Latest news with #deceit
Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Police officer who faked working from home by weighing down the letter Z on his laptop keyboard for more than 100 hours is banned from the force for life
A former police officer has been barred from the profession after he faked more than 100 hours of work by holding down the 'z' key on his keyboard. PC Liam Reakes was found to have committed gross misconduct in a tribunal at Avon and Somerset Police headquarters in Portishead today. He would have been dismissed without notice if he had not already resigned last month, Bristol Live reported. The Yeovil-based officer admitted to holding down the key during numerous shifts for 103 hours between June and September 2024, sometimes for more than four hours at a time. In a subsequent audit of his keystrokes, it was discovered that he had been using the same tactic since the previous September, the hearing was told. Chairman of the panel Craig Holden called the behaviour 'deceitful and dishonest'. 'He had lied during the interview process when he could have come clean, and the activity was regular and sustained', Mr Holden added. PC Reakes admitted opening a blank Word document and holding the Z key for long periods of time, however he denied that it was to falsely give the impression he was working when he wasn't. Nevertheless he accepted his behaviour fell below the standards expected. Barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, representing Avon and Somerset Police, said: 'He knew he was being paid for work that he was not doing. 'We are all entitled to take a break and have a cup of tea but this was far beyond that. 'There is no place in the police service for dishonest officers.' He added that concerns about PC Reakes' performance in 2024 had led to meetings with his sergeant. PC Reakes argued that he was struggling with mental health issues and lacked the support and motivation which came from working alongside colleague sin an office, Mr Ley-Morgan said. He said that PC Reakes claimed that he held down the Z key to allow him to see his computer screen and respond quickly to messages. PC Reakes has been added to the national barred list preventing him from working in policing or law enforcement agencies again Last month, in a strikingly similar case Detective Constable Philippa Baskwill, who was also based in Somerset was dismissed without notice after she deliberately weighed down keys on her laptop more than 21 million times to make it appear as if she was working from home. The hearing heard how software used by the Professional Standards Department identified an abnormal number of keystrokes over prolonged periods of time, which prompted an investigation. The investigation found evidence that DC Baskwill opened documents and repeatedly depressed specific keys to make it appear as if she was working. This behaviour was identified on 17 separate days in 2023, varying from a few minutes to up to more than a four hours. A total of more than 21 million keystrokes were recorded in 2023, with almost three million in one month alone. The investigation also found evidence that DC Baskwill was also using her work laptop during shifts to do online shopping and search for flights. In November 2023, she was online shopping for a total of four hours and 30 minutes during one shift. In her account, DC Baskwill admitted to using her mobile phone to depress keys and prevent her laptop from going into standby.
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Challenge use of ‘nefarious' news sources, says environmentalist
People should confront their family members who read news from 'nefarious' sources, suggests the environmentalist Mike Berners-Lee. 'Challenge your friends and family and colleagues who are getting their information from sources that have got nefarious roots or a track record of being careless – or worse – with the truth, because we need to make this sort of thing socially embarrassing to be involved in,' said Berners-Lee, the brother of the World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. Speaking at Hay festival on Saturday about his most recent book, A Climate of Truth, the writer encouraged people to ask themselves 'really discerning questions' about their basis for trusting the media they consume. Berners-Lee, 61, said that lack of progress on climate issues comes down to political 'deceit', which he likened to abuse. If a media personality 'is found to have groped someone even once, that's the end of their career, because we've decided collectively that that's abuse, and it's disgusting, and we're not having it', he said. 'If a politician abuses us' by being deceitful, 'we need to start screaming about that' too. Though there have been 29 Cop conferences in the past 30 years, there is 'no evidence whatsoever that those Cops have made any difference' to the rising trajectory of the global emissions from fossil fuel use, he said. 'Those 29 Cops have been totally corrupted and destroyed by the very cynical, very well-funded, very calculating, very sophisticated efforts of the fossil fuel industry to make sure those Cops don't get where they need to get to,' he said. While energy companies argue they are helping the world meet rising energy needs, Berners-Lee said: 'We don't have rising energy needs, not at the global level.' Technology is not the obstacle to solving the climate crisis, he said. 'We've got all the technology we need, for example, for an energy transition and vast improvements to our food system.' The 'simplest mechanic by a mile' for 'helping the fossil fuel to stay in the ground' is a carbon price, he suggested. This creates a revenue stream which can be used for 'all kinds of great things' including relieving poverty and supporting 'all the technologies that we need'. He said that humanity's 'time is going to be up' if we carry on business as usual. 'We've got all this energy and technology at our fingertips, and we don't yet have the wisdom and care to be able to wield it,' he said. 'We're like children running around the playground with machine guns, and we've got to put that straight, otherwise we're going to be in for a very, very, very nasty time, and I don't think it's too far away.'
