A suspect who is at the centre of a murder investigation after a man was allegedly stabbed to death in Portugal is a British drainage engineer, MailOnline can reveal.

Josh James Menkens is alleged to have been one of the organisers of a mini-festival known as the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party last weekend near a remote commune known as Libelinha Venture in central Portugal.

The festival, which was hosted at an off-grid property, descended into chaos after the body of a 35-year-old British man was found in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The victim is alleged to have been stabbed to death after getting into a row with his attacker while playing the Blue Whale suicide game – an online challenge linked to a series of deaths worldwide. 

Menkens, who is 27, was pictured today being taken from a courthouse in the city of Leiria, an hour’s drive away from the commune after being quizzed by a judge investigating the case.

His head covered by a coat, Menkens was hustled into an unmarked police car as a man believed to be his father shouted, ‘Your mother loves you son, we all love you.’

Police sources confirmed that Menkens has been named as an ‘arguido’ (suspect) in the case and will reappear before the judge tomorrow for further questioning.

It comes after a suspected murder case which shattered the tranquility of the forest valleys in Pedrogao Grande in the centre of the country.

The rambling Libelinha Venture, which includes 24-acres of wide open woodland, hills and shrubbery, is run by new-age privately educated British businessman Xavier Hancock and his Spanish partner Arantxa Atauri.

It is believed to have been hosting a festival for British and Dutch visitors called the ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’, when the body of a 35-year-old British man was found less then a mile away on Sunday, September 24.

Police sources said the suspect and victim had been at a party at the couple’s ‘off-grid living community’ before moving onto woodland outside the commune. 

In 2017, it was bought by eccentric British businessman Xavier Hancock, who attended the £15,000-a-year St Edward’s school, and transformed into a peaceful oasis of communal calm outfitted by the sites distinctive white teepees.

For potential visitors, Hancock, who set up the commune with his Spanish partner Arantxa Atauri, promises the chance to ‘reconnect’ with nature ‘during a journey towards self sustainability’.

Hancock, who is believed to have hosted the 27-year-old suspect and the victim at the commune prior to the incident, has said he is fully co-operating with police investigations while they probe the circumstances around the death. 

There is no suggestion whatsoever that Hancock or Arantxa are in any way involved in the crime.

Police confirmed yesterday they were initially told the British man’s death was linked to an argument that started while he and his friends were playing the Blue Whale suicide challenge.

The online game has been linked to numerous deaths around the world and consists of initially innocuous tasks before introducing elements of self-harm.

But sources close to the investigation subsequently insisted they had found no evidence there was a Blue Whale link to the death.

Correio da Manha claimed today the suspect had only mentioned the game ‘after having confessed to the crime’ as a way of ‘explaining the situation that led to the macabre death.’

The alarm was raised around 6.30am on Sunday and the suspect reportedly admitted stabbing his alleged victim before taking police to the remote woodland spot where his body was.

The knife investigators believe was used to kill him was found alongside the body, left in a small clearing in woodland close to the village of Figueiro dos Vinhos about a 15-minute drive from the town of Pedrogao Grande in central Portugal.

Footage published by Portuguese daily Correio da Manha showed police lifting the dead man’s body on a stretcher after it was covered with a sheet and putting it into the back of a nearby van.

A waiting Red Cross ambulance took it to Coimbra after officers reached the nearest tarmacked road.

A post-mortem is thought to have taken place yesterday in the university city of Coimbra, although the results have not been made public.

Well-placed sources said both the 35-year-old victim and suspected murderer had been part of a larger group of around six British people who had been living in the ‘off-grid living community’ and were due to fly back to the UK in about a week’s time. 

One well-placed source said the suspect and other Brits questioned by police on Sunday as witnesses had been at a party at a campsite inside the community grounds before leaving to go to nearby woodland outside it where the stabbing occurred.

Another police source said: ‘A group of about half a dozen people the suspect and dead man were part of were staying at a campsite near to the place where the victim’s body was found.

‘It appears they had attended a party there earlier that night before leaving to head for the woodland where the stabbing happened.’

The group are understood to have been planning to fly back to the UK in about a week’s time.

Respected Portuguese broadcaster SIC said the group often held parties and played the Blue Whale game – but there were contradictory reports in local media about whether the group of Britons had been playing at the time of the murder.

The lethal Blue Whale ‘game’ involves 50 tasks in as many days, aimed at ‘creating psychologically traumatising situations’, ending with suicide.

Participants join a ‘group’ where the tasks are set by a group ‘administrator’ and can range from watching horror movies to waking at strange hours, and eventually progresses to self harming.

On the 50th day, the controlling manipulators behind the game, which originated in Russia in 2015, reportedly instruct the participants, who are usually teenagers, to kill themselves.

The game, which reportedly started in Russia, has caused numerous deaths around the world, including Ukraine, India and the United States.

First reports about its victims appeared in Russia in 2016, and in 2020 police in Britain issued a warning to parents to be mindful of their children’s online activities, urging them to talk about the dangers they can face.

