Latest news with #newlife
Arabian Business
7 days ago
- General
- Arabian Business
Fujairah Ruler orders release of 112 prisoners for Eid Al Adha 2025
Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Fujairah, has ordered the release of 112 prisoners from punitive and correctional institutions in Fujairah on the occasion of Eid Al Adha. The inmates of various nationalities were selected based on good conduct and behaviour. The gesture is part of His Highness' keenness to give prisoners an opportunity to start a new life and bring joy to their families, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) said in a statement. Major-General Mohammed Ahmed bin Ghanim Al Kaabi, Commander-in-Chief of the Fujairah Police, thanked H.H. Sheikh Hamad for this gesture. '[This gesture] will enable the released prisoners to start new lives, contribute to their community, and show good behaviour,' the statement added, citing Major-General Al Kaabi.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bournemouth family who bought Bulgarian farmhouse have no regrets
It's been three years since Lewis and Jordan Vye packed up their rented flat in Bournemouth and moved their family to couple had bought a dilapidated farmhouse online for £7,000, only viewing it for the first time when they arrived with their two children and fond memories of home and now facing a new set of challenges, they insist they have no regrets."I really enjoy my life here and, the truth is, I don't think you could pay me to return - I enjoy it that much," said Mr Vye. The property in Haskovo Province included a two-acre (0.8 hectare) plot of land, a barn and a house but it had been abandoned for 20 years and, when the family arrived, it was uninhabitable, leaving them no choice but to live in their caravan."We've been working hard," said Mr Vye."It's in a better state now."It's been tough - I don't come from a building background and we had no choice but to renovate this property. That in itself has been stressful."The pair have been documenting their progress on social media, watched by hundreds of thousands of Vye said: "It's great for us because we get to look back and see how bad it was and how far we've come."I'm not going to lie and say there are things we don't miss [about England] but I'm definitely closer to the life I want." The couple say they were inspired after "binge watching" Ben Fogle's TV series, New Lives in the Wild, about people starting new lives in remote went full circle when, earlier this year, they appeared on their own episode of the Channel 5 show."Oh man, what a dream come true," said Mr Vye."We wouldn't be here without watching that because it gave us the courage to get up and go for it ourselves."We've lived the majority of our lives in Bournemouth - it's not that we've got a bad thing to say about it - but it was time for us to go on a different adventure." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Daily Mail
What did Karen's killer know? Just 24 hours after the mother-of-four confided in a pal she was dead... now friends fear there was chilling motive
The night before she was murdered outside her Dordogne home, Karen Carter appeared to have much on her mind. The mother of four was in the process of walking away from her 30-year marriage and starting a new life in this idyllic corner of south-west France. Plans were already in motion. There was the sweet puppy she'd collected five days earlier, a new French bank account she'd set up and a one-bedroom cottage she was negotiating to buy and where she planned to live alone. That future, as we now know, is one the former teacher will tragically never get to live. For just 24 hours after confiding in a close friend about the dramatic new direction her life was taking, she was stabbed eight times in a frenzied late-night attack outside the 250-year-old holiday home she owned with her South African husband, Alan. Fatally injured by the savage blows, including one which penetrated her aorta, Karen was dead by the time emergency services reached her. She had just arrived home from a small wine-tasting evening at the hilltop property of Jean-François Guerrier – a local French man she had grown close to – a day after telling her friend she had asked her husband for a divorce. More, in a moment, of what prosecutors and neighbours say was a new relationship and how, after locking up his converted farmhouse and driving to join her at her home 10 minutes away, Guerrier, 74, found Karen dying in a pool of blood. Her killer, who had been lying in wait, hidden by the greenery which surrounds the property, had struck so fast and so furiously that Karen's handbag – and her traumatised cross-breed puppy, Haku – were still in her Dacia Duster car. Karen's brutal murder on the evening of Tuesday, April 29 – just two days after her 65th birthday – has sent shockwaves through Trémolat, a charming village with a population of just 600 in an area so popular with British expats that a 'Dordogne Chippy' fish-and-chip van visits every Wednesday. Given that the killer is still at large, a deep-seated unease has settled across this usually tranquil community, one which will not lift until he – or she – is caught. Who, then, might have wanted to hurt