'Burglar' Suffocated In Derby Office Chimney

A suspected burglar died after he got stuck in the chimney of a solicitor's office and was unable to breathe, an inquest has heard.

The badly decomposed body of Kevin Gough, 43, was discovered by police at Moody & Woolley Solicitors in St Mary's Gate, Derby, on May 1.

The alarm was raised after staff and builders working on the property had noticed a bad smell and a pest control company was contacted, an inquest at Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court heard.

The chimney breast and fireplace had been completely bricked up from the inside.

The inquest heard Mr Gough would have lost consciousness quickly

A post-mortem examination found Mr Gough had brick marks across his back and chest due to the confined space, which would not allow his chest to expand.

His T-shirt had drawn up around his neck and another item of clothing had blocked the top of the chimney.

Mr Gough was identified by his fingerprints. The cause of death was found to have been postural asphyxiation.

It was unclear why he had gone into the chimney, but coroner Dr Robert Hunter said he was satisfied Mr Gough had made his way there of his own volition and no one else was involved.

Detective Constable Tom Bentley told the inquest Mr Gough was wanted in connection with a burglary at a business on The Strand in the city.

He was arrested on March 13 because he was found with prescribed medication not in his own name and was last seen alive two days later at the Padley Centre, an organisation that helps homeless people.

Dr Hunter said: "There would have been a rapid loss of consciousness and death within a manner of minutes.

"This would be why he did not call for help and the people working within the building had not heard him."

He added that Mr Gough would have realised there was no way out when he got to the bottom. He recorded a verdict of misadventure.

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Captain 'Jumped Off Sinking Costa Concordia'

The captain of the Costa Concordia did not fall off the stricken liner into a lifeboat as he claims, but jumped to safety when the vessel started sinking, a court has heard.

Francesco Schettino is on trial for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing the disaster, which left 32 people dead.

Stefano Iannelli, a trainee officer on board the ship at the time, told the hearing in Grosseto: "We found a lifeboat. I jumped on. Schettino had jumped on just before me."

His testimony would appear to corroborate accusations that the captain headed ashore to ensure his own safety while terrified passengers remained trapped aboard the doomed ship.

Schettino, who is facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted, has insisted he slipped off the Costa Concordia, which was already tilting at a 90-degree angle, and fell into a lifeboat.

The ship was righted in September in a major salvage operation

"We had formed a human chain so as not to slip," Mr Iannelli said as he described the chaos on board, according to Italian media reports.

"I was part of the Tango India support team and we helped at least five injured people."

He said that when he could "no longer see any passengers", he went with Schettino and four others and "found a lifeboat".

"As soon as the lifeboat set off, the ship rolled over and the deck we had been on sank underwater," he said.

"On our way to shore we picked up passengers in the water."

Schettino is accused of steering the 114,000-ton Costa Concordia into the rocky coastline of Giglio on January 13, 2012, during a "sail past" of the Tuscan island.

Some 4,229 people from 70 countries were on board when the vessel struck a reef.

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Typhoon Haiyan Devastation: New Storm On Way

Rescuers are struggling to get desperately needed aid to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan - as a new storm approaches.

Aid workers are being held back by blocked roads and damaged airports as they try to deliver tents, food and medicines to the worst affected areas.

Troops have been sent to the city of Tacloban to restore law and order after reports of looting, with Philippines President Benigno Aquino declaring a state of calamity and considering whether martial law is necessary.

Hundreds of thousands have been left homeless Pic: Save The Children

Looters have reportedly broken into supermarkets, while a Red Cross aid convoy was raided. Consumer goods such as televisions and washing machines have also been stolen.

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed by the typhoon, officials believe.

Corpses hung from trees in the city and were scattered in the streets. Many were buried in flattened buildings.

Looters break a shop's gates to make it easier to get food supplies

One UN official said he was told there had been a three-metre (10ft) water surge through the city.

A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing on the neighbouring island of Samar.

Water has been cut off in many areas, making the relief effort more difficult.

A woman mourns next to the body of her husband and others

Threatening to further hamper relief efforts is a new storm approaching the southern and central Philippines.

Government weather forecasters said the tropical depression could bring fresh floods to typhoon-affected areas.

The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late Tuesday and then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, forecaster Connie Dadivas said.

It could bring "moderate to heavy" rains, or about five to 15 millimetres (0.2 to 0.6 inches) per hour, he said.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Manila, said: "The relief operation is only just getting going, it's fairly piecemeal at the moment.

