The Royal Navy has confirmed it is investigating the death of a female officer aboard HMS Edinburgh.

Lieutenant Sara Hellawell, 26, was found dead on 16 June when the destroyer, known as the Fortress of the Sea, was moored in Angola, West Africa.

It is not yet known how the deputy marine engineer officer died.

A spokesman said: "Her next of kin have been informed. The thoughts and sympathies of the Royal Navy are with Sara's family."

Lieutenant Hellawell's body is being repatriated from Cape Town on Wednesday.

HMS Edinburgh left Portsmouth in May for the South Atlantic and is not due to return until the end of the year.

The ship is also due to visit the Cape Verde and Falkland Islands.

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A drug smuggler locked up in Venezuela has been filmed ­bragging about how he’s living it up “in the best jail in the world”.

Paul Makin, 33, is serving an eight-year sentence along with ex-wife Laura after being caught attempting to ­smuggle €1.4million worth of cocaine out of the country.

But while relatives back home believed he was struggling to cope inside the notorious “hell hole” San Antonio jail - in fact he’s living a life of pool parties and barbecues in a place where prisoners do as they please.

In a five-minute clip, filmed on a fellow inmate’s own ­camcorder, burly ex-soldier Makin sports a neat moustache and gelled hair and is dressed in a smart yellow polo shirt.

You can watch the video here


He appears suntanned and relaxed as he brags about life in the once-fearsome jail now run from the inside by a murderous drug lord ­nicknamed El Conejo, The Rabbit.

The prison has four outdoor swimming pools, a nightclub and even special rooms for conjugal ­visits by wives and girlfriends.

As Makin talks, music blares in the background and prisoners flip somersaults into one of the pools.

Inmates can also be seen stroking pet dogs, openly smoking crack cocaine, grilling steaks on a barbecue and having ­massages from women from the neighbouring female section of the jail.

Smiling at the camera, Makin, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, boasts: “It’s the best jail in the world, for me personally. There’s no place like it on the planet.”


He goes on: “And there are enough guns and ammunition in here to start a war. I like guns. I’ve been in the army for 10 years. I’ve played with guns all my life. I’ve seen some guns in here that I’ve never seen in my life. Very nice. Handguns, machine guns, all kinds.”

He then describe The ­Rabbit’s grip on the prison, claiming he was the only one who could keep order.

“The brother is the boss here, the Conejo. He’s the man. People do things wrong every day. You often see people get a baseball bat across their a***. That’s ­because the governor was sick of people having broken limbs.He said you can hit them with a bat but don’t break their limbs.”

Makin was arrested in February, 2009, after persuading ex-wife Laura Webb, also 33, to fly to Venezuela with their four-year-old twins Libi and Luci (and Laura’s children from a previous relationship, Jack, 10, and Megan, eight.

They looked like any normal­ family when they headed for home after their holiday... but when their luggage was searched 20kg of cocaine was found packed into secret compartments sewn into their suitcases.


Makin admitted smuggling but insisted he thought he was carrying diamonds back to Britain for an unnamed Liverpool gangster he claimed was ­threatening him.


Laura denied knowing ­anything about the scam but was also convicted and is serving four years in the same jail. At the time, Jack and Megan’s natural father, Eddie Shirley, 34, spoke exclusively to the Irish Sunday Mirror about how he flew to the country to rescue all four ­children from a Venezuelan ­orphanage and how Makin sobbed as he begged him for forgiveness.

All four children now live with postman Eddie and wife Caroline, 30, at their home in Birkenhead, Wirral. A source close to Makin’s family said: “Seeing him on that video, all cocky and arrogant, hasn’t gone down well. His family think what he did, with those children with him, was beyond the pale and that he deserves to rot. We thought he was having a tough time.

“Seeing what life is like in that prison – and that he thinks it’s great – is hard to take. It makes a mockery of the ­punishment he’s supposed to be getting.”


