Dreamboys ex-boss David Richards jailed for 27 years for attempting to murder wife with axe
The ex-boss of the Dreamboys strip group has been jailed for 27 years for attempting to murder his wife with an axe after he saw her with reality TV star Kirk Norcross.
Former stripper David Richards, 42, lay in wait for hours to ambush 32-year-old Alex Alam in the dark when she stepped outside her home in Stock, Essex, to let her dogs out as children were inside.
She suffered a fractured skull and cuts to her face and scalp in the “bloodbath” that ensued, Judge David Turner KC told Chelmsford Crown Court.
Ms Alam said: “I’ve been utterly betrayed beyond belief by the person I chose to have children with, turning my life upside down.”
In her victim impact statement, read in court by prosecutor William Carter, she added: “The scars are a constant reminder of what he did to me.”
Judge Turner praised Ms Alam for “courageously” attending Thursday’s sentencing hearing, and she wept in court as details were read out.
A shaven headed Richards, of no fixed address, appeared by video-link from Chelmsford Prison, sobbing periodically through the hearing.
Mr Carter, prosecuting, said Richards took an axe, dry suit and cable ties to the address on 3 April 2022.
“Clearly pre-meditation prior to the night and on the night,” he said.
“You will remember he waited a number of hours dressed as he was, with the weapon, waiting for (Ms Alam’s friend) Mr Norcross to depart.”
David Richards pictured during an appearance on Good Morning Britain in 2018
He noted Ms Alam, who previously ran a beauty salon in Surrey, had said it “really was only the fact she kept on thinking that saved her life”.
Richards was earlier found guilty of attempted murder.
He was also convicted of breaching a non-molestation order.
The judge told Richards that the events of 3 April were a “hideous culmination of the breakdown some 18 months earlier of your family relationships”.
He said that from the autumn of 2019 there had been reports to police alleging domestic assaults, harassment and stalking among other matters.
He described Richards as “obsessive” and having a “jealous mindset”.
The judge added: “Your dream home, family and lifestyle to which you had aspired had very sadly unravelled and left you depressed, isolated and angry.”
He said Richards had “stalked and monitored the home and Ms Alam before that night”.
Richards had then “tied her up briefly” during the incident but this was “ineffectual”, said the judge and Richards proceeded to drag her by the hair.
Essex Police said that when Richards stepped out to try and find Ms Alam’s phone, she was able to free herself, lock her doors and call for help.
A police chase then ensued and when Richards was caught he told officers he had done “the most stupid thing I had done in my life”.
Judge Turner sentenced Richards to 27 years in prison and issued a restraining order.
A report in The Independent newspaper says that in 2000 David Richards auditioned as a stripper for the group, which the firm’s website says was founded in the UK in 1987, following in the footsteps of the earlier US-based Chippendales.
Companies House records say he became a director of Dreamboys London Limited in 2014.
An emergency vote on Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has been called off following developments in the Middle East, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has said.
Contest organisers had scheduled “an extraordinary meeting of [its] general assembly to be held online” in early November after several countries said they would no longer take part in Eurovision if Israel participated.
The EBU said in a statement that following “recent developments in the Middle East” the executive board had agreed on Monday that there should be an in-person discussion among members “on the issue of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026”.
It said the matter had now been added to the agenda of its winter general assembly, which will take place in December.
Further details about the session would be shared with EBU members in the coming weeks, it added.
It is not clear if a vote will still take place at a later date.
Austria is hosting next year’s show in Vienna. The country’s national broadcaster, ORF, told Reuters news agency it welcomed the EBU’s decision.
Sky News has contacted Israeli broadcaster KAN for comment.
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Will Eurovision boycott Israel?
Faced with controversy over the conflict in Gaza, Eurovision – which labels itself a non-political event – had said member countries would vote on whether Israel should or shouldn’t take part.
Slovenia and broadcasters from Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Iceland had all issued statements saying if Israel was allowed to enter, they’d consider boycotting the contest.
As one of the “Big Five” backers of Eurovision, Spain’s decision to leave the competition would have a significant financial impact on the event – which is the world’s largest live singing competition.
In September, a letter from EBU president Delphine Ernotte Cunci, said “given that the union has never faced a divisive situation like this before” the board agreed it “merited a broader democratic basis for a decision”.
Read more:
Why Eurovision vote on Israel might not stop boycott
Could Eurovision boycott lead to a competition crisis?
On Monday, Palestinian militant group Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza, and Israel released busloads of Palestinian detainees, under a ceasefire deal aimed at bringing an end to the two-year war in the Middle East.
The war began when Hamas stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation, with airstrikes and ground assaults devastating much of the enclave and killing more than 67,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants but it says around half of those killed were women and children.
Entertainment
Diane Keaton, star of Annie Hall and The Godfather, has died aged 79 – US media reports
Actress Diane Keaton, who starred in films including The Godfather and Annie Hall, has died, reports have said.
People reported her death at the age of 79, citing a family spokesperson.
The magazine said she died in California with loved ones but no other details were immediately available, and representatives for Keaton did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press news agency.
Keaton’s death was also reported by the New York Times newspaper which said it has spoken to Dori Roth, who produced a number of Keaton’s most recent films, who confirmed she had died but did not provide any details about the circumstances.
With a long career, across a series of movies that are regarded as some of the best ever made, Keaton was widely admired.
She was awarded an Oscar, a BAFTA and two Golden Globe Awards, and was also nominated for two Emmys, and a Tony, as well as picking up a series of other Academy Award and BAFTA nominations.
Diane Keaton, with her best actress Oscar for ‘Annie Hall’ in 1978. Pic: AP
Her best actress Oscar was for the Woody Allen film Annie Hall, which is said to be loosely based on her life.
She appeared in several other Allen projects, including Manhattan, as well as all three Godfather movies, in which she played Kay, the wife and then ex-wife of Marlon Brando’s son Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, opposite him as he descends into a life of crime and replaces his father in the family’s mafia empire.
‘Brilliant, beautiful’
The unexpected news was met with shock around the world.
Her First Wives Club co-star Bette Midler wrote on Instagram: “The brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary Diane Keaton has died. I cannot tell you how unbearably sad this makes me.
“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star. What you saw was who she was … oh, la, lala!”
Actor Ben Stiller paid tribute on X, writing: “Diane Keaton. One of the greatest film actors ever. An icon of style, humor and comedy. Brilliant. What a person.”
Keaton was the kind of actor who helped make films iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, bedecked in the iconic necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis, to her heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams, the woman unfortunate enough to join the Corleone family.
Keaton also frequently worked with Nancy Meyers, starting with 1987’s Baby Boom.
Their other films together included 1991’s Father of the Bride and its 1995 sequel, as well as 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give.
In 1996 she starred opposite Goldie Hawn and Midler in The First Wives Club, about three women whose husbands had left them for younger women.
More recently she collaborated with Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen on the Book Club films.
Keaton never married. She adopted a daughter, Dexter, in 1996 and a son, Duke, four years later.
Sky News has contacted Keaton’s agent for a comment.
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