Inquiry to be held into German lorry driver's death near Moffat
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) is to be held into the death of a German lorry driver in the south of Scotland.Thomas Hein, 25, was killed in a crash on the A74(M) motorway near Moffat on 14 July 2023 after his vehicle left the road.The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) confirmed an FAI would be held at Dumfries Sheriff Court on 29 May.A preliminary hearing has been set for 4 March.
Mr Hein, originally from Baden-Wurttemberg, was employed by construction company Josef Schnell.The aim of an FAI is not to attribute blame but to look at the circumstances of his death and establish what - if any - reasonable precautions could have been taken and could be implemented to avoid any similar incidents in future.Procurator fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on death investigations for COPFS, said: "The death of Thomas Hein occurred while in the course of his employment and as such an FAI is mandatory."The lodging of the first notice enables FAI proceedings to commence under the direction of the sheriff."Mr Hein's family will continue to be kept informed of significant developments as court proceedings progress."
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Daily Mirror
11 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Failings over search for missing Madeleine McCann as cops in race against time
Investigators vowed to the Mirror in 2021 that Christian Brueckner would be charged in months, but four years later they are still searching for evidence as his release date looms It was a drizzly, autumnal day when I met with Hans Christian Wolters in his office in Braunschweig in October 2021. The quietly-spoken German prosecutor was in an unusually bullish mood. 'We're 100% convinced Christian Brueckner killed Madeleine McCann,' he told me. Noting the look of surprise of my face, he continued: 'There's no other possibility. There is no hope she is alive.' Mr Wolters went even further, directly addressing Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann. 'We are confident we have the man who took and killed your daughter,' he said. There was the headline. He then added: 'All I can do is ask for your patience. I personally think a conclusion will be reached next year.' Next year. As in 2022. But nearly four years on from that exclusive interview, a conclusion of a different kind appears to be on the horizon. And it is not one that Mr Wolters, the McCanns or the wider public are hoping for. Christian Brueckner - the paedophile, rapist and only suspect in Madeleine's disappearance - is about to walk free from prison. And it increasingly appears there is little the authorities can do to stop it happening. It is a nightmare scenario for them - and one that Mr Wolters insisted back in 2021 would never happen. But even during our interview, I was beginning to have doubts about just what police 'had' on Brueckner. When naming him as their prime suspect in June 2020, prosecutors said they had 'evidence' Madeleine is dead. But when I pressed Mr Wolters on what evidence they had that proved she was dead but was not enough to charge Brueckner, he backtracked. 'It is circumstantial evidence - there are witnesses, demonstrative evidence, forensic experts, and other types of evidence,' he admitted. 'We have no scientific evidence. If we had a video of the act [killing] then we would not have had to make a public appeal. 'If we had a picture of Madeleine dead with Brueckner on camera, then obviously the same would apply. But we only have circumstantial evidence. We have no body and no DNA but we have other evidence." That was the first glimpse of things not being quite as rosy as billed in the Madeleine investigation. Now, at least publicly, the entire case appears to be in disarray. Last week I watched as a team of German detectives searched for clues on disused farmland in Portugal. T he three-day search, costing a reported £300,000, involved the use of a JCB, pick-axes and ground-penetrating radar. It ended in apparent failure, with nothing of significance found. The Germans shook hands with their Portuguese counterparts, handing them a crate of pilsner beers as a thank you. As I watched the search peter out, I could imagine the glee on the faces of Brueckner and his legal team. His current release date from Sehnde Prison, where he is serving a rape sentence, is September 17. That gives prosecutors just 96 days to charge their prime suspect or watch powerlessly as he walks free from jail. Last week's search suggests they still do not have enough circumstantial evidence to confidently take the case to court. The main 'evidence' they have reportedly revolves around the testimony of German drifter Helge Busching. He claims Brueckner said 'she didn't scream' when they discussed the case while sitting around a campfire at a hippy festival in Spain in 2008. It was another nine years before recycling worker Busching gave police this 'smoking gun' nugget of information. After watching a tenth anniversary Crimewatch TV special on the Madeleine case, he decided to alert cops. He rang Scotland Yard's Operation Grange team, who have been investigating the case since 2011, and left a bombshell voicemail. Det Con Mark Draycott recalled: 'Back then we still had a public phone number which was publicised around the world. 