Road to Gibraltar cut off in La Línea to demand unpaid wages for Town Hall staff

There were problems with access to Gibraltar on Wednesday as union representatives in La Línea restarted protests to demand the unpaid wages of Town Hall staff, ending the truce which had been in place for the town’s feria.

The road to Gibraltar was closed for around an hour as the protesters set up a barricade of burning tyres.

Unions say they are owed an average of 6,000 € each. José Porras Naranjo from the UGT union said they had been forced to take this action because the situation for some of the staff is so serious that they have had to ask for help from the Catholic Church charity Cáritas.

He commented to El Mundo newspaper that, ‘although we know that a large part of the problem is inherited’, from the previous local government, ‘if we reach the end of the month without being paid it will be a record delay of 3 months without receiving even one Euro’. Many staff are also owed their extra payment for December.

 

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Gibraltar’s Main Street was a hive of activity on Tuesday as two cruise ships carrying over 7,000 passengers arrived in the Rock.

They enjoyed Rock tours and sightseeing, but it was on Main Street that their presence in Gibraltar was most noticed. All through the day until mid-afternoon, Gibraltar’s pedestrian artery was teeming with visitors.
Cruise visits represent an important area of Gibraltar’s economy. Altogether there are 190 cruise calls scheduled this year, an increase of 8% on 2010 with 330,000 passengers. A total of 172 calls have so far been booked for 2012 with an estimated
total of 320,000 passengers.
“The cruise sector of our tourism industry is doing well and is the result of many years hard work,” said Joe Holliday, Minister for Enterprise, during his recent budget speech to Parliament.
The Gibraltar Government will this year invest in extending and refurbishing the cruise terminal, as well as beautifying the promenade into town.
It will also approve legislation to allow cruise ships to open their onboard casinos if they remain in Gibraltar overnight.
Mr Holliday said this move would encourage operators to stay longer in Gibraltar at a time when the trend is to shorter visits in order to allow for slow steaming between ports in order to save on fuel.

 

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The Civil Guard maritime force on patrol in the Strait of Gibraltar seized more than one ton of cannabis this week after boarding a fishing boat which was intercepted on the open sea off Almería province.

The Civil Guard maritime force on patrol in the Strait of Gibraltar seized more than one ton of cannabis this week after boarding a fishing boat which was intercepted on the open sea off Almería province.

The two crew, who Europa Press reports are both from El Ejido, were arrested.

Monday’s swoop came after the Guardia’s ocean-going patrol boat, the Río Miño, spotted a semi-rigid boat travelling without lights some 20 miles off the coast of Almería, shortly after which a fishing boat was seen approaching it from the shore. The Río Miño then launched one of the two smaller boats it carries on board, which managed to intercept the fishing boat. The other vessel escaped.

Ninety nine bales of cannabis were seized.

It’s the Río Mió’s second success in the area in the past week. 1.1 tons of cannabis were seized in the early hours of Saturday from a pleasure boat which was crewed by a man resident in Marbella, Málaga province.

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Morocco military plane crash kills 78

Seventy-eight people were killed when a Moroccan military aircraft crashed into a mountain in the south of the country, the army says.

The army said three other people were severely wounded in the crash, in what is thought to be one of Morocco's deadliest air disasters in years.

The C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed near Guelmim, just north of the disputed Western Sahara territory.

Officials have blamed the accident on poor weather.

"Above all, it was the fog and bad weather conditions that are believed to be behind this accident. But for the moment, we don't have enough information," AFP news agency quoted an official from the interior ministry as saying.

A local resident told Reuters news agency there was thick fog at the time of the crash.

The plane was travelling from Dakhla, in the Western Sahara, to Kinitra in northern Morocco.

It crashed at about 09:00 local time (08:00 GMT) as it was attempting to make a scheduled stop at a military airbase some 10km (six miles) east of Guelmim.

