Aaron Wilkinson who shot dead his landlady cleared of murder because he was suffering from post-traumatic stress after serving in Afghanistan

A former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder has been cleared today of murdering his landlady.

Aaron Wilkinson, 24, of Alma Street, Woodlesford, Leeds, was found not guilty of murdering 52-year-old Judith Garnett by shooting her in the chest and head.

Wilkinson, who was also diagnosed with a form of Asperger’s Syndrome, told Bradford Crown Court he was not in control of his actions when he shot Mrs Garnett.

He has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The jury took around three hours to reach the not-guilty verdict after the two-week trial.

The trial heard that Wilkinson joined the Territorial Army at 19 and went on a six-month tour of duty of Afghanistan in 2009.

Following his return, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by an army doctor and has since also been found to suffer from Asperger's Syndrome, or a similar condition. Read More

Analyses of enhanced video, audio could support both sides of Martin case

(CNN) -- Two new pieces of evidence appear to lend credence to opposing versions of what happened the night Trayvon Martin died.

Enhanced surveillance images of George Zimmerman, the man who admitted shooting the teen but claimed self-defense, appear to show a bump, mark or injury on the back of his head.
But two forensic audio experts said a voice crying for help on a 911 call does not appear to be Zimmerman's voice, despite claims to the contrary by his family.

Police in Sanford, Florida, released a new, higher-resolution surveillance video of Zimmerman entering the police station the night of Martin's death on February 26. The sharper footage shows an apparent bump, mark or injury on Zimmerman's head more clearly than a previously released video, which had a grainy quality. Read More

U.S., Mexican leaders trade warnings on gun violence

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The explosion of drug-fueled violence along Mexico's border with the United States could harm relations between the two nations, President Barack Obama said Monday; Mexico's leader retorted that much of the problem of drugs and guns begins on the U.S. side of the line.

In the thick of political contests in both the United States and Mexico, Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon traded unusually direct claims about the cause and effect of the drug violence that has consumed a swath of northeastern Mexico. They were cordial and complimentary to one another, but did not hide the degree of worry on both sides about a six-year spasm of violence that has killed more than 47,000 people.

"It can have a deteriorating effect overall on the nature of our relationship," Obama said. "And that's something that we have to pay attention to."

Calderon made a government crackdown on warring drug cartels the hallmark of his six-year term, which expires later this year. His center-right party has seen its election chances fall in the face of a wide perception in Mexico that the crackdown has not worked. Read More

Trayvon Martin Case: Enhanced Image shows gashes on the back of Zimmerman's head

It was seen as bombshell evidence in the Trayvon Martin shooting case, but a newly enhanced police surveillance tape could now tip the scales in the shooter's favour.

The video, which shows George Zimmerman being led out of a police car shortly after the shooting in Sanford, Florida, was broadcast by ABC News last week.

The clip was then cleared up significantly for the network by Forensic Protection, Inc, and shown on Good Morning America today.

The enhancements show what appear to be marks or welts on the back of Zimmerman’s head.

The video reignited an already intense demand for Zimmerman’s arrest because it didn’t appear to show any of the injuries Zimmerman’s lawyer said his client suffered in a scuffle with Trayvon. Read More

Bomber kicked out by the French spends 11 years in UK....Why is this terrorist living here, demands judge

A senior judge expressed his astonishment yesterday that a terrorist thrown out by the French is now living in Britain.

The Algerian was convicted of a bomb attack in his home country but fled to France before he could face trial.

A French court imposed a prison sentence and deportation order for another terror charge but when he was freed he headed straight to Britain.

Yesterday the 11-year-old case reached the Court of Appeal, where Lord Justice Ward questioned how the man could be here after being kicked out of France.

‘It may seem astonishing to many that the French courts were able to seek to exclude this appellant, but that the United Kingdom may be obliged to tolerate his presence in our midst,’ said the judge.

‘How could that come about?’

Andrew Percy, Tory MP for Brigg and Goole, also expressed his shock.

‘This just goes to show what many of us say about the immigration system in this country,’ he said. ‘We follow the rules while other countries just ignore them. Read More

(Penny finally dropped, has it?)

