Police to dig for remains of missing student after serial killer Levi Bellfield 'confesses to her murder' - Sky News

Police are preparing to dig for the remains of a missing student after an alleged confession to her murder by serial killer Levi Bellfield.

The former nightclub bouncer told detectives, in a prison interview this week, that he had hidden her body in woodland 24 years ago.

Elizabeth Chau, 19, a computer studies student at Thames Valley University, vanished in west London in 1999.

Image: Elizabeth Chau has been missing since 1999

Bellfield "admitted" killing her in conversation with a prison visitor last year, then wrote a confession that prompted a visit from detectives from the Metropolitan Police's unsolved murder squad.

He described how he had killed her and, using a map brought into the prison, he showed police a rough area where he had hidden her body.

Bellfield's solicitor Theresa Clark said: "He tells me he feels it's important that her family have some closure. He wants to see justice done because they have had to live this for so long and that's unfair. He gains nothing from it, there is no positive publicity for him."

Bellfield, 54, is serving a whole life sentence for the murders of two young women and the schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose body was found buried in woodland after she was snatched from the street in 2002.

Bellfield's latest confession comes after he admitted last month to murdering Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, according to a lawyer.

Image: Lin Russell and her daughter Megan

Michael Stone is currently serving three life sentences in prison for the murder of Ms Russell, 45, and her six-year-old daughter who were found bludgeoned to death in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996.

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Ms Russell's other daughter Josie, then aged nine, suffered severe head injuries but survived.

Stone has always protested his innocence over the attack.

Bellfield claimed responsibility for the Chillenden murders last year but later retracted the statement.

Stone's solicitor Paul Bacon said Bellfield has since written and signed a fresh confession, adding the move "must have taken some courage and considerable soul-searching".

Read more:
Bellfield may have committed more murders, says ex-detective
PM 'sickened' over Bellfield request for prison wedding

Bellfield was given a whole life term for murdering 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell in 2003 and 22-year-old Amelie Delagrange in 2004, as well as trying to murder 18-year-old Kate Sheedy in the same year.

He was already serving his sentence when he went on trial for killing 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who was snatched while walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002.

Bellfield was found guilty of abducting and killing the schoolgirl following a trial at the Old Bailey in 2011.

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2023-05-12 15:54:32Z
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David Boyd found guilty of 1992 murder of seven-year-old Nikki Allan - The Guardian

A child killer who evaded justice for more than 30 years has been found guilty of murder.

David Boyd took seven-year-old Nikki Allan to an abandoned building where he beat her with a brick and repeatedly stabbed her to death in 1992.

The wrong man was charged and found not guilty after a trial. Scientific breakthroughs enabled police in recent years to forensically link Boyd, once a neighbour of Nikki and her family in Sunderland, to the crime.

On Friday, a jury at Newcastle crown court found Boyd, 55, of Stockton-on-Tees, guilty of murder.

Cries of “yes” and “you bastard” could be heard in the public gallery, with relatives of Nikki hugging and shouting in jubilation as the verdict came in after two and a half hours’ deliberation.

Boyd was 25 at the time of the crime and the partner of a woman who babysat Nikki. He lived on the same floor of maisonettes as Nikki’s grandparents.

The court heard that Nikki must have known her killer and was lured to her death. One witness described seeing a young girl skipping alongside a man, now known to be Boyd.

The prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court: “The little girl would occasionally drop behind and would then skip to catch up. This was Nikki Allan. She was with her killer and she was unwittingly skipping to her death.”

The court heard that Boyd forced Nikki through the boarded-up window of a derelict warehouse, killed her and tried to hide her body in a cellar.

Boyd denied murder but Wright, summing up the prosecution case, said: “He crushed her skull with a brick and he pulled up her top and exposed her chest and stabbed her again and again and again. And then he dragged her down in to that cellar, with her head bouncing off every step as he went.”

After a reinvestigation and a mass DNA screening of people in the area, police arrested Boyd in 2018. He claimed his DNA may have come to be on Nikki when he spat from the balcony of his flat while the girl played below.

But the prosecution suggested that the argument did not stack up. None of Boyd’s DNA was found on Nikki’s coat but traces that were a one-in-28,000 match were found on her cycling shorts, and a one-in-5,100 match on her T-shirt, the court heard.

“It is the clothing that her killer would have inevitably had to handle when forcing her into the building, picking her up inside and manhandling her,” Wright said.

