The Times - UK (2020-08-06)

the times | Thursday August 6 2020 2GM 21

News

A man has been convicted of raping
and murdering his childhood friend
who had trusted him to walk her home.
Wesley Streete, 20, attacked and
killed Keeley Bunker after she told a
worried friend: “I’ve got Wes. Wes will
walk me back, it’ll be fine.” She had been
out celebrating her 20th birthday at a
gig in Birmingham on September 19 last
year before returning by taxi to
Tamworth, Staffordshire.
Ms Bunker turned down the offer of
staying at a friend’s house because she
wanted her own bed and believed that
Streete would get her home safely.
However, he raped and murdered her
before leaving her body in a stream in
a park. She was found by her uncle on
the day she was meant to attend a
second interview for her dream job as a
teaching assistant at a primary school.
Friends and relatives began a search

Decades of abuse of women and children
at a cult-like religious movement was
covered up by its senior members, a
report has found.
The disgraced Jesus Army sect, based
in Northamptonshire, became promi-
nent in the 1970s and established a
sprawling community of houses.
Members, who ranged from home-
less drug addicts to devout Christian
families, were put to work in farms or
businesses and forced to hand over

Friend raped and murdered young

woman after birthday celebration

Neil Johnston Midlands Correspondent after Ms Bunker failed to return home
from watching the rapper Aitch per-
form at the O2 Academy.
During the trial, the jury was shown
footage of Ms Bunker enjoying her
birthday night out at Snobs nightclub in
Birmingham hours before her death.
She had been with a friend, Monique
Riggon, when they met Streete. The
three shared a taxi home to Tamworth.
Streete, a 20-year-old warehouse
worker, changed his account of the
night four times and falsely claimed
that he accidentally killed Ms Bunker
during sex and left her body because he
was “scared” and “embarrassed”. How-
ever, the jury unanimously found him
guilty of rape and murder at Stafford
crown court yesterday after eight hours
of deliberations.
Streete was also found guilty of two
other charges of rape and three sexual
assaults in relation to three other
victims over previous years. Officers

said that Streete showed “arrogance

and audacity” by taking part in the

search.

Her body was finally found when Ms

Bunker’s uncle let out what a witness

described as “the most horrendous

scream or shout I’ve heard in my life”.

Forensic evidence showed that she

had struggled to prise herself from

Streete’s grip. GPS data from his phone

proved that he had lied and placed him

near to the scene of the murder, which

he returned to five times. CCTV also

captured the two walking through

Tamworth and near a rugby clubhouse,

at the edge of the park. It showed

Streete hugging Ms Bunker before, a

few seconds later, he followed her out of

frame and into the darkness. He will be

sentenced tomorrow.

In a statement, Ms Bunker’s family

and friends described her as the “most

beautiful young lady that you could

ever wish to meet”.

Jesus Army leaders ‘covered up decades of abuse’

money and possessions. Ten people

have been convicted of sex offences and

hundreds of former members are

seeking damages for sexual, physical

and psychological abuse.

Last year the organisation was dis-

solved and apologised to anyone “who

experienced harm in the past” and

urged victims to contact police.

The sect commissioned an inquiry in

2017 and its report, leaked to the BBC,

says it found that all five surviving

leaders had colluded with sexual of-

fenders through their handling of com-

plaints. The independent investigator,

Vicki Lawson-Brown, said there was a

culture of “blaming victims” and “rein-

stating disgraced leaders”.

The inquiry also found that women

were historically regarded as subser-

vient to men and treated as “domestic

servants”, which put them and children

at higher risk of abuse. It said that fur-

ther investigations should be made into

financial, spiritual and financial abuse

and the “inappropriate punishment” of

children.

Erin Woodger, chairman of the Jesus

Fellowship Survivors Association,

which represents about 800 alleged

victims, said that nothing would “repair

or make up for the abuse these people

have suffered”.

