Sunday, February 26, 2006

THIS MAN'S THE DEVIL... it's only a matter of time

By Carole Aye Maung & David Martyn

ONE of the world's worst serial paedophiles is living free among children in Britain, waiting to pounce. And the police can do nothing about it.

We tracked down notorious sex monster Robert Excell to his ‘safe house' lair in the Oxfordshire countryside—just yards from a kiddies' playground AND a primary school.

Click here to watch video of Excell mingling with unsuspecting shoppers:

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One of his tortured rape victims predicted: "He WILL do it again. It's just a matter of time.

"Excell is a sick bastard—an evil, sadistic predator. He is the devil— and I'm absolutely horrified that the authorities would ever allow him anywhere near children."

Fake

British-born Excell, 67, has spent 37 of the last 39 years in an Australian prison for a catalogue of appalling sex crimes against young boys.

Three times he was released on parole and EVERY time he struck again, wrecking more innocent lives.

But after being freed last year he was branded a "continuing risk" to kids and deported home to Britain— merely to be put on the sex offenders' list and allowed to ‘vanish' into a new life under a false name, apparently unsupervised and all funded by the taxpayer.

Scandalously, because all his crimes so far have been on foreign soil, the British authorities are powerless to act against him— until he inevitably attacks yet another child. As well as adopting the fake name Daniel Wright, Excell has undergone a staggering transformation in a desperate bid to hide his true identity. He has shaved off his distinctive goatee beard, chopped his mullet hairdo short and shed weight.

Now he looks more like a storybook grandpa—unrecognisable from the bloated, wheelchair-bound monster who flew in last August.

After moving into his bungalow with wife Maxine—a psychiatric nurse he met during therapy in 1982 —Excell has become the "friendly new neighbour" gradually infiltrating his unsuspecting community.

We saw him chatting to the mums and young children who have to pass his back garden to get to the playground just 150 yards away, or the school beyond that.

From his plot Excell has a clear and uninterrupted view of the youngsters playing on the swings and roundabout. And he seems to spend a lot of time in his garden.

Last month there was a public outcry when Excell—who claims to suffer from asthma, diabetes and a heart condition—-was given backdated disability benefits and grants totalling £17,000 for a new car and improvements to his new home.

He is also entitled to weekly handouts totalling £262 in disability living allowance, incapacity benefit and severe disability allowance. Strangely, this week he looked in the peak of health. We even videoed him shopping WITHOUT his wheels. But as victims and former fellow inmates warned, Excell has always been a master deceiver.

A one-time jail pal revealed how Excell—who was sent to Australia in 1948 on the Child Migrant Scheme— was in the habit of exaggerating his illnesses to appear less dangerous.

"Excell may look all weak and harmless in his wheelchair—but don't be fooled," said the friend.

"He'd NEVER ride it around prison. He plays up his illness—but he's a very dangerous man. He'll strike again if he gets the chance."

Just like he did in 1977 when he lured a 13-year-old called Paul into his clutches and subjected him to a degrading brutal rape.

When we told Paul—now a businesman and father of six in Perth, Australia—of Excell's new life and image he recognised his attacker's guile. "He's an evil trickster who worms his way into children's trust," said Paul, recalling how he was conned into his ordeal.

"I'd been swimming with pals at the beach when we were approached by Excell, who was walking his German Shepherd dog.

"He told us he was a dog trainer and we were all very impressed. And his dog WAS great.

"I played with it all afternoon and it was one of those days I didn't want to ever end. So when Excell suggested we meet up later to go to a drive-in movie, I couldn't wait. I actually thought I'd be playing with his dog some more.

"Unknown to me none of the other boys' parents gave them permission to go and when I got to Excell's home he took me inside and locked the door. I was expecting to see my friends but I was all alone—and I remember immediately feeling very, very afraid.

"Excell gave me a drink and I'm pretty sure he put something in it because it made me feel woozy.

"There was already a video camera set up and recording. Excell said if I told anyone about what was going to happen, he'd show the other boys the pictures. Then he told me he was going to hurt me.

"And he raped me. He really hurt me. Afterwards he dropped me at the end of my street. I went inside my house and cried all night.

"My brothers eventually coaxed out of me what happened, called the police and he was jailed again.

