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Norwich hedgehog rescuer asks for help to keep animals hydrated

Norwich hedgehog rescuer asks for help to keep animals hydrated

BBC News3 days ago
A man who has rescued hedgehogs for 30 years has urged people to leave shallow bowls of water outside to help keep the animals hydrated during the heatwave.John Claxton, 79, from Norwich, said the high temperatures had led to an increase in dehydrated mother hedgehogs abandoning their hoglets.He also asked the public to check long grass for hedgehogs before using lawnmowers or grass strimmers."Hedgehogs are like all mammals, we're dependent on water. But hedgehogs are far more dependent than other mammals," Mr Claxton said.
"If they don't get sufficient water taken on board each night, the risk is that [their] organs start to shut down."The UK is experiencing its third heatwave of the summer, with temperatures rising above 30C across the country.
Mr Claxton set up TSA Rescue in Norwich and learned to care for hedgehogs after he found one that was injured 30 years ago.He later undertook training at Vale Wildlife Hospital. He said that dehydration and injuries from grass-cutting equipment were the two main reasons hedgehogs were being brought to him for treatment. "[Hedgehogs] need to take on fluid to feed their young because it gets to a stage whereby they can't [provide the fluids due to dehydration], then the mother will say, my survival comes first," he said.He is currently hand-rearing four hoglets, believing their mother abandoned them due to a lack of water.Surveys in a 2022 State of Britain's Hedgehogs report estimated there had been a loss of between a third and three-quarters of the hedgehog population nationally in the last two decades
"I get some [hedgehogs with] injuries [from grass-cutting equipment] where they remove part of the head - I get injuries where they remove part of the legs," he said.He said it made him "angry" when he saw hedgehogs coming in with these kinds of injuries and urged people to check for sleeping hedgehogs before using a grass strimmer."Please don't just use the strimmer straight away because the injuries they cause are simply horrendous," he said.
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Three Dads' pride at suicide prevention lessons in schools
Three Dads' pride at suicide prevention lessons in schools

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Three Dads' pride at suicide prevention lessons in schools

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Another necrophiliac killer like David Fuller could STILL strike due to 'completely absent' regulation of mortuary care, inquiry finds
Another necrophiliac killer like David Fuller could STILL strike due to 'completely absent' regulation of mortuary care, inquiry finds

Daily Mail​

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Another necrophiliac killer like David Fuller could STILL strike due to 'completely absent' regulation of mortuary care, inquiry finds