"They really don't have the volume of aircraft they need to either get aircraft in or people out in sufficient quantities to try and control what has become, day-by-day, a more difficult situation."

Survivors make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings

At least six people have also been killed in Vietnam after the typhoon made landfall near the Chinese border.

Some 600,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas in the north of the country before Haiyan - downgraded to a weaker Category One storm - battered the coast with 98mph (157kmph) winds.

All schools in the capital Hanoi were closed on Monday, and extra police were dispatched to redirect traffic in flood-prone areas.

The aid effort could be hampered by an approaching storm

In the Philippines millions of people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

"This area has been totally ravaged", said Sebastien Sujobert, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tacloban.

"Many lives were lost, a huge number of people are missing, and basic services such as drinking water and electricity have been cut off."

The winds felled trees and homes across swathes of the country

Haiyan hit the east coast of the Philippines on Friday and smashed through its central islands, with winds of 147mph (235 kmph) and a storm surge of 20ft (six metres).

Video from Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township - the first area where the typhoon made landfall - also showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. 

Witnesses reported seeing looting and violence with President Aquino admitting it was a major concern.

Survivors now face the prospect of rebuilding their lives

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP news agency that 100 soldiers had been sent to help police restore law and order in Tacloban.

The United Nations said it was sending supplies but access to the worst hit areas was a challenge.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The European Commission has released €3m (£2.5m) in emergency funds, while the UK is providing £6m in aid and Prime Minister David Cameron has telephoned President Aquino to offer his support.

:: Sky News will run a special live programme on the story of the typhoon at 7pm tonight.

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Louisiana Kidnap: No Charges For Victim's Family

The family of a woman who was abducted from a Louisiana car park will not face charges after fatally shooting her kidnapper, police have said.

Bethany Arceneaux, 29, is recovering in hospital after suffering stab wounds as her family attempted to rescue her.

Former boyfriend Scott Thomas, 29, was shot dead in an abandoned building in Duson, Louisiana, by a member of her family.

The Lafayette Parish Sheriff's department concluded the family member, thought to be a cousin, acted within Louisiana state law which allows for the use of deadly force to prevent great bodily harm or death.

Bethany Arceneaux was rescued from an abandoned building

Ms Arceneaux disappeared on Wednesday night from a day care centre in Lafayette, leaving her two-year-old child inside her car.

Witnesses described seeing Thomas force her into his car before fleeing the scene.

Police issued an arrest warrant for Thomas but officers were unable to find him.

On Friday, officers were met by around 20 of Ms Arceneaux's family and began an extensive search using sniffer dogs.

Police and family members were searching in Duson, Louisiana

A cousin overheard screams coming from the abandoned building and shot Thomas after he began stabbing Ms Arceneaux, according to Sheriff's Captain Kip Judice.

He added that Thomas had violated a restraining order to prevent him contacting his former girlfriend.

"The cousin was at the right spot when he heard the screams," Mr Judice said.

"Several gunshots were fired, the victim was rescued from the home and a standoff ensued."

The victim's uncle, Marcus Arceneaux, thanked friends and family for going to look for her.

"It was a big relief to finally find her (and to) make sure she was ok," he said.

The case will now be reviewed by the district attorney.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Briton Helps Families To Safety

By Sunita Patel-Carstairs, Online Producer

A British man caught up in Typhoon Haiyan has told his family he kicked down doors in his battered hotel to help children and adults escape to safety.

Jonathan Fitzpatrick and four work colleagues initially barricaded themselves in a room when the powerful storm struck the Philippines on Thursday.

They then braved the powerful winds to help others, including families, break out of their rooms and take shelter in a stairwell at the Ormoc Villa Hotel in the city of Ormoc.

The typhoon is believed to have claimed the lives of 10,000 people

Mr Fitzpatrick, who travelled out to the islands in October to work, had lost his mobile phone a fortnight ago, but managed to contact his family via Skype when the typhoon struck.

"It was a frightening experience for him - and for us," his mother Julie told Sky News.

"We knew it was a serious typhoon that was headed their way so we didn't know what to expect."

Super Typhoon Haiyan is one of the worst storms on record

The call was cut off and Mr Fitzpatrick's family did not hear from him again until Saturday morning, when the 23-year-old engineer from Walsall managed to get hold of a phone and sent a text message to his mother and girlfriend to let them know he was safe.

As the typhoon ripped through the Philippines, killing thousands of people, his sister Rachel tweeted: "My brother is in Ormoc Villa hotel, next door to Ormoc Red Cross. His name is Jonathan Fitzpatrick. Please help us find him."

