Missing Girl: Police Say Fears Are Growing

Police are appealing for information about a teenage girl who has been missing for five weeks.

They say concern is growing for the safety of 14-year-old Shelley Pratt from Croydon in Surrey.

Detectives have released new CCTV images which show her walking with a young black man along Croydon High Street just after midnight on Friday, November 9.

She is wearing her school uniform trousers and a hooded jumper with the slogan 'I love (heart symbol) London'.

Minutes later, police believe Shelly's Oyster card was used to board a route 60 bus heading towards Coulsdon.

The day before Shelley got off a 196 bus outside Harris Academy in South Norwood, Croydon, and walked south with a girl and a boy.

She was later spotted around 9.30pm on CCTV at George Street tram stop in Croydon town centre.

CCTV image of Shelley in Croydon High Street

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Dunne said: "It has now been five weeks since Shelley went missing and concerns for her safety and welfare, especially in this extremely cold weather, are heightened.

"Shelley has had absolutely no contact with friends or family since her disappearance and it is possible that she may be with someone, perhaps in a house or a flat.

"I am encouraging people, particularly Croydon residents, to look closely at the image of the young man seen next to her.

"Do you recognise him or see him moments before approaching Shelley, talking to a number of passing girls on the opposite pavement, clearly trying to get their attention?"

Shelley's parents have urged her to get in touch

Shelley, who is described as white and around 5ft 6in or 5ft 7in tall with long brown hair, has gone missing twice before but not for so long.

Her parents, Lisa and Tony Pratt, have begged her to come home in time for Christmas.

They said: "Shellz, please get in touch with us, we are desperate to hear your voice and know that you are safe and well.

"You're not in trouble. We love you and we miss you and just want you home, without you there will be no Christmas.

"Your presents are under the tree waiting for you. We are all missing you like mad. We love you - please, please come home."

Anyone with information is urged to call the Metropolitan Police incident room on 020 8721 4906.

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Jamie Theakston Gets Phone Hacking Damages

Jamie Theakston, Jeff Brazier and Colin Stagg are among the latest names to settle their damages actions over phone hacking.

The presenter, the boyfriend of the late Jade Goody and the man wrongly accused of murdering Rachel Nickell are among 22 claimants to have recently accepted offers of substantial damages from News Group Newspapers, the High Court has been told.

Others among the group are Lisa Brash, former girlfriend of Robbie Williams, golfer Colin Montgomerie's ex-wife Eimear Cook, and Major David Brooks, a relative by marriage of Mr Justice Vos, the judge presiding over the litigation.

The announcement came during the latest in a series of case management conferences ahead of a hearing next June, when compensation is to be assessed in any claims outstanding in this second wave of the litigation.

Hugh Tomlinson QC said it was likely that there would be a number of other settlements before the end of the year.

"It is also right to say that there will remain a substantial number of claims going forward."

In October, it was said that 167 claims were currently on the register.

The court is due to sit again on Monday to consider the publisher's attempt to strike out the claim brought by Mary-Ellen Field, former adviser to model Elle Macpherson, on the basis that no phone interception took place.

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Eva Rausing Died Of Drugs Dependency

Multimillionairess Eva Rausing died as a result of dependent drug abuse, an inquest has ruled.

The 48-year-old's body lay undiscovered for two months before she was found at the £5m west London home she shared with her husband Hans, heir to the Tetra Pak fortune.

Eva Rausing as a teenager

She was found in a fly-filled room hidden under a pile of bedding with a foil pipe in her hand, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

Police found the mother-of-four's body in an advanced state of decomposition after they had arrested Hans Rausing on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs on July 9.

He was given two suspended sentences in August after admitting preventing the lawful and decent burial of his wife's body.

A post-mortem found his wife had died on May 7 and had drugs in her system. Toxicology reports showed cocaine, opiates and amphetamines in her blood.

She had been fitted with a pacemaker following heart surgery in August 2006, which revealed she had suffered a "non-survivable" heart rhythm on the morning of May 7.

Deputy coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said Mrs Rausing died as a result of cocaine intoxication contributed to by a heart condition - tricuspid valve disease.

Delivering her verdict, she said: "Mrs Rausing's death was as a result of the dependent abuse of drugs."

Hans and Eva Rausing on their wedding day

The inquest heard that her pacemaker recorded heartbeats up to 384 beats per minute on the calculated day of her death. The normal rate is 65.

Pathologists found no signs of violence on Mrs Rausing's body.

In a statement read to the inquest, Mr Rausing said he had been left devastated by the death of his "beloved wife".

He explained how he discovered Mrs Rausing after hearing her slide off the bed while he was in the bathroom.

"She landed sideways and her head was resting on a pillow," Mr Rausing said. "I tried to pull her up. I shouted 'Eva, Eva, Eva'."