The cushy regime at the jail was established long before Makin was sent there. With the governor’s ­blessing, The Rabbit and his cronies are now understood to keep order in exchange for “prison perks”. In the video in which Makin appears, inmates can be seen sunbathing in hammocks, a DJ is shown playing tracks in an outdoor nightclub, and a woman is shown lying on a bed in the arms of her inmate lover.

Handguns, laptop computers and mobile phones – all ­belonging to inmates – can also be clearly seen.

Last night another family friend of Makin’s said: “It’s a joke. He should be being punished not living some kind of high life.”

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Andrew was dragged before the British courts, shipped off to a foreign land and held behind bars in one of Europe's worst prisons."

A student from north London who was accused of killing a Welsh roller hockey player in Greece has been cleared of manslaughter, the charity Fair Trials International has said.

Andrew Symeou, 22, from Enfield, was charged with the manslaughter of Jonathan Hiles, from Cardiff, at a nightclub in Zakynthos in July 2007.

Mr Hiles, 18, who fell from a dance podium, died from a brain injury.

Mr Symeou had denied being in the nightclub at the time.

He has been held in Greece since his extradition in July 2009.

'Four year nightmare'
The Londoner was accused of punching the teenager in the face, knocking him out in the process and causing him to fall from the podium.

Fair Trials International said much of the apparent evidence against Mr Symeou, who studied in Bournemouth, was based on details obtained by Greek police officers who intimidated witnesses.

The prosecutor at the court recommended Mr Symeou be acquitted, the charity said, and the jury found him not guilty.


Andrew Symeou denies being in the club at the time of the killing
"There are no winners or losers, only pursuit of the truth," said Mr Symeou in a statement afterwards.

"Today's verdict has only stopped further injustice and a possible gross miscarriage of justice.

"I was not involved in any way in the death of Jonathan Hiles and the court agrees.

"I can finally return home and begin building my life again."

Jago Russell, chief executive of Fair Trials International, said Mr Symeou was subjected to a "four-year nightmare".

"While his friends were free to start their adult lives, Andrew was being dragged before the British courts, shipped off to a foreign land and held behind bars in one of Europe's worst prisons."

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Three British men accused of smuggling more than £2m into Somalia to secure the release of two hijacked ships were each jailed for between 10 and 15 years and fined £9,000

Three British men accused of smuggling more than £2m into Somalia to secure the release of two hijacked ships were each jailed for between 10 and 15 years and fined £9,000, Somali authorities said last night.

Matthew Brown, a pilot, Andrew Oaks and Alex James, from a Nairobi-based security firm, Salama Fikira, were among six foreigners arrested after landing in two unmarked planes at Mogadishu airport last month. Two Kenyans and an American were also jailed.

The Foreign Office said last night it was "aware" of the verdict. "We have impressed upon the transitional federal government the need to ensure the safety and security of the group while legal options are considered," a spokesman said.

The cash is said to have been for the release of two captured vessels, the MV Suez, freed earlier this month with its 22 crew after nearly 10 months in captivity, and the MV Yuan Xiang, also freed this month with 29 crew members after almost seven months in captivity.

Somalia's transitional federal government, which controls only part of the country, opposes ransom payments, believing that it fuels piracy. The country has lacked a functioning central government since 1991.

Last night, a spokesman for Salama Fikira said: "The only thing I would say is: don't believe everything you read." The company is run by former British special forces officers Rob Andrew and Conrad Thorpe.

A UN Office on Drugs and Crime report this month suggested ransoms totalling $112m (£69m) were paid to Somali pirates in 2010, up from $75m in 2009. The average ransom demand rose from $3.4m to $5.4m between 2009 and 2010, with a record $9.5m paid last November for Samho Dream, a South Korean tanker capable of carrying two million barrels of crude oil.

The most high-profile British victims of Somali piracy are Paul and Rachel Chandler, whose yacht was hijacked in October 2009. They spent more than a year in captivity before being released late last year, allegedly after a ransom of around £600,000 was paid.

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Britons will have to pay a new tax on their French holiday homes in a shock move by President Sarkozy, it was announced today.

The tax only applies to foreigners with second homes that are unoccupied all year whether the property is owned personally, through a company or a trust.

