Our thanks to JC for this:

A Surrey police officer who lied about being a victim of domestic abuse which led to the imprisonment of another officer has today (23 March), been found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

Police Constable Amanda Aston, 43, was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud by false representation following a three-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court. Amanda Aston, is said to have ‘distorted’ difficulties in her relationship with Matthew Taylor knowing he would likely face repercussions.

During the trial, the court heard how Aston, who was based at Guildford police station, had embarked on a relationship with another officer in February 2017.

During their relationship, she reported to colleagues that she had been the victim of domestic abuse, making false allegations of control and abuse about him.

The 43-year-old, who was a trained domestic abuse mentor, made false allegations of ‘control, abuse, harassment, stalking, intimidation and gaslighting’ about Mr Taylor during a 57-page witness statement and a video recorded interview, the court heard.

He was charged with engaging in coercive and controlling behaviour. He was further arrested after breaching his bail conditions not to contact her and served two months in prison as a result.

Mr Taylor was subsequently charged with an offence of engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour and appeared in court, where he was remanded in custody, before eventually losing his job with Surrey Police, jurors were told.

He was eventually released from HMP Winchester, where he spent 23 hours of the day locked in a cell while on remand, when detective work by his mother led to the case against him being dropped. Mr Taylor then reported her to police himself.

Evidence later emerged which indicated that Aston had withheld key information and misled the original investigation team by providing false statements which led to him being arrested and charged.

Chief Superintendent Tom Budd said: “Criminal offences committed by our officers and staff simply cannot be condoned. Allegations against any of our officers or staff are always subject to a thorough investigation to ensure that those who do not meet the high standards expected of them to in order to maintain public trust and confidence are dealt with swiftly and robustly.”

Aston will be sentenced on 22 May at Maidstone Crown Court.

For more, click here:

https://www.surrey.police.uk/news/surrey/news/2023/03/surrey-officer-found-guilty-of-perverting-the-course-of-justice-and-fraud-by-false-representation/

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=590992333065636&id=100064646233391

In recent years I’ve become interested in photography, and my gallery is here.  I don’t claim to be a good photographer, only an enthusiastic one.

Hobbies, including photography, can play a huge role in protecting mental health. With that in mind, I recommend this (video, 18:02) from Sean Tucker. Enjoy.

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Our thanks to Mike P for this. An extract:

Recording a verdict of suicide, assistant coroner Katy Dickinson concluded that Mr Sampson “suffered with his mental health due to allegations against him”.

She said: “That caused him distress and is likely the reason behind his death.”

The coroner added: “What a fine man he was.”

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My wonderful late father Malcolm served during WWII with Montgomery’s division of the British Army, and jumped onto a Normandy beach a few days after D-day, along with the rest of the division. He was a morse code operator. One of my strongest memories of him was when I took him (for his 80th birthday present) for a tour of some of the Normandy battlefields and military cemetries.

In Bayeux, at the British military cemetry near the cathedral, he asked to be left alone as he walked slowly past the graves of the servicemen who’d died in the conflict, many of them under 20 years of age. It was the only time in my life that I saw him crying. He was clearly laying some ghosts to rest that day, and would often remark in later years how much the trip had meant to him.

To this day I still tend to stop and pay my respects when I pass war memorials, and so it was that I stopped by one in Bedford, my home town, recently. I happened to have my camera with me, and took this photograph of the plaque commemorating the victims of WWII:

The name “Janice M Harrington” struck me, I can’t recall having seen a woman’s name on a war memorial before, and made enquiries with my local council, which owns the land on which the war memorial sits. They weren’t able to answer my questions on the matter, but recommended I try to find something about the woman’s demise at the British Newspaper Archive, which I did, successfully.

The following PDF consists of three pages, the first and second with newspaper articles on Miss Harrington’s death at the age of just 23, in 1944. Bottom line, a plane piloted by her and/or another female pilot, 29, crashed due to pilot error before landing at an aerodrome in England, killing them both. A tragic loss of two young lives.

On the third page, for a little light relief, I’ve included the second paper’s advert on the same page, aimed at female smokers, for Craven ‘A’ cigarettes, “For your throat’s sake”. Don’t we all miss the days when smoking cigarettes was a health-enhancing habit, endorsed by doctors?

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Our thanks to Rhiannon for this.

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Interesting.

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I was interested to learn of the existence of EDBARN this morning.  I wish them well.

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Our thanks to Terry White of Gender Parity UK for this:

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Well, this makes a change, a woman jailed for a crime Thea Haywood, 29, who downed 10 pints of beer left innocent mother-of-four with sickening facial injuries when she hurled bottle during pub dance floor ‘moment of madness’. The end of the piece:

As Haywood was leaving, she threw the bottle, that she had been drinking from, about a yard, ‘towards the man who had upset your partner, but it didn’t hit that man.’

It hit the mother-of-four in the face, causing ‘grave’ injuries, including a black eye, a cut under the eye and face fractures. ‘She has got over the physical injuries but the emotional impact, it’s clear, is ongoing,’ said Judge Mark Bury.

‘You used a weapon, which was the bottle. You were under the influence of alcohol. This was in a public place – a public house that was full of patrons at the time of this incident.’

Haywood was jailed for one year after Judge Bury said that there had to be ‘an element of deterrence’ in the sentence. [J4MB: He appears to be unaware that this principle doesn’t apply to women generally, Ms Haywood is presumably not a mother with dependent children.]

As she left the dock to be taken down to the cells, Haywood cried, wailed and shouted ‘I’m so sorry’ to her husband, who was sitting in the public gallery.

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We’re linking daily to selected audio / video files from the comedy channel of our associated website, Laughing at Feminists. Today’s file is here (video, 9:37).

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