At the time, Northants Police said: ‘We are aware of a disturbing social media challenge circulating called the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ which encourages teenagers to take part in a series of 50 challenges that culminate in committing suicide.

‘This challenge first appeared in 2016 and tasks are given online or through text messages, instant messages or posts on Instagram and Twitter.

‘Please talk to your children about the dangers and tell them not to open any messages or challenges of this kind.’

An experimental drug that laces people’s skin with poison is being trialed to protect against Lyme disease.

Cases of the tick-borne infection have soared across America in recent decades with nearly 500,000 people now thought to be infected every year.

The new pill would be taken once every nine months and works by putting a drug that is harmless to humans but deadly to ticks into the skin, causing the ticks to suffer a seizure and die before they can transmit the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

Dr Bobak Azamian, the chief executive of the California company developing the treatment, told DailyMail.com: ‘I think the power of this tablet is there is nothing like it that targets the root cause of Lyme disease, that is the trick.

‘What this would do is provide an opportunity for protection for lots of people, for landscapers, frequent hikers and gardeners.’

Trials have already shown it is safe, but it must now be shown to have a protective effect before it can be submitted for approval.

If successful, the team at California-based Tarsus Pharmaceuticals say it could be available by 2026. 

Lyme disease vaccines have not been available since 2002, when the Lymerix vaccine was pulled off the market.

Yet over the past three decades, Lyme disease cases appear to have more than doubled nationwide to nearly 500,000 per year.

The disease can be treated with antibiotics if caught in the early stages, but figures suggest some 30,000 patients every year don’t notice in time.

This means many patients may suffer in silence. Bella Hadid, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July, said she was left suffering an irregular heartbeat, joint pain and difficulty breathing by the infection.

The bacteria behind Lyme disease causes disease by hitching a ride in the bloodstream from the infection site to other areas in the body.

In severe cases, it can infect and damage heart valves and nerve cells leading to encephalitis — or inflammation of the brain.

The new pill contains a drug called TP-05, a parasitic agent that paralyzes and kills ticks.

Pfizer is also working on a new vaccine to tackle Lyme disease using the same mRNA technology that was deployed against Covid.

This will require at least three doses to be effectively, preliminary research suggests, and possibly a booster every year. It is not expected to be available until 2025.

The drug has already passed Phase 1 trials showing it is safe. During these, it was given to young, healthy adults and triggered no adverse reactions.

It is currently in Phase 2a trials, which will test whether it can kill sterile ticks that bite humans.

The trial will involve 30 participants who will each take the pill and then be bitten by a tick. 

These ticks will then be monitored for 30 days to see whether they die. A placebo group — receiving a dummy drug — will also be included.

It’s hoped that the drug, because it targets ticks rather than bacteria, could also spark protection against other less common tick-borne diseases such as Powassan virus, which can cause encephalitis or brain inflammation.

As ticks advance further north and are active for longer every year thanks to warming temperatures, doctors say there is an ever-growing need to find a way to combat the disease.

It’s not clear yet how much the treatment will cost but it is based on a similar once-a-month drug given to cats and dogs to prevent flea and tick bites. This costs upward of $18.99 per dose.

Dr Azamian said they would likely have results from this trial by the end of this year, but will still need to undertake phase 2b and 3 trials.

But he is confident that once they have the data, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will approve this treatment for use in humans. This could come as early as 2026, he told DailyMail.com.

EXCLUSIVE: Gemma Collins shares her hopes to cover Vogue as former editor Edward Enninful ‘is a fan’ after ditching ‘loud and proud’ style for ‘look that’s more Victoria Beckham’

By Laura Parkin For Mailonline

Published: 03:17 EDT, 26 September 2023 | Updated: 03:24 EDT, 26 September 2023

Doctors have hit back against a controversial study that linked diet soda to autism.

Research by the University of Texas (UT) found boys diagnosed with autism were three times as likely to have mothers who drank diet soda daily while pregnant or breastfeeding.

They theorized that aspartame, the popular sugar substitute found in Diet Coke, may release toxins that cause oxidative stress in cells and tissues — a process linked to autism. 

But Dr Deirdre Tobias, a nutritionist at Harvard University who was not involved in the research, told DailyMail.com it was ‘shocking that the authors would feel confident enough in this design to draw those conclusions.’

Dr Rachel Moseley, principal academic in psychology at Bournemouth University in the UK, told DailyMail.com: ‘It would be highly premature and irresponsible to suggest a relationship between aspartame and autism based on this study. As every scientist knows, correlation between two things does not mean that the one causes the other.’

Dr Tobias said the study was ‘extremely flawed’ because the data was collected retrospectively and based on the mother’s memory of how much aspartame they consumed.

Dr Moseley added that the sample size is small and was recruited from a panel of parents with an autistic child.

‘Since autism has a large genetic component, having one autistic child is already associated with a higher risk of having another autistic child,’ she said.

‘Moreover, the authors did not rigorously confirm whether either or both of the parents were themselves autistic.’

In the study, the diets of mothers of 235 children with autism spectrum disorder were compared to a control group of mothers of 121 children who didn’t have autism.

