Table of contents for 01-Sep-2016 in Chat

Lucy will never see her baby grow up – she's 9 now On 16 April last year, we held Lucy’s funeral at St Martin’s Church, followed by a burial at Cherry Lane cemetery. More than 200 mourners packed inside as we played Elton John’s Candle In The Wind. Daffodils bloomed all over the cemetery, and will always remind me of Lucy. That May, Billy White appeared at the Old Bailey, pleading guilty to murder. ‘At least he’s owned up,’ Mark said. Only, on 3 July, as he was due for sentencing, a prison psychiatrist’s report was submitted. White claimed he’d heard voices in his head telling him to kill Lucy. With a history of mental-health issues, suffering from a personality disorder and psychosis, he was allowed to vacate his plea…

The verdict had been delivered. Ronald was guilty of murder. ‘The sentence of this court is that you will be taken from here to the place of execution,' the judge began. ‘And there, you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon your soul.' The defence had failed. Without a successful appeal, Ronald True would pay for the crime with his life. But his lawyers were ready to fight – and to take Ronald True's case to the highest authority in the country.…

Thick nail Q My left big toenail looks like a rhino horn! it's gnarled and twisted and I can't even cut it. Can I get it removed? Una, 63 A A deformed, thickened nail, is often the result of damage in the past. A chiropodist might be able to cut it, or recommend removing the nail and destroying the nail bed so it won't grow back as it would be deformed again. Blood pressure Q I get light-headed and have headaches. I'm sure it's blood pressure. My GP said it was OK, but I can feel it going up! Smita, 46 A No, you can't! Except in rare cases of extreme high blood pressure, which might cause headaches or blurred vision, there are no symptoms. That's why you should have…

Serves: 8 Prep: 15 min Cook: 10 min 175g self-raising flour Pinch of salt ½tsp baking powder 45g Stork with butter 1½tbsp sugar 90ml buttermilk ½tsp vanilla essence 1 egg, beaten to glaze 1 Preheat oven to 200C/ Gas 6 and place a flat baking tray on the middle shelf to warm up. 2 Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl, then rub in Stork with butter and stir in sugar. 3 Heat buttermilk in microwave for 20 sec. Stir in vanilla essence, and then pour mixture into dry ingredients and mix until it just comes together. 4 Transfer to a lightly floured work surface, and knead lightly until dough sticks together and can be formed into a thick, round shape, around 4cm deep. 5 Use a…

Suddenly, one of the horses got all het up, started pushing It was a lovely evening, so I decided to take my youngest, Poppy, 9, for a walk. ‘Can we feed the horses?’ she asked me. ‘Of course,’ I smiled, grabbing a bag of carrots. Poppy loved horses. Luckily, we lived near a field full of them, and there were always local kids going up to feed them. I’d taken Poppy lots of times. So, that evening in March this year, we ambled up the lane. It took about 15 minutes to get to the field and, spotting us, two nags trotted up to the fence. ‘Lay your hand flat,’ I told Poppy, so the horse could easily snaffle up the carrot. I watched carefully as she stood at the…

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A scan revealed a massive bleed in his brain Headaches, sweating, vomiting... My science-mad son Reece, 10, was so poorly in May this year, and he only seemed to be getting worse. Now he was so ill that I had to rush him to the GP in my car. He’d not long had his tonsils removed, so I thought he might be having an allergic reaction to his antibiotics. But, when Reece’s eyes started rolling back in his head, I knew it was more serious. Arriving at the clinic, he couldn’t even walk, and the left side of his face drooped as the GP examined him. An ambulance was called while the doctor rang the paediatric team at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, telling them to be on standby. ‘Stay with…

Ham ’em high! As early as 824AD, all the way to the mid-18th century, animals were held accountable for and punished for their crimes. Such as the case in September 1379 in France, where two herds of pigs at a monastery killed a man named Perrinot Muet. The pigs were tried for murder, and sentenced to hang. Historically, pigs are the worst animal offenders and were often executed or left to rot in jail. Jail bird   In 2007, Sam the Seagull, from Aberdeen, became infamous as a serial crisp thief. The feathered fiend is cunning, too. He waits till a shop assistant's back is turned and there are no customers before sneaking inside the shop to nab a packet of cheesy nachos. Then, he quickly ducks out and scoffs…

My name flashed across the screen My hubby Tom and I relaxed on the sofa with my laptop. It was a weekday evening, and I was playing a few games of Chat Mag Bingo, while Tom, 51, watched over my shoulder. We have three grown-up children and 11 grandkids so, as you can imagine, life can get pretty busy. Evenings are our time to relax together. I’d just discovered Chat Mag Bingo. ‘It looks like a lot of fun,’ I told Tom. So I joined! Around six weeks later, I settled in to play a few games of Emerald Bingo. ‘Look, there’s a link on soon,’ I told Tom. Link games are played across multiple rooms, meaning more chances to win. So I bought eight tickets at 10p each. And…

