Bobbi-Anne McLeod: Man obsessed with serial killers jailed for murder of Plymouth teen - BBC

Devon and Cornwall Police

A man fascinated with serial killers has been jailed for a minimum of 31 years for murdering an 18-year-old woman he abducted from a bus stop.

Bobbi-Anne McLeod's body was found in woodland near Plymouth in November.

Cody Ackland, 24, pleaded guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.

The court heard he was obsessed with serial killers, in particular Ted Bundy, and had searched the internet for Fred West and Ivan Milat in the weeks before the murder.

Summing up, Judge Robert Linford said Ackland was a "highly dangerous person" who may never be released.

He said the defendant's interest in serial killers went "beyond morbid fascination".

Judge Linford said: "She had the whole of her life in front of her until it was brutally and savagely snuffed out by you."

He continued: "She was a young, popular and much-loved person, you caused outrage and fear in this part of the country and with good reason, it was utterly motiveless."

Prosecuting at the sentencing hearing, Richard Posner told Plymouth Crown Court Ackland had searched DIY stores for tools including hammers, crowbars and cutting tools.

He said: "Cody Ackland led a double life.

"He held such an unhealthy fascination and desire to imitate serial killers. His fascination was to become an unimaginable wicked reality for Bobbi-Anne."

Devon and Cornwall Police

Police uncovered 3,216 images on Ackland's phone, many of a "disturbing and dark nature" and reminiscent of horror films.

Some also depicted dismembered or dead bodies, post-mortem examinations and murder scenes.

The court heard Ackland struck Miss McLeod on the head with a claw hammer at the bus stop in Leigham as she waited for her bus between 18:05 and 18:15 GMT.

He took her in his car, a red Ford Fiesta, and drove to Bellever Forest car park on Dartmoor where he repeatedly attacked and then murdered the teenager.

Devon and Cornwall Police

Mr Posner told the court Ackland burned her handbag nearby along with other items from the vehicle.

Ackland travelled to Bovisand where he stripped Miss McLeod and left her body in undergrowth.

The next day he drove to Tamerton Foliot in Plymouth and threw the hammer into the River Tamar, the court heard.

The defendant also threw a carrier bag containing his and her blood-stained clothing into nearby allotments in Coombe Lane.

Ackland then went for pizza with a friend, played guitar at a practice with his indie bandmates, got a takeaway and drank into the early hours of the next day with friends at a pub lock-in.

Friends recalled him being "happier than usual", Mr Posner said.

On Tuesday 23 November, Ackland left work at a valeting department of a Plymouth garage about midday, the court heard.

At 13:30 he walked into Charles Cross Police Station and confessed to the murder.

Devon and Cornwall Police

In police interviews, Ackland said he was "solely responsible" and claimed he had turned himself in "to help the police and Bobbi-Anne's family".

The court heard he asked for a map and told detectives where he had disposed of Miss McLeod's body.

'Prolonged and frenzied'

He told police the killing was not on his mind because it was "so out there... like a film or fantasy".

He admitted that he did not know how he felt about the murder and it felt like someone else had done it.

At about 15:45 GMT on 23 November detectives found Miss McLeod's body in vegetation down a steep incline halfway down the densely wooded lane.

She had died from multiple injuries to her head and face inflicted during a "prolonged and frenzied" attack, Mr Posner said.

Reading from a preprepared statement, Mr Poser said on behalf of the family that Miss McLeod was a "beautiful girl" who "lit up" their lives, and life would "never be the same without her".

They said Miss McLeod had "so many life plans", and those had been taken away from her and her family.

"We can't even contemplate a future without her in it. There will never be anything the justice system can impose that will ever come close to what he deserves," the statement said.

Devon and Cornwall Police

Ray Tully QC, mitigating, said Ackland had come forward and confessed and "some victims' families never get to hear that".

"Some perpetrators of offences choose to hide their terrible secrets and they never engage in at least divulging the true horror of what they have done," Mr Tully said.

