Suicide Window Cleaner Sentenced

When the 10-bore shotgun was examined, it was found to be in a "poor condition overall" but capable of discharging cartridges. He purchased the weapon, only to discover that due to its condition, realised he had effectively "bought a dud''.

Man given 3½ year sentence for possession of antique gun: A man bought shotgun to take his life but the weapon did not work, court told. A Co Down man was yesterday given a 3½-year prison sentence after police found an antique shotgun and ammunition in his van.

Christopher John Digney, from Struell Heights in Downpatrick, bought the shotgun for £600 in a bid to take his own life but the weapon was in such poor condition that it did not work, Downpatrick Crown Court heard. Judge Brian Sherrard told Digney he was dividing his sentence between 11 months in custody and 25 months on licence. However, as Digney (34) had spent 337 days on remand, he yesterday walked free from court because of his time served in custody.

Crown prosecutor Laura Ivers said the shotgun was discovered in the back of a van inside a locked attaché case at Digney’s then address in Strangford, Co Down, on October 28th, 2014, two days after he purchased the weapon. Also recovered from the van were shotgun cartridges, an imitation weapon and a black balaclava.

Ms Ivers said the Crown could not gainsay Digney’s intent, adding there was no evidence to suggest the items were used for criminal offences. Defence barrister Eugene Grant QC said the incident occurred at a time when Digney, a self-employed window cleaner, was going through difficulties in his personal life, including the demise of a long-term relationship with the mother of his children, which resulted in depression and suicidal thoughts.

Mr Grant also spoke of the effect the death of a child Digney had when he was 17 had on him throughout his adult life. The barrister told the court his client’s intention of possessing the shotgun was to take his life. He bought the weapon, only to discover that he could not fire it. Mr Grant also told the court there was “no sinister purpose” for the balaclava, as it was part of the protective clothing Digney wore for industrial cleaning work. Judge Sherrard said he accepted Digney was suffering from a “number of stressors” .

Window Cleaning Rescues & Suspicious Deaths

The aerial ladder platform (ALP) that was brought by the department of fire and emergency services to rescue us looked like a toy from the 22nd floor where we were stranded for almost 10 hours. "The emergency services personnel and others watching us from the ground floor looked so tiny," recalled Akbar Hussain, 22, one of the two window cleaners who were stuck outside the World Trade Centre in Yeshwanthpur for a large part of Monday evening.

Window cleaners stuck outside 22nd floor rescued after 9-hour operation (Yeshwantpur, Bangalore): Duo were dangling more than 200 feet above the ground in an open-air platform for nearly nine hours before being rescued by Fire Department. Dangling in an open-air platform more than 200 feet above the ground, two labourers clung on to dear life for nearly nine hours while rescue teams figured a way to extract them to safety. The window-cleaners were stuck outside the 22nd floor of the World Trade Centre at Yeshwantpur.

Wasim Ahmed and Akbar Hussain were stranded while working in the WTC at Yeshwantpur on Monday.

Wasim Ahmed and Akbar Hussain – from Uttar Pradesh – were lowered from the roof of the 32-storey building on a pedestal at 8 a.m. in a day-long exercise to clean the glass façade of the tower that houses numerous multi-national companies and consulates. The pedestal was being manoeuvred by a machine. Around noon, the apparatus got stuck at the 22nd floor. Their colleagues tried to fix the machine, but failed. Then they tried to hoist them to the roof, but did not succeed.

When all efforts to rescue the duo failed, the Fire and Emergency Services personnel were alerted. By then, it was 5.45 p.m. The extendable ladders of the two fire tenders fell short by a long margin. The ladders could reach a height of 175 feet. Wasim says, “We were stuck for nearly nine hours and were scared out of our minds. It was a long way down. But, we were confident that the wires holding the pedestal would not break. The fact that it was only the machine that was malfunctioning and there was no problem with the ropes gave us some measure of confidence.”

Eventually around 9 p.m., officials broke glass panes on the 22nd floor and pulled the duo to safety. A police officer, who was part of the rescue operation, said, “The glass had to be broken carefully to ensure neither the duo nor those below were injured during the process. The pieces would be blown a little distance by the wind – which is dangerous as the complex houses a mall – before they hit the ground.” An official of the Fire Department said the duo were not wearing helmets or safety gear. More detail here.

Window cleaner trapped on platform outside Canberra building: A window cleaner and a mechanic had to call the fire brigade for help when they became trapped on a raised platform in Canberra on Saturday morning. The men were working on the fourth floor on the top of a building on Constitution Avenue, in Campbell, when the platform stopped moving. They called triple zero shortly after 7am.

The Emergency Services Agency said it sent the ambulance, a pumper and the Bronto Aerial Platform to help. "A firefighter was able to fix the mechanical issue of the hydraulic platform they were working on," the agency said in a statement. "ACT Fire & Rescue did not have to use its Bronto Aerial Platform. The two men have been safely lowered to the ground." No one was hurt in the incident.

He had no identification on him but now, nearly two weeks later, the OPD has identified the man as Fallbrook resident, window cleaner, Mark Andrew Slaughter, 45.

Death of Fallbrook man called ‘suspicious’ (OCEANSIDE): A man found injured on an Oceanside bike path on New Year’s Day and later died was identified Wednesday as a Fallbrook resident. Mark Andrew Slaughter, 45, died under what police are investigating as suspicious, Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Cosby said. Slaughter was found along a bike path on South Coast Highway, near Eaton Street, about 8:40 p.m. on Jan. 1, police said. He had head and face injuries, and was taken to a hospital. He died a short time later.

