Woman conned by fake Gary Barlow offered concert tickets by the real deal
By Josie Adnitt
A woman who was catfished by a scammer pretending to be Gary Barlow has been offered show tickets and a chance to meet the real deal.
Janet Smith, 62, genuinely believed she was talking to the Take That singer for about a week, after she added him as a friend on Facebook.
But after the catfish bombarded her with compliments and told her he had "split up" she grew suspicious - and convinced the scammer to reveal their true identity.
The cheat said he was actually a 24-year-old man from Nigeria and was sorry for lying to her - but told Janet he really did love her and asked for cash.
After speaking out to raise awareness of online scammers, the real Gary Barlow spotted her story - and shared it on Instagram.
He wrote: "Dear Janet - I'm so sorry to hear this - please come to any show you want and meet me", followed by three heart emojis.
Janet said: "Someone texted me to say he'd seen the story - I don't know how he saw it.
"[Gary] hasn't contacted me directly yet. I've had an amazing time, it's been lovely.
"I've blocked [the scammer] on everything but I feel really bad - I just feel so guilty.
"He owned up to me and said he was sorry about it.
"I hope I've got the message out."
Janet believed she was speaking to the real "Back for Good" singer after adding what appeared to be his profile on Facebook on 26th March.
However, she soon became suspicious that all was not as it seemed - and realised the man she was speaking to couldn't be the real Gary Barlow.
She managed to unmask the scammer after telling him he could have her WhatsApp number in exchange for his true identity.
The man confessed his love for her and said he came from a poor family, asking her for cash "to get some food in Nigeria".
Janet said the whole experience had left her feeling "really guilty" and has shared her story to help others spot similar scammers in the future.
Janet said: "I didn't send him any money - I thought it was a cry for help."
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Meet the four-year-old 'wombat whisperer' befriending marsupials!
By Leo Black
Meet the four-year-old 'wombat whisperer' who's best friends with the marsupials - and even learned how to walk with them.
Ashlee Neill spends up to three hours per day playing with the wombats and has been around the animals since birth.
Dad Josh Neill, 41, and his partner Amber Moyes rehabilitate wombats which have been injured in the wild or became orphans after their mothers died.
The little girl is so good with the marsupials that she helps speed up their recovery and boosts their confidence.
Josh, an electrician from Hayfield, Victoria, Australia, said: "When they're young and dependent they need a lot of attention or they stress quite badly.
"They need to be following someone around or they'll stress because they're always looking for their mum.
"With Ashlee, they get comfortable, they learn to eat grass, they learn to be outside, they run around.
"If it weren't because of her they wouldn't rehab so quickly."
The family started rehabilitating wombats in 2013, long before Ashlee was born.
They release the animals into the wild after they've recovered, which normally takes about six months.
At the moment, they are looking after four wombats.
Ashlee doesn't have many playmates because they live in a rural area, so she and the wombats have become almost like siblings.
Ashlee even learned to walk by leaning on a wombat, according to Josh.
The four-year-old is so close to the animals that she has mostly foregone toys - choosing to play with the wombats all day instead.
Josh said: "Some of those wombats are like her siblings. That's why people in the area call her 'the wombat whisperer.'
"They're her friends, they're like a little family.
"She doesn't have many toys so she goes outside, runs around with them and goes on little adventures.
"It's really cute, sometimes I'll come inside and she'll just be reading them stories."
Josh added: "I guess she's learned to read them.
"They wouldn't really be this comfortable with anyone else, you need to build that trust."
All this contact with the needy wombats has given Ashlee big dreams and she now wants to be a vet.
Josh said: "She wants to be a vet. A lot of the animals aren't in good condition, there's not a lot of people to look up to out here and the vets safe them."
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"I started losing my hair at 19 - now I've launched a wig company to help others"
By Amy Reast
A woman who began losing her hair aged 19 launched a wig company to give people their confidence back.
Kimberly Di Benedetto, 34, began noticing her hair thinning in her teens and was diagnosed with female pattern hair loss.
Her confidence plummeted and she tried everything to get her hair to grow back - including laser therapy, vitamins, scalp injections and creams.
When none worked she looked into hair pieces and toppers and says they changed her life.
After connecting with others experiencing hair loss, Kimberly launched Lusta Hair - a brand selling realistic, natural human hair wigs and hair pieces.
The business, based in Adelaide, South Australia, sees products - starting at £1k - flying off the shelves.
But Kimberly says she's driven by raising awareness for women's hair loss and seeing the look on people's faces when they first see their new locks.
