The Daily Telegraph - 27.08.2019

News

Violent gangs

from Albania

bring terror

to UK shores

By Charles Hymas
Home AffAirs editor

THEY are known as the “Falcons” in
Albania where there is even a popular
comedy show that has a dedicated slot
each week about their ability to break
into houses to steal goods.
Their tactics of violent burglary,
often while their victims are in, have
terrorised homeowners in Italy and
Spain but appear to have now spread to
the UK, according to police.
Fabion Kuci and Azem Dajci are two
such Falcons, currently in Wormwood
Scrubs jail for aggravated burglary
during which they were caught with a
gun and ammunition.
Police in London, Kent and Surrey
have issued “wanted” alerts for at least
five other Albanian criminals behind a
string of aggravated burglaries across
the south of England.
Burglars Kuci, nicknamed Gucci,
and Dajci, nicknamed Ziro, are mem-
bers of the east London-based Hellba-
nianz gang, which regularly posts
images of gang members posing with
sports cars, guns, drugs and wads of
cash. The gang is thought to rule the
east London cocaine trade with an iron

fist. Police sources say Hellbanianz,

whose motto is “We are God Of The

Streets”, are also behind increasing

gang violence as they vie to leapfrog

their rivals in turf wars.

Their brazen brand of violence

extends to prison from where, using

illegally smuggled in phones, Kuci and

Dajci have continued to mock justice

by posting images of themselves on the

private Instagram account of the

Hellbanianz gang.

Seen by almost 1,000 people,

comments included “Free Ziro”, “You

are the Giant”, and: “Yes Yes like real

bosses...”. Kuci was previously jailed for

four and a half years at Maidstone

Crown Court for a burglary in which he

and three others wearing balaclavas

targeted a family home in Chatham,

Kent, in the early hours. The four-man

gang armed with a sawn-off shotgun

and handgun beat the father of the

family unconscious with a pistol stock

before making off in the man’s Jaguar.

The court was told the victim could

be heard crying out in pain as his girl-

friend and daughters, aged three and

five, cowered in a bedroom in the flat.

They are not the only Hellbanianz

who post from prison. Albanian Tristen

Asllani, who is serving a 25-year sen-

tence for drugs and firearms offences,

is pictured in jail doing the gang’s

trademark salute where they mimic the

horns of a bull with their fists.

He was arrested after crashing a car

containing a suitcase of cocaine into a

‘Falcon’ criminals mock

British justice from jail

as police raise concerns

over rising tide of offences

Mother who lost four children in arson attack dies from her injuries

By Helena Horton

A MOTHER whose four children were
killed in a house fire has died 20
months after suffering life-threatening
injuries, with police called on to charge
the arsonists with murder.
Michelle Pearson, 37, suffered severe
burns in the blaze following a petrol
bomb attack at her home in Walkden,
Greater Manchester, in December 2017.
Sandra Lever, her mother, said yes-

terday that Mrs Pearson had died “after

a hard 20 months of fighting”, adding

that she had gone to “join her babies”.

Her death prompted calls for two

arsonists convicted of murdering her

children to face a fresh murder charge.

Nazir Afzal, former chief prosecutor

for the North West, tweeted: “Those

convicted of the murder of her chil-

dren now need to be charged with her

murder. Time is no longer a bar to pros-

ecution. Such a sad case.”

The fire claimed the lives of Demi

Pearson, 15, her brother Brandon, aged

eight, and sisters Lacie, aged seven,

and Lia, aged three.

In May, Zak Bolland and David

Worrall, then 23 and 25, were each con-

victed of four counts of murder and

jailed for life, with minimum terms of

40 and 37 years respectively, while

Courtney Brierley was jailed for 21

years for manslaughter.

Mrs Pearson was put into an induced

coma after suffering 75 per cent burns

to her body. She appeared to be recov-

ering in February of this year, when

she was filmed outside a hospital re-

leasing heart-shaped balloons in a trib-

ute to her children. She was seen in a

wheelchair, with a tracheostomy tube

in her neck and both legs in casts.

However, her mother said in June

she had taken a “turn for the worse”

and was in a “critical” condition.

The trial at Manchester Crown Court

heard that Bolland was involved in a

“petty” feud with Mrs Pearson’s son

Kyle, 17, over damage to a car, prompt-

ing a series of tit-for-tat attacks.

A jury was told that Bolland and

Worrall, fuelled by drink and drugs,

filled two glass bottles with £1.50 of

petrol bought from a garage, stuffing

the tops with tissue paper, as they pre-

pared the attack at 5am on Dec 11, 2017.

Two lit petrol bombs were thrown

inside Kyle’s mother’s home after the

kitchen window was smashed. Bol-

land’s bottle “exploded” near the stairs,

blocking the only exit to the ground

floor, trapping the victims upstairs.

Within seconds, flames engulfed the

three-bedroom mid-terrace home.

Kyle Pearson managed to escape

with a friend, Bobby Harris.

Greater Manchester police said they

would be reviewing the investigation

and consulting with the Crown

Prosecution Service.

Boy, 14, charged over school

fire as pupils to study at home

By Yohannes Lowe

A HUGE fire that broke out at a second-

ary school will mean that hundreds of

students will have to study at home, a

councillor has said, as a 14-year-old boy

has been charged over the incident.

The teenager was arrested following

the “suspicious” blaze at Woodmill

High School in Dunfermline and is due

to appear at Dunfermline Sheriff Court

today, police have confirmed.

More than 80 firefighters from the

Scottish fire and rescue service (SFRS)

have been tackling the “large and com-

plex” fire, which began on Sunday

evening just after 5pm.

The blaze is understood to have

started in the newly refurbished unit

that provides additional support for

children with learning difficulties, be-

fore spreading to the dining hall and on

to the main building.

