Prosecution says Levi Bellfield made early hours visit to flat near where Milly disappeared and later stripped the bedding A former nightclub bouncer accused of the kidnap and murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler paid a visit in the middle of the night to his rented flat near where she was last seen, stripped the bedding and removed the mattress, a court heard. Just hours after the 13-year-old vanished, Levi Bellfield, 43, who was house-sitting with his girlfriend in west London, returned to their empty rented flat in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, which overlooked the road where Milly was last seen alive, a jury was told. His girlfriend awoke between 3am and 4am to find him getting dressed, and he said he was going to the flat in Collingwood Place because he “wanted a lie-in”, said prosecutor Britain Altman QC. “So why return to Collingwood Place in the dead of night? To walk the dog? To lie in? “If the prosecution is right – that he abducted and killed Milly Dowler – then he had to dispose of her body and clean up,” Altman told the Old Bailey trial. Milly vanished shortly after 4pm on 21 March 2002, while walking home from Walton station. Her naked and badly decomposed body was found six months later in undergrowth in Yateley Heath Wood, Hampshire, 25 miles away. Phone records showed that during his late night visit Bellfield had switched off his mobile, the court heard. “His phone records show that his phone fell silent or was unreachable for almost nine-and-a-half hours between 23.02 that Thursday night and 08.26 on the Friday morning, ample time to make the journey from Walton to the deposition site in Yateley Heath Wood and to begin the clean-up,” said Altman. Bellfield, who was convicted in 2008 of the murders of two women and the attempted murder of a third, denies the kidnap and murder of Milly, whose real name was Amanda. He also denies the attempted abduction of Rachel Cowles, then 11, the previous day, on 20 March, 2002. The jury has heard that Bellfield, his girlfriend Emma Mills, and their two children, were renting the ground-floor flat in Collingwood Place, which had views of Station Avenue, where Milly was last seen, but at the time of her disappearance the couple were house-sitting for a friend, and the flat was empty. On the day Milly vanished, Mills had been unable to contact Bellfield because his phone was switched off and he returned to the house they were staying in West Drayton, between 10.30pm and 11pm. She noticed he had changed his clothes, and thought he must have returned to the flat in Walton, where his clothes were kept, said Altman. She could tell he had been drinking, but he was not drunk, and she was suspicious he had been with another woman, the jury heard. At about 3am-4am, Mills awoke to find Bellfield getting dressed. “She asked him what he was doing. He answered ‘I’m going back to the flat , ’cause I’m going to have a lay-in’,” said Altman. He left, taking the couple’s staffordshire bull terrier with him. Altman said the jury might ask themselves “What it was that was so important that in the middle of the night he decided to get up and drive over to Walton” – a distance of 13.7 miles, taking around 27 minutes. “You can be sure that it was no lie-in.” Milly’s uncle, Brian Gilbertson, was out in the early hours and was searching for his niece in the area of the Collingwood Place flats when saw a man with a dog not on a lead. He described the man as “thick set, stocky build”, white, aged between 30 and 40, who “walked with an air of confidence”. The jury could conclude that was Bellfield, said Altman. The next day Malcolm Ward, who knew Bellfield, agreed to help him move a king-size mattress from the flat, for which he was paid £15. “According to Ward, that day Bellfield was not his usual self and was quieter than normal,” the jury heard. When Mills returned to the flat after Milly’s disappearance, she found the bed stripped, with “no duvet cover, sheet or pillowcases”, with Bellfield claiming their pet staffordshire bull terrier had had an “accident” and he had “chucked it all”, said Altman. The court heard CCTV images showed no trace of Milly walking down Station Avenue, although a fellow pupil had seen her shortly after 4pm. The fact she was not on CCTV meant that she vanished within a very short time, and just yards from Collingwood Place. “If that evidence is accurate and reliable, then it means that Milly had to have been taken from that part of Station Avenue, right outside Collingwood Place, and right on the defendant’s doorstep,” said Brian Altman, QC, prosecuting. Milly, a pupil at Heathside School, Weybridge, where her mother, Sally, taught maths, had boarded her train at Weybridge, but got off at Walton to buy chips at a cafe with friends, instead of continuing on to Hersham station, her usual route, the jury was told. The jury has been told that within two years of Milly’s murder, Bellfield murdered Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22, by striking them over the head with a blunt instrument, and attempted to murder Kate Sheedy, then 18, by deliberately running her over in a car. The trial continues. Milly Dowler Crime Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Prosecution says Levi Bellfield made early hours visit to flat near where Milly disappeared and later stripped the bedding A former nightclub bouncer accused of the kidnap and murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler paid a visit in the middle of the night to his rented flat near where she was last seen, stripped the bedding and removed the mattress, a court heard. Just hours after the 13-year-old vanished, Levi Bellfield, 43, who was house-sitting