The court heard evidence that Boyd once admitted to a probation officer to having sexual fantasies about naked young girls.

His previous convictions included a breach of the peace in 1986 after approaching four children aged eight to 10, grabbing one and asking for a kiss. In 1999, he was convicted of indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl who was playing in a park by asking lewd questions and groping her.

Boyd chose not to give evidence at the trial. The defence counsel, Jason Pitter KC, said in his summing up that the case against Boyd was entirely circumstantial.

After the verdict, Det Ch Supt Lisa Theaker, the senior investigating officer in the case, said Nikki would be 37 today and who knew what her life could have been.

“This is a huge day for Nikki’s family,” she said. “I would like to thank them for their incredible strength – after 30 years, they have justice.”

Theaker said new forensic techniques were a key part of what had been “a complex and challenging case”.

It has been alleged that Boyd managed to slip through the net because police were convinced another neighbour, George Heron, was responsible for the crime. He was arrested and charged, and fervour in the north-east of England was so heightened that it was decided the trial should be held in Leeds.

Heron confessed to the crime but only under duress. The case against Heron unravelled quickly when the judge, after two weeks of legal argument, ruled that a number of police interview tapes were inadmissible because officers had used “oppressive methods” to obtain the confession.

When Heron was acquitted, 20 police officers had to restrain the packed public gallery.

Nikki’s mother, Sharon Henderson, campaigned for three decades to get justice for her daughter.

Boyd will be sentenced on 23 May.

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2023-05-12 16:29:00Z
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Politics latest news: Top Brexiteer criticises Kemi Badenoch in row over axing EU laws - The Telegraph

A senior Tory Brexiteer claimed Kemi Badenoch does not want to scrap anything "material" as part of the Government’s "bonfire" of EU-era laws as a row between the minister and backbench Conservative MPs escalated. 

Sir John Redwood, a former Cabinet minister, criticised the Business and Trade Secretary after the Government ditched its promise to complete the axing of thousands of regulations by the end of the year. 

Some 600 laws will now be revoked rather than the 4,000 which had been originally pledged in a U-turn which has sparked a furious backlash among Tory Eurosceptics. 

Sir John told TalkTV: "I don’t think she [Ms Badenoch] wants to get rid of anything material. I have looked at her list in the proposed amendment and they are practically all things that don’t apply to Britain or are time expired or were specific for a particular purpose and it no longer applies. 

"We want some decent things that will make life better because it will take out cost or needless regulation or needless tax imposition."

His comments came after Ms Badenoch branded her Tory critics on the issue "people who talk but can’t do".

You can follow the latest updates below. 

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2023-05-12 07:18:10Z
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UK economy shrank 0.3% in March, ONS figures show - Sky News

The UK economy grew slightly in the first three months of the year, according to official figures - but contracted in March.

Growth of 0.1% was recorded by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in the three months up to March, the lowest amount possible to still be classed as growth as IT and construction sector activity offset the impact of strikes.

However, the economy shrank 0.3% in March as retail and car sales fell sharply, and public sector strikes were more disruptive than February as NHS staff and teachers took to picket lines.

Contraction also came thanks to a 0.5% fall in services production. Distribution and retail also had a poor month as cost of living pressures hit consumers.

Economic research firm Pantheon Macro has pointed out the UK is falling below the G7 group of the world's largest economies.

"The UK remains the only G7 country in which the main quarterly measure of GDP has not recovered to its pre-COVID peak yet; it still was 0.5% below its Q4 2019 level in Q1," the Pantheon Macro chief economist said.

"This chiefly reflects weakness in households' real spending, which was 2.3% below its Q4 2019 level. But at least the magnitude of the underperformance is not increasing relative to other countries in Europe, which have faced a similarly enormous energy price shock," Samuel Tombs said.

More on Strikes

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ONS publishes GDP data every month, which stands for gross domestic product and measures the sum total of everything produced in the economy.

Higher economic growth brings increased tax revenues and likely higher incomes and standards of living.

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As part of his focus on economic growth, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says growing the economy will create better-paid jobs and opportunities across the country.

A three-month period, or quarter, of economic growth means the UK is on the path to avoid recession. But the growth recorded is small.

An economy is technically in a recession after two quarters of negative economic growth, though the Bank of England now expects the UK will avoid recession this year.

Today's announcement followed a flatlining economy in February and growth of 0.5% in January.

