logo
Stolen dog reunited with family in Bridgwater after three years

Stolen dog reunited with family in Bridgwater after three years

BBC Newsa day ago
A dog owner says it is incredible to have been reunited with her stolen Dachshund, three years after he went missing.Sue Johnson's dog, Archie, was stolen three years ago but is now safely back home in Bridgwater, Somerset, after the charity Beauty's Legacy, which helps reunite people with their pets, was able to locate him on Tuesday.Ms Johnson said she was "extremely grateful" to everyone who had helped in the search, adding Archie was well looked after while missing. "When you have lost a dog, you search every day, every dog. You go out in the car and you look at the dogs passing. It sticks with you all the time."Avon and Somerset Police are investigating what happened to Archie.
Ms Johnson added: "He hasn't been roughly treated, he's been well looked after. I'm thankful to whoever was looking after him."Lisa Dean, senior animal welfare officer at Beauty's Legacy, said it was rare to find a dog after so many years.
She said: "We're getting more and more success across the country but it's still quite rare to go three years and then find a stolen dog."What we always say to people is: vary your routine. People need to know not to leave their dogs in cars, not to leave them unattended."Avon and Somerset Police said they were "delighted" that Ms Johnson was reunited with Archie."New information relating to the case has been passed on to us and we have potential new lines of inquiry to review," a spokesperson added.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Accrington mosque stabbing: Man charged with attempted murder
Accrington mosque stabbing: Man charged with attempted murder

BBC News

timea minute ago

  • BBC News

Accrington mosque stabbing: Man charged with attempted murder

A man has been charged with attempted murder after a stabbing outside a mosque, police have said. Officers were called to the Raza Jamia Masjid in Accrington, Lancashire, on 18 July where they found a man in his 40s with a stab injury to his was taken to hospital where he remains in a serious but stable Hussain, 22, of Monk Street, Accrington, who was previously charged with Section 18 wounding, appeared at Preston Magistrates' Court earlier and was remanded into custody. Police were called to reports of violence elsewhere in the town on the same day, which included about a dozen people fighting in Steiner Street with were also dispatched to Craven Street following reports of a further assault, which had happened in Richmond Street.A man was taken to hospital with an injury consistent with being stabbed in the three incidents are being treated as linked and the investigation continues. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

Britain's police must regain public trust
Britain's police must regain public trust

Telegraph

timea minute ago

  • Telegraph

Britain's police must regain public trust

Policing Britain's streets can be a thankless task. Officers this weekend were called upon to attend events from very different parts of the political spectrum. From the Left, supporters of the proscribed group Palestine Action marched in a direct challenge to the state's ability to enforce the law. From the Right, activists gathered outside migrant hotels planted in communities across the country. Police officers can be forgiven for feeling a bit like an occupying force trying to keep the peace between opposing tribes. The breakdown of trust in British policing engendered by widespread perceptions of a two-tiered approach to public order and a conspicuous failure to deal with lower-level disorder in the form of shoplifting and phone-snatching has done great damage. Officers who were trusted members of the community are now talked about by some as if they are representatives of a distant and unaccountable state, deployed to enforce its will rather than to fairly and impartially enforce the law. The blame for such impressions rest partly upon poor operational decision-making and prioritisation, but primarily upon decisions taken in Westminster which have too often left police forces in an invidious position. The migrant hotel protests and their spread through social media have been fuelled by Sir Keir Starmer's conspicuous failure to get to grips with illegal migration, despite his election promises. The wave of shoplifting can in part be traced back to decisions taken under the previous Conservative government. Rebuilding lost trust will take time and effort. As Janet Daley writes today, the brazenness of current offenders produces a sense of social chaos that is deeply demoralising. It will take an effort comparable to that conducted by Bill Bratton in 1990s New York to combat it. The response of the Metropolitan Police to the Palestine Action protests today was a good starting point. Rather than once again being perceived to indulge the hard Left, the police acted swiftly when activists deliberately breached the Terrorism Act by declaring support for a banned group. At least 200 people, including former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, were arrested. The long-term solution, however, clearly lies with Parliament. Campaigners who had planned today's open declarations of support for Palestine Action had pledged to overwhelm the criminal justice system, to stress-test Britain's ability to actually enforce its laws. Given the overcrowded state of our jails, the woeful backlogs in our courts and the stretched condition of our police forces, such a test was not guaranteed to fail. It would be greatly to the benefit of the public if these elements could be addressed, and the epidemic of lower-level crime confronted.

Police emergency call centre boss lied Ronan Keating was his cousin before sending fake messages 'from' the star to a married female colleague
Police emergency call centre boss lied Ronan Keating was his cousin before sending fake messages 'from' the star to a married female colleague

Daily Mail​

timea minute ago

  • Daily Mail​

Police emergency call centre boss lied Ronan Keating was his cousin before sending fake messages 'from' the star to a married female colleague

