Latest news with #Harwich
BBC News
02-08-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
FA Cup on display at Harwich and Parkeston FC
The FA Cup has been displayed at a non-league football club as part of its 150th anniversary side Harwich and Parkeston FC are returning to the competition for the first time since 2019, facing AFC Dunstable in the extra preliminary round on chairman Tony Armstrong said the display of the trophy was instrumental in showing how far the club had come since nearly going out of existence 23 years ago."It's the hard work from volunteers that has resurrected the club," he said. The club opened its doors to its youth teams and the public to come to see the iconic president Terry Francis said: "It's an honour for the club and inspiring for young people and non-league supporters."Supporter Mark, 38, who has been taking his daughter Holly, 11, to matches since she was born, said it was surreal to see the trophy, especially at his home team manager Matt Carmichael said: "A successful [cup] run would mean a lot to the club financially."He said the club was on a good trajectory, following their promotion to Premier Division of the Essex Senior League, and the "sky is the limit." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
19-07-2025
- BBC News
'Gangsta Debbs' - the granny who used her family to run a drug gang
In the early hours of an April morning in 2023 undercover officers watched as a woman loaded boxes into a hire car at a retail park near the port of Harwich in received a tip-off about the car which had travelled from Islington that car was driven on towards Ipswich, where the woman handed over a heavy laundry bag to an unknown man. She did not look like someone you'd expect to be carrying out a drug deal - her defence barrister said she "was undoubtedly singled out as someone who would not catch the eye".That woman was Deborah Mason, known to family as Gangsta Debbs or Queen Bee: a grandmother and the matriarch of a crime family that operated across south east England. Mason had recruited her four children, her sister and others close to the family to help supply cocaine around the country - funding a lavish lifestyle which included Gucci designer goods bought for her cat and a £192 Bugatti Friday, the 65-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at Woolwich Crown rest of the gang received sentences of between 10 and 15 years for the same charge. The Metropolitan Police watched Mason for seven months after that morning in Harwich, as she and her family-run gang completed cocaine and class A drug pick-ups at ports - mainly Harwich - but also Folkstone and Dover. The pattern was often the same. Tightly-wrapped packages of cocaine would be collected, divided between supermarket bags for life and then delivered to the next person in the watched the gang complete drop-offs in south London, Cardiff, Bristol, Sheffield, Rotherham, Manchester, Bradford, Southend, Leicester and man arrested by police in Leicester shortly after a handover was found with 10kg (22lbs) of cocaine. Other trips would be to collect their "wages" as they described it. In total the drugs the gang handled were worth £25m-£30m at wholesale, with a street value of up to £80m, the prosecution said during Friday's sentencing court heard the gang had used aliases to communicate with each other and with their supplier - a man known only as "Bugsy" - on the encrypted messaging app, enjoyed a close relationship with "Bugsy" and even went on holiday with him to Dubai and Bahrain in October a seven-month period, Mason carried out 20 trips transporting at least 356kg cocaine, as well as delivering and collecting Philip Shorrock said Mason had a "leading role", and described her as "the site foreman working under a project manager"."As a mother you should have been setting an example to your children, not corrupting them," he court heard Mason did not buy drugs herself, but was part of the direction of multi-kilo Charlotte Hole said: "She also organised those who drove for her – staying in phone contact from the early hours to make sure they were up, and checking in on them during the day." Lavish lifestyle Financial gain was the motivation and police said Mason had spent extravagantly -including on designer clothing, bags and these were a £390 Gucci collar and lead, and a nine-carat gold engraved name tag for Mason's Bengal cat, she was arrested, footage showed her being handcuffed in her bathroom next to a designer DKNY the same time the conspiracy was taking place Mason received £50,000 in benefits, Ms Hole told the "expressed a desire to go to Turkey for cosmetic procedures" and took a "cut of the wages of others", Ms Hole booked holidays with her sister to Cornwall, Malta, Prague and Poland, and took her daughters to Dubai where they continued to direct operations in the UK via Facetime. 