‘It's out of control': Shop owner hits out at vandals after window was smashed
A shop owner has said a group of youths are out of control after his store was vandalised on Shirley Road, causing approximately £1,000 worth of damage.
Sandeep Kumar has owned News and Photos in Shirley for a little over a year but said the past two months is the worst he has ever known it, with a group of youths repeatedly targeting the store, as well as other businesses on the high street.
Speaking to the Echo he said: 'In two months, the shop has had its window broken, I've had alcohol stolen, boxes of chocolates taken, the sign directly outside the entrance has been taken and moved further up the road.
'Before the last couple of months everything was fine but then all of a sudden something bad is happening in Shirley every day, it's out of control.
'Poundland have had many problems, other shops in the precinct have been targeted, Subway also had their window kicked, I've not known anything like it.'
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After refusing to let a group of teenagers but alcohol from his convenience store two weeks ago, Sandeep watched on as his shop window was kicked and then hit with a broomstick, causing in the region of £750 to £1,000 of damage.
'I think more needs to be done to prevent this kind of bad behaviour happening in the future,' Sandeep added.
'The police are aware of the issues we've been having, and I think they know what's happened to other businesses too.
'We're good people here and we really like the community and try and look after our customers.
'It's difficult when a group of people that are so young are causing damage and causing stress for people.
'It's hard enough sometimes running a business; nobody needs extra hassle. It's something you think about because you wonder when it's going to stop.
'I shouldn't have to worry about people coming in and stealing things.
'Even if the items are small, it all ads up and £20 worth of stock can disappear just like that.
"There's only so much you're able to do. Day to day it is getting worse and worse."
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CNN
5 hours ago
- CNN
Reopening a 688-year-old murder case reveals a tangled web of adultery and extortion in medieval England
The sun was setting on a busy London street on a May evening in 1337 when a group of men approached a priest named John Forde. They surrounded him in front of a church near Old St. Paul's Cathedral, stabbed him in the neck and stomach, and then fled. Witnesses identified his killers, but just one assailant went to prison. And the woman who might have ordered the brazen and shocking hit — Ela Fitzpayne, a wealthy and powerful aristocrat — was never brought to justice, according to historical records describing the case. Nearly 700 years later, new details have come to light about the events leading up to the brutal crime and the noblewoman who was likely behind it. Her criminal dealings included theft and extortion as well as the murder of Forde — who was also her former lover. Forde (his name also appeared in records as 'John de Forde') could have been part of a crime gang led by Fitzpayne, according to a recently discovered document. The group robbed a nearby French-controlled priory, taking advantage of England's deteriorating relationship with France to extort the church, researchers reported in a study published June 6 in the journal Criminal Law Forum. But the wayward priest may have then betrayed Fitzpayne to his religious superiors. The Archbishop of Canterbury penned a letter in 1332 that the new report also linked to Forde's murder. In the letter, the archbishop denounced Fitzpayne and accused her of committing serial adultery 'with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders.' The archbishop's letter named one of Fitzpayne's many paramours: Forde, who was rector of a parish church in a village on the Fitzpayne family's estate in Dorset. In the wake of this damning accusation, the church assigned Fitzpayne humiliating public penance. Years later, she exacted her revenge by having Forde assassinated, according to lead study author Dr. Manuel Eisner, a professor at the UK's University of Cambridge and director of its Institute of Criminology. This 688-year-old murder 'provides us with further evidence about the entanglement of the clergy in secular affairs — and the very active role of women in managing their affairs and their relationships,' Dr. Hannah Skoda, an associate professor of medieval history in St. John's College at the UK's Oxford University, told CNN in an email. 