Cosby said an autopsy was conducted but the Medical Examiner’s Office was not able to determine what caused Slaughter’s head injuries or what caused his death. Internet sites show Mark Slaughter as owner of Focus Window Cleaning Service in Fallbrook. Investigators are asking that anyone with information about the case or about Slaughter’s movements on Jan. 1 call them at (760) 435-4892.

Police cover the body of a domestic helper who fell out of the window of an apartment in Kowloon City on Wednesday.

Indonesian maid falls to death in window-cleaning accident: An Indonesian maid fell to her death on Wednesday when she was apparently doing some cleaning work at a window of an apartment in Kowloon City. The domestic helper, a 21-year-old who bears the first name Titik, came to Hong Kong just two months ago, according to Ming Pao Daily. The accident took place at midday at a building named Elite House on Argyle Street.

A security guard said he rushed outside the building after hearing a loud thud. He saw a woman lying on the ground unconscious, prompting him to immediately call the police. When the police and medical personnel arrived, they pronounced the woman dead on the scene. Blood stains and broken pieces of a flower pot were found on the floor. The police didn’t find any suicide note on the person or inside the flat, leading them to believe that the maid may have fallen from the window accidentally.

Cheung Kit-man, chairman of Hong Kong Employment Agencies Association, said that in the past two years there had been a total of fourteen cases of domestic workers falling out of windows. Domestic workers are often not careful, he said, noting that some maids tend to lean way too out from windows when cleaning. Under current law, the Hong Kong government requires an employer to buy insurance for their foreign domestic workers. Family members of the maid are eligible for compensation, and the cost of transferring the body back to homeland will also be covered.

Spate of suicides in China still largely unexplained: The unnatural deaths of seven government officials in less than a month have raised concerns among members of the public, as the causes of some of the deaths have not been explained. Yang Xiaojun, a law professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said only limited information has been provided from official sources, and it’s not sufficient to stop the public from speculating. He said he believes the results of investigations into the deaths are a matter of public concern and that governmental departments need to explain the causes in a timely manner.

Earlier this year, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee issued a notice requiring the public release of detailed information about deceased officials. According to a report in Southern Weekly, 112 officials committed suicide from August 2003 to April 2014, with 39 percent of those dying in their offices, 33 percent at home and the rest at parks or clubs. Hao Zhuang, security chief in Jiaohe, Jilin province, died after falling from the window of his sixth-floor office on Monday morning. The local government made a statement, saying Hao fell from the window accidentally when he was cleaning the window glass and died of critical injuries despite emergency medical treatment. No other details were available.

Also on Monday, Wang Jinwei, 50, head of the finance bureau of Enshi, Hubei province, died after falling from the roof of the residential building where he lived. No explanation for his death has been released. According to a report by Legal Evening News, officials who died of unnatural causes recently include Xiao Wensun, mayor of Liuzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, who drowned in a river on Nov 4; Zhang Jianwei, head of the disciplinary department of China Nation Offshore Oil Corporation, who died in his office on Nov 3; Wang Pin’gang, senior vice-president of China Shenhua Energy Co, who died on Oct 29, the same day the former head of the land and resources department in Xiamen, Fujian province, surnamed Lin, hanged himself in a park; and Chen Hongqiao, president of Guosen Securities, who committed suicide at his home on Oct 23.

UK Window Cleaners Ladder Fall & Suicide

The Claremont Lions Hotel Grand Parade, Eastbourne.

Window cleaner fights for his life after hotel fall: A man is fighting for his life in a London hospital after falling from a seafront hotel on Tuesday afternoon. Homberto Lopez is believed to have been cleaning windows at the Claremont Hotel in Grand Parade when he fell off a ladder and landed in a basement. Although he only fell six feet, the 41-year-old suffered a severe head injury and is currently on a life support machine at Kings College Hospital in London where his condition is described as critical but stable. His wife is by his bedside.

The accident happened at around 3pm when ambulance, police and fire crews were called to the seafront hotel. Mr Lopez, who had been cleaning windows for a private firm of contractors, was winched from the basement area by firefighters and tended to by paramedics before being transferred to the waiting Sussex Air Ambulance. The air ambulance had landed on the beach opposite the hotel and roads were closed while the man was stretchered across before being flown to the Kings College Hospital in London.

The Claremont Hotel was recently sold to Daish Holidays and director George Brown said yesterday (Thursday) Mr Lopez had been working for a private firm of contractors and was not connected directly with the hotel staff. He said, “It was a very unfortunate accident and our thoughts and prayers are with the man concerned and his family. We hope he makes a full recovery.”

The accident is now being investigated jointly by both Sussex Police and the Health and Safety Executive. A spokesperson for Sussex Police said, “We are working with the HSE regarding an incident in which a man is believed to have fallen from a height while at work. The investigation into how he fell continues in our joint investigation with the HSE. “We would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident or who saw a man working in the area shortly before. Anyone with information is asked to contact Sussex Police on 101 quoting serial 964 of 22/1.”

Raymond Hollingsworth had recently celebrated his 60th birthday when his body was found hanging from a bridge. 'No work, no money, no pension, no future': What recession-hit businessman wrote in suicide note before he killed himself on canal bridge.

Father hanged himself after pension fell through: A self-employed window cleaner who threw himself from a canal bridge close to his Church Crookham home wrote a note saying "no work, no money, no pension, no future," an inquest has heard. Raymond Hollingsworth was found hanging from Coxheath Bridge over the Basingstoke Canal by a dog walker on November 27 last year. The father-of-two had taken out business loans after discovering his private pension scheme was not going to mature as planned, an inquest in Basingstoke heard on January 24.