'Members of the public could ring in information in relation to Operation Grange, the Madeleine McCann investigation. "One of my jobs was to check the answer phone messages. On May 18th I checked the answer phone and there was a message. It was from a male by the sound of his voice, he spoke good English and he asked to speak to David Edgar (private investigator).' DC Draycott, who remains on Operation Grange, continued: 'He said he had information and he left a Greek mobile number. I then rang this Greek mobile number and spoke to a male I now know to be Helge Lars Busching He referred to himself as Lars and he gave information in relation to the Madeleine McCann investigation.' DC Draycott was part of a Scotland Yard team which flew to Athens three months later to question Busching in top secrecy. The interview took place in August 2017 in a hotel - after bugging equipment was brought in to check for listening devices. Busching had been released from a Greek jail weeks earlier and was on parole at the time. 'We spoke to him over two days and he gave us information in relation to the Madeleine McCann case,' DC Draycott revealed. 'He was scared, he had a distrust in the police. He was scared of giving a statement in such a high-profile case. He said he had a conversation with Christian at the Orgiva Festival in 2008.' His evidence was so explosive the Home Office gave the go-ahead for him to be flown to London to give a formal statement. It was during his interviews that Busching told detectives about other alleged crimes carried out by Brueckner in Portugal. He claimed to have found videos in his ramshackle Praia da Luz home of the German raping women. His story was backed up by Manfred Seyferth, Brueckner's partner-in-crime in Portugal, who said he had also seen the sick home movies. Scotland Yard worked in top secrecy for four months before alerting Germany's Bundeskriminalamt (BKA). Busching and Seyferth went on to become key witnesses in Brueckner's 2019 rape trial, for which he is currently behind bars. Behind the scenes, German prosecutors continued to desperately search for evidence linking him to Madeleine's disappearance. But with the case stalling, they took the dramatic decision to reveal for the first time that they had a prime suspect. Predictably, it made headlines around the world. Strict German privacy laws meant prosecutors could only identify their suspect as 'Christian B'. But it was only a matter of time before his full name leaked out. Over the following months, various people came forward making allegations against Brueckner. Three families claim he indecently exposed himself in front of their children in a playground and on a beach in Portugal. And Irish tour rep Hazel Behan told police she believed he was the intruder that raped her in her Algarve apartment. Prosecutors charged him over the attacks and also the rapes allegedly seen by Busching and Seyferth on video. However, unlike in the 2019 rape trial, their evidence flopped in court. Brueckner's defence team repeatedly accused the pair of lying and openly mocked them during proceedings. They were more sympathetic towards Ms Behan, but insisted she could not be certain the German was her attacker. So it came as no surprise to anyone when Brueckner was cleared of all charges last October. It was a disaster for prosecutors, who saw Busching - their proposed star witness in any Madeleine trial - ridiculed in court. Judge Ute Engemann branded his court testimony 'almost worthless' because he had been influenced by the Madeleine case. She said his statements were 'inconsistent' and described pal Seyferth's evidence as 'not convincing'. The judge went on to accuse Busching of 'seeking to profit' from his evidence and trying to get Brueckner locked up. Prosecutors do have other circumstantial evidence that possibly links Brueckner to Madeleine's disappearance. Mobile phone data reportedly shows his device was in the vicinity of the Ocean Club complex when she vanished in 2007. He received a half-hour phone call from a Portuguese number - +351 916510683 - an hour before Madeleine was last seen. Police have never traced the other caller. But Brueckner was living in or close to Praia da Luz at the time, so that evidence is hardly damning. More chilling is evidence discovered by chance in 2016 at an abandoned factory he owned in Neuwegersleben, near Braunschweig. Police found a hard-drive containing vile images of children, along with kids' swimming costumes and toys and firearms. Sick stories about kidnapping a mother and her young daughter outside a pre-school and abusing a young girl were also discovered on a laptop. There were also records of vile online chats, including one where he fantasised about 'capturing something small'. Given this circumstantial evidence, and with Brueckner's presence in the Algarve in 2007, it is understandable how he became the prime suspect. But is that enough to convict him of one of the most infamous crimes of the 21st century? Brueckner has already boasted he will go into hiding if he is released from prison in September. One former friend told me he expects the German to head to Cambodia or Vietnam. South America has also been mooted as a possible destination. Prosecutors are awaiting the outcome of an appeal against last year's verdicts lodged in Germany's Federal Court of Justice. If that is successful, Brueckner will remain behind bars ahead of a retrial next year or even 2027. But if, as most observers expect, the appeal fails, then charging him with Madeleine's abduction is the only chance to stop him walking free. Judging by the smirk on his face when I recently challenged him outside court, Brueckner fully expects to be released. That must be a heartbreaking prospect for Madeleine's family. We can only hope German prosecutors are withholding their trump card. But if they are, the time to play it is rapidly approaching.
