Execution order signed for Indian River County serial killer

7:21 a.m. EST, February 29, 2012
By Melissa E. Holsman,TCPalm.com


David Alan Gore to be executed mid-April


INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Governor Rick Scott on Tuesday signed a death warrant for David Alan Gore, convicted in the first-degree murder of Lynn Elliott in July 1983.



Gore was convicted of killing six women for which he received five life prison terms and a sentence of death in the Elliott slaying.

After spending more than 28 years on death row, Gore, 58, is scheduled to be executed at Florida State Prison on April 12, at 6 p.m., according to a letter Gov. Scott sent Tuesday to Warden Steven Singer.

In his letter to Singer, Scott designated that Gore's execution should be carried out between noon Thursday, April 12, through noon on Thursday, April 19.

Gore is on death row at the Union Correctional Facility in Raiford.

State Attorney Bruce Colton, who in 1992 prosecuted Gore's second penalty phase trial in the Elliott murder, said the death warrant is past due.

"Obviously it's good news. I think the family of not only Lynn Elliott, but families of the other victims in this case, I think, deserve to finally have this come to an end," Colton said Tuesday. "I think it's clear that Gore relished all the publicity that he received over the years; obviously the case was drawn out. We had the original trial and conviction and death penalty and then we had to retry the death penalty phase."

The jury at his 1984 murder trial voted 11-1 in recommending the death penalty, which was imposed by Circuit Judge L.B. Vocelle, court records show.

"I know in the second penalty phase the jury was unanimous in recommending death," Colton recalled. "This was not a case where there was any question of whether or not he was guilty. We always hear this on the death penalty appeals, that you have to be sure you have the right person and there's absolutely no doubt that the right person was gotten in this."

Gore confessed, Colton said, and lead authorities to the bodies of other murder victims.

"This one (the murder of Lynn Elliott) was eye witnessed in front of his own house by a young boy who was riding by on his bicycle," he recalled. "So Gore definitely is the right person, he deserves the death penalty and the families and the community of Indian River County have long awaited this to happen."

This is the third time Gore has been under a signed death warrant.

Gore's legal options should be exhausted, Colton said, because "every issue Gore could raise on appeal has already been litigated."

"But it never fails to happen that the attorneys who represent people in these cases find other issues that they bring up at the last minute," he said. "I'm sure there will be last minute attempts to get theU.S. Supreme Courtto issue a stay. I just don't see it happening in this case. I think they'll attempt to, but I just don't see them being successful in getting any more stays in this case."

In July 1983, Gore and his cousin, Fred Waterfield, picked up Elliott, 17, and Regan Martin, 14, as the two Vero Beach girls were hitchhiking to Wabasso Beach.

Gore, 29 at the time, was a former auxiliary deputy with the Indian River County Sheriffs Office on probation for armed trespassing. He and Waterfield, 30 at the time, also of Vero Beach, handcuffed Elliott and Martin and drove them to Gore's parents' house on Fifth Street Southwest on the outskirts of Vero Beach where they raped the girls.

Elliott was shot as she tried to escape.

A 15-year-old Vero Beach boy riding past the scene on his bicycle later testified he saw Gore chase down and shoot Elliott twice in the head. The boy made an anonymous 911 call to authorities, leading to Martin's rescue by police and the end to a reign of terror by the Killing Cousins that included the rape of seven women and murder of six.

In 1984, a Pinellas County jury found Gore guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and three counts of sexual battery in connection with Elliott's death and the abduction of Elliott and Martin.


Vero Beach attorney Robert Stone, who was the area's State Attorney from 1972 to 1986, prosecuted Gore in the Elliott murder.

He still can't shake the image of seeing dark rope marks on Elliott's wrists.

"It was unbelievable; the suffering she must have gone through," Stone recalled. "I'll never forget seeing those ever."

Gore's trial was moved toSt. Petersburgfrom Vero Beach in 1984.

"I remember going to St. Petersburg for the case and I stopped by (Lynn Elliott's) grave on the way over," he said. "I know a lot of people probably think this is silly, but I did stop by her grave and told her I was going to get justice for her. I felt moved to do it.

