An MP who spent more than £7,000 of taxpayers’ money on domestic staff for his Sussex home today showed little enthusiasm for paying it back. Wealden MP Charles Hendry, who claimed a total of £87,729 for his constituency house over four years, said he understood why the public was “so angry” about Parliamentary expenses. But he insisted his own claims - which also covered the costs of pest control, CCTV maintenance and window cleaning - were all “necessary”. Details of the Tory shadow energy minister’s expenses were revealed by The Daily Telegraph, which has obtained a copy of all MPs’ claims between 2004/5 and 2007/8.
Relatives of a Hull man who was murdered in Spain have spoken of their anger at their ordeal. Charles Stabler, a window cleaner of Sutton Park, was found on the living room floor of his holiday home in the resort of Benalmadena on Thursday, April 9. Two mobile phones and 30 Euros had been taken from his apartment on the sixth floor of a gated block. The home was set alight in two places – the bedroom and the living room. Charles, 64, had been hit on the back of the head and slashed across the face. He spent three weeks in a coma in a Malaga hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation and other injuries, before dying on Friday, May 1. His family say they have struggled to sort things out in Spain following Charles' death. His brother, Michael Stabler, of Boothferry Way, west Hull, said he was even shown the wrong body for identification at the hospital, because two similar-looking English men had died on the same day. The family are appealing for help, saying they are finding it difficult to find out what happened to their relative and to hold the funeral he wanted. Michael said: "We have been left in limbo. We have so many unanswered questions about what happened. "At the moment, we don't know much more than we have read in the newspapers. "The truth is, we may never find out." Charles' sister, Eileen Mobbs, of Plane Street, west Hull, said: "We are all completely stressed out. It's the not knowing what happened. Charles didn't deserve this. They (the authorities) didn't want to let Charles go and initially told us we had to bury him in Spain. "All we wanted to do was to get him back home." Charles' body is now at Hull Royal Infirmary. Michael said: "We've been told he can only be buried, not cremated, because there might be a trial, but everyone in our family has always been cremated and that was his wish. "We want the coroners' court here to do a post-mortem so we can lay him to rest, but the judge in Spain has to agree. We're hoping somebody can help us and get something moving." The family were told Charles was in hospital by Jackie Hardy, the daughter of Mr Stabler's late partner, Joanne Nevis, who was on holiday in Spain.
The Schaefer Portrait Challenge, making an appearance on Oahu, proves that "people love seeing people." It doesn't end there. Schaefer (named after underwriters Carolyn and Jack Schaefer Gray) offers an even bigger prize: the Juror's Choice Award, worth $15,000. This year's winner, Rich Hevner, "is a guy who washes windows for a living," says David Behlke, one of four jurors. "His wife was in tears, and he said, 'You have no idea what this means for a humble window washer.'"
A SOARING number of benefits cheats in Edinburgh have been caught scamming £2.3 million in a single year, it was revealed today. One city resident was discovered to have earned almost £50,000 by falsely claiming benefits while working. Experts warn that the recession will lead to many more people making bogus claims. Figures obtained by the Evening News show today that an average of 34 people in Edinburgh every month are now being caught by fraud investigators falsely claiming benefit – an increase of more than 40 per cent in two years. Although many avoided prosecution, each one faced having to pay back the illegally-claimed cash, while many had to pay a penalty set at around 30 per cent of what they stole. Investigators from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said the rise was due to improvements in detecting cheats using new technology, but politicians said more needed to be done to crack down on bogus claims. Lothians MSP Gavin Brown said: "These figures will cause concern and are moving entirely in the wrong direction. "The money would be better spent on people in Edinburgh who genuinely need and deserve help. Robust action needs to be taken as swiftly as possible." A team of 30 investigators in the Capital alone carry out covert surveillance on suspects. The most popular frauds are working while claiming unemployment, working while taking incapacity benefits, overstating disabilities to increase payments, and falsely taking single person discounts on council tax. Teams make visits to building sites and other workplaces, as well as carrying out spot checks on workers at private homes, such as window cleaners or gardeners.
Cash and jewellery taken in Ulverston burglary: A BURGLAR escaped with cash and jewellery after being disturbed during a break-in. Police are appealing for witnesses and trying to track down a man seen touting for business in the area in the hour before the burglary. Detective Constable John Dilks said at 11.30am yesterday, the occupant of a house in Greenbank, Ulverston, returned home to find a man inside his home. The burglar then ran off in the direction of Chittery Lane, towards Hoad Hill. The DC said: “It became apparent that entry had been forced to a secure window at the rear of the premises. “A quantity of cash and jewellery has been stolen. “The exact value of this is still being established.” The burglar is described as a white male in his thirties, of medium build and 5ft 7in to 5ft 9in in height. He is also described as being bald and was wearing a light coloured fleece-style top.The detective added: “Police have established that, in the hour before the burglary occurred, a male was on Greenbank touting for window cleaning business from residents. “We would appeal to anyone who recognises the description to call the police, or indeed if they were on Greenbank or the surrounding area at the time of the burglary and witnessed anything suspicious. “Police would also like the person asking for window cleaning business to get in touch, so we can eliminate them from our enquires.” If you can help call DC Dilks or any officer at Barrow CID on 0845 330 0247.
