Man jailed for 'brutal' jogger murder in Preston

A man who admitted murdering a 67-year-old jogger in a "brutal and cruel" attack has been jailed for life.Nathan Richardson, 19, attacked Wenqing Xu on New Year's Day in Preston, Lancashire, after taking a cocktail of drink and drugs at a house party.Mr Xu, who was found near Plungington Community Centre, had been in "the wrong place at the wrong time", Judge Mark Brown told Preston Crown Court.Richardson, of no fixed address, must serve a minimum of 19 years.
Mr Xu, who was from China but had been staying with his daughter Diana, was left with 28 injuries to his head and neck as well as a laceration and bruising to his genital area, the court heard. Richardson was seen dragging Mr Xu along the street but ran off when he was disturbed by witnesses shortly before 08:30 GMT.Mr Xu was found wearing only a T-shirt and died in hospital.Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said the motive for the assault remained a mystery.Judge Brown said Mr Xu had been attacked "in a brutal, vicious and very cruel way.""I am satisfied he suffered additional degradation when you removed his lower clothing and dragged him along the street," he said.He said Richardson, who had been at a New Year's Eve house party, left his victim "dying in the gutter".
The court heard after the attack Richardson went to the house of friend Luke Jenkinson, 22, in nearby De Lacy Street, where he changed and washed his clothes.Mr McEntee said friends had reported Richardson telling them he had "kicked and stamped" on Mr Xu's head.

The court heard Mr Xu's wife and daughter were unable to complete a victim statement as they were too distressed.
John Jones QC, representing Richardson, said he was "a young man with the most disadvantaged background and upbringing" who had been diagnosed with a personality disorder and learning difficulties.
Jenkinson was sentenced to two years and nine months after earlier admitting assisting an offender.The court heard he did not know Richardson had murdered Mr Xu when he helped him.
BBC NEWS

Nurse Joseph Miller struck off for Rolex watch theft

A nursing manager who stole a £5,000 Rolex watch from a dying patient has been struck off.
Joseph Miller, 40, took the Submariner watch from 68-year-old David Davies at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, in August 2014.
He was sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years, at Portsmouth Crown Court in August 2016.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council said the seriousness of the offence was incompatible with ongoing registration.


Miller, a married father of two, admitted theft but claimed he had taken the watch by accident and then panicked when he found it at home.
He placed it in a shed for months and, despite police appeals, tried to sell it 18 months later.
But the police had registered it as stolen and Miller was later arrested.
Following his conviction, the Nursing and Midwifery Council said he had caused "emotional distress" to the patient's family and had maintained his dishonesty over a "prolonged period of time".
The conduct and competence committee panel continued: "A patient, or a patient's family, should be able to have trust and confidence in a nurse... Honesty and integrity are basic tenets of the nursing profession."
It decided the misconduct represented a "significant departure from the code of conduct and involves a dishonest breach of trust which Mr Miller made efforts to cover up".
It agreed a striking-off order was in the public interest to maintain confidence in the profession.
The panel said that although Miller accepted he would not be able to work following a strike off, he hoped to return to nursing at some point in the future.

BBC NEWS

Jeff Sessions: Trump's attorney general to testify in public on Russia

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify in public to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday on his role in the Russia investigation.
Mr Sessions, who wrote to the Senate Intelligence Committee at the weekend, has asked that the hearing be open.
He will face questions about undeclared meetings with Russian officials and the president's firing of the FBI chief.
Media reports last week said Mr Sessions had offered to resign because of tensions with the president.
Mr Trump was angry that the attorney general had recused himself from the FBI's Russia probe, according to US media.
Tuesday's hearing has been scheduled for 14:30 local time (18:30 GMT).


America's top justice official will be the most senior government official to testify before the Senate committee, which is looking into allegations that Russia had tried to meddle in last November's election.
It is one of several congressional panels that, along with a special counsel, is also investigating whether any Trump campaign officials colluded with the alleged Kremlin plot.
The White House has rejected any collusion with Russia, which has denied meddling in the US election.
In his letter on Saturday, Mr Sessions said: "It is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum."
He had been due to appear before the Senate and House appropriations subcommittees on Tuesday, but said his deputy would attend those hearings instead.