Karen, a woman described by locals this week as 'classy and charismatic', 'friendly' and 'great fun to be with'. Was she killed by a jealous love rival? Or, as some are speculating, was her death 'un meurtre commandité' – a contract killing? This week the Mail spoke to those closest to the case including Karen's best friend as well as the brother of a local woman, Marie-Laure Autefort, who was said to hold feelings for Guerrier and was briefly interviewed by police before being released. Police have spoken of the 'exceptional violence' used to kill Karen and a British woman who lives nearby told me: 'What is very obvious from her injuries is that whoever did this knew how to kill.' According to results of a preliminary autopsy, one of the eight blows Karen suffered pierced her aorta, their location demonstrating 'the desire to kill'. Inflicted by a sharp object – the weapon has not been recovered – one penetrated her liver; another her kidney and spine. Yet another almost severed her right arm. 'We are absolutely shocked at the brutality of Karen's death,' said the British woman. 'This is a gorgeous part of the world where people come to live in peace. It's terrifying to think that whoever did this is still out there.' Until the horrific events of last week, crime in Trémolat was almost unheard of. What need for door-bell cameras in a close-knit community where people don't bother to lock their cars or, often, even their front doors? At night, the streets are left in darkness, the only noises the cries of the tawny owls and foxes which hunt in the orchards and walnut groves. At the time Karen was murdered outside her home, her closest neighbour, who was watching the UEFA Champions League match between Arsenal and Paris St Germain on TV, heard nothing. 'There was no scream or cry for help. Nothing at all,' Christophe Pultier told me when we met at the entrance to Karen's driveway. Flowers have been left just a couple of metres from the vast bloodstain which still marks the spot on the gravel where she fell. 'The first I realised something was wrong was when I saw blue flashing lights outside my window not long after 10pm,' he said. 'I opened my door and went out to see what was going on. Then I heard someone saying: "Her name is Karen."' The case, not surprisingly, is the talk of the village, particularly among shocked British expats – many of whom knew Karen from Cafe Village, a community hub in Trémolat where she volunteered behind the bar with Guerrier. In a bizarre twist, a poster for cult horror film Le Boucher – The Butcher – hangs on the wall. The 1969 Claude Chabrol film, which tells the story of a serial killer stabbing women in the area, was shot in Trémolat. With no suspect in custody for Karen's murder – there is frustration at the apparent lack of progress in the case. Investigators have interviewed and released only two people: Guerrier, a retired Fujitsu executive who battled in vain to resuscitate her while waiting for emergency services and Marie-Laure Autefort, 69, a divorced mother-of-two who lived nearby and made no secret of her own love for Guerrier. Investigators say they have no reason to suspect Guerrier, who lived for several years in Camberley in Surrey while working in London. Madame Autefort, who was held in custody for 48 hours, has provided an alibi. But amid talk of a 'triangle d'amour', Sylvie Martins-Guedes the prosecutor leading the case has said investigators were focusing 'on people likely to have had something against the victim, or against the couple she had formed'. Investigators also confirmed the killing was pre-meditated. That announcement is highly unusual given that in France, investigations are usually closely guarded until any trial. Marie-Laure Autefort fled to Paris after being released by police and has not been seen at her home in Trémolat since. Adamant that his sister, a carer, could not have killed Karen even if she'd wanted to, Philippe Monribot told me: 'She's physically weak. She's even scared of the dark. Could someone like that slit a woman's throat? It's impossible. It had to be a man and I don't think it's random.' Monsieur Monribot said it was no secret his sister was in love with Guerrier and claimed that she was dazzled by the wealthy retired businessman. 'He took her to visit chateaux in the Loire and to fancy Paris restaurants. She didn't have much money and she fell for him. She definitely loved him. She'd have done anything for him. But his interest seemed to move on to Karen.' Marie-Laure was born in the village and raised her children there. Recently divorced, she was, said her brother, devastated by Karen's death. 'She liked her very much. She is in shock about what has happened. She can barely speak. She's staying away from the village because the atmosphere is so bad. She doesn't want people pointing the finger at her. They arrested her because she was an easy target having made her feelings clear for him.' The real killer said Monsieur Monribot, himself a former emergency worker, would have been drenched in blood. 'My own belief is that the killer isn't far away,' he said. Speaking to the Mail this week, however, Karen's friend and neighbour Beverley Needham, another British ex-pat, said she didn't believe there was anything romantic between Guerrier and Marie-Laure. 