"But what Excell did has haunted me ever since and I've contemplated suicide several times. The damage lasts a lifetime. I can't believe anyone would ever allow Excell anywhere near children again.

"I can't stress enough how dangerous this man is. If he is ANYWHERE near children they are in peril.

Conman

"What are the British authorities thinking of? Please tell parents NEVER to let their children out of their sight while he's in their area. I'm very afraid for those youngsters.

"Next time he could go further. I believe he is capable of much worse."

Excell himself admits he is a master of deception. In a vile autobiography he hopes to publish he brags: "I blossomed. My actor, liar, manipulator and conman were well out in front."

True to form, Excell lied again when we confronted him on his doorstep. At first he denied his true ID, insisting: "I'm Daniel Wright" before slamming the door.

Later the cowardly weasel ushered wife Maxine to the door to own up and attempt to spin excuses.

"What about our rights?" she shouted. "Yes, he re-offended, he was shocked. He didn't know what he was doing."

Sunday, February 19, 2006

I KILLED BILLIE-JO

By Neville Thurlbeck & Lucy Panton

THE HUNT for the killer of Billie-Jo Jenkins took a shock twist yesterday after a jailed murderer told a cellmate HE bludgeoned the schoolgirl to death.

During a series of lengthy discussions, the prisoner confessed to battering the 13-year-old with a metal tent peg before fleeing the scene.

Police were tipped off by a prison supergrass after the inmate, doing life for murder, revealed his dark secret. They believe he could be telling the truth and are checking his story for fatal flaws.

So far, they have found none.

The new evidence could finally clear the name of Billie-Jo's foster-dad, Sion Jenkins, who was acquitted after a third murder trial ended in a hung jury earlier this month.

Last night officers from the Sussex force were preparing to travel to Wakefield jail in Yorkshire to question the convict. Police think he may well have been in the area of Billie-Jo's home town

Hastings on the day she was killed, February 15, 1997. The probe is in its early stages but plans are being made to take his DNA and check it against evidence found at the crime scene.

Last night a police source told the News of the World: "This could be the big breakthrough we've been waiting for.

"His story seems highly credible and everything has checked out so far. It seems to be a heartfelt confession from a man who wants to unburden himself of a disturbing secret.

"He is not mentally ill, he is cogent and articulate.

"If this information checks out it could finally piece together the murder puzzle."

Police will compare the killer's previous modus operandi with the murder of Billie-Jo in a bid to discover any similarities.

If the new suspect is charged and convicted, it will bring to an end a nightmare nine years for Sion Jenkins.

Because he was only acquitted when two juries failed to agree on a verdict, the finger of suspicion still points at him. Last week he refused to take a lie detector test.

But the new confession could clear his name for good, paving the way for him to start a new life.

Jenkins was found guilty of killing his foster-daughter and sentenced to life in 1998.

The jury heard that Billie-Jo's skull was smashed with a metal tent peg as she painted patio doors at the Jenkins' home in Hastings. The main evidence against him was that his clothing contained 148 spots of Billie-Jo's blood that were invisible to the naked eye. The prosecution said they could only have got there if he had killed her. No motive was ever established.

After serving six years in prison, Jenkins had his conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal in 2004.

New scientific evidence suggested the blood could have soaked into his clothing as he bent down to see if Billie-Jo was breathing, or as he cradled her in his arms.

A retrial was ordered but a jury failed to reach a verdict. Jenkins, 48, now married to millionaire heiress Christina Ferneyhough, finally walked free ten days ago after a jury failed to reach a verdict at a second retrial.

But a cloud still hung over him after it was revealed his first wife Lois left him because, she claimed, he was a violent bully who beat her and the kids.

If the confession is true, it will be a huge embarrassment for Sussex police.

Bob Woffenden, a campaigning journalist and close friend of the Jenkins family, said of the jail confession: "Sion will be delighted.

"We have always believed he is innocent. It is extremely encouraging that this new information is being treated seriously by detectives."

It is not unusual for cell confessions to be used to convict killers. The evil paedophile ring which snatched and killed seven-year-old Mark Tildesley in 1984 was nailed after a cell confession.

Leslie "Catweasel" Bailey was sentence to life in October 1992 after evidence from a cellmate. He was murdered the following year.