He was a bad boy, but Zdrale loved Slobodanka She hasn't just betrayed Zdrale. She'd betrayed her country THE CRIME Slobodanka's beauty had made her famous and helped her to meet many rich and powerful men. One of those men was Djordje Zdrale. A man who topped the list of Bosnia's most wanted… THE STORY Her favourite film was Slumdog Millionaire, her favourite pastime was dancing. And the main things she looked for in a man were reliability and honesty. Or so Bosnian model Slobodanka Tosic said when she appeared in the Serbian version of Playboy magazine. But, perhaps, the men who bought the magazine were more interested in looking at her pictures than reading about her pastimes. In those pictures, she was on a beach, waves splashing around her,…

What I loved Rhubarb. Mouth-scrunchingly sour, barely a sniff of sugar and utterly, divinely, delicious! Yum and double yum! Big thanks to mate Michael for generously sharing his home-grown crop. What hacked me off September! September already! How the hell did that happen? I look away for one second… What made me laugh A brutal mate telling me that ageing gracefully is just a nice way of saying you're slowly looking worse… Tragically, she's right! Hope your week's perfectly paced!…

It was five days before I got my first cuddle with Jonathan With less than four weeks until our first baby was due, my husband Christopher and I were making the most of the peace. ‘Soon it’ll be sleepless nights,’ I joked, but we were so excited. On 27 January 2006, we went to meet my parents for lunch. Suddenly, a car coming from the opposite direction tried to turn right. But he’d not seen us coming. Christopher slammed on the brakes, but we crashed into the passenger side of the car. ‘Are you OK?’ Christopher said. ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,’ I gasped. Someone called an ambulance while I sat in the car in shock. ‘I’m bleeding,’ I croaked. ‘The baby!’ Paramedics arrived and took us to hospital.…

NOT LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE Edwards Shortt ruled that Ronald True was insane and that, as such, he hadn’t been able to determine right from wrong and was not legally responsible for the murder of Olive Young. The death sentence was overturned and Ronald was taken instead to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum (as it was called then), where he lived until his death, aged 60, in 1951. The decision resulted in a parliamentary debate on the law relating to insanity, but the rules were left unchanged.…

We had no way of telling Doris about Dad's funeral At 5, dirty-kneed, I’d play tag around the streets with my twin brother Lloyd Martin. ‘Got you!’ I’d squeal, before dashing off. Raised in post-war Preston, we’d a happy childhood. Far from well off, but we survived. Our dad Richard Martin was a bricklayer. Only, he couldn’t work all year round due to having asthma and recurring bouts of bronchitis. Our mum Doris always made sure we were presentable. She once even made me a dress out of old curtains. Just like Maria in The Sound of Music! Dad had been married before, and we’d a half-sister, also named Doris. Eight years older, Doris would occasionally pop by. One day in 1957, Doris, then 17, called round. ‘I’m getting married,’…

Alive! Calcium Soft Jell – £14.99 for 60 These jells contain calcium, vitamin D and phosphorus to support the maintenance of normal bones and teeth. They come in a delicious strawberry flavour and are suitable for adults and children from 3 years old. Appy & healthy My pelvic-floor fitness Free to download, this app by TENA helps train pelvic-floor muscles. It includes tutorial videos and some exercises that are easy to follow. Surprising stats According to a survey by Pharmaton, over half of parents blame ‘lack of time’ for the reason they don’t exercise with their children. Eleven per cent have forcefully removed technology from children to encourage them to be more active and 8 per cent admitted calling their child overweight.…

Victoria was making a show of herself – she was out of control The days seemed to go quickly when I was working a shift with Victoria Doran, 24. We were both home carers and had been mates for a year. Fun, bubbly, with a good sense of humour, she was such a laugh. And over the last few months, we’d become really good mates. We’d often enjoy nights out together. We were constantly texting each other, too. Then, in April last year, I got chatting to Victoria after a shift. ‘Up to much this weekend?’ she asked. I told her I was going out with a couple of old school mates on Thursday night. ‘It’s just a few drinks,’ I said. Victoria and I were best mates. I didn’t…