The Independent
23-05-2025
- The Independent
Satchwell's story has ‘more holes than block of Swiss cheese', murder trial told
Murder accused Richard Satchwell was 'shamelessly brazen' and the narrative he gave about how his wife died was implausible and had 'more holes than than a block of Swiss cheese', the jury at his trial has been told. Satchwell was accused of displaying 'conniving actions, full of guile', and embarked on a 'web of deceit' after he buried Tina Satchwell under the stairs of their home in Co Cork. Satchwell, of Grattan Street in Youghal, is accused of murdering his wife between March 19 and 20 2017. The 58-year-old, who is originally from Leicester, England, denies the charge at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. Mrs Satchwell's remains were found under the stairs in the living room of their Co Cork home in October 2023, six years after Satchwell reported her missing. In her closing speech to the jury, Geradine Small SC, said that Satchwell was 'shamelessly brazen' to the very end, even as he knew gardai were thoroughly searching his home in 2023. Satchwell was given pictures of under the stairs and when asked what he kept there, he said 'bit and pieces'. She said that he maintained the position that his wife had left him 'to the bitter end'. Ms Small said the jury would be forgiven for thinking that after Mrs Satchwell's body was found, that there would be a road to Damascus moment. However, she said that the defendant then embarked upon 'another narrative, another web of deceit'. 'I suggest to you this narrative has more holes than a block of Swiss cheese, it is laden with discrepancies,' she told the jury of seven women and five men. 'Your are being asked to accept this, it's totally implausible this narrative, obviously self-serving.' She told the jury his narrative of the morning Mrs Satchwell died was that she had a chisel and attacked him. 'For some reason, Richard Satchwell loses his footing and on this account he falls back and he is lying on the ground on his back, supposedly, and he says Tina is on top of him, with a chisel in her right hand, trying to stab him but she never manages,' Ms Small said. 'This eight stone lady and 6ft man, who is a considerably heavier man. 'She is still stabbing at him. He for some reason grabs her clothing and then describes having this belt.' Ms Small said Satchwell claimed he held her off him because he was terrified. The jury was told that Satchwell offered no detail of what happened in the moments when she died. Ms Small said the account was 'totally implausible'. She said: 'It is farcical. But that is what Richard Satchwell is telling the guards.' She said that Satchwell was not able to tell investigating gardai how many times his wife tried to stab at him, how the belt was positioned back to front, or how the belt was at his wife's neck. On Friday afternoon, the jury heard the closing speech from defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC, who told them that Satchwell was guilty of lying. 'Richard Satchwell is guilty, there is no doubt about it, but what exactly of? He is certainly guilty of causing his wife's death, he says in a struggle where she is attacking him with a chisel, and he is guilty of burying her under the stairs of their home,' he said. 'All of those things, yes, yes, yes. He is guilty of lying. He lied to her family, cousins, the doctor, the practice nurse, to many different gardai from Youghal to Fermoy, he lied to the media, on the local airwaves, and the national airwaves, he lied on television and lied to the people of Ireland. He lied to you and he lied to me. 'That does not make him a murderer, the fact that he lied. That alone cannot make him a murderer.' Mr Grehan said that once someone starts a lie, it can be 'very difficult' to stop, and the domino effect is to tell another lie to cover the previous one. He said that once Satchwell told lies, he could not stop and kept on lying. But, he said, there is not a 'scintilla of evidence' of Satchwell ever laying a hand on his wife. He said that Satchwell loved his wife and despite the occasional 'Jekyll and Hyde' flash of temper where 'she would hit him suddenly', he loved her and was 'prepared to put up with it'. He said that while the violence described is a small amount, it is 'significant in setting the scene where Tina suddenly turned violent', claiming this is what happened on the morning of March 20 2017. Mr Grehan also claimed that gardai 'glossed over' the biggest elephant in the room, and that is the 'failure' of An Garda Siochana in the course of the case. He told the jury that he accepts Satchwell was the 'author of the greatest contributor' in the delay of the case, but said there is 'more than enough blame to go around'. 