Teenager with ‘unhealthy interest' in knives guilty of 18-year-old's murder
Charles Hartle, who was 17 at the time, carried out the 'utterly pointless killing' when he attacked Noah Smedley on a dark street in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, on the evening of December 28 last year, with the knife he kept hidden in his tracksuit bottoms.
Hartle, of Station Road, Stanley, was found guilty of murdering Mr Smedley on Friday, after a two-week trial at Derby Crown Court, Derbyshire Police said.
Prosecution counsel Adrian Langdale KC said that as Hartle moved towards Mr Smedley, he 'grinned or smiled before deliberately aiming for and stabbing him in the chest'.
The court was told that Hartle and his friends had arranged to meet Mr Smedley, who arrived at the scene on an electric scooter and sold them cannabis.
Mr Langdale said the defendant regularly carried a Rambo-style knife for 'the kudos and bravado' and to show others he was a 'big man'.
Derbyshire Police said Hartle, who liked to go by the nickname Lil Cee, went to meet his girlfriend at a house party after stabbing Mr Smedley in the heart.
Witnesses at the party reportedly saw him confess to her what he had done and produce the knife, which has never been recovered.
Hartle then travelled to Derby city centre to distance himself from the scene, where Mr Smedley had been found by members of the public at about 8.20pm.
He was pronounced dead just before 9pm.
In the hours after the murder, Hartle disposed of his clothing, the knife, and his phone, before eventually handing himself in at Ilkeston police station.
In a prepared statement given to police, Hartle said he accepted inflicting the injury on Mr Smedley but felt he had acted in self-defence.
He said: 'There is a history to this, and Noah and I did not get on. He has, in the past, made numerous threats to me and made disparaging comments. He has threatened me with violence.
'I was petrified that he was about to lunge at me. In that split second, I instinctively lashed out with the knife I had, in self-defence.'
Detective Constable Emma Barnes-Marriott, of Derbyshire Police, said: 'Noah was an unarmed teenager, who was simply meeting with friends on the night Charles Hartle decided to end his life.
'Noah did not threaten Hartle and showed nothing but friendliness towards him that evening, and yet he was brutally murdered.
'Charles Hartle is a callous and calculating young man, who has shown no recognition or remorse for taking another teenager's life.
'He carried a knife with the intention to use it, over what appears to be a petty disagreement that only he was aware of, and a sense of bravado.
'I'd like to thank Noah's family for their support during our investigation and the trial.
'No family should have to go through the ordeal of losing a loved one, especially at such a young age, and to have to relive their last moments at trial is an additional blow that Hartle could have spared them from.
'Instead, despite overwhelming evidence, he remained silent and refused to take responsibility for Noah's murder.
'I know that nothing will bring Noah back but hope that today's verdict has provided his family with some comfort that justice has been done.'
Hartle will be sentenced at Derby Crown Court on August 22.
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The Independent
7 minutes ago
- The Independent
Teacher who admitted to killing couple on a hike with their kids in Arkansas to appear in court
A teacher who authorities say admitted to fatally stabbing a couple he didn't know who were hiking with two of their children in an Arkansas state park is expected to have his first court appearance Friday. Andrew James McGann, 28, has been charged with two counts of capital murder in the killing Saturday of Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41. He is being held without bond and is expected to appear at the Washington County Detention Center. Arkansas State Police Col. Mike Hagar said authorities are trying to determine a motive for the attack at Devil's Den, a 2,500-acre (1,000-hectare) state park near West Fork, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, the state capital. Its trails have been closed to the public since Saturday. State Police arrested McGann on Wednesday at a barbershop in Springdale, approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the park, said Maj. Stacie Rhoads, commander of the department's criminal investigation division. Washington County prosecutor Brandon Carter said he did not know if McGann has a lawyer or will need a public defender. The Associated Press has left messages at numbers listed for McGann, who has no criminal record. Officials said the husband was stabbed first, approximately half a mile (0.8 kilometers) into the park, then the mother ushered her children to safety before returning to help her husband. She was also stabbed to death. Authorities have not said if the girls — ages 7 and 9 — witnessed both their parents being killed. They were not hurt and are being cared for by family members, authorities said. McGann was cooperative during the arrest and admitted to killing the couple soon after, Rhoads said. Police also matched his DNA to blood found at the crime scene. The case is distressing even to the police. 