Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
to
to
Exclude
Only includes titles with the selected topics
to
In minutes
to
1-250 of 869
- Rock musician Lance Porter is suing his father Reverend Fortescue Porter in a civil case. He composed a rock opera called "Jesus, Baby!" about the nativity. He promised his father the copyright to the show on the understanding that if he fell on hard times he would receive part of the proceeds. However his father then spent all the considerable revenue on charitable causes even though he strongly disapproved of the content and style of the show. Reverend Fortescue says he did nothing wrong. At the time neither he nor his son expected the production to make money. In his view Lance has not fallen on hard times and has no need for any share.
- Charles Oldbury died in the bathroom of the old people's home where he lived. Dr. Fulmer who attended the scene thought he had suffered a heart attack and then drowned in the bath; she tried to resuscitate him without success. However the owners of the home - Margaret and Kenneth Povey - are now on trial accused of his murder and of defrauding his estate of £30 000 with the aid of convicted solicitor's clerk Leonard Saxton. The prosecution claim that they fabricated a change to his will for their benefit and then killed him in the bath, trying to make his death appear to be one of drowning. Both defendants deny all charges. They insist the change to the will was genuine and Mr. Oldbury's death was a tragic accident.
- A prison officer at Fulchester's Park Moor Prison is charged with accepting bribes to smuggle a number of prohibited items into and out of the prison by an inmate, who is also facing charges.
- Sophie Mannering, editor of the radical magazine "Tell", faces the rare charge of seditious libel. It is alleged she knowingly published an article which urged readers to "kill the pigs". This was distributed at a demonstration which involved violent clashes with the police. Miss Mannering insists the edition found at the demonstration was a fabrication planted by an agent provocateur. She and her colleagues and her supporters admit they are unhappy with what they see as police brutality but assert they deplore violence and would never advocate its use. Unusually Miss Mannering dismisses her counsel Mr. Salter during the trial, arguing that as her publication is "for the people" she should conduct her own defence.
- An acclaimed political author stands accused of the rare crime of 'incitement to disaffection', in other words, encouraging two young soldiers serving in Northen Ireland to desert the army. The prosecution claim that the idea to desert the army only entered the soldier's minds after reading his book, which criticized the way in which the British Army was behaving in the province.
- Town Hall corruption is exposed in this case, as two employees of Fulchester Borough Council are charged with fraudulently purchasing land which was at the centre of a planning permission wrangle. The land was then quickly re-sold at a much higher price than that originally paid by the council employees to the previous owner, a local market gardener, who claims that he only sold his land when he was informed that a new motorway by-pass would run through his farming land. Did the Council employees use their inside knowledge for their own financial gain?
- A doctor, and the mental institute at which he works, are being sued for damages by a mentally retarded young woman. Whilst living as a patient at the mental institute, the young woman became pregnant. She claims that the doctor performed an abortion on her against her will and knowledge. The doctor is well known for his controversial views on genetics, which to some appear similar to those held by Nazi ideologists in the 1930s. Barry Deeley leads the action for the plaintiff.
- Following an argument at a summer barbecue in Fulchester, a lady guest, Mrs Lawlor, is attacked by the hostess, Mrs Blandford, with a heated kebab skewer. Mrs Blandford stands accused of malicious wounding. The accused claims that she slipped on wet grass as she was serving food and that the injuries were caused by accident. The court will hear that a series of arguments had taken place between the two women over issues such as animal rights and women's liberation during the course of the garden party. It has also become clear in court that the two women were love rivals and were both involved in an affair with the same man, who was also at the barbecue.
- Archie McNeil is a bigamist. He married three women under Islamic Law in Somalia, where he has business interests, and a further three women in the U.K. Is he just a hopeless romantic? (The press have dubbed him 'The blue-beard of Scotland'). Or did he, as the prosecution claim, marry his wives for financial gain? After being traced by a Private Detective to a hotel room in Scarborough, where he was on honeymoon with wife number six, Mr McNeil must now explain his actions in court.
- A 21 year old man has been blinded after an attacker flung acid into his face. Was the attack carried out by his own cousin following a family feud?