Mrs Rausing was caught with drugs at the US Embassy in London

Mr Rausing said he could see his wife's eyes dim before covering her lifeless body with duvets and bedding.

"I could not cope with her dying or confront the reality of her death," he added.

An investigating officer told the court how Hans Rausing lied to his housekeepers after his wife died, saying she was in the US.

The couple lived a reclusive life on the second floor of their home. Housemaids were not allowed into certain areas. The hearing was told that staff noticed Hans Rausing had stopped sleeping in his bedroom and had started eating downstairs.

The couple had fought a public battle against addiction to drugs.

In 2008 police launched an investigation after Mrs Rausing was caught with drugs as she tried to enter the US Embassy in London for a function.

Subsequent searches of her car and the couple's Georgian townhouse uncovered huge quantities of class A drugs.

They faced drug charges but were given conditional cautions instead, meaning the hearings did not go ahead.

Hans Rausing's parents and siblings said then they were supporting the pair as they fought to overcome drug addiction.

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Hacker Gary McKinnon Faces No Further Action

Computer hacker Gary McKinnon will face no further criminal action, the Director of Public Prosecutions has announced.

The decision follows a review of the case after the Government's decision to block his extradition to the US in October on health grounds.

Mr McKinnon, 46, from Wood Green, north London, would have faced up to 60 years in prison if convicted in the US of alleged breaches of US military and Nasa networks.

Prosecutors had to decide whether Mr McKinnon should be tried in Britain over the allegations but said the appropriate place for trial would have been the US. That means no further charges will be levelled.

Mr McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, was permitted to stay in the UK after medical reports showed he was very likely to try to kill himself if extradited.

Both Prime Minister David Cameron, who held talks on the case with US President Barack Obama, and his deputy, Nick Clegg, had condemned plans to send him to the US.

However, the decision not to extradite "disappointed" the US authorities.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, said: "Following discussions between the US Department of Justice, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service in the autumn of 2002, a decision was taken that the appropriate place for Mr McKinnon to be tried was the United States."

As a result, the US sought Mr McKinnon's extradition for trial in the US.

The decision that any trial should be held in the US was affirmed in 2009 and subsequently challenged in the High Court, and that challenge failed, Mr Starmer said.

"So far as the evidence is concerned, the position in 2012 is the same as it was in 2002."

Mr McKinnon's lawyer Karen Todner said: "I have mixed feelings about this. I am pleased he is not going to be prosecuted because I wouldn't want to think he would ever spend any time in prison given his mental situation.

"But I am disappointed because the extradition warrant is still outstanding because he can't travel anywhere outside of the UK and will have this hanging over him until it's resolved.

"We have discussed approaching President Obama and asking for a pardon."

Mr McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, said the announcement was "just wonderful".

She added that a pardon from the US was possible because Mr Obama "seems like a good person and so does his wife".

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Connors Family Found Guilty Of Forced Labour

Five members of the same traveller family who made their staff perform humiliating tasks have been found guilty of forced labour.

William Connors, 52, his wife Mary, 48, their sons John, 29, and James, 20, and their son-in-law Miles Connors, 24, were all convicted of conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour between April 2010 and March 2011.

Bristol Crown Court heard how the Connors would pick up the men - many of whom were homeless or drug addicts - to work for them as labourers.

Jurors were told the victims lived in squalid caravans on traveller sites as they moved around the country working on the Connors' paving and patio businesses.

Prosecutors said the men were paid as little as £5 a day for their work, which included emptying the buckets used as toilets by their bosses, and were forced to scavenge from dustbins for food.

The inside of a caravan occupied by two people who worked for the Connors

Some workers were beaten with broom handles, belts, a rake and a shovel, and one had a hosepipe forced down his throat, it was claimed.

By contrast, the court heard, their employers lived in large, well-equipped caravans, enjoyed holidays in Dubai, Mexico and the Caribbean and drove luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce, a Mercedes A-Class and a Mini convertible.

Prosecutor Christopher Quinlan QC said: "It was a clear and unequivocal demonstration of control and dominance of one set - the family - over another.

"If you compare and contrast the lifestyles of the workers and bosses it is like comparing a Maserati with a clapped-out Zephyr."

Police began investigating the Connors following the discovery of a worker's decomposed body in a garden shed close to one of the family's caravan sites.

A fellow worker contacted officers in 2009 to say he had been recruited by William and Mary while living on the streets of Cheltenham.

He told detectives he had his identity documents taken from him, was rarely paid, received little food and lived with other workers in the same situation.

When the Connors family was placed under covert surveillance the following year, police recorded evidence of the men being assaulted.

Caravan sites in Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire were raided in March 2011 and 19 men were rescued.

The Connors said their workers were "free agents" who were able to come and go as they pleased.

William and Mary insisted they were "good Samaritans" who provided vulnerable people with food, work and accommodation.