A prison service spokesman said last night: "We are not going to comment on this story."

A Sussex police source said: "We will follow up all fresh information."

Sunday, February 12, 2006

SHAMED BY 42 BRAINLESS BLOWS

By Robert Kellaway

TODAY we expose a rogue squad of British soldiers who savagely attacked a defenceless bunch of Iraqi teenagers —and with 42 brutal blows brought shame on our nation and its proud army.

The horrifying scenes on these pages will shock the world and ignite a huge military scandal.

They were captured on a secret home video — apparently filmed for "fun" by a corporal—and show at least eight of his hulking comrades cruelly:

DRAGGING four weedy rioters—all apparently in their early teens—off the street and behind the high walls of a secluded army compound,

BEATING them senseless with vicious blows from batons, boots and fists,

IGNORING their pitiful pleas for mercy, until the incident climaxes with what appears to be an NCO delivering a sickening full-force kick in the genitals of a cringeing lad pinned to the ground.

All the while the callous cameraman delivers a stomach-churning commentary urging his mates on, cackling with laughter and screaming: "Oh yes! Oh yes! You're gonna get it. Yes, naughty little boys! You little f***ers, you little f***ers. DIE! Ha, ha!"

Insult

The video—later shown to the corporal's pals at their home base in Europe—was exposed to the News of the World by a disgusted whistleblower.

He told us the unit and regiment involved but for security reasons we are not publishing the details.

Our informant said: "These Iraqis were just kids. Most haven't even got shoes on.

"Those eight soldiers were pumped up and out of control. They're an insult to the thousands of soldiers who have worked so hard in Iraq with courage and dignity for so long.

"They're nothing but a gang of thugs, a disgrace to themselves, their regiment and country."

The cowardly beating is believed to have taken place in early 2004 amid a series of street riots in southern Iraq. Troops were involved in running battles with hundreds of screaming demonstrators armed with stones, sticks, shovels and home-made grenades.

The atmosphere and tension comes across vividly in the video, believed to have been shot from a rooftop within the troops' HQ compound. The muzzle of an Army SA80 rifle laid on its side is visible in the foreground.

A DIY grenade lands and explodes inside the compound—blasting out shrapnel and a cloud of grey-white smoke. A fire blazes just outside the perimeter wall sending up a pall of black fumes as crowds of rioters chant abuse at the soldiers. Dozens of youths run towards the compound hurling stones, but suddenly turn on their heels—chased by a unit of squaddies in combat helmets with riot visors and desert camouflage. Some of the soldiers are wearing flak vests and are armed with batons and rifles.

A crackling radio message to the troops pinpoints a target: "Black top, blue bottoms! Black top, blue bottoms! GO!"

The camera then cuts to eight soldiers returning with four prisoners, gripped in headlocks. The squad march their captives to the compound gate and drag them inside—out of sight from the rioters outside. Then the horror begins.

PRISONER 1 is hauled in wearing a dark blue T-shirt, blue jeans and white trainers—the only victim not in bare feet.

His captor releases the headlock, stands him up and—with combat helmet on and visor down—lands a crushing head butt. He rips the youngster's T-shirt over his head and smashes his right fist twice into his kidneys and once into his head.

In panic the terrified captive desperately clings to the lanyard of the soldier's baton in an attempt to stop it being used on him.

His pitiful cries of "No! Please!" are clearly heard. But the mocking commentator merely puts on a childlike voice and mimics his Iraqi accent: "No, pleeese—don't hurt me."

Another soldier grabs the lad by the neck and hurls him to the floor to be kicked and beaten again. The head-butt soldier then raises his baton and brings it crashing down on him.

PRISONER 2, in blue T-shirt and grey trousers, is marched in, gripped by the shoulder. His captor forces him to the ground and hits him about the body and legs with his baton.

As he unleashes ten blows the boy twists and squirms around the soldier's ankles trying to save himself. A soldier in a floppy hat—not part of the snatch squad—looks on. He is clearly unsure of what to do but does not look alarmed or make any attempt to stop the beating.

Instead he helps fix plastic restraining ties on the lad's wrists. Another burly soldier, in desert camouflage and webbing belt with water bottle attached, strides up and whacks the Iraqi's backside with a baton. The prisoner's feet jerk in agony before he appears to pass out, a dark patch that looks like blood around his head. Meanwhile PRISONER 3, in white T-shirt and jeans, is booted in the back and body six times by two soldiers.

