Jacob Zuco jailed for knife murder of Leon Penman in Bedford
A judge has called for society to take a stand again the "scourge" of knives as he jailed a teenager convicted of murder.Jacob Zuco was found guilty of killing Leon Penman, 20, in Bedford in May 2024 following a trial at Luton Crown Court.Judge Michael Simon handed Zuco, 19, of Kimble Drive in the town, a mandatory life sentence and said he must spend 20 years in jail before parole could be considered.Jurors heard he stabbed Mr Penman with a "hunting-style" knife bought from a website called "knifewarehouse.com".
A teenager got a friend to buy two knives from the website when he was 17, the court heard.The jury also found Zuco guilty of wounding Mr Penman, who was also from Bedford, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following a previous incident in March 2024.The trial heard Zuco had sold drugs to friends and that Mr Penman had convictions related to drug use and violence and had been serving a suspended prison sentence.
Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
38 minutes ago
- The Sun
Moment Co-op worker grabs fleeing shoplifter by the THROAT to stop him making off with arms full of stolen items
Owen Scott Ethan Singh Published: Invalid Date, SHOCKING footage shows the moment a shop worker tackled a fleeing crook by grabbing him by the throat. Video captured at the scene shows a man in a black jacket running from a Co-op store as another female member of staff tries and fails to trip him. 4 4 4 The video which resurfaced recently - after it was filmed last year- shows a pony-tailed woman confronting the burglar in a Co-op in Edgeley, Manchester. It has now gone viral again after recirculating on social media. The woman was seen taking hold of the cowering crook by his neck and pushes him back into the store in Stockport. Footage then shows her forcefully slamming him against a wall and ordering him to drop his haul. She could be heard shouting at the baseball-cap wearing man: "Do you want me again!? Do you want me again!", as she ordered him to put down the stolen items. Two other members of staff then arrive on the scene to try and diffuse the tense situation. The footage has been widely shared on social media, with one person saying: 'We need more people like this.' Another added: 'This is how to deal with thieving scum.' A third added: 'She will probably lose her job for her bravery.' At the time, police had recorded record shopping levels during the previous year - over 430,104 offences had been recorded. Greggs will raise prices next week in hikes branded a 'theft tax', as Sun reporters again witnessed brazen thefts across UK That record was shattered in 2024 when police recorded a staggering 516,971 incidents. Yet only a fifth resulted in a charge while more than half of investigations ended with no suspect identified. The figures from the Office for National Statistics came after a Sun investigation exposed the scale of shoplifting from Greggs. The bakery was hit particularly hard during the surge of shoplifting. Greggs was forced to move several of its sandwiches and drinks behind counters, as they faced a theft every 20 minutes. According to Tom Ironside, a member of the British Retail Consortium, shoplifting is costing businesses over £2billion. 'While the ONS statistics show shoplifting at record levels, the figures severely underestimate the problem. 'They are equivalent to less than two incidents per shop per year. Shopkeepers will tell you they're lucky if a day goes by without a shoplifting incident.' The Co-op has been contacted for comment
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Mother-of-two who stole more than £200,000 from her employer to fund her husband's drug habit is jailed
A mother-of-two who stole over £200,000 from a prestigious Liverpool law firm in a desperate attempt to fund her husband's drug addiction wept in the dock as she was jailed this week. Rachel Wilson, 43, betrayed the trust of her long-time employers during a four-year fraud campaign and was only caught out when she took a holiday and a colleague uncovered her lies. The disgraced head cashier, who had worked at Liverpool Legal Services Ltd (formerly Rex Makin and Co) for 16 years, wiped away tears as she was sentenced to two years and two months in prison on Wednesday at Liverpool Crown Court. Wearing a black hoodie over a floral dress, glasses perched on her nose and her long blonde hair draped over her shoulders, Wilson cried out 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' to her family in the public gallery as she was led away. Her father blew her a kiss in return, while her son reassured her with the words: 'Don't be sorry. Love you mum.' The court heard that Wilson from Southport, began siphoning off funds as early as April 2020, orchestrating 89 bogus payments worth more than £13,500 to bank and savings accounts in her own name, disguised as payments to 'external consultants'. Prosecutor Joanne Maxwell explained that she had also fabricated and cashed cheques totalling a staggering £196,000, under the pretence of paying for office necessities like postage and furniture. Her deceit unravelled in August 2024 when a colleague covering for her during annual leave spotted financial discrepancies, prompting an internal investigation. Wilson, a mother to a teenage daughter and adult son, confessed during a disciplinary hearing the following month. She made full admissions again when interviewed by police, stating she had acted out of desperation to support her husband's drug dependency. Lloyd Morgan, defending, said: 'This is a 43-year-old woman who has not been in trouble before and faces a very serious situation. 