"Some might think silence is better, I don't profess to know - that will depend on the individual receiving the information as to whether they would rather know or not know."

Det Insp Stephanie Blundell, senior investigating officer from Devon and Cornwall's major crime investigation team, said the "senseless and evil acts" have "devastated" the family's lives.

She said: "I hope the community can now focus on healing and recovery, knowing that Ackland will be in prison for a substantial length of time."

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2022-05-19 13:04:44Z
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Ealing stabbing: Man charged with alleyway murder of Ania Jedrkowiak - BBC

Ania Jedrkowiak

A man has been charged with murdering a 21-year-old woman found fatally stabbed in an alleyway in west London.

Ania Jedrkowiak, who was Polish, was pronounced dead at the scene off Church Gardens in south Ealing shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

Dennis Akpomedaye, 29, of Blewitt Street, Newport, is due to appear in custody at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court later.

Another man arrested on Tuesday was earlier released without action.

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2022-05-19 06:56:43Z
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'For Alex it's a case of life or death': For some the cost of living crisis is also a health crisis - Sky News

"Open the curtains," Emma Eastham tells her son Alex, "shall we show them your oxygen and what we do with it?"

Alex is a thriving 16-year-old who loves music, DIY and (of course, because this is Wigan) Rugby League.

"I want to go to College," he tells me, "and become a joiner."

But when he was a baby, Alex's mum was told by doctors that he would not survive.

Alex was born prematurely and had liver failure.

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He's developed epilepsy, chronic lung disease and sleep apnoea amongst a range of other difficult, and incurable, conditions.

At night, he uses an oxygen machine.

More on Cost Of Living

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During the day, a pump provides vital food, water and medicine.

"Everything is run off batteries and mains power," Emma explains. "It's constantly on the go in this house and I have noticed that as prices are going up, I'd say it's been an extra £300 a month for us to pay just in terms of household bills and things."

For this family, this is more than an cost-of-living crisis: it's a health crisis too.

"For Alex it's a case of life or death obviously, because he's on his oxygen machine overnight. So if we couldn't literally afford to pay those bills, I don't know what would happen."

Read more:
Cost of living: Kay Burley's road back to Wigan Pier
Struggling pensioners in Wigan fear they won't survive another winter

Image: Alex has a series of complex health conditions

This is the stark situation faced by families with sick and disabled children at home, who rely on life-supporting machines.

As energy prices go up, they simply cannot unplug.

"It worries me for the future if things do get worse," Emma says. "How will it affect us as a family, what do we do? It's all very well and good someone coming in and saying "get an extra job, do this and do that" but I struggle now with the work I do now and looking after Alex. I mean Alex alone is a full-time job, caring for him.

"I've just got to deal with what I can, I suppose."

For Emma's family, and families like hers locally, some respite comes at a nearby care centre for children and young people with disabilities and complex health needs.

Called "Brighter Dayz", the centre was set-up by Emma and other local parents when other care provisions shut down just before the first COVID-19 lockdown.

The facility was entirely built and funded by the community and has become a life-line for families.

Image: Emma co-founded the Brighter Dayz care centre

Andrea Mordechai travels half-an-hour the town of St Helen's to bring her son Jack, 13, here once a week.

"It's stressful enough raising a disabled child," Andrea tells us, "and right now with the price of everything going up it's even more of a worry. It's just unaffordable."

"Coming here, it's support at the end of the day, and there's not much of it around at the minute."

The community has come together in Wigan, to provide children and their families with this support that they so acutely need.

And which they worry, as prices rise and budgets tighten, will become harder to find.

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2022-05-19 02:28:59Z
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Call to name Tory MP accused of rape - The Times

The MP arrested on suspicion of rape should be suspended by the Conservatives and named, Labour has said, arguing that their constituents have “a right to know”.

MPs and parliamentary staff called for the accused man to be banned from the parliamentary estate on grounds of workplace safety.

