Murdered Teenager Rebecca Aylward’s Mother Called For Return Of Death Penalty

The mother of a murdered teenager called for the return of capital punishment after her daughter’s killer was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years in prison.

Murderer Joshua Davies was branded “devious, calculating and controlling” by a judge who said he would serve a decade and a half before being considered for parole.

Davies lured his ex-girlfriend Rebecca Aylward, 15, into woods at Aberkenfig, near Bridgend, and smashed her skull with a rock last October.

He left her face-down in the rain wearing the new clothes she had just bought.

After his sentencing at Swansea Crown Court yesterday, Rebecca’s mother, Sonia Oatley, said: “It was her dream to become a barrister, a dream cruelly erased by calculated killer Joshua Davies – a young man she trusted and loved.

“Rebecca was destined for greatness. Joshua Davies robbed us of watching our precious and perfect little girl flourish into a successful young woman.

“We will never forgive him for tearing our world apart so brutally and I would welcome the return of capital punishment for the likes of Joshua Davies, who forfeited his human rights when he chose to take my daughter’s life.”

During his trial, the court heard how Davies had been bet a full cooked breakfast by friends if he carried out his threat to murder popular Becca, from Maesteg.

A jury found him guilty by a 10-2 majority in July after deliberating for four days.

Yesterday, Judge Justice Lloyd Jones labelled Davies “devious, calculating and controlling”, adding: “You showed no remorse.”

He told the 16-year-old, who was impassive as the sentence was handed down: “Her death will leave a permanent shadow over her family.

“The effects of what you have done are devastating.”

Speaking outside court, Ms Oatley said she was satisfied with the 14-year minimum sentence.

“I would have liked it to be longer but that is a minimum sentence and if he ever wants to be free he’ll have to show some sort of remorse,” she said.

“In my opinion, he will never admit to what he’s done.”

But she said she would never understand why none of Davies’ friends alerted anyone to his repeated threats to kill her.

“I find it hard to believe that nobody came to me and said that he was making those threats,” she said.

“I can’t believe someone didn’t mention it to anybody.

“You can’t help but think that it could have been prevented. Maybe we could have stopped her going that day.”

But the judge told the court nobody could have expected the defendant to carry out his claims.

Ms Oatley added: “The truth is, I’m still looking for answers. I just wish he would explain to me why he did it and what exactly happened.”

Taking into account the time Davies has already spent in custody, he will have to serve a minimum of 13 years and 53 days before he is considered for parole.

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Rebecca Aylward Murder: Mum Says Killer Joshua Davies Is "Pure Evil"

The mother of a teenager battered to death by her ex-boyfriend after he was promised a free breakfast for the killing branded the thug “barbaric” yesterday.

Sonia Oatley spoke out as evil Joshua Davies was beginning a jail sentence of at least 14 years for the sickening murder of Rebecca Aylward, 15.

The 16-year-old caved her skull in with a rock after their relationship ended bitterly and then covered his tracks using Facebook to pretend he had been ­somewhere else at the time of the ­gruesome killing in remote woodland.

After Davies was locked up, devastated Sonia, 44, said: “I just want to tear him apart. He is pure evil and I will never forget those eyes. It was like looking into the eyes of the devil.

“I want him to be locked away for ever so that he won’t do this to another person, because I am convinced he will.

“I relive Rebecca’s last moments over and over again. I have no peace, nothing to console me. The pain and horror of losing Rebecca in such horrendous circumstances cannot be put into words. She was killed in a senseless and barbaric act. She died at the hands of someone she loved and trusted.

“I hate him. There can be no ­forgiveness. I want him to suffer the same way Rebecca did. I want his mother to know what this feels like. I want her to go through the same pain, because she created this monster.”

Cold and calculating Davies had bragged about how easy it would have been to kill Rebecca. In one text to a pal he asked “What would you do if I actually did kill her?” The friend replied “Oh, I would buy you breakfast.”

Two days before the murder Davies sent a text saying: “Don’t say anything but you may just owe me a breakfast.” The friend sent back: “Best text I have ever had mate. ­Seriously, if it is true I am happy to pay for a breakfast. I want all the details. You sadistic b******.”

Davies later bragged to pals about the killing. Judge Mr Justice David Lloyd Jones jailed him ­indefinitely for the brutal murder, one the most shocking involving ­schoolchildren in British history.

He told the brute: “You have shown yourself to be devious, ­calculating and controlling. You have shown no remorse. You killed Rebecca in the most brutal way when you struck her repeatedly to the back of her head with a heavy stone, ­fragmenting her skull. Her death will leave a permanent shadow over her family, who are devastated.You and Rebecca were boyfriend and girlfriend but that relationship ended with some bitterness on both sides.