'It is one that she is extremely remorseful about. She is ashamed of her behaviour and acting so fraudulently for such a long time in a trusted position.' He continued: 'I will not go into the behaviour to which she was subjected. She made nothing out of this fraud. There was no lavish lifestyle. There are no assets of any sort. She is working again now. It was done to fund her husband's drug addiction, without going into any further detail.' The court also heard how Wilson had taken steps to turn her life around, voluntarily undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy and receiving treatment for anxiety and depression. Mr Morgan added: 'She felt that she had no choice and made a terrible decision and a bad decision. She felt that she did not have any other way out. 'She has a daughter living at the house. There will be a significant effect on her, were she to be deprived of her mother's presence in that house.' Recorder Mark Ainsworth acknowledged the difficult circumstances Wilson faced but stressed that the breach of trust and scale of the fraud meant custody was inevitable. He told her: 'For the vast majority of your adult life, you have been working for the firm that became Liverpool Legal Services Ltd, a well-known firm of solicitors operating here in Liverpool. You were operating as their head cashier.' 'When you were confronted by the firm, you admitted what you had done. You have not tried to prevaricate or avoid blame since these matters came to light, and I bear that in mind.' 'It is clear that you were taking this money not for high living or anything of that nature. You were faced with a difficult situation and sought to deal with it in this dishonest way.' He added: 'Any business that loses £200,000, or thereabouts, is going to suffer. There is also the impact on others who are perfectly innocent. I have in mind both of your children but particularly your daughter, who is 14 years of age and who will be impacted by what may happen in this case.' Wilson pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Mother jailed for aborting baby at 39 weeks would now go unpunished
Within a week of her due date, Sarah Catt aborted her baby. She claimed that her son was stillborn and that she had buried his body, but no evidence of the baby was ever found. Catt is among a small number of women in England and Wales to face prosecution after terminating their pregnancies. However, under new regulations set to be brought in, she – and others like her – would never have been arrested. On Tuesday night, MPs voted with a majority of 242 to decriminalise those seeking an abortion at any stage of gestation and for any reason. Abortion in England and Wales is currently a criminal offence. However, it is legal if carried out up to 24 weeks and with an authorised provider, with very limited circumstances permitting one after this period. Women may also take prescribed medication at home if they are fewer than 10 weeks pregnant. The vote has divided public opinion, with many welcoming the 'hard-won victory' for women, and others believing that it goes too far, arguing that ' late-term abortions kill babies '. In September 2012, Catt, then 35, was convicted of aborting her baby when she was 39 weeks pregnant. During her trial at Leeds Crown Court, and following an analysis of her computer, jurors heard that she had bought a drug from a company in Mumbai to induce labour, and that she delivered her baby at home by herself. The judge was told that Catt had been having an affair with a work colleague for seven years, and that her husband was unaware of the pregnancy and was not consulted about her decision to have an abortion. She already had two children with her husband and had previously had a scan while 30 weeks pregnant at a hospital in Leeds, confirming the pregnancy. However, suspicions were raised when she failed to register the birth weeks later. After giving birth to her son, Catt said he was not moving or breathing, and that she buried his body but never revealed the location. She pleaded guilty to administering a poison with intent to procure a miscarriage. Sentencing her, after a trial in which she was described as having 'shown no remorse or given an explanation for what she did', Mr Justice Cooke said that she made a 'deliberate and calculated decision' to end her pregnancy, and that the gravity of her crime lay between murder and manslaughter. However, in June 2013, Catt had her eight-year prison sentence reduced to three-and-a-half years. Lady Justice Rafferty, heading a panel of three judges in the Court of Appeal, described the original sentence as 'manifestly excessive', while Catt sobbed in the dock. Catt is among half a dozen women to have faced prosecution for having an abortion, and who, following the MPs' recent vote, would not now be criminalised. Sophie Harvey is also among them. She was just 19 when she gave birth in her bathroom. Her stillborn baby was found wrapped in a towel and placed in a household rubbish bin. Six years later, in December last year, Harvey and her partner Elliot Benham both pleaded guilty at Gloucester Crown Court to conspiracy to obtain a poison with the intent to procure a miscarriage and endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child. Harvey was sentenced to an 18-month community order, while Benham was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work. The court heard that they did not want the baby, but when Harvey discovered she was pregnant the foetus was found to be 28 weeks old – four weeks over the legal limit – and that they had paid for drugs to cause the abortion. According to recent Freedom of Information data released by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), between 2019 and 2023, 21 defendants (16 men and five women, aged between 24 and 59 years old) were charged with administering or procuring drugs or using instruments to