It was carrying 81 people: nine crew members, 60 troops and 12 civilians.

Forty-two bodies have been found. The search continues for the others.

The mineral-rich, mainly desert territory of Western Sahara is the subject of a decades-long dispute between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front. Most of it has been under Moroccan control since 1976.

 

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Full Tilt pro obtains dismissal from lawsuit

Phil Gordon, a professional poker player and member of Team Full Tilt, has obtained a voluntary dismissal from the class action suit brought against the company and multiple individuals on 30 June.

According to a statement from his legal representatives, Los Angeles-based firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (GDC), Gordon “never participated in any management decisions or operational roles at Full Tilt.”

The firm also revealed that Gordon is the only individual to have obtained such a dismissal, and the case against a further 12 members of Team Full Tilt, plus indicted founders Ray Bitar and Nelson Burtnick and multiple ‘John Does’ and companies affiliated to Full Tilt Poker, continues. Gordon’s lawyer Maurice Suh explained that “No money changed hands as part of this dismissal”.

Following the ruling, plaintiffs Steve Segal, Nick Hammer, Robin Hougdahl and Todd Terry “moved to impose a constructive trust on Full Tilt”, according to GDC, meaning “Full Tilt’s funds could [potentially] be held under court supervision during the pendency of the case.”

In a statement seen by eGaming Review, Gordon said: “I have always held myself to the highest standards of conduct.  As part of that, I have repeatedly emphasized that Full Tilt should repay the U.S. players as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile an online poker player has filed a claim for more than $95,000 against Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker for the return of funds frozen by the United States Department of Justice.

Adam Webb is reported to have had $58,917.90 in a FTP account and a further $36,531.73 in an Absolute Poker account

According to a statement presented by Webb to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, he said: “These funds were earned by and belong to me and were in the position of Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, respectively, at the time that their bank accounts were seized by the plaintiff in this case.”

His lawyer, Steven L Kessler, could not be reached for comment.

Last Friday was the deadline for players to file claims pertaining to money not returned by the three US-facing sites whose owners were indicted in 15 April, although Pokerstars has already paid back American players to the tune of more than $120m.

The Poker Players Alliance had issued guidelines for those unsure of their legal position when making a claim against the sites in question.

 

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Douglas Hall celebrates wedding in Gibraltar

Famous North East faces can be spotted at the wedding of the property millionaire to Louise Roberts.
Douglas’s dad and mam Sir John Hall and Lady Hall were there along with former Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd.
Freddy’s brother Bruce Shepherd was also at the wedding on the Rock.
Douglas, 52 and 34-year-old Louise, tied the knot at the King’s Chapel, a military garrison church, followed by a reception party at the members only club run by Louise.
One guest said: “It was a really lovely day with Sir John welcoming Louise into the family during a speech at the reception.
“The party went on until about 2am at the club.”
Louise, who grew up in Heaton and Walker in Newcastle, is believed to have been so happy with how the day went she is planning to offer her club, Fifty-Five, as a wedding venue.

She wore a white wedding dress and her sister Leanne was her bridesmaid. The best man was Malcolm Walker, who runs the Beamish Park Hotel in County Durham.
Louise and Douglas worked together in the 1990s when she was a secretary at Newcastle United and he was Deputy Chairman.
Property millionaire Douglas infamously branded all Newcastle women as “dogs” during the Toongate scandal when he was caught out in a tabloid sting.
Freddy later rose to become chairman of the club, but Douglas moved to Gibraltar where he is a director in Sir John’s property development company.
Douglas, who was divorced by his ex-model wife Tonia in a multi-million pound settlement in 2006, has lived on the British owned peninsula off the coast of Spain for the last few years.
After the Toongate scandal Tonia left their property on the plush Wynyard Hall estate but returned to him for the sake of their sons John and Gregory, now grown up.
But the marriage broke down after he was accused of romping with prostitutes in Marbella.
Their divorce settlement eight years later is believed to have cost him around £4m.
The new Mrs Hall has taken on the reins of Fifty-Five, a private members club in Gibraltar, half an hour’s drive from Marbella.

