Albino rat saves man from justice

Albino rat saves man from justice
By JOEL TAYLOR - Monday, November 16, 2009
Rat's my boy: Man's pet saved him from punishment (not actual rat)
A rat owner has won an unlikely respite from a court sentence - thanks to his albino pet.
Allan Page had pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis, fare-dodging and begging on a train.
But magistrates were forced to postpone judgment after hearing that Rizla, a six-month-old albino, had been the unwelcome guest at a probation meeting.
When officials discovered the pet was in Page's pocket they refused to continue the meeting - so could not prepare their reports on the defendant.
'I had cycled from Hitchin to Bedford that day and I didn't realise that I couldn't bring the animal with me,' said 37-year-old Page, of Arlesey, Bedfordshire.
'It did annoy me because I didn't think it would be a problem.
'They said it was for hygiene reasons but I said it was my animal and he goes everywhere with me, even to the doctors.'
His lawyer told Bedford magistrates' court: 'He now knows that he cannot take his pet rat into the office with him.'
The magistrates gave probation officials a final chance to prepare their report and rescheduled the appointment for Thursday.
They told Page: 'No pet rat this time, please.'

Muggers left ID cards after subway attack

Muggers left ID cards after subway attack
TWO men who robbed a 16-year-old girl in a subway were caught by police after leaving their student ID cards at the scene.
Daniel Yates and Adam Owens struck at the underpass near Churchgate in Bolton town centre on April 22.
Yesterday they were each jailed for 20 months by a judge at Bolton Crown Court, who told them: “You made your victim suffer.”
Furthermore, in a bizarre twist, Yates, was jailed for an additional 20 months, to run consecutively, for an assault on Owens two months after the subway robbery.
Judge Charles Mahon said: “You are both now very sorry — but that is not a lot of use to your victim.
“She was not only very young, but also alone.”
On April 22, the victim was walking when she was approached by Yates, who asked for her phone number, the court was told.
He then pushed her against a wall and to the ground, prosecutor David Toal said.
Owens then rifled through the girl’s rucksack as Yates, who has a young daughter, punched her twice in the jaw and stole a mobile phone from her pocket.
Mr Toal said: “The victim said Yates told her ‘if we want, we can make you scream. We could drag you into the bushes’. She feared she would be raped.”
Police found two University of Bolton ID cards at the scene, belonging to the defendants.
The pair had enrolled in February but did not attend tutorials and were thrown off their courses.
After being arrested, they admitted drinking at least 13 pints of lager each before the attack.
Later, on June 12, Yates and Owens were drinking in The New Globe pub in Duke Street, Bolton, when an argument broke out.
Yates punched Owens to the floor, kicking his head and stamping on his chest, the court heard.
Owens, aged 24, of Bryn Walk, Halliwell, pleaded guilty to robbery.
Yates, aged 20, of Brunswick Court, Bolton, pleaded guilty to robbery and wounding.

Man admits YouTube cannabis boast

Man admits YouTube cannabis boast
Wednesday, March 04, 2009, 10:00
A DRUG user caught after posting videos of his cannabis factory on YouTube under his real name and date of birth has been fined £275 .
Shane Burfield, 25, used the website to upload a string of film clips charting the growth of his £500 cannabis bush.
But instead of posting them anonymously the unemployed crook proudly displayed his name, date of birth and home town beside the footage.
Police received an anonymous tip-off and were able to trace his name to an address in Bridgwater.
When they raided the house they found a 5ft plant and specialist hydroponics equipment used to grow it.Yesterday Burfield pleaded guilty to cultivation and possession of cannabis at Sedgemoor Magistrates Court in Bridgwater.
Magistrate Alan Webb said: "I would hope that you go away from this court a little more sober and thoughtful and that you have stopped growing cannabis."
Donna Newton-Smith, prosecuting, said: "Allegations surfaced that Mr Burfield was cultivating cannabis at his home address.
"That information was received initially from an anonymous informant.
"However, it was then discovered Mr Burfield had taken videos of his hydroponic equipment over six months.
"Mr Burfield had used his own name as the user name and his own date of birth on his YouTube account."
The court heard when police raided Burfield's home on February 18, they found a cannabis plant with an estimated street value of £500.
They also uncovered specialist hydroponics equipment inside a "grow tent" in a bedroom of the flat and 0.8 grammes of skunk cannabis in his pocket.
During a police interview Burfield admitted cloning an "AK47" breed of cannabis plant from that of a friend in Devon and being a "heavy cannabis user".
He claimed he began growing and filming the plant in November 2008 and was due to begin harvesting it three weeks after the police raid.
The unemployed 25-year-old, who lives with his girlfriend and receives £125 incapacity benefits a week, claimed it was intended for personal use and not for sale.
Speaking outside court, he said: "I put the videos on YouTube because I saw other plants on there and wanted other growers to see what I was doing.
"I had over 300 comments on the videos and thousands of hits from people all over the world interested in growing – it was kind of like a hobby.
"It was a big surprise when the old bill came knocking on my door with two riot vans.
"Thinking about it, it was pretty silly to put my name on there. I've definitely learned my lesson – next time I won't be putting it on YouTube."
Burfield was fined £120 for cultivating cannabis, £80 for possession, £60 in court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
He ordered the plant, hydroponics equipment and cannabis found in his pocket to be destroyed.

