Parachute Murder
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Parachute Murder
The Parachute Murder is the name the Belgian media gave to the crime that led to a 2010 Belgian love triangle skydiving murder trial. The defendant, elementary school teacher and amateur skydiver Els "Babs" Clottemans, was found guilty of murder by sabotaging the parachutes of another woman, fellow skydiver Els Van Doren, because Van Doren was a rival for the love of Marcel Somers, also a skydiver. Victim Els Van Doren was a 38-year-old mother of two, married to an Antwerp jeweller. Van Doren was an experienced skydiver who had performed 2,300 jumps prior to her death. Van Doren and Els Clottemans, a 26-year-old school teacher, were friends. Since they both had the same first name, Van Doren at one point suggested that everyone in the skydiving club call her younger friend "Babs" so there would be less confusion. One week before the murder, Van Doren spent the night with Marcel Somers in his bed at his house, along with Clottemans, who slept on the floor on a mattress downst ...
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Love Triangle
A love triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with someone is simultaneously pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with someone else. A love triangle typically is not conceived of as a situation in which one person loves a second person, who loves a third person, who loves the first person, or variations thereof. Love triangles are a common narrative device in theater, literature, and film. Statistics suggest that, in Western society, "Willingly or not, most adults have been involved in a love triangle." The 1994 book ''Beliefs, Reasoning, and Decision Making'' states, "Although the romantic love triangle is formally identical to the friendship triad, as many have noted their actual implications are quite different ... Romantic love is typically viewed as an exclusive relationship, whereas fri ...
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Toronto Sun
The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Postmedia Place in downtown Toronto. The newspaper published its first edition in November 1971, after it had acquired the assets of the defunct ''Toronto Telegram'', and hired portions of its staff. In 1978, Toronto Sun Holdings and Toronto Sun Publishing were consolidated to form Sun Publishing (later renamed Sun Media Corporation). Sun Publishing went on to form similar tabloids to the ''Toronto Sun'' in other Canadian cities during the late 1970s and 1980s. The ''Sun'' was acquired by Postmedia Network in 2015, as a part of the sale of the ''Sun''s parent company, Sun Media. History 20th century In 1971, the Toronto Sun Publishing was created and purchased the syndication operations and newspaper vending boxes from the ''Toronto Te ...
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2010 In Belgium
Events in the year 2010 in Belgium. Incumbents *Monarch: Albert II *Prime Minister: Yves Leterme (until 22 April; thereafter as caretaker) Events January * 18 January - Pope Benedict XVI accepts the resignation of Godfried Danneels as archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and appoints André-Joseph Léonard, bishop of Namur, as his successor. * 27 January - A gas explosion destroys a building in the centre of Liège, killing 14 and injuring dozens. February * 15 February - Halle train collision causes 18 deaths * 27 February - André-Joseph Léonard, bishop of Namur, installed as archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels April * 22 April - fall of Leterme II Government * 23 April - Pope Benedict XVI accepts the resignation of Roger Vangheluwe as bishop of Bruges after revelations of his sexual abuse of minors * 26 April - Albert II accepts Yves Leterme's resignation as Prime Minister. May * 31 May - Rémy Vancottem appointed the new bishop of Namur in succession to André-Joseph Léon ...
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Trials In Belgium
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, which may occur before a judge, jury, or other designated trier of fact, aims to achieve a resolution to their dispute. Types by finder of fact Where the trial is held before a group of members of the community, it is called a jury trial. Where the trial is held solely before a judge, it is called a bench trial. Hearings before administrative bodies may have many of the features of a trial before a court, but are typically not referred to as trials. An appeal (appellate proceeding) is also generally not deemed a trial, because such proceedings are usually restricted to a review of the evidence presented before the trial court, and do not permit the introduction of new evidence. Types by dispute Criminal A criminal trial is designed to r ...
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Parachuting Deaths
Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For human skydiving, there is often a phase of free fall (the skydiving segment), where the parachute has not yet been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal velocity. In cargo parachuting, the parachute descent may begin immediately, such as a parachute-airdrop in the Troposphere, lower atmosphere of Earth, or it may be significantly delayed. For example, in a planetary atmosphere, where an object is descending "under parachute" following atmospheric entry from outer space, space, may occur only after the hypersonic entry phase and initial deceleration that occurs due to aerodynamic drag, friction with the thin upper atmosphere. History The first parachute jump in history was made on 22 October 1797 by Frenchman André-Jacq ...