The mothers completed questionnaires that asked: ‘While you were pregnant or breastfeeding your child, how often did you drink diet drinks containing artificial sweeteners?’

Diet Coke, Diet Dr Pepper, Diet Sprite, Crystal Light, sugar-free Kool-Aid, and Slim-Fast were suggested as prompts.

Each mother was also asked: ‘While you were pregnant or breastfeeding your child, how many little packets of low-calorie sweeteners (such as Sweet ‘N Low, Equal or Splenda) did you use in your coffee, tea, or other foods and beverages?’

Intake of the three leading sweeteners — Equal/Nutrasweet (blue), Splenda (yellow), and Sweet’N Low (pink) — was recorded. 

The researchers found that males diagnosed with autism disorder were between 3.1 and 3.5 times more likely to have mothers who reported an aspartame intake equivalent to one or more diet sodas a day during pregnancy or breastfeeding, compared with male controls. 

The association was greatest among males with non-regressive autism — where the condition is apparent before 18 months, also known as early onset.

The study did not find a statistically significant trend in autistic girls.

Conditions such as obesity and diabetes in mothers are associated with an increased risk of autism in children and may also influence a decision to use diet products. 

The researchers did not collect data on these risk factors, nor smoking, drinking, birth weight, prematurity, or the age of the parents. They did have data for household income, educational attainment, and ethnicity, which they adjusted for in the results.

Dr Tobias added that the three artificial sweeteners they examined are ‘completely different compounds, metabolized very differently in humans, and have been extensively evaluated for their safety. 

‘Thus, the fact that the signal for aspartame was essentially the same as the other chemicals further points to the bias in this study, perhaps due to errors in the mothers’ recall or other factors related to women who chose diet sodas.

‘It is extremely unlikely that any association they are observing has anything to do with the chemical aspartame itself.’

The study was published in the journal Nutrients.

During pregnancy, aspartame can cross the placenta and accumulate in fetal tissue. 

The substance can also cross into breastmilk, but other studies have suggested the mother’s body rapidly breaks it down.

Autism affects one in 36 children, meaning that more than 90,000 children are born annually with the developmental disorder in the US.

It is characterized by problems with social communication and interaction, difficulty expressing oneself and repetitive behaviors and interests.

Autism is a lightning rod issue and often comes up in antivaxxer messaging. 

In a recent poll, one-quarter of American adults said they believed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism – a widely studied and discredited claim that emerged in the 1990s.

Claims that shots can lead to autism have been peddled by anti-vaxxers for almost 25 years, but the link has been repeatedly disproven.

The disgraced British physician Andrew Wakefield made the claim in a now-retracted 1998 Lancet study.

Dr Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, publicly described the research as ‘fundamentally flawed’ in 2004 – nine years after it was published.

Dr Horton alleged that Andrew Wakefield, the gastroenterologist behind the paper, was paid by a group pursuing lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers.

The prestigious medical journal finally retracted the paper in 2010.

Just three months after his paper was pulled, Wakefield was banned from practicing medicine in Britain by the General Medical Council.

In 2011, the British Medical Journal conducted a damning probe into the findings of Wakefield’s original study.

Its investigation found only two of the 12 children included developed autistic symptoms after being vaccinated – as opposed to the eight Wakefield claimed.

Since then, studies involving millions of children have failed to find a link between the MMR vaccine and the neurodevelopmental disorder.  

A Nevada widow whose husband died from an accidental fentanyl overdose is shedding light on the harrowing impact of the drug.

Jacob Wade, 26, a former Marine, had been a devoted family man to his wife, Britain Tomlin, and children, Walker and Blakely, when he accidentally overdosed on a drug cocktail laced with fentanyl in February.

It’s unclear what other drugs Mr Wade was taking, but accidental overdoses involving fentanyl have become an increasingly common tale in the US. Many victims don’t even know they’re taking it. 

Ms Tomlin is now warning against the dangers of the drug, which kills one American every eight minutes.

‘Fentanyl robbed us of a wonderful man – a devoted husband, a loving son, and a caring father,’ she said.

‘I’m determined to raise awareness about the devastating fentanyl and opioid crisis, urging the government to step up its efforts in aiding those grappling with addiction.’

‘We need more resources to support individuals battling substance abuse and to assist their families.’

Ms Tomlin and Mr Wade met in 2018 after he returned home from the military. The two shared an ‘instant connection.’

‘Before we knew it, we were married and embracing the arrival of our precious kids,’ Ms Tomlin said.  

Mr Wade was an aspiring entrepreneur who spent his free time fishing, hiking, and riding his dirt bike. He also regularly volunteered in his community, such as building homes for families in need. 

But he also had a history of drug use that started when he was a teenager. It started with marijuana before escalating to harder drugs. 

‘Throughout our relationship, he put in tremendous effort to break free from his addiction, and there were moments when he believed he had conquered it. But then, he would fall back into old patterns, and the cycle would restart,’ Ms Tomlin said. 

