Happy holidays: Shock study finds people more likely to die in U.S. on Christmas Day than any other day of the year

A new study has baffled researchers after revealing U.S. citizens are more likely to die on Christmas Day than any other time of the year.Analysis of U.S. death certificates between 1979 and 2004 found an extra 42,325 natural deaths in the two weeks starting with Christmas above the usual seasonal winter increase.
In an article in the Social Science & Medicine journal, researchers said that mortality in general increased over the holidays, and deaths in hospitals rose dramatically on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

A U.S. study has found people are more likely to die on Christmas Day than any other day in the year (file picture)

The study found that more people died on hospital wards, or had died before arrival, on the public holidays than on any other days of the year.
Researcher David Phillips, a sociology professor at the University of California, told the National Post: 'It's not trivial. We looked at all cause categories and, for nearly every one, we found an excess of deaths - particularly for people who are dying rapidly, like dead-on-arrival or dying in an emergency department.'
He said that the team's analysis of 57.5million death certificates showed the chance of dying during the holiday period increased 'somewhere between three per cent and nine per cent, depending on the demographic you're looking at' and 'somewhere between one per cent and ten per cent, depending on what cause of death you're looking at'.
He added: 'It's speculated that psychological stress can make a difference.
'But to make a difference so quickly and so precisely bang-on Christmas and [New Year's Day], for a huge range of diseases, makes it seem unlikely as a broad-scale explanation.'
Possible explanations behind the spike in deaths include overcrowding in emergency departments, winter travel, cold weather and substance abuse.
Mr Phillips and two other researchers at the university wrote a paper linking sudden infant death syndrome with alcohol use.
In the paper, which appeared last month in the Addiction journal, they argued that cot death increased 33 per cent on New Year's Day - triggered by an increase in alcohol consumption by carers.
Researchers also noted two other days which reported higher than usual instances of cot death.
July 5, the day after Independence Day, saw a 14 per cent increase, while April 20  - popularly used as a holiday to celebrate cannabis consumption - saw an 18 per cent rise.


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'No human being stands a chance against that type of animal': American tourists speak of horror after tour guide is ripped from kayak by giant crocodile

• 'It grabbed him from behind, turned him upside down and pulled him under the water'
• Attack happened so fast victim was unable to even cry out before he was dragged underwater
• Body of Hendrik Coetzee, 35, still not recovered after attack on Tuesday

Two American friends have spoken of their horror after their whitewater rafting guide was ripped from his kayak and dragged underwater by a crocodile during a trip of a lifetime in the Congo.
Hendrik Coetzee, 35, was leading the three-man expedition from the source of the White Nile deep into the Congo when he was attacked.
Ben Stookesbury and Chris Korbulic were paddling alongside him after the trio had navigated some rapids when he was grabbed by the massive crocodile, turned over and dragged beneath the water.

Split second: Hendrik Coetzee, 35, was leading a three-man expedition on the Lakuga River, Congo, when he was grabbed by a crocodile and pull underwater

They had been navigating a relatively unknown part of the Lukuga River, one of the tributaries that feeds into the Congo River, before the fatal attack last Tuesday morning.
Mr Stookesbury, from Mount Shasta, California, told MSNBC's TODAY programme: 'This section was not well known to the outside world.
'We were paddling close together, the same formation we had been for most of the river, because it makes you appear as a larger animal [to potential predators].'

Horror: Chris Korbulic, left, and Ben Stookesbury - right - pictured in front of the Salto Belo falls in Campos Novos, Brazil. The two friends were alongside Mr Coetzee when he was killed

Grief: The two Americans have paid tribute to their South African guide and described their shock at his death

Mr Korbulic, from Rogue River, Oregon, said the South African-born outdoorsman did not even have time to cry out before the crocodile had dragged him under.
He said: 'It came from behind us, we didn't see anything until it was too late.
'It grabbed him, turned him upside down and then dragged him under.'

Dangerous: The area the group were kayaking was relatively unknown and the three were paddling close together for safety

Ron Magill, wildlife expert, said: 'There's no human being that stands a chance against that type of animal.'
Mr Coetzee's body has not been found, but a memorial service will be held for him next week.
A blog written by Mr Coetzee during their two-month expedition to highlight the need for clean water in Africa said: 'If safe was all I wanted, I would have stayed home... this is the nature of the beast: risk.'
Mr Coetzee had given the other kayakers instructions to avoid eddies because of dangerous hippos wallowing underwater and to steer clear of banks because crocodiles often sunned themselves on them.
The two Americans were unharmed in the incident and managed to paddle to safety. They have since returned to the U.S., but have not ruled out kayaking again in Africa.
The trip's sponsor company, Eddie Bauer, said in a statement: 'We are saddened by the tragic accident and express our deepest sympathies to Hendri's family and friends.'
Mr Coetzee, who lived in Uganda, was a well-known kayaker who had featured in documentaries about the sport.


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Dolce & Gabbana model, 28, dies after spending four weeks in a coma following surfing accident

In his prime: Male model Charles DeVoe, who died in a surfing accident

A top male model who spent a month in a coma after a surfing accident has died.
Charles DeVoe, 28, was pulled from the ocean in Rockaway, New York, after his ankle strap became snagged on a wooden pole.
He had been under the water for several minutes before rescuers managed to cut him free on November 12.
DeVoe had worked for fashion houses such as Dolce & Gabbana and Abercrombie & Fitch. He had featured in magazines including Vogue.
After the accident he was taken to the New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center, where his family remained with him for the past month. He died last Friday.
Mr DeVoe was from Philadelphia but moved to New York in 2004 to pursue a career in modelling after graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He signed to Major Model Management and posed for fashion photography heavyweights like Bruce Weber, Steven Klein and Mario Testino.
Aside from his work with D&G and Abercrombie & Fitch, Mr DeVoe had featured in campaigns for Anne Klein, Buffalo Jeans, and alongside Brazilian bombshell Gisele Bundchen for Stefanel.
His face graced the pages of magazines such as Details, GQ, Vogue Nippon, V Magazine, and Arena Hommes Plus.