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Death Of Stephen Hilder
The death of Stephen Hilder, aged 20, occurred on 4 July 2003 at Hibaldstow Airfield, England, in an incident in which Hilder fell to his death when, during a 3-person team skydive, both his main and reserve parachutes failed. The investigation into the death, "unique in British crime history", revealed expert-level tampering with both canopies, but failed to determine whether the incident was murder or suicide. Background Stephen Paul Hilder was born on 12 December 1982 in Hereford and attended the Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School. He was later an officer cadet at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in Shrivenham, Wiltshire, England. A keen parachutist, he died around 2:45 pm on Friday, 4 July 2003, at Hibaldstow Airfield, when both his main and reserve parachutes failed to operate correctly. He had been participating in a week-long British Collegiate Parachute Association championship skydiving competition with his "Black Rain" teammates and fellow officer cadets, ...
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Victoria Cilliers
Victoria Cilliers is a skydiver, notable for having survived a murder attempt in 2015, when her husband interfered with both her main and reserve parachutes. Early life and marriage Victoria lives in Wiltshire, England, and is a physiotherapist for the Ministry of Defence. Victoria's ex-husband Emile Cilliers was born in South Africa in 1980 and moved to the UK in the early 2000s. He has four children from previous relationships. He met Victoria in 2009, and they have two children. Their relationship deteriorated before his 2015 attempt on her life. She became a successful parachutist and instructor, with 2,654 jumps. Murder attempt During a parachute jump on Easter Sunday 2015, both her main and reserve parachutes failed to open. She fell to the ground. She survived the fall despite life-threatening injuries because she landed on a soft, newly ploughed field. It was the second attempt on her life in less than a week. Emile Cilliers was convicted of her attempted murder in May ...
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Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was established in London in 1851 by Paul Reuter. The Thomson Corporation of Canada acquired the agency in a 2008 corporate merger, resulting in the formation of the Thomson Reuters Corporation. In December 2024, Reuters was ranked as the 27th most visited news site in the world, with over 105 million monthly readers. History 19th century Paul Julius Reuter worked at a book-publishing firm in Berlin and was involved in distributing radical pamphlets at the beginning of the Revolutions of 1848. These publications brought much attention to Reuter, who in 1850 developed a prototype news service in Aachen using homing pigeons and electric telegraphy from 1851 on, in order to transmit messages between Brussels and Aachen, in what today is Aa ...
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Interrogation
Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful information, particularly information related to suspected crime. Interrogation may involve a diverse array of techniques, ranging from developing a congenial rapport with the subject to torture. Techniques Deception Deception can form an important part of effective interrogation. In the United States, there is no law or regulation that forbids the interrogator from lying about the strength of their case, from making misleading statements or from implying that the interviewee has already been implicated in the crime by someone else. See case law on trickery and deception (''Frazier v. Cupp''). In 2021, Illinois became the first state to ban police officers from lying to minors during interrogations. As noted above, traditionally the issue of de ...
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HuffPost
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy eating, young women's interests, and local news featuring columnists. It was created to provide a progressive alternative to conservative news websites such as the Drudge Report. The site contains its own content and user-generated content via video blogging, audio, and photo. In 2012, the website became the first commercially run United States digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize. Founded by Arianna Huffington, Andrew Breitbart, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, the site was launched on May 9, 2005, as a counterpart to the Drudge Report. In March 2011, it was acquired by AOL for US$315 million, with Arianna ...
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Mitigating Factor
In criminal law, a mitigating factor, also known as an extenuating circumstance, is any information or evidence presented to the court regarding the defendant or the circumstances of the crime that might result in reduced charges or a lesser sentence. Unlike a legal defense, the presentation of mitigating factors will not result in the acquittal of a defendant. The opposite of a mitigating factor is an aggravating factor. Examples The Sentencing Council of England and Wales lists the following as possible mitigating factors: *Admitting the offense, such as through a guilty plea *Mental illness * Provocation *Young age *Showing remorse Self-defense is a legal defense rather than a mitigating factor, as an act done in justified self-defense is not deemed to be a crime. If the offender was provoked but cannot be considered to have acted in self-defense, then the provocation can be used as a mitigating factor but not as a legal defense. By legal system England and Wales Accordi ...
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Life Imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are considered extremely serious and usually violent. Examples of these crimes are murder, torture, terrorism, child abuse Child manslaughter, resulting in death, rape, espionage, treason, illegal drug trade, human trafficking, severe fraud and financial crimes, Aggravation (law), aggravated property damage, arson, hate crime, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, theft, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and genocide. Common law murder is a crime for which life imprisonment is mandatory in several countries, including some states of the United States and Canada. Life imprisonment (as a maximum term) can also be imposed, in certain countries, for traffic offences causing death. Life imprisonment is not used in all countries; Portugal was the fi ...
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