with his girlfriend in west London, returned to their empty rented flat in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, which overlooked the road where Milly was last seen alive, a jury was told. His girlfriend awoke between 3am and 4am to find him getting dressed, and he said he was going to the flat in Collingwood Place because he “wanted a lie-in”, said prosecutor Britain Altman QC. “So why return to Collingwood Place in the dead of night? To walk the dog? To lie in? “If the prosecution is right – that he abducted and killed Milly Dowler – then he had to dispose of her body and clean up,” Altman told the Old Bailey trial. Milly vanished shortly after 4pm on 21 March 2002, while walking home from Walton station. Her naked and badly decomposed body was found six months later in undergrowth in Yateley Heath Wood, Hampshire, 25 miles away. Phone records showed that during his late night visit Bellfield had switched off his mobile, the court heard. “His phone records show that his phone fell silent or was unreachable for almost nine-and-a-half hours between 23.02 that Thursday night and 08.26 on the Friday morning, ample time to make the journey from Walton to the deposition site in Yateley Heath Wood and to begin the clean-up,” said Altman. Bellfield, who was convicted in 2008 of the murders of two women and the attempted murder of a third, denies the kidnap and murder of Milly, whose real name was Amanda. He also denies the attempted abduction of Rachel Cowles, then 11, the previous day, on 20 March, 2002. The jury has heard that Bellfield, his girlfriend Emma Mills, and their two children, were renting the ground-floor flat in Collingwood Place, which had views of Station Avenue, where Milly was last seen, but at the time of her disappearance the couple were house-sitting for a friend, and the flat was empty. On the day Milly vanished, Mills had been unable to contact Bellfield because his phone was switched off and he returned to the house they were staying in West Drayton, between 10.30pm and 11pm. She noticed he had changed his clothes, and thought he must have returned to the flat in Walton, where his clothes were kept, said Altman. She could tell he had been drinking, but he was not drunk, and she was suspicious he had been with another woman, the jury heard. At about 3am-4am, Mills awoke to find Bellfield getting dressed. “She asked him what he was doing. He answered ‘I’m going back to the flat , ’cause I’m going to have a lay-in’,” said Altman. He left, taking the couple’s staffordshire bull terrier with him. Altman said the jury might ask themselves “What it was that was so important that in the middle of the night he decided to get up and drive over to Walton” – a distance of 13.7 miles, taking around 27 minutes. “You can be sure that it was no lie-in.” Milly’s uncle, Brian Gilbertson, was out in the early hours and was searching for his niece in the area of the Collingwood Place flats when saw a man with a dog not on a lead. He described the man as “thick set, stocky build”, white, aged between 30 and 40, who “walked with an air of confidence”. The jury could conclude that was Bellfield, said Altman. The next day Malcolm Ward, who knew Bellfield, agreed to help him move a king-size mattress from the flat, for which he was paid £15. “According to Ward, that day Bellfield was not his usual self and was quieter than normal,” the jury heard. When Mills returned to the flat after Milly’s disappearance, she found the bed stripped, with “no duvet cover, sheet or pillowcases”, with Bellfield claiming their pet staffordshire bull terrier had had an “accident” and he had “chucked it all”, said Altman. The court heard CCTV images showed no trace of Milly walking down Station Avenue, although a fellow pupil had seen her shortly after 4pm. The fact she was not on CCTV meant that she vanished within a very short time, and just yards from Collingwood Place. “If that evidence is accurate and reliable, then it means that Milly had to have been taken from that part of Station Avenue, right outside Collingwood Place, and right on the defendant’s doorstep,” said Brian Altman, QC, prosecuting. Milly, a pupil at Heathside School, Weybridge, where her mother, Sally, taught maths, had boarded her train at Weybridge, but got off at Walton to buy chips at a cafe with friends, instead of continuing on to Hersham station, her usual route, the jury was told. The jury has been told that within two years of Milly’s murder, Bellfield murdered Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22, by striking them over the head with a blunt instrument, and attempted to murder Kate Sheedy, then 18, by deliberately running her over in a car. The trial continues. Milly Dowler Crime Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
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The wind turbine manufacturer says it could create thousands of jobs but warns that policy uncertainty may kill off the project The world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer is offering to create over 2,000 jobs at the Kent port of Sheerness but warned the green energy project could be killed off by any uncertainty over government policies. Vestas has obtained exclusive rights to land – the equivalent to 93 football pitches – that would enable it to construct a huge new production facility to build a generation of mega-turbines to be used in the North Sea. “Before our customers can provide us with the needed order pipeline, they need stability in the market and a long-term political and regulatory certainty that ensures their business case,” said Anders Soe-Jensen, president of Vestas Offshore. “Making that happen lies in the hands of policy makers, so we are