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Get you up to speed: French authorities continue search for missing British pensioner Stephanie Thomson
British pensioner Stephanie Thomson has not been seen since January 29, when she disappeared from Camping les Vigères in Le Chalard, France, after returning from a shopping trip. A search operation by the French Gendarmerie has been conducted, but despite using dogs, helicopters, and divers, there has been no sign of her.
The French Gendarmerie conducted extensive searches involving dogs, helicopters, and divers in the Haute-Vienne region but reported no sign of 75-year-old Stephanie Thomson since her disappearance on January 29. Her daughter, Tracy, expressed concerns about her mother’s mental health, stating that “confirmation from her that she is okay would just be great.”
Stephanie Thomson, 75, has not been located since her disappearance on January 29 after a supermarket trip in France, prompting a search operation by the French Gendarmerie involving dogs, helicopters, and divers, which has yielded no results to date. Her husband, Ken, has recently begun chemotherapy for lung cancer, adding to the family’s distress during this ongoing situation.
Daughter left in ‘living hell’ after mum goes missing three months ago | News World
British pensioner Stephanie Thomson (left) has not been heard from since January (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
The daughter of a British woman said her mum has not been seen for three months after vanishing following a supermarket trip in France.
The family of Stephanie Thomson, 75, have spoken about their agony after the British retiree went missing from her motorhome in the western region of Haute-Vienne in January.
She was last seen at Camping les Vigères in Le Chalard on January 29 before she went missing without a trace.
Mrs Thomson had been enjoying her retirement in the French countryside with her husband Ken after moving there in 2012.
Her daughter Tracy, 55, from Redcar, said the past few months have been ‘unimaginable.’
She told the Sun: ‘The last three months have just been like a living hell. Not knowing where she is is one of the hardest things to try and get my head around.
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Stephanie Thomson was last seen at Camping les Vigères in Le Chalard in the French countryside, where she lived with her husband (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
‘I hope she is safe, but every single scenario is running through my mind.
‘It’s torturous. Your mind never switches off.
‘I never imagined that I would be in a situation where I don’t know where my mum is.’
The pensioner is said to have returned from the shops with her husband Ken, a former British Steel worker, who went for a nap.
When he woke up, his wife had left without her phone, passport or credit cards.
It led to a search operation by the French Gendarmerie, with dogs, helicopters and divers deployed to scour the nearby forests and lakes, but there has been no sign of the pensioner.
Daughter Tracy said her dad had recently started chemotherapy for lung cancer.
The couple have been married for 56 years, and Tracy fears her mum may not have coped with the cancer diagnosis as well as she led on.
She said she believes her mum may have gone somewhere by herself ‘because she is not coping.’
‘Confirmation from her that she is okay would just be great, but I understand when people are struggling with their mental health they find it hard to reach out,’ she added.
Mrs Thomson is described as of slim build with grey hair, and she was last seen wearing dark trousers, black or grey boots and a light blue puffer jacket.
Gendarmerie in the Haute-Vienne area issued an appeal in February, saying the woman used to walk the forest paths aroundChalard and Ladignac le Long, but despite extensive searches, she has not been found.
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October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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