In response to the figures, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: "It's good news that the economy is growing but to reach the government's growth priority we need to stay focused on competitive taxes, labour supply and productivity.

"The Bank of England governor confirmed yesterday that the budget has made an important start but we will keep going until the job is done and we have the high wage, high growth economy we need."

Rachel Reeves MP, Labour's shadow chancellor of the Exchequer, responding to the latest GDP forecast today, said: "Labour wants to match the ambition of the British people - while the Tories would rather continue down a path of managed decline of low growth and high taxes.

"Despite our country's huge potential and promise, today is another day in the dismal low growth record book of this Conservative government.

"The facts remain that families are feeling worse off and we're lagging behind on the global stage.

"Labour's mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 will make families across every part of our country better off."

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2023-05-12 07:07:30Z
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Rail strikes: trains halted as passengers face weekend of disruption - The Guardian

Rail services across Britain will be severely disrupted on Friday as train drivers stage the first of the latest wave of planned strikes in a long-running pay dispute.

Members of the drivers’ union Aslef will strike for 24 hours across virtually all the big passenger operators in England, stopping some major intercity and commuter services entirely.

Cross-border services to Wales and Scotland will also be affected, although the union is only in direct dispute with firms contracted to the Department for Transport in England.

No trains will run on networks including Avanti, Southeastern, Govia Thameslink, Northern, West Midlands, TransPennine Express and CrossCountry.

The drivers’ strike will be followed by one on Saturday by train crew who are members of the RMT union. That strike is expected to severely disrupt many services, although most will run a limited number of trains.

The general secretary of Aslef, Mick Whelan, said: “Talking to members in branches up and down the country, they are determined that strikes will go on as long as they need to. The government could sort this dispute out tomorrow if they made it sensible offer.”

Aslef called strikes for this Friday as well as 31 May and 3 June after rejecting a pay offer of 4% a year over two years from the train operators’ body, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). Most drivers’ pay was frozen during the pandemic.

Further industrial action in the form of an overtime ban will come into effect next week, which could disrupt many operators that rely on rest-day working, with some such as Chiltern already warning of cancellations.

Aslef is reballoting members for an extended strike mandate, with results expected in June.

In a similar ballot by the RMT, union members employed by the main 14 train operating companies voted to continue strikes.

The RMT’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “Throughout this dispute – which has gone on for over a year – the government has tied the hands of the railway companies and prevented them offering a fair deal.

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“We are striking so that the employers and government can see the huge anger among rail workers is very real and they need to recognise that fact, face reality and make improved proposals.”

Aslef and the RMT have been criticised for striking over the weekend of the Eurovision song contest final, when thousands of people are expected to head to Liverpool as the UK hosts the event on behalf of last year’s winners, Ukraine.

Both unions have denied targeting the final, and the RMT said it was the only date available under strike laws after its executive rejected the latest pay offer. Merseyrail, which is contracted by the local authority and not in dispute, is putting on extra trains.

The RDG has urged passengers to check before travel on Friday and Saturday, as well as Sunday morning when some services may be disrupted by the after-effects of strikes. It said it could “only apologise for this unnecessary and damaging disruption”.

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2023-05-12 05:00:00Z
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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 443 of the invasion - The Guardian

• Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has confirmed reports that the UK is donating long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. Wallace said Ukrainians will have the “best chance to defend themselves”.

• The US ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of covertly providing arms to Russia – a charge that drew an angry rebuke from Pretoria. Reuben Brigety told a media briefing that the US believed weapons and ammunition had been loaded on to a Russian freighter that docked at a Cape Town naval base in December. “We are confident that weapons were loaded on to that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Brigety said, according to a video of the remarks. “The arming of Russia by South Africa … is fundamentally unacceptable.”

• A Ukrainian brigade commander fighting in the ruins of Bakhmut said Russian mercenary forces have stepped up shelling and artillery attacks in recent days and were not facing a munitions shortage, despite its chief’s claims to the contrary. Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Thursday that the situation on the flanks near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was unfolding in line with the “worst of all expected scenarios”.

• Poland’s defence minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, confirmed that the army was aware of a possible missile heading towards the country in December but failed to inform the government. Poland has been on alert for possible spillover of weaponry from the war in neighbouring Ukraine, especially since two people were killed near the border last November by what Warsaw concluded was a misfired Ukrainian air defence missile.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the country needs more time to prepare for a much-anticipated spring counteroffensive, saying: “We can go forward and be successful. But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.”

