Table of contents for 16-Jun-2016 in Chat

Patrizia Reggiani was sentenced to 29 years in prison for ordering the murder of Maurizio. This was reduced to 26 upon appeal. In October 2011, she was offered a chance of parole, but declined. ‘Parole would mean getting a job,’ she said. In 2014, she was released after serving 16 years, to work as a fashion consultant for jewellery firm Bozart. The other four defendants were also convicted of premeditated murder. Pina Auriemma was sentenced to 25 years. Ivano Savioni was given 26 years, Orazio Cicala got 29, and Benedetto Ceraulo got life.…

Batts Thousand Island Dressing, 250ml, 65p, Lidl A satisfyingly gloopy sauce that's ideal as a dip as well as a dressing. We liked the little flecks of spicy pepper. Bramwells Thousand Island Dressing 250ml, 65p, Aldi A fairly runny sauce with a strong tomato flavour. Perfect to use in a classic prawn cocktail. Tesco Thousand Island Dressing, 250ml, 70p Wonderfully creamy, and just the right consistency to coat leaves, the tomato flavour is offset with just enough soured cream and lemon. NEW Haagen-Dazs Mango & Raspberry, £4.79, Tesco Oh, yum, yum, this blend of fruits is guaranteed to taste of summer - even if the weather isn't promising!…

Searching hidden depths In 1990, police informant Christine Elkins vanished. Detectives suspected drug dealer Tony Emery, but couldn't prove anything - until 1997, when a witness claimed Emery had murdered Christine, put her in the boot of her car and rolled it into the Missouri river. NecroSearch surveyed the river and calculated the best place to look. They located 11 cars - including Christine's, her remains in the boot. Emery was jailed for life without parole. NO BODY, NO MURDER? Since 1954 in the UK, a dead body hasn’t been necessary to prove a murder has taken place. But it’s tough to get a conviction, as the evidence is largely circumstantial and there have only been a handful of cases. Most recently, Mark Bridger was jailed for life for murdering…

Russian-based artist Salavat Fidai, 42, has made a name for himself by turning pencil leads into tiny works of art! With just a craft knife and magnifying glass, he’s carved all sorts – from Big Ben to Batman. Salavat can spend anything from 12 hours to three days on his mini masterpieces. See more of his crazy creations at www.salavatfidai.com, or Instagram: @salavat.fidai Let’s shake on it! Two pencils ? Now you're just showing off ! Clever, it is It's certainly one way to get Yoda's wisdom down on paper! Thumbs up! Nothing lik e acknowledging a job well done - and this is definitely one of those! Guitar hero Minuscule band - massive hit! Not-so-jumbo! Love these perfect pencil-point pachyderms! One giant leap…  Who was first on the moon?…

I wouldn't settle for any old dress just because it fitted... I've even taken our frocks to wedding events It’d been the perfect day… It was Christmas 2014, and my partner Jonathan, 31, and I were at Disney World, Florida. We’d watched the spectacular fireworks, then headed back to our hotel room. Suddenly… ‘Will you marry me?’ Jonathan asked. ‘Yes!’ I grinned through tears, before throwing my arms around him. Excited, I started looking for my perfect dress in March last year. But, no matter where I went, I couldn’t find a dress in my size. I was 5ft 9in and a size-26, but every shop I visited only stocked dresses up to sizes 16 or 18. ‘Let’s try getting you in a slightly smaller size,’ shop workers gently said.…

The sisters went into the church – the man had vanished For nine days, the sisters of the religious order appealed to Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph most just, pray for us, they repeated softly in the dim candlelight of the chapel. If anyone could help the Sisters of Loretto, it was the carpenter saint. The Order had been founded in 1812, 66 years before, and was dedicated to the education and welfare of poor children. It was named after the Santa Casa di Loreto, in Ancona, Italy – where the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared hundreds of years before. First, the Sisters built schools in Kentucky and Texas for the children of frontier families. And now, they were building a school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A chapel…

What I loved Reading that goddess-like athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill HATES spiders! I'm just cheered that it's not only wimps like me who can't bear 'em… What hacked me off Being seduced into buying a pair of bright-pink trainers. What was I thinking? My feet look teenage - and that sure as heck doesn't match the rest of me!! What made me laugh A mate saying, ‘On EU voting day, I'll take my voting slip for a candlelit dinner, champagne and truffles. I'm gonna spoil my ballot…' Hope someone special spoils you this week!…

By now, flames were licking the window frames... Staring at the thick blue line on the stick, I felt excitement – and fear. ‘It’s positive,’ I told my fiance Danny, 27. Danny and I were desperate for a baby together. I already had Katie-Louise, now 3, from a past relationship. Danny was great with her. He’d be a fab dad. But this wasn’t the first time I’d been pregnant since Katie-Louise, and each time it’d ended in miscarriage. Five in total. Now, in August last year, I was worried it might happen again. ‘Let’s take it one day at a time,’ Danny said. I was monitored by Burnley Newborn Centre. When I reached three months, we breathed a sigh of relief. But then a scan showed that there wasn’t enough…

