Former detective Malcolm Baker died in Somerset house fire
Mr Baker retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2011 and moved to Somerset with his family, where he ran a security consultancy with his wife Francesca Onody.The couple had been married nearly 20 years and had two children together, but were in the process of divorcing when Mr Baker died.Ms Onody said he became "very angry" when he found out she wanted a divorce, and she had grown concerned about his mental health and heavy drinking.She told police her husband's behaviour was becoming "quite strange and more threatening", and on one occasion he had left a dead rabbit in her bed. Ms Onody added Mr Baker never sought medical help because he did not want anything to compromise his security vetting.
Ms Onody told the hearing she had discovered her husband had cancelled the home insurance policy, then reinstated it, before cancelling it again two days before he died.She also said Mr Baker had been stockpiling 125 litres of petrol in five canisters around their large home.
'Calm before the storm'
The couple's adult daughter, Gabriella Onody, had returned to the family home a few weeks before the fire and noticed her father was "quieter, less abusive and less aggressive"."It seemed like dad was planning something," she said."As we learned to anticipate worse abuse by quieter behaviour, this confirmed to us that something bad was going to happen. It felt like the calm before the storm."The day of the fire, he was desperately trying to find conflict with anything. He was just screaming and shouting."Th inquest heard Ms Onody had called the police at about 17:00 BST due to her husband's behaviour.While on the call, he pulled the phone cable from the wall socket before going upstairs and locking himself in his bedroom.Ms Onody reconnected the phone and redialled 999.
"The children and I were downstairs in the lounge," she told the hearing. "We heard him dragging furniture and we heard loud heavy noises, and he had big heavy oak furniture in his bedroom."The police arrived and they told us they were going to arrest him. They were going to go upstairs and break down his door."As officers tried to force his door open, Ms Onody noticed liquid trickling through the lounge ceiling."I shouted to the police they must have popped a radiator as it was next to his door," she said."I thought it was water and straight after I heard shouting, "it's petrol, get out", and the police came running down the stairs and we evacuated."
The inquest heard no one saw Mr Baker alive again after he had run upstairs and locked himself in his bedroom.Limited remains of his body were recovered from the property, but it was not possible to establish a cause of death.The inquest, which is being held before a jury, continues.
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Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
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EXCLUSIVE Locals' fury over plans to build 20 luxury homes on old burial site after council 'hid' they had failed to exhume most of the bodies
Residents living in the shadow of a cemetery where developers want to build luxury homes over dead bodies have accused their council of 'taking them for fools' after it emerged a full exhumation did not take place as promised. Calls are mounting to block the council's plans to build 20 homes over 11 'sacred' gravestones, including one belonging to a baby, at Tunbridge Wells Cemetery in Benhall Mill Road. Some 15 paupers were buried between 1873-1928 and it was previously revealed how Tunbridge Wells Borough Council had moved to exhume all of the bodies in 2020 amid plans to build over the former burial site. But a Freedom of Information request, submitted by campaign group Friends of the Tunbridge Wells Cemetery, today reveals that only four of the 15 bodies were exhumed between September 28 and October 6 2020. The graves dug for full exhumation with permission from the Ministry of Justice were named as George Langridge, Maria Thomsett, George Cross and George Payne. 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My grandchildren were born and live in Tunbridge Wells so obviously to us the cemetery is a very sacred place. The names of those still presumed to be in the cemetery Frances Sarah Day, 1873, (baby) Richard Geer, 1874 Dennis Geer, 1873 Rebecca West 1873 Joseph Austen, 1874 Charles Lee, 1874 Sarah Morley, 1877 William Henry Everest, 1879 Martha Wheeler, 1875 Maria Batting, 1875 Thomas Batting, 1918 Sarah Batting, 1928 'For them to try and hush us and do it so quickly without really providing the evidence that has been cleared. 'My concern is why they are trying to get planning permission and do this when there are people buried there. 'We think from a religious point of view, it is immoral to build something on the top of a burial, even if it is an old burial. It is not morally right to build something where there are dead bodies. 'People might say 'we don't care, we need houses'. Yes we need houses but not on top of dead people.' More than 30 Tunbridge Wells residents have also raised objections to the plans. One resident Tamara Galloway wrote: 'As someone with my grandparents, both my parents and my uncle buried in Tunbridge Wells Cemetery, I'm appalled by this application to build houses on part of this working cemetery. 'The investigations carried out recently did not find all the people buried here. Since these graves were unmarked, there may well be others buried here whose names were not recorded.' Campaigner Robin Parsons, a member of Friends of Tunbridge Wells Cemetery, said: 'I am horrified that you are proposing to build houses over the area in the Cemetery designated as the burial ground of paupers. We know that not all the bodies have been removed. 'What you are proposing is incredibly disrespectful. Would you be doing this if famous or influential people were buried there? 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Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
