Cable Briefs

Press, 26 April 1979, Page 8

Cable Briefs

I'at icointm dies

A 330 kg (7281 b woman who refused to go to hospital, fearing doctors would stop her smoking and starve her. has died after 10 men were unable to get her into an ambulance. Mrs Hopkins, whose 190 kg (4201 b husband left last week saying she would not stop eating, said she wanted to stay with her mother. Mrs Hopkins, who was too fat to Walk, died on Sunday after seven days of shock and inability to sleep. — Tipton (England). Doi; destroyed

! A wire-haired terrier dog) which killed a baby girl on! Saturday has been destroyed. The dog home to which the) dog had been taken had re-j fused to destroy the anima!; without the owner’s written! authority, which arrived on: Tuesday. The pet had sav--1 aged Olivia Louise Jewell as she lay sleeping in her pram at home in suburban Carlton. Hundreds of people tried to save the Hfe of the dog prompting a policeman to sayj of the callers: “They have al strange and macabre set of; values.” — Melbourne. Kill in g charge

A man has been charged with the murder of the woman prison officer killed in a gun and grenade attack outside Armagh Jail last week. Mrs Agnus Wallace, a 40-year-old mother of six, was killed, and three of her colleagues injured in the attack, as they walked from the jail for a lunch-time snack. — Belfast.

(General killed J Iran’s first armed forces I chief of staff after the revo- ; lution. General Mohammad Vali Gharani, has been killed by three unidentified gunmen. General Gharani was appointed with the blessing of religious revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, on February 12, the chaotic final day of the revolution against the Shah. I After six controversial weeks lin the job. he was sacked I after rumours spread that he I had tortured prisoners during ) the Shah’s regime and that he was. pro-American. — [Teheran. Policemen on trial Two detectives of the Royal Ulster Constabulary accused of beating up a guerrilla suspect have gone on trial in a case privately, the first of its kind, brought by the alleged victim. Robert Eugene Barclay says he was beaten in the face, head, and stomach while being interrogated by the two detectives. Kenneth French, aged 37. and Alastar Newell, aged 39, at a police station in Omagh two years ago. He was later sentenced to seven years in jail on arms charges, but the conviction was quashed in appeal after he had served five months. — Belfast. More refugees Another 524 Vietnamese refugees have arrived in Hong Kong, bringing the totah reaching the colony since last January to about 18,000 people, a Government spokesman has said. The appearance of the latest group coincided with the arrival of the United States coordinator for refugee affairs, Dick Clark, now on a SouthEast Asian tour to survey the plight of Indo-China refugees. — Hong Kong. Strangler suspect I The Los Angeles police think they have found the “hillside strangler” who killed at least IQ women and held the city in fear last year. The police chief, Daryl Gates. told a press' conference that Kenneth Bianchi, a 27-year-old former security guard who already faces murder charges in the state of Washington, is expected to be charged with 10 California killings and is a prime suspect in three more. Some 13 girls and young women — some prostitutes, others runaways — were strangled between September, 1977. and February, 1978. Most of the bodies were found on hillsides in and near suburban Glendale. — Los Angeles.