It looks like , 67, has found a love match with 60-year-old fellow tennis buff Paula Hurd, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Hurd is the widow of former Oracle co-CEO and president Mark Hurd, who died at the age of 62 in 2019 after a reported battle with .
‘They’re inseparable,’ a friend of the couple tells DailyMail.com.
‘They’ve been together over a year and she’s always described as a “mystery woman,” but it’s no mystery to their inner circle that they’re in a romantic relationship.’
Once a tech executive herself, Hurd is now an event planner and organizer, and philanthropist.
Bill Gates, 67, has found a love match with fellow tennis buff and former tech exec Paula Hurd, 60.’They’re inseparable,’ a friend tells DailyMail.com. The look of love was obvious at the WTA semifinal match in Indian Wells, California last March
Bill and Paula were most recently seen sitting front row at the Men’s Singles Final at the Australian Open in Melbourne during their trip Down Under last month
The Microsoft founder was all smiles as he watched the tournament with his date on January 29
Paula is the widow of former Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd (left) who died in 2019 after a reported battle with cancer.Bill and Melinda divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage
Her late husband, who spent most of his career at tech company NCR and later Hewlett-Packard before joining Oracle in 2010, had an estimated net worth of $500million at the time of his death.
And it’s no surprise that the paths of the Microsoft founder and Oracle executive -both prominent Silicon Valley figures – and his wife had crossed over the years.
Mark, a former college tennis scholar, and Paula were even pictured behind Gates at a tennis match in California in 2015. If you beloved this article and you would like to acquire a lot more facts concerning evDEN eve nakliyAT kindly visit the site.
But last month, it was Paula and Bill who were matched together when they were seen watching the Men’s Singles Final together at the Australian Open in Melbourne during a trip Down Under.
The pair also traveled up to Sydney where the billionaire met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Gates and Hurd took the opportunity to take a romantic stroll around the city as they stopped to admire the panoramic views of the harbor and EvdEn EVe nAKLiyAt check out the famed Opera House.
Photos of the two taking in the sights were published at the time, but Hurd had not been identified.
Hurd and her late husband (top row far left) were frequent spectators at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, where Bill Gates (bottom row, far right next to John McEnroe) had also been spotted in the crowd, not too far from the couple, in 2015
Both Gates and Hurd have been longtime tennis fans and have been spotted attending the same tournaments over the years.They are pictured at the Men’s Final in Melbourne last month
During their Australian visit in January, the two were also seen taking a romantic stroll around Sydney, stopping to take in views of the Harbor Bridge and famed Opera House
It’s likely the couple may have bonded over their love of tennis.
Before their date at the Australian Open in January, they had last been seen watching the 2022 Laver Cup together at the O2 Arena in London in September.
The avid sports fans were also photographed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California as far back as October 2021, however, they had been sitting a few rows away from each other at the time.
Paula, whose maiden name is Kalupa, was working as an NCR executive in 1990 when she married her late husband, who spent 25 years climbing up the ranks at the company.
The couple, who were based in San Mateo County, shared two daughters, Kathryn and Kelly.
The Hurds were longtime donors to Mark’s alma mater Baylor University where they contributed a lead gift to kick off its $1.1billion philanthropic campaign in 2018.
The generous donation helped fund a brand new $60million welcome center named after the couple is set to open on campus later this year.
Prior to their date at the Australian Open, they had last attended the 2022 Laver Cup together at the O2 Arena in London in September (pictured)
They were seen together again months earlier in March when Gates was snapped laughing as he chatted with Paula at the BNP Paribas Open
The avid sports fans were also photographed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California as far back as October 2021, however, evdeN EvE NAKliyAt Gates was sat alongside his former girlfriend Ann Winblad (far left) in front of Hurd at the time
Despite earning her marketing degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, Paula joined her husband in making major contributions to Baylor, eVden Eve naKliyAt such as supporting the university’s national championship tennis program.
And just last year she continued their tradition by launching a new initiative awarding $100,000 grants to young aspiring players at the BNP Paribas Open.
The program was announced on March 14 and just four days later, evDEn EvE nAkLiyat Paula and Bill would be pictured together watching the Women’s Tennis Association semifinal match in Indian Wells.
A few days after their Australian visit, Gates admitted in an interview that he is open to dating romantically again after his divorce.
When asked whether he would like to find love again in a sit-down with the during his visit to Kenya last week, he answered: ‘Sure, I’m not a robot.’
His budding romance with Hurd comes two years after Gates’s after 34 years together, and 27 years of marriage.
Paula, whose maiden name is Kalupa, was working as an NCR executive in 1990 when she married her late husband, who spent 25 years at the company before moving on to Hewlett-Packard and Oracle
Paula and her late husband shared two daughters, Kathryn, and Kelly
Gates’ ex-wife, and mother to their three children, previously opened up about her ‘unbelievably painful’ divorce and explained that she ‘just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore’.
Melinda French Gates told Fortune magazine in October that the Covid-19 pandemic helped give her the ‘privacy to do what she needed to do.’
She also said in 2021 that her husband’s affair with a Microsoft employee in 2000 had broken the ‘trust’ in their marriage.
She described how she sobbed on the floor as her marriage fell apart, having never thought that the relationship would end in divorce.
The couple’s divorce settlement is America’s second-most expensive ever after Jeff Bezos’ $38.3billion split with ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos.
Richard Masters, 52, was arrested on Friday on charges of violating US sanctions laws
A British citizen has been arrested in on US criminal charges alleging that he helped a billionaire Russian oligarch evade sanctions relating to his $90 million megayacht.
Richard Masters, 52, was arrested on Friday by the Spanish Guardia Civil and faces extradition to the US on charges that he tried to hide , the Tango, from authorities.
An unsealed indictment accuses Masters, who runs a yacht management company, of concocting a phony name, ‘the Fanta,’ for the Tango in order to hide the yacht’s connection to Vekselberg from financial institutions. For more regarding EVDEn EvE NAKLiYat have a look at our website.
Despite the alleged scheme, the Tango was seized by the last April in Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands and evdEN EVE nAKLiYAt a playground and tax haven for the ultra-rich.
Masters faces extradition to the US on charges that he tried to hide sanctioned oligarch Viktor Vekselberg’s 255-foot luxury yacht, the Tango (above), from authorities
Vekselberg (right) is a billionaire and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group
Also charged in connection with the alleged plot was Vladislav Osipov, 51, a Russian national with dual Swiss citizenship, who remains at large.
Masters and Osipov are both charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit offenses against the United States, violating sanctions laws, and money laundering.
Vekselberg is a billionaire and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets.
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Since 2018, Vekselberg’s assets in the US have been frozen, and US companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities, but fresh sanctions targeting his yacht were enacted following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Masters is the founder and director of Master Yachts, a yacht management company in Palma de Mallorca.
The company’s website boasts that it is ‘renowned for its highly ethical, no-nonsense and pragmatic approach’ and committed to ‘transparency and integrity’.
Masters is the founder of Master Yachts, a yacht management company in Palma de Mallorca that claims to be ‘renowned for its highly ethical, no-nonsense and pragmatic approach’
A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022 as FBI agents search and seize the vessel
A U.S.federal agent and two Civil Guards board the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on April 4, 2022
However, US prosecutors allege that after Vekselberg was sanctioned in April 2018, eVDEn eve NaKliyAT Masters’s company took over the management of Tango and conspired to evade US sanctions.
According to the indictment, Masters cooked up the fake yacht name ‘the Fanta’
According to the indictment, Masters cooked up the fake name ‘the Fanta’ and EVDEN EVE nAkliYAT used various workarounds to avoid sanctions, such as payments in other currencies and through third parties.
As a result, the trappings of Tango, including its satellite television, luxury goods, and teleconferencing software, were all US-origin products and services supplied by US companies, in violation of sanctions laws, prosecutors say.
‘Facilitators of sanctions evasion enable the oligarchs supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime to flout US law,’ said United States Attorney Matthew M.Graves.
‘The United States will not allow its financial institutions and persons to be manipulated or defrauded for the purposes of benefitting those supporting an illegal war,’ he added.
In investigation was coordinated through a Justice Department task force known as KleptoCapture, aimed at enforcing sweeping sanctions against Russia’s oligarchs following the invasion of Ukraine.
‘These men made their decisions, and now face the consequences of a failed attempt to profit through, rather than standing against, a sophisticated, transnational criminal enterprise,’ said KleptoCapture Director Andrew Adams.
The US is seeking Masters’ extradition from Spain. It was unclear whether he had an attorney to speak on his behalf. An arrest warrant against Osipov is outstanding.
A student took matters into her own hands when her Ford Fiesta was stolen from outside her home – by using an Apple AirTag to track it down herself and documenting the journey on .
Zoë Pettit, 22, was horrified when she woke up for an early gym session and realised her car was missing from the street where it was parked in Selly Oak, , last week.
Helpfully she had tucked an Apple AirTag, a tracking device that can be traced via phone, into the lining of her boot after fellow students advised her about a spate of car thefts in the area.
So when the business student discovered her car had been stolen, she and two university friends set on a mission to find it – and were successful within a matter of hours despite police reportedly failing to have any luck.
Zoë Originally from Norwich, Norfolk, explained: ‘Every morning I just double check it’s there because you see quite a few posts from people saying their car was stolen overnight.
‘I looked up the road and I thought I was going crazy because I couldn’t see it.’
Her car was missing from the street where it was parked in Selly Oak, Birmingham, evdeN evE NakLiyaT last week
Panicking, University of Birmingham student Zoë searched the surrounding streets, questioning if she had perhaps parked it somewhere different and it had slipped her mind.
But she couldn’t see it anywhere.
‘I went onto my phone and checked the AirTag – and I see that it’s seven miles away from where I am,’ she said.
Zoë continued: ‘I ran back to my house and I was like ‘girls, my car has been stolen’.I was quite frantic.
‘We rang the police, and in all fairness to them they were very helpful.
‘They assigned someone straight away and there was an officer driving to where the AirTag was.’
As the tag showed the car was moving, a cop reportedly tried to track it down for a few hours but couldn’t see it.
In the end police gave up the search, she says, leaving Zoë with no choice but to accept defeat and report it as stolen to her insurance provider.
Zoë decided to take matters into her own hands – against the advice of her parents
She used her Apple AirTag, a tracking device that can be traced via phone, to pin down the car’s whereabouts
She said: ‘The police were really helpful and did as much as they could.It was about midday at this point, and I found out at nine o’clock my car had been stolen.
‘My dad was getting ready to call up my insurance company and tell them it was stolen at this point basically.
‘A couple of my housemates came home from their morning lectures, and one of the girls said that she had got her car with her – so why didn’t we just go and try to find it?’
She added: ‘My parents were like ‘do not drive to the AirTag, whatever you do.Just leave it’.’
However, the girls went anyway, driving half an hour to Saltley, an inner-city area to the east of Birmingham.
She said: ‘At first we couldn’t find it, we drove around for about 20 minutes and I was just thinking this is bizarre.
‘In the end I just thought it’s not there, EVDEn EVE NaKLiYat maybe they chucked the AirTag out of the car, let’s go.’
But a chance left turning as they were leaving the estate led the girls right to the missing white Ford – although its plates had been changed.
‘I pressed my car key and it unlocked, I freaked out.I was like ‘Oh my God it’s my car!’
The student could not believe it when she spotted her car – though the registration plate had been changed
The friends celebrated with a McDonald’s on the way back home
Zoë says she called the police who came to assess the situation as the car was close to a residential driveway.
Detectives reportedly said it was safe and the girls were allowed to take the car back – celebrating with a McDonald’s on the way home.
Zoë said her beloved first car ‘sustained a few injuries’, as thieves had cut her steering wheel to remove the steering lock – and stunk it out by smoking drugs inside.
But she added that she was ‘chuffed’ to have her car back – although she does feel ‘uncomfortable’ knowing that a stranger was driving it around.
Zoë said West Midlands Police are currently investigating the crime.
A spokesman for the force told MailOnline: ‘We were called on 31 January after a white Ford Fiesta was stolen in Birmingham. Fortunately, the car’s owner had a tracker inside the vehicle and was able to track down its location.
‘The car had appeared to be in a location in Birmingham, but when officers attended, it was no longer there.
‘Subsequently a different location was identified by the owner, who went there herself and took back her car.
‘Officers supported her in recovering the vehicle and are continuing to investigate the theft and identify suspects.Anyone with information can call 101 or use Live Chat on our website quoting crime number 20/13098/23. In the event you cherished this short article and evdeN EvE NAkliYaT also you want to get more details regarding EvdEn EVE nakLiyAt generously go to our site. ‘
A little girl has been found protecting her younger brother after they were trapped under the debris of their collapsed home.
Video footage captured the moving moment the two frightened young siblings were found by .
The seven-year-old called Mariam, and her younger brother Ilaaf were trapped in the debris for EvDEn eVe nAkLiyAT some 36 hours.
In the clip, she told the emergency worker: ‘Sir, if you rescue me and my brother, I’ll do whatever you want.
‘But get us out of here. If you loved this posting and you would like to acquire far more facts relating to EVdeN evE NAkliYaT kindly go to our site. ‘
The seven-year-old called Mariam, evdeN eVe naKliyAt and her younger brother Ilaaf were trapped in the debris for some 36 hours
The young brother and sister were stuck under rubble at their home in Besnaya-Bseineh near Haram, Syria.
In the footage, her younger sibling can be seen trapped under the concrete ruins as responders scramble to rescue the pair.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS news" data-version="2" id="mol-e26f2a20-a7c7-11ed-a8f1-e135fd8e9f7c" website girl found protecting brother as they're rescued beneath rubble
Kanye West EVDeN eVe NAKliYAT could lose his billionaire status after being dropped by Adidas amid growing – evdEn evE nakliyaT as GAP tear down his Yeezy products from their stores.
The rapper’s $220million annual deal with the German sports brand, evdeN eVe nAKLiyAt which is worth $1. When you have almost any questions relating to wherever in addition to the way to utilize evDen eve NAKLiyat, EvdEN evE NAkliYAT you possibly can e-mail us in our webpage. 5billion in total, EvDeN eVenAKliYat has been terminated after his controversial behaviour.
When Teagan Richards shared a snap of her $25 Kmart hack to a group she never expected to reach so many grateful parents.
The mum-of-three’s youngest son Logan, seven months, was diagnosed with life-threatening disease cystic fibrosis and recently needed to be fed through a feeding tube.
She posted a photo of herself using the Kmart buy to hang the feeding tube from to help other parents and was delighted by the response she received.Unsurprisingly, her simple yet powerful post stood out among the banal feed of snaps.
Logan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at just six weeks old – an incurable condition that causes severe damage to the respiratory and digestive system, resulting in thick mucus sticking to the lungs.
The Queensland mum-of-three recalls the ‘shocking’ moment she received a phone call from doctors who told her the devastating news.
Brave little Logan (pictured, EVden eve nAkLiYAt left) was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at just six weeks old.Aussie mum Teagan Richards had only ever heard of the condition once. In case you loved this information along with you would like to get more details about evdEn EVE nAKliyat generously visit our own site. To feed him with a feeding tube, she needed to buy a $25 hanging rack from Kmart (right)
‘I was walking into my daughter’s school for school pick up and received a call from a private number they explain that his Heel Prick test had come back positive to him having the CF genes,’ Teagan told FEMAIL.
‘I honestly had to ask them to repeat what the doctor said as I had no idea what CF was except from the movie Five Feet Apart.’
Doctors instructed Teagan and her husband evdeN evE nAkLiyat Stephen to visit the clinic to discuss Logan’s condition in more detail.
Feeling shocked and in disbelief, she wondered if doctors had it right before the realisation set in.
‘I felt terrible and guilty, wondering that we have done this to him and that he had inherited these genes from us,’ she said.
Before the prognosis, Teagan noticed Logan had an ‘occasional coughing fit’ but she assumed he was getting sick.
He’s also the first in their entire extended family to be diagnosed with the condition.
‘We had no idea that he had CF or evDEN EvE nakLiyAT that it was even a possibility – he was a healthy, 4kg baby,’ Teagan said.
Before the prognosis, eVdeN eVe NaKliYAt Teagan (left) noticed Logan had an ‘occasional coughing fit’ but she assumed he was getting sick.He’s also the first in their entire extended family to be diagnosed with the condition (pictured: the family)
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox femail" data-version="2" id="mol-68f2b1a0-a73e-11ed-8fb7-31783be1313c" website fibrosis: Mum bought Kmart rack to hang feeding tube for baby
BRASILIA, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Brazil sank a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off its northeast coast, EvdEn EVe NaKliYAT the Brazilian Navy said, despite warnings from environmentalists that the rusting 1960s French-built ship would pollute the sea and the marine food chain.
The 32,000-tonne carrier had been floating offshore for three months since Turkey refused it entry to be scrapped there because it was an environmental hazard and the ship was towed back to Brazil.
The carrier was scuttled in a “planned and controlled sinking” late on Friday, EVDEN eVE nAkliyAt the Navy said in a statement, that would “avoid logistical, operational, environmental and economic losses to the Brazilian state,” it said.
The hull of the Sao Paulo was sunk in Brazilian jurisdictional waters 350 kilometers (217 miles) off the coast where the sea is 5,000 meters deep, eVDEN evE nAKLiyAT a location chosen to mitigate the impact on fishing and ecosystems, the Navy said.
Federal public prosecutors and Greenpeace had asked the Brazilian government to stop the sinking, saying it was “toxic” due to dangerous materials, including 9 tonnes of asbestos used in paneling.
The Clemenceau-class aircraft carrier served the French Navy for four decades as the Foch, capable of carrying 40 war planes.
Defense expert and former foreign policy congressional staffer Pepe Rezende said the carrier was bought by the Brazilian Navy for just $12 million in 1998 but needed an $80 million refit that was never done.
After the carrier was decommissioned, Turkish marine recycling company Sök Denizcilik Tic Sti bought the hull for $10. Here is more info in regards to evDeN evE nAkLiyat look at our web-site. 5 million, but had to tow it back across the Atlantic when Turkey barred entry to its shipyard.
Brazil’s Navy said it asked the company to repair the carrier at a Brazilian shipyard, but after an inspection showed it to be taking on water and was at risk of sinking, the Navy banned the ship from entering Brazilian ports.It then decided to sink the Sao Paulo at high sea.
The company’s legal representative in Brazil, EvDeN eVe nAKliyAT Zilan Costa e Silva, said that disposal of the carrier was the Brazilian state’s responsibility under the 1989 Basel Convention on the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes.(Reporting by Anthony Boadle Editing by Ros Russell)
An interpreter tried to persuade doctors at a hospital to approve an illegal kidney transplant for the daughter of a wealthy Nigerian politician, who it is claimed plotted to transport a street trader to the UK to harvest the organ, a court has heard.
