Crime

Lucy Letby has called for the public inquiry into her crimes to be halted, arguing there is now “overwhelming and compelling” evidence undermining her baby murder convictions.

Lawyers for the former nurse took the extraordinary step of writing to Lady Justice Thirlwall on Monday to say that the inquiry – which is due to end on Wednesday – should be suspended immediately.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, they said the judge’s final report would “not only be redundant but likely unreliable” unless it was paused until the conclusion of a review of her convictions.

They added: “It is estimated that over £10m has been spent so far on the inquiry. It is now clear there is overwhelming and compelling evidence that Lucy Letby’s convictions are unsafe.

“For the inquiry to be effective and that taxpayer’s money not to be wasted, we urge that the inquiry be suspended and to wait for the outcome of the review to take place.”

Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life prison terms after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another seven at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England.

Lilie James was stalked by a former short-term partner who "carefully planned" and "rehearsed" his attack before carrying out a "premeditated killing", an inquest into her death has been told.

The 21-year-old was found with serious head injuries in the toilet area of the gym at St Andrew's Cathedral School in Sydney's CBD in October 2023.

Homicide detectives began a search for Paul Thijssen, a 23-year-old Dutch citizen who had been in a brief relationship with her, who was found dead at cliffs at Diamond Bay Reserve in Vaucluse days later.

On the opening day of concurrent inquests into the deaths, counsel assisting Jennifer Single SC said the evidence will establish Ms James was killed in the bathroom with a hammer.

She had ended their brief relationship just before her death.

"The evidence indicates that Paul stalked Lilie, Paul carefully planned his attack, and in the hours before the attack, he rehearsed his attack, making a number of dry runs," Ms Single said.

Violent crime creeps into every corner of New York City.

Indian prince Chitresh “Teddy” Khedker, 57, and his socialite wife, Nenescha, 70, were found dead in their luxurious apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on April 12, 1993, according to New York Homicide, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.

“There weren’t any gunshots. There weren’t any stab wounds,” former New York City Police Department Detective Marc Slender said in the true crime show's “Royal Bloodshed” episode. He added that, by then, the victims “were starting to decompose.”

The housekeeper who discovered the bodies around 11 a.m. that Monday morning informed police that, “Teddy was a prince from India,” Slender said. “The wife came from money as well and was originally from South America.”

Between the royal lineage and the couple's wealthy Park Ave. address, investigators faced a “high-profile case,” Slender said.

Before the investigation was resolved, two more murder victims and a horrifying crime scene would be tied to it.

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. - A west suburban soccer coach and tutor allegedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old student inside a classroom in 2023, according to prosecutors.

Christina Formella, 30, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

Alleged assault of teen boy What we know

The victim and his mother reported the alleged assault on Saturday to the Downers Grove Police Department.

The mother learned of the incident when looking through her son’s text messages on his phone.

Prosecutors said in December of 2023, Formella, who was the boy’s tutor and soccer coach, and the victim were in a classroom at Downers Grove South High School for a tutoring session before school began.

That’s when Formella allegedly sexually assaulted the boy, prosecutors said.

After learning of the alleged assault, Downers Grove detectives stopped Formella on Sunday and took her into custody.

Formella was granted a release from jail with conditions, including being forbidden from entering Downers Grove South High School or from contacting anyone under the age of 18.

The Virginia teenage track runner who struck an opponent in the head with a baton during a race last week has been charged with assault and battery.

Alaila Everett, a track competitor from I.C. Norcom High School in Lynchburg, Virginia, made headlines earlier this week when a video of her smashing a baton into the head of a fellow runner went viral. The opposing runner, Brookville High School junior Kaelen Tucker, suffered a concussion and possible skull fracture.

Everett faces one misdemeanor count of assault and battery.

The video set off a torrent of social media reactions, prompting Everett to take to the airwaves and proclaim her innocence.

On Tuesday, Everett appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, saying it was not “in her character” to attack another person unprovoked. Everett is not alone in defending herself. The Portsmouth NAACP has also taken up her cause.

“Alaila is NOT AN ATTACKER and media headlines that allude towards that in any way is shameful. We understand the sensitivity of the circumstances for both athletes and their families involved but this narrative must not go unaddressed,” a statement from the group read.

“Alaila is an honor student and a star athlete at the historic I.C. Norcom High School. From all accounts, she is an exceptional young leader and scholar whose athletic talent has been well documented and recognized across our state. She has carried herself with integrity both on and off the field, and any narrative that adjudicates her guilty of any criminal activity is a violation of her due process rights.”

Everett claims the baton strike occurred because she got stuck behind Tucker and lost her balance.

cross-posted from: https://hilariouschaos.com/post/1219302

Author: The Associated Press, ABC News
Published on: 12/03/2025 | 09:00:39

AI Summary:
Police arrested several men accused of sexual assault of their underaged daughters. They are accused of repeatedly raping their daughters or stepdaughters. Police have so far refused to confirm the reports.