'In this case, events dragged on for a very long time, with grudges being held, vengeance sought and emotions running high,' said Skoda, who was not involved in the research. The new clues about Forde's murder provide a window into the dynamics of medieval revenge killings, and how staging them in prestigious public spaces may have been a display of power, according to Eisner. Eisner is a cocreator and project leader of Medieval Murder Maps, an interactive digital resource that collects cases of homicide and other sudden or suspicious deaths in 14th century London, Oxford and York. Launched by Cambridge in 2018, the project translates reports from coroners' rolls — records written by medieval coroners in Latin noting the details and motives of crimes, based on the deliberation of a local jury. Jurors would listen to witnesses, examine evidence and then name a suspect. In the case of Forde's murder, the coroner's roll stated that Fitzpayne and Forde had quarreled, and that she persuaded four men — her brother, two servants and a chaplain — to kill him. On that fateful evening, as the chaplain approached Forde in the street and distracted him with conversation, his accomplices struck. Fitzpayne's brother slit his throat, and the servants stabbed Forde in the belly. Only one of the assailants, a servant named Hugh Colne, was charged in the case and imprisoned at Newgate in 1342. 'I was initially fascinated by the text in the coroner's record,' Eisner told CNN in an email, describing the events as 'a dream-like scene that we can see through hundreds of years.' The report left Eisner wanting to learn more. 'One would love to know what the members of the investigative jury discussed,' he said. 'One wonders about how and why 'Ela' convinces four men to kill a priest, and what the nature of this old quarrel between her and John Forde might have been. That's what led me to examine this further.' Eisner tracked down the archbishop's letter in a 2013 dissertation by medieval historian and author Helen Matthews. The archbishop's accusation assigned severe punishments and public penance to Fitzpayne, such as donating large sums of money to the poor, abstaining from wearing gold or precious gems, and walking in her bare feet down the length of Salisbury Cathedral toward the altar, carrying a wax candle that weighed about four pounds. She was ordered to perform this so-called walk of shame every fall for seven years. Though she seemingly defied the archbishop and never performed the penance, the humiliation 'may have triggered her thirst for revenge,' the study authors wrote. The second clue that Eisner unearthed was a decade older than the letter: a 1322 investigation of Forde and Fitzpayne by a royal commission, following a complaint filed by a French Benedictine priory near the Fitzpayne castle. The report was translated and published in 1897 but had not yet been connected to Forde's murder at that point. According to the 1322 indictment, Fitzpayne's crew — which included Forde and her husband, Sir Robert, a knight of the realm — smashed gates and buildings at the priory and stole roughly 200 sheep and lambs, 30 pigs and 18 oxen, driving them back to the castle and holding them for ransom. Eisner said he was astonished to find that Fitzpayne, her husband and Forde were mentioned in a case of cattle rustling during a time of rising political tensions with France. 'That moment was quite exciting,' he said. 'I would never have expected to see these three as members of a group involved in low-level warfare against a French Priory.' During this time in British history, city dwellers were no strangers to violence. In Oxford alone, homicide rates during the late medieval period were about 60 to 75 deaths per 100,000 people, a rate about 50 times higher than what is currently seen in English cities. One Oxford record describes 'scholars on a rampage with bows, swords, bucklers, slings and stones.' Another mentions an altercation that began as an argument in a tavern, then escalated to a mass street brawl involving blades and battle-axes. But even though medieval England was a violent period, 'this absolutely does NOT mean that people did not care about violence,' Skoda said. 'In a legal context, in a political context, and in communities more widely, people were really concerned and distressed about high levels of violence.' The Medieval Murder Maps project 'provides fascinating insights into the ways in which people carried out violence, but also into the ways in which people worried about it,' Skoda said. 'They reported, investigated and prosecuted, and really relied on law.' Fitzpayne's tangled web of adultery, extortion and assassination also reveals that despite social constraints, some women in late medieval London still had agency — especially where murder was concerned. 'Ela was not the only woman who would recruit men to kill, to help her protect her reputation,' Eisner said. 'We see a violent event that arises from a world where members of the upper classes were violence experts, willing and able to kill as a way to maintain power.'
