in Serbia but was allowed to claim asylum in the UK before killing again

He was the drug dealing double murderer whose violent past eluded the Home Office and Border Force agents when he claimed asylum on Boxing Day 2019.  But barely two years after arriving in Poole, Dorset having duped officials into thinking he was a 14-year-old boy 'knife obsessed' Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai added a third victim to his body count, murdering innocent Thomas Roberts in cold blood.  The 21-year-old Afghan national stabbed the aspiring Royal Marine to death during an argument over an e-scooter in Bournemouth town centre in March last year.  And on Monday, Abdulrahimzai was found guilty of murder following a trial at Salisbury Crown Court where his bloodstained journey from Afghanistan to Bournemouth was finally unveiled.  In a stunning revelation, the court heard how Abdulrahimzai had been handed a 20-year prison sentence in his absence for ruthlessly slaughtering two fellow Afghans in Serbia, gunning them both down with an AK-47 assault rifle in 2018.  Earlier, the court heard how as a 15-year-old child, Abdulrahimzai had been tortured and left for dead by the Taliban who had previously executed both his parents when he was just four or five.   Now Abdulrahimzai's journey can be revealed.   October 2001: Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai claimed, like many Afghan children, not to know his date of birth. But a court later determined that he was born around this time just weeks after Al-Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden masterminded the 9/11 terror attacks in America.  Abdulrahimzai said he was four or five years old when his parents were killed by the Taliban in the Laghman province in the east of the country.  Oct 2015: Having been tortured by the Taliban and left for dead at the side of the road, Abdulrahimzai is smuggled out of Afghanistan through Pakistan by a man described as his 'uncle'. He has his fingerprints taken in Serbia, and then a few weeks later in Norway.

Jul 2016: Abdulrahimzai, using one of his many fake names, has his fingerprints taken in the northeastern port city of Trieste, Italy.

Feb 2017: He is convicted of two drug offences in Italy and handed a suspended sentence.

Jun 2017: Abdulrahimzai is back in Serbia.

Jul 31 to Aug 1, 2018: Abdulrahimzai guns down two fellow Afghans with an assault rifle at a shed near a motorway in Dobrinci in an apparent argument about people smuggling. He flees in a taxi. He is declared a wanted man by Serbian authorities.

Oct 2018: Abdulrahimzai is back in Norway.

Nov 2019: He applies for asylum in Norway, but is refused.

Dec 26 2019: Weeks later, Abdulrahimzai travels as an unaccompanied passenger on a Brittany Ferries service from Cherbourg in France to Poole in Dorset. Upon arrival, he tells officials he is 14, when in reality he is thought to be around 19 years old.

Jan 2, 2020: He is placed into the foster care of Nicola Marchant-Jones, an experienced foster carer in Bournemouth. Adbulrahimzai, who is initially unable to speak English, later begins attending school locally - where the depraved killer went on to 'terrify' young girls, sending them indecent selfies, and beating up young boys.

Nov 2020: Abdulrahimzai goes on trial, in his absence, in Serbia for the double-murder. He is convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Dec 2020: Ms Marchant-Jones raises the alarm with social services, who contact police, after she spots Abdulrahimzai with a knife during a shopping trip. He is spoken to, but not arrested.

2021: Home Office's Prevent anti-terrorism task group was told Abdulrahimzai was 'susceptible to terrorism' in 2021.

Aug 2021: Abdulrahimzai has an argument with his foster mother and leaves the home. He is later placed with another family.

Mar 10, 2022: Dorset Police receive a report that he is carrying a knife. No weapon is found, however, and no arrests are made.

Mar 12, 2022: Abdulrahimzai headbutts a man during a row outside a nightclub in Bournemouth. Moments later, he gets into an argument with 24-year-old James Medway over an e-scooter.  Thomas Roberts, 21, acts as 'peacekeeper' but is then stabbed twice by Abdulrahimzai. The incident lasts less than half a minute. The killer escapes on foot. Aspiring Royal Marine Mr Roberts dies later in hospital.

Mar 13, 2022:  Abdulrahimzai is arrested after accidentally leaving his phone at the scene. He tells officers he is 16 years old.

Jan 23, 2023: Abdulrahimzai, determined by a court to be 21, is convicted of murdering Mr Roberts and jailed for a minimum term of 29 years.

January 2024: Senior coroner Rachael Griffin rules at a pre-inquest review hearing that Tom's death was not related to a terrorist incident or terrorist activity and Home Office Prevent reviews are not relevant to this inquest.

September 2024: Senior coroner rules there is no need for a full inquest looking at Home Office failings to take place.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13750781/rotting-mummified-body-garden-girl-mysterious-Welsh-community-neighbours-murder-untold-story-Body-Garden-TV-series.html

When a mummified body was found in a Welsh village, the killer turned out to be the most unlikely suspect. Her unmasking left a sleepy community in shock

By Sarah Rainey

Published: 16:56, 16 August 2024 | Updated: 16:56, 16 August 2024

Nothing much happens in Beddau, a former mining village in south Wales.  Beddau (pronounced 'beh-tha') means 'Graves' in Welsh, and the small community here has a reputation for being uneventful, peaceful and safe as quiet, some say, as the grave. 'That's why we moved here,' says Alison Wiltshire, 64, who has lived in the area with her husband Roddy, 65, for 36 years. 

'We were originally up in the Valleys and we came to Beddau when we had young children. It's a nice area to live, lots of families and a really welcoming community.'

But one day back in November 2015, that changed and the name of the village the Wiltshire family call home took on a sinister new meaning.  Two local women found a dead body, wrapped in plastic in a communal garden on a housing estate in the centre of Beddau and police launched a murder investigation.  One of the women, Michelle James, was arrested and the other, Rhian Lee, was taken in for questioning. A cordon was set up and police began rigorous searches and forensic tests, conducting interviews with everyone in the area.  The body was a white male, middle-aged and around 5ft 6in tall, dressed in blue striped Marks & Spencer pyjamas and with a gold signet ring on one finger.  He had been killed, it was soon ascertained, by blunt-force trauma to the head, and his body wrapped 41 times, in a combination of carrier bags, plastic sheeting and carpet.  A pathologist estimated the victim, whose skin, hair and organs were still intact, had been dead for weeks or months at most.  But who was he?

Who had murdered him?

And why?

What ensued, as documented in a new, three-part series, The Body Next Door, on Sky Documentaries, was a deeply unsettling time for the residents of Beddau, as suspicion and rumour gripped the village and dominated daily life.  Police went door-to-door. Neighbours turned on one another. People began checking their locks, holding their children's hands a little tighter, afraid a murderer might be on the prowl.  'It was winter the nights were dark and it was all very spooky,' Roddy recalls. 'We were all in total shock. Things like that don't happen around here.'

Alison says it was 'the talk of the village for weeks'.

Police, awaiting forensic examination of the body, were at a loss for clues, which only fuelled wagging tongues in the community.  Michelle James was released after four days, with detectives putting her inconsistent answers down to shock, rather than guilt.  However, that wasn't the end of her plight, with her name now tainted among people she'd previously called friends. 'She was badly affected by it,' Rhian Lee, the friend who found the body with Michelle, told the Mail this week. 

