Arson investigation after former social club goes up in flames
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BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
Cats electrocuted, drowned and starved cats in online torture groups, BBC finds
An international network that shares online videos of cats and kittens being tortured has members in the UK, the BBC has network is thought to have thousands of members who post, share and sell graphic images and videos of cats being hurt and one group, on an encrypted messaging app, the BBC found evidence of British members suggesting users adopt kittens from the RSPCA to BBC investigation comes after two teenagers admitted torturing and killing two kittens in a park in Ruislip, north-west London, in May. They are due to be sentenced on Monday. The following report contains graphic content and descriptions of animal cruelty. The 16-year-old girl, and boy, aged 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty after the kittens were found cut open and strung up. Knives, blowtorches and scissors were also found at the is understood that police are now looking into possible links to a wider network of cat torturers who film, post and sell footage of attacks on encrypted messaging apps. These groups started in China, but BBC News has identified members now active across the world, including in the scale of the network has been documented by animal rights activists Feline group says between May 2023 and May 2024, a new video showing the torture and execution of a kitten or cat was uploaded approximately every 14 says it has documented 24 groups active this year, the largest of which had more than 1,000 members. The most active torturer is believed to have filmed the torture and killing of more than 200 cats. Chat conversations in one group, seen by the BBC, include what appear to be UK-based accounts discussing how to get hold of cats to member discussed how to adopt kittens from the RSPCA and posted application forms. Another post shared an advert for kittens for sale in the UK, posting that they wanted to "torture them so bad".Lara is a volunteer with Feline Guardians. We have agreed not to use her full name for fear of reprisals. She said: "Every day I feel heartbroken, there is not a day that goes past that I don't feel like my heart is breaking."She has spent time undercover in the forums and says there is no limit to the pain the torturers are prepared to describes it as the "depths of evil". Videos and photographs seen by the BBC are graphic and extremely include footage of cats being drowned and electrocuted. One video speculates on how long a kitten in a cage will survive if it is not given members appear to want to inflict as much pain as possible. In online chats, torturers explain how they use electrocution to resuscitate a cat in order to prolong members are encouraged to mutilate and post videos to gain access to a wider BBC saw evidence that suggested children were taking part in these groups. One member posted: "I'm 10 years old and I like to torture cats." In September 2023, the network even promoted a "100 cat kill" competition, during which members were encouraged to see how quickly the group could torture and kill 100 cats. Videos depicting the horrific torture of cats first went viral in China in man responsible for two extremely graphic videos, Wang Chaoyi, was detained for 15 days by the Chinese authorities and forced to issue a "letter of repentance".But his footage developed a cult following and others began making similar content for Chinese and Western social media, gaining thousands of views, before groups developed on encrypted messaging apps. One website even describes itself as a place for the "cat-lover community" and requests viewers "submit your work".Users can only gain access if they provide evidence of their own cat torture. Who is Little Winnie? "Little Winnie" is a well known name used in the cat torture community for having a profile picture that mocks the Chinese leader Xi Jinping with an image of Winnie the with that name and profile picture are described as administrators in a number of forums. An activist from Feline Guardians got in touch with one of those Little Winnie accounts and lured the man behind it into an online relationship."I felt disgusted having to be friendly and then having to have this friendship with him," the activist, who does not want to be named, communicated for several weeks and infiltrated the network."It was just an endless scroll of torture videos, one after the other," she said. "I felt, 'I just can't watch this'. Even though I'm messaging him, I can't watch this. I had to sort of turn off my brain."Eventually she persuaded the man behind the account to do a video call. From that call, the group identified a 27-year-old man living in the Japanese capital contacted by the BBC, the man said he categorically denied any involvement in these activities. Lara, from Feline Guardians, told us that law enforcement and governments need to tackle the groups, saying "it will only continue to expand and get worse".Feline Guardians has held demonstrations outside the Chinese Embassy, in London, demanding that authorities in Beijing do more."In mainland China, there are no laws that are stopping this. So that means that abusers and torturers can effectively do what they want and live out these very sadistic fantasies without any consequence. These videos are then uploaded, and essentially that's a global problem, because that means that everyone has access to these videos. Children are seeing this," Lara said. Ian Briggs, head of the RSPCA's special operations unit, told the BBC: "Treating animals in this way is absolutely not acceptable and has no place in a modern society that is largely made up of kind, compassionate animal lovers."Johanna Baxter MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cats, said these groups were "a deeply worrying trend, particularly among young men"."Animal abuse often acts as a gateway, making future acts of violence easier to rationalise and commit," she added.