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A Conservative MP in his fifties was arrested on Tuesday morning over alleged offences in London between 2002 and 2009. The allegations made against the MP, who cannot be named for legal reasons, include rape, indecent assault, sexual assault, the abuse of a position of trust and misconduct in public office.

He has been released on bail pending further inquiries from the Metropolitan Police, which first received a complaint in January 2020. The Met refused to comment

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2022-05-18 23:01:00Z
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UK inflation hits 40-year high of 9% as energy bills soar - BBC

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Prices are rising at their fastest rate for 40 years as higher energy bills hit millions of households.

UK inflation, the rate at which prices rise, jumped to 9% in the 12 months to April, up from 7% in March.

The surge came as millions of people saw an unprecedented £700-a-year increase in energy costs last month.

Higher fuel and food prices, driven by the Ukraine war, are also pushing the cost of living up, with inflation expected to continue to rise this year.

Citizens Advice said "the warning lights could not be flashing brighter" for the government to offer more support for households, and debt charities urged anyone finding it difficult to pay bills to seek help earlier rather than later in the year.

• Live updates: Inflation hits 9% as cost of living crisis deepens
• When might the inflation rate come down?

Around three quarters of the rise in inflation in April came from higher electricity and gas bills, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"There are desperate stories behind these figures," said Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice. "People washing in their kitchen sinks because they can't afford a hot shower; parents skipping meals to feed their kids; disabled people who can't afford to use vital equipment because of soaring energy bills."

'I can't do much more'

Health analyst Cheryl Holmes, a mother-of-two, said she was trying to keep her living costs down to "as low as possible" by spending less on food and clothes, and cancelling TV subscriptions.

"I've already for several years been turning the lights off in each room, setting the heating on a timer, making sure I'm using a full dishwasher and washing machine and I'm running out of ideas.

"It's a battle and it seems like there's not really much more that I can do."

• UK inflation: 'I'm batch cooking and freezing food'

A higher energy price cap - which is the maximum price per unit that suppliers can charge customers - kicked in last month, meaning homes using a typical amount of gas and electricity are now paying £1,971 per year on average.

Up until now households of all incomes had faced similar rates of inflation, but the poorest are now being hit hardest by rising prices because they have to spend far more of their household budgets on gas and electricity, think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies said.

The ONS, which publishes the UK's inflation rate, said the costs of food, machinery, furniture and other household goods also rose in April.

"All items" on the menus of restaurants and cafes went up too, due to the VAT rate for hospitality returning to 20% after being cut during the pandemic to help businesses.

Meanwhile, average petrol prices stood at £1.62 per litre in April 2022, the highest on record, compared with £1.26 per litre a year earlier.

• Why are prices rising so quickly?
• Recession fears grow as rising prices hit spending

Inflation is the rate at which prices are rising. For example, if a bottle of milk costs £1 and that rises by 9p, then milk inflation is 9%.

Prices have been rising for months, as fuel, energy and food prices surge higher due to the pandemic and the Ukraine war, and wages are failing to keep pace.

The ONS estimated inflation is now at its highest level since March 1982, when it stood at 9.1%.

The Bank of England warned earlier this month that the cost crunch could leave the UK on the brink of recession, with inflation peaking at over 10% later this year amid further expected rises in energy bills.

UK inflation is simply not supposed to hit levels this high. And as the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has said, these sorts of rises hit the poorest the hardest.

9% is an average across the population. The older Retail Prices Index measure is already at 11%.

But Mr Bailey's institution has a battle on now to get this under control. The really painful issue is that this rate will sustain and is on course to get higher over the course of this year.

And only this week he acknowledged that there was "not a lot" the Bank could do about four-fifths of the anticipated rise, as it is being imported from globally rising prices for energy and food .

Read more here.

With households under increasing pressure, the government faces growing calls to offer more help.

Commenting on the latest figures, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he "cannot protect people completely" from rising inflation as it was a global problem.

