Neil Moore, escapee extraordinaire

Wandsworth prison, South London

It's a pity Neil Moore's brain wasn't put to better use.  This clever young man could have done a lot of good for his fellow man but instead, he chose a different path.

Neil Moore pulled off the perfect escape plan after emailing fake bail instructions to staff.  The 28 year old set up a fake web domain which looked exactly like the official Southwark Crown Court website.

The bogus website was then registered in the name of Chris Soole, a Scotland Yard Detective Inspector and gave the contact details of the Royal Courts of Justice.  

Posing as a senior clerk, he emailed the prison's custody inbox with fake instructions for his bail release.  And then he walked out of one of Britain's most secure prisons - Wandsworth in South London.  Wardens only discovered the mistake when Moore's solicitor turned up for a meeting.

But he couldn't have done it without the help of a mobile phone and one was smuggled in to him last Spring.

Moore, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and currently from Ilford, Essex, had at least four different aliases and police are still unsure which one is real.

He posed as bank staff from Barclays, Lloyds, and the Bank of America to fool large companies in the UK and US, including Thomas Exchange Global, into handing over almost 2 million pounds between February 2012 and November 2013.

But we are left wondering why, after three days of freedom, he chose to hand himself into police.

Gillian Triggs should be sacked

Gillian Triggs

Human Rights Commissioner, Gillian Triggs recommended that the Abbott government pay Indonesian refugee John Basikbasik 51, compensation of $350,000 for being held in detention after bashing his pregnant partner to death in 2000.  She was 28.

Basikbasik served seven years for manslaughter before he was released into Villawood Detention Centre because the government believed he was too dangerous to be released into the community.

Because he is a genuine refugee, he can't be sent home and remains in detention after almost eight years.

"I appreciate the public wants to know how these sums are computed but again I think a fair minded person would say to be held for eight years, without charge, without a trial, and without consideration as to whether alternatives could be considered for this man, especially in the light of the psychiatrist's evidence that a management plan had not been developed for him, would consider the compensation proposed was a reasonable one" she said.

Wrong Ms Trigg.  I consider myself to be a fair minded person and that analysis is just plain wrong.  The only good news is that the government has refused to pay it.

Suddenly the Professor wants a Royal Commission into children in detention but she wasn't concerned about them when Labor was in power. Under Labor there were 2,000 - under LNP, there are now under 200 children in detention and because the boats have stopped coming, there won't be any more.  

This woman is a hypocrite and should be removed.

Kieran Loveridge sent to SuperMax

One punch killer Kieran Loveridge who assaulted Thomas Kelly at Kings Cross in 2012 for no reason, has been sent to Goulburn SuperMax, the home of the worst terrorists, rapists and murderers in the country.

It seems he couldn't behave himself at the mid North Coast prison at Kempsey - he put an inmate in hospital with a fractured eye socket and got too close to a female officer who has since been sacked.

Loveridge is serving a non-parole period of 10 years for the one punch attack on Kelly.

There are around 500 prisoners at Kempsey and only 40 inmates in SuperMax. 

Some of the infamous prisoners include:

Malcolm George Baker, murder, never to be released for Terrigal massacre in 1992.

Darryl Burrell, armed robbery. Only person to ever escape from the Death Cells.

Leslie Camilleri, two life terms plus 183 years, no chance of parole

Ray Denning, armed robbery and serial escapee

Sef Gonzales, three life terms, no chance of parole

Sam Ibrahim, brother of John Ibrahim, prohibited weapons

Michael Kanaan, 3 life terms plus 50 years, no chance of parole

Ivan Milat, seven life terms plus 18 years, no chance of parole

Les Murphy, youngest of Murphy brothers for murder of Anita Cobby with non parole period of 34 years.

