Cheating Wife Stole $243,000 from Family to Fund Double Life

A cheating wife stole $243,000 from her family to fund a luxurious double life with a secret lover.

Fiona Gibson, 39, pretended to leave for work every morning and often stayed away on “business”, a court was told.

But the jobless Brit was really living in hotels with a secret boyfriend - and spending thousands on cars, jewellery, clothes and beauty treatments, The Sun reported.

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More Companies Turning to PIs Before Police

Growing numbers of UK firms are turning to private investigators to help solve IT security problems as the police struggle to provide adequate resources.

The lack of law enforcement staff trained to tackle e-crime is a well-documented problem in the UK, as it is in many countries around the world. And concerned companies are increasingly looking to alternative routes for help.

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PI Discovers Major Town Council Gaffe

Bungling town hall officials were condemned today after the locations of domestic violence safe houses were made publicly available on an official council website - for eight years.

Full addresses, complete with street numbers and postcodes were listed under the helpful heading 'safe houses'.

Safe house locations are supposed to be a kept a strict secret to protect victims from their abusive partners, as well as to safeguard police witnesses from reprisals during trials.

But today it emerged that the whereabouts of five shelters were accidentally published on the website of Northamptonshire's Corby Borough Council, alongside the addresses of sports venues, lock-ups and community centres.

The bungle meant the list of addresses has been easily accessible for eight years - and even came out top of a simple search using Google.

They were discovered within seconds by private investigators who were tracking a single mother and her children. Investigators also found proposed safe house locations in council minutes posted online - marked 'not for publication'.

Trial Collapses After Juror Turns Investigator

A manslaughter trial collapsed after a juror decided to investigate the case himself.

Dale Paterson, 18, was being tried over the death of 71-year-old taxi driver Raymond Quigley, who suffered a fatal heart attack during a struggle about a fare.

As the proceedings entered their sixth day yesterday at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge David Hodson received a three-page list containing 37 questions about the case - and a map from Google Earth of the scene.

It then emerged one of the jurors had been carrying out his own investigations. The court heard the man had:

* been to the death scene and photographed it;
* measured a fence which is at the centre of evidence;
* carried out research into his own theories about what might have happened on the night.

Among the varied questions he passed to the judge included demands for more information on Patterson's baggy skateboard-style clothing.

The middle-aged juror also wanted to know whether there were any clues from his mobile telephone and bank statements.

He also asked whether the jury could hear the audiotape of the police interview of a prosecution witness.

The questions indicated the juror must have visited the scene of the incident, and contained information which neither the prosecution nor the defence had put before the panel to consider.