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Britain's Car Boot King with 19 children, the cleaner who became his second wife - and a bitter war over his '£43million fortune'
On a chilly day in December 2017, an unpleasant incident unfolded at a sprawling estate called Moat Hall Farm near Knutsford in Cheshire. Police had arrived after a neighbour called Adam Scott complained building work was taking place at the house, about which he was most unhappy. That much, said police, was a civil matter. But things took a bizarre turn when the estate owner's dog – a Labrador Shar Pei cross tethered to a 20-metre chain – pounced on PC Simon Banks, dragged him to the ground and sank its teeth into his thigh, leaving severe puncture wounds that required stitches. It was a sorry and rather unusual business – and also, it emerged, only one part of the story. For when the altercation ended in a Stockport court, the presiding magistrate heard something else: that the reason for this distressing confrontation came down to a bitter inheritance feud. Resident at the Moat Hall estate was Adam's elderly father Richard, 81 – known as the Car Boot King courtesy of his enormously successful car boot business and the ITV show Car Boot Challenge which he hosted on his land – and his second wife Jennifer, who at 60 is two years younger than Adam. The couple had married in 2016 following a 23-year relationship, and there was tension over what would happen to the estate when Richard passed away. That phone call to police in December had been one of many, as well as to social services and the Court of Protection. But this was merely the beginning of this bitter family saga. Six months after the attack, Richard died from cancer – leaving the entire estate to his wife. Seven years on, and the inheritance row is not only still blazing, but currently playing out in London's High Court. On one side is divorced father-of-three Adam, Richard's second eldest son who for many years was viewed as the family golden boy. He feels he has been unfairly disinherited and wants the will his father wrote in May 1995 to be reinstated. On the other is Jennifer, who insists her stepson's claims are without merit, fuelled by his resentment that Richard not only had more children with her but then married her not long before his death. Intriguingly, she is supported by not only two of the seven children she had with Richard, but by two of Adam's full sisters from his father's first marriage, Rebecca and Sarah. They are just some of the 19 children Richard fathered in total – six of them outside wedlock. This very public airing of laundry has laid bare the rancour between members of this sprawling family and the financial dealings of a man who at the time of his death was said to be worth £43million – although that number, like so much in this family, is subject to dispute. A flamboyant and well-known figure in Cheshire's 'golden triangle' – the region encompassing the affluent towns and villages of Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Prestbury – Richard Scott came from a long-established family. The Scotts had been farming in Cheshire for around 300 years, traditionally passing the land and property – including the medieval Moat Hall Farm – down the generations. Richard inherited 25 per cent of Moat Hall Farm in 1958 after the death of his father and, after buying out the shares of his three siblings, became its sole owner. He subsequently purchased two adjacent farms, as well as many other properties. In 1960, at the age of 25, he married his first wife, Janet, and they had six children: Richard Harry, 63, Adam, 62, Rebecca, 61, Rachael, 60, Giles, 55, and Sarah, 50. Richard also had six other children – three boys and three girls – from extra-marital relationships. He had little contact with them other than with one, Julie Ann Walkden, who was adopted following her birth in February 1968 and traced her biological father in 2008. Richard was not an easy man to live with: a mercurial, ruthless and difficult character described by his children as controlling, manipulative and unpredictable. The High Court heard he was a 'short-tempered, authoritarian father' who would not stand dissent. Anti-establishment, he was willing to bend the rules if necessary for financial gain – such as putting properties into third-party names and creating 'sham' tenancies. His eldest son Richard Harry – from whom he was estranged after taking issue with his girlfriend – described him as 'bent as a nine bob note'. On one occasion, at