Family members said Mr DeVoe was athletic from a young age and was very interested in adrenaline sports such as snowboarding, BMX biking and – most recently – surfing.

Scroll down to see DeVoe in a fashion video

Tragic: Male model Charles DeVoe, who has died in a surfing accident in New York

Fashion success: DeVoe had modelled for top fashion houses like Dolce & Gabbana, been featured in Vogue,  and was shot by Mario Testino

Initially it had seemed that Mr DeVoe’s condition was improving after the accident, according to policeman Eddie Roth.
‘[The signs] were encouraging,’ Mr Roth said. ‘His brain swelling had gone down, his lungs and kidneys were responding and he was responding to [the treatment].

'It's a shame – everyone loved him around here.’

His parents, David and Laura Lane DeVoe, who had been keeping a vigil by their son’s bedside, said: ‘He will greatly missed. This is very hard for us.’

Accident: Mr DeVoe was surfing in the Rockaways, a peninsula in New York, when the incident happened

'We are all devastated at this loss,' said Jason Kanner, a spokesman for Major Model Management, the agency who signed Mr DeVoe.

'This was a tragic and senseless loss, a horrific accident that has deeply affected all that knew and loved and cared for him.
‘[He was] a lovely kid who was respected and loved by many.’
Mr DeVoe's body was cremated on Sunday in New York.



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A grisly legacy: What is to become of the Koran written in Saddam Hussein's blood?

Iraq’s government is unsure what to do with Saddam’s ghoulish legacy – a Koran written using his blood.
The 114-chapter book, which required 27 litres of his blood, has been under lock and key for almost eight years.
The fate of the macabre project is now being considered as the country debates what should become of the dictator’s final relics.

Enlarge  

Dilemma: The fate of a Koran written using 27 litres of Saddam Hussein's blood is uncertain. It is currently stored behind three vaulted doors in Iraq

‘What is in here is priceless, worth absolutely millions of dollars,’ Sheikh Ahmed al-Samarrai, head of Iraq’s Sunni Endowment fund, told The Guardian.
Despite his opposition to the very existence of the document (he describes it as ‘haraam’ or forbidden), Sheikh Sammarrai has protected the blood-soaked pages since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
He said: ‘I knew this would be much sought after and we made the decision to protect it. But to see this now is not easy.

Brought to book: Saddam takes delivery of a copy of the Koran in 2000, in Baghdad. Iraqi newspapers reported that he ordered the holy book to be scribed in his own blood as thanks for his long political career

'There are three keys and none of them are held in the one place. I have one, the police chief in the area has another and there is a third in another part of Baghdad.’

'This [book] is very destructive for the psyche of the Iraqi population. This is a clear reminder of the consequences of totalitarianism. I am for removing it' - Ahmed Chalabi, President of the Governing Council of Iraq

'We should keep this as a document for the brutality of Saddam, because he should not have done this' - Ali al-Moussawi, spokesman for the prime minister, Nour al-Maliki

The Koran, which is currently stored behind three vaulted doors, was created over the course of two years as Saddam attended regular appointments with a nurse and an Islamic calligrapher.
The tyrant took on the project after deciding to re-embrace his religion after his elder son Uday survived an assassination attempt.
Abbas Shakir Joody al-Baghdadi was the calligrapher commissioned by Saddam himself.
Understandably, al-Baghdadi is reluctant to be associated with the grisly work.
Speaking from his new home in the U.S., he said: ‘I don’t like to talk about this now. It was a painful part of my life that I want to forget about.’
A towering statue of Saddam was pulled to the ground in 2003 in a symbolic act against his oppressive regime.
Working together in the heart of Baghdad, U.S. marines helped crowds of Iraqi men bring down the imposing monument on the day the city's population celebrated its liberation.
The scenes were reminiscent of the fall of the Berlin Wall, brought down by citizens of another oppressed city.

End of a tyrant: Saddam was executed in 2006

But the fate of the blood Koran remains uncertain, as a debate within Iraq rages over whether everything from the brutal regime should be removed.
Ahmed Chalabi, who is President of the Governing Council of Iraq, says anything connected to him must go.
He said: ‘This is very destructive for the psyche of the Iraqi population.
'This is a clear reminder of the consequences of totalitarianism and idealising a person that embodies evil.
'They have brought nothing to Iraq. They are not worth celebrating.
'They have nothing aesthetic to offer. I am for removing them.’
Meanwhile, Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the prime minister, Nour al-Maliki, said: 'We should keep this as a document for the brutality of Saddam, because he should not have done this.
'It says a lot about him. It should never be put in a museum though, because no Iraqi wants to see it.
'Maybe in the future it could be sent to a private museum, like memorabilia from the Hitler and Stalin regimes.'