Sarkozy is introducing it to help raise revenues and improve his poll ratings.

The new charge was approved after a marathon debate in the National Assembly which ended as dawn broke.

But France's newly-affluent will pay less after it was agreed that no-one should be taxed more than 50 per cent.

Non-resident French homeowners already pay two taxes - one by the person who owns the house and the other paid by those who live in the property.

Under the new proposals, even if homes are only used for a few weeks a year, the French government will estimate the annual rent that could be gained, and then charge 20 per cent tax based on that sum.




If the property is let out for the whole year with a local letting agent, it will be exempt.

French property taxes vary by region, so tax payable on one in the South of France will be different from that in Normandy.

Those on the Riviera are likely to rocket, forcing owners to sell up because the property would become too expensive to run.

Already there is some debate whether the tax discriminates against foreign owners and that it will be challenged in the European courts.

Sarkozy won power in 2007 promising that tax would not rise, but he is under pressure as the April 2012 election looms to fend off Left-wing critics who say he helped a wealthy minority.

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The future of Paris’s notorious gambling clubs, gifted to Corsicans for their role in the Resistance, is under threat after police closed three in a massive sting for suspected links with the mafia.

The future of Paris’s notorious gambling clubs, gifted to Corsicans for their role in the Resistance, is under threat after police closed three in a massive sting for suspected links with the mafia.

Paris's circles de jeu (gambling clubs) long held a reputation as being controlled by Corsican gangsters 
The three closures in the space of three weeks suggest that French police have finally decided to end decades of tolerance towards the controversial venues.
Paris’s circles de jeu (gambling clubs) long held a reputation as being controlled by Corsican gangsters based on the Mediterranean island or in Marseilles and being money-laundering dens.
Glamorised in countless detective novels, they were the subject of epic and bloody disputes between rival mafia clans, notably in the so-called “gambling wars” of the 1970s.
However, in recent years the surviving few were believed to have changed their ways.
Eight were still in operation last month. But on Wednesday, some 200 officers from Paris’s judicial police swooped on Le Cercle Wagram and L’Eldo in the city’s 17th and 3rd arrondissements after a year-long investigation into their owners’ allegedly fraudulent practices.

The following day, a second swoop took place in Corsica, in which thirty suspects were arrested. These included two actors from a TV series called Mafiosa, the clan, shot on the island, and four retired police officers.
Some 800,000 euros (£710,000) in cash was also seized.
Just three weeks earlier, another club, Le Cercle Haussmann, in the 2nd arrondissement was raided and shut and seven people placed under investigation for illegal gambling practices.
After years of relative calm, police believe that the Corsican mafia took renewed interest in the clubs as money-laundering outfits when the venues’ profits started to soar thanks to a recent craze in France for poker, whose ambassadors include French film stars and singers.
Police said rival gangs have been fighting for control of the clubs after a spate of killings in Corsica and Marseilles that has left the long-feared “Brise de Mer” gang fatally weakened.
The first circles opened in Paris in 1907 after casinos were banned from operating within 62 miles of the French capital.
After the war, France let a number of Corsicans run the clubs for services rendered in the Resistance.
They still operate under a 1901 law that deems them “non-profit” organisations whose stated aims are to promote “social, artistic literary and sporting activities”.
Under these archaic rules, they are not required to adhere to strict security measures found in casinos, such as fitting video surveillance cameras over every gaming table — meaning there is no way of keeping tabs on the amounts cashed in.
Today such rules are totally obsolete and the reality is rather different, police said. “We cannot tolerate seeing practices linked to organised crime go on any longer in these places,” an investigator told Le Parisien.
Since 1947, licences can be given or removed by the interior ministry’s special racing and gaming service, SCCJ.
To improve their image, several clubs had started donating to cancer charities and one to a police health insurer.
But the rot started in 2007, when Paris’ famous Cercle Concorde was shut for its shady links to a Corsican mafia gangster based in Marseilles, who owned the restaurant next to the club.
Le Concorde, whose official aims were to “promote the French republican ideal” was closed down in 1987.
But it was reopened in the presence of dozens of celebrities and political figures, including Princess Caroline of Monaco, in 2006 after Nicolas Sarkozy, then interior minister, gave the green light for its rebirth.
A year later, it was shut after investigators found it was being used as “the goose that lays the golden eggs to generate significant clandestine profits by misuse of the till”.
Among Paris’s five remaining circles is the Aviation Club de France, France’s oldest.
The mythical venue on the Champs-Elysées is run by the former head of France’s anti-gangster squad. Charles Pelligrini said that the clubs' “sulphurous reputation” was long well-deserved.

