I watched brawl on balcony

By BRIAN HORNE

Published: Today

A NEIGHBOUR told yesterday how he watched a couple's life-or-death struggle on a tower-block balcony.

Noel Pittham said he witnessed a man trying to throw a struggling woman over the edge as she battled to get away.

He was giving evidence at the trial of Francis Murphy, 26, who is accused of attempting to murder ex-lover Natalie Farrell by trying to throw her from the eighth floor after gouging out her eye.

Mr Pittham, 53, told the High Court in Edinburgh: "She had her arms wrapped round the bars of the verandah and was fighting to get away.

"She grabbed them for dear life. If she had not, I don't think she would be here today." Mr Pittham said he described the scene to cops as they headed to the Dundee tower block in May.

Earlier, the trial had heard how Ms Farrell's friend Jade Hall went to her pal's flat after the 27-year-old's new boyfriend Paul Stanton, 31, came to her door to get help.

Ms Hall, 24, said she saw Murphy wiping Ms Farrell's blood-stained face. She added: "I didn't realise her eye was out."

After police arrived, Ms Hall went downstairs with another friend, Sean Mill. She told the trial: "Sean said, 'Is that not her eye there?' and that was when we came across it."

When Murphy was question by cops he said he couldn't remember anything about the events.

He accepts he caused the injury to Ms Farrell's eye but denies attempting to murder her. A verdict is expected today.

Two boys, 10, arrested on suspicion of raping girl, eight

By Rebecca Camber

Last updated at 8:33 AM on 30th October 2009

Two 10-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of raping an eight-year-old girl in a playground.

The schoolgirl had been playing with the boys, believed to be her friends, when the alleged attack happened during half-term school holidays.

She went with the boys to College Park in Hayes, West London to play on the climbing frame and swings close to Hayes Community Campus, which is part of Uxbridge College.

Hayes Community Campus: Near where the attack allegedly happened

The attack on the youngster was witnessed by her six-year-old sister, neighbours claimed last night.

The children were not being supervised by any adults at the time, detectives said.

The boys were seen meeting up with the the girl and her younger sister at about 11am on Tuesday.

The young girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was taken to bushes at the edge of the park where she was sexually assaulted in broad daylight on Tuesday at around 2pm.

The two boys are alleged to have taken turns raping her.

Afterwards, the young girl ran home to tell her parents who live close by.

Horrified, they alerted police and the two boys, who live close to the victim, were arrested hours later.

The youngsters, who are said to be best friends, were quizzed about the incident before being bailed to return to a West London police station next month.

The attack is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police's recently re-organised Sapphire Unit in the Specialist Crime Directorate.

Detectives specially trained in child sex offences have since interviewed the young girl.

Yesterday the playground and adjourning playing fields were sealed off while forensic officers combed the scene for evidence.

The attack has stunned local residents living in the estate beside the park.

Yesterday deputy mayor of Hillingdon Council, Councillor David Yarrow said: 'I have never heard of two ten-year-olds being accused of raping an eight-year-old girl. It's just totally shocking.

'It's like the James Bulger case, you can't believe children of that age would be capable of something like that.'

Police said the victim sustained no physical injuries in the attack.

A 49-year-old housewife who lives near one of the alleged perpetrators said: 'The boy is regularly left alone by his mum while she goes out for hours on end.

'The boy's mother is known for being aggressive and she has a criminal record. But her son is as polite as can be.'

Homeless Man Allegedly Steals Ferret From Florida Pet Shop, Uses It as Weapon

Thursday, October 29, 2009

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — It's one thing for shoplifters to hide plunder in their pants. But a live ferret?

Police say a homeless man in north Florida did just that. And he made it out the door before being challenged.

Thirty-eight-year-old Rodney Bolton is charged with theft over the $129 animal that police say he took from a pet store in Jacksonville Beach.

A 17-year-old witness confronted Bolton in the parking lot and was bitten by the animal after the man allegedly shoved it in the teen's face.

That confrontation makes the ferret a "special weapon" under Florida law. So Bolton also faces battery charges for dangerously wielding the animal.