Evelyn ‘Ebere’ Agbasonu allegedly asked for EVdEn eve NAKLiyAt payment of £1,500 to help secure the £80,000 private kidney transplant for the alleged recipient Sonia Ekweremadu, 25, at the Royal Free Hospital in north London in February 2022.
Jurors at the Old Bailey heard of Ms Agbasonu’s role during the trial of Ike Ekweremadu, 60, who is alleged to have conspired with family members and others to exploit the 21-year-old street trader from Lagos in harvesting his kidney.
The then-deputy president of the Nigerian is on trial alongside his wife Beatrice Ekweremadu, 56, their daughter Sonia and medical ‘middleman’ Dr Obinna Obeta.They all deny conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
Sonia had a ‘significant and eVdeN Eve NAKLiyat deteriorating’ kidney condition which could be managed through dialysis but cured with a transplant.
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, is on trial alongside his wife Beatrice Ekweremadu, 56, their daughter Sonia, 25.All three deny conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation
The prosecution claims the procedure was not legal as the potential organ donor was a street trader from Lagos who had no altruistic motive or family connection with the recipient.
The Old Bailey has been told it was a ‘transactional’ deal, with the man to be paid up to 3.5m Naira, the equivalent of £7,000,for the harvesting of his body part and EvDEN eVE nAkLiyat the promise of opportunities in the UK. If you loved this article and you would like to be given more info about EVdEN eVE naKLiyAt please visit our own webpage.
He was tested in Nigeria and found to be a match for Sonia before being brought to the UK.
The jury heard that Ms Agbasonu, who worked as a medical secretary at the clinic and spoke Igbo, stepped in to interpret during an initial meeting on February 24 between Dr Peter Dupont and EVdEN EVe naKLiYAT the donor from Nigeria.
The consultant had concluded the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was not an appropriate candidate and appeared relived that the transplant would not take place.
However, according to messages from others, Ms Agbasonu appeared to agree to manipulate a second meeting to the advantage of the Ekweremadu family.
Mr Ekweremadu’s brother Diwe, who had medical training, allegedly sent Sonia Ekweremadu advice from the interpreter to show a clear family connection with the donor.
Ike, a former barrister, is a member of the centre-right Peoples Democratic Party and was the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate for three consecutive terms
Beatrice (pictured) said the donor had been found via a third party. She stated that she was ‘devastated’ when further tests after his arrival in the UK found he was not a match
He allegedly said: ‘Ebere said it would be easier to establish that his mum and your mum are sisters.If we stretch it to the grandmum and grandmum the relationship will be too distant.’
Ms Ekweremadu allegedly replied with: ‘Ok, that’s fine.’
Diwe then allegedly laid out a financial agreement with her father, saying: ‘I’ve met the Igbo interpreter.She agreed to work with us. She will be involved in coaching the boy, and during his consultation and interviews she will be providing the relevant interpretation.
‘She insisted that I give her £1,500. I think the just position themselves to exploit people.’
It is claimed the potential donor was told to pretend to be Sonia’s cousin.
Diwe is also alleged to have said: ‘We had a meeting today with her so I’ve introduced her to Chinoso (Sonia) and (the donor).She advised that (the donor) comes to the hospital on Tuesday and Thursday while Chinoso (Sonia) is having her dialysis.
‘Psychologically everyone in the team will have to accept that he’s really committed to his cousin’s health and it usually makes it easier to accept the person for the procedure.’
Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC suggested to the court the messages demonstrated the opposite of an altruistic organ donation.
Ike has denied all the allegations and said he had not arranged the travel of anyone to the UK
Beatrice Ekweremadu (fron) and Sonia Ekweremadu (behind) at the Old Bailey
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The court heard that the potential donor and interpreter attended a meeting with a surgeon at the hospital on March 11.
After the meeting, Diwe allegedly messaged Ms Ekweremadu’s father, saying: ‘I have spoken with (the interpreter).She said the boy did better today but he’s still showing so much timidity.
‘She covered up for him and added the words as much as possible. The surgeon will discuss with Dr Dupont and they will communicate us. They will continue to work on the boy’s confidence.Ebere and Obinna.’
But, the surgeon agreed with the initial assessment made by Dr Dupont that the donor was unsuitable. Ms Ekweremadu was informed of the decision on March 29.
Mr Davies told the court the interpreter was also involved in Dr Obeta’s own transplant.
The jury heard that Dr Obeta, also on trial with the family, had secured a kidney transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in 2021, with a donor purporting to be his cousin.
Mr Davies told jurors an affidavit was the only evidence of a relation between the two men.
‘Whatever the truth of any of that, the basis of his transplant process provided a clear model for what Sonia needed in her moment of crisis,’ he told the court.
Jurors heard that Dr Obeta had trained at medical school with Diwe, who remains in Nigeria and is not on trial.
Medical ‘middleman’ Dr Obinna Obeta (pictured) is also on trial with the family at the Old Bailey
Ike Ekweremadu (left) and wife Beatrice Ekweremadu (right) are on trial at the Old Bailey
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS news" data-version="2" id="mol-39c91f60-a714-11ed-8bb1-8704ed4011cd" website tried to get doctors to approve private kidney transplant
Vladimir ‘s top allies in Russia are mocking America over the recent prisoner swap that saw the US release convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for WNBA star , claiming that Russia got the better end of the deal.
Maria Butina, the pro-Putin MP elected to Russia’s Duma after serving a US prison sentence for acting as an unregistered foreign agent, EVdeN EVe NaKliyat led the charge in taunting the US over Thursday’s exchange.
‘The fact that Russia pushed through the exchange of Bout, whom America fundamentally did not want to give away for many years, right now means that, like in The Godfather, we “made them an offer that cannot be refused,”‘ Butina boasted in Russian on her Telegram channel.
‘This is a position of strength, evDen EVE nakLiYAt comrades,’ added Butina, who was deported back to Russia in 2019 after serving an 18-month sentence in the US.
On Thursday, the US and Russia announced that Griner, who was sentenced to nine years of hard prison time on cannabis-related charges, had been exchanged for Bout.
