BREAKING NEWS Husband is jailed for life for murdering wife and hiding her body under the stairs
A husband has been jailed for life for murdering his wife and hiding her body under the stairs.
This is a breaking news story, it'll be updated soon.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Joe Biden's only hand-signed pardon during his final months in office
Joe Biden's only hand-signed pardon during his final months in office was also his most controversial - his son, Hunter. The bombshell comes as Donald Trump ordered a sweeping investigation into Biden's use of an autopen to sign a huge number of presidential documents. Trump alleges the widespread reliance on the device that replicates a person's signature concealed Biden's 'serious cognitive decline' and amounted to a 'dangerous and unprecedented conspiracy.' Biden, battling an aggressive form of prostate cancer and facing mounting questions about his mental acuity throughout his time in the White House, granted clemency to more than 1,500 individuals in his final weeks in office. Biden's administration touted the figure as the largest single-day act of clemency in US history. But according to documents reviewed by the Department of Justice and White House officials, virtually all of those pardons were signed using the autopen. The one glaring exception was Biden's controversial hand-signed pardon of his son Hunter, shielding him from prosecution for any federal crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024. For months, Biden had assured Americans he would not interfere in his son's legal woes but in December 2024, after Hunter pleaded guilty to felony gun charges and faced additional federal tax violations , Biden suddenly reversed course. 'From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,' Biden said in an emotional address. 'There has been an effort to break Hunter - who has been five-and-a-half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me - and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough. 'I hope Americans will understand why a father - and a president- would come to this decision.' Aside from three felony gun offenses, the first son was also charged with federal tax crimes over his alleged failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Special Counsel David Weiss, who led the probe into Hunter, blasted Biden's pardon as an affront to justice. In a report, Weiss excoriated Biden's public statement dismissing the years-long investigation as 'selective' and 'infected by raw politics.' 'This statement is gratuitous and wrong,' Weiss wrote. 'Other presidents have pardoned family members, but none have used the occasion to malign public servants based solely on false accusations.' The pardon effectively ended Weiss's investigation, barring any further charges against Hunter Biden. Biden also issued pardons for his two brothers and his sister shortly before leaving office, hoping to shield them from potential prosecution under Trump, who had promised retribution during last year's campaign. Other pardon recipients included members of a congressional committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. Now back in the White House, Trump has seized on the controversy, ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Counsel David Warrington (pictured) to investigate Biden's use of the autopen. In a scathing memorandum, Trump stated: 'It has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden's aides abused the power of presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden's cognitive decline and assert Article II authority. 'This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.' Trump's directive calls for a forensic review of every document signed during Biden's presidency. It includes everything from pardons, executive orders, judicial appointments and proclamations to determine which bore Biden's authentic signature and which were replicated by autopen. The autopen, though little-known to the public, has long been used by US presidents to manage the deluge of documents requiring a signature. The device can accurately replicate a signature, saving presidents precious time. The Justice Department, under Democratic and Republican administrations, has recognized the use of an autopen by presidents to sign legislation and issue pardons for decades - and even Trump himself acknowledges using it. 'Autopens to me are used when thousands of letters come in from young people all over the country and you want to get them back,' Trump said on Thursday. 'Biden's cognitive issues and apparent mental decline during his presidency were even 'worse' in private, and those closest to him 'tried to hide it' from the public,' Trump said in his statement. 