CNN
6 hours ago
- CNN
Reopening a 688-year-old murder case reveals a tangled web of adultery and extortion in medieval England
The sun was setting on a busy London street on a May evening in 1337 when a group of men approached a priest named John Forde. They surrounded him in front of a church near Old St. Paul's Cathedral, stabbed him in the neck and stomach, and then fled. Witnesses identified his killers, but just one assailant went to prison. And the woman who might have ordered the brazen and shocking hit — Ela Fitzpayne, a wealthy and powerful aristocrat — was never brought to justice, according to historical records describing the case. Nearly 700 years later, new details have come to light about the events leading up to the brutal crime and the noblewoman who was likely behind it. Her criminal dealings included theft and extortion as well as the murder of Forde — who was also her former lover. Forde (his name also appeared in records as 'John de Forde') could have been part of a crime gang led by Fitzpayne, according to a recently discovered document. The group robbed a nearby French-controlled priory, taking advantage of England's deteriorating relationship with France to extort the church, researchers reported in a study published June 6 in the journal Criminal Law Forum. But the wayward priest may have then betrayed Fitzpayne to his religious superiors. The Archbishop of Canterbury penned a letter in 1332 that the new report also linked to Forde's murder. In the letter, the archbishop denounced Fitzpayne and accused her of committing serial adultery 'with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders.' The archbishop's letter named one of Fitzpayne's many paramours: Forde, who was rector of a parish church in a village on the Fitzpayne family's estate in Dorset. In the wake of this damning accusation, the church assigned Fitzpayne humiliating public penance. Years later, she exacted her revenge by having Forde assassinated, according to lead study author Dr. Manuel Eisner, a professor at the UK's University of Cambridge and director of its Institute of Criminology. This 688-year-old murder 'provides us with further evidence about the entanglement of the clergy in secular affairs — and the very active role of women in managing their affairs and their relationships,' Dr. Hannah Skoda, an associate professor of medieval history in St. John's College at the UK's Oxford University, told CNN in an email. 'In this case, events dragged on for a very long time, with grudges being held, vengeance sought and emotions running high,' said Skoda, who was not involved in the research. The new clues about Forde's murder provide a window into the dynamics of medieval revenge killings, and how staging them in prestigious public spaces may have been a display of power, according to Eisner. Eisner is a cocreator and project leader of Medieval Murder Maps, an interactive digital resource that collects cases of homicide and other sudden or suspicious deaths in 14th century London, Oxford and York. Launched by Cambridge in 2018, the project translates reports from coroners' rolls — records written by medieval coroners in Latin noting the details and motives of crimes, based on the deliberation of a local jury. Jurors would listen to witnesses, examine evidence and then name a suspect. In the case of Forde's murder, the coroner's roll stated that Fitzpayne and Forde had quarreled, and that she persuaded four men — her brother, two servants and a chaplain — to kill him. On that fateful evening, as the chaplain approached Forde in the street and distracted him with conversation, his accomplices struck. Fitzpayne's brother slit his throat, and the servants stabbed Forde in the belly. Only one of the assailants, a servant named Hugh Colne, was charged in the case and imprisoned at Newgate in 1342. 'I was initially fascinated by the text in the coroner's record,' Eisner told CNN in an email, describing the events as 'a dream-like scene that we can see through hundreds of years.' The report left Eisner wanting to learn more. 'One would love to know what the members of the investigative jury discussed,' he said. 'One wonders about how and why 'Ela' convinces four men to kill a priest, and what the nature of this old quarrel between her and John Forde might have been. That's what led me to examine this further.' Eisner tracked down the archbishop's letter in a 2013 dissertation by medieval historian and author Helen Matthews. The archbishop's accusation assigned severe punishments and public penance to Fitzpayne, such as donating large sums of money to the poor, abstaining from wearing gold or precious gems, and walking in her bare feet down the length of Salisbury Cathedral toward the altar, carrying a wax candle that weighed about four pounds. She was ordered to perform this so-called walk of shame every fall for seven years. Though she seemingly defied the archbishop and never performed the penance, the humiliation 'may have triggered her thirst for revenge,' the study authors wrote. The second clue that Eisner unearthed was a decade older than the letter: a 1322 investigation of Forde and Fitzpayne by a royal commission, following a complaint filed by a French Benedictine priory near the Fitzpayne castle. The report was translated and published in 1897 but had not yet been connected to Forde's murder at that point. According to the 1322 indictment, Fitzpayne's crew — which included Forde and her husband, Sir Robert, a knight of the realm — smashed gates and buildings at the priory and stole roughly 200 sheep and lambs, 30 pigs and 18 oxen, driving them back to the castle and holding them for ransom. Eisner said he was astonished to find that Fitzpayne, her husband and Forde were mentioned in a case of cattle rustling during a time of rising political tensions with France. 'That moment was quite exciting,' he said. 'I would never have expected to see these three as members of a group involved in low-level warfare against a French Priory.' During this time in British history, city dwellers were no strangers to violence. In Oxford alone, homicide rates during the late medieval period were about 60 to 75 deaths per 100,000 people, a rate about 50 times higher than what is currently seen in English cities. One Oxford record describes 'scholars on a rampage with bows, swords, bucklers, slings and stones.' Another mentions an altercation that began as an argument in a tavern, then escalated to a mass street brawl involving blades and battle-axes. But even though medieval England was a violent period, 'this absolutely does NOT mean that people did not care about violence,' Skoda said. 'In a legal context, in a political context, and in communities more widely, people were really concerned and distressed about high levels of violence.' The Medieval Murder Maps project 'provides fascinating insights into the ways in which people carried out violence, but also into the ways in which people worried about it,' Skoda said. 'They reported, investigated and prosecuted, and really relied on law.' Fitzpayne's tangled web of adultery, extortion and assassination also reveals that despite social constraints, some women in late medieval London still had agency — especially where murder was concerned. 'Ela was not the only woman who would recruit men to kill, to help her protect her reputation,' Eisner said. 'We see a violent event that arises from a world where members of the upper classes were violence experts, willing and able to kill as a way to maintain power.'
