Cold case solved

Thai officials held a ‘Household Debt Reconciliation Fair’ in Phuket yesterday. At the event, Thailand’s Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsutin said the government has designated 2022 as the “Year of Solving Household Debt”. He said that 2,810 people had registered for the event.

Somsak said that several government departments have organised events to “facilitate the mediation process of household debts throughout the country”. He added that Phuket now has 5 People’s Dispute Mediation Centers, which aim to “help reduce the number of cases that will go to court.”

This news comes after a survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce says the average debt of each worker’s household in Thailand is 217,000 baht this year. This is a 14 year high for Thailand. At the end of 2021, the country’s overall household debt was 14.6 trillion baht, one of the highest in Asia, per capita.

Most service sector workers were worried about losing jobs, according to the survey. The university’s president Thanavath Phonvichai said that if costs continue to rise, consumer spending will “disappear” and it will be “very difficult for the economy to recover”.

At Phuket’s debt reconciliation fair, Somsak said that solving Thailand’s debt problem will involve tackling debts in many different aspects of people’s daily lives.

“This includes solving problems such as debts with the Student Loan Fund, with car and motorcycle hire purchase, credit card and personal loan debt, and improving the judicial process to facilitate debt resolution.” The Phuket News

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), headed by Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), on Thursday said the Kashmir issue was a political problem and convictions can’t solve it. The party was reacting to the conviction of JKLF chief Yasin Malik by a court in a terror funding case.

“While the development is the part of legal process, we must not lose sight of the fact that it can’t and won’t solve the political problem called the Kashmir issue,” a PDP spokesman said in a statement,

People were being picked up, convicted and hanged out of turn “but has that led to the resolution of the Kashmir issue or will this conviction lead to a resolution of the Kashmir issue?’‘, the spokesman said

“We have seen different parameters of justice being used. Those who killed the father of this nation are worshiped. Just yesterday someone who killed a former Prime Minister [Rajiv Gandhi] was released,” the spokesperson stated.

A musician obsessed with serial killers spent the day after murdering an 18-year-old out with friends laughing and joking.

Cody Ackland, 24, has been jailed for life at Plymouth Crown Court for a minimum of 31 years for acting out his warped fantasies by brutally murdering teenager Bobbi-Anne McLeod in November last year.

The following night, Ackland went out for food with his friends, went to band practice and had a lock in at Leadworks until the early hours.

A friend who he’d given a lift to said he seemed “happier than usual” and was laughing and joking more that day.

The next day Ackland called in sick for work, with his own family sharing missing posts about Bobbi-Anne which were “close to home”.

He went to the cinema on The Barbican to watch film Dune and was sharing and storing images of his victim.

He had a last beer in the car before handing himself in to the police as he thought it may have been his last for some time, Plymouth Live reported.

Prosecutor Richard Posner described the murder as a “sustained and sadistic attack.”

He told the court: “The defendant had a secret, a morbid interest in a significant number of serial killers in England, Australia, the US and Russia .

“Leading up to Bobbi-Anne’s death he searched the internet for information on their crimes and the aftermath of such crimes.”

He also carried out searches of remote locations on Dartmoor and of DIY stores for hammers and crowbars.

Mr Posner added: “Cody Ackland lived a double life. When he left home on the evening of 20 November he drove through on the same road where Bobbi-Anne was waiting for the bus.

“There is evidence that he was driven by a desire to imitate the actions of those serial killers in which he held such an unhealthy fascination.

“This fascination was about to become a wicked reality for Bobbi-Anne.”

Mr Posner described the 20 November as a normal Saturday for the McLeod family and she told her father she loved him as she embarked on a journey “she would never complete.”

The prosecutor added: “She was missing, no one knew where she was, what happened to her or why.”

He said it was later found Bobbi-Anne sustained “numerous injuries consistent with a prolonged and frenzied attack.”

The court heard Ackland told police during interview after handing himself in three days later he had “never met her before and did not know her name.”

He claimed he targeted Bobbi-Anne as she “resembled his ex.”

He told cops: “I got myself wound up and needed to go out.”

He said he was just watching television and “needed to get out and do something.”

Mr Posner added: “A break-up with a girlfriend was on his mind. He drove past a few people looking happy and got more and more angry.

“That’s when he spotted Bobbi-Anne. He said she resembled a few people he had been going out with in the past. He said he was not looking for someone and it was just a coincidence.”

The court heard he didn’t speak in interview about his motivation – but said the proof of that came from evidence later found by police on his phone.

Several searches for serial killers including Ted Bundy, Fred West and others from across the world were uncovered alongside a total of 3,216 images with “disturbing and dark subject matter”.

Mr Posner said: “He had a deep-rooted fascination with death, murder and murderers and the means to commit murder. In that context the interest is sinister and relevant to motivation.

“Ted Bundy approached his victims in public places and knocked them unconscious. It is not a coincidence Bobbi-Anne met her fate in the same way.”

In his confession, Ackland said he approached Bobbi-Anne from behind and hit her “with the blunt end of the hammer” on the bus stop. He said she fell to the floor and rolled towards his feet.

He claimed he “panicked” and hit her again with the hammer before returning to his car. He then drove up next to her and put her in his car.

Mr Posner said: “He described his actions as an industrial way of thinking. He had a problem he needed to get rid of.”

The court heard Ackland said he could hear her mumbling in the footwell and recalled Bobbi-Anne telling him: “I am scared.” He claimed he told her “so am I.”

He said when he got out the car he “knew what he had to do” and picked up the hammer again. He hit her around 12 times and she fell over.

He said she started breathing again and his thoughts were “hats off to her.” He said he put his foot on her throat to “try to end it” and realised she was dead.

He drove home and took himself to bed. The following day he went for something to eat with a friend, went to band practice, had a takeaway and went drinking with friends at a lock in.

The court heard friends said he seemed a “lot happier than usual” and was having a laugh and a joke.

Mr Posner added: “Happy because he had killed Bobbi-Anne McLeod. The violent act rid him of the depression.”

Mitigating, Ray Tully added: “Nothing I can say today is going to make life better for family of Bobbi-Anne McLeod. They will rightly hold within their hearts utter hatred and contempt for the man I represent and hold that in their hearts and heads forever.

“He provided the authorities an account what happened – it is grotesque in its nature, harrowing to hear and difficult listening to any of us

“Some victim’s families never get to hear that. The defendants chose to hide terrible secrets and don’t engage in a process of at least divulging the true horror of what they have done.

“Some might think he at least provided information and allowing those who want or need to hear it to do so.

“If he had remained at liberty, he could have become emboldened by what he done. The fact he handed himself in after 72 hours is a significant feature of the case.”

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