Fall of a regime: Iraqis watch a statue of Saddam being brought down in Baghdad's al-Fardous square in 2003 - as symbols of his reign of terror are erased from memory

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Silvio Berlusconi's daughter: 'I don't think my dad warrants some of the treatment he gets'

Barbara Berlusconi has spoken out about the sex scandals surrounding her father Silvio, Italy's PM

Controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's daughter has spoken of her bitterness at the sex scandals that her father has been embroiled in.
Barbara, 26, also added that at times she felt she was 'not in tune with the thoughts and political actions' of her father but it did not mean she 'loved him any less'.
Berlusconi, 74, has been involved in series of sleazy sex scandals since April last year starting with his questionable relationship with 18-year-old lingerie model Naomi Letizia.
It then emerged high class escorts had been among guests invited to parties he hosted at his official residence, with one even claiming she was paid to spend the night with him.
Then last month he was linked to Moroccan belly dancer Karima El Mahroug, 18, who was also a guest at a party he hosted and who spoke of his 'bunga bunga' parties - a reference to an after-dinner sex game.
Then just days later another escort Nadia Macri, 28, came forward to say that she had been paid 10,000 Euro to have sex with Berlusconi on two occasions - a claim he had denied.
Barbara told Italian Vanity Fair magazine: 'I have for him (Berlusconi) and his multiple successes, great admiration but I reserve the right to have an intellectual approach to his life.
'These episodes (sex scandals) have left me bitter. I find it hard to find an answer for them. It's obvious that I don't agree with a certain type of behaviour but I have to try and believe my father.'
She added: 'Some time I have found myself not being in tune with the thoughts and political actions of Silvio Berlusconi, that doesn't make me a bad daughter and I don't love my father less because of this.'

 

However Barbara did admit she thought the 'weaknesses' as her father called the scandals affected him and said: 'They affected him in his private life and his political life.
'What upsets me sometimes is that sometimes I don't think Silvio Berlusconi warrants some of the treatment he gets. He has done a lot and he has done good for the country, with passion and pride.
'Many things could have been avoided if he had neglected the fact that we are all vulnerable. Certain types of behaviour make things even more fragile.
'It would be a shame if his extraordinary political career would be remembered only for this.'

Relaxing on a beach holiday earlier this year before the scandals about her father broke out

When asked what she thought of the idea of comparing her father to a pop star Barbara replied: 'I think that's an appropriate comparison because he gets to the heart and mind of people because he speaks their language.
'He is a conqueror and in the end even his critics are bewitched. He has an impressive spontaneity and he can feel at home with other people.'
Barbara, who is the oldest of Berlusconi's three children with his second wife Veronica Lario, 52, also denied that she her siblings Eleonara, 24, and Luigi, 22, were the objects of a dispute over the future of Berlusconi's business empire.
There have been reports that Veronica is demanding a bigger share of Berlusconi's Fininvest company as part of their divorce settlement and she is angry that his two children from his first marriage have a larger share.
Barbara said: 'We have never been objects of discussion over my father's patrimony or what roles we should have with the firm. We have never taken a part in the personal business of my parents that is a matter for them.'
It is not the first time that Barbara has spoken to Vanity Fair about her father last year in an interview she said: 'Politicians need to safeguard the values they represent and even better them.'

Silvio Berlusconi is seen 'resting his eyelids' during a speech by  President Giorgio Napolitano at a Christmas ceremony at his official residence Palazzo del Quirinale

His mouth is also given a rest but then he wakes and realises he's on camera

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Police arrest author of 'The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct'

Under arrest: Phillip R Greaves II, the author of the 2010 book 'The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct' has been arrested in Colorado on an obscenity charge

Police have arrested the author of a twisted book entitled 'The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct'.
Philip Ray Greaves II was arrested after he sold and mailed a signed copy of his book to undercover police officers.
'He very proudly sold us his personal copy,' Polk Sheriff Grady Judd told the Associated Press.
'I was outraged by the content. It was clearly a manifesto on how to sexually batter children ... You just can't believe how absolutely disgusting it was.'
Greaves was arrested at his home in Pueblo, Colorado for violating Florida's obscenity laws.
His paedophilia guide was pulled from Amazon.com last month after it sparked an online uproar.
It is not clear how the book made it on to Amazon.com in the first place.

The book included first-person descriptions of sexual encounters, purportedly written from a child's point of view.
Greaves argues in the book that paedophiles are misunderstood, as the word literally means to love a child.

He adds that it is only a crime to act on sexual impulses toward children, and offers advice that purportedly allows pedophiles to abide by the law.
Sheriff Judd said he and his detectives got Greaves to sell the book to them for $50. He sent it through the mail and told officers it was his last copy.
Sheriff Judd, known throughout Florida as a crusader against child predators, said he was incensed when he heard about the book and that no one had arrested Greaves for selling it.
'What's wrong with a society that has gotten to the point that we can't arrest child pornographers and child molesters who write a book about how to rape a child?' Sheriff Judd said.
'If we can get jurisdiction ... we're coming after you,' Sheriff Judd said.

'There's nothing in the world more important than our children.'
Greaves is being charged with distribution of obscene material depicting minors engaged in conduct harmful to minors.
Laurie Shorter, spokeswoman for the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department, said Greaves would be held in the county jail on the Florida charge.

Outrage: The cover of Greaves' book

He was being booked Monday morning and it was unclear if he has an attorney. Sheriff Judd said Greaves could be in Florida as early as Monday night.
'If he will waive extradition, it's my goal for him to eat processed turkey on Christmas Day in the Polk County Jail,' Sheriff Judd said.
Denver attorney David Lane, who has handled several high-profile free speech cases, said Florida could have a hard time extraditing Greaves. He is entitled to a hearing where he can argue he should not be sent there to face charges.
'The main question is whether what he's accused of in Florida would be a crime in Colorado,' Mr Lane said.
'Obviously, it's not a crime in Colorado because he hasn't been arrested here.'
Writs of extradition - the paperwork necessary to send somebody to another state - are routinely signed by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, a former Denver district attorney.
But Mr Lane, who is not affiliated with this case, said it involves a different set of issues.
'Most of other extradition cases present clear-cut cases, the defendant was dealing drugs in that other state or some other crime that is also illegal here,' Mr Lane said.
Governor Ritter's spokesman, Evan Dreyer, did not immediately return a message.
Greaves has no criminal record, but his self-published book of advice on how to make sexual encounters with children safe caused a flap when it showed up on Amazon in November. The book was later removed from the site.