'It was terrible she'd go to the shops and people would shout 'Murderer' at her. It was so unfair.'

Rhian, 48, still lives in Beddau, across the road from the Trem-Y-Cwm flats where the body was found on November 24, 2015. She, too, was questioned by police, and had seven months of counselling to come to terms with it all.  It would be three long weeks before Rhian, the Wiltshires and other worried residents of Beddau finally got some answers.  But the results of forensic tests were more jaw-dropping than anyone could have imagined.  Analysis of the materials wrapping the body (including a Tesco bag dated '1992') and fluids from the victim revealed he'd been dead a lot longer than experts had predicted: almost two decades, in fact.  Further examinations uncovered his identity: John Sabine, a 67-year-old resident of the flats, whose wife, Leigh, 74, an eccentric figure who claimed to be a cabaret singer from New Zealand, had died just 25 days before the body was found, of terminal brain cancer.  Leigh and John had signed the lease on their flat together in February 1997, and John was recorded visiting a doctor in Beddau in April that year but, after that, he was never seen again.  Leigh told friends he had been violent and abusive, claiming he once raped her and used to lock her in their flat.  A breast cancer survivor, she said he had left her because of her double mastectomy and explained his disappearance by saying he'd moved to Newcastle in the late 1990s.  'We would sit and chat, and I said, 'What happened to John?',' recalls Mary West, 68, a teacher at the local comprehensive school and street pastor, who befriended Leigh in 2014 when her mother was living in the same block.

'She'd say, 'Oh, he left me. He left me for another woman, because he's Italian and that's what they do.'

DNA evidence, dental records and a match on a hip replacement confirmed that John was, indeed, the body in the bag. But he wasn't Italian, he was an accountant born in London. Nor had he left Leigh.  The multiple layers of wrapping, which went 20cm deep, had prevented decomposition, effectively mummifying the body for 18 years.  Suspicion immediately fell on Leigh: a blonde hair found within the packaging linked her irrefutably with the crime, and it was revealed that she'd been claiming John's pension for herself. The police had their murderer.  Leigh Ann Sabine (she also went by 'Lee' and 'Ann') was the most flamboyant figure people in this sleepy Welsh village had ever encountered.  Neighbours remember a larger-than-life, outspoken woman who called everyone 'Darling' and was rarely seen without a cigarette in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. She always wore red lipstick and nail varnish, dyed her permed hair peroxide blonde and was known for her 'look-at-me outfits'.  'When she first turned up, a lady in her 60s, she was wearing denim shorts with fishnet tights,' remembers Mary West. 'I asked her about this once and she said, 'Well, I want to be noticed, darling,'.'

No-one could quite work out Leigh's origins: she claimed to be from New Zealand, where she and John had lived before moving to the UK first to Reading in 1986, then to Beddau.  'She had a very strange accent, in one sentence trying to talk quite posh, and then not,' says Alison Wiltshire.

Later investigation would reveal she was, in fact, Welsh, born Ann Evans, to a coal mining family in the Rhonda Valley, just 20 minutes up the road from Beddau.  Her career path, too, was something of a mystery.  Leigh told friends and neighbours outlandish stories: she'd been a drugs counsellor, a dog breeder, a dancer, a model and a famous cabaret singer, though Google searches yielded not a single mention of her name.  Hanging in the spare bedroom of her cluttered, chintzy flat was a black-and-white portrait of herself, dolled up to the nines, supposedly in her heyday.  'She was very eccentric, and even though I wasn't really sure if all her stories were true, it was always fun listening to her,' says Sian Baker, 51, who runs a hair salon in Beddau and started doing Leigh's hair in 2005.

'She told us she would be famous but for all the wrong reasons. I never understood that at the time.'

In fact, Leigh had once made headlines, but not in the way she liked to suggest. She and John had five children in New Zealand, whom they'd cruelly abandoned in 1969, leaving them then aged between two and 11 at a nursery in Auckland without explanation.  They moved to Sydney, purportedly to pursue her singing dream, but returned to New Zealand in 1972, where astonishingly they changed their surname and failed to contact their children, who were now in state care.  Speaking to the Auckland Star in 1984, when they attempted an abortive reunion with their children, Leigh branded a 'runaway mum' claimed she had done it all 'for love' to build them a better life.  Leigh and John forged a relationship with their eldest son, Marty, with whom they moved to the UK, but later lost touch with, while the younger four stayed in New Zealand and heard nothing of their parents until their mother's death, when the twisted saga started to unravel.  Meanwhile, in Wales, police were faced with a troubling question: in the last 12 months of Leigh's life she'd been increasingly frail, meaning she wouldn't have been able to move the body of her long-dead husband.  So how had it got into the garden at Trem-Y-Cwm flats?

Suspicion bubbled up once again. There was Lynne Williams, a carer who had looked after Leigh in her final months. Along with Rhian and Michelle, she'd helped clear the old woman's flat and distributed her possessions after her death.  Mary, too, was questioned by police, as Leigh had dubbed her the unofficial 'executor' of her will. Even Alison and Roddy had a talk with detectives, as they were among the few Beddau locals to have met John Sabine, having visited the couple's flat for a cup of tea when they first moved in.  Police soon learned, from piecing together fragments of Leigh's outrageous and embellished tales, that she had long-claimed to own a 'medical skeleton' from her days as a nurse.  Leigh had briefly trained as a nurse at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, which is where, as a 17-year-old in 1957, she met John, then 28, who was being treated for injuries he'd suffered in the Korean War. Everyone Leigh met seemed to know about her macabre possession,  Although it's unclear where Leigh stored her husband's body, it's reported to have been kept under her divan bed, with its flowery duvet and heart-shaped pillow the same bed where police believe she bludgeoned John to death, using a stone frog she kept as a doorstop.  Alison and Roddy remember a 'terrible smell in the air' when they visited the block.  It's thought Leigh kept re-wrapping the body as the years passed, in a bid to conceal it and stop the rotten stench.  A carpet that was found wrapped around it can be seen in situ in the flat in a picture taken by photographer Juliet Eden, who interviewed Leigh at home in 2014, showing she was still adding to the wrapping even then.  Rhian believes Leigh paid a couple of local men to move it, possibly inside a wheelie bin, down to the communal garden in the years before her death.  Leigh had a new and perhaps peculiar interest in the garden in later life, even appearing in a local magazine in 2012 where she was credited with breathing new life into the shared space.  Once a year, she'd host a BBQ there for residents in the surrounding flats.  'Michelle must have spotted the bag when she was putting her washing on the line,' Rhian says. 'It was on the gravelly bit of the patio, with a long potting table over the top.  It was hidden, but you could see it, it was just that nobody tried to look at it until that day.'

