Teenagers get life for Goth murder

© ITN 2008

Two teenagers have been jailed for life for the murder of a 20-year-old woman who was killed because she was dressed as a Goth.

Ryan Herbert, 16, of Rossendale Crescent, Bacup, who admitted the murder of Sophie Lancaster, received a 16-year minimum term at Preston Crown Court.

His accomplice Brendan Harris, 15, of Spring Terrace, Bacup, Lancashire, who was convicted after a trial last month, was given a minimum of 18 years.

Sophie was kicked and stamped to death as she begged the pair to stop beating her boyfriend Robert Maltby, 21, in a park in Bacup, Lancashire.

Three other teenagers who took part in the initial attack on Mr Maltby were also named. Brothers Joseph, 17, and Danny Hulme, 16, both of Landgate, Whitworth, near Bacup, and Daniel Mallett, 17, of Rockcliffe Drive, Bacup, all pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent on Mr Maltby. They did not take part in the attack on Sophie, the court was told.

Judge Anthony Russell jailed Mallett for four years and four months and the Hulme brothers for five years and 10 months each.

Passing sentence Judge Russell QC said: "This was feral thuggery. It raises serious questions about the sort of society which exists in this country at the start of a new millennium which was heralded with such optimism.

"At least wild animals, when they hunt in packs, have a legitimate reason for so doing, to obtain food. You have none and your behaviour on that night degrades humanity itself."

Gap year student Miss Lancaster and her boyfriend Mr Maltby were attacked in Stubbylee Park last August.

Neither of the defendants knew the couple, who were both Goths, and the only motive for the violence was they simply looked different to them, a jury was told last month.

Harris punched Mr Maltby when someone in his gang shouted "let's bang him".

Herbert and three other youths joined in by kicking and stamping on him as they beat him unconscious.

When Miss Lancaster cradled her boyfriend in her arms and pleaded for mercy, Harris delivered a flying kick to her head and Herbert volley-kicked her in the face "like a ball in flight".

The injuries to both victims were so severe that paramedics could not tell which sex either was. A clear footwear pattern was visible on Miss Lancaster's head.

Both fell into comas, but Miss Lancaster never regained consciousness and died in hospital 13 days later.

The picture of the devil homself

CREDIT: REUTERS/HO/Police An Austrian police handout picture released April 28, 2008 shows a man suspected of keeping his daughter prisoner and abusing her for 24 years in the basement of a house in the small Austrian village of Amstetten. AMSTETTEN, Austria (Reuters) - A 73-year-old Austrian electrical engineer has confessed to holding his daughter captive in a secret, windowless cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children by her, police said on Monday. The case, centered on a nondescript two-storey building in the small industrial town of Amstetten, bears chilling similarities to that of Austrian Natascha Kampusch who spent eight years locked up in a basement before escaping in 2006. Some parts of the cell in which the family were kept were no more than 1.70 meters (5 ft 6 in) high and officials said the basement even contained a padded cell. "This is an appalling crime. I know of no comparable case in Austria," Franz Prucher, head of security for Lower Austria told a news conference. Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, says her father, Josef Fritzl, lured her into the basement of the block in 1984 and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her. Three of her children, aged 19, 18 and 5, had been locked up in the basement with her since birth and had never seen sunlight, police said, raising worries about their physical and mental state. The younger two were boys, the eldest a girl. Three other children -- two girls and one boy -- were brought up by Josef and his wife. As well as confessing to locking up his daughter for 24 years and siring the seven children, Fritzl also admitted to burning the body of the seventh child in the heating system when it died soon after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of criminal investigations in the state of Lower Austria. All the victims are receiving medical treatment, said police. State prosecutors said Fritzl would be summoned before a judge later on Monday. Investigators spent the day combing through the cells where the victims had been held captive. Forensic experts in white uniforms and gloves carried out boxes of evidence from the house which is on a busy street with shops. Fritzl had hidden the entrance to the cell behind shelves and only he knew the secret code for the reinforced concrete door, said officials. Photographs showed a narrow passageway leading into other rooms which included a cooking area, sleeping area and a small bathroom with a shower. A tube provided ventilation. Amstetten, located in rolling hills about 130 km (80 miles) west of Vienna, is an industrial town of about 22,000 people. HOSPITAL VISIT The case unfolded when the 19-year-old girl became seriously ill and was taken to hospital, prompting doctors to appeal for the girl's mother to come forward to provide more details about her medical history. Fritzl then brought Elisabeth and her remaining two children out of the basement, telling his wife -- who thought their "missing" daughter had chosen to return home, police said. Elisabeth agreed to make a comprehensive statement to the police after receiving assurances she would have no further contact with her father, who she said abused her from the age of 11. Kampusch, who spent her teenage years held captive, offered to help the victims and told ORF radio she might talk to the family. "I can imagine that it is very difficult both for the mother of the children as well as for the wife of the perpetrator to get through this," she said. Psychiatrist Max Friedrich, who treated Kampusch, said the children were undergoing tests in hospital, in particular for problems with their eyes and skin due to the lack of daylight. "And socially ... the (children) could not develop any sort of sense of community which they would get from going to school or playgroup," Friedrich told Reuters. SHAME The case has raised questions about how authorities and neighbors failed to notice anything unusual in the "house of horrors," not least because officials said Fritzl had over the years built extensions to the secret cellar. "The community of Amstetten should drown in shame ... The neighbors are turning a blind eye," the Oesterreich newspaper wrote in an editorial. The daily Der Standard wrote: "The whole country must ask itself what is really, fundamentally going wrong." Another puzzle is how Josef's wife Rosemarie could have been unaware of what was going on. Police have said they believe Rosemarie did not know what happened to her daughter when she disappeared in 1984. It was assumed Elisabeth had left voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her saying they should not search for her.