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72 per cent of drivers in Britain admit being under the influence of narcotics while driving, according to a new study

.

Around 35 percent admitted to taking a cannabis joint. Another 15 percent admitted they had taken cocaine. Drugs like ecstasy account for 22 per cent, said the survey by insurer Direct Line.

The insurance firm calculated the estimates from around 1.2 million vehicle users, said the Daily Express.

One in three Britons believe they were in a "fit state" to drive, but five percent admitted to being in an accident.

The firm's Andy Goldby said: "Drug driving is as irresponsible as drink driving. The dangers of drug drivers on our roads are becoming increasingly apparent, with thousands admitting they have been involved in an accident."

The Home Office is now testing a "drugalyser" device to detect narcotic use by drivers.

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THREE Brits were fined yesterday after a drunken mass brawl broke out on a flight to Barbados.

Passengers said punches were thrown when a man in a party drinking at the back of the Virgin Atlantic plane was bumped by a dad caring for his airsick toddler son.

The cabin crew had to break up the fight – and police waiting on the runway as the Boeing 747 landed quizzed 10 people.

Martin King, his wife Zoe, from Coulsdon, South London, and her father Derek Edmond, 76, of Woodhall Spa, Lincs, were fined £2,300 after each admitted a charge of causing a disruption on an aircraft.

They were allowed to leave court and continue their holiday.

But Virgin Atlantic said they were banned from ever using the airline again and they would have to make their own way home.


Police talk to Virgin staff

Holidaymaker James Longley, 34, said: “A group of about 10 at the back were quite drunk and rowdy and there were a few kids running up and down the aisle.

“One little boy started being sick and his dad tried to grab him and accidentally knocked into a couple of the drunk guys. One of them was livid and got the dad in a headlock while his mate jumped in and started punching him in the face. But the dad fought back and ended up knocking the guy out cold.”

The energy consultant, from Market Harborough, Leics, added: “Everyone was shouting and screaming, and ladies were crying. The whole thing was pretty terrifying.”

Fellow passenger Elsa Brandford, 70, said: “It was vicious. There was about five minutes of shouting and before I knew it they were throwing punches and jumping on each other. There were punches going off in all directions.”

Violence broke out two hours into the eight-and-a-half hour Virgin Atlantic VS29 flight from London Gatwick on Thursday.

One member of the cabin crew on the jet, which was carrying 229 passengers, said “she had never been so scared”.

More than a dozen officers from the Royal Barbados Police Force were waiting at Grantley Adams International Airport.

Mrs King, 46, who is believed to have been celebrating her birthday, was seen with her arm in a sling. Her husband, 49, had a black eye.

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Man freed from Peruvian jail over drugs charges

JUSTICE charity said an Oxfordshire grandfather wrongly imprisoned in Peru for drug smuggling was held in “appalling conditions”.

Alan Rae, 40, right, from Faringdon, was in jail for two years and missed the birth of his first grandchild after his travel companion was arrested with 12.3kg of cocaine in his suitcase.

The Oxford Mail broke the news in January 2010 how Mr Rae and Abingdon man Nathan Brandon had been arrested at Lima Airport on drug smuggling charges.

Last year Brandon was sentenced to 12 years and Mr Rae was given 14 following their arrest in April 2009.

But Mr Rae appealed and was cleared of the charges this week.

He could be home in time for his daughter Lorna’s 15th birthday tomorrow and the birth of his second grandchild.

He was helped by legal charity Fair Trials International.