Maria Butina (left), the pro-Putin MP in Russia’s Duma, led the charge in taunting the US for releasing Viktor Bout (right on Thursday) in exchange for WBNA star Brittney Griner
Butina, who was deported back to Russia in 2019 after serving an 18-month sentence in the US, boasted on her Telegram channel about the trade
The controversial swap took place in Abu Dhabi, and Russian TV showed Bout in a private jet on the flight to Russia, getting his blood pressure checked, speaking with his family by phone and saying, ‘I love you very much.’
Bout’s mother, Raisa, thanked President Vladimir Putin and the Foreign Ministry for freeing her son, Tass reported.It added that he would be invited to speak to lawmakers on the Duma’s International Affairs committee.
On Channel One Russia, the state-run news outlet widely watched in Russia, an announcer hailed Bout as a ‘legendary figure’ who had suffered ‘persecution’ and ‘illegal extradition to the United States’.
‘Finally. He’s been sitting in jail for years. Freedom,’ wrote one commenter on YouTube.
‘Finally the family will be reunited.Congratulations for the return of Viktor. I wrote him a letter in America with words of support. I’m very glad this part of history is over,’ another wrote.
Griner is seen on her way to being swapped in the prisoner trade in Abu Dhabi
‘Finally.He’s been sitting in jail for years. Freedom,’ wrote one commenter on YouTube
‘This is such a big win for America, but at the same time a huge fail.Trading a figure like Bout for a basketball player…’ read a comment on a sports news site
‘Finally the family will be reunited.Congratulations for the return of Viktor. I wrote him a letter in America with words of support. I’m very glad this part of history is over.’
‘He is a Russian hero’ one comment read.
‘This is such a big win for America, but at the same time a huge fail.Trading a figure like Bout for a basketball player…’ read a comment on a sports news site.
Other Russian-language comments were skeptical of the deal, and slammed Russia for imprisoning Griner.
‘What shame and embarrassment!They took an innocent person hostage, blamed her for something, the devils, just to trade in for a criminal!’ one read on YouTube.
‘Happy for Griner. But this creates an unpleasant precedent in the sense that it is already dangerous for any US citizen to visit Russia.They can make up any nonsense to keep them there,’ another person wrote.
Bout is widely known abroad as the ‘Merchant of Death’ international arms dealer who fueled some of the world’s worst conflicts.
The 2005 Nicolas Cage movie ‘Lord of War’ was loosely based on Bout, a former Soviet air force officer who gained fame supposedly by supplying weapons for civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa.
His clients were said to include Liberia’s Charles Taylor, longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides in Angola’s civil war.
In Russia, Bout is seen as a swashbuckling businessman who was unjustly imprisoned after an overly aggressive US sting operation
Russian TV showed Bout in a private jet on the flight to Russia, getting his blood pressure checked, speaking with his family by phone and saying, ‘I love you very much.’
‘What shame and embarrassment!They took an innocent person hostage, blamed her for something, the devils, just to trade in for a criminal!’ one read on YouTube
‘Happy for Griner.But this creates an unpleasant precedent in the sense that it is already dangerous for any US citizen to visit Russia. They can make up any nonsense to keep them there,’ another person wrote
In Russia, however, he’s seen as a swashbuckling businessman who was unjustly imprisoned after an overly aggressive US sting operation.
Russia had pressed for evdeN EvE naKLiyAT Bout´s release for years and as speculation grew about such a deal, the upper house of parliament opened a display of paintings he made in prison – whose subjects ranged from Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to a kitten.
The show of his art underlined Bout’s complexities.Though in a bloody business, the 55-year-old was a vegetarian and classical music fan who is said to speak six languages.
Even the former federal judge who sentenced him in 2011 thought his 11 years behind bars was adequate punishment.
‘He´s done enough time for what he did in this case,’ Shira A.Scheindlin told The Associated Press in July as prospects for his release appeared to rise.
Griner, who was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage, was sentenced in August to nine years in prison.
Washington protested her sentence as disproportionate, and some observers suggested that trading an arms merchant for someone jailed for a small amount of drugs would be a poor deal.
Bout was convicted in 2011 on terrorism charges.Prosecutors said he was ready to sell up to $20 million in weapons, including surface-to-air missiles to shoot down U.S. helicopters. When they made the claim at his 2012 sentencing, Bout shouted: ‘It’s a lie!’
Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout looks out from inside the detention center while waiting for a hearing on extradition at criminal court on May 19, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand
Bout has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence, describing himself as a legitimate businessman who didn´t sell weapons.
Bout’s case fit well into Moscow’s narrative that Washington sought to trap and oppress innocent Russians on flimsy grounds.
‘From the resonant Bout case, a real `hunt´ by Americans for Russian citizens around the world has unfolded,’ the government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote last year.
Increasingly, Russia cited his case as a human rights issue.His wife and lawyer claimed his health deteriorated in the harsh prison environment where foreigners are not always eligible for breaks that Americans might receive.
Bout had not been scheduled to be released until 2029. He was held in a medium-security facility in Marion, Illinois.
‘He got a hard deal,’ said Scheindlin, the retired judge, noting the U.S.For those who have virtually any queries relating to where by in addition to how to utilize eVDEN EvE NakLiyAT, you’ll be able to contact us from the page. sting operatives ‘put words in his mouth’ so he’d say he was aware Americans could die from weapons he sold in order to require a terrorism enhancement that would force a long prison sentence, if not a life term.
Scheindlin gave Bout the mandatory minimum 25-year sentence but said she did so only because it was required.
Viktor Bout is escorted by members of a special police unit after a hearing at a criminal court in Bangkok October 5, 2010
At the time, his defense lawyer claimed the U.S.targeted Bout vindictively because it was embarrassed that his companies helped deliver goods to American military contractors involved in the war in Iraq.
The deliveries occurred despite United Nations sanctions imposed against Bout since 2001 because of his reputation as a notorious illegal arms dealer.
Prosecutors had urged Scheindlin to impose a life sentence, saying that if Bout was right to call himself nothing more than a businessman, ‘he was a businessman of the most dangerous order.’
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Bout was estimated to be worth about $6 billion in March 2008 when he was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
U.S. authorities tricked him into leaving Russia for what he thought was a meeting over a business deal to ship what prosecutors described as ‘a breathtaking arsenal of weapons – including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, machine guns and sniper rifles – 10 million rounds of ammunition and five tons of plastic explosives.’