“Over a period of months you told friends you were going to kill her.

“They did not think you were serious and they became bored by your repeated threats against Rebecca But you held a deep-seated hatred towards her which ultimately led you to kill her. You admitted to your two friends you had killed Rebecca.

“You thought their loyalty to you would prevent them from telling the truth.

“You then posted on to Facebook that the three of you had enjoyed a normal afternoon together.

“You also sent three text messages to Rebecca’s mobile phone, to a girl you knew lay dead.”

Killer Joshua Davies

Davies lured Rebecca to woods on a “date” close to his home at Aberkenfig, near Bridgend, Mid-Glamorgan on the day of her death. She happily agreed as she was hoping the pair would get back together despite their ­acrimonious split.

Rebecca, of nearby Maesteg, even bought new clothes for the date But she was ­tragically unaware the cynical thug had been telling pals he planned to kill her.

His plots included poisoning her with deadly foxgloves, drowning her in a river or throwing her off a cliff.

Earlier that morning he had breakfast with his best friend in a cafe at ­Aberkenfig. As he got up to leave and meet Rebecca, Davies said chillingly: “The time has come.”

Her lifeless body was found in the woods two days later after she had been reported missing by frantic Sonia.

During the five-week trial, ­prosecutor Greg Davies told Swansea crown court how the monster had bragged about the killing to his pals, despite efforts to cover his tracks.

He said: “Joshua told his friends ‘She was facing away from me and I thought ‘This is it, I’m going to go for it. I tried to break her neck. She was screaming so I picked up the rock and started to hit her with it. The worst part was feeling and seeing her skull give way.”

Davies denied murder and blamed his best friend for Rebecca’s death. But jurors saw through his lies and convicted him.

Mr Justice Jones dismissed the breakfast bet as nothing more than a joke between pals. He told Davies: “It was on the basis they were kidding. They were certainly not encouraging you to kill Rebecca.” The killer stood silently in the dock with his head bowed as he was locked up by the judge.

His family sat in the public gallery behind him. Rebecca’s heartbroken ­relatives and friends, including sister Jessica and brother Jack, nine, were in a ­separate gallery above them.

Sonia, who is campaigning for a return to capital punishment, wept as Davies was led to the cells. The judge allowed people in court to Twitter the proceedings of the hour-long sentence hearing.

Davies will be only 29 if he is granted parole after his minimum 14 years and released. He has already served 312 days on remand.

Outside court, Sonia sobbed as she said: “We will never forgive him for tearing our family apart so brutally and we would welcome a return to capital punishment for the likes of Davies.

“I will never forget what Josh did to her. He forfeited his human rights when he chose to take my daughter’s life.”

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New Libya May Refuse To Extradite Yvonne Fletcher Murder Suspect

Diplomat suspected of killing police officer in 1984 at London embassy could escape extradition, but might be tried in Libya.

Police officers try to revive PC Yvonne Fletcher after she was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 during an anti-Gaddafi protest. Libyan officials say the suspect might not be extradited.

The justice minister of the Libyan rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Friday a post-Gaddafi government would “not give any Libyan citizen to the west”, in an apparent blow to British hopes of putting on trial the suspected killer of Yvonne Fletcher, the police officer shot dead 27 years ago outside the Libyan embassy.

Mohammed al-Alagi also ruled out the return to the UK of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing but released in 2009 on compassionate grounds.

“Al-Megrahi has already been judged once and he will not be judged again,” he told journalists in Tripoli. “We do not hand over Libyan citizens, [Muammar] Gaddafi does.”

Alagi added: “We will not give any Libyan citizen to the west,” a comment that appeared to rule out the extradition of the man suspected of shooting Fletcher in 1984.

Earlier on Sunday, the foreign secretary, William Hague, played down suggestions that the NTC would not work with British officials in their the hunt for her killer. He said: “When chairman [Mustafa Abdel] Jalil … was with us in London in May he committed himself and the council to co-operating fully with the British government on this issue.”

Hague was responding to a report in the Sunday Times that quoted two NTC officials saying nobody would be sent to the UK to face trial for Fletcher’s killing.

“Libya has never extradited or handed over its citizens to a foreign country. We shall continue with this principle,” said Hassan al-Sagheer, a member of the NTC.

Another NTC member, Fawzi al-Ali, was quoted as saying: “According to our laws, no one can be handed over unless there are special agreements to do so.”

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said that, at present, Libyan law prohibits the extradition of its own citizens. It does, however, allow for its nationals to be tried in Libya for crimes committed overseas.

Guma el-Gamaty, the NTC’s UK co-ordinator, took part in the anti-Gaddafi protest that Fletcher was policing when she was shot.

