
Seized London home and Berkshire golf course on sale for £19.5m
The NCA said last year it believes the golf course and house were obtained as a "direct result of large-scale fraud and embezzlement, false accounting and money laundering".It said it had found "no reasonable explanation" for the source of funds used to buy both of them.
The golf club is on the market for £4.25m and was developed in the early 1990s.The Walton Street home is a five-minute walk to Harrods, where Mrs Hajiyeva spent £16m in a decade, including £4.9m on jewellery.An NCA spokesperson said last year that once the golf club and house are sold, 70% of the proceeds will be kept by the government and 30% returned to Mrs Hajiyeva.
A law firm working for Mrs Hajiyeva last year said she and her family were "happy to now be able to move on with their lives" and she had taken the decision "to settle the proceedings because it proved impossible to defend them".Gherson LLP said: "Throughout the course of the UK proceedings, Mrs Hajiyeva's husband, who is detained in Azerbaijan, held information potentially crucial to the case."However, for the duration of the UK case, the Azerbaijani authorities deliberately denied Mrs Hajiyeva and her UK lawyers access to Mr Hajiyev in prison in Azerbaijan."
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Daily Mail
8 hours ago
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He disabled the CCTV and stole the recording box, keys to rooms and some of the occupants' belongings who were not in. Inside he stole hundreds of pounds in cash. He broke in again a few days later, but again no one was there, so he stole more room keys. Pages inside the kill list show Power's terrifying thoughts - something he claimed he would never have acted on On November 28 last year, he returned to the pub and tried to break into the flat above where the occupants lived but he was unable to gain access and damaged the lock on the door. Police believe he was carefully preparing to carry out his macabre fantasies but was arrested before he could do so. Power claimed he had become obsessed with the character of Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter from hit horror film The Silence of the Lambs and with the television serial killer Dexter. Giving evidence, he insisted he could not have actually dismembered victims, telling jurors: 'I'm squeamish.' But he admitted taking part of a deer carcass home 'to have it near me.' Power insisted that he had collected macabre items in the same way a collector hoarded coins and that he wrote down his 'fantasies' to 'get them out of my head'. Simon Denison KC, cross examining for the prosecution, asked him: 'One thought was to go into Newbury and massacre people, wasn't it?' Power replied: 'Yes.' Mr Denison pressed: 'You wanted to be a serial killer; you wanted to get away with it - and the distinction between thoughts and reality had become blurred.' Power replied: 'Somewhat.' Mr Denison suggested that The White Hart Inn, with families living upstairs, 'was a place to commit murder and get away with it - which is what you wanted; The White Hart was perfect, wasn't it?' Power replied: 'Yes, it would be a good place.' Mr Denison said Mr Power had explored the pub outbuildings and continued: 'You knew it as a place to tie up victims; to take them to a kill room, take their lives and torture them; take their blood with needles and vials - it was perfect, wasn't it?' Power replied: 'Yes, the outbuildings would have been ideal.' On February 11, officers carried out a welfare check at his home address and discovered weapons, such as knives, air pistols, ammunition, a Samurai sword as well as masks, duct tape, ropes, and chains. Power's extensive notes, the CCTV recording box from the pub, and the stolen keys were also discovered. The chef was arrested and detained under the mental health act. When officers trawled through the CCTV recording box, they found footage of the balaclava-clad man in the pub on November 7. The graves he had dug behind his home, where he planned to dispose of the bodies, were also found. Power was re-arrested on February 27, where they matched his clothes to the CCTV footage and charged him. He was convicted of four counts of burglary, one of attempted burglary and three counts of criminal damage after a two week trial at Reading Crown Court. Speaking after the verdicts, investigating officer Det Con Isabelle Denis, of Berkshire West CID, said: 'I am pleased Jacob Power has been convicted and remanded in custody, ensuring he cannot harm the public. 'It is extremely fortunate the occupants of The White Hart pub in Hamstead Marshall were not in when Power broke in on three occasions as we believe he would have continued to follow the disturbing and terrifying plan involving torture and murder found in his notes. 'Thankfully, no one was hurt and we were able to protect the public by arresting Power and seizing his weapons. 'Understandably, this has been upsetting for the people involved but we are supporting them and hope this conviction will help them move on. 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BBC News
14 hours ago
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Former Padworth school mansion site for sale at £5m
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