‘Drug dependency had transformed Jacob into a different version of himself – someone who no longer recognized the person he had become.’

‘The actions he took while under the influence haunted him when he was sober, casting a shadow of sadness and self-disappointment.’

The Department of Homeland Security has declared fentanyl the ‘single greatest challenge the US faces as a country.’  

The potent synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. It is used by doctors for patients in serious pain or with terminal illnesses.

It is cheap, highly addictive, relatively easy to smuggle into the US, and cost-effective for dealers to mix it into their supplies, which saves them money and can extend or boost the high that users experience.

But it takes a vanishingly small dose of fentanyl to cause a fatal overdose. Just two milligrams, the equivalent of five grains of salt, is enough to cause death.

Because it is cut into other popular drugs, many people who die of overdoses do not know they are taking fentanyl. Fentanyl has also been partially blamed for America’s sharp fall in life expectancy over the past three years.

It’s now found in everything from cocaine to molly and street benzodiazepines like Xanax.

The opioid being cut with virtually every street drug in the country killed a record 75,000 Americans in 2021 in the latest numbers, the equivalent of 1,500 lives lost weekly. 

And deaths from fentanyl-laced drugs have risen 50-fold in just over a decade. 

It was also linked to the death of Euphoria star Angus Cloud, 25, who died earlier this year from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine, and meth. 

‘It’s so common to think addiction is just a choice. How could the people we love willingly go down that path of using drugs or risking their lives? They have so much to live for, and their choices affect many others,’ Ms Tomlin said. 

‘We tend to label those who make such choices as selfish, self-destructive, irresponsible, and reckless. But the truth is that addiction doesn’t stick to any specific type. It doesn’t care if you’re strong or weak, selfless or selfish, kind or heartless. It can hit anyone.’

Ms Tomlin said that her relationship with Mr Wade was strained at the time of his death. She had recently moved out with the kids and was temporarily staying with family. 

On the day he died, he had stopped responding to her texts. Mr Wade’s parents found him unresponsive.

‘I couldn’t go upstairs as paramedics were still trying to help him. My kids were in the car with our neighbors, witnessing the police, ambulances, and fire trucks gathered around our home,’ Ms Tomlin said. 

‘Even today, my daughter, who was just three years old, remembers how her daddy was put on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance.’

At the hospital, doctors informed her that Mr Wade had passed. 

‘I fell apart, dreading how to break the news to our children and his parents,’ Ms Tomlin said. 

‘I spent about an hour with him, and before leaving, I took a necklace I had given him and left a bracelet with his mom. I whispered my final words and left, carrying the weight of that heart-wrenching day with me.’

After her husband’s death, Ms Tomlin took to social media to bring awareness to fentanyl and drug overdoses. 

“If you know someone struggling, don’t wait – take action,’ she said. 

‘Show them kindness and honesty, reach out as soon as possible, and keep checking in. Life’s too short to let fear of judgment hold us back. Yes, my grief is always there, heavy and strong.’

‘I’ll carry Jacob with me wherever I go. But you know what? Despite all that pain, I’ve found ways to grow and experience real happiness.’

‘My life isn’t done yet. Jacob’s memory lives on, cherished by everyone who loved him.’

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Narcan, the nasal spray that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses.  

The medicine can now be sold over the counter without a prescription.

Disgraced comedian Russell Brand made a ‘depraved’ TV documentary in which he befriended a heroin addict, then reduced him to tears by offering £50 to let him sleep with his prostitute girlfriend.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal social services were called after Brand spent a week living with the couple and their toddler daughter at their Norwich home before making his sordid proposal, which was rejected.

At times during filming, Brand’s sidekick Matt Morgan was left to look after the couple’s child because everyone else in the house was high on drugs. Brand was still a heroin addict himself at the time and later admitted ‘using with them [the couple] the whole time we were making the programme’.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that the boss of the company behind the programme, which never aired, called social services after being shown the disturbing footage.

The shocking episode is a new low for Brand, 48, who is facing rape and sexual assault allegations from four women, including a woman who was 16 years old when she claims he sexually assaulted her. He denies the claims.

In a podcast earlier this year, Mr Morgan recalled making a ‘comedy’ docuseries called RE:Brand made for the now defunct channel Play UK, in which they filmed one episode living with the heroin-addicted couple. He said: ‘The guy who ran the production company watched it and said, ‘This can’t go on telly because they’ll lose custody of their child.’ ‘

The show was made by well-regarded Vera Productions and was grandly hailed by Brand and Morgan, his then writing partner, as a way of exploring the idea of whether ‘anyone would sleep with prostitutes if they weren’t able to dehumanise them’.

Morgan recalled that after a week spent ‘helping’ the couple, Brand turned to the boyfriend and said: ‘I want to give you 50 quid . . . I’m going to have sex with her.’

Morgan added that the boyfriend ‘started crying . . . it was actually really beautiful and in the end they all cried . . . it was properly mental. It took me about two or three days coming back to my normal life to unpack it all. It was almost like you needed counselling’. A source with knowledge of the programme said ‘it was all rather depraved, dirty and squalid’.