Calls to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department to see if Bolton has a lawyer were not answered

Executed in broad daylight: The chilling moment a Mafia hitman strikes outside a Naples bar... but no-one saw a thing

By Nick Pisa

Last updated at 8:02 AM on 30th October 2009

This is the chilling moment a Mafia boss is gunned down by a hitman outside a bar.

Mario Bacio Terracino is first felled by a gunshot to the arm.

His attacker then stands over him and finishes him off with a single shot to the back of the head before strolling away.

Chilling: (Clockwise from top left) Mariano Bacio Terracino, 53, is first shot in the arm before falling to the ground and being shot in the head in full public view

Police in Naples, where the local Mafia are known as the Camorra, released the CCTV footage to try to catch the hitman.

They believe the killing of Terracino, 53, was part of a feud with a rival gang over the control of lucrative drug trafficking network.

Terracino was also known to police as a bank robber and was accused of a £1.8 million heist committed in 1991, but was never convicted.

Brazen: The hitman smiles as he walks away calmly after executing his target

His trademark was said to be entering buildings from below through the sewer network.

Police in Naples also revealed that Terracino had also been part of a Camorra gang that had kidnapped Italian Socialist politician Guido De Martino in 1977.

He was snatched of a street in Naples and held for six weeks before being freed after a one billion lire ransom was paid - £430.000.

Tarracino is seen smoking a cigarette outside a bar in the central Sanita neighborhood. The killer enters the bar, where there are at least six people, then emerges and shoots Tarracino at point blank range.

When Tarracino falls on the ground, the killer finishes him off with a bullet to the head.

Witnesses who 'didn't see a thing': A woman stands yards from the attack

None of the bystanders moves a finger, although it is hard to say if that is from genuine indifference or fear of retaliation.

A woman is seen rubbing off her scratch-and-win lottery card as Tarracino is killed in front of her. A cigarette-seller moves his stall a few meters down the road, while a man holding a toddler in his arms looks at the victim and walks away.

A woman counting change in her purse jumps in shock at the sound of the gunshot and turns to see the killer calmly walking away. He was even said to be smiling.

Aftermath: Terracino's body is draped with a blanket as his blood seeps through

Today, police in Naples said: 'We are taking the unusal step of releasing this graphic footage in an attempt to catch his killer.

'His face although hidden is visible and someone out there must recognise him and we would appeal for them to come forward.'

So far this year, there have been more than 30 Camorra murders in Naples, many of which remain unsolved and many of them stem from feuds between rival clans.

In an attempt to control the extent of organised crime in the city the Italian government has flooded the area with troops, but with little effect.

One of the bloodiest hits was last September, when six Africans who tried to muscle into the drugs trade were shot dead outside a shop.

The Camorra is much more violent than the Sicilian Mafia and also has several branches in Britain. In 2006, Naples mobster Raffaele Caldarelli was arrested in Hackney, east London.

Eighth severed foot washes up on Canada's Pacific coast

A severed foot has washed up on the shores of Canada's Pacific coast, in the eighth such incident in two years, police said on Thursday.

Published: 6:46PM GMT 29 Oct 2009

The foot, in a size 8.5 white Nike running shoe, was discovered on Tuesday by two men walking on a beach in a suburb of Vancouver, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

The British Columbia coroners' office is conducting a forensic autopsy and other tests to try to match it to missing persons, police said.

Seven feet were previously found along the rugged coast of British Columbia province and the neighbouring US state of Washington, including one later determined to have belonged to a missing man who was depressed. The other feet discovered include a female pair, a male pair and a male right foot.

DNA testing has not yet determined the identities of the others, said police.

Scientists say the feet could have drifted dozens or thousands of miles because human body parts can remain intact in water for years when protected by shoes or sturdy clothing.

"There has been no evidence to date to support foul play in relation to these discoveries and it appears that all remains separated from the body, disarticulated, through a natural process," police said.

Our lives behind a mask

By BELLA BATTLE

Published: 29 Oct 2009

WIPING a tear from her eye with a hand that bears the scars of the acid attack that marred her life, Katie Piper looks intently at the face of the woman who offers her hope of a future beyond her injuries.

