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You are here: For Our Daughters Home > current > Foreign Homicides/British Connection

Archive for Foreign Homicides/British Connection

Aug
28

Mia Ayliffe-Chung

by Jean Calder
Died 23rd August 2016

Mia Ayliffe-Chung (21), a British woman, originally from Wirksworth, Derbyshire, died on 23rd August 2016. She was stabbed to death at Shelley’s Backpackers Hostel in Home Hill, near Townsville, in Queensland, Australia. She was on a three month visit.

Smail Ayad (29), a French national, has been charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of serious animal cruelty and twelve counts of serious assault. Several people were injured, but Ms Ayliffe-Chung was reported to be the primary target.

Ayad is reported to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack, but police have indicated this was not a terrorist attack. They suggest Ayad had made advances to Ms Ayliffe-Chung which she had rejected.

Tom Jackson (30) from Cheshire, was seriously injured while trying to save Ms Ayliffe-Chung, sustaining critical head injuries,

Mia Ayliffe-Chung went to Anthony Gell School in Wirksworth before going to Chesterfield College to study psychology and communication and culture. She later went to Buxton and Leek College to study childcare.

Her mother Rosie Ayliffe said “She was an outstanding friend to many, and dearly loved by the children of our community. Her feisty nature and strong sense of justice made Mia a beloved friend to her peers and to all who knew her.”

Paul Lovatt, head of pastoral care at Anthony Gell School, remembered her as “enriching the school environment”.

Note: This report was drawn from reports in the BBC and Daily Mail.

0 Categories : Deaths, Deaths in 2016, Foreign Homicides/British Connection, Murder, Sex Killing, Young Victims
Aug
23

Samia Shahid

by Jean Calder
Died July 2016

Samia Shahid (28), a British woman from Bradford, was killed in July 2016 in northern Punjab, Pakistan, in a so-called honour killing. She was reportedly strangled with a scarf.

Ms Shahid’s former husband Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel has admitted to her murder. Her father Chaudhry Mohammad Shahid has been held as an accessory.

Ms Shahid worked as a beautician. She had filed for divorce and married her second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam in the UK. Her first marriage was arranged, the second, in 2014, was her own choice.

Ms Shahid’s relatives initially claimed she died of a heart attack, but her husband always believed she had been murdered. He campaigned for the case to be investigated and was supported by Naz Shah, the local MP in Bradford. Ms Shah said he had had to be placed under 24-hour police protection after receiving death threats.

In his confession, Ms Shahid’s former husband, who is also her cousin, reportedly said he had demanded she leave her second husband and remarry him, but she refused to do so.

It has been reported that Mr Kazam belongs to the Shia branch of Islam and that Ms Shahid had joined it and this may have been another reason why some members of her Sunni family strongly disapproved.

Abubakar Khuda Bakhsh, the investigating officer in the case, said “Once, facts are established, we would be in a better position to say if it is an honour killing or a murder as revenge.” It seems that claiming this as an “honour killing” rather than a revenge killing would be seen as a defence in Pakistan.

Ms Shahid’s death came days after the high-profile so-called honour killing of social media star Qandeel Baloch, whose brother has been arrested. Ms Baloch’s death led the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, to announce that the government would pass long-delayed legislation outlawing so-called honour killing. The new law is still pending.

Every year in Pakistan, more than 1000 women are reported to have been killed in so-called honour killings – almost always by father’s, husbands and brothers. The actual figures are likely to be much higher.

Note: This report was drawn from reports in the BBC, the Daily Mirror and the Guardian

0 Categories : Deaths, Deaths in 2016, Domestic killing, Domestic Violence, Foreign Homicides/British Connection, Honour Killing, Immigrant/Visitor Perpetrator, Immigrant/Visitor Victim, Murder, Police Response, Professional Failure
Jun
25

Nixiann Downes-Clack

by Jean Calder
Found dead 20th June 2014

Nixiann Downes-Clack (27) was found dead on Friday 20th June 2014, in a shallow grave in Mt. Moritz, Granada, in the Caribbean, four days after relatives on the island reported her missing. A post-mortem examination revealed she had been beaten, dying of blunt force trauma and strangulation.

Her husband, Alexander Clack (32) has been arrested for murder. Clack was born and grew up in London but lives in Grenada. He is a British national. It is not yet known whether she is a British citizen.

Delma Thomas, Grenada’s minister of social development, housing and gender affairs said she was “suspected to have been the victim of domestic abuse and gender violence,”.

Ms Downes-Clack had a two-year-old daughter with Clack and had been married for 6 years. Local media reported he had been having an affair with a local teenager.

A local television station said that Ms Downes-Clack was reported missing on Tuesday 17th June after she failed to arrive at her mother’s house to pick up her daughter. They said the body was found near a house that belonged to a teenager that Clack is alleged to have been in relationship with.

On Thursday 19th June Clack is reported to have confessed to the killing. He said Ms Downes-Clack’s body was placed in a suitcase before being buried in a shallow grave. Police said Clack led them to his wife’s remains.

