Latest news with #Northwood
Metro
2 days ago
- Business
- Metro
Fraudster mum stole £166k from firm and gorged on Greggs and Deliveroo takeaways
A personal assistant stole more than £166,000 from a former business director while living in a £1million home. Hemalatha Jayaprakash, 44, joined the Birmingham-based Northwood estate agents in 2012 as a personal assistant to director Nin Rehal, 57. Jayaprakash stole more than £6,000 knowing he was out of the office because his mother had passed away 24 hours earlier. The officer manager splurged on lottery tickets, Greggs and Deliveroo takeaways. When he decided to sell in 2023, Jayaprakash's fraud was exposed when the accounts were examined. In court, Jayaprakash said she sent money to pay her child's school fees and help relatives in India who lost their homes in floods. Jayaprakash wailed in anguish when she was jailed for two years and three months at Birmingham Crown Court on May 21 after pleading guilty to fraud and abuse of position. Rehal said he was 'devastated' that he had been betrayed by his trusted personal assistant. He said: 'This fraud was not opportunistic; it was calculated, premeditated and a sustained scheme executed over multiple years. 'I used to confide in Jayaprakash in daily meetings, sometimes in tears, but she would tell me not to worry about the office, all is in control with the team.' Jayaprakash turned up at Rehal's mother's funeral with her husband. Rehal said: 'This is the level of greed, deception and betrayal we are dealing with.' He told the court he had to release equity from his family home to make ends meet, including supporting his two children at university. Rehal added: 'Meanwhile, Mrs Jayaprakash resides in a £1million property, purchased outright in 2018, and benefits from income generated by a portfolio of at least eight rental properties.' Jayaprakash's husband said his family had no idea about her deception and were planning a family trip to India. She told him she was driving off in the family Land Rover to view offices for a new job but was instead appearing in court. The family only found out she had been jailed 12 hours later, following their own search and getting in contact with police. Jayaprakash told MailOnline: 'We weren't aware of any of this, it is such a difficult time for the family. We had absolutely no idea. 'My wife didn't need the money and we are trying to find out what really happened, and maybe she was coerced by someone. More Trending 'We don't have any money issues, we are not struggling financially, so why would she do this? 'We cannot comprehend this, it is beyond belief and we are totally shattered and devastated. It is such a shock.' Recorder Amy Jackson said: 'Everything I have read about this lady takes me to the belief she is from an affluent background where she ought not to need to steal to fund a lifestyle and effectively does lead a lavish lifestyle. This was pure greed.' A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will be held on August 26 to determine issues around confiscation, costs and compensation. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Benefits cheat mum said she had severe MS while posting about running 10k races MORE: Man who burned Koran outside embassy says verdict is 'assault on free speech' MORE: Moment Scottish gangster chased through his Spanish pub and shot dead
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Middlesex edge to win over Glamorgan in Women's T20 Blast
Glamorgan 77 (17.2 overs): Holland 40; S Patel 2-9Middlesex 79-5 (19.5 overs): Horley 21*; Porter 3-7Middlesex (4 pts) won by 4 wicketsMatch scorecard Middlesex edged to a nervous four-wicket victory over Glamorgan off the penultimate ball after hustling out the visitors for just 77 at Saskia Horley (21 not out) hit the winning boundary after Middlesex made hard work of a modest Porter (3-7) did most to put the hosts under loanee Niamh Holland's 40 was the only substantial contribution for Glamorgan in their first Blast match, with pace bowlers Sonali Patel and Lauren Turner claiming two wickets each early Tulloch (16 not out) was the only other player in double figures as Glamorgan struggled to get the spinners away and failed to bat out their overs. In the home reply, spinners Porter and Sara Phillips took two wickets apiece as Middlesex stumbled to 40-4 when Finty Trussler went for Scotland international Horley and Pippa Sproul took them within sight of victory, but further wickets for Porter and Emily Burke meant that Middlesex still needed three from the last two balls when Horley clubbed Burke through who also beat Glamorgan in the One Day Cup, are the only Tier Two side to have defeated the Welsh county so have two wins from two in the Blast after dispatching Sussex in their debut at Lord's three days previously."It was one of those days for us, we didn't bat well at all," admitted Glamorgan coach Rachael Priest."We were probably lucky to get that close, we always want to show fight in everything, we didn't do that with the bat but the girls gave it everything with the ball."