He distanced himself from the views expressed by Sagheer and others, insisting on Sunday that it was too early to draw any conclusions. “Nobody can rule out anything at the moment; the possibility [of a British trial] is there,” he said. “But first of all investigations need to be concluded. Somebody has to be identified as the killer … Obviously everyone wants justice; it’s just a matter of when and how and whether the actual killer has been identified.”

Gamaty added that, as with the Fletcher case, the issue of an eventual return to Scottish jail for Megrahi was “a decision for a future Libyan government”. The whereabouts of Megrahi, who was given a hero’s welcome when he returned to Libya two years ago, are unknown.

No one has ever been charged for killing Fletcher, who was 25 when officials inside the Libyan embassy opened fire on the anti-Gaddafi protesters outside.

Embassy staff were subsequently allowed to leave Britain, but diplomatic ties with Libya were severed.

Those seeking justice for Fletcher, however, were given a boost on Friday when it emerged that the Crown Prosecution Service had heard a witness account that identified a junior diplomat, Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, as the possible gunman.

On Saturday, the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said the emergence of a new suspect would be raised with the NTC. The government would, he said, be pursuing the case “in every way we can”.

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The Law Is ‘Avin A Laugh – But The Joke Is On Britain

Europe’s stand on human rights is too often a kick in the gut for the victims of crime.

Justice for all? Philip Lawrence (left) and his killer, Learco Chindamo.

‘They drive me mad, too.” That’s what the Prime Minister told me in a more innocent time, before the riots. Back in April, I was sitting in Number 10, reading him a list of the human rights abuses that drive the public to despair. I don’t mean abuses under the Human Rights Act 1998. I mean abuses of the rights of humans whose children have been mown down by foreign drivers with no licence, humans whose husbands have been stabbed to death. Humans still astounded by grief who have to attend a British court and hear a judge tell them that the conscienceless wretch who extinguished their happiness cannot be deported post haste or hurled, preferably, over the white cliffs of Dover. No, the wretch must be allowed to remain in our country because they have the right to “a family life”.

I keep a shoebox stuffed with newspaper cuttings about such cases. They bring to mind the Ricky Gervais catchphrase, “Are you ’avin a laugh?” On Saturday, I added another surreal snippet to the pile. The Court of Appeal in its wisdom had just torn up powers that allowed judges to ban convicted paedophiles from unfettered access to their children. Apparently, the paedophile’s right to a family life must be taken into account, even if the kids in question fear Dad’s tread at the bedroom door. Are their honours ’avin a laugh?

Our judges’ ever-widening definition of what constitutes “family life” almost dislocated my jaw recently when a Bolivian immigrant escaped deportation because he owned a pet cat with his girlfriend. We cannot know the name of the moggy, let alone the Bolivian, but Judge Judith Gleeson joked that the cat “need no longer fear having to adapt to Bolivian mice”. Was she ’avin a laugh?

Here’s another. In a landmark ruling, Strasbourg judges decided that two Somali men, who had abused our hospitality by robbery, drug dealing and threats to kill, could not be deported because there was a possibility they might face “ill treatment” at home. Remember the case of Mustafa Jama who was was convicted for his part, along with two other Somalians, in the murder of WPC Sharon Beshenivsky in November 2005? Jama, who had previous convictions for robbery and burglary, had been considered for deportation shortly before that tragic shooting, but officials decided it was “too dangerous” for him to return to Somalia. After the cold-blooded killing of Sharon – mother to Samuel, Lydia and Paul – in a Bradford travel agency, Jama evaded capture for four years by fleeing to… guess where? Yup, Somalia. The very place his lawyers had claimed it was unsafe for him to return to. Were they ’avin a laugh? Sharon’s widower, Paul, certainly wasn’t. He said his wife would never have been murdered if “do-gooders” hadn’t kept her killer in Britain.

Why are we powerless to send these frightening, violent individuals back to where they came from? Because, according to the European Court, it’s too frightening and violent. Anything I’m missing here, chaps? Are our learned friends in Strasbourg ’avin a laugh? If so, there is no longer a shred of doubt that the joke is on the British people. A nation that carried the torch of liberty with Magna Carta, parliamentary sovereignty, judicial independence, Press freedom, habeas corpus and trial by jury needs no lessons in justice from its pious neighbours, who loaded Jews, gipsies and homosexuals into cattle trucks. The waffly preamble to the European Convention on Human Rights speaks of “countries which have a common heritage of political traditions, ideas, freedom and the rule of law”. Well, we don’t have a common heritage or laws. As the distinguished QC Geoffrey Robertson has pointed out, torture was a prescribed part of the Continental legal process for centuries after it was abolished in England in 1641. It was Great Britain, not Europe, that taught the world how to right human wrongs.