On November 24, 2015, Rhian was at Michelle's house directly below Leigh's old flat, No 57 having a coffee, when the pair decided to play a prank on Keith, another upstairs neighbour.  On the spur-of-the-moment, Michelle remembered her crazy old friend's medical skeleton.  She and Rhian decided to take two kitchen knives, cut open the bag in the garden and bring the skeleton into her living room, where they were going to prop it on the sofa, call Keith over and joke that it was Michelle's new boyfriend.  But when they started sawing through the layers of plastic, putrid sludge began leaking out, and they realised they'd found something else entirely.  We will never know quite why or how Leigh came to murder John, though ever brazen she appears to have made an early confession to a friend.  Valerie Chalkley, who knew the couple when they lived in Reading, contacted the police about a phone call she received from Leigh back in 1997.  In the call, Valerie asked Leigh if she was still with John, joking that they might have killed each other by now, so turbulent was their marriage.  Leigh replied: 'I have killed him. I hit him over the head with a stone frog because he was getting on my nerves.'

Valerie brushed it off as a poor-taste joke. Nearly two decades later, distinctive features on the frog (found among Leigh's possessions) were matched to the injuries on John's skull.  The gruesome tale, the stuff of Hollywood horror, is the talk of Beddau once again this week and neighbours still have stories to tell about 'Mad Leigh'.  The communal garden beneath her old flat is unchanged: there are washing lines, children's bikes propped against a wall and a pink laundry bucket. A deflated rugby ball lies on the gravel where John's body was found.  One resident, a 36-year-old who got to know Leigh as a teenager, says: 'I never thought of her as a murderer, but what does a murderer look like?

Two friends were camping.  One went for a walk and limped back into camp, bruised and bleeding.  "What happened?" asked the other camper.
 
"I was chased by a black snake!"
 
"Why did you run??  A black snake isn't poisonous."
 
"If he can make you jump off a twenty-foot embankment, he doesn't need to be."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13617427/irish-airline-stewardess-dubai-stranded-domestic-assault.html

Air stewardess, 28, is 'trapped in Dubai and facing jail having being CHARGED with attempting suicide after being battered by her brutal South African husband': Irish Emirates worker begs to be allowed home

    WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
    READ MORE: British couple whose daughter was born by surrogate in Belarus face struggle to bring her home because of lengthy passport process - with father at risk of losing his job

By Eleanor Dye and Garreth Macnamee and Katherine Lawton

Published: 00:14, 10 July 2024 | Updated: 09:00, 10 July 2024

An Irish air stewardess is trapped in Dubai and facing jail after drinking alcohol and trying to take her own life having allegedly suffered domestic abuse.  Tori Towey, 28, from Boyle in County Roscommon and who works for Emirates Airlines in the UAE, said she was attacked in her home and has now been banned from leaving the state.  A spokesperson for legal group Detained in Dubai (DiD) claimed Tori's South African husband went after her with a knife and punched her, before slamming her arm in the bathroom door trying to break it.  Tori said she tried to take her own life after the attack, which left her with severe bruises and injuries.  But after being taken to a police station, Ms Towey is now facing charges of alcohol consumption and attempting suicide by a court in Dubai.  She said she is unable to leave the country as her passport was blocked, meaning she can't travel back home to Ireland.  Speaking through outreach group DiD, who are assisting the family, Ms Towey said: 'I don't know what's going to happen in court next week.  I'm desperate to go home to Ireland and put all of this in the past. I'm asking the Taoiseach to please help us.'

The DiD has said Ms Towey could face a lengthy prison sentence in a jail known for 'human rights abuses and torture'.  Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai, said: 'We are calling on Dubai authorities to urgently drop the charges against Tori, remove the travel ban and let her fly home to Ireland with her mother.  She has been charged with attempted suicide and alcohol consumption.  Strangely, the UAE has gone to great public relations efforts to promote alcohol as legal in the country. In reality, people are still regularly charged with alcohol consumption and possession. Tori's experience is nothing short of tragic and quite frankly, she is lucky to be alive.'

She explained: 'Tori arranged to fly home to Ireland but, when she arrived at the airport, was told a case against her by her husband had been dropped but the travel ban remained.  She attended the police station who assured her the travel ban would be lifted but it never happened. The next day, Tori and her husband had some wine and he became enraged, accusing her of having an affair.'

Ms Towey then attempted to take her own life and ended up in a police station.  Ms Stirling explained: 'The next thing she remembers is an ambulance crew and police waking her up. She was taken to Al Barsha police station and kept for several hours before going home again.  Her mother pleaded to the Irish Consulate but in the absence of their assistance, boarded a flight to Dubai. When she arrived, she wasn't allowed to see Tori alone, her abuser wouldn't allow it.  The three met at Emirates mall then attended the prosecutor's office to find out what charges had been registered against her.'

Irish premier Simon Harris has said he will work to intervene in the 'appalling' case, while Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald raised Ms Towey's case in the Irish Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.  Mr Harris thanked Ms McDonald for bringing the case to his attention, saying: 'I'm not directly appraised of the situation, but I'm very happy to be directly appraised of it now.'

He said he would work with the deputy 'to intervene and see how we can support an Irish citizen in what sounds to be based on what you tell me the most appalling circumstances'.

The Department of Foreign Affairs told the Irish Daily Mail it was aware of the case and was offering consular assistance.  Ms McDonald told Dail Eireann that Ms Towey has been the victim of domestic violence and is subject to a travel ban over alleged charges.  She said she has spoken to Ms Towey, and that the 28-year-old's mother has travelled to Dubai to be with her.  'Tori wants to come home, simple as that. She is a Roscommon woman and she wants to come home,' she said.

'I am asking now, as a matter of absolute urgency, that we have a statement from this House, that you intervene Taoiseach, that the ambassador is called and that it is made absolutely plain to the authorities of Dubai that no woman should be treated in this way, and an Irish citizen, an Irish woman will not be treated in this way.'

Mr Harris responded saying he was not aware of Ms Towey's case, and thanked Ms McDonald for bringing it to his attention and that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin.  He pledged to work 'to intervene and see how we can support an Irish citizen in what sounds to be, based on what you tell me, the most appalling circumstances'.

The Department of Foreign Affairs told the Irish Daily Mail it was aware of the case and was offering consular assistance.  Talking to Sky News, Tori's aunt Ann Flynn said: 'She's doing her best.' She added: 'It's very stressful, it's stressful for all the family.'

She described her niece as 'a beautiful young woman' who is 'fun-loving and loved to travel'.  Ms Flynn said: 'She got the job of her dreams working for Emirates, and she could continue travelling with work.  She loved Dubai, and had a good network of friends there.'

The airline hostess has been told 'nothing could be done' and that the case will be going to court on July 18.  In 2018, one member of Dubai Police said that they would focus on treatment rather than punishment when it came to suicide victims, even thought suicide and suicide attempts are a crime in the country.  Brig Ahmed bin Ghalaita, then director of Al Refaa Police Station, told The National: 'The move is taken to provide support to suicide attempters and deal with them as victims who need moral support and help.  Suicide cases are being examined by a police unit and experts in the psychology field to identify the causes behind their attempts and find solutions for them.'