'In my 27 years that I've been with the State Police, this is probably one of the most heinous that we've had, especially the aspect of just how random it was,' Rhoads said. Police flooded with tips McGann was arrested after a five-day search and hundreds of tips. The State Police collected photos and videos from other hikers who didn't witness the attack but were on the trails at around the same time. Police also released a composite sketch and a photo that showed a person of interest from behind. The police then narrowed down the suspect's vehicle, which had tape over the license plate, using surveillance footage from homes and businesses near Devil's Den. Within an hour of McGann being identified as a suspect, he was caught at the barber shop. Carter indicated the state would give a jury the option to sentence McGann to the death penalty. Suspect taught in other states before Arkansas job McGann has active teaching licenses in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma, according to each respective government certification website. No infractions or suspensions are noted on his public state licensures in any of those states. The Associated Press has reached out to all three state education agencies. McGann was placed on administrative leave in spring 2023 while he was employed at Donald Elementary School in Flower Mound, Texas, 'following concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favoritism,' according to a spokesperson for the Lewisville Independent School District. Sierra Marcum, whose son was in McGann's fourth grade class, said the teacher came across as 'pretty cold' and 'disinterested in his students.' Marcum said her son had come home from school upset about some of McGann's behavior, which she reported to the school's principal. McGann resigned from the Lewisville posting in May 2023, the district said in a statement. He also taught at a small Oklahoma school district from the summer of 2024 until May this year. He resigned to take a job in another state, according to a statement from Sand Springs Public Schools, near Tulsa. The district said McGann passed all background checks. Law enforcement hasn't contacted Sand Springs Public Schools regarding the investigation, district spokesperson Lissa Chidester said. McGann had not yet started his new job in Arkansas at Springdale Public Schools, said Jared Cleveland, the district superintendent. He said the district could not provide more information, citing the investigation. The victims had just arrived in Arkansas The Brinks and their three daughters had recently moved from South Dakota to the small city of Prairie Grove in northwest Arkansas. Clinton Brink was supposed to start working as a milk delivery driver on Monday, according to Hiland Dairy, his employer. Cristen Brink had been licensed as a nurse in Montana and South Dakota before moving to Arkansas. The Brink family said the couple died 'heroes protecting their little girls.' ___ Riddle reported from Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed.
Times
38 minutes ago
- Times
Conned by the Tinder Swindler: how his victims took revenge
If Simon Leviev were to enter the busy north London café in which I'm sitting with Cecilie Fjellhoy and Pernilla Sjoholm, 'He would wet his pants and run,' Sjoholm says. Posing as a diamond heir, Leviev — better known as the Tinder Swindler — has defrauded victims around the world out of more than $10 million. While the 2022 release of the smash hit Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler laid bare the women's devastation — the crippling debt they were left trying to escape, and, for Fjellhoy, the marriage and baby-filled future Leviev had promised being exposed as a sham — now they say the tables are finally turning. 'I have way more power than he does,' Sjoholm, 38, says with a smile. 'He's not a real man; he's scared of two blonde women.' The enormous reach of the documentary — the most watched in Netflix's history on its release, racking up 166 million hours of viewing time within its first month on the platform — made Leviev recognisable to many would-be victims. 'He's really angry with all the successes that we have had,' Fjellhoy, 36, says. 'I think he really wanted us to be miserable for the rest of our lives.' Instead, the women say they are in a strange way grateful for the Leviev-shaped wrecking ball that tore through their worlds nearly a decade ago. Both now travel the world giving talks about online safety and romance fraud, while Sjoholm has cofounded IDfier, an identity verification platform designed to weed out those lurking beneath AI and deepfakes. It has also strengthened their determination to seek better protections for victims. 