All five defendants had faced a second charge of conspiracy to hold another person in servitude but the judge ordered the jury to find them not guilty of that offence.

They are due to be sentenced on Monday.

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Man Arrested Over Bus Attack In Ipswich

A man has been arrested after a passenger was shoved off a bus in Ipswich, leaving him with a serious head injury.

It happened as the man, who is now fighting for his life in hospital, was travelling on a number 10 bus on Thursday evening.

Just after 6pm it stopped in Defoe Road near to the junction with Macauley Road and as he went to get off he was pushed.

It caused him to fall backwards and hit his head, leaving him unconscious.

The passenger, who is in his 60s, was taken to Ipswich Hospital where he is said to be in a critical condition.

On Friday morning, a 26-year-old local man was detained and taken to Martlesham Police Investigation Centre for questioning.

Earlier, police said three males were involved in the pushing incident and that they ran off into Macauley Road.

All three are described as white, of medium build, around 5ft 7in or 5ft 8in tall and in their late 20s.

One was said to be wearing a woolly hat and a grey bomber jacket, while another wore a grey hoodie under a jacket.

Police have impounded the bus and are reviewing CCTV footage. Officers have also been speaking to other passengers and local residents.

Malcolm Robson, the managing director of Ipswich Buses, said the firm was "very concerned" about the incident.

He told the Ipswich Star: "Our driver is back at work this morning and is very upset about it and we hope (the victim) makes a full recovery.

"We're doing what we can with witness statements and providing CCTV footage and are just helping the police in any way we can."

Anyone with information that could help police is asked to contact Ipswich CID on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Witches Coven: Child Sex Abuse Pair Jailed

Two men have been jailed for a total of 32 years after sexually abusing several children as part of a witches' coven in Cornwall during the 1970s.

Peter Petrauske, 72, and Jack Kemp, 69, were said to have donned ceremonial robes and pagan paraphernalia before abusing young girls.

Police believe one of their victims may have been as young as three.

During the three-week trial at Truro Crown Court, sex abuse victims said they were given money and sweets to buy their silence.

Petrauske, who described himself as the high priest of a white witches' coven in St Ives, Cornwall, was convicted of one count of rape, one count of aiding and abetting an attempt to rape, and one count of indecent assault, all by unanimous verdict.

Kemp was unanimously found guilty of indecent assault and indecency with a child, as well as seven other sexual offences by a majority verdict.

Jailing Kemp for 14 years and Petrauske for 18, Judge Graham Cottle told them: "The offences range from the extremely serious to the truly horrifying.

"(The trial) has featured ritualistic, sickening abuse of young, young children.

"The scars left are so obvious that it would seem extremely unlikely that either of them have any real prospect of recovery."

The child abuse was only investigated further by police last year when Kemp was arrested in connection with another incident, causing rumours to spread around his home town of Falmouth and prompting the alleged victims of the historic offences to contact detectives.

Petrauske was backed up by female members of the coven who said that, while children were occasionally present, nudity never played a part in the ceremonies.

One female friend also described him as "a gentleman".

Kemp denied any involvement in paganism, saying it "wasn't his cup of tea", and said he was the victim of a bizarre conspiracy.

He said the girls were wrong to name him in the case.

Witnesses also named murdered pagan Peter Solheim and notorious Cornish paedophile Stan Pirie as among their abusers.

Solheim was a 56-year-old parish councillor whose body was found five miles off the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, by fishermen on June 18, 2004. He had been drugged and mutilated with a machete or an axe.

Kemp was cleared of five charges, while Petrauske was also found not guilty of one count.

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Charities Fear For Survival As Donations Drop

One in six UK charities fear they could be forced to close next year because of a drop in donations and funding.

Nearly half of organisations have used reserve funds to cover shortfalls in income, while a quarter have cut staff to stay afloat, according to figures released by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).

It also found that public donations to charities are down 20%.

Wozzy Brewster launched the Midi Music Company in Deptford, London, 18 years ago to provide a space where children could be inspired and get into music.

This year, the charity has slashed two staff posts and cut back on its work with poorer families and young people in nearby Lewisham.

"Small charities like ours, in the middle of areas where gang warfare is going on, are in need of far greater donations," Ms Brewster told Sky News.

"At the moment, we are still short of £10,000 for this financial year. If we don't achieve that it will just add to our accumulating deficit."

The figures were released as Lynne Featherstone, the Government's aid minister, called for charities to be more self-sufficient and not rely on Government handouts.

However, Rhodri Davies, policy manager at the CAF, said: "The majority of charities in the UK get no money from Government, never have done and will probably never look to.

"We're realistic; money from Government has been cut back, there's public spending cuts across the board and charities have to bear their share of that.

"But what we're saying is that where Government and local authorities do make cuts to public spending, they shouldn't just disproportionately load those onto charities."