Caseworker Rebecca Shaeffer said: “Alan’s case demonstrates serious problems with the justice system in Peru.

“It took well over a year and a half for it to be heard, he has been held in appalling prison conditions and found it almost impossible to access legal advice.

“Alan has always maintained his innocence – and his co- defendant took full responsibility for the drugs that were found.

“We are delighted that the courts have acquitted Alan of all charges and that he is free to come back home to his family.”

Mr Rae’s partner Lynn Rae said: “This is the best birthday present our daughter has ever had. We can’t wait to get him home.”

Brandon, a former Tesco worker, rang the Oxford Mail last year and admitted attempting to smuggle the drugs, worth £1m, into London.

The former Oxford and Cherwell Valley College student said a gang offered him £10,000 to take the drugs, and Mr Rae was not involved.

 

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UK holidaymakers have been warned to expect higher petrol prices across Europe this summer compared with last year.

According to a study published by the Post Office, higher charges at the pump have been exacerbated by the falling value of the pound on currency markets.

The lowest cost of a litre of unleaded petrol in Europe was in Luxembourg at £1.28, while the highest was in Norway at £1.82.

Spain came in at number two as the second cheapest place to buy petrol with £1.28 a litre, the annual survey continued, ahead of Austria at £1.33 and the UK at £1.36.

Prices rose across the continent, with the biggest increase in the price per litre since last year in Switzerland at 35p.

"The high fuel price increases in Europe mean that UK holidaymakers should plan their routes carefully in advance to cut costs," said the Post Office's Sarah Munro.

"For example, motorists driving through eastern France can save 27p a litre on unleaded petrol or 24p on diesel by detouring into Luxembourg. Similarly motorists can save up to 23p a litre by crossing from Switzerland into Austria."

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brother and sister have died after the small plane they chartered crashed in a remote wooded area in Florida.

Student pilot Carly Beattie, 21, was flying a Cessna 152 with her 24-year-old brother Daniel Beattie when it crashed into trees reaching 50ft in an unpopulated area of Indian River County, much of which is accessible only by boat.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, who are investigating the crash, are to look into whether the Scot had the necessary qualifications to fly the plane.

Search and rescue authorities were alerted after family members called to say when the plane failed to return from a three-hour flight.

The bodies were found in the early hours of yesterday morning in the wreckage of the 34-year-old aircraft following a six-hour search after officers had tracked a signal from a sibling’s mobile phone.

The area where the plane went down was very remote – we don’t have a single eye witness
It appeared the light aircraft had nose-dived into the trees at the south-west end of Blue Cypress Lake. The fuselage was split in two behind the cockpit and the engine buried in deep mud; one of the wings was wrapped around a tree.

The US Coastguard sent a helicopter capable of lowering an pneumatic extrication device, to workers on the ground so they could prise open the aircraft.

It is understood around 18 firefighters and deputies had to carry the bodies through a quarter of a mile of dense woods and swamp.

“It’s horrible,” said Indian River Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Davis, adding that the site was “extremely difficult to get around”.

Indian River County Sheriff’s spokesman James Harpring said: “It does appear to be a very tragic accident with the loss of life of two young people.

“The area where the plane went down is a very heavily wooded, swampy remote area.

“We don’t have a single eyewitness to the crash, we have not had any reports of anyone even hearing anything – a crash, an engine spluttering, an explosion or anything like that at all.

“The first indication that there was something wrong was when the plane didn’t return as scheduled.”

Ms Beattie, a second-year student studying air transport with commercial pilot training at Buckinghamshire New University in High Wycombe, was living on Merritt Island as part of her degree course.

Her brother and their parents Thomas and Elaine, who are all from the Edinburgh area, were believed to have been on holiday.

The plane is understood to have been registered to Space Coast Aviation, a flight school and flying club, and is thought to have been rented by the brother and sister.

They set off at around 10am on Thursday on a three-hour flight. Police were contacted 10 hours later.

Lieutenant John Mellick, a spokesman for Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, said: “Apparently, Space Coast Aviation has a protocol for overdue planes. After they exhausted all of their scenarios they contacted us.”