'We want the laws to change. This is not just money loss,' Sjoholm says. It's on a par with 'murder, in my eyes. This is emotional abuse; people take their lives due to this. It's a serious, serious crime.' Fjellhoy says that the way the likes of banks and police treat victims of romance fraud can be worse than the original deception. 'A far tougher pill to swallow — and why I'm still traumatised — is the treatment of me after it,' she says. 'No victim should be placed into a courtroom and have to defend themselves. And the criminal who started everything, he's just been taken out of the equation.' • Read more expert advice on sex, relationships, dating and love Though it was affecting, the film inevitably couldn't capture the complexity of the women's relationships with Leviev — real name Shimon Hayut (he has no connection to the Leviev diamond dynasty after which he renamed himself to bolster his credentials) — nor the aftermath. And so Fjellhoy and Sjoholm have written Swindled Never After: How We Survived (and You Can Spot) a Relationship Scammer, an unflinching account of their brushes with suicide and bankruptcy, global fame and public blame, along with online safety tips and expert insight from criminologists and psychologists. The goal, the women say, is to try to stem the rapidly rising tide of romance fraud, which cost the UK £106 million last year. It is also their chance to reframe the victim-shaming that so often follows crimes of this kind. For them, the question is not why do people fall for such scams, but rather why do perpetrators prey on innocent victims in the first place? And why does it remain nigh-on impossible to bring them to justice? Fjellhoy was 29 when she swiped right on Leviev, who told her he was visiting London, where she lives, on a business trip. They met for coffee at the Four Seasons and, within 24 hours, she was boarding a private jet to his next meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, along with his young daughter, her mother and a smattering of 'business associates'. She liked his 'magnetism' and style, she says, and, having grown up on a diet of Disney fairytales, was earnestly looking for everlasting love. But her 'prince of diamonds', as he dubbed himself, would within months lose his sparkle, his penchant for Rolls-Royces and five-star hotel stays quickly becoming Fjellhoy's problem. Leviev, now 34, made her acquire a platinum Amex card — so former acquaintances wishing to do him harm, he said, couldn't track his movements — and maxed it out immediately. He urged her to meet him in Amsterdam with $25,000 (some £18,000) in cash, and requested similarly vast sums on so many occasions that she ended up taking out nine loans totalling $250,000. When he sent her a cheque for $500,000, which then bounced, it occurred to her that 'the man who held me in his arms, kissed me on the forehead, shared a bed with me and planned a future with me… All that was a lie.' That realisation 'makes me tear up, even today'. Fjellhoy, then working in tech with a full social life and strong support network back in her native Norway, considered herself an unlikely victim of such deception. But between the deep sense of violation at the hands of a master manipulator and being hounded by creditors (four took her to court), 'I felt like I was drowning; someone was dragging me to rock bottom,' she writes in Swindled Never After. In one particularly dark moment, a lorry driving towards her in the next lane gained a sudden appeal. 'Wouldn't it be better to end it here?' she wondered, before forcing herself to return home, visit the local hospital and get a referral to a psychiatric unit. After three weeks there, and seven years of therapy and medication, it is only in recent months that she has come off antidepressants. 'I never wanted to be on them,' she says. But, 'I needed them. I was thinking of stopping a couple of times, but then when you get hit with a lawsuit [by creditors], or police officers barging in, you need antidepressants,' she says. 'I tell you, that is not something that is for the faint of heart.' Sjoholm, the more voluble of the two, was also left contemplating suicide after learning of Leviev's lies. Their platonic nine-month relationship involved her being flown via jet to parties in Mykonos and Rome (in some cases, unknowingly paid for by Fjellhoy), and the offer of a $15,000 monthly rental budget so that they could move in together. Rather than being 'gold-diggers', as internet critics have suggested, Sjoholm says they were 'milking cows' for Leviev, whose network of victims doesn't discriminate against gender, individuals or companies, or global location. Sjoholm lost $45,000 funding his playboy lifestyle — the deposit she'd saved for a home — an amount then doubled by legal fees when she unsuccessfully attempted to take the bank who had wired her payments to Leviev to court. The course of their lives would be altogether different had Fjellhoy not contacted a Norwegian newspaper in 2019. Its journalists found Sjoholm waiting outside the Mandarin Oriental