Clack is being detained on a charge of non-capital murder, meaning the death penalty cannot be considered if there is a conviction, according to the Royal Grenada Police Force.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We were informed of the arrest of a British national on June 20 in Grenada. We are providing consular assistance.”

Note: This report was drawn from reports in the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, the Evening Standard and the Independent.

FOD Comment: We note that there are reports in the Daily Mail that the killer is “the owner of SGU Fish Market, a company that delivers fish to hoteliers, supermarkets and retailers”, that he “is also listed as an Operations Supervisor in (Grenada)” and that, interestingly, “his bio states he ‘worked for several years with the prison service in north London.”. We also learned that “Mr. Clack is also a competent dog handler and dog trainer.’ “

We have been able to discover almost nothing about the victim, with media reports repeatedly referring to her only as the killer’s wife.

0 Categories : Deaths, Deaths in 2014, Domestic killing, Domestic Violence, Foreign Homicides/British Connection, Media Coverage, Murder, Mutilation Desecration
Jun
23

Margaret Sheehy

by Jean Calder
Died June 2012

Margaret Sheehy (58), known as Margot, was found dead in her flat on Springfield Road in Kingston, South London on 12th June 2012. A post-mortem examination gave her cause of death as asphyxiation.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of her son Sean Heiss (30). He fled the country and is now on trial in Spain for the murder of another woman, Clementina Nauta.

Ms Sheehy worked for the software solutions provider Intelliflo and was the mother of two sons.

Police were called to Ms Sheehy’s address following concerns for her welfare.

The police investigation was led by officers from the Homicide & Serious Crime Command. After Heiss fled to Spain, he was arrested there for a minor offence. Initially, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement: “On Friday 22 June a 28-year-old man was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant in San Sebastian, Spain, in connection with the murder of Margaret Sheehy in Kingston on 12 June.”

In fact, Heiss was arrested by San Sebastian police in the week beginning 18th June, in connection with a minor assault. At some point after that he was released. It is still not known how he was allowed to walk free.

The Death of Clementina Nauta:

Three months after his arrest in Spain, Heiss was arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of punching, kicking and stabbing Clementina Nauta to death at a cash machine one day in September 2012. Ms Nauta died in hospital from her injuries on the day she was attacked. She was a mother of three children.

A Spanish prosecutor wrote: “He repeatedly stabbed her in the throat and face, continuing to land blows and kicks – intending to kill her or, at least, knowing her death would result from the attack.”

Prosecutors added: “Clementina could not put up an effective defence, because the accused continued hitting her as she lay stunned by the pain and stretched out on the floor.”

Ms Nauta’s father, Alexander Nauta, has asked Spanish police why they released Heiss despite the UK arrest warrant. The retired airline pilot said: “She was one of those people who always wanted to help others. She had friends from the lowest of society – students, people on the street – to right up the chain. She loved and got on well with anybody.”

Ms Nauta was a long-term carer for her partner, who had been comatose for six months following a car accident.

If found guilty in Spain, Heiss faces 25 years in prison and fines to compensate Ms Nauta’s parents, children and partner.

Note: This report was drawn from reports in Murder Maps, The London News and the Metro.

0 Categories : Deaths, Deaths in 2012, Domestic killing, Domestic Violence, Foreign Homicides/British Connection, Multiple Deaths, Murder, Parent/Child, Police Response
May
26

Mass Sexist Killing in Santa Barbara

by Jean Calder
from Jean Calder

On 23rd May 2014 there was a premeditated mass sexist shooting in Santa Barbara, California, in which two women and one man died and 13 others were injured, seven very seriously.

Just prior to the shootings, the British-born murderer Elliot Rodger stabbed to death three men, two of whom were his flatmates.

The shootings weren’t random, but were targeted at women. In itself this is not unusual. College and school shootings in the USA are almost always carried out by young men – and many target women or girls, though the media often mask this by referring to the dead as “victims”, “students” or “people”.

In this case, Rodger had produced a ‘manifesto’ in which he referred to women as “bitches” and said that destroying them would “purify” humanity. He fantasised about becoming a dictator who could starve women to death in concentration camps. He bought his first gun in 2012 writing “who’s the alpha male now, bitches?” He planned to kill his male housemates and use their flat as his “personal torture and killing chamber”.

Just hours before the shootings he posted a video online setting out plans to “punish” all women, stating “I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me. But I will punish you all for it.” He said “I’m going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB and I will slaughter every single spoilt, stuck-up, blonde slut that I see inside there.”

He added “I’ll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am, in truth, the superior one. The true alpha male. Yes… After I have annihilated every single girl in the sorority house I will take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there….”

Finally, Rodger acted upon his threats. He drove as he had planned to do, to the Alpha Phi sorority house, a women’s residence. He attempted to shoot one young woman in the face, but missed. He killed two women outside the residence then drove away.

He began to spray the street with bullets, according to a witness appearing to target women. He killed a male shopper at a delicatessen. He accelerated away, hitting parked cars and pedestrians and shooting at bystanders. At one point he ran over a cyclist. Shot by police, he finally crashed and was found dead with a head wound.