Malcolm Naden, life plus 40 years, no chance of parole

Ngo Canh Phuong, life, no chance of parole

George Savvas (deceased)

Bilal Skaf, non parole period of 32 years for Sydney gang rapes in 2000

John Travers, life plus 65 years, no chance of parole, for murder of Anita Cobby

Mark Valera, 2 life terms, no chance of parole

Khaled Cheikho and Moustafa Cheikho, Mohammed Ali Elomar, Abdul Rakib Hasan and Mohammed Omar Jamal – between 23 and 28 years for conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

Bassam Hamzy, murder of Kris Toumazis, conspiring to murder a witness and founder of the Brothers for Life street gang. He will be eligible for parole in June 2015.

Bowe Bergdahl to be court-martialed

It took a long time, but the truth is about to come out.  After a lengthy investigation, Army Sargeant Bowe Bergdahl - who was held captive by the Taliban for five years - will be court-martialed for desertion.

It seems he had an epiphany and decided that his country had no right to be in Afghanistan and he wanted no further part in it, so he simply walked off into the unknown and was captured by the Taliban.

Last year Bergdahl was exchanged for five Taliban commanders held at Guatanamo Bay.  Everyone said it was a bad deal, and it was, but all service members are told that if they should get lost, captured or wounded on the battlefield, their comrades will never leave them behind.

It is the unwritten law of the military.  "We will never leave a fallen comrade behind" the Army's Chief of Staff said yesterday.  "Now that Sgt Bergdahl is back and under our control, first and foremost, we must ensure his health is taken care of  and he is properly integrated."

President Obama was accused of "violating the law" in failing to tell Congress before the swap went ahead.

Some members of Bergdahl's Platoon will be celebrating the decision to see him court-martialed.  "I was pissed off then, and I am even more so now with everything going on" Sgt Matt Vierkant said. "Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him."

His home town of Hailey, Idaho had to cancel a planned celebration for his homecoming when unanswered questions began to be asked.

Since returning to the US, although he has communicated with his parents, he still hasn't met with them face to face.

The men exchanged to secure his release were mid to high-level officials of the Taliban who were imprisoned early on in the war, and the outrage at their release looks likely to continue for some time.

Woman raised by lesbians slams gay marriage

Heather Barwick

Sir Elton John was upset when Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said that babies born through IVF are 'synthetic.'  His two sons were both conceived with the help of a surrogate and artificial insemination.

But Sir Elton must realize that not everyone is in favour of gay couples adopting children and American Heather Barwick who was raised by lesbians explains why. Her mother left her father when she was two years old and moved in with a women she fell in love with.   She writes:

I’m writing to you because I’m letting myself out of the closet: I don’t support gay marriage. But it might not be for the reasons that you think. It’s not because you’re gay. I love you, so much. It’s because of the nature of the same-sex relationship itself. Same-sex marriage and parenting withholds either a mother or father from a child while telling him or her that it doesn’t matter. That it’s all the same. But it’s not.
 A lot of us, a lot of your kids, are hurting. My father’s absence created a huge hole in me, and I ached every day for a dad. I loved my mum’s partner, but another mum could never have replaced the father I lost. Growing up, and even into my 20s, I supported and advocated for gay marriage. It’s only with some time and distance from my childhood that I’m able to reflect on my experiences and recognise the long-term consequences that same-sex parenting had on me. It’s only now, as I watch my children loving and being loved by their father each day, that I can see the beauty and wisdom in traditional marriage and parenting. I’m not gay, but the relationship that was modelled before me was a woman loving a woman. So I’ve struggled as an adult figuring out how to be in a relationship with my husband. It really wasn’t until I came to Christ that I felt that burden lifted off of me. And I’m not bitter. I’m not angry, I forgive my dad. 

Designer Domenico Dolce (right) with business partner Stefano Gabbana (

Barwick then pleads with the gay community not to misinterpret her opposition to gay parenting as homophobia.