- Tipskill Manor, a large derelict, abandoned house burned down while retired teacher Millicent Conway watched on. At the scene Miss Conway, who once worked at the Manor, appeared to confess to a police officer that she set fire to the house. An empty can of paraffin was found at the scene and she had also made a purchase of paraffin from a local shop even though she had never done so before and owned no paraffin heater. However Miss Conway now denies the offence. The defence argue that there is no proof that she started the fire or that the fuel found by the house even belonged to her. They assert she was merely a bystander.
- Sylvia Spencer visited Dr. Jonathan Francis seeking to terminate her pregnancy - she had been deserted by her boyfriend and wanted to conceal her condition from her brutal, disapproving father. Dr. Francis told her that an abortion was not possible and persuaded her to continue the pregnancy and release her baby for adoption. She took this advice and immediately after birth the child was placed in the custody of Mrs. Hine who had been unsuccessfully trying to become pregnant for years. However the prosecution allege this was no legal or proper adoption case. Both women were patients of Dr. Francis and the prosecution argue that Mrs. Hine was tricked into paying £2000 to adopt the child under the pretext of extortionate charges for care of Miss Spencer during a "difficult" pregnancy. The doctor faces trial for obtaining money by deception but insists he is innocent - the costs were entirely legitimate and in no way payment for adoption.
- Graham Erringburn is called to give evidence. Erringburn denies taking the coat and claims he only picked it up in error. Jonathan Fry QC counters that Philip Samkins had humiliated him and he took the £200 coat out of revenge.
- Emma Lakeland stands accused of smuggling Grigori Petrov, a suspected terrorist, from France into Britain. The prosecution allege that she sympathised with his activities, was his lover and willingly helped him escape from the French authorities, picking him up at sea and taking him back to her home in Fulchester. Both her father and a former friend - who had been Petrov's lover before her - testify for the prosecution. However she argues he physically attacked her, came to Britain of his own accord and then forced her to harbour him.
- A night security firm stands accused of attacking a young courting couple with dogs and truncheons after they had entered a private development via a hole in the perimeter fence. The couple claim the attack took place outside the fence after they had left the premises. The firm's right to use truncheons is also being questioned by the prosecution.
- The spurned lover of a Church of England clergyman is accused of blackmail after threatening to expose their affair unless the vicar pays £400.
- A Royal Air Force squadron leader is accused of spying, a serious charge which carries life imprisonment. After crashing his car, diagrams and scribbled notes relating to a new design of bomb have been discovered in his pocket. Why did he have them? And why was a young Russian lady also in his car?
- Long serving prison officer William Hogarth, a strict disciplinarian, is accused of wounding with intent Johnson, an unpopular inmate. Johnson was found injured in the toilets where he had gone in search of secreted drugs. Hogarth insists his innocence and argues that the assault was actually committed by another inmate who then tried to frame him for the offence.
- A radical young journalist and his student girlfriend are accused of conspiring to cause an explosion which rocked the offices of a local company. The prosecution is based on two pieces of evidence found at the couple's flat during a raid - a pair of plimsolls containing fragments of glass matching the glass at the company's offices, and letters written by the couple suggesting that the premises should be attacked.
- John Stainsby and Stanley Reading are jointly charged with corruption. Stainsby, the County Planning Officer is alleged to have received bribes, from Reading, to secure his firm contracts to design the new Council Administration Building.
- An old tramp is accused of stealing a wallet, but has he been set up by the public-school headmaster?
- A construction company building a suspension bridge is being sued for compensation by the wife of a workman who has been badly injured in a fall from the bridge. The plaintiff claims that the workmen had not been provided with safety belts. The defence insists that safety belts were available, but says that the workman chose not to wear one and may even have been drunk when he fell from the bridge.
- Roddy Maitland, the rising if temperamental star of British tennis, stormed off court during a Wimbledon semi-final. He then drove up to Fulchester to confront Dr. Holt-Matthews, the father of his pregnant girlfriend Gail. On being told that that her pregnancy was now over he attempted suicide in a hotel room by slashing his wrists. However it is Maitland who is now on trial for criminal libel after writing a letter in which the Prosecution allege he maliciously and falsely claimed the doctor to be "an abortionist" and "a murderer". The Defence case is that Dr. Holt-Matthews's callous attitude led him to such a conclusion and that there is no proof Gail had a genuine miscarriage.