The riots have made scrapping the Human Rights Act more urgent. More than 150 people born abroad have been arrested so far. Immigration minister Damian Green said: “We strongly believe that foreign national lawbreakers should be removed from the UK at the earliest opportunity.” Good luck with that, Damian. You do realise the poor darlings can’t possibly leave the country, don’t you? They’ve got pussy cats to look after and drug addicts to supply.

While judges increasingly warp Article 8 of the Convention in favour of villains, why do they never seem to consider the right to a family life of people like Frances Lawrence and the four children she had with headmaster Philip? In 2007, the Home Office failed to secure the deportation of Learco Chindamo, Mr Lawrence’s murderer. An Asylum and Immigration Tribunal insisted that to deport the Italian-Filipino would breach his human rights. Like Paul Beshenivsky, Frances Lawrence was aghast to discover that the needs of her spouse’s killer outweighed those of her bereft family.

Chindamo, who was cleared in court yesterday of a street robbery, is a cocky youth who, like so many, had been emboldened by the knowledge that wrongs, however grievous, will never prevent him having human rights on his side. He is one of thousands of foreign-born criminals who have humiliated the Home Office and who have shown with brutal clarity that the law of the land is not ours, for what Briton in their right mind would put the domestic comfort of a murderer before the safety of their fellow citizens?

This is what Cameron was getting at in his forceful speech following the riots. He noted how the “greed and thuggery” could not be separated from the “growing sense that individual rights come before anything else… I am determined we get a grip on the twisting and misrepresenting of human rights.”

Three cheers for those noble words, Prime Minister, but what the hell are you going to DO about it? In Opposition, Cameron pledged to scrap the Human Rights Act “so we can throw foreign terrorists and criminals out of our country”. When I asked him about it in April, he looked exasperated. “Obviously, this is something which is more difficult in Coalition. I won’t hide that from you. The Liberal Democrats have a different view on the Human Rights Act.” He assured me the Government was setting up a commission to look into a British Bill of Rights. What he omitted to tell me was that Nick Clegg would be in charge of it. I’m sorry, but allowing the Deputy Prime Minister to head a body to scrap the Human Rights Act is like appointing a vegan to the Texas Beef Council.

Tensions in the Coalition are said to be running high with senior Lib Dems warning the PM not to “water down” Britain’s commitment to human rights. Good. Let battle commence. Some things are worth fighting for. As a sop to his Coalition partners, Cameron permitted a referendum on the AV voting system, a notion commanding such widespread support that only Eddie Izzard and five blind jugglers in Camden voted for it. So why can’t we have a referendum on something the public feels passionate about? Like a British Bill of Rights.

The PM could do himself and the country a power of good by jettisoning a law that makes a mockery of the very justice it is intended to dispense. To stiffen his resolve, here are some sage words from a predecessor in Number 10. “We are with Europe but not of it; we are linked but not compromised. We are associated but not absorbed. If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea.”

Winston Churchill’s words are as relevant as they were on May 11, 1953. The time for Strasbourg ’avin a laugh at our expense must end. The case for a British Bill of Rights is overwhelming. Human rights can be wrongs.

When forgiveness goes a step too far

All together now, “Serm taymes it’s hurd to bay a wurman.” Tammy Wynette’s ballad of female loyalty, Stand By Your Man, was much mocked by feminists. Some thought Tammy was really singing, “Stabbed By Your Man” or the equally catchy “Let Me Be Your Doormat, You Cheating Bastard.” Wynette pointed out that the song was not actually about subservience, but rather advice to women to overlook their husband’s faults if they truly loved them. “Aftur ol, he’s jusst ur may-an.”

I have come to see the wisdom in Tammy’s approach. Forgiveness is good. Even so, the nauseating sight of French heiress and journalist Anne Sinclair standing by her man, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, sets a new low. The former IMF chief may have been acquitted of attempted rape against a hotel maid, but is there anyone who can look at that swaggering silverback primate without a shudder? Ugh.

In the unlovely phrase of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers, the encounter with Nafissatou Diallo was “brief but consensual”. Whatever the truth, we can be sure that the man who planned to be France’s president rampaged out of the hotel bathroom with only a droit de seigneur to cover his Tour Eiffel. Applying the indulgent term “Lothario” or “libertarian lover” to a priapic bully won’t do any more.

Anne Sinclair is badly out of step with her fellow countrywomen. France is unlikely ever to be the same again post-DSK. There has been a big increase in reports of sexual harassment. Sylvie Kauffmann, the first female editor of Le Monde, says: “There is a tendency among men to pretend that nothing has happened. In the establishment mind, this issue is not very important. But I would bet that the average voter may feel differently.”