'As far as I'm aware, he had no interest in her, but he was gentle with her because she seemed vulnerable.' Beverley, who cooked dinner for Karen just 24 hours before her death, was also unaware of the depth of her relationship with Guerrier. She attempted to play down talk of a 'love triangle', describing widowed Guerrier rather more delicately as Karen's 'confidant'. He had helped her, she said, with the paperwork for her bank account and the purchase of the new cottage. 'If there was love, they were very discreet. She never ever told me they were lovers.' She added: 'He's a charming man who likes the company of women but not necessarily in a relationship way. He's had a lot of women friends visiting him over the years that I've seen, mainly from Belgium because he worked there at some point as well as in the US and the UK.' As for Karen, Beverley said: 'They appreciated each other's company. She never told me: "We're shacking up together" or "He's sleeping at my house."' But she admitted Karen was sensitive to gossip in the village. 'She said: "Don't say to everybody that I'm seeing Jean-Francois all the time."' Did Karen lie about their relationship because she was worried about a love rival? Or was she concerned about news reaching her husband, 65-year-old marine biologist Dr Alan Carter, who still lives at the couple's home in East London in South Africa? He said this week that 'what has come out of this investigation has confirmed a relationship I did not want to believe and that had been denied to me repeatedly by my wife'. He said he'd been left with 'a feeling of complete betrayal'. Dr Carter said he had challenged his wife, whose parents came from Lancashire and emigrated to South Africa in the 1950s, about the time she was spending with Guerrier, a man he knew well. 'I told her that the gossip was tarnishing her reputation but she batted it away and said there was nothing in it. She told our friends the same.' Dr Carter arrived in Trémolat on Tuesday. Hours after visiting the spot where his wife was killed, he told the Mail: 'It's been very difficult coming back to the village. We are still struggling with everything. I just want to focus on the investigation.' The last time he saw Karen was last month when she toured South Africa with Trémolat's over-50s women's football team. He only found out about her death when a cousin in Yorkshire saw a post on Facebook and called him in South Africa. The couple owned three French holiday homes, let and managed by Karen, and in recent years had largely lived separately although they regularly spoke on the phone. Their four adult children live in Australia, Britain and the US. Dr Carter preferred to be at their home in South Africa where he runs an environmental agency and would visit Trémolat for holidays. Karen adored the Gallic lifestyle and after buying their first house there 15 years ago after successful breast cancer treatment, spent increasing amounts of time in the Dordogne. Her husband said she 'loved the village' which nestles on the banks of the Dordogne river and has a 12th century church. Friend Beverley insists that the night before she died, Karen told her she had served her husband with divorce papers and he didn't want to sign them. Karen's neighbour Christophe Pultier said that a week or so before her murder he saw her walking into her home with Guerrier late at night. But he added: 'Whatever was going on, she didn't deserve to die like that.' Speaking at his farmhouse, Monsieur Guerrier declined to answer my questions about their relationship, saying only that 'Karen was a lovely woman'. Said by friends to be still in shock, he is caring for Haku, the puppy they collected together from a breeder recommended by one of his daughters. The simpler existence Karen hoped to embark on with that puppy – and perhaps her lover – has now been cruelly and brutally cut short by someone who is possibly still lurking behind the shuttered windows of Trémolat's Perigordian stone houses.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Daily Mail
'They knew how to kill': British expat's arteries severed in a frenzied attack, rumors of a love triangle - now French police call it an 'assassination'
The night before she was murdered outside her Dordogne home, Karen Carter appeared to have much on her mind. The mother of four was in the process of walking away from her 30-year marriage and starting a new life in this idyllic corner of south-west France. Plans were already in motion. There was the sweet puppy she'd collected five days earlier, a new French bank account she'd set up and a one-bedroom cottage she was negotiating to buy and where she planned to live alone. That future, as we now know, is one the former teacher will tragically never get to live. For just 24 hours after confiding in a close friend about the dramatic new direction her life was taking, she was stabbed eight times in a frenzied late-night attack outside the 250-year-old holiday home she owned with her South African husband, Alan. Fatally injured by the savage blows, including one which penetrated her aorta, Karen was dead by the time emergency services reached her. She had just