Tag: england
BBC host Danny Baker fired after comparing royal baby Archie to a chimp
One of Britain’s best-known broadcasters was fired by the BBC on Thursday for a tweet he wrote comparing the new royal baby to a chimp.
Danny Baker, 61, tweeted out a photo of a chimp in a suit holding hands with a smartly dressed couple, writing, “Royal baby leaves hospital.”
It sparked instant outrage because of the clear racist undertones against Duchess of Sussex Meghan, 37, whose mom, Doria Ragland, is African American.
Baker admitted it had been a “stupid unthinking gag” — but insisted it was an innocent dig at the royals that was being wildly misinterpreted.
“Never occurred to me because, well, mind not diseased,” he wrote. “Soon as those good enough to point out its possible connotations got in touch, down it came. And that’s it.”
He later called the backfired joke “grotesque” and “an enormous mistake,” sending a message to Harry and Meghan’s newborn Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, “Here’s to ya Archie, Sorry mate.”
His apologies were not enough, however, with him soon tweeting, “Just got fired.”
“This was a serious error of judgment,” insisted a BBC spokesman, saying the joke “goes against the values we as a station aim to embody.”
“Danny’s a brilliant broadcaster but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us.”
Baker remained defiant, damning the call to fire him as a “masterclass of pompous faux-gravity”
“Took a tone that said I actually meant that ridiculous tweet and the BBC must uphold blah blah blah,” he added. “Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking.” He ended the message, “#F–kem.”
Royal baby Archie was born Monday, with proud parents Meghan and Prince Harry publicly debuting him Wednesday.
Photo Credit: nypost.com/AP
Man who raped teen on FaceTime call busted thanks to screenshots
A brutal rapist who attacked a teenager while she chatted to her boyfriend on FaceTime was caught thanks to him taking screengrabs of the attack.
Samuel Fortes, 27, followed the 19-year-old victim through the England city of Leeds before dragging her under an overpass and raping her during a 15-minute attack.
Although horrified by what he was seeing, the victim’s boyfriend took a screenshot of Fortes stamping on the girl – which was later used by police as evidence.
He called the police and his girlfriend was found a short time after at the scene of the attack, battered and bruised and naked from the waist down.
The victim’s heartbroken dad later said: “It is like you have been growing and protecting a flower for 19 years and all of a sudden somebody just comes and stomps on it.”
The student was returning from a night out with friends when Fortes, who had been lurking in Leeds city centre, spotted her at 3:15 a.m.
He walked alongside the teenager and asked her for her number.
She politely refused and tried to walk off, still chatting to her boyfriend on the mobile phone app.
As she was about to cross a footbridge to walk home, Fortes grabbed her from behind, Leeds Crown Court was told.
Prosecutor David Gordon said: “The victim struggled and told Fortes to get off her.
“He was smirking and she asked him why. His reply was to punch her in the face six times.”
He dragged her from the footbridge to underneath an overpass where she was savagely attacked.
Most of her clothes were ripped off. She suffered a fracture to her face, a broken tooth and extensive swelling to her face and body.
PUNCHED HER SIX TIMES IN THE FACE
The victim feared she was going to die but Fortes was disturbed when three passers-by on the footbridge found her handbag, phone and keys.
They went to look for the victim and found Fortes attacking her. Fortes fled and police were called.
One officer said: “I was also shocked by the injuries to her face. They were some of the worst I have seen in my 11 years of service.”
Fortes spent an hour hiding behind a bush before fleeing back to his home city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
But he was caught after a painstaking forensic examination of the scene revealed a single piece of hair which was linked to his DNA.
CCTV also showed him wandering around Leeds city centre before the attack, following his victim, and catching a train afterwards.
He was arrested – with the teen’s blood still on his sneakers.
Fortes admitted rape and wounding with intent at Leeds Crown Court on Monday and on Thursday was jailed for life with a minimum of eight years to be served.
Judge Rodney Jameson QC described the victim’s statement as “the most remarkable I have ever encountered,” adding: “I salute her extraordinary courage.”
The victim, now 20, said in the statement read to the court: “I was and still am sickened by the thought that one human could do that to another. I thought I was going to die. It is a feeling that no words could ever describe.
