Life sentence for banned driver

A banned driver who did not call 999 when his girlfriend was fatally hurt in a crash has been jailed for life for her manslaughter.

Kirsty Cash, 17, died after Andrew Bennett, 20, crashed a Subaru Impreza on the outskirts of Sheffield in April.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Miss Cash might have lived, but Bennett failed to call an ambulance for 45 minutes.

Bennett, from Sheffield, admitted manslaughter, perverting the course of justice and driving while disqualified.

He must spend four and a half years in jail before he can be considered for parole.

His mother and two friends were sentenced to six months for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard Bennett had a prolific criminal record, was high on drink and drugs at the time of the crash and was driving at speeds reaching 90mph (145km/h).

The Subaru left the road, collided with a series of trees and then turned on its side and Kirsty Cash was thrown through the windscreen.

Kirsty was taken to Bennett's Sheffield home before an ambulance was called.

The delay probably led to her death, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Bennett's mother Linda Bennett, 48, her partner Robin Scholes, 39, and a friend Steven Scott, 19, all admitted a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The Recorder of Sheffield Judge Alan Goldsack QC told Bennett: "When you found Kirsty seriously injured, you had no thought for anyone but yourself. You were determined to evade detection."

The judge said there was a good chance his girlfriend would have survived if he had sought medical help immediately.

He said Bennett posed a risk to the public and an indeterminate life sentence at a young offenders' institution was the right course of action.

He added: "In my judgment there is a significant risk that, without proper safeguards, you will again be tempted to drive a car.

"If a police car came up behind you, you would put your foot down to try and evade detection, with further serious consequences."

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Russia soldier jailed for abuse

A Russian soldier has been sentenced to four years in jail for abusing a conscript soldier so badly that his legs and genitals required amputation.

Sgt Alexander Sivyakov was the main defendant among three soldiers accused of abusing Andrei Sychev, 18.

The case has made headlines in Russia for highlighting army brutality.

The BBC's Moscow correspondent says the incident could return to haunt Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who has been tipped for a future presidential bid.

The incident took place at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy in the Ural Mountains on New Year's Eve 2005, while Sgt Sivyakov's unit went on a drinking spree to celebrate the holiday.

The conscript soldier was tied to a chair and beaten, and made to crouch for so long that the blood flow to his legs was cut off and he developed gangrene.

Nine months after the attack, he remains in hospital.

Sivyakov, was convicted of exceeding his authority and using violence. He always denied any wrongdoing.

The prosecution had demanded a penalty of six years in jail. Pte Sychev's family denounced the punishment - even before it was handed out - as inadequate.

More than 6,000 soldiers were victims of abuse last year, the military has said.

The case sparked an outcry in Russia, with liberal groups using it to demand an end to conscription to the armed forces.

The Kremlin has refused to end the draft, under which all Russian men between 18 and 27 must spend two years in the military.

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Fresh appeal over strangled woman

Sex motive probed in murder hunt
Police investigating the murder of a young woman in County Antrim have said a sexual motive is one of their main lines of inquiry.

Shirley Finlay, 24, from Crebilly Road, Ballymena, was found strangled in Mount Street car park on 19 September.

Police want to hear from anyone who may have seen her in the Harryville area on Monday 18 September with a tall, dark haired man in his late 20s/early 30s.

They are also looking for her footwear and her jeans or black track bottoms.

Detective Chief Inspector Tom Woods said the response to the initial police appeal for information had been good, but detectives needed to find out more about Ms Finlay's last movements.

He said police still had an open mind as to the motive for the death, but added: "A sexual motive is very much a main line of enquiry."

He added: "Shirley was found wrapped in a duvet in Mount Street car park with a grey fleece, but we don't know where her shoes and trousers are.

"If they've been dumped somewhere, we need to find them.

Appeal

"We have also had a number of sightings of her in the Harryville area with a tall, slim man with dark hair. We need this man to come forward."

Police have printed posters and leaflets with Ms Finlay's photograph to raise public awareness.

A mobile police station is also in operation at the Mount Street car park where her body was found.

Inspector Woods said that in the photograph issued of Ms Finlay, she has dark hair. But when she was last seen alive, her hair had been dyed blonde.

She was five ft tall, of slim to average build and was wearing a grey fleece, black trouser bottoms and, possibly, trainers.

Ms Finlay has been described as a woman who had mental health problems and who regularly walked alone in Ballymena.

Police have described her murder as "brutal".

She would have celebrated her 25th birthday last Friday.

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Today in history - Sept. 26

The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2006. There are 96 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 26, 1960, the first televised debate between presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon took place in Chicago.

On this date:

In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

In 1789, Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's first secretary of state.

In 1888, poet T.S. Eliot was born in St. Louis.

In 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was established.

In 1952, philosopher George Santayana died in Rome at age 88.

In 1955, following word that President Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack, the New York Stock Exchange saw its worst price decline since 1929.

In 1980, the Cuban government abruptly closed Mariel Harbor, ending the "freedom flotilla" of Cuban refugees that had begun the previous April.

In 1981, the twin-engine Boeing 767 made its maiden flight in Everett, Wash.

In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Ariz., called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from the Biosphere on this date in 1993.)

Ten years ago: Astronaut Shannon Lucid returned to Earth in the shuttle Atlantis after six months aboard the Russian Mir space station. President Clinton signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their babies. ValuJet received federal permission to fly again three months after it was grounded following a deadly crash. Richard Allen Davis, the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, was formally sentenced to death in San Jose, Calif.

Five years ago: In truce talks held at the urging of the United States, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on a series of confidence-building measures aimed at ending a year of fighting. During a visit to Armenia, Pope John Paul II paid his respects to the vast number of Armenians who perished under Ottoman rule. In Cincinnati, a white police officer was acquitted in the shooting death of an unarmed black man, a killing that sparked the city's worst racial unrest in three decades.

One year ago: Army Private First Class Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury in Fort Hood, Texas, on six of seven counts stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. (England was later sentenced to three years in prison.) International weapons inspectors backed by Protestant and Catholic clergymen announced the Irish Republican Army's full disarmament.

Today's Birthdays: Fitness expert Jack LaLanne is 92. Actor Philip Bosco is 76. Country singer David Frizzell is 65. Actor Kent McCord is 64. Television host Anne Robinson is 62. Singer Bryan Ferry is 61. Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman is 60. Singer Lynn Anderson is 59. Singer Olivia Newton-John is 58. Actress Mary Beth Hurt is 58. Actor James Keane is 54. Rock singer-musician Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos) is 52. Country singer Carlene Carter is 51. Actress Linda Hamilton is 50. Country singer Doug Supernaw is 46. Actress Melissa Sue Anderson is 44. Actor Patrick Bristow is 44. Rock musician Al Pitrelli is 44. Singer Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) is 44. TV personality Jillian Barberie is 40. Actor Jim Caviezel is 38. Singer Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) is 34. Jazz musician Nicholas Payton is 33. Actor Mark Famiglietti is 27. Singer-actress Christina Milian is 25. Tennis player Serena Williams is 25.

Thought for Today: "That the end of life should be death may sound sad; yet what other end can anything have?" — George Santayana, American philosopher (1863-1952).

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