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Police searching Ecclesall Woods for missing Sheffield man

Police searching Ecclesall Woods for missing Sheffield man

BBC News5 hours ago

Dog walkers have been asked to help with the search for a man who has been missing from Sheffield for more than a month.Michael, 54, whose surname has not been given by South Yorkshire Police, was last seen on 19 May when CCTV caught him walking alone along Abbey Lane.The focus of the search for him is now on the Ecclesall Woods area.Det Chief Insp Aneela Khalil-Khan said: "If you are reading this, Michael, I really want to urge you to please make contact with us. We just want you to let us know you are safe."
The force said he was reported missing on 27 May, and officers had since been conducting searches of the local area, examining phone records, gathering relevant footage and visiting those who know him to try and locate him.Ms Khali-Khan said she wanted to "thank the public for their support and information they have already provided"."I now want to appeal to those who frequent the Ecclesall Woods area to ask if you have spotted anything which has given you any cause for concern and could help us locate Michael."Even the smallest piece of information could help us find him and we would welcome any new information or intelligence that you can provide."
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Series of public inquiries on Troubles incidents ‘not the way forward'
Series of public inquiries on Troubles incidents ‘not the way forward'

The Independent

time35 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Series of public inquiries on Troubles incidents ‘not the way forward'

The legacy of Northern Ireland's past is not going to be dealt with by a series of public inquiries, Secretary of State Hilary Benn has said. He came under questioning over the Government's handling of legacy cases during a meeting of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Monday. Mr Benn insisted that a reformed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) will be able to deal with the cases. The body led by Sir Declan Morgan, a former lord chief justice for Northern Ireland, was set up by the former government's Legacy Act after scores of legacy inquests and other court cases relating to the Troubles were halted. The Kingsmill massacre and the Guildford pub bombings are among cases it is currently looking at. Mr Benn told MPs they are working to change disclosure arrangements and to make it compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 'In the end, we're not going to deal with legacy with a whole series of public inquiries,' he said. 'We're doing all this work to try and create a body which is capable of delivering justice for all, information for all, answers for all. 'That is what I am trying to do at the moment because of the incompatibilities identified.' He was asked about his decision not to call a public inquiry into the circumstances around the murder of GAA official Sean Brown in 1997. In May the UK Government confirmed it will seek a Supreme Court appeal over a court ruling that ordered it to hold a public inquiry into Mr Brown's murder. The 61-year-old then-chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. Asked about Mr Brown's case, Mr Benn told MPs: 'It's an awful, awful case. 'The murder of Sean Brown was shocking, deeply violent, and this has caused immense suffering to the family, to his widow Bridie and to the wider community, including the GAA family, because of the role that he undertook. 'But I came to the conclusion that the commission reformed would be capable of looking into it, and there's an issue of principle here in respect to the court ruling. 'Up until this moment, the courts accepted that it is for governments to decide whether public inquiries are ordered, not for the courts. 'What the courts have tended to say is, this is the test that has to be met, the way in which the government chooses to meet that test is a matter for governments to decide. 'There is a margin of appreciation that is made available. 'In this particular case, the court has decided to order a public inquiry. 'We're seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court because of that fundamental principle, which is, courts do not order public inquiries, governments do, and that is very important because of the nature of the mandatory order I am not able to do anything else other than order a public inquiry, which I made it clear that the Government is not going to do, because I believe there's another means of dealing with this case.' Mr Benn said there are five other cases that are in the same position. 'People say the Sean Brown case is unique. All murders are unique and uniquely painful for the family, but it is not a unique case,' he said. 'This is not a unique case, and I would also say we are not going to deal with legacy by having a whole series of public inquiries. 'That is not a way forward. That is why we have to make the reform of the commission to win public confidence. 'To make it ECHR compliant is so important because then you have a mechanism that you can use to deal with all of them and all of us, the committee, the whole team, everybody needs to be concerned about justice for everyone.' He added: 'It is open to the Brown family to go to the commission today, the commission will start work on investigating.'