The crimes of necrophiliac morgue monster David Fuller - who abused the bodies of more than 100 women and girls - could be repeated elsewhere, an inquiry has found. The twisted father-of-four defiled corpses of dozens of females, aged nine to 100, while employed at the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospita l, in Pembury, between 2005 and 2020. Fuller was already serving a whole life sentence for the sexually motivated murders of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987, when police uncovered his systematic sexual abuse in hospital mortuaries. The Government launched an independent inquiry in 2021 to investigate how Fuller was able to carry out his crimes undetected, with the first phase of the probe looking at his employer, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. Now, that inquiry has concluded it is 'entirely possible' Fullers' abhorrent crimes could be repeated by another offender elsewhere. The final report of the inquiry sparked by his crimes also found that 'current arrangements for the regulation and oversight of the care of people after death are partial, ineffective and in significant areas completely absent'. Fuller was able to 'offend undetected' amid failures in 'management, governance' and because standard procedures were not followed, the inquiry found, while senior bosses were said to be 'aware of problems in the running of the mortuary from as early as 2008'. There was 'little regard' given to who was accessing the mortuary, with Fuller visiting 444 times in a year - something that went 'unnoticed and unchecked'. The fiend will die in prison after being sentenced to two life orders in 2021. Speaking as the report was published on Tuesday, chairman Sir Jonathan Michael said the inquiry is the first time that the 'security and dignity' of people after death has been reviewed so comprehensively. He said the weaknesses that allowed Fuller to offend for so long were not confined to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust where the killer worked. 'I have found examples in other hospital and non-hospital settings across the country. 'The security and dignity of people after death, do not feature in the governance arrangements of many organisations which are caring for the deceased,' Sir Jonathan said. 'I have therefore come to the conclusion that the current arrangements for the regulation and oversight of the care of people after death are partial, ineffective and, in significant areas, completely absent. 'I have asked myself whether there could be a recurrence of the appalling crimes committed by David Fuller. I have concluded that yes, it is entirely possible that such offences could be repeated, particularly in those sectors that lack any form of statutory regulation.' Previously outlining 17 recommendations made in a bid to prevent similar atrocities, Sir Michael, a former NHS hospital consultant and chief executive, said: 'In identifying such serious failings, it's clear to me that there is the question of who should be held responsible. 'Although the failures took place over many years and during various management and regulatory regimes, I expect the current leadership of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and those outside the trust charged with oversight and regulation, to reflect seriously and carefully on their responsibility for the weaknesses and failings that I have identified in this report and to implement my recommendations.' The inquiry previously concluded the trust should install CCTV cameras in the mortuary and post-mortem room, that maintenance staff should always carry out tasks in those areas in pairs and the 'practice of leaving deceased people out of mortuary fridges overnight' or while maintenance is carried out should end. It also called for a review of governance policies by the trust's board. Wendy Knell (left) and Caroline Pierce (right) were beaten and strangled by Fuller before being sexually assaulted An examination of Fuller's computer hard drive at his home in Heathfield, East Sussex, revealed 818,051 images and 504 videos of his abuse as well as evidence of his 'persistent interest' in rape, abuse and murder of women. Nevres Kemal is the mother of Azra Kemal, 24, one of Fuller's victims. Speaking previously, she said: 'The trust and other organisations have been failing for 15 years. Now we know the truth about how Fuller was able to abuse our loved ones. 'Miles Scott is presently the chief executive. He was there since January 8, 2018, and has also failed. He needs to resign. 'I spoke to him personally one to one and suggested he should resign as a matter integrity. I hope Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, will show him the door as he clearly doesn't know where the door is. 'Unless you have experienced this horror you cannot describe the pain that accompanies you night and day, every day. Something needs to be done now so we have some way of saying that lessons have been learnt and this is in the past. We need justice now.' Fuller filmed himself carrying out the attacks inside the hospitals, where he worked in electrical maintenance roles. He stored records of his serial sex offending on computer folders with titles including 'Necro Lord', 'Register', 'Deadly', 'Deadliest' and 'Best Yet'. Fuller was not linked to the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce until 2020, which led investigators to search his home and uncover almost 900,000 files of him abusing corpses of females aged between nine and 100. The crimes were committed at the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, in Pembury, where Fuller had worked in maintenance since 1989. An examination of Fuller's computer hard drive at his home revealed 818,051 images and 504 videos of his abuse as well as evidence of his 'persistent interest in rape, abuse and murder of women'. Fuller's victims