The business owner said: "By the time I noticed my hair loss it was 50 per cent gone.
"When you're 19 you're supposed to be starting your life, not worrying about hair loss."
Kimberly launched Lusta six years ago - originally for hair toppers.
This expanded into wigs when colleague, Holly Faller, 33, joined the team, because she has alopecia.
Their hair pieces and wigs, hand-made with human hair, can be worn to swim and do sports, so that the wearers don't feel conscious.
Kimberly said: "When I began losing hair, I remember hyper-fixating.
"If I was invited somewhere I'd have to style it in a certain way, and I felt uncomfortable staying over at friends houses and going on dates.
"Once I found a solution I could finally stop stressing about my hair and it became fun.
"With the hair toppers, I went out with my friends more, felt more confident at work and I became myself again."
Most of their clients receive their hair products in the post - but some pop in to visit the team to have their hair applied in person.
Most recently they have launched 'Wigs For Kids' - an initiative giving free wigs to children experiencing hair loss due to alopecia or cancer treatments.
Having experienced hair loss, Kimberly does her job to allow others to feel the relief she felt when she found a solution that could bring back her self-confidence.
She added: "When I discovered hair toppers and learnt how to use them, I felt like myself again.
"It's not easy to start a business but I know how good it feels to find hair that makes you feel good."
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Dozens of huskies escape pet café - causing chaos in shopping centre
By Samuel Wightwick
Dozens of huskies escaped from a pet café - and ran riot in a shopping centre.
The video, filmed in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China shows the dogs bounding around the mall after getting loose from a pet cafe on March 12.
Shouts can be heard coming from bemused and confused shoppers as the dogs race around them.
According to reports, some customers had accidentally opened the gated door to the cafe which allowed the dogs to escape.
With the help of several shoppers, all the Huskies were retrieved safely.
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Music-loving dog sings along when owner plays piano
By Samuel Wightwick
A music-loving dog can't help but "sing" along when its owner plays the piano.
Videos show Ashton Biggs, 21, and her 10-year-old pooch named Goose performing together to hits like Bohemian Rhapsody or Hallelujah.
As Ashton plays the tunes on her piano, Goose, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, sits and howls along.
Ashton says that Goose hadn't even heard a piano properly until during the pandemic in 2020, but since then their duets have become a regular occurrence.
Ashton, a full time student from Nacogdoches, Texas, USA, said: "One day I had started playing the piano for fun when he happened to be in the house and he approached the piano and started howling with his beautiful bay.
"From then on, it became a routine! Every time I played, he had to sing."
Ashton has tried a variety of different songs on the piano for Goose.
Drops of Jupiter by Bruno Mars, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and House of the Rising Sun by The Animals are just a few of Goose's favourites.
But nothing beats his reaction to his all time favourite song- Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
Remarkably, Goose has always been able to show Ashton which songs he preferred by his body language.
She said: "As I learned more songs, he started to show favouritism to some songs over others.
"When I play anything on the piano he will sing, but when I play a song he loves his tail wags more enthusiastically.
"He'll tilt his head back, close his eyes and his bays are much longer and more drawn out.
"He tends to match the pitch more accurately too."
When Goose first started joining in with Ashton when she played the piano, she couldn't believe it.
Goose has always hated loud noises - whether it be fireworks, gun shots or clapping hands.
But when it came to the piano, it was a different story.
Ashton said: "At first I thought it was a fluke, like a one-and-done scenario but it kept happening.
"Eventually, we would wake up and he would run to the piano and start barking and screaming for me to play.
"Once I play, and he gets to sing for a little bit, he would go outside and carry on with the rest of his day!
"Other times it wasn’t possible for me to play enough."
Being a music major in college has also meant that Ashton has been able to experiment with other instruments.
Goose isn't a fan of the trumpet or any other brass instruments, but does sing along to the guitar every now and then.
She said: "I’m assuming he doesn't like these instruments because they are very bright and loud and produce frequencies that hurts his ears.
"He likes the guitar, but he isn't as enthusiastic about it as the piano.
"Goose is much more of a string-based instruments dog than a wind instruments dog."
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Mum with no heating for three months forced to use kettle to make daughter's baths
By Lauren Chaloner
A pregnant mum says she fears for her daughter and unborn baby after being left without heating and hot water for THREE MONTHS.
Chloe Welsh is forced to boil pans of water on the stove and in the kettle to make baths for her two-year-old daughter Harlow.
