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A Brit plumber will spend up to 16 years in a mental institution after he killed a "genius" graduate that he met at a music festival in Portugal
at the end of a four day event called the ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’
A court heard how he killed the Bolton-born artist and freelance web developer after he stabbed him more than 20 times
It was reported that Menkens covered Sutcliffe's body with branches and leaves in woodland near the festival site
The festival took place at a Brit-owned off-grid commune called Libelinha Venture
Menkens attempted to hide the victim's body near the central Portuguese town of Pedrogao Grande
Overnight it emerged three judges had ruled Menkens should be “locked up” for “between three and 16 years” after concluding he had stabbed his victim
But they said he had been suffering a “psychotic episode” at the time brought on by the consumption of drugs and alcohol
In a brief hearing yesterday at a court in Leiria
an hour’s drive south-west of the woodland spot where 35-year-old Neil’s body was found on September 24 last year
the judges categorised Menkens as “dangerous” but said he couldn’t be held criminally responsible for his crimes
They said: “He didn’t kill with criminal intent but as a result of psychosis which is now controlled by medication
which will be in force for a minimum of three years and maximum of 16 years
There will be no suspension of the sentence.”
He will be deprived of his freedom until the court considers “the state of danger” that led to his fatal stabbing “ceases.” It was not immediately clear whether the Brit
who had been held on remand in Santa Cruz do Bispo Prison near Porto in northern Portugal which has a psychiatric and mental health facility
will remain there or be transferred elsewhere
The victim’s family spoke soon afterwards to reveal Neil
had autism and was “very trusting” of others.Portuguese prosecutors alleged in the charge sheet he was stabbed “at least” 20 times with a 10-inch knife
They said Menkens knifed his victim repeatedly in the arms
chest and face and hid his body in a makeshift grave in a different place before concealing the knife and changing his blood-covered clothes
desecration of a corpse and possession of a prohibited weapon: “By transporting and hiding Neil Sutcliffe’s lifeless body under vegetation
the suspect intended to avoid its discovery by third parties and thus avoid criminal responsibility by deceiving police.”
His behaviour was independent of his will and determined by psychopathological factors he couldn’t control.”
They went on to confirm they understood middle-class music lover Menkens not be held criminally responsible for his actions even though a trial still had to take place under Portuguese law
a former pupil at £4,540-per-term Bolton School like his sibling who was living in London on a houseboat around the time he was killed
said earlier this year they were getting no information from Portuguese officials which “was not great.”
He said soon after the prosecution indictment was made public: “We received a message on social media from someone after Neil was killed asking me if I was his brother and telling me to contact him because he had some bad news
“They put me in touch with someone else and so on until we got put through to someone at the festival site who had made friends with him that weekend and told us what had happened
“The next minute we’re seeing pictures on social media of Neil’s body being brought out of the woods which was very traumatic
We had to chase the Portuguese police for official information and it’s continued that way."
He added: "Neil was very trusting of everybody and a genuinely caring person
even people he had just met.He had autism and that could have played into him not seeing the dangers others see and getting into a car with a man he’d only just met the night he was killed and not questioning things
“The skills he had are very unique to people with that neurodiversity and the fact they see the world in a different place
I know Neil spent most of that festival drawing pictures of people he was meeting for the first time and giving them the drawings
"It’s what those who attended and I’ve spoken to have told us
It was his way of making friends and being nice.”
Reports at the time of the fatal stabbing suggested Menkens had been stressed about poor ticket sales for the event at Libelinha Venture
owned by UK public school-educated Xavier Hancock and his Spanish partner Arantxa Atauri
Around 30 British and Portuguese nationals attended the event
which in a promo was described as a “gathering filled with great music and fantastic souls” and promised several DJs as well as circus performers
wellness workshops and a ‘Hatters Secret Quest.’
The indictment said Neil’s killer told a court-appointed psychiatrist he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the UK and referenced risk factors that could have contributed to what happened such as the consumption of “psychoactive substances and lack of sleep within a framework of great stress.”
Neil's family said today they hoped Portuguese authorities would "do the right thing" and keep Menkens off the streets for as long as necessary. They also criticised the way they were treated throughout the case, saying they had to find out from newspaper reports what was going on.
Mark said: “Three years for murdering someone if he’s kept in for the minimum custody period is a very short sentence. This man has admitted he’s got no control over himself. We’ve got to believe the Portuguese authorities will do what’s right and keep him off the streets as long as necessary. Nothing will bring Neil back but a longer sentence will hopefully keep others safe from this dangerous person.”
He added: “We didn’t attend yesterday’s hearing because we were told we wouldn’t be able to speak and it wouldn’t make much difference to the final verdict. We weren’t asked for any import. We were told there was a first court hearing at the end of last month when it was adjourned until yesterday and since that first hearing we haven’t been told anything by anyone.
“We only found out what happened from the newspapers. It’s the way it’s been throughout all of this. We’ve never got any information from Portuguese officials and only scant information from the British consulate who messaged my brother last month about the initial court hearing but haven’t got back to us since.
“The lack of official information has made everything more confusing and more stressful. I don’t know how best to describe it but there should have been someone in regular contact with us to tell us what was going on. It’s been a failing as far as we're concerned from start to finish. No family should go through that.”
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Pinhal’s music got little attention before his death in 1993
leading a resurgence of pride in traditional pop culture
consisting of staff from the independent label Favela Discos and the band Equations
Their sets at Bons Sons and Paredes were among the most anticipated among festival-goers: at Paredes
He was born in 1952 in Santa Cruz do Bispo
he sang in some of Porto’s biggest nightclubs and released three albums of música de baile on the label Edições Nova Força to very little attention
synth-pop and new-wave commonly played during arraiais (local celebrations) in Portuguese towns and villages
the genre’s overtly romantic style leans into tropes of jealousy and men being let down by women
View image in fullscreenA José Pinhal release from 1991.LRC co-founder Léo Motta came to