Let’s hope Frenchwomen treat DSK’s political ambitions with all the tender concern he showed the hotel maid. And shame on his indulgent wife. If Tracey Emin needed a tent to contain the names of all the people she had slept with, DSK needs a marquee.

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Headteacher’s Killer Back In Jail

The widow of murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence told last night of her anguish after learning his freed killer had been returned to jail to protect the public after an alleged robbery.

Widow Frances Lawrence holds a picture of her husband Philip who was killed.

Learco Chindamo was arrested just four months after he was released from prison and controversially all­ow­ed to stay in Britain after successfully fighting a deportation bid.

Shocked Frances Lawrence described the incident as “very, very distressing on many levels”.

At her home in Ham, west London, she said: “I can’t understand why Chindamo was in a position to do what he allegedly did when he is supposed to be on licence.

“He always swore he would spend his life living quietly and atoning. I understood he was supposed to be in rehabilitation.”

Detectives detained Chindamo, 30, on Wednesday at his home in south London after studying CCTV footage following the mugging of man at a cashpoint in Camden, north London.

An inquiry is expected to be launched into the monitoring of the killer who has been staying in a hostel in Catford, south London, since his release in July after serving 14 years for the knife murder of Mr Lawrence.

The arrest will raise fresh questions about the watch kept on offenders released back into communities.

It will also put pressure on David Cameron to honour a pledge to scrap the Human Rights Act.

At an immigration tribunal in 2007 the Home Office warned that Chindamo “represents a genuine and present and sufficiently serious threat to the public in principle as to justify his deportation”.

But a judge ruled he could not be deported to Italy, where he lived until the age of five, because it would breach his human rights.

At the time, Mr Cameron said the Act “has to go”, saying: “Abolish the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.

“The fact that the murderer of Phil­ip Lawrence can’t be deported flies in the face of common sense. What about the rights of Mrs Lawrence?’’

The Bill of Rights was a key part of the Conservative election manifesto. But the Coalition so far has committed only to setting up a commission to review the legislation.

Chindamo was jailed indefinitely for the murder of father-of-four Mr Lawrence outside St George’s Roman Catholic School in Maida Vale, West London, in 1995.

The 48-year-old was stabbed after going to help a pupil who was attacked by a gang. Among the attackers was Chindamo, then 15.

The killer vowed to live “quietly and decently” when he moved to a secure probation hostel after his release.

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Pensioner Found Murdered At Home

A pensioner was discovered murdered at her home in a quiet Northumberland market town after her handbag was found dumped 23 miles away.

Police cordoned off St Wilfrid’s Road, Hexham, Northumberland, after 77-year-old Judith Richardson was found dead in a property, having suffered head injuries.

Police found the body of 77-year-old Judith Richardson at her house in Hexham, close to the town’s historic abbey. She had suffered severe head injuries.

Miss Richardson’s body was discovered after a member of the public found a discarded handbag in a bin in Newcastle upon Tyne city centre, half an hour’s drive from the town.

Police investigated the contents, which led them to Mrs Richardson’s address in St Wilfrid’s Road, at around 6.45pm on Friday.

It is believed she had been bludgeoned to death with a weapon.

Detectives are investigating whether the handbag was abandoned after being stolen from Mrs Richardson’s home during a violent burglary.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Young, of Northumbria Police, said: “What I will suggest is that the evidence indicates that there has been some kind of motive of either robbery or burglary.

“She appeared to have had injuries, but I wouldn’t like to say what weapon was used.”

DCI Young added: “We are working tirelessly to establish the exact circumstances and find those responsible.

“We ask anyone who may have been in the area at the time or witnessed any suspicious behaviour to contact police immediately.

“All information is crucial to us, no matter how insignificant you may think. We want to reassure the community that this appears to be an isolated incident and we do have visible officers on the beat in and around the Hexham area.”

DCI Young said there were no signs of forced entry at the address. He added that Miss Richardson had been spotted on Friday morning walking her dog.

A force spokeswoman said: “At this stage it appears she had suffered a head injury.”

A post mortem examination will be carried out on Sunday.

Anyone who has any information is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 03456 043 043 ext 69191 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Family Feud That Turned Wedding Into Bloodbath

Turkish leaders condemn ‘tradition’ that led to the village massacre of 44 people who had gathered to celebrate marriage.

The sheep had been slaughtered and cooked, the women had daubed their hands orange with henna, the children were decked out in their best clothes.

The night was supposed to be a time of celebration for the inhabitants of Bilge, a Kurdish village set in the hills of south-east Turkey. Relatives had gathered to hear the former village chief Cemil Celebi give his consent to the marriage of his 20-year-old daughter, Sevgi. There was supposed to be dancing, laughter and prayers for the future of the young bride and groom.