The exact cause remains unknown.

The school, which is located around

20 miles north-west of Edinburgh, reo-

pened its doors to 1,400 pupils return-

ing from their summer holiday last

Wednesday. But it will now be shut for

the rest of the week as fire crews con-

tinue to contain the flames and prevent

them from causing any more damage to

the 61-year-old structure.

In the meantime, the students will

be taught through “e-learning”, as the

school talks to the local authority about

a more permanent solution.

Teachers will be able to contact pu-

pils and assign them work through the

Glow system, an online learning plat-

form accessible to all students enrolled

in the school.

Possible long-term options are

thought to include pupils being placed

at one of the other three high schools

across Fife or taught in “temporary ac-

commodation”.

Fay Sinclair, the convener of Fife

Council’s education and children’s ser-

vices committee, told The Telegraph: “I

was there last night until midnight and

saw the extent of the fire. I was back

down this morning and the firefighters

were still tackling some of the flames in

the middle of the building.

“There are certainly parts of the

building that look like a shell. The de-

partment for additional support is de-

stroyed but there is also significant

damage to the end of another two

blocks.”

SFRS incident commander, deputy

assistant chief officer Stuart Stevens,

said: “We have worked through the

night in challenging conditions to con-

tain this fire and prevent further spread

within the building ... this remains a

large and complex incident and we will

remain in attendance for some time.”

No casualties have been reported.

Pilot who taught Vorderman

stunts killed in plane crash

By Yoh a n ne s L owe

A CHAMPION aerobatic pilot who
taught former Countdown star Carol
Vorderman how to fly was killed in a
light aircraft crash at the weekend.
Emily Collett, 36, had been execut-
ing a mid-air stunt when she crashed
into a field near the village of Stonor in
Oxfordshire on Saturday afternoon,
The Sun reported. Mrs Collett was with
novice aerobatic pilot Tom Castle, who

worked at Sywell aerodrome in North-
ampton, in the small two seater Pitts
S-2A plane. Mr Castle also died.
She had earlier taken off from White
Waltham airfield near Maidenhead,
where she and her husband Mike ran
Ultimate Aerobatics, which provides
training courses for aspiring pilots.
Thames Valley Police confirmed
that the aircraft’s pilot and passenger
were pronounced dead at the scene.
Nobody on the ground was injured.
Mrs Collett, who became the British
advanced aerobatics national cham-
pion in 2016, had taught Vorderman

how to do a loop-the-loop in the same

model of plane two years ago.

The television personality and

former Countdown co-host was shown

being given a lesson by her during an

episode of The One Show in 2017.

Vorderman said in a tribute: “Such a

terrible terrible loss.

“Emily was an extraordinary young

woman and pilot and my time with her

in the air was nothing but a joy.

“My heart goes out to her husband

Mike, to Emily’s family and to Tom

Castle’s family in their grief. Rest

In Peace.”

Mrs Collett and her husband both

learnt aerobatics, including spins, rolls

and loops, in the Pitts S-2A. The air-

craft has a maximum speed of more

than 200mph, according to their

company’s website.

Mrs Collett was an experienced flier,

having competed in the British

Aerobatics Team and the World

Advanced Aerobatics Championships

during her career.

Air Accidents Investigation Branch

(AAIB) investigators carried out an on-

site examination before the light air-

craft was lifted on to a low-loader and

driven to their Hampshire headquar-

ters. A spokesman said: “The AAIB

investigation will take some time. An

accident report will be released in

due course.”

shop in Crouch End, north London,

after being pursued by police. Officers

found 46lb (21kg) of cocaine.

Agron Demarku is pictured in his

cell held aloft in apparent triumph by

another inmate. He was the ringleader

of a five-strong family gang jailed for a

total of 63 years for running a £1.8 mil-

lion chain of brothels employing

women as young as 16 trafficked to

Britain from Lithuania.

Lulzim Zefi, jailed for 12 years for

smuggling cocaine hidden inside car

dashboards, posted a smug selfie in a

jail courtyard. The Ministry of Justice

(MoJ) said it had been removed from

social media. Marsel Meco, part of a

four-man group jailed for 12 years for

money laundering, has been prolific

with postings on Instagram.

Albanians have overtaken Poles as

the biggest foreign criminal group in

UK jails, despite a deal in 2013 that

allowed them to be sent home to serve

their sentences.

Sokol Kalani, who heads an Albanian

state police task force against burglars

who operate in Europe, said there was

a rise in requests from police to help

identify and investigate the criminals

behind Falcon-style burglaries in the

UK. “Most of the requests we have are

from Italy and Germany but lately we

have received the same requests from

the UK to identify and arrest Albanians

who have been involved in burglaries

to face justice,” he said. Police said the

stolen goods were often smuggled to

Albania in lorries or vans to be sold on

the black market.

Among those being hunted by police

in the UK is Marjo Marku, 30, who is

wanted for four burglaries and whose

image has been released with others in

an attempt to elicit new leads.

Chief Insp Jim Corbett said: “These

offenders have callously robbed, stolen

or burgled from communities, com-

muters and tourists within London, of-

ten using violence and weapons, for

their own financial gain.”

The MoJ said it had seized illicit mo-

bile phones from jails and removed ac-

counts after being alerted to them.

Marsel Meco, with

beard, posing with

another inmate

with the

Hellbanianz

trademark salute.

Above, an Albanian

gang’s ill-gotten

gains

‘Most of the

requests we

have [for

Albanians]

are from

Italy and

Germany

but lately we

have received

the same

requests

from the UK’

Carol Vorderman and Emily Collett in a Pitts S-2A cockpit during an aerobatics lesson

‘She was an extraordinary

young woman and pilot.

My time with her in the air

was nothing but a joy’

8 ***^ Tuesday 27 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws