Burglar accidentally confesses to attack in courtroom whisper

Francis Overend was found guilty of attacking a police officer

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•  Martin Evans, crime correspondent 

29 JUNE 2016 • 5:57PM

Aburglar who attacked a police officer with a crowbar was convicted when he accidentally admitted the offence during whispered courtroom confession.

Francis Overend, 47, had initially denied hitting the officer over the head, claiming he had been attempting to give himself up at the time.

But when he was cross examined about events at his trial, he accidentally let slip under his breath: “…and that’s when I hit him.”

Overend was out of prison on licence at the time of the burglary, having been jailed for life in 2002 for taking two police officers prisoner at gunpoint.

The court heard that on January 12 this year he and another man had been attempting to break into a house in Coventry when they were confronted by local officer, PC Alex Healy.

Overend had been attempted to prise open some patio doors using a crowbar but when challenged used the metal bar to hit PC Healy over the head.

Prosecuting Amy Jackson, prosecuting said: “This is about these two defendants going to a house in Coventry together with crowbars and attempting to commit a burglary.

“They are here because a neighbour called the police, and they were disturbed by those police officers arriving.

“Mr Thomas runs off, but Mr Overend decides he doesn’t want to run, and he attacks Pc Alex Healy with a crowbar.”

Overend was overpowered when other officers arrived to help their injured colleague.

The assault on PC Healy left him with a serious head wound which needed stitches.

When I saw the figure come round, because he was all in black I didn’t know he was a police officer until he was a couple of feet away, and I started walking with my hands up...and that’s when I hit himFrancis Overend's accidental confession

Giving evidence at Warwick Crown Court Overend initially denied wounding the officer.

But as he gave evidence he appeared to make the fatal confession under his breath.

Describing his version of events he said: “When I saw the figure come round, because he was all in black I didn’t know he was a police officer until he was a couple of feet away, and I started walking with my hands up.”

But then dropping his voice he added: “And that’s when I hit him.”

Overend denied having made the comments and the trial was adjourned so that lawyers could listen back to a recording of proceedings.

Ms Jackson played the tape back to the jury and despite denying having said the words, Overend was found guilty of wounding the officer with intent to evade arrest or to cause him grievous bodily harm.

Overend had previously admitted attempted burglary.

Warren Thomas, 42, who had also been at the scene was convicted of attempted burglary and going equipped for burglary.

He was also out on licence from a 17-year sentence for a series of bank armed robberies.

Both men were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing.

Leading sommelier convicted of assault after biting colleague five times during 'rough and forceful' sex

Wine waiter Arnaud Bardary (not pictured) worked at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant Maze in Mayfair CREDIT: REX FEATURES

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•  Telegraph Reporters 

29 JUNE 2016 • 12:15PM

One of the world's leading sommeliers bit a colleague five times during sex after his leaving party, a court heard.

Wine waiter Arnaud Bardary, 32, who worked at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant Maze in Mayfair, slept with Anais Lopes after she flashed her breasts at him.

But Ms Lopes went to the police after the champagne-fuelled sex session that was "quite rough", Westminster Magistrates' Court was told.

Bardary pleaded guilty to one count of assault by beating. Magistrates fined him £250 and ordered he pay £150 compensation to the victim.

This amorous liaison ended up not as an amorous liaison but a rough and tumble, as if the victim there went into a tumble dryerProsecutor Edward Aydin

Prosecutor Edward Aydin said: "On 1 May they met in the City of Quebec bar in Marble Arch. They then took a taxi back to his address a few miles away.

"She had been kissing him at the bar and once at his address then had consensual sex.

"It lasted for about an hour and during that time, in the early hours of the morning, he began to bite the victim and the sex was quite rough.

"She asked him to stop because it was hurting her, but he continued to bite her. He bit her five times.

"This amorous liaison ended up not as an amorous liaison but a rough and tumble, as if the victim there went into a tumble dryer.

"But they continued to have sex, they finished having sex, they finished the champagne and she went home by an Uber and later reported him to the police."

Mr Aydin added: "It was not romantic, it was rough sex, it was forceful."

Arnaud Bardary (not pictured) was rated as one of the two best youngest sommeliers in the world while working at Maze CREDIT: REX FEATURES

Anne McCarthy, defending, said: "He's in a state of shock about the allegations being made. Right at the beginning, he said there was never any intention of assault per se."

She added: "At the leaving party, to put it colloquially, [the victim] came on very strong to him. She was bearing her breasts at him and using language that she would destroy him."

Bardary, who has since expressed remorse for the attack at his home, then in Putney, south London, now plans to continue his career in Australia.

He is said to be one of just 250 people with enough expertise in wine service to qualify as a master sommelier.

Ms McCarthy said: "He was rated as one of the two best youngest sommeliers in the world, then the second-best in the UK in 2015.

