My blog will be updated daily, so make sure you come back! If you would like to add or reply to a comment on one of the articles below just send me your comment and, if it's reasonably decent and not libellous or anything like that, I'll add it to the article (don't forget to include the date and title of the article).
03.11.12
Binmen track down paedo after finding naked images of children
BINMEN turned detectives to track down a paedophile after finding naked images of children in a recycling bin. They alerted cops before monitoring green bins outside a block of flats.
They discovered two more batches of photos and one was mixed with documents containing a name and address.
Police raided the home of Colin Eaton, 52 — where they found hundreds of pictures of naked boys and girls on his computer.
Jobless Eaton, from Tiverton, Devon, admitted 18 counts of making or possessing indecent images of children.
Exeter Crown Court gave him an eight-month suspended sentence and ordered him to go on a sex offenders programme as part of a two-year supervision order.
Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, also put him on the sex offenders register and made a sexual offences prevention order, which bans him from contacting anyone under 16 online. He imposed £300 costs.
The judge told Eaton: “You printed off a number of indecent images of children, you left them in the street in a recycling bin, where they were found by the council binmen on three dates in June and July last year.
“Your barrister has described your behaviour as foolish but I regard it as very serious. They could have been found by anyone including young children.
“This was distribution without any control. I note that the binmen were very upset by what they found and referred the matter to the police.”
vicious.sid: And, sigh, once again another pervert gets away with it. I really think these judges need to be investigated. What reason would you have to let these people off with a slap on the wrist? Where are the deterrents? I can picture the judge winking at him as he walked out of the court.
tony: Funny how he can worry about recycling after looking at child porn, 8 month suspended sentance and his barrister has described his behaviour as foolish. Well i see our courts take this very very serious.I am sure he is so scared never to do it again
03.11.12
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Boy catches burglar on his own after cops give up hunt
A TEENAGER whose family was burgled and told by police there was little hope of finding the thieves turned detective and tracked them down — in an HOUR. Connor Kendall, 16, found raiders had taken a digital camera, camcorder, laptop and wristwatch from his family home.
Police were called to the property but after taking fingerprints officers explained there was little hope of finding the culprits or the £1,000 haul.
But Connor, of Bodmin, Cornwall, was so determined to find the crooks he launched his own investigation.
Gathering three friends he headed to the town and began talking to young people, friends and neighbours to find out if anyone knew anything.
By chance, a group of boys said they had seen 22-year old Jamie Fisher – who lived in nearby Roche – selling a similar-looking watch on his Facebook page.
Just one hour after starting his investigation on October 16 amateur sleuth Connor went into the local police station and shared his suspicions about the Facebook page.
Cops tracked down Fisher, who admitted the burglary and was later sentenced to 28 months in jail.
Fisher had sold the laptop for £30 to buy cannabis but the other items were recovered.
The total value of the laptop, two digital cameras and the wristwatch Fisher stole was £960 — of which £330 worth was retrieved.
Judge John Neligan told him at Truro Crown Court: “You may have got away with it but for the young man’s detective work.”
vicious.sid: Well done, Connor! I hope the police read this and hang their heads in shame - disgraceful.
03.11.12
Volunteer street cleaner is fined £75 for dropping litter... into a bin
An award-winning litter picker has been slapped with a £75 on-the-spot fine after he put rubbish - into bins.
Kind-hearted David Baker, 39, of Stourbridge, West Mids, has scooped several accolades for keeping the streets of his home town tidy by voluntarily picking up litter seven days a week for free.
But last week, he was handed a fixed penalty fine by jobsworth council bosses after they accused him of fly-tipping.
Mr Baker, who has voluntarily gathered tonnes of strangers rubbish from street across Stourbridge, over the last six years, has been accused of putting some of his own litter into a public bin.
Yesterday the furious former geologist, blasted council 'busybodies' and branded their decision as 'bureaucracy gone mad'.
He fumed: 'I think that it is completely outrageous that I should be fined for actually cleaning rubbish off the streets.
'How can people who actually want to put rubbish in the bin be fined?
'To claim that what I put in the bin amounts to fly-tipping is crazy.
'I moved to a town centre flat six years ago and got fed up with all the rubbish in the street.
'I look after all the plants and dead head them daily and I go around picking up rubbish.
'I fill a carrier bag or two a day and I go out most days of the year - unless I’m on holiday.
'I am out at least an hour every day and do it all for free.
'I just think the council are desperate for money and have a mentality of fining people for anything at the moment.'
Mr Baker started cleaning the streets near when he worked on the team preparing for the annual Stourbridge in Bloom entry.
He added: 'I used to be given bags from the council and they used to take the rubbish away if I left it in a certain spot.
'But 18 months ago they stopped giving me bags and told me not to dump the rubbish because they won’t take it away.