1 Preheat oven to 220C/Gas 8. Using a potato peeler, cut 250g peeled parsnips into thin strips. 2 Melt 3tbsp butter in a roasting tin, toss in parsnips with salt and pepper, and roast for 15-20 min, flipping halfway. 3 Measure 50g rice flour into a bowl. Whisk an egg in another bowl. 4 Measure 70g oats, zest and juice of a lemon, ½tsp dried thyme, ¼tsp smoked paprika, a clove of garlic and 2tbsp parsley into a food processor with salt and pepper. Blitz. Pour into a third bowl. 5 Season 2 thin-cut turkey steaks with salt and pepper, coat in flour, dip into egg and then oat crumbs. 6 Heat 1tbsp oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook turkey for 4 min on each…

Up, not down So good to read honest and positive stories in Chat (like the one above, in 2 June issue) about children with Down's syndrome. Some doctors still paint a negative picture for the futures of these kids - but, as your articles show, many Down's children attend mainstream schools, and they live much longer now. I'm sure Chat has helped reassure parents that their children can be just as happy and fulfilled in life as others. Teresa Campbell, Hayes Reader writer… I get my Chat every Thursday, it keeps the blues away. True stories galore, puzzles I adore, And I always read what Gilly has to say as she welcomes us to her week, she's right up my street. Hacked off or daft, it makes me laugh. So…

I tried to reunite a squeaky duck toy with its owner… Opening the back door, I saw a bright-yellow car sponge on the doormat. ‘Not another one!’ I exclaimed. My black-and-white moggy Milly, 7, sat looking like the cat who’d got the cream. It was June 2013, and it was the fifth unusual ‘gift’ Milly had presented to me that month. She’d always been partial to pinching the odd glove or sock from upstairs or the washing pile. Me and my fiance Steve, 54, had always laughed it off. We’ve got five other moggies: Patch, 20, Garfield, 10, Harry, 10, Roxy, 8, and Willow, 4. I’m used to dealing with birds and mice – live or dead – left as little presents for me from my lot. But Milly’s the…

They held the teen captive for 14 days Janeen Snyder: Abuse and murder On death row since September 2006 In April 2001, Janeen Snyder, then 21, and her lover Michael Thornton, 45, from Riverside County, California, kidnapped, tortured, sexually abused then killed 16-year-old Michelle Curran. They held the teen captive for 14 days, drugging her, threatening her with guns and sexually assaulting her. During the trial, two other teenage girls testified Snyder lured them to a hotel where Thornton raped them. Snyder has also confessed the couple killed 14-year-old Jesse Peters, who'd been missing for over five years - although they've never been charged with her murder, due to lack of evidence or a body. However, Snyder claimed Thornton used her to lure Jesse into their car. At Thornton's house,…

The kids struggled – kept asking if Daisy was crying, if she was lonely She’d gone somewhere better. But I didn’t know how we’d go on without her. And I didn’t know how to tell my other kids… It was 19 May this year. We’d just lost Daisy. Four months before, her dad, my partner Ste, 30, and I had been the happiest people ever. Our twins had been born. They were early, arriving on 8 January at 28 weeks. And tiny. Rosy was just 2lb 2oz, and Daisy 2lb 1oz. Straightaway they’d been taken off to the Neonatal Unit of Pilgrim Hospital, Bolton. ‘They’re fighters,’ I said to the doctors. And, within the first hours of their lives, they’d proven me right. Both of them were responding well to…

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It turned out police had been called to their address on four occasions At 21, I found myself a single mother to Lucy, then 5, Terry, 4, and Bobby, only 6 weeks old, after my first partner Bobby Ayris died in a car crash in September 1994. Devastating. In time, though, I met Mark Olliffe, now 51, at The Old Bill pub in Hanwell, and we clicked immediately. Kind and loving and a dad to two boys, Mark was great with my kids. We married in 1998, and Lucy, Terry and Bobby all called Mark Dad. Together, we had our son Charlie, now 18, and daughter Ellie, 17. But the eldest, Lucy, was my best friend. Poor thing hadn’t had it easy. In March 2007, she’d had a daughter, but…

It's almost like putting your hand in deep snow Whether I’m in jeans and a T-shirt or a summer frock, there’s always one item of clothing that I’ll never leave the house without. A thick pair of winter mittens. But my snug gloves are no fashion statement. I have Raynaud’s phenomenon – it’s also often known as Raynaud’s syndrome, Raynaud’s disease or just Raynaud’s. It means my blood vessels are oversensitive to changes in temperature. Whenever I’m cold, the blood vessels in my hands narrow, stopping blood flow from reaching the surface of my skin. It’s a nasty, tingling sensation, almost like putting your hand in deep snow, but not being able to pull it out. And my fingertips turn black and blue. Though I was born with Raynaud’s, it…