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One Newark police officer was killed and another is “fighting for his life” in critical condition after a shootout with a 14-year-old suspect Friday evening, according to reports.

Shots rang out around 6:30 p.m. near a White Castle and McDonald’s where the teen was hanging out with friends, ABC7 reported, citing the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The young gunman allegedly fired a total of 29 shots at officers, sources told PIX11.

Both officers were hit in the flurry of bullets and were taken to University Hospital, ABC7 reported.

The injured officer is in critical condition and is “fighting for their life,” the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association said in a statement.

There are conflicting reports about the status of the teen, with PIX 11 sources saying he was killed, while ABC 7 reported he was taken into custody.

The suspect was hanging with a large group at the fast-food restaurants just before the incident, but it is not clear what led to the shootout, according to ABC 7.

“I have been updated on an incident that took place in Newark earlier tonight involving two officers that were shot,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy wrote on X.

An Israeli woman and her host were gang raped while stargazing in southern India, authorities say.

According to reports, the Israeli visitor, 27, and her host, 29, were stargazing near Sanapur lake in Hampi, Karnataka alongside three other male tourists before they were brutally attacked.

Ram L Arasiddi, superintendent of Koppal police, confirmed that the alleged attackers — reportedly three — approached the five individuals asking where they could find gasoline. One of the alleged attackers then demanded money — 100 rupees — from the stargazers.

“Since the homestay operator did not know them, she told them they had no money,” police said, according to BBC. At one point, one of the male tourists gave them 20 rupees, and an argument ensued.

“After that, the three men allegedly started arguing and threatened to bash their heads with stones,” according to police.

The AP reports the assailants allegedly pushed the male travelers into a water canal, and one of them drowned. They then were accused of sexually assaulting the women.

“The woman [homestay operator] said in her complaint that besides being beaten up, the two women were sexually assaulted by the accused,” according to authorities.

The US Secret Service shot a man outside the White House early on Sunday after an "armed confrontation", the service said in a statement.

It had earlier received a tip-off from local police about a "suicidal individual who may be travelling to Washington DC from Indiana", it said.

Its officers approached a man matching that description, "who brandished a firearm", it said, adding that shots were fired. The man is now in hospital in an "unknown" condition.

President Donald Trump was not in the White House at the time, as he is spending the weekend at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.

"As officers approached, the individual brandished a firearm and an armed confrontation ensued, during which shots were fired by our personnel," the statement said.

The incident is now under investigation by Washington's Metropolitan Police, which investigates all law-enforcement shootings in the District of Columbia.

A judge ordered a prison sentence of eight to 20 years Monday for a man in a shooting whose case raised separation of powers questions and who was previously sent to prison for a pet shop fire.

Kirk Bills, 38, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and discharging a gun from or within a structure or vehicle via an Alford plea, meaning he admitted only that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.

Bills was accused of shooting a 37-year-old man in March 2020 outside an apartment on the 800 block of North Major Avenue. Three men approached the victim and two fired guns, causing him to lose an eye and suffer internal organ damage. Police said at the time that the shooting appeared to be retaliation for an attempted break-in.

In December 2020, attorney Dayvid Figler, who then represented Bills, argued then-Chief Deputy District Attorney Nicole Cannizzaro, who was also Senate majority leader, had stacked charges against Bills after legislative attempts to “curb prosecutorial abuses” failed. Figler said it was a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for Cannizzaro to work on the case.

District Judge Tierra Jones ruled in September 2022 that there was no separation of powers issue with Cannizzaro prosecuting the case.

“This was an attempted execution,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Portz.

The prosecutor said the case involved two different shootings in the span of about 40 minutes: one at a cemetery where people were visiting graves and the one in Henderson.

“There were women and children who were shot at during the course of this particular event,” he said of the cemetery shooting. “Fortunately, no one was struck.”

Bills shot the Henderson victim, Robert Ortiz, in front of his children, Portz said, then put his gun to the back of Ortiz’s head and pulled the trigger again.

“Because (Ortiz) turned his head, the bullet went through his head, but he lost his eye instead of his life that day,” Portz said.

Bills fled to Minnesota after the shootings, where he was arrested after robbing someone at gun point, according to the prosecutor.

Defense attorney Michael Miceli said Bills used an Alford plea because he wouldn’t admit he was part of the cemetery shooting and was not sure if he or another suspect hit the Henderson victim.

The preppy Princeton murder suspect accused of fratricide ripped out his little brother’s eyeball after beating and slashing him to death in the family’s luxury apartment Saturday night — and police believe he ate it, a law enforcement source told The Post.

Officers also found a bloody knife, fork and plate near victim Joseph Hertgen’s body, the source said — which has led cops to believe accused killer Matthew Hertgen, 31, consumed the missing organ.