As helicopters scoured the area, officers detected the plane’s emergency beacon and then located the wreckage using lights at around 2.49am local time yesterday.

The Cessna was found about a quarter of a mile from the nearest road and in an area of cypress trees and knee-deep mud near the lake in the Blue Cypress Conservation Area.

Mr and Mrs Beattie met with Space Coast Aviation officials yesterday, nine hours after the bodies had been discovered.

Professor Ruth Farwell, Vice Chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University, later said in a statement: “We do not know the precise circumstances of Carly’s death. The authorities are investigating the cause of the accident and no further details will be available until that investigation has progressed.

“Our thoughts are with Carly’s family and friends at this difficult time and we are actively supporting fellow students on the air transport with commercial pilot training course.”

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “Our consulate in Orlando are in touch with next of kin and are offering consular support at this extremely difficult time.”

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Mass brawl at 30,000 feet sees 76-year-old passenger arrested over 30-minute fight on Virgin flight to Barbados

British passengers who were allegedly involved in a mid-air brawl on a flight to Barbados being questioned by police on the island


'It was vicious. It was frightening. There were punches going off in all directions'
A man aged 76 and two members of his family were arrested after a ‘vicious’ punch-up on a plane that took cabin crew 30 minutes to break up.

Derek Edmond, his daughter Zoe King and her husband Martin were on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Gatwick to Barbados when a Danish family sitting nearby accused them of being too noisy.

Police said Mrs King, 46, was celebrating her birthday and she and her family had been drinking for much of the eight-hour flight.


Fracas at 30,000ft: Up to 12 people are being questioned by police in Barbados after a fight broke out mid-air on a flight from Gatwick to Barbados

After the Danes complained, other passengers watched in horror as Mr King, 49, and his wife allegedly swapped punches with a family sitting in front of them as flight crew tried to pull them apart.

The pilot radioed ahead for the flight to be met by police and the Kings and Mr Edmond were arrested when it landed at Grantley Adams Airport.



Passenger Elsa Brandford, 70, said: ‘It was unbelievable, it was like something out of a movie. I saw a woman shout, “You swore in front of my child”. She said it about six times, each time louder than the last one. She said, “And it’s my birthday”.

‘I heard more and more voices getting involved. There was about five minutes of shouting while people gathered around and before I knew it they were throwing punches and jumping on each other.

‘Most of the people were standing on their seats while throwing punches.

Island destination: The fight took place among a group of passengers who had been drinking heavily, said witnesses

‘It was vicious. It was frightening. There were punches going off in all directions.

‘But as it went on people came round to try to split them up and about half an hour later they had it under control.’ More than a dozen officers met the plane carrying 280 passengers on Thursday afternoon and ten people, including crew, were taken for questioning.

Mrs King left the plane with her arm in a sling, while her husband had a black eye.

Inspector David Welch, of Barbados police, said: ‘There appeared to be a birthday celebration that got too noisy. A Danish national on the flight complained and the fracas started from there.’

The Kings and Mr Edmond appeared in court yesterday charged with disruptive behaviour on an aircraft. They face two years in prison or a fine if convicted.

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The Chinawhite Club in London has started legal action against the owners of Dreamers discotheque in Puerto Banús, Marbella

The Chinawhite Club in London has started legal action against the owners of Dreamers discotheque in Puerto Banús, Marbella, after the Spanish club opened a new business called ‘Chinawhite by Dreamers’ last Friday.

The trade name ‘Chinawhite’ is registered and protected in the European Union, and the London owners say that want the name removed immediately and they will be demanding compensation for damages. They are also considering legal action under article 274 of the Spanish Penal Code which envisages prison sentences of between six months and two years for trade mark infringement.

They consider that the Puerto Banús club is fooling its clients who think they are visiting a branch of the famous London establishment.