Mr Sessions removed himself in March from involvement in any probe of alleged Russian election meddling after it emerged he had failed to disclose a meeting he had last year with Moscow's ambassador.
Democrats have questioned why, given his recusal, Mr Sessions was involved in the president's 9 May dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.
"There's a real question of the propriety of the attorney general participating in that in any way, shape or form," Democratic Senator Jack Reed told the Fox News Sunday show.
In testimony last week, Mr Comey suggested Mr Trump had fired him to undermine the Russia inquiry.
Mr Trump had himself attributed his dismissal of Mr Comey to the Russia investigation.
However, the Republican president has denied trying to impede the probe and said he would be willing to testify under oath about his interactions with Mr Comey.
The former FBI director's testimony provoked scorn over the weekend from his former boss, who dismissed him as a coward.
Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday: "I believe the James Comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone ever thought possible. Totally illegal? Very 'cowardly!'
 
BBC NEWS

Uber chief Travis Kalanick may face bumpy ride

Uber's chief executive could be forced to take a leave of absence under changes being considered by the firm, reports say.
The company's board met on Sunday but has not released any details on Mr Kalanick's future yet.
The board also voted on a review of its policies and corporate culture by former US Attorney General Eric Holder.
The review was instigated in February after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler made claims of sexual harassment.
Uber confirmed to the BBC that "the board unanimously voted to adopt all the recommendations of the Holder Report. The recommendations will be released to the employees on Tuesday."
It has not been confirmed what those recommendations are. It is possible that Mr Kalanick could take time off from Uber and then return to a role with less authority, or remain as chief executive but face more scrutiny, the Reuters news agency reported.
The New York Times reported that one of Mr Holder's recommendations was that Emil Michael, Uber's senior vice-president of business and a close confidant of Mr Kalanick, should leave the company.
The board meeting comes just days after Uber said it had fired more than 20 people, and was taking other actions against staff, for issues including sexual harassment and bullying.

'Grow up'

If Mr Michael does leave it would be the latest high-profile departure from Uber.
Last week Uber's finance chief, Gautam Gupta, said he was leaving, following New York general manager, Josh Mohrer, and the head of Uber's self-driving unit, Anthony Levandowski, out of the door.
Mr Kalanick has earned a reputation as an abrasive leader and was criticised earlier this year after being caught on video berating an Uber driver.
He said in response to the video: "I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up."
Uber board member Arianna Huffington said in March that Mr Kalanick needed to change his leadership style from that of a "scrappy entrepreneur" to be more like a "leader of a major global company".
The board has been seeking to recruit a chief operating officer to assist the chief executive.
Some investors are concerned at the power Mr Kalanick has over Uber because of the number of voting shares he controls.
San Francisco-based Uber is valued at nearly $70bn (£55bn) but is yet to make a profit.

BBC NEWS

Cosby trial: Defence rests after calling brief witness

US comedian Bill Cosby's defence lawyers have rested their case after presenting a single, brief witness in his sexual assault trial.
Defence lawyers called to the stand a detective who led a 2005 investigation into claims that he drugged and molested a woman at his home in 2004.
The embattled star, 79, earlier told a judge he would not testify to defend himself against those allegations.
Mr Cosby denies the charge and his lawyer has said she agreed to sex.
Andrea Constand, the 44-year-old at the centre of the case, says the alleged incident happened during a visit to his home to seek career advice.
Dozens of women say he assaulted them, but statutes of limitation rules mean he is on trial for only one allegation.
Mr Cosby arrived at court on Monday with his wife, Camille, who made her first appearance at the high-profile trial in Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia. She is the first family member to join him.
He told Judge Steven O'Neill that he had decided not to testify after speaking with his lawyers.
Detective Richard Schaffer appeared for just six minutes on the defence's behalf, in which he told a jury that Ms Constand had visited Mr Cosby at an out-of-state casino.
Defence lawyers have sought to discredit Ms Constand by suggesting the pair were in a romantic relationship and she had changed her story several times during a previous investigation