BreakingNews.ie
6 days ago
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Man (20s) arrested following armed robbery at Dublin fast food restaurant
A man has been arrested following an armed robbery at a fast food restaurant in north Dublin this morning. Gardaí say a man armed with a shotgun entered the restaurant in Northwood in Santry at 7:30pm and threatened staff. He stole a sum of cash and fled the scene in a car. During a follow up operation a man in his 20s was arrested, and a car stolen in a previous burglary was recovered. The man can be questioned for up to three days. Advertisement
The Star
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Ntokozo Makhaza's rags-to-riches progression from ‘nobody' to Springbok alignment camp
Mike Greenaway | Published 7 hours ago Ikeys coach and former Springbok centre Robbie Fleck had the pleasure of telling Ntokozo Makhaza that Rassie Erasmus was making enquires about him, but the young wing thought Fleck was winding him up. 'Rassie called me and asked me questions about 'Makky'. He wanted his number,' Fleck told Independent Media . 'When I told Makky that the Springbok coach would call him, he thought I was joking. 'I had to convince him he was getting a call, and to relax and enjoy the experience.' Makhaza is the bolter who was called up to the Springbok alignment camp, which was held in Cape Town this week. The 23-year-old is a third-year social science student at the University of Cape Town, specialising in psychology. Last month, Fleck's Ikeys side won the Varsity Cup, and Makhaza was the Player of the Tournament, as he was last year too. Erasmus has been watching, and was so impressed with the wing's performance statistics – yes, Big Brother Rassie watches everything – that he called up Fleck to find out more. 'I was surprised when Rassie called in the sense that it is not often a player gets called up straight out of the varsity system,' Fleck said. 'Rassie wanted to know about the person: who the guy is, is he hard-working and coachable? Those are the first questions Rassie asked me,' the former Stormers coach said. 'I said '100 percent' to all of Rassie's questions. 'Mak is a very humble, hard-working, and a true gentleman. He has an incredible work ethic on and off the field.' Makhaza's Northwood High School coach, Grant Bashford, echoed Fleck's sentiments. 'What a lovely kid. He is one of the nicest kids you could ever meet,' Bashford, who assisted John Plumtree in his first coaching tenure at the Sharks, told Independent Media . 'One of the Sharks' scouts discovered this nippy little player down the KZN South Coast, and got him to Northlands Primary (the school is about 2km from Kings Park),' Bashford explained. 'He came to us at Northwood in Grade Eight. 'He was small, but explosive… a Cheslin Kolbe-type kid, with a huge work ethic,' Bashford recalls. 'He was always polite and humble. When the others were messing around, he was the last one kicking balls. He would be the first one in the gym.' Bashford recalls a brilliant performance by Makhaza in a historic win for Northwood, one of the smaller of the tier-one rugby schools in KZN. 'In 2019, for the first time ever, we beat Maritzburg College at Goldstones (their home ground). Our regular flyhalf had been off with his kicking. Mak took the ball and kicked it from everywhere.' Bashford thought Makhaza might go the sevens route. 'I thought his pathway might be to the Blitzboks. But times have changed, and I think Cheslin Kolbe has done so much for getting smaller guys recognised. 'In previous Springbok eras, small guys were overlooked. Cheslin has given the small X-factor guys hope that they can make it. 'Makky played KZN Schools at Craven Week from Northwood. I remember he was so focused in his matric year in going to university in Cape Town to further his education.' Fleck says Makhaza's goal-kicking for the UCT Ikeys has been phenomenal. 'He kicks at 85 percent in howling south-easters, and hits 95 percent on the highveld. 'I told Rassie that Mak has a few shortcomings, but Rassie said that is what his coaching staff is for,' Fleck continued. 'Rassie likes guys with a work ethic that he knows he can improve, especially with a guy like Tony Brown coaching the backs. 'Rassie can take an 80-percenter and turn him into a 100-percenter. He likes players that are prepared to go the extra mile.' Erasmus prefers hard-working wingers who chase, work back, and create opportunities. Fleck adds that Makhaza was almost lost to mainstream rugby, although he has now signed for the Cheetahs for the Currie Cup. 'Credit to him, he was Player of the Tournament last year, but had no provincial offers. He was thinking about sevens, but we said, 'Give it one more year'. 'He had another cracker year, and look at him now.'
