Australia
Homeless man, 24, has life sentence increased to 35 years
Aaron Barley jailed for life for murdering Tracey Wilkinson, 50, and son Pierce, 13
The 24-year-old ..

- Aaron Barley jailed for life for murdering Tracey Wilkinson, 50, and son Pierce, 13
- The 24-year-old stabbed them with a kitchen knife as they slept in their beds
- He stabbed Peter Wilkinson several times as he returned from walking the dog
- Barley had been taken in by the family, who gave him a job, home and clothes
Published: 08:02 EST, 21 December 2017 | Updated: 08:06 EST, 21 December 2017
Aaron Barley has had his life term of 30 years increased to 34 years and 178 days
A homeless man who stabbed a mother and her son to death in their own home after they tried to help him off the streets, has had his life sentenced increased at the Court of Appeal.
Aaron Barley has had his 'unduly lenient minimum term' of 30 years increased to 34 years and 178 days by the Court of Appeal in London.
In October the 24-year-old was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years after admitting the murders of Tracey Wilkinson, 50, and her 13-year-old son Pierce and the attempted murder of Peter Wilkinson, 47.
Today Solicitor General Robert Buckland told Lord Justice Holroyde, Mrs Justice Whipple and Mr Justice Goose that the sentence was unduly lenient.
Barley armed himself with a kitchen knife when he crept inside the family's home in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in March and stabbed them as they slept in their beds.
Mr Wilkinson, who was out walking the dog, was stabbed a number of times on his return and was fortunate to survive.
The fourth member of the family, Lydia, was away at university at the time of the attack.
Barley had been taken in by the family after Mrs Wilkinson spotted him sleeping rough outside a supermarket in the spring of 2016.
Tracey Wilkinson, 50, and son Pierce, 13, were stabbed in their home in Stourbridge
The fourth member of the family, Lydia (pictured with her father Peter), was away at university at the time of the attack
Barley (pictured at an earlier hearing) armed himself with a kitchen knife when he crept inside the family's home and stabbed them as they slept in their beds
Their help included supporting him to find a home and a job and inviting him to spend Christmas Day with them.
Sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court, Mrs Justice Carr told Barley that it was 'a vicious and unprovoked attack' on people who had shown him 'extraordinary kindness and generosity'.
She added that he had shown no remorse, indeed only regret that Mr Wilkinson survived his injuries.
She said that she had decided not to impose a whole-life tariff 'principally because of your youth'.
CCTV footage shows Aaron Barley hiding in the garden of Tracey Wilkinson before sneaking into the back door, picking up a kitchen knife and murdering her and her son Pierce, 13, as they slept
The killer was even seen waiting for Tracey's husband Peter to leave the home before launching his attack
Barley had been taken in by the family after Mrs Wilkinson spotted him sleeping rough outside a supermarket in the spring of 2016
The post Homeless man, 24, has life sentence increased to 35 years appeared first on News Wire Now.
Australia
Saudi women in Sydney: Sisters’ bodies lay undiscovered for a month

Australian police are baffled after the bodies of two Saudi women, believed to have lain undiscovered for a month, were found in a Sydney apartment.
Sisters Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead on 7 June in separate beds at home in the suburb of Canterbury.
Police, who were called to the property for a welfare check, said the women are believed to have died in early May.
But despite “extensive inquiries”, they still do not know how or why.
The sisters moved to Australia from Saudi Arabia in 2017 and may have sought asylum, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Police refused to confirm this, saying they do not comment on residential status.
A human rights organisation said it should be established whether the women fled Saudi Arabia because of domestic violence or harsh laws governing women. However, there is no evidence this is the case.
Police said they had been in contact with the women’s family, which is assisting them with inquiries.
Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and communications at Saudi human rights organisation ALQST, said it “would not be the first case” of Saudi women who were killed abroad after fleeing domestic violence.
“There are no protections for women who are victims of domestic violence in Saudi Arabia, so they flee abroad,” she told the BBC.
She added: “I’m not saying that is the case here, just that we need a thorough investigation. It is frustrating not to have any information.”
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there had been signs that something was wrong.
Last year, the women told their building manager they thought someone was tampering with their food deliveries, the paper reported.
A plumber who visited the apartment also said he believed there was “something mysterious” going on, and that police had been called in the past over concerns for the women.
New South Wales Police issued a renewed plea to the public on Wednesday, saying “any piece of information” could be the key to solving this case.
The local community is close-knit, police said in a statement, asking anyone who may have known or seen the women to come forward.
A report from Australian current affairs programme Four Corners in 2019 found 80 Saudi women had tried to seek asylum in Australia in recent years. Many of them were fleeing male guardianship laws.
Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62331116
Australia
Australia election: Why is Australia’s parliament so white?

Australia
Scott Morrison effectively ditches his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption commission

Scott Morrison has effectively abandoned his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog, confirming he would only proceed with legislation in the new parliament if Labor agreed to pass the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposal without amendments.
Morrison pledged before the 2019 election to legislate a federal integrity body in the parliamentary term that has just ended. The prime minister broke that promise, failing to introduce his own proposal before the 46th parliament was prorogued.
On the hustings on Wednesday, Morrison was asked – given his previous undertaking to create the body – whether he would promise to put his proposal to a vote in the next parliament in the event the Coalition won the 21 May election.
Morrison declined to make that promise. “Our position on this hasn’t changed,” the prime minister said. “Our view has been the same – when the Labor party is prepared to support that legislation in that form, then we will proceed with it.”
The prime minister has attempted to inoculate himself from criticism about breaking an election promise by saying he tabled the integrity commission proposal in the parliament.
Tabling an exposure draft, which is what the prime minister did, is not the same as introducing finished legislation to the House of Representatives or the Senate that is then debated and voted on.
As well as repeatedly fudging what happened in parliament, Morrison has also created the impression the proposal can only proceed if Labor agrees to its passage without amendments.
All governments routinely introduce legislation for debate without any undertaking that it will be passed by the opposition. Labor favours a stronger model than the Coalition’s proposal.
Morrison’s lack of urgency on the issue created tensions within government ranks. Late last year, the Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to support independent MP Helen Haines’ bill to establish a federal integrity commission. Archer accused the government of “inertia” over the issue.
At that time, Archer said she was “perplexed” at her own government’s failure to release a revised bill almost three years after it was promised before the last election.
While Morrison clearly wants to move on from the issue, he will face renewed pressure from crossbench independents if the coming election is close enough to deliver a hung parliament.
A number of independents running against Liberals in metropolitan seats have made it clear that establishing a credible national integrity commission will be a key demand in the event any new government – Liberal or Labor – is seeking agreements for confidence and supply.
Haines blasted Morrison’s comments on Wednesday. “Mr Morrison broke an election promise to introduce an anti-corruption commission and his pathway to creating one is still as vague as it was in the last parliament,” she said.
The crossbench independent said it was “nonsense” for the prime minister to claim that he could not proceed unless Labor agreed with the Coalition’s proposal without seeking any amendments. “It would appear we are in the same void as we were before,” Haines said.
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