Gizmodo
6 hours ago
- Gizmodo
People Over Papers: The Creator of ‘Waze for Ice Immigration Raids' Speaks Out
An anonymous grassroots network is helping communities track and respond to ICE activity in real time. But not everyone is happy about it. Born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from Mexico, Celeste, 30, is the creator of People Over Papers, a decentralized and anonymous collective that tracks and maps real-time ICE sightings submitted by the public. (For her safety, Gizmodo is using a synonym for Celeste's real name.) The project functions like a kind of 'Waze for immigration raids,' built not to direct traffic, but to save lives, offer warnings, and raise awareness about immigration enforcement operations across the U.S. Celeste, who works full-time in IT, has chosen to remain anonymous. After right-leaning accounts like Libs of TikTok and Wall Street Apes shared her face and X handle, she received a flood of online harassment, including threats. These accounts have accused her of aiding criminals, a charge she and People Over Papers firmly deny. Out of concern for her safety, Celeste is not disclosing where she currently lives (though she confirmed it's no longer in California). At the heart of People Over Papers is a volunteer network of about 45 people, including educators, tech workers, retirees, stay-at-home parents, and unemployed organizers. Together, they play a central role in alerting vulnerable communities to possible ICE raids, efforts that may face increased scrutiny and even legal risk. People Over Papers is just one example of how digital tools, used anonymously, strategically, and with intent, are reshaping what activism looks like under surveillance and pressure. We asked Celeste 13 questions about the risks, motivations, mechanics, and future of the project, and why she continues doing this work despite the threats. The interview was conducted by telephone. Gizmodo: How did you get involved with People Over Papers? Celeste: I created this organization, this team, back in January, because I saw a need for it on TikTok. I was posting informative immigration videos on TikTok and I came across a creator, who was posting a screenshot of her notes app behind her, using the green screen feature on TikTok, and it was just a list of places that people had seen ICE that had reported it to her, and she was getting hundreds of reports. So, I told her: 'Why don't I help you, visualize all the reports that you're getting? Let's work together.' So, we started chatting about it. She gave me all the information I needed to start using Google Maps. You know, I figured that might be a good place to start. Then it took off. Even more, more people started submitting, sending me messages about tips that they had, and a different creator reached out to me and asked if I wanted help. I said, 'Sure.' Then we looked for tools that allowed users to submit forms with locations onto a map, and we came across Padlet, and we said, well, let's try it; see if it works, and the rest is history. It just kind of happened. Gizmodo: When you saw it taking off, what crossed your mind at that point? Celeste: I saw a need. I didn't plan this. In January, I did not think I was going to grow a following. I didn't think I would be getting calls from reporters. I didn't think any of that would happen. It wasn't my goal. I didn't set off to do this. Again, I just saw a need for it, and my motivation behind all of it is that I'm from a family of immigrants. I believe that this country has been built on the back of immigrants. I believe that we didn't cross the border. The border crossed us, especially for people who are of Mexican descent, and Indigenous, and I just starkly disagree with the immigration policies of this country. Gizmodo: Can you elaborate on your background? Celeste: My family's from Mexico. I was born here, so I am a naturalized citizen, a national board citizen here in the U.S. And yet, I have family members who are affected by these policies. I've seen people criminalized or being targeted because of their immigration status. And I think it's wrong. Gizmodo: You said that you know, personally, who has been affected by the immigration policies. Do you mean you know people who were arrested and deported? Celeste: Absolutely. I have friends whom I went to elementary school with. I just happened to be born here. They happened to be brought when they were really young, and we grew up in the same town, same school. Even if they were smarter than me, even if they were more dedicated at school than me, they were always going to have it harder to find a job, to pay for their higher education. They were always going to have it much more difficult than me, and the only reason is because my parents happened to be here, and I was born here. And then, I have family members who have been deported. I have family members who have attempted to cross into the U.S and have been sent back. I have, you know, a lot of family and friends that are directly impacted by this. Gizmodo: What do you want them to know when you do something like this? Celeste: I guess, my message to people that are undocumented is that: First, I'm sorry. I wish that as a citizen of this country, I could do more. I understand why they want to be here. It's for a better life, for a better future, for the American dream that was sold to them. Gizmodo: What do you say to Americans who are saying that people who are here illegally should be deported? Celeste: We're all human beings at the end of the day. Unless you're Indigenous, you were not born here. Your ancestry wasn't founded here or born here. We have all immigrated here in some form or fashion. And two. If it was as easy as becoming legal to come to this country, per se. If it