Brand references the incident in his memoir My Booky Wook, writing that the woman was ‘pimped out’ by her partner. He said the man’s tearful response to his cash-for-sex proposal made him feel terrible, ‘but I still thought, ‘This is what you’re doing every day, it’s just that you’ve got to know me.’ ‘

Morgan revealed that he and Brand had first met the junkie couple a few weeks earlier while on a drug-addled holiday in Norfolk.

He told the Blethered podcast hosted by broadcaster Sean McDonald: ‘Me and him [Brand] went on a holiday and hired a boat. We f***** it up completely. We smoked weed and drank and the boat was wrecked.

‘We thrashed it, we went out into open sea and it was mental. Then I caught a cold because there was only one blanket and Russell had it. I was ill and we went to a hotel and he was full-on sex addiction mode and he was like, ‘I need to go and f*** a prostitute.’

‘So he went and came back and said, ‘I couldn’t do it – I went round her house and there was like kids’ toys and it was really grim and I felt really sorry for her and the situation was really awful.’

‘So when we got back to London, we were like, ‘That’s interesting that she was too humanised you couldn’t do it, so clearly prostitution’s wrong. If you knew that person, could you go through with it?’ ‘ He said this is what spawned the idea to return to Norfolk and live with the couple for an episode of the RE:Brand series.

Morgan said the situation with the heroin-addicted couple was ‘f****** tragic’, adding: ‘She was on the game supporting hers and his heroin addiction, and there was a kid in the house, and that was why we couldn’t show it. There was points where they were all ‘gouching’ – nodding off on smack, with this poor little kid running around. So you’re making this documentary but I’m making a sandwich for this little kid because no one else is, and it was just tragic, it was awful.’

Morgan said other ideas for RE:Brand were shelved.

Writing in My Booky Wook, Brand recalled: ‘One discarded RE:Brand idea which it’s probably best we didn’t follow up was: ‘Let’s get loads of prostitutes, make them live with my mum, and she’ll be their pimp’ . . . I remember the phone call very clearly: ‘Mum, can I have loads of prostitutes come and live round your house for a TV programme?’

‘ ‘Yeah OK,’ she replied in that same soft and gentle voice she always used as she continued resolutely in her mission to love me.’

Last week Brand was accused of exposing himself to a woman in 2008 and then laughing about it on his Radio 2 show with Morgan, who told listeners that Brand ‘showed his willy to a lady’.

In a statement Morgan said he stopped working for Brand ‘several years ago’. He added: ‘During the time I worked with him, I was never aware of any allegations of serious sexual misconduct against him. I absolutely condemn all forms of mistreatment of women.’

Brand has said the allegations made against him in the last week are part of a vendetta against him by the ‘mainstream’. On Friday night, he released a video on social media channels thanking his followers for their ‘support and for questioning the information that you have been presented with’.

He went on to announce he would be returning his show on Rumble – an online video platform – after adverts on his YouTube channel were suspended in light of the allegations.

In a rambling speech, he accused the British Government of demanding that big technology platforms censor his online content and took a swipe at his former employer the BBC for its ‘trusted news initiative’ that tackles fake news. Several women have come forward to make allegations against the comedian, which they claim happened at the height of his fame.

The shocking allegations, said to have occurred between 2003 and 2013, include the alleged rape of a woman at his home in Los Angeles and the alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

Brand has denied the accusations, claiming all of his relationships had been consensual.

The father who lived in Poland‘s incest house of horrors where the remains of three babies were found in the basement has also been accused of cruelty to his St Bernard dog.

An animal charity which is now looking after the elderly dog called Bethowen believe he was deliberately starved and spent his entire life chained up.

The underweight dog was hardly able to walk when he was recovered last Friday after police raided the home of Piotr Gierasik, 54, in the village of Czerniki, northern Poland.

He is now recovering, along with two cats from the property, at the ‘Animalsi’ Foundation Animal Shelter in the nearby town Kocierzyna.

Police found the remains of three babies in the basement of the cottage where widowed Piotr lived with his daughter Paulina, 20, and her 24-year-old mentally disabled brother.

One baby is said to have been born from Piotr’s rape of an older daughter while the last two came from an alleged consensual relationship with cake shop worker Paulina.

He has now been charged with three counts of murder, one count of incest with Paulina, and the rape of his older daughter.

Paulina who had tried to conceal her latest pregnancy from work colleagues is also charged with incest and two counts of murder of her infants.

Staff at the Animalsi shelter which looks after 230 dogs and more than 50 homeless cats posted pictures of Bethowen showing his shocking condition on their Facebook page.

The post said: ‘The whole of Poland is reeling from the drama that took place in one of the towns in the Stara Kiszewa commune.

‘We are receiving more and more blood-curdling information from everywhere.

‘We were there to secure the animals staying there – Bethowen, a nice senior citizen Róa, and two cats are already here in the shelter.

‘But we are shocked that the big St Bernard weighs only 28kg and has spent his entire life on a chain.

