Charity Thief Jailed… - The Pasty sells saffron cakes from Cornwall and Cornish pasties

A Cornish businessman who stole public donations from two charities has been sentenced to three years in jail. Leigh Douglas Windsor was sentenced at Plymouth Crown Court to 3 years imprisonment for stealing money from air ambulance charities.

Windsor admitted to stealing £273,000 from the Wales Air Ambulance Trust and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Trust. Robert Edwards, a manager for Windsor’s firm, was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.

Detective Constable David Buckley said Windsor and Edwards had abused the trust of people who were supporting life-saving charities. This case is set to affect public donations in the future and Judge Francis Gilbert expressed his concern over this speculation.

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Iranian forces captured 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint, says the MOD.

The men, from HMS Cornwall, were seized after they boarded a boat in the Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which the navy says they “suspected was smuggling cars.”

The Royal Navy said it was doing all it could to secure the men’s release.

They were said to be carrying out a routine patrol in Iraqi waters.

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Former England under-21 international Cherno Samba scored the winner on his debut for Plymouth Argyle.

The 20-year-old striker, who was signed from Spanish side Cadiz earlier in the season, came on as a 74th-minute substitute for the Pilgrims and headed Hasney Aljofree’s cross home eight minutes from time.

20-year-old Samba was once rated as one of England’s most talented young players but his career failed to move forward after joining Cadiz.

The former Milwall player has played for England’s youth teams at every level and was once courted by Liverpool and Manchester United.

Coventry 0 - 1 Plymouth Argyle

Coventry

Team: Marshall, Whing, Page, Ward, Hall, Birchall (Adebola 65), Cameron, Hughes, Tabb (Hutchison 73), Kyle, John.

Booked: Cameron, Page.

Plymouth Argyle

Team: McCormick, Connolly, Seip, Doumbe, Capaldi, Norris, Wotton, Nalis, Buzsaky (Aljofree 78), Chadwick (Summerfield 85), Reid (Samba 74).

Goals: C Samba (82)

Booked: Norris.

Attendance: 19,545

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The first ever British Big Wave Champion was crowned yesterday at Fistral Beach in Newquay, thanks to the huge waves whipped up by tail-end of Hurricane Gordon.

Twenty-eight-year-old Scott Eastwood Scott took off on an eight-foot wave at the Gold Rush Big Wave Contest and surfed his way to a perfect ten, beating 15 other top surfers.

The Gold Rush Big Wave Contest, the first of its kind in Britain, was organised at short notice after there were forecasts of huge waves expected of up to six feet caused by the hurricane that struck the northern regions of the UK.

The surf contest director, Tony Good, said the huge waves were even higher and better than initially forecasted. He said: “I’ve been involved with running contests for over 20 years and without a doubt, today’s contest was the most exciting ever.”

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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has begun his search for a second batch of young trainee chefs for his restaurant at Watergate Bay, near Newquay.

The search is on for up to 30 student chefs, including reserves, to be trained at Cornwall College in January and start in the kitchen in May 2007. 21 students have already been trained by chefs at Fifteen Cornwall.

Jamie’s Fifteen restaurant in Cornwall is the third of its kind, following the restaurants in London and Amsterdam. The profit made from the restaurants pays for the development and training of disadvantaged youngsters, and helps them build careers in the restaurant industry.

Jamie’s fourth Fifteen restaurant is due to open in Melbourne soon.

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A Cornish jewellery store is using space age technology, developed by aerospace companies, in their new range of jewellery.

Penzance-based company Amanda’s Glass Art uses dichroic glass to create colourful one-off jewellery designs.

The website, which is run by Penzance-based jeweller Amanda Williams, uses dichroic glass, a speciality glass developed in the 1950s by the aerospace industry.

Dichroic refers to the property of having more than one colour when viewed from different angles. In the lengthy and costly procedure the thin layers of metallic oxides are deposited on the surface of the glass giving an extraordinary selection of vivid colours.

Kiln fired in extreme heat to produce the desired stunning textures, colours and shapes, the resulting pieces of jewellery are both beautiful and unique.

Made using this fired dichroic glass and bullseye coloured glass the resulting creations are unique. No two firings are the same so every piece of jewellery is individual.