"I told her 'I'm going to go over there and get justice for you,' and we did," added Stone. "And finally after 28 years, it's about time."

Through interviews with Gore and Waterfield, and a comprehensive investigation authorities also uncovered evidence that Gore had killed six women between February 1981 and July 1983. Most were raped, some were tortured and some were dismembered and buried in hidden graves in citrus groves west of Vero Beach.

The discoveries led to Gore being convicted of murdering Barbara Ann Byer, Angelica LaVallee, Judy Kaye Daley, Hsiang Huang Ling and her daughter, Ying Hua Ling and sentenced to five consecutive life terms that were tacked on to his death sentence.

Waterfield, now 59, was convicted of manslaughter in Elliott's death and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in the cases of Byer and LaVallee, two of Gore's victims and is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole at the Okeechobee Correctional Institution.

Stone recalled Gore's constant cold demeanor, and his eyes.

"He never expressed any emotion of any kind. We took him out to the citrus grove to show us the drums so we could dig them up ... and I remember looking in his eyes and they were like balls of fire, like red marbles," Stone said. "If the devil had eyes, those would be the kind of eyes they were because they were like a fiery red. I don't think he had any type of conscious at all, he couldn't have."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/tc-gore-death-warrant-20120229,0,4491029.story?page=2
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Atta-boy Gov. Scott...  Keep up the good work.   

Children's father decided to pull 5-year-old off life support this week, leading cops to upgrade previous attempted murder charge


By Nancy Dillon / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, February 24, 2012, 7:28 PM


Lorna Valle, 32, is facing murder charges after cops say she tried to drown her two young daughters at their L.A. home last Wednesday. Her 1-year-old daughter died hours after the attack, and her 5-year-old was taken off life support on Monday.


The deranged California mom accused of drowning her two daughters in a bathtub is now facing two murder charges and a possible death penalty prosecution, officials said Friday.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office upgraded one previously lodged count of attempted murder after the older child, Marian Taque, 5, died Wednesday following a week on life support.

Distraught dad Jose Lopez made the heart-rending decision to take the unresponsive child off of life support earlier this week — and hopes some good will come from the unspeakable tragedy.

“I made a humanitarian decision to donate my daughter’s organs so another person can live,” a tearful Lopez told local station KABC-TV.

The children’s mother, Lorna Valle, 32, was arrested last week in connection with the case and is being held on $1.5 million bail.

Her 1-year-old daughter, Lindsay, died Feb. 15, just hours after Lopez returned from an early morning grocery run and allegedly found Valle trying to drown the girls in a bathtub designed for children, authorities said.

The two girls were laying on the floor; they were unclothed, wet and unresponsive, prosecutors said Friday.

Neighbors and family members said Valle has a history of depression and mental illness, and authorities believe she “snapped” before trying to kill her girls in their south L.A. home.

A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made closer to the start of trial, prosecutors said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mom-accused-drowning-kids-faces-murder-charges-face-death-penalty-article-1.1028261#ixzz1nUrcDlgx

Stepmother, grandmother charged after Alabama girl forced to run 3 hours

The Associated Press Posted: Feb 23, 2012 2:38 PM ET

Roger Simpson said he looked down the road and saw a little girl running outside her home but didn't give it another thought. Police, however, said the man witnessed a murder in progress.


Police in Alabama say Savannah Hardin, 9, was made to run for three hours after lying to her grandmother about eating a candy bar. (Associated Press)

Authorities say nine-year-old Savannah Hardin died after being forced to run for three hours as punishment for having lied to her grandmother about eating candy bars. Severely dehydrated, the girl had a seizure and died days later. Now, her grandmother and stepmother who police say meted out the punishment were taken to jail Wednesday and face murder charges.

Witnesses told deputies Savannah was told to run and not allowed to stop for three hours on Friday, an Etowah County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said. The girl's stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, called police at 6:45 p.m., telling them Savannah was having a seizure and was unresponsive.

Police in Alabama say Savannah Hardin, 9, was made to run for three hours after lying to her grandmother about eating a candy bar. (Associated Press)Simpson said he saw a little girl running at around 4 p.m., but didn't see anybody chasing or coercing her.