'No ordinary family' Mason, whose number was saved in one of her children's phones under the name Queen Bee, involved her three daughters, her son, and two of their partners in the conspiracy. They are all now starting lengthy prison sentences behind bars. A friend, Anita Slaughter, 44, has also been son, Reggie Bright, 24, delivered at least 90kg of cocaine over 12 trips, often travelling alongside his partner, Demi Kendall, 31, or his sister Lillie Bright, 27, as well as his mother."He used the Signal alias 'Frank' and was clearly known to and in direct contact with the upstream supplier," Ms Hole said, adding the gang were paid about £1,000 per trip by added that Reggie Bright and Demi Kendall were also caught running their own separate drugs line from their caravans in Kent - in breach of a previous suspended sentence order imposed on them for drug-related offences. The prosecution argued Mason's eldest daughter Demi Bright had a significant role in operations, delivering about 60kg of cocaine, although she was not as active as other family members as she had other sources of other daughters, Roseanne Mason and Lillie Bright, were also found guilty. Rosanne Mason, 30, took part in seven identified trips - including to Bradford and Manchester. Lillie Bright made 20 identified trips and the court heard she had a "clear expectation of significant financial advantage".Lillie Bright involved her partner Chloe Hodgkin - who the court heard will be sentenced at a later date once she has given birth. In mitigation, each defence lawyer argued that all involved were "expendable" compared with the wider drug enterprise, and that most of the children were "couriers" making trips across the was "no ordinary family", as specialist prosecutor Robert Hutchinson said. "Instead of nurturing and caring for her relatives, Deborah Mason recruited them to establish an extraordinarily profitable criminal enterprise that would ultimately put them all behind bars."Ms Hole said there was no suggestion of pressure or coercion for any of them to be part of the conspiracy, and all had been motivated by financial benefit. They were given the following sentences:Reggie Bright, 24, of Staplehurst, Kent, 15 yearsDemi Kendall, 31, of Staplehurst, 13-and-a-half yearsLillie Bright, 26, of Ashford, Kent, 13 yearsAnita Slaughter, 44, Ashford, 13 yearsDemi Bright, 30, of Ashford, 11 yearsRoseanne Mason, 29, of Canonbury, north London, 11 yearsTina Golding, 66, Ashford, 10 yearsChloe Hodgkin, 23, of Wye, Kent, to be sentenced at a later date. Met Police's Det Con Jack Kraushaar, who led the investigation, described Mason's operation as "sophisticated" and said it was "extremely profitable for those involved"."The group were sucked into criminality," he said, "selfishly attracted by the financial benefits of the drug-dealing to fund lavish lifestyles."
Time of India
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
What Makes Us Intelligent? Lessons from Big Bang Theory to Bhagwad Gita
In the sitcom Big Bang Theory, protagonist Sheldon Cooper has a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Still, he struggles to understand sarcasm and fails to 'read the room' when confronted with subtle emotions. Sheldon's twin sister, Missy, does not have a prodigious IQ, but she is more perceptive than her child prodigy brother in sensing emotional cues, a sign of higher Emotional Quotient (EQ). American developmental psychologist Howard Gardner has identified eight types of intelligences, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Naturalistic intelligence refers to our innate ability to interact with our environment, identifying, classifying and labelling the natural world around us. However, natural world exists at myriad levels, some of which can be explained by modern science, and others are still being studied. Greek philosopher Plato's 'theory of forms' refers to the physical world as merely a shadow, an imitation of things, while their perfect, eternal forms dwell in higher realms. Plato regarded intuition and reason as the highest forms of intelligence, as they enabled contemplation on perfect Forms. Indic schools of thought hold that a human being is made of five sheaths, panch koshas: annamaya, gross body, pranamaya, energy body, manomaya, mental body, vijnanamaya, intellectual body, and anandamaya or bliss body. According to Indic spirituality, the ultimate aim of human existence is to attain sat-chit-anand, truth-consciousness-bliss. Human intelligence, too, is like a mirror reflecting nature's intelligence and super intelligence underlined by consciousness that is both within and without. It is visible in beautiful patterns unfurling on their own accord in nebulae, gazillions of light years away or in the tiniest invisible-to-the-naked-eye atom, nay quark, which scientists constantly try to observe through experiments. Then there is Artificial Intelligence that mimics human capabilities, and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which, in theory, would possess capacity for abstraction, an understanding of human emotions, and ability to engage in self-directed learning. One look at the night sky or our garden is enough to know that nature's intelligence is at work, guiding life and other phenomena in the multiverse and beyond. And nature's work speaks for itself. So many processes run smoothly at the same time. Natural selection ensures that various species develop attributes for survival. Cells in our body die and are replaced by new ones. Mitochondria are not coded software but programmed to initiate apoptosis (programmed cell death). Beauty of nature's designs and intricate patterns often makes even the hardest of non-believers ponder the question: Is there an intelligent designer? by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Harwich: If You Were Born Between 1945-1974 You Could Be Eligible For This British Seniors Get Quote Undo In Indic systems of thinking, creation emanates from consciousness, jada, inanimate matter appears from chetan, consciousness principle, for Ex nihilo nihil fit , that is, nothing comes out of nothing. This consciousness reflects in all of creation, including human intelligence. Bhagwad Gita identifies 20 types of intelligence, the highest among them