Latest news with #WoodGreen
Spectator
6 days ago
- Sport
- Spectator
Four Nations
The final weekend of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) took place on the early May bank holiday, and promised a close race between the defending champions Wood Green and the strong Manx Liberty team, who began the weekend a couple of match points in front. The league looked likely to be decided in a final round pairing between the two. It was an underdog team, The Sharks, which played the role of kingmaker. They began by holding the Manx team to a draw, enabling Wood Green to narrow the gap in the title race. But in the next (penultimate) round, The Sharks faced Wood Green, who fielded England heavyweight Michael Adams on top board (whose win is shown below). Despite that, the Sharks scored a 4.5-3.5 upset. Meanwhile, Manx Liberty won their match easily, leaving them three points ahead of Wood Green in the title race. That dashed Wood Green's hopes, so their final match with Manx Liberty mattered only for pride, and ended in a 4-4 tie. Michael Adams-Peter Roberson 4NCL, May 2025 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 7 O-O cxd4 8 cxd4 Nf5 9 Nc3 Rc8 10 a3 a6 11 Rb1 Qb6 12 Be3 Na5 13 Bd3 Nxe3 14 fxe3 Be7 15 Nd2 O-O 16 Qh5 16 Rf6!! was even stronger, e.g. 16…gxf6 17 Qg4+ Kh8 18 exf6 Bxf6 19 Qh5. Bobby Fischer played a similar blocking move with a rook to win a famous game against Pal Benko at the 1963/64 US Championship. g6 17 Qh6 (see diagram) f5 White threatened Rf1-f3-h3, so this appears essential. But 17….Qd8 was better. After 18 Nf3 (to prevent Be7-g5), the rook's path is blocked, so there is time for counterplay with 18…Na5-c4. 18 exf6 Rxf6 19 Rxf6 Bxf6 20 Bxg6 hxg6 21 Qxg6+ Bg7 22 Nxd5! Using the pin on the sixth rank.
Times
21-05-2025
- Times
Offender spent 409 days waiting for monitoring tag to be fitted
A violent criminal who left a man in a coma was untagged for more than a year, casting doubt on plans for a mass expansion of tagging technology. Wood Green crown court in north London was told this month that the man had been subject to curfew conditions for 409 days after being convicted of grievous bodily harm (GBH). He was meant to be fitted with an electronic tag to enable the Probation Service to monitor his movements. The offender's defence team told the court that he had complied with the conditions and had made repeated requests for an appointment for a tag to be fitted. The conditions were 350 days of a nine-hour curfew and 59 days of a six-hour curfew. He had been
Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Fraudster guilty of stalking diplomat
Farah Damji, a convicted fraudster who once persuaded leading legal figures to take part in a photographic exhibition, has been found guilty of stalking the former British ambassador to Belarus. A jury at Wood Green crown court heard that Damji, 58, had pursued a 'campaign of threats, harassment, abuse and blackmail' against Nigel Gould-Davies after they met through an internet dating site in 2023. She will be sentenced in June. In 2021 Damji, who founded The View, a magazine to support women offenders, persuaded Baroness Hale of Richmond, the former president of the Supreme Court, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws KC, the human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger and the Brexit opponent Gina Miller to take part in a photographic exhibition while she was on the
The Sun
16-05-2025
- The Sun
I'm UK's top blood spatter expert…the goriest crime scene I've ever seen & how my grisly new evidence freed innocent man
It looked like an open and shut case - two 'killers' caught running away from a blood-soaked crime scene. The victim was labourer Grzegorz Pietrycki, 25, who died from a slashed throat after jumping from a window at his flat, staggering 200ft down the road and ringing a stranger's doorbell, leaving a bloody trail in his wake. 10 10 10 Suspicion fell on two friends he had spent the weekend partying with at his home in Wood Green, London in August 2016. When they were caught on CCTV footage running away from the property, it looked like they were bang to rights. One of the pals, Patryk Pacheka, 30, was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey a year after the savage killing. But Patryk's barrister was convinced of his innocence and contacted Inside Justice, a charity which campaigns on wrongful convictions. They called in one of Britain's top blood spatter analysts, Jo Millington - consultant to TV show Silent Witness - and what she discovered was mind-blowing. Jo, who has worked on cases like the 7/7 terror attacks, said cops concentrated on the carnage at Grzegorz's flat but failed to examine the pattern of blood that led to the wall where he finally collapsed. She told The Sun: 'On the path between the victim's flat and the place where he collapsed there was a trail of blood which hadn't been examined. 