Raymond Hollingsworth was found hanging from Coxheath Bridge over the Basingstoke Canal by a dog walker.

North East Hampshire coroner Andrew Bradley read a statement from Mr Hollingsworth's wife Linda, who chose not to attend the hearing. She said her husband, a keen gardener who would run up to eight miles a day several times a week, was a family man who had shown no signs of being unhappy. Mrs Hollingsworth added her husband had celebrated his 60th birthday on November 20 but that in the lead up to it he was a bit upset, saying he did not want to be 60.

Happy family: Raymond Hollingsworth with his family including wife Linda who said he had shown no signs of being unhappy.

The couple, who have a son Mark and daughter Ria, had been at home and watched television together the night before Mr Hollingsworth's body was found. Mrs Hollingsworth said the following morning she thought her husband had gone to work and only learned this was not the case when police visited the family home after his body was found. Police found keys and Mr Hollingsworth's passport when they searched his pockets. The note, signed by Mr Hollingsworth, was found inside the passport. Mr Bradley recorded a verdict of suicide.

Window Cleaning People & News

Va governor warns worst of Irene yet to come - saving the windows! Missy Seavey, employee for Kohr Bros. on Atlantic Avenue near 22nd Street, looks down an largely empty sidewalk at the Virginia Beach, VA, oceanfront area on Friday afternoon, Aug. 26, 2011. Hurricane Irene has the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage all along a densely populated arc that includes Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and beyond. At least 65 million people could be affected. In Virginia Beach, souvenir shops and other businesses along the resort strip were protected by sandbags and plywood nailed over windows. The usually bustling oceanfront was virtually abandoned as waves lashed the beach. The city had several shelters open, including one at an elementary school that housed about 100 people — most of them homeless.

Within weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Smithsonian Institution began collecting a wide range of artifacts recovered from the three sites where the hijacked planes went down. “There are some everyday moments in the midst of destruction. There are things we all recognize. They help people understand it happened to all of us,” Yeh said. Some are ordinary objects — a window shade and seat belt from the wreckage of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville. Some are ordinary but became extraordinary. Jan Demczur, a window washer at the World Trade Center, donated his squeegee handle to the museum. On Sept. 11, he was stuck in an elevator with five other men in one of the towers. He used the handle to force open the elevator door and then dig through the wall. All six were saved.

LONDON — Frederick A. Goodwin, the disgraced former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, used to lose his temper because of biscuits and sent the bank’s staff into “panic mode” because of a broken model airplane, according to a new book. When a window cleaner fell off a ladder in Mr. Goodwin’s office and broke a small model airplane, some people at the bank worried more about the broken toy than about the window cleaner, according to the book written by two British Conservative politicians and scheduled for publication next month. A short excerpt from the book was published in Prospect magazine on Thursday. The two politicians, Matthew Hancock, a former chief of staff of the chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and Nadhim Zahawi, disclose these details about Mr. Goodwin, who was widely blamed for the downfall of Royal Bank of Scotland, in “Masters of Nothing: The Crash and How It Will Happen Again,” a book about how human behavior made the financial crisis worse.

Window Cleaning Warehouse - The Tune! Did you know Window Cleaning Warehouse have started a record label? Here is the first offering - expect a whole album of window cleaning based tracks soon!

When the Bronx was burning 40 years ago, Angel Cruz was setting borough basketball courts on fire with dazzling slam dunks and dribble drives. He dominated the concrete playgrounds at the Patterson Houses in Mott Haven, wowed street ball crowds in Harlem, and then turned pro and played for Puerto Rico at the Olympic Games. But then the human grasshopper known as "Monchito" - perhaps the greatest Nuyorican player of all time - vanished. No friends or family have laid eyes on Cruz for more than a decade. "We don't know what happened to Angel," said Noemi Cruz-Lymon, the star point guard's sister. "No one knows." Cruz's heartbroken family will host a charity basketball game in his name tomorrow at the Patterson Houses, where he grew up. Angel Cruz Jr., 34, Monchito's eldest son, feels the same way. "With my father, you never knew what to expect," said the Bronx window cleaner. "He would pop up out of nowhere and act like nothing was wrong."Angel Cruz Jr. holds photo of his dad, Angel (Monchito) Cruz, who has been missing since 1998.

‘Little Elvis’ death – man arrested. A man has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the death of a well-known Morpeth karaoke star. Michael Marshall, who was known locally as Little Elvis, died on Tuesday, two hours after an altercation at Sanderson Arcade in the town centre. A 55-year-old man was arrested and released with no further action and a 49-year-old man has been released on police bail after he was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Mr Marshall, 52, died following an incident outside the Corbridge Larder at about 3.30pm on Tuesday. Police say there was a “verbal altercation”, before he was assaulted. It is not thought that any weapon was used. Staff from Sanderson Arcade rushed to help and an off-duty nurse and lifeguard administered first aid before paramedics arrived. An assistant from the Corbridge Larder is also believed to have helped. Another resident said: “Everyone knew him, he used to be a window cleaner. He loved the karaoke and he always introduced himself as ‘Little Elvis’.

"That's what's great about disc golf," he said. "Someone my age can compete. And someone 100 times my age can play." With that, the father and son stood to announce this year's regular-season rankings and the night's pairings. The guy to beat this year was Luis Nava (pictured). Though the 25-year-old only made one ace -- that's disc golf lingo for hole-in-one -- he still had the best score of the season. "I'm a birdie person," he said. Though some Tuesday Twos competitors have been playing for a decade or more, Nava only began throwing three years ago. "But when I first started, I played four to five hours after work every day," he said as he warmed up for the finals. "I just couldn't stop. I fell in love with this game." He still plays nearly obsessively. By day, he's a skyscraper window washer. Come 5 o'clock, he heads to Orchard or another Metro-area disc golf park. His two brothers and his sister often play, too. That constant playing will come to a temporary end soon. Nava and his wife, Carla, are expecting their first child -- a girl --in December, and he promised to take a six-month hiatus once the baby comes.