It comes as earlier this year, British wives boasting of luxury new lives funded by millionaire husbands in Dubai have been warned they risk being dumped homeless on the streets at any moment.  Experts have revealed a surge in complaints from not only women but also men betrayed and dumped by wealthy partners after upping sticks for the Middle East.  The alert comes amid a TikTok and Instagram trend of UK women sharing footage of spending sprees in the United Arab Emirates after wedding wealthy husbands.  Mail Online had also reported on an influx of expats pampered by rich partners, enjoying days filled with shopping trips, extravagant meals and property upgrades.  Yet there is a 'dark side' to Dubai that many women only discover too late, according to Manchester-based Aramas International Lawyers' Samara Iqbal.  She told of being inundated with calls for help from not only women but also men wanting protection amid fears they have been or could be exploited by a partner promising an alluring new lifestyle in the Middle East.  And she has issued a hitlist of warning signs for anyone feeling tempted while also highlighting a new civil court in neighbouring Abu Dhabi which could offer more help to women stranded overseas and yet which remains little-known to many.  Ms Iqbal's firm is based in Manchester but a surge in cases has seen new branches open in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.  She too is a watcher of TikTok videos promoting what seem to be aspirational lives in the Middle East but is now warning women to beware of hidden dangers.  She outlined how many women find out only too late their husband might have as many as three other wives and that while handing over upmarket clothes, cards and credit cards, everything remains documented in only his name.  Ms Iqbal told Mail Online: ‘We’ve got lots of British women who are attracted by these promises of a luxurious lifestyle, even though their own families aren’t happy about it and not realising he can cut her off at any moment.  People are literally being dumped on the street. It looks nice, but there’s a dark side to Dubai it can be very scary out there if you find yourself in this position and don't know what your legal rights are.'

Her firm is increasingly being approached for advice on potential pre-nuptial and also post-nuptial agreements as more and more women feel tempted by marriages to someone they’ve met here before moving together overseas.  She said: 'We often deal with cases more and more on a daily basis in which lots of women have married and moved out to the UAE only to be left stranded without any source of money and essentially being "cut off" by their rich partners.  While these partners may be providing and funding their luxurious lifestyles cars, designer items, expensive jewellery, holidays, meals out none of this actually belongs to these women and there is nothing in their name. It's all in their partners name.  Women are thrown out of marital homes as they do not belong to them credit cards cut off and they have no recourse to any of the possessions, houses, companies and assets the partner has solely in his own name.  These assets come under Sharia law and belongs to the person whose name its registered to and she would not be entitled to any of it if her name is not registered.'

Potential husbands might swoop in during university days together, drinking and nightclubbing in a way they would no longer do when back in the UAE, she suggests.  Women are not the only ones at risk, according to Ms Iqbal she described being asked for advice by men serenaded in London and promised a better life abroad but worried they could be abandoned or blackmailed over their sexuality.  In the past year a new civil court in Abu Dhabi has been opened which does recognise British civil orders and tends to look more favourably on UK wives wanting a settlement or at least joint custody of any children.n  Yet too many people still remain unaware it exists, Ms Iqbal said.  Ms Towey's horrific story is not the first time Brits and Irish citizens in Dubai have been slammed with unfair charges.   Radha Stirling the founder of Detained in Duabi was inspired to start up the organisation after in 2008 hearing that a colleague called Cat Le-Huy had been arrested by immigration officials in the nation.  At first, she assumed it was all a big mistake. Her friend, a London-based producer with whom she worked at the TV production company Endemol, had been initially detained because an unidentified bottle of pills was found in his suitcase.  After they turned out to be melatonin, a perfectly legal jetlag medication, customs staff announced with a flourish that they had also discovered cannabis among some dust in the depths of the holidaymaker's bag.  The quantity of this illegal narcotic was, they claimed, exactly 0.03 grams. That's an amount smaller than a single grain of salt and virtually invisible to the human eye.  Cat, who hails from Belsize Park, North London, was promptly slapped in handcuffs and transported to the Al Wathba prison, 40 miles north of the airport.  Radha knew that her friend did not take recreational drugs so, initially, thought he would be promptly released. But she was wrong. Instead, she was told to her horror that he faced a four-year prison sentence for 'drug possession'.  In the weeks that followed, she helped organise a noisy campaign on Cat's behalf, turning him into an international cause célèbre.  Finally, after the best part of a month in custody, he was released without charge and allowed to return home.   As the dust settled, Radha was contacted by several other Westerners who claimed to be victims of grave miscarriages of justice in the tourist hotspot.  'People were basically saying, 'I saw how you helped him, can you help me, too?' she said in an interview with the Daily Mail.

'I suddenly realised that, behind the facade of this glamorous country, which touts its credentials as a popular destination with beaches and luxury hotels, there were huge problems with the rule of law and human rights, affecting vast numbers of innocent people.'

She duly founded Detained In Dubai, a pressure group that lobbies on behalf of victims of the Emirate state's hardline laws.  As of 2021, her organisation had helped an incredible 15,000 people an average of roughly three per day navigate a draconian legal system.  'We have dealt with cases in which rape victims were prosecuted for unlawful sex, foreigners jailed over social media posts, people convicted on the basis of torture and forced confessions, and victims of gross police and prosecutorial misconduct of a variety that staggers the imagination,' she revealed.

'All involve laws that people don't imagine could possibly exist in the modern era.'

Among the victims Radha has personally helped is Princess Latifa al-Maktoum, the daughter of Dubai's autocratic ruler Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, who attempted to flee the country in a yacht in 2018.  The princess was under armed guard, in 2021 sharing videos telling how she had been seized by commandos while in international waters, before being transported back to Dubai, where she had claimed to have been held hostage ever since.  'I spoke to Princess Latifa when she was on the boat and shots were going off,' Radha said. 'It was extremely harrowing. When even a member of the royal family is denied basic human rights, you can imagine how the country treats normal people who aren't even its citizens.'

However, in 2022 the Princess Latifa said she is 'living as she wishes' a year after claiming she was being held against her will by her father.  These and other high-profile cases shine a light on the dark underbelly of a destination whose status as a celebrity hotspot is deeply at odds with its legal system, under which everything from drinking alcohol to holding hands in public and sharing a bedroom with someone who is not your spouse is officially unlawful, and consensual gay sex can earn you a prison sentence of ten years.  Almost any visitor is also at constant risk of prosecution under strict cyber-crime laws.  Should they or any other foreigner fall foul of a policeman, minor royal, business leader or powerful local, the country's authorities can (and often do) trawl through historic social media posts.  'These rules can, in theory, criminalise almost every Western visitor,' says Radha. 'If you're responsible for a Facebook post from five years ago they don't like, and if they want to go for you, then you are toast.'