Pick me, I thought, when it came to crunch time As another man came down in the lift, I giggled and clapped along with the other girls. ‘No likey, no lighty!’ host Paddy McGuinness shouted. It was November last year, and I was filming for the latest series of ITV’s Take Me Out. Single for two years, I’d not had much luck with men lately. I’d tried Internet dating, but it just wasn’t for me. I thought the show would be fun, though. And it was such a laugh – but none of the men were taking my fancy. Then, during the third episode, Adam, 31, came down in the lift. Smartly dressed in a suit, he wasn’t my usual type. But I was drawn to his friendly smile. For…

Eating pains Q I'm getting sharp, gnawing pains in the middle of my stomach under my ribs after I eat. What should I take? Rachel, 57 A It could be an ulcer or inflammation affecting your stomach or part of your bowel. Acid-lowering tablets from the chemist's can help. But see your GP to rule out helicobacter, a treatable infection or, because of your age, stomach cancer. Kidney stones Q I had a painful kidney stone, which has now gone, but could I develop another one? Penny, 53 A Stones in women often follow a kidney infection, but your GP may want to check for causes such as excess chemicals in your bloodstream or kidney abnormalities. Provided these tests are OK, and you avoid infection and drink plenty of…

Serves: 4 Prep: 10 min Cook: 20 min 4 Bramley apples 50g butter, softened 50g Muscovado sugar 4 balls of stem ginger, finely chopped 75g raisins 1 Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 6. 2 Remove core from each apple, leaving a hole about 4cm wide in centre, and then use a knife to score a cross down sides of each apple. 3 Cream butter and sugar together, and then stir in ginger and raisins. Divide mixture between apples, pushing it into cavities. 4 Place apples in an ovenproof dish and bake for 20 min or until tender. Spoon juices from base of dish over each apple and serve warm with cream or ice cream. Micro method: Add filling and place apples in a microwaveable dish. Cover loosely with greaseproof paper and…

NecroSearch was started in 1988 by a group of scientists – Jack Swanburg, Dick Hopkins and Clark Davenport. Davenport was a geophysicist. He’d made the link between science and detective work three years earlier, helping police search for two bodies – allegedly buried in metal barrels. Officers had wrongly been using a regular metal detector when Davenport swooped in with his magnetometer, which searches deeper down. After, he researched, held talks about how science can help detectives solve crimes... ‘There’s no technology in the world that can find a body,’ he said. ‘But I might be able to tell you where to look.’ Swanburg and Hopkins were forensic scientists who examined evidence left at crime scenes. The group were concerned at the outdated techniques used to locate hidden bodies, such…

A monthly injection would halt her sexual development Just a little kid, she still has play fights with her siblings Kids. They grow up too quickly these days! At 6, my girl Teri-Leigh already stood head-and-shoulders above her schoolmates. I’m 5ft 8in, and her dad is 5ft 10in, so I dismissed it as a growth spurt. Already standing 4ft 5in tall, Teri-Leigh was the same height as her brother Ewan, then 9. It became a family joke. My eldest, Kian, then 11, and my youngest, Georgia, 4, all had a good giggle about it. ‘You’ll overtake Ewan soon!’ I smirked. And, a few months on, in the spring of 2013, she did! By then, she was 4ft 8in. One night, when Teri-Leigh was 7, as I dried her off after…

We'd have spent more… Would have given up everything! It was time to say goodbye. To our hopes. Our dreams. And our baby. ‘I don’t want to let go,’ I cried to my husband. ‘I can’t.’ ‘Ssh,’ Tony, 54, said. ‘I’m here.’ It was December 2005. I was seven weeks pregnant. Only, it was ectopic. The baby was growing in my right Fallopian tube. It couldn’t survive. And if it wasn’t taken out, I wouldn’t survive either. It was more than I could bear. We’d been trying for a baby for the last couple of years. Both working in IT, we’d got chatting at a work party in December 2002. Hitting it off immediately, things moved quickly. The following summer, we talked about starting a family. Tony already had Lauren,…

Gemini 22 May - 21 June To settle an matter at work, you may have to reveal information you’re not meant to have and you’ve kept quiet about - but there’s no other way. For a day or so, everything hangs in the balance, but then all is well. Call 0905 817 0692* for more Cancer 22 June - 23 July Can you change your mind, just like that, over something you’ve always accepted? It seems so. Maybe you’ve had a sudden flash of insight, or perhaps it’s just your conscience talking to you. If so, you should listen. Call 0905 817 0693* for more Leo 24 July - 23 Aug You’re riding a little wave of good fortune at the moment - nearly everything you do will turn out…

She'd been raped, tortured, videoed and strangled... THE CRIME On 7 February 2010, Colonel Russell Williams was questioned by police. His car had been seen close to a crime scene. What the colonel said next shocked the whole country… THE STORY He must have seen it, staring back at him from the other side of the courtroom. The photo of a young woman, bright-eyed and smiling. A young woman he’d murdered. Jessica Lloyd. She’d been 27. Poor Jessica had never got over losing her dad, Warren, to cancer when she was 14. But she was a great sister to her brother Andy. She was a Business Studies graduate, a motorcyclist, a fan of ice hockey. That’s why her mum Roxanne brought Jessica’s photo into court that day... Even though she’d…

