Police warn they may not be able to afford Tesco's £3m riot compensation bill

 In total, the retailer has asked for nearly £3m in compensation from police forces around the country, following the riots that tore through some high streets in August. It is likely that this is the biggest request from a single retailer. The company is claiming under the Riot Damages Act, a piece of Victorian legislation that allows businesses and individuals affected by riot damage to claim directly from the police, rather than their own insurer. In the immediate aftermath of the civil disturbances, the British Retail Consortium urged small retailers to put in their claims to make sure their businesses were not harmed. However, the Greater Manchester Police Authority, which has been hit with 280 claims totalling £4.4m, has criticised Tesco for using the Act, saying there was no guarantee...

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Fake death pensioner 'was greedy'

 Anthony McErlean, 66, was jailed for six years for faking his own death in Honduras in 2009 to get a life insurance claim worth £520,000. He also admitted two counts of theft from a pension fund from the Port of London Authority of £27,000 pounds and £40,658 pounds from the Department of Work and Pensions. The pensioner had impersonated his wife to claim he himself had died after being hit by a truck as he was changing a tyre on a road in the Central American country. A fake witness statement was produced to back up story which said farm workers took his body away to the village of Santa Rosa De Aguan. Suspicious officials at the insurance company contacted the Insurance Fraud Bureau, who alerted the Poli...

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Thurlbeck to fight sacking claim

 The News of the World's former chief reporter has broken his silence over the phone-hacking scandal to insist he played "no part" in the matter that led to his sacking. Neville Thurlbeck, 49, was fired by News International earlier this month after being arrested in April on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemails while working at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid. He issued a strongly-worded statement in which he vowed to fight his unfair dismissal claim against his former employers "to the end". Mr Thurlbeck's alleged role in the scandal has been closely scrutinised since details emerged of a June 2005 email headed "for Neville" which contained transcripts of illegally intercepted voicemail messages. The email, which surfaced in April 2008, appeared to contradict News International's...

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Media group faces new hacking blows

 New allegations about the phone-hacking scandal have hit News International, with claims of more victims and fresh legal rows. It was revealed tonight that former News of the World editor Andy Coulson is suing News Group Newspapers, the publishing arm of the media giant. Papers were served at the High Court on Thursday "regarding the termination of the payment for his legal action". A spokesman for law firm DLA Piper, which represents Mr Coulson, said: "We can confirm that proceedings have been issued." News International declined to comment. It had been reported earlier this month that News International was paying DLA Piper for their legal advice to Mr Coulson following his arrest. Mr Coulson resigned from his position as Prime Minister David Cameron's spin chief in January and was...

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Dowler lawyer pursues US legal action against News Corp

 The solicitor who represented the family of Milly Dowler in their phone-hacking claims against News Corporation on Friday announced he has teamed up with US lawyers with a view to initiating proceedings targetting Rupert Murdoch and his son James. Mark Lewis of Taylor Hampton has instructed Norman Siegel, a New York-based lawyer who represents 20 9/11 families to seek witness statements from News Corp and directors including the Murdochs in relation to allegations that News of the World staff may have bribed police. He says he intends to assess whether he can launch a class action against News Corp using American foreign corruption laws, which make it illegal for US companies to pay bribes to government officials abroad. "There is a provision within US law, before you start an action...

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Scotland Yard drops Official Secrets Act bid against Guardian

 Scotland Yard had intended to take the Guardian newspaper to court on Friday in an attempt to force the newspaper into revealing how it obtained information that missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s mobile phone had been hacked. However, following discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the force has abandoned its application for production orders against the newspaper. The decision comes following heavy criticism of the force’s attempt to make the Guardian, and one of its journalists, hand over information which would have revealed the source of many of the newspaper’s phone hacking stories. Various MPs, including the shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis, questioned the Yard’s attempt. While many national newspapers carried leading articles condemning the Metropolitan Police’s...

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NAVY recruit flipped and killed an officer in a gun rampage on a nuclear sub after he was told off for his cleaning work.

Ryan Donovan, 23, fired his SA80 semi-automatic rifle after his hopes of a voyage on a surface ship were dashed as punishment for his shoddy work.He was also obsessed with violent video games and told a friend he wanted to carry out a Grand Theft Auto-style "kill frenzy".Yesterday the HMS Astute able seaman was jailed for life by a judge who heard he opened fire on two superiors he blamed — only to miss. Victim ... Ian Molyneux with wife Gill The shots were heard by Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux, 36, who rushed to tackle him during a goodwill visit by the sub to Southampton in April.Donovan murdered him with a bullet to the...

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Clegg condemns 'grotesque' hacking

 No amount of money can absolve News International from hacking in to the phone of Surrey murder victim Milly Dowler, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said , following the disclosure that the company was about to settle its case with the teenager's family. Rupert Murdoch is set to donate £1 million to charity from his own pocket, while the Dowlers themselves will receive in the region of £2 million in a separate payout from News International, the publishers of the now-closed News of the World. The company has confirmed it is in "advanced negotiations" with relatives of the 13-year-old, who was abducted and killed by Levi Bellfield...