 

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British Secretary of State visits Gibraltar

Liam Fix says the Spanish 'incursions' in British territorial waters are 'not justified nor tolerable'.


The British Secretary of State for Defence, Liam Fox, has said that the Spanish ‘incursions’ in the British territorial waters of Gibraltar ‘are not justified nor tolerable’.

He made his comments during a visit to the Rock on Saturday, and said that such distractions were not needed right in the middle of the Libya mission.

Liam Fox was referring to incidents over the past year with the Guardia Civil on the one hand, and the Gibraltar police and the British Navy on the other, during persecutions in the waters round rock.
‘This type of behaviour at the level it is occurring is not acceptable’, he said, and underlined that the solution has to be found in the political sphere.

Gibraltar First Minister, Peter Caruana, said that the new planned coastguard would respond to such maritime incidents. That comment comes after Javier Arenas, the PP leader in Andalucía, claimed that the creation of such a body ‘would mean accepting the jurisdictional waters of Gibraltar’, and therefore could not be accepted.

Also during the visit Liam Fox signed an agreement to pass some land and buildings from the Ministry of Defence to the local Gibraltar administration.

 

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Magistrates Court yesterday refused Isaac Marrache permission to travel to New York

The Magistrates Court yesterday refused Isaac Marrache permission to travel to New York to be with his wife, who is due to begin treatment for breast cancer within days.

Mr Marrache, who together with his two brothers is accused of a multi-million pound fraud, is currently on bail but is banned from leaving Gibraltar. 
Last week his lawyers applied to vary his bail conditions and allow him to be with his wife through the treatment and help her look after their children.

Mr Marrache had been separated from his family for 15 months with devastating effect, the court was told.

Last week defence barrister Jonathan Goldberg, QC, countered prosecution fears that Mr Marrache would abscond, highlighting that the defendant had returned voluntarily to Gibraltar last year to face the charges against him.

He also said friends and family who had deposited £400,000 in sureties with the court did not object to him going to America.

Mr Marrache had hoped to fly direct to New York from Málaga and return to Gibraltar in December in time for the next hearing in his criminal case.

But after a week deliberating on the application, a bench of three lay magistrates yesterday remained unconvinced by the arguments put forward by the defence team.

“Whilst the court can sympathise with the health of his wife and the impact which the court process is having upon Isaac Marrache’s children, these are in our view irrelevant considerations and therefore not a material change of circumstances,” they said in their ruling.

They also rejected arguments put forward by Mr Goldberg that time elapsed so far represented a reason in itself to change the bail conditions, particularly given that the case is unlikely to get to trial for another two years at least.

He said that in the UK, delays of this nature would be regarded as “a scandal”.

But yesterday the lay magistrates replied that “such delays…are well known in the Gibraltar court system…” particularly in complex cases such as this.

The bench dismissed the application.

Outside the court, Mr Marrache’s lawyer, Isaac Massias, said his client would consider appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.

Mr Marrache and his two brothers, Benjamin and Solomon, face fraud charges stemming from the collapse of Marrache & Co., formerly one of Gibraltar’s most prominent law firms.

Prosecutors allege they plundered millions of pounds from the firm’s client accounts.

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Jim Barber jumped into the Mediterranean at the southern tip of Spain at Tarifa and swam across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco. Then he turned around and swam back.