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EXCLUSIVE Lady Gabriella Windsor's ex reignites claims of racism within the Royal Family as he again insists her mother owned black sheep named Venus and Serena and even drags in the KING - ahead of his new book that will alarm the Palace
The former boyfriend of Lady Gabriella Windsor has doubled down on his claims of racism within the Royal Family in a new interview, as he prepares to publish a novel inspired by his relationship with the King's cousin. Speaking on the podcast Tell Me About Your Father, Aatish Taseer, who was born in the UK and raised in India, recalled how he sparked a media storm in 2018 when he wrote an explosive article for Vanity Fair in which he claimed to lay bare intimate details of their relationship. He admitted that he was 'extremely indiscreet' and said that in England there is 'really no crime you can commit greater than that' especially after remaining 'very, very cozy' with Princess Michael after splitting from her daughter. Taseer, who is now married to a man, even described the wife of the late Queen's cousin as 'a gay icon', with the podcast host retorting: 'If she wasn't so racist, she'd be really marketable.' 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She arrived for Royal Ascot side-by-side with Princess Anne and revealed how the 'kind' Princess of Wales invited her to advise on the Together at Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey, where she was photographed with Carole and Michael Middleton. The personal tragedy no doubt put into context the media storm created by former boyfriend Taseer, a British journalist now based in the US, when he wrote an explosive article for Vanity Fair in 2018, where he claimed to lay bare intimate details of their relationship. 'For three surreal years, Ella and I hung about Kensington Palace; we swam naked in the Queen's pool at Buckingham Palace; we did MDMA in Windsor Castle; and we had scrapes with the British press,' he wrote. No further details of the alleged incidents were given. In the wide-reaching piece, Taseer also touched upon the issue of alleged racism within the Royal Family, drawing a link between the royals and Nazis, alleging: 'Royals and Nazis go together like blini and caviar'. Among the most sensational claims was that Gabriella's mother once owned two black sheep, which she named Venus and Serena after the tennis-playing Williams sisters. The timing of the article was significant: it was published weeks before the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which was attended by the Kents and Serena Williams – a close friend of Meghan. Senior courtiers were said to have been left reeling by the article, which was published in the US magazine but available in the UK, although there was no official comment from Buckingham Palace. Once again, those closest to Gabriella were quick to rally. Members of her inner-circle insisted that the story was full of fabrications and nothing more than an attention-seeking ploy by an ex-boyfriend. A source close to the Royal Family said at the time: 'What he has done is appalling and unnecessarily cruel, especially when he has only ever been shown kindness by her family.' A friend added: 'Aatish is a novelist. He has an active imagination.' The couple were introduced by mutual friends in 2003 while Taseer was studying at Amherst College, Massachusetts, two hours from Brown University where Ella was studying comparative literature. Highly intelligent, Ella is also a graduate of Oxford University, where she obtained an MPhil degree in Social Anthropology from Linacre College. Their courtship was passionate and public – the couple were often spotted in clinches and made it on to Tatler's 'most invited' list two years running. At one point they were tipped to marry. Taseer travelled with the Kents – revealing how 'to fly with the royalty was to fly with Easyjet' – and spent time at the family's five-bedroom apartment at Kensington Palace, which left him cold. 'The warren of dark-brick apartments and offices that greeted me resembled something between a military hospital and an old people's home,' he wrote. 'All the famous inhabitants - Princess Margaret, Princess Diana - were dead, and those who remained, minor royals and palace secretaries, lived in their long cold shadow.' (This was years before the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived to 'liven it up', as he put it.) Princess Michael of Kent, known as 'Princess Pushy', was reportedly impressed by her daughter's beau, once describing him as 'one of the most handsome men I have ever met'. But Taseer's opinion of his would-be mother-in-law was rather more conflicted. Of her denials of racism, he wrote: 'I would have liked to believe her, but I had my and Nazis go together like blini and above a certain age in Britain is at least a tiny bit racist.' He added that he did, however, see a 'nice side' to Princess Michael, describing her as 'funny, intelligent and generous'. Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Michael of Kent watch the racing on Derby day at the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse on June 7, 2014 Before the relationship fizzled out in 2006, the Kents reportedly travelled to Bombay to meet Taseer's mother. She arranged lavish dinners and fireworks for Princess Michael on her birthday. Taseer is now a writer-at-large for T, The New York Times Style Magazine, and is married to lawyer Ryan Davis, whom he wed in August 2015. He was stripped of his overseas citizenship of India status in 2019 after he wrote an article criticising the regime of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, Princess Michael once allegedly told black diners to 'go back to the colonies' and claimed not to know her father was an SS officer. In 2004 she was branded a racist by a group in a New York restaurant after a row erupted over the noise she claimed they were making. The royal was accused of slamming her hand down on the group's table, telling them: 'You need to quiet down.' Restaurant boss Silvano Marchetto offered to move Princess Michael and her party to another room. Before switching tables the royal is alleged to have said 'you need to go back to the colonies'. The princess was reportedly challenged at the time and was said to have replied: 'I did not say "back to the colonies", I said you "should remember the colonies". Back in the days of the colonies there were rules that were very good.' She is alleged to have continued: 'You think about it. Just think about it.' One of the group, Wall Street banker Merv Matheson, said: 'She has a problem and that problem is racism. She needs help.' AJ Callaway was also caught up in the alleged row and was surprised to find out she was a member of the Royal family. 