induce an abortion, or child destruction. Of them, ten defendants were convicted and five were convicted on other substantive offences. Further high-profile cases have continued to divide public opinion. Nicola Packer was still bleeding and in pain when she was handcuffed. She was recovering from surgery for a stillbirth when police arrived at hospital later that day and accused her of illegally aborting her baby. Ms Packer took abortion medication, which was prescribed over the phone during the Covid-19 lockdown in November 2020, when she was aged 41. She delivered at home, and brought the foetus to a London hospital in a backpack the following day. Jurors heard that she took the medications when she was around 26 weeks pregnant, though the legal limit is 10 weeks, and that she knew this. However, Ms Packer denied this and spoke of her 'shock' at being pregnant, before breaking down, saying: 'If I had known I was that far along I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have put the baby or myself through it.' In May 2025, she sobbed as she was acquitted of 'unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing' with the 'intent to procure a miscarriage'. She had spent almost five years facing the threat of prison. Ms Packer has since spoken out about how, instead of being sent home to recuperate following her surgery, while in custody and in pain, she was not given anti-clotting medication on time, having been told it was 'not a priority'. Furthermore, in June 2023, Carla Foster was sentenced to 28 months in prison for terminating a pregnancy between 32 and 34 weeks. The then 44-year-old mother-of-three claimed she felt too ' embarrassed ' to see a doctor after becoming pregnant in 2019, and that she did not know how far along she was. She also received abortion medication over the phone during the Covid-19 pandemic, and a court heard that she lied to a nurse practitioner from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), convincing them that she was seven weeks pregnant. Shortly after, she made a 999 call telling operators that she was in labour and had suffered a miscarriage. She was initially charged with child destruction and pleaded not guilty. She later pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion, which was accepted by the prosecution. The Court of Appeal later reduced her sentence to 14 months suspended. Sitting at the London court in July 2023, Dame Victoria Sharp described her case as 'very sad', adding that 'it is a case that calls for compassion, not punishment'. In 2024, the CPS dropped its case against Bethany Cox, then 22, from Teesside, who was accused of causing her own miscarriage after purchasing drugs in 2020, as the first Covid-19 lockdown ended. At the time, Nicholas Lumley KC, her barrister, said that she had been interviewed by police in the 'throes of grief', and had been investigated for three years. It is not known how or when the baby died, and the prosecution dropped the case due to 'evidential difficulties'. As a result of MPs' vote this week, the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which outlaws abortion, will be amended so that it will no longer apply to women ending their own pregnancies. That means that Ms Packer, Ms Foster, Ms Catt, Ms Cox, Ms Harvey, and others like them in similar circumstances would no longer be prosecuted. The vote was tabled by the Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Tonia Antoniazzi, who criticised the current 'Victorian' laws being used against vulnerable women, and said that the decriminalisation would ensure women do not face arrest, investigation, prosecution or imprisonment regarding any pregnancies. Following the vote, Heidi Stewart, chief executive of BPAS, hailed the vote as 'a landmark moment for women's rights in this country and the most significant change to our abortion law since the 1967 Abortion Act was passed'. In contrast, Kathleen Stock, a former philosophy professor at the University of Sussex, who was forced to quit her job in 2021 following a high-profile row with the institution over her gender-critical views, was among those criticising the vote. 'Late-term abortions kill babies,' she said. 'Viable babies.' Catherine Robinson, spokesman for Right To Life UK, also raised concerns about the implications of the vote. She said: 'Removing the legal deterrent against women having abortions outside of a clinical setting beyond 24 weeks will only make it more likely that women in vulnerable circumstances will take similar action in future, putting themselves at risk. The current legal deterrent protects women from coercion at the hands of abusive partners and from taking actions they may later regret.' The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said that the vote marked 'a dark day', and described the result as 'heartbreaking', 'horrifying', 'extreme' and 'barbaric'. According to the latest available data held by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there were 251,377 abortions for women in England and Wales in 2022. This marked the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967, and an increase of 17 per cent over the previous year. The vast majority of them were medically induced and funded by the NHS. According to recent polling by Ipsos ahead of the vote, 71 per cent of Britons think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and 47 per cent believe that the current 24-week time limit for most abortions in England and Wales is 'about right'. When asked about illegal abortions, just over half (55 per cent) think that the person who performed the abortion should face a penalty. However, considerably fewer believe that the woman who had the abortion (32 per cent) or someone else who arranged the abortion (37 per cent) should face a penalty.