Morrisons Chopped Pork & Ham, 300g, £1.54 They've been generous with salt in this cured meat loaf, and we liked it most sliced thickly and fried - ideal with eggs and chips for a fry-up tea! Spam Chopped Pork & Ham, 200g, £1.70 Let's be honest, this tastes just like the inside of a pork pie! Eaten on its own, it's quite salty - but try it fried, as it brings out the lovely bacon flavour, especially if you let the edges crisp up. Sainsbury's Freedom Food Chopped Pork & Ham, 340g, £1.75 With a meaty consistency, this big tin makes a great sandwich filler. Slice it thinly and add salad for tasty tuck-box lunches. NEW Deli Kitchen Flatbuns, £1, Sainsbury’s These circular flatbreads are the perfect shape and size…

Friends and family got involved and donations poured in… When my son Solomon, then 7 months, started crawling in 2013, I was so proud. He’d been sitting up since he was 5 months old and was getting increasingly mobile. But his twin brother Sebastian showed no signs of doing either. Non-identical twins, they were very different. So me and my husband James, 38, researched online. I read about cerebral palsy, a condition affecting movement and coordination. When Sebastian was 15 months, he was referred to West Suffolk Hospital and assessed by a paediatrician and diagnosed as having cerebral palsy, but doctors weren’t sure why it had affected him and not Solomon. By now, James and I had learnt a lot about the condition and knew it was likely to cause…

The pictures online were so terrifying,I couldn't bear to look Cuddling up on the sofa with my boys Thomas, then 2, and Joshua, 1, I felt a kick inside my tummy. ‘Did you feel that?’ I asked them. ‘That’s your baby brother.’ Joshua was too young to fully understand but Thomas was really excited. His face lit up as he placed his hand gently on my belly. ‘You’re going to be the best big brother,’ I said, giving him a tickle. Then at a routine 20-week scan, the sonographer noticed something strange. ‘I can see that there’s something on your baby that shouldn’t be there,’ she explained. My mind went into overdrive. What had she meant when she’d said ‘something’? She said that I’d have to return the following day…

One day as I was driving, my vision went black. I couldn't see a thing… My head pounded as I made my way upstairs to bed. I’d been suffering really bad headaches and tiredness for years. I’d been back and forth to see my GP but he’d said it was nothing to worry about. Then, in 2009, I went to my local optician’s for a routine eye test. Looking into the back of my eyes with an optical gadget, the optician paused. ‘There’s some swelling,’ she said to me. I was referred to Southern General Hospital, Glasgow for tests and an MRI scan. Then… ‘You’ve got idiopathic intracranial hypertension,’ a consultant said. IIH is a rare condition where the body overproduces fluid around the brain which, in turn, creates pressure…

1 It looks so pretty Untouched for centuries, the historic centre of Bruges is a Gothic beauty. One of the best - and most fun - ways to get your bearings in this World Heritage Site is to take a half-hour horse-drawn carriage ride from the Markt. 2 Belgian chocolate You'll find a shop selling the sweet stuff in every shape you can image - and a few more, too! Visit the Choco-Story museum for just about everything you ever wanted to know about the history and traditions of chocolate making and, in the museum shop, pick up a huge bag of chocolate buttons for 6 euros. It's the good stuff - so excellent value! 3 Take a canal trip The city's ringed by a 7km-long canal along the route…

Inside the bag, officers found a half-written note in Jean's handwriting The young and beautiful came to Tinseltown to find fame. The lucky ones became the stars of Hollywood’s silver screen. Pretty Jean Spangler found fame – not because she was lucky, but because she vanished. She’d come to Hollywood in 1947. And it must’ve seemed to Jean that the big time was within her reach. So far, she’d had small parts in films such as The Miracle Of The Bells with Frank Sinatra, When My Baby Smiles At Me with Betty Grable and Young Man With A Horn with Kirk Douglas. To the world, and Hollywood casting agents, she seemed an innocent, unaware of her allure. But, at 27, Jean was already a divorced mum with a string of…

EVERY LIZARD HELPS! Shoppers got the fright of their lives when a giant monitor lizard walked into a branch of Tesco in Thailand. The creature just wandered through the automatic doors. Despite lashing out with its tail and trying to bite people, two security guards managed to usher the lizard out. That's one disgruntled customer! ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET…CRAWL! Lithuania recently held its annual baby-racing competition. The 25 babies were lured across the 5m track by a collection of keys, balloons and toys. Kamilis Dambrauskas won, after his mother Irena said they'd practised at home to see which objects enticed him the most! FOUR DOWN: OOPS! A pensioner decided to take a break at a museum in Germany and do a crossword. But as the 91-year-old filled in the…