Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Fetish creep hugged cop’s leather boot
Anger as winner of raffle for £3m house gets £110k in cash instead
A PERVERT is facing jail after he grabbed an offduty policewoman’s boot.
Paul Chigbu, 51, has served time over sex offences dating back to 1984 and is banned from touching a woman or their clothing in public.
But on November 4 he grabbed the officer’s right knee-high black leather boot in a train at West Croydon station.
She told Hendon magistrates he lunged towards her and was smiling, adding: “I said, ‘What the f*** do you think you are doing, get off !’”
She swiped his hand away and he fled the train.
Chigbu, of Bermondsey, South East London, was convicted of breaching a sexual offences order. He was bailed and will be sentenced on February 8. A PUNTER who won a raffle for a £3million dream home had to settle for £110,000 after the organisers failed to sell enough tickets.
Mark and Sharon Beresford, owners of the luxury riverside property, hoped to flog 250,000 tickets priced at £25 each.
But only 30,000 were bought, raising just £750,000. Under the rules, ticket sales below 170,000 – £4.25million worth – would result in a cash prize being offered instead.
The Beresfords were entitled to take 25% of ticket sales, £187,500, with 75% going into the prize pool – minus marketing and legal costs. But the winner, Carina Alcock of Christchurch, Dorset, was left with only £110,000, suggesting hefty costs of £452,500. The prize is 27 times less than the value of the six-bedroom property in Ringwood, Hants.
Several punters have voiced their anger about the raffle.
Michelle Philpott, of Poole, Dorset, said: “I think all who entered should be given their money back.”
And Rebecca Gleaves, of Bournemouth, said: “It might be legal, but that doesn’t make it OK morally.”
The initial draw was made by a computer at Sterling Lottery Manage- ment, which is approved and audited by the Gambling Commission. It chose 100 tickets at random and local MP Christopher Chope drew the winner from that number. An independent solicitor oversaw the procedure. Mr Beresford set up the company Win A Mega Home Ltd as a platform to stage the house raffle. It is legally obliged to file its costings for the competition with Companies House in the near future. Mr Beresford said in a statement: “We made sure everything was legal and above board and satisfied the Gambling Commission. Of course we’re disappointed that the house hasn’t been won as we want to move to be near family. When we called the winner, they were overcome and we’re so happy for them and can’t wait to present them with the money.” Th e Gamblin g Commission said it could not comment on individual cases. Jenny Ross, of consumer rights organisation Which? Money, said house raffles were popular. But she added: “The number of failed house raffles far exceeds the number of successes, often because they don’t sell enough tickets.”