Untouchable' woman dies after Indian medics refuse treatment

LUCKNOW, India (AFP) — An "untouchable" woman who gave birth outside an Indian hospital because doctors would not treat her died Thursday, a day after her baby, officials admitted.

The newborn boy of Maya Devi, 28, died Wednesday due to lack of medical help minutes after being born outside the maternity wing of Kanpur Medical College in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

Devi was only put in intensive care after giving birth but she died of a heart attack early Thursday morning.

Several doctors, including the hospital's chief medical superintendent, had refused to touch her or provide medical care as she delivered her baby, the Press Trust of India reported.

Devi was a Dalit, or "untouchable", a group at the bottom of the caste social ladder who have long been ostracised and forced into menial professions despite laws banning discrimination. Many high-class Hindus fear coming into contact with them.

Dr Kiran Pandey, head of gynaecology at the hospital, told AFP she was an hour's drive away in state capital Lucknow at the time and rushed back.

"We provided her the best medicines and treatment but she succumbed to two cardiac arrests," Pandey said.

College principle Anand Swaroop has ordered an inquiry, as has a district magistrate.

The state's chief minister, Mayawati, who won elections last year, has ordered the doctors to be suspended and demanded an investigation.

Man shot 'for Christian beliefs'

Mr Ali had moved to Kings Heath in Birmingham in 1990

A man killed by Islamist fighters in Somalia was shot because he had converted from Islam to Christianity, his widow has claimed.

Daud Hassan Ali, 64, of Kings Heath, Birmingham, was found dead at the school his charity had built in Beledweyne on Monday.

Margaret Ali said she was "certain he was killed because he was born a Muslim but converted to Christianity".

Rehana Ahmed, 32, from Birmingham, and two Kenyan teachers were also killed.

Mr Ali had left Somalia in 1967 and became a Christian after meeting missionaries.

Mrs Ali, 64, said that some Islamists "believe it is ok to kill any man who was born into Islam and left the faith".

'Life-long dream'

She added her husband knew it was a risk going back to Somalia as a Christian but said he was there to teach not convert others to his faith.

She said: "He was a teacher, he never made any attempt to convert anyone to Christianity, and only practised his faith in private.

"Most people didn't give tuppence about him being an apostate (someone who has renounced the religion of their birth), but some Muslims interpret the Koran differently.

"I just hope they died quickly and didn't suffer too much. But I hear their bodies are riddled with bullet holes."

She said the last time she spoke to him was Friday evening when he phoned her to wish her happy birthday.

The father-of-two had left the country of his birth in 1967 and worked across the Middle East and Europe before studying in the UK and working as a primary and secondary school teacher.

He eventually settled in Birmingham where he worked for the city council as an educational psychologist before retiring in 2004.

Mrs Ali said it had been her husband's "life-long dream" to go back to Somalia and set up a school to "help his people".

She said they decided to set up the Hiran Community Education Project charity after discovering there were about 20,000 children in central Somalia getting no education.

The Hakab Private English School was only completed one month ago.

Mrs Ali said Ms Ahmed, who was a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, had joined her husband at the school to teach English.