Sickened, I blurted out my secret in front of the whole class In January, I read that Dad had been accused of murder The moment my mum Carole Smith, then 29, grabbed her coat, my stomach lurched. She was heading to her weekly bingo night. And, when the front door clicked shut, I knew it was time for my weekly appointment of a very different kind. While Mum was out, my dad Ian Gordon, then 29, beckoned me to his bedroom. My four younger brothers were asleep in bed. I’d no escape. ‘All girls do this for their dads,’ Dad always said, stinking of booze. Then he’d instruct me to perform oral sex on him. I was only 10. Clueless about sex, I’d no idea what was happening. I only…

I wailed seeing the angry, red handprints on her neck My heart filled with love as my puppy curled up on my knee. Rescue Staffie Jager, 6 months, was my baby. It was early 2014 and I’d just been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, told my chances of falling pregnant were slim. ‘Around 12 per cent,’ the doctor said. Crushed, I’d got Jager to fill the hole in my heart. We bonded immediately. Jager followed me everywhere, loved socks, big sticks and snuggles! That summer, I got chatting to a neighbour – Lewis Modlinsky, 18. He’d pop round most days and we were soon best mates. He adored Jager, too. But when I got a boyfriend in February last year, Lewis wasn’t keen. ‘He’s not right for you,’ he warned.…

My daughter Kim, then 13, was sports mad. So when her school called last April, to say she’d hurt her leg, I thought it was a sports injury. Her lower right leg was swollen and she couldn’t put weight on it. At A&E, she was tested for DVT, but results were clear and they thought it was a muscle sprain. Two days on, she was still in pain. I was at work so mum Margaret, 66, took her to the hospital. Doctors ordered an ultrasound and on 8 May she went back for the scan. Then Kim was sent for an MRI scan. On 13 May the hospital called… They’d found a tumour and would perform a biopsy to determine if it was cancerous. Next day, Kim saw a specialist…

In summer 1993, Davenport used ground-penetrating radar to locate the body of missing mum DiAnne Keidel, who'd disappeared in 1966. She'd been murdered by her husband Gene, buried under concrete. Lyle Eugene ‘Gene' Keidel was jailed for life. NecroSearch has assisted in more than 300 cases, specialising in locating clandestine graves and recovering evidence. Those innovative experts continue to juggle Project PIG with their fieldwork, finding new ways to unearth the truth - and get justice.…

Keep it simple Due to a business failure, we lost our house some years ago and had to rent a place. We downsized - TV, big cars, trips abroad and eating out were off the agenda. I kept track of our bank account and budgeted to pay our bills on time. Financial stress went away. We're much happier with this simpler way of life. Have other Chat readers tried this? Name and address supplied Stay safe So sad and sorry to read Jade Scudder’s story ( She didn’t need to die , 28 April issue) about her girl Amelia who died from meningitis. I have stuck your list of warning signs on my fridge. Kira Aitkins, Wirral Green light Hooray! I’ve now got permission to go crazy at this garden…

1 Mix 300g cooked, mashed potato with 2 beaten eggs and 3tbsp milk. 2 Sift in 200g plain flour, 1tsp baking powder. Season and mix together to make a thick batter. 3 Heat 2tbsp sunflower oil over a medium heat in a large nonstick frying pan. Add tablespoons of batter and cook scones (in two batches) for about 3 min each side. Keep warm. 4 Peel, stone and mash 2 medium avocados with juice of 1 lime and seasoning. 5 Pile into a dish, top with 150g cubed feta, and chill for a few min. 6 Poach 4 eggs and serve each with two potato cakes, avocado mixture, slices of fresh chilli and fresh coriander sprigs. Serves: 4 Cost per head: 77p LIFE! DEATH! PRIZES! For more foodie bargains, visit…

I hadn't been out for years, but Thomas changed that! It was August last year, and I’d just lost my dear son Albert, 59, to a stroke. I was distraught, as were my other children George, 67, John, 65, and Margaret, 55. Putting a death announcement in the newspaper felt so final. I didn’t know how I’d cope. But two weeks on, through the darkness, a flicker of light appeared. One morning, among the usual pile of bills and junk mail, I spotted a card. Odd…it wasn’t my birthday. Opening it, I couldn’t help but smile. It was from a dear old friend Thomas Mensforth, who I’d lost contact with. He’d worked with my late husband George around half a century ago. We saw a lot of each other back…

We took it slowly, but we fell head-over-heels I wanted to beg her to stay, butI knew it was time I’d have known that giggle anywhere. Loud, infectious and cheeky… It was December 2004, and I was at a party. Following the laugh, I found Tracy Harrison. I’d known her since I was a kid – we’d got the same school bus together and Tracy’d sit and giggle with her pals. Truth was, back then, the giggling drove me mad! We’d lost touch but, hearing her memorable laugh again, this time I found myself going weak at the knees. Tracy was gorgeous. ‘I don’t know if you remember me?’ I said approaching her. Tracy grinned, we chatted and it was as if we’d never been apart. ‘I’m single,’ Tracy said…