As he struggles on the floor one squaddie grabs him by the shoulder, kicks him twice and cracks him about the legs and bare feet with his baton.

PRISONER 4, barefoot in light blue T-shirt with beige trousers, is beaten before being picked bodily off the ground like a sack of potatoes, dumped on his chest and held with his arms up his back by two of the squad.

One soldier, identified by our source as a sergeant, walks up behind him and kicks him hard between the legs from behind.

The boy's body arches in pain and the soldier behind the camera is heard poking fun and groaning: "Oorrgghh!"

As another squad troop past and take no notice a soldier's voice is heard to scream: "In the f***ing head!"

The beating sequence on the video, which appears to be a series of excerpts from the incident, takes up 60 seconds of the 3minute 12second tape. Our investigators counted 42 separate blows but there were probably many more not caught on camera.

The video also has two other shocking sequences. In one, the camera approaches an Iraqi corpse while a soldier draws back a blanket to display it as a sickening trophy.

Sniggers

The cameraman then commits an act considered the ultimate insult to an Iraqi—and kicks the dead man twice in the face, humiliating him in death. As the head of the man, aged in his 20s, is lifted to face the lens a soldier sniggers: "He's been a bad mother****er."

Another scene shows an Iraqi man grabbed by three soldiers and forced to kneel behind a wall where he is kicked hard in the chest.

The video came to light following the unit's return home. Our source was horrified when he saw it and vowed the tape MUST be made public to force the army to clamp down on the abuse of prisoners—and protect the reputations of more than 80,000 dedicated British troops—including 101 killed and 230 injured—who have served in Iraq since the start of the second Gulf war.

He told us: "I'm sure those Iraqis weren't innocent little boys—I bet they'd all been slinging rocks and maybe even explosives. But that's no excuse for a beating like that.

"The ringleader was supposed to be a senior sergeant. Instead of reeling the lads in and calming them down, he was in the thick of it, urging them on. He even kicked that boy straight in the b***s with two other soldiers twice the lad's size holding him face down.

"That's sick. You could understand some terrified 19-year-old private losing it. But that's what NCOs are for—to lead and set an example."

Last night we handed our dossier of evidence to the Ministry of Defence. A Military Police investigation is now under way.


HANDFUL OF THUGS IN ARMY OF HEROES

By Chris Ryan

THIS appalling footage filled me with revulsion —and every professional British soldier would agree.

Seeing supposedly highly-trained troops beating defenceless teenagers to a pulp—and laughing about it in a brutal home video— made me sick to my stomach.

It is something I have never experienced in 20 years of soldiering—and something I hope never to see again.

This small group of men have at a stroke trashed the reputation of our forces around the globe.

The backlash may be fearsome. How can we ever win the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people if we behave like the brutal dictatorship we were sent to remove?

And how can they—or any other population that British troops are entrusted to protect—ever put their faith in us again?

I can only pray this is an isolated incident because it makes a mockery of all the good work and sacrifices our servicemen and women have made in Iraq.

Now they face months, if not years, of increased danger, rebuilding the damage this senseless minority has caused.

And it terrifies me that these men have become so de-sensitised that they can behave like this.

Make no mistake, this incident will be jumped upon by our enemy as a recruiting call for terrorists and will escalate hatred everywhere.

But there is no doubt in my mind that it must be exposed and stamped on, hard. It must never happen again. In the short term things will get a lot tougher for us—this could fuel the fires of insurgency in Iraq and around the world.

But long-term, exposing and stamping out this behaviour is the only way to regain respect and trust for the British Army.

These men must be drummed out, and quickly, before their behaviour can influence others.

I hesitate to call them soldiers —because their actions are so far removed from the exemplary standards we expect of our troops.

They have betrayed their comrades, their training and everything British forces have traditionally stood for—their overriding sense of duty and decency.

In the military we have something called Conduct After Capture—how you should behave if you've been captured and, more importantly, how you conduct yourself with enemy prisoners.

The Geneva Convention—which governs the actions of every single serving British soldier—makes it crystal clear that prisoners deserve humane treatment.

