Section:GDN 1N PaGe:18 Edition Date:190906 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 5/9/2019 18:29 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Friday 6 September 2019
(^18) National
In brief
Crime
Briton charged over
Australian drug haul
Courts
Man denies crossbow
murder of ex-lecturer
Courts
Fraudster sent to jail for
claiming Grenfell cash
A Briton and a French man have
been charged following the
discovery of illicit drugs on a remote
Western Australian reef after a yacht
ran aground.
Members of the public told police
about the vessel, named Zero, when
they saw it near Stick Island, part of
the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago
west of Geraldton.
Police said they found Antoine
Robert Dicenta, 51, who is French,
and Graham Kurt Palmer, 34 , a
Briton, about four miles away on
A man has denied murdering a
retired lecturer who was shot with a
crossbow as he adjusted his satellite
dish in Anglesey , north Wales.
Terence Michael Whall, from the
village of Bryngwran on the island,
pleaded not guilty to murdering
Gerald Corrigan.
Whall, 39, and three other men
from north Wales also denied
conspiring to pervert the course of
justice by allegedly setting fi re to a
Land Rover found burnt out. All four
men were remanded in custody.
The trial is scheduled to begin on
14 January at Mold crown court and
is expected to last four to fi ve weeks.
A pre-trial review will be held in
December, either in Cardiff or Mold.
The prosecuting barrister,
A fraudster who claimed more than
£75,000 meant for survivors of the
Grenfell Tower tragedy in London
was jailed three years and six
months yesterday.
Daniel Steventon of Kilburn,
north-west London, a pharmacist’s
technician at a nearby hospital ,
claimed he had shared a fl at with
one of the 72 people killed in the fi re
in June 2017. He told the authorities
he had been made homeless and
sought housing and fi nancial
support to the value of £75,225.
He pleaded guilty to fraud by
false representation at Isleworth
crown court last Friday.
Several people have been
prosecuted for scams related to the
Grenfell Tower fi re. PA Media
▲ Gerald Corrigan, 74, was injured
by a crossbow bolt and died in May
Burton Island on Tuesday. They
had allegedly travelled there using
an infl atable dinghy, powered
by an outboard motor. About 40
seaweed-covered bags containing
up to a tonne of suspected drugs
were found on the island, with
preliminary tests indicating they
included cocaine and ecstasy.
The two faced Geraldton
magistrates court yesterday and
were remanded in custody to
appear again on 20 September.
Western Australia’s police
commissioner, Chris Dawson , said
the men were believed to have
sailed across the Indian Ocean, but
work continued to confi rm where
they had come from.
“The fi shing community of
Geraldton played a signifi cant role
in this detection and seizure and
maintained regular contact with
police as this matter unfolded,”
Dawson said. AAP
Michael Jones QC, suggested a site
visit would be useful for the jury.
Corrigan was injured on 19 April
and died in hospital on 11 May. The
74-year-old worked as a lecturer in
photography in Lancashire before
retiring to Anglesey more than 20
years ago and took a keen interest in
nature. After the funeral his partner,
Marie Bailey, said it was impossible
to express her sadness and shock at
the alleged murder.
Steven Morris and agency
Business department hit again
as more workers join pay strike
Aamna Mohdin
Receptionists, security guards, porters
and postroom staff at the Department
for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy in London have joined clean-
ers and caterers in striking for better
pay and conditions, marking a signif-
icant escalation in the dispute.
The workers are employed by the
contractors ISS and Aramark , who run
security, catering, cleaning and sup-
port services at the BEIS.
The cleaners and caterers have been
on indefi nite strike since 15 July. The
guards, porters and reception staff are
on strike until next Friday, and will
take rolling strike action – in the form
of one week on strike, one week off –
from 30 September.
The strikers are demanding the Lon-
don living wage and sick pay. Some
have been left in such a precarious
fi nancial situation that their union,
the Public and Commercial Services
Union, set up food bank donations
inside the department’s offi ces on
Victoria Street. The PCS is calling for
all contracted workers at government
departments to be brought back in-
house and to be paid a civil service
wage.
Mark Serwotka, its general sec-
retary , said: “This is a long-running
strike and what we’ve got here are peo-
ple all working for private contractors
being treated appallingly. They are
demonstrating just how badly workers
are treated in the public sector : they
don’t get the London wage, and do jobs
that are taken for granted, but they are
determined to be treated properly and
paid a living wage.”
The union said the department
faced massive disruption, as all cater-
ing facilities in the building were
suspended and conference and staff
entrances were closed.
Spirits were high on the noisy and
vibrant picket line, where strikers
sounded vuvuzelas and cheered when
speakers demanded that the govern-
ment and contractors paid workers a
decent wage.
One cleaner told the crowd: “I’ve
been told the building is disgusting.
‘The one department
that is supposed to
be responsible for
workers’ rights is
treating its workers
abysmally’
Rebecca
Long-Bailey
She said the lack of sick pay meant
she was forced to come in when unwell
because she could not aff ord to miss
a day’s wage.
A security guard, 47, who also did
not wish to give his name, has been
with the BEIS for 16 years. “In that
time period, I’ve had a pay rise of about
£2.50,” he said.
“This government department
said they’d implement a London liv-
ing wage, so why am I here today? I am
not getting the living wage and I’ve
got fi ve children.” He said he would
do “whatever it takes” to win the liv-
ing wage and sick pay.
Rebecca Long-Bailey , the Labour
MP and shadow secretary of state
for business, energy and industrial
strategy, said: “The one department
that is supposed to be responsible for
workers’ rights is treating its workers
abysmally.”
She added that such disputes would
be at the heart of the next general
election.
Long-Bailey told the crowd at the
picket yesterday morning: “The fact
that you’re out on strike in front of this
department that’s supposed to be a
beacon across the world is ... shame-
ful. But remember this, you’re not just
striking for people in this department,
you’re acting as an inspiration for peo-
ple up and down the country.”
BEIS and the contractors ISS and
Aramark have been approached for
comment.
It’s dirty, people cannot even go to the
toilet because it’s dirty. My colleagues
from cleaners – when we win, we have
a lot of work to do.”
A caterer, 42, who has been work-
ing at the department for 12 years said:
“We’ve had the security guards join us,
then the receptionists, and so on. I feel
more powerful. The more people who
join, the more they feel it in there.”
PA Media
Young British astronomers have been
invited to come up with a new name
for a large, gaseous exoplanet – a
planet outside our solar system – some
740 light years from Earth, known
as WASP-13b. It orbits its host star
WASP-13 in just four days.
The UK has been asked to come
up with a name for the planet and
its star as part of a global competi-
tion organised by the International
Astronomical Union to celebrate its
centenary. Another 95 stellar objects
will be named by other countries.
“This is an unparalleled chance for a
school or youth group to leave its mark
on the universe,” said Robert Walsh ,
professor of astrophysics at the Uni-
versity of Central Lancashir e, who will
run the UK competition.
Schools and youth organisations
can submit suggestions online until
18 October and a panel of astronomy
experts will agree a shortlist for a pub-
lic vote in November. The winning
names from all participating countries
will be announced in mid-December.
Written in the stars:
children asked to
rename planet
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