Bride jailed for stealing £200,000 towards wedding

A bride who stole £200,000 from her employers to pay for a lavish wedding has been jailed.

Part-time accounts assistant Kirsty Lane, 30, transferred the funds from Pure AV's bank account into that of her and her future husband, Graham.
The fraud was discovered shortly after the pair's wedding at the Great Hall at Mains, near Blackpool in January 2011.
Lane, of Lewis Close, Adlington, Lancashire was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Preston Crown Court.
She stole about £122,000 from the Leyland company, which installs audio-visual equipment, by putting in fake invoices, marking them as paid and then depositing the money into her own account.
She also diverted about £70,000 through her husband's account, which she told him were savings, salary and bonuses. About £6,000 was transferred into a third account.
Company director Peter Sutton said Lane had cost the firm about £300,000, due to tax and VAT payments, and put the "livelihoods of 20-plus people" in jeopardy.
'Lavish wedding'
Police said Lane began working for Pure AV in May 2007 and started siphoning money into her account in December 2008.
A spokesman said the offences had continued until she left the company for her wedding on 23 January 2011 by which time she had made a total of 122 fraudulent transactions.

Lane spent a large proportion of the money on a lavish wedding at the Great Hall at Mains

He said a large proportion of the money had been used to fund her "lavish wedding" which included a free bar, musicians, fireworks, a magician and face-painting.
He added that Lane had also used the cash to pay for home improvements and items such as a large television, a Tag Heuer watch, an iPod, compact mirrors and car keys covered in Swarovski crystals and personalised car registration plates.
He said she had "abused her position of trust to steal from her employer and fund a lavish lifestyle".
Speaking in Lane's defence, Amanda Johnson said she was a woman of good character who suffered from low self-esteem and the offending coincided with the time she met her husband.
"She felt that money and the trappings that money could buy would make her a more attractive proposition," she said.
She said Lane thought she could "make herself more attractive to him by having money and being able to spend it on gifts and holidays".
'Cynical exploitation'
Passing sentence, Judge Pamela Badley said the "modest" first amounts of cash Lane stole from the company had escalated and gone on to fund a luxury lifestyle.
Judge Badley said her behaviour had been "fraudulent from the outset" and told her she had taken part in a "cynical exploitation of the small company for which you worked".
Speaking after sentencing, Mr Sutton said Lane had been "a trusted member of the team and she had been in that position for a number of years".
He said she defrauded the company in a complex way and there had been no obvious "digital trail".
"We just wanted it over. It's the end of a traumatic time in our existence and the legal system has prevailed," he said.
Graham Lane was found not guilty to one count of money laundering at Preston Crown Court on an earlier date.

Windows Phone 8 system update announced by Microsoft

Microsoft has unveiled the next version of its smartphone operating system.

Windows Phone 8 shares much of its code with the firm's PC system, making it easier for developers to write programs for different types of devices.
The company said it should mean there would be some "amazing games" for handsets running its new release.
A tie-up with Nokia has already bought several Windows Phone devices to market, but sales lag some way behind models running Android or Apple's iOS.
Microsoft said Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Huawei would all be making devices powered by the system upgrade.
High-def handsets
Other new features announced at the Windows Phone Summit event in San Francisco included:

• Support for multi-core chips, allowing devices to turn on cores to access extra processing power when needed, and to switch off cores when not to preserve battery life
• The ability to work with different screen resolutions including the high definition 720p format
• Support for removable Micro SD cards allowing users to store more media files or install apps saved on the format
• A new "wallet" app allowing the phone to act as both credit and membership cards. It also supports NFC (near field communication) payments
• Built-in maps from Nokia's Navteq division with turn-by-turn navigation
• A more customisable start screen allowing users the choice of three tile sizes to represent installed software and more colour options
• A warning alert if the software believes a website contains malware or is otherwise unsafe

Application tiles can be made to look smaller

Background Skype
The update also allows internet call software based on VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and video chat technologies to run in the background.
This addresses a complaint that the firm's own Skype program could not be used to receive calls while its owner was using another application - a function offered on rival platforms.
The firm said VoIP calls should now "feel like any other call" made or received by Windows Phone handsets.
Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 strongly resemble each other - at least when the PC system is run under its Metro interface - and Microsoft was keen to stress that their relationship goes deeper than appearance alone.
The two will share a range of components including graphic drivers, the DirectX collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) and the NT kernel that ties application software to the hardware it is installed on. They can also both support native code in the C and C++ programming languages.
Microsoft said this should not only make it easier to port software between the two environments, but should speed up the time it takes developers to recode programs originally built for iOS and Android.
More games
Microsoft noted more than 100,000 apps had been released for Windows Phone 7.
By contrast there are more than 466,500 programs in the Android marketplace according to search site Appbrain, and "over 500,000" in Apple's app store according to the iPhone maker.

