Eideard

The burial site near Huddersfield
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

A father who attacked his fiancée with a Taser gun before burying her alive in a cardboard box because he was “bored” with her was facing jail today after being found guilty of attempted murder.

Marcin Kasprzak attacked Michelina Lewandowska, 27, the mother of his young son, with the electric shock device at their home and then bound and gagged her with tape. He stuffed her into a cardboard box and later buried in a wood near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, leaving her to suffocate.

The 25-year-old launched the attack because their relationship had ended and he feared she would take their three-year-old son Jakub back to their native Poland, the court heard.

Despite being trapped in a hole, beneath a pile of earth and the branch of a tree, Miss Lewandowska managed to escape by using her engagement ring to cut herself out of the box.

She was later found in a distressed state at the side of a road after flagging down a passing motorist.

Kasprzak denied attempted murder but was found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court today after three days of deliberation…

Miss Lewandowska described how she feared she would die inside the box and still has nightmares about her ordeal. She said the thought of her young son gave her the strength to save herself…

Meanwhile, her former fiancé took her bank card and withdrew £500 before returning to his accomplice’s home, where they were arrested about nine hours later…

Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, had told the jury that the case was about a young man who had become “bored” with his partner, and had “decided to get rid of her”.

Throw away the key!

Engineers have uncovered the haunting remains of a mummified cat bricked up inside the wall of a cottage near the site of one of Britain’s most infamous witch trials. Workers made the startling discovery during routine maintenance on a reservoir in the shadow of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England’s “witching country.”

They called in archaeologists, who unearthed a cottage believed to date from the 17th century buried beneath a grassy mound. Inside, they found a sealed room where the cat had been walled up.

The area is famous for the Pendle witch trials, which saw 10 women and two men accused of using witchcraft to murder people in the 1600s.

It is thought the unfortunate feline may have been buried alive by the cottage’s superstitious inhabitants, in an attempt to protect them from evil spirits.

“It’s not often you come across a fairytale cottage complete with witch’s cat,” said Carl Sanders, project manager for water company United Utilities. “The building is in remarkable condition. You can walk through it and get a real sense that you’re peering into the past…

Simon Entwhistle, an expert on the Pendle witches, likened the find — which he said could be the Malkin Tower, site of a notorious meeting of the “coven” on Good Friday, 1612 — to “discovering Tutankhamun’s tomb.”

“We are just a few months away from the 400th anniversary of the Pendle witch trials, and here we have an incredibly rare find, right in the heart of witching country.

“Cats feature prominently in folklore about witches,” said Entwhistle. “Whoever consigned this cat to such a horrible fate was clearly seeking protection from evil spirits. It’s an absolutely spellbinding discovery.”

“It’s like discovering your own little Pompei,” said Frank Giecco of NP Archaeology, who led the team which excavated the building. “We rarely get the opportunity to work with something so well preserved…

“The building is a microcosm for the rise and fall of this area, from the time of the Pendle witches to the industrial age — there are layers of local history right before your eyes.”

At a minimum, the site should be preserved for its historic value, lessons to be learned for societies and culture still trying to make it into the peace and quiet of good sense absent superstition.

Road markings outside a fire station in West Sussex have had to be repainted after workmen misspelt a Keep Clear sign with the words “Keep Klear”.

The road markings were painted outside the entrance to East Preston fire station after the pavement was dug up for some work to install some new gas mains.

Motorists were advised to “Keep Klear” of the entrance to the station after the error by workmen for Southern Gas Works.

They company had to dispatch a second crew to correct the error and the sign was repainted.

A spokesman for the company said: “The work was carried out by one of our contractors as part of our reinstatement work. “They were made aware of the error and have since corrected it. This serves as a reminder for all our staff to double-check their work.”

I offer a trans-Atlantic “D’uh” for quality checking.

Cecil Coley – my hero

A shopkeeper who stabbed a 30-year-old intruder to death has been told he will not be charged with any offence.