was easy to get documented. People would have done it already. The process to become a citizen in the U.S is purposefully difficult. People work tirelessly for decades to try to earn their citizenship here, or even earn their permanent residence status. And they never, they never get it. And that's because the processes, the laws, the requirements, the immigration system as a whole is extremely difficult to navigate. Gizmodo: You were apparently doxxed by two conservative social media accounts, Libs of TikTok and Wall Street Apes. Celeste: Luckily, I haven't been doxxed in a way that people have found where I live or have found my full name as far as I can tell. Libs of TikTok did attack me on Twitter, along with Wall Street Apes. [Neither Libs of TikTok nor Wall Street Apes responded to Gizmodo's request for comment.] Somebody, a conservative, found my TikTok account, sent it to them, and then they blasted that information; try to submit fake reports, so we instituted moderating, right? We had a bot attack, and we were in a situation where we would repeatedly just block the IP. And then they would, you know, sign up with a new one container IP, and it was a cat and mouse game. But at the end of the day, I knew that they would grow tired or bored, and they would move on. And that's exactly what happened, and I assume, at some point, if they catch one of these again, they will try it again. That only motivates us more, because if there are conservative people who disagree with what we're doing, it tells us that they believe that what we're doing is a threat to the opinion that they carry, and that means that we're doing something right, in my opinion. As for physical safety, especially when I was receiving all the hate messages, I was worried. I don't have a registered firearm or anything, but I thought is this a time for me to purchase a firearm and get registered ultimately. I didn't do it. It goes against my philosophy, but that's something always in the back of my head. Gizmodo: Are you worried about the safety of your family? Celeste: I do worry that one day they will find out who I am, and therefore they will find who my family is. I have had very long conversations with my family about this. We've talked about safety on the internet and safety in person. So we've taken the proper precautions to try to mitigate that as much as possible. For example, I scrubbed all of my social media as soon as I hit maybe 10,000 followers. I went through my Instagram, my Facebook to take down any posts that had identifying information, maybe showing where I'm from, where I live, where I work, all that stuff. Gizmodo: Does your employer know about your advocacy? Celeste: I have very close co-workers that do know that I do this. I try not to be super open about this, because I do like to keep my work life and my political life at this point separate. Gizmodo: How do you make sure the reports sent to People Over Papers are reliable? Celeste: We have standards that we do follow for a submission. If we posted every single submission, it would be complete junk. We get screenshots of Facebook posts that just say ICE in Oklahoma. That's not helpful to anybody, right? So we follow what's called the salute method in a lot of advocacy organizations for immigration. Use this you want: the size, the activity, the location, the uniform, time and date and the equipment that they had. We leave off equipment because, to me, that's part of the uniform. But, we want the exact location, if possible an image or video would be great, and to fill out as much of the information as possible. Now, as far as verification goes, we take verification of a sighting very, very seriously, and we will never say that something is confirmed unless it is an organization that we trust (…) We don't want to spread fear. So every single report will have some sort of statement that says this is a potential ICE sighting, but it has not been verified.' Gizmodo: Since the beginning of the protests in L.A., have you noticed an increase in the reports you receive? Celeste: We have definitely had an increase. We had an increase in reports starting in May, We started out with a lot of reports, like over 900, 700, 800, and then it dropped significantly in early February, and then it continued dropping steadily into March and April, and on May 4, we saw more activity start popping up, because that was the first big operation that took place in Massachusetts. And since then, the number of reports has slowly been climbing up and up and up. (…) We expect more activity as tensions continue to rise between the public and the administration, and we're always recruiting people. Gizmodo: It appears that moderator is the main role. What does a moderator do? Celeste: That's exactly it. If we can verify the information, cross-referencing with new sources, making sure that there's nothing inappropriate, and trying to identify what agents it is. We received some vague information, but based on context clues, we could figure out where the location is. Back during the winter, we received reports from up north, and we knew that it had snowed, and we received reports without any snow on the ground, and so we could tell easily that that report's not accurate. So, it's sort of like a mini investigation. Gizmodo: How do people contact you, and how long will the project be around? Celeste: They can DM me on TikTok (@celestiedabestie), on Instagram (@celestiedabestie). It's been almost six months since this started. I have not had time to think about the future. I do expect to do other things: advocacy, education, combating misinformation, disinformation. There's so many things that we can do. I think it's a bad thing that this tool is being used so heavily. It means people are afraid.