I'm 7/7's worst injured survivor & nearly died 3 times after bomber blew up train next to me – I'm facing fresh agony
I'm 7/7's worst injured survivor & nearly died 3 times after bomber blew up train next to me – I'm facing fresh agony

The Sun

timean hour ago

  • The Sun

I'm 7/7's worst injured survivor & nearly died 3 times after bomber blew up train next to me – I'm facing fresh agony

JUST ten seconds after the suicide bomber caught Dan Biddle's eye he unzipped his bag - and blew up the train. The catastrophic explosion severed both Dan's legs and filled the carriage with the stench of burning meat. 6 6 6 Ripping through his body, the blast sprayed coins into his face like bullets, blinding him in one eye. With the one eye he had left he looked around the wrecked train - the carnage he witnessed still haunts him decades on. And now, as survivors prepare to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings the construction worker faces fresh agony. Because while the great and the good will join survivors and families of the 52 dead at St Paul's Cathedral on July 7, Dan will not be one of them. Despite being the most injured survivor of the London bombings, both he and the hero who saved his life have not been invited. In the morning rush hour on July 7, 2005, four home-grown Islamic terrorists detonated suicide bombs on three Underground trains and a bus killing 52 commuters and wounding 748. Dan, now 46, lost a spleen along with both legs and his left eye after a suicide bomb exploded next to him on a Tube train near Edgware Road station on that fateful morning. A 20p piece, which punctured his leg like a bullet, remains lodged in his right thigh bone and the face and actions of bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan are permanently wedged in his tortured mind. He only survived because brave former Army medic Adrian Heili ignored his own injuries to crawl under the mangled carriage to stop construction worker Dan bleeding to death. The pair who are best of pals have supported each other through the horrors they have each endured in the last 20 years since fate brought them together amid the nightmare of Britain's first suicide bombing. I was a hero cop who busted 7/7 terrorists - how a chance meeting on holiday revealed my own BROTHER was a ferocious £3m drug lord Adrian and Dan were speaking to The Sun when they discovered that neither of them are among the invited guests who will attend a commemoration service on July 7, organised by the Mayor of London. Dan says: 'That's crazy. I'm the worst injured survivor from all four attacks. It just shows the level of contempt that Adrian myself and others are treated with. 'It's not like they won't know who we are. I've been pretty vocal over the last 20 years about wanting a public inquiry and how bad the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority operates.' Adrian, who won a Royal Humane Society award for his bravery in 7/7 adds: 'I've never been invited to any memorial day in the last 20 years.' To mark the anniversary, Dan has written a book, Back from The Dead, telling the incredible story of how he survived not only the bombing but the demons that have haunted him for two decades. 'Died three times' He says: 'I've died three times on an operating table and had the same number of goes at killing myself. Luckily, the doctors were brilliant at saving my life and I was crap at ending it. 'It's 20 years since the bombing and it's still as crystal clear in my head now as if it happened 30 seconds ago.' It took just 10 seconds for construction site manager Dan's life to change for ever. At 8.52am he was leaning against the Perspex partition at the front of the second carriage on the Tube train travelling from Edgware Road towards Paddington. Suicide bomber Khan, 30, from Leeds, was on the seat the other side of the Perspex, just six inches away. 6 6 Dan recalls: 'His rucksack was on his lap in line with my knees as I stood next to him. He looked up at me, quickly lowered his eyes, put his right hand through the zip in the top of his bag and exploded himself. 'When the bomb went off in a brilliant white flash an immense amount of heat hit me. It's 20 years since the bombing and it's still as crystal clear in my head now as if it happened 30 seconds ago 'It was as if someone had pumped the carriage up to the maximum it could take and then sucked it out really quickly. 'The hand pole from the carriage speared my body before I bounced out of the train headfirst, hit the tunnel wall and landed in the crawlspace with a big chunk of metal on top of me. My arms and hands were alight and my face was burnt as well. 'Shredded and blown' 'The left leg was gone above the knee, the right leg was shredded and blown around 180 degrees. I was on my back but my toes dug into the ground. 'With one eye I had left, I saw bodies and body parts all around. There was a girl lying behind me. I could see the catastrophic injuries which had left her dead. 'Something was digging in my back. I pulled it out. It was a foot in a black brogue shoe. I just screamed for help in absolute fear and panic. I didn't think I would live and I'm not one of these people that's frightened of dying. 