"I saw her running down there, that's what I told the detectives," Simpson said from his home on a hill overlooking the Hardins. "But I don't see how that would kill her."

Authorities are still trying to determine whether Savannah was forced to run by physical coercion or by verbal commands. Deputies were told the girl was made to run after lying to her grandmother, 46-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard, about having eaten the candy, sheriff's office spokeswoman Natalie Barton said.

Savannah Hardin died Monday at Children's Hospital in Birmingham, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. The sheriff's release said an autopsy report showed the girl was extremely dehydrated and had a very low sodium level. A state pathologist ruled it a homicide.

The sheriff's office received calls from concerned citizens who witnessed the girl running. No other details were released, but an official with the local volunteer fire department said rescuers thought something seemed odd when they responded to a call about the child.

"One of the ones who were down there said he didn't feel like everything was right," said Ruby Ward, vice-president of the Mountainboro Volunteer Fire Department.

Gail Denny and her husband Phil, live just up a dirt road from the home. They've known the family since they moved to the area in northeastern Alabama seven years ago.

The couple said they were used to seeing Savannah and other neighbourhood children out waiting on the school bus in the morning. Gail Denny said her grandson had a crush on Savannah.


Gail Denny places a candle and stuffed animal outside the home of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin near Attalla, Ala. (Jay Reeves/Associated Press)

"My grandson asked her to be his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, and she said 'yes,"' she said before dissolving into tears. She left a candle and stuffed animal outside the girl's home Wednesday night, saying a prayer as she paused beside the road.

The trailer where Savannah lived was surrounded by a wooden fence, playground equipment and toys. Neighbours say they never saw children playing in the yard. They told The Associated Press that Garrard owned a lot of property along the road and much of her family lived in homes on that property.

"It seems like a very happy extended family around here," Denny said. "There are mothers, grandmothers, kids. It sounds like a punishment that got out of hand."

Garrard and Jessica Mae Hardin are being held in the Etowah County Detention Center, each on a $500,000 US cash bond.

Court records show that Robert Hardin filed for divorce in August of 2010. In his complaint, he asserted his wife was bipolar and had alcoholic tendencies. He accused her previously of having run off with the couple's own child. In her response, Jessica denied all of Robert's allegations. Five months after filing for divorce, the two asked a judge to dismiss their case.

Savannah Hardin was a third-grader at Carlisle Elementary School. Superintendent Alan Cosby said her desk had been turned into a makeshift memorial where her classmates could leave notes and mementos. He said counsellors and social workers were made available for students.

"This is obviously a very tragic, devastating, heartbreaking situation," Cosby said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/02/23/us-girl-running-murder-charge.html

2:03 PM, Feb. 24, 2012 




HAMILTON — A Middletown man could face the death penalty after a jury convicted him Friday of brutally murdering an elderly man with a hatchet.

The jury in Victor Gantt’s case heard closing arguments this morning and were ordered into deliberations by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth shortly after 11 a.m.

They emerged less than three hours later with guilty verdicts for all charges leveled against the 26-year-old who had been accused of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence.
Gantt is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser declined to comment on the case due to the pending sentencing.
Gantt killed 75-year-old Leroy Jones of Middletown at his Brentwood Street home on May 2. Middletown police have said that Gantt knocked on the doors of a couple of Jones' neighbors around 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. that day asking to use the restroom. They didn't let him in.

Jones' wife, who was away overnight when her husband died, found his body on the afternoon of May 2. He had died from hatchet wounds to the head.

Jones’ family also declined to comment today, saying they may during the upcoming sentencing hearing.
Gantt has a history of drug and theft offenses since 2005 in Middletown and was sent to prison for 11 months in 2007 for felony unauthorized use of a vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident.

At the time he murdered Jones, Gantt was under indictment for failing to pay child support and had been released on his promise to return to court for future hearings.

Earlier this week Gmoser told the court Gantt went looking for money on May 2 because he was due in court three days later for failing to pay child support.

Dennis Adams, one of two court-appointed attorneys representing Gantt, had said his client admits killing Jones, but he didn't try to conceal what he had done.