Paddington rail crash survivor Pam Warren is unrecognisable as the woman left with terrible burns after two trains collided ten years ago.

But the horrifying legacy these brave women share creates a tangible bond as Pam slowly begins to tell her story.

"After the crash I woke up with my hands pinned above me and no idea where I was," she remembers with a grimace.

"I was on morphine, which confused me even more. I remember thinking intensive care was a chocolate shop."

Katie adds: "The morphine's a killer, isn't it? I was convinced the nurses were trying to kill me. Thank goodness my family were there."

Pam, 42, is best known as the iconic face of the Paddington disaster.

As she was ... Pam Warren in 1998 before the train crash

On October 5, 1999, she was in the front carriage of a Great Western express train when it crashed head-on into a smaller commuter train, killing 31 people and injuring more than 400.

Pam's carriage was engulfed in a fireball that left her with burns so horrendous she was in a coma for three weeks.

Katie, 26, was the victim of a savage attack set up by a vengeful former boyfriend. On March 31 last year evil Stefan Sylvestre, 20, hurled sulphuric acid in her face on the orders of 33-year-old Daniel Lynch - a man who had already raped Katie and held her captive for eight hours.

Katie was blinded in one eye and suffered third degree burns to her face, neck, chest, upper arms, wrists and hands. She swallowed more acid when she began screaming in agony.

Between them, Katie and Pam have endured more than 50 operations. As she remembers her ordeal, Katie bows her head and sips through a straw from a protein drink designed to build up her frail frame.

She says: "Those were really dark days. I was so scared and I refused to look in a mirror until the day I left hospital.

"My parents kept saying, 'You're bound to look swollen after surgery' so I knew it was bad. My first reaction was that the mirror was broken somehow - I wasn't looking at me, I was looking at a picture of someone I didn't know.

"Then the reality began to sink in and I was so angry.

"I cried a lot. It sounds mad but I just wanted to find my real face, scoop it up and put it back on."

Unable to cope after she woke from an induced coma after 12 days, at one point Katie passed a note to her mum Diane saying "Kill me".

Her moving story is told in the Cutting Edge film Katie: My Beautiful Face at 9pm on Channel 4 tonight.

Pam, from Reading, Berks, can identify with Katie's desperate feelings.

She says: "I felt like a monster. I thought, 'There's nothing they can do about this. My life is over.'

"But then doctors told me about the benefits of wearing a mask.

"I jumped at the chance. At the time I would have done anything that might help."

Katie adds: "I found it harder. I'd just got used to my burns and I was suddenly told to wear this horrid mask for 23 hours a day for two years."

Pam nods in sympathy: "The mask is so uncomfortable, isn't it? It's hot, it's sticky, it digs into your skin when you lie down.

"But it saved my face. After I took it off, I went out to meet friends and felt rain on my face for the first time in two years."

Katie adds: "You get used to it too. My skin feels taut and dry without it now.

"And early on in my recovery I felt like it was a shield protecting me from any further attacks."

Pam, through her charity work, now travels the country visiting fellow burns victims to show just what is possible. She says: "I've been mentoring a woman injured in the 7/7 attacks in London and I went up to Manchester to see a 17-year-old badly burned in a hay loft fire recently.

"She had refused to wear the mask because she didn't believe it would make any difference - but then she met me."

As Pam speaks, Katie looks in awe at the older woman's seemingly scar-free skin - helped by clever camouflage make-up.

She says: "Pam looks so pretty. You would never be able to tell she was scarred and that gives me hope that things will improve for me too."

"I'm sure they will," Pam adds reassuringly. But for all the positives - including this meeting - recovery is a slow process for the friends. Both suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.

Beautiful ... Katie Piper in 2007

Katie was too scared to leave her home for months and Pam suffered horrific flashbacks. Katie says: "My whole life was about recovery in those first months.

"We'd watch comedy DVDs to cheer me up - but there were nights, when everyone had gone to bed, when I would sit at the computer and sink two bottles of wine as I watched old clips of myself.

"I felt like I'd been robbed of my youth, my looks and my career by those two men. I just couldn't forgive the hell they'd put me through."