But just after 9pm, as men and women filed into separate rooms for prayers, masked assailants forced their way into the green-painted house and opened fire with machine guns.

A wounded person is taken to the hospital after an attack in a village near the city of Mardin.

“The village imam was at the head of the room, a young man from Ankara, and the village men were lined up behind him on their prayer mats,” one resident recounted. “They were mown down in rows.” Another recalled: “They shot through the windows and the door. The people inside had no chance.”

A 20-year-old girl who survived by hiding under a bed described a similar scene in the women’s room. “They started spraying the place with bullets,” she told Turkish television. When the attackers had finished, they cold-bloodedly began inspecting the bodies to make sure everybody was dead.

“We cannot believe what we have been through,” said Bedia Akbulut, the wife of the village teacher, who has lived in Bilge for four years. She and her husband Sadik were lucky not to be among the dead. On good terms with the Celebis, they had been invited to attend the ceremony. Then Sadik had overslept. “When we heard gunshots, my husband immediately switched off the lights,” his wife said.

The shooting lasted no more than 10 minutes. When it had finished, the couple rushed across to the Celebis’ house, and into a bloodbath. Forty-four people, including the bride, a baby and five young children, were dead. Another six were injured. In fact, with the exception of the 20-year-old hiding under the bed, only one person survived unharmed, a high-school student who hid under the body of his brother.

By the end of Monday night’s attack, a quarter of the population of Bilge had been wiped out. Turkish officials announced yesterday that they had caught and detained eight people after one of the worst attacks involving civilians in the modern history of Turkey.

Breathing an audible sigh of relief that this was not the work of Kurdish separatists, whose murder of ten Turkish soldiers last week has left fragile hopes of peace looking ever more shaky, officials were swift to link the killings to the diehard tribal customs of some parts of the Kurdish south-east.

“This can be understood as a blood feud between two families,” Interior Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan added his condemnation: “No kind of tradition can justify this killing, no conscience can justify this kind of pain.” So did President Abdullah Gul. “Such a primitive cruelty that opened deep cuts in our conscience is inexplicable,” he said in a statement. “Everybody should think seriously about tradition, blood feuds and animosity standing before human life.”

Unnamed residents in Bilge said the killings had been carried out by one part of the Celebi family, as revenge for one of their sons being passed over as the groom in favour of another man, Habip Ari.

Turkish television reported that one person had died back in the early 1990s, when a blood feud had erupted between the family of Mr Ari, and the assailants’ family. The feud had eventually been patched up, but Cemil Celebi’s choice of groom for his daughter may have reopened old wounds.

Yet many analysts said they were unconvinced by efforts to explain the Bilge bloodbath with tired old clichés about misogynistic feudalism and the irremediable backwardness of the Kurdish people. Blood feuds, they pointed out, rarely result in the deaths of more than three or four people, let alone 44. And furthermore, while tribes have no qualms about butchering women deemed to have sullied the honour of the family, the mass murder of women and children as they pray is in complete violation of standard tribal law.

What may have aggravated the violence is the government’s Village Guards programme, set up in 1985 to create and arms local militia to fight alongside state security forces against the Kurdistan Workers Party. Critics despair of the vast quantities of weapons that the state-sponsored initiative has pumped into the region.

Back in Bilge, residents were still reeling from the shock. “I am ashamed to be from here, this is brutality, it is like a natural disaster,” Mahmut Yildiz told Reuters. “I don’t know how we will be able to live in peace.”

Apart from the wind, the only sounds to be heard was the chug of four bulldozers digging mass graves for the dead, and – from a field behind the graveyard – the high-pitched dirges of the Kurdish women. The men, meanwhile, were at the local hospital morgue, waiting for their relatives’ bodies to be released. When they return, Cemil Celebi’s backyard, decked out for a wedding, will be put to use for a wake.

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Killed For Refusing To Let Her Girl Wed

Turk boyfriend butchers British mum and her pal.

Two Brit women were slaughtered by a Turkish waiter – after one refused to let him marry her daughter, it emerged last night.

Sweethearts … Recep Celik with teen Shannon Graham.

Holidaymakers Marion Graham and Kathy Dinsmore, both in their 50s, were taken to a forest where the maniac stabbed them and slit their throats.

Marion’s daughter Shannon, 15 – with whom he had been having a relationship – raised the alarm after the pair vanished from the family’s holiday home in the popular Turkish resort of Kusadasi.

Horror … cops move body.

Local waiter Recep Celik, 17, led police to the butchered bodies after confessing to killing the women. He said Marion had told him her daughter was too young to wed.

Both victims were from Newry in Northern Ireland.