The court heard Fortes, who came to the UK from Portugal in 2010, has previous convictions for domestic violence against an ex-partner in 2017.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/19/man-who-raped-teen-on-facetime-call-busted-thanks-to-screenshots/
UK man with a sick obsession for publicly masturbating near horses has been arrested twice within 24 hours for the same lewd offense
Malcolm Downes, 61, who has a “long, long history” of pleasuring himself in front of the mammals, was arrested on Feb. 18 after he was spotted touching himself in a field in the city of Hull, England, Metro UK reported.
A witness initially thought that Downes was urinating but it “soon became clear he was in fact masturbating,” prosecutor Neil Coxon said, according to the news outlet.
“This activity went on for three or four minutes. His penis was exposed for about 10 minutes,” Coxon said.
When police grilled Downes about the illicit act, he told detectives: “I was sat on a bench. I was feeling sexy so I started to…”
Downes told cops he knew what he was doing was wrong, according to the news site.
The suspect was then released on bail after saying he had been planning to see his doctor for libido-suppressing drugs.
But within 24 hours, Downes could not resist his urges and was back at the same field, where he was caught by an off-duty cop.
The offender ultimately was jailed for eight months.
Downes admitted he has a problem, but that he got a thrill out of pleasuring himself, according to Metro UK.
According to the news outlet, Downes, who recently reconnected with his family after being exiled, had 12 similar busts on his record.
He also had nine breaches of an antisocial behavior order for masturbating in public, the news site reported.
The court order had barred Downes from entering any field, stable or area that may have equine animals across the northern English county of Humberside.
“The defendant is very disappointed to be back before the courts again for precisely the same sort of behavior he’s been convicted of in the past,” Downes’ lawyer, Stephen Robinson, told a judge.
“The defendant was of the view he’d been doing quite well,” Robinson said.
Robinson added: “He can’t really explain it. He said he felt he was starting to conquer his demons. He believes this was some sort of lapse he can’t explain. He is, he insists, very sorry for his actions.”
Judge David Tremberg told Downes: “You know you are doing wrong, but you appear either unable or unwilling to stop yourself.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/10/man-with-bizarre-horse-fetish-busted-twice-in-24-hours/
Children at ‘Peppa Pig’ movie in tears following trailers for horror films
Children eagerly waiting to see the new film “Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun” began their theater experience in tears after trailers for horror movies featuring blood and violence were played before the screening.
Parents briefly removed their children from the screening at Empire Cinema in Ipswich, England, on Saturday after trailers for the films “Ma” and “Brightburn” were played before the children’s movie.
“Brightburn,” a superhero horror film featuring Elizabeth Banks, shows a child wearing a mask and seemingly killing a bloodied woman at the end. The trailer shows flashes of hanging bodies. The trailer for “Ma,” starring Octavia Spencer, is filled with sexual violence, blood, bodies and includes a scene of a teen being hit by a truck.
Charlie Jones, a BBC journalist, said she took her daughter to the film screening and attempted to cover her eyes when the scary trailers were played.
“Normally I would expect her [my daughter] to be singing and dancing when watching something like [Peppa Pig] but she was just really subdued,” Jones said. “I tried to cover her eyes during the trailers and told her they were silly films for mommies and daddies, but there were lots of kids crying and she was very confused and started crying too.”
Jones said she went “mad” at the manager after the incident.
“It was meant to be a special day for Annie. I don’t think he understands the impact of it,” she added. “Annie is very imaginative and scared of monsters and things like that at the moment.”
“You go to the movies and you expect it to be a safe family day out, you don’t expect her to be exposed to anything which could do harm,” Jones said.
An Empire Cinemas spokeswoman apologized for “any distress” caused by the incident.
“As soon as the staff on site were made aware of the situation, the program was stopped and trailers were taken off-screen immediately. We do sincerely apologize for this and for any distress caused and will be reviewing our internal procedures to ascertain how this came to be,” the spokeswoman said in a statement to the BBC.
Scout leader busted for installing camera in boys bathroom
A vile former UK scout leader who coerced a likeminded perv to abuse his infant son and installed a hidden camera to film boys using the bathroom has been sent to the slammer for 12 years, according to local authorities — who described him this week as a “professional pedophile.”
Terence Hamblett, 44, who used to run a scouts group in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, pleaded guilty in November to a string of child sex charges — and returned for sentencing on Thursday, the Cheshire Constabulary said in a statement.
