‘Pal poisoned my coffee over birthday gift’

THERE is important news this week about the fortunes of a group of majestic white-coloured creatures.

No, I’m not talking about the mighty Leeds United’s promotion to the Premier League, I’m referring to polar bears.

A new study has found that most of them are likely to have died out by the year 2100 because of the effects of climate change.

They rely on the sea freezing for large chunks of the year, so they can venture out on to the ice to hunt seals.

As the world warms, their hunting grounds disappear.

Polar bears in some parts of the Arctic face a heart-breaking choice as the ice retreats into smaller areas over the North Pole.

Do they stay on the land where there is little food or do they undertake a marathon swim to the extreme north?

Whatever their choice, it seems that the polar bears will be forced to go longer without eating – leading to reproductive failure and death.

It’s long been known that such a fate awaits them, but this study is the first to put a date on it.

Researchers say that by the end of the century, the only polar bears left will be those among the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the far north of Canada’s Arctic archipelago.

A WOMAN has spoken out after her best friend tried to poison her because she did not buy him a birthday present.

Denise Smith, 66, was drugged with painkillers and sleeping pills, which Christopher Connolly had crushed up and mixed into her coffee sweetener.

She started suffering from dizziness, confusion and extreme fatigue, and became so ill that Connolly, 29, eventually called the police to confess, fearing that he had killed her.

Denise spent four days in hospital – and she believes it was all because she did not get Connolly a PlayStation game he wanted.

The charity shop worker said: “He had a bit of a temper.

He got so bitter, all because I wasn’t able to get him the PlayStation game.

“Christopher sulked for weeks after I’d told him I couldn’t afford the game. His revenge was to drug my coffee.

“Christopher took advantage of me in the worst way possible.”

The two first met when they became neighbours in Chatham, Kent, in 2014.

Unemployed Connolly volunteered to mind Denise’s dog Mollie while she was at work.

But things changed when Denise was unable to buy Connolly the £50 game for his 28th birthday in December 2018. Over the next few weeks Connolly laced her coffees and watched as Denise got weaker, more confused and eventually became bedbound.

When she questioned the taste of her drinks, he suggested adding her favourite tipple, Baileys.

Denise said: “He kept saying I wasn’t to worry as he was there to take care of me.

“But he could have killed me. I was in a permanent state of groggy confusion for the weeks he was drugging me.

“It got worse and worse until I was bedbound.

“Every time I thought the coffee tasted funny or a bit bitter he would top it up with a bit of Baileys.”

But on January 3 last year Connolly panicked and dialled 999, saying he thought that he had murdered his pal.

Denise said of his arrest: “I just couldn’t believe that Christopher would do that to me. My memory is damaged now for life; I have insomnia and dreadful flashbacks.

“It makes me sick to think of what he did to me. He was supposed to be my best friend.’’

In October last year, Connolly pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

In April he was sentenced to four years in jail and was issued with a restraining order.