One example was Briton Laleh Shahravesh, who was arrested in Dubai in 2019 following a complaint from a local that she had used the social network to brand her ex-husband's new partner 'horse-face'. She was arrested on arrival in the country and only allowed back to the UK several weeks later, after agreeing to pay a £625 fine for making the supposedly 'defamatory' claim.  Elsewhere Scott Richards, a 42-year-old father of two, was detained in 2016 after the police took exception to a Facebook post in which he had shared a link to a crowd-funding campaign to supply blankets for Afghan refugees.  He spent three weeks behind bars because of a law that bans soliciting donations for non-profits that have not been approved by the government's 'Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities' department.  In 2021, Detained In Dubai was also representing a 31-year-old HR manager from Gloucestershire arrested at the airport as she tried to return home after three years living in the country.  Her alleged 'crime' is having told her ex-flatmate to 'f*** off' in a WhatsApp message, during a row over the use of the dining table at their home during lockdown. This is also, apparently, defamatory.  It is women's rights that are most commonly abused. A 2005 law states that 'a husband's rights over his wife' include the wife's 'courteous obedience to him', and places conditions on a married woman's right to work or leave the house.  These rules are routinely used by estranged husbands to exert control over their spouses, even when both parties are Western expats.  Hadha says: 'We had one client, a German woman in the process of separating from her husband, who had decided to get a job. Her husband rang up the company and said, 'I didn't give her permission' and they had to fire her.'

In Dubai, extra-marital sex is punishable by one year or more in prison. On the basis of this law, Amnesty says, a Swedish-run hospital in Ajman Emirate was forced to report pregnant, unmarried women to the police.  Three years ago, a 29-year-old South African resident of Dubai called Emlyn Culverwell took his fiancée, Iryna Nohal, a Ukrainian, to a doctor, complaining of stomach pain.  He promptly diagnosed that she was pregnant. But rather than offering treatment, the doctor called the police. The couple were arrested and jailed when they could not produce a marriage license.  Eventually, they were released, apparently at the behest of Sheikh Maktoum. For years, he often intervened when ugly legal cases threaten his country's international reputation.

If you need to talk to someone, call the Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit Samaritans.org

Dubai's draconian laws: Why attempting suicide and drinking alcohol is a 'crime'

Prior to 2019, anyone found guilty of attempting suicide in Dubai faced a 5000AED fine (£1050) or six months in prison.   The 'offence' was one of 28 'minor crimes' downgraded to free up space in the Emirates' overcrowded courts system.  Those found guilty of attempting suicide in the Gulf state now have to pay a fine of 1000AED (£210) instead of facing a judge.   In the same year, the Gulf state loosened its liquor laws to allow tourists to purchase alcohol in state-controlled stores, previously only accessible to licence-holding residents.  The new laws also let visitors obtain liquor permits themselves for the first time, by applying online or going to a registered alcohol store to get one for free.  Whie visitors must have a permit, it's no longer a criminal offence not to have one.  A 30 per cent tax on alcohol was also axed on New Year's Eve 2022 to encourage tourists to flock to the Emirate.  While the relaxation of the laws sends a message that it's safe to drink, the reality is more complicated.   It is illegal to drink or even be under the influence of alcohol in public, outside of a licensed premises.   Radha Stirling, founder and CEO of Detained in Dubai previously told MailOnline: 'Reducing the cost of alcohol in Dubai is sending a clear message to tourists and that is to drink. Considering Dubai’s alcohol laws prohibit the possession of alcohol in public, drinking in Dubai is inherently dangerous.  If a visitor’s blood is tested and shows up even one drink, they can be criminally charged. Alcohol tests are often conducted when a complaint is made by a local. If a local is offended by a visitors dress sense, language or behaviour, they may call the police and have the visitor arrested, even if that person has only consumed a small beer.  Dubai’s laws are highly contradictory. On the one hand, people are encouraged to drink but on the other, it’s a criminal offence to have any amount of alcohol in your blood in public. Encouraging visitors to drink more alcohol will most certainly result in increased detentions of Brits abroad in prisons notorious for human rights abuses and police brutality'.

Advice for British wives marrying and moving to the Middle East

Manchester-based lawyer Samara Iqbal has suggested potential brides moving abroad put these in place:

1. A pre- or post-nuptial agreement which can be done in the UK or filed with the Abu Dhabi Civil Court

2. A credit card/bank account in her own name with some emergency funds and money should she be ‘cut off’ from her partner's bank accounts

3. A visa in her own name as this could also be cancelled and she would need to leave within 30 days if she cannot arrange a visa for herself

4. An agreement regarding the custody of any child/children - possibly in the pre-/post-nuptial agreement

5. Ideally a car and some accommodation under her own name, should she find herself thrown out of the marital home

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13582559/Jay-Slater-volunteers-join-massive-search-Tenerife.html

Jay Slater police launch huge new search for missing 19-year-old: Firefighters and mountain experts join search crews to comb through ravines, trails and paths in mass effort 13 days after his mystery disappearance

    Jay Slater vanished on June 17 after a night out with friends in Tenerife

By Cameron Roy and Nick Pisa In Tenerife and Arthur Parashar

Published: 08:16, 29 June 2024 | Updated: 08:58, 29 June 2024

Volunteers in the search for Jay Slater have joined a huge new search across Tenerife as the search for the missing 19-year-old enters day 13.  The 'army of volunteers' have answered the Spanish police's call for help and will today help them comb the rugged mountain area where the missing raver disappeared.  It comes after the Guardia Civil on Friday appealed for volunteer firefighters and experts in rugged terrain to assist in a 'busqueda masiva', or massive search, to take place today.  The Spanish police force said the search will begin at 9am near to his last-known location in the village of Masca and will attempt to retrace his last-known steps.  It will be a co-ordinated search and will take place in a steep rocky area, with ravines, trails and paths all expected to be searched thoroughly.  The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has not been seen since June 17 after he went missing following a night out on the infamous Veronicas strip in Tenerife's Playa de las Americas resort.  The apprentice bricklayer then went back to the Casa Abuela Tina Airbnb near the rugged Rural de Teno national park, in the remote village of Masca, with two men he had met at the three-day NRG music festival.  The owner of the villa said she saw Jay standing at a nearby bus stop at around 8am. He asked her when the next bus was to Los Cristianos, but when he was told it wasn't until 10am, he set off on foot for what would have been an 11-hour walk.  Jay was last seen at around 8.15am walking uphill near the national park. He then phoned his friend Lucy Mae Law at 8.50am to tell her that he was 'tired, thirsty and disorientated' with only one per cent battery left on his phone.  In their first direct appeal for help, a spokesperson for the police said on Friday officers were preparing a 'coordinated large scale operation' today.  The search will focus on the Masca gorge, around 3000ft above sea level and which has been combed by police, drones, dogs and helicopters since he was reported missing.  But despite the extensive searches over the past 13 days, no trace of Jay has been found.  It has been reported that the search today, which will start from the Mirador de la Cruz de Hilda restaurant, could be 'perhaps a final push from the Civil Guard to make some kind of headway'.

It comes as: 

    Spanish police focus search for missing Jay Slater on caves close to ravine in remote part of Tenerife
    MailOnline revealed new photos of Jay chatting with friends at a hotel pool party just two days before he went missing; 
    Spanish police sent up drones as they continued their search for the missing British teenager;
    Jay's mother said she's at her 'wit's end' and revealed his ex-girlfriend Jessica Ingham was among those who had travelled to Tenerife with him;
    True crime internet sleuths with no connections to Jay flew to Tenerife to join the hunt;
    Jay's father accused Spanish police of keeping the family in the dark.