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British Airways launches new route Málaga-London City

There are four flights a week to the UK's capital from this Wednesday


British Airways starts a new route between the Costa del Sol and London from this Wednesday, with four flights a week linking Málaga with London City. EFE reports that they fly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

The airline doubled the frequency of its flights between Gatwick and Málaga at the end of March and now operates four flights a day, seven days a week

 

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Three Britons on trial for drug smuggling in Baleares

They each face six years in prison in connection with a 3-ton cargo of cannabis recovered from a rented boatA previous haul of cannabis - EFE archive


Three British suspects are on trial at the provincial court in Palma de Mallorca after they were caught three years ago with three tons of cannabis on board a catamaran they had rented in the Baleares capital.

The Baleares newspaper ‘Última Hora’ reported on Wednesday that the boat was intercepted off the Baleares coast in August 2008, when officers said they could clearly see the bales of drugs which were being carried on the deck. They had been under surveillance since the Guardia Civil discovered in a routine check of boats which had been rented in Palma that the rental for the catamaran had been paid in cash.

Each of the suspects, none of whom has been named in reports, faces a possible six years in prison.

It’s understood that the defence has asked for the court order to board and search the boat to be annulled, claiming there was no previous evidence for officers to suspect that drugs were being carried on board.

 

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Primark makes enquiries with City Hall about opening a new store in the centre of Alicante

The company has enquired about the former cinema complex in the Gran Vía shopping centre


La Verdad newspaper has confirmed that the clothing chain Primark has moved ahead with its plans for a new store in Alicante and has asked City Hall for a ‘certificate of compatibility’ on the site which interests the company.

The paper’s previous report on the possibility in December indicated that Primark was interested in the former cinema complex in the Gran Vía shopping centre, which closed in May last year, and that has now been confirmed to be the case. La Verdad said City Hall is expected to answer yes on the viability of the site for the new store as it is classified for commercial use.

Primark opened its first Alicante store, in Elche, last August.

 

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British honeymooners killed with a single shot

British couple honeymooning in the Caribbean were each murdered by a single gunshot to the head during a failed robbery attempt, a court has heard.

Ben and Catherine Mullany were staying at a five-star hotel on the Carribean island of Antigua when intruders broke into their villa in the early hours of July 27, 2008.

Kaniel Martin, 23, and Avie Howell, 20, have finally been brought to trial for the murders as well as the murder, of Jamaican shopkeeper Woneta Anderson Walker, 43, the Telegraph reports.

The accused murderers were found to have the couple's mobile phone hours after the killing.

The island's director of public prosecutions, Anthony Armstrong, said the way the Mullanys were shot ruled out any possibility the attackers were acting in self-defence or that it was an accident.

"The manner in which these three people were killed was almost identical. All three were shot in the head," Mr Armstrong told the court.

"They were shot with a single bullet, no more no less. All three victims were killed using the same firearm."

Paediatrician Mrs Mullany, 31, died instantly after the shooting but her 31-year-old husband was placed on a life support machine before being flown home to Wales' Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

The student physiotherapist was pronounced dead a week later.

 

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Failings 'mean amnesty for asylum-seekers'

More than 160,000 asylum seekers were effectively given an amnesty to stay in Britain following a change in the rules applied by immigration officials, according to an MPs' report published today. It delivers a damning assessment of the UK Border Agency as "not fit for purpose" and unable to check out immigration claims fully.

The agency has been set a target of clearing the historic backlog of 450,000 unresolved asylum cases by this summer. But the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee said it had largely been achieved by allowing long-standing applicants to remain in the country. Guidance was revised to suggest to consider granting leave to remain in the UK to asylum-seekers who had been in Britain for between six and eight years, as opposed to the 10 to 12 years that applied at the start of the backlog-clearing process.

As a result, 161,000 asylum-seekers were granted leave to remain in Britain – "such a large proportion that it amounts in effect to an amnesty," the committee said.

 

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Barclays is considering a move for one of Spain’s ailing regional banks in a multi-billion pound rescue deal.

Chief executive Bob Diamond held talks with the Spanish prime minister in Madrid last week. 

 

They discussed the possibility of state guarantees to protect Barclays from losses on historic loans in the event of any deal.

The talks were not about a particular bank, or caja, but could enable Barclays to identify potential opportunities.

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