'I’m going to have to pay the fine but I’m really disappointed.'
The council yesterday defended the fine, claiming they found he had thrown a pizza box and junk mail in a public street bin, which is illegal as it is considered 'domestic waste'.
Environment boss councillor Tracy Wood said: 'Our enforcement officers issued a fixed penalty fine to Mr Baker in Stourbridge, after they found his domestic waste and letters in the litter bin on a number of occasions.
'However, we will be reviewing the fine and speaking to Mr Baker directly to discuss it.'
Meanwhile, a 14-year-old schoolboy from Tamworth, Staffs., was fined £80 for throwing a 2ft long branch into a river while playing poohsticks.
Shocked Kieran Wright was served with a fixed penalty notice by Tamworth Borough Council and ordered to pay the fine or undertake three hours of litter picking.
An eagle-eyed council official spotted Kieran lobbing the branch into the river on October 6.
Days later the teenager received the penalty notice through the post - with a letter warning that littering was 'punishable by a fine of up to £2,500'.
His furious stepfather Andrew Wilson said yesterday: 'When we found out I thought ‘you have to be joking’.
'It’s ridiculous. We used to do it as kids - it’s a game called Poohsticks in the Winnie the Pooh books, and there’s a national competition for it.
Are they going to stop everyone from throwing sticks into the water or throwing bread for ducks, or food for the fish?
'Fair enough if it was a can or a food wrapper, but it was an innocent thing. I don’t know how these officers can stop children and get their personal details off them.'
A council spokesman said: 'Branches deliberately thrown into the river directly contribute to the blocking of the flow of water, which can lead to flooding and other environmental problems.
'We will always take action to prevent this.'
vicious.sid: "Welcome to the Tamworth Council meeting, ladies and gentlemen. First on the agenda: the council has been wasting far too much money and we want chocolate digestives with our tea instead of the plain ones. How can we make some more money?" "How about charging people to walk on their pavements?" "That's been tried, didn't work." "What about charging people to plant flowers?" "That's been tried, didn't work." "Erm, fining people for putting rubbish in public bins?" "That's been tried, we're waiting to see if it works." "I know, I saw a boy throwing a twig in the river a little while ago . . ."
03.11.12
Senior Labour MP resigns over 19 fake expenses claims
FORMER Labour minister Denis MacShane has resigned after he was found to have wrongly claimed thousands of pounds in expenses. Earlier today the Labour Party declared the MP’s career to be “effectively over” after a damning report by Westminster’s sleaze watchdog the Standards and Privileges Committee.
It detailed how he had knowingly submitted 19 FALSE invoices over a four-year period that were “plainly intended to deceive” Parliament’s expenses authority.
The committee, which adjudicates on sleaze allegations against MPs, said it was the “gravest case” it had dealt with.
It was impossible to say how much Mr MacShane had claimed “outside the rules”, the committee said, but it “may have been in the order of £7,500”.
His punishment reflected that his actions had been “so far from what would be acceptable in any walk of life”.
In a report published today, it said: “He has expressed his regret, and repaid the money wrongly claimed.
“But this does not excuse his behaviour in knowingly submitting 19 false invoices over a period of four financial years which were plainly intended to deceive the Parliamentary expenses authorities.
“This is so far from what would be acceptable in any walk of life that we recommend that Mr MacShane be suspended from the service of the House for 12 months
"This would mean he lost his salary and pension contributions for this period.”
The committee’s recommendation must be approved by the Commons, which tends to be a formality.
Mr MacShane previously had the whip withdrawn by Labour when allegations from the British National Party that he abused his expenses were taken up for investigation by Scotland Yard in September 2010.
He was reinstated in July when the Metropolitan Police said they were taking no further action.
Labour today suspended him from the party and said it would be talking to him about “the best course of action” for him and his Rotherham constituency, which faces having no MP for a year.
vicious.sid: And the gap between privileged and pleb gets wider and wider. Only a politician can get away with committing fraud. Sigh . . .
03.11.12
Hundreds of yetis live in Siberia, claims boffin
A SCIENTIST has put his Bigfoot in it after claiming that hundreds of yetis live in a large area of southern Siberia. Controversial professor Valentin Sapunov has infuriated academics after he said DNA checks on hair samples from a remote cave showed it belong to a mystery human-like mammal.
Now he has gone further by asserting a population of 200 Yetis are alive and well in the forested Kemerovo, Khakassia and Altai regions of Siberia.
Professor Sapunov said there have been no confirmed sightings of yetis because the animals have an acute sense of danger.
A population of 200 would allow them to successfully reproduce, said the academic from the Russian State Hydro-meteorological University.
But other Russian experts ahave slammed Sapunov’s theories.
Oleg Pugachev, Director of the Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Science, said: “Let me make it clear - Sapunov is blatantly lying.
