A hapless robber, Christopher Walker, was caught just moments after stealing £25,000 from a security guard in Birmingham when he fled into his own house opposite, a court heard. 

By Andrew Hough
Published: 8:00AM GMT 27 Nov 2009

Christopher Walker was caught moments after the robbery Photo: NEWSTEAM

The 19 year-old attacked the cash-in-transit security guard with a stick outside Lloyds Bank in Birmingham's Lea Village last month, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

After leaving the guard injured, Walker, who had just been made redundant, then escaped with £25,000 in cash, in what the court heard was an “incompetent spur of the moment robbery”.

But to the astonishment of onlookers, Walker, of Birmingham, fled to his house opposite, prosecutors said.

He was then caught by police within minutes.

Pleading with officers not to break down his neighbour’s door, he quickly admitted to stashing the cash in their loft.

All of the cash was recovered from the loft space of their house, which adjoined his home and which he had keys to.

Walker yesterday admitted one count of robbery, which occurred on October 22.

Jailing him for two and half years, Judge Sylvia De Bertodano said temptation had “overcome” him.

“What makes this so serious is the significant amount of money involved, the use of a disguise and the use of a weapon to hit a security guard who is entitled to go about his work without fear of attack,” she said.

“I accept that you are sorry and that it was not planned.

“Temptation overcame you.”

Earlier, the court heard Walker had noticed the van make its delivery of cash at 2pm that afternoon and decided to act.

Prosecutors said he had just been made redundant from his job as a council grass cutter and was short of cash.

Christopher Lester, prosecuting, told the court that as Walker watched the delivery, he decided to cover his face with a T-shirt, before picking up a stick and striking the back of the guard’s knee.

“A taxi driver and a bank customer witnessed the attack on the driver,” he said.

“The offender pulled out a 2ft wooden stick from his right sleeve and struck the leg of the driver from behind.

“The stick snapped, the cashbox was snatched and the offender was witnessed running into a house further down the road.”

Mr Lester said that later when officers arrived at the house, he came out and said “don’t put my neighbour’s door in, I will tell you where the cash box is”.

“He took officers into the house, which he had a key for, and directed them to the cash box in the loft space,” he said.

“He also told officers which trainers he had been wearing and that he had used a T-shirt to cover his face, not a balaclava.”

Raglan Ashton, defending, admitted that while the robbery was serious it was “somewhat incompetent”.

“It was a spur of the moment decision and was always going to be detected by police within a matter of minutes,” he said.

“He is appalled by his actions and he has shown genuine remorse. He held his hands up at the very outset. He admits that he has been stupid and he is sorry.

“He was a council grass cutter before he lost the job that he loved.”

He added: “He did not come armed with a weapon, he picked up a stick. He was not working and he simply had no money.”

2009-11-27　新聞速報　【中央社】

 

南韓憲法法院昨天宣判，處罰以結婚為藉口而與女性發生性關係行為的刑法「婚姻憑藉姦淫罪」條款，違背了憲法的基本精神。

    　南韓「朝鮮日報」、「中央日報」、「東亞日報」今天都在頭版以「婚姻憑藉姦淫罪係屬違憲」為標題，報導了「愛情是無法以法律來統制」的事實。

    　憲法法院宣稱，以結婚為名義姦淫婦女而受到刑事處罰的林某等兩名男性，向憲法法院提起了申訴。後來在審理該案時，出席的法官以六比三的比數做出上述「違憲」的決定。

    　南韓於1953年制定的刑法中，第304 條的婚姻憑藉姦淫罪明文規定：「以婚姻為藉口或採用欺騙手段誘姦無淫亂劣跡婦女者，將處以二年以下徒刑或500 萬韓元（約新台幣14萬元）以下罰款。」

    　憲法法院表示，刑法的「以結婚為名來誘姦無淫亂劣跡婦女者」這一部分，違背憲法第37條第2 項的「過分禁止」原則，侵害男性自己決定「性」的權利及私生活的秘密和自由，因而違背憲法。

    　對此，李康國、曹大鉉、宋斗煥等三位法官提出反對意見，他們不認為，有關的條款與處罰的對象可能接受的懲罰相比，過分嚴重，也不認為它是權益失衡和男女性別歧視，因此不違背憲法。

    　這次憲法法院的決定，推翻了2002年法官曾以七比二比數所做做出的「婚姻憑藉姦淫罪是符合憲法」的決定。981127

 

 

事件当日の順序のまま現在911.wikileaks.orgで続々公開中というわけだ。傍受は誰かが組織的に行っていたみたいね。気になる信憑性だが、CBSが調べてみた限りでは「本物」らしい。

China's battle with organised crime

The Chinese government has launched a sweeping crackdown on criminal gangs in the southwestern city of Chongqing.

