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Corpse lands on kids


By JOHN COLES

CHILDREN playing in a housing estate subway screamed in horror when a headless corpse fell among them.

A man in his 50s had jumped from a bridge 40ft above — with a wire noose around his neck.

He was decapitated and his body plunged to the ground.

Several youngsters aged as young as six were being counselled yesterday after witnessing the gruesome apparent suicide on the Pennsylvania estate in the Llanedeyrn suburb of Cardiff.

Children from the nearby Springwood Primary School were playing in a subway under the busy main road ringing the estate.

One local mum said: “It was absolutely horrific for the kids.

“There were lots of them outdoors because the weather was nice. Children around the subway heard a thud and then this body without a head was just lying there. Kids are naturally curious and there was soon a big crowd staring.”

Insp Steve Furnham said: “We had a call to say a body had been found. Officers attended and found young children around the body. They then sealed off the scene and began an investigation.

“The body was removed and the head was later discovered nearby.”

A nurse at Springwood school, who is a trained counsellor, has been talking to the youngsters


Terrorism fear turns out to be a false alarm
Suspicious box near bridge only an animal burial at sea
By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
What some feared was possible terrorist activity underneath the Fred Hartman Bridge on Friday turned out to be an animal burial at sea.

A tugboat crew reported seeing someone place a suspicious box at one of the bridge supports late Friday morning, and during this time of war and color-coded alerts, authorities prepared for the worst. They closed both sides of the bridge to traffic along Texas 146, shut down part of the Houston Ship Channel and alerted the FBI.

The U.S. Coast Guard used X-ray equipment to scan the contents of the box placed beneath the bridge -- only to find a dead cat inside.

Harris County Sheriff's Lt. Gerald Warren said the animal apparently was a family pet. The cat's name and dates of birth and death were written on the box with a black magic marker, sheriff's officials said.

The scare happened around 10:30 a.m. Friday, when the tugboat crew called the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service and reported seeing a boater place the box at one of the bridge supports.

Part of the ship channel was closed to vessel traffic. The bridge, which spans the Ship Channel, was closed on both the La Porte and Baytown sides of Texas 146. Motorists were advised to use Beltway 8 as an alternate route.

After the contents of the box were determined, the bridge and waterway were reopened to traffic about 12:15 p.m.

Authorities said they don't know who placed the box beneath the bridge. Coast Guard officials stopped a recreational fishing boat nearby and questioned the people on board, but found they had no part in the incident, said Chief Warrant Officer Rob Wyman. They were turned over to port police and released, he said.

Although the box turned out not to be a threat, Coast Guard officials praised the tugboat operator for raising the alarm.

"This is a great example of exactly what we have been asking the maritime community to do. We are very pleased it worked out the way it did," Wyman said.


28 baby girls found in suitcases on Chinese bus


AFP Photo


Police in southwestern China discovered 28 baby girls hidden in suitcases on a long-distance bus and apparently destined to be sold, police and a state-run newspaper said.

One of the babies had died by the time police, acting on a tip-off, found them Tuesday night on the bus at a highway toll gate in Bingyang, Guangxi province, the Beijing Morning News said.

Police at the Bingyang police station confirmed the case and told AFP more than 20 suspects had been arrested.

"The babies are fine. More than 20 people have been arrested," one police officer said, refusing to comment further.

Another officer said the youngest babies were only a few days old. "They had been on the bus for four or five hours before they were found," he said.

The oldest baby was no more than three months old, the newspaper reported.

Some of the infants were two or three to a suitcase. The nylon suitcases were stacked on the luggage rack, the back row of seats and along the sides of the bus.

The babies appeared to have been drugged to keep them from crying and being found.

Police officers recounted their disbelief when they found one baby after another on the bus.

"After I found three to four infants, I felt shocked," one officer told the newspaper.

Police said they did not know where the babies came from and where they were headed. The bus was travelling from Yulin city in the poverty-stricken Guangxi province to central China's similarly poor Anhui province.

The 27 surviving babies were in stable condition. The cheeks of some of them had turned purplish as temperatures had dropped on the bus during the night.

The infants are being kept at the Minorities Weisheng School in nearby Nanlin district, one of the police officers told AFP.

"Nurses are taking care of them. The local government has set aside money to care for the infants. Local residents are taking milk powder to the school for the babies," he said.

Most of the infants were a few months old and some had been kept in large leather bags near the passengers, he said.