It comes amid criticism of the Spanish for refusing an offer of help from their Lancashire counterparts last week, as the search for Jay now enters day 13.  A statement from the police HQ on Tenerife said: 'Collaboration is requested from volunteer associations, civil protection teams, firefighters and even individuals who are experts in rugged search terrain.'

A spokesman clarified that it was not asking the 'unexperienced' general public to join the search.  rrrThe GoFundMe page set up to provide financial support to the family smashed through the £40,000 barrier.  It comes as it emerged ghoulish visitors on 'Jeep safari tours' are flocking to the Tenerife Airbnb where Jay spent his final hours before vanishing.  Although Jay only spent a matter of hours in Casa Abuela Tina, the villa once popular with hikers attempting to trek up the Teno mountains now appears to have become a tourism spot.  The road outside the two-bedroom farmhouse is packed with rental cars of British tourists and groups taking photos from Jeep 'safari' tours, The Times reports.  One woman, who lives in Birmingham and Spain, told the newspaper: 'This is our second time here. I asked to drive this route because I just wanted to see it one more time. I want to get some answers.  It gives me actual chills,' she added.

The teenager's mystery disappearance has led to a number of internet sleuths flying to Tenerife to join the search in the mountains.  Although Spanish authorities claim the case has been clouded by 'inaccurate' conspiracy theories on social media, Jay's desperate family have called in the help of one TikTok sleuth Paul Arnott.  The 29-year-old, who runs the TikTok account Down the Rapids and describes himself as an 'explorer', has been searching for Jay since Saturday.  He has posted more than 70 videos since, racking up millions of views as he joins police and sniffer dogs in the mountains. He said they had been focusing on two specific routes off the main road which lead to a water source.  'I'm meeting the family today,' Mr Arnott - who paid £400 for a flight from Fort William to Tenerife told The Telegraph. 'I've been speaking with Brad's mum, Rachel. They wanted to bring me food but I said no. They said they wanted to meet me. They said they're really proud of what I'm doing.'

Jay's mother, Debbie Duncan said she 'can't thank Paul Arnott enough' as she also praised fellow TikTok creater Callum Rahim and his friends for helping with the search.  She said the family were ignoring the unfounded social media conspiracy theories which have threatened to derail the search.  It comes as police on Thursday started searching around caves near Los Carrizales, a new area in the Masca valley which they have not looked at before.  Two abandoned shacks where Jay's phone last pinged have been the police's focus so far.  MailOnline on Thursday revealed new photos of Jay chatting to friends at a hotel pool party just two days before he vanished.  And on Tuesday, the investigation took a strange twist when the mayor of Tenerife revealed that police were quizzing locals who claimed they had seen Jay 'watching the Euros' in a bar in Puerto de Santiago a coastal resort on the island.  Police in Tenerife say no one is talking yet about halting the search for Jay.  The Civil Guard, which has been leading the operation where the teenager was last seen, said it was continuing as normal on Thursday.  More sniffer dogs trained in searching for people over large expanses of land were flown in from Madrid and joined the operation on Tuesday.  A Civil Guard spokesman said: 'The Civil Guard is continuing to search for the young British man who disappeared, carrying out inspections of all the paths, trails and ravines belonging to the village of Masca within the municipality of Buenavista del Norte.'

The force also released footage showing officers moving on foot through some of the rough and remote terrain and others carrying out aerial inspections in a helicopter.  A well-placed source added: 'No one at the moment is talking about the search being brought to an end.  There will be a point when the operation that is taking place at the moment has to be at least scaled back. But right now the search teams appear to have decided they want to give themselves more time.'

It comes as Jay's mother Debbie Duncan revealed she is in talks with GoFundMe to release some of the £36,000 in donations given to an appeal in order to help finance rescue efforts and 'living costs' in Tenerife.  Ms Duncan, 55, said the money would be used for mountain rescue, accommodation and food expenses.  In a statement posted on GoFundMe on Thursday, she said: 'First, I would like to thank everyone for your support, kind messages, and good wishes. It's difficult to wrap our heads around what is happening right now, but we are not losing hope that we will find Jay and return home together.  We are currently working with GoFundMe to withdraw part of the funds, which are being safely held. I wanted to share that these funds will be used to support the mountain rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay.  Additionally, since our stay in Tenerife needs to be extended, we will also use the funds to cover accommodation and food expenses.  I'm surrounded by wonderful people who are by my side, but far from their loved ones, so we'll also be using part of these funds to fly them to Tenerife so we can support each other during these dark times.  Thank you again for all your donations and support, this means the world to us.'

The appeal was started last week by his friend Lucy and reached its £30,000 target in just three days although some contributors have expressed concerns over where the funds will go.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13567317/German-man-describes-learning-grandfather-Rudolf-Hoss.html

'My grandfather was the greatest mass murderer of all time': German pastor describes 'guilt' after realising he was related to Auschwitz monster Rudolf Höss whose family lived in 'Zone of Interest' villa at Nazi death camp

By Rob Hyde In Germany and Chris Jewers

Published: 16:23, 25 June 2024 | Updated: 16:32, 25 June 2024

The grandson of the commander of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp has revealed how he learned the horrific truth to his family's dark history, and his bid to escape his inner turmoil after the shocking discovery.  In an emotional interview, 62-year-old Kai Höss said he was at school on the day he realised he was the grandson of Rudolf Höss, the infamous Auschwitz commandant responsible for the murder of 1.1 million innocent victims as revealed in the documentary film 'The Shadow of the Commandant.'  Höss, now a pastor from Renningen, Germany, grew up in Ludwigsburg not knowing of the murderous sins of his grandfather, until that fateful day in school.  Today, he says he has been left with inherited guilt over his grandfather's evil actions, and is cursed by his family's attempt to avoid the subject for years something he attempted to rectify by making a documentary with his father.  'It was in sixth or seventh grade,' when he learned the truth about his family, Kai recalled. 'The Holocaust was a topic in class, and the name Höß came up. I went home and asked, "Mum, is that us?"  She said, "yes, that's us. Rudolf Höss is your grandfather",' he told the magazine.

To his horror, this confirmed to him that Kai's father Hans-Jürgen Höss, was indeed the son of Rudolf Höss: the mass-murderer's fourth child with wife Hedwig Hensel.  Rudolf Höss was the commandant of the Auschwitz death camp from May 4, 1940 to November 1943, and again from May 8 1944 to January 18, 1945.  He lived in a house on the grounds of the camp with his wife and family, and their life is depicted in Martin Amis's novel 'The Zone of Interest' which was adapted into an Oscar-winning film by the same name in 2023.  During that time, Höss tested and perfected methods to accelerate Adolf Hitler's 'final solution' the dictator's plan to exterminate Nazi-occupied Europe's Jewish population including introducing the use of Zyklon B into gas chambers.  As a result, more than a million people were killed at the camp as part of what later became known as the Nazi Holocaust. In total, Nazi Germany killed an estimated 17 million people on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, disability or sexual orientation, including six million Jews.  After the war, in 1947, Rudolf Höss was tracked down and captured by Nazi hunter Hanns Alexander, a German Jew who had fled to England in 1936.  Höss was ultimately sentenced to death in Poland, and was hanged that same year at Auschwitz 15 years before Kai was born.  'I was born in 1962, so when I was young, Höss was no longer a big topic in public,' Kai told Germany's FOCUS magazine.