Driving ban for drunken mobility scooter woman

Driving ban for drunken mobility scooter woman
Thursday, January 15, 2009
A woman was banned from driving after she stole a supermarket mobility scooter for a 10-mile journey home following a drunken night out.
Amanda Leaff took the buggy - capable of a maximum speed of 2.4mph - from an Asda store in Chadderton and planned to drive through Manchester city centre to her address in Stretford.
Oldham Magistrates' Court was told she used the vehicle to save on a taxi fare.
An off-duty police officer spotted Leaff, 46, driving erratically in Oldham Road, Hollinwood, at around 10.45pm on November 12 last year as she was two-and-a-half miles into her journey.
She was breathalysed and gave a breath alcohol reading of 77mg - the legal limit being 35mg.
The court heard she had been drinking in a pub in Chadderton when the heel of her friend's shoe snapped off.
Leaff decided to take the scooter to give her friend a lift to the friend's house nearby. Two hours later Leaff set off for home - a trip which would have lasted at least four hours.
Leaff told the court she intended to return the buggy the following day. She pleaded guilty to driving a mobility scooter while unfit through drink and taking the vehicle without consent.
Magistrates yesterday banned Leaff from driving for 20 months. Chief Inspector Haydn Roberts of Greater Manchester Police's Traffic Network Section said: "It is extremely irresponsible to try and drive any vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
"This woman not only stole the scooter, she proceeded to try and drive it while over the legal alcohol limit down a main road. She not only put herself in danger but also other members of the public."
An Asda spokesman said: "We're disappointed that one of our disability scooters was misused in this way. Our scooters are there to provide help while shopping to those customers who need them."

Man provides photo for his own wanted poster

LONDON (Reuters) - A man on the run from police sent a picture of himself to his local paper because he disliked the mugshot they had printed of him as part of a public appeal to track him down.
South Wales Police had issued media with the photo of Matthew Maynard, wanted by officers investigating a house burglary, as part of a crackdown on crime in Swansea.
When it appeared in the South Wales Evening Post, the 23-year-old sent the newspaper a replacement photo of himself standing in front of a police van. They obligingly printed it on the front page.
The police thanked him for helping them in their appeal, saying: "Everyone in Swansea will know what he looks like now."

Sub-postmaster who stole £18,000 from Post Office avoids prison but gets pub ban for a month!

A former sub-postmaster who swindled thousands of pounds from the Post Office has been barred for a month from all the pubs in his village. A judge told Ian Warren he wouldn’t jail him because he wasn’t a burglar or a violent criminal.
Instead, he said the pub ban – along with a suspended jail sentence and a community service order – would make the 62-year-old feel “symbolically excluded” from the community. Warren, of St James Street, Castle Hedingham, admitted stealing £18,412 from Royal Mail.
Chelmsford Crown Court was told the defendant, postmaster at the village shop, in St James Street, for three years, pocketed money from scratchcards he sold, after falling heavily into debt.
He maintained he always planned to repay the money when his financial problems eased. Before that could happen, however, the theft was discovered. The Post Office took away his franchise, although he still ran the shop.
After reading testimonials a letter from Warren in which he spoke of his “utter shame”, Judge Goldstaub sentenced him to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to complete 75 hours of unpaid community service.
He also banned Warren from entering any public house within a mile of the centre of Castle Hedingham, specifically naming the Bird Inn.