An investigation revealed that Hamblett installed a hidden camera in the the bathrooms of a café he ran at JTF Mega Discount Warehouse in Stoke-on-Trent.
Footage on one of his laptops shows him setting up the camera, and 12 additional clips show two teen boys using the toilet and getting changed.
Investigators learned that Hamblett — who liked to be referred to as “Master” — had been inciting a fellow pedophile to sexually abuse his own infant son on a webcam during their Skype communications over a 3-year-period.
Nearly 14,000 messages — including indecent images — were exchanged between the two men, police said.
Authorities began investigating Hamblett’s alleged actions in September 2016, after receiving information from another police force.
He was arrested on suspicion of possessing, making and distributing indecent images of children.
Police seized several of his devices, which revealed a whopping 922 indecent images and videos of children being sexually exploited, police said.
He also had distributed more than 600 files containing child sexual abuse material — both to other offenders and his victims — through Skype, authorities said.
He pretended to be a teenage boy, and used the Skype names bennyboy4900 and jordbroomy when chatting with the victims, according to police.
He allegedly sent teen boys indecent images and videos in exchange for them performing sexual acts for him on a webcam. But he never showed his face — claiming to have a broken webcam to conceal his true age and identity, police said.
“This was a highly complex investigation involving thousands of images and videos, more than one-and-a-half million Skype messages and the identification of a large number of victims and other offenders both in the UK and abroad,” Detective Constable Andy Kent, of Cheshire Constabulary’s Major Investigation Team, said in the statement. “As a result of the work by our dedicated officers we have been able to show that Hamblett is a professional pedophile who used the internet and social media to sexually exploit vulnerable victims for his own sexual gratification.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/01/11/scout-leader-busted-for-installing-camera-in-boys-bathroom/
Photo Credit: Ellesmereport Police
Freshman dies after ‘initiation’ party where students bobbed for apples in urine
Students bobbed for apples in a mixture of booze and urine as part of a drink-fuelled initiation ceremony where a British student died, an inquest heard.
First-year economics student Ed Farmer, 20, died after being found slumped in a corridor not breathing at the end of a student society’s night out in Newcastle in 2016.
Although he was rushed to the hospital, he died the next day with his parents at his bedside.
During the initiation, freshmen had their heads shaved by older students and drank vodka from a pig’s head after visiting bars in the city center.
The inquest previously heard that 100 treble vodkas were consumed by the 40-strong group in just seven minutes at one of the stops on the undergraduate bar crawl.
CCTV footage shown to the inquest showed Ed being carried by two friends in a Metro station at one point in the evening because he was too drunk to walk.
He was later discovered not breathing at around 4 a.m. by the chairman of the Agricultural Society, James Carr, and driven to the hospital.
The court was told that if Ed had been taken to hospital sooner, he may have been saved.
Newcastle University had banned boozy initiations, leading to one student suggesting that others should deny knowledge of the ceremony in which Ed died.
Jonathan Hedley told the inquest he sent a WhatsApp message to other students as a “joke” telling them to pretend to not know anything about the event.
He said the message – which was sent before he realized how serious the situation was – read: “The three D’s boys, deny, deny, deny”.
The secret ceremony began with an invitation being sent to first-years for the bar crawl telling them to bring $39, lubrication, swimming goggles, a Kinder egg candy and a train ticket.
Society chairman James Carr admitted that the first-years drank more on the night with the second- and third-years “egging them on.”
Man broke into funeral home to steal mother-in-law’s body
A man busted into a UK funeral home to steal back his mother-in-law’s body — taking matters into his own hands after he had not heard from the undertaker, according to a new report.
Desperate to make sure his mother-in-law was given a proper send-off, the man, who did not want to be identified, removed the body after he couldn’t reach anyone from Butterfly Funeral Services in Rochester, Kent to discuss arrangements, The Telegraph reported.
He brought the body to another undertaker in the back of a hire van — and told his wife nothing of his actions because he didn’t want to upset her, according to the report.
“I had no option…I had to get the body out,” the man told the outlet. “I had taken on all of the organizing and I didn’t want to bother my wife at this time…She still to this day doesn’t know what happened and I won’t be telling her.”
