George’s family not ready for concert
A George Michael tribute concert has been cancelled – after the late singer’s family refused to give it their blessing.
Dame Esther Rantzen, one of George’s great charity friends, had been organising the event and it was expected to take place at the Royal Albert Hall in October. But it has now been scrapped.
A source said: “They don’t want it to happen. It’s very sad because so many people want to properly mourn him and celebrate his life – but the family are still grieving.”
The family own his song rights, which can’t be used without their permission.
In April, there were calls for a star-studded concert to mark the career of the Wham! star, who was found dead at home on Christmas Day aged 53.
Simon Cowell and Bob Geldof were expected to be involved in the tribute.
Childline founder Esther wanted to celebrate George’s life after he secretly pledged £2million to the charity.
But a source said: “There were meetings with the fami ly, and they were interested. But they don’t want to give the go-ahead at the moment.”
Family friend Christopher Antoniou said: “I don’t think the fami ly wi l l approve for at least two years. It’s very sad.”
Pauline Flett, 33, was one of Scotland’s most wanted fraudsters when she was finally caught in 2016 after years of evading justice.
Flett – nicknamed Batgirl because of a tattoo on her arm – was arrested over a string of frauds after handing herself in at a police station in Blackpool.
She gave herself up so cheat bounty hunters could not claim a £ 2000 Crimestoppers reward.
The con artist, from Buckie, Banffshire, had taunted the authorities – even shamelessly posting a self ie with an unsuspecting police officer on social media.
Flett was f inal ly sentenced at Livingston Sheriff Court last June and ordered to pay compensation for embezzling £1159 from a Shell service station in July 2008.
But now she is wanted by police in connection with a string of alleged frauds at a hotel.
A police probe has been launched after guests at Paisley’s Scotia Airport Hotel – where she worked as a live-in manager for around six months – started complaining about bogus payments taken from their accounts.
The owners of the hotel also noticed that their takings had nosedived in a matter of weeks and have also spoken to detectives.
They raised the alarm when Flett suddenly left her job in the middle of the night.
Victim Robert McFarlane, 62, from Paisley, said: “We noticed when we got our latest bank statement that there was an extra payment taken from our account on May 27.
“A nd when we phoned the hotel to