in Munich as she met Leviev. When he left and saw the cameras, he turned aggressive, issuing death threats that 'were not cryptic; they were spoken as if they were a done deal: 'I've paid a price for your head. It wasn't even that expensive — it only cost €1,000 because you aren't worth any more.' ' • Sweet Bobby and me: the catfishing that shocked the world The fallout left Sjoholm questioning not only 'what I would do to myself; I didn't know what Simon might try to do to me.' Those feelings worsened following the film's release. During what she now looks back on as 'the lowest point in my life', she began making fake posts on Instagram to mislead the now millions of people watching her every move, in case Leviev's threats — or the legions of 'incels' she says were now supporting him — led to a nasty end. Today Sjoholm, who is Swedish but lives in Spain, is in a far better place. She was introduced to her partner via mutual friends four years ago and, as mother to their two-year-old twins, has found her 'life's purpose'. (They call Fjellhoy, who spent three months at their home after they were born, 'auntie'.) Moving on has been crucial, she says. 'I don't let this consume my life. Because if I were to sit there and just look into what [Leviev's] doing every day, and be angry and be annoyed, then I am continuing to let him defraud me.' Although defiant, she concedes that the anger still eats at her sometimes. There are 'days where I feel like I'm struggling; that I would have loved to give all this money, for example, towards my children and their future. And I gave it away to a criminal instead.' She is, at least, free from the choppy waters of the online dating pool, which is 'definitely worse' now compared with when the women met Leviev. • The handsome army hero who turned out to be an AI dating scam Fjellhoy has returned to the apps — 'I still love love' — albeit with more caution. 'Of course, I have my guard up; I haven't been in a long-term relationship since then. So I think it has had a bigger impact than I would like to say,' she admits. Now, her swiping comes with extra mental gymnastics: is this person who he says he is? Or, 'Are they just going on a date because they think it's interesting to hear the Tinder Swindler story?' (She is not worried about being financially duped again, she says, as, 'There's nothing left. I'm bankrupt. I can't even get a credit card.') She toyed with avoiding mention of the documentary to potential suitors entirely, but has opted to list it on her dating profile — her way of avoiding what she thinks will otherwise lead to 'draining' conversations down the line. 'It's not baggage,' Fjellhoy says of her unique backstory — although one match did immediately block her on learning of her Netflix fame. 'But before this, it was just so much easier.' It is unclear what struggles, if any, Leviev has been left to face. In 2019, he was jailed for 15 months in his native Israel for using a fake passport, but was released after just five. Aside from a 2015 conviction for defrauding three Finnish women — one of whom Fjellhoy met on that first private plane ride — he has mostly evaded justice. He has repeatedly alleged that he is making a documentary with Netflix (the platform says this is not true), was selling personalised video messages on Cameo for $200 and has threatened to start a podcast. Last year he said that the women's claims were 'all a big show and will eventually fall apart… I'm like Trump. I can't be knocked down; I'm invincible.' His victims believe he has evaded prosecution and punishment thanks to the complex nature of his frauds, plus the fact that they span numerous countries and jurisdictions. That so many people continue to get in touch asking whether Leviev has finally been caught and charged only highlights how broken the system remains, the women feel. 'Not to have had justice in this case is a disfavour for the fraud community as a whole,' Fjellhoy says. 'Because if you can't even get him' — someone whose case is highly public and is known to authorities the world over — 'what are you even talking about?' All the while, his victims continue to contact Fjellhoy and Sjoholm — most recently, a man who said he'd been working as Leviev's driver in Dubai, where he now lives, posting photos of his lavish lifestyle. 'He [the driver] wrote to me in dire straits,' Fjellhoy says. 'And that's the issue. People reach out to us and then it's, 'Oh, shouldn't you just let it go, Cecilie? Shouldn't you not look up what [Leviev's] doing?' Well, we're being approached by his victims today,' she says of the dozens of other victims who have contacted her since The Tinder Swindler aired. 'So when people ask me to move on, I get a bit annoyed. Because it's impossible when you haven't received justice and he's still out there. I think there are very few victims who have their criminal so blatantly shaming them and going out in public, telling us that we're liars.' Neither of the women, who are in daily contact and consider themselves 'sisters', has spoken to Leviev for years. Sjoholm's last communication with him was before the documentary aired, while Fjellhoy confronted him in Israel in 2022. 