'It showed a spot behind a parked car where the blood staining became more persistent and ferocious, and indicated that the deceased had probably sustained his fatal injury there.' The blood spatters revealed that, while Grzegorz was attacked in his flat, the stains on the pavement showed that was where his throat had been slit. Doorbell cameras later revealed that, far from running away from a murder, Patryk and his friend were running away from a third man. It was he who'd allegedly carried out both attacks on Grzegorz. Man jailed 38yrs ago for beating florist to death CLEARED after DNA bombshell 10 Jo said: 'Patryk and his friend had no part to play in that attack. He was convicted because the assumption was made that the bedroom was the place where the fatal injury took place, and Patryk had access to the flat.' Patryk was released after a re-trial which found him not guilty in 2021, and went back home to his family in Dansk in Poland. He said at the time: 'Now I am free. This is amazing. I cannot describe what I feel right now. I owe everyone. 'Ten days ago I was in prison and now I am in my house with my family. I am the happiest man in the world.' Childhood dream Jo, 52, of Reading, is one of the country's leading forensic specialists with almost three decades of experience. She trained in Miami with the world's eminent blood spatter expert Toby Wolson, who advises on the TV show Dexter. The long-running series focuses on a police forensic officer with a dark secret as a serial killer who murders killers who escaped justice. Jo dreamed of working in the field after watching 1980s drama Indelible Evidence, in which actors recreated the work of forensics teams to solve crime. She said: 'My mum and I used to watch it together and I just knew it was what I wanted to do. 'At the time schools didn't like you to specialise too much when you chose your options at high school, so my parents had to ask for special dispensation so I could drop the humanities like geography and history, and concentrate on the three sciences instead.' Peanut clue 10 10 It was a move that brought Jo into a world of darkness, attending grisly murder scenes and analysing evidence. She even helped identify the terrorists who killed 52 people in the July 7 London attacks in 2005. Jo was asked to examine a car used by three of the four bombers who travelled from Yorkshire to Luton airport in a hired Nissan Micra. The car had already been blown up in a controlled explosion, amid fears it was booby-trapped, and Jo recalls having to wriggle through the smashed driver and passenger windows to find evidence. She spotted an empty packet of KP peanuts in a side pocket and deduced it had been torn open with teeth. 'The car had been wrecked and the central locking system wasn't working so we couldn't open the doors, but the front windows were out,' says Jo. 'I was looking for hairs, fibres or any material that might have been left in the car. We swab things that people would naturally touch while driving, like the gear stick, the indicator stalk and the steering wheel. 'I put a little bit of material, sort of like wool, on the driver side window so I wouldn't cut myself and leaned in. 'When I looked down at the pocket of the driver's door there was a little empty KP peanut packet and the corner had been ripped open. It was kind of creased and funny looking, as though somebody had used their teeth.' It allowed cops to identify Shehzad Tanweer, 22, who killed seven innocents at Aldgate on the Circle Line of the London Underground. He was the righthand man of ringleader Mohammad Khan, 30, who murdered six with a bomb at Edgware Road. 10 10 'His face was barely recognisable' Jo says many murder scenes she visits still have the victim in-situ, but after years as an analyst, she is now able to detach herself from the emotion of cases to do her job. One particularly gruesome murder in Sussex still shocked her, though. When staff at an architects office went into work one day they saw blood dripping down the walls from a flat upstairs. Jo said: 'They called the police who went into the flat and found a man with machete injuries so bad that his face was barely recognisable and the injuries were very severe. 'There was a lot of blood but when you walked about from the deceased, there was a trail of drops that led around the flat. 'In areas where you might stop and look in a drawer or open a cupboard there were even more drops. They called the police who went into the flat and found a man with machete injuries so bad that his face was barely recognisable and the injuries were very severe Jo Millington 'To my mind, that said there was someone else at the scene who was injured. "They were dripping blood, which was sparse until they stopped to maybe look for valuables, and the blood started to drip more consistently. 'That blood was swabbed for DNA and someone was ultimately found guilty of the killing.' Secrets of Silent Witness By Grace Macaskill Jo is a forensics advisor to hit BBC show Silent Witness and often recreates bloody crime scenes for the programme. She says the standard of accuracy on the series is 'really high' as producers battle to make it as realistic as possible. She reveals that mushed up mango and other fruit is used for brain matter while there are different types of 'blood' for different injuries. Jo told The Sun: 'The appetite to get everything absolutely right is really, really high. They want to be as authentic as possible. 