looking forward to seeing the UK government providing the best possible terms for the offshore wind market to truly take off and the potential jobs becoming a reality,” he added. The Vestas executive said the timing of a report from the government-established climate change committee on Monday which raised questions about the high cost of offshore wind “could not be worse for us.” Soe-Jensen warned it would be a “shame” if a great new job opportunity at Sheerness was lost. But he remained optimistic that Vestas could obtain the orders from the deep sea “Round 3″ projects that would allow the Danish-based company to build vast new turbines that would be as tall as the “Gherkin” office block in the City of London. Vestas has also built a new research and development centre on the Isle of Wight but created controversy when it closed a facility for building smaller turbines in the summer of 2009 . The renewable energy sector worldwide has been facing tougher times as politicians worry about wider budget cutbacks and seek to reduce subsidies to wind and solar despite a continuing desire to cut carbon emissions and tackle global warming. But there was a boost on Tuesday from Japan where the prime minister promised to scrap a plan to obtain half of its electricity from nuclear power and said it would promote renewable energy as a result of its nuclear crisis. Naoto Kan said Japan needed to “start from scratch” on its long-term energy policy after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was heavily damaged by a 11 March earthquake and began leaking radiation. A United Nations report out earlier this week predicted that if the regulatory and other conditions were right renewables could provide 80% of all the world’s energy needs after 2050. Wind power Energy Renewable energy Vestas Green jobs Green politics Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk
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The wind turbine manufacturer says it could create thousands of jobs but warns that policy uncertainty may kill off the project The world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer is offering to create over 2,000 jobs at the Kent port of Sheerness but warned the green energy project could be killed off by any uncertainty over government policies. Vestas has obtained exclusive rights to land – the equivalent to 93 football pitches – that would enable it to construct a huge new production facility to build a generation of mega-turbines to be used in the North Sea. “Before our customers can provide us with the needed order pipeline, they need stability in the market and a long-term political and regulatory certainty that ensures their business case,” said Anders Soe-Jensen, president of Vestas Offshore. “Making that happen lies in the hands of policy makers, so we are looking forward to seeing the UK government providing the best possible terms for the offshore wind market to truly take off and the potential jobs becoming a reality,” he added. The Vestas executive said the timing of a report from the government-established climate change committee on Monday which raised questions about the high cost of offshore wind “could not be worse for us.” Soe-Jensen warned it would be a “shame” if a great new job opportunity at Sheerness was lost. But he remained optimistic that Vestas could obtain the orders from the deep sea “Round 3″ projects that would allow the Danish-based company to build vast new turbines that would be as tall as the “Gherkin” office block in the City of London. Vestas has also built a new research and development centre on the Isle of Wight but created controversy when it closed a facility for building smaller turbines in the summer of 2009 . The renewable energy sector worldwide has been facing tougher times as politicians worry about wider budget cutbacks and seek to reduce subsidies to wind and solar despite a continuing desire to cut carbon emissions and tackle global warming. But there was a boost on Tuesday from Japan where the prime minister promised to scrap a plan to obtain half of its electricity from nuclear power and said it would promote renewable energy as a result of its nuclear crisis. Naoto Kan said Japan needed to “start from scratch” on its long-term energy policy after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was heavily damaged by a 11 March earthquake and began leaking radiation. A United Nations report out earlier this week predicted that if the regulatory and other conditions were right renewables could provide 80% of all the world’s energy needs after 2050. Wind power Energy Renewable energy Vestas Green jobs Green politics Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk
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The wind turbine manufacturer says it could create thousands of jobs but warns that policy uncertainty may kill off the project The world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer is offering to create over 2,000 jobs at the Kent port of Sheerness but warned the green energy project could be killed off by any uncertainty over government policies. Vestas has obtained exclusive rights to land – the equivalent to 93 football pitches – that would enable it to construct a huge new production facility to build a generation of mega-turbines to be used in the North Sea. “Before our customers can provide us with the needed order pipeline, they need stability in the market and a long-term political and regulatory certainty that ensures their business case,” said Anders Soe-Jensen, president of Vestas Offshore. “Making that happen lies in the hands of policy makers, so we are looking forward to seeing the UK government providing the best possible terms