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THE record company behind Irish rockers U2 has allegedly been unwittingly used by a multi-million dollar drugs trafficking ring

 THE record company behind Irish rockers U2 has allegedly been unwittingly used by a multi-million dollar drugs trafficking ring. A year-long investigation by the US Drugs Enforcement Authority (DEA) is alleged to have uncovered a racket where the band's record company, Interscope Records, was being used to transport Class A drugs and money inside the United States. It is understood that the record company's Californian headquarters was being used for pick-ups and deliveries of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine while a New York recording studio at the other end was also being used for the drug and cash shipments. Members of the drugs ring allegedly used musical equipment called “road cases” for shipping cocaine from Los Angeles to New York, between January 2010 and June 2011. On the...

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UBS hit by $2bn rogue trade

 Matthew Czepliewicz, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said the unauthorised loss cuts his 2011 earnings-per-share estimate for UBS by about 30pc - "a huge hit". He continued: "A loss of this magnitude will very likely have occurred in the FICC (Fixed Incomes, Currencies and Commodities) division, the very division UBS has been systematically rebuilding after shrinking it by 40pc during the credit crisis. That an unauthorised position of this size could have escaped oversight will renew pressure on management to radically scale back the FICC business, a volatile and capital-intensive business overall." He said that his upgrade of UBS to "buy" from "hold" on September 6 "now looks memorable, to say the least", but added: "As large and embarrassing as the loss is, it may in fact drive a positive...

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Fury over 'link' of drug arrests to Jodie's death

 SPANISH police investigating the circumstances surrounding Jodie Nieman's death made nine arrests last week. Although police are certain the Kenley beautician died from a heart attack, it is not clear whether her death was drug-related. ​ MISSED: Jodie Nieman An investigation has been launched into drugs supply in Ibiza and police announced last Thursday that they had arrested nine men after seizing cocaine, thousands of ecstasy pills, steroids and laboratory equipment. One of the men is from Croydon but it is not suggested Ms Nieman, who died just days before her 20th birthday on July 15, knew him. The former nail technician's mother Debbie, of Waterbourne Way, Kenley, said she was "disappointed and angry" Spanish police had linked the arrests with her daughter. She said: "We still...

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Three New Brunswick Smoke Shops Raided in "Bath Salts" Bust, Six People Arrested

 Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office has announced that three smoke shops in New Brunswick and a gas station in East Brunswick were raided and charged in the sale of illegal drugs. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the raids began on Aug. 2 after four months of investigative work and netted the following arrests: Jarnail Sandhu, 25, of Sayreville, owner of the Shell gas station located at 1010 Route 18 in East Brunswick, was arrested and charged with distribution of bath salts and synthetic marijuana; possession of bath salts and synthetic marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed with bail set at $100,000, with...

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Two Mexicans Killed for Reporting Criminals on Social Web Sites

 Two young people were murdered and their bodies left hanging off a pedestrian bridge in Nuevo Laredo, a border city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, for presumably using social-networking Web sites to report criminals. The bodies of the young man and young woman showed signs of torture, and motorists were the ones who spotted the bodies and called police. Officials, however, have not issued a statement about the killings. The young man was dressed in a polo shirt and shorts, while the young woman wore only shorts. Messages warning others not to use social-networking Web sites to report drug traffickers were left on each of the bodies. One of the messages was signed “Z,” a reference to Los Zetas, which operates along the border with the United States and is considered...

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Three bailed over murder of ex-gangster Dave Courtney's stepson Genson Courtney

 THREE men have been released on bail over the murder of Genson Courtney in Greenwich. Police found Mr Courtney suffering from gunshot wounds in a black Volkswagen Golf at around 10.50pm on July 3 in Banning Street. The 23-year-old, stepson of ex-gangster Dave Courtney, was taken by ambulance to hospital but was pronounced dead at 3.43am. A post-mortem gave the cause of death as gunshot wounds to the head. Three men, aged 28, 34 and 27, who were arrested at addresses in east and south London on suspicion of murder, have been released on bail to return on November 8. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Gower from the Met’s Trident unit is still appealing for witnesses. He said: “I am appealing to anyone who may have seen or heard anything suspicious to contact the police. "I would like...

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Elderly fugitive sentenced on drug charges

 A Manitoba fugitive who spent more than 30 years on the run before being arrested in Florida earlier this year has pleaded guilty to drug-smuggling charges. Ian MacDonald, 72, appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday morning and offered a guilty plea to one count of conspiring to import narcotics. The Crown and defence lawyers submitted a joint recommendation of a conditional sentence of two years less one day to be served in community. MacDonald, who has been in custody at the Remand Centre since he was extradited from Florida and returned to Manitoba in March. He had been arrested in January after being tracked to his central Florida home but it took some time to arrange his extradition. As part of the conditions of his sentence, MacDonald is under 24-hour house arrest with...