Mr Sunak is expected to call on businesses at the CBI's annual dinner later to boost investment and training in order to grow the economy and help ease the cost of living crunch.

He will pledge that he will cut taxes on firms in the Autumn to "invest more, train more, and innovate more".

Meanwhile, at Prime Minister's Questions, Boris Johnson said he would "look at all the measures" needed to help people struggling with rising bills.

Sir Keir Starmer pressed the PM on Labour's call for a one-off tax on oil and gas profits, arguing it would raise "billions" to help.

The PM replied that the government was "not in principle in favour of higher taxation".

The rising cost of living is already seeing people spending less money and cutting down on car journeys due to high fuel costs.

It's impacting the economy, which shrank in March and risks falling into recession next year, according to the Bank of England.

Bank of England faces criticism

The Bank's response has been to raise interest rates to try and cool prices. The idea is that when borrowing is more expensive, people will have less money to spend which dampens demand.

However, it the Bank has faced criticism from MPs for not doing enough to tackle the crisis. This week Governor Andrew Bailey defended its response, insisting inflation was being driven by global forces that limited what the Bank could do.

But UK now has the highest rate of inflation (9%) of any G7 country, including Germany (7.4%) and France (4.8%).

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said higher prices in the UK risked becoming embedded due to wages "spiralling upwards" as firms fought for talent.

There are currently more job vacancies than unemployed people in the UK for the first time since records began, partly because many people dropped out of the labour market during the pandemic.

Ms Streeter said prices across the hospitality and leisure industries were now at a 30-year high.

"So far companies have succeeded in passing on higher costs to customers keeping margins resilient, but worries do linger about just how long consumers will continue to pay the price," she added.

How have prices affected your day to day spending? If you have a small business, how has it been impacted by the price hikes? Email: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

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If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

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2022-05-18 13:05:07Z
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Wagatha Christie trial: Wayne Rooney says England manager wanted Rebekah Vardy to 'calm down' during Euro 2016 - Sky News

Wayne Rooney has described how the then England manager asked him to speak with Jamie Vardy to ask his wife Rebekah to "calm down" during the Euro 2016 tournament.

Mr Vardy's representatives later told the press outside of the hearing that Mr Rooney was "talking nonsense" regarding the claim.

Giving evidence in the High Court on Tuesday, Mr Rooney also revealed that his wife Coleen Rooney has become "a different mother" and "a different wife" since her "reveal" post and Rebekah Vardy's subsequent libel claim against her.

In a viral social media post in October 2019, Mrs Rooney said she had carried out a "sting operation" and accused Mrs Vardy of leaking "false stories" about her private life to the press - prompting her to be dubbed "Wagatha Christie".

Wagatha Christie trial live: 'Wayne is talking nonsense' - Jamie Vardy releases statement about Rooney's 'chat' claim

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Image: A court sketch by Elizabeth Cook depicts Wayne Rooney giving evidence

Mrs Vardy, 40, who is married to 35-year-old Leicester City striker Jamie, denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her fellow footballer's wife for libel.

Mrs Rooney, 36, is defending the claim on the basis her post was "substantially true".

More on Coleen Rooney

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Case documents were released on Tuesday showing the fake stories created by Ms Rooney on Instagram - and viewed by Ms Vardy's account.

Image: The court was shown undated screengrabs of Instagram stories posted to Coleen Rooney's account and viewed by Rebekah Vardy's account

Former England captain Mr Rooney has attended court with his wife for each of the six days of the trial so far, sitting in the front row of court 13 in the Royal Courts of Justice.

But on Tuesday the 36-year-old moved into the witness box to give his evidence to the packed courtroom.

Mr Rooney described how he was asked by then England manager, Roy Hodgson, and his assistant manager, Gary Neville, to speak to Mr Vardy to ask his wife to "calm down" during the Euro 2016 tournament.

Image: Rebekah and Jamie Vardy arrive at the Royal Courts Of Justice, London, along with Wayne and Coleen Rooney

"They asked me, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife and I think we all knew that it was an awkward subject," he said.

