Woolwich Suspect: Killing 'Gives Me Little Joy'

Jurors are shown a police interview, during which a man accused of murdering Drummer Rigby said killing was "not in my character". 2:41pm UK, Wednesday 04 December 2013

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BBC Panorama: Former soldiers admit killing unarmed civilians

BBC One's Panorama programme interviews a former soldier who admits to firing on unarmed IRA suspects during the troubles 12:12PM GMT 21 Nov 2013

Members of an Army unit dubbed Britain's secret terror force have admitted breaking the law by firing on unarmed IRA suspects in west Belfast.

The Military Reaction Force (MRF) also carried out drive-by shootings of nationalists 40 years ago, even though there was no independent evidence any of them were members of the republican group, a new television documentary has claimed.

The elite soldiers believed military regulations prohibiting firing unless their lives were in immediate danger did not apply to them.

One told the BBC's Panorama programme: "We were not there to act like an Army unit, we were there to act like a terror group.

"We were there in a position to go after IRA and kill them when we found them."

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Northern Ireland's attorney general John Larkin QC, chief legal adviser to Stormont's powersharing ministerial executive, has faced criticism after floating the possibility of ending prosecutions for Troubles-related killings.

More than 3,000 deaths are being investigated by detectives from the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) as part of the peace process.

The Army has a series of rules known as the Yellow Card, which guides when a soldier can open fire lawfully.

According to the Panorama programme, to be broadcast tonight, seven former members of the force believed the Yellow Card did not apply to them and one described it as a "fuzzy red line", meaning they acted as they saw fit.

The MRF's records have been destroyed but the soldiers denied they were part of a death or assassination squad.

During Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Mr Cameron made clear the Government had no plans to legislate on any form of amnesty.

Panorama: Britain's Secret Terror Force is on BBC One at 9pm tonight.

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Husband suspected of killing wife after stroke

By Nick Collins

6:00AM GMT 22 Nov 2013

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A 61-year-old man is suspected of killing his wife and committing suicide shortly after she was released from hospital following a major stroke.

Douglas Morton, known as Harry, is believed to have murdered his wife Carol French, 73, in the bedroom of their home in Wandsworth, south west London, before taking his own life in the bathroom.

Mrs French had recently returned home from hospital after suffering a stroke earlier this year but family friends said her rehabilitation had been progressing well.

The couple had spent the last few years travelling the world in a motor home and were said to be confident enough in her recovery to make plans for a tour of Europe next summer.

Mr Morton, the former owner of a chain of high-end women’s fashion shops, and Mrs French, who spent many years editing women’s magazines, were described as “soul mates” who were “very happy together”.

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Officers found their bodies at 9am on Wednesday morning after concerns were raised about their welfare.

Scotland Yard said a murder investigation had been launched after a man and a woman’s bodies were found but no one is being sought in connection with the incident.

It said the death of the woman is being treated as suspicious, and the death of the man as non-suspicious.

Fiona Lindop, a friend of Mr Morton’s family from Derby, said the couple had been together for almost 40 years. They had no children but Mr Morton has a brother, Peter, in New Zealand.

“They were very happy and he was a very bubbly, bouncy character. Carol wasn’t as bouncy, but they were well-matched,” she said. “They were very happy together, absolute soul mates.

“In their retirement they went and saw a lot of the world. I think they drove right down South America and they certainly spent many years travelling abroad.”

Paul Dudley, a friend who sold the couple the Winnebago motor homes they drove through Europe, Russia, the US, South America, Australia and New Zealand, said he found the situation “very difficult to believe”.

He said Mrs French had recovered most of her speech following her stroke and, having initially been told she could be wheelchair-bound, was progressing towards walking again.

“It was only very recently that Carol was taken into hospital with quite a serious stroke but apart from that they were always together,” he said.

“Harry was talking about buying another motor home for next season’s touring, probably into Europe, and he was looking forward to it. Certainly Carol was getting much better

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Lee Rigby murder trial: Men due in court accused of killing soldier as he returned to barracks

18 Nov 2013 11:20Far-right protesters from the British National Party and  English Defence League are expected to gather outside the court building

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British soldier admits killing daughter after surviving Afghanistan shooting

18 months after returning home, Liam Culverhouse launched an assault on his daughter Khloe Abrams, who was then just seven weeks old Photo: RAYMONDS

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Mother Natasha Sultan spared jail for killing her baby

Natasha Sultan arriving at Hull Crown Court Photo: Hull News and Pictures By Claire Duffin, and agencies

11:07AM GMT 12 Nov 2013

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A new mother who killed her baby when she stopped taking medication for post-natal depression was spared jail after a judge said she had been “in a maelstrom of fatigue and mental disorder” at the time.

Six-week old Amelia-Lilly died of a head injury following a “sudden explosion of violence” by Natasha Sultan, 21, who then went to sleep. Her partner, Jamie Curtis, found the baby unconscious in her cot when he returned from a night shift the next day.

Sultan, who has not told police how she killed her baby, was due to stand trial for murder on Monday but the prosecution accepted her guilty plea to the lesser charge of infanticide on the grounds she had suffered a “temporary unbalance” of her mind.

Sentencing Sultan on Tuesday Judge Jeremy Richardson said she was an “utterly broken woman” who would have to live with the burden that she had killed her daughter for the rest of her life.

He told her: “If you should ever have any other children, the social services department will plainly be involved and it may be that you are not permitted to bring up any future child given what has happened.”

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Hull Crown Court had heard how Sultan’s GP had diagnosed post-natal depression and had prescribed anti-depressants which could have avoided the tragedy.

However Sultan only took one tablet because she had been swayed by the “stigma” associated with the condition and felt it reflected on her abilities as a mother, her barrister Malcolm Swift said.

The court heard that Sultan’s partner, James Curtis, had also suggested she should not take any more tablets.

In the days before her baby died though, she told of having “just one hour sleep”.

On October 7 last year, Mr Curtis left the couple’s home in Hull to work a night shift as a security guard. The court heard he received a text message from Sultan at 10.30pm, saying the baby was asleep and she was going to bed too.

However when he arrived home at 8am the next day, Amelia-Lilly was unconscious and cold in her cot.

Sultan, who was asleep when he arrived, “fell to her knees and appeared to break down”.

Amelia was pronounced dead the next day. An X-ray found she had a fractured skull which was “non accidental” but Sultan lied to hospital staff, her partner and police and claimed she had tripped and dropped her baby.

Experts said this was not possible as the severity of injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall from waist height to a carpeted bedroom floor. The court heard said “significant force” would have been required to produce the bilateral fractures.

Sentencing Sultan to a three-year supervision order, and banning her from working with children, Judge Richardson said Sultan killed Amelia-Lilly by “deliberately impacting her head on a hard surface”.

“I make it plain I do not ignore the crucial feature of this case, that you killed your daughter,” he said.

"The fact that a defenceless infant aged only six weeks has died at your hands is a highly significant matter.

"Your actions were not of a calculating cruel woman, rather, an uncontrolled explosion born from a disturbance of mind associated with childbirth.

"It arose when you were exhausted and plainly frustrated with the difficulty with feeding your infant daughter.

“There will be many parents of infants who appreciate the situation in which you found yourself. The sudden explosion of violence was due to your unbalanced mind derived from postnatal depression.

“What is harder to understand, however, is your conduct afterwards. You went to bed having visited serious violence upon your daughter.

“You neglected her obvious and urgent need for medical attention. You simply went to bed.”

He added the court had heard how Sultan was a “loving mother who deeply wanted a child” and “adored” her daughter.

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