'But when I was 16, I read my grandfather's biographical notes, which he had written in prison. The book was on my parents' bookshelf. I was shocked. My grandfather was the greatest mass murderer of all time.'

After this discovery, he said, 'I just wanted to get away.'

After leaving school, he trained to be a chef in Stuttgart before going on to join the German army. He was stationed in England for a time.  But his desire to escape his family history led him to Macau, Singapore, Thailand, Bali, China, Egypt and Dubai as part a career in the luxury hotel industry.  Although he lived a life of booze, women and high-end clubs, inside he was completely broken.  'I was an arrogant, self-absorbed 28-year-old with a Rolex on my arm. Upscale nightclubs, double gin and tonics, parties, girls, bodybuilding, six-packs that was my thing. But inside, I was broken,' he told the magazine.

Kai's turning point came after a near-death experience following tonsil surgery in Singapore. He lost so much blood, he almost died.  In hospital, he stumbled upon a Gideon Bible: 'Faith saved me,' he said, adding that he recognised himself in the story of King David.

'I was an unscrupulous manager. Everything revolved around performance, success and profit. The end justified the means,' he said.

But after meeting a Christian community in Singapore, he found solace and purpose and by Easter 1989, he had decided to follow Jesus, leaving behind his wild life of extravagance and eventually return to Germany with his wife and daughters. Kai Höss returned to his homeland in 2000, where he now serves as a pastor.  But the family of Hans-Jürgen Höss had kept the truth hidden for years.  Hans-Jürgen was the fourth of five children shared by Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who he married on August 17, 1929.  Rudolf Höss and Hedwig famously lived in a villa on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau as he oversaw the camp and fine-tuned the horrific methods used by the Nazis to kill more than a million people during the Second World War.  Although Hans-Jürgen grew up in the villa, with the camp's crematorium visible from their garden, he grew up ashamed of his father's actions.  He hid the identity of his father from his wife (Kai's mother) when they first met.  Hans-Jürgen's wife eventually found out the truth from an aunt who had seen a newspaper report about Rudolf Höss's execution in 1947.  As a result, Kai Höss's childhood was marked by silence and repression, and this avoidance put enormous strain on his parents' marriage, he said.  Although Hans-Jürgen never glossed over the family history, he also very rarely spoke about it.  Today Höss still has his own vivid memories of his grandmother, Hedwig. She was a stern, disciplined woman who maintained strict order, he told FOCUS.  'She was tough but also loving with her children' said Höss.

Hedwig, deeply embedded in Nazi ideology, showed no remorse for her husband's actions, believing that they 'rose with the National Socialists and fell with them.'

Following his eventual parents' divorce in the 1990s, Kai said he had no contact with his father for 30 years. That period of no contact ended around six years ago, he said, when his father called him.  The new documentary provided an opportunity for Kai and his father to address their family's dark history, he told the German publication, as it allowed them to properly delve deeply into their past, and explore the effect it has had on them as men.  A powerful moment in the documentary sees Kai and Hans-Jürgen's meeting with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a 98-year-old Auschwitz survivor.  It also sees them visiting the Auschwitz memorial, which was also an extremely emotional experience for Kai Höss and his father, he said.  This was particularly the case when the father and son stood in front of the gallows where Rudolf Höss was hanged. There, Hans-Jürgen acknowledged his father's crimes: 'He deserved it, he paid. What he did was wrong.'  I hate what he did, and to a certain extent I hate him. His heartlessness, the meticulous, clinical way in which he fulfilled his task.'

But he said it is important to learn the lesson from this in terms of how evil can take hold of people's hearts.  'The film is a reminder of where populism can lead. Hitler didn't start out by saying 'I'm going to murder six million people and overrun the world with war'.

[Hitler] said 'I will make you great again, I will give you back your pride'.

Today Kai Höss also frequently wrestles with the question of whether his grandfather has been forgiven by God.  If he really repented, God forgave him. Then we'll see each other in eternity. But I don't know what really happened in his heart at the end.'

Kai's younger brother, Rainer, was publicly active as Höss's grandson but was later revealed to have exploited the family history for financial gain.  The Höss family villa still stands on the Auschwitz grounds today.  Kai said he is 'not looking for absolution' for his grandfather's crimes, but said he believes his family is cursed as a result of Rudolf Höss's actions, but also his family going on to avoid the topic of their dark history.  'I am not a perpetrator. But I believe in inherited guilt,' he said. 'There is a curse on families when something bad has happened and it is not spoken about honestly. Then the hearts are damaged, it changes the soul.  Then the children and grandchildren may become Nazis again because they say "What Grandpa did wasn't so bad after all."  That is also what the documentary "The Commander's Shadow" is about. It is about the trauma in the families of the perpetrators and the victims.'

Auschwitz-Birkenau, near the town of Oswiecim, in what was then occupied Poland

Auschwitz-Birkenau was a concentration and extermination camp used by the Nazis during World War Two.  The camp, which was located in Nazi-occupied Poland, was made up of three main sites.  Auschwitz I, the original concentration camp, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a combined concentration and extermination camp and Auschwitz III–Monowitz, a labour camp, with a further 45 satellite sites.

Auschwitz was an extermination camp used by the Nazis in Poland to murder more than 1.1 million Jews

Birkenau became a major part of the Nazis' 'Final Solution', where they sought to rid Europe of Jews.  An estimated 1.3 million people were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, of whom at least 1.1 million died around 90 percent of which were Jews.  Since 1947, it has operated as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, which in 1979 was named a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Treblinka, near a village of the same name, outside Warsaw in Nazi-occupied Poland

Unlike at other camps, where some Jews were assigned to forced labour before being killed, nearly all Jews brought to Treblinka were immediately gassed to death.  Only a select few mostly young, strong men, were spared from immediate death and assigned to maintenance work instead.  The death toll at Treblinka was second only to Auschwitz. In just 15 months of operation between July 1942 and October 1943 between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were murdered in its gas chambers.  Exterminations stopped at the camp after an uprising which saw around 200 prisoners escape. Around half of them were killed shortly afterwards, but 70 are known to have survived until the end of the war.

Belzec, near the station of the same name in Nazi-occupied Poland

Belzec operated from March 1942 until the end of June 1943. It was built specifically as an extermination camp as part of Operation Reinhard.   Polish, German, Ukrainian and Austrian Jews were all killed there. In total, around 600,000 people were murdered.  The camp was dismantled in 1943 and the site was disguised as a fake farm. 

Sobibor, near the village of the same name in Nazi-occupied Poland

Sobibor was named after its closest train station, at which Jews disembarked from extremely crowded carriages, unsure of their fate.  Jews from Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Soviet Union were killed in three gas chambers fed by the deadly fumes of a large petrol engine taken from a tank.  An estimated 200,000 people were killed in the camp. Some estimations put the figure at 250,000.  This would place Sobibor as the fourth worst extermination camp - in terms of number of deaths after Belzec, Treblinka and Auschwitz.  The camp was located about 50 miles from the provincial Polish capital of Brest-on-the-Bug. Its official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor.  Prisoners launched a heroic escape on October 14 1943 in which 600 men, women and children succeeded in crossing the camp's perimeter fence.  Of those, only 50 managed to evade capture. It is unclear how many crossed into allied territory.

