Daily Mail - 30.07.2019

Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019 Page 25

By Emine Sinmaz

and Jack Cohane

Millionaire in dock over

Grenfell ef f igy video is

accused of mocking dead

Detective duo:

Michael

Kitchen and

Honeysuckle

Weeks

intrigue. In a poll for Radio Times, it

was named as the show from this

century which viewers would most

like to see again, followed by police

drama The Bill, which ran from 1984

to 2010, and comedy Count Arthur

Strong (2013 to 2017).

Other shows that made the top

ten include Spooks, Home

Fires, Life On Mars, Detectorists,

Downton Abbey, Phoenix Nights

and Happy Valley.

Horowitz told the latest issue of

the magazine: ‘It really cheers me

up to think that Radio Times read-

ers still hold it in such high regard.

‘It reminds me that years ago, ITV

decided to axe the show – we missed

the whole of 1944 as a result – and it

was only thanks to pressure from

viewers that they were persuaded to

change their minds.

‘The repeats still get high viewing

figures. I’d certainly be up for a

Christmas special or two. There’s

still that missing year to cover!

Foyle’s War was a passion project

for me and I miss it to this day.’

Another ITV drama, the long-run-

ning police soap The Bill, came sec-

ond in the poll.

Originally broadcast in 1984, the

Sun Hill set drama ran for 26 years

before coming to an end in 2010.

BBC1 spy drama Spooks, broad-

cast between 2002 and 2011, came

third in the poll.

The programme

we miss most of

all? Foyle’s War

‘There’s still that

missing year’

By Alisha Rouse

Showbusiness Correspondent

CONFRONTED with murder

and profiteering on the Home

Front, TV viewers could rely on

DCS Foyle to put matters right.

Now they have voted Foyle’s War

the 21st century show they would

most like to return to our screens.

The ITV Second World War

detective drama starred Michael

Kitchen as Detective Chief Superin-

tendent Christopher Foyle and

Honeysuckle Weeks as his resource-

ful driver Samantha.

Written by Anthony Horowitz, it

was first broadcast in 2002 and ran

until 2007 as a spiritual successor to

the Inspector Morse series.

It returned for a further three

series between 2010 and 2015, tak-

ing the story beyond the end of the

war to Cold War-era criminal

7

8

Detectorists,

BBC4, 2014-17

Downton

Abbey,ITV,

2010-15

9

10

Phoenix

Nights,C4, 2001-02

Happy Valley,

BBC1, 2014-16

1 2 3 4 5 6

Foyle’s War,

ITV, 2002-15

The Bill, ITV,

1984-2010

Count Arthur

Strong,

BBC2/BBC1,

2013-17

Spooks,

BBC1 2002-11

Home Fires,

ITV, 2015-16

Life On Mars,

BBC1, 2006-07

21 ST CENTURY TV FAVOURITES

Maggie

Smith in

Downton

Dame

Maggie

Smith in

Downton

Abbey

Disgusting: The burning model

Accused: Paul Bussetti

A PROPERTY millionaire

who filmed an effigy of

Grenfell Tower being

burned was accused of

‘making a mockery’ of the

72 victims yesterday.

Paul Bussetti sent the video

to two WhatsApp groups last

year before the footage went

viral, causing public outrage.

The 47-year-old sat in the dock

as the shocking footage of the

bonfire was played twice to West-

minster magistrates.

In the clip, a group of men and

women howl with laughter and

shout ‘help me’ and ‘jump out of

the window’ as the cardboard

effigy and its cardboard figures are

engulfed in flames.

They also talk about a ‘ninja’

which prosecutor Philip Stott said

is believed to refer to a cardboard

figure that was wearing a niqab.

The footage, shared on Novem-

ber 4 last year, was branded

‘revolting’ by the aunt of 12-year-

old Jessica Urbano Ramirez, who

died on the top floor of the tower

on June 14, 2017.

In a statement read to the court,

Sandra Ruiz said: ‘Jessica was

repeatedly told to stay in the flat

in the longest call to the fire bri-

gade that night and the video

made a mockery of her death.’

Bussetti, co-owner of an £8mil-

lion block of flats in Clapham,

south-west London, denies send-

ing a ‘grossly offensive’ video on

WhatsApp and causing footage of

a ‘menacing character’ to be

uploaded on YouTube. Mr Stott

said Bussetti, from South Nor-

wood, told police he had ‘no idea’

why he filmed the video and that it

had been ‘one of those stupid

moments’. The court heard how

Bussetti said: ‘I’m not gonna

blame it on the drink but I don’t

know why I done it [sic]. I’ve no

idea, it was just sick.’

The prosecution also told the

court the sending of the video had

been ‘racially-motivated’.

Mr Stott said: ‘It’s racist in its

content, some of the people are

black and brown, at least one

dressed in Islamic female dress,

and there is a comment about that

figure, along the lines of “little

ninja catching fire”, at the point

where you can see that it’s that

figure that’s caught fire.’

He called into evidence other

racist messages shared by Bus-

setti, including one the accused

sent to a group during the wed-

ding of the Duke and Duchess of

Cambridge last year at which US

preacher Bishop Michael Curry

gave a sermon. Bussetti said:

‘N***** priest as well’.

Bussetti’s lawyer Mark Summers

QC argued that while the bonfire

incident was ‘hurtful distasteful,

mocking [and] disgusting’ it was

protected by the right to freedom

of expression. Of the effigy, he said:

‘This was, whatever one thinks of

it, an artistic effort. It was a model.

It was satirical.’

Mr Summers also listed remarks

made by Boris Johnson before he

became prime minister which did

not lead to prosecution, such as

his referring to ‘cheering crowds of

flag-waving piccaninnies, with

watermelon smiles’.

Mr Summers also argued that an

encrypted private WhatsApp chat

cannot be considered a public net-

work under the Communications

Act 2003. But Chief Magistrate

Emma Arbuthnot said she was

satisfied there was a case to

answer.

She adjourned the trial until

August 22 when Bussetti is

expected to give evidence.

Islam convert

arrested after

two grenades

seized in raid

A MUSLIM convert was arrested

on suspicion of terrorism after

two military grenades, a fire-

arm and chemicals were seized

at his flat.

Sixty homes were evacuated

and a 300ft-wide area cordoned

off after officers raided the

property. A bomb disposal team

was also called to the scene.

A man, named locally as

unemployed Clinton Hicks, 59,

was arrested under the Terror-

ism Act in Lowestoft, Suffolk.

The Metropolitan Police’s

Counter Terrorism Command

has now taken over the investi-

gation. It said the grenades had

been found to be ‘inert’ – or

not live. The firearm is believed

to be an imitation weapon.

Attempts were being made to

identify the chemicals.

William Coleman, 91, who lives

above Hicks’ flat, said his neigh-

bour grew a beard and took a

Muslim name ‘about six or

eight months ago’.

Mr Coleman’s daughter

Bridget Porter said Hicks, a

former council parks and gar-

dens worker, lived with 16 cats.

Neighbour Marion Rabbatts,

70, said it was ‘scary’ that gre-

nades had been found.

Hicks remained in custody last

night. Detective Chief Superin-

tendent Alexis Boon said: ‘After

a pre-planned operation by

Suffolk Constabulary, Counter

Terrorism Command is now

leading this investigation.’

By Andrew Levy

and Arthur Martin