Jim Barber went for a swim last week off the coast of Spain.He went to Africa -- and back.
Barber jumped into the Mediterranean at the southern tip of Spain at Tarifa and swam across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco. Then he turned around and swam back.
In doing so, he became the ninth person and first American to accomplish the feat. He also did so in world record time: 7 hours, 49 minutes. That was 6 minutes faster than the previous best. He covered about 21 miles.
Ho-hum. It was no big deal for the 51-year-old ultra endurance swimmer from Zionsville who had previously swam the English Channel, navigated the 281/2 miles around Manhattan Island and swam the Catalina Channel off the coast of California.
"The first three hours was a piece of cake,'' said Barber, who added that long open-water swims are 25 percent physical and 75 percent mental. "I think most swimmers can do that kind of a distance. But when you get into the sixth, seventh and eighth hours, it does require a lot of mental stamina to keep yourself going and your strokes going."

Longtime pursuit
Barber grew up on the Southside, attended Perry Meridian High School, and works as a sales engineer at Siemens. He has been swimming since age 10 and has been doing marathon swims (longer than 15 miles) for more than 20 years.

His July 11 Spanish swim was eight miles in each direction. But with strong currents in the Strait where the Atlantic Ocean merges with Mediterranean, the actual distance was closer to 21 miles.

An impressive feat? No doubt. But Dick Sidner, vice chairman of the Indiana chapter of United States Masters Swimming, said the major significance is navigating the currents.

"A lot of people can swim 21 miles, but swimming 21 miles fast enough to make the course is the hard part," Sidner said. "When Jim got to the Moroccan shore and headed back, he was basically pushed wide to the right, to the east, because of the strong currents coming in out of the Atlantic into the Mediterranean.

"If he doesn't make it in a very short period of time, he's going to get taken into the Mediterranean where the coast line drops away. If you look at the geography, it could have gone from a 21-mile swim to 30 miles or more."

The 6-5, 220-pound Barber said the strategy was to swim "like a bat out of hell" in the early going and survive at the end when the currents take a toll. He said the goal was to average 3 mph.

"To hold a 20-minute mile in a pool is pretty easy, but to do that in the ocean is a totally different set of circumstances," Barber said. "The last two miles were the hardest because you were almost swimming in place. The current was pushing me and I was making headway but probably at about half the distance that I had been making."

Endurance swims of this magnitude require plenty of planning and training. In the 12 weeks before the swim, Barber increased his training to a peak of 40 miles per week.

Training not end-all
Bryan Boggs completed the English Channel swim with Barber in 2006. He said the training is important but only to a point.

"You can only train so much in a pool and so much from a distance or a mental standpoint," Boggs said. "I've always said you can only get 60 percent of the way there by training and the other 40 percent is thrown at you in the Channel or in the Strait. Whether it's currents or winds or ships, you just have to deal with that. And that's why Jim is so good at this. He's able to take whatever is thrown at him."

Barber hired a Spanish crew of four to assist him. Two were in a 30-foot pilot boat that stayed 500 meters ahead of him for directional purposes.

The other two were in a 25-foot provisions boat. Barber said he would swim 45-minute freestyle intervals, then stop for 15 to 20 seconds to ingest a 16-ounce nutrition drink.

Barber estimated the water temperature at 62 degrees close to shore. As he got out into the Strait, he said, it increased to 66 degrees. He does most of his training in Morse Reservoir and prefers it colder.

"I actually thought it would be warmer than that, but I was happy with the water temperature," Barber said. "It was close to ideal conditions. When water temperatures get up over 70 degrees, I start to overheat and it would have made that swim a lot more difficult."

Bigger problems for Barber were the sun and salt water. He said his mouth and tongue were swollen from the large amount of salt water intake. The sun, especially on the return portion to Spain, was brutal, too.

"I got pretty burnt on this swim," Barber said. "I did what I could as far as sunscreen before I got in the water. But when I was coming back to Spain, the sun was to my right and the whole right side of my face got pretty well sunburned."

For Barber, the swim was just another quest on his personal bucket list. He still has his sights set on marathon swims in Hawaii, New Zealand and Ireland, but plans to wait a few years before trying again.

After Boggs swam the English Channel, he stayed out of the water for a year. He said he doesn't think Barber would be able to do that.