Cecil Coley stabbed Gary Mullings, 30 – who was attempting to rob his flower shop in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester – in July. The 72-year-old was arrested on suspicion of murder after Mullings was pronounced dead in hospital…

Nathan Walters, 26, of Salford, Joseph Mullings, 25, of Liverpool and 19-year-old Kyle Mullings, of no fixed address, have been charged with robbery and will appear at Manchester crown court in October.

Coley, who was injured during the incident, was questioned by detectives after his release from hospital. He had been playing cards with a 60-year-old friend, who was also injured, at the time of the incident.

Police said a number of men had tried to rob the shop and that a gun had been found at the scene…

Nazir Afzal, the chief crown prosecutor for the north-west area, said he was satisfied that Coley was “acting in reasonable self-defence at the time”.

He said he had considered all the evidence gathered by Greater Manchester police and decided Coley should not be prosecuted for any offence over the death of Gary Mullings.

“It is difficult to envisage a more frightening set of circumstances than these,” he said. “Four men, armed with guns and a knife, forced their way into the shop as Mr Coley was locking up.

“Mr Coley received a number of injuries, including a serious facial injury, and his friend was knocked unconscious. At some point in the incident, one of the guns, a blank firing pistol, was fired.”

The sentence for armed robbery, for committing a crime of violence, life-threatening to the victim – should be life. Warehouse the bastards until and unless a jury of warders decides that any sort of rehabilitation has taken place.

Yes – we do a lousy job at that here in the United States and I doubt the UK is much better. That still doesn’t justify diminishing public safety because all the other institutions failed similarly.

Remembering three young men murdered by rioting thugs
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has blamed the riots that swept across England last month on a “broken penal system” that has failed to rehabilitate a group of hardcore offenders he describes as the “criminal classes”…

Writing in the Guardian, Clarke dismisses criticism of the severity of sentences handed down to rioters and said judges had been “getting it about right”. However, he adds that punishment alone was “not enough”.

“It’s not yet been widely recognised, but the hardcore of the rioters were in fact known criminals. Close to three quarters of those aged 18 or over charged with riot offences already had a prior conviction. That is the legacy of a broken penal system – one whose record in preventing reoffending has been straightforwardly dreadful.”

He says: “In my view, the riots can be seen in part as an outburst of outrageous behaviour by the criminal classes – individuals and families familiar with the justice system, who haven’t been changed by their past punishments.”

Clarke uses his intervention to call for the coalition government to adopt a “renewed mission” in response to the riots that addressed an “appalling social deficit”.

His comments will reignite the debate on the causes of the disturbances, which the prime minister, David Cameron, has said “were not about poverty”…I agree.

“There is an urgent need for some rigorous social research which will look, without prejudice, at the causes and the consequences of the recent riots,” Professor Tim Newburn said. “Crucially, it is vital that we speak with those involved in the disturbances and those affected by them to try to understand any lessons for public policy…”

Clarke writes: “The general recipe for a productive member of society is no secret. It has not changed since I was inner-cities minister 25 years ago. It’s about having a job, a strong family, a decent education and beneath it all, an attitude that shares in the values of mainstream society. What is different now is that a growing minority of people in our nation lack all of those things and indeed, have substituted an inflated sense of expectations for a commitment to hard graft.”

Not especially different from what we witness, case by case, incident by separate incident on the nightly news here in New Mexico. The culture of repeat offenders let loose on society time after time – until that day when one or a few commit commit some crime horrific enough to get the attention of politicians and pundits.

When the furor dies down the courts/jails/police revert to being a revolving door.

25,000 mourners remember brave men who died for the whole community
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

In a remarkable show of solidarity and respect, thousands of people gathered today for the funerals of three men killed as they protected their community’s shops and houses from rioters.

Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, died in the early hours of August 10 after being run down by a car in the Winson Green area of Birmingham.

Along with dozens of others, they had turned out to protect their property after gangs of men were seen driving around and attempting to break into shops…

Friends, family and members of the local communities – Asian, white and black – turned out in Summerfield Park in a show of support, many wearing t-shirts showing slogans such as “My Brothers” and “Gone but not forgotten.”