Gantt had been homeless for weeks leading up to the murder and was high on narcotics, he said.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120224/NEWS010702/302240106/Ax-murderer-could-get-death-penalty?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

An editorial from the Charlotte Observer today:


Death penalty doesn't undercut justice; coddling killers does
The man who killed my wife served 17 years of a life-plus sentence

Posted: Friday, Feb. 17, 2012

From Ned Flemming of Cornelius, in response to "It's past time to abolish the death penalty in North Carolina" (Feb. 15 For the Record):

As John Moore states in his For the Record column, "Those who do wrong must be punished, but this system is flawed."

I could not agree more.

The young man who murdered my wife in 1989 accepted a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty. His sentence - Life plus 28 years. He confessed to this crime when presented with overwhelming evidence. There was absolutely no doubt that he killed her. She left a widower, two teenage children, her mother, her brother and countless friends and family.

The murderer served 17 years, the last three years in minimum security with weekend passes. He has been a free man for the past five years. His early release was based on a "mistake" admitted to by the Parole Board. Yet, there was never an apology nor an explanation. Yes, the system is seriously flawed.

Mr. Moore states that respect for justice is lost when the state sponsors violence. I contend that respect for justice is lost when the state does not enforce the laws we have. The system is flawed when we spend so much more defending criminals than we do prosecuting them and when Demeatrius Montgomery seeks a new trial after being convicted of murdering police officers Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark in 2007 and when lawyers work the system with no regard for the guilt of their clients. The court system is clogged by the endless appeals and legal maneuvering orchestrated by those very attorneys whose mission seems to be to get their clients off at any cost. Isn't it ironic that in most cases, we taxpayers are the ones footing the bill? Yes, the system is flawed.

Very flawed.

I am an active member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Homicide Support Group and, aside from my personal experience, see first hand the devastating effect that the act of murder has on those left behind. Mr. Moore says that he can only imagine the anguish they (we) have suffered. No, Mr. Moore, I don't think you can.

We survivors of homicide are frankly a bit offended when someone says they know what we feel, or what we are going through. Not until you have been through the horror of losing a loved one through homicide will you know. And I pray to God that you never will.

I seriously doubt Mr. Moore's statement that in North Carolina, the abolition of the death penalty is the will of the electorate. He may convince some lawmakers, but I'm not buying it.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/17/3019416/death-penalty-doesnt-undercut.html#storylink=cpy

Posted: 2:34 p.m. yesterday
Updated: 2:57 p.m. yesterday

Albemarle, N.C. — An Albemarle man was so upset about a post his daughter put on Facebook that he fired a bullet into her laptop and videotaped himself doing it. By Friday, Tommy Jordan's parental rant was becoming a YouTube sensation.

Jordan identifies himself in the video and details how he found the Facebook post while updating his daughter's computer. He reads her litany of complaints about being asked to help out around the house, then asks, "Are you serious?"

The man grows increasingly angry as he reads his daughter's words, yelling at the camera, "Pay you for chores that you're supposed to do around the house?

"You don't have that hard of a life, but you're about to," he says. "I warned you months ago about what would happen if you did something like this on Facebook again."

He then turns the camera on the laptop and fires nine shots


http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/10714871/

It looks like a weeks worth of posts have been lost... 

I just tried to log on multiple times, and got an error message - wasn't able to sign on...  When I was finally able to get in, a bunch of stuff is gone...   Anyone else notice this?  Heck, I've lost like 45 or 50 Karma points...   

Somethin screwy's goin on. 

Life sentence for 'death factory' executioner

Lindsay Murdoch, Phnom Penh
February 4, 2012


Bou Meng, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge S-21 prison, talks to the media in Phnom Penh


KHMER Rouge executioner Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, raised his hands to his face in a Buddhist sign of goodwill yesterday as judges overturned an earlier verdict and sentenced him to life imprisonment, the maximum sentence available under Cambodian law.

Duch, a born-again Christian, showed no emotion as judges at a UN-backed trial detailed crimes they said were ''undoubtedly among the worst recorded in human history''.