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UVF supergrass trial

 Fourteen alleged members of the UVF, including one of its former leaders Mark Haddock, are due to appear at Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday for the start of the first so-called "supergrass" trial to be held in Northern Ireland for 26 years. The charges include the murder of leading UDA member Tommy English during a loyalist feud. Critics say the process being used is unsafe and unjust, while the police and prosecutors insist it is legally sound. Our Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney looks at the background to the case. The police bristle at the very mention of the word "supergrass" because of its association with a series of high profile trials in the 1980s. Hundreds of republicans and loyalists were convicted on the word of informers and suspects who agreed to give evidence...

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Nine people stabbed to death, five killed in a deliberately set fire and an innocent grandmother’s body shoved in the trunk of her own car.

 These troubling deaths are just a portion of Winnipeg’s climbing homicide cases this year. As of Thursday, Winnipeg has 29 homicides recorded, well above last year’s total of 22. Winnipeg’s deadliest year on record was 2004 when there was 34. “The numbers are a lot higher than we would like to see,” said Const. Jason Michalyshen, Winnipeg police spokesman. “It’s concerning to us, and it should be concerning to everyone.” The latest victim is Joseph Lalonde, 48, who was brutally beaten with a baseball bat. Two 15-year-old boys were charged with second-degree murder. A total of 10 youths have been charged in connection to the 2011 deaths. Michalyshen said it’s been a challenging year. “Our resources have been very busy making sure no stone is unturned, making sure that these investigations...

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Contract Killing On The Increase In Costa Rica

 According to the Sección de Estadísticas del Departamento de Planificación del Poder Judicial (Statistics Section of the Planning Department of the Judiciary) the number of murders presumed by hired killers in 2010, went from 13 victims in 2009 to 40 in 2010, placing the La Carpio, Leon XIII, Los Cuadros y Guararí de Heredia as the places of highest incidence. Judicial authorities presume that organized crime groups, use this method to assert their interests in various criminal activities, as they are listed in order of importance: drug trafficking, gang revenge, robbery of drug traffickers (known as tumbonazos) and executions tied to the sale of illegal drugs. However, statistics show a slight increase in intentional homicides during the past year, compared to 2009, from 525 to 527...

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Vallucos gang members get life in prison for 'ice pick' murder

 Cameron Park man accused of stabbing and killing a woman with an ice pick will spend the rest of his life in jail. After two and a half hours of deliberation, a Cameron County jury sentenced Ernesto Berlanga to life in prison for the August 2005 murder of Patricia Salas. The two had been fighting when he stabbed her in the neck and then fled the scene. Prosecutors previously identified Berlanga as a member of the Vallucos prison gang. Berlaga was already serving a 25-year sentence for gouging the eye of a fellow inmate at the Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center back in 20...

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Domestic helps’ accomplices prime suspects:

 The two accomplices of the two domestic helps arrested for the murders of Juhu resident Kavita Suchak and her manager Prakash Bagwe on August 30 were the masterminds behind the murders said investigators, a day after arresting all four, two from Navi Mumbai and two from Nanded. Based on the investigations, police said the two domestic helps identified as Ram Singh Badaila and Tek Singh Badaila, also have a past crime record. According to Vishwas Nangre-Patil, Additional Commissioner (West region), the police are now compiling a database of domestic helps working in each society in the western region and their backgrounds would be checked. However, the victim had not verified the backgrounds of the two before hiring them, which made it difficult to trace them, said Nangre- Patil. The...

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70 stabbings in public view! Gruesome gang murders man in Ahmedabad

 Yafizuddin Sheikh, a resident of Juhapura, was brutally killed when some people repeatedly ran a car over him and then stabbed him over 70 times on Friday night in Amraiwadi. Sheikh's assailants continued to stab him till he succumbed to his wounds on the spot. A murder complaint has been filed with the Amraiwadi police against members of the Daddu gang for the gruesome murder. Yafizuddin and another man Mohammad had gone to Bal Bhavan in Khokhra to meet his friend, one Harish Darbar alias Harry in their Maruti Esteem car.While the victim waited there to meet his friend, a group of people, in a Santro car, rammed into Yafizuddin. They then reversed the car and ran it over him again repeating the process thrice. They then came out and stabbed Yafizuddin so much so that he had around...

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NSW businesses warned of travelling conmen

 Residents and businesses in NSW are being urged to be on the lookout for travelling conmen and itinerant domestic gangs. A nationwide crackdown aims to have scammers who visit Australia seasonally removed from the country and barred from re-entering, as well as local gangs that travel around conning people. NSW Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts on Monday warned of conmen specialising in scams such as bitumen laying, roof painting and back-of-truck dealings on electronics. "We want to catch these crooks, hold them accountable for their crimes and keep the market fair and free of rip-offs," he said in a statement. "What we are dealing with is organised, criminal activity that creates market distortions as legitimate businesses face unfair competition." The conmen structure their...

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