least, he was found out: in 1974, the then 39-year-old Richard was found guilty of burning down a farm to swindle his insurance company. Chester Crown Court heard how he paid two men £500 each to destroy Old Hall Farm near Congleton in Cheshire while he was out of the country to claim £60,000 from his insurance company. He had come up with the ruse having failed to sell the farm, which he bought for £45,000, at a profit. But he was prosecuted following an investigation in which the two arsonists agreed to give evidence against him and was sentenced to five years in prison. Defending, his barrister, David Williams QC, described his client as a ruined man who had taken a gamble and lost. 'His business will disintegrate, and his aspirations of public life are also at an end,' he said. Yet Richard could not remotely have known that his actions would have even more horrendous repercussions. In 1976, Janet was tragically killed when her car overturned on the motorway after visiting her husband in Strangeways prison, Manchester. She was just 35. In the wake of the tragedy, Richard's mother moved into the farmhouse to look after her grandchildren, although Richard Harry, Adam, Rachael and Giles were sent to boarding school. A subsequent relationship with a woman called Valerie Ingleby ended in 1993, although they remained friends, following which Richard advertised for a cleaner. A local woman called Jennifer Redgrave applied and got the job – but, within a year, that relationship had moved from a professional to a romantic one. In 1995, Jennifer gave birth to Gordon, the first of seven children she would share with Richard, the youngest of whom is now 20. A year after Jennifer arrived on the scene, Richard started a car boot sale business known as Chelford Car Boot, over which he deployed typical sleight of hand. Planning rules meant that a single 'unit' (or piece of land) was entitled to run only 14 car boot events a year. So Richard granted tenancies to both his ex-girlfriend Valerie and to Adam – thereby allowing another 14 car boot events to be held on each of the two other parcels of land. Either way, the car boot sales were a huge success and caught the attention of ITV producers, who asked Richard if they could use his fields to film their popular series Car Boot Challenge. Difficult and domineering though he may have been, Richard was undoubtedly a canny businessman – amassing vast tracts of land throughout Cheshire and multiple properties. Quite what would happen to it all in the wake of his death was initially set down in a 1995 will – undisputed by both sides – in which Richard gave Adam a 40-year tenancy of the farm and an option to purchase it at its probate value. Before the end of the year, Richard had signed two wills disinheriting Adam and leaving Jennifer (pictured right) in control of his wealth. Richard died in June 2018, 18 months after making his final will. By that point Adam claims his dementia had spiralled out of control As a consequence, as his barrister Constance McDonnell KC told the court, Adam dedicated himself to the farm at the expense of his personal relationships. In submissions to the court, he claimed to have not only sacrificed holidays, a social life and time with his children because of the demands placed on him by his father, but his romantic relationships, with both his first serious relationship and his marriage to wife Melanie breaking down. At some point, relations with his father and Jennifer also broke down. In 2011 Richard was diagnosed with dementia and, two years later, Adam attempted to get his father sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Richard's GP, a psychiatrist, the police and two nurses visited his home – although on arrival they determined that he had mental capacity. The High Court was told that Jennifer learned her stepson had been responsible for the visit after making a Freedom of Information request. Eighteen months after that visit, in July 2015, social services were separately called to the property after Adam alleged that Richard was beating Jennifer and the children. 'That led to an investigation by social services which was eventually closed, but the children were placed on a safeguarding register, which they found upsetting,' Alex Troup KC, representing Jennifer, told the court. It is this, Jennifer asserts, that led to the final deterioration of the father-son relationship. Either way, within a year, extraordinary scenes unfolded at Knutsford Register Office when Adam attempted to object to his father's wedding ceremony to Jennifer on the basis that he lacked capacity to marry. 