The judges overturned a 19-year jail sentence the tribunal imposed in July last year, referring to evidence that Duch, 69, commanded a ''factory of death'' in Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

They said that Duch, a former maths teacher who killed more than 100 of his prisoners by draining blood from their bodies, was ''responsible for the merciless termination of at least 12,272 people, including women and children''.

But investigators say as many 15,000 people were tortured and sent to their deaths at the Tuol Sleng interrogation centre, which Duch commanded for three years.

The tribunal heard evidence that Duch taught his guards to inflict on their victims systematic torture that included waterboarding, pulling out nails and rape.

Under his command, guards threw babies from second floors and bashed the heads of others against trees. Some victims were set alight while still alive after months of torture.

Wearing a cream jacket and white shirt, Duch walked solemnly into the tribunal on the outskirts of Phnom Penh carrying what appeared to be a Bible.

Since being discovered working for a Christian organisation in Cambodia in 1999, Duch has admitted his role in the killings but shown little remorse. He surprised lawyers and judges when he appealed the 19-year sentence last year amid outrage by many Khmer Rouge victims who said he deserved the maximum penalty. He will now not be released from jail before he dies.

Duch had claimed the tribunal did not have the authority to convict him as he was not ''most responsible'' for the Khmer Rouge's rule and was merely following orders.

But the judges found the earlier tribunal hearing erred in imposing a manifestly inadequate sentence even though Duch was not at the top of the Khmer Rouge's chain of command. In an 18-page ruling, they said Cambodians ''are still faced with unprecedented challenges in recovering from the tragedies caused by the crimes committed by Kaing Guek Eav''.

Duch is the first Khmer Rouge killer to be convicted at the tribunal, which began investigations in 2006. Three other leaders of the group face conviction, though the Cambodian government opposes any further prosecutions.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/life-sentence-for-death-factory-executioner-20120203-1qxpo.html

Friday 03 February 2012

By Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg

The head of the South African Medical Association has called for the return of the death penalty after one of the country's senior dermatologists was gunned down by carjackers in the capital Pretoria.


South Africa's death penalty was abolished in 1995 - a year after Nelson Mandela came to power


Dr Norman Mabasa told mourners at Dr John Moche's funeral that the country was "under siege".

"The number of people who die at the hands of criminals is higher than in countries embroiled in civil wars or natural disasters," he said.

"Crime has become so bad that soon we are going to have to put burglar bars around our beds."

Dr John Moche, a father to two young children and head of Steve Biko Academic Hospital's dermatology department in Pretoria, was one of just 166 qualified dermatologists in the country because of a skills shortage in specialist medicine.

He was dropping off a nurse at her home last Friday when he was shot through the heart by carjackers who sped off in his Range Rover. The car was later found abandoned in Atteridgeville, a township ten miles to the west. No arrests have been made yet.

Dr Mabasa said that despite a 6.5 per cent drop in the country's murder rate, there was nothing to celebrate.

"Why are we rejoicing when there are a thousand fewer people murdered? Surely we don't think the decrease is because criminals are lazy?" he asked.

"We cannot allow this killing with impunity to continue. Kill and you will be killed. This is the message that needs to be sent out."

Last year, 15,900 people were murdered in South Africa - or 320 per million people. The UK's murder rate is 13 deaths per million people - totalling 619 last year.

South Africa's death penalty was abolished in 1995 - a year after Nelson Mandela came to power. At the height of apartheid, South Africa had the third highest judicial execution rate in the world - putting to death 1,109 people between 1980 and July 1989.

At the time of transition to democracy, there were more than four hundred prisoners on death row - many for political crimes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/9059555/Bring-back-the-death-penalty-says-South-Africa-medical-chief.html

Fort Bragg commander upholds Hennis death sentence

Posted: 2:59 p.m. yesterday
Updated: 3:33 p.m. yesterday

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Fort Bragg's acting commander has approved the conviction and death sentence imposed on a soldier who was convicted of killing a Fayetteville woman and two children in 1985.



The Fayetteville Observer reported (http://bit.ly/wPevO1) that a Fort Bragg spokeswoman said Wednesday that Maj. Gen. Rodney Anderson approved the sentence for Timothy Hennis earlier this month. Anderson is acting senior commander of the 18th Airborne Corps.

