Share Tweet Image copyright Welbeck Estate Image caption The tiara was designed for Winifred, Duchess of Portland to wear at the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII
A gang of thieves smashed into an armoured glass case and stole a diamond-encrusted tiara “worth millions”.
The Portland Tiara was stolen in a heist on the Welbeck Estate in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.
It was created for Winifred, Duchess of Portland, to wear to the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII.
An expert said he feared it could be broken up and the diamonds sold off separately.
Police said they believed a silver Audi S5, found burnt out in Cross Lane, Blidworth, had been used by the thieves.
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The tiara is centred on the Portland Diamond, which is flanked by two diamond drops and other pendant diamonds, all set in gold and silver.
The burglars broke into the Portland Collection Gallery between 21:45 and 22:00 GMT on Tuesday and snatched the object as alarms sounded.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Winifred Anna Dallas-Yorke, Duchess of Portland, wearing the tiara
Nottinghamshire Police said it was following “a number of lines of inquiry” but attention was focused on the recovered car.
Richard Edgcumbe, curator of jewellery at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, described the jewelled headpiece as “one of the great historic tiaras of Great Britain”.
James Lewis, from Bamford auctioneers in Derby, said it had been “designed in a period when money was no object”.
Mr Lewis said: “It could be worth millions – but it is such a well-known piece it can’t come up for public sale.
“The most horrendous thought is it could be something called a ‘breaker’, where the diamonds are taken out and sold individually.”
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A diamond brooch made from stones removed when the tiara was remodelled was also stolen in the raid.
Welbeck Abbey has been home to the Dukes of Portland since 1607.
The Portland Collection, housed in the estate’s converted gas works, is made up of paintings, jewellery and other art collected by the Dukes over 400 years.
The estate has declined to comment.
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‘Britain’s worst Christmas tree’ replaced Image caption Hundreds gathered to watch Camborne’s new Christmas tree get switched on
A town has unveiled an “amazing” new Christmas tree after last year’s fake one was dubbed “the worst in Britain”.
The ridiculed tree in Camborne, west Cornwall, did not even make it to the big day as it had to be removed when its star was stolen and wires exposed.
Earlier, hundreds watched the switch on of a “beautiful” 25ft traditional spruce.
Last year’s cone-shaped tree, damaged at least 10 times, was described as “absolutely rubbish”.
Image caption Mocking around the Christmas tree – last year’s effort was branded ‘absolutely rubbish’
Organiser of this year’s big switch-on, Sharron Lipscombe-Manley described the “wonderful real tree” as the centre piece of Christmas celebrations.
Camborne resident Chris Gilkes said the previous tree was “absolutely rubbish” but the new one was “amazing”.
“It’s a real tree and it will give more spirit to this place than last year,” he said.
Image caption The most wonderful time of the year? The 2017 tree was damaged by climbers ‘at least 10 times’
Michelle Dawson, from nearby Redruth, said: “Last year the tree was a bit embarrassing really – the cone-shaped one, it was awful.”
She added that last year’s vandalism “had its benefits” as “we’ve got a gorgeous new real tree, and it looks beautiful”.
Image caption Blue Christmas – Michelle Dawson was unimpressed with the fake 2017 tree
Grace Bown praised the 2018 Christmas tree organisers, saying they had done a “brilliant job” with the tree, which is complete with a new illuminated star.
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Patients given potentially dangerous implants Image caption Maureen McCleave was fitted with a new type of pacemaker
Medical devices that are unsafe and have not been adequately tested are ending up inside patients’ bodies, an investigation has revealed.
The devices include heart pacemakers, rods to correct spines, and artificial knees and hips.
The investigation found implants that had failed in baboons, or were tested only on pigs and dead bodies, were coming onto the market.
The industry says it has transformed millions of lives for the better.
BBC Panorama has been working with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 58 media organisations around the world including The Guardian newspaper and the British Medical Journal.
The therapy tested on pigs and corpses
The investigation found a lax system of regulation in Europe that allows companies to “shop around” dozens of safety organisations until one of them approves their product.
It also found that doctors can be left in the dark about the true risk of treatments they are recommending to their patients.
Maureen ‘the good guinea pig’?
Maureen McCleave, 82 from Essex, was the first person in the UK to be fitted with the “Nanostim” pacemaker because of an irregular heartbeat.
Pacemakers are life-saving implants that deliver electrical pulses to the heart to keep them beating regularly.
Traditional ones have leads from a battery to the heart that deliver the electrical pulse, but the cables can break.
The Nanostim was the first leadless pacemaker that sat inside the heart.
Maureen said she was “over the moon” to be the first and felt like a “good guinea pig” when she was implanted with the device at Bart’s hospital in London.
“I was so grateful that I’d been chosen, because it sounded too good to be true.”
But three years after it was fitted, the battery in Maureen’s Nanostim failed and surgeons could not get it out.
She now has a traditional pacemaker keeping her alive. The Nanostim is still sitting inside her heart.
She says: “I don’t like the thought I’ve got a piece of metal or whatever in my heart that’s doing nothing and it’s just laying there.”
Maureen was not alone – a number of batteries failed and parts fell off inside patients.
The pacemaker was withdrawn for safety reasons. At least two people died and ninety events were recorded in which patients were seriously harmed by the device.
The Nanostim heart pacemaker was turned down by safety bodies in Germany because of a lack of evidence. Yet it was approved by the British Standards Institute in the UK.
How big a problem is this?
Not all medical devices are dangerous. Many save lives or dramatically improve quality of life.
But the investigation has found that some devices are failing patients including:
implants that cracked inside people’s backs and had failed in baboon tests birth control implants that caused internal damage and bleeding misfiring implantable defibrillators mesh implants for incontinence that caused abdominal pain
The BBC also uncovered a treatment for children with a severely curved spine, or scoliosis, which was allowed on to the market following tests only on pigs and dead bodies.
