independent

Friday 24 May 2013

Not so smart burglar

Burglar Richard Almaraoui, from Norfolk, was quickly caught red-handed after breaking into a flat – while wearing an electronic tag that revealed to police he had been at the address from where a computer was stolen.

The 33-year-old was jailed for five years at Norwich Crown Court after admitting breaking into a flat in Norwich, the 'Eastern Daily Press' reported.

Hero diplomat dies

JOHN Sheardown, a former Canadian diplomat who sheltered fugitive American embassy staff at his Tehran home at great personal risk during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, has died at 88.

His wife Zena said Mr Sheardown died in an Ottawa hospital on December 30.

Something fishy

A MAN has admitted possessing an imitation firearm after trying to get fish and chips with a handgun.

Gloucester Crown Court was told that Omar Mohammed Ali also tried to use the 0.45 calibre handgun to get alcohol at an off-licence. The prosecution said the case of Ali, who will be sentenced later, was "a rather strange matter indeed".

Wrong call for thief

NEW York-based jazz trombonist Nadav Nirenberg left his iPhone in a cab on New Year's Eve. The next morning, he learned that someone was sending messages to women using a dating app on the phone.

Mr Nirenberg logged on to the service and offered the man a date – posing as a woman. When the culprit arrived the musician greeted him with a $20 bill, while holding a hammer – just in case. The thief handed him the iPhone and left without a word.

Cat's out of the bag . . .

GUARDS thought there was something suspicious about a little white cat slipping through a prison gate in northeastern Brazil.

A prison official said they found a mobile phone, drills, small saws and other contraband taped to its body. A spokesman for Alagoas state prison said: "It will be hard to discover who is responsible since the cat does not speak."

Oldest US citizen dies

A 114-YEAR-OLD South Carolina woman who was the oldest living US citizen has died. Mother-of-11 Mamie Rearden of Edgefield, who held the title as the country's oldest person for about two weeks, died at a hospital in Augusta, Georgia, three weeks after breaking her hip in a fall.

Ms Rearden had been listed as the oldest living American after 115-year-old Dina Manfredini of Iowa died last month.

Irish Independent

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