Moynul Haque stabbed his father to death in row over moving a TV into his bedroom is jailed for just five years but could be out in TWO

A teenager has been jailed for five years after admitting stabbing his stepfather to death in a row over a television.

Moynul Haque, 18, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mohammed Zillur-Rahman, 43, an imam at Chadwell Heath mosque, east London, at the Old Bailey in February.

He was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court in north London to five years in a Young Offenders’ Institute but could now be released in just two years as he has already served six months on remand.

Haque was 17 when the dispute broke out at the family home in Melford Avenue, Barking, in October last year.

An argument over Haque moving a television into his bedroom led to him picking up a knife from the kitchen and stabbing Mr Zillur-Rahman once in the heart after a struggle. Read More

Murder Is Not an Anomaly in War

The war in Afghanistan—where the enemy is elusive and rarely seen, where the cultural and linguistic disconnect makes every trip outside the wire a visit to hostile territory, where it is clear that you are losing despite the vast industrial killing machine at your disposal—feeds the culture of atrocity. The fear and stress, the anger and hatred, reduce all Afghans to the enemy, and this includes women, children and the elderly.

Civilians and combatants merge into one detested nameless, faceless mass. The psychological leap to murder is short. And murder happens every day in Afghanistan. It happens in drone strikes, artillery bombardments, airstrikes, missile attacks and the withering suppressing fire unleashed in villages from belt-fed machine guns.

Military attacks like these in civilian areas make discussions of human rights an absurdity. Robert Bales, a U.S. Army staff sergeant who allegedly killed 16 civilians in two Afghan villages, including nine children, is not an anomaly. To decry the butchery of this case and to defend the wars of occupation we wage is to know nothing about combat. We kill children nearly every day in Afghanistan. We do not usually kill them outside the structure of a military unit. If an American soldier had killed or wounded scores of civilians after the ignition of an improvised explosive device against his convoy, it would not have made the news. Units do not stick around to count their “collateral damage.” But the Afghans know. They hate us for the murderous rampages. They hate us for our hypocrisy.

The scale of our state-sponsored murder is masked from public view. Reporters who travel with military units and become psychologically part of the team spin out what the public and their military handlers want, mythic tales of heroism and valor. Read More

NATO must probe, pay for errors in Libya: Amnesty

NATO must investigate the killing of dozens of civilians during its air campaign in Libya last year and provide reparations to the people affected, Amnesty International said on Monday.

"Adequate investigations must be carried out and full reparation provided to victims and their families," said the rights group in a statement released one year after the first strike sorties were carried out by the alliance in Libya.

Amnesty's call drew a rebuttal from NATO, whose spokeswoman Oana Lungescu insisted in a statement that the coalition conducted a campaign in line with its UN mandate and international norms.

The watchdog said it has documented 55 cases of named civilians, including 16 children and 14 women, killed in air strikes in the capital Tripoli and the towns of Zliten, Majer, Sirte and Brega.

NATO attacks, which played a key role in helping rebels to bring down dictator Moamer Kadhafi, left a deep rift in the UN Security Council. Read More

George Zimmerman Will Turn Himself in if Charged with the Killing of Trayvon Martin, his Lawyer has Said

A neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot dead unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin will turn himself in to authorities if charged over the killing, his lawyer has said.

George Zimmerman insists he acted in self-defence after being attacked by the 17-year-old in a gated community outside Orlando on February 26.

He was taken into custody immediately after the shooting but was never formally arrested or charged with any offence.

Defence lawyer Craig Sonner said: "However it goes, he's not hiding from the authorities. If he is asked, he will turn himself in. There's not going to be a manhunt or anything like that.

"We're preparing for trial. We've done all we can except ask for discovery (evidence-sharing) from the state, which is not available to us yet." Read More

Laura Palmer escapes jail term for leaving three young children under 7 so that she could go clubbing

A mother abandoned her three children in 'vile' conditions so she could go clubbing with friends.

Although Laura Palmer, 26, spent a lot of money on hair extensions, false nails, expensive make-up, stylish clothes and drinks, her children lived in squalor, a court heard.

Concerned neighbours called police after the children, aged three, four and seven, were spotted outside running around naked and covered in faeces by a busy road in Hull, East Yorkshire.