Pam also sank into depression as she struggled to get a compensation payout or a guarantee from the Government that rail safety measures would change.

In 2002 she overdosed on pills in a suicide attempt, her marriage collapsed and she later told journalists she wished she had died in the crash.

She says: "I just wanted it all to go away. But now I've learned that it's not what you look like but how you look at the world that counts."

Katie nods in agreement: "I have met so many people with disfigurements and their confidence really inspires me."

The turning point for Katie came with the successful conviction of both Lynch and Sylvestre. Both were jailed for life.

She says: "The anger began to disappear as soon as I thought people agreed that what had happened to me was wrong.

"My life really has a purpose now. It sounds weird but I'm actually more confident than I was before the attack. I used to think my looks were the only thing going for me. But now I know people like me for who I am.

"I can never go back to the shallow life I lived before. I look at old pictures of me now and that girl seems like a friend I used to know. My relationships are so much stronger now and I've met kind people who have restored my faith in human nature."

Joy ... Katie today with Pam

Pam is equally positive. She says: "My life is so much better now. Before Paddington I was rushing around working all hours and I saw my parents about twice a year.

"Then the crash happened, my marriage ended and I was convinced I'd be alone for the rest of my life. I thought, 'Who'd fancy this?'

"But I've now been in a loving relationship for two years with a great man who says he never notices my scars."

Katie adds: "I get so encouraged from hearing about Pam's life. I would love a husband and family one day and Pam reminds me that it is possible.

"I miss the little things - like being able to wear make-up or scoffing food when I'm really hungry! But there is so much that makes me smile. I thank God I'm alive."

Pam is similarly upbeat. She says: "My partner calls me his rubber ball - he says he struggles to keep up with me.

"I love travelling and have stuck pins in a map of the world with all the countries I want to visit while I can."

Katie smiles: "Isn't she great? I can see how far she has come in ten years and that gives me something to work towards. She's a reason every day not to give up hope."

Pam reaches out for Katie's hand, smiles reassuringly and says: "I hope both of us help people going through painful recoveries to realise that life does not stop here and every day things will get better.

"Life is actually a wonderful thing - and if you can be brave and push on through the worst, there are joys you never dreamed of on the other side."

'Jungle animal woman' not adjusting

From correspondents in Cambodia

Agence France-Presse

October 30, 2009 04:34pm

CAMBODIA'S "jungle woman", whose case gripped the country after she apparently spent 18 years living in a forest, has been hospitalised after refusing food, her father and a doctor said today.

Rochom P'ngieng, now 28, went missing as a little girl in 1989 while herding water buffalo in Ratanakkiri province around 600km northeast of the capital Phnom Penh.

The woman was brought from the jungle, naked and dirty, in early 2007 after being caught trying to steal food from a farmer.

She was hunched over like a monkey, scavenging the ground for pieces of dried rice in the forest.

She could not utter a word of any intelligible language, instead making what Sal Lou, the man who says he is her father, calls "animal noises".

Cambodians described her as "jungle woman" and "half-animal girl".

Sal Lou said Rochom P'ngieng was admitted to the provincial hospital on Monday and had not adjusted to village life.

"She has refused to eat rice for about one month. She is skinny now.... She still cannot speak. She acts totally like a monkey. Last night, she took off her clothes, and went to hide in the bathroom," Sal Lou said.

"Her condition looks worse than the time we brought her from the jungle. She always wants to take off her clothes and crawl back to the jungle," he added.

Doctor Hing Phan Sokunthea, director of Ratanakkiri provincial hospital, said the woman was "in a state of nerves".

"Doctors have injected her with medicine twice a day to treat nervous illness but she still cannot control herself," he said.

Sal Lou said his family found it difficult to house the woman and he would appeal to charities to take over her care.

The jungles of Ratanakkiri - some of the most isolated and wild in Cambodia - are known to have held hidden groups of hill tribes in the recent past.