Hennis' lawyers presented clemency material to Anderson in December, and he could have granted relief. The Army Court of Criminal Appeals will review the case next.

Hennis was convicted in April 2010 in the killings of Kathryn Eastburn and two of her daughters.

The court-martial was his third trial. He had been convicted, then acquitted in trials in civilian courts.


http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/10675063/

Soccer....  What a lovely game...   


By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 5:05 PM EST, Wed February 1, 2012

Cairo (CNN) -- At least 73 people were killed when fans rushed the field and rioted after a soccer game in Egypt on Wednesday, a health ministry spokesman said.

At least 1,000 people were injured in the clashes, 150 of them critically, spokesman Dr. Hisham Shiha said. Most of them had concussions and deep cuts, he said.

The fighting occurred in a stadium in the northeastern city of Port Said after Port Said's Al-Masry team beat Cairo's Al-Ahly team 3-1.

Fans from both sides bashed each other with rocks and chairs, said Mohamed Sultan, head of the ambulance association in Port Said.



Soccer riot death toll climbs in Egypt

Soccer in the Middle East and security Rescuers treated 60 people on the ground, he said, and dozens of ambulances were at the stadium.

Authorities have been dispatched to hospitals to interview the wounded and investigate what caused the clashes, said Adel Saeed, a spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor.

Egypt's military deployed two planes to transport the Al-Ahly team, some of its fans and some of the injured back to Cairo, he said.

Hundreds of angry fans gathered outside the club's headquarters in Egypt's capital, vowing revenge.

"This is a plot to stir violence in Egypt. Why would a winning team attack others ... and kill them? We will not let this one go," Al-Ahly fan Ahmed Tabaei said.

While authorities were responding to the fighting in Port Said, a fire broke out during a match in a Cairo stadium. It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were related.

Sepp Blatter, president of the sport's international governing body, FIFA, said he was "very shocked and saddened" by the events.

"This is a black day for football. Such a catastrophic situation is unimaginable and should not happen," Blatter said in a statement.

The large death toll from the fighting is unprecedented in Egyptian soccer, CNN contributor James Montague said.

"It's not unheard-of to have organized violence between football clubs (in Egypt), but something on this scale has never been seen before," said Montague, who researched soccer in the Middle East for his book "When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone."

During Egypt's revolution, well-organized groups of soccer fans became a powerful force for political change, he said. Soccer was also closely tied with former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government, which used the sport to boost his popularity, Montague said.

But it was unclear whether political fury fueled Wednesday's clashes.

"There's been a security vacuum, so we don't know whether it's that or whether there's a Mubarak element to it. We just don't know at the moment," Montague said.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/01/world/africa/egypt-soccer-deaths/?hpt=hp_t3

9:00am Tuesday 31st January 2012

By Wendy Barlow »
Court reporter

A 'DANGEROUS' Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross on death row after attacking a member of the public, is now likely to be destroyed.

The 'strong' animal had been seen by a dog behavioural expert and sank his teeth into the police officer who was taking it to be assessed, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The dog, called Dyson, belongs to Lee Rainford, 26, who last December admitted being the owner of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control in a public place.

Three weeks ago, Rainford was banned by magistrates from owning or keeping animals for five years after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a Rottweiler puppy.

The pup had been left in agony for two weeks after an attempt to dock it's tail had left it infected and the defendant had not taken it to a vet.

Rainford is to appeal the length of the disqualification at the crown court and the hearing is set for February 9.

Judge Beverley Lunt will sentence for the dog out of control offence on February 13.

She has already told Rainford he will not go to jail, but Dyson's fate is in her hands. The judge has said she will order Rainford to pay the kennelling costs for the dog.

The crown court was yesterday told police had received previous reports about Dyson or other dogs in the defendant's control or possession.

The dog is said to have run out and 'bit the first person in front of it' when Rainford opened his door.

Dyson bit the police officer responsible for transporting it to the animal behaviour expert and the dog was taken back to the kennels and examined there.

Judge Lunt said at the moment, based on the expert's report, a destruction order on Dyson was likely.

She said: "The expert says the dog may not be intrinsically aggressive. It needs training and it needs a good owner. The defendant plainly is not a good owner and that means the dog has nowhere to go."