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Solo Board Games Aren't Just for Lonely People. Here Are Four of Our Favorites.
Coffee Roaster is a bag-building game all about coffee. You try to get your beans to the perfect roast temperature by adding them to your bag and randomly pulling out a certain number of them every turn. Every time you pull them from the bag, their roast level increases, and there are special ingredients you can use to manipulate the odds of a good roast. Then, you try to pull out enough beans of the right value to equal the target roast level, which is dependent on the type of coffee. It's a fun probability-analysis exercise, but we found it to be a bit underwhelming. Eila and Something Shiny is an ambitious story game played over seven chapters. It mostly functions as a resource management game that's powered by a slim deck of cards, but it gets more complex as you proceed through the chapters. It's fun to play through once, which took me about six hours, and it has a whimsical, well-produced kids book aesthetic (though the story is a bit more mature than its look would hint at). But I simply don't feel a strong desire to play it again. We originally tested Food Chain Island for our guide to card games and liked it a lot. It's very straightforward, wallet-size, and presents an interesting puzzle of moving cards around. However, it's a bit too simple compared with our picks. For Northwood is a well-regarded solo trick-taking game that we were excited to test, but due to stock issues we weren't able to try it this round. If it's reprinted or becomes more widely available, we'll try it in a future update. Friday is a solo deck-builder in which the player takes on the role of Friday from the novel Robinson Crusoe. The game is spent trying to help Crusoe get through the challenges of the remote island and return home. (You know… so that you, Friday, can go back to living peacefully by yourself.) It's a quick game that has interesting card choices, but we found the rules to be quite obtuse — all of our group testers had a hard time getting to grips with the game, despite its apparent simplicity. We also thought it was a little boring compared with our picks. Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs brings the tactical combat mechanics of its much larger and more-elaborate multiplayer version and simplifies it into a tiny solo game. In the game, you shepherd your character (one of six classic RPG archetypes) through a series of combat encounters found on the backs of scenario cards. You use power cards to move and deal damage, and otherwise the game operates like a traditional tactics game. It's a neat little box, and it's much lighter on both the wallet and the shelf space than the original, but we found it to be a bit disappointing in comparison. Resist! originated the gameplay system that Witchcraft! uses but is themed around the conflict after the Spanish Civil War. You play cards that represent Marquis agents, sending them on missions to defeat associated enemy cards to resist the Franco regime. Like in Witchcraft!, each card has two sides, one hidden (and less powerful) and one revealed (and more powerful, but fleeting). Unfortunately, it lacks Witchcraft!'s jury endgame mechanic, which we found was a useful framing for choosing when to end the game. And while we found Resist!'s theme of covertly resisting a dictatorial government impactful, it might be too fraught a subject for some people. Rove is another wallet-size card game about guiding a rover around an alien planet. It's essentially a block-sliding puzzle, tasking the player with arranging a set of colored cards to match a random symbol. It's a fun game, if a little simple. One of our group testers, who has vision difficulties, also had a hard time with the color-matching aspect of gameplay, as well as with distinguishing the cards' relatively subtle patterns. Warp's Edge is a bag-builder like Coffee Roaster, but instead of burning beans, you're in a starship battling baddies. Each game, you select a different alien mothership to destroy by pulling useful powers and maneuvers randomly out of your bag. As in Coffee Roaster, most of the fun of this game is trying to manipulate the odds of what you'll pull out of the bag, though it adds a fair amount of strategic play that Coffee Roaster lacked. Nevertheless, we preferred our picks to Warp's Edge. This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.