The system software that powers Microsoft's Surface tablets shares many components with Windows Phone 8

Securing "marquee titles" is more important to some than raw numbers, and Microsoft addressed this too with news that Gameloft's Nova 3 and Zynga's Draw Something were coming to Windows Phone.
"Until now handsets running Microsoft's system have been missing some of the most innovative applications and popular games," said Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms.
"Now with the update from Windows Phone 7 to 8 this should be addressed. Many of the developers I had spoken to had said they were holding off until they knew more about the new system. It looks like that

Hamas 'ready for truce' following fighting with Israel

Hamas is ready to agree to an Egyptian-brokered truce with Israel, its military wing has said in a statement.

Hamas was committed to halt three days of fighting, "as long as the occupation [Israel] stops this aggression", said the al-Qassam Brigades.
Eight Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza since Monday. Several Israelis have been hurt in a hail of rocket fire from Gaza.
It is the worst flare-up of violence between the two sides for months

First test tube baby mother Lesley Brown dies

The woman who gave birth to the world's first test tube baby has died.

Lesley Brown, 64, who lived in Whitchurch, Bristol, made history in July 1978 when her daughter Louise was born at Oldham General Hospital.
Mrs Brown had been trying for a baby with her husband John for nine years before she became the first woman to give birth following IVF treatment.
She died at the Bristol Royal Infirmary on 6 June with her family by her side, it has been announced.
She successfully conceived following pioneering treatment by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards.
She leaves behind daughters Louise and Natalie, who were both born following IVF treatment, her stepdaughter Sharon and five grandchildren.

Mrs Brown successfully conceived following pioneering treatment

Her husband died five years ago.
A private funeral service was held in Bristol on Wednesday morning.
Louise Brown said: "Mum was a very quiet and private person who ended up in the world spotlight because she wanted a family so much.
"We are all missing her terribly."
Dr Steptoe and Prof Edwards set up the Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge two years after Louise Brown's birth. It is now a leading centre for IVF treatment.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

---

Lesley Brown is part of medical history. When in 1978 she gave birth to her "test tube baby"' she also gave birth to IVF treatment and gave hope to millions of childless couples.
Her daughter Louise was the first of what stands at around four million children born through in vitro fertilisation.
It is a technique which has transformed fertility treatment. Fertilising an egg with sperm outside of the body and later implanting the resulting embryo into the mother, means being infertile is no longer a barrier to having children.
Prof Robert Edwards won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2010 for devising the technique, which was described as "a milestone of modern medicine".
One marker of the success of IVF is how the technique has gone from being a medical marvel attracting media attention from around the world to one which seems so normal, so day-to-day, that people barely bat an eyelid when it is mentioned.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Edwards and the team at the clinic, chief executive Mike Macamee said: "Lesley was a devoted mum and grandmother and through her bravery and determination many millions of women have been given the chance to become mothers.

"She was a lovely, gentle lady and we will all remember her with deep affection."
Speaking in 2008, Mrs Brown said she had been so desperate to have a baby that she was willing to put up with anything to give birth.
At the time, she said: "I'm just so grateful that I'm a mum at all because without IVF I never would have been and I wouldn't have my grandchildren."
Her blocked fallopian tubes meant getting pregnant naturally was impossible.
In 1976, she heard about new research and was referred to Dr Steptoe, after which she agreed to the experimental procedure.
Although other women had been implanted with fertilised eggs, Mrs Brown was the first to achieve a pregnancy which went beyond a few weeks.
The attention around the pregnancy brought with it concerns for her baby's safety.
Mr Edwards said in an interview in 2008: "We were concerned that she would lose the baby, the foetus, because the press were chasing Mrs Brown all over Bristol where she lived.
"So, secretly Patrick Steptoe hid the mother in his car and drove her to his mother's house in Lincoln - the press didn't know where she was."
Mrs Brown recounted that once she was in Oldham hospital reporters tried a variety of methods to sneak into her room from a bomb hoax to

Federal Reserve cuts forecast for US economic growth

Bernanke says most members of the central bank's monetary policy committee have marked down their economic forecasts for the US

US Economy

The Federal Reserve has cut its forecast for economic growth in 2012 from 2.9% to 2.4%.

