عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Judge Tells 92-year-old He Will Die in Prison after Conviction in UK’s Oldest Solved Cold Case

This court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook shows 92-year-old Ryland Headley appearing via video link at Bristol Magistrates’ Court, Nov. 20, 2024. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP, file)
This court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook shows 92-year-old Ryland Headley appearing via video link at Bristol Magistrates’ Court, Nov. 20, 2024. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP, file)
TT
TT

Judge Tells 92-year-old He Will Die in Prison after Conviction in UK’s Oldest Solved Cold Case

This court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook shows 92-year-old Ryland Headley appearing via video link at Bristol Magistrates’ Court, Nov. 20, 2024. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP, file)
This court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook shows 92-year-old Ryland Headley appearing via video link at Bristol Magistrates’ Court, Nov. 20, 2024. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP, file)

For more than a half-century, Ryland Headley got away with murder. When justice finally caught up to the former railway worker Tuesday in a British courtroom, he was 92 years old and using hearing aids to listen to his fate.

A judge sentenced Headley to life in prison for the rape and murder of Louisa Dunne, a 75-year-old widow and grandmother who was strangled in her home in western England in 1967. It is believed to be the longest time in the UK between crime and conviction.

“The violation of her home, her body and, ultimately, her life was a pitiless and cruel act by a depraved man,” Justice Derek Sweeting said in Bristol Crown Court, The AP news reported.

Headley broke into Dunne’s home through a window and left a palm print on the glass. Police took the hand prints of 19,000 men and boys in the area to try to solve the crime, but did not find a match at the time.

Headley moved out of the area and went on to rape two older women in similar circumstances in the late 1970s and serve time in prison. But his DNA was not collected until an unrelated arrest in 2012.

Last year, semen found on the blue skirt that Dunne had been wearing when she was killed was found to match Headley's DNA. His palm print was found to match the one on her window.

At his trial, prosecutors had read testimony from the victims of his previous rape convictions, providing jurors with an insight into what happened when he broke into Dunne's home, said Det. Insp. Dave Marchant.

“Hearing the voices of the victims of his 1977 offenses, is just incredibly powerful and harrowing,” Marchant said.

Dunne’s granddaughter, Mary Dainton, who is now about the age her grandmother was when she was killed, said she had been stunned to learn of Headley's arrest in November.

“I accepted that some murders just never get solved and some people have to live with that emptiness and sadness,” she said.

On Tuesday, Dainton told the court that her grandmother's murder and rape had cast a cloud over the rest of her mother's life.

“The fact the offender wasn’t caught caused my mother to become and remain very ill," she said. "It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice is being done.”

Sweeting said that by escaping punishment for so long, Headley had compounded the suffering of Dunne's family.

He told Headley he had to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison and would normally spend time explaining the effect of such a term. But he was blunt in this case.

“You’ll never be released and you will die in prison,” Sweeting said.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Sudanese Artists Cling to Their Craft in a Displacement Shelter

Residents receive aid from World Food Program (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Program (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
TT
TT

Sudanese Artists Cling to Their Craft in a Displacement Shelter

Residents receive aid from World Food Program (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Program (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (AFP)

At a school-turned-shelter in Port Sudan, rehearsal is a modest affair, but three years of war and the humble surroundings do little to dampen the sweet tunes rising from the two musicians.

With piles of bedding pushed to the side, the lone singer croons along to the melodies of a keyboardist -- part of a group of some 120 Sudanese artists who fled the brutal fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.

In the courtyard downstairs, actors, screenwriters, painters and directors work in the sunshine, before retreating to their dormitories at night.

"It's like our own little cultural center," says visual artist Mohira Fathi, who fled the central state of Al-Jazira with her husband and son.

But the El-Rabat center is a far cry from the countless other shelters in the army's wartime capital of Port Sudan, where disease outbreaks and unrelenting hunger stalk tens of thousands.

Across the country, over nine million people are internally displaced and a record 33.7 million are in need of aid.

Like everyone else, these artists came to the army's wartime capital of Port Sudan on the Red Sea exhausted, traumatized and destitute.

"When I arrived, there weren't even any fans to help with the sweltering heat. People were sleeping on mats on the floor, with no access to water," musical troupe director Hossam al-Din al-Taher told AFP.

- 'Blessing' -

Slowly, as the war dragged on, word spread of a makeshift artists' commune forming, and people started flocking to the school in the hopes that being around fellow artists would help keep their careers alive.

"We didn't have instruments or costumes," Taher remembers, and artists had to take on odd jobs to earn a living, pooling their money together to buy a guitar here, a set of paints there.

Now, Taher conducts a small orchestra between piles of luggage.

For filmmaker Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, "it's a blessing that all of these artists found each other in the same place."

They share everything: food, money, mid-rehearsal coffees, living quarters separated only by fabric sheets, and every gig that comes their way.

