In Brief: Dead pensioner locked in toilet
Saturday November 21 2009
A council was forced to apologise yesterday after day-care staff failed to notice a pensioner had died and her body was left locked in a toilet.
The 89-year-old was not seen after going to the toilet at the Christchurch Day Centre in Highcliffe, Dorset, England, on September 8. She is believed to have had a heart attack but staff failed to notice that she did not get on the bus to go home.
Tears of clown as jury backs NYPD
A US jury has ruled that New York City police didn't use excessive force when they arrested a professional clown who left a suspicious item that turned out to be a balloon-inflation device in a coffee shop.
Alexander Alhovsky sued following his 2006 arrest, which stemmed from a report of a suspicious package at a Manhattan Starbucks. The bomb squad later determined it was harmless. Mr Alhovsky claimed he had suffered physical and mental injuries.
Man executed as clemency denied
A death-row inmate convicted of taking part in a fatal robbery at a Houston store was executed after the Texas governor rejected a parole board's advice to spare him because he was not the gunman.
Robert Lee Thompson (34) was an accomplice to Sammy Butler, who gunned down store clerk Mansoor Bhai Rahim Mohammed 13 years ago.
Fraudster spotted on reality show
California tax officials say an interior designer's false disability claim was uncovered when he was spotted on a home improvement TV show.
Ronald Hunt (56), of Los Angeles, was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay more than $180,000 (€121,300). He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of fraud.
Depp is 'sexiest man in the world'
'Pirates of the Caribbean' star Johnny Depp was named 'People' magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" on Wednesday, reclaiming a title he first won in 2003.
Depp, who 'People' said was "the king of cool with the killer cheekbones", succeeded 2008 winner Hugh Jackman. George Clooney and Brad Pitt have also won the honour twice.
Irish Independent