Unemployed window cleaner Andy Kane thinks the expenses scandal could lead to far-right groups gaining seats in Parliament. The 35-year-old said he is “frightened” by the prospect of the British National Party taking advantage of voter apathy. He said: “The thing about the expenses scandal is that it leads to people losing confidence in the system. “I think people trying to get by on £60 a week and things like that are outraged about MPs claiming for the things they have and these people won’t vote next time or worse, they will vote for people like the BNP which is just frightening.”
Police received several complaints on May 20 and 21 of solicitors throughout the Kirkwood area seeking funds for baseball trips to Hawaii. Among the tactics used by these solicitors were selling magazines and providing services to the homeowner such as cleaning windows. Police are investigating these complaints as possible fraud. Any resident who has paid these solicitors is asked to contact Detective Scott Peterson at 984-6902. Any resident who is approached by these solicitors in the future is asked to contact police at 822-5858.
A couple from Highbridge is warning fellow residents to watch out for bogus window cleaners. A 64-year-old man, who wishes to stay anonymous, received a knock on his front door from a man claiming to work for Propa-Clean Window Cleaning. The caller, who did not have a name badge, was clutching a handful of invoice slips with the company's name, address and mobile phone number. He proposed Propa-Clean, which claims to work from unit 17 of an industrial estate on Winterstoke Road, Weston, cleaned his front windows for two months for £30 in advance. The couple gave the man £20 and he said he would return the next morning to do the job and collect the remaining £10. He did not return. The couple became anxious and rang the phone number several times. It was answered only once. In the brief conversation, the company said a worker was sick and someone would come to do the job a couple of days later, but again nobody came. The man said: "We feel angry and upset to be caught out in this way – but what we really want to do is warn others, particularly the elderly, not to part with money and to watch out for callers. "This is obtaining money by false pretences and is wrong – people need to know." The Burnham & Highbridge Times called the mobile number several times without getting a reply, before contacting Consumer Direct South West.
John Leonard, who lives in Aylesbury, lost the use of his legs in 1974 aged 22. His lower spine was broken when he fell 60 feet from a ladder while working as a window cleaner in London. He rebuilt his life by retraining as a watch maker and now works for SIA as an employment adviser, helping other spinal injured people to get back into the workplace. He first tried adaptive skiing in 1994 with The Back Up Trust, which takes people with spinal injuries skiing abroad. He said: “It was a fantastic experience... it is such an amazing buzz; the scenery, the ambience, the friends that you make. I didn’t do very well but I really was hooked from the beginning.” When the SNO!zone opened in 2000 John joined the newly formed ASMK and bought his own ski bob. Now he is a committee member for the club, which is the UK’s largest adaptive snow sports group and meets at the Xscape once a month on a Sunday evening.
Marchmount Cleaning Services of Calgary launches their new website. Marchmount's new slogan is "We Take A Shine To Your Windows" and they really do! Serving Southwest Calgary for over 13 years, Mark Gillett goes the extra mile for Calgarians and we mean that literally as he is he regularly seen running marathons for various charities. Calgary is the most beautiful city in the world. We have parks, mountains, fresh air and clean windows to look at it all! Well, about that last part, we actually have a lot of dirty windows. To clean them, though, is a tedious, time consuming and dangerous job. But there is good news Marchmount Cleaning Services is a professional service company in Calgary that specializes in clean windows.
Ohio Workers' Comp Board OKs Safety Rules, Rate Decrease: The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors has approved rule changes associated with the safety standards in the Ohio Administrative Code for several industries. Ohio law allows BWC to adopt rules establishing worker safety standards that are the minimum requirements of an employer for the protection of its employees. The board approved revisions of safety rules for the following industries: metal casting, steel making, laundering and dry cleaning, elevators, rubber and plastics and window cleaning. The changes are necessary because when injuries are caused by a violation of a specific safety requirement, the injured worker may receive additional compensation payable in the claim.
Turns out those shrieking sounds from high in the sky were not coming from the peregrine falcons soaring above. It's not every day a human being can say they know the feeling of being 18 storeys up and having a raptor coming at you at break-neck speed, claws out, ready and sharp. For an hour yesterday, high above the city suspended from a window washing swing stage, Emma Followes understood the fear of a pigeon being hunted by the world's fastest animal that can dive at 300 km/h. "That was close," the ecologist for the MNR said after getting back down on the ground from the highrise at 18 King St. E. yesterday. "But I loved every minute of it." Not quite the same sentiment from the swing stage operator -- normally part of the proud club of Toronto's bravest tradespeople. "He was screaming," laughs Emma. "And I don't blame him." Shaken when he got to the ground, he quickly lit up a smoke but politely declined an interview. He'll keep to himself his tale of his 60 minutes dealing with the ferocity of a female falcon. If it sounds like the kind of crazy high-wire work of the legendary high steel people, you are right. But it's also a noble and necessary conservationist pursuit. "These birds are on the extinction list," explains Marion Nash of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. "In fact before they came back in 1995, there were not any in Ontario for 50 years." There are at least 10 pairs of the fast flying birds in the GTA -- all living and nesting on the ledges of skyscrapers. Yesterday was banding day.
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