Three years of war have destroyed Sudan's cultural scene. Theaters, studios and museums have been shut down or looted, while many of Sudan's top artists have fled across borders.

But El-Rabat's artists make do. They've put on shows for the neighborhood, held local photography exhibitions and, this Ramadan, had some of their actors return to the airwaves in a modest radio drama.

"We've learned there is no giving up," musician Assem Abdel Aziz told AFP after rehearsal.

"We have dreams here, that yard outside is full of dreams, full of energy," he says, flanked by a drum kit to his left and a mosquito net-covered cot to his right.

Varieties

Fetching Votes: In Paris Mayor’s Race, Dogs Dominate Campaigns

People walk dogs on a pedestrian crossing in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk dogs on a pedestrian crossing in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Fetching Votes: In Paris Mayor’s Race, Dogs Dominate Campaigns

People walk dogs on a pedestrian crossing in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk dogs on a pedestrian crossing in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)

Paris will choose a new mayor on Sunday, with one unlikely issue dominating campaigns alongside all the partisan acrimony - dogs.

Candidates from socialists to conservatives have set out policies to deal with an issue which voters have regularly ranked among their top concerns, a lack of space for the capital's estimated 100,000 canines.

"Paris isn't exactly a very dog-friendly capital," said Vincent Danna, founder of the Monceau Dog Club, a group of around 1,000 owners who have campaigned for more open spaces for their pets.

"It can indeed be a decisive factor in municipal elections. I think the candidates have understood that well."

Rachida ‌Dati, the conservative ‌candidate backed by President Emmanuel Macron, has filmed herself ‌with ⁠dogs on the ⁠campaign trail and told Reuters she would create new parks where owners can take their dogs for walks, or even let them run free.

"We're going to develop dog parks specifically to create these shared spaces. And not just for the sake of shared spaces, but so people can bring their pets along freely, without being bothered or judged. That's the idea," Dati ⁠said.

Socialist Emmanuel Gregoire, who led the first round of voting ‌last Sunday, has also committed to ‌expanding outdoor spaces for pets.

"The main goal is to have outdoor spaces where ‌animals can live as comfortably as possible," Gregoire told Reuters.

Sophia Chikirou, from ‌the hard-left LFI party who came third in the first round, has proposed letting owners take their dogs on all forms of public transport.

Pets have long played a role in French political life. Every president since Charles de Gaulle has ‌owned at least one dog. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen studied to get a cat-breeding diploma in 2021.

An Ifop ⁠poll in ⁠February showed 58% of French voters saw animal welfare as a priority issue in their municipality. So far, activists have taken the lead.

Following pressure from the Monceau Dog Club, the park of the same name has let dogs run free in a dedicated area in the first trial of its kind in the capital.

Still, not everyone is convinced dogs will make a difference in the second and final round of voting this weekend.

"If you ask me whether a dog plan is going to sway my vote one way or the other, I would say no. Because I think there are perhaps more important things," local resident Marie-Christine Alary said.

"But I do think it's a very good thing."

Varieties

Fans of Niche Japanese Crisps Brand Panic After Oil Shortage Halts Production

A shopper checks food items at a supermarket in Tokyo, Japan January 20, 2023. (Reuters)
A shopper checks food items at a supermarket in Tokyo, Japan January 20, 2023. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Fans of Niche Japanese Crisps Brand Panic After Oil Shortage Halts Production

A shopper checks food items at a supermarket in Tokyo, Japan January 20, 2023. (Reuters)
A shopper checks food items at a supermarket in Tokyo, Japan January 20, 2023. (Reuters)

Die-hard fans of ‌a niche Japanese crisps brand took to the internet on Tuesday to lament a production halt the snack maker Yamayoshi Seika blamed on a shortage of cooking oil caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

The US and Israel's war on Iran and the resulting effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz have fuelled fears of a knock-on impact on prices in ‌Japan. But news ‌of the crisps brand's suspension is ‌among ⁠the first tangible ⁠fallout for consumers.

Once the news spread, Yamayoshi Seika's "Wasabeef" became the third-most trending buzzword in Japan on social media platform X, with the company name trailing not far behind.

"I never expected the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to result in ⁠the production stoppage of Wasabeef," ‌user @JoshuaGboyega5 posted on X. "I ‌can't imagine life without Wasabeef!"

CEO Satoshi Kada said Yamayoshi ‌Seika's heavy oil wholesaler had warned him in ‌early March of an expected price hike of 20% to 30% and soon after said it could no longer send any supplies.

"We had no choice but ‌to stop the factory," he told Reuters, adding that he did not know ⁠when ⁠production could resume.

Yamayoshi Seika, which was established in 1953, calls Wasabeef a "national brand" characterized by a flavor blending wasabi and savory beef essence. The company has monthly sales of about 400 million to 500 million yen ($2.5 million to $3 million), Kada said.

Japan, which depends on the Middle East for around 95% of its crude oil supplies, this week began releasing about 80 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves to mitigate disruptions.