Dirty Jobs That Nobody Wants: With 14 million Americans out of work, long  grim lines at job fairs, and employment agencies jammed with the hopeful, there are still jobs that go begging. Despite the desperate measures some are taking to find employment, a handful of positions remain stubbornly vacant. Last month the ratings firm Fitch reported that even with high unemployment, some businesses can’t fill their openings. Window washer: Almost all window washing jobs involve scary heights and exposure to the elements. Injury rates are high—about eight window washers in New York City are involved in accidents each year, and 75 died on the job there between 1983 and 2008. Finding people comfortable both on a scaffold and with a squeegee is tough. Leonard Malray of Contract Services Group, based in California’s Orange County, says that of six open window-cleaning jobs he’s had open since the beginning of the year, he’s filled only two.

Southfields dad committed suicide after housing benefit cut: A desperate man who lined up three kitchen knives before stabbing himself twice in the heart, blamed cuts in housing benefit. Unemployed Richard Sanderson took his own life after writing three suicide notes which were laid out neatly on a bed in a meticulously planned act. In one to his wife he wrote: “Don’t come into the bathroom, this time I will most certainly be deceased”. Mr Sanderson, who said he could not face the thought of his family being homeless, stabbed himself twice in the heart with a kitchen knife on May 29 at home in Augustus Road, Southfields, after years of being unable to find work finally took its toll, an inquest heard. The 44-year-old former helicopter pilot wrote three suicide notes – two for his wife, Petra, and one for the police – after carefully planning the suicide over several days. Mr Sanderson, who was also a window cleaner, met his wife while travelling in South Africa in 1995 before the pair eventually settled in Wimbledon in 2007 to find better work prospects in London.

Japan faces costly, unprecedented radiation cleanup: Pictured, a worker decontaminating radiated particles on a window of an elementary school in Fukushima, northern Japan. Nearly six months after the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan faces the task of cleaning up a sprawling area of radioactivity that could cost tens of billions of dollars, and thousands may not be able to return home for years, if ever. Fuel core meltdowns at the facility in March, triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami, released radioactive material into the air which mixed with rain and snow and covered dozens of towns as well as farmland and woods, mainly along the northeast coast of Honshu. Tokyo has been slow to provide a plan for rehabilitation, leading some residents near the plant, who have been exposed to high levels of radioactive caesium in homes and food, to start their own cleanup instead of waiting for the government to act.

Aldar's desert disc is simply unique: ABU DHABI // "Simple" is not the word that jumps to one's mind when driving into Abu Dhabi and seeing the gigantic disc standing on its side in the desert. But that is the word Randall Heinrich, the senior project manager at Aldar, uses to describe the property developer's new headquarters at Al Raha Beach. "People see the shape from the outside and you get people commenting that it's an inefficient building, but it's not," Mr Heinrich says. "It's great. It's a very simple building. It has two poles coming up the middle of the building and the structure built around it. "Yes, you've got larger floors in the centre but all the floors are very open, beautiful spaces. Everyone expected it to be a wonderful building but it's also practical." The slim, circular building on a concrete plinth is the result of slightly less than three years of work and has more than 3,000 panes of glass. Apart from the empty moat, the vision of Aldar's offices is complete. Twenty-three storeys tall with three underground parking levels, the building is one of a kind, says Tony Abi Gebrayel, the area manager of the designer, MZ Architects.

Addict's £1000 theft 'has wrecked family business' - The mother of a drug addict who posed as a window cleaner to con residents into paying for work not carried out has spoken of her fears his actions have ruined her husband's business. Steven Walton (pictured), whose father David owns a window cleaning business, targeted regular city customers to fund his heroin addiction.

His victims included an 82-year old woman, from whose bank card he stole £1000 after she entrusted it to him. Yesterday, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, the 36-year-old was placed on a drug treatment and testing order for 18 months. Walton, who has been a heroin addict since he was at school, was recently released from custody in Saughton.

Today his mother Ann Walton, from Sighthill, said: "Steven used to work for my husband. People are going to read this and not want my husband's services. This being in the open will really affect our business and my husband's business." She said the family have stayed clear of him for some time. She said: "I've had really nothing to do with him much, because of what happened."

Yesterday, Sheriff Alistair Noble heard Walton had previously pleaded guilty to stealing £1000 between March 13 and March 21 this year; to obtaining £5, £10 and £20 by fraud on April 18; and stealing £15 from a house on the same day. Fiscal depute John Kirk told the court that Walton was estranged from his family but his father allowed him to sleep in his van from time to time and he had helped him with cleaning in the past.

On this occasion he went to the 82-year old woman's home and asked for money, but she had no money on her and gave him her bank card and the pin number, which he then used on a number of occasions. The prosecutor added that Walton had two minor previous convictions. Walton's defence solicitor, Angus McLennan, said the woman had become suspicious and contacted the police, while another customer raised the alarm when the real cleaner turned up looking for his money. The defence agent said Walton knew that cleaners often returned for payment at a later stage and had come across the 82-year-old victim while helping his father. He added: "It was an opportunistic theft. The temptation proved too much for him".

As for going round other houses, Mr McLennan said Walton had been "simply chancing his luck by knocking on doors of homes he knew his father had cleaned windows". Mr McLennan said Walton's father David was very disappointed by his son's actions, which had caused a great deal of embarrassment and impacted on his business. The solicitor said his father had refunded the money taken from people on his round, but that he had not known about the £1000 card theft.

