
Man admits to raping woman near Perry Barr One Stop
A man has admitted raping a woman near a Birmingham shopping centre last month. Cornel Filipeche, 21, also admitted to robbery and causing grievous bodily harm at a plea hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday. The woman was attacked near the One Stop shopping centre on Walsall Road, Perry Barr, shortly before 02:00 GMT on 18 January.Filipeche was remanded into custody to appear before the same court for sentencing on 8 April.
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Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Moment 'Britain's worst shoplifter' drops knife during raid as he is jailed for the THIRD time this year after racking up 20 convictions in just six months
A man known as 'Britain's worst shoplifter' has been jailed for the third time this year after his latest stealing spree saw him convicted of 20 offences. Soma Deasley has gathered a staggering 51 shoplifting convictions since 2021 after a string of brazen thefts targeting Marks & Spencer, Matalan, the Co-op, Next and Asda stores across the country. The 36-year-old has committed 40 offences alone since the start of 2024 and was even caught stealing four times in one month in January last year. During a raid in April last year, Deasley was caught on CCTV attempting to steal wine and sweets from a OneStop in Peterborough when a knife fell out of his trousers. He was seen cramming the stolen items into his backpack when the weapon clattered onto the floor. But Deasley remained seemingly oblivious as he continued to take items from the shelves and walk out without paying. He was later handed a 24 week sentence for the incident along with two other thefts from another OneStop earlier in the month. But Dealsey's latest crimewave, during which he stole around £540 of goods between April 21 and May 27, has led to his longest prison stint yet. He appeared at Peterborough Magistrates' Court on June 2 where he was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison and ordered to pay compensation for the stolen goods. It is the latest in a sorry string of offences for the crook. On Monday February 5, 2024, he was spotted in Lincoln Road, Millfield, by response officers who were on patrol in the area in the early hours. Knowing that he was wanted in connection with shoplifting offences, he was arrested and taken into custody for questioning. At the time, police said he had been convicted of ten recent theft offences, with the latest four taking place the month before. On January 24 he had entered Next in Brotherhood Retail Park and stole £300 worth of bedding, before returning to the store a few hours later and making off with three jumpers worth £135. Five days later he targeted the same store, this time stealing clothing worth £150. The following day he entered Asda Living in the Brotherhood Retail Park and filled a bag with £257 worth of candles. He was challenged by security as he went to leave the store but made off. Then, he admitted four counts of theft from a shop at Cambridge Magistrates' Court and was sentenced to ten weeks in prison. At the time, PC Rob Reay, from the force's Prevention and Vulnerability Hub, said: 'Deasley is persistent in his offending, and despite interventions and offers of support he continues to commit crime to fund addiction. 'For repeat offenders such as Deasley, we are able to build an application for a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) which we will now be taking to the courts with the intention of getting him banned from entering the areas he targets.' In May last year, police released video footage of Deasley stealing sweets from the OneStop in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, on April 28 when a knife clearly falls from his trousers. Deasley, of no fixed address, was later charged with possession of a knife, three counts of theft from a shop and possession of crack cocaine after two white wraps were found on him upon arrest. He was found to have stolen a total of £147.20 worth of laundry products from another OneStop on two occasions earlier in the month and was given 24 weeks in jail. But Deasley was back in trouble with the law in December 2024 after turning his attention to petrol stations. He entered Esso, in Welland Road, Dogsthorpe, on November 9 and stole numerous boxes of Ferrero Rocher by putting them in a bag and down his trousers, before hiding near the exit doors until a customer came through so he could run out. He stole from Esso again on December 1, and stole twice from BP, in Bretton Way, Bretton, between November 14 and 28. He appeared at Cambridge Magistrates' Court on Friday December 6, where he was jailed for eight weeks after admitting the offences. But as soon as he was let out he was at it again - stealing £500 of gear from shops in Peterborough in two weeks. He stole from One Stop, in St Pauls Road, New England, four times, and Co-op, in Hampton Gardens, once, between January 24 and February 6, 2025, taking £583.15 worth of sweets, cleaning and hygiene products. Then, he was sentenced to ten weeks in prison after he admitted the five thefts at Huntingdon Magistrates' Court on Monday February 10. However he was sent back to prison for ten weeks in March after he was caught on CCTV stealing £270 worth of items from One Stop, in St Pauls Road, New England, over two thefts on March 15 and 18. He admitted four counts of theft from a shop at Cambridge Magistrates' Court on Friday March 21. At the time, PC Bethany Page, who investigated, said: 'Deasley has been convicted of nine shoplifting offences so far this year and was jailed only last month for theft.' Experts have warned that repeatedly imprisoning shoplifters doesn't tackle the root cause of the behaviour. Around 70% of repeat offending is thought to be caused by addiction to Class A drugs - typically heroin and crack cocaine. 'Custody is not a panacea for prolific shoplifting and is unlikely to break the cycle of offending,' said Cardiff University law lecturer Frederick Cram, who has researched new ways to break the cycle. The last few years have been a shoplifting nightmare for High Street shops. Since the pandemic, the Russia Ukraine conflict and soaring inflation, theft has soared in the UK, recently hitting the highest level ever seen. A huge 516,971 offences were logged by police forces last year, up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023. The figure is the highest since current police records began 22 years ago in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).


Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Five feared killed in horror school shooting as armed police swarm scene
Elite armed police have raced to a school in Graz, Austria's second largest city, after a gunman opened fire in broad daylight. The BORG Dreierschützengasse school is being evacuated with officers swarming the scene. Austrian special task force Cobra has also been deployed to the horror incident, which unfolded at about 10am local time. There are fears as many as five people may have been killed and multiple people injured, according to local media, and a police spokesperson believes the shooter may be a pupil at the school. Students and teachers are believed to be among the victims. Federal police have been deployed to the scene, according to local reports. Cobra units - armed special forces part of the Federal Ministry of the Interior - have rushed to a community administered hospital nearby the shooting site. At keast five people may have died following the school shooting this morning. Police rushed to the scene at around 10am local time (9am GMT) this morning, in the Dreierschützengasse neighborhood, with a local spokesperson telling national broadcaster ORF early on that one person may have died. Fritz Grundnig said one person "possibly also dead" following the shooting. Police have confirmed in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Cobra units were deployed to the site of the suspected shooting this morning. +++Aktuell läuft in der Dreierschützengasse in #Graz ein Polizeieinsatz. Bitte an die Anweisungen der Polizeikräfte halten. +++ #graz1006


Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Phone box rapist brands himself 'f***ing dog' before crying in court
Married father-of-one Cornel Filipeche, 21, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars after he dragged a woman into a phone box and raped her in Birmingham - before crying in court A rapist who dragged his victim into a phone box before attacking her called himself a "f***ing dog" before he burst into tears in court. Cornel Filipeche, 21, attacked a complete stranger near the One Stop shopping centre in Birmingham. The Romanian national had been pleasuring himself after he left the toilets at The Arthur Robertson Wetherspoon's pub, just moments before he shamelessly pounced on his unsuspecting victim. Filipeche had left the pub at around 1.30am on January 18 and waited at a bus stop, where he went up to a woman and asked her for a light for his cigarette. The father-of-one hid around the corner as she walked away and watched her cross the road, near Perry Barr train station. He terrifyingly jumped out and grabbed her before dragging her into a phone box - where he raped her and inflicted serious bodily harm, Birmingham Live reports. This horror ordeal lasted four minutes and Filipeche ran away with the victim's phone. Emergency services were called to the scene where they found her covered in blood, bruises and traumatised. The married 21-year-old was jailed for 10 years and handed an extended five-year licence after a judge declared he was "dangerous". The rapist cried in court as Judge John Butterfield said Filipeche had shown no remorse for his crime other than telling probation workers that: "I feel like a f***ing dog. I feel like s***. I don't want to remember this." The judge said the attack was "profoundly troubling" and the "most horrific four minutes" of the victim's life. The victim bravely attended the sentencing hearing and stared down Filipeche, who occasionally looked back towards the public gallery. She told the court she was too scared to leave her home after the horror incident. The married dad was seen crying in court as he held his head in his hands. Detective inspector Emma Watson, from the force's public protection unit, said: "I want to thank the victim for her bravery in coming forward and reporting this to us. Her actions may have saved other victims. " West Midlands Police encourages anyone who has suffered abuse to come forward. You will be supported, and you will be believed." At the time of the attack, West Midlands Police issued a public appeal for information which led to Filipeche's arrest at an address in Lozells three days later. He pleaded guilty to rape, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and robbery at his first court appearance. It later emerged that he had previously assaulted a woman in Spain which earned him a six-month suspended sentence at a Court for Violence Against Women in 2023.