“He came with some bits of hair to the Institute, and spent a lot of time in my office complaining that official science wants nothing to do with it and no-one wants to test them.
“He asked me to help. I took a pity on him and ordered our DNA specialists to carry out a test.
“They did not manage to extract any genealogical material because there were no hair bulbs.
“The structure of the hair showed that they could have belonged to a goat, and a bear, and to other animals.
“That’s the end of it. What Snowman is he talking about?”
Sapunov hit back saying there is more evidence of the Yeti than for many officially documented species, some of which are reported to exist on the basis of a single bone.
vicious.sid: I think there are a few hundred thousand living in Britain.
03.11.12
Now little ones can clean up after themselves with the Baby Mop suit
AS labour-saving devices go, this one should clean up. A clever website has created a romper suit with a built-in mop. The light-hearted device means you can have your floor scrubbed while your baby learns to explore.
The baby suit has mop heads attached to the arms and legs so your nipper ends up cleaning the floor as it moves around on it.
The £25 Baby Mop suit is being sold on US website BetterThanPants.com and was inspired by a spoof Japanese version.
And although the suit may be a gag, the company say they are flying off the shelves. The company’s Mike Parker said: “We have sold about 100 in just one month since adding it to our site.
“So far all the feedback has been very positive, however we get some negative e mails surrounding the idea of the actual product.
“It’s made from microfibre mop material attached directly to the baby clothes.
“The idea formed to make the actual product from a Japanese commercial on the web.”
“This is the real deal, it’s a legit product and is proving very, very popular.”
vicious.sid: Trust me, it's the only way you'll get a child to do any housework before they leave home!!!!!!
Princess Tor: Does this come in adult size? I would defo rock one of these :-D
03.11.12
MP Pub Plea
MPS from all parties united yesterday to demand an end to the hated beer tax that is killing Britain’s pubs. Tories joined Labour and Lib Dems in calling on ministers to scrap the beer duty escalator, which increases tax on a pint by more than inflation every year. The Sun has revealed how UK drinkers pay TEN TIMES the duty charged elsewhere in Europe.
Tory MP Andrew Griffiths told the Commons 5,800 pubs had shut since the escalator was introduced in 2008. He said: “The point of an escalator is you stop when you get to the top. Scrapping it would save 5,000 jobs and stop the closure of hundreds of pubs.”
MPs unanimously backed a motion calling on the Government to review the tax. The Treasury said axing the escalator would cost the Government £70million next year.
vicious.sid: Hold on, what's going on? MPs wanting to help plebs? I can only assume that these MPs own the pubs that are in danger or something. As if they would help anyone if there was nothing in it for them! Get real!!!!!!
03.11.12
‘We’ll do deal’ say Hamza’s lawyers
ABU Hamza’s lawyer has opened the way for the hate preacher to strike a deal and plead guilty for a lighter sentence. Hamza, 54, is facing terror charges in the US which could see him jailed for 99 years in a supermax prison.
He is to stand trial in August on charges linked to a terrorist kidnapping in which four people died.
He is also accused of involvement in a plot to establish a terrorist training camp in the US.
But now there is the possibility of a “plea bargain”.
Lawyer Jerry Schneider added that at present his client would deny all charges.
No talks had begun but he added: “If they offer something agreeable to the defendant and myself, we would accept it.”
Hamza cost British taxpayers £1.6million as he tried to dodge being sent to the US.
vicious.sid: Don't you just love it when scumbags start to squirm? Karma. Let's hope the yanks aren't as weak and lilly-livered as the British judicial system and politicians. Ok, we will reduce it - 98 years!
03.11.12
Out of frauder
THE former head of the Serious Fraud Office received £422,000 in irregular payments, says a spending watchdog. Phillippa Williamson’s mega pay-off when she took voluntary redundancy this year should have been approved first by ministers, the National Audit Office declared yesterday.
Ms Williamson received £407,000 in pension payments when she quit as SFO chief executive in April plus a “special severance payment” of £15,000.
But the NAO said in a report “there is no evidence that due process was followed in instigating this voluntary redundancy”.
No attempt was made to find her another civil service job, it stated. The SFO also failed to seek Cabinet Office or Treasury approval. The director who agreed the pay-off, Richard Alderman, has since left.
NAO boss Amyas Morse refused to sign off the organisation’s annual accounts. He said: “By failing to seek approval from the Cabinet Office and the Treasury, the Serious Fraud Office entered into an agreement which forced it to make irregular payments. While positive steps have been taken by the incoming director, I have qualified the organisation’s accounts.”
The SFO said Mr Alderman’s successor, David Green, had already ordered an investigation. It added: “He would not have endorsed the payments.”
vicious.sid: Can you even imagine how much taxpayers money is paid out in bungs that don't get heard about? Sigh . . .