 

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U.S. buffets and salad bars 'threatened with poison attacks’ by Al Qaeda group behind 'ink cartridge' bomb plot

Al Qaeda terrorists are plotting to put deadly poison in the salad bars and buffets of hotels and restaurants, according to U.S. intelligence sources.
They would hide either ricin or cyanide in the food at a number of locations during one weekend to cause panic.
Those who ate the poisoned meals would fall ill and die within days. It takes only tiny quantities of either ricin or cyanide to kill.

Scroll down to view the CBS News report

Attacks: The Al Qaeda-influenced group could poison Americans by poisoning buffets and salad bars in synchronised attacks in restaurants  over a weekend

Sources at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who issued the warning, indicated that the targets were most likely to be in America.

Security staff in the hospitality industry at unnamed locations have been put on alert over what is being called a ‘credible’ threat.

The salad plot marks a shift away from bombings, which have been favoured by terrorists. Sources said those behind it are thought to be part of Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula.

This is the group responsible for the 'ink cartridge' bomb plot to blow up cargo planes including one which was just 15 minutes from detonating at East Midlands airport in October

Poisons: Al Qaeda websites provide information on how to make cyanide (left) and ricin (right), the toxic substances that could be used in the attacks

The group has praised the cargo plot and said it was part of what it called ‘Operation Haemorrhage’.

Propaganda it has posted on the internet reads: ‘Attacking the enemy with smaller but more frequent operations would add a heavy economic burden to an already faltering economy.’

Militants say the plot consists of 'attacking the enemy with smaller but more frequent operations' to 'add a heavy economic burden to an already faltering economy'.
Department of Homeland Security officials, along with members of the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, have briefed a small group of corporate security officers from the hotel and restaurant industries about it.
'We operate under the premise that individuals prepared to carry out terrorist acts are in this country,' said Janet Napolirano of Homeland Security a fortnight ago.
The subtle attacks would ‘initially look very much like food poisoning’, said professor of pharmaceutical sciences at St. John's University, Dr Susan Ford.

Parts of a computer printer with explosives loaded into its toner cartridge found in a package on a cargo plane coming from Yemen on October 30

A UPS cargo airplane lands at Dubai airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, after police intercepted a bomb

In the CBS News report she illustrates how just a tiny portion of each poison could prove fatal. ‘250 milligrams… that is the fatal dose,’ said Dr Ford.
However, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the public would not be made aware of certain threats.
He said: 'A threat you might feel is sufficiently specific and credible to tell the people who are professionally involved might not be specific or credible enough to tell the general public.'
Mr Chertoff added that it would be important to inform public health officials so that they know how to react to what may initially appear to be food poisoning, if, indeed, it was a terrorist attack.
Yesterday Department of Homeland Security spokesman Sean Smith said: 'We are not going to comment on reports of specific terrorist planning.
‘However, the counter-terrorism and homeland security communities have engaged in extensive efforts for many years to guard against all types of terrorist attacks, including unconventional attacks using chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials.
‘Indeed, Al Qaeda has publicly stated its intention to try to carry out unconventional attacks for well over a decade, and AQAP propaganda in the past year has made similar reference.
'Finally, we get reports about the different kinds of attacks terrorists would like to carry out that frequently are beyond their assessed capability.'

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Merry Christmas Mr Fritzl: Cellar monster treated to a lie-in and a roast chicken dinner on big day

Cellar monster Josef Fritzl will get an extra hour in bed and a meal of roast chicken and rice on Christmas Day while his daughter celebrates with her mother and six incest children 150 miles away.
Elisabeth Fritzl, 44, has invited her mother Rosemarie to her home in a small village for the festivities at the end of a year in which her tormentor contacted her over 20 times by letter.
He also tried telephoning but the prison put a block on him making contact with her.

Josef Fritzl will get an extra hour of sleep and special food on Christmas. Meanwhile his estranged wife and the daughter he raped for 24 years will be spending the holiday together

Elisabeth, who was held in a secret dungeon be her deranged father beneath the family home for 24 years to be raped an estimated 3,000 times by him, has instructed the psychiatric prison at Stein where he is held to block all further letters to her.
In 2010 Elisabeth passed her driving test, saw her children slowly recover from their psychiatric scars left by their cellar ordeal and has slowly patched things up with her mother.
Rosemarie, in the process of divorcing 75-year-old Fritzl as he serves out his life sentence for rape, enslavement and negligent homicide - the result of the death of one of the seven children Elisabeth bore him in the cellar - is a sad figure who lives on minimal social security payments in a threadbare bedsit.
Elisabeth was estranged from her after she was freed from the dungeon in April 2008 because she learned of her father‘s rapist past.

This drawing shows the room in the basement of his house where Fritl kept his daughter captive

Rosemarie, 70, took him back into the family home after he served a prison term - a move that allowed him to plot and built the cellar lair beneath his house in the Austrian town of Amstetten.
But she has slowly learned to forgive her, telling friends and carers that “she is as much a victim as everyone else in this tale.“
Fritzl, who is showing the early signs of dementia in prison, sent letters to Elisabeth earlier this year asking her to provide money for him to study law in jail with a view to him getting a re-trial.
He also asked his sister-in-law to tell him he still loved his wife and that he dreamed of joining her on the outside one day. But to his family he is dead in all but name: no-one has been to visit him in jail since he was sentenced but his lawyer and one German journalist.
On Christmas Eve he will be fed with fish and potato salad and allowed to watch TV in the afternoon. He will also be permitted to attend a special church service for prisoners in the jail church attended by a visiting bishop.
He gets an extra hour‘s lie-in on Christmas morning to 8.00am followed by a breakfast of rolls, butter and jam and at lunchtime the chicken with rice and a green salad.
Elisabeth’s children - three of whom lived with her in the cellar and three of whom were removed shortly after birth to be brought up by Fritzl and Rosemarie - are all said to be doing well in their new home.
The cellar children recently underwent complete medical checks to see if their immune systems had recovered from the poor diet and lack of sunlight and vitamin D due to their underground incarceration. All are progressing well although Felix, eight, still has to wear sunglasses when the light is too bright.


