UK Woman Hid Dead Babies For 20 Years

A mother is facing jail for hiding the bodies of four stillborn girls, keeping three of the decomposing bodies in her wardrobe for up to 20 years.

Bernadette Quirk, 55, buried one baby in a cemetery illegally and wrapped the other three - two of which were twins - in newspaper and rags, then stuffed them in a small plastic bin with an air freshener, reports Mumbai Mirror.

The twice-married alcoholic even moved the bin bodies around with her between rented properties over a 10-year period.

Daughter Joanne Lee made the grisly find at Quirk’s home near St Helens, Merseyside, last July and alerted police who started a murder investigation.

Quirk said the babies, all full-term, were all stillborn at her home, insisting: “They did not make any noise and they did not move.”



Police could not prove otherwise and Quirk could only be charged with concealing the births.

Judge Henry Globe QC told Quirk, who pleaded guilty: “These are serious offences. All options of sentence remain open, including a custodial one.”

The court heard that the births happened between 1985 and 1995, but Quirk could not remember the exact dates because of her “chaotic” lifestyle and booze problems.

Ian Morris, defending, said: “She accepts she did give birth and did not register the births. But she makes it clear all the children were stillborn.

“She describes that period of her life as being chaotic and out of control. She has buried those memories.”

Police revealed that Quirk, also mother to Christopher and Catherine, said she started drinking after her marriage broke down in the mid-1980s and had a number of sexual partners.

She could identify the two fathers of the babies found in her house, but not the dad of the girl buried in the family’s plot at the local cemetery.

Morris said Quirk could not remember the birth of the fourth child but tests showed she was mother to all four.

Cause of death has yet to be established but all four babies had skeletal abnormalities and foetal growth restriction. The case was adjourned until October 11. Quirk’s relatives now plan to the babies a proper burial.

Source: India TV News

This year, 130 leopards poached in India

New Delhi: Watching a leopard amble along a sun-beaten track at dusk is a captivating sight. But now these big cats are in danger in India.



At least 130 leopards have been poached this year so far, say experts describing the figures as "alarming".

Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra recorded the highest number of leopard deaths, stated the NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

There have been reports of 240 leopard deaths so far.


A dead male leopard is carried away by the forest workers at Sukna wildlife rescue centre on the outskirts of Siliguri. The leopard was found dead at a tea garden estate supposedly poisoned by the villagers.

Across the country, 17 leopards were killed in man-animal conflict, 19 died in road accidents, eight were shot dead by the forest department, six died in rescue operations, two were killed by other big cats, while 58 more were found dead, says WPSI.

The rest of the deaths are feared to have been caused by poaching.

Uttarakhand has seen a spurt in leopard deaths. Twenty-nine leopards were poached, four killed in man-animal conflict, including three that were shot dead by the forest department.



"Thirty-one more leopards were found dead in the state. Some died of natural causes, but others may have died in conflict. We don't have proof," said Tito Joseph of the WPSI. Seven more died in road accidents.

A census in 2007 showed 2,300 leopards in the state.

"We are compiling a report as part of the tiger census this year which will reveal the latest figure of leopards," Paramjit Singh, chief conservator of forests of Uttarakhand, told IANS.



There is no record of the total number of this agile and stealthy predator in India. They are protected by Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, the highest protection provided to wild animals.

Fifteen leopards were poached in Maharashtra, 13 in Uttar Pradesh and 12 in Karnataka. Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Assam and Himachal Pradesh have also seen leopard deaths in man-animal conflicts.



The buffer areas of wildlife sanctuaries have been the main poaching grounds. Some of these places have seen intense man-animal conflict.

Among big cats, leopards are the most adaptable. They are skilled climbers. Wildlife enthusiasts swear by the exquisite grace with which the animal sways while disappearing into the forests.

Each year, a large number of these endangered animals face unnatural deaths.


A forest guard carries the body of an 18-month-old leopard at Sukna Wildlife Rescue Centre near Siliguri.

n 2009, some 160 cases of poaching and body parts seizures were recorded.

In 2008, the figure was 157, according to the NGO.

Some members of Haryana's Bawaria tribe are alleged to be involved in organised poaching and operate across a vast area in and around wildlife sanctuaries. They are expert hunters.

"These people (Bawaria poachers) know only how to hunt. They don't have anything else to do. So they kill them for money. It's business," said Singh.

"Poachers from other states also come in two- or three-member groups," he said.

Tito said there are different types of poachers: "One type is organised like the Bawarias.

"Another type is opportunistic - for instance, one who faces the threat of leopard attacks. He will poison the animal and skin it. When he gets a chance he will sell it.

"The third type looks to hunt other animals but will kill a leopard if there is an opportunity."

Source: IANS

3096 days of horror

London: A girl in Austria, who was locked up in a dungeon where she suffered physical and sexual abuses for eight years, has revealed she was beaten black and blue and forced to share bed with her captor.



In her autobiography, "3096 Days", Natascha Kampusch tells how she was kept in a "hermetically sealed" dungeon, beaten "black and blue", forced to sleep manacled to her captor and tried taking her own life because she saw it as her only means of escape, The Independent reported Monday.