They were travelling on Irish passports – and last night traumatised Shannon was being cared for by an Irish Embassy official.

Shannon had gone on a boat trip when the waiter offered to take the women on a jaunt to meet his dad.

Victims … Kathy Dinsmore, left, and Marion Graham.

He used his dad’s car to drive them 75 miles to a forest near the port city of Izmir – and stabbed them to death. Cops found bloodstained clothing in a bin.

Heartless Celik had returned to work at a restaurant in Kusadasi after the killings – but colleagues noticed him acting oddly.

One said: “Recep was really different when he returned.

“For a while he sat silently near the wall. Then he put something in a bag.”

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The waiter’s father and a taxi driver are also understood to have been arrested.

Yesterday shocked relatives of Kathy gathered at the Co Down home of her brother George, who was described as “devastated”. A nephew said: “She was a lovely woman. It’s just hard to believe that something like this would happen to her.”

Marion’s “shocked” ex-partner Ray McGuinness – Shannon’s dad – was set to fly to Turkey today. He said he suspected “there was always something that was not quite right” about his daughter’s relationship with the Turk.

The slaying comes 14 years after Marion’s pregnant half-sister Belinda was shot dead at her home in Newry by her ex-boyfriend.

Another sister, Monica, said the family was shattered.

She said: “We’ve just found out. My mother’s in the car crying her eyes out.”

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UK Women Butchered In Turkey

Two UK women butchered in Turkey were lured to their deaths with the promise of a shopping trip in a bustling city.

Kathy Dinsmore and Marion Graham, both 54, were stabbed by 17-year-old waiter Recep Cetin who was furious Marion had refused to allow him to marry her schoolgirl daughter Shannon.

He cut their throats and dumped their bodies in a forest. The killer is said to have picked up the pair in a taxi from their villa in the resort of Kusadasi and taken them to his father’s home in the city of Izmir 60 miles away.

It is claimed he then drove them in his dad’s car on what they thought was going to be a shopping spree. But instead he took them to the nearby forest and murdered them.

Cetin is said to have snapped after Marion refused his pleas to wed her 15-year-old daughter and return to the UK to live with them. He had been dating the youngster for two years and ­repeatedly asked her to marry him.

Tributes last night flooded in for Kathy and Marion, who had been sharing a rented home in the Korulkent housing development at Ladies Beach with Shannon and Cetin.

Neighbour Brian Hyland said: “Marion was a lovely pleasant woman and this is just horrendous news. She seemed like a real gentle soul who kept to herself.

“Everyone around here is totally shocked to hear what happened.

“Ask anybody who knows Marion, they would say this is the last thing on earth they ever thought would happen to her.” But another neighbour claimed furious ­arguments and shouting were often heard coming from the house.

The resident added: “They were different. They weren’t like the rest of us. There was a lot of fighting in the house, a lot of shouting, a lot of noise.

“He seemed quite volatile. It’s a quiet residential area normally.”

Another neighbour said: “To be honest we kept clear of the boy as he was loud, aggressive and very intimidating.”

Shannon was on a day-long boating trip at Kusadasi when her mum and Kathy were stabbed to death. She raised the alarm when they failed to return home on Thursday. At the same time Cetin arrived for work at a Kusadasi restaurant in a distressed state with a cut to his hand. He claimed he had suffered the injury trying to fight off kidnappers who bundled the two women into a van. They had not been reported missing from their extended holiday at this stage.

Cetin initially denied having anything to do with the women’s disappearance when quizzed by police.

But a search of his home found blood-stained clothing and when confronted with the evidence he is said to have admitted butchering the pair.

His dad and the taxi driver were quizzed but it is believed they are not connected to the horrific killings. Kathy and Marion were regular ­visitors to ­Kusadasi. Cetin’s uncle Ali Cetin claimed the teenager was angry because the pair would drink booze and flirt with Turkish men.

But both women are said to have objected to the way he treated Shannon and were trying to protect her. It is believed she fell in with a bad crowd during her summer trip and was suffering abuse at the hands of her boyfriend.

He is alleged to have hatched his plot to kill the pair after Marion again stood in his way when he asked Shannon to marry him, despite the legal age to wed in Turkey being 17.

Kathy and best friend Marion are from Newry, Co Down, in Northern Ireland.

Sources say Marion spent her summers in Turkey where she was married to a Kurdish man. The estate manager at the housing complex confirmed Cetin rented a house on the site earlier this summer and was living there with Shannon, Marion and Kathy.

The girl’s dad Raymond McGuinness, Marion’s ex, last night told how he was never in favour of his daughter’s ­relationship. He said: “There was always something that was not quite right.”

BUBBLY

Devastated friends flocked to Facebook to speak of their shock at the murders.