Those who were arrested included passengers on the bus, the officer said.

"Most of the people arrested were middle-aged women from Bingyang. They probably wanted to make some money. They might have been headed for Guangdong," he said.

Police are seeking other suspects. "They haven't arrested all of them yet," he said.

So far no one had claimed the infants.

"It's possible the parents gave the babies away. Family planning policy is very strict and they probably had exceeded their birth limit and wanted to give the babies away to avoid fines," the officer said.

"Perhaps some of them were born to unwed mothers or migrant workers."

Child and female trafficking is a serious problem in China with cases regularly reported in Chinese newspapers. Children are sold to families who lack children or want more, while older girls or women are sold as brides to poor farmers.

A report issued by UNICEF in 2001 said more than a quarter of a million women and children have been victims of trafficking in China in recent decades.


Police: 3 kids living in filth




TARA YORK ELLIS, Morning Journal Writer March 21, 2003




LORAIN -- A mother of three who told police she is ''doing the best she can'' was charged with endangering children after police found her trailer in such filthy conditions that one investigating officer ''had to exit the trailer to vomit,'' according to a police report.
On Tuesday, police found the trailer at 5110 W. Erie Ave., Lot 5, to be full of cats, cat feces, roaches, soiled clothing and garbage, the report said.

Police found a clear sticky liquid on the floor with dead roaches in it and a bathtub full of Pine-Sol cleaner being used to give the children baths because the plumbing stopped working that day, according to the report.

''I entered the kitchen area and observed the entire kitchen counter covered with dirty dishes ... hamburger that had a spoiled odor to it,'' the report said. The refrigerator contained only a mostly-empty bag of frozen french fries and two bowls of a substance that police ''could not determine what it was and if it was for human consumption,'' the report said.

At one point a police officer had to step outside to vomit because ''the foul odor was so strong,'' the report said.

The three children, the oldest 3 years old, were running around in diapers and had dirty feet, the report said.

A roach crawled out from under a pile of dirty clothes in the bathroom, the report said. A cat crept through a hole in the wall between the bathroom and bedroom, where more dirty dishes covered the headboard of the bed, according to the report.

The mother, Amanda Phillips, 23, told police ''she is the mother of three and can't keep up,'' the report said.

Phillips, who is pregnant with her fourth child, explained the state of the house by saying her boyfriend ''is always bringing things to the residence and leaving it there,'' the report said.

Phillips reportedly threatened to harm herself while police were there, so she was taken to the Nord Center for evaluation, then to the county jail.

All three children were turned over to Children's Services and are now living with a foster family, said a representative from Children's Services.

Phillips was arraigned Wednesday afternoon and released, and her case will be reviewed by Lorain Municipal Court Judge Gustalo Nunez 2 p.m. May 7, according to the court clerk's office.


Fla. Woman Killed In Wood Chipper
Posted: 6:43 a.m. EST March 20, 2003

A tree service worker died when she accidentally became caught in a wood chipper, police said. Her entire body passed through the machine.

Roziland Jennifer Mowell, 24, of Lakeland, was working with a crew from Ashbranch Tree Service on Wednesday when she became caught in the chipper, police said. Mowell's husband, R. Bryan Mowell, owns the tree service company.

Police spokesman Jack Gillen would not comment on how she was caught in the chipper.

Her co-workers ran from the home, hopped into a truck and left the scene, Gillen said. They called police shortly thereafter, but Gillen said he didn't know why the workers originally fled.

Contractors working across the street heard the wood chipper, which was still running. The machine was attached to a company truck.

"It was their first day here and we didn't hear them doing any work," said Larry Laxdal, who was working across the street. "We didn't hear any chain saws going all morning. Then, all of a sudden they all hopped in the truck and left. The only thing we heard after that was the chipper."

The co-workers were questioned and released, Gillen said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident.

Another employee of Ashbranch died on the job in 1996. Paul Plynaar, 16, was killed when a 30-foot tree trunk fell on him, police reported. OSHA fined the company $750 for a safety violation.

Two people also died in wood chippers in Florida in 1999.

Kurt McConnell, 14, was killed caught in a chipper while working with his father's tree-cutting crew in Gainesville. In Valrico, Joshua Avery, a 22-year-old tree trimmer, tried to free a stuck branch in a wood chipper with his foot and was pulled into the machine up to his waist.