U.K News

Teen Getting 10 Years For Fire That Killed 5 From Senegal

Published

2 years ago

2023-02-01

Kiara Grace

DENVER, Colo. — A surveillance camera captured three people outside in full face masks and hoodies looking around the home’s backyard where members of three families of Senegalese immigrants lived minutes before a major house fire erupted and killed five people in 2020.

The investigation into the Aug. 5, 2020 fire dragged on for months amid fears that it was a hate crime, but authorities eventually accused three teens of setting fire to the house in retaliation for a stolen iPhone, which one of them mistakenly traced to the home in a neighborhood near Denver’s airport.

Screams could be heard, and a husband, wife, and their 12-year-old daughter escaped by jumping out an upstairs window, but five people were found dead inside the home after the fire in 2020.

Despite the objections of victims’ families and representatives of the city’s Senegalese community, the youngest of the teens charged in the case, Dillon Siebert, 14 at the time and now 17, was sentenced to seven years in prison him to serve three years in juvenile detention. Siebert, who was charged as a juvenile, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in adult court in a deal that prosecutors and the defense said balanced his lesser role in the fire’s planning, his remorse, and interest in rehabilitation with the horror of the crime.

The cases against the other two teenagers, including the alleged teen ringleader, Kevin Bui, and Gavin Seymour, both of whom were 16 at the time of the fire, are still pending in adult court, where they face charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder, arson, and burglary.

The Teen Tried to Immigrate

Amadou Beye, who lost his wife, Hassan Diol, and their infant daughter, Hawa, in the fire, called Siebert a “monster” and claimed that he killed not only five people but also himself and many others connected to them. Beye, whose wife was allowed to immigrate to the United States before him, claims he considers suicide every day and requires medication to sleep.

“My life no longer makes sense,” Beye said, wearing a sweatshirt with a large photo of his wife and baby and the words, “Why my wife? “Why, my daughter?” Judge Martin Egelhoff asked.

Hassan Diol’s brother Djibril, his wife Adja Diol, and their 22-month-old daughter Khadija were also killed. Their bodies were discovered on the first floor, near the front door. Teen Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, expressed condolences for their deaths, and as months passed with no suspects identified, many Senegalese immigrants installed surveillance cameras in their homes.

Others talked about the hole that was left by the death of Djibril Diol, an engineer who was working on a major rebuild of Interstate 70 in the city and who wanted to build roads in Senegal. He teen helped other immigrants and was a devout Muslim, they said, rising early for morning prayers.

Abou Diol, Djibril Diol’s brother, said he lost the person he relied on for sound advice and that their father has “lost his mind” since the fire.

The Man Says “Black Lives Dont Matter”

Ousman Ba, a friend and community leader, said 10 years was insufficient punishment for such a crime and wondered what would have happened if five members of a white family had been murdered in this manner.

“However, Black lives do not matter,” he said.

Siebert looked at family and friends of the teen as they addressed Egelhoff, but he showed no emotion. When asked to speak, he apologized for what he had done to them and their families, mentioning how upset he was when his grandmother died shortly before the fire and could not see her due to coronavirus restrictions.

“I’m lucky I still have people who love me,” Siebert said, describing himself as a “people pleaser” who was bullied over a speech delay and became friends with Bui and Seymour amid the pandemic’s isolation.

Bui, who was identified as a suspect alongside the others after police asked the Google company to release the name of the person who searched for the home’s address within 15 days of the fire, allegedly told investigators he was robbed a month before the fire while trying to buy a gun and traced his Samsung phone to the home using an app. He admitted to starting the fire, only to learn the next day through news coverage that the victims were not the people who robbed him.

Lawyers for Bui and Seymour are challenging police use of Google keyword search results, describing it as a “digital dragnet” that swept up searches from billions of people worldwide.

Last year, Egelhoff denied a request to have the Google search teen evidence thrown out, but defense attorneys have now asked the Colorado Supreme Court to hear the case. It is expected to hear arguments in May.

SOURCE – (AP)

U.K News

Keir Starmer Rejects Meeting With WW2 Veteran Over Her Frozen Pension

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-12-04

Geoff Brown

Anne Puckridge, orld War Two veteran, state pension

"It's the injustice of it that is so unfair, the fact that we were never warned."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rejected a request from a 99-year-old WW2 for a meeting to discuss the frozen state pension policy for citizens living abroad. Starmer declined the meeting but offered an alternative meeting with Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds.

Anne Puckridge, who turns 100 this month, went from her home in Canada to agitate Keir Starmer’s Labour government over the state pension freeze.

The World War II veteran told the BBC that she is “angry” and “heartbroken” following a meeting with the pensions minister, who led her to believe that the government will not reconsider its policy of freezing the state pensions of some British people living abroad.

Anne Puckridge is one of approximately 453,000 British retirees living overseas who do not receive an annual increase in their state pension.

Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds agreed to a meeting after Sir Keir Starmer’s request to meet was denied owing to purported “pressures on his diary.”

Ms. Puckridge stated that the meeting in Parliament left her feeling “bitterly disappointed” and “disgusted”.

