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Gold rises to a new record as a range of factors – including demand for gold jewellery – pushes prices higher.

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The former News of the World reporter at the centre of phone hacking allegations has been questioned by police, his solicitor has said.

Sean Hoare was interviewed by officers under caution. He was not arrested.

Mr Hoare alleged in a recent interview with a US newspaper that his former editor at the News of the World, Andy Coulson, asked him to hack phones.

Mr Coulson, who denied Mr Hoare’s claims, is now Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A ruthless conman who tricked women out of hundreds of thousands of pounds has been jailed for six years and 10 months.

The conman used internet dating agencies and chance meetings to meet his victims

David Checkley, 52, of Fernside Avenue in Mill Hill, north London, pleaded guilty to 13 charges of fraud at an earlier hearing at Bristol Crown Court.

The father of four targeted a string of lonely divorced women, the court heard.

One woman from Bath met Checkley through a dating agency and lost her business, the hearing was told.

The court heard Checkley was previously jailed for five years for false imprisonment and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm for his part in the killing of Channel 4’s Big Breakfast presenter Mark Levy in 2000.

He was acquitted of Mr Levy’s murder.

David Checkley targeted a string of lonely divorced women

In the latest case, Checkley was arrested after a victim complained to Avon and Somerset police.

Other victims were then found in Bath, London, south-east England, the Midlands and the US.

Checkley admitted fraud totalling £163,191.21.

But a police spokesman said it was believed he had tricked more than 30 women out of at least £500,000.

Many of his victims have been too frightened or embarrassed to come forward.

The court heard he spent the money on suspect business deals, sports cars and designer watches.

He had been targeting women for more than 20 years, the court was told.

Between 2003 and his arrest in November last year, he used dating agencies and chance meetings to target women.

Checkley, who came to Britain from Granada at the age of 11, had claimed to be a US fighter pilot who had served in Vietnam, a successful businessman, and an architect.

He also said he needed money for an operation to cure his Parkinson’s disease, and that he had met actor and “fellow sufferer” Michael J Fox.

He claimed to be friends with US president Barack Obama and golfer Tiger Woods’ father.

He made some women re-mortgage their homes and hand over money for his “business dealings”.

On one occasion, a victim got an email claiming Checkley had been arrested in Russia and she needed to send £5,200 to secure his release.

Donald Tait, prosecuting, said: “A check of his passport reveals that apart from the odd trip back to Grenada he was always in the UK.”

The court heard when the women tried to get their money back, Checkley would sometimes become hostile and threatening.

The hearing was told Checkley also had convictions for blackmail, deception and forgery.

Ten of his victims were at the court to see him prosecuted.

Rosemary Burns, defending, told the court that Checkley was sorry for what he had done.

One of Checkley’s victims, who asked not be named, said: “When he was arrested I didn’t want him put in prison.

“I didn’t know how big the picture was, I didn’t know about all the other women.

“I thought we had a future together. I was in love with him.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Billy Wright had been openly threatening Northern Ireland’s peace process

The murder of loyalist leader Billy Wright was the result of serious failings by the prison service, not state collusion, an inquiry has found.

Wright, the head of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), was shot dead inside the Maze prison by republican prisoners in December 1997.

His family believe he was a victim of collusion between prison authorities, the security services and police.

But the report said his murder happened because of negligence, not intention.

PDF download The Billy Wright Inquiry – full report[5 Mb]

Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson told Westminster on Tuesday that there was no collusion.

He said the report made this “clear and unequivocal”.

He said the report also said there was evidence of negligence on the part of the NI Prison Service.

“I am sincerely sorry that failings in the system facilitated his murder,” Mr Paterson said.

The investigation cost almost £30m and took five years to complete.

NI Secretary Owen Paterson announced the report’s findings in Parliament

Billy Wright was one of the most notorious loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

The man nicknamed ‘King Rat’ – a term coined by journalists on the Sunday World newspaper – waged a bloody and bigoted campaign against the Catholic population in the Portadown and Lurgan area between the mid 1980s and his death in 1997.

He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was arrested on several occasions but never charged. Eventually he became the UVF’s “Mid-Ulster commander” and is thought to have ordered or participated in around 20 killings, most of which were blatantly sectarian.

The IRA and the INLA tried to kill Wright at least five times but he survived and built his reputation among Portadown loyalists.

He was jailed in 1997 for threatening to kill a woman. He was initially sent to Maghaberry prison but later transferred to the Maze where he was shot dead on 27 December 1997 as he was let out to a van for a visit with his girlfriend.

The £30m inquiry was prompted by the findings of retired Canadian judge Peter Cory in 2004. It was established in May 2007 under the chairmanship of Lord Ranald MacLean.

The inquiry, which lasted almost five years, heard that there was intelligence information indicating the INLA planned to kill Wright if he was transferred from Maghaberry prison to the Maze.

Nevertheless he was moved in April 1997 and eight months later, he was shot dead by INLA men, Christopher McWilliams, John Kennaway and another man.

Flaws in how the Maze prison was run led to the murder, the inquiry said

The gunmen got through a hole cut in a fence, ran across the roof of the block and shot Wright as he sat in a van which was due to take him to a visiting area.

In the years following Wright’s murder, his father David has campaigned for an investigation into allegations that the state was involved.

The inquiry heard evidence that there was intelligence information indicating Wright was under threat from the INLA.

In April 1997, an MI5 agent inside the INLA told his handler what he knew about a potential attack on Wright.

That information was shared with RUC Special Branch, though they seem not to have shared it with other parts of the police.

Sir John Wheeler was adamant at the inquiry that he was not shown this piece of intelligence.

There is also some doubt about whether the RUC passed on the intelligence to the prison service.

Timeline

Counsel for the Wright family was adamant they did not.

The inquiry had heard evidence outlining flaws in the way the Maze prison was being run at the time.

Prisoners had more freedom than would have been expected in a high security prison, with searches infrequent to non-existent.

Security cameras were not working and the guards in observation towers were frequently stood down.

At the time of Wright’s murder, INLA and LVF prisoners were housed in the same block of the prison despite being bitter enemies.

The inquiry also heard that outside observers including the Red Cross and the Official Prison Visitor advised of the dangers of co-locating the LVF and INLA.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Peruvian President, Alan Garcia, has named Jose Chang as his new prime minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

Mr Chang has served as the education minister and is a long-term aide to Mr Garcia.

He will replace Javier Velasquez, who is stepping down to run for president next April.

Mr Garcia is barred under the constitution from running for a second consecutive term as president.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.