‘The dog needs more thorough examination and certainly treatment (you can immediately see his sick eyes).

‘Currently he can barely stand, so we will provide him with good quality meals several times a day. Thankfully he does have a good appetite.’

The post said that Bethowen who is believed to be around ten-years-old had been due to visit a vet this week.

It added: ‘We are convinced that in a few months Bethowen will be a beautiful and strong dog. Pets will no longer return to their previous owners.’

The post concluded with a plea for donations to help the running of the shelter, saying: ‘If you want to help Bethowen, we will be grateful for even the smallest donation.’

Staff at the shelter have since insisted that they had no knowledge of the condition the dog was kept in before they were alerted by police.

Polish animal lovers have flooded Animalsi’s Facebook page with messages sending warm wishes to Bethowen and praying for his recovery.

Hanka Bromirska wrote: ‘Good luck dog. You deserve love and a warm home.’

Karolina Stawiarska-Kocent added: ‘Further proof some people don’t deserve to own animals. They treat them like slaves rather than family members. Disgusting!’

The authorities in Poland revealed this week that Piotr had faced five previous investigations into alleged incest and family abuse before the bodies of the babies were found.

Grayna Wawryniuk, a spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Gdansk told MailOnline that Piotr first faced an allegation of incest 12-years-ago, and then another about ‘two or three years later’.

The other three investigations centred on alleged abuse of members of his family in more recent years.

Ms Wawryniuk said all the investigations were ‘discontinued’ with no charges bought due to a lack of evidence.

Jobless Piotr had 12 children with his late wife Hanna who died aged just 38 in 2008, leading villagers to openly voice their suspicions that Piotr had abused her.

The poverty-stricken family first came to the attention of social services many years ago and first put under supervision by a judge in Gdansk to December, 1997.

The family later moved to the Czerniki area, and the supervision order was transferred with them.

Local media reported today that the District Court in Kocierzyna limited Piotr’s parental authority over his remaining children in March, 2015. He was also ordered to complete parenting lessons.

The probation officer’s supervision gradually ended when his children became adults, and was finally completed in May last year due to the youngest child coming of age, it was reported.

Villagers have claimed that they alerted authorities over the years after hearing the sounds of ‘moaning and screaming’ from Piotr’s detached home on the outskirts of Czerniki.

Others became suspicious after seeing shaven-headed Piotr walking hand in hand with Paulina, and appearing to treat her more as wife than a daughter.

The father and daughter are also said to have been seen choosing perfumes together on rare outings to a local shop and calling each other, ‘Darling’.

Piotr’s alleged reign of terror was only finally exposed last week after staff at the Cukiernia cake shop in Stara Kiszewa where Paulina worked suspected that she was wearing baggy clothes to conceal her latest pregnancy.

One colleague told social services that Paulina may have secretly given birth after she seemed to have lost weight when she returned from ‘holiday’.

The tip off led to a social worker visiting Paulina and coaxing her into confessing what had happened after persuading her domineering father to leave the room.

• Aussie boxing champ Michael Zerafa impressed by NRL star
• Both happen to train at the same Melbourne gym
• Asofa Solomona will make his debut in the ring on October 7
• Fighting fellow NRL star Jarrod Wallace in Townsville
• Part of the Battle On The Reef fight night

By Andrew Prentice For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 21:42 EDT, 22 September 2023 | Updated: 21:42 EDT, 22 September 2023

A NASA contractor is reportedly looking to study ‘alien bodies’ that were presented to Mexico‘s Congress during a controversial UFO hearing.

Jaime Maussan, a veteran broadcast journalist and prolific ufologist who presented the corpses last week, told the DailyMail.com that an unnamed third-party contractor has been in contact with him about carrying out a ‘DNA investigation’ potentially on behalf of the US space agency.

The news comes just one week after NASA’s top UFO investigator Dr David Spergel was pressed about the purported alien corpses – and did not shut them down entirely.

Dr Spergel told reporters: ‘We don’t know the nature of those samples. My recommendation is, if you have something strange, make samples available to the world scientific community, and we’ll see what’s there.’

Maussan had first unveiled the pair of alleged 1,000-year-old bodies, reportedly unearthed in a Peruvian cave, during UFO hearings held by the General Congress of the United Mexican States — unleashing an international firestorm.

While Maussan heralded the bodies’ discovery as one of the most important in human history, his presentation has sparked an outcry from numerous scientists, anthropologists and even some dedicated UFO researchers. 

This week, the temperature of the debate climbed higher, with Peru’s Minister of Culture filing criminal charges accusing Maussan and his collaborators of robbing bodies from ancient graves.

As of 2022, Peru’s Culture Ministry has designated approximately 26,000 protected archaeological sites across the country, but has faced budget constraints in its efforts to secure these valuable artifacts from black market antiquities dealers.

But, as Maussan told the DailyMail.com, ‘I personally went to the Ministry of Culture, to ask them to do the investigation to get involved in this finding.’ 

‘They never did,’ according to Maussan. ‘We tried many, many times. We sent letters.’