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Crazed groom guns down wife and best man at wedding reception before killing himself

A groom blasted his young bride and best man to death at his wedding reception after telling guests he had a 'surprise' for them.Rogerio Damascena, 29, shot his new wife Renata Alexandre Costa Coelho, 25, in the chest and head then blew away his best friend Marcelo Guimaraes, 40, before turning the gun on himself.
Around 200 horrified guests witnesses the massacre at the party near Recife, in north east Brazil, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Crazed: Rogerio Damascena (left) shot dead his new wife Renata Alexandre Costa Coelho at their wedding reception

Today the victims' friends and family were desperate for answers as to why Damascena, a sales manager, went berserk with the .38 calibre pistol.
Homicide detective Joao Brito said: 'It was about 2pm and the party was in full swing when he left the room saying he had a surprise, then came back shooting the woman and at other people.
'He drew his gun and shot the bride in the chest region. She was cornered and had no chance to defend herself.
'He took another shot, hitting her in the head. He then fired several times at the best man, who was also his boss and friend.
'Even when he could see that Marcelo was wounded, he shot him in the back of the neck. Then he shot himself in the head.'
The detective said he believed the bloodbath was planned in advance because the groom had hidden the weapon in his father's pickup truck.
The bride's brother Roberto Guerra told a local newspaper: 'The party was going brilliantly until 2am. He left for five minutes, and when he came back he embraced my sister, gave her a kiss on the back of the neck and then started shooting.'
A nephew of the bride, called Tiago, was grazed by a bullet and treated at hospital before being released.
The bride's sister Lucia Helena Coelho said: 'My sister was a wonderful person who loved and wanted to be loved.
'He was happy, she was happy, the party was beautiful. His family adored her and don't understand this.

Massacre: The groom opened fire at the end of his wedding reception in the city of Camaragibe, in north-eastern Brazil

'He revealed himself as sociopath who fooled the entire family.'
Bizarrely the pistol disappeared from the scene and police were still looking for it tonight.
The couple had married in a civil ceremony on Friday afternoon.
Saturday night's celebration in Camaragibe included a spiritual ceremony which was due to end with a breakfast on Sunday morning.
The bride's family had paid for the festivities and had bought the couple a house as a wedding gift.
Both the bride and best man died at the scene. The gunman's father, Joao Bosco Damascena, tried to save his son, who was still alive when he reached hospital, but died later in the day.
The dad told police: 'I don't know where the gun went. At the time I was only thinking about helping my son.
'To be honest I didn't even know he had a gun.'
Speaking before his son died in hospital, he added: 'My son is a good person, he would never harm anybody.
'He will have to answer for everything.'
The dead bride's family suggested the motive for the crime may have been jealousy.
Their lawyer Hisbelo Oliveira said: 'He was quite a jealous person. When he focused on someone he had this problem. This must have been the motive for the crime.'
The bride and best man were buried on Monday on separate funerals while the killer was buried on Sunday.

Murder: The shootings took place near the coastal city of Recife

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Facebook's bitchy little sister: LittleGossip.com website that lets pupils make anonymous comments about each other

They attend the most prestigious private schools in the ­country, with their parents paying up to £30,000 a year to give them the finest education.
But after going online in their hordes to spread malicious rumours about fellow pupils’ looks, sex lives and drug habits, it seems pupils at Eton, St Paul’s, Harrow and others are in urgent need of some lessons in manners – not to mention ­grammar and spelling.
A new website that encourages schoolchildren to write anonymous gossip about their peers, which is then rated as ‘true’ or ‘false’ by other users of the site, has exploded in popularity among Britain’s pupils in the past month.

A screengrab from LittleGossip.com where students can write about their schoolmates

Perhaps surprisingly, it is pupils from the supposedly more illustrious institutions that appear to be the most ­enthusiastic users of the website.
Many of the comments on Little­Gossip.com are obscene, while others are homophobic or threatening.
In one post, a student at Eton made the following barely literate contribution about a peer: ‘mate your a ******* wannabe, u spend all of dads cash on your drug addiction.’
Another pupil at Emanuel School in Battersea, South London, wrote of a girl at the school: ‘****** is working her way through the boys, but unfortunately hasn’t made any girl friends along the way, what will she do when she runs out of boys? And who is her next target?’

James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich is one of the independent schools that has a lively message board on the site

Comments made on the site are so often obscene that 10 per cent of posts submitted to the site are reported by users for deletion. Parents and headteachers are furious their pupils are so freely spreading hurtful rumours about each other.
Charlotte Macleod, the mother of four children at The Harrodian School, in Barnes, South West London, said: ‘What chills me is the viciousness of these unmoderated and anonymous posts. My 15-year-old daughter’s friends are being mocked, sneered at and goaded. True or false, these personal and sexual taunts are universally available online.’
Teachers at James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich, South East London, were alerted to the site by a parent last Thursday. They have since banned students from using it.
The school’s headteacher Marion Gibbs said: ‘I’m just so angry that this vehicle for cyber-bullying exists. I can’t imagine what kind of person wants to set up a site like this. It must be some kind of sick person.’
At Tormead School for girls in Guildford, Surrey, the site has become such a problem among the girls in Year 7 that the headteacher, Christina Foord, is threatening recriminations to any student found to have used it inappropriately.
In a letter sent to parents last night, she wrote: ‘Last Friday, my attention was brought to a social website www.littlegossip.com. This site invites comments about others and also offers the opportunity to agree or disagree with the comments. Whilst some are posted in defence of those being attacked the majority are both deeply unkind and offensive.