He was taken into custody at a Bangkok luxury hotel after conversations with the Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation´s informants who posed as officials of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as the FARC.The group had been classified by Washington as a narco-terrorist group.
He was brought to the U.S. in November 2010.
The ‘Merchant of Death’ moniker was attached to Bout by a high-ranking minister of Britain´s Foreign Office.The nickname was included in the U.S. government´s indictment of Bout.
Dozens of families on the east coast of England could be forced to abandon their homes as coastal erosion threatens to doom their properties to the sea.
A recent report by climate group One Home estimated that coastal homes in England worth a total of £584million could be lost to cliff collapses by 2100.
The report accounts for 2,218 homes across 21 coastal communities that have been brought closer to crumbling cliffs over the years.
Some homeowners expressed nervousness about having children stay overnight while others say they are too scared to cut the grass holding together the narrow stretches of turf along the cliff edges.
Grenadier Guard Lance Martin, 65, is among the householders in Hemsby, Norfolk who may be forced to move homes.
Grenadier Guard Lance Martin, 65, fears for his property on the Norfolk Coast.Homeowners have said they’re afraid to cut the grass along the cliff edges
A recent report by climate group One Home estimated that coastal homes worth £584million could fall into the sea by 2100 as a result of coastal erosion
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Mr Martin is living in the last house left on his road, The Marrams, in a one-bed detached house where the cliff edge hugs his back patio fence.
His 11 neighbours have all been forced to abandon their properties to the sea since 2017, when Mr Martin moved in.
He only managed to remain on his property by dragging it 10.5 metres back from the cliff edge with a tractor after the 2018 Beast from the East storm ate away metres of ground from under his kitchen.
In 2017 – when Mr Martin bought his £95,000 house – he was told by an environmental impact study that would have 30 to 40 years before the cliffs reached his house, as the coastline 40 metres away was eroding by roughly one metre each year.
Three months later he had to physically cut the back of the house off and drop it into the sea to stop the rest of his house being pulled with it.
Half of Mr Martin’s house has already been lost to the sea.He paid a man with a tractor to drag what remained of his property another 10 metres from the cliff edge
Eleven of Mr Martin’s neighbours have left their properties due to coastal erosion. Mr Martin remains in his one-bedroom house, which he moved into
‘I was standing in the kitchen and heard a great big horrendous crack.I looked down and saw the sea underneath my feet,’ Mr Martin explained.
He has watched his neighbours move away one by one as their houses were demolished by the council after being deemed a public health and safety risk.
He said: ‘It was horrible, some went slowly, some very quickly.I got the council to delay demolishing my house because I was determined to save my property.’
He was given two days to ‘pull his house back’ from the cliff. He hired a man with a tractor and a winch and together they felled two telegraph poles at the front and back of the property and pulled the house back by nearly 11 metres.
Coastal erosion on the Norfolk coast is putting more houses at risk.Eleven homeowners on The Marrams street have already abandoned their properties
Nothing is safe from the falling cliffs, including houses, fences and other infrastructure.Some measures, such as using rocks to protect remaining cliff faces or building sea walls, can slow erosion
Ian Brennan is Chairman of the Save Hemsby Coastline charity, which has spent 10 years campaigning in an effort to convince Great Yarmouth Borough Council to take the erosion of the village seriously.
The 63-year-old retired telecoms manager lives further into the village but cares deeply about the problems his friends and neighbours face.
According to Mr Brennan, 90 homes are at risk of being lost in Hemsby over the next 25 years.
The final property that remains on The Marrams road in Norfolk as all the other houses have been abandoned to the sea by their owners
Residents are currently arguing for a rock berm, which is a ridge constructed of compacted soil, gravel, rocks, and stones to direct water away from a particular area
Cliff warnings are common in areas with significant coastal erosion as rock falls can be very dangerous if people are walking on the beach below
The beach in Norfolk on the east coast of England, which has been encroaching on properties much more quickly than surveyors believed that it would
‘The whole thing is a political decision,’ Mr Brennan claimed.
‘In Holland, most of the country should be in the water but they don’t have this problem because they spend the money that needs to be spent to protect the country.
‘I’m trying to persuade people that Hemsby is worth saving.’
He is currently waiting on planning permission for a multi-million-pound rock berm to be put in place to slow the erosion of the coast.
A rock berm is a ridge constructed of compacted soil, gravel, rocks, and stones to direct water away from a particular area.Mr Brennan is hoping to raise money to fund the project.
In 2017 – when Mr Martin bought his £95,000 house – he was told by an environmental impact study that would have 30 to 40 years before the cliffs reached his house.But just three months later, half of his house was lost to the water
Erosion can cause significant property damage as it removes the foundations supporting buildings and other structures near the cliff edge
Lance Martin’s home is the only one on his street that remains, as all of his neighbours abandoned their properties to the sea
He said: ‘We can’t stop global warming, we can’t stop coastal erosion, but we can slow it down. We’re trying to buy time so people like Lance don’t have to worry.
‘Every time a storm hits the residents are nervous that they may have to walk away from their house with nothing but a carrier bag.
‘That’s the mental health impact we’re talking about.These people deserve to get a good night’s sleep – a rock berm will buy us 25 years. That’s enough time for people to decide what they want to do with their house and with their lives.’
Thirteen miles up the coast is Happisburgh, Norfolk, a village that has also experienced the loss of more than an entire street and 34 homes in the last 20 years.
Coastal erosion is caused by the repeated action of waves against the cliffs.Action can be taken to slow down coastal erosion, including building sea walls
Retired teacher Bryony Nierop-Reading, 77, lost her bungalow to erosion during a huge tidal surge in 2013. She had moved into a caravan further inland that night because she felt so unsafe in her home.
The next morning, she found the bungalow was still standing, but the back third of her home was hanging metres off of a cliff edge – that used to be solid ground.
‘To go from having a house to live in to not having a house to live in is shattering.It made me understand more how people who suffered in the tsunami in 2010 – there were pictures of people just sitting around,’ she recalled.
‘You get hit by the shock, then you can’t make decisions. It took me about six months before I could think properly.I struggled.’
The coastal town on Happisburgh has lost more than an entire street and 34 homes in the last 20 years to the sea as cliffs collapse
Coastal erosion is caused by the repeated action of waves and water against the cliffs.It can cause collapses and threaten nearby properties
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A week after the storm struck, North Norfolk Council told Ms Nierop-Reading she couldn’t live in the caravan on her land. She pushed back against the council’s ruling but after four years of legal battles she ultimately lost the fight.
