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Widow wins frozen embryo court case
The widow of a Falklands war veteran won a High Court declaration yesterday allowing her to use frozen embryos they had created. Samantha Jefferies was forced to go to court after discovering that the 10-year period for storing the frozen embryos the couple had created had been inexplicably amended to just two years and had since expired.
Ms Jefferies, 42, from East Sussex, and her husband Clive had been undergoing fertility treatment when he died suddenly, aged 51, of a brain haemorrhage in 2014. A judge declared yesterday that the amendment to the storage period was “not valid” and the embryos, instead of being allowed to perish, can still lawfully be stored and used. The declaration was made by Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division of the High Court, who said he would give his reasons later in writing.
Man arrested after two people stabbed to death
A man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder after two Matalan employees were found stabbed in the street near their work place in Cardiff. The victims were named as Zoe Morgan, 21, and Lee Simmonds, 33. Police arrested the man after the two bodies were found on Queen Street, Cardiff, at 5:50am yesterday. The 20-year-old man, who has not been named, is from the Castleton area of Gwent.
Matalan confirmed the victims both worked at the Queen Street store. The bodies were discovered close to the Matalan store where they worked, two hours before the shop was due to open at 8am. The company has confirmed the victims both worked at the Queen Street store.
Palace official jailed over bribes for contracts
A former British royal official was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for taking more than £100,000 in bribes to award contracts for work at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. Ronald Harper, who was deputy property manager for palaces in London and for Windsor Castle, took gifts or money from the directors of companies that were then given contracts for taxpayer-funded work on the buildings, prosecutors said.
He was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to make corrupt payments after trials at London's Southwark Crown Court in June and August. Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith told Harper that "your betrayal of your colleagues' trust and your lack of remorse at what you did are both remarkable."
Shopper prosecuted for pretending carrots were apples
A Belfast man was taken to court by Tesco for repeatedly claiming his bag of apples was a bag of carrots, which are around a third of the price. Aidan Martin Devlin, 53, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of dishonesty making false representation at Newtownards Magistrates Court, in relation to thefts committed in June and July this year in which he made a financial gain and Tesco made a financial loss.
Mr Devlin is understood to have labelled his bag of apples as a bag of carrots at the fruit and vegetable weighing service offered at the Newtownbreda Tesco. The supermarket’s website shows a kilo of loose apples will cost an average of £2, while loose carrots are priced cheaper at 60 pence per kilo. The Belfast Telegraph reported that Mr Devlin remained silent as he was told to co-operate with the probation board by the Judge. The case has been adjourned for four weeks.
90% of shoppers use own shopping bags
Nine in 10 shoppers in England now use their own carrier bags following the 5p Government levy introduced a year ago, according to a study. Around 90 per cent of people take their own bags with them when food shopping, up from 70 per cent before the charge on single-use plastic bags was introduced on 5 October, research from Cardiff University shows.
Additionally, around one in 15 shoppers (7 per cent) now regularly take single-use carrier bags at the checkout, compared with the one in four who took one before the charge. The report said the results showed that the charge made shoppers "stop and think whether they really need to use a single-use plastic bag for their shopping".