I watched Bryan Kohberger from 10ft away... what I saw off camera will haunt me for the rest of my life
That's all Bryan Kohberger offered his victims' families on Wednesday as he finally admitted to killing their loved ones in a violent, incomprehensible attack.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
19 minutes ago
- BBC News
Pegswood 'bully' secretly bugged ex's home for five years
A "bully" who secretly bugged his ex-partner's home after tormenting her with domestic abuse during their relationship has been jailed for two years and nine Gauci, 53, hid seven listening devices in electrical sockets in the woman's home having made multiple threats to kill her during a campaign of controlling behaviour, Newcastle Crown Court woman said she had been living in "crippling" fear for years and felt "sick", paranoid and unsafe in her own of Pegswood in Northumberland, had admitted stalking but denied controlling and coercive behaviour, however jurors found him guilty of the second offence as well. Gauci was 30 and the woman 19 when they first got together in 2002, Judge Robert Spragg said, with the couple going on to have several lived separately with Gauci "like a yoyo" with his visits and in effect carrying on the life of a single man while she raised their children and waited for him, the judge she asked if would move in with her, Gauci, who ran a plumbing and heating business, refused and told her no man would want to be with her, the court heard. 'Check the sockets' In February 2016, the relationship ended and the woman started dating someone else, the court was Gauci, of Front Street, found out, he became "very jealous" and threatened to shoot her and bury her in the garden, the judge demanded the woman get back with him and then "forced" her to go to the supermarket where the other man worked and break up with him, the court judge said that was done to humiliate the woman and Gauci went on to threaten the and the woman resumed their relationship but his controlling behaviour become even worse, the court would search through her mobile phone when she was asleep, demand she video call him when she went to meet family so he could see who was there and would fly into rages, the judge relationship ended again in 2020 and two years later a friend advised her to check her electrical sockets, the courts were called and discovered listening devices in her kitchen, bedroom, living room and dining room which had been hidden there in 2017, the judge said. 'Shocking invasion' In a statement read to the court, Gauci's victim said she would "never be the same" and did not feel safe in her own said she lived in a "constant state of fear and stress" which was "crippling", adding it would always be an "open wound".The woman said she felt "sick and shocked" about the bugging and was unable to trust said Gauci had "taken everything" from her and would "bully and control" her. Judge Spragg said Gauci was "fuelled by jealousy" and sought to control every aspect of her life, culminating with the "sinister" planting of listening devices."It was a shocking invasion of her privacy," the judge said.A restraining order banning Gauci from contacting the woman was made to last indefinitely. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Three Albanian men and a British woman are charged over spate of million-pound burglaries in Cheshire's Golden Triangle
Police have charged three Albanian men and a British woman in relation to a spate of high-value burglaries across swathes of England. Cheshire Police detectives swooped on three addresses in Walsall, Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham early on Wednesday and cuffed three men aged between 27 and 30 as well as a 33-year-old British woman. Endrit Nikolli, 27, Kristian Gropcaj, 30, George Pepa, 30, and Jade Tubb, 33, have all been charged with conspiracy to commit burglary between November 2024 and March 2025 and conspiracy to possess criminal property. These relate to 20 offences in Cleveland, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Cleveland, detectives said today. Nikolli has also been charged with an additional count of burglary in connection with a theft in Staffordshire on March 1 2024. Police have been probing dozens of alleged thefts across the country in which around £1m of high value goods were stolen - some allegedly in Cheshire's 'Golden Triangle', a trio of towns beloved by footballers and other celebrities. Nikolli, Pepa and Tubb, of Crabtree Road in Walsall and Gropcaj of Gas Street in Birmingham are in custody ahead of an appearance at Chester Magistrates today. A fourth Albanian man aged 28 was arrested in London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary on Thursday. He remains in police custody. Morning raids were staged at addresses across the country earlier this week as part of Operation Ambler, a multi-force police investigation specifically targeting Albanian organised crime gangs. Dramatic footage showed uniformed officers shouting 'Police!' as they stormed into a house in the execution of Operation Ambler. In the stunning raids, a man was seen being handcuffed as he lies prone and shirtless in bed. Other clips showed men being led into the back of cage vans. Detectives from Macclesfield CID leading the operation allege that gangs have carried out a large number of 'sophisticated' burglaries that took place over several months at addresses all over the country. The raids would target 'high-value residential premises', police claim. Thieves are thought to have broken in via first-floor windows and doors as they carried out the raids, and went to 'great lengths' to do so across England. Criminals are said to have made off with more than £1million of high-value items in total - £400,000 of it from homes in Cheshire alone - some of which were allegedly recovered during the morning raids. In video released by Cheshire Police, officers wearing head torches could be seen raking through wardrobes as they sought to trace the stolen goods. Valuable-looking watches were dropped into evidence bags, while a mobile phone was placed into a specialist forensic evidence box. Detective Sergeant Laura Fox of Macclesfield CID said: '(Wednesday's) raids are the culmination of detailed investigations across multiple forces brought together into at least thirty-seven high value burglaries spread over a six-month period. 