Three French Bulldogs died due to a lack of food and water and their bodies remained in the same place for months at the home of Jamila Fletcher-Oates

WARNING: Some readers may find an image contained in this article distressing, despite it being pixelated

A woman has been banned from keeping animals for life after her three pet dogs were found “mummified” at her home because she did not feed them or provide them with any water for a prolonged period of time, a court heard.

Last July, RSPCA Cymru Inspector Simon Evans attended a house in Bettws, Newport. In the garden of the property he found kennels containing the bodies of three French Bulldogs named Precious, Destiny and Diamond. Jamila Michaela Diane Fletcher-Oates, aged 42, of Dart Road, Bettws, told Inspector Evans that the dogs had been dead for some months but she had not removed their bodies as she had been grieving the death of her wife.

She confirmed to him that none of the dogs had received any vet treatment prior to their deaths. The remains of one of the French Bulldogs was found wrapped in three bags, while the remains of the other two were discovered in a small travel cage.

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“At the bottom of the garden, largely secluded from the rest of the house, were two purpose built, steel runs, with solid roofs,” said Inspector Evans. “Outside the first kennel was a black bag in which, I had been informed, was the body of the dog Precious.

“In the second kennel, immediately next to the first, was a small travel cage which contained the desiccated bodies of two further dogs, both French Bulldogs, with the furthest dog being slightly smaller than the nearer one. Both dogs had decomposed and were stuck to a blanket that lined the cage.

“I then opened up the bag containing the body of the dog Precious which lay outside the first run. There were, in fact, three bags all inside each other and which contained the body of the dog.

“The body was again desiccated and all of the hips and ribs were clearly visible. The dog’s coat was sloughing off as I handled it and I noted maggots and fly egg cases over the body.”

The bodies were removed and all three carcasses were examined by a vet who said all were presented as “mummified”. Ensure our latest news and sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

The vet said Destiny and Diamond would have died from dehydration, while Precious suffered some organ failure that led to her death shortly afterwards.

During an interview with RSPCA Cymru, Fletcher-Oates said there was a six-day period in April last year when she failed to attend to her dogs and that they went without food or water during this time. This came after the death of her wife in February 2024.

She said when she eventually checked on the dogs, Destiny and Diamond had died and Precious – despite then being fed and given water – died within two to three weeks.

The dogs’ bodies were then left where they were until a few days before Inspector Evans’ arrived at the property. During the interview, Fletcher-Oates expressed remorse for her actions.

Fletcher-Oates appeared at a sentencing hearing at Newport Magistrates’ Court last week after previously pleading guilty to an offence under the Animal Welfare Act – namely that she caused unnecessary suffering to three dogs.

She was handed a 20-week prison sentence, which was suspended for a period of 12 months, and ordered to pay £700 in costs and a £154 victim surcharge. She was also banned from keeping any animals for the rest of her life.

Following sentencing, Inspector Evans said: “This is a heartbreaking case on many levels.

“Ultimately three dogs suffered and died after their owner failed to care for them and give them their basic needs. We would urge anyone struggling to seek help.”

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Mixed age couples must claim Universal Credit instead of more generous Pension Credit when one partner is over state pension age but the other is yet to reach 66

Reaching state pension age unlocks a range of benefits and DWP support, including Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance and Pension Age Disability Payment. However, having a younger partner could render you ineligible, potentially requiring you to claim working-age benefits such as Universal Credit instead.

Mixed-age couples encounter this predicament when one partner has surpassed state pension age whilst the other has yet to reach 66. This creates complications for benefits such as Pension Credit and Universal Credit, where a partner’s circumstances are factored into calculations.

For those who have reached state pension age, this typically means they are unable to claim pension-age benefits and must instead rely on working-age benefits like Universal Credit. However, according to Age UK, they will be regarded as having ‘no-work related requirements’.

Green Party MP Siân Berry challenged the DWP over whether it had estimated the number of people living in poverty as a direct result of the mixed-age couple rules, whilst the youngest partner awaits state pension age.