She stated that she had the idea Reynolds had been “polite enough and kind enough to come in and spend her time with her,” but that her mind had already been made up before the meeting began.

Ms Puckridge stated that she and her other campaigners would have to think carefully about what they could do from now on, but she assured them that they would take action.

State Pension Minister Reynolds thanked Ms Puckridge for the meeting and for sharing her insights.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) representative stated that the government recognizes that “people move abroad for various reasons, and we provide clear information on how this can affect their pensions.”

The policy of increasing the UK state pension for recipients living abroad has existed for many years.

Since she relocated to Canada in 2001 at the age of 76 to live closer to her daughter, Ms Puckridge has received £72.50 (C$129.00) per week.

Her state pension is now less than half the £169.50 (C$302.00) paid to seniors still residing in the United Kingdom. She told the BBC that frozen pensions touch all aspects of life.

“You’ve got to be careful about entertainment,” she told me. “You must realize that you cannot be as kind to your grandkids as you would like.

“You feel you’ve lost all sense of dignity, the government has thrown you away, you know, out of sight out of mind.”

Ms. Puckridge stated that when she alerted the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that she was moving to Canada, “they never said a word about [my] pension being frozen”.

“The first I knew about it was when my first rise was due,” she recalled.

“I didn’t understand it. So I wrote and enquired about it, and I was told no… you will not receive any additional pension rises when you leave the UK.” She said, “It’s the injustice of it that is so unfair, the fact that we were never warned.”

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U.K News

Air Force Drones Spotted Over UK Military Bases

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-11-29

Geoff Brown

Air Force Drones Spotted Over UK Military Bases

The drones were not considered hostile, the USAF said,

British military expertise has been brought in to assist in identifying persons responsible for flying Air Force drones near US military locations. According to the BBC, 60 RAF troops have been dispatched to assist the US Air Force with its probe.

The Air Force drones were not deemed hostile, according to the USAF, who added that the sightings “fluctuated and varied between the bases” and “ranged in sizes and configurations”.

According to the Ministry of Defence, “We are supporting the US Air Force response.”

The announcement follows several recent reports of unmanned aerial vehicles sighted near RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in adjacent Norfolk.

There have been other reports of drone activity overnight. According to the USAF, the vehicles were few in number and modest in size.

A representative for the US Air Forces in Europe stated, “We can confirm that there were sightings yesterday during nighttime hours, but the number fluctuated and varied between the bases throughout the night.”

The official stated that since the first sightings on November 20th, there has been “no impact on residents or infrastructure, and they have not been identified as hostile.”

However, the Air Force drones remained under surveillance “to ensure the safety and security of the installations.”

They said, “We request individuals in the area to contact either local police or security forces if they see anything suspicious.”

‘Treat threats seriously’

Officials in the United States and the United Kingdom have not said who is responsible for the recent drone activity.

However, the BBC understands there were worries that a state actor could be involved.

In recent months, intelligence officials have warned of increasing Russian sabotage operations against Western countries supporting Ukraine.

RAF Mildenhall is primarily home to the USAF’s 100th Air Refuelling Wing; RAF Lakenheath is home to USAF F-35A and F-15E fighter jets; and RAF Feltwell is mainly concerned with logistics and provides housing for military personnel.

A spokesman for the MoD, which owns the bases, said: “We take threats seriously and maintain robust measures at defence sites.

“We are supporting the US Air Force response.”

The USAF has not said who it believed to be behind the incidents.

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U.K News

General Election Petition in UK Hits 2 Million Signatures

Published

4 weeks ago

2024-11-26

Geoff Brown

Starmer has ruled out an general election after a petition reached two million signatures

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ruled out holding an early general election after a petition calling for a second vote garnered two million signatures.

Over the weekend, a petition calling for another general election was started on the UK Parliament website. It cited Starmer’s failure to keep all his pledges made in the run-up to the previous election. By Monday mid-morning, it had surpassed two million signatures.

When asked about the petition, Starmer said he was “not surprised” that some individuals who did not vote for Labour in the previous election want a “re-run” of the poll.

He claimed that he had “inherited a lot of problems” from the previous administration and had resolved to “take the hard decisions first.”

Starmer ruled out an early general election, stating that only the Prime Minister can request that the King call a general election; it simply will not happen, he said.

This petition, started last week and sponsored by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, calls on the government to schedule a new general election.
To sign a petition, you must verify that you are a British citizen or resident and provide a postcode.

The petition states, “I would prefer there to be another general election. I believe the present Labour government has broken the pledges they made before the last election.”

The petition comes only five months after Labour won the July general election with 9.7 million votes and 412 seats in the House of Commons.

However, the Labour Party garnered only 35% of the vote, the lowest percentage gained by a single-party administration since the conclusion of WWII.

Some of the policies implemented by Starmer and his Labour government have received significant criticism, including an inheritance tax on farms, a reduction in winter heating payments, an increase in employers’ national insurance, and applying VAT to private school fees.

According to the most recent Ipsos political pulse poll, the Labour Party is unpopular, with 28% of the public favoring it and 49% opposing it.