10. 03. 10. - 14:00

• more Around the World news
• RSS Feed Around the World

10. 03. 10. - 14:00

Black Widow Killer: New Victim

A woman dubbed the Black Widow after murdering her husband with a poisoned curry is facing a new investigation into what police believe could have been her first victim.

Ruthless Dena Thompson, from Collumpton, Devon, was jailed for life for the killing of hubby Julian Webb on his 31st birthday.

Now investigators have revived a police and Interpol search for a Bulgarian man she dated in the 1980s.

Stoyan Kostov apparently disappeared while he was dating Thompson - then going under her maiden name Holmes - in the 1970s and 80s while she was training as a young gymnast in Svishtov, Bulgaria.

A search by British and local police turned up no clues as to where Kostov went.

Now details of the secret search are to emerge in a new Bulgarian media investigation into the disappearance.

Sussex Police Det Chief Insp Martyn Underhill - who investigated the UK killing - said of Kostov: "We cannot rule out the possibility that other partners have been injured in some way."

And one investigator explained this week: "Some sort of incident seems to have happened in Bulgaria but we don't know what it was."

Sex-obsessed Thompson was sentenced to life in jail in 2003 for her second husband's murder over a secret cash stash of 300,000 GBP she had amassed from various swindles and frauds.

She had earlier been acquitted of trying to kill her third husband with a knife and a baseball bat as he lay trussed up on the bathroom floor claiming she'd feared for her life in a bondage session.

Judge Michael Hyam told Thompson she was "utterly ruthless and without any pity", adding: "Nothing can excuse you for the wickedness of what you did."

Austrian Times

One in five firms hit by business crimes, says expert
One in five companies are affected by business felonies, according to an internationally-linked detectives body.

Autopsy as Turk trucker found dead
An autopsy has been ordered after the body of a truck driver was found on the Austrian-Hungarian border.

ÖIAG boss hit by mail expenses claims
Austrian industry-holding stock corporation (ÖIAG) chief Peter Michaelis is in hot water amid claims taxpayers’ money was used to pay for shipping of private goods.

Vienna police present hotel safety initiative
Vienna police have announced plans to cooperate with the city’s hotels more closely in a bid to tackle crime.

Strache on Hussein-Haider files as Vienna stink bomb campaign starts
Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache has revealed having been offered files allegedly confirming Jörg Haider received money from Saddam Hussein.

Bear killer suspect expelled from hunters union
A man accused of killing a brown bear has been excluded from the Carinthian Hunters Association.

Another coming out of transsexual teacher
Austria has seen a second case of a once male teacher set to return after the summer holidays to school as a woman.

Adamovich hits out at judges for acquitting Kampusch kidnapper's pal
The former head of a special Natascha Kampusch investigation group has criticised judges for discharging her kidnapper’s best mate of complicity in suicide charges.

Vöcklabruck tap water clean, second test shows
Residents of an Upper Austrian town have been given the go ahead to drink tap water after a recent study found it contained bacteria.

BMW X3 production shifted from Graz
BMW has relocated production of a new Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) from Austria to the United States.