A spokesman for the Jesus Fellow-

ship Church Trust did not comment on

the report’s findings, claiming that the

leak was a breach of data protection

laws. However, he said: “The trustees

repeat our sincere apology, as we have

before, to those who have been harmed

as a consequence of actions or inac-

tions by those in the church.”

Neil Johnston

Hepburn’s

Holly almost

a Connie

Truman Capote’s final manuscript for

Breakfast at Tiffany’s has sold for

£377,000 at auction.

The typescript for the novella reveals

that the author had originally given his

heroine, Holly Golightly, played by

Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film adap-

tation, the name of Connie Gustafson.

This name lasted until the final draft, in

which references to Connie are crossed

out and replaced with Holly.

The manuscript, which is covered in

hundreds of Capote’s handwritten

edits, sold to an anonymous buyer at

Sotheby’s in London for more than

double the upper estimate of £180,000.

Gabriel Heaton, a specialist in manu-

scripts at Sotheby’s, said: “Whilst Con-

nie Gustafson may be more plausible as

a child bride from Tulip, Texas, she

would never have had the impact that

she has had as Holly Golightly. ‘Go-

lightly’ reflects the lightness with

which she treats the world, her lack of

attachment to place and perhaps hints

at promiscuity, whilst ‘Holly’ will

prickle if you get too close.”

The manuscript provides an insight

into Capote’s writing method and many

revisions, such as changing the word

“mad” for “vexed” and “touch” to

stroke”. It is thought the revisions were

probably made from his bed, which was

said to be his favourite place to write.

Capote’s manuscript was sent to the

publisher Random House in May 1958,

shortly before he set off for a trip to

Greece. He later said that the novella

marked a turning point in his style.

Much of the rest of the author’s ar-

chive is divided between the New York

Public Library and the Library of Con-

gress, which has another draft of Break-

fast At Tiffany’s.

Wesley Streete

attacked Keeley

Bunker, who had

trusted him to

get her home

MIKE SYMES/DEVON WILDLIFE TRUST; ALAMY

T

he first

population of

wild beavers in

England for

400 years has

been given the right to

remain in Devon, paving

the way for a much

wider reintroduction

(Ben Webster writes).

Up to 15 pairs of the

animals are living on the

River Otter and its

tributaries and have

built at least 28 dams,

having first been seen in

2013, possibly after they

were released illegally.

The government

granted a licence in 2015

permitting the beavers

to remain on the river

until this month so that

they could be monitored

in a trial by Devon

Wildlife Trust and the

University of Exeter.

Ministers have now

decided to let them stay

and spread naturally and

to consult on their

introduction to other

English rivers.

The decision has

dismayed anglers and

farmers, who say that

beaver dams prevent

salmon and sea trout

from migrating upriver

and cause fields to

become waterlogged.

Rebecca Pow, the

environment minister,

said that the five-year

trial improved water

quality, protected homes

from flooding and

benefited other wildlife

but acknowledged that

there were implications

for landowners.

Peter Burgess,

director of conservation

at Devon Wildlife Trust,

said: “This is the most

ground-breaking

government decision for

England’s wildlife for a

generation. Beavers are

nature’s engineers and

have the ability to

breathe new life into our

rivers and wetlands.”

He acknowledged that

beavers could cause

problems but said that

the trust could move

them to suitable areas.

He said that Scotland

allowed the licensed

killing of beavers, which

might eventually be

needed in England.

Mark Owen, of the

Angling Trust, said:

“There remain serious

concerns around the

impact on protected

migratory fish species.”

There are other wild

populations in England,

including on the Wye on

the border with Wales

and the Tamar and

Lynher in the southwest.

Pairs were introduced in

the Forest of Dean,

Somerset and West

Sussex. Beavers were

hunted to extinction in

the UK four centuries

ago for their meat, fur

and the castoreum oil in

glands under their tails.

Eager beavers can

stay on River Otter

Beavers are breeding in Devon and more may be introduced in England but farmers and anglers say they damage land and block migratory fish