They pointed to dozens of phone calls she made after the alleged incident and the casino visit.
In 2006, the comedian settled with Ms Constand after providing an undisclosed cash sum to her.
Mr Schaffer also said police knew Mr Cosby had vision problems more than a decade ago, supporting the actor's claim that he is blind.
Judge O'Neill rejected a request to call the defence's second witness, a woman who worked with Ms Constand at Philadelphia's Temple University, where Ms Cosby met the accuser.
The prosecution rested its case on Friday after five days of testimony from witnesses including Kelly Johnson, who claims Mr Cosby drugged and sexually abused her in 1996 under similar circumstances.
The jury was expected to hear closing arguments and could begin deliberating as early as Monday afternoon. 

The case is seen as the biggest US celebrity court case since the murder trial of former American football player OJ Simpson in 1995.
If convicted, Mr Cosby faces up to a decade in prison.

 BBC NEWS

Trump sued over foreign payments by attorneys general

Officials in Maryland and Washington DC are suing Donald Trump for accepting payments from foreign governments via his business empire.
The lawsuit cites the US constitution's emoluments clause, which says no federal official should receive a gift or a fee from a foreign government.
The suit claims Mr Trump is "flagrantly violating the constitution", Washington DC's attorney general said.
It is the first such lawsuit filed by government entities.
"Never in the history of this country have we had a president with these kinds of extensive business entanglements or a president who refused to adequately distance himself from their holdings," Karl Racine, the District of Columbia attorney general said while announcing the lawsuit alongside Brian Frosh, Maryland's attorney general, on Monday.
A non-governmental organisation, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, lodged a similar legal action in January.
At that time, Mr Trump told a reporter in the Oval Office the case was "totally without merit". He has not yet commented on the latest move.

Another legal headache - Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News

The constitutional challenges to Donald Trump's ongoing business ties as president just got some state-level muscle behind them.
While the lawsuit by the District of Columbia and Maryland isn't the first attempt to force the president to more fully separate himself from his real-estate empire, the two governments bring a new level of legitimacy and resources.
The first hurdle the states face is whether they have the proper legal grounds to file this case. Given that this is judicial terra incognita, there's no telling how the courts will react.
There's never been a businessman-turned-president quite like Mr Trump, so there's never been a lawsuit quite like this one.
If Maryland and DC are able to proceed, the case could turn out like many other Trump-related controversies, where the president's own words - and those of his associates - are used against him. While Mr Trump pledged to extricate himself from his day-to-day business operations, his son Eric has acknowledged he still gives his father regular financial updates. Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway also was recently reprimanded for praising daughter Ivanka's clothing line.
Even in a best-case scenario for the president, this represents the latest in a growing list of legal headaches.

Mr Trump is already contending with inquiries by congressional committees and a special prosecutor into his campaign's alleged links to Russia, which American intelligence agencies accuse of meddling in last November's US election in a bid to boost support for the property developer.
Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has turned day-to-day control of his real estate empire and other assets over to a trust managed by his adult sons.
But he has not sold them off as critics said he should do in order to avoid conflicts of interest.
"The emoluments clauses are a firewall against presidential corruption and the one thing we know about President Trump is he understands the value of walls," Mr Frosh said, referring to the president's plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
"This is one he can't climb over and one he can't dig underneath."
The lawsuit will reportedly ask for a court injunction blocking Mr Trump from accepting foreign money.

