Strangers' Britain
School toffs in 'shoplift spree'
Sixteen boys from a £3,000-a-year public school have been arrested after an alleged shoplifting spree.Some of the group are said to have pocketed bottles of alcohol, aftershave, toys and cosmetics during a day trip in the school minibus.
The boys, all senior boarders at Quantock School, Over Stowey, Somerset, were arrested in Taunton after complaints from shopkeepers.
The 16 were later released into the care of deputy headmaster Gerald Warriner and a file on the case was sent to the head of West Somerset police, Chief Superintendent Michael Challes.
Quantock School - motto: Striding Forward was established 22 years ago by headmaster David Peaster, a former grammar school boy. There are now more than 200 pupils. Mr Peaster said: "We don't know who was actually involved in shoplifting. It wasn't all of them. "It's a sad reflection of society nowadays. We blame children for a lot of things, but most of it is forced on them by the pressures of modern living."
Fantasy cop is knicked
A man fulfilled his childhood dreams by dressing up as a policeman and patrolling a motorway. But father-of-two Edward Wegryzn, 33, ended up nicked by a real cop. Wegryzn, wore a reflective jacket and kept traffic cones, blankets and a phone in his blue Rover car. He stopped on motorways to help stranded motorists. But the road Samaritan was finally spotted by an amazed patrolman on the M5. He has appeared in court at Yate, near Bristol, for wearing clothing resembling a police officer.Wegryzn, of Stapleton, also admitted driving without a licence or insurance. He was disqualified from driving for two months and fined a total of £265 with £24 costs. Nagged husband changed name to fool wife Globe-trotting Stephen Starkie's wife knew no bounds with her nagging, a court has heard. She even turned up on his doorstep when he was on a trip abroad.
Finally, the henpecked husband decided to fake a new identity to escape from his wife. He bought a birth certificate of a dead child and used it to get a new passport.
Starkie, 40, admitted making a false statement to obtain a passport when he appeared at London's Horseferry Road Court.
He said he was driven to change his identity because his wife had been tracing him through the German immigration authorities. Starkie, who has since remarried, spent the weekend in custody after his arrest on Friday.
He now lives with his new wife and their 17-month-old son in York. He was given a conditional discharge.
Married... for just two minutes
Nurse Rene Hunter's wedding joy didn't last long. Her bridegroom walked out after TWO MINUTES.Rene said: "I was dumped on the registry office steps. We walked out with our two witnesses and suddenly my new husband snatched the marriage certificate and was off.
"I was in tears. All I could do was go over the road for a drink in the pub where I had booked a small reception. And I paid the bill."
Rene of Commercial Road, Southampton married gardener Horace Fanstone after her first marriage ended in divorce. "I thought I knew him well," she said. "But my witnesses - both friends of mine were sure we weren't suited.
"The day of the wedding I asked Horace to postpone the ceremony. But he said 'carry on', I wish I hadn't bothered." The marriage was eventually annulled and Rene married again. She is now a widow.
Rene, 60, wants to get her marriage to Horace in the Guinness Book of Records. She hasn't seen him since his vanishing act 21 years ago.
Bank 'held up by woman'
Brandishing an imitation pistol, and a bag of candles to look like dynamite, Deborah Ayton walked into the Midland Bank at Chepstow, Gwent, and threatened to blow it up, a court was told.Miss Ayton, a law graduate, aged 31, handed a note to the cashier which ordered her to hand over money and claimed that a limpet mine had been attached to the counter which would explode if the alarm was raised within 10 minutes.
Mrs Patrick Harrington, for the prosecution, told Newport Crown Court that Miss Ayton had dressed as a cagoule, woollen hat and gloves to give the impression she was a man.
Miss Ayton, who gave her address as Stretford Court, Winchester, but who had also been living at Penhow Castle, Newport, pleaded guilty to charges of demanding money with menaces, placing fake sticks of dynamite on the counter and possessing an imitation Biretta pistol. A charge of robbing the bank of £1,600 was left on the file by Mr Justice Pain, after she had pleaded not guilty. He adjourned the case until next week, before hearing defence submissions.
Blind man in bank raid
A blind man tried to bluff his way through a bank robbery, the Central Criminal Court in London was told.The court heard that David Worrell, a former insurance assessor, turned to crime when he lost his job because of his blindness.
Worrell had passed a note to a teller at Barclays Bank in Station Road, Harrow, demanding £2,000 and threatening her with a gun unless she complied.
But when the cashier activated a security camera, Worrell, aged 25, stumbled away empty handed and sought refuge in a church nearby as the police searched for him. Worrell, of Shrewsbury Avenue, Kenton, Middlesex, who pleaded guilty to attempted robbery was given a 12 month jail sentence suspended for two years.
Mr William Taylor, for the defence, said Worrell was "absolutely desperate" for money when he "dreamed up the impossible scheme."