"I have my doubts, that's for sure,'' Boggs said. "I heard he said the same thing, but I was just swimming with him last night.''

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Gibraltar coastguard plan 'inadmissible

The Partido Popular has criticised Gibraltar’s wish to establish a new coastguard service.

The idea was put forward by the Gibraltar First Minister, Peter Caruana, of creating a new service ‘charged with defending and protecting the waters which the colony considers theirs’.

P.P. National Deputy, José Ignacio Landaluce, sees that as an attempt to create a frontier, and he plans to ask questions in Madrid to see what the Spanish Government’s position is on the matter which he considers to be ‘inadmissible’.

Meanwhile José Ignacio Landaluce, also said that he rejected the announcement from the U.K. that they will be appealing to the European Court against the ruling which has rejected Gibraltar’s appeal over the new environmental maritime region for the ‘Eastern Strait’, which gives Spain environmental control of waters which the British consider to be theirs.

Landaluce called on Madrid to be ‘as firm as possible’ against the U.K. and noted the European Court had used technical questions to reject the Gibraltar appeal.

 

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The UK is challenging the right of Spain to manage a stretch of water surrounding Gibraltar

The UK has been locked in conflict with the Spanish government over the stretch of water for over two years, after it discovered that the European Commission (EC) had agreed the area could be listed as a Spanish conservation zone or “Site of Community Importance” (SCI).
The responsibility for maintaining an SCI, which includes carrying out regular assessments to help protect it from environmental threat, is usually only granted to states which own the area in question. This particular stretch however, known as Estrecho Oriental, overlaps both the coordinates of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW) and an existing UK SCI, the Southern Waters of Gibraltar.
The UK's legal case against the designation was lost at the end of May, but William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, announced on Monday that the UK would be appealing.
“The Government is clear that only the UK can submit sites covering BGTW. Spain cannot enforce the management or monitoring of the specific area in question. There is therefore a risk that, given its lack of access to this site, Spain will make decisions without accurate scientific information which could have detrimental environmental or economic impact on Gibraltar and BGTW,” he said.
“The Government has a clear responsibility to uphold the UK’s position over the waters around Gibraltar. I want to reassure the people of Gibraltar that we will defend their interests on this matter.”

 

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'Mad' Frankie Fraser grandson arrested in Gibraltar

The grandson of the former London gangland enforcer "Mad" Frankie Fraser has been arrested in Gibraltar over an alleged drug-smuggling plot.

Anthony Fraser, 39, was on a list of 10 wanted individuals, thought to be in Spain, published in February.

Crimestoppers said he had given himself up on Monday afternoon and the process to extradite him to the UK would begin.

He is suspected of being involved in importing two tonnes of cannabis to the UK from the Netherlands in 2009.

The arrest was made in relation to a joint Serious Organised Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police investigation.

He was the sixth person to be arrested from the batch of 10 suspected criminals revealed under Operation Captura.

Mr Fraser disappeared after cannabis with a street value of £5m was discovered at a storage unit in Grays, Essex, in a truck full of frozen chicken from the Netherlands.

Five people were subsequently convicted of drugs offences and jailed for between six and seven years at Southwark Crown Court.

Mr Fraser's grandfather, 87-year-old "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an associate of the notorious Kray and Richardson crime families.

 

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Appeal over Gibraltar waters ruling

The Government is to appeal against a European General Court decision to give Spain new rights to the waters around Gibraltar, Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced.
The European Union (EU) has allowed Spain to designate much of the sea surrounding the Rock of Gibraltar as a special environmental zone, to be maintained by the country.

But the UK has warned that the ruling could have a "detrimental environmental or economic impact" on the British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW).

In a written statement to MPs, Mr Hague said: "Following extensive consultation and on the basis of legal advice, the UK will be appealing against the court's decision.