Although no such estimate was forthcoming, the DWP’s Sir Stephen Timms did provide a parliamentary response to the query, clarifying that the regulation is intended to benefit the younger partner, reports the Mirror.

He said: “Ensuring that individuals can get into, progress and stay in work is important in helping them to continue saving for their own retirement and contribute to the wider economy.

“The requirement for mixed age couples to seek financial support from the working-age social security system until both members of the couple reach State Pension Age ensures that, once in receipt of Universal Credit, the younger partner can access the same employment support that is available for customers below State Pension Age including dedicated employment support for customers over the age of 50. The pension-age partner is placed in the no-work related requirements group.”

The regulations governing these couples were revised in May 2019. From that point onwards, mixed-age couples are no longer permitted to choose between claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit or pension-age Housing Benefit.

Both partners are only able to claim Universal Credit until they have both reached state pension age. EntitledTo notes: “Before this change, a mixed age couple could be eligible to claim the more generous pension age benefits when just one of them reached pension age.”

Other benefits and DWP payments may not be impacted by having a partner who is younger than yourself. State pension payments, for instance, do not take your partner’s age into consideration.

At present, the qualifying age for the state pension stands at 66, however over the next two years this will rise to 67. Those born between April 6, 1960 and March 5, 1961 will be directly affected by the gradual phasing in of this change.

Everyone born after these dates will have a state pension age of 67. The state pension age is also anticipated to rise further to 68 around 2044.

It was a new-look England as Wiegman is managing the return of several key players from injury, while rewarding those in form.

Manchester City’s Laura Blindkilde Brown was handed a rare start, while London City Lionesses defender Poppy Pattinson made her debut in the second half.

The back four in the starting XI had fewer than 100 caps combined – with captain Leah Williamson earning 65 of them – as Maya Le Tissier was at right-back over Lucy Bronze, while Taylor Hinds started her third game in four matches at left-back.

In-form Jess Park was playing out wide, as she has done for Manchester United so impressively this season, rather than in midfield where Wiegman has often used her.

It was uncharacteristically experimental from Wiegman considering this was their first competitive fixture since Euro 2025 and it took time to take shape.

England had 40 touches in the opposition box and 85% of the possession in the first half, but failed to score from their 15 efforts on goal.

The tempo had dropped, Ukraine were defending well and England’s hopes of flying out of the blocks had not materialised.

“They didn’t quite figure it out in the first half. They were a little bit stunned about what to do,” ex-England midfielder Fran Kirby told BBC Radio 5 Live Extra.

“Ukraine defended really well. They were really tight between the lines and they made it very difficult for England.

“They needed to have a little bit more composure in the box instead of crossing it for the sake of crossing it.

“The second half showed that they learned from the first half in terms of what wasn’t working.”

With a side stacked full of quality, the two-time European champions responded in the second half.

Arsenal striker Alessia Russo netted two goals in four minutes to put England in control, before a double from Georgia Stanway took them out of Ukraine’s reach.

Wiegman’s “clear win” was confirmed when Park also scored twice later on.

“I think it took us the first half to break them down. We were still very good in the first half. They were defensively solid,” said Russo afterwards.

“When the spaces opened, we took our chances. I wouldn’t say it was relief [when we scored]. We knew we had the quality in us and it was just executing it.

“It was finding the final moment, the final pass and the final shot. You saw that in the second half.”

A man incarcerated for over 25 years was released on Tuesday after prosecutors conceded that his 1999 confession to a Detroit murder was extracted under duress by a corrupt police officer.

George Calicut Jr., 56, emerged from a Coldwater, Michigan, prison, where he had been serving a life sentence, sporting a wide smile and a Detroit Lions hoodie as he embraced his legal team.

Calicut consistently maintained his innocence in the killing of Virgie Perkins, asserting there was no physical evidence or witnesses against him, and that he never saw the alleged confession until his trial.

Furthermore, recent DNA analysis “further supports the lack of any evidence” linking him to the crime at Perkins’ residence, according to statements from the Wayne County prosecutor’s office and his attorneys.

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Clearing Calicut “reflects this office’s unwavering commitment to the integrity of convictions and the credibility of the system,” said Valerie Newman, head of the conviction integrity unit.