Mrs Fitzpatrick played down her son's heroics and insisted he did what anyone else would have done in his position.

"Jonathan has walked away from it. There are a lot of people who haven't," she said.

"He was not a hero, just working on his human instinct. In his eyes he has not done anything heroic, he has done normal things.

"The real heroes are the people out there sorting out this mess now, providing care, food and water."

After the strong winds subsided, Mr Fitzpatrick and his workmates managed to get a ferry to Cebu where they were said to be waiting for arrangements to be made to get them home.

Mrs Fitzpatrick added: "We've been through a terrible experience and are glad he has survived and come out of it safely."

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Protester Nails Scrotum To Red Square Cobbles

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

A Russian performance artist has been arrested after stripping naked and nailing his scrotum to a cobblestone in Red Square in protest at what he called the country's descent into a "police state".

Pyotr Pavlensky, 29, said the stunt was a metaphor for "apathy, political indifference and fatalism in modern Russian society".

Timed to coincide with Police Day, a national holiday celebrating Russia's law enforcement officials, Mr Pavlensky walked on to the square on Sunday afternoon, took off his clothes and took up his excruciating position outside Lenin's Mausoleum, one of the capital's most famous tourist spots.

Apparently undaunted by the autumnal Russian weather, the protest lasted for around an hour before Mr Pavlensky was removed from the ground by police.

Police covered Mr Pavlensky with a blanket before arresting him

Officers confronting the artist were initially clearly unsure how to proceed before covering him with a blanket and sending him to hospital in an ambulance.

He was given basic treatment, but refused to be admitted and accompanied officers to a police station to be arrested instead.

Explaining the stunt, which he has described as an art installation called "Fixation", Mr Pavlensky said: "It's not the bureaucrats' lawlessness that is stopping the society from action -  it is fixation on its own defeat and loss that is nailing us harder to the Kremlin cobblestones.

"Thus creating a human army of apathetical statues, patiently awaiting their fate.

"Right now, when those in power are turning our country into one big prison, openly stealing from the population and redirecting financial flows into the enrichment and expansion of police apparatus and other security services." 

"The society allows this lawlessness forgetting that their number is bigger and that their inaction is drawing the dawning of a police state nearer."

Russian art collective Gruppa Voina, which has close ties with feminist punk band Pussy Riot, applauded the action.

The group tweeted: "The artist Pavlensky is the Vienna action art of the 1960s (an avant gardist art movement in the 60s) with blood and pain, but taking in mind Russian society in the beginning of the Millennium."

Prominent Moscow-based theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov wrote on his Facebook page that the performance was a "powerful gesture of absolute despair".

Mr Pavlensky has a history of public performances involving nudity and pain.

Previous artistic efforts have included sewing his lips together in protest at the imprisonment of members of Pussy Riot, and wrapping his naked body in barbed wire outside the Saint Petersburg parliament in May. He faces up to 15 days in prison for his latest work.

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Harold Percival: WWII Veteran's Funeral Held

By Mike McCarthy, North of England Correspondent

Two thousand people have turned up to mark the funeral of a World War Two veteran who died with no close relatives or friends.

An internet campaign was launched after a Lancashire funeral director advertised the service for Harold Jellicoe Percival in a local newspaper.

Mr Percival died aged 99 last month in a nursing home. He had never married, had no children, outlived his siblings and was described as "a solitary man".

He served during the Second World War with RAF Bomber Command and worked as ground crew for the famous Dambuster Squadron.

He left the RAF after the war and led a nomadic lifestyle.

The chapel at Lytham Park Crematorium was packed for his funeral service and several hundred more people stood outside in the rain.

Funeral director Dawn Whitehead-Brown said: "It is humbling and heartwarming to see so many people who never knew this man turn up here to pay their respects.

"We had no idea what kind of response we would get when we put the ad in the paper ... but to see this turnout is unbelievable."

Many serving and former servicemen and women attended the funeral held on Armistice Day.

It began as a two-minute silence heralded by a bugler sounded the Last Post at 11am.

Mr Percival's nephew, Andrew Collier-Worsell, said the response from members of the public was "outstanding".

"It is just remarkable to see so many people turn up ... strangers ... people who never knew him in his life," he said.

"I think if he'd known, he'd have been sheltering around the corner, hiding from it all.

"He wasn't a very public man. He was a private man, a solitary loner.

"I think it shows there is a deep feeling for the veterans and the service they put in."