included nurses, teachers, a pilot, a skier, a war veteran, wives and mothers who had nurtured families. Many were still wearing defibrillators and catheters at the time Fuller abused their bodies. Among those whose bodies were abused by Fuller was a 92-year-old Second World War hero who worked at Bletchley Park. Her daughter previously said he 'has done the most heinous crimes, something our family must live with daily'. In 2020, Fuller admitted murdering Ms Knell and Ms Pierce in 1987 after he brutally bludgeoned and strangled them to death. Both women, who lived alone in bedsits in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, were then sexually assaulted by the former hospital electrician as they were either dying or post-death. Ms Knell's body was discovered in her bed on June 23, 1987, while Ms Pierce, who was attacked just feet from her front door on November 24, was found three weeks later on December 15 wearing just a pair of tights, in a field 38 miles away in Romney, Kent. Their horrific deaths - dubbed the Bedsit Murders - became one of the UK's longest unsolved double homicide cases. Three-times wed Fuller was finally arrested on December 3, 2020, after a major breakthrough in DNA science identified a familial link to a relative on the national database. He was sentenced to two life orders in December 2021, meaning he will never be released. The sentencing hearing heard impact statements from a string of the victims' family members. The mother of Fuller's youngest victim, a nine-year-old girl, addressed him directly, saying: 'David, you know who I am because you read the letter I wrote to my baby.' She added: 'You raped my baby. She couldn't say no to the dirty 66-year-old man who was abusing her body. I feel guilty I left her there. I will not enjoy my life again. This unnatural sick pain I will never get over.' The father of an 18-year-old victim said: 'The only bit of comfort we held on to was how peaceful she looked when we said our goodbyes. 'This was destroyed when we got a knock on the door by the police to say she had been violated by a man my wife had grown up in fear of. 'Fuller has taken our little girl's innocence and destroyed our souls. I am consumed with anger.' The widower of another woman told him: 'David, when you are serving your time behind bars, think carefully about what you have done and thank your lucky stars that I'm not sharing a cell with you.' Ordering Fuller to stand, Judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb QC said: 'These were premeditated killings, carefully planned and executed. 'You had no regard for the dignity of the dead. You have spent the last 45 years living an outwardly mild and ordinary life. 'You were described as a man good under pressure while in seclusion you committed acts of the deepest darkness. 'You became a vulture, picking your victims from among the dead within the hidden world of hospital mortuaries which you were free to inhabit simply because you had a swipe card. 'The depravity of what you did reveals your conscience is seared. You will spend every day of the rest of your life in prison.' Morgue rapist David Fuller: A timeline of the heinous offences 1973: Fuller grew up in a terraced house in Angerstein Road, Portsmouth, and was living at the address when he was convicted of 26 counts of burglary. June 23, 1987: Ms Knell is found dead in her apartment in Guildford Road on by her boyfriend. The bed, duvet and pillows were bloodstained, and her bloodstained head was resting on a towel. Police could find no signs of forced entry, and neighbours heard nothing through the flat's thin walls. November 24, 1987: Ms Pierce, manager at a popular restaurant, is murdered by Fuller. However, it is not until three weeks later that her body - naked apart from a pair of tights - is found in a water-filled dyke of a remote field on Romney Marsh in Kent. January 1989: Fuller begins working as an electrical maintenance craftsman at Kent and Sussex and Tunbridge Wells hospitals. 2008: The first evidence of Fuller having filmed and photographed himself sexually abusing the bodies of dozens of women at the mortuaries. 2012: Kent Police reveals it has a full DNA profile of their prime suspect for the murders of Ms Knell and Ms Pierce. 2015: Fuller has to undergo a criminal record check for the first time in the wake of revelations Jimmy Savile sexually assaulted patients. It emerges he had convictions for burglaries in the 1970s that he is understood to have previously lied about. December 2020: Fuller is identified as the prime suspect in the murders after a DNA breakthrough achieved by analysing genetic material found at the crime scenes and searching criminal databases for relatives. Officers arrest him at his home in Heathfield, East Sussex, where he lived with his family, in the early hours of December 3. January 2021: Fuller admits responsibility for both killings at Maidstone Crown Court, but his barrister says he will deny murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He is later charged with additional offences relating to the sexual abuse of more than 100 victims. November 4, 2021: After his trial gets underway, Fuller changes his plea to guilty. He also admits a further 51 offences related to sexually abusing at least 102 victims, of which 82 have been identified, in the mortuaries over more than a decade. December 15, 2021: Fuller is sentenced to two whole life orders at Maidstone Crown Court. The Government launches an independent inquiry in 2021 to investigate how Fuller was able to carry out his crimes undetected. November 28, 2023

Westcliff-on-Sea care home 'requires improvement', inspectors say
Westcliff-on-Sea care home 'requires improvement', inspectors say

BBC News

timean hour ago

  • BBC News

Westcliff-on-Sea care home 'requires improvement', inspectors say

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