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A man who shot dead his daughter’s ex-partner and her ex-partner’s father over the custody of his grandson has been sentenced to life in prison.

Stephen Alderton, 67, was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years for the murders of father and son Gary Dunmore, 57, and Joshua Dunmore, 32.

He shot them dead in two villages six miles apart in Cambridgeshire in March this year using a Beretta shotgun.

Judge Mark Bishop described their murders as an “execution”.

He added: “You took the decision to take the law into your own hands and end the lives of two innocent men.”

Gary (left) and Joshua Dunmore. Stephen Alderton
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Gary (left) and Joshua Dunmore

Alderton, of no fixed address, was arrested by armed officers on a motorway hours after the shooting.

He told police at the time that “sometimes you have to do what you have to do even if it’s wrong in the eyes of the law”, according to prosecutor Pater Gair.

‘Always a plan B’

The court heard how Joshua Dunmore and Alderton’s daughter, Samantha Stephen, had split shortly after the birth of their son.

In 2020, she remarried an American national who served with the US Air Force.

Stephen Alderton's Beretta shotgun
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Stephen Alderton’s Beretta shotgun

When he was redeployed back to the US, the couple asked the family courts for permission to bring the child with them.

However, Joshua opposed the application and on 27 March – two days before the shootings – the court made an interim ruling the child could not be taken out of the country, Mr Gair said.

Prior to the ruling, Alderton had written in text messages that he would “override any court decision” and that there was “always a plan B”.

‘I don’t know what happened to me’

Alderton, a former chartered quantity surveyor, shot the two men with his Beretta shotgun on 29 March this year.

He killed Joshua at his home in Bluntisham, and Gary at his home six miles away in Sutton, Cambridgeshire.

The court heard how Alderton, a widower who was living in a motorhome at the time, had later written a letter in which he said he was “not the person” the court battle had “driven me to become”.

A bag of shotgun pellets found in the motorhome where Stephen Alderton was living at the time of his arrest
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A bag of shotgun pellets found in the motorhome where Stephen Alderton was living at the time of his arrest

Used shotgun pellets
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Used shotgun pellets

“I’ve never been a violent person, I do not have a criminal record,” he wrote.

“I’ve been a respectable, law-abiding citizen all my life.

“What happened to me on 29 March, I do not know.”

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Alderton pleaded guilty to both murders at an earlier hearing.

In sentencing, Judge Bishop said Alderton carried out the killings over his “distorted beliefs” about the family court proceedings “following what was an interim and not final hearing on 27 March”.

As Alderton was led down to the cells, a family member of the two dead men swore and shouted “rot in prison”, which was followed by brief applause.

‘Devoted father and loving uncle’

The family of Gary and Joshua Dunmore made no comment following Alderton’s sentencing on Monday.

They previously paid tribute to the “devoted” father and son in a statement released by police.

“Josh was a devoted father and a loving uncle,” they said.

“He was a wonderful son and brother and leaves behind an extensive group of family and friends. He will be deeply missed and the devastation this has caused will never heal.

“Gary was the most devoted son, brother, dad, and grandad, who gave everything for those he loved.

“He was a gentle and generous person who always put others before himself, and he’ll be massively missed by his family and all those who knew and loved him.”

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Heathrow bosses ‘warned about substation’ days before major power outage, MP committee hears

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Heathrow bosses 'warned about substation' days before major power outage, MP committee hears

Heathrow Airport bosses had been warned of a potential substation failures less than a week before a major power outage closed the airport for a day, a committee of MPs has heard.

The chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee Nigel Wicking told MPs of the Transport Committee he raised issues about resilience on 15 March after cable and wiring took out lights on a runway.

A fire at an electricity substation in west London meant the power supply was disrupted to Europe’s largest airport for a day – causing travel chaos for around 200,000 passengers.

“I’d actually warned Heathrow of concerns that we had with regard to the substations and my concern was resilience”, Mr Wicking said.

“So the first occasion was to team Heathrow director on the 15th of the month of March. And then I also spoke to the chief operating officer and chief customer officer two days before regarding this concern.

“And it was following a number of, a couple of incidents of, unfortunately, theft, of wire and cable around some of the power supply that on one of those occasions, took out the lights on the runway for a period of time. That obviously made me concerned.”

Mr Wicking also said he believed Heathrow’s Terminal 5 could have been ready to receive repatriation flights by “late morning” on the day of the closure, and that “there was opportunity also to get flights out”.

However, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said keeping the airport open during last month’s power outage would have been “disastrous”.

There was a risk of having “literally tens of thousands of people stranded in the airport, where we have nowhere to put them”, Mr Woldbye said.

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Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after ‘prolific’ rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

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Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after 'prolific' rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.

The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.

Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.

“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
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Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth

Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.

Read more: How a student described as ‘smart and charming’ was unmasked as a prolific sexual predator

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He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.

“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.

“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.

“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”

***ONLY USE IF HE IS CONVICTED OF AT LEAST TWO RAPES***It is feared Zou may have carried out dozens more sex crimes. Pic: Met Police
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Pic: Met Police

Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.

He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.

Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.

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Moment police arrest rapist student

Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.

“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.

“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.

“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”

Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”

Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”

The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.

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Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

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Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.

An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.

Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.

A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.

Location of Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich, where 11-year-old girl Kaliyah Coa went into the River Thames on 31/03
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Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames

Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.

He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.

He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”

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“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”

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On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.

When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.

Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.

Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.

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