The man said he told local police of his plans and removed the body in broad daylight — returning later to pick up the clothes his mother-in-law wanted to be buried in.
The body-snatching happened a year ago, but was only revealed this week as bailiffs repossessed the funeral home, which had gone bust, according to the report.
Bailiffs found 16 full urns on a shelf — which had not been reunited with their families. Those urns have since been moved to another parlor as efforts are made to reach out to relatives.
Karen Calder, who ran the business, had racked up multiple unpaid bills and was banned from using local crematoriums.
She placed a handwritten note in the shop window apologizing for distress and asking families to email her if they wanted to collect their relatives’ ashes.
Robert Lawrence, manager of Medway Funeral Directors — which eventually handled the burial — said the man made multiple attempts to contact Calder about the arrangements.
It wasn’t clear whether the man was charged with a crime in connection to the body-snatching, but police were aware of his intentions before he took off with the corpse, Lawrence told the outlet.
“He spent a long while in contact with the police and in the end said, ‘I’ve just got to go and get her,’ Lawrence told the outlet. “When he did arrive with the body, we did all we could to help. He was very distressed and his wife still doesn’t know.”
These horror stories shouldn’t happen,” he added. “That parlor was never regulated by anybody, and it’s a terrible thing to have gone through.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/08/31/man-broke-into-funeral-home-to-steal-mother-in-laws-body/
Family of pedophiles raped kids for 30 years before being caught
A sick family raped children during a 30-year campaign of abuse branded the “worst ever case of its kind” by a judge.
Twisted Antony Potts and three members of his family carried out a string of child abuse offenses over the course of three decades.
The 49-year-old was described as a “deeply depraved man” as he was jailed for life at Birmingham Crown Court.
He was convicted of 13 counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and nine counts of inciting a child to perform a sexual act and cruelty.
Antony was joined in the docket by his dad, Keith Potts, who was caged for eight years alongside his wife, Julie, both for child cruelty.
Antony’s wife, Elaine, and family friend Joanne Hoye were also both jailed for four years after pleading guilty to neglect.
Brother Joshua Potts admitted to multiple counts of rape and sexual assault against children, while his sibling Nathan, 26, was jailed for 16 years for two counts of rape of a child, four counts of sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sex with another adult.
Jailing Antony Potts, Judge Carr told him: “You are a deeply depraved man who has taken many, many opportunities to abuse children and corrupt them.
“These are horrendous offenses.
“In 50 years practice and presiding over cases like this, I cannot think of a worse one.”
The court heard how the sickening abuse first came to light in 1989 when a girl came forward and told cops what Antony had done to her.
But the case was never brought to trial and in May 2015, three more children – all aged under 14 – said they had been abused by Antony and others.
Police were once again called but it was decided there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. However, the case was reopened in January 2016 when a fifth victim came forward.
The full extent of the abuse began to unravel and a further three victims were identified – meaning the vile family could be brought to trial.
Jurors were read emotional victim impact statements giving harrowing details of how the victims were “groomed and brainwashed” by their abusers.
One said the abuse had a “major impact” on her life and she felt she was “let down as a child” by the police.
She also said she has suffered from “constant and daily panic attacks,” has post-traumatic stress disorder and has “reduced self-worth.”
Another victim said: “I want Antony to go to prison all his life so he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Joshua Potts will be sentenced in August.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/18/family-of-pedophiles-raped-kids-for-30-years-before-being-caught/
Man dismembered girlfriend’s body, made necklace with her teeth
A man in England was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after being found guilty of murdering his girlfriend, dismembering her body and admitting to police he made a necklace out of her teeth.
Devon & Cornwall Police said in a news release that Dean Lowe, 33, was convicted last week of killing his girlfriend, 32-year-old Kirby Noden, in January 2017.
The 33-year-old then lived with the evidence of the murder for months, and told family and friends that Noden had left him for another man.
In May 2017, authorities were contacted by concerned members of Lowe’s family after they received “disturbing” messages from him on social media, saying there had been a body on the floor, which he had cut up and put into bins, according to police.
“Either I’m getting set up or I’ve murdered Kirby. I had a blackout, hazy memory and woke up with a body on the floor. I am scared so I just got rid,” he wrote to a cousin, according to Sky News. “I put the body in the bins down the road. I remember the binmen finding all the meat and didn’t know what it was. The carpet was lifted because of the body matter.”
