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The Queen’s former choirmaster has been jailed for five years for a 14-year catalogue of child abuse.
Jonathan Rees-Williams, 55, was convicted in June at Reading Crown Court of a string of assaults, including some carried out in churches.
Jurors heard Rees-Williams, of Bristol, preyed on children from the mid-1970s.
None of the assaults took place during his time at Windsor Castle, where he quit as organist and master of the choir at St George’s Chapel in 2002.
Judge Jonathan Playford QC jailed Rees-Williams for five years for the indecent assaults and a further three months, to run consecutively, for possessing 127 indecent images of children on two computers.
The judge told the defendant that he had “fallen from the top to the bottom of society” and described his crimes as “deplorable and offensive to the public”.
Rees-Williams, who is married with two teenage children, was described by peers as an outstanding musician.
He enjoyed a successful career in cathedrals, rising to work for the Queen at her Windsor estate in 1991.
But at his trial, five men and one women told of childhood abuse at his hands, in locations including a cathedral organ loft, a church crypt and on public transport.
The “outstanding musician” became organist at St George’s in 1991
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The former choirmaster of Lichfield Cathedral admitted five counts of indecent assault involving two boys, but denied a further 10 counts against boys and three against a girl.
One of those he admitted, was an assault on a 13-year-old boy, who he invited to his house for a drink of juice after a morning service one Sunday.
In another incident, Rees-Williams pounced on the boy while he was having an asthma attack in bed.
The victim told the court: “He sat me on his knee and I remember thinking ‘Oh no, don’t do this again, not now’.”
The musician also confessed to a string of assaults on a second 13-year-old boy, but claimed it was the child who initiated the sexual contact.
He said he feared the boy would tell someone if he broke off the relationship - a claim dismissed as an “exercise in role reversal” by the prosecution.
After the end of the trial it was revealed that police had found 127 indecent images of children on Rees-Williams’s two computers.
After the jury returned its guilty verdicts on the indecent assaults, Rees-Williams entered a guilty plea to one charge of possessing indecent images of children.
He has been banned from working with children for the rest of his life and on his release must register on the sex offenders’ list indefinitely.
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Thousands of documents dating from the Spanish Civil War have been removed from an archive in Salamanca ahead of their return to Catalonia.
The documents contain details of the campaign by the nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco against his opponents in the north-eastern region.
Spain’s Socialist government ordered the transfer as part of its policy of redressing the wrongs of Franco’s era.
But their transfer has proved controversial in Spain.
Early in the morning, and protected by riot police, nearly 80 boxes of documents were loaded onto trucks.
Gen Franco came to power in 1939 after he overthrew an elected Republican government in the Civil War. These documents were seized the following year.
That is because they include details of Gen Franco’s campaign of repression against his enemies in Catalonia.
Protest
Republicans, freemasons, communists and anarchists were all the victims of his often brutal purges. The papers - together with hundreds of photographs and other personal items - were then taken to Salamanca, where they have been stored ever since.
Franco carried out brutal purges against his enemies after the war
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And that is where the city’s authorities wanted to keep them. They say the documents are only being moved as a sop to the Catalan regional government, which wants greater autonomy from Madrid.
And they believe their removal will encourage other regions to ask for their wartime papers back, and so lead to the break-up of the archive.
On Wednesday night, Salamanca’s mayor refused permission for trucks to park near the building which houses the archive. A handful of people turned up to protest against the transfer.
But it went ahead as planned and now the papers will be moved to Madrid to be checked before their return to Catalonia.
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Protesters against plans to build up to 875 homes on a Worthing greenfield site are vowing to fight on after borough councillors approved the scheme.
Several objectors were ejected from the meeting at Worthing Town Hall which approved the Durrington development.
“It is being built on ancient woodland - it’s absolutely disgraceful,” said Chris Niall of Protect Our Woodland.
Worthing council said the 220 social and low-cost homes included in the plan were desperately needed.
‘Plant more trees’
The developers will also pay 7m towards a community centre, library, swimming pool, medical centre and other facilities.
“We agree it is a greenfield site and it is unfortunate that part of the woodland will be affected,” said Councillor John Livermore.
“However, we are going to plant more trees than we are going to take down so the argument of the save the trees people is very much deflated.”
The council’s decision must now go to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott for approval but the protesters say their fight has only just begun.
“The site has oak trees dating back more than 150 years,” said Mr Niall.
“There’s a medieval deer park and many protected species living on the site, including great crested newts, badgers and doormice.”
He said their battle had the support of environmental campaigners across the country, who were looking at setting up a protest camp on the site.
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Plans to transform a mid Wales castle into a museum of Welsh paintings have fallen through.
Art historian Peter Lord looked at locating the museum at the currently rundown 12th Century Cardigan Castle.
But he is now considering alternative locations in Wales although he refused to reveal his reasons.
Ceredigion Council, which owns the property, is set to start an 18-month feasibility study to examine possible uses for the building.
Project manager David Maynard, of Ceredigion Council, said he would have welcomed the castle’s transformation into a museum, but said Mr Lord felt plans were progressing too slowly.