Chelmno (also known as Kulmhof), in Nazi-occupied Poland

Chelmno was the first of Nazi Germany's camps built specifically for extermination.  It operated from December 1941 until April 1943 and then again from June 1944 until January 1945.  Between 152,000 and 200,000 people, nearly all of whom were Jews, were killed there. 

Majdanek (also known simply as Lublin), built on outskirts of city of Lublin in Nazi-occupied Poland

Majdanek was initially intended for forced labour but was converted into an extermination camp in 1942.  It had seven gas chambers as well as wooden gallows where some victims were hanged.  In total, it is believed that as many as 130,000 people were killed there.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13535689/europe-record-temperatures-greece-cyprus-turkey-britain-rain.html

Two die in Europe as 'record-breaking' 40C heatwave roasts holiday spots across the Continent including Greece, Cyprus and Turkey while Britain endures June washout and unseasonably low temperatures

    Have you been affected abroad? Contact james.reynolds@mailonline.co.uk

By James Reynolds

Published: 16:53, 16 June 2024 | Updated: 16:53, 16 June 2024

A second elderly person has died from heatstroke in Cyprus as a weeklong heatwave brings record temperatures to the region.  An 84-year-old woman died a day after being admitted to hospital on Friday, State Health Services Organisation spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said.  He added that three elderly patients were also left in serious condition as temperatures soar past 40C (104F).  Fires continue to rage through parts of the island, with firefighting teams hampered by the heat and strong winds.  Southern Europe has been buffeted by record temperatures in recent days, threatening to spark more fires and bringing risk of heat-related illness and death.  Meanwhile, Britain continues to experience unseasonably low temperatures, caused by a jet stream pulling Arctic Air south, and heavy rain, which meteorologists say has been caused by climate change.  The death of the 84-year-old woman in Cyprus follows reports of the death of a 91-year-old woman on Friday as temperatures pushed 45C (113F).  Health officials said a woman died at Nicosia General Hospital suffering from heatstroke.  Another five elderly patients were being treated in hospitals with severe symptoms of heatstroke.  Charilaou told reporters the woman suffered a cardiac arrest twice on arrival at Nicosia's accident and emergency department.  'After investigating the incident, A&E doctors determined that the cardiac arrest was a result of heatstroke,' Charilaou said.

He said hospitals have been dealing with cases of heat exhaustion for several days.  On Friday, Cyprus issued its first red alert of the summer for extreme heat, with the Meteorological Department confirming that maximum temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius.  Due to the extremely high temperatures, the Department of Labour Inspection halted heavy and moderate outdoor work during the afternoon.   Firefighters are meanwhile battling fires just south of the capital of Nicosia, where more than 1.2 square miles (3.2 sq km) of forest were scorched, threatening a village.  Last week, 49 residents in two communities in the island's western Paphos district were evacuated to hotels as a wildfire threatened their homes, while aircraft from Greece and Jordan joined the firefighting efforts.  Weather experts say that heatwaves of over 40 C are becoming longer in duration.  Friday's record temperature was 10 degrees above the seasonal average for Cyprus.  Greece was also forced to close its famous Acropolis to tourists this week as it braced for a 43C (109F) heatwave.  The Acropolis hill, including the Parthenon temple, was shut from noon to 5pm local time on Wednesday, with Red Cross staff on hand to offer free bottles of water to tourists.  Many schools were also told to close until the end of the week.  The orders were followed by fires that, according to the National Observatory of Athens, consumed nearly 175,000 hectares (432,000 acres) of forest and farmland.  In central Athens, the mercury climbed to 42C, with the forecast heat prompting health warnings and school closures.  Still hotter temperatures were recorded on the island of Crete 44.5C and on the Peloponnese peninsula 43.9 degrees Celsius according to the meteo.gr website of the Athens National Observatory.  Temperatures are being driven by southerly winds dragging hot air and dust north from North Africa.  Last year, the country weathered deadly wildfires and flooding through the summer holiday season, causing the evacuations of tens of thousands of people.  Greece offered holidaymakers free holidays in Rhodes to those affected by the fires after tourists had to sleep on airport floors as they awaited their evacuation.  Turkey has also been hit by heatwaves this week, with air temperatures between eight and 12C higher than seasonal norms.  In France, hundreds of firefighters battled a powerful blaze to the north of Saint-Tropez this week which caught crews off-guard.  Across Europe, heatwave-linked deaths are reported to have increased 30 per cent over the last 20 years with last year the warmed on record in Europe.  Britain has just avoided the heatwave, instead being blighted by strong winds and heavy rains as temperatures drop to three to five centigrade lower than seasonal averages.  The Met Office says there remains a chance of downpours on the final weekend of the month.  The conditions are a stark contrast to this time last year when the mercury hit 30C (86F), making it the hottest June on record.  Temperatures on the whole have been getting hotter in Britain in recent years. Until 2003, the hottest day on record in the UK was just 38.5C. This rose to 38.7C in 2019 and 40.3C in 2022.  Last year saw the hottest June on record across the month.  Temperatures this year have been affected by the polar front jet stream looping south of the UK and keeping colder temperatures in Britain as the continent swelters.  Forecasters suggested the trend could subside by June 20, predicting a so-called 'mega heatwave' of temperatures up to 25C in the capital next week.  Meteorologists blame the deluge of rain on climate change, however, which lets the atmosphere carry more moisture.  Parts of Spain have also been hit by heavy rains causing severe flooding across the nation this week.  Severe flooding caused flights to be grounded at the Mallorca's airport in Palma, with up to 53 litres per square metre recorded.  In Murcia, southern Spain, 25 litres of rainfall were expected this week after towns experienced a deluge earlier in the week.  Olive farms were destroyed by the rain, farmers reporting tens of thousands of hectares of land being affected.  Forecasts suggested much of the Middle East, North Africa and Mediterranean Europe would experience extreme heat this week linked to climate change.  More than 290 million people were likely to be affected, made 'five times more likely because of human-caused climate change', the independent Climate Central nonprofit reported.

Temperatures were expected to pass 40C in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan and Greece.  In Saudi Arabia, at least 19 Jordanian and Iranian pilgrims died while taking part in the hajj pilgrimage, authorities said today as temperatures continued to rise.  'Fourteen Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others were missing' during the performance of hajj rituals, Jordan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry later confirmed the 14 had died 'after suffering sun stroke due to the extreme heat wave'.

Iranian Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand separately said 'five Iranian pilgrims have lost their lives so far in Mecca and Medina during the hajj this year', without saying how they died.  Some two million people were expected to observe the hajj this year as numbers returned to their pre-pandemic level.  Climate Central reported Israel and the Gaza Strip, currently in the midst of a devastating conflict, could experience temperature highs between 30C and 38C.  Gazans this week described life in makeshift tent camps as 'hell', with hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes by the war.