for the offshore wind market to truly take off and the potential jobs becoming a reality,” he added. The Vestas executive said the timing of a report from the government-established climate change committee on Monday which raised questions about the high cost of offshore wind “could not be worse for us.” Soe-Jensen warned it would be a “shame” if a great new job opportunity at Sheerness was lost. But he remained optimistic that Vestas could obtain the orders from the deep sea “Round 3″ projects that would allow the Danish-based company to build vast new turbines that would be as tall as the “Gherkin” office block in the City of London. Vestas has also built a new research and development centre on the Isle of Wight but created controversy when it closed a facility for building smaller turbines in the summer of 2009 . The renewable energy sector worldwide has been facing tougher times as politicians worry about wider budget cutbacks and seek to reduce subsidies to wind and solar despite a continuing desire to cut carbon emissions and tackle global warming. But there was a boost on Tuesday from Japan where the prime minister promised to scrap a plan to obtain half of its electricity from nuclear power and said it would promote renewable energy as a result of its nuclear crisis. Naoto Kan said Japan needed to “start from scratch” on its long-term energy policy after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was heavily damaged by a 11 March earthquake and began leaking radiation. A United Nations report out earlier this week predicted that if the regulatory and other conditions were right renewables could provide 80% of all the world’s energy needs after 2050. Wind power Energy Renewable energy Vestas Green jobs Green politics Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A growing number Peace Corps volunteers who have been raped while serving abroad are speaking out about their experiences and accusing the agency of not doing enough to help victims. Dozens of women describe a “blame the victim” culture at the government-run program and say the callous treatment they received…
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Police launch murder investigation and try to identify men after passing driver discovers bodies A murder investigation has been launched after the bodies of two men were found on a country road on the outskirts of Bradford. West Yorkshire police said the bodies were discovered by a passing motorist in New Lane near its junction with Raikes Lane in Bradford at about 10.20pm on Tuesday. A force spokesman said a forensic examination of the scene was being carried out. Police were trying to establish the identities of the men and the circumstances leading to their discovery. New Lane has been closed between Holme Lane and Tong Lane, the spokesman added. The scene remained sealed off on Wednesday, with a police helicopter circling above. The police force’s homicide and major inquiry team is leading the investigation. Police cordons, each more than 200 metres from the scene, were in place at either end of New Lane. At the junction of New Lane and Tong Lane, the A58, a police van and a police car guarded the entrance. Detective Superintendent Dick Nuttall said: “We are examining the possibility that these bodies were left on New Lane following an attack. I am particularly interested in hearing from anyone who was in the area of New Lane or Raikes Lane at the time or saw anything suspicious. “This is a rural and quiet area of Bradford and people may have noticed any unusual activity, especially at this time of night. “At this stage we have not recovered any weapons; however, forensic officers are currently examining the scene.” The detective said officers from the local neighbourhood policing team would be patrolling the area to offer reassurance and speak to residents about any concerns. The area where the bodies were found is open countryside – green meadows with pockets of woodland – just a mile or two from the suburbs of south Bradford. Locals speculated that the bodies may have been dumped. Alice Avery said: “It’s a quiet area. You just don’t know what goes on at night time around here, do you?” A woman who lives near where Raikes Lane was closed at its junction with Holme Lane said: “It’s a nice area down there. “We don’t know the circumstances but it makes you scared, not knowing what’s happened. I’m scared for my children.” Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Another exotic animal is on the loose in New York City after escaping from the Bronx Zoo. Net-wielding zoo workers tried and failed to recapture an escaped female peacock seen perched on top of a van a few blocks from the zoo yesterday, reports the New York Daily News . The…
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Failure of intelligence in Afghanistan, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, exacerbated already dangerous situation, says General Sir David Richards Serious intelligence failures meant British commanders were unprepared for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan as soldiers “turned up a hornets’ nest”, three of the country’s most senior military officers have said. General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, told MPs the British had got involved in a very serious situation, adding: “War is a bummer.” A failure of intelligence, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, and ill-thought out attempts to eradicate the opium poppy harvest, combined to exacerbate an already dangerous situation facing the 3,000 British troops sent to Helmand by the Blair government in 2006, the officers said. The huge problems then confronting British soldiers – the situation