A message on screens read: “Three precious souls gave their lives protecting all of us“, whilst Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, a scholar asked by the families to address the crowd, said: “They made an example of how a Muslim should be and what Islam is. These three people are martyrs and the best we can do for them is to pray for them and for ourselves. To pray for our community.”

Mr Jahan’s father, Tariq Jahan, whose plea for calm on the day his son died was praised by the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Chris Sims, for preventing further violence, thanked the crowd before a private burial service was held, with all three men being laid to rest side by side.

I have nothing new to add about this funeral. I have been to too many. I don’t attend anymore.

I hope the memory of these funerals bring change and the collective power of ordinary people to bear upon the roots of these murders. I always do. Mourning is something we all participate in one way or another.

Horse and trap driver John Mulvenna told police his horse Fred went through a red light because he was colour blind. But John Mulvenna’s explanation did not fool officers and he ended up in court for being drunk in charge of a horse and carriage…

Mulvenna, who was represented at Barnsley Magistrates Court by solicitor John Dobbin, was arrested in the town centre on his way home.

The horse and trap had earlier been seen going the wrong way up a one-way street.

Prosecutor Jayne Ormrod said Mulvenna had been drinking and the horse was rearing up. The driver used a whip to bring the animal under control and Fred seemed distressed.

Mrs Ormrod said: “The defendant was struggling to control the horse and trap. he was shouting and had slurred speech. “His eyes were red and watery and he smelt of drink. He was also staggering around.

“When asked why the horse and carriage had gone through the traffic lights he said the horse was colour blind.”

The incident lasted ten or 15 minutes. Mulvenna told officers he was “merry” but not drunk.

I worry more about the horse than the drunk. They should take away his whip.

A policeman flung into the air by a criminal driving a stolen car incredibly gets up and chases the offender on foot.

Pc Dan Pascoe used his Taser stun gun to stop Lee Adamson escaping before collapsing from his injuries.

Dramatic video footage shows the officer being thrown violently to the ground after his police car was rammed by a blue BMW driven by Adamson on July 3.

Police set up a road block on a slip road of the M25 at junction 11, near Chertsey in Surrey, to stop the stolen vehicle. Pc Pascoe had just got out of the parked patrol car when the BMW ploughed into the back of it at speed, sending the officer flying.

Amazingly, the policeman rolled, got up and brushed himself off before running after Adamson, who had abandoned the stolen car.

His fellow officers arrested the criminal on suspicion of vehicle theft and other driving offences.

Throw away the fracking key on Adamson. And give PC Pascoe a vote of thanks and whatever perks he might wish for.

As much as we complain about incompetent cops and their bureaucratic bosses – the best of the breed are out there making our lives safer and better because of their bravery.

Merton, England, officials declined to say how much it had spent on trying to protect this minute patch of green.

The council also declined to say which officer had take the decision to send a workman – or team of workmen – to hammer in the sign.

“The sign was put up to remind motorists that it is illegal to park on the footway, and is designed to deter indiscriminate parking,” a spokesman said.

Ummm – OK.

A woman returned to her Cumbrian home to find a near perfect imprint of an owl on her window.

The bird had apparently crashed into the window of Sally Arnold’s Kendal home, leaving the bizarre image – complete with eyes, beak and feathers.

Experts said the silhouette was left by the bird’s “powder down” – a substance protecting growing feathers.

Mrs Arnold said she could find no sign of the owl, so assumed it had flown off without serious injury.

She said: “Our first concern was for the welfare of what we suspected was an owl and we opened up the window to check if it was still around. Fortunately, there was no sign of the bird and we can only assume that it had flown away probably suffering from a headache…”

Val Osborne, head of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) wildlife inquiries team, said: “We don’t very often see an imprint of a bird that’s flown into a window that’s this clear and where it’s pretty obvious exactly what kind of bird it is.

“This would have been very uncomfortable for the bird but thankfully it looks like it survived as Mr and Mrs Arnold couldn’t find it anywhere close by.”

I can think of a couple things this owl might have said – other than “oops!”