Mr Lord said he had received excellent co-operation from the council but had now decided to investigate other possible locations for the museum.
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 Without the museum we will struggle to find a good use for it (the castle)  David Maynard
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Mr Lord, who lives near Aberystwyth, refused to comment further.
It is understood an initial 200 paintings had been acquired for the project and that Mr Lord had been in discussion with the council for a year.
He had managed to raise some money towards the museum too from a elderly sponsor.
The council’s Mr Maynard said: “It’s not been an easy decision for him (Mr Lord).
“He is looking for another location because things are not progressing quickly enough.
“Without the museum we will struggle to find a good use for it (the castle).”
Cardigan county councillor Mair Morris said it was a “great loss” to Cardigan that Mr Lord had decided to look elsewhere.
Restore
The castle failed to make the final of the BBC’s Restoration last year.
A few weeks later Ceredigion Council received more than 200,000 in grants to help restore the castle.
A report was commissioned as well to advise councillors on the best way to restore the castle.
The council has also been seeking a buyer for the 12th Century building.
Cardigan Castle, which is believed to have hosted the first eisteddfod in 1176, was bought by the county council in 2003 after falling into disrepair.
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A new Boy Bishop is to be installed at Hereford Cathedral in a ceremony dating back to the 13th century.
Frazer Haviz, 13, who is from the city and has been the deputy head chorister at the cathedral, will take on the position at a service on Sunday.
He will sit alongside the Bishop for a carol service on 23 December but will relinquish the role five days later.
Canon Andrew Piper, from the cathedral, said Sunday’s annual service challenges traditional ideas about authority.
He said: “It acts out the idea that God exalts the humble and meek.
“Frazer has a gentleness and maturity of character that is well beyond his years and highly appropriate to this pastoral office, together (with) a physical size that gives him a commanding presence in the cathedral.”
The Choral Evensong service starts at 1530 GMT this Sunday.
Originaly from Source
Trials of a new male contraceptive are being expanded in the US after overwhelming initial interest.
Men have been eager to test the device which is designed as an alternative to surgical vasectomy.
The Intra Vas Device or IVD, inserted via a small hole made in the scrotum, is a tiny silicone plug that blocks the tube sperm travel along in the body.
In a pilot study involving 30 men the IVD was effective. Studies in monkeys also showed it was reversible.
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 Men want to control their own destinies  Elaine Lissner of the Male Contraception Information Project
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Extensive tests are now needed to check the same would be true in men using the device for years rather than months.
Traditional vasectomy - where the two vas deferens tubes connecting the testicles and the penis are cut - can be reversed in some men to restore fertility, but it is designed to be a permanent contraceptive.
Elaine Lissner, from the non-profit US organisation Male Contraception Information Project in San Francisco, said: “It is a lot easier to pull the plugs out than to find the best, most expensive micro-surgeon to sew a vas deferens back together.
“But we know that in vasectomy, even if you can get sperm flowing again, the chances of pregnancy go down by about 10% for each year the man had the vasectomy. Only time will tell if it’s the same for IVD.”
See how implant works
There are many contraceptive choices available to couples, but currently only really two that rely on the man - condoms and vasectomy.
Ms Lissner said men want to take responsibility and control of contraception.
She said: “At least in the US, the idea that men aren’t willing to participate is clearly out of date.
“Men want to control their own destinies.”
Stopping sperm
A recent study of over 9,000 men in nine countries on four continents showed more than 60% of men in Spain, Germany, Mexico and Brazil expressed willingness to use a new male contraceptive.
These men said they would like to relieve their partners of some of the contraceptive burden in their relationship or would simply like a reliable backup to condoms.
Investigators are looking at using hormonal methods, similar to the female pill or implants.
In the pilot, men had no sperm or too few in their semen to cause pregnancy
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These have the advantage of being readily reversible, meaning a man could use it repeatedly at different times in his life, stopping to have children in between.
But these act on the whole body and can have unwanted side effects, like the female pill. Some men also say they do not find hormonal methods acceptable because they feel it somehow threatens their masculinity.
Scientists have been searching for less invasive, localised, non-hormonal and reversible male contraceptives.
Surgeons have tested a silicone gel that can be injected through the skin of the scrotum directly into the vas deferens where it will block sperm.
The main concern about the IVD and the gel is the build up of pressure behind the plug, which, theoretically, could damage the sperm production houses in the testes.
Researchers in China are working on a mesh-like vas deferens plug that intentionally allows small amounts of sperm through, which would not be plentiful enough to cause a pregnancy but may get round the problem of back pressure.
Trials
Shepherd Medical Company will begin testing its IVD on October 16. Originally the researchers had planned to include male volunteers from St Paul, Minnesota, but have expanded trials due to demand.
All of the men taking part have finished having children and would otherwise desire a vasectomy. They will test the IVD for two years.
UK regulators said they were not aware of any similar trials planned in the UK.
Dr Richard Anderson from the University of Edinburgh, who has been investigating hormonal male contraceptives in the UK, said: “This would be a very attractive alternative to vasectomy.