HERE'S WHAT THE PUPILS HAVE TO SAY...

Extracts from the LittleGossip.com website by pupils at some of Britain’s most illustrious schools, complete with grammatical and spelling errors. Pupils’ names have been replaced.
CHELTENHAM LADIES’ ­COLLEGE, Gloucestershire Fees per annum: £21,174
‘Girl A rumoured to have ­beddedat least 45 guys.....legend/SLUT??’
‘Girl B is a cheap and ugly and looks like a horse.and needs som serious eyebrow work.ladies be warned, this girl is a slut.’

Hurtful: Internet makes gossiping easier

ETON, Windsor, £29,862
To Boy A: ‘Mate you’re a ******* wannabe, u spend all of dads cash on your drug addiction, u wear all your flat caps and bandanas, talk all badman, when u go to eton; its actually amusing. U need a serious reality check. Most people in eton don’t even like you. And the few tht do just use u... You’re a mug.
EMANUEL SCHOOL, Battersea, £14,139
‘Boy C wears make up everyday to school (you will be able to see this by either looking at his collar or his eyebrows). Smells of **** Looks like a rat is gay Has only one friend ****** Smokes like a chimney gasses all the time and acts like a girl.’
ALTON CONVENT SCHOOL, Hampshire, £10,290
‘Rumour has it Girl E is an illegal immigrant who dosent even own a passport ... GET OUT OF OUR COUNTRY’
ST PAUL’S GIRLS’ SCHOOL, Hammersmith, £17,526
‘Girl C, Shes so desperate she was “in love” with some retard called ******... hes not even fit.’
THE HARRODIAN SCHOOL, South West London, £16,350
‘Girl D, ****** being a slut.’
EPSOM COLLEGE, Surrey, £19,263
Boy B ‘genuinally looks like a turtle’

‘A significant number of girls are being drawn into using this site… We will act in school in January if we are able to discover any girl who is bullying in this manner.’
The site has also been slammed by the National Union of Teachers, who accuse the site’s creators of creating a ‘vehicle for cyber-bullying’.
LittleGossip.com was created by web developers in Belize, Central America, but pupils from around the world can select which country they live in and which school they attend – so peers can easily see the relevant messages.
The site was launched in the UK in November and its popularity increased as teenagers spread word of it via other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Under pressure from schools, report buttons were added next to posts so that users can hide offensive content.
The site is officially now supposed to be accessed only by adults, although its safeguards can be bypassed very easily.
LittleGossip claims the site was launched ‘to encourage deep, meaningful conversation’.
A spokesman said: ‘A major aim for us is we want to eradicate the hurtful and offensive gossip that is posted by individuals completely and give our users more moderation over content submitted.’

 

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Triple killer warned probation officers he intended to murder women... So why did no one stop the Crossbow Cannibal?

Guilty: Stephen Griffiths, the 'Crossbow Cannibal', has pleaded guilty to killing three prostitutes

‘Crossbow Cannibal’ Stephen Griffiths murdered at least three women despite being known as a psychopath with an obsession about being a serial killer.
He idolised Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and repeatedly admitted his horrific bloodlust to psychiatrists, yet he was not locked up to protect the public because he was seen as ‘bad’ rather than ‘mentally ill’.
He even told a probation officer he would kill when he reached his 30s – and he did.
Yesterday the PhD student, now 40, who executed his final victim knowingly in front of a CCTV camera, pleaded guilty to murdering three prostitutes, achieving his grotesque ambition to join the ranks of the country’s most notorious convicted serial killers.
Mr Justice Openshaw described his crimes as ‘wicked and monstrous’ and told Griffiths he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Relatives of the victims, who all came originally from loving and secure homes, sobbed and one walked out as macabre details were given to a hushed Leeds Crown Court.
They heard how he murdered and dismembered the women, then cooked and ate parts of their bodies.
Griffiths indicated to detectives he may have killed six women and police will now step up attempts to identify any further victims.
Griffiths, a university researcher studying for a doctorate in the history of homicide, was arrested after the caretaker of the block of flats where he lived in Bradford studied CCTV footage and saw Griffiths murder his third victim Suzanne Blamires, 36.

Murdered: Susan Rushworth, Suzanne Blamires and Shelley Armitage worked in Bradford's red light district

On the video, Miss Blamires can be seen running out of Griffiths’s flat chased by the killer and knocked down. Griffiths brings a crossbow from his flat and fires a bolt into her head.
He drags his lifeless victim inside his flat and returns to hold his weapon triumphantly at the CCTV camera and raise a finger to it. Later he toasts his success by raising a bottle to the camera.
Over the next 24 hours Griffiths was recorded going in and out of the building carrying bags. The court heard he was taking body parts to dump them in the River Aire in nearby Shipley.

Caught: The moment Griffiths arrived at the police station following his arrest and under interview by detectives

In the dock: Griffiths, drawn by an artist while appearing in court in May, admitted the killings

By the time the remains were found Griffiths was in custody. Caretaker Peter Gee had raised the alarm and armed police raided Griffiths’s flat.
He made no attempt to flee, telling police ‘in here’ and ‘I’m Osama Bin Laden’, and commenting: ‘This is the end of the line for me.’
At the police station Griffiths said: ‘I or part of me was responsible for the murder of Susan Rushworth, Shelley Armitage and Suzanne Blamires.’
He added: ‘I am misanthropic. I don’t have much time for the human race.’
Griffiths murdered Shelley Armitage, 31, one month before Miss Blamires. Two sections of her body were found in the river near Miss Blamires’s remains.
Police believe she was killed with one of the two blood-stained crossbows found in Griffiths’s flat.
The remains of his first known victim, Susan Rushworth, 43, have never been found.
Griffiths told detectives he cooked flesh from the first two women and ate the third one ‘raw’.
All three were chopped up in the bathroom, which Griffiths described as a ‘slaughterhouse'.
Police recovered horrific video camera footage of the naked and apparently lifeless body of Miss Armitage trussed up in his flat. She had the words ‘my sex slave’ daubed in black spray paint on her back.

