Man accused of suitcase murders claims he was ‘raped every day'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
15 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Barcelona 'take emergency financial action to register Marcus Rashford' in time for new LaLiga season - with Man United loan star 'not eligible' to play
Barcelona 's board have reportedly agreed to take drastic emergency action in a bid to register their summer signings in time for the start of the new LaLiga campaign, which starts in just three days. Marcus Rashford, who secured his exit from Manchester United by joining the Catalan giants on loan last month, is one of two new signings currently ineligible to play for Barcelona during the 2025-26 season, along with goalkeeper Joan Garcia. As the Spanish champions have been overspending on their wage bill, which is restricted by LaLiga in accordance to each club's revenue, Barcelona are unable to register any new players. In an effort to tackle overspending in other sporting departments - and thus ease the salary situation - Barcelona's executives have put their own personal wealth at risk as part of a bank guarantee worth €7million (£6m, $8.2m), according to The Athletic. The Catalans also took the drastic action in December 2023 for the same reason. Like Rashford and Garcia, returning goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and defender Gerard Martin, who will now be part of the first team rather than reserves, risk sitting on the sidelines until the winter transfer window opens in January. According to Barcelona sources, there is still an expectation around the club that all players will be registered. The Spanish giants are also waiting to be informed by La Liga whether they can take advantage of Marc-Andre ter Stegen's back injury to register a new player, with the goalkeeper set to be out for approximately three to five months. However, it is believed Rashford would not benefit from this decision, with Barcelona reportedly keen to register Garcia, who joined in June, in place of Ter Stegen ahead of the former Manchester United exile.
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
'Lonely' gangster taken to court under armed guard 'tired of life of crime and wants to go straight'
Jamie Rothwell was hiding out in Spain after receiving death threat warnings. A gangster who survived an assassination attempt is "determined" to turn his back on his life of crime - as he's "tired" of living on the wrong side of the law, a court has heard. Jamie Rothwell faces a "very long" jail term for masterminding the sale of firearms, massive drug deals and underworld hits from his Spanish bolthole. From his apartment in Barcelona, Rothwell orchestrated a crime plot which saw a man being shot as part of a gangland feud. Police became aware of the plots after discovering messages unearthed by the encrypted EncroChat communications platform when it was hacked by European law enforcement. The 38-year-old was found to be operating under the radar with other criminals under the pseudonym 'live-long'. He was extradited back to the UK to face justice, and has appeared at Manchester Crown Court this week for his sentencing hearing. He was brought to court under armed guard from HMP Wakefield, a high security jail often called 'Monster Mansion'. During a court hearing today, Wednesday, August 13, 2025, it was revealed that Rothwell is 'tired of the life he has lived' and wants to turn his back on crime. He wants to help people thinking of following a similar path and persuade them to instead live a law-abiding life, according to his barrister. Reflecting on Rothwell's 2020 arrest, barrister Chris Henley KC said: 'He has had almost five years to reflect upon his life so far". He said Rothwell had composed a handwritten letter, which he said was a 'reflection of his attitude' towards his crimes, 'the way he has lived his life up to this point, and particularly the impact of the way he has lived…has had on those he really cares about'. He said the letter sets out 'feelings of remorse and regret'. Mr Henley argued that Rothwell's decision to plead guilty was 'relatively unusual'. Perhaps for someone who knows they are facing a very long sentence, particularly perhaps somebody who attends court in company with long standing associates facing similar charges,' he told the court. 'It is relatively unusual, and to some extent perhaps morally courageous for them to say, 'I now want this to stop'." Mr Rothwell is tired of the life he has lived. All that he has really achieved is isolation, loneliness, fear and a life away from his family. It is a conclusion and attitude that in due course and experience he would like to share with others." Manchester Evening News reports he added: "Perhaps younger people who perhaps stand on the edge of some sort of offending precipice. For him to put perhaps to one side the bravado, and hype, and glamorisation around serious offences, and communicate some hard truths to people as to what life really looks like.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Mr Henley said that relationships between criminals in the underworld are very often 'quite transactional'. He claimed there was a 'direct example' in the way in which fellow defendant Craig Makinson 'tried to run his trial'. He claimed that Makinson's contention that he had been threatened by Rothwell was 'utterly opportunistic' and 'almost laughable'. 'There was not a shred of evidence of that in the exchanges,' the KC said. He said Makinson, who was convicted of drugs and firearms offences, had once been 'quite a close associate' of Rothwell. 'He has spent years now in Wakefield prison,' Mr Henley said of his client. He said Rothwell had a brief spell in Strangeways prison in Manchester. There, he was the victim of what was described as a 'ferocious, almost fatal assault'. The M.E.N. previously reported how Rothwell's case had to be halted last summer after he was knifed in the jail, formally known as HMP Manchester. He has time now to think about where his priorities in the future will lie,' Mr Henley said. The barrister said Rothwell was asking the judge to give him 'some hope'. He is now a much wiser and mature man,' the KC said. He asked the judge to give Rothwell 'some prospect of living differently for the remainder of his life'. Mr Henley told the court that Rothwell had been 'quite talented' as a youngster, and was 'particularly good at rugby'. Referencing Rothwell's parents, the barrister said: 'They were unable to prevent him perhaps being seduced by some of the superficial lifestyle others had made, older people on the estate where he lived.' He said it had been 'very difficult' for Rothwell's parents. 'He knows he has broken their hearts,' Mr Henley said. 'He became more and more embedded in the kind of life that has led him to this point,' the KC added. It may not engage much sympathy.' He said that 'once that motion is set' it can be 'very difficult to divert'. As Mr Rothwell got older, that was the path he was on,' Mr Henley said. 