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
Ditch your weekend plans to watch 'addictive' Italian crime thriller for free
If you're prepared to spend your weekend with two detectives on the hunt for a serial killer, Channel 4 has your next binge watch waiting. In the Italian crime drama Pale Mountains – titled Brennero when it was released in the US and Canada earlier this year – there's a murderer on the loose who is exclusively targeting German-speaking locals. Set in the Alpine city bridging Italy and Austria, the new four-part gritty thriller touches on the political and cultural forces at work in what is the meeting point between northern and southern Europe. All the while, a manhunt unfolds for a serial killer the police tried to catch years before but failed to. Think David Fincher's 2007 film Zodiac for what sort of vibe you'll get. The killer laid low for three years, but when a German man is killed, it has all the hallmarks of the notorious serial killer who was never caught. Heading up the investigation in the city of Bolzano are a classically mismatched pair of law enforcement officers, with grisled and discredited inspector Paolo Costa (Matteo Martari) and ambitious but rookie prosecutor Eva Kofler (Elena Radonicich). As they try to piece together the serial killer's identity, Costa and Kofler must also settle their differences, with radically contrasting approaches to hunting down the infamous Monster of Bolzano (Paolo Briguglia). The two officers become a microcosm for the differences within Bolzano itself as they try to uncover the so-called Monster, who has shattered what was an already fragile the sense of community. The Italian and German-language drama is now available for free on Channel 4 through the broadcaster's Walter Presents offshoot. Launching back in 2016, it is an on-demand platform with a selection of award-winning foreign-language dramas, hand-picked by Walter Iuzzolino. Strap in, because the Pale Mountains episodes are bumper-length and close to two hours a piece. More Trending Within the four two-hour episodes, there's a focus on the main manhunt, as well as other cases woven in around it and the personal lives of those involved. The show has a 6.9 rating on IDMb, from over 100 user reviews, and has been labelled an 'addictive watch' by Good Housekeeping. View More » Pale Mountains is available to stream on Channel 4. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: 'Underrated' 90s thriller compared to Criminal Minds is finally coming to Netflix MORE: 'Raw' thriller with unbelievable twist shoots to the top of Netflix chart MORE: All 7 episodes of Netflix thriller dubbed the new 'John Wick' have dropped
North Wales Chronicle
2 days ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Three killed in Ukraine as Russia continues drones offensive
According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched a barrage of 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defences destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed. Ukraine's police said two people were killed and six were injured over the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive. One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said. The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 15 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight. Kharkiv city mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian drones targeted residential districts, educational facilities, nurseries and other civilian infrastructure. 'Kharkiv is holding on. People are alive. And that is the most important thing,' Mr Terekhov said. The Russian military has launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and north-eastern parts of the 600-mile front line. While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs. Ukraine hit back with drone raids, with Russia's defence ministry saying air defences downed 52 Ukrainian drones early on Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks. The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as non-starters, making any quick deal unlikely. Speaking at a meeting of leaders of south-east European countries in Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the European Union to toughen its latest package of sanctions against Russia. He argued that lowering the cap on the price of Russian oil from 60 US dollars (£44) to 45 dollars (£33) as the bloc has proposed is not enough. German defence minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on Thursday on an unannounced visit, noting that the stepped-up Russian attacks on Ukraine send a message from Moscow that it has 'no interest in a peaceful solution at present', according to German news agency dpa. Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine. 'Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future – what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial co-operation, but also other support,' he said.
