Holiday | LifestyleLetters to the editor

THE WEEK THAT WAS

23/12/2008 00:00

by MONITOR
GORDON Brown visited British troops in Iraq and told them they would all be leaving by the end of July. In the House of Commons Mr Brown was pressed to announce an independent inquiry into the Iraq war but declined to consider doing so until all the British forces had left.

President Bush visited American troops in Iraq. At a press conference with prime minister Maliki of Iraq Mr Bush had to duck to avoid shoes thrown at him by an irate journalist.

The biggest fraud in financial history was revealed when Bernard Madoff was arrested in New York for a $50 billion Ponzi scam. The list of his victims ranged from major banks, including HSBC, Santander and the Royal Bank of Scotland, rich individuals and charities.

In Britain Robert Napper was found guilty of the killing of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common in 1992. The Metropolitan Police apologised for their mishandling of the case which left Napper free to commit another murder in 1993 for which he was arrested. The police also apologised to Colin Stagg who for some time they believed to be Rachel Nickell's killer despite his claims that he was innocent.