"The Government has a clear responsibility to uphold the UK's position over the waters around Gibraltar. I want to reassure the people of Gibraltar that we will defend their interests on this matter."

The Spanish government wants to designate a Site of Community Importance (SCI), named Estrecho Oriental, in the waters around Gibraltar. But this new conservation zone overlaps the co-ordinates of the BGTW and entirely overlaps an existing adopted UK SCI, the Southern Waters of Gibraltar.

Mr Hague said: "The UK has sought to reverse the adoption of the Spanish site, first through diplomatic action with the European Commission and the government of Spain, and then through legal action. We continue to work closely with the government of Gibraltar to resolve this issue.

"The original legal case was launched by the UK in the European General Court on December 22 2009. This challenged the European Commission's listing of this site as a Spanish Site of Community Importance.

"The Government is clear that only the UK can submit sites covering BGTW. Spain cannot enforce the management or monitoring of the specific area in question.

"There is, therefore, a risk that, given its lack of access to this site, Spain will make decisions without accurate scientific information which could have detrimental environmental or economic impact on Gibraltar and BGTW.

 

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Gibraltar's much improved beaches and beach parking facilities are in full swing as the summer season with its soaring temperatures

continues its slow and relaxed rhythm enjoyed by bathers young and old alike. Above, a panoramic view of Eastern Beach taken yesterday afternoon.

Gibraltar Government is investigating complaints by members of the public that Catalan Bay has been affected by inordinate amounts of dust which was becoming an annoyance to bathers.

Works to remedy this problem will begin today after beach hours and will take a few days to complete. No inconvenience to bathers is expected.

A Government spokesman said: "There has been some public concern expressed about the dustiness of the sand at Catalan Bay. This sand has been analysed and the result shows that the chemical composition of the sand at Catalan Bay is what naturally exists in this part of the world.

 
"There is no contamination or other chemical composition problem with the sand.

There is an issue with sand dust caused by the smaller and lighter sand particles taking longer to settle than the heavier sand particles. This has not occurred at Sandy Bay (where the same sand was placed) because at Sandy Bay the sea has washed up all the way up to the top of the beach and washed away the dust from the whole beach.

"At Catalan Bay the sea has only washed up to one third of the way to the top of the beach and thus cleared the dust only from the one-third of the beach nearest the sea.

In order to eliminate the unpleasant and nuisance aspects of this dust the Government is, as of next week, taking measures to wash away the dust from the rest of Catalan Bay beach. Work will commence on Monday after beach-hours, and will take a few days to complete. Use of the beach during the day will not be affected."

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crackdown on offshore gambling companies that operate in the UK has been launched by the government in a move that is expected to clear the way for a tax grab by the Treasury.

John Penrose, the minister for tourism and heritage at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), said the plan would protect consumers and close a loophole giving web-based gambling companies an unfair advantage over British firms by insisting that all businesses operating in Britain are regulated by the Gambling Commission.

Penrose said: "These proposals are an important measure to help address concerns about problem gambling and to bridge a regulatory gap by ensuring British consumers enjoy consistent standards of protection, no matter which online gambling site they visit."

However, Vaughan Lewis, a leisure analyst at Morgan Stanley, added: "The government has to be careful, as you can't change the law just to raise taxes. But while the proposals claim to be driven by a desire for greater customer protection, they will also create an opportunity to levy duties on overseas operators."

When asked if it planned to tax newly licensed offshore gambling companies, the Treasury added: "We are aware of DCMS's statement and are considering it. We will make a statement in due course."

Meanwhile, Michael Caselli, editor of trade magazine iGaming Business, added: "The tax rate pretty much relates to how much less value the punter gets. A 10% tax rate is 10% less value for punters."

In a written ministerial statement that was short on detail, Penrose said the Gambling Act should be changed so "remote gambling" is regulated according to where bets are placed rather than on the bookmaker's location. Under the revamp, every company offering bets to British customers or advertising in the UK must hold a Gambling Commission licence.