“But even if it is potentially reversible after a few years, it would still not be a contraceptive that could be put in and taken out repeatedly for spacing your family, for example.”
Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert from the University of Sheffield, said: “The current options for men are somewhat limited or unacceptable so there is a big market for an effective, reversible male contraceptive.”
However, he was concerned that a device that blocks the passage of sperm could potentially result in later fertility problems - even after it was removed from the body.
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Originaly from Source
British Airways has decided to ground its Washington flights for a second day. BBC News Online looks at what you can do and what rights you have if your journey has been disrupted.
If my flight is cancelled, how can I get my money back?
British Airways says it will offer customers who were booked on cancelled or suspended flights a refund of the original ticket price, the possibility of re-booking or an alternative route.
BA operates 33 flights to the US each day, and with American domestic airlines offering an extensive range of internal routes, getting to Washington should still be on the cards.
Any compensation over and above the ticket price will be decided upon on a case by case basis, BA says.
Passengers seeking information can ring BA on 0870 850 9850.
What if I’ve already booked accommodation in Washington?
People with accommodation bookings in Washington should contact their travel agent or hotel company to seek alternative travel dates or destinations, or to ask for a refund.
If this is unsuccessful, people who paid using a credit card have another potential route.
If you paid with a card, bought direct, and your ticket cost more than 100, you could lodge a claim with your credit card company.
This is because under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, the credit card company is jointly liable.
This also extends to travel services.
Will my travel insurance pay if I am concerned about the security situation and, in general, don’t want to visit Washington ?
Travel insurance will not cover “disinclination to travel” and many policies have exclusions for cancellations for this type of problem.
Check your policy to find out more.
If the Foreign Office, however, deems your destination unsafe, tour operators and airlines will normally step in and offer alternatives.
There is currently no warning from the Foreign Office against travelling to the US, but it has said that passengers should expect more delays at airports and tighter security.
Where can I find out whether it is safe to travel to a particular country - and keep up to date with the latest news?
The first port of call for up-to-date travel advice is the Foreign Office.
Advice can be obtained by calling 0870 6060290 or through the department’s website.
BBC Ceefax page 470 and the government’s UK Online portal also carry the latest warnings.
Where can I get more information about my rights?
The Air Transport Users Council (ATUC) can investigate queries from passengers on scheduled flights.
It can be contacted at: CAA House, 45-59 Kingsway, London WC2B 6TE. Telephone 020 7240 7071.
Originaly from Source
More than 1,000 people in Northern Ireland have fallen victim to an insurance scam involving the loss of millions of pounds.
The fraud, described as potentially the biggest to hit the industry in 20 years, affects public liability insurance with the owners of small businesses worst affected.
The Serious Fraud Office, supported by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, have begun an investigation into the scam which could have cost 3.5m in lost premiums.
Detective Chief Inspector Larry Cheshire who revealed details of the fraud on Wednesday, said that amount equated to a potential uninsured risk of almost 1b.
He said there had been no arrests, to date, but the fraud was
widespread and business people in the province needed to be made aware of it.
“This has a huge potential to impact heavily on the economy of Northern
Ireland, which is why we are taking it so seriously,” he said.
The investigation centres on potential fraud dating from the beginning of 2000, but Mr Cheshire said there was nothing to suggest any paramilitary involvement.
Police investigators have searched the offices and home of one insurance broker in Northern Ireland and searches of eight other brokers are being conducted in south Yorkshire and Leicestershire.
 My advice is that anyone who has any doubts over the validity of their insurance cover should check immediately with their broker to make sure that it is valid
Larry Cheshire
PSNI |
PSNI Fraud Unit members are also assisting colleagues from the Central Scotland Fraud Unit to investigate a similar Scottish-based fraud involving some 400 victims in Northern Ireland.
Mr Cheshire said insurance companies appeared to have been “duped” by rogue brokers.
“It is entirely possible that some business people throughout
Northern Ireland are not insured for public or employee liability, even though
they have paid premiums and in some instances have even received an insurance
certificate,” he said.
“My advice is that anyone who has any doubts over the
validity of their insurance cover should check immediately with their broker to
make sure that it is valid.”
‘Grossing up’
He said the fraud appeared to be targeted on small businesses, such as firms
in the construction industry, and other organisations needing liability
insurance for public halls and social clubs.
The Scottish end of the scam appeared to have been directed particularly at
the Orange Order, the Masons and social clubs.
Mr Cheshire said he believed there had been a number of claims
submitted that would not be paid out, with the liability subsequently falling on the business or organisation affected.
During the course of the police inquiry, investigators also uncovered an
insurance industry practice known as “grossing up”.
Mr Cheshire said that meant an insurance broker secretly added a
fee to the insurance company’s quoted premium, despite the fact that the
broker’s commission was already included in the premium quoted.
In some instances this led to premiums being inflated by as much as 100%, he
said.
The practice is banned by voluntary regulatory bodies, including the General
Insurance Standards Council and the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, but
is not in itself a criminal offence.
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