'I thought she was just a crazy woman. I still think she's a crazy woman,' he said at the time. A spokesman denied that the princess made the slur, which reportedly arose from a confrontation about the group making too much noise in the Da Silvano restaurant. In 2014 it was revealed her father, Baron Gunther von Reibnitz, was a high-ranking SS officer, which the Princess Michael claimed was shocking news to her. He joined the Nazi party in 1930 but would escape to Bavaria in 1945 when it was occupied by the Americans. Princess Michael was born Marie-Christine von Reibnitz during the final months of World War Two. Historian Philip Hall unearthed the baron's Nazi link at the Berlin Document Centre, where evidence showed he had joined the SS three years before Hitler became chancellor. He also found references to Baron Gunther von Reibnitz being recommended for an appointment by Herman Goering and he is believed to have fought on the Polish front. After the war's end, the baron split from his family. The children and their mother headed to Sydney, Australia, and he settled in Mozambique, where he ran a citrus farm. The Czech princess joined the British Royal Family when she married Prince Michael of Kent in Vienna in 1978 and would later claim her union with the Silesian was an arranged marriage. She famously accused the British of racism in the 1980s when she said in an interview: 'The English distrust foreigners. I will never become British even if I live here the rest of my life.' She was branded Princess Pushy until 2013, when she was described as Princess Cushy for whinging about the rent she paid to Kensington Palace. Before 2010 she was paying just £69 a week in peppercorn rent, but would go on to pay £120,000 a year to stay at the palace, which has ten main rooms. The new rent rate was imposed when the late Queen was forced to restructure her grace-and-favour residences to bring rents into line with present-day market values. She also courted controversy when she told Tatler magazine she knew 'the real story' about Princess Diana following her death in 1997.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Suspect arrested over shooting of American Idol music supervisor Robin Kaye and husband ‘gunned down inside LA home'
A SUSPECT has been arrested after American Idol music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband were found dead in their home. Robin and husband Thomas DeLuca, both 70, were found dead with gunshot wounds to their heads in their Los Angeles mansion on Monday, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to The U.S. Sun. 4 4 4 Now, police have arrested Raymond Boodarian, 22, although the nature of his arrest is not yet clear. Family members had called for a welfare check for the couple on Monday, July 14, after they hadn't been heard from in four days, police said. When cops arrived at their home in L.A.'s swanky Encino neighborhood, they found blood at the front entrance of the house, TMZ first reported. Officers smashed a window to get inside, where they discovered the couple's bodies. They were both declared dead at the scene at around 2:30 pm. Footage obtained by ABC affiliate KABC showed the home's sliding glass door was shattered. Neighbor Hannah Massachi, a local realtor, told The U.S. Sun locals are 'very shaken' and desperate for answers. 'They were a lovely couple, I saw them a few months ago," she said, adding, "Why would somebody do this?" 'I've lived here for over 30 years. Everyone is proud to live in Encino and all the celebrities are here, all the movie stars. I've sold many homes here," she said. Police had been called to the couple's $5 million home just days earlier. EERIE SCARE On Thursday, a suspect tried to get into Kaye and Deluca's house while possibly carrying a gun, residents told NBC affiliate KTLA. The couple's neighbors said they called police after someone saw a person hopping the fence. "We didn't see or hear anything. My renter called 911 on Thursday because she saw somebody hopping the fence," neighbor Amee Faggen told KABC before the victims were identified. "And I have no idea if that was related or not. They came and left, the helicopters and police came." It's unclear if the two incidents are related. POOL CLEANER SPEAKS OUT Kaye and Deluca's pool cleaner, Mauro Quintero, turned up at their home on Tuesday to get paid like usual, he told The U.S. Sun. Instead, he found crime scene tape and learned they had been murdered. He said Deluca recently told him about another attempted break-in over a month ago. 'Tom told me about a month ago that people tried to break in in the middle of the night," Quintero, 55, said, adding that the intruders were scared off by the couple's two small dogs barking. "But they have little dogs and they woke him up and they ran off." He said the couple put up security cameras after the scare. There were also spikes on the fence surrounding the home. "They were really nice people, the lady especially," Quintero recalled. "I only ever saw the two of them at the house.' Law enforcement sources said they believe the shooting happened Thursday during a possible burglary at the house, reports NBC4 Washington. Following their tragic deaths, a spokesperson for American Idol said: "We are devastated to hear of Robin and her dear husband, Tom's, passing. "Robin has been a cornerstone of the Idol family since 2009 and was truly loved and respected by all who came in contact with her. "Robin will remain in our hearts forever and we share our deepest sympathy with her family and friends during this difficult time." More to follow... For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.