It has also predicted a central unemployment rate of up to 8.2%, having forecast up to 8% on 25 April.
The central bank also extended its programme of swapping short-term bonds for long-term ones, known as Operation Twist, until the end of the year.
The idea of the programme is to cut the long-term cost of borrowing for businesses and households.
The programme is worth $267bn (£170bn).
In a news conference, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said unemployment was still too high and was going down too slowly.
"We are prepared to take further steps if necessary to promote sustainable growth and recovery in the labour market," he said.
The rise in the central prediction of the unemployment rate came after the jobless rate rose from 8.1% to 8.2% in April.
The Federal Reserve Monetary Policy Committee's decision on Operation Twist was not unanimous, with one of the 12 members voting against it.

Analysis Mark Mardell

---

The Fed's twisting in a chill economic wind. Its move is a reaction to its fairly gloomy assessment of the state of the US economy. It says the recovery in America is still happening, but it has slowed down, and what's going on in the rest of the world poses "significant risks".
So it's acting to keep long-term interest rates low, which it hopes will encourage people to spend and businesses to take on more workers. It's the extension of a policy that began last September and the jury is out on whether it has worked so far.
In the current political environment the Fed is the only actor with a role. Even if there wasn't a presidential election looming, Congress would still be deadlocked and neither Democratic nor Republican plans stand a chance of being turned into reality. The Fed could print more money (or the modern equivalent) but that would be hugely politically controversial. The bottom line is it's not doing much, but it's the only one doing anything to prop up a faltering recovery.

Jeffery Lacker, the president of the Richmond Regional Fed Bank, had also voted against the previous three decisions.

Operation Twist involves the Federal Reserve buying bonds that have between six and 30 years left on them and selling equal amount of bonds with less than three years left.
"The Fed was more concerned about the economy than they have been and eased by extending Operation Twist," said Allen Sinai, chief executive of Decision Economics in New York.
"They appear to be holding more firepower in reserve in case things get worse."
The central bank's statement pointed out that "growth in employment has slowed in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated".
It kept interest rates unchanged at the level of zero to 0.25%.
There was a muted response on the markets to the Federal Reserve's borrowing decision, although much of the rally earlier in the week was attributed to hopes of more stimulus measures.
Wall Street shares were barely moved by the decision, the yields on US government bonds were also unaffected and the dollar rose against the euro.
"The Fed extending Twist was expected," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at DA Davidson and Co in Oregon.
"There may be some disappointment that the Fed didn't provide any strong hints in terms of new policy announcements."

Rio+20: Progress on Earth issues 'too slow' - UN chief

The UN sustainable development summit in Rio de Janeiro has formally opened with a warning from UN head Ban Ki-moon that progress on the issue is too slow.

The secretary-general told world leaders and other ministers that "words must translate into action".
On the summit's fringes, international finance institutions launched a $175bn fund to boost sustainable transport.
And the UK government announced that major businesses will have to report their carbon emissions from next year.
Mr Ban opened the session with a reference to the historic Earth Summit held here in Rio 20 years ago, which spawned UN conventions on climate change, biodiversity and desertification, as well as the Agenda 21 blueprint for sustainable development.
"Since then, progress has been too slow - we have not gone far enough down the road," he said.
"We are now in sight of a historic agreement - the world is waiting to see if words will translate into action, as we know they must."
Youth message
Mr Ban's comments suggested that there were still decisions for the estimated 130 heads of state and government, and ministers from other countries, to take here.
However, there has been no indication that any are planning to re-open talks on the agreement that their negotiators concluded on Tuesday, before the high-level talks began.
The opening session also heard from 17-year-old New Zealander Brittany Trilford, who won a competition organised by climate change campaign group tcktcktck to send a message behalf of the world's youth.

Syria 'truce agreed' to evacuate Homs civilians

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the Syrian government and rebel fighters have agreed a temporary truce to allow civilians to be evacuated from the city of Homs.