arrived home from a small wine-tasting evening at the hilltop property of Jean-François Guerrier – a local French man she had grown close to – a day after telling her friend she had asked her husband for a divorce. More, in a moment, of what prosecutors and neighbours say was a new relationship and how, after locking up his converted farmhouse and driving to join her at her home 10 minutes away, Guerrier, 74, found Karen dying in a pool of blood. Her killer, who had been lying in wait, hidden by the greenery which surrounds the property, had struck so fast and so furiously that Karen's handbag – and her traumatised cross-breed puppy, Haku – were still in her Dacia Duster car. Karen's brutal murder on the evening of Tuesday, April 29 – just two days after her 65th birthday – has sent shockwaves through Trémolat, a charming village with a population of just 600 in an area so popular with British expats that a 'Dordogne Chippy' fish-and-chip van visits every Wednesday. Given that the killer is still at large, a deep-seated unease has settled across this usually tranquil community, one which will not lift until he – or she – is caught. Who, then, might have wanted to hurt Karen, a woman described by locals this week as 'classy and charismatic', 'friendly' and 'great fun to be with'. Was she killed by a jealous love rival? Or, as some are speculating, was her death 'un meurtre commandité' – a contract killing? This week the Mail spoke to those closest to the case including Karen's best friend as well as the brother of a local woman, Marie-Laure Autefort, who was said to hold feelings for Guerrier and was briefly interviewed by police before being released. Police have spoken of the 'exceptional violence' used to kill Karen and a British woman who lives nearby told me: 'What is very obvious from her injuries is that whoever did this knew how to kill.' According to results of a preliminary autopsy, one of the eight blows Karen suffered pierced her aorta, their location demonstrating 'the desire to kill'. Inflicted by a sharp object – the weapon has not been recovered – one penetrated her liver; another her kidney and spine. Yet another almost severed her right arm. 'We are absolutely shocked at the brutality of Karen's death,' said the British woman. 'This is a gorgeous part of the world where people come to live in peace. It's terrifying to think that whoever did this is still out there.' Until the horrific events of last week, crime in Trémolat was almost unheard of. What need for door-bell cameras in a close-knit community where people don't bother to lock their cars or, often, even their front doors? At night, the streets are left in darkness, the only noises the cries of the tawny owls and foxes which hunt in the orchards and walnut groves. At the time Karen was murdered outside her home, her closest neighbour, who was watching the UEFA Champions League match between Arsenal and Paris St Germain on TV, heard nothing. 'There was no scream or cry for help. Nothing at all,' Christophe Pultier told me when we met at the entrance to Karen's driveway. Flowers have been left just a couple of metres from the vast bloodstain which still marks the spot on the gravel where she fell. 'The first I realised something was wrong was when I saw blue flashing lights outside my window not long after 10pm,' he said. 'I opened my door and went out to see what was going on. Then I heard someone saying: 'Her name is Karen.'' The case, not surprisingly, is the talk of the village, particularly among shocked British ex-pats – many of whom knew Karen from Cafe Village, a community hub in Trémolat where she volunteered behind the bar with Guerrier. In a bizarre twist, a poster for cult horror film Le Boucher – The Butcher – hangs on the wall. The 1969 Claude Chabrol film, which tells the story of a serial killer stabbing women in the area, was shot in Trémolat. With no suspect in custody for Karen's murder – there is frustration at the apparent lack of progress in the case. Investigators have interviewed and released only two people: Guerrier, a retired Fujitsu executive who battled in vain to resuscitate her while waiting for emergency services and Marie-Laure Autefort, 69, a divorced mother-of-two who lived nearby and made no secret of her own love for Guerrier. Investigators say they have no reason to suspect Guerrier, who lived for several years in Camberley in Surrey while working in London. Madame Autefort, who was held in custody for 48 hours, has provided an alibi. But amid talk of a 'triangle d'amour', Sylvie Martins-Guedes the prosecutor leading the case has said investigators were focusing 'on people likely to have had something against the victim, or against the couple she had formed'. Investigators also confirmed the killing was pre-meditated. That announcement is highly unusual given that in France, investigations are usually closely guarded until any trial. Marie-Laure Autefort fled to Paris after being released by police and has not been seen at her home in Trémolat since. Adamant that his sister, a carer, could not have killed Karen even if she'd wanted to, Philippe Monribot told me: 'She's physically weak. She's even scared of the dark. Could someone like that slit a woman's throat? It's impossible. It had to be a man and I don't think it's random.' Monsieur Monribot said it was no secret his sister was in love with Guerrier and claimed that she was dazzled by the wealthy retired businessman. 