1. A pregnant mum-to-be discovered her partner was a convicted paedophile while cleaning his wardrobe.
Lorna-May Anslow was just 16 years old and 16 weeks pregnant when she discovered her boyfriend – and the father of her baby – had been charged with having sexual activity with an underage girl.
Anslow met Joseph Johnson in 2014, then 21, and four months later, discovered she was pregnant. The couple had just moved into his mother’s home when she found secret paperwork while cleaning out his wardrobe.
“I pulled the papers out and started to look through them. What I saw made me feel sick to my stomach,” she told The Sun.
The papers revealed text messages between her boyfriend and a 14-year-old girl, sent a few months before the couple had met. She also found Johnson had been charged with having sexual activity with an underage girl.
When he attended court a few months later, he was found guilty and received a three-year community order with a five-year sexual offences prevention order. Johnson was also placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
Anslow said the conviction made her feel “sick”.
“The idea that Joseph was a paedophile in the eyes of the law went around and around in my head for the following few weeks,” she told The Sun.
She ended the relationship one month later, deciding it was best for the “safety of my unborn child”.
After the birth of her daughter, Anslow found Johnson had been leaving comments on an underage teenage girl’s Instagram photos.
She called the police, and Anslow was convicted for breaching his ban and handed a 12-month suspended sentence.
2. Devastated family of Australian woman who died suddenly in Tokyo raise funds to bring her body home.
Tynnile Long, 22, was working in Japan when she collapsed and died in a Tokyo street last week.
Long had suffered a pulmonary embolism, and doctors were unable to save her, 9 News reports. Her sister revealed she had visited the doctor just a day before her death complaining of a sore and purple leg, which was misdiagnosed as “a hip issue”.
“My mum couldn’t get a hold of her for a couple of days and, as they spoke every day, she was contacting all her friends trying to get someone to check on her,” Tynnile’s sister Elizabeth Long said.
“We got a call on a Wednesday night that she had passed away.”
A close friend of the family set up a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds – which were estimated to be up to $17,000 – to bring her remains home.
“I’ll miss my little sister forever and I hope she’s somewhere peaceful now,” Elizabeth said.
The family has so far raised more than $31,000 in just three days, smashing their target of $17,000.
“It has left us speechless the amount of support everyone, including complete strangers, has given us,” Elizabeth said.
“It is a big relief to get everything sorted and we are so grateful.”
3. Madeleine McCann’s parents lose appeal against ex-detective who says they covered up the girl’s death.
Portugal’s Supreme Court has ruled that the parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann can’t sue an ex-police officer who wrote a book claiming they had covered up their daughter’s death.
A court official told The Associated Press the claims made in Goncalo Amaral’s book are protected by freedom of expression laws.
A Lisbon court ordered Amaral to pay Kate and Gerry McCann 500,000 euros in compensation in 2015. An appeals court overturned the conviction last year, before the McCann’s lawyers took the case to the Portugal Supreme Court.
They could now face huge legal costs as a result of the lengthy court battle.
Madeleine disappeared 10 years ago when the family was on a family trip to Portugal.
4. Couple forced to throw their baby from a window during unit fire.
A couple was forced to throw their baby daughter from a window when the unit below them became engulfed by flames in Sydney’s west.
Kristy Morton and Luke Hayes were woken up by thick black smoke, and had to make a split-second decision to throw Nevaeh Rose out the window to neighbours who were waiting to catch her in a blanket, 9 News reports.
“We used the blanket to catch her when they chucked her down for us. I caught her like a football,” neighbour Tony Finn, who rescued the baby, said.
The family “lost everything” in the blaze, and are not able to return to their Blacktown apartment due to the damage from the fire.
Thankfully, baby Nevaeh is safe.
“She was smiling like an angel,” Tony told 7 News after the incident.
5. First photos of British teen who fell to his death from a Sydney apartment balcony.
A British man who fell 16 floors from a Sydney apartment balcony on the weekend has been identified.
Kieran Jones, 18, fell from the balcony of an apartment in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont after he had been drinking with friends at a party, News Corp reports.
The group returned home together when Jones went out onto the balcony.
“They had gone to their respective parts of the apartment and he was chilling on the balcony and the next thing they know, they’ve heard a noise and saw him fall,” Acting Inspector Peter Northey told The Daily Telegraph.
“The flatmate who saw it happen has raised the alarm and they’ve all run down and one has begun CPR.”
The teenager had been living in Australia on a working tourist visa. His family confirmed the news of his death on Facebook.
“It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of Kieran Jones,” his family wrote.
“The entire family are devastated and we are sorry if you have to find out this way. We will keep everyone updated with the funeral arrangements when we have more information to provide. We would like to thank everyone for your support throughout this difficult time and wish to extend our love to all his wonderful friends.”
6. 91-year-old woman dies after salmonella linked to Meals on Wheels delivery service.
An elderly woman died after a salmonella outbreak that has been linked to a Meals on Wheels service in Melbourne, the Herald Sun reports.
Fourteen people became ill in December, with the Moreland City Council-run Meals on Wheels service being identified as the potential source of the gastro outbreak.
The council confirmed the 91-year-old woman died in late December.
“No further cases of illness have been identified and council’s Meals on Wheels service continues to operate as usual,” Arden Joseph, Moreland council’s director of social development, told The Herald Sun.
“The department is investigating the issue and all samples collected from the production kitchen have returned a negative test result.”
It is not yet known exactly what meal was responsible for the food poisoning.
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