Bank Robber Caught Out By Personalised BMW Number Plate

28, 2009Source: Telegraph
Bank robber James Snell has been caught by police because of the personalised number plate on his BMW car that he used to stake out his target in Cardiff. Snell drove his car with the registration "J4MES" to set up the £100,000 raid on a Halifax branch.
His gang of four robbers was caught when a witness remembered admiring the distinctive plate on the blue BMW - and gave details to police.
Snell, 26, and his brother Wayne, 34, were traced to their hideaway and found red-handed with more than £30,000 of the cash in bank-notes.
The number plate blunder was revealed when Wayne was jailed for eight years for robbery. James will be sentenced later.
The gang decided to use heavy metal drain covers to smash their way into a Halifax branch in Roath, Cardiff.
They set off in James Snell's BMW to plan the bank heist - including watching the branch and planning their getaway.
But Cardiff Crown Court heard they were spotted by a passer-by who remembered the J4MES number plate because it stood out.
"A witness saw a passenger lean out, lift a drain cover from the road and the car drove off," Prosecutor Tim Evans said.
"Lee Norville, who works for the council's highways department, later identified one of the two covers used to smash the windows at a branch of Halifax as coming from that drain. It is clear their arrogance contributed to their undoing."
Cash was being delivered to the Halifax branch by the security guards just before midnight when the gang struck.
Two Group 4 Securicor workers were refilling the bank's cash machine ready for business the next morning when they were confronted by men dressed in dark clothing and balaclavas.
Two used the drain covers to smash through the glass while a third armed with a bat shouted threats.
The gang took a total of £104,910 - all in £10 and £20 notes. The empty cash boxes were later found dumped in woods.
The car, with its distinctive number plate, was spotted outside a rented home in Whitchurch, Cardiff.
Fellow gang member Carl Campion, 44, of Birmingham, denied robbery but was found guilty and was jailed for 12 years.
The Snell brothers admitted robbery along with accomplice Adam Abbot, 38, of Hyde, Manchester. Abbot and James Snell will be sentenced at a later date.
Judge Gareth Jones said it was a "professional, sophisticated, pre-planned robbery on commercial premises" - and that £70,000 is still missing.
After the case, Detective Inspector Paul Andrews, of South Wales Police, said: "I would like to thank people who contacted us with information including the details of the car number plate."

One-legged Bristol thief caught in city centre

A one-legged thief was caught by plain-clothed police trying to make off with a bike in Bristol city centre.
Joquim da Silva, of Jamaica Street, was thwarted as he tried to steal a bicycle on Wine Street.
But it soon emerged the 35-year-old had a prosthetic lower limb on one of his legs.
Two men were being arrested for bike theft by two plain-clothed officers and two police community support officers.
"One of the support officers was scrabbling around under a parked car looking for a bike lock and bolt cutters that one of the thieves had tried to discard."
Project Bicyclette has made a performance stage powered by bikes and aims to take it to festivals around the country to educate people about reusable energy.
Da Silva appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Wednesday and was sentenced to six weeks in prison for the theft.

Benefits cheats claimed for kids in care

Published Date: 23 October 2009
By Jessica Forster
A mum conned thousands of pounds out of taxpayers by continuing to cash Giros for her children's upkeep after they were taken into care.
The 25-year-old – who can't be named for legal reasons – cheated the benefits system out of more than £11,000 by failing to declare that her sons no longer lived with her.She has been ordered to repay the cash she claimed over 18 months – but it will take her almost five and a half years to clear the debt.The mum, from Sunderland, admitted fraud when she appeared before the city's magistrates yesterday.The court heard her young children had been taken into social services care in January 2006.Paul Heron, prosecuting for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), said she continued to collect child benefit payments until September 2007.The mother, who has previous convictions, admitted ignoring several letters from the DWP after her children were taken into care.She was ordered to pay back the money at a rate of £40 a fortnight by city magistrates, but it will take her years to clear the debt.Bill Scanlan, defending, said his client never accepted losing her sons, who were fostered before potential adoptive parents were found.He told the court the woman had been the victim of "horrendous domestic violence" which has left her terrified of groups of people, especially men – and urged magistrates not to sentence her to unpaid community work for her crime.Mr Scanlan said the woman had been treated for depression and had taken her child care case to the Court of Appeal in London.Magistrates agreed ordering her to serve a community order would be setting her up to fail and instead ordered her to be tagged and put on a three-month curfew from 7am until 7pm, with a 12 month supervision order.They also cleared £482 in court fines, which she has not paid since April.The chairman of the bench said: "We are going to give you a clean slate in light of the hard circumstances you have had to deal with over the last few years."You do not owe the court anything, but you must continue to pay the DWP."The woman is still entitled to some of the benefits she received.