Gambling industry insiders stressed that the government would have to proactively enforce the new regime and crack down on unauthorised promotions. Richard Glynn, chief executive of Ladbrokes, which has an offshore internet business as well as its retail and telephone services in the UK, added: "We will work with government towards a comprehensive solution which levels the playing field and helps protect British jobs."

Analysts said the licensing move might put further pressure on Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker, the websites that have been indicted in the US on allegations of violating gambling laws by processing cash transfers to and from players. When assessing licence applications, the Gambling Commission must consider "the honesty and trustworthiness of the applicant and or person(s) relevant to the application" and the "criminal record of the applicant and or person(s) relevant to the application". The three sites are believed to deny wrongdoing, but could not be reached for comment today.

Despite Penrose's announcement being expected, UK-listed gambling companies were still hit by the news. Ladbrokes shares dipped by 1.25%, William Hill lost 3.87% and online poker and sports betting group Bwin.party lost just over 1%.

Shares in the betting exchange firm Betfair held up slightly better, shedding 0.8% to 700.44p. However, Richard Stuber, an analyst at JP Morgan, said: "We would also note [Penrose's] comment 'As for whether people using betting exchanges should or should not pay the levy, that is precisely what we are in the middle of consulting on, so it would be rather premature for me to prejudge that.' So the tax risk on Betfair's large customers/players is not yet over, in our view."

Meanwhile, offshore operator Bodog claimed to have become the first operator to be granted a remote and non-remote gaming licence by the Gambling Commission. As well as operating online gambling websites for UK punters, it will also open high street shops.

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Armed raider dressed as ELVIS holds up bookmakers

A Ladbrokes worker could be excused for feeling lonesome tonight after she was held up at gunpoint by a robber disguised as Elvis Presley, complete with fake sideburns and Aviator-style gold-rimmed sunglasses.

He wisely did not attempt to copy Elvis' showy trademark gold jumpsuit, instead opting for slightly less conspicuous clothing - but he proved as telegenic as the original, and was clearly caught on the shop's CCTV.

While the robber managed to get away with more than £400, this was hardly a haul fit for the King, and would not do much to fuel Elvis' lavish lifestyle.


Jailhouse Rock: Brighton police are trying to track down this versatile thief



Investigators believe the thief was the same man who robbed a William Hill betting shop last Thursday wearing a huge fake bushy grey beard.

The suspect, who was described as about 6ft, medium build with dark hair, was caught on CCTV holding a black handgun in both robberies.

 

He entered the Ladbrokes in Brighton at 10am, pointed the gun at a female member of staff and demanded cash. He got away with £400 to £500 and headed south on foot. The woman was unhurt but shaken.

A Sussex police spokesman said: 'Detectives are linking this robbery with one last Thursday, July 7, when a man wearing a fake beard entered William Hill Bookmakers in George Street, Hove, at 8.25am and threatened staff with what looked like a black handgun. He made off with only a set of keys. No one was hurt.'




This man is not the only would-be robber to adopt an unorthodox disguise in an attempt to get away with his crimes. Last year a group of armed robbers carried out a raid on a Parisian post office while dressed in burkhas.

A criminal in Ohio went even further: Conrad Zdzierak, who is white, disguised himself as a black man in order to commit six robberies, but was rumbled in November.

However, none of these slippery criminals has gone as far as James Coldwell, who notoriously robbed a New Hampshire bank disguised as a tree in 2007.

 

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Tote owner Betfred in row over unpaid bets awaiting the findings of an inquiry by Gibraltar's betting regulator.