The 25-year-old says the boiler in her two-bedroom flat in Redditch, Worcs., broke in January and has yet to be fixed.
Chloe, who is 12 weeks pregnant, uses a small fan heater to keep one room warm but says Harlow still suffers constant coughs and colds.
She says she has repeatedly told Sanctuary Housing, which manages the flat, about the issue but nothing has been done.
Chloe, who works at a garden centre, said: "This has been going since January 15 which is almost three months now and it is just getting out of hand.
“If I want to give Harlow a bath I either have to spend ages boiling up water on the cooker and kettle or drive an hour to my mum’s house.
"It isn't just about the hot water not working, but it's the petrol money, the time off work waiting for repairs and the electricity costs on the heater and kettle.
“I am under so much stress both emotionally and financially and nothing is being done.
"It is not acceptable and my daughter has had colds and been ill as it is freezing in the flat especially in the morning.
"I bought us both thick hoodies to wear at night but it's so cold we wear them all the time inside the flat."
Chloe, who moved into the property in 2021, says she feels as if she is being ignored by the housing provider.
She said: "I'm just exhausted and drained. It's a joke. I just have no words for them even though I've argued this is an emergency repair.
“They haven't even offered to put us up in a hotel.
"I've asked them to reimburse my costs as bills soon mount up and they've said we are all in a crisis.
"Three months is long enough and I just want my flat fixed. It's really stressful and I don't know what else to do."
Sanctuary Housing manages 125,000 properties making it one of the largest housing associations in the UK.
A spokesperson said: "We are committed to completing the required repairs as soon as possible and are sorry that it has taken longer than it should have done to resolve this issue.
"We have offered the family the option of a temporary move until the repairs are completed and having also provided portable heaters for them to use, we have reassured them we will cover the cost of any extra energy used."
The housing provider said it has also issued an apology directly to Chloe.
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Schoolboy, 15, making £2k-a-month selling Fortnite-themed art
By Kate Pounds
Meet the schoolboy already making more than his parents - raking in £2k-a-month selling Fortnite-themed art.
Savvy Shakir Hussain, 15, already has his own design agency based around the popular video game.
He creates artwork and customers pay into a PayPal account set up in dad Amjad's name.
His proud parents have praised his entrepreneurial spirit - and say he's always had a passion for cash.
Shakir, from Birmingham, fits in the graphic work around his schooling and has not spent much of the money.
He said: “It’s amazing that I’m making so much money.
"I love playing Fortnite and it’s awesome that this hobby has given me a business as well as lots of fun.
"I love seeing the money come in and piling up in my savings.”
Charity worker Amjad, 38, said: "We're incredibly proud of him.
"He's always had a passion for making money and been good at it. He's helped me with charity fundraising since he was very young.
"I certainly wasn't earning that at his age and I still don't - he's earned more in a day than I do in a week."
Shakir, who lives with Amjad, mum Rifat Bibi, a nursery worker, and his younger sister, created Fortnite-themed graphics on an old computer and started selling on freeance platform Fiverr when he was 14.
He made a couple of pounds a piece.
The youngster then set up his own agency, Akito Media, when he was given his first iPhone for his 15th birthday, in November.
The cash started rolling in when he began taking commissions and paying other artists to create the Fortnite pieces for him, via a platform called Discord.
Shakir made over £2,000 in January and February, and has nearly made £2,000 this month (22/3).
The lad has no immediate plans for his money and puts it all into his savings account.
Amjad said: "I get a message every time he's payed.
"He used to get a message here and there, earning a couple of pounds, then after we got him the iPhone it went crazy.
"Suddenly I was getting messages all the time, and the figures went up.
"The biggest single sale so far is £280.
"He just has the mindset for making money but he's not bothered about spending it: I'm proud of him for earning it and for saving up."
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"Eye test saved my life - when optician spotted a brain tumour"
By George Mathias
A woman says an eye test 'saved her life' - after her optician spotted a brain tumour during a routine examination.
Katie Everett, 31, was referred to at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital for an MRI scan after her optician noticed an abnormality in both of her eyes.
Doctors there diagnosed her with meningioma - the most common type of primary brain tumour - in July 2021.
Katie believes the routine eye test 'saved her life' as the tumour would have been otherwise undetected.
She underwent two operations to have the mass removed in July 2021 and went on to have radiotherapy in November 2022.
The surgery was a success, though not all the tumour could be removed, meaning Katie has to have check ups for the next 10 years.