'In the last season there was a scene where somebody had a gunshot injury to his head. 'An exit wound creates blood and brain, material and bone, and I used mushed up mango for the brain matter. Mashed up fruit gives that 3D look. 'The make-up department is just off the charts in terms of the way they work. There's a wardrobe of different blood types; clotted, liquid and pre-made silicone pools. 'The silicone is used when a lot of shots need to be taken and if liquid blood was used, it would change with each take.' Jo said stars Emilia Fox and David Caves are now getting the inside track on forensics. She said: 'Sometimes they'll ask, 'How do we do this', and you'll be like, 'You've already done it.' They've been doing the roles for so long that they can now do tests in an almost identical way to the real forensics teams.' Bearing witness to some of the most horrific crimes in the country has given Jo a special perspective on life. She said: 'The longer you do the job and the older you get, you start to become more reflective on your experiences. 'I think what my job has done is put things into perspective. If something trivial happens and someone is getting stressed, I'm often the one saying, 'Look, this is small fry, don't worry about it.' 'Life is so finite and people do horrible things to each other, unfortunately, but I have a lovely home life that compensates.' 10
Cision Canada
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cision Canada
UNMET Gala creates an enchanted evening and raises $1.5 million in support of WoodGreen and the unmet needs of Torontonians
The UNMET Gala presented by Rogers transformed Evergreen Brick Works on May 8 into a Midsummer Night's Dream as it raised funds to support WoodGreen's UNMET Needs Campaign. TORONTO, May 12, 2025 /CNW/ - The UNMET Gala hosted close to 500 of Toronto's business and philanthropic leaders at Evergreen Brick Works last Thursday night to raise a remarkable $1.5M in support of WoodGreen Community Services. The UNMET Needs Campaign is raising $25 million to address the urgent, unmet needs of Toronto residents who are unhoused, unsafe, unwelcome, unseen, unfed and unsupported. This year's gala was organized by The WoodGreen Foundation board member and UNMET Gala chair Krystal Koo, and event co-chair, Fernanda Dovigi, and was presented by Rogers Communications. It was the second iteration of WoodGreen's signature, UNMET Gala, which premiered in 2023. The gala's Midsummer Night's Dream theme reflected the Athenian essence and deep-rooted connection WoodGreen shares with Toronto's east end and the Danforth community. The fantastical elements created a magical realm where reality melted into fantasy, with every corner in the ethereal landscape holding a whisper of mystery and allure. Enchantment and elegance converged in the beautiful and creative attire of the guests, who enjoyed the exquisite Mediterranean cuisine of Milos and danced the night away under the velvet sky. "We are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support of our donors and sponsors, as their support will ensure WoodGreen can continue delivering high-quality, front-line, positive change in our city," said Teresa Vasilopoulos, Executive Director of The WoodGreen Foundation. " WoodGreen's UNMET Needs Campaign is raising funds to create a more equitable city, addressing the pressing need for affordable housing, crisis support for vulnerable seniors, mental health and wellness programs for at-risk youth, support for women and children fleeing abuse, food and financial security, and skill-based programs for unemployed individuals and newcomers. We are exceedingly grateful to the Gala Co-Chairs Krystal Koo and Fernanda Dovigi and their incredible UNMET Gala committee who made this amazing night possible." "WoodGreen's work is critical to the health and vibrancy of Toronto, and we wanted to shine a light on the transformative impact it has had on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It's been an honour to celebrate WoodGreen and rally support for their work in meeting the unmet needs of tens of thousands of underserved residents of our city. We sincerely thank all of our sponsors and guests for their generosity and support," said Krystal Koo, UNMET Gala Chair who has served as a WoodGreen Foundation Board member since 2018. Guests created lasting memories with a unique photo shoot by acclaimed Toronto-based photographer and art director Renata Kaveh, in the beautiful midsummer entry garden. A black-and-white portrait studio by The Collective You, which has photographed celebrities around the world, captured intimate moments with timeless sophistication. Dedicated members of the UNMET Gala committee include: Melissa Baldassarra, Suzanne Boyd, Rochelle de Goias-Jackman, Rana Florida, Claire MacNamara, Vanessa Mulroney, Jenna B. Naumovich, Jessica Polanski, Karolina Segal, and Victoria Webster. To learn more about WoodGreen's UNMET Needs Campaign, please visit