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A blind dealer in Third Reich militaria claims that paintings by Adolf Hitler, which are being offered at a Cornish auction, are fake.

Mikey Hughes, of Mikey Hughes Militaria, argues that the 21 watercolours and sketches by the Third Reich leader are not authentic and that the best thing the auctioneers can do is “pull the auction”. He said: “I wouldn’t even put these so called ‘Hitler’ pictures on my kitchen fridge.”

Suffering from Stickler Syndrome, Mikey fully lost his sight in 1998 but continued to collect and deal artefacts from the Third Reich. He says the paintings, which will be auctioned on 26 September at Jeffery’s auction house, do not comply with the “4 S’s” of authenticity – science, style, signature and source.

After personally speaking to the auctioneer, Ian Morris, Mikey said: “Ian could not explain why the signatures on the paintings, apparently painted within a short space of time, were mostly all different.”

He continued: “Being blind I got somebody to write the signatures from the Jeffery’s paintings on a bit of paper, with my hand gently leaning over theirs. I then got them to write the signatures from paintings that were original and even using this basic technique the differences were immediately apparent.”

Ian also admitted that the last tests carried out to establish the age of the paintings were in 1986 in Belgium suggesting the invalidity of the age assessment, said Mikey.

Understandably the source of the paintings is undisclosed to the public, but Mikey points out that the “Hitler diaries” of the 1980s were also from a secret source, which turned out to be Stuttgart-based forger “Connie Fischer”.

Mikey has been collecting militaria for about 16 years and although he advises collectors to avoid buying the paintings offered at Jeffery’s, he defends the sale of Third Reich collectibles and original Hitler art.

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70 of Cornwall’s beaches will face major makeovers as volunteers opt to clean them up this weekend

The clean-up includes the large beaches at Fistral in Newquay and Gyllyngvase in Falmouth, and smaller ones at Readymoney and Gunwalloe.

The volunteers include surfers, Brownies and animal sanctuary staff. Members of Surfers against Sewage, who are taking part in the clean-up, hope to remove dangerous litter and debris which could disrupt surfing.

Staff from the National Seal Sanctuary want to clear up Gwithian beach as they frequently release seal pups there. Local councils are providing protective gloves and bin bags for volunteers.

The big beach clean-up is taking place as part of a national campaign called Beachwatch 2006, run by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). A total of 370 beaches across the United Kingdom are to be cleaned and surveyed by volunteers.

An MCS spokesman said: “Beach litter is more than just an eyesore for millions of beach visitors across the country. It is a global issue that represents a major threat to many vulnerable marine animals.

“MCS surveys have recorded a 90 per cent increase in the amount of beach litter over the last decade, with major sources being visitors, fishing debris, sanitary and shipping waste.

”We’re determined to make Beachwatch 2006 the biggest and most successful ever.”

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Police have been authorised to arrest people who drink alcohol in public places in parts of the Kerrier district in west Cornwall.

In an attempt to curtail anti-social behaviour by drinkers, the Designated Public Place Orders have been issued in Helston, Redruth, Camborne and Portreath. Signs will be put on display in the areas that will be affected by the new laws.

Offenders can face a fine of up to £500 if convicted and police will also have the power to confiscate their alcohol.

The Kerrier District Council introduced the scheme in partnership with the relevant town and parish councils to put an end to aggressive behaviour from drinkers.

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Rick Stein, Cornwall-based celebrity chef, was left distraught when two thieves stole his trademark Land Rover from a hotel in Italy.

The thieves broke into the car park of the hotel in Puglia, Italy where Stein and his production team were staying to film his new series, Rick Stein’s Mediterranean.

The chef’s distinctive blue Land Rover Defender, costing about £30,000, contained camera equipment and Stein’s favourite blue shirt, which the chef often wore onscreen.

Stein said: “The locals in Puglia are lovely people and the food is fabulous but this has left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

”Our parting shot is a sad-looking me, sitting on my suitcases with no Land Rover. The open-top Jeep we’ve hired to go to Corfu just isn’t the same.”

It is unlikely the thieves knew of the Defender’s celebrity status when they stole it, according to the director of the series, David Pritchard.

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