'It has obviously led to serious danger. He is now tired of living like that. "Mr Rothwell is determined and has decided to draw a line." He said that Rothwell had been 'hiding out' in Barcelona after receiving threat to life warnings. He knows what is ahead of him,' the KC said. 'Years in high security conditions in very confined space, with a mind numbing routine that he will have to make the best of.' He said that three members of staff from HMP Wakefield had submitted references on Rothwell's behalf. 'He has not just been a good inmate, not causing trouble,' Mr Henley added. He has been a positive influence, a positive conduit between the authorities and other inmates.' Rothwell was a leading light in the Salford gang feud which erupted between 2014 and 2019 between rival outfits the A Team and the Anti A-Team. Rothwell was said to be the right-hand-man of Michael Carroll, the alleged leader of the Anti A-Team, in opposition to the A-Team. The A-Team is said to be led by Stephen Britton. Gangster Paul Massey was said to be Britton's mentor. Rothwell was shot at a car wash in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan, in March 2015 as part of the feud. A gunman sprayed bullets at him but Rothwell survived. In July that year, Massey was shot dead outside his home in Salford by Mark Fellows, an Anti A-Team associate nicknamed The Iceman. Months later, in October, seven-year-old Christian Hickey was shot at his doorstep as the A Team sought revenge in a botched hit, thought to have been targeting the schoolboy's father, a close associate of Carroll. In October 2020, after being brought back from Barcelona, Rothwell went on trial at Manchester Crown Court. Alongside four other men, including Mark Fellows, he was accused of conspiring to murder two A Team associates, after one was shot in February 2015 and the other attacked with a machete in March that year. Rothwell was found not guilty of all charges. At some point after his acquittals, Rothwell left the country. He was arrested in Amsterdam on December 14, 2020, before being extradited back to the UK in March 2021 after police obtained a European Arrest Warrant. In February this year, Rothwell pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and one count of conspiracy to possess ammunition with intent to endanger life. He was also charged with conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, namely cocaine; two counts of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and a single count of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class B, namely ketamine. He pleaded not guilty to five other charges. They were two counts of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent; two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, namely diamorphine and cannabis and a single count of possession of criminal property, namely money. Rothwell had been on trial last year after denying a series of charges. But the case was adjourned after he was attacked in Strangeways prison. Rothwell and his co-defendants, Andrew Ackers, Scott Davies, Craig Makinson, John Moore, James Close, Callum Morris, Zak Rourke, Terence McDonagh and John Stankus are expected to be sentenced tomorrow (Thurs).
Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Tenerife dubbed 'new Costa del Crime' amid cut-throat mafia drug wars
The murky underbelly of Tenerife is getting out of control, experts warn, with Italian mafia clans arriving desperate for a cut of the drugs cash - kicking off dangerous turf wars Holiday hotspot Tenerife is so riddled with drugs that revellers are reportedly being tempted into bars on the promise of a free line of cocaine if they buy a drink. But the murky world of supply is turning the popular party island in the wild west, with the destination now dubbed the 'new Costa del Crime' with some of Europe's most dangerous gangs racing to the Spain's Canary Islands so they don't miss out. It has been described as a turf war between Italian Ndrangheta, the Manchester narcos with even the Hells Angels involved as Tenerife's dark side becomes more and more apparent. In a chilling development, the Italian mafia are said to be becoming more and more comes after police shame British drugs mules by making them pose for photos with suitcases. Experts are warning that the beautiful island popular with British families has become a gateway for organised crime groups. It is clear Tenerife is starting to be flooded with Class A drugs, making it more and more dangerous with increasingly volatile turf wars. Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso told the Sun that crime is now getting out of control on the island: He said: 'Several organised crime groups operate in Tenerife. Amongst the most prominent are Italian mafia clans, especially from Camorra, Ndrangheta and the Casamonica Family. 'These groups originate from regions such as Campania, Calabria, and Rome and they are involved in large-scale money laundering, cyber fraud, and cocaine and hashish trafficking, often using Tenerife as a hub. 'British gangs, mainly from cities like Liverpool and Manchester, control much of the street-level distribution of drugs in tourist areas and have reportedly clashed with Italian groups over territory, which has led to turf wars and occasional violence.' While Tenerife has been long been seen by Brits as just one more Spanish holiday destination, its more sinister side has come into focus as investigators probe the death of Jay Slater. Before the discovery of his body, police on the island were said exploring all possibilities – including conspiracies he has been kidnapped. Gang experts have said in the past Italian organised crime groups are increasingly working with local criminals to bring cocaine into Europe from Latin America – often using the Canary Islands as a staging post of illegal shipments. A Europol statement said these 'Ndrangheta gangsters would routinely use 'violence and torture' to intimidate their rivals. "The presence of Italian Mafia groups across Spain is multidimensional,' writes organised crime expert Professor Anna Sergi. 'The lifestyle, similar climate, and language are considered some of the reasons why Italian Mafia members …have often chosen Spain as new country of activity and residence." Spain's Balearic Islands are well known for drug trafficking – a senior member of the De Micco clan was recently caught running drugs into Ibiza. But anywhere that tourists gather is a prime target for drug dealers: a member of the clan Mazzarella was arrested last year on drugs offences in Gran Canaria. Eight Mafia gangsters, as well as a Colombian cartel boss, were arrested in a major operation on Tenerife in December 2023. An armed police raid on a Tenerife villa uncovered some 950 kilos of uncut cocaine, as well as a stash of weapons and thousands in cash.