"He has not worked after giving in his notice in March 2016, hence the leaving party. He is due to start as a beverage manager in Sydney, Australia, on 18 July of this year. All his visas, tickets and travel arrangements have been made."

The case was heard at Westminster Magistrates' Court

Magistrate David Rogers said: "Normally we would have you undertake a community order, but because of your situation we are going to impose a fine today.

"It is an exceptional case, but we did accept that you have pleaded guilty and you have shown remorse and embarrassment.

"We feel that you got carried away and crossed a line that you shouldn't have crossed but that was it."

Bardary,who now lives in Olonne-Sur-Mer in western France, must also pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge within two weeks.

Rita Ora Burglary: Man Guilty Of £200k Raid

Charaf Elmoudden broke into the property while the singer and her sister slept and stole iPhones, computers and handbags.

15:22, UK,Wednesday 29 June 2016

Ora was asleep at home with her sister when the man broke in

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A 26-year-old man has been found guilty of burgling pop star Rita Ora's home in a raid worth more than £200,000.

Charaf Elmoudden went to the singer's four-bedroom house in northwest London on 28 November last year and made off with a stash of expensive shoes, phones, computers and a designer bag, Harrow Crown Court heard.

The former X Factor judge called the police and said she would "f*** up" the burglar after he woke her sister Elena up rifling through her bedroom.

Ora and her sister were asleep upstairs at the semi-detached home they share with their parents when two men broke in to the three-storey house.

Elmoudden and an accomplice allegedly made off with designer goods and electronics which included iPhones, Apple Mac computers, a Fifty Shades Of Grey handbag worth £2,682 and a Louis Vuitton bag, the court heard.

Charaf Elmoudden

He was picked out in a line-up by Elena three months after the burglary, jurors were told.

Elena told the jury she confronted an intruder and he "looked dead in my eyes".

Ora gave evidence from behind a screen during the trial and the court was also played a frantic 999 call from the star.

In it, she sobbed "I don't have a knife" and threatened to kill the thieves.

She was heard screaming "Don't you f****** come up these stairs. I will f*** you up - you f****** hear me?" after locking herself in her room with her sister.

Elmoudden has a number of previous convictions including for trying to sell pictures of the body of a dead Harry Potter actor.

He had denied being involved in the burglary but police discovered £3,500 in cash "hidden" in an envelope in a sofa bed at his home on Sydney Road, Muswell Hill, north London, at the time of his arrest in January.

He was found guilty with a majority verdict of 10 to two of burglary.

Ora was not present at court for the verdict.

Alice Gross' Parents 'Stunned' By Killing

The schoolgirl's mother tells an inquest the death "destroyed much of our faith in our country's ability to protect its citizens".

17:27, UK,Monday 27 June 2016

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   Gallery: The Killing Of Alice Gross

   Alice Gross, 14, was last seen walking along a towpath in west London on 28 August, 2014
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    Gallery: The Killing Of Alice Gross

    Alice Gross, 14, was last seen walking along a towpath in west London on 28 August, 2014

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The mother of schoolgirl Alice Gross has told an inquest there are still "unanswered questions" over her death at the hands of a foreign criminal.

Latvian builder Arnis Zalkalns is believed to have murdered the 14-year-old from Ealing, west London, in a sexually motivated attack before taking his own life.

Zalkalns had previously served a prison sentence for killing his wife in his native country and Ros Hodgkiss, Alice's mother, said the family "remain stunned" he was able to come to the UK.

"It is impossible to express the devastation that we still feel at Alice's death," Ms Hodgkiss said, reading from a statement.

"We have many unanswered questions. We will never know exactly what happened on that day."

Video: Jan 15: Murder Suspect On CCTV

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox ruled last year that the inquest, being held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, would examine whether failures by the British Government and police contributed to Alice's death.

Ms Hodgkiss said the family was "extremely grateful" that possible failures were "going to be explored".

"We want to reiterate that the reason for these questions is so that we can establish whether or not the systems for monitoring foreign offenders and cross-border sharing of information are robust," she said.

"We appreciate that they may have changed significantly, but we remain stunned that a foreign national with a conviction for murder was not monitored, or even known about in any way.

"This has destroyed much of our faith in our country's ability to protect its citizens.

"The Home Office and the police forces nationwide should be doing everything they can to ensure that this should not be allowed to happen again."

Ms Hodgkiss said her daughter was "witty, smart and academic but she could also push boundaries".

"In this way she was no different to any normal teenager," she said.

"She was independent and like many teenagers of her age she enjoyed shopping, cinema and attending parties with her friends.

"She could also at times be shy and under-confident and she cared a lot about what other people thought of her."

Alice's body was found in the River Brent, tied up and weighted down with bricks, logs and a bicycle wheel, a little over a month after she went missing from home.

Pathologist Ashley Fegan-Earl told the inquest that "compression asphyxiation" was the most likely cause of death.

Zalkalns was found dead in a park less than a week after Alice's body was found and police said he would have been charged with murder had he not died.