Walton's mother added that her son had been clean of heroin for two months. She said: "He's been on drugs for nearly 20 years, since he was at school. There's not a lot of people outside the family that know about it. "Now that he has been proven to be clear of drugs for two months I'm starting to, not to warm towards him, but accept him and learn to trust him a little bit more. "He's been in the gutter and this has been his wake-up call."

Window cleaner turns author: A transition from washing windows to author is most unusual, but Jamie Robison of Margaret River is not your usual window cleaner, and has made the literary jump. In 1994, Mr Robison decided to write a book after a tragic car accident involving a young boarder living with him. Seventeen years and 15 drafts later, Robison has completed the book. Titled Charlie’s Dream, the book is about a teenager stuck between real and imaginary worlds after a serious car accident puts him in a coma. “It was amazing to finally finish writing the book,” he said.

Although this was Robison’s first foray into the world of novel writing, he has been involved in the media before. Prior to moving to Margaret River, Robison owned a production company in Sydney which made shorts for TV. Along with his other duties, Robison would help out with scripts. After deciding to move to Margaret River over a decade ago, he has been cleaning windows for local businesses. “I’ve been doing window cleaning for about 10 years – through my work I know most of the people in Margaret River.”

Since completing his book, Robison now has the writing bug and plans to continue with other projects. “It is the first part of a trilogy. I’m currently halfway through writing the second part. “I love writing – it keeps me sane. I also just finished a book of short stories and a screenplay,” he said.

Billy's still in the running - MAUCHLINE runner Billy White is gearing up for his ninth Great Scottish Run - and he's looking for your help to make it his biggest, most successful year yet. The pensioner, who just turned 65, should be putting his feet up and enjoying his retirement. But he's still working as a window cleaner and putting in the miles as he embarks on his latest half-marathon charity run. Just last Saturday he ran 20 miles along the River Ayr to his hometown in preparation for his latest attempt.

Texas Rangers learn new signs at Southwest Airlines - Mitch Moreland needed some help marshaling an airplane into a jetway. He had no issues cleaning the pilot's windows on it, though. The Texas Rangers first baseman did both jobs as part of an event where players traded places with Southwest Airlines employees on Tuesday afternoon at Dallas Love Field. "Cleaning the windows is something I'm a little more capable of," Moreland said. "The window washing was a good job for me. Guiding the plane in is a little different. It's nice to know all the different hand signals now."

BATMAN, Turkey - Suicide, murder debated in Turkish deaths. Some women choose to attempt suicide a result of being victimized by their families, Batman Women Rights Commission head Hatice Yilmaz said. "There was a girl who was forced to wear a headscarf and her family withdrew her from school," a woman who asked to remain anonymous told the Women's Foundation Center. "According to reports, she fell from a window while cleaning it, but the doorman saw that she fell backward from the window." Women are battling stress and harassment and the situation was the same for every woman in Batman regardless of age, she said.

A university education should be about mind over money: The value of going to university was questioned in a recent Guardian Money article. Student journalist of the year Simon Murphy replies. My mum is still the only person from her immediate family to go to university, and few of my cousins have stayed in education after their GCSEs; they are now builders, decorators, labourers, plumbers, window cleaners, etc – the kind of jobs where you don't have to worry about feigning interest in post-feminist literature to fill a few lines on your Ucas form.

Fishy Stories... seems everyone wins top awards at Fish..

Jerry and Juice Jenson, owners of Fish Window Cleaning in Colorado Springs, received the Top Sales Award at the 11th annual Fish Window Cleaning Convention held in July in St. Louis. The Jensons were presented with their award for adding more than 500 new customers during 2010. Their business provides window cleaning services for commercial and residential customers in the greater Colorado Springs area.

Tony and Wendy Espeseth, owners and operators of Fish Window Cleaning in Stillwater and Eau Claire and Appleton, Wis., received more awards at the company's annual convention this year than any of the other 200 FISH franchisees. Last year, the Espeseths were named "Franchisee of the Year," and this year, the couple received five awards for their business. They were the Top Producer Award for leading the country in sales; Small Market Star Performer Award for their Eau Claire location and the Multi-Office Star Performer Award for the 2010 performance of the three offices they run. In addition, the Espeseths earned membership in the 500 Club for opening more than 500 new accounts during the past year and they received the Navigator Award in recognition of their work with prospective new franchisees. Tony and Wendy Espeseth, operators of Fish Window Cleaning in Stillwater and Eau Clarie and Appleton, Wis., took home five awards at the company's recent annual convention, more than any of the 200 other Fish franchises.

Fish Window Cleaning of Manchester received the Top Sales Award at the recent Fish Window Cleaning Convention in St. Louis. The award was presented to the franchise for adding more than 500 new customers during 2010. In addition, Rick Petry, sales manager for the franchise, was recognized as the top sales person among all Fish Window Cleaning franchises and received the Top Sales Person Award for 2010.

Cops Link Amateur Window Cleaners + Raymonds Last Note

Cops link gang to window cleaners: Police believe gang members are linked to amateur window cleaners offering their services in Christchurch. Police are worried the window cleaners maybe casing properties for burglaries. Inspector Dave Lawry (pictured above) confirmed yesterday that a gang member had turned up to a property when police were called to a house whe the owner became concerned when a window cleaner offered to wash his windows. Police believe the window cleaner and gang member were connected.