'It shouldn't simply be left behind or ignored or swept under the carpet. It did influence how the investigation was dealt with,' he added. He said that Satchwell should not be punished in the delay of finding her body. He said that Satchwell was 'besotted, obsessed and worshipped' his wife, and that he spent her life devoted to her. This was reflected in their rituals, including him preparing her a nightly bath with two towels laid out, rubbing baby oil over her body, rubbing her feet, and removing her nail varnish from her finger and toe nails. Mr Grehan said that Satchwell knew things that most men would not know about their wives, not just their shoe size or clothes but of her sizes of various underwear. The jury was told that Satchwell was far from a 'criminal mastermind' as he was someone who left a trail of breadcrumbs that would rival something from a nursery tale. He told the jury that the prosecution would like them to focus on the aftermath of the murder, including the cover-up and the lies because they 'cannot make a case of intent' to murder or cause serious harm. Mr Grehan said there are three possible verdicts available to the jury. They could find Satchwell guilty of murder, or there was an obligation to acquit him if they accepted he believed he was under serious threat from his wife and that he acted reasonable. He added that if they found he used more force than was necessary but no more than he thought was necessary, then the appropriate verdict was manslaughter. Mr Grehan told the jury that they are not here to give a certificate of good character to Satchwell, but to determine if the prosecution had proved their case beyond all reasonable doubt. He urged them to give 'full consideration' to Satchwell and 'come to a just verdict' in the case. The judge will begin to summarise the evidence and outline the law to the jury on Monday.
BreakingNews.ie
23-05-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Satchwell's 'farcical' narrative of wife's death has more holes than 'Swiss cheese', jury told
Richard Satchwell's narrative of how his wife died after he held her off by the belt of her bathrobe is "absolutely farcical" and has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese, a prosecution barrister has told a Central Criminal Court jury. Gerardine Small SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, on Friday gave her closing speech in the trial of Mr Satchwell, submitting that the the British truck driver had woven "a web of deceit" and continued his "fabricated narrative" over the years when he engaged with the media and "anyone who would indulge him". Advertisement The Leicester man, Ms Small said, was "shamelessly brazen right up to the very end" until his wife's remains were discovered at the couple's home in Youghal, over six years after Tina Satchwell was reported missing. The trial has heard that on March 24th, 2017, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife Tina had left their home four days earlier but that he had no concerns over her welfare, feeling she had left due to a deterioration in their relationship. The accused formally reported Ms Satchwell missing the following May but her body was not discovered for over six years, when gardaí in October 2023 conducting "an invasive search" of the Satchwell home found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug almost one metre deep underneath the stairs. When re-arrested on suspicion of Tina's murder after her body was removed from their Cork home, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife "flew" at him with a chisel, that he fell backwards against the floor and described her death after he said he held her off by the belt of her bathrobe at her neck. Advertisement The Assistant State Pathologist has told the trial that Tina's cause of death could not be determined due to the skeletal nature of her remains after they were found buried beneath her Cork home. Prosecuting counsel Gerardine Small outside at the Central Criminal Court. Photo: Collins Addressing the jurors in her closing speech on Friday, Ms Small said the case was "calling and screaming out" for them to apply their common sense and experience. Ms Small said that the jurors can infer intent from "the surrounding circumstances" of Mr Satchwell's actions, reactions and omissions, as well as the lies he told, the manner in which he concealed the body, the "whole web of deceit he wove" and the fact that it was not until Tina's body was found that his narrative changed. These, she said, were all matters for the jury to examine when they were looking at the accused intent. Counsel suggested that in the immediate aftermath of the killing, Mr Satchwell had not sought any medical help and made no calls to the emergency services. "Nothing; he doesn't contact anyone." Advertisement Ms Small told the jurors that the accused created a false email to an international monkey rescue association at 10.42am on March 20, 2017 "in very close proximity to the killing", where he wrote: "I have put an awful lot of work into this and my wife is going to leave me as a result." "That is a very calculated move on Mr Satchwell's part," the prosecutor told the jury. "It's very deliberate and very reasoned and what he is doing is creating a digital footprint he can avail of later down the a safety net because further down the line, he can say she was alive at that stage." The barrister said another text message sent by the accused to "a Mr James" in a similar manner to the email were "two very deliberate and conniving actions" on the accused's part; "full