In November 2004, 34 people from four hill tribe families emerged from the dense forest where they had fled in 1979 after the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime

Einstein was right! Nasa Fermi telescope uncovers proof of famous space-time theory

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 11:32 AM on 30th October 2009

Racing across the Universe for the last 7.3-billion-years, two highly charged particles have arrived at Nasa's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope within a second of one another. Excited scientists believe this could be evidence of Einstein's space-time theory.

The photons were launched on their marathon during a short gamma-ray burst, an outpouring of radiation likely generated by the collision of two neutron stars, the densest known objects in the Universe.

One of the photons possessed a million times more energy that the other but they arrived at almost the same time.

In this illustration, one photon (purple) carries a million times the energy of another (yellow). Some theorists predict travel delays for higher-energy photons. Yet Fermi data failed to show this effect

In Einstein's vision of a unified space-time all forms of electromagnetic radiation, from gamma rays through to X-rays, are thought to travel through the vacuum of space at the same speed, no matter how much energy they have.

But in some new theories of gravity, space-time is considered to have a 'shifting, frothy structure' when viewed at a scale trillions of times smaller than an electron.

These new models of the Universe say this 'foamy texture' would slow down the higher-energy photon relative to the lower energy one.

The Fermi Telescope results showed this did not happen as scientists believe the nine-tenths of a second gap, when spread over more than seven billion years, is too small to be significant.

Professor Peter Michelson from Stanford University said: 'This measurement eliminates any approach to a new theory of gravity that predicts a strong energy-dependent change in the speed of light.'

The principal investigator for Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) concluded: 'To one part in 100 million billion, these two photons traveled at the same speed. Einstein still rules.'

Professor Michelson's team has published a paper on the findings in the online version of the journal Nature.

Physicists have yearned for years to develop a unifying theory of how the universe works. But no one has been able to come up with one that brings all four of the fundamental forces in the universe into one tent.

The Standard Model of particle physics is considered to have succeeded in unifying three of the four. These are the 'strong force' that holds nuclei together inside atoms and the 'weak force' that is responsible for radioactive decay and electromagnetism.

However gravity has always been the odd man out in this model. Though a host of theories have been advanced, none has been shown successful.

Albert Einstein's theories of relativity also fail to unify the four forces but the latest evidence suggests he was nearer to the truth than many modern theories.

Misdialed Number Leads To Angry Texts, Shooting

Georgia Police Say Misdialed Number Leads Strangers To Exchange Angry Texts Before Shooting

(AP) SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Georgia police said a misdialed number led two strangers to trade hostile calls and text messages before arranging a meeting where one shot the other. Savannah-Chatham police spokeswoman Veda Lamar Nichols told the Savannah Morning News in a Wednesday story that man, 22, faces an aggravated assault charge. The 22-year-old suspect was jailed after a 24-year-old man was shot in a CVS parking lot around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Nichols said the victim was taken to Memorial University Medical Center in serious condition. She said the two didn't know each other but began arguing through phone calls and text messages after a misdialed number and arranged to meet in the store's parking lot.

The suspect was taken to the Chatham County jail. Nichols said his vehicle was damaged during the incident.

Jealous husband of Vodafone executive cleared of murdering her in 'frenzied' knife attack but convicted of manslaughter

By Tom Kelly and Ryan Kisiel

Last updated at 8:54 AM on 30th October 2009

Sally Sinclair was killed when husband Alisdair flew into a jealous rage

A jealous husband who stabbed his Vodafone executive wife more than 30 times after discovering she was having an affair was yesterday cleared of murder.

Alisdair Sinclair was instead convicted of manslaughter after killing Sally Sinclair in a frenzied attack in front of two children at their £1million home.

After learning of her infidelity he subjected her to a 'sustained, ferocious and utterly one- sided assault', Winchester Crown Court was told.

The 48-year-old house-husband used a variety of knives to inflict terrible injuries on his wife of 21 years, and even attempted to saw off her head.

As he rained down blow after blow she screamed: 'No, Alisdair, please don't do it. I will stop all this happening.'

Yesterday there were gasps and loud sobs from the public gallery as the jury returned a not guilty verdict on the charge of murder.

Sinclair closed his eyes and breathed out heavily as the unanimous verdict was read out by the jury foreman after seven hours of deliberation.