Calicut was released from prison soon after a judge dismissed the case at the request of lawyers on both sides.

He was represented by the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan Law School. Cooley Innocence Project at Cooley Law School also had a role.

Calicut was accused of choking Perkins and cutting her neck while stealing money and a phone from her home in 1999. He admitted that he took a phone the next day from Perkins’ son, but said he grabbed it from a vehicle.

At trial, a Detroit homicide investigator, Barbara Simon, acknowledged that she wrote Calicut’s alleged confession before he signed it. Calicut testified in his own defense and denied the statements but was nonetheless convicted of murder and automatically given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Simon told Mr. Calicut, who had no prior interactions with police, that she could help him by creating a statement that would reduce the charge to manslaughter, which would allow him to get a bond and go home,” prosecutors and Calicut’s attorneys said in a four-page agreement to have the conviction dismissed.

Simon, who’s retired from Detroit police, could not be immediately reached for comment. A phone number was unanswered.

Detroit has spent millions of dollars settling lawsuits related to Simon’s work as a homicide investigator.

Records show Calicut’s trial prosecutor was Mike Cox, who later served as Michigan attorney general and is now a Republican candidate for governor. An email seeking comment about the exoneration was not immediately answered.

Frustrated and anxious travelers clamored Tuesday for flights out of the Middle East and other regions where a widening Iran war has stranded tens of thousands of people, closed major airports and caused widespread cancellations.

The U.S. State Department urged all Americans to leave more than a dozen countries in the region, while other nations scrambled to arrange repatriation flights for their citizens. But with airspaces closed or restricted across the Gulf, many weren’t sure what to do.

“They say ‘Get out,’ but how do you expect us to get out when airspaces are closed?” said Odies Turner, a 32-year-old chef from Dallas who was stuck in Doha, Qatar. “They just have been canceling every flight. I want to go home.”

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar posted Monday on X that Americans in Iran and Israel, as well as Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, should “DEPART NOW” using any available commercial transportation.

Scramble to get home

While governments around the world worked to evacuate citizens who were stuck overseas, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said that “right now, the options are fairly limited.” He warned there was only so much the U.S. government could do.

“The U.S. Embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” Huckabee wrote on X, adding information about a shuttle bus to Egypt the embassy provided as a courtesy “as you make your own security plans.”

Many travelers were holed up in hotels near major Mideast gateways. Others were forced to seek shelter because of airstrikes, or were marooned on cruise ships that couldn’t sail through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We called our children at 3 a.m. to ask forgiveness because we might die and to tell them we love them and to let them know that it’s over for us,” said Mariana Muicaru, among hundreds of Romanian pilgrims who had been stranded on a church trip to Israel.

Muicara, who watched rockets fly across the sky, finally reached Bucharest on Tuesday.

Critical travel route

Anita Mendiratta, an international aviation and tourism consultant who was stuck in Bangkok, said the location of the war would inevitably upend travel and trade.

“Effectively within the Middle East, an eight-hour flying distance covers two-thirds of the world population,” she said. “When that corridor is blocked, it forces aviation to either move far north which is going into potentially other conflict airspace, such as Russia, such as Pakistan, or fly south. That puts huge pressure on the airlines.”

Still, some were slowly making their way out.

Tess Arnold, a 34-year-old travel writer from Seattle, had been caught in Dubai, but managed to get to London on Tuesday and hopes to return home a day later.

After days of the unsettling booms and the site of what appeared to be missile or drone interceptions, she was elated to be on her way.

“Huge relief,” she said by text message. “The entire plane was whooping and clapping.”

___

Contributing to this report were Danica Kirka in London; Daniel Niemann in Frankfurt, Germany; Kristen Grieshaber in Berlin; Samuel Petrequin in Paris; Giada Zampano in Rome; Nicolae Dumitrache in Bucharest, Romania; Samy Magdy in Cairo; and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia.

Iran continues to carry out drone attacks on neighbouring nations

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Iran has launched more drone strikes at the popular holiday destination of Dubai, with a fire erupting “in the vicinity of the U.S. Consulate” building.