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McBusted: Boybands Merge For UK Tour

Boybands McFly and Busted have confirmed they are to join forces for a UK tour as a new 'supergroup' next year.

In September James Bourne and Matt Willis joined McFly on stage at London's Royal Albert Hall during one of their 10th anniversary concerts.

Now Bourne, Willis and McFly's Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd will be seen performing as McBusted by thousands more fans at 11 shows across the country.

Hundreds of them took to Twitter to express their excitement following a press conference by the band members.

One, @emzzzo_, said: "I want to cry omg life is complete!!". @Chloeanne95 wrote: "#McBusted is the best news I've heard all year. Better than finding out I'd got into uni."

Willis said: "It's been nearly 10 years since Busted split. That's a good amount of time for memories to gel in your mind - it's fun to reminisce now, the right moment to revisit those songs. And to do it with McFly makes it more of an event. The coming together of two forces!"

News that Charlie Simpson, the former Busted frontman, will not be joining the band has left some Twitter users disappointed.

Simpson left Busted to form another group called Fightstar. He is due to release his second solo album early next year.

Fletcher and his wife Giovanna are expecting their first baby at the end of March.

The tour will start in Glasgow on April 18 and tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am.

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Dorries Told To Make I'm A Celebrity Apology

Nadine Dorries has been told to apologise to the House of Commons for refusing to properly register her I'm A Celebrity earnings.

The Tory MP was investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog for failing to register a payment she received to appear on the reality television show last year.

She had refused to declare the amount to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards because the money had been paid to her company, Averbrook, and she had a confidentiality clause with ITV.

However, the House of Commons Standards Committee found that under the rules Ms Dorries must register the amount she earned from her media work through that company.

In addition it found that she had breached the code through her "attitude to the Commissioner's inquiries".

The report found she had responded to the requests for information with accusations that she was the victim of a "witch hunt" and that "you are choosing to use a vexatious complaint made against me to reinforce your on the hoof make it up as you go policy".

Ms Dorries arrives at Heathrow after her jungle expedition

It also suggested she "apologises to the House by way of a personal statement".

Under House of Commons rules, MPs must register any external payments within 30 days.

The Mid Bedfordshire MP had the whip withdrawn when she travelled to the jungle last November after widespread concern that her absence meant she would be unable to carry out her constituency business while on the programme.

It was restored in May after she apparently offered an apology to the Tory Chief Whip Sir George Young.

She was the first contestant to be voted out of the jungle by viewers but she had defended her appearance on the show by saying she had the chance to raise important issues before 16 million viewers.

The report said that while her media work may not have influenced her representation of her Mid Bedfordshire seat, it was "likely to have been linked to her work in the House".

It added: "We find it hard to believe she would have been invited to appear on I'm a Celebrity if she had not come to public prominence as a Member of the House.

Dorries carries out a Bushtucker Trial. Pic: ITV

"It is clear that Ms Dorries's media work was remunerated, whether or not those payments were made to her or to her company.

"We agree with the Commissioner that Ms Dorries should have registered payments for such media services even though those payments were made through Averbrook Ltd."

Ms Dorries updated her entry on the register of MPs' interests at the end of October, covering the previous 12 months.

It showed Averbrook's gross income was £142,000, giving a profit of £82,000, and that Ms Dorries had taken a £10,000 dividend on October 30.

She spent approximately 60 days working on Averbrook's projects, which were described as "writing and media appearances".

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Depressed Mother Admits Killing Baby Daughter

A mother has admitted killing her five-week-old baby daughter while suffering from postnatal depression.

Natasha Sultan admitted a charge of infanticide when she appeared before a judge at Hull Crown Court.

Her daughter Amelia-Lilly was taken to hospital from her home in Welton Grove, Hull, in October last year.

She was suffering from a head injury and later died.

Sultan was due to go on trial for murder on Monday but the prosecution accepted her plea to the infanticide charge.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC accepted the balance of her mind had been disturbed at the time.

Detective Chief Inspector Alistair McFarlane, of Humberside Police, said it had been "a very distressing" case to investigate.

He said: "Amelia-Lilly died as the result of head injuries, inflicted by her mother in the early hours of October 8 last year.

"Police officers have been in regular contact with Amelia-Lilly's father and his family.

"This is a tragic event, which has been difficult for the family to come to terms with and our sympathies go out to them.

"The police investigation has taken a considerable time to prepare, due to the number of experts who have been consulted. It has been a very distressing case to investigate."

Sultan will be sentenced for the killing on Tuesday.

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