being Atma-Vishyak Buddhi, intelligence born of placidity of mind brought about by meditation, that is, when individual consciousness becomes aware of its true nature, the Self. The second is Vishudha Buddhi, pure intelligence, followed by Nishchayatmak Buddhi, a determinate intelligence concentrated on the Self. Buddhi Yog/Buddhi Sanyog is an undistracted intelligence resting steady in bliss because of one's samskaras in a previous birth. The fifth is Asakti-rahit Buddhi, detached intelligence, unaffected by victory or defeat. The sixth is Sambuddhi, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. The seventh is Sthirabuddhi, a stable mind indicative of a God-realised soul; eighth is Sukshm Buddhi, subtle reasoning purified by meditation on Supreme Consciousness. It is followed by Dhairya yukt Buddhi, a tranquil mind, fixed on the Divine. Shuddha Buddhi, sinless mind, Sattvic Buddhi, intelligence that correctly determines paths of activity and renunciation – what ought to be done and what should not be done, what is bondage and what is liberation, and Buddhiman, a wiseman, who practices self-control, which allows him to attain higher intelligence. Besides these higher intelligences, Gita deals with lower intelligence, too. These are: Swarthi Buddhi, intelligence characterised by greed, restlessness, craving; Bhedon-wali buddhi, intelligence of ignorant men moved by desires; Rajasi Buddhi, intelligence that is unable to perceive what is dharm and adharm, what should be done and what should not be done; Mamatva Buddhi, performing of actions only in self-interest; Tamasi Buddhi, total ignorance; Ashuddha Buddhi, impure mind, considering itself the doer. Manda Buddhi, intelligence attached to bodily consciousness; Buddhiheen, an ignorant individual, who regards the Supreme Spirit to have assumed a finite form through birth as an ordinary human being. According to Indic philosophical systems, intelligence and intellect not just enable day-to-day functions but also prepare an individual to realise the ultimate Sachidanand, bliss. Authored by: Sonal Srivastava With inputs from Agam Khare Beyond anger & hurt: Navigating family disputes with Bhagavad Gita wisdom's from Chapter 1, Verses 37 and 38
BBC News
23-06-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Work starts to reduce speed at A120 near Harwich
Work has started on reducing the speed limit on an A-road that has seen a high number of fatal Highways said the £2.6m project aimed to make the A120 in Essex safer. There were four fatal crashes recorded on the road near Harwich in part of the improvements, sections of the road will have their speed limit reduced from 60mph (97km/h) to 50mph (80km/h) between Horsley Cross and hope to complete the project by autumn 2025 and parts of the road are due to close between 21:00 and 05:00 on weeknights only. Martin Fellows, National Highways regional director for the eastern region, said: "Safety is and always will be our number one priority, and that is why our ambition remains that no-one should be harmed while travelling or working on our roads."Work is due to include installation of the new speed limit signage and six new average speed information about diversion routes has been posted on the National Highways website. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Sun
22-06-2025
- The Sun
Dramatic moment disqualified driver leads cops on 80mph police chase before trying to flee on foot
THIS is the dramatic moment cops chased a disqualified driver who was racing at speeds of up to 80mph before he tried to flee on foot. Charley Lance, 24, led police on a dangerous high speed chase through the town of Harwich, Essex, before being pinned down by PC Johnny Lee. 5 5 Incredible footage shows police in hot pursuit of Lance as he races through the town at around 4.45pm on November 13, 2024. Sirens can be heard blaring as the cops continue chasing down Lance, with one officer saying: "It's gonna be a decamp." As Lance's motor comes to a screeching halt, PC Lee's colleague can be heard asking him to "get after" the dangerous driver. PC Lee can then be seen jumping out of the patrol car as it comes to a stop before he breaks into a sprint, chasing after Lance on foot. As he gains on the dangerous driver, PC Lee can be heard exclaiming: "Officer with a taser," warning Lance of his weapon. After a quick chase, Lance appears to stumble on the grass, falling to the floor and allowing PC Lee to reach him with ease. Shouting, the copper orders Lance to "stay where you are" as he lands the criminal in cuffs. Sirens of PC Lee's colleagues can then be heard getting closer in the background as the officer informs Lance of the nature of his arrest. Then, the policeman raises Lance off the floor and begins walking him back to his patrol car. For his shocking and dangerous behaviour, Lance was charged with, and later admitted to, dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison. PC Lee said: "We knew we had to bring his dangerous driving to an end and when his vehicle came to stop, I knew the only thing to do was to catch him on foot. "Thankfully, he didn't get too far, and I was able to make the arrest. "We can't accept behaviour like this. He put himself and the public in harm's way by driving dangerously through Harwich. The officer added: "I'm just glad we were able to catch up with him. "As response officers, it's only through working together – often making very quick decisions – that we're able to keep Tendring safe and ultimately catch people who are causing harm in our neighbourhoods." 5 5