When investigators searched Lowe’s home, they found blood spattered on the walls, a metal pole and rock used to kill Noden, in addition to stains on a mattress the 33-year-old continued to sleep on.
He also told police he made a necklace of Noden’s teeth, according to Sky News.
“Miss Noden’s family have been put through a living hell with Lowe not disclosing where he disposed of Kirby’s body and denying all knowledge in court. Lowe added to their upset by insisting that Kirby was still alive,” Detective Inspector Ian Ringrose said in a statement. “We hope today’s verdict gives them some comfort in the conclusion of the case and our thoughts and sympathies are with them.”
During his sentencing on Tuesday, a judge said Lower showed the “opposite of remorse” by constantly lying.
“You must have eaten, slept, watched TV and taken your drugs next to [Noden’s corpse] for several days, with two bull terriers in the same room,” Justice May said. “You cut up what remained, wrapped some in the carpet and took the rest in rucksacks to the bins.”
Noden’s family thanked authorities to achieve a conviction in the case.
“Dean Lowe has taken away from us something totally precious, and although we welcome this verdict and sentence, it will never replace our loss,” the family said in a statement.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/05/15/man-dismembered-girlfriends-body-made-necklace-with-her-teeth/
Human-sacrifice obsessed teen dressed as clown to stab lover during sex
A teen mom with an obsession for male sacrifice has been jailed for 11 and a half years after she stabbed her lover five times during sex.
Zoe Adams, 19, dressed in clown makeup and put a pillow over Kieran Bewick’s head “to make it kinkier.”
She then told Bewick – who was 17 at the time – “trust me” before stabbing him in the chest, arm and thigh with a ten-inch blade, jurors heard.
Adams admitted to unlawfully and maliciously wounding the now-18-year-old Bewick with an intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Adams, who was fascinated by serial killers, had asked Kieran if he was prepared to be tied up after smoking cannabis and downing half a bottle of vodka.
Carlisle Crown Court in the UK heard his description of the attack in a police interview shown to jurors – including how Adams had appeared wearing the clown make-up as he lay in bed.
Detective Constable Calvin Greaves said: “Any assault with a knife has the potential for fatal consequences. In this instance, the young victim of this callous and violent attack has been very fortunate to escape with his life.”
“Adams told officers she blacked out and had no memory of the attack. Her 17-year-old victim is not so fortunate. He will have to live with the physical and mental scars of Adams’ actions for the rest of his life.”
“He has shown great courage throughout the investigation, not least in giving detectives a statement regarding the attack whilst only hours into his recovery.”
Bewick told police in the taped interview: “She said ‘does this scare you?’ and I said ‘No, can you go and wash it off?’”
“She was just standing there staring at me and I kept repeating ‘can you go and wash it off.’”
“She had diamond eyes, and a Joker mouth, with red lipstick on the lips, and she had her hands behind her back. She had a weird smirk on her face.”
Bewick continued: “She asked again ‘Can I tie you to the bed?’ I said no, and then she said ‘put the pillow over your face then it is kinkier that way.’”Bewick, who has a fear of clowns, claimed Adams had joked about it being the Kieran Killer before asking him: “What will you let me do to you?”
“So I put the pillow on my head. She had been tracing with her finger on my chest and asked ‘do you really love me?’”
“I said ‘yes’. She said: ‘Do you really want me?’ I said ‘Yes’. She put her hand behind her back, I thought that she had my phone.”
“She said ‘put the pillow back on your face, trust me’. That’s when she stabbed me. I did not feel pain, but I felt the bleeding. I felt my lung pop and squirt blood.”
Bewick fled the house in his boxer shorts following the alleged attack last June with three wounds to his chest, arm and inner thigh.
Bewick ran the length of the street before finding Adams’ aunt, telling her: “Zoe’s stabbed me.”
The court heard how Adams had texted Bewick last June saying her sexual fantasy “was of a male being tied up and used as human sacrifice.”
Detective Constable Calvin Greaves of Cumbria Police told jurors a number of “highly concerning” images had been found on Adams’ phone – including an image showing blood around genitals.
One message read: “His wife cut his dick off and cooked it with noodles.”