'He took her to visit chateaux in the Loire and to fancy Paris restaurants. She didn't have much money and she fell for him. She definitely loved him. She'd have done anything for him. But his interest seemed to move on to Karen.' Marie-Laure was born in the village and raised her children there. Recently divorced, she was, said her brother, devastated by Karen's death. 'She liked her very much. She is in shock about what has happened. She can barely speak. She's staying away from the village because the atmosphere is so bad. She doesn't want people pointing the finger at her. They arrested her because she was an easy target having made her feelings clear for him.' The real killer said Monsieur Monribot, himself a former emergency worker, would have been drenched in blood. 'My own belief is that the killer isn't far away,' he said. Speaking to the Mail this week, however, Karen's friend and neighbour Beverley Needham, another British ex-pat, said she didn't believe there was anything romantic between Guerrier and Marie-Laure. 'As far as I'm aware, he had no interest in her, but he was gentle with her because she seemed vulnerable.' Beverley, who cooked dinner for Karen just 24 hours before her death, was also unaware of the depth of her relationship with Guerrier. She attempted to play down talk of a 'love triangle', describing widowed Guerrier rather more delicately as Karen's 'confidant'. He had helped her, she said, with the paperwork for her bank account and the purchase of the new cottage. 'If there was love, they were very discreet. She never ever told me they were lovers.' She added: 'He's a charming man who likes the company of women but not necessarily in a relationship way. He's had a lot of women friends visiting him over the years that I've seen, mainly from Belgium because he worked there at some point as well as in the US and the UK.' As for Karen, Beverley said: 'They appreciated each other's company. She never told me: 'We're shacking up together' or 'He's sleeping at my house.' ' But she admitted Karen was sensitive to gossip in the village. 'She said: 'Don't say to everybody that I'm seeing Jean-Francois all the time.'' Did Karen lie about their relationship because she was worried about a love rival? Or was she concerned about news reaching her husband, 65-year-old marine biologist Dr Alan Carter, who still lives at the couple's home in East London in South Africa? He said this week that 'what has come out of this investigation has confirmed a relationship I did not want to believe and that had been denied to me repeatedly by my wife'. He said he'd been left with 'a feeling of complete betrayal'. Dr Carter said he had challenged his wife, whose parents came from Lancashire and emigrated to South Africa in the 1950s, about the time she was spending with Guerrier, a man he knew well. 'I told her that the gossip was tarnishing her reputation but she batted it away and said there was nothing in it. She told our friends the same.' Dr Carter arrived in Trémolat on Tuesday. Hours after visiting the spot where his wife was killed, he told the Mail: 'It's been very difficult coming back to the village. We are still struggling with everything. I just want to focus on the investigation.' The last time he saw Karen was last month when she toured South Africa with Trémolat's over-50s women's football team. He only found out about her death when a cousin in Yorkshire saw a post on Facebook and called him in South Africa. The couple owned three French holiday homes, let and managed by Karen, and in recent years had largely lived separately although they regularly spoke on the phone. Their four adult children live in Australia, Britain and the US. Dr Carter preferred to be at their home in South Africa where he runs an environmental agency and would visit Trémolat for holidays. Karen adored the Gallic lifestyle and after buying their first house there 15 years ago after successful breast cancer treatment, spent increasing amounts of time in the Dordogne. Her husband said she 'loved the village' which nestles on the banks of the Dordogne river and has a 12th century church. Friend Beverley insists that the night before she died, Karen told her she had served her husband with divorce papers and he didn't want to sign them. Karen's neighbour Christophe Pultier said that a week or so before her murder he saw her walking into her home with Guerrier late at night. But he added: 'Whatever was going on, she didn't deserve to die like that.' Speaking at his farmhouse, Monsieur Guerrier declined to answer my questions about their relationship, saying only that 'Karen was a lovely woman'. Said by friends to be still in shock, he is caring for Haku, the puppy they collected together from a breeder recommended by one of his daughters. The simpler existence Karen hoped to embark on with that puppy – and perhaps her lover – has now been cruelly and brutally cut short by someone who is possibly still lurking behind the shuttered windows of Trémolat's Perigordian stone houses.