'To do so, Biden's advisors during his years in office severely restricted his news conferences and media appearances, and they scripted his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors, all to cover up his inability to discharge his duties.' Past presidents, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, have employed the autopen in limited circumstances, such as signing routine letters or lower-level appointments. However, critics argue that Biden's reliance on the device was unprecedented. An exhaustive review by the Oversight Project found that nearly every document from Biden's presidency from 2021 to 2025 bore identical autopen signatures, except for the document announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race. Biden's reliance on the autopen came as his public appearances diminished, with aides scripting his engagements, heavily curating his interactions with lawmakers, and significantly limiting press conferences. Behind the scenes, insiders claim Biden's inner circle - including family members - wielded disproportionate influence, raising fresh questions about who was truly making presidential decisions. Trump, while acknowledging he occasionally used the autopen himself , argues Biden's alleged overuse could nullify significant executive actions. 'Essentially, whoever used the autopen was the president,' Trump said during a press conference. 'That's wrong. It's illegal. It's so bad and it's so disrespectful to our country.' House Oversight Chairman James Comer has launched parallel inquiries, demanding testimony from Biden's former top aides including Mike Donilon, Anita Dunn, Ron Klain, Bruce Reed, and Steve Ricchetti , alleging they participated in a 'cover-up' of Biden's cognitive decline. Comer cited explosive allegations from CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson's book 'Original Sin,' which claimed 'five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.' The committee has also issued subpoenas for Biden's physician Kevin O'Connor and several White House aides who reportedly helped shield Biden's true condition from public view. Republicans argue that if Biden's aides, not Biden himself, made key decisions, it could throw into question the validity of major executive actions including the pardons of his siblings, other family members, and members of the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot. Biden has lashed back at the accusations. 'Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false,' Biden said in a statement. Biden's reliance on the autopen came as his public appearances diminished, with aides scripting his engagements, heavily curating his interactions with lawmakers, and significantly limiting press conferences. Behind the scenes, insiders claim Biden's inner circle - including family members - wielded disproportionate influence, raising fresh questions about who was truly making presidential decisions. He accused Trump and Congressional Republicans of creating a 'distraction' to divert attention from ongoing political battles, including a contentious tax bill moving through Congress. 'This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans,' Biden declared. 'They are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families.' In private, Biden's aides insist that autopen use was limited to routine matters, and that Biden personally reviewed major decisions. However, newly surfaced internal memos suggest that a handful of senior advisors controlled access to the president and directed autopen usage without always consulting him, raising further doubts about the authenticity of some presidential actions. The implications are enormous - if Trump's investigation finds that Biden's use of the autopen was improper, it could challenge the legitimacy of thousands of presidential decisions, from judicial appointments to sweeping regulatory changes. House Republicans are already signaling they may attempt to invalidate actions signed via autopen, raising constitutional questions that could land before the Supreme Court. 'The American people deserve to know who was really running the country,' Trump said. 'This scandal could be one of the greatest in American history.'
Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Boeing seals £812m deal to avoid prosecution over 737 Max plane crashes that killed 346 people - as lawyer for victims' families condemns agreement as 'morally repugnant'
Boeing has reached a deal with the US Department of Justice to avoid prosecution over crashes involving a 737 Max plane that killed 346 people. The agreement, outlined in a court filing this week, will see the aerospace giant pay $1.1 billion (£812 million), including a $487.2 million criminal penalty, half of which was already paid in a previous settlement. The move has been blasted by the victims' families' lawyer, Sanjiv Singh, who told the BBC the deal was a 'morally repugnant' escape which allowed the firm to 'sidestep true criminal accountability'. If approved by a federal judge, the deal would protect the firm from a criminal fraud trial. The company previously said it is 'deeply sorry' for their loss, adding that it remains 'committed to honouring their loved one's memories' by pressing ahead with changes to the company. The deal would also see $444.5m in compensation to families of the crash victims. It will also put $455m towards improving its compliance, safety and quality programmes. Boeing would also agree to pay a criminal penalty of $487.2m, although half of that was already paid in 2021. The two Boeing 737 Max crashes, which happened less than five months apart, claimed 346 lives and sparked global outrage. In October 2018, Lion Air flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, in Indonesia killing all 189 people on board. Then, in March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed minutes after departing Addis Ababa, resulting in the deaths of 157 passengers and crew. Both disasters were later traced to faulty