When officers attended the house, they found a drunken Palmer hiding in the garden sheds - still dressed in her clubbing gear.

Social worker Jacqueline Feeney told Hull Crown Court of the appalling condition of the house in Jendale, Sutton, east Hull.

The home was covered in excrement, rubbish and decaying food. Mattresses had no covers on them and the bath was full of rubbish.

Feeney said: 'The home conditions were in a poor state and it was uninhabitable for children.'

Palmer, who dressed up for her court appearance in a bright pink dress with matching pink shoes, pleaded guilty to three counts of child cruelty and neglect between December 31, 2010, to June 14 last year. Read More

Obama campaign fundraiser faces fraud allegations

(Reuters) - A top fundraiser for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has been accused of fraud, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Abake Assongba, who runs the Africa-focused charity Abake's Foundation with her husband Anthony J.W. DeRosa, has raised more than $50,000 for Obama's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to the campaign's list of top "volunteer fundraisers."

She is accused of defrauding a businessman out of $657,000, the Washington Post reported.

She also faces a court order to pay more than $10,000 in back rent for her former New York apartment, according to court records.

Assongba, who was born in West Africa, has given thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates in recent years, according to Federal Election Commission records. Read More

'OJ is innocent' Claims Private investigator.... Did he hand this Evidence over to the Police? or jusy Use it for His New book Promotion?

A Texas private investigator claims he knows who really killed Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman in 1994. And it wasn't OJ Simpson.

In a new book, 'OJ is Innocent and I Can Prove It,' William C. Dear alleges Simpson went on trial, and was acquitted of murder, in an effort to deflect attention from the true killer: His son Jason.

Dear says Simpson was at the crime scene -- but not until after his ex-wife and her friend had been stabbed to death.

After a 17-year investigation, Dear says he has found circumstantial evidence that links Jason Simpson, 41, to the murders.

The private eye claims he dug through Jason Simpson's garbage and his abandoned storage locker in search of new evidence, the New York Post reported.

In the search, Dear says he found a hunting knife that forensic experts say is the murder weapon that was never recovered during the police investigation. Read More

MF Global Treasurer Declines to Answer Questions From Panel

Edith O’Brien, the MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MF) assistant treasurer who has become a key figure in the disappearance of as much as $1.6 billion in customer funds, declined to answer questions from U.S. lawmakers.

O’Brien, who appeared today under subpoena before a House Financial Services subcommittee, invoked her constitutional right against self-incrimination during a hearing on the New York firm’s Oct. 31 bankruptcy, the eighth largest in U.S. history.

After saying twice that she would not answer a question on the advice of counsel, O’Brien told lawmakers she would not answer any questions during today’s hearing.

“We’re extremely disappointed that you’ve chosen to do that,” Representative Randy Neugebauer, the chairman of the Financial Services oversight and investigations panel, said before he dismissed her. Read More

Trayvon Martin Shooting: Voice Experts Claim Teen's Cries, Not Zimmerman's, Can Be Heard On 911 Call

Before George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin on February 26, a 911 call recorded the voice of someone screaming. Whether that person was Martin or Zimmerman -- who police say claimed he was attacked by Martin before the fatal incident -- has been an open question since the calls were released by the Sanford, Florida police department. (WARNING: Above audio is disturbing.)

The Orlando Sentinel consulted two voice experts to try to settle the debate, and both came to the same conclusion: The cries could not have come from George Zimmerman.

One expert, Tom Owen, used voice identification software to rule out Zimmerman as the source. From the Sentinel:

"I took all of the screams and put those together, and cut out everything else," Owen says.
The software compared that audio to Zimmerman's voice. It returned a 48 percent match. Owen said to reach a positive match with audio of this quality, he'd expect higher than 90 percent.

"As a result of that, you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it's not Zimmerman," Owen says, stressing that he cannot confirm the voice as Trayvon's, because he didn't have a sample of the teen's voice to compare. Read More

Trayvon's brother speaks out as thousands lay siege to police station which freed Zimmerman

Trayvon Martin's older brother has spoken of his grief at the teenager's death, and admitted: 'I kind of still don't believe it.'