Matthew Hertgen also set the family cat on fire during his twisted rampage, sources said — several months after posting a chilling poem to Facebook that included lines about “knives sharpening” and “blood oozing out of his eyes.”

The apocalyptic verses proved eerily prophetic, as police say Hertgen used a blade and a golf club to kill 26-year-old Joseph around 11:15 p.m. Saturday.

Afterward, Hertgen called the cops to report a body and a fire inside the upscale Michelle Mews apartment complex off Witherspoon Street, where units go for up to $2 million.

When officers arrived, they discovered Joseph’s bloody corpse and quickly pinned the crime on his sibling.

They also uncovered the grisly body of the torched cat, sources said.

“It was gruesome,” one police source told The Post. “It was way overboard.”

Another high-ranking Garden State cop said the “brutality of the homicide — and in an Ivy League town — shocked most detectives.”

The ghastly details of Hertgen’s alleged cannibalism are the latest twist in the sorrowful story of an all-American family shattered by unimaginable violence.

“It’s incredibly tragic,” a high-ranking police source said. “Matthew Hertgen came from what appeared to be a perfect, all-American family. No one could have predicted something like this would happen.”

Authorities have charged Hertgen with murder and other offenses, and he faces life in prison if convicted.

Both brothers were high school soccer stars at Toms River North High School and played in college —Matthew at elite Wesleyan University and Joseph at the University of Michigan.

COPS have found "human remains" in the hunt for the body of a mum-of-three killed more than a decade ago.

Rania Alayed, 25, was murdered by Ahmed Al-Khatib in June 2013 after she was lured to his brother's flat in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Al-Khatib was 34 when he was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years in June 2014 after being convicted of murder.

Rania's remains were thought to be buried in a copse near the A19 at Thirsk, North Yorkshire, but have never been found.

Police were carrying out searches near the A19 after "receiving new information" in a new bid to find her final resting place.

Now the force has said they have discovered human remains, which they believe are Rania's.

...

Tragic Rania Alayed, 25, died at the hands of her evil husband Ahmed Al-Khatib, 35, for becoming "too Westernised".He snapped after she sought help from lawyers in a desperate bid to escape her unhappy marriage.She fled the family home and enrolled at a college making new friends and started a relationship with a man she met on the internet.But she vanished in June 2013 and her body has never been found.Al-Khatib, who was convicted of her murder and sentenced to 20 years behind bars, has never revealed where he buried her.But in a dramatic development officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have begun to dig at the roadside on the A19 in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.A digger was seen lifting swathes of turf as a team of officers - including a cadaver dog - began the painstaking search on an embankment as cars and lorries hurtled past.GMP said it was acting on "new information" and concentrating its efforts on the outskirts of the picturesque market town.A spokeswoman said: "We are carrying out a detailed search in relation to recovering the body of Rania Alayed.

A MARRIED teacher and mother of four is accused of sexually assaulting at least one and up to 10 boys after showing them her stripper pole and sex toys and plying them with drugs.

When she was previously arrested, for sending students inappropriate messages, Brittany Fortinberry from Martinsville, Indiana, reportedly blamed it on her 150-pound weight loss.

The 31-year-old former substitute teacher has been charged with three counts: sexual misconduct with a minor, dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to court documents obtained by WRTV, she allegedly assaulted at least one school child in August 2024 at Eminence High School but the victim said the true figure could be as many as 10.

The mother of four sons was reported to cops by the grandmother of a 16-year-old boy who claimed that when he was 15, Fortinberry assaulted him.

When the teenager was questioned by investigators, he allegedly told them that up to 10 other students may also be victims.

The child's grandmother told police that Fortinberry had sent him graphic images and messages and plied him with drugs during a trip with the teacher.

Fortinberry allegedly told the boy she would kill herself if he spoke to anyone about the abuse.

cross-posted from: https://hilariouschaos.com/post/1106339

Author: Al Jazeera
Published on: 18/02/2025 | 00:00:00

AI Summary:
Mordechai Brafman, 27, was charged with two counts of attempted murder. In an arrest report, police alleged he had “spontaneously stated that while driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both” In an interview with WPLG Local 10, one of the victims said the shooter had opened fire at him and his father from a passing truck.

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A mother, 37, and her two-year-old daughter have died from injuries sustained in Thursday's car attack in the German city of Munich, police say.

At least 37 people were injured after a car was driven into a crowd of people at a trade union rally.

The driver was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, police said, identified in local media as Farhad N. He was arrested at the scene and prosecutors say he has admitted to carrying out the attack. He appeared to have a religious motivation, officials said.

The mother and child were among those taken to hospital with serious injuries after the attack.

"Unfortunately, we have to confirm the deaths today of the two-year-old child and her 37-year-old mother," police spokesman Ludwig Waldinger told news agency AFP on Saturday.

The car ramming has brought security issues back into focus the week before federal elections are held in Germany.