flight control systems, leading to the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max fleet for nearly two years. Since then, many families of the victims have spent years demanding a full public trial, tougher penalties for Boeing, and the prosecution of senior company executives. In 2021, Boeing avoided criminal prosecution by reaching a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice, which included a $243.6 million fine. However, prosecutors later alleged that Boeing had breached the terms of its 2021 deferred prosecution agreement by failing to put in place promised reforms to detect and prevent future violations of federal anti-fraud laws. In response, Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to a felony fraud charge, potentially avoiding a lengthy and high-profile public trial. It will be the fourth meeting between the DOJ and the families, some of whom are seen here in 2019, of those who died in the two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 But in December, US District Judge Reed O'Connor rejected the plea deal. He raised concerns that government and corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies could influence the selection of an independent monitor, the person responsible for overseeing Boeing's compliance, and argued that race might become a factor in the appointment process. A spokesperson for Boeing said: 'Boeing is committed to complying with its obligations under this resolution, which include a substantial additional fine and commitments to further institutional improvements and investments. 'The resolution also provides for substantial additional compensation for the families of those lost in the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents. 'We are deeply sorry for their losses, and remain committed to honouring their loved ones' memories by pressing forward with the broad and deep changes to our company that we have made to strengthen our safety system and culture.' MailOnline approached the US Justice Department for comment. The firm maker has also been plagued by other incidents involving its other planes in the US. Last year, a wheel fell off a Boeing 777-200 shortly after takeoff in San Francisco, with the wheel falling after takeoff, crushing cars parked below after it plummeted to the ground. The United Airlines flight 35 left San Francisco Airport on its way to Osaka in Japan and was barely off the runway when the Boeing 777-200's wheel came off. The plane with 235 passengers and 14 crew diverted to Los Angeles Airport after it was alerted to the landing gear failure and safely landed with no further issues and no injuries reported. Just days before this, a 737 engine caught fire mid-flight with a heart-stopping video catching the moment the Boeing jet's engines exploded and burst into flames in the skies above Texas, forcing an emergency landing. The terrifying incident took place just minutes into a United Airlines flight bound for Fort Myers, Florida. Moments later, they were forced to make an emergency landing and return to George H. Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport moments after takeoff. No injuries were reported in the incident.
The Independent
33 minutes ago
- The Independent
Jury finds 2 men guilty of supplying the bomb used to kill Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
A Maltese jury found two men guilty of complicity in the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, after a six-week long trial covering two homicides wrapped up late on Thursday. Jamie Vella and Robert Agius were accused of supplying the bomb that killed her. Both were found guilty of the charges. The journalist was murdered on Oct. 16, 2017, by a car bomb that was detonated while she was driving near her home. Caruana Galizia, 53, had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in Malta. Her murder shocked Europe and triggered angry protests in Malta. Caruana Galizia's investigative reports had targeted people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak. She also targeted the opposition. When she was killed, she was facing more than 40 libel suits. The Caruana Galizia family said in a statement that Thursday's verdict brings them a step closer to justice. 'Yet, eight years after Daphne's brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed,' the family added. Vella and Robert Agius, together with two other men – George Degiorgio and Adrian Agius – also faced charges related to the separate murder of a lawyer, Carmel Chircop, who was shot and killed in 2015. Vella, Degiorgio and Adrian Agius were found guilty of charges tied to the murder, while Robert Agius was found not guilty. The judge will decide on sentencing at a later date. George Degiorgio and his brother Alfred Degiorgio both pleaded guilty in 2022 to carrying out the murder of Caruana Galizia. They were each sentenced to 40 years in prison. A third man, Vincent Muscat, pleaded guilty in 2021 for his role in the Caruana Galizia murder, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He testified in the recent jury trial after being granted a presidential pardon for his role in the Chircop murder on the condition he tell the whole truth. Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, is currently out of jail on bail awaiting trial on charges of alleged complicity in the Caruana Galizia murder.