This isn’t about hate at all. I know you understand the pain of a label that doesn’t fit and the pain of a label that is used to malign or silence you. And I know that you really have been hated and that you really have been hurt. I was there, at the marches, when they held up signs that said, “God hates fags” and “AIDS cures homosexuality.” I cried and turned hot with anger right there in the street with you. But that’s not me. I know this is a hard conversation but we need to talk about it. If anyone can talk about hard things, it’s us. You taught me that.

Six other children raised by same sex couples have penned a letter to Dolce and Gabbana, supporting their comments.

We want to thank you for giving voice to something that we learned by experience: Every human being has a mother and a father, and to cut either from a child’s life is to rob the child of dignity, humanity, and equality,” the six of them wrote. “You have given us great inspiration as all six of us prepare to submit letters to the US Supreme Court against gay marriage.

Daniel Jack Kelsall found guilty

It took the jury just three hours to find Daniel Jack Kelsell guilty of murdering Morgan Huxley in the early hours of 8 September 2013.

The Crown said he followed Huxley into his home, indecently assaulted him as he lay on the bed, and stabbed him at least 20 times.  There was no motive, it was a simply a thrill kill, something he wanted to do.

You will never find a more unlikely-looking killer than Jack Kelsell, the nerd who doesn't look strong enough to hurt a fly.

Kelsell was adopted and grew up in Wellington, New Zealand in a comfortable home overlooking the harbour.  His parents, Mark and Lynne gave him every opportunity to thrive and spared no expense on his schools, hobbies and summer holidays.

Instead of going to mainstream high school, his parents enrolled him into Athena College, an alternative school based on "self-directed learning."

Jack started home school when Athena closed down in 2009 and continued to study hospitality at Wellington TAFE after his parents and sister moved to Sydney.  But he was so lonely, the family moved him into their home in the well-heeled Sydney suburb of Balmoral.

He spent his days working at Sydney Cooking School as a chef's assistant, playing video games and reading fiction short story websites.

His parents realized by primary school that their son was gay. "Jack's got curly hair and he's gay, we don't make a big deal out of it" Mark Kelsall told the jury.

They were worried he was being over-medicated with Seroquel, an anti-psychotic medication for bi-polar disorder and he was gradually weaned off it.

It was about this time that he began having thoughts of following someone home and stabbing them to death just "for the thrill of it."

Forensic tests showed that Kelsall's DNA was on Mr Huxley's penis, his fingerprint was on Mr Huxley's bedroom door and a shoulder bag Kelsall was seen carrying on CCTV  footage had spots of Mr Huxley's blood on it which he later tried unsuccessfully to rub off.

On that fateful night as he was finishing work, Kelsall saw Morgan Huxley using an ATM machine.  He was obviously drunk as he struggled to get the money out of the machine.

It's no wonder police had a hard time believing Kelsall was their man - how could a nerdy, slightly-built youth possibly kill a fully grown man weighing around 90 kilos? 

 But he did, and we are left wondering how?

Edit 29.4.2015.  Daniel Jack Kelsall has been sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison for the stabbing murder of Morgan Huxley in his Neutral Bay apartment in September 2013.

Sydney property market out of control

The Sydney property market is out of control and prices just keep going up.  First home buyers can't get a look-in because cashed-up Asians are buying up property all across the city.  At almost every auction, the successful bidder is Asian.

But these wealthy investors have no intention of living in the property they buy, they are after a high rental return which is guaranteed because they know there is a critical shortage of rental properties in Sydney.

The proportion of first home buyers in NSW who took out residential loans in december was only 7.1 per cent, the lowest on record.  Young Aussie couples desperate to get started, are shattered to find that the offer they have stretched themselves to pay, is now way, way too low.

Reserve Bank Governor Glen Stevens told Parliament last week that affordable housing in Sydney has become a major social issue but he can't do anything about it.   He cut rates to their lowest level in more than 50 years last week, pulling the cash rate down from 2.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent.  He's also worried that unemployment will peak at a higher level than expected.