'But I was terrified of dying alone. I didn't want my dad to have to identify what was left because I could see the devastation that the blast had caused.' Dan's piercing screams had been heard – by Adrian, who had been in the third carriage. The former military medic had blood pouring down his face and a dislocated shoulder but instead of fleeing he stepped over several charred bodies and headed towards Dan's cries for help. Not knowing where the electric track was still live, Adrian crawled under the carriage through pools of blood to get to Dan. Dan says: 'All my bad luck ended after the bomb had gone off because I was found by probably the most ideal person that could have found me in that tunnel that day. 'In the space of 30 seconds to a minute I came face-to-face with the worst that humanity had, in the scumbag that did this to us, and then the very best. Not for one moment did Adrian think to himself 'I could get killed here'.' The 44-year-old South African who had served on four tours in Kosovo, told Dan 'Don't worry, I've been in this situation before. I'll get you out'. Adrian, who was working as bodyguard back then, pushed his hand into what was left of Dan's leg, pinched the gaping femoral artery shut to stop his life ebbing away. Such was the chaos of 7/7 that Adrian asked for a first aid kit to be brought to Dan as he lay in the tunnel but when he opened the wooden box the only thing in it was an onion. After 40 minutes, help arrived and as Dan was loaded into an ambulance Adrian vowed 'It doesn't matter where you go, I'll find you'. It would be three months before they were reunited. Incredibly Dan still carries photos on his phone of his injuries when he arrived at St Mary's hospital, Paddington. He says: 'I looked like somebody who had been put through a chipper. Doctors found £7.40 in cash embedded in my body. The 20p piece is still there 'I died three times in the operating theatre. In the space of 30 seconds to a minute I came face-to-face with the worst that humanity had, in the scumbag that did this to us, and then the very best 'I have a scar on my chest where they opened me up and a surgeon put her magic fingers into my chest and manually pumped my heart. 'All the machines said I was well dead but the surgeon never stopped massaging my heart. At 15 minutes they are obliged to make it official that I'm a goner. 'The hands-on doctor had nine seconds left when my heart began beating on its own. I woke up eight weeks later.' Over the years Dan and Adrian - who appear in the four-part Netflix series Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 bombers from July 1 - have become mates linked by the horrors they witnessed in the tunnel. Dan says: 'Amazing medical care put my body back together. 'My mind is as broken' 'But my mind's just as broken now as it was 20 years ago because there are some things that are so enormous that your brain can't process it. 'I'm sure it's the same for Adrian. We don't remember our trauma without reliving it. 'Sirens are a massive trigger because when Adrian and the paramedics carried me out of the station the noise of sirens was everywhere. 'I smell burnt meat. I'm not in a restaurant, I'm back on the floor of that tunnel after I've seen somebody burn to death. That doesn't go away. People say time's a great healer - it's a load of cr*p. I'm living the life sentence that the bloke that did this to me should be serving 'What time does is it teaches you the mechanisms to manage the impact of the trauma. It doesn't lessen the frequency of the flashbacks and the night terrors.' Dan suffers from complex PTSD and after 20 years Mohammed Khan the bomber still haunts his mind daily. Both men also suffer guilt, Dan for surviving when so many died, Adrian – who went back into the tunnel 12 times – wondering if could have saved more lives. Ten years ago this month, Dan married the love of his life, wife Gem, near their home in South Wales and Adrian was delighted to be there. Adrian, who now runs a specialist tunnelling company, tells Dan: 'I might have fixed your body and kept you alive but Gem definitely fixed your heart and your mind.' Dan, who runs his own company helping disabled people find work, does not know what the next 20 years hold. Because of what his body has gone through he cannot get life insurance or a mortgage. He says: 'If I drop dead tomorrow, Gem has got nothing. 'Khan robbed me of not just my legs, my eye, my spleen and my sanity. He robbed me of being able to provide a secure future for my wife through no fault of my own. 'I'm living the life sentence that the bloke that did this to me should be serving.' 6 Call for public inquiry FOR 20 years, pals Dan Biddle and Adrian Heili have campaigned for a public inquiry into the 7/7 bombings. Dan says: 'It was the first Islamist extremist terrorist attack and the first suicide attack on UK soil. 'How much did MI5, MI6 and counter-terrorism units know about the four bombers - Khan, Germaine Lindsay, Shezad Tanweer and Hassib Hussein. 'I believe they identified them quicker than I was identified. 'Rightly we had public inquiries into the Manchester Arena attack, the Grenfell fire and the shooting of John Charles Menezes. 'So, what makes 7/7 different? Because the blame sits with the government.' Adrian adds: 'If you sweep it under the carpet for 20 years it festers and people become more doubtful of government if they are not if they're not getting the answers. 'We just don't want it to be forgotten.'

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