"I'd need to speak to Mr Vardy and ask him to speak to his wife and ask him to say to ask his wife to calm down."

Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Mrs Vardy, said: "Ask his wife to calm down? She wasn't dancing on tables."

Mr Rooney replied: "No, she wasn't, as far as I was aware."

He told the court that he "100%" had the conversation with Mr Vardy but did not know if he then spoke to his wife.

Following questioning from Mr Tomlinson, Mr Rooney revealed he did not recall speaking with Mr Vardy to a Sun journalist about their conversation.

"As England captain, I would always try and protect the players in public as much as I could," he said.

He later added: "Everyone knows the history between Liverpudlians and The Sun newspaper, I have never spoken to a Sun journalist on a personal level."

Image: Former England player Wayne Rooney told the court he has seen his wife Coleen 'really struggle'

Rooney is 'talking nonsense'

Mr Vardy made his first appearance at the trial on Tuesday, sitting beside his wife and in front of their lawyers during the hearing.

His representatives claimed that Mr Rooney was "talking nonsense" in his evidence to the High Court.

The statement, given outside the hearing, said: " He [Wayne] must be confused because he never spoke to me about issues concerning Becky's media work at Euro 2016.

"There was nothing to speak about, I know this because I discuss everything with Becky."

'It's been very traumatic for my wife'

Mr Rooney also told the court that the period after his wife's "reveal" post had been "very traumatic" for her and that he had watched her "really struggle".

"For me and my wife, we don't want to be in this court," Mr Rooney said.

"I've watched my wife over the last two and a half years really struggle with everything, becoming a different mother, a different wife.

"It's been very traumatic for my wife."

He continued: "Hopefully, whatever the judgment is in this case, myself, my wife and our children can get on and live our lives because it was not something that we wanted to be part of."

He explained that he was only made aware of his wife's so-called "sting operation" when he woke up and saw the "reveal" post in October 2019 while in the US.

Read more: The Wagatha Christie case explained

Mrs Rooney is defending the libel claim brought by Mrs Vardy on the basis of truth and public interest.

It comes after Mrs Rooney publicly claimed that an account behind three fake stories published in The Sun that she had posted on her personal Instagram account was Mrs Vardy's.

The fake stories Mrs Rooney posted on Instagram featured her travelling to Mexico for a "gender selection" procedure, a plan to return to television, and the basement flooding at her home.

In the post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, she wrote: "I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them.

"It's... Rebekah Vardy's account."

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2022-05-17 16:21:37Z
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Rochdale dog attack: Boy, 3, was 'happy, kind and caring' - BBC

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A three-year-old who died in a dog attack at a farm was "a happy, kind and caring little boy", his family have said.

Daniel John Twigg was outdoors with several dogs in Carr Lane, in the town of Milnrow, before he was found with serious injuries on Sunday.

He was treated by paramedics but later pronounced dead at hospital.

A 48-year-old man was arrested under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 after handing himself into police.

"Daniel was a happy, kind and caring little boy who was loved by all who knew him," his family said in a statement.

"He loved Paw Patrol and playing with his brother and sister. He also loved being around animals - especially his pony, Splash.

"He brought us many laughs and was a comical character. He was brave, intelligent and full of many characteristics."

The family asked for their privacy to be respected, adding: "Daniel loved being with his whole family and will be missed by all."

Several dogs were seized following the attack including a Cane Corso, which was humanely destroyed, Greater Manchester Police said.

The force said it was looking at previous incidents involving dogs at the home, in a rural area close to the M62 motorway, and had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct "due to previous contact".

Det Ch Insp Gina Brennand said the force was working to establish the full circumstances surrounding the boy's death.

"We understand this incident has had an impact on the community but we ask members of the public and the media to refrain from speculating whilst we complete our investigation and any subsequent proceedings are concluded," she added.

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2022-05-17 17:01:02Z
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