Jahvaris Fulton also said that the fact that George Zimmerman has not been charged for killing Trayvon 'sends the wrong message', and insisted that 'there should be an arrest' in the case.

His message came as protesters began marching in the Florida town where 17-year-old Trayvon was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.

About a thousand people carrying signs and wearing T-shirts with the teen's image marched to the Sanford Police Department on Saturday morning. Read More

Susan Powell's father demands to know why her husband Josh was free to kill his children despite 'direct evidence'

The father of a missing woman is demanding to know why her husband, who later killed himself and their two children, was not arrested despite 'direct evidence' against him.

The files examined by prosecutors on Friday raised further questions about why Mr Powell was never charged in her disappearance despite her blood being found in their home in Utah.

Her father Chuck Cox said that had teh police acted before he started the gas-fueled inferno in Washington state earlier this year, his two young grandsons would not have been killed.

'When I heard them [the new evidence], it was like, well, why didn't you arrest him already?' Mr Cox told ABC News. 'Had he been to jail, my grandchildren would still be alive.'

He said that he had wanted to protect his grandchildren, but now he just wants to find his daughter.

'We let the police do their investigation and hope that sometime we'll be able to talk to Steve Powell (her father-in-law) and he'll be able to tell her where she is if he knows.'

Investigators in West Valley City, Utah, never arrested Josh Powell or even publicly labeled him as a suspect in his wife's disappearance. Read More

'Girls Around Me' app pulls data from Facebook and Foursquare to find women in the area...Welcome to the new Stalker's Paradise

The latest mobile app doesn’t just tell you where your friends and co-workers are – it tells you where nearby women are, and allows you to see their full name, photos, and send them messages.

The Girls Around Me application takes your GPS data from Foursquare and searches for women in the immediate area who have also checked in on the location-based mobile service.

News of the app’s less-than-careful data sharing has caused considerable online outrage, with many lambasting the app for making stalking easy and taking advantage of those who don’t understand privacy policies of social media. Read More

DVLA made £21m selling details of 4.85m motorists... including passing on 7,000 drivers' names to convicted criminal

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has sold sensitive personal details of more than 7,000 drivers to a convicted criminal and his company.

Today’s revelation comes despite the quango’s promises to clean up its act in the wake of a similar scandal seven years ago.

Yet The Mail on Sunday can disclose that the DVLA sold motorists’ names and addresses to a parking enforcement company just seven weeks after it admitted dozens of criminal offences.

Agency chiefs knew that Observices Parking Solutions and boss Douglas Harris had been fined £29,850 after a court ruled it had been ‘recklessly unfair’ to drivers last year – but they still sold on the personal details.

The Mail on Sunday can also disclose the DVLA has sold 4.85 million drivers’ names and addresses to parking enforcement firms in the past six years at £2.50 a time – without checking if the companies’ use for the private information was legitimate.

This includes details of nearly one million drivers being passed to 12 firms that were subsequently suspended from accessing the register due to wrongdoing or bankruptcy. Read More

National Association for Legal Gun Defense, Texas lawyers offer $10,000 for George Zimmerman's legal defense

The National Association for Legal Gun Defense wants to contribute $10,000 toward George Zimmerman's legal expenses, a member said today.

The group represents gun owners involved in self-defense shooting cases, said attorney Blue Rannefeld of Fort Worth, Texas.

Rannefeld said he has not been able to contact Zimmerman, 28, and is trying to reach Zimmerman's attorney, Craig Sonner of Altamonte Springs to make the group's offer of assistance.

Zimmerman's shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17, on Feb. 26 in Sanford remains under investigation. source

Japanese fleet catches 267 Antarctic whales....all in the Name of Research of Course

The Japanese fleet caught a total of 267 whales in the latest season of the country's research whaling program in the Antarctic Ocean, the Fisheries Agency said Saturday.

Of the total, up from 172 in the previous season, 266 were minke whales and one was a fin whale, the agency said.

Females accounted for 168 of the total, of which 107 were adults and 92.5 percent were pregnant, the agency noted, indicating the breeding season for Antarctic whales has been favorable.

The fleet, which left Japan on Dec. 6, has already returned home. Source