In 2018, she bought a two-bed semi-detached house for £99,000 at the end of the road.
‘I could have moved inland but I knew that if I did, I’d be like everybody else down the road who thinks erosion is somebody else’s problem,’ she explained.
‘I thought it would keep my mind concentrated if I lived on the edge.My family were very cross with me.’
The tarmac on Ms Nierop-Reading’s road, Beach Road, drops away suddenly 40 metres away from her front door.
According to her measurements the road has lost eight metres in the last 12 months alone. She says the council are doing nothing to stop it.
Insurance companies also won’t cover for damage caused by erosion.
Though she’s worried about losing the value of her house, Ms Nierop-Reading said she is more concerned about what will happen when she’s no longer here.
Bryony Nierop-Reading, 77, lost her home to the sea during a huge tidal surge in 2013 in Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast
Ms Nierop-Reading said: ‘The government’s response is to ‘adapt’- all that means is not doing anything about the problem’
Ms Nierop-Reading, who was widowed last year, said: ‘The government’s response is to “adapt”- all that means is not doing anything about the problem.
‘As a country we cannot ignore the fact that we are losing land all the time.
‘How long can they carry on shunting people inland?If the country gets smaller and smaller due to unaddressed erosion we will have a smaller country with an enlarged population with no way to feed them and house them.’
Nicola Bayless, a 47-year-old nurse, is Ms Nierop-Reading’s next-door neighbour.She has lived on the road for 19 years.
Her home is attached to Ms Nierop-Reading’s house but faces inland. The pair are baffled by the reluctance to use any sea defences by the government.
‘As a teenager I used to come down here to my parents’ chalet – that’s no longer here.I’m very upset and stressed about the prospect of moving,’ Ms Bayless said.
‘I fell in love with the area and thought this is where we wanted to stay- we want our children to grow up somewhere lovely.’
Ms Bayless said the prospect of moving out of her three bedroom home within the next ten years – which is when she estimates the cliff will be on her doorstep – has left her feeling ‘very stressed and upset.’
‘You never know when your time is up really.It’s like renting. One day you could have another Beast from the East and lose half a field,’ she said.
‘Your house shakes. I opened the curtain the next morning in 2018 and thought, “Where the hell has the field gone?”‘
Similarly, the roads leading to East Yorkshire’s erosion hotspots are littered with signs advertising ‘holiday homes’, many with price tags of £100,100 to £200,000.
Planning consent has also been granted for Evden EVE NAKLiYAT hundreds of new houses on fields just inland from the static caravans perched perilously above a 50 foot drop to the sea at Holderness.
Many of the caravan dwellers have seen entire rows of the caravan pitches in front of them topple into the sea in recent years.
Whether your pitch is a hundred yards either way of the ugly sea defences already scarring the sandy beaches stretching away to Filey Light House can make all the difference, residents stressed.
‘I always wanted to live by the sea but I could not afford a second house,’ Carol Stoker, 62, a retired secondary teacher from Halifax, West Yorkshire, said.
The roads leading to East Yorkshire’s erosion hotspots are littered with signs advertising ‘holiday homes’ – many with price tags of £100,100 to £200,000
Carole Stocker couldn’t afford a dream second home near the sea and so opted for a static caravan four years ago.She has already seen several significant cliff falls
‘When I first looked out of the window of our caravan I nearly cried.It was the most beautiful view I had ever seen,’ Ms Stoker said of her dream purchase
‘When I first looked out of the window of our caravan I nearly cried. It was the most beautiful view I had ever seen.
‘When I first bought the place I asked the seller “How long do you think we have got?” She said “20 years” – and I giggle about that now.’
Ms Stoker bought her caravan about four years ago.She experienced the impacts of coastal erosion that same year.
‘There was a big cliff fall and about 3 metres went. There used to be a car park in front of us then,’ she said.
‘When you go out for a walk you see a crack in the ground.The next time you pass by you see it has got deeper. The next time that section of the cliff has gone completely.
‘The Government should do more because it is not just the caravans at risk – a load of agricultural land has been lost too.’
Homeowner Robin Hargreave has lived on the site for nearly five years, after paying £10,000 for his static caravan, and claims there is evidence of fresh erosion up the coast
‘There is always a bit of erosion going on somewhere.I can see it crumbling as I walk along the cliff,’ the former nursing home manager said
Robin Hargreaves, 67, also from Halifax, paid £10,000 for a static caravan and has lived on the site for nearly five years, having retired from running a nursing home.
He claims there is evidence of fresh erosion up the coast from his caravan.
‘There is always a bit of erosion going on somewhere.I can see it crumbling as I walk along the cliff,’ Mr Hargreaves shared.
‘We are talking about a 40 mile length of the coastline. I think the policy to protect the towns is sensible because you cannot do much about the force of nature.
Mr Hargreave is determined to continue living in his static caravan, which he loves, despite the risk posed by erosion to his home
Ms Stoker and Mr Hargreaves live little over 100 yards beyond the Hornsea sea defences, meaning their caravans do not benefit from the concrete blocks and groynes
Some of the caravans above the sea defences are actually closer than those that have fallen to the edge of the cliff – but the land is relatively more stable
‘I have seen entire rows of caravan pitches which have been lost.When they know one is going to go they have to dismantle the concrete base so it does not topple onto the beach.
‘But I won’t be going anywhere because I love it here. But I can see the cracks when I am out walking. It does not come crashing down. It just slides gently into the sea when it happens,
‘It is quite stable at the moment – but we do not take it for granted.’
Both Ms Stoker and Mr Hargreaves live a little over 100 yards beyond the Hornsea sea defences, meaning their caravans do not benefit from the concrete blocks and groynes that help reduce the impact of the waves.
Some of the other caravans above the sea defences are actually closer to the edge of the cliff – but the land is relatively stable.
There are sea defences on the beach, including groynes and concrete blocks to stop the waves reaching the cliff, EvDEn eve NaKliyat in order to slow down the erosion
Homeowners Carole and John Hughes in the living room of their property, which is perilously close to the cliff edge in Hornsea, East Yorkshire
John Hughes said of the cliff: ‘I never cut the grass – because the grass is helping hold the soil together and preventing it slipping off’
John Hughes, 71, a retired fibre optic planner, is only six feet from the brink – and is taking no chances with the £37,000 static home he bought seven years ago with wife Carole, 71, a former secretary at Portsmouth University.