Three years ago, Toby Ord launched a website called Giving What We Can, with the aim of making it easier for people to donate to charities through their salary.

So far, 250 people have pledged at least 10% of their pay to good causes.

"If people think about doing this early enough, they could donate more than £100,000 in their lifetime," Mr Ord said.

Charities minister Nick Hurd suggested that everyone should attempt to give 1% of their annual wage to charity to help stop the decline in donations.

The CAF has also launched its Back Britain's Charities campaign, which calls on the Government, businesses and individuals to get behind the nation's charitable organisations.

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Norovirus: Hospitals Shut Doors To Visitors

Hospitals across the country are closing their doors to visitors because of outbreaks of the winter vomiting bug norovirus.

Birmingham City Hospital has asked visitors to stay away after closing four wards while at Maidstone Hospital in Kent three wards have closed to new admissions and visitors have been banned from all wards.

The George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton has shut one ward, partially closed three wards and is turning away visitors. Five hospitals in Wales are also closed to visitors.

The number of cases of the winter vomiting bug is up 72 per cent on this time last year, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

This season 2,630 cases have been recorded, at the same time last year, just 1,533 had been noted.

However, the HPA admits that for every confirmed case there are likely to be a further 288 unreported sufferers, which means some 750,000 people could have been struck down by the bug across the country.

Norovirus is a highly contagious bug and spreads quickly in close environments such as hospitals and schools.

The symptoms include sudden vomiting and diarrhoea, which usually last for around two days.

Good hygiene is key to stopping the spread of norovirus

Professor John Oxford, a biologist at Queen Mary's College and chairman of the International Hygiene Council, said the best way to avoid the virus is to keep away from people who have it.

He told Sky News: "We don't really know why norovirus pops up its head at this time of year. All we know is that it does with some regularity more or less at the same time as influenza.

"It could be that the winter conditions drive us indoors, we are more close together, and a virus like noro depends on closeness and also lack of hygiene.

"And I must say in the United Kingdom and around Europe There is a lack of hygiene that give the virus an opportunity to start jumping from person to person."

John Harris, an expert in norovirus at the HPA, said: "People should be vigilant in their hygiene and we would like to remind anyone who has typical symptoms suggestive of norovirus infection to avoid visiting friends or relatives in hospital or care homes."

It comes as the P&O cruise ship Azura docked in Southampton carrying 3,059 passengers after an outbreak of the virus on board.

The ship had been on an 11-night cruise of the Iberian peninsular. P&O confirmed there had been 10 cases and those passengers had been confined to their cabins to prevent its spread.

Some 300 people on one of the company's other ships, Oriana, were hit by the virus during a cruise earlier in the week.

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Royal Prank Call Nurse's Family 'Shattered'

The children of a nurse found dead days after taking a prank call say they are "shattered" by their loss.

Jacintha Saldanha was discovered in a nurses' accommodation block close to King Edward VII's Hospital, London, where the Duchess of Cambridge was treated for severe morning sickness.

The 46-year-old answered a phone call from Australian radio presenters Michael Christian and Mel Greig, who pretended to be Prince Charles and the Queen and asked for an update on the duchess' health.

Jacintha Saldanha worked at the hospital where Kate was treated

A service for Ms Saldanha, a mother-of-two, was held at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.

Outside, her daughter Lisha said: "We will miss your laughter, the loving memories and the good times we had together.

"We are shattered and there is an unfillable void in our lives.

"We love you mum. Sleep in peace and please watch over us until we meet again in heaven."

Benedict Barboza read a tribute to his wife, Jacintha Saldanha

Ms Saldanha's husband Benedict Barboza said his wife was "the light of my darkness who always showed me the way forward".

"From the day we met, you always stood by me, in times of hardship and happiness," he said.

"Nineteen years of togetherness, with a strong bond of affection and understanding, will be cherished forever in my life."

Mr Barboza's son Junal added: "In times of difficulty, you showed us the way forward to happiness and success."

On Friday, John Lofthouse, chief executive of King Edward VII's Hospital, said staff had stood by Ms Saldanha and insisted the nurse was the "victim of a cruel trick".

Writing in reply to a letter sent by Keith Vaz MP, Mr Lofthouse said: "Jacintha believed that the call was genuine, and she felt it appropriate to put the call through. We stand by her judgement.

Australian DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig made the prank phone call

"Jacintha was reassured on a number of occasions by senior management that no blame was attached to her actions and that there were no disciplinary issues involved, because she had been the victim of a cruel trick."

Ms Saldanha's funeral will be held at a church in India on Monday.

An inquest into her death, which opened on Thursday, heard Ms Saldanha had hanged herself. She left two notes in her room and another among her personal possessions.

A provisional date of March 26 has been set for the next inquest hearing.

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