Treasurer Joe Hockey thinks it's a good idea for young people to dip into their super early so they can get into the market but not everyone agrees.  Some say it's a good idea and others think it's an incredibly stupid idea.

But there is more bad news.  Adult children of elderly parents can no longer sit back and wait for their inheritance from the sale of the family home, now worth around $1 million.  Australians are living much longer and there is a 50 per cent chance that the remaining elderly parent will have to sell the home to enter an aged care facility, which over time, will gobble it all up.

Last year we said it couldn't last, house prices were insane and the bubble had to burst.  But this is March and it's still going strong. There is no sign of the market slowing down as auction prices continue to break all records every weekend, all around the city.

Jeremy Clarkson suspended from Top Gear

At a hotel in Yorkshire, during a 40 minute rant, Jeremy Clarkson has been accused of punching producer Oisin Tymon in the face.

As in most cases like this, there are three sides to the story, Clarkson's side, the victim's side and the truth.

Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond and some of the production team returned to their hotel at 10pm after spending two hours drinking at a hotel.  They were all hungry and Clarkson became furious when the waiter told him that the chef had gone home and there was only soup and cold cuts available.

By the time they arrived back at the hotel, most of the production team had gone to bed, except for Tymon, who stayed up to greet Clarkson and his colleagues.

During his meltdown and screaming match, Clarkson called the producer a "lazy Irish ****" and threw a punch that split his lip and left blood running down his face.  He was taken to the nearest hospital where he said he felt "dizzy." During his rant, Clarkson promised to do everything in his power to make sure he was sacked for allowing the situation to happen.

Eventually, the hotel manager Robert Scott prepared a steak for Clarkson in an effort to calm him down.

Oisin Tymon

There was such an overwhelming outpouring of support for Clarkson on social media, Tymon had to consult with lawyers after fans threatened to kill him.  Solicitors Slater & Gordon said "We are assisting Oisin Tymon in relation to incidents occurring during his employment at the BBC."

Clarkson will deny using xenophobic language or punching Tymon when he appears before the BBC inquiry conducted by the head of BBC Scotland, Ken MacQuarrie.  He will say that he raised the incident himself with senior BBC managers after apologising to the Top Gear crew for his outburst.

Later, writing in his column for the Sun, he thanked the thousands of people who had signed the petition and wrote "All dinosaurs died and now years later, no one mourns their passing. These big imposing creatures have no place in the world that has moved on. You can start as many campaigns as you like and call on the support of politicians from all sides, but the day must come when you have to wave goodbye to the big monsters and move on.  We lose one animal and get another.  The world turns.

Stay away from the Paleo Diet

Pete Evans

Pete Evans is the co-host of Australia's most popular reality show - My Kitchen Rules, and when he says he's a devotee of the Paleo diet, people listen.

But a cookbook for infants about to be released, co-authored by Evans, has been put on hold because of grave health concerns. 

It's called Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way.  In the book, there is a recipe for baby formula made from liver and bone broth, one of Evans' Paleo creations, and health professionals are saying that it will stunt the growth of babies and and impair their development. But it gets worse, the Health Department says it could even kill a child.

"In my view, there is a very real possibility that a baby may die if this book goes ahead" said Professor Heather Yeatman, president of the Public Health Association of Australia.

"While adults have the choice to follow the paleo diet, which excludes dairy and grains, parents are responsible for the diet of their children and it would be unfair for parents to force unproven beliefs on them" she said.  "That's the really troubling thing, the infant is totally at the whim of their parents when it comes to feeding, and if the wrong decision is made, they may be seriously affected."

The cookbook is a joint venture between Evans, baby blogger Charlotte Carr and naturopath Helen Padarin and not one of these authors has any medical training or qualifications.

The Health Department has released this statement:

The Department is aware of this publication and has concerns about the inadequate nutritional value of some of the recipes, in particular, the infant formula, and has been consulting with experts and will continue to investigate the matter.