'Our investigation has shown us that these incidents have been carefully planned and coordinated, and they've gone to great lengths to continue their crime spree across the country. 'On each occasion the offenders have specifically targeted high value properties, breaking in via first floor windows and doors, and ransacking the premises to steal as much as possible. 'In total we believe that the value of the items stolen in the burglaries was more than £1 million, which includes more than £400,000 from the ten homes in Cheshire. 'I hope that (the) arrests provide some reassurance to the victims in the case and also act as a warning to other offenders.' And in a warning to thieves, her colleague Detective Inspector Dave Jarvis added: 'No matter where you live, or how much you try to hide, our officers will come for you, and you will be arrested.' Burglaries were once thought to be crimes of opportunity - but have allegedly become the preserve of organised crime gangs who go to great lengths to execute professional operations targeting lucrative homes. Last month, Cheshire Police issued an appeal for a burglary in Prestbury that saw three thieves drill a hole into a wall of a disused building in order to climb into the store next door. The thieves made off with £260,000 of high-value designer handbags from Dress Cheshire, whose owner Christine Colbert, 58, could only watch on helplessly as CCTV was livestreamed to her phone. She told MailOnline last month: 'This has been very well thought through - it's very frightening for me. 'I can't believe the lengths they have gone to. It used to be watches people wanted – now it's handbags and they are worth more second-hand than they are new.' Similarly, £1million of designer handbags were stolen in a raid in Alderley Edge in February. At this time, the incidents have not been linked to Albanian crime gang activity - but spates of incidents across Cheshire have prompted the rich and famous to beef up their security, hiring private contractors.
Telegraph
23 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Diddy's ‘cosy sweater strategy' and why trial style actually matters
Every morning when we stand in front of our wardrobes choosing what to wear, we make a series of decisions about how we want to present ourselves to the outside world: a tailored suit, for example, is often used to symbolise power. A tracksuit? Not so much. But never does 'a look' convey more than the sum of its parts than when it's worn in the high-stakes environment of a trial. Then it's not fashion, but carefully choreographed 'courtroom strategy' to let your clothes speak before you do. Take Sean 'Diddy' Combs, found guilty on Wednesday of two counts of transporting people for prostitution, but acquitted on the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, after an eight-week trial in Manhattan federal court. Combs, in the face of disturbing and lurid allegations spanning multiple years and several alleged victims, made a concerted effort to distance himself from his blinged-up alpha male hip-hop mogul image of old. Gone were the 'player' silken tracksuits, the confident heavy gold jewellery, the 'cartoon villain' OTT frills and grandeur of the floor-length black embellished coat featuring 600 Swarovski crystals and black pearls which he wore to the 2023 Met Gala – a custom piece from his own fashion label Sean John. Instead, court sketches showed the multi-millionaire music impresario sporting grey hair and a short grey beard (prison rules forbid hair dye), black rimmed studious-looking spectacles and soft sweaters in a range of sensible colours – beige, navy and grey; with the collar of a white shirt worn beneath the only notable feature. One day of his trial he sat patiently reading the Bible, a far cry from the ' freak-off ' swinger lifestyle he confessed to having enjoyed prior to his arrest. Who knows whether this appearance was a hitherto unknown quirk of Diddy's personal brand or part of what's been termed 'the nerd defence' by its originator lawyer Harvey Slovis (who once represented Mr. Combs during his trial on charges of gun possession in 1999). Either way, the phrase refers to the idea that glasses – accessories associated with thought rather than aggression – have a subliminal effect on a jury, predisposing them to assume a lack of guilt. Consider, too, his knitwear which took the 'just a regular guy'-vibe to a whole other level. Quite literally soft and cuddly, jumpers have been employed at several gruesome trials, from that of the Menendez brothers in 1993 (accused of shooting their parents) to those of Combs and Luigi Mangione, on trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In December 2024 Mangione, a case in point of the power of personal image, donned a sensible all-American boy next door uniform of a burgundy crewneck and khakis to face 11 charges including first degree murder and the furtherance of terrorism. Sweaters aside, disgraced former movie mogul and convicted sex abuser Harvey Weinstein has a strategy of his own, appearing a dishevelled shadow of his once-imposing self each time he appears in court on rape charges. Sometimes seen struggling up the courtroom steps stooped over and using a walking aid, in April this year a hospital band indicating he was a 'fall risk' hung out of his suit sleeve in full view of the court. 'Everything in a courtroom serves a symbolic purpose, including the wigs and robes of the legal profession – the use of wigs has been in place since the 17th century and judges robes date from much earlier than that,' explains Dr Liza Betts, senior lecturer in cultural and historical studies at London College of Fashion (UAL). 