is much better now that about 11,000 are deployed in operations in a smaller area – were described by Richards, his deputy, General Sir Nick Houghton, and General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the army, in evidence to the Commons defence committee on Wednesday. “It was very clear the British were going to get involved in a very difficult situation,” Richards, then Nato’s commander in Kabul, told the cross-party committee of MPs. He said: “War is a bummer. Politics and the enemy have a vote.” Richards, who had asked Britain and other countries to send more troops to southern Afghanistan, warned: “It is impossible just to chuck troops at the problem, because of the great duty of care”. Wall said: “I absolutely accept what we found when the forces arrived on the ground was starkly different from what we anticipated and had been hoping for.” He said British commanders did not expect the insurgency to be as “vehement” as it turned out to be, and told MPs it was clear there was a failure of intelligence. Houghton, a widely respected general who, along with Richards, was interviewed by Cameron for the top military post, listed a number of problems that came together. Britain’s military commitment to Iraq was higher than it was anticipated it would still be in 2006, and British troops arrived in May, “the natural start of the fighting season”. The Taliban, at the time, encouraged the belief that foreign troops were out to eradicate the poppy harvest, a valuable source of income for local farmers. Some 200,000 labourers migrated from Pakistan to help with the poppy harvest, and some were happy to stay as “guns for hire”. Houghton added that US troops had just engaged in “particularly kinetic” [aggressive] military operations at the time. Moreover, at the behest of President Hamid Karzai, British troops were deployed to forward “platoon houses” in northern Helmand areas such as Sangin and Musa Qala. The soldiers turned out to be dangerously exposed and too few in number. Asked about the effect of Osama bin Laden’s death on military operations in Afghanistan, Richards said it was too early to tell, but that it clearly had a psychological effect and possibly an effect on the ability of the insurgents to raise money. Military Afghanistan House of Commons Defence policy Foreign policy Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Failure of intelligence in Afghanistan, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, exacerbated already dangerous situation, says General Sir David Richards Serious intelligence failures meant British commanders were unprepared for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan as soldiers “turned up a hornets’ nest”, three of the country’s most senior military officers have said. General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, told MPs the British had got involved in a very serious situation, adding: “War is a bummer.” A failure of intelligence, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, and ill-thought out attempts to eradicate the opium poppy harvest, combined to exacerbate an already dangerous situation facing the 3,000 British troops sent to Helmand by the Blair government in 2006, the officers said. The huge problems then confronting British soldiers – the situation is much better now that about 11,000 are deployed in operations in a smaller area – were described by Richards, his deputy, General Sir Nick Houghton, and General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the army, in evidence to the Commons defence committee on Wednesday. “It was very clear the British were going to get involved in a very difficult situation,” Richards, then Nato’s commander in Kabul, told the cross-party committee of MPs. He said: “War is a bummer. Politics and the enemy have a vote.” Richards, who had asked Britain and other countries to send more troops to southern Afghanistan, warned: “It is impossible just to chuck troops at the problem, because of the great duty of care”. Wall said: “I absolutely accept what we found when the forces arrived on the ground was starkly different from what we anticipated and had been hoping for.” He said British commanders did not expect the insurgency to be as “vehement” as it turned out to be, and told MPs it was clear there was a failure of intelligence. Houghton, a widely respected general who, along with Richards, was interviewed by Cameron for the top military post, listed a number of problems that came together. Britain’s military commitment to Iraq was higher than it was anticipated it would still be in 2006, and British troops arrived in May, “the natural start of the fighting season”. The Taliban, at the time, encouraged the belief that foreign troops were out to eradicate the poppy harvest, a valuable source of income for local farmers. Some 200,000 labourers migrated from Pakistan to help with the poppy harvest, and some were happy to stay as “guns for hire”. Houghton added that US troops had just engaged in “particularly kinetic” [aggressive] military operations at the time. Moreover, at the behest of President Hamid Karzai, British troops were deployed to forward “platoon houses” in northern Helmand areas such as Sangin and Musa Qala. The soldiers turned out to be dangerously exposed and too few in number. Asked about the effect of Osama bin Laden’s death on military operations in Afghanistan, Richards said it was too early to tell, but that it clearly had a psychological effect and possibly an effect on the ability of the insurgents to raise money. Military Afghanistan House of Commons Defence policy Foreign policy Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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