Griffiths had a long history of psychiatric treatment dating back to the age of 17 when he was locked up for slashing a shop security guard’s throat.

Between 1987 and 2009 he was treated by psychiatrists at three different hospitals. He was a patient at Waddiloves Hospital in Bradford in 1987 and Rampton Special Hospital for two months in 1991.
In 2007 and 2008 he was an outpatient at Newton Lodge Hospital in Wakefield and was given anti-depressants.
Crucially psychiatrists concluded he was ‘not suffering from mental illness’. Although he was identified as ‘a highly dangerous man’ he was freed to live in the community.
Over the years Griffiths beat up at least one girlfriend. He came to the attention of police, but victims were too frightened to give evidence against him.
When prostitutes began to go missing in Bradford there was no reason to suspect Griffiths as he was not on the sex offenders’ register and had never been arrested for kerb crawling, and seemingly his mental illness did not set alarm bells ringing.

Police carried out a huge search of the area surrounding Griffiths's flat after the discovery of body parts

Twisted mind of a graduate in evil

For many years Stephen Griffiths studied the disturbed minds of the most infamous serial killers, terrorists and war criminals.
His idol was Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women, most of them prostitutes.
His flat contained hundreds of books on Sutcliffe, the Moors murderers and Jack the Ripper, and he was doing research on Victorian murders.
And at some point Griffiths crossed the line from student to practitioner.Perhaps the PhD student regarded killing as a form of work experience in his warped mind.

Face of evil: Griffiths pictured left at fee-paying Queen Elizabeth Grammar school, in Wakefield, and a snap from his MySpace web page thought to be taken when he was in his 20s

He certainly craved notoriety, and becoming the next chapter in the history of celebrity serial killers was the ultimate thrill for such a well-educated student of slaughter.
Griffiths knew the level of depravity it would take to join the ‘A list’ of murderers and a crossbow killing live on CCTV, dismembered bodies and cannibalism did just that.
Griffiths’s third-floor housing association flat in Bradford gave some clues about his warped character.
Books, magazines and slasher horror movies about murder filled the shelves. Police found 30 knives inside his flat, where a foul stench emanated from the box of live rats which he fed to his lizards in a glass tank – and occasionally swallowed himself.
Yet he was obsessive about cleanliness and covered everything in plastic sheeting.
Griffiths invented an alter ego in cyberspace which he called Ven Pariah. Hours before he murdered Suzanne Blamires he wrote on his Myspace website: ‘Ven Pariah has finally emerged into the world. What will this pseudo-human do, one wonders.’
Listing his mood as ‘evil’, he described himself as a ‘pseudo-human at best. A demon at worst’.

Horrific weapons: Two crossbows belonging to cannibal killer Stephen Griffiths were recovered by police

Stephen Shaun Griffiths was born on Christmas Eve 1969, the first of three children of telephonist Moira Dewhirst and frozen food salesman Stephen Griffiths, who had married three months earlier in the West Yorkshire mill town of Dewsbury.
The marriage broke up when the children were young and they lived with their mother in a council semi in Wakefield.

Despite the family’s problems, Griffiths benefited from a private education. His father saved every penny to afford the fees (now £9,700 a year) at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield – which had previously educated ‘acid bath murderer’ John Haigh, who was hanged in 1949.
He was at the school for three years, leaving at 16. By then his pattern of strange and warped behaviour had been established.
In a school known for its sporting and academic excellence, he stood out as an oddball.
He carried a briefcase containing a knife and ‘was fascinated by martial arts magazines and weapons,’ recalled Martin Mason, now a salesman.
Another fellow pupil described Griffiths as ‘a bit of a nutter’ who talked about ‘skinning birds and doing things to animals’.
His bizarre and unstable home life no doubt had much to do with shaping his character.
His mother Moira, who was convicted of falsely claiming £8,500 in benefits in 2007, went out most nights dressed provocatively and neighbours gossiped that she was ‘on the game’.
One former neighbour said: ‘She would go out in the garden stark naked and have sex with different men in full view of the neighbours. People would complain about it, but she didn’t care.’
Griffiths and his brother Phillip, six years his junior, were regarded as ‘nerds’.
Exactly when Griffiths began killing women remains the subject of a police investigation.
But his first offence at 17 bore the chilling hallmarks of the man he was to become.
After being caught shoplifting he slashed the security guard with a knife and was sent to a young offenders’ institution for three years. At this point Griffiths lost touch with his family.
In 1989 he was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon and in 1992 he was jailed for two years for affray after holding a knife to a woman’s throat.
Over the years he continued to be in trouble with police and as recently as January 2009 he was convicted of harassment.
He never had a job, managing to live off grants and benefits while studying at university in Leeds and Bradford.
However he had considerable success when it came to women. Zeta Pinder, 35, met Griffiths in 1998 and they dated for two years, during which time he pretended to live with his parents.
Griffiths would go to Miss Pinder’s home three or four times a week, but was a let-down in bed.
She said he was so afraid that insects or spiders would get into his ears at night that he would plug them with cotton wool and he also got angry if she ever touched his hair.
Eventually she discovered he had a flat and was invited there. She said: ‘I had thought of him as a little odd but quite a sweet person. There were never any alarm bells until I found out about his flat.
When I went in it was just jaw-dropping. 'His flat was horrific and very macabre, very scary.
‘You walked in and on the left-hand side there was a huge bookcase full of horror books on like the Moors murderers and Jack the Ripper, the Yorkshire Ripper. He had lots of really horrific video nasties.
‘The flat was absolutely spotless. But everything was covered in plastic. He said it was because it was new furniture and he didn’t want to get it damaged. Even his carpet had plastic on it. Most places in his flat were covered.