Emoluments and the president

  • A section of the US constitution known as the emoluments clause restricts what US presidents can accept from foreign governments
  • The clause says "no person holding any office of profit or trust" may accept "any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state"
  • America's founding fathers included this to prevent US leaders from being beholden to foreign governments
  • Legal analysts say that if the Trump Organization accepts special deals, such as tax breaks or land rights overseas, it could fall foul of the clause. Even overseas profits could potentially be construed as a violation

The lawsuit is also seeking to access to his personal tax returns as part of the legal process known as discovery, according to US media.
A key case in the dispute is Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, just down the road from the White House.
Mr Trump opened the business last year by leasing a large building that used to be a central post office.
According to the Washington Post, the lawsuit will detail examples of foreign governments favouring the president's hotel over others.
It will cite how the Kuwaiti embassy planned to hold an event at a Four Seasons hotel, but eventually chose Trump International as the venue.
Maryland and Washington are expected to argue that the Trump hotel also hurts competing hotels in their jurisdictions.
The legal action will refer to Mr Trump's international hotels, golf courses and other commercial properties.
The president's lawyers have argued the emoluments clause is intended only to stop federal officials from accepting a special consideration or gift from a foreign power and does not apply to payments such as a bill for a hotel room.
BBC NEWS

Russia protests: Hundreds detained at opposition rallies

Hundreds of people have been detained at anti-corruption rallies in Moscow and St Petersburg.
Riot police in central Moscow were picking protesters out of the crowd at random, a BBC correspondent at the demonstration has said.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained at his home ahead of the protests, according to his wife.
Thousands of supporters have heeded his call to take to the streets of Moscow and other Russian cities.
OVD-Info, an independent NGO, told Russian media that 600 people had been detained at the Moscow protest and 300 at the rally in St Petersburg.
Police in Moscow say about 5,000 took part in the demonstration there, Interfax news agency reports.
"Alexei [Navalny] has been arrested in the entrance to our block of flats," Yuliya Navalnaya wrote on Twitter, ahead of the demonstration.
Mr Navalny, who intends to stand for the Russian presidency next year, had been due to attend the unauthorised rally in central Moscow.

'Many young plucked from the crowd' - by BBC's Sarah Rainsford, central Moscow



This was a peculiar protest.
At first it was hard to tell who was taking part. Tverskaya Street was full of families marking Russia Day with entertainers in historical costumes.
Then thousands of protesters turned up. Huge numbers of riot police were right behind them.
First they announced that the rally was illegal then the arrests began. We saw dozens of people plucked from the crowd - many of them young - and dragged roughly towards police buses.
By calling people to an unauthorised rally, Alexei Navalny knew he was risking a confrontation. The police duly obliged.
But people I spoke to said they knew the risk and still wanted their voices to be heard. Among other things, those voices chanted loudly: "Putin, thief!" and "Russia will be free".


 

In a live broadcast by the Russian liberal TV channel, Dozhd, protesters in St Petersburg could be heard shouting "shame" as they were detained by police. Among those arrested was Maxim Reznik, the city's legislative assembly deputy.
Prominent activist Daniil Ken said he was arrested as he left his home in St Petersburg. He urged people to join the rally at the city's Champ de Mars square. "Go for me, please!" he tweeted. He has since been released.
Police had earlier detained several people at demonstrations in the cities of Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk and Kazan.
Mr Navalny was earlier granted permission to hold a rally at Sakharova Avenue but changed the location - without permission - on the eve of the demonstration to Tverskaya Street, near the Kremlin.
The protest was called over government plans to demolish Soviet-era apartment blocks in the city.




  • Permission was granted for demonstrations in 169 locations across the country, some of which were broadcast live on the Navalny Live YouTube channel.
    The protests coincided with a series of official events - including festivals, concerts and military enactments - taking place across the country to mark Russia Day, the national holiday dedicated to the 1990 declaration of sovereignty.
    Similar rallies led by Mr Navalny in March led to hundreds of arrests.
    Those protests were the largest since 2012, drawing thousands of people - including many teenagers - to rallies nationwide, angered by a report published by Mr Navalny that accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption.
  • WATCH: US film-maker Oliver Stone talks about his Vladimir Putin documentary
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Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...