He said: ‘I never cut the grass – because the grass is helping hold the soil together and preventing it slipping off.
‘Everything in front of us has gone.If the worst comes to the worst the site will move the caravan further back but we hope it doesn’t come to that. If you loved this posting and you would like to obtain additional facts relating to EVdEN eVE nakliyAt kindly go to our web-page. ‘
The couple live on the stable part of the cliff above the sea defences.
‘But if the erosion continues further up, where we are is going to become a peninsula,’ Mrs Hughes added.
Static caravans and holiday homes are perched very close to cliff edges as coastal erosion puts them at risk of falling into the ocean
Carole Hughes stands just feet away from a severe drop in her static holiday home in East Yorkshire.Residents are concerned about increasing erosion
Pat Cummings, 64, a retired Leeds dinner lady, lives above the sea defences where the ground seems more stable and says she hasn’t seen any movement
‘The Government just seem content to let it go.If you live in a house around here it’s terrible.
‘We have got insurance so if anything was to happen it would not be very nice but it would not be the end of the world financially.
‘Obviously, it is not something you would want to happen if you have got the grandchildren staying.
‘You see someone checking the edge of the cliff every morning so they are really on top of it.But we are not so much concerned for ourselves as other people.’
‘There are building a whole load of new houses on a field not far from here. We are surprised they got planning permission but they did.’
Pat Cummings, 64, a retired Leeds dinner lady, is also above the sea defences and the ground seems stable.
She paid £30,000 for the caravan more than four years ago and reckons her investment is safe for the foreseeable future.
She said: ‘We have not had any movement here for 15 to 16 years which is good because I come here to read and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet.’
Houses in danger of falling into the sea on North End Avenue, in Thorpeness overlook the beach, as erosion continues to worsen
Lucy Ansbro, 54, claims her house (pictured) is now 12 metres closer to the cliff edge than it was when she first moved in 14 years ago
Part of Ms Ansbro garden has now fallen away and her house now lies only 20 metres from the edge. At the time she purchased the £600k four bedroom property, she was told it would be upwards of 50 years before it became a problem
Villagers in Thorpeness, East Suffolk, evdeN EVE nAkliYaT are ‘scared for the future’ of their homes, as they see properties decimated by cliff erosion.
Lucy Ansbro, 54, claims her house is now 12 metres closer to the cliff edge than it was when she first moved in 14 years ago.
Part of her garden has now fallen away and her house now lies only 20 metres from the edge.
At the time she purchased the £600k four bedroom property, she was told it would be upwards of 50 years before the erosion would be as bad as it is currently.
She now says the property would be worth ‘nothing’.
The TV and theatre producer said: ‘Where it is now was supposed to happen in 50 years, not 14.It’s just all happened very quickly.
‘It’s always been an issue on the east coast, there was a surge in 2010, but in the winter of 2019 we noticed the fences were eroding very quickly.
‘By February 2020, it a lot more erosion had happened and the house next doors defences had disappeared.
‘On Easter weekend of 2020 as we were sitting in the living room, we literally saw bits of our garden falling off of the cliff.
‘Since moving in, we’re 12 metres closer to the cliff, almost a metre a year, and the house next door lost about 25 metres.
An empty plot where a £2million house had to be demolished after being deemed too unsafe to live in. The occupants had not built sea defences
Signs warn beach goers of the potential of rock falls from the unstable cliffs, which can be fatal.The footpath along the beach is also closed
Sea defences on the beach at Thorpeness protect some of the remaining properties. Ms Ansbro is working with the council and a local committee to fundraise and build defence solutions along the entire coast
Houses for sale in Thorpeness as coastal erosion threatens sea-side properties along the east coast of England.Some residents said their houses are ‘worth nothing’ as they are not properly protected
Kate Ansbro has spent £400,000 to defend her property from the oncoming tide but says she’s worried about other homeowners who can’t afford to do the same
‘We’ve spent £400,000 building proper defences, so we’re safe for now, but the house would be worth nothing now until it’s properly defended but it’s very concerning.’
In October last year, the house next door to Ms Ansbro’s had to be completely demolished as it was no longer safe to inhabit.
The demolished house, locally known as the ‘red house’, was built in the 1920s and was thought to have been worth £2million before it had to be torn down.
The owners had not installed the same defences Ms Ansbro has.
Ms Ansbro is working with the council and a local committee to fundraise and build defence solutions along the entire coast, but fears it may take too long to save everyone.
She said: ‘Thorpeness isn’t my main concern – it’s quite a wealthy village with a lot of second homeowners.There’s so many other places along the east coast who simply don’t have the money to defend their houses – and it’s their only property they’re living in with their children.
‘We’re trying to do as much as we can to raise awareness and raise money to be ready for when sea levels rise.’
Another homeowner in Thorpness, Ben Brown, says his home is in a similar situation to his neighbours’.
Ben Brown, 52, whose home is a mere 70 metres from the cliff, said: ‘We knew about the issue and we had a survey done before we bought it to let us know how long we had before there would be trouble’
A sign warning that the flood defences in place on the beach at Thorpeness are damaged as residents worry about the future of their homes
Signs warn of the impacts of coastal erosion. Footpaths across the cliffs are closed over safety concerns and people have been warned not to stand under crumbling cliffs
Houses perilously close to the shoreline as the sea creeps closer and closer to their foundations.Lucy Ansbro has been fundraising for more defences
Although the farmer was aware of the coastal erosion problem on the coast when they bought the property two years ago, he was told by surveyors that it wouldn’t be a serious issue for another 60 years.
The 52-year-old, whose home is a mere 70 metres from the cliff, said: ‘We knew about the issue and we had a survey done before we bought it to let us know how long we had before there would be trouble.
‘Things have accelerated so fast since then, and although the survey said it would be 60 years, I think it will be a lot sooner if nothing is done.
‘We live over the track so we’re not quite at the forefront yet but the house opposite unfortunately had to be taken down.
‘It’s definitely a worry because we’ve invested a lot of money here and we expected to have it a lot longer – it’s awful and we’re scared for the future.
‘But I think there’s a plan being put together now and the intention is to get the cliff protected.’