'That led to Richard being interviewed by four registrars and a lawyer from the local council, all of whom were satisfied that he did have capacity to marry. The wedding therefore went ahead,' Alex Troup told the court. Before the end of the year, Richard had signed two wills disinheriting Adam and leaving Jennifer in control of his wealth. Gordon and William Redgrave-Scott, his sons with Jennifer, and Adam's sister Rebecca Horley – whom the court heard had said of her father's testamentary intentions: 'I thought if I got £1 it would be more than I thought I'd get, given how unpredictable Dad was,' – were also made beneficiaries. Richard died in June 2018, 18 months after making his final will. By that point Adam claims his dementia had spiralled out of control – to the extent that he drove his car at some children during a car boot sale and attacked Jennifer's bedroom door with a hammer and a screwdriver. Six months after his father's death, Adam issued proceedings challenging the later wills, a legal process which has now arrived at the High Court. He is also bringing an alternative claim under the law of 'proprietary estoppel' – a legal remedy that can be used when a landowner has promised property will be transferred to someone else at a later date, only to renege on it. It perhaps says a great deal about the level of division in the Scott family that they cannot even agree on what Richard's estate is worth. While an initial probate valuation taken out after his death stated that the total market value of the properties was £5,031,366 – updated in January this year to £7,767,510 – Jennifer maintains she has received offers for some but not all of the properties ranging between £14.5 million to £28.8 million. Other reports have, at points, estimated Richard's total worth including other investments to have been as high as £43million. Quite how this saga will end remains to be seen: with both sides having presented their case, judgement is now expected later this year. Whatever the verdict however, it seems unlikely that the combat that has dogged this family will cease any time soon.
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Serial killer Levi Bellfield gets Xbox games and a fry-up every Saturday in 'Monster Mansion' jail
Serial killer Levi Bellfield is able to play Xbox games in prison and enjoy a fry-up every Saturday, the Daily Mail can reveal. The 57-year-old is in HMP Frankland – nicknamed Monster Mansion – where he is serving whole-life sentences for the murders of Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange, as well as the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy. As a so-called enhanced prisoner, Bellfield can have a cooked breakfast every Saturday. A Muslim convert who now uses the name Yusuf Rahim, Bellfield can select halal options, including sausages made from chicken or lamb rather than pork. He is also permitted £33 a week to spend in the canteen whereas standard prisoners have £19.80. The standard canteen sells Mars Bars for 90p and Coca-Cola for £1. Bellfield has access to Xbox computer games, a prison source said. Inmates are not permitted violent gameplay, but often play sport titles such as FIFA. 'They don't call it Monster Mansion for nothing; we are used to the worst of the worst here,' the source at the category A jail added. 'Bellfield isn't a problem on the unit, but it just doesn't feel quite right that a man in for his crimes should be playing Xbox computer games. Those on a whole-life order should get the bare minimum, but unfortunately as officers our hands are tied.' Notorious prisoners at HMP Frankland, in County Durham, include former firearms officer Wayne Couzens, serving a whole-life order, with no chance of parole, for the murder of Sarah Everard. Soham child killer Ian Huntley, Grindr murderer Stephen Port and morgue monster David Fuller are also understood to be at the jail. Hashem Abedi, brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman, was moved out after stabbing and scalding three officers last April. Bellfield was convicted of the murders of Ms McDonnell, 19, and 22-year-old Ms Delagrange, as well as the attempted murder of Ms Sheedy, 18, in 2008. The former bouncer was then found guilty in 2011 of kidnapping and murdering Milly Dowler, 13, in 2002. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'Having received two whole-life orders, Bellfield will rightly spend the rest of his life in jail.'