The ICRC said that its teams - with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent - were ready to enter the worst-hit parts of Homs.
However despite the agreement, aid workers have been unable to enter.
Elsewhere in Syria, activists say that at least 20 soldiers were killed by rebels in the province of Latakia.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting took place in a region known as Jabal al-Akrad near the Turkish border.
Rebels blamed
Homs has been at the centre of the 15-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the ICRC's regional head of operations, said fighting had been raging for more than 10 days in parts of the city.
"Hundreds of civilians are stuck in the old city, unable to leave and find refuge in safer areas," she said.

The ICRC said it had received promises from both sides that they would allow a two-hour pause in the fighting. The ICRC says it is essential it be given immediate access.
But although aid workers stood ready on Wednesday, they were not able to enter the city. It was not clear whether the heavy shelling and gunfire had stopped.
Heavy shelling by government forces in residential areas has killed hundreds of civilians and brought international condemnation.
The Syrian government blames the deaths on "terrorists" backed by foreign powers.
On Tuesday, the government said it was trying to evacuate civilians and blamed rebel fighters for obstructing its efforts.
UN mission 'staying'
Earlier on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 20 soldiers were killed in an overnight attack by rebels on an army barracks in Latakia.
It said that dozens of soldiers had been wounded and others - including an officer - captured.
The group added that 58 people had been killed in violence across the country on Wednesday.

UN monitors were fired on in Haffa and have suspended operations

Neither the reports of attacks nor the casualty figures can be independently verified.
Latakia has recently seen some of the worst of the fighting.
Last week, the Syrian government said it had taken control of the western mountain town of Haffa, in Latakia, after fierce fighting with rebels.
It said Haffa had been "purged of terrorists" and calm restored.
UN monitors were fired on and turned away by angry residents as they tried to enter the town amid fears of a massacre. They were able to return on Friday.
The UN observer mission has now suspended its operations in Syria amid the worsening violence.
Its leader, Maj Gen Robert Mood, told the UN Security Council that observers were targeted by hostile crowds and gunfire on at least 10 occasions, diplomats said.
But he said his decision to suspend operations did not mean the mission was leaving Syria or abandoning the Syrian people.
The UN mission has been observing the implementation of a peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
However, a ceasefire that was supposed to have come into effect in April never took hold.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the violence have been continuing.
At the G20 summit in Mexico on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama held separate talks with the leaders of Russia and China - both of which have blocked UN resolutions over Syria.
He said later that the talks had failed to achieve a breakthrough.

Egyptian presidential election result delayed

The result of Egypt's presidential election has been delayed, state television has said.

It had been scheduled to be announced on Thursday, but the Supreme Elections Commission (SPEC) says it needs more time to look into complaints presented by the candidates.
The two candidates, Mohammed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq, both say they won.
There have been some 400 election complaints and no new date has been set for the announcement of the result.
Nader Omran, a spokesman for Mr Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, told the BBC that the result announcement should not be delayed.
"It will bring more tension to the people - they should end the story tomorrow (Thursday)", he said.
Meanwhile, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak remains in critical condition in an army hospital in Cairo.
He is said to have had a series of strokes and to be on a life-support machine, but there has been no official word on his condition.
'Limbo'
Mr Mursi's campaign has claimed that results show he won the vote, but at a press conference on Wednesday evening an adviser to Mr Shafiq insisted that official results may hand Mr Shafiq victory.
Thousands of people are in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where they have gathered to protest against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) - the military council that has led the country since Mubarak's downfall last year.
Mr Omran said the Muslim Brotherhood had called people into the square to protest against recent constitutional amendments brought in by the Scaf.
But he said the gathering would now also focus on the election delay.
One protest group has called for a sit-in in Tahrir and in other squares across Cairo to pressure the Scaf to hand over power to an elected president before the end of the month as promised.
The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Cairo says Egypt appears to be in political and constitutional limbo.
In  the presidential election, a group of international election monitors headed by former US President Jimmy Carter voiced concerns about the "political and constitutional context" of the vote.
"I am deeply troubled by the undemocratic turn that Egypt's transition has taken," Mr Carter said.
"The dissolution of the democratically-elected parliament and the return of elements of martial law generated uncertainty about the constitutional process before the election," he added.