‘And let me tell you something else,’ Maussan asked rhetorically, ‘You remember NASA saying that this should be investigated, and so on?’ 

‘A contractor from NASA took the challenge,’ Maussan answered. ‘They are a laboratory dedicated to the reading of DNA.’

Despite several attempts by the DailyMail.com, via phone and email, NASA’s office of public affairs could not yet be reached for comment.

For his part, Maussan expressed concern that too much transparency too early could upset the delicate investigations which, he says, are now underway.

When asked by the DailyMail.com, Mussaun declined to identify the NASA contractor by name. 

‘A contractor from NASA — it’s all I can tell you,’ he said. 

‘I won’t tell you the name. I want to keep this private,’ he said, ‘until they can do their investigation.’

But, the Mexican broadcaster who was once chief investigative reporter and editor of 60 Minutos, the country’s affiliate of the CBS television news magazine 60 Minutes, was nevertheless willing to speculate on the NASA contractor’s next steps. 

‘I think they’re going to Peru [then] they’re coming to Mexico,’ Maussan said, ‘to check on the bodies to take samples. They want to do their own DNA investigation.’

‘And we said yes! We are open, my friend.’

Maussan’s efforts to garner professional scientific interest in the potential of ‘ancient alien’ specimens from Latin America has spanned years, with some setbacks and some success, but never before at the present level of international scrutiny.

At a May 5, 2015, event in Mexico City, Maussan and a coalition of US ufologists presented now infamous photographic slides purported to document a recovered alien body from the long-rumored 1947 flying saucer crash at Roswell, New Mexico.

Efforts by a coalition of skeptics and dedicated UFO researchers, however, quickly put forward compelling evidence that the images depicted a child mummy, museum placard included, as displayed at the Mesa Verde Museum in Colorado.

Undaunted, Maussan returned with his first Peruvian ‘alien mummy’ in 2017, for a documentary on Gaia TV, which included analysis by Konstantin Korotkov, a professor of computer science and biophysics at Saint-Petersburg University,

In the ensuing speculation, some scientists have taken a crack at determining the origin of these specimens, including researchers at the Cyprus University of Technology as well as the retired CEO of Western Paleontological Laboratories.  

Debate continues on whether the specimens are truly alien, or were ritually made from human and llama remains by ancient indigenous populations, or were made more recently by the enterprising tomb-raiding huaqueros themselves. 

To complicate matters, the numerous Peruvian mummies brought to the public by Maussan vary in size and several more key characteristics. 

This week, Maussan’s associate, Dr. Jose Zalce Benitez, the director of the Scientific Institute for Health of the Mexican Navy, detailed x-rays, 3-D reconstruction and DNA analysis which he said has been carried out on the remains.

According to Benitez, scans showed that the specimens of the two latest mummies are each ‘a single skeleton’ and ‘complete organic being,’ contrary to suggestions they were made up of ‘different parts as some assumed.’

This analysis has its critics, including Elsa Tomasto-Cagigao, a respected Peruvian bio-anthropologist, who cited similar alleged finds that were found to be frauds.

‘What we said before still stands, they are presenting the same rehash as always and if there are people that keep believing that, what can we do?,’ she said.

Ultimately, Maussan maintains his conviction that the bodies merit deeper, professional scrutiny.

‘We know — we’re not stupid — that we need someone bigger than us, a university, or an institution, someone bigger, to investigate them,’ Maussan told the DailyMail.com Thursday.

‘Once that happens, everybody will realize this is the finding of the century or the millennium, or whatever you want to say,’ Maussan said. ‘I put my hands on the fire, to tell you that this is absolutely real.’

‘This is physical evidence, it’s not going to evaporate.’ 

 

Villagers are insisting that a young Polish woman accused of murdering her newborn babies from an incestuous relationship with her father is a victim of his depraved behaviour.

Many suggest that Paulina Gierasik, 20, should be treated compassionately due to her having been ‘groomed’ into having sex with her widowed father Piotr Gierasik.

The pair are being held in custody while prosecutors probe their relationship and the discovery of the remains of three babies in the basement of their isolated home in Czerniki in northern Poland.

But locals have begun to express feelings that cake shop production worker Paulina should be receiving help rather than condemnation.

They are also questioning reported claims that she was in a ‘consensual relationship’ with him for years, saying she must have been pressured into it.

Martyna Lewandowska-Tercjak who works as a waitress in the village of Stara Kiszewa where Paulina worked in cake shop, said: ‘I think she is a victim.

‘I don’t believe she should be in jail. She needs specialist psychiatric help after what her father put her through.

‘She was little more than a child, and he must have put pressure on her to accept such acts as being normal.

‘Her mother had died and she was left under her father’s control. It looks like she felt she had no choice.

‘You will have heard of Stockholm Syndrome. She must have known it was wrong when she gave birth, but her father ruled her life.

‘Everyone is saying in the Polish media that she is guilty of homicide, but she believed in her Dad. It was wrong, but she deserves sympathy.’

Martyna added: ‘My friend saw them out in the store buying perfume together. They would call each other ‘Honey’ and ‘Baby’ and say, ‘I love you’.