Police have become increasingly concerned about the motives of amateur window cleaners in eastern Christchurch, who have been turning up at properties unannounced and offering to wash windows. Inspector Lawry said the public should be very cautious. "Police are aware of this group and will be keeping a close watch on their activities," he said. "They do not appear to be linked to any recognised cleaning company, and seemed to be approaching local properties at random.

"We urge householders to be cautious. There's a strong possibility that these window cleaners are using the business as a ruse to approach houses and establish if they are unoccupied. "Where they do undertake cleaning, they may be using the opportunity to identify items of interest inside or around the property for future burglaries."

The window cleaners were known to have targeted properties in South Brighton in recent weeks. One elderly man paid $25 to have his windows cleaned. Properties in South Brighton had been visited by window cleaners in recent weeks. Inspector Lawry urged householders to be cautious about who they let onto their properties, ask any door-to-door window cleaners for identification, and to report any suspicious approaches to police. The first blog about this story here.

"We have always wondered what triggered him to do it, if he had just had a customer say no that day."

Police failed to tell widow about window cleaning husband's suicide note: A widow spent almost a year wondering why her husband took his own life because police did not tell her about a suicide note. Window cleaner Raymond Curtis, who suffered from depression, was found dead at a lock-up garage in Seagull Road, Strood, in March last year. But it was not until an inquest into his death 10 months later that his wife discovered officers had picked up a hand-written letter from the bonnet of his car.

Heather Curtis was giving evidence at the hearing when coroner Roger Sykes questioned her about the note. She replied: "Note? I knew of no note." She added: "We have always wondered what triggered him to do it, if he had just had a customer say no that day." Mrs Curtis sobbed as she read the note outside the inquest court before the hearing continued. The coroner, who recorded a verdict of suicide, apologised to Mrs Curtis and said the police officer who dealt with the case would be spoken to.

The inquest heard how Mr Curtis, 58, of Darnley Road, Strood, had been diagnosed as clinically depressed three years before he died. He had been unable to work for a short time when he broke his foot and Mrs Curtis said it led him on a downward spiral as he worried about the future. Mrs Curtis went looking for her husband when he did not come home from work on March 2 last year and found him hanging in the garage.

They had three children, Jemimah, 32, Damian, 30, and Barclay, 28, and a one-year-old grandson. Mrs Curtis paid tribute to her husband of 32 years: "We miss him madly. He was a very sensitive, caring person." After the inquest, DCI Andy Pritchard said: "Our officers spoke to Mrs Curtis straight after the incident and spent around 45 minutes with her talking over the possible circumstances of her husband's death, including some details that had been left in the note. "This was a very emotional time for all of those involved, however, if our officers did not directly show the note to Mrs Curtis then we do apologise for any distress that was caused."

Latest Window Cleaning News

Window cleaner catches pensioner, 68, looking at child porn: A pensioner could face jail after his window cleaner caught him looking at child porn. Simon Mountford (pictured), 68, of Preston, denied making indecent images of children, but was found guilty by the jury at Hull Crown Court. The widower was arrested by police in November 2008 after a window cleaner was polishing his bungalow's kitchen window and saw him looking at child porn. During his trial last week, Mountford denied downloading the images and blamed hackers for putting them on his computer. However, the jury convicted him. Detective Sergeant Rebecca Handley praised the window cleaner for coming forward to police. She said: "The window cleaner was doing his rounds in Preston and had gone to clean the windows of Mountford's home. "He could see him in the room sat at the computer and could see the monitor and at first he thought he was looking at adult porn. "Then he realised he was looking at children. "A warrant was issued for his arrest and police seized three computers and numerous hard drives. "Upon examination of his computer 67 encrypted files were found. "These were large files and the activity on the computer gave the belief these files contained indecent images. 

"If it hadn't been for the window cleaner he might never have been caught." Mountford refused to give police the passwords to enable them to open several encrypted files and, as a result, he was also charged with failing to disclose information. The trial came five years after Mountford was found not guilty at court of possessing indecent images of children. When he was 63, Mountford was arrested by police under Operation Ore after his credit card details were linked to American child porn sites. However, the jury believed his story that a virus corrupted his computer and he was found not guilty. The jury in his most recent trial were told Mountford had faced allegations of making indecent images of children previously. After just 45 minutes the jury found him guilty of one count of making indecent photographs of a child and seven counts of making indecent images of a child, which related to videos. The images found ranged from level one to level four – five being the most serious. He was also found guilty of failing to disclose protected information. Mountford will return to Hull Crown Court next month to be sentenced.

Clogged gutters could mean bigger problems: WEST KNOXVILLE, Tenn (WVLT) - You have to admit, Fall is a beautiful time in East Tennessee, but as the leaves change and fall- they could pile up in the wrong places. Chris Cox of Sparkling View says, "Clogged gutters can rot wood in your walls of house and flood your basement. So there is a lot of damage water can because of your gutters are clogged with leaves or granules from your roof." Chris Cox owns Sparkling View- a window and gutter cleaning service. He says homeowners should check their gutters and make sure they are clear of debris.. Cox says, "The real easy way to tell is if it is raining and you have a waterfall in front of door or gutter. Or if you see leaves sticking out, you have a problem you need to get it checked out." If you're not sure how often you should be checking, that depends on your yard. According to Cox, "If you don't have many trees, I recommend you get it checked once a year. We actually have some customers we do once a month, cause they have so many trees." His best advice, check and clean your gutters once in Autumn as the leaves fall and in the Spring after the trees bloom.