Antonis Samaras offers 'hope' as new Greece prime minister

Antonis Samaras has vowed to "give hope" to the Greek people, moments after being sworn in as prime minister.

His party, New Democracy, has forged a coalition with the Socialists (Pasok) and the smaller Democratic Left.
The deal ends weeks of uncertainty in Greece. An inconclusive election on 6 May raised fears Greece could leave the eurozone and trigger a wider crisis.
But the new coalition is expected to face immediate pressure from an austerity-weary Greek public.
They have endured five years of recession and are increasingly resistant to the tough terms of Greece's huge bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Syriza - the leftist party that came second in Sunday's poll and strongly opposes the austerity measures - will be a defiant voice of opposition, correspondents say.
Greek stocks rose moderately in response to the news that a coalition had been formed, with Athens shares closing up 0.5%.
'Burden of responsibility'
Mr Samaras became Greece's fourth prime minister in eight months at a brief ceremony at the presidential palace in Athens, presided over by the archbishop of Greece and chanting Orthodox Greek clergy.
In his first public words following his swearing in, he asked the Greek people for "patriotism and strong national unity and trust, [so] that with the help of God, we'll do whatever we can for the people to come out of this crisis".

Antonis Samaras

• Born 1951
• US-educated economist
• Greek foreign minister in early 1990s
• Opposed the first Greek bailout in 2010 but later backed the second rescue package

• Profile: Antonis Samaras

The 61-year-old said he would demand "hard work" from the new government "so that it will be able to give hope to our people".

The three coalition party leaders are due to meet outgoing Finance Minister Giorgos Zanias and the man tipped to be his successor, National Bank chairman Vassilis Rapanos, on Wednesday evening.
More detail on the cabinet make-up is also expected to emerge before Thursday, when Mr Zanias will represent the new government at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg.
Earlier, announcing the coalition deal, Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos said the three parties in the new coalition had "taken on the burden of responsibility to renegotiate the bailout agreement and [the job] of exiting Greece from the crisis".
Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis said he expected the cabinet to "release the country from the painful terms" of the bailout, reported AFP news agency.
'Limited room'
The BBC's Andrew Walker in Brussels says European leaders will be relieved that there is now a Greek government to negotiate with, but concern about what they will be asking for.
European leaders have indicated that there is limited room for manoeuvre on the bailout.
Greece has seen many street demonstrations - sometimes violent - by people angered by the job losses, pay cuts and reduced welfare resulting from the bailout.
The country got an initial EU-IMF package worth 110bn euros (£89bn; $138bn) in 2010, then a follow-up this year worth 130bn euros.
It has also had 107bn euros (£86bn; $135bn) of debt, held by private investors, written off.
New Democracy won 129 seats in Greece's 300-seat parliament on Sunday, followed by Syriza with 71, Pasok with 33 and the Democratic Left with 17.
Between them, New Democracy, Pasok and Democratic Left would have a majority of 29.

Congress contempt charge for US Attorney General Holder

A US House of Representatives committee has voted along party lines to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

Mr Holder refused to hand over papers relating to a botched sting operation.
The move comes after President Barack Obama used his executive privilege to withhold documents sought by the House Oversight Committee's review.
Operation Fast and Furious saw US agents lose hundreds of illegal guns let into Mexico to trace arms dealers.
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have said they will schedule a full vote next week on the issue.
But if the documents the committee has asked for are submitted first the problem might be solved, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor said.
A US border agent was killed with a weapon linked to Fast and Furious in December 2010.
Impasse
The Department of Justice says it has denied access to the files because they contain information that could affect ongoing criminal investigations.
Its officials say they have already sent more than 7,000 documents to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.
Wednesday's use of executive privilege for withholding documents is the first time Mr Obama has invoked the power. Former Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton used the privilege six and 14 times respectively during their eight-year terms.
On Tuesday, Mr Holder met the committee chairman Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, but they did not agree on a path forward.
Mr Holder said lawmakers had turned down his offer to give them the documents, along with a briefing on the operation, in exchange for assurances that the panel would drop contempt proceedings.
Officials charged with contempt of Congress could potentially be fined or jailed - but correspondents say this standoff is unlikely to provoke such an outcome.
Historically, Congress and the White House have negotiated agreements to avoid a court battle that would limit either Congress' subpoena power or executive privilege itself.