The area, which is home to some 30 million residents, has been in the clutches of the mafia-style gangs for years.

Recent trials have exposed the unseemly relationships between gangsters, police officers and several high-profile public officials.

But as Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan reports, for some of the gangs' victims, the increased focus by law enforcement is too little too late. 

Warning: This report contains some graphic images.

Investigators continued to search for two men who walked out of a federal prison Friday.

By Patrick George
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

As the search continued Monday for two men who escaped from a Bastrop County federal prison, authorities said they obtained security camera footage of one of the men at an Austin grocery store and think he may be headed to Mexico.

Adan Chavez, 53, who had been sentenced to 30 years in prison for cocaine and weapons convictions, and Leandro Luna, 52, who had been sentenced to 10 years for marijuana importation, walked out of a low-security area of the Bastrop federal prison Friday, officials said. They have been on the loose since.

Hector Gomez, supervisory deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service, said Monday that officials discovered an abandoned Ford Crown Victoria government car at the H-E-B at Interstate 35 and East William Cannon Drive. A review of security camera footage from about 9 p.m. Friday showed Luna stepping out of the car, which Gomez said was from the Bastrop prison and may have been used in the escape, and into a blue or silver Chevrolet pickup.

The truck's license plate could not be seen on the video, Gomez said. The video did not show Chavez, he said.

Investigators have learned that Luna has relatives in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, which is near Del Rio.

"It's not far-fetched to say he could be there now," Gomez said. "We feel pretty certain he's not in the Austin area."

Authorities have fewer leads on Chavez, Gomez said. He has no relatives in the Central Texas area and also may be headed to Mexico. Both men are U.S. citizens, so if they are caught south of the border they probably will be deported quickly, Gomez said.

It's typical for investigators to not release information about fugitives for the first 24 to 48 hours after an escape because during that time, they have the "element of surprise" and can track them down based on who their associates and families are, Gomez said. Once that window passes, investigators enlist the public's help, but he said that publicity often causes fugitives to go deeper into hiding, he said.

"We are doing everything we possibly can," he said.

Luna is described as being 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 334 pounds. Officials say he has gray hair, brown eyes and a scar on his abdomen.

Officials said Chavez is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 215 pounds. He has graying black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force at 916-5393.

SHIJIAZHUANG, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people were executed in China Tuesday for their involvement in the country's contaminated milk scandal, in which at least six infants died and more than 300,000 became ill.     Zhang Yujun was executed for the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means, and Geng Jinping was put to death after being convicted of producing and selling toxic food, the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court said in a statement.     Zhang was found guilty of producing more than 770 tonnes and selling more than 600 tonnes of melamine-laced protein powder from July 2007 to August 2008.     Geng was convicted of selling more than 900 tonnes of milk tainted with 434 kg of protein powder to the now-defunct Sanlu Group, which was at the heart of the scandal, from October 2007 to August 2008.     The two lodged appeals after the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced them to death on Jan. 21, and the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court upheld the convictions on March 26.     The death sentences and the executions were approved by the Supreme People's Court, the Shijiazhuang court statement said.     Sanlu Group, which was based in Shijiazhuang, capital of northern Hebei Province, had been China's leading seller of milk powder for 15 years until the melamine scandal broke in September last year.     The company's tainted baby milk powder was found to have caused the deaths of at least six children and sickened more than 300,000others.     The industrial chemical melamine had been added to milk to make it appear higher in protein content. It can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.     Altogether 21 people were tried and sentenced in January for their roles in the scandal at different courts in Shijiazhuang.     Among them, two were sentenced to death, one received a suspended death sentence, three were jailed for life, and the other 15 imprisoned for terms ranging from two to 15 years.     Tian Wenhua, former board chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, was convicted of manufacturing and selling fake or substandard products and sentenced to life in prison, according to the sentence handed down in January at the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court.     She lodged an appeal, but it was rejected by the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court on March 26.

US Editor

Published: 23 Nov 2009

LIKE many adopted children, Matthew Roberts set about finding his biological parents with a mix of nerves and excitement.

In particular, he hoped that discovering his father's identity would help him to work out what made him the man he had become.

But nothing could have prepared him for being told his dad was... serial killer CHARLES MANSON.

 

Warped ... Charles Manson now

 

Over a five-week period in the summer of 1969, Manson and his Family of commune followers committed a series of nine gruesome murders. Victims included pregnant actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski.

Matthew, 41 - who bears a haunting resemblance to his father - sank into depression after discovering his identity.