Mickey Brady posted: “This is terrible news. Such tragedy should never be visited on a family. To think two families from this area will be plunged into such despair and sadness is terrible.

“I believe I met one of the victims and I can only describe her as a bubbly and friendly individual. I am terribly shocked.” Eileen Morgan Hillen added: “I went to school with one of the women and I agree with Mickey she is bubbly and will be missed terribly.”

Ivy McAleavey wrote: “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families. RIP.

“Also to the daughter of one of the women, please God, give her strength.”

Sinn Fein mayor of Newry and Mourne said: “I believe one of the deceased was a former employee of our council.

“To both families I extend my sincerest sympathies at this time. Any assistance we can offer will be given.”

South Down Member of the Legislative Assembly, Karen McDevitt, said people have been left stunned by the news.

She added: “I have a child of 15 and my heart goes out to Shannon thinking of her over in Turkey having to cope with all this. It’s unbelievable to think this has happened. The whole community is totally in shock.

“My thought and prayers are with all the families affected.”

Newry and Armagh MLA Danny Kennedy said: “I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the families at this awful time. I offer any support and assistance which they may require.”

SDLP Crotlieve Councillor Connaire McGreevy added: “For two families to deal with news of their loved ones being murdered is extremely difficult. My deepest sympathy goes out to them and to the young daughter of one of the victims that has been left behind in Turkey on her own.

“The shock within the community here in Newry and Mourne is widespread and everyone has their thoughts and prayers with the families.”

DUP MLA Jim Wells also expressed his sadness over the murders. He said: “I’ve been on holidays to this area and it’s relatively peaceful and safe. This makes it even more tragic.

“Marrying a girl with a European ­passport is like winning the lottery to some of these guys. They see it as an escape from ­sometimes abject poverty. While some of these relationships are certainly genuine I still think women should be cautious about these kind of romances where marriage is on the cards very quickly.”

Irish diplomats are liaising with the devastated families of both women.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said: “We are providing consular assistance to the families of the two women, particularly the daughter, through the embassy in Ankara. Members of the family are en route to Turkey.”

Kathy and Marion were both travelling on Irish passports. More than 100 Irish residents live at the housing complex in Kusadasi where the pair had been staying before tragedy struck.

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Baby P Killer Owen Goes Free From Jail

BABY P killer Jason Owen has walked free from jail today.

The monster – one of three caged brutes over the youngster’s appalling death – left in Wandsworth Prison in south west London this afternoon. The monster — one of three brutes caged over the youngster’s appalling death — left Wandsworth Prison in south west London this afternoon.

Do you know where Jason is Owen? Do you know where Jason Owen is? If so, call the newsdesk on 0207 782 4104th If so, call the newsdesk on 0207 782 4104.

His release comes just two days after the fourth anniversary of tortured 17-year-old Peter Connelly’s shocking end. His release comes just two days after the fourth anniversary of tortured 17-month-old Peter Connelly’s shocking end.

Last night the toddler’s gran condemned the decision to allow him to go free. Last night the toddler’s gran condemned the decision to allow him to go free.

Mary O’Connor, 60, said: “The fact he is being freed so close to the anniversary is a cruel twist of fate To children think he wants to be walking the streets again is horrifying He is a danger to society and especially… Mary O’Connor, 60, said: “The fact he is being freed so close to the anniversary is a cruel twist of fate. To think he will be walking the streets again is horrifying. He is a danger to society and especially children.

Torture … Baby P
Torture … Torture … Baby P Baby P

“He is a nasty piece of work and if he had a compassionate bone in his body, he could have saved Peter.” “He is a nasty piece of work and if he had a compassionate bone in his body, he could have saved Peter.”

Owen, 39, has served just over two years. Owen, 39, has served just over two years. He was convicted of causing death or Allowing Peter’s along with the toddler’s mum Tracey and her boyfriend Steven Barker, who are quietly behind bars. He was convicted of causing or allowing Peter’s death along with the toddler’s mum Tracey and her boyfriend Steven Barker, who are still behind bars.

Mary, of North London, said: “I hope the guilt is tearing apart Owen because he has not been properly punished I’d like to think he wants to spend the rest of his life haunted by Peter’s death But I doubt it… ” Mary, of North London, said: “I hope the guilt is tearing Owen apart because he hasn’t been properly punished. I’d like to think he will spend the rest of his life haunted by Peter’s death. But I doubt it.”

Mary then blasted a court ruling that will allow bungler Sharon Shoesmith – head of children’s services in Haringey, North London, when Peter died – to claim £ 2.5million over her sacking. Mary also blasted a court ruling that will allow bungler Sharon Shoesmith – head of children’s services in Haringey, North London, when Peter died – to claim £2.5million over

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