There was an outcry after the first Gulf War at the way Iraq treated our prisoners of war. No one can forget those pictures of our captured fliers, beaten and paraded on TV.

But how can we expect the Iraqis, or anyone else, to treat captured or kidnapped British troops and civilians with dignity now? These aren't even enemy combatants. Even in a hardened society like Iraq they're still children. There is no doubt Iraq is the most dangerous place on Earth right now. And peacekeeping missions are every bit as dangerous and stressful as open war. More British troops have died since the war ended than were killed in action.

In this case a few bad apples have clearly let things get out of hand.

Psychologically the pressure of seeing comrades and friends killed and injured has an enormous impact.

Things have been spiralling out of control in Iraq for some time.

As a young soldier serving out there you are dealing with fear on a daily basis. You don't know when you wake up if it could be your last day on Earth. Roadside bombs, snipers, suicide bombers—these are all daily occurrences. Soldiers are only human so tempers do fray, people get tired and angry. But nobody has the right to react like this—no matter what they've seen or done. That's when the training, discipline and good command should take over.

Here it's gone out of the window and the body language of these soldiers is terrifying because it's so calm and natural.

This was a textbook operation to snatch troublemakers from the crowd—until they enter the compound and the beating starts.

These guys are clearly relaxed—judging by the way they are behaving, they're not expecting to be shot at or bombed. In fact they're so casual it's chilling.

This is something I fear they've experienced before—and the cameraman certainly knows what's going to happen next. When the voiceover tells us, "You're going to get it", he knows what he is talking about. His comments are just sickening, almost sexual, as he revels in the beatings.

His job up there is to observe the crowd, passing information down to the guys on the ground. Instead he's making a home video for his own gratification.

It's a frenzy of gratuitous violence, pure and simple—the vilest and most destructive form of vengeance.

As other members of the team arrive back they stroll past with barely a glance. The clear implication is they've seen this before.

And while they might not be taking part they are as complicit as the men dishing out the beating.

When I was in the SAS during the first Gulf War the lads would go across the border in snatch squads.

But there were NEVER any beatings of PoWs. Even during the hostilities these guys were begging to come HOME with us. That's victory in the vital battle for hearts and minds. We'd won them over and we'd won their respect.

The only thing this horrifying video will win is condemnation from all right-thinking people.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

LICENCE TO HATE!

CARTOON PROTESTS: Scotland Yard nicked demo troublemaker armed with cartoons, but they gave this ranting Muslim dressed as a suicide bomber... a licence to hate!

By Lucy Panton

A PROTESTER dressed as a suicide bomber in the heart of London is ignored by cops yesterday...as another troublemaker is arrested for handing out offensive cartoons.

Full of hate, the Asian man in his twenties had gone out of his way to cause maximum offence.

He arrived at the west London demo in camouflage grey and white trousers, a white T-shirt and a black army-style waistcoat covered in bulging pockets.

The man, with two pals, also wore thick padded gloves and a black bandanna.

Hauled

One onlooker said: "He was clearly dressed like a suicide bomber—the waistcoat he was wearing had pockets which appeared to be filled out with packages.

"This man was there to intimidate passers-by. It was extremely offensive considering what Londoners have been through with the July bombing atrocities. There were police nearby but he was not arrested."

But another man, suspected of trying to provoke Muslims, was hauled inwhen cops moved in to stop him handing out copies of the cartoons which sparked the demo.

He and a second agitator—the pair are believed to be German and Irish, were held for breach of the peace. They were taken to Central London police station for several hours until the demo had finished.

A police source said: "We don't know the intentions of these men but the fear was that they were going to the demonstration to distribute the cartoons and stir up trouble."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Each case must be dealt with on an individual basis taking into consideration the circumstances facing the officers at the time, on the ground, the environment or overall context."

Vile

But Inayat Bunglawala, speaking for the Muslim Council of Britain, called the "bomber" protester "offensive and totally unacceptable".

He was among around 1,500 Muslims protesting outside the Danish Embassy in London. Denmark was the first to publish the Mohammed cartoons.

Scores of complaints have been received by the police after a protest there on Friday which featured vile placards with messages including "Britain you will pay—7/7 is on its way". Placards at yesterday's demo were far more restrained.