Speaking for myself, I think the paleo diet is crazy.  Common sense tells you that if you cut out grains, legumes, dairy, conventionally-raised meats and all non-organic produce, you are asking for trouble.  And the authors' disclaimer at the back of the book backs this up. 

It says that recipes will lead to a healthier life but 'relying on the information contained in this publication may not give you the results you desire or may cause negative health consequences.'

This diet is a ticking time bomb, especially for babies and infants and for a celebrity chef to sing its praises, without sufficient medical evidence to back it up, is totally irresponsible.

Supermax inmates must speak English not Arabic

It's an unusual order - Muslim inmates at Goulburn's Supermax prison - home to our worst offenders - will be forbidden to speak Arabic during visits and phone calls.

From now on, 13 inmates have been classified "extremely high risk restricted" and will be forced to speak English when communicating with the outside world.  All letters sent out will also be in English.

When an inmate has a visitor, a prison officer will stand close by and record their conversation and if they start talking in Arabic, they will escorted out.

Inside NSW prisons, non-Muslim inmates are converting to Islam at an alarming rate and are insisting on halal meals.  Last week, staff at Long Bay in Sydney received four applications from "young, white males" asking to change their diet.

There is also some concern over what the imams are actually saying when they come to hold prayer sessions inside the prison. From now on, these meetings will be held in English, not Arabic, and the department has been told to recruit imams with a sense of "moderation and decency" to service prisoners.

Until recently, only Bassam Hamzy was given the extreme high-risk classification and banned from speaking Arabic.  When it was discovered that he was still communicating with the outside world through a legal secretary, strict visitor vetting procedures are now in place.

It seems our prisons are breeding grounds for radical Isamization and something had to be done about it.  Let's hope it works.

President Putin and Boris Nemtsov's assassination

Another death of one of President Putin's political opponents looks suspicious even though a group of men have been arrested and one man has confessed his guilt. 

Nemtsov became Deputy Prime Minister at the age of 38 and was thought to replace Yeltsin as president, but Putin got the job.

Nemtsov was a thorn in the side of the Kremlin - he disagreed with everything Putin did.  He said Crimea should not have been annexed because it belonged to Ukraine and he had proof that Russian troops were fighting there, in fact he was writing a book about it.  Add to that the mass demonstration he had planned for March 1, and he was becoming a real pest.

When journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in 2006, Putin said she was "extremely insignificant for political life in Russia" and after Nemtsov's murder, a spokesman for Putin said he presented "no political threat to the current leadership."

And we will never forget the case of Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned with polonium in London in 2006.  Litvinenko swore on his death bed that Putin was responsible.  It was payback for exposing the Russian Secret Service's violent activities in helping Putin's rise to power and how he accumulated illicit proceeds from his time in office and hid them overseas.


President Putin's past has muddied his reputation and questions his integrity and although a lengthy inquiry in under way, the Russian people may believe the outcome, but the rest of the world may not.

Peter Gerard Scully - Australian Paedophile

Melbourne man, Peter Scully is the scum of the earth.

He filmed perverted acts against children as young as 18 months and live-streamed the "pay to view" videos to clients, mostly in Europe.

Janet Francisco, a police investigator who has seen some of the videos said "it was hateful, disgusting and painful to watch babies being tortured and sexually assaulted.....listening to their cries could haunt you forever."

"Voices of young girls aged 1 to 7 performing sexual acts with older women were also among those uploaded by Scully" she said.

One video shows a baby convulsing as she was whipped with a belt and hot wax from a melting candle poured onto her tiny body.

Scully is also accused of murder.  His partner, who was also his victim when she was 14, said he killed a girl because she had whip marks on her body that were so severe, they couldn't be concealed.

Police around the world are slowly closing in on these sick vermin and it was Netherlands police who were responsible for his arrest.

The Philippines is a major centre of a billion dollar child pornography industry, mainly because of widespread poverty.