Fred Done, whose Betfred bookie won the race for the Tote with a £265m bid, is continuing to resist paying five punters who placed bets showing profits of £823,000 with its Gibraltar-based online wing, Betfred.com.
It has declared the bets void – even though it has paid out on wagers placed by UK punters in its 840 betting shops.
Four of the five individuals are related to Mr Curley, 70, who has a long track record in stinging the bookies with gambles on horses trained at his small Newmarket yard.
Mr Done is refusing to pay after Mr Curley masterminded an ambitious gamble on four horses in May last year, linked in trebles and an accumulator. Agapanthus won at Brighton, Savaronola at Wolverhampton and Jeu De Roseau – racing after an absence of 742 days – came up the hill at Towcester.
Only the defeat of Sommersturm at Wolverhampton prevented a payout of £20m, Mr Curley maintains – the maximum winnings, given bookies' pay-out limits.

Ralph Topping, the William Hill chief executive, said the new owner of the Tote was setting a "poor example" – not least with Mr Done's stand of paying UK punters but not those who bet via Betfred.com.
Writing in his blog, Mr Topping said the case was "not reflecting well on some elements of the betting industry at the moment".
"Whatever the moral arguments about Curley's approach, the fact is these were legal bets and should be paid out. There was no cheating. The British Horseracing Authority has ruled horses ran according to official rating. There was no reason to disqualify the runners and so no reason not to pay out."
Mr Topping added: "The idea that a licensed bookmaker could consider treating high street and online UK customers differently isn't just a slippery slope, it's positively precipitous."
Betfred declined to comment. It is said to be awaiting the findings of an inquiry by Gibraltar's betting regulator.

 

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Betfair to buy back £50m shares months after its flotation

Betfair, the struggling betting group, has unveiled one of the swiftest share buybacks in City memory as it disclosed its first full-year results as a public company.

The betting exchange said it planned to re-purchase £50m shares from investors just nine months after its flotation, which has subsequently seen the company shed 41% of its value after a series of underwhelming announcements, regulatory concerns and management departures.

Share buybacks are a popular tactic for mature businesses and are typically employed when companies cannot think of efficient ways of deploying spare cash. However, Betfair was sold to investors in October as a company that had strong growth opportunities. When asked if the management had run out of ideas about how to grow, finance director Stephen Morana insisted: "Not at all. We are investing huge amounts in this business. We announced this at our initial public offering. This was published in the prospectus. It complies exactly with that."

The move to buoy the share price comes after Betfair confirmed that David Yu, its embattled chief executive, would be leaving the company following the group's troubled introduction to the public markets. It also follows a string of unscheduled departures, including those of Mathias Entenmann, chief product and services officer; Robin Osmond, chief executive of financial betting exchange LMAX; and Matt Carter, director of architecture, research and prototyping. Betfair's own polling of employees revealed that staff believed its management was lacking direction.

Morana, who many employees say trumps Yu for knowledge of the betting industry, has now ruled himself out as a potential successor – although most watchers had already expected the company to make an external appointment, possibly a high-profile City figure, in attempt to halt the share price slide.

The latest intrigue came as the company announced its full-year figures, which showed pre-tax profits up 49% to £26.6m on revenues up 15% at £393.3m. However, the numbers were flattered by last year's football World Cup and the company conceded: "Revenue growth during [the financial year] could have been stronger but we have delivered a significant improvement in margin resulting in profitability for the year above expectations."

James Hollins, a leisure analyst at Evolution Securities, added: "Bears will focus on fourth-quarter revenue growth of just 3% and [first-quarter] revenues declining year on year, reflecting [a] tough comparison against the World Cup. We expect continued difficult first-half trading, although superior returns on marketing spend and product development should support both future top-line growth."

Espirito Santo analyst Geetanjali Sharma, who advises clients to sell Betfair shares, added: "We are disappointed by the revenue trends. We also anticipate a period of uncertainty as the search for a CEO begins."

The company added that it would invest in its LMAX financial share trading platform for another 12 months, putting in no more than £10m on top of the £20m already spent. The venture, which many had warned would struggle to compete with existing spreadbetting platforms, has failed to catch on, despite the backing of investment bank Goldman Sachs.

 

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