NEWS OF THE WEIRD

Criminal’s Remorse

An anonymous Australian tourist mailed back a small stone he lifted from the Cwmhir Abbey in Wales, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1176. The thief included a note explaining his remorse: “I have been an avid follower of the Welsh kings and their history, and so I took this rock. Ever since, I have had the most awful luck as if Llewellyn (sic) himself was angry with me.”

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native prince of Wales, was beheaded and buried at the abbey in 1282, and legend says his ghost haunts the abbey. The trust that manages the abbey put the returned stone and the note on display, presumably to deter future sticky-fingered visitors.

Seniors Gone Weird

Guests at Scotland’s Macdonald Loch Rannoch hotel were terrorized by Robert Fergus, 72, and his wife, Ruth, 69, when the Troon couple rampaged through the lobby with scissors and threatened to shoot other guests. The incident apparently began when Mrs. Fergus pounded on a hotel room door at 1:45 a.m., leading the guest within to call front desk staff, who Mrs. Fergus told her husband treated her “with hostility.”

That’s when Mr. Fergus “reacted disproportionately” by running naked into the lobby with scissors, cutting communications cables and shouting that he would “slit” and “kill” onlookers. Meanwhile, Mrs. Fergus told staff she was going to “get a gun and shoot you,” according to prosecutor Michael Sweeney. Staff and guests ran out of the hotel, while Mr. and Mrs. Fergus returned to their room to pack and took off in their BMW. They were apprehended when they flagged down a police car to accuse the hotel staff of abusing them, and Mr. Fergus could not pass a breath test.

At their sentencing their attorneys blamed overconsumption of alcohol for their behavior, noting that Robert Fergus “had previously been of good character.” Nonetheless, they were fined 4,100 pounds and ordered to pay 800 pounds to cover the cost of damage to the hotel.

Ironies

A Turkish homeless man who was sentenced to house arrest has had his sentence altered to better reflect his circumstances.

Baris Alkan, 31, had been confined to a specific area, an empty spot enclosed by metal plates, near a bus station after being detained for using and selling drugs. “I don’t have a home address, so I have to stay here,” he said. “Even though I don’t have a house, I’m under house arrest.”

The court subsequently lifted the house arrest order and now requires Alkan to sign in at a nearby police station once a month.