He was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

The verdict comes days after the House of Lords rejected an attempt by the Government to strip away a woman's infidelity as a partial defence for murder.

Mrs Sinclair had told her husband a few weeks before her death she did not love him any more and wanted a divorce.

Undone by jealousy: The couple on their wedding day in 1987

Sinclair later realised she was having an affair with a colleague when he discovered a note from his wife to another man which contained the words 'I lust after you'.

After the attack last August, Sinclair handed himself in to police, claiming he had acted in self-defence after she came at him with a knife.

He admitted the killing at the couple's luxury home in Amport, Hampshire, but said he was attacked and stabbed by his wife during the violent argument and he thought he was dying.

Sinclair said he could remember slashing his wife's neck with a knife and said she immediately fell to the ground 'like a stone'. After this he said he remembered nothing.

The family home in Hampshire where Mrs Sinclair was stabbed to death

He said: 'My last recollection is of kneeling over her. I was just looking at her, it felt like a dream or a terrible nightmare. I could not believe it.'

A post-mortem examination found 40-year-old Mrs Sinclair, who was head of business analysis for the mobile phone company, had suffered more than 30 stab wounds, including a deep slash to the neck.

Some were caused by the sawing action of a serrated knife.

Sinclair, who will be sentenced today, suffered minor injuries to his hands, which the prosecution said were self-inflicted.

The court heard that although Mrs Sinclair was the only breadwinner, her 'controlling and oversensitive' husband was in charge of the couple's finances.

Outside court, Mrs Sinclair's mother Nicolette Alford described Sinclair as 'disgusting and vile'. She said: 'How anybody could do what he did to another human being, let alone someone he purported to love, I have no idea.

'He didn't just kill her, he annihilated her. To date, he has shown no remorse for his actions, so this verdict is extremely disappointing.'

This week the House of Lords defeated a proposed amendment in the Coroners and Justice Bill that would have prevented a jury from considering whether sexual infidelity led to the 'loss of self-control'.

Equalities minister Harriet Harman had wanted to change the law to stop men escaping with a charge of manslaughter if their wife had been having an affair.

• During the investigation into Mrs Sinclair's killing a police scientist was disciplined for taking gruesome pictures of the crime scene and showing them to his colleagues, the Mail can reveal.

A Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) showed a female police officer pictures of the inside of the house as she stood guard at the front of the property.

The female police officer was so disturbed by the images that she reported the CSI worker to her superior officers the next day and an internal investigation was launched.

Philadelphia Teens Get 12 Years in Prison for Fatal Beating on Subway Platform

Thursday, October 29, 2009

PHILADELPHIA — Three teens who laughed as they fatally beat a Starbucks manager on a dare on a Philadelphia subway platform were sentenced Thursday to more than 12 years in prison.

Ameer Best, 18, and 17-year-olds Nashir Fisher and Kinta Stanton joined two others in the five-on-one assault after cutting school in March 2008.

Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart sentenced them each to 12-1/2 to 25 years in prison, concluding the five- to 10-year minimum was "not enough time." He said the crime occurred because no one wanted to be the "punk" who refused the dare.

Sean Conroy, 36, of Philadelphia suffered a fatal asthma attack amid the series of blows. He had found himself cornered and alone on the subway platform near City Hall.

"Sean was my only child. He was my heart, my soul," Sharon Conroy of Lansdowne said, addressing the teens in court.

"I wake up to the sounds of his pleas for mercy, while you laughed," she said, her face lined with grief. "I don't understand how you could laugh. You laughed right up to the time of the verdict."

The group's laughter during the attack drew the attention of a police officer who nabbed Stanton, authorities said. The others were arrested over the next few days.

The midday assault was one in a string of subway attacks that chilled commuters.

Best and Fisher were convicted this year at trial of third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Stanton was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and the murder conspiracy charge. He alone had been granted a juvenile-court transfer that would have cut his prison time, but the privilege was revoked when he allegedly shot a friend while on house arrest.

Two other co-defendants pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentence.