The Sun
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
We bought a house for £8k in one of Europe's cheapest countries… trolls say it's ‘a dump' but our garden is MEGA
A COUPLE have revealed their epic plans to start a new life in one of Europe's cheapest countries despite trolls calling it ''a dump''. With the costs skyrocketing, many cash-strapped Brits are leaving the UK to start a new chapter elsewhere - including Maxwell and his wife. 2 After struggling to get a place they could call home, the savvy pair decided to explore other options abroad, with sunny Bulgaria being one of them. Thanks to its bargain prices, Bulgaria has been described as a " fabulous family-friendly holiday destination" - and the Balkan country also attracts plenty of people determined to get on the property ladder. Located next to Greece and Turkey, the country - which is home to 6.4million inhabitants -also boasts glorious weather and summers. Explaining why the two decided to ditch the UK for Bulgaria, Maxwell recently explained on TikTok that the prices, as well as the weather were two huge factors. ''One was the chance to be able to buy a house and own it outright, and be mortgage-free - something that we would struggle to do in this country. ''The weather as well. The weather is a massive factor, I am a sun baby. ''I love the sun and I did not get enough of it in this country,'' said Maxwell, who regularly shares the couple's new adventures on his TikTok page. ''And an exciting adventure as well. Just starting a new life, a new beginning, with a big project on our hands. ''Showing our children that you can be brave and break out of the system, and reach for your goals and reach for your dreams.'' While Maxwell runs '' a couple of businesses '' and works five days a week, his wife is a HR consultant - which makes it easier to work remotely from anywhere in the world. I left the UK & moved to the cheapest country in the world - rent is £432 a month, petrol AND lunch is £1 & beer is 40p After visiting Bulgaria, the couple forked out £8,000 on a property - and while the house and the land needed serious work and refurbishing, it's still significantly cheaper than getting onto the property ladder in the UK. The cut-price property, they shared in a now-viral video, comes with brand new UPVC doors and windows, as well as a huge living area with wooden flooring - and more. Another added bonus is that while the temperatures outdoors may be scorching, the house itself was cool inside - without any need of air conditioning. After giving tour of the bargain house, Maxwell also showed viewers the epic garden - which featured its very own barn. ''Look at this land, absolutely crazy,'' he showed the jaw-dropping landscape which seemed endless. According to Maxwell, ''the plan is to become as self-sufficient as possible'', with ''fruit and veg everywhere'' and even ''chicken, pigs and cows'' roaming around. Viewers left divided But while Maxwell and his family are ready to embark on their new exciting - and cheaper - adventure, the response on TikTok was mixed. After watching the viral video - which has racked up more than 1.1million views - one critic said: ''I'd rather live in Bradford.'' ''The catch is it's Bulgaria,'' wrote another troll. ''It's rough that,'' added someone else, as fellow critics dubbed Maxwell's new home ''a dump''. Luckily for the adventurous family, the response was mainly positive, with dozens hitting back at the narrow-minded keyboard warriors. One TikTok user wrote: ''I can't believe how stupid these comments are about Bulgaria being a dump. why is it? go visit before you say stupid things! there's no bigger dump than UK at the minute.'' A viewer chimed in: ''People saying Bulgaria is a dump living themselves in British council estates. That's a gem of a find not gonna lie possibilities are endless there.''