He has since been in contact with his dad in a series of letters to his California prison and Manson has replied - each time chillingly signing off with a swastika.

Now Matthew, who was given up for adoption as a baby, has told of his horror at finding out he was the son of a monster.

 

Poison pen ... letter from Manson to Matthew

 

He says: "I didn't want to believe it. I was frightened and angry. It's like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father.

"I'm a peaceful person - trapped in the face of a monster."

Matthew grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and didn't know he was adopted until his sister told him when he was ten.

He loved his adoptive parents but always knew he was different. He says: "My parents were great people, but very conservative.

"They were products of the Fifties and I didn't relate to them. My biological parents were products of the Sixties and I take on a lot more of those characteristics."

He also reveals his adoptive father tried to discourage him from getting in contact with Manson, telling him: "Nothing good will come from this."

Letters

Matthew, who now lives in Los Angeles, began investigating his family history 12 years ago when he contacted a social services agency who located his mother, Terry, in Wisconsin.

He wrote to her straight away and their early exchanges will be familiar to adopted children everywhere.

 

Map ... Los Angeles

 

She confirmed she was his mum and told him she had named him Lawrence Alexander - and that she would tell him his last name in time.

The jigsaw of his life was beginning to take shape but it was still missing a crucial piece - his father.

Terry remained tight-lipped about his identity but after Matthew pressed her for details in a string of letters, she eventually revealed the awful truth.

She said she met commune leader Manson in 1967 - two years before the infamous "Manson Family" murders in Los Angeles for which he is still in jail at the age of 75.

But back in 1967, Terry had been one of many who were transfixed by Manson's charms.

Her father had tried to chase him away when he met Terry, calling him a "white-trash biker bandit" but she found him charismatic and hypnotizing.

 

So she hopped on a bus with his Family and ended up in San Francisco. There she claims she was raped by Manson in a drug-fuelled orgy, after which she returned home and Matthew was born on March 22, 1968.

 

Cult HQ ... ranch near Death Valley where Manson Family gathered

 

Terry always believed Manson was the father of the baby she gave up for adoption. And after seeing a picture of Matthew, her worst nightmare was confirmed.

For he is the spitting image of Manson, with the same nose, mouth, eyes and large forehead. They even have the same thick, arched eyebrows and long, thick, dark hair.

Like his father, Matthew is a songwriter and poet. He is even worried that he may have inherited his father's schizophrenia.

Matthew, now working as a DJ, recalls hearing mum Terry's bombshell: "She even said, 'You look just like him'.

"I'm not nuts but I've got a little bit of it. It's scary and upsetting. If I get worked up, my eyes get really big and that's really freaked some people out before.

 

Bad sign ... another note from the killer

Splash News

 

"I've tried to tone that down quite a bit. I don't like having that effect on people.

"I don't even like the fact that I'm big. It makes me even scarier. My hero is Gandhi. I'm an extremely non-violent, peaceful person and a vegetarian.

"I don't even kill bugs. I've had long hair all my life. I could make it go away, but I can't let the world and their fears change me." After discovering the truth, it took Matthew five years to pluck up the courage to write to his father at Corcoran State Prison in California.

Manson replied to Matthew's letter straight away and has since sent him a string of ten handwritten notes and postcards signed with the wartime Nazi symbol.

Hobo

Matthew says: "He sends me weird stuff and always signs it with his swastika. At first I was stunned and depressed. I wasn't able to speak for a day. I remember not being able to eat."

 

According to Matthew, the letters mainly rambled and said "crazy things" but Manson did confirm he could be his father.

In one twisted letter he wrote: "The truth is the truth. The truth hurts."

In another note Manson talked about meeting Matthew's mother. He wrote: "I remember her. We came back to LA on the super-cheap train."

And Manson - who grew up without a father figure - even compared his childhood to Matthew's.

He said: "You got the same father I got. A hobo just left on the midnight train and died, lost at sea." Then in a postcard two years ago, addressed to Matthew's birth name Lawrence Alexander, Manson sent his son his prison phone number.

But Matthew has never made the call to his dad.

He says: "There's always a subconscious block.

"What I'm worried about is that you think you're going to meet your birth mother or father and they're going to love you and welcome you with open arms. But he's not that kind of person."

Despite Manson's evil actions, Matthew confesses he now battles confused emotions towards his biological father.

He says: "If I did talk to Charlie on the phone, I would say, 'I truly understand what it's like to be you, more than anyone could ever imagine on so many levels'.

"He's my biological father - I can't help but have some kind of emotional connection. That's the hardest thing of all - feeling love for a monster who raped my mother.

"I don't want to love him, but I don't want to hate him either."