Makeover memories from the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' build in Neenah - Geof White, Kaukauna: It was a Wednesday afternoon in August when I received the phone call. “Would you like to clean the windows for us at the ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ house in Neenah on Friday?” My reply, “What time do you want us there?” This was an honor. I was familiar with ‘EMHE.’ And the concept is great. A television show based on generosity. We had the opportunity to join all the other companies that came together and donated to the home, to the family. The TV crew was there to get things done. Everyone was hustling, contractors, TV people - everyone. My guys were excited to be there. It was a nice break from the normal work day. For the week before we were there, the house had 200 contractors stepping on each other trying to finish their various projects. But on Friday, the day the family came home, only three contractors were allowed near the house: cleaning crew, window cleaners and decorators. The house was amazing. Four-thousand square feet, laid out nicely with this cool hand scanner in the kids room to enter. I was impressed by what a good job all the other contractors had done. It was top quality and didn’t seem rushed at all. The seven of us arrived at 7 a.m. to clean the windows. It was like a set for a sitcom with all the cameras and Ty Pennington running around. One of my guys asked Ty to take a picture. Ty said “Sure!” and just kept running. Funny. We finished around noon and waited for the family to come home so we could yell “Move that Bus!” Honestly, it was a job that brought my employees together. It gave us a chance to all work together on something different and something with a cause. A great experience.

CareerCast celebrates Halloween with list of 10 scariest jobs: Next on the list is broadcast tower technician, which would be a nightmare for those with acrophobia (fear of heights) or astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightning). Other jobs to avoid for those who prefer to stay firmly planted on the ground are window washer, high-rise welder and high-rise construction worker.

NATO frustrated amid Somali piracy deluge - "When we come across a boat with ladders on board, we can be sure they are pirates," says a senior member of Nato's anti-piracy task force. "After all, there are no known window-cleaning operations in the Indian Ocean." More often than not, when the international warships capture these pirates, they disarm them, leave them enough fuel to get back to Somalia and set them free. The pirates have even on occasion managed to get their engines overhauled courtesy of some naval expertise.

Nazi Youth? Comfort to know we're being watched - I have recently had an experience that made me aware of the importance of great neighbours and a great police service. On this particular Thursday, in anticipation of heavy rains and the possibility of clogging, overflow and leakage into our basement, I had the brilliant idea of quickly cleaning out a portion of the eavestrough on our two-storey home. I climbed out the second storey bedroom window and over the roof, and did a quick clean out. I was unaware that there were two children on their way to school who witnessed my scrambling over the roof and back through the window, into the house.

With great training and wonderful responsibility, they noted the house number and then reported it to an adult, who called 911 to report what they'd seen. Within 20 minutes there was a patrol car outside of our house, an officer asking questions at the front door and one checking the back of the house. Thank you, both to the bright and conscientious children for taking the time to report suspicious activity, and to the police officers for their speedy response. Sometimes it is a great comfort to know that we are being watched. Dan Sigler.

Last February at the Casino, Chicago’s elegant private club tucked behind the John Hancock Center, an exceptionally festive party brought together Chicago’s A listers. The occasion was a birthday celebration for Neal Zucker, civic philanthropist and chief executive of Corporate Cleaning Services, a window-washing company. Neal Zucker is a leader in Chicago's philanthropic community, helping raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for civic organizations, beautification projects and not-for-profit groups.

Exhibiting their timber window products at Grand Designs Live is already proving to be a success for Dempsey Dyer Ltd, a UK manufacturer of timber window, door and conservatory solutions. Held at the NEC in Birmingham earlier this month, the show was opened by Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud on the 8th October and ran for three days. Exhibiting from a modest stand of just 3m x 3m, Dempsey Dyer were able to showcase only a selection of their high performance timber window products. Three unique products were chosen including a flush casement window, a Stormproof window and a fully reversible window.

The chaplain to the Chilean president who led prayers for the 33 trapped miners was formerly a postman in Cornwall, it has emerged. Chilean-born the Rev Alfredo Cooper, 60, delivered mail in the UK after his family moved to Par, near St Austell, in the early 1970s. But Mr Cooper later moved back to his homeland and led prayers at the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago for the 33 men after the San Jose mine collapsed. St Austell resident Don Double, 76, got to know the chaplain, who also worked as a window cleaner, when they both attended church together. He said: ''He is an outstanding man and I have a lot of respect for him. Alf still comes to visit me at my home when he is in St Austell. Chilean-born Mr Cooper was a postman in St Austell in the 1970s after his family moved to Cornwall, where they still live. He spent four months delivering mail in St Blazey and Par and also worked as a window cleaner. He was appointed chaplain to the president Sebastian Pinera in January.

The family of a Whitchurch window cleaner who hanged himself at a mental health hospital say they feel he was let down by staff and the NHS. Anthony Porter, 52, of Parkwood Close, was admitted to Callington Road hospital by his family on Friday, June 13, 2008, an inquest heard. He had cut his wrists with a knife at home the day before and his family believed the hospital would be a safer place for him. But two days later he was found dead in the en-suite bathroom of his room at the hospital. Assistant deputy coroner Terry Moore heard that staff nurse Rachel Hawes found Mr Porter hanging at 8.50am.

Through tears, family turmoil and now a possible life sentence, former Inkster narcotics cop Scott (Rex) Rechtzigel says he did what he had to do. Pressed by defense lawyers in a high-profile 2005 drug case on whether he knew the prosecution's star witness, Chad Povish, before he was stopped driving a car carrying 47 kilos of cocaine, Rechtzigel said, "No." It was a lie designed to protect Povish's life and hide the fact that he was a paid informant who set up the drug sting. The prosecution and judge knew about it. The defense did not."The first line of a law enforcement officer's oath is a promise to safeguard lives," he said. "I think that's what I was doing." Rechtzigel is no longer a police officer, and he recently lost his civilian administrative post. He does have a window washing and cleaning business. It's quite a change from his role as sergeant of the Inkster Police Department's special investigative unit, which in 2005 made an astonishing 47-kilo cocaine bust. "I had no idea we were going to get that much," he said. "Informants often exaggerate.... I really didn't believe it till we opened the duffle bags."