Yet, due to a lack of transparency and data collection, the scale of any problem across the medical device industry remains a mystery to both patients and doctors.
I have an implant, what should I do?
If you are worried, a panel of experts put together by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has put together some advice.
It recommends: “Your first point of call should be the medical team that performed the operation.
“If you cannot go back to them for whatever reason, you should consult your primary care doctor.
“The doctor should be able to refer you to a specialist who is familiar with the device and the surgery you had.”
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: The Implant Files
How is all this allowed to happen?
Europe does not have a governmental body that checks medical devices before they are put onto the market.
Instead a series of companies called notified bodies issue CE marks – the same mark of approval given to devices like toasters and kettles.
There are 58 of them in Europe and approval by one means a product can be used anywhere in the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway).
But if one body says no, a company can shop around and ask another.
But surely you need evidence?
Less than patients might think.
And there is so much secrecy that even surgeons implanting these devices do not always see the evidence upon which a device has been approved for its safety and effectiveness.
The British Standards Institute said it could not discuss the evidence for Nanostim due to “confidentiality requirements”.
Even the UK’s regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, says it is “bound by confidentiality when it comes to some of the actions that we’ve taken around individual devices”.
But the investigation discovered there was only one clinical study before Nanostim was approved for use on the public.
It followed just 33 patients for 90 days.
Image caption Prof Rita Redberg
Prof Rita Redberg, one of the world’s leading cardiologists and from the University of California, San Francisco, said: “We’re talking about a permanently implanted pacemaker, so I think that’s a very tiny study.
“They’re supposed to last 10, 20 years. A 90-day follow up is not enough to learn much about the pacemaker.”
What does the industry say?
MedTech Europe, the body the represents the medical devices industry, said: “Millions of people have safely benefited from medical devices and can now live healthier, more productive and more independent lives.
“Life is unimaginable today without the hundreds of thousands of medical devices in our hospitals and in our homes.”
And it defended the system of notified bodies which were “selected for the expertise, impartiality, transparency and independence of their staff”.
Abbott, which manufactured Nanostim, says that many patients have been helped by leadless pacemakers and many more will benefit from this technology in the future.
It said: “In accordance with the European CE Mark approval process, the Nanostim leadless pacing system was approved based on strong performance and safety data.
“In addition, upon CE Mark approval Nanostim was further assessed through a European post market clinical follow-up study.”
What is the solution?
The UK’s Royal College of Surgeons has called for “drastic regulatory changes”.
Prof Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “All implantable devices should be registered and tracked to monitor efficacy and patient safety in the long-term.”
But when the European Union suggested tightening the rules, the industry ran a campaign called “Don’t lose the 3”.
It referred to the fact that manufacturers can get new products to patients three years quicker in Europe then they can in the United States.
New medical device regulation will come into force in Europe in 2020, but campaigners say the new rules do not go far enough.
German MEP Dagmar Roth Behrendt told Panorama that an intensive lobbying campaign by the industry undermined the proposed reforms.
“It’s a success for them and a failure for the European parliament and for European patients, I have no doubt about it.
“It is like an open wound for me, that we could not do more for European patients and for the safety of European patients hurts.”
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South America final marred by violence called off again
By David Mercer, news reporter
The biggest game in South American club football has been called off again – a day after violence forced the match to be postponed.
Fans had already begun filling the stadium for the rearranged second leg of the Copa Libertadores final in Buenos Aires when the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) confirmed it had again been suspended.
The match had been rescheduled for 5pm (8pm UK time) on Sunday after River Plate fans attacked the team bus of fierce rivals Boca Juniors on Saturday.
It is unclear when the second leg of the final will go ahead, with the Argentinian capital set to host South America’s first G20 summit on Friday.
Boca Juniors had called for the game – South America’s equivalent of the Champions League final – to be postponed after several of their players were injured on Saturday.
Image: Some fans had already entered the stadium
The club said in a statement that the two Buenos Aires teams would not be playing under equal conditions after the attack.
Team captain Pablo Perez injured his eye from shattered glass and was likely be ruled out of the match.
El Capitán Pablo Perez ingresando al estadio Videla pic.twitter.com/jOA6cEFxAZ
— La12tuittera ⑫ (@La12tuittera) November 24, 2018
Boca also said it wants CONMEBOL to consider River’s disqualification from the tournament because of the ugly scenes near the Monumental de Nunez stadium.
Image: There was a heavy police presence at Sunday’s game
Several Boca players reportedly vomited after inhaling pepper spray during the attack on the team bus.
Imagenes del vestuario de #Boca en el Monumental, con los jugadores afectados con cortes, mareos y vómitos, siendo atendidos por los médicos del club. pic.twitter.com/CkCibuGuBk
— La Número 12 (@lanumero12comar) November 24, 2018
After the incident, organisers were said to be pressing for the game to ahead before it was eventually suspended.
Former Manchester United and City striker Carlos Tevez, who was among the injured Boca players, reportedly said on Saturday: “We are not in condition to play. They’re forcing us to play the game.”
Image: Boca coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto and striker Carlos Tevez
The driver of the Boca team bus told local media that he fainted during the attack and the club’s vice-president was forced to take the wheel.
The rivalry between River Plate and Boca Juniors is one of the biggest in football – with both sides originating from the La Boca neighbourhood before River relocated to a different district of Buenos Aires.
Three years ago, a Copa Libertadores last-16 tie between the two rivals was abandoned at half-time after Boca fans attacked the River players with pepper spray in the tunnel.
This year’s Copa Libertadores final is finely poised at 2-2 after the first leg in Boca two weeks ago.
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