‘He was also seen slapping her bottom in the village. That would have just been normal for her having grown up with him.’

Adrienn Kotowicz also defended Paulina in a Facebook post, saying: ‘Must have been manipulated since childhood. Stockholm syndrome, mental disorder, trauma.’

Another woman Agnieszka Kroma added in the same thread: ‘Because maybe she was a victim and bullied?’

Piotr’s alleged relationship with Paulina was only exposed last week after her work colleagues became suspicious that she was covering up her latest pregnancy.

One colleague told social services that Paulina may have secretly given birth after she appeared visibly pregnant, despite trying to hide it by wearing baggy clothes, and then seemed to have lost weight when she returned from ‘holiday’.

The tip-off led to a social worker visiting Paulina and coaxing her into confessing what had happened after persuading her domineering father to leave the room.

Police found the bodies of two babies in the basement on Friday at the run-down home where Paulina lived with her father and 24-year-old mentally disabled brother while a third set of remains was recovered on Saturday.

One baby is said to have been born from Piotr’s rape of an older daughter while the last two came from an alleged consensual relationship with Paulina.

He has now been charged with three counts of murder, one count of incest with Paulina, and the rape of his older daughter.

Paulina was also charged last weekend with one count of incest and two counts of murder of her infants.

Prosecutors have been given permission to hold them in custody for three months, pending an investigation which could lead to them both being jailed for life if convicted.

Other outraged locals have taken to community media groups to describe Paulina as a victim of her abusive father.

Posting on local portal Zawsze Pomorze one commentator said: ‘Paulina should be provided with psychological care and not spend the rest of her life in prison!

‘She is a victim herself! ‘Piotr G. took care of his daughter Paulina (without her mother) since she was five-years-old.

‘She was dependent on him, he always had power over her. This young woman’s Stockholm Syndrome/love for her father made her want to get rid of incriminating evidence – children?

‘Was it her father-mate, her god, who suggested that something needed to be done with them? Why didn’t they use condoms?’

Another posting on the local commune’s Weekend FM website said: ‘Degenerates and killers, the daughter was probably brainwashed by constant rapes (sic) from childhood by a paedophile.

‘What is happening to these people to treat their own daughters like this?’

Yet another writing on the local koscierski.info website said: ‘To blame children who lived in a completely sick world created for them by their psychopathic father is simply sick.

‘After all, these kids don’t know any other world…! Please look at all this from a psychological point of view, and don’t put kids in a box.’

Piotr had 12 children with his late wife Hanna who died suddenly in 2008 at the age of 38, just a few years after the family moved from Gdansk to Czerniki.

MailOnline revealed yesterday how prosecutors missed five potential chances to stop Piotr’s reign of terror before the remains of three babies were found in his home.

He was quizzed by authorities on five separate occasions over the last 12 years about claims that he was having sex with his daughters and abusing his children.

But all the investigations were discontinued due to lack of evidence after he fiercely denied any wrong-doing and his daughters apparently refused to admit what had been happening.

Paulina’s brother Jakub Gierasik appeared to condemn his father when he became the first member of his family to comment on the shocking case.

He suggested that there was ‘no excuse’ for his father’s behaviour while making only a cryptic comment about his sister.

Jakub spoke in comments on his father’s Facebook page as angry people bombarded it with messages condemning his family.

In one post he said: ‘People should stop judging the rest of the family by their looks. This is not a book that you can tell the whole story about by the cover.

‘Those who don’t know how it was, please don’t write nonsense about the rest of the family.’

A woman replied: ‘And how it was? There is no excuse for Him.’, leading Jakub to respond: ‘For him, maybe not… But for an older daughter who is innocent?’

Paulina’s daughter is said to have lived for several days after being born around the end of August.

One of her colleagues is reported to have spotted text messages on her phone which listed her father’s name as ‘Piotr’ rather than ‘Dad’.

A message allegedly asked ‘how he was feeling’, referring to a third party, and the 54-year-old replied: ‘She cries all the time’, which suggested a conversation about a child.

Fakt newspaper reported that Pauina’s daughter was born at least three weeks ago, saying: ‘The little girl lived only a few more days. It is known that she cried a lot… She was murdered and her lifeless body was buried in the basement.’

Prosecutor spokesman Mariusz Duszyski said: ‘The woman is charged with two counts of child murder and a charge of incest.

‘The man was charged with three counts of child murder and two counts of incest.’

Comments defending Paulina emerged after it was revealed that her father posted a Facebook picture of her standing in a kitchen in 2019 with the caption ‘Hot girl to take’.

Meanwhile, villagers in the strongly Catholic community have expressed their worries about the babies being unnamed and unbaptised and where they will be buried.

Local mayor Marian Pick said: ‘The commune will probably take care of the children’s funeral, but arrangements have not been made yet, we suspect it will take some time.

‘The house in Czerniki is located in the parish of Stare Polaszki. The babies will probably be buried there.’

He added that they would probably not be buried next to their long suffering mother.