The death penalty was suspended in the Philippines in 2006 but this case has raised the possibility of bringing it back.

"The Philippine government should directly and seriously address the problem of paedophelia, child exploitation and sexual abuse by supporting the move to reimpose the death penalty" Sherwin Gatchalian, an MP with the Nationalist People's Coalition said.

Scully arrived in the Philippines in 2011 but it wasn't until September 2014 when two naked teenage girls were found tied to a bed in an apartment he rented, that he came to the attention of authorities.  At the time he was using aliases of Peter Ridell and Peter Russell.

So who is this man willing to pay to see such horror?  Is he sitting comfortably in a middle-class home somewhere in Europe, perhaps with a wife and children in the house?

If you know who he is, you need to tell someone.

Oscar Pistorius fears inmates will poison his food

The human emotion of revenge is alive and well.  Any news about how Oscar Pistorius is suffering in prison for killing Reeva Steenkamp, is good news.  But the only sign so far is that he's losing weight.

Pistorius is so terrified of being poisoned by inmates who hate him, he's refusing his daily meals and only eats tinned food from the tuck shop. This has resulted in a dramatic weight loss and his prosthetic legs no longer fit.

Sure he's white in the predominantly black Kgosi Mampuru prison, dominated by violent gangs, but because of his disability, he's tucked away safely in the hospital wing and has little contact with other inmates.  He resides in a single cell and the toilet is right next to the bed.

But his wish for a bath was denied.  Plans to build one especially for him fell through after inmates complained he was receiving special treatment.  And of course he was.

He's only four months into a five year sentence but South African justice will allow him out on parole in October so he can serve out the rest of his sentence in the comfort of his own home.

William Tyrrell still missing

It's been nearly six months since little William Tyrrell disappeared while playing outside his grandparent's home and so far, police tip offs from the public have turned out to be dead ends.

One of those tip offs is about Bill Spedding, a local tradesman. He was called to fix William's grandmother's washing machine on 12 September last year - the same day William went missing.

In January, forensic police and detectives searched Mr Spedding's home at Bonny Hills, not far from where William disappeared. They searched a set of rooms under his house, excavated part of the backyard and drained the septic tank.  He was questioned and released without charge.

Yesterday, Mr Spedding's son Rodney said his father had nothing to do with William's disappearance.  "He's got the biggest heart, he's very generous, it's very upsetting, the media attention has killed his business and affected his livelihood" he said.

When Mr Spedding was spotted driving past the new search area on Monday, police went back to his home and interviewed him again.

Instead of being angry, Mr Spedding has co-operated fully with police. After the raid on his home he said "I wish to thank our family and friends for the overwhelming support we have received from them over this time."

If this man - whose reputation is now in tatters - turns out to be innocent, he deserves nothing less than a full page apology from every media outlet in the country and another from the Police Department. Compensation for loss of business wouldn't go amiss either.

This is truly a baffling case.  Police have asked Crime Stopper websites in 26 countries to post a message about William's abduction.

Dame Maggie Smith of Downton Abbey

Dame Maggie Smith's performance in Downton Abbey is more than memorable, it's absolutely brilliant.  But now in her eightieth year, the Dowager Countess has confirmed she is leaving the show after Series six.

She thinks Downton has run its course and can't see how it can possibly go on.  "I certainly can't keep going, to my knowledge, I must be 110 by now, we're into the late 1920s."

The grand old lady is one of the reasons audiences all over the world got hooked on Downton Abbey, but if the writers know anything at all, they will quit while still on top, rather than run it into the ground.

The show's creator Julian Fellowes said "It's not really my decision, I don't own Downton Abbey now, NBC Universal owns it.....it won't go on forever, I'm not a believer in that, but I can't now tell you where the end will be."

Mr Fellowes plans to begin work on a pilot later this year for a new NBC drama titled "The Gilded Age" set in New York in the 19th Century.