A police 999 emergency call centre boss who claimed singer Ronan Keating was his cousin sent fake messages from the star to a married female colleague. Wayne O'Sullivan, 46, a supervisor at Met Command and Control in London, also smashed an 'elaborate' Easter egg he bought her into the office bin when she rejected the gift. He also gave her the pet name 'Brunchie' in WhatsApp messages and gave her a note in the emergency call centre addressed to 'Miss FussyKnickers', Croydon Magistrates' Court was told. O'Sullivan, a married man from Stansted in Essex, was convicted of harassing Samantha Davis between June 4 and June 7 last year and will be sentenced on October 23. She told the trial she has worked at the Metropolitan Police 's Lambeth centre in south London for 17 years and O'Sullivan was her supervisor. They were platonic friends, but O'Sullivan began giving her unwanted gifts such as expensive Jimmy Choo perfume, called 'I Want Choo.' He also bought her hair care products and Italian liqueur Disaronno. Mrs Davis told the court from behind a screen: 'He was up and down, like Jekyll and Hyde, and was putting a lot of his worries on me. 'He would get angry if I did not reply to his messages straight away and it got too much. I felt like I was being watched.' On March 27 last year she received a 'goodie bag' from O'Sullivan, including a signed picture of rock group Queen, an autographed photo of Boyzone singer Ronan Keating and chocolate and hair care products. Mrs Davis told the court: 'He said Ronan Keating was his cousin, but said to keep it quiet.' She described how her husband Les was 'not happy and did not think it was normal behaviour', adding: 'It was all unwanted attention and constant text messages and I found the Jimmy Choo perfume quite creepy. 'He was intimidating me and liked to play the victim and make me look wrong all the time and that I was not grateful.' During the complainant's period of sick leave, O'Sullivan also deposited £2,000 and then two payments of £1,000 into her bank account, which she returned. Mrs Davis told the court: 'He said, "I want to help you". He did not realise the dread I was feeling.' On March 30 last year O'Sullivan placed an Easter egg on her desk in full view of work colleagues, attaching a note, which read: 'This is your Easter egg. I've had it for four weeks. Fell free to put it in the bin or give it away.' She said: 'It was quite a big, elaborate Easter egg. I was embarrassed and mortified.' She returned it to his desk, adding a note that read: 'I can't believe you left this on my desk with this note for everyone to see. 'I've told you how much trouble your gifts give me. No more presents. Stop.' She went on to describe to the court how he then 'stormed across the room and launched the egg into the empty bin with such force the partition shook and the noise caused me and my colleagues to jump'. Mrs Davis added: 'It was quite scary and he had a red, angry face.' She blocked O'Sullivan on WhatsApp, but not before telling him he was 'narcissist' and 'controlling'. She said: 'I sent him that message, telling him what I thought of him. 'It was awful, unbearable to be at the office. He would face in the direction I sat and watch me with this red, angry face all the time. 'It was horrible. I did not feel safe going to work. I was afraid to go down to the car park to my car in case he was there.' While busy despatching police to emergency calls, Mrs Davis felt O'Sullivan's presence near her desk as he gave her a birthday note addressing her as 'Miss FussyKnickers'. She said: 'What was a few minutes felt like a lifetime as he stood in front of me while I was working.' The defendant followed up with more unwanted phone texts including a message saying: 'It hurts so much. Why don't you care about me anymore? 'It's a living hell, you must have noticed the weight I lost and I feel like jumping in front of a bus.' A bogus message purportedly from Ronan Keating asked the victim to have sympathy for O'Sullivan, saying: 'He sits on his own in his car at the scene of his daughter's death.' Things took a more sinister turn when O'Sullivan posed as the female partner of a former control centre employee, accusing the victim of an affair with her one time colleague. One message read, 'Stop contacting my Luke, you b****,' while another said: 'Block him and stop contacting him or I will destroy your marriage.' O'Sullivan included the correct phone number of Mrs Davis' husband in some of the messages. The victim was ordered to comply or face consequences, with a threat of: 'This way everyone keeps their partners and it won't get messy.' Mrs Davis said: 'I thought it was Wayne straight away. In his phone text messages he puts a full stop after a question mark and that is incorrect grammar. 'In the Ronan Keating ones the same grammatical error is there with the question mark.' Police also exposed that even though O'Sullivan switched SIM cards, the harassing messages came from his phone. He claimed a woman called 'Chloe', with whom he had a brief affair, sent the messages when she borrowed his phone to play an installed game. O'Sullivan told the trial he was under tremendous mental strain at the time as he was suspended and subject to a nine-month disciplinary investigation over his handling of a missing person report that ended in tragedy. He said: 'I dismissed the missing person report and later the person was found dead in their flat. I had a breakdown of sorts and lost 3st in weight. 'I was suspended, distraught. I needed medical help, but was too embarrassed to ask for help.' During his suspension O'Sullivan was still expected to complete his hours in the office, where he spent most of his time on his iPad. Regarding Mrs Davis, he said: 'We became very close friends emotionally. She has cried down the phone to me twice and told me of her troubles and I told her mine.' Discussing the birthday note, he insisted: 'I was trying to make things up and apologise and say I really cared for her as a friend. 'Because I was suspended I was left to sit in a chair for twelve hours with nothing to do.' He admitted sending the Ronan Keating texts, adding: 'That was me crying for help again.' O'Sullivan insisted Chloe, with whom he had lost contact, was responsible for the more sinister messages, saying: 'That is her trying to copy my style of writing. 'I did not send those messages, I don't understand that style. I do not message in that style as I am dyslexic and I don't understand it.' When Mrs Davis reported O'Sullivan, he was arrested at 4am and spent fifteen hours in a police cell. Prosecutor Paul Douglas put to him: 'You decided you were going to do everything you could to ruin her marriage didn't you? By the beginning of March you had already began planning how to ruin her marriage. 'You decided to take revenge on her didn't you? You wanted to cause her really serious distress in the office with the messages you sent.' O'Sullivan continued denying the charge, claiming: 'I didn't do those ones. It wasn't me.' District Judge Polly Gledhill rejected his evidence and bailed O'Sullivan for a pre-sentence report.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store