Families of the three sentenced Wednesday described their sons as "homebodies" who avoided the street. All five defendants attended the same North Philadelphia high school.

Fisher apologized to the Conroy family and said he hopes to become a lawyer.

"This situation changed my whole way of thinking about life," he told the judge. "Most people (in prison) don't got families, like we do."

Sean Conroy volunteered as an after-school mentor in North Philadelphia and took part in food drives, fundraisers and other charitable efforts. He has received several posthumous awards, and a learning center has been named for him at a shelter, his mother said.

His father, Stephen Conroy of West Chester, and Conroy's fiancee also attended the sentencing

Chinese toddler has dead twin removed from her stomach

Chinese toddler Kang Mengru has become a medical marvel after having her dead twin removed from her stomach.

Published: 11:46AM GMT 30 Oct 200

Kang Mengru her foster parents Kang Xiqing and Wang Guihua Photo: BARCROFT MEDIA

Kang's parents couldn't understand why their daughter's stomach was growing larger overnight and feared it could be a tumour.

Her swollen belly made her look pregnant and drew taunts from neighbours who branded her "a monster"

But after doctors examined the 18-month old they discovered that she had an extremely rare condition, which affects 1 in 500,000 births - when one twin in the womb grows larger than the other and envelops its smaller sibling.

The second foetus never fully develops, but continues to grow within the first baby, feeding off it like a parasite.

It left Kang, from Henan Provence, unable to eat solid food and spending her time in constant pain.

Kang had already had a difficult start to life. Just days old, she was abandoned in a field by her parents.

Her cries were heard by farm worker Wang Guihua, 35, who took her home and nursed her back to health.

Wang and her husband Kang Xiqing, 43, had no children of their own and were allowed to foster Kang.

The worried couple took her to doctors who explained that Kang had an unborn twin growing inside her, and that it was crushing her organs as it grew.

Her life was hanging in the balance, but her parents with a combined income of £400 a year, couldn't afford the £1,000 operation that their daughter so desperately needed.

Help arrived in the for of the Red Cross who raised the funds for Kang through and appeal.

She was rushed into surgery and after a grueling 10-hour operation, Kang is now recovering well and will be able to live a normal life.

Her grateful mother thanked the Red Cross, saying: "We're very grateful. We were so worried she would die. Before she used to cry in pain and hold her bump like a pregnant woman. Now we can hope she can have a normal life."

Kang returned to her village in Henan provence in September and is doing well, she is running round the village with the other children and is eating solid food.

Her mother said: "She doesn't understand what has happened to her. But she is happy.

"She still has her womb and ovaries, so one day she will be able to have children of her own."

'Baby Grace' Stepdad Dumped Girl's Body but Didn't Kill Her, Lawyer Says at Start of Trial

Thursday, October 29, 2009

GALVESTON, Texas — A man accused of murdering his 2-year-old stepdaughter put her body in the trash and dumped in it the Galveston Bay — but he didn't kill her, his lawyer told jurors on Wednesday.

Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, is charged with capital murder in the death 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers, whose body was discovered in a plastic box on an island in the bay in 2007.

Before her remains were identified, Riley was called "Baby Grace" until news accounts helped relatives in Ohio recognize and identify her.

Zeigler's wife and Riley's mother, 21-year-old Kimberly Dawn Trenor, in February was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors allege that the couple beat the child and threw her to a tile floor, which fractured her skull.

During Wednesday's opening statements, defense attorney Neal Davis III said his client walked into the family's home in Spring, a Houston suburb, to find his wife with her unconscious child in July 2007.

"He put her in a trash bag and in another container and put it in the bay," Davis told jurors.

"There is not one iota of evidence that Royce Zeigler knowingly, intentionally or in any way caused the death of Riley Sawyers," Davis said. "He is not only not guilty, he is innocent."

But Galveston County prosecutor Kayla Allen told jurors that Zeigler lied repeatedly to investigators, giving them conflicting statements on the girl's death.

"Royce Clyde Zeigler and Kimberly lied to everyone they could lie to," Allen said. "They lied to their family, co-workers and police over and over."