'There have been no repercussions for him; he's never felt any uneasiness with anything. So to see him be that uneasy for once and not knowing what to do, for me that was more than enough.' What do they think drives him to pursue such an appalling line of 'work'? 'Narcissism', they speculate; and 'control… [to] hurt people'. They plan to continue campaigning for harsher punishments for fraudsters and for social media sites to better scrutinise those on their platforms. 'Everyone deserves to feel safe online,' Fjellhoy says. 'We have to fight. It's a marathon. In the end, we will win.' Swindled Never After: How We Survived (and You Can Spot) a Relationship Scammer by Cecilie Fjellhoy and Pernilla Sjoholm (Podium Publishing, £15.99) is published on August 19
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Heartbroken fiancée of suspected gangland figure gunned down in a targeted execution breaks her silence with heartbreaking three-word post
The devastated fiancée of a young man shot dead in a 'targeted' daylight shooting has broken her silence with a poignant three-word message. Athan Boursinos, 21, is suspected of being linked to the execution of underworld figure Sam 'The Punisher' Abdulrahim on January 28. He was shot dead near a kindergarten in Melbourne 's outer north on Thursday. His fiancée, Sanaria Rofael, was pictured sobbing at the scene as detectives began their investigation, wearing a maroon tracksuit and holding a Fendi handbag. 'I miss you,' she posted on Instagram just hours after his death, alongside a carousel of images of the pair. 'I would do anything in this world to feel this with you again. I will never stop loving you, you showed me what love was. I love you so much. I will see you soon. 'You're the best person I have ever met with the best soul. 'I can't wait to see you and hold you again.' She shared a video of the pair holding hands to the Lana Del Rey song Young And Beautiful and captioned it: 'This was our wedding song.' Boursinos had his fiancée's name tattooed in large red letters down one arm and the words 'the souls I have taken will never haunt me... only the ones I haven't' in large letters on the side of his neck. The pair had been engaged for over a year before Boursinos' sudden death. Ms Rofael shared a series of photos of her engagement ring, bouquets of roses and Louis Vuitton handbags on a highlight reel titled 'I love you' on her Instagram. 'Nobody's promised tomorrow,' she wrote. Detectives admitted Boursinos' murder appeared to be 'very deliberate and obviously targeted' and that he had been 'known' to police before his death. The 21-year-old was due to appear in court on Thursday and is believed to have been on his way there when his assassins struck. Daily Mail previously revealed Boursinos had been facing drug and weapon possession offences, theft of a vehicle and other driving offences. Images given to the Daily Mail revealed the well-dressed dead man's body lying beside a grey BMW with the driver door open and the engine apparently still running. A neighbour said her brother heard eight shots ring out and ran to see the man's last breaths before he died. 'My brother did hear the shots and he went and saw him still moving until he lost his life,' the neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said. 'Straight away he went out [toward the deceased man], I think the neighbour next door also talked to him. We were able to see the body from our backyard, I have shown [footage] to the police.' She added: '[The dead man] has been living around here. Sometimes there's issues where police get involved, cars sometimes come, young people always around. 'We don't know him personally - we just know him as neighbours.' Homicide squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said police believed there was a confrontation between two men in Game Lane just before 9am. The gunman shot and killed the man in the laneway before fleeing in a vehicle. Neighbours say Boursinos lived just 20m from where he was gunned down. 'We also have reports of a vehicle being found burnt out in Amery Street in Reservoir,' Det Insp Thomas told reporters. 'We don't know if that is linked to this particular incident this morning. We will work now to piece together what has gone on to identify those responsible.' Underworld sources have suggested the dead man was the getaway driver in the hit on Abdulrahim in January. Abdulrahim was gunned down by a team of assassins in January in an underground car park at Preston's Quest Hotel in Melbourne's north. The champion kickboxer had been a key player in Melbourne's ongoing 'tobacco wars', which has seen shops around the state torched in a deadly turf war. Independent journalist Ryan Naumenko's website Outlaw Media - which charts Melbourne's underworld crime news - labelled Thursday's murder a gangland hit.