• Zelenskiy again denied any Ukrainian responsibility for the drone incident over the Kremlin. Russia has accused Washington and Kyiv of masterminding the attack, which it described as an assassination attempt on Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time, and no injuries were caused by the drones.

• A Ukrainian drone attacked an oil storage depot in the Russian border region of Bryansk, the local governor has claimed in a post on his Telegram channel on Thursday. There were no casualties after the attack on the facility near the town of Klintsy, owned by Russia’s Rosneft oil company, though one storage tank was partly damaged, the governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said.

• Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, claimed that seven settlements in the Russian region have been left without electricity after Ukrainian shelling over the border.

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2023-05-11 23:59:00Z
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Britain has delivered long-range 'Storm Shadow' cruise missiles to Ukraine ahead of expected counteroffensive, sources say - CNN

CNN  — 

The United Kingdom has delivered multiple “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving the nation a new long-range strike capability in advance of a highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, multiple senior Western officials told CNN.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, calling the donation Ukraine’s “best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality,” confirmed the transaction on Thursday after CNN exclusively reported the deal.

The Storm Shadow is a long-range cruise missile with stealth capabilities, jointly developed by the UK and France, which is typically launched from the air. With a firing range in excess of 250km, or 155 miles, it is just short of the 185-mile range capability of the US-made surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, that Ukraine has long asked for.

Critically, the Storm Shadow has the range to strike deep into Russian-held territory in Eastern Ukraine. A Western official told CNN that the UK has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles will be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia. UK officials have made frequent public statements identifying Crimea as Ukrainian sovereign territory, describing it as “illegally annexed.”

The missile is “a real game changer from a range perspective,” a senior US military official told CNN and gives Kyiv a capability it has been requesting since the outset of the war. As CNN has reported, Ukraine’s current maximum range on US-provided weapons is around 49 miles.

The deployment of the missiles comes as Ukrainian forces prepare to launch a counteroffensive intended to retake Kremlin-held territory in the eastern and the southern parts of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country still needs “a bit more time” before it launches the counteroffensive, in order to allow some more of the promised Western military aid to arrive in country.

“With [what we have] we can go forward and be successful,” Zelensky told European public service broadcasters in an interview published on Thursday. “But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable.”

“So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time,” he added. Among the supplies Ukraine is still waiting for are armored vehicles – including tanks – which Zelensky said were “arriving in batches.”

This is not the first time Britain has gone further than the US in the weaponry it has been prepared to send to Ukraine. It was the first ally to announce it was sending modern Western tanks to Ukraine, in January pledging 14 Challenge 2 tanks before the US announced it would contribute M-1 Abrams tanks shortly after.

CNN reporter gets firsthand look at Ukrainians training on donated tanks

02:36 - Source: CNN

Earlier this year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signaled that Britain was considering sending long-range weapons.

“We must help Ukraine to shield its cities from Russian bombs and Iranian drones,” Sunak said at the Munich Security Conference on February 18. “And that’s why the UK will be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons.”

And earlier this month the British government issued a procurement notice through the International Fund for Ukraine. The notice said the UK was inviting expressions of interest for buying “long-range strike” rockets or missiles by May 4, and potential suppliers would be contacted after a month. The notice stipulated “missiles or rockets with a range 100-300km; land, sea or air launch. Payload 20-490kg.”

US officials have repeatedly emphasized that they will continue supporting Ukraine for “as long as it takes”, and while tens of billions of dollars’ worth of equipment have been provided, the embattled country has continued asking for more to defeat the Russian military, including longer-range missiles such as ATACMS.

However, the US has been cautious over the last year in providing weapons to Ukraine that could help them strike within Russian territory. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters in August that it is the US assessment Ukraine does not “currently require ATACMS to service targets that are directly relevant to the current fight.”

According to MBDA Missile Systems, the European company which manufactures the missile, the Storm Shadow is a “deep strike weapon” capable of “being operated day and night in all weathers,” that features an advanced navigation system to ensure accuracy.

“After launch, the weapon descends to terrain hugging altitude to avoid detection,” MBDA’s website states. “On approaching the target, its onboard infrared seeker matches the target image with the stored picture to ensure a precision strike and minimal collateral damage.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Tim Lister and Vasco Cotovio contributed reporting.

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2023-05-11 20:13:00Z
2018996123