The UAE, as well as other Gulf nations such as Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have seen diplomatic and industrial sites targeted by Tehran in response to a joint U.S. and Israeli operation which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on Saturday (February 28).

On Tuesday evening, images circulating online appeared to show flames engulfing the U.S. consulate in Dubai. Earlier in the day, the American embassy in Riyadh had also come under fire as Iran targeted diplomatic and industrial sites across the region.

Dubai authorities have confirmed that loud bangs heard across parts of the emirate were the result of successful air defence interceptions, and that authorities had extinguished the fire with no reported injuries.

“The competent authorities in Dubai succeeded in extinguishing a limited fire in the vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Dubai resulting from a drone targeting operation, and the incident did not result in any injuries,” a translated statement read.

During a press conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, on Tuesday, President Donald Trump claimed ‘everything’s been knocked out in Iran’ and criticised the UK for its delay in allowing the U.S. to use their bases in the region to conduct bombing campaigns.

Dubai Media Office said on X: “The competent authorities in Dubai succeeded in extinguishing a limited fire in the vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Dubai resulting from a drone targeting operation, and the incident did not result in any injuries.”

Wolves stunned Midlands rivals Aston Villa 2-0 last time out in what was only their second top-flight win of a dreadful season, ensuring they will not suffer the ignominy of replacing Derby as the worst Premier League team of all time. It was a second victory in four games across all competitions to add to the stunning late fightback against Arsenal, though Edwards still makes four changes here with Angel Gomes among those to come in.

The software brings together a huge range of military information, from satellite data to intelligence reports, which can then be analysed by commercial AI systems such as Claude to help make “faster, more efficient, and ultimately more lethal decisions where that’s appropriate”said Louis Mosley, head of Palantir’s UK operations.

A British F-35B fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone over Jordan’s airspace – the first time the jet has destroyed a target on operations.

British jets are protecting UK personnel and allied nations across the Middle East, shooting down drones fired from Iran into various Gulf Countries.

The Ministry of Defence said the jets were supported by RAF Typhoons and a Voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft.

This followed earlier strikes on drones by a British counter-drone unit in Iraqi airspace, as well as by an RAF Typhoon, which shot down an Iranian drone directed at Qatar on Monday.

Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the UK would be sending HMS Dragon, one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 air defence destroyers, after RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus was hit by a drone.

Defence Secretary John Healey said: ‘We are moving quickly to further reinforce our defensive presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.’

‘I am deeply proud of the professionalism and bravery of our Armed Forces personnel who have in recent days successfully taken action across the region to protect our allies and defend British interests.’

On Sunday, Starmer granted permission for the US to use British bases for ‘defensive’ strikes on Iran’s missile sites, a day after the launch of joint American-Israeli military action against Tehran over the weekend.

Hours afterwards, a drone hit RAF Akrotiri, a British sovereign air base on the island, though the Prime Minister said it was launched before his announcement and was not in retaliation.

Earlier today, a British counter-drone team also intercepted uncrewed aerial vehicles in Iraqi airspace that were heading towards Coalition forces, protecting UK personnel operating in the area.

The escalation in the conflict in the region continues on its third day after joint US–Israel airstrikes over the weekend, and Iran’s retaliation targeting its neighbours and American interests.

US allies are struggling to avoid being drawn into the conflict, which has put global security, trade and travel at risk.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that the UK would not join US-Israeli strikes against Iran, citing the ‘mistakes of Iraq.’

He said: ‘We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons. Any UK actions must always have a lawful basis, and a viable thought-through plan.

‘That is the principle that I applied to the decisions that I made over the weekend.’

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Forget science fiction. The age of AI in war is here.

Israel has used AI systems in Gaza to flag potential targets and help prioritise operations.

The United States military reportedly used Anthropic’s model, Claude, during its operation to abduct Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela.

And even after Anthropic got into difficulties with the US administration over exactly how AI should be used in war, the US military still apparently used Claude in its attack on Iran.

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It is highly possible, experts say, that the missiles flying over Tehran today are being targeted by systems powered by AI.