Kampusch disappeared while on her way to school at the age of 10 in 1998 and only escaped the clutches of Wolfgang Priklopil, a communications technician, in August 2006. She managed to distract him with the noise of a vacuum cleaner as he took a phone call and fled from the cell.

Later, Priklopil, 44, committed suicide while on the run from the police by jumping in front of a train.



Bizarrely, Kampusch, who is now 22 and presents a talk show on an Austrian television, marked her tormentor's death by saying she was in mourning because in a macabre way he had become "part of my life".

In extracts from her book, published in the Daily Mail, she describes the first time that she saw the man who would steal her away from her family, her childhood and her life.

"He had blue eyes, and his gaze was strangely empty; he seemed lost and very vulnerable," she writes. She recalls that she had only recently been allowed to walk to school by herself in the town of Donaustadt and still felt the full force of her mother's warnings not to talk to strangers.

Recalling her capture as "a choreography of terror" - as Priklopil grabbed her by her waist and threw her into his white delivery van - she attempts to write her sufferings after being incarcerated in the tiny cellar beneath the garage of Priklopil's home in a suburb of Vienna.



Although Priklopil at first appeared relatively considerate, even asking his young captive what she needed "as if I were staying the night at a hotel", he gradually became violent and sexually abusive. After a year, he forced her to choose a new name in an attempt to diminish her sense of identity; she chose Bibiane.

Kampusch says she began to seriously consider suicide as her only escape when she heard the author of a book about missing persons speaking on the radio about her disappearance. "At 14, I'd tried several times to strangle myself with articles of clothing. At 15, I tried to slit my wrists with a large sewing needle," she recalls.

Kampusch is considered to have made a good recovery in the circumstances. However, the psychological scars of her ordeal are still very much in evidence. She is considering suing Austrian police over their failed attempts to locate her.

Source: IANS

A freak mishap at Hyderabad airport

Hyderabad: An employee of Air Asia airline died here on Sunday morning after her arm got trapped in an aerobridge and she fell down.

Sources at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport said Amritha Roy, Guest Services Officer of Air Asia, had sustained an injury when her right arm got trapped in one of the aerobridges which was being retracted after boarding of the passengers. She immediately collapsed out of shock and was rushed to Apollo Medical Centre at the airport for emergency medical attention. She succumbed to her injury at around 10.40 am.

"The incident is most unexpected in nature and it is very unfortunate. We deeply condole her death and our prayers are with her family. A committee headed by deputy CEO has been immediately formed comprising the Chief Operating Officer of Delhi Airport and Chief Security Officer at Hyderabad Airport to investigate the incident and ascertain complete facts of the case" said P Sripathy, CEO, Hyderabad Airport, in a statement.

Source: The Indian Express

Delhi woman keeps mom's body for months

A woman in Delhi kept her mother's body for 6 months without anyone knowing it. It was accidentally discovered by a man who went to repair a meter. Today's crime file also has the case of a freak mishap at Hyderabad airport. Read on

New Delhi: Shalini Gupta has just ordered the pizza that's lying on her dining table. On the wall adjacent to the longest sofa in the room are two photographs.

One is of a woman in a white sari with chandelier earrings, a distant look on her face. The other is that of her parents together. "My parents were rich. Look at my mother's earrings. Doesn't it seem so?" she asks.

Shalini betrays no emotions. At least nothing to suggest she has been living with the body of her 80-year-old mother, Vinode Gupta, who passed away at least six months back at their D58 residence in Saket.

Strangely, Shalini, who had been living with her for the past 15 years, had no idea that her mother was dead.

On the left is another bedroom which Shalini doesn't allow entry into. "It's too messy. The maid hasn't come in a long while," she explains. Shalini's mother's room is dimly lit. The corridor light is enough to reveal what lies inside.

The room has a strange stench; musty and gloomy. In the room is a sofa-cum-bed on which the body was found. Beneath it lie a pair of cream-coloured slippers.

Clad in a pair of black pyjamas, a dark grey shirt and a pair of red and black bathroom slippers, Shalini appears disillusioned.

"This was where my mother slept. My father died last December."

But she does not show any sign of remorse. "My mother died because she was ill. She was too old and had lived a very traumatic life." Shalini, the only child of her parents, has been taking care of her mother for the past 15 years.

Ask her about her father Purshottam Lal Gupta's profession and she says, "I don't know. He never told me... I never wanted to know either."

She says her daughter Rehana was born on December 13, 1983 and has just returned from Bangalore. "I have been fighting a divorce case with my husband and have just got custody of my child".

But is she her only child? "I don't know how many children I have. I have Rehana and the rest of them are with Nischit, my husband."

Nischit works for Taj Hotels.

Shalini, too, was working with the New Zealand High Commission until she quit her job.

"But, I'm scared. There are people trying to get their hands on my property." Suddenly, she says, "I need to take a shower" and shuts the door.

Outside, guard Harnat Singh says he has seen Shalini go out to buy basic commodities. "I even saw her husband and daughter the other day. But when I asked her where they went, memsahib said she didn't know."

Vinode's skeltal remains were discovered after a DJB officer found something amiss when he went to the house to repair a meter on Saturday evening. He informed the neighbours, who rang the police. The body has now been sent for post mortem. The police don't suspect any foul play and have started inquest proceedings.

Source: The Indian Express