Prosecutors showed the Galveston County jury, made up of nine men and three women, video of Zeigler admitting to dumping the child's body in Galveston Bay, the Galveston County Daily News reported.

After their arrests, Trenor and Zeigler offered contradictory statements. Trenor said in a videotaped statement that Zeigler stayed home from work July 25, 2007, to make sure Riley was properly disciplined. She said she and Zeigler beat Riley with a belt, held her head under bath water and smothered her with a pillow.

Zeigler, in his first interview, said Riley disappeared after an Ohio welfare worker snatched her from his home. He abandoned the story in his second interview. Asked repeatedly during the first interview if Riley was Baby Grace, Zeigler said, "I swear to God I do not know that." In his second interview, he acknowledged that Riley was Baby Grace.

An autopsy determined that the child died of two skull fractures. Prosecutors have said Trenor and Zeigler beat Riley with belts, dunked her head in cold bath water and threw her onto a tile floor, fracturing her skull and causing her death.

"You'll see at the end of the trial Royce Zeigler is full of nothing but lies, and that he and his wife murdered Riley Ann Sawyers," Allen said.

As with Trenor, Galveston County prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Zeigler.

Don't jail my son's killer, says mother of backpacker who died after Sydney takeaway fight

By Richard Shears

Last updated at 11:09 AM on 30th October 2009

Fight: Gearoid Walsh, 23, died in Sydney last night after his family switched off his life support machine

A 28-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter following the death of an Irish backpacker in a brawl at a Sydney takeaway.

The man walked into a police station after the mother of 23-year-old Gearoid Walsh, from Dublin, pleaded with her son's alleged attacker to come forward.

The man, who has not been named, has also been charged with reckless wounding and assault. He has been refused bail and will appear by videolink before a court in Parramatta, west of Sydney, tomorrow.

The development came after the courageous mother of Mr Walsh said she did not want her son's attacker to go to jail.

Mr Walsh died in a Sydney hospital from severe head injuries early yesterday after being knocked to the ground last week end during a late-night altercation with a man.

His mother, Mrs Tressa Walsh, fought back any emotions when she appeared before the cameras in Sydney a few hours after she had sat at her son's bedside when he died.

'I'd really like to say that as a mother I really feel for this guy who got into a fight with Gearoid,' she said.

'I am heartbroken for him because we don't blame him - we don't want him to serve time in prison. I think he was just very, very unlucky.'

Mr Walsh, who arrived in Australia just five weeks ago, had been out with his brother Ciaran in the beachside suburb of Coogee celebrating the 22nd birthday of his sister Aoife when they called at a late-night take-away food shop.

An altercation ensued, but Mr Walsh walked away - only to return moments later and continue the argument, according to police.

Grief: Gearoid's mother Tressa Walsh said she did believe her son's death was murder and appealed for his attacker to come forward

That was then he was punched, stumbled, fell to the ground and hit his head on the pavement.

Now Mrs Walsh said she and her other son were appealing for the man to come forward so that the familiar could have closure.

She did not feel his death was murder. Gearoid, she said, was 6ft 2in tall and 'he had a long way to fall'.

She added that he was not a fighter. In fact, he was quiet and a very introverted young man.

'The past five weeks have been my son's happiest,' said Mrs Walsh.

'He came to Australia to spend time in this beautiful country and to be with his older brother Ciaran and sister Aoife, who are lucky to live here.

'He came over here to work as there is no work in Ireland at the moment. Ciaran was able to get some work in Brisbane doing roof insulations.

'This weekend was his first time in Sydney.

'The most positive thing in this is that Gearoid has given other Australians life.

'In his death, he has helped six Australians by being an organ donor.

'My family hopes that Australians will help us by coming forward to the police with any information as to what happened on Sunday night.'

Appeal: Police have issued this CCTV image of a man they want to question in connection with Mr Walsh's death

Police issued CCTV footage of a man they said they wanted to interview in connection with Mr Walsh's death and as a result a man has now contacted police, who are treating the death as murder.

'The family have very courageously offered to help us with this appeal at the hardest time in their lives,' said a spokesman.

'We thank them for helping us and hope that we get some information as a result.'

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