She said she was a "gifted student" who was "loved by all the people at the school".

She is survived by a brother and sister.

The Islamist al-Shabab Movement, the armed youth-wing of the Council of Islamic Courts movement, has admitted taking the town.

But a spokesman said: "We heard that the foreigners were killed but we do not claim responsibility."

British officials in Kenya and staff from the High Commission in Nairobi are investigating.

Sick man in this sick world

Austrian 'hid daughter in cellar'

The house where the man and his daughter lived A 73-year-old Austrian is under arrest on suspicion of hiding his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, police say. The existence of the woman, believed missing since 1984 and now 42, emerged after a teenage child fell ill and had to be taken to hospital. Both the woman and teenage girl are receiving medical treatment and the other children are in care. A police investigation in Amstetten, Lower Austria Province, is continuing. The suspect, named only as Josef F, was arrested on suspicion of incest and keeping his daughter in captivity. He has not responded to the charges against him, police say. One of the children the man allegedly fathered died in infancy, police believe. Three children, including the 19-year-old, were allegedly kept in the cellar with their mother while the other three reportedly grew up with their grandparents. DNA tests will be taken to establish whether Josef F was indeed their father. Placed in care The alleged crimes came to light after the teenager, named as Kerstin F, was dropped off at the Amstetten hospital last weekend. Police are searching the house Finding Kerstin seriously ill, doctors appealed for her mother, who at that time was assumed to be missing, to come forward to provide more details about her medical history. Josef F allegedly then released the mother and two other children from the cellar, telling his wife Rosemarie that she had chosen to return home, police say. It was not immediately clear how police were alerted. The mother, named as Elisabeth F, has been receiving medical and psychological treatment since being discovered. She appeared "greatly disturbed" psychologically during questioning and agreed to talk only after authorities assured her that she would no longer have to have contact with her father, and that her children would be taken care of, police added. The six children are three boys and three girls aged between five and 20. Police spokesman Franz Polzer told reporters they had been taken to a safe location. "They are all in psychological care in a secure institution in a clinic here in this area," he said. "They are being cared for individually - those between 12 and 16 years of age who grew up with their grandparents, and two boys who, when they came out yesterday with their mother, saw the daylight for the first time in their lives." The three children who grew up with their grandparents were left at birth outside the house, the first accompanied by a note from Elisabeth in which she said she could not care for the baby herself. All three were taken in by Josef and his wife as foster or adopted children, police said. 'Dead baby burnt' The police issued a statement giving details of the alleged abuses Elisabeth recounted to them. Cellar case timeline She said she had been sexually abused by her father since the age of 11. Josef allegedly lured her into the cellar of their house in Amstetten on 28 August 1984, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up. It was assumed she had disappeared voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her asking them not to search for her. "Abused continuously during the 24-year-long imprisonment", Elisabeth bore six children while a seventh, one of a set of twins, died soon after birth. The dead baby was allegedly taken out of the cellar and burnt by Josef. Elisabeth said Josef had provided her and three of her children, who were locked up along with her, with clothing and food. His wife Rosemarie had allegedly not been aware of what was going on. The discovery of another Austrian woman, who was held captive in a cellar by an abductor for more than eight years, gripped the country in 2006. Natascha Kampusch finally escaped from her kidnapper, 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil, who killed himself shortly afterwards. Ms Kampusch was abducted at the age of 10 in 1998 and held in a small, windowless cellar beneath Priklopil's garage in the commuter town of Strasshof, 25km (15 miles) outside Vienna.

Usa Seem to be everywhere opressing people

US marine charged over Japanese rape The allegations of rape in February caused outrage in Japan A US marine is to face court martial after being accused of raping a 14-year-old girl on the Japanese island of Okinawa, the US military says. Staff Sergeant Tyrone Hadnott, 38, was first arrested for the offence by police in February. He was released by Japanese prosecutors after the girl dropped the case. Sgt Hadnott has been charged under the US military justice code "as a result of a Marine Corps investigation". No date was set for the hearing. He is charged with rape, abusive sexual contact with a child under 16, and kidnapping through inveigling. The case has already caused outrage in Japan, and led to calls for stricter discipline on US troops. More than 40,000 American troops are stationed in Japan under a security treaty, about half of them on the southern island of Okinawa. In a separate case, four other marines are facing a court martial over the alleged rape of a Japanese woman last year. Soon after Sgt Hadnott's arrest on 11 February, Japanese police said he had admitted forcing the girl down and kissing her, but that he denied the rape.