'They are used to convey formality and to distinguish status and power. As the courtroom is so symbolically loaded it makes sense that the clothing of everyone present will be read in the same way – subject to the level of fluency someone might have in the language of dress being employed.' These men are not, of course, the only people to use the soft power of their appearance to convey a subliminal message in a legal setting. It was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who deftly mastered the art of trial style when, in 1972, the former First Lady sued New York's 'most unrelenting' paparazzo Ron Galella for public harassment, both of her and her children. Appearing in front of the judge, she cut an elegant, dignified figure bedecked in wool coats and button-up jackets. Onassis successfully obtained a restraining order against Galella (which he did not respect, causing the pair to later meet again in court). In 2002, actor Winona Ryder pushed the envelope when it came to courtroom dressing, entering fashion lore. Charged with shoplifting thousands of dollars' worth of goods from Saks Fifth Avenue, including pieces by Marc Jacobs, the star arrived at shoplifting trial dressed in a trompe l'oeil knit dress by none other than Marc Jacobs himself. Throughout proceedings, Ryder sported headbands, buttoned-up jackets over midi skirts and mid-height heels. Instead of three years in jail, the judge handed down a sentence of three years' probation and a fine. Billionaire reality star Kim Kardashian's appearance at a courthouse in central Paris last month is another case in point. There to give evidence in her own robbery trial (more than £7 million of jewellery was stolen from the star during a five-hour armed robbery ordeal in a Paris hotel in 2016) the American socialite turned up in a figure hugging power suit dripping in an estimated £6 million worth of jewellery. Arriving alongside her mother Kris Jenner to testify against the so-called 'grandpa robbers' – a group of nine men and one woman, with an average age of 70 – Kardashian donned a pair of Alaïa sunglasses, a waist-cinching vintage John Galliano black skirt-suit with a peplum and plunging neckline and slingback heels from Saint Laurent. Around her neck she wore a tear-drop diamond necklace containing a reported 52 carats of stones by New York-based rare diamond specialist Samer Halimeh alongside diamond earrings, including a 4.55 carat diamond over the ear cuff from Repossi and a £6,000 white gold and diamond pavé version by Briony Raymond. 'Ultimate power move,' said Raymond on her Instagram account regarding Kim Kardashian's appearance in her wares. 'A nod to jewelry as armour and a defiant statement that proves she will not be robbed of her love of jewelry and the joy it brings her.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Briony Raymond • New York (@brionyraymondnewyork) Not to mention, of course, Kardashian's ability to simply replace stolen gems worth millions of dollars and flex them in front of the accused. 'Clothes do communicate, we use them for this very purpose,' continues Dr Betts. 'To say who we are, who we think we are, who we would like to be, who we are told to be, or who we think others would like us to be.' Earlier this year, rapper A$AP Rocky appeared in a Los Angeles court facing charges of two counts of felony assault. Rocky arrived at his trial looking incredibly chic, as you would if you'd been kitted out in top-to-toe Saint Laurent (some items costing almost £4,000) by the brand themselves. Rocky was latterly found not guilty. Just goes to show, there truly is no such thing as bad publicity. The examples are numerous: Gwyneth Paltrow curated her courtroom image (soft, approachable in cashmere and wool from stealth wealth brands such as her own label Goop, The Row and Celine) after a personal injury claim resulting from a skiing accident saw her in front of a judge in 2023. Then there's fake heiress Anna Delvey – found guilty of grand larceny in 2019 after seducing Manhattan's glossy elite out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund her make-believe ventures – who employed the services of stylist Anatasia Walker to help create her courtroom 'look', which on day one consisted of a beige sweater, choker necklace and black dress that the New York Post claimed was from Miu Miu. 'Anna and I talked on the phone about what she was interested in wearing,' Walker told at the time. 'I couldn't show her photographs, but as people interested in fashion, we spoke in references about the themes she wanted to come through [in her outfits].' New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman notes that for those who don't regularly wear suits, donning one just to court in a pass notes bid for respectability can often backfire (in a departure from his normal style, R&B singer and now convicted sex abuser R Kelly wore them for his court appearances in 2021, ultimately being found guilty). But then again, so can being your authentic self. Martha Stewart who got it all wrong in 2004, turning up to court toting a £7,500 tan Hermès Birkin bag, multiple long strands of cultured pearls and a fake fur stole to defend herself against charges of insider trading. 'The Birkin did little to promote the image of an approachable woman who has struggled up from humble roots,' wrote the New York Times at the time. 'Instead, it cemented an image of her as a pampered fat cat seemingly willing to snatch money from an Average Joe Stockholder.' Stewart was convicted of obstruction of justice and lying to investigators and sentenced to five months in prison and two years' probation. Not only did Heather Mills McCartney defend herself during her divorce proceedings in 2008, but she also made her own three-piece suit to wear to court which apparently took inspiration from a court jester. But it seems Mills McCartney – who also threw a glass of water over Paul McCartney's divorce lawyer, the infamous Fiona Shackleton, in court – had the last laugh, walking away from proceedings with a cool £24.3m divorce settlement. The semiotics of courtroom style can sometimes reach the wrong audience. While battling addiction in the Noughties, actor Lindsay Lohan had multiple court appearances for earlier offences of driving under the influence which were heavily followed by the tabloid media. During one, in 2010, the star sat with her lawyer staring down press photographers with nails manicured with the words 'F--k U'. Whether or not the judge also read her not-so-subtle message is not known, but Lohan was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