The diary of “Edna Fry (Mrs)”, the alter ego of Stephen Fry, who has long delighted her Twitter followers with demure yet dirty snatches from a parallel world in which Fry is a window cleaner whose principal interests include football and “special videos”. Here, though, while Fry’s literary cross-dressing is sweet and funny, it is only patchily successful. The 140-character limit on tweets rewards epigrammatic wit, and Fry’s best one-liners are polished until they shine. What works less well is the attempt to shuffle them into a plot.

Imagine shattering a large stained glass window, cleaning each one of the roughly 3000 pieces of glass that comprise it and then putting it all back together to go on show at one of Canberra's most prominent churches. That was the task of stained glass artist Gerry Cummins and his partner Jill, who have spent the past three years restoring seven stained glass windows from the heritage- listed St Andrew's Church. Cummins said the church, in State Circle, was built in 1934 during the Depression with materials that were of poor quality. ''A lot of corners had been cut during the construction and the windows couldn't cope with the very cold weather or the heat,'' he said.

''Some of the glass had started to break and in some areas the glass had started to fall out, the windows were prodigiously buckled.''We removed the windows, which took about a week each time with a team of four or five, then crated the windows and took them up to our studio in Queensland where we took rubbings of the windows, documented them and then totally dismantled them.'' Cummins and his wife then began carefully cleaning every individual piece of glass with cotton buds, under magnifying lenses to make sure they weren't damaging the glass. ''Then we set about reconstructing the windows, using top-rate internationally approved leads, put the windows back in the crates and brought them back here to install them,'' he said.The restoration of the windows has been 20 years in the making and is part of a multimillion-dollar restoration program being carried out at the church.

Santa cart thieves might have ruined Christmas: A festive treat for children in Worplesdon is at risk of being ruined by thieves this year. For the past five years, Theresa Smith has used her 14-year-old pony to pull a cart around on Christmas Eve, delighting passing children by giving out sweets from Santa. But now the event is in jeopardy after thieves broke into Pitmore Farm in Worplesdon on October 4 and stole the two-wheel exercise cart complete with brown padded seat. They also took several horse rugs, bags of haylage, a Honda generator, a chainsaw, a hedge-cutter and window cleaning ladders.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Myrtle Beach hoteliers who have to keep their pools running all winter long for snowbirds are having to replace their glass enclosures with safer ones. The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reported Sunday that a federal ban on certain pool enclosures will be enforced starting Nov. 1. The enclosures help keep outdoor pools warm enough to be used year-round. Federal law prohibits communities in the National Flood Insurance Program from using hard-structure pool enclosures - often made of glass - in the floodplain. Myrtle Beach hotels have been using the enclosures for more than 30 years. The Federal Emergency Management Agency raised safety concerns in 2007 and the city changed its ordinances and has begun inspections to make sure the vinyl or Plexiglas structures are in place by the deadline.

Solarmotion is a controllable shading system that is programmed to automatically adjust with the movement of the sun to reduce solar heat gain and glare to save energy and maximize daylight. Solarmotion shading systems offers two product lines: Solarmotion controllable sunshades & Solarmotion external (retractable) venetian blinds. The Solarmotion controllable sunshades product line offers several styles of mullion cover, is designed to meet typical spans and includes all the necessary operating mechanics such as blade linkage, a high-efficiency motor, structurally designed mullion, caps to prevent weather infiltration into the assembly and an adjustable stand-off to meet building tolerances and allow for window cleaning after installation.

The Glasgow star, actor David Hayman has made a documentary about the Edinburgh villains who killed innocent victims and sold their corpses. But Hayman admitted his first experience of violent death was much closer to home. When he was a child, his grandfather Walter died during a beating from his grandmother Ruby. But the scandal was covered up by the family. Hayman said: "Walter was a window cleaner at Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow. "He was a compulsive gambler, which caused no end of problems. "We had just moved from Drumchapel and were living in Blairdardie, when the telephone rang one night and it was my grandmother Ruby. "My dad picked it up and she was in a terrible state. She said, 'Dave, you had better come over. I think I have just killed Wattie'. "

My dad raced over and, sure enough, my grandad was dead. "They had been having a fight and she had got him in an arm-lock and was punching him when he had a heart attack and dropped dead. "Gran was brought over to our house and I was sent over to my grandad's to sit with my dad and wait until the undertakers ca me. "When I got there, dad was sitting in the armchair and my wee grandad was lying on the bed stark naked and he looked so small and shrunken. "The next couple of hours were two of the most uncomfortable of my life as my dad and I tried to make conversation with my grandad lying next door." Hayman said the family hushed up the whole affair. He added: "We were all under strict instructions never to tell anyone what happened. It was one of those family secrets we never talked about."

Health officials warn of lead poisoning dangers:  Children living in homes built before 1978 could be at risk for learning disabilities, hearing loss, and violent behavior if lead paint is still present in the home according to the Environment Protection Agency. The EPA along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other national organizations are partnering together to raise awareness about National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week which runs through Oct. 30. The EPA says if you suspect that your house has lead hazards, you can take some immediate steps to reduce your family's risk: Clean floors, window frames, window sills, and other surfaces weekly. Use a mop, sponge, or paper towel with warm water and a general all-purpose cleaner or a cleaner made specifically for lead.