JUDGE ALLOWS COURT TWEETS

The judge in the case of triple-killer Stephen Griffiths today allowed reporters to use Twitter from the courtroom.
It is thought to be the first time a judge has allowed this in practice since the Lord Chief Justice issued a direction on the subject yesterday.
As the case in Leeds Crown Court began Mr Justice Openshaw made an order after he was asked by the press about 'tweeting' from court.
In a written direction he said that, subject to normal rules banning photos and sound recording:
'The use of live, text-based communications by way of unobtrusive, hand held and virtually noiseless equipment to enable the press to produce fair and accurate reports of the proceedings is permitted, provided that their use does not disturb, disrupt or interfere with the orderly conduct of the proceedings.'
The Lord Chief Justice issued an Interim Practice Direction yesterday following the appearance of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before magistrates in London last week.

‘He was obsessive. You had to take your shoes off. If he made a drink you had to have it on a mat. I got a feeling where I didn’t feel safe so I made an excuse. I said, “Stephen, can you take me home, I don’t feel well”.’
Griffiths had an abusive relationship with Kathy Hancock, 37, a former prison officer whom he met through a friend.
She was not allowed out without him and when they did go outside she was terrified of looking at anyone in case he reacted with jealousy.
Miss Hancock said he once punched and headbutted her because she had gone out to a nightclub with his sister. In another incident she was knocked unconscious.
She planned to leave him and then discovered she was pregnant. But months later she lost the baby.
Miss Hancock found the courage to leave him in 2001, but for years Griffiths would track her down and harass her.
‘There were threats by voicemail, text message and email. I went for non-molestation orders but they didn’t work,’ she said.
He slashed her tyres and daubed ‘slag’ on her wall when she went on holiday.
She was replaced in the flat by lizards, which he walked on a lead around town, and snakes. ‘He even took them into a nightclub in his backpack,’ said Miss Hancock. ‘He used the animals to get people to talk to him.’

Stephen Griffiths's mother, former telephonist Moira Dewhirst. Griffiths was the first of three children

Griffiths was known in his apartment block as a violent loner, and most who met him regarded him as a creepy social misfit. One experience was recalled by student Tori Crowther, who arranged to meet him at a gig. ‘He turned up in full Goth style with all his make-up and eyeliner on and his hair spiked.
‘But he obviously thought I was going by myself, because when he arrived and saw me with two other girls he turned around again and left without saying anything.
‘That was the last I heard of him until last year when he emailed me out of the blue again. He said the reason he’d left was that “I was in a dark place at the time, and when I walked in and saw you with two beautiful women I couldn’t cope”.
‘I didn’t reply, I thought it was a bit odd. It’s terrifying to think what could have happened if I’d spent more time with him.’

VICTIMS WERE EASY TARGETS FOR 'EVIL' GRIFFITHS

Stephen Griffiths's victims worked the streets of Bradford's red light district a short distance from his flat.

Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth were familiar figures in the network of run-down streets off Sunbridge Road, a two-minute walk from the city centre.

Working the streets and being addicted to drugs made the women easy targets for the crazed so-called Crossbow Cannibal.
Parts of Miss Blamires's body were discovered in May in the River Aire at Shipley, about five miles north of Griffiths's Thornton Road flat.

Suzanne Blamires, 36

Shelley Armitage, 31

Susan Rushworth, 44

In the days which followed, more of Miss Blamires was found in the water along with a small part of Miss Armitage's body.

No trace of Miss Rushworth has yet been found. Miss Blamires was 36-years-old. Her mother Nicky Blamires, 55, said her daughter went to college and had been training to be a nurse.

But Mrs Blamires said: 'Unfortunately my daughter went down the wrong path and she did not have the life she was meant to have.

'She was a much-loved daughter, sister and niece and what has happened to her will haunt me to the day I die.

'Suzanne was a bright, articulate girl who went to college and was training to be a nurse."

She added: "Even though she ended up on the wrong path, she tried to protect her family and kept herself to herself so people knew very little about her.'
Miss Blamires lived on Barkston Walk, in the Allerton area of Bradford. She had only gone missing four days before her body parts were found.

Ms Armitage, 31, lived a short distance away and it is understood the two women knew each other.

She was described as a 'much-loved daughter and sister' and a 'bubbly, lovely' person. Friends spoke of her 'big smile' and her 'big heart'.

The horror of her death and the cruel fact that only part of her body has been recovered was emphasised at her funeral in August when her brother Carl carried a 2ft 6in coffin into the church carrying her remains.

Ms Armitage disappeared at some point between the late evening of Monday. April 26 and the early morning of the next day, in Rebecca Street, in Bradford city centre.
Most people who worked in that area said they remembered her because of her engaging personality.

Everyone who knew Ms Armitage said she only got involved in prostitution because of her drug addiction and was always talking about leaving, about becoming a model.

Emile, a volunteer who worked with prostitutes in the area, said: "She was bubbly, lovely, a really nice person.'
Miss Rushworth was the first of the three sex workers to disappear. She was a grandmother who had been battling heroin addiction.

The 43-year-old was last seen on June 22 last year near to her flat in the Manningham area of Bradford.

Ms Rushworth - known as Sue or Susie - suffered from epilepsy and had been getting help for her heroin addiction when she disappeared. Her mother Christine Thompson said: 'She was my best friend and like a sister to me.'

Mrs Thompson said she had tried to help her daughter beat heroin and had paid £3,000 for rehab for her. Miss Rushworth also had two other children, Kirsty, 20, and nine-year-old Aaron.

 

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