of guile". In his first contact with gardaí on March 24 2017, Ms Small said Mr Satchwell told officers he was not really worried about Tina because of the deterioration in their relationship; "again the deceit has been woven again". Advertisement She said Mr Satchell had continued this "fabricated narrative and deceit" over the years when he engaged with the media and "anyone who would indulge him". Ms Small said during the accused's "enhanced cognitive interview" with gardaí in June 2021, he still maintained the same narrative of how Tina had left him. She said when the accused told gardaí he thought Tina may come knocking on his door, he did this "knowing full well she was buried under the concrete; it's absolutely callous". The lawyer outlined that when Mr Satchwell was first arrested for his wife's murder on October 10th, 2023, gardaí had told him there was going to be an invasive search and that they "were going into the walls" of his home and digging up every inch of the house. Ms Small said at this stage, Tina's body hadn't been found, but officers asked the accused what he kept under the stairs. She said Mr Satchwell had told them "bits and pieces". Advertisement "That illustrates how shamelessly brazen he is, right up to the very end, absolutely brazen and he maintains that position right to the bitter end until he is released from detention," said counsel. Counsel told the jurors that ultimately, Tina's decomposed body and skeletal remains were recovered when the cement under the stairs was broken. She said gardaí then re-arrested the accused on October 12th. "He knows the body has been found, you would expect this is a road to Damascus moment, you would be forgiven for thinking that, but no. Richard Satchwell now embarks upon another narrative and another web of deceit; this narrative has more holes than a block of Swiss cheese, it is laden with discrepancies," she continued. Ms Small commented that Mr Satchwell's account of how his wife died was "totally implausible and self-serving". She went through his account on how Tina "flew" at him with a chisel and was on top of him trying to stab him. "Curiously this eight stone lady versus a six foot two man never manages and doesn't get a mark on him but nonetheless she is still stabbing at him," she commented. "For some reason he said he grabs her clothes but doesn't know it's a belt at the time, only after the deed he realises it's a belt, he said he is holding her off because he is terrified". Ms Small submitted that Mr Satchwell gave no detail of the struggle because he could not be then probed by gardaí and "found out". She continued: "Tina is well capable of getting up, she has her left hand free and can stop her own death, it's absolutely farcical but that is what he is telling gardaí." Ireland Richard Satchwell was 'obsessed' with and 'possess... Read More Ms Small noted that when the accused was asked by gardaí to demonstrate what happened to his wife, he said he couldn't. She also said that when Mr Satchwell was asked how he held the belt around her throat, he said he didn't know. Counsel also submitted that when the accused was asked what had caused Tina to die, he could not say but went on in his interview "to set up" the defence of self-defence for himself. The trial continues this afternoon before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women, when Ms Small will continue her closing speech. Mr Satchwell (58), with an address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell – nee Dingivan – at that address between March 19th and March 20th, 2017, both dates inclusive.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Celebrity Traitors - Everything you need to know
The fingerless gloves are ON as Claudia Winkleman returns to The Traitors castle with an all-star cast who are ready to play the ultimate game of deceit and betrayal. Here's everything you need to know about The Celebrity Traitors... When is The Celebrity Traitors on TV and BBC iPlayer? The Celebrity Traitors is coming to BBC One and iPlayer in autumn 2025 and host Claudia Winkleman promises the nine-part series will put the celebrity contestants through their paces! Meet The Celebrity Traitors contestants Joining Claudia in the castle are: Alan Carr - Comedian Cat Burns – Singer/Songwriter Celia Imrie – Actor Charlotte Church – Singer/Activist Clare Balding - Broadcaster and Author David Olusoga - Historian and Filmmaker Joe Marler – Former England Rugby Player and Podcaster Joe Wilkinson - Comedian Jonathan Ross - Presenter Kate Garraway - Broadcaster Lucy Beaumont - Comedian Mark Bonnar - Actor Nick Mohammed - Actor and Comedian Niko Omilana - Content Creator Paloma Faith - Singer/Songwriter and Actor Ruth Codd - Actor Stephen Fry - Actor, Writer, Presenter Tameka Empson – Actor and Comedian Tom Daley – Olympian, Author, Broadcaster and Entrepreneur What's The Celebrity Traitors prize? We're used to seeing Faithfuls and Traitors playing to win for themselves or their loved ones, but the celebrities will play the ultimate game of detection, backstabbing and trust, in the hope of winning a cash prize up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice.