Police war on fake ID factories as fraudsters net millions

Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent13.10.09
Scotland Yard is battling to stop criminal gangs turning London into the identity theft capital of the world.
The gangs are setting up fake-ID factories using printers bought at high street shops. The Met has shut at least 20 “factories” in the last 18 months and believes more than 30,000 fake identities are in circulation.
Police examined 12,000 of them and established they were behind a racket worth £14 million.
One £750 printer was withdrawn from sale at PC World after detectives revealed it could produce replicas of the proposed new ID card and EU driving licences.
Commander Nigel Mawer, who leads the Yard's fight against fraud, said: “There are a significant number of fake-ID factories that are producing documents for lots of different purposes.
“We have dismantled over 20 in the last 18 months and we have 27 convictions with criminals being jailed for a total of 40 years. We have also built up a database of 30,000 fake identities which are currently in circulation.”
Crimes range from immigration and benefit fraud to money cons.
In some cases criminals are forging documents using the names of people whose identities have been stolen from credit reference agencies.
Many of the forgeries are “know your customer” documents such as utility bills and driving licences, which are then used to open bank accounts under false names.
Mr Mawer added: “There are people with dual identities, one real and one for committing crime.” He revealed that specialist printers capable of making convincing ID documents such as EU driving licences could be bought for £750, though others cost £5,000.
The cost of equipment needed to set up ID factories is falling, making them easier to establish. Scotland Yard is working closely with manufacturers and retailers on a scheme named Project Genesius to keep printers out of the hands of criminals.
At present it is voluntary but police want the system regulated so all manufacturers abide by the code.
Detective chief inspector Nick Downing, an ID fraud expert, said PC World was planning to sell one sophisticated £750 printer but was persuaded not to stock it. He said: “These machines can manufacture any form of ID card. The frightening thing is you can go on the internet and get all the computer bits you need to set up an ID factory in 24 hours.
“This is real bespoke equipment that can manufacture passports, National Insurance cards, passport entry stamps or driving licences.”
A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service, said: "It is absolutely wrong to suggest that it is possible to copy or clone the National Identity Card."

Cruel mother and 'Britain's sickest child'

Cruel mother and 'Britain's sickest child'
Saturday, October 24, 2009, 10:00
A CRUEL mother made her healthy son appear so ill that he won a courageous children award and she was able to lead a celebrity life.
Lisa Hayden-Johnson forced the boy to undergo surgery, use a wheelchair and breathe from an oxygen cylinder as part of her evil ruse. She also claimed more than £130,000 of benefits.
Doctors, celebrities and charity fundraisers were taken in by the 35-year-old mother-of-two's lies for six years. The mother and son met Tony Blair in Downing Street and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
The boy won an award for courageous children at a ceremony in London and later, Hayden-Johnson made money giving numerous TV and magazine interviews with her son. She even obtained free tickets to ITV's X Factor show after writing to Simon Cowell about their plight.
The Western Morning News can today finally reveal the identity of the woman behind one of the most shocking tales of deranged motherhood, after successfully overturning a court order banning her from being named.

We have also learned that Hayden-Johnson abused the boy's sister – her daughter – exaggerating a real medical condition so that she received more treatment than was actually required. It is also understood that she took both children on a cruise holiday paid for by a charity after she convinced staff that the two children were sick and would benefit from the trip.
She is currently on bail awaiting the results of psychiatric tests before she is sentenced. She appeared at Exeter Crown Court last Friday.
Detective Constable Mark Uren, who helped investigate the case, described Hayden-Johnson as a "cruel, manipulative mother".
He added: "She has continually lied to medical experts and people of high importance that her son is the most unwell child in Britain."
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, repeatedly attended Torbay Hospital, Bristol Children's Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London for treatment, despite being healthy.
But Hayden-Johnson claimed he had cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, the throat disorder dysphagia, and was allergic to wheat and gluten-based foods.
She even faked blood samples to convince medics her son was diabetic. Such was the power of her lies that the boy's sibling believed he was not going to live.
Hayden-Johnson pleaded guilty at Exeter Crown Court last week to child cruelty and perverting the course of justice by claiming she had been sexually assaulted in a bid to throw increasingly suspicious police officers off the trail of her deceptions. Charges of benefit fraud will stay on file.
Police say Hayden-Johnson lied to medical experts for six-and-a-half years about her son's fictitious illness.
Doctors were never able to make a diagnosis, but the boy needed a gastroscopy tube inserted into his stomach under general anaesthetic.
The boy had to take a trolley or portable rucksack around with him to pump-feed him, had oxygen regularly administered and was made to use a wheelchair when he was at school.
Detectives say his bedroom looked like a "TV medical drama", with medical equipment, including a tube, attached to his body at night.
His mother exaggerated her own training as a nurse, to impress medics, and complained her son was not receiving good enough care.
She also claimed around £20,000 a year in disability living allowance and a specially adapted car. There were also suspicions that she had faked urine tests to pretend he had diabetes and she tried to claim that he had cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis.
An investigation was first launched in 2007 after Dr John Broomhall, a consultant paediatrician at Torbay Hospital, raised concerns with colleagues that the boy was receiving too much treatment.
Only weeks before, Hayden-Johnson feared she was about to be discovered and lied to police she had been pinned to the ground and sexually assaulted by a motorcyclist.
She even successfully asked that her specially adapted car was replaced with a new one, because she said the sex offender would recognise her old one and stalk her.
A time-consuming police investigation was launched and police were looking at potential suspects when she admitted her lies.
The defendant, wearing a silver crucifix necklace, black dress and jacket, wrung her hands and dabbed her eyes with a tissue, during the court hearing.
She was released on conditional bail to live at her Torquay address until she is sentenced on a date to be set next year.