Judge Lunt told the defendant of Dyson: "I think he's dangerous. The chances of me not making a destruction order are very, very slight indeed."

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/9501641.Dog_facing_death_penalty_after_biting_two_people_in_Burnley/
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Hey Yorky - if you really are a "barister", here's a case for ya.....   

LONDON — The Museum of London is displaying a coin found by the River Thames that may have been used nearly 2,000 years ago as a "brothel token" in Roman London.



The bronze coin shows a man and woman in an intimate embrace.

Senior curator Caroline McDonald said Thursday it is impossible to determine precisely what the coin was used for.

She says it is probable brothels existed in London when the coin was in circulation after the Roman invasion of Britain in the 1st Century A.D.

Experts believe the coin was concealed by mud along the river banks for some 2,000 years before it was discovered recently by a man with a metal detector looking for objects near Putney Bridge.

http://www.wral.com/business/story/10646841/

SHERMAN, Texas - A man suspected in the deaths of three people whose bodies were found behind a North Texas barn will soon return to the state to face charges.




Thomas L. Taunton is being held in Louisiana in connection with the deaths of 73-year-old Harold Harpst, 79-year-old Sue Harpst and 48-year-old Regina Taunton.

The victims were reported missing Thursday from their home near Leonard , about 60 miles northeast of Dallas. The bodies were found Saturday a few miles from the home.

Taunton was arrested Thursday in Stonewall, La., after his truck broke down. The 52-year-old has signed paperwork to be returned to Texas.

Autopsies show the two older victims died of gunshot wounds. A cause of death for Regina Taunton was not immediately available.

The suspect's attorney didn't immediately return a message.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/Triple-Murder-Suspect-Heading-Back-to-Texas-012312

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – U.S. Navy SEALs parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed.

President Obama himself authorized the mission two days earlier, and minutes after he gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe.

"As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were "on their way to be reunited with their families."

Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when gunmen kidnapped the two in October.

A pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told the Associated Press he had spoken to pirates at the scene of the raid and they reported that nine pirates had been killed and three were "taken away," which could mean they were captured by U.S. troops. He said the raid caught the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening.

A U.S. official confirmed local media reports that the SEALs parachuted into the area, before moving on foot to the target. The raid happened near the Somali town of Adado.

New intelligence emerged last week that Buchanan's health was "deteriorating rapidly," so Obama directed his security team to develop a rescue plan, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

On Monday, after a top-level security meeting to review rescue options, U.S. national security adviser Tom Donilon briefed Obama on a possible plan that the president authorized, the official said.

"Jessica Buchanan was selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being," Obama said. "The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice."

A Western official said the helicopters and the freed hostages flew to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti after the raid. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly.

The timing of the raid may have been made more urgent by a medical condition. The Danish Refugee Council had been trying to work with Somali elders to win the hostages' freedom but had found little success.

"One of the hostages has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal told Denmark's TV2 channel. Soevndal did not provide any more details.

Soevndal congratulated the Americans for the raid and said he had been informed of the action.

Panetta visited Camp Lemonnier just over a month ago. A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts the military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

The Danish Refugee Council said both freed hostages are unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families."

Ann Mary Olsen, head of the Danish Refugee Council's international department, was the one who informed the family of Hagen Thisted of the successful military operation.

"They (the family) were very happy and incredibly relieved that it is over," she said.

The two aid workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals — sometimes referred to as pirates — and not by Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab. As large ships at sea have increased their defenses against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land-based kidnappings.

The Danish Refugee Council had earlier enlisted traditional Somali elders and members of civil society to seek the release of the two hostages.

"We are really happy with the successful release of the innocents kidnapped by evildoers," said Mohamud Sahal, an elder in Galkayo town, by phone. "They were guests who were treated brutally. That was against Islam and our culture. … These men (pirates) have spoiled our good customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back."

Buchanan and Hagen Thisted were seized in October from the portion of Galkayo town under the control of a government-allied clan militia. The aid agency has said that Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release.

Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in their kidnapping.

The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, whose experts have been clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.

Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya, and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

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