Around the same time as the Santa Barbara killings, a gunman, apparently acting alone, shot and killed three people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, seriously injuring a fourth. Journalists immediately began to speculate that this might be an anti-semitic attack. In the early days of investigation there was no evidence to this effect, other than the choice of building, but they quite reasonably started with the assumption that the killer’s motivation might be racist.

This was in stark contrast to the way in which the Santa Barbara killings were handled. There the focus was not Rodger’s clearly articulated misogyny and sexism nor his sense of entitlement to sex with non-consenting women, but the fact that he was a “virgin” and disturbed. There was even a hint that girls who had rejected or not noticed him might in some sense be to blame. Journalists addressed the need for gun control and improved responses to mental illness. However, none seemed willing to put Rodger’s declared hatred of women – or indeed male violence – under the spotlight.

Some journalists went so far as to deny Rodgers had targeted women, pointing out that he also killed men.This is true, but that’s no reason to think his “Retribution”, as he called it, any less an act of sexist and misogynist terrorism.

The gunman in Brussels shot and killed two Israeli tourists at the Jewish museum. However, should his other two victims turn out to be gentile rather than jewish, it certainly won’t stop journalists referring to this as an anti-semitic outrage. It would be absurd to do so – and dangerous.

Therefore it’s deeply troubling that similarly experienced journalists working for the same publications, who seem readily able to recognise possible anti-semitic violence, are apparently completely unable to identify or explore the lethal sexism of dangerous men like Elliot Rodgers.

0 Categories : Attempted Murder / Aggravated Assault, Foreign Homicides, Foreign Homicides/British Connection, Homicide / Suicide, Mass Killing, Media Coverage, Mental Health Issue, Multiple Deaths, Murder, Mutilation Desecration, Opinion, Sex Killing, young perpetrator, Young Victims
Apr
7

Hammer Attack on Three Women

by Jean Calder
Attacked 6th April 2014

Three women have been attacked by a man with a hammer at the Cumberland Hotel, in London on 6th April 2014 leaving one fighting for her life. The attacker fled the scene.

The three women, all sisters, were taken to central London hospitals with head injuries after the assault in the early hours of 6th April 2014. The most severely injured woman has life-threatening injuries and was placed in a medically induced coma. Reports suggest she has lost an eye and only has 5% of brain function. Another sister has 2 fractures to her skull, a broken arm and fracture to her cheekbone. The third sister has a fractured skull and a ruptured left eardrum.

All three victims were from the United Arab Emirates and in their 30s. They had been on a shopping trip.

Police said the man entered a room on the seventh floor of the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch where the three women and three children were sleeping. It is believed the suspect was disturbed and the women were then hit about the face and head with a hammer. The police said a hammer had been recovered from the scene. A thousand pounds worth of property was stolen and £3,000 subsequently withdrawn from one of the victim’s bank accounts.

The attack is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police murder investigation team. which is attached to the Homicide and Major Crime Command. The police said they are treating the attack as attempted murder.

The spokesperson said detectives were trying to find out if the attacker was known to the victims.

Subsequent reports indicate a man called Philip Spence has been charged with three counts of attempted murder. He has also been charged with aggravated burglary. Three other people, two men and a woman, have been charged with receiving or handling stolen goods.

Note: This report was drawn from reports in the Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mirror and the BBC.

0 Categories : Attempted Murder / Aggravated Assault, Foreign Homicides/British Connection, Homicide for Money, homicide with theft, Immigrant/Visitor Victim, Opinion, Torture, Unsolved Homicide
Sep
8

Patricia Kierans – Short Report

by Jean Calder
Died 5th September 2013

Patricia Kierans (54) was killed in Bailieborough, County Cavan, very close to the Northern Ireland border on 5th September 2013. She had been beaten and shot.

Police are continuing to question a man over the killing. The man is believed to be the woman’s estranged husband. He was detained after a 10-hour stand-off at a pub in the town.

Ms Kieran was a mother of four, originally from west Belfast, who moved to Cavan many years ago. Her sister reported her missing on Thursday 5th September.

Local journalist Joe McCabe said: “When gardaí went to interview the man at the bar, which is a mile away from where the woman was found, he produced a shotgun and barricaded himself into the basement. The Garda Emergency Response team was called, the town was sealed off and people living nearby were told to leave their homes.”

Police negotiators spoke to the man throughout the night and just before 4.00am the man surrendered.

Mr McCabe said the woman who died had lived in the town for many years and had grown-up children aged between 22 and 33.

Fr Oliver O’Reilly, who knew the dead woman and her family, said: “Three of them already were in Australia, one of them had taken a flight to join them yesterday morning – he was still in the air when all this happened. I was speaking to one of the family members last night and they were totally devastated.”

Note: This short report was drawn from a report in the BBC.

0 Categories : Deaths, Deaths in 2013, Domestic killing, Foreign Homicides/British Connection, Short Report

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