“AI is changing the nature of modern warfare in the 21st century. It is difficult to overstate the impact that it has and will have,” says Craig Jones, a senior lecturer in political geography from Newcastle University.

“It is a potentially terrifying scenario.”

Terrifying or not, it seems there’s no going back. If you want a sense of the importance the US military places on AI, a good place to start is a memo sent by defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who styles himself Secretary of War, to all senior military leaders early this year.

“I direct the Department of War to accelerate America’s Military AI Dominance by becoming an ‘AI-first’ warfighting force across all components, from front to back,” Mr Hegseth wrote.

This is not an experiment, this is a command – to adopt AI quickly, and at scale.

Or as Hegseth puts it: “Speed Wins”.

Yet the scenario in question is not the one that might first spring to mind.

Yes, autonomy is increasing in some areas. In Ukraine, for example, there are drones capable of continuing a mission even after losing contact with a human operator.

But we are not at the stage of autonomous killer robots stalking the battlefield.

“We’re not in the Terminator era just yet,” says David Leslie, professor of ethics, technology and society at Queen Mary University of London.

The systems in which AI is being embedded – known as “decision support systems” in military jargon – are advisers which flag targets, rank threats and suggest priorities.

AI systems can pull together satellite imagery, intercepted communications, logistics data and social media streams – thousands, even hundreds of thousands of inputs – and surface patterns far faster than any human team.

The idea is that they help cut through the fog of war, allowing commanders to focus resources where they matter most, while potentially being more accurate than tired, overwhelmed, stressed human soldiers.

This means they’re not just a tool, says Dr Jones, but a new way of making decisions.

“AI, as we see in our own lives, is more like an infrastructure,” he says. “It’s built into the system.”

“We have this ability to collect that surveillance that we’ve been doing for some years.

“But now AI gives a stability to act on that and to kill the leader of Iran and to take out serious adversaries and serious enemies and find them in improbable ways in which they may have not been found before.”

‘A very persuasive tool’

Professor Leslie agrees that the new systems are extremely capable from a military perspective.

“The race for speed is what’s driving this uptake,” he says. “Making decision-making cycles faster is what brings military advantage of lethality.”

An important feature of decision support systems is that the AI doesn’t press the button. A human does. That has been the central reassurance in debates about military AI. There is always “a human in the loop”.

As OpenAI, the company which makes ChatGPT, put it after announcing a partnership to supply the Pentagon with AI: “We will have cleared forward-deployed OpenAI engineers helping the government, with cleared safety and alignment researchers in the loop.”

OpenAI has also emphasised that it had secured agreement with the Pentagon that its technology would not be used in ways that cross three “red lines”: mass domestic surveillance, direct autonomous weapons systems and high-stakes automated decisions.

But even with a human in the loop, a question remains.

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When you’re fighting a war, can a human really check each decision from an AI? When time is compressed and information is incomplete, what does “human oversight” really mean?

“Humans are technically in the loop,” says Dr Jones.

“That doesn’t mean, in my opinion, that they are in the loop enough to have effective decision-making power and oversight of exactly what’s happened. The AI… is a very persuasive tool to people that make decisions.”

Or as Professor Leslie puts it: “We are really facing a potential scaled hazard of… rubber stamping, where because of the speed involved, you don’t have active human, critical human engagement to assess the recommendations that are being put out by these systems.”

And then there’s the question of AI’s own fallibility.

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Testing by Sky News found that neither Claude nor ChatGPT could tell how many legs a chicken had, if the chicken didn’t look as it expected.

What’s more, the AI insisted it was right, even when it was clearly wrong.

The example came from a paper which illustrated dozens of examples of similar failures. “It’s not a one-off example of animal legs,” said lead author Anh Vo.

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“The problem is general across types of data and tasks,” Vo added.

The reason is that AI doesn’t really see the world in the human sense – they guess what’s most probable based on past data.

Most of the time, that kind of statistical reasoning is astonishingly effective. The world is predictable enough that probabilities work.

But some environments are by their very nature unpredictable and high stakes.

We are testing the boundaries of this technology in the most unforgiving circumstances imaginable.