Katie, a beautician, from Romsey, Hampshire, said: "I feel like the eye test saved my life and eyesight – as if it was left any longer, I could have lost my vision completely due to it pressing on my optic nerve.
"It’s hard to believe, I really don’t think something like that could happen, it’s quite upsetting and shocking."
The type of tumour Katie had is classed a benign as it is slow-growing, however, had it been left undetected it could have caused life-changing or life-limiting problems.
She has since then had two surgeries to remove the tumour and in October 2022 underwent fertility preservation as she hopes to have kids in the future with husband James Everett, 33.
She then began radiotherapy to prevent the tumour from growing which is successful in 90 per cent of cases.
Katie said: “I’ve had some hair loss where the radiotherapy was targeting the mass and my nose and throat are still recovering from the second surgery as they cut away what they could of the tumour via my nose.
“Other than that, I feel fortunate to be able to share my story to help raise awareness.
“It's made me realise that even when you don’t feel that you’re strong enough to deal with something like this, when it comes to it you somehow find the strength within you.”
The tumour was pressing on Katie’s pituitary gland which caused her menstrual cycles to stop while also severely impacting her vision.
It also strangely made colours were appear “more vivid.”
“I almost needed to wear sunglasses because everything felt brighter,” Katie said.
She is now monitored with regular scans.
Mel Tiley, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “We’re grateful to Katie for sharing her story with us as well as fundraising an incredible amount and we wish her well with her ongoing scans.”
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Incredible rare footage shows orcas and sperm whales in a fraught battle
By Leo Black
Incredible rare footage shows a pod of orcas and sperm whales in a fraught battle.
The large pod of orcas can be seen laying siege to a maternal pod of sperm whales, possibly to steal prey.
A whale-watching vessel filmed the extremely rare event on March 24 in the Bremer Canyon, 70km off the coast from Bremer Bay, Western Australia, Australia.
Naturaliste Charters, a whale-watching company, had been tracking the orcas as they searched for food.
But the giant predators suddenly attacked a group of sperm whales, resulting in a long and savage battle.
Jenna Tucker, a marine biologist who was on board the vessel, said: "Everyone was on the lookout for a small dorsal fin and long slender body, characteristic of beaked whale species.
"Instead, what we saw left our jaws gaping, the unmistakable arched back and tail of a sperm whale."
The pod of orcas, in the dozens, swam circles around the five whales, who huddled together and attacked them.
Jennah didn't notice any injuries but saw a large dark bubble which she initially suspected was blood.
She also saw an orca swim away with a piece of meat, although she can't confirm if it came from a sperm whale.
She said: "The group of sperm whales appeared distressed and exhausted, huddled in a tight group.
"Members of Split Tip’s pod [orcas] including Wonks and Flapper swam tight circles around the huddled sperm whales who were thrashing their tails around to fend off the predators.
"The head of one of the larger adults emerged from the surface, with its mouth wide open, displaying its powerful toothed bottom jaw.
"Then, a large dark bubble rose to the surface amongst the huddle, believed at the time to have been blood."
According to Jennah, this was an extremely rare sight as both animals are predators but they tend to leave each other alone,
While the origin of the meat and the dark bubble remains unknown, Jennah suspects the liquid was feces.
She explained: "Historically, it was thought that sperm whales, due to their size, herding behaviour and strong-toothed jaws were not vulnerable to killer whale predation.
"Sperm whales are known to defecate when threatened, referred to as emergency or defensive defection.
"Events like this are rarely witnessed, let alone documented, with only a handful of accounts having been recorded globally and will always remain an immense privilege and a reminder of just how wild these animals and this place are."
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New pictures surface of man 'believed to be Banksy' at site of tree mural
By Josie Adnitt
New pictures have surfaced showing a man believed to be illusive artist Banksy at the site of his latest mural.
The photos were taken on Saturday 23 March but have only just surfaced – and show a man believed to be Banksy at the scene of his work.
Taken by a passerby - who wished to remain anonymous - the images show a man in a black Nike hoodie stood in front of the painting.
The man, who has short hair and glasses, can be seen climbing over the black railing.
The passerby who captured the pictures said: “I noticed the man in a black hoodie who seemed to have finished his work hand over a box to an assistant in a grey checked flannel shirt with grey hair.
“He then started to climb over the fence I had a gut feeling that it could be a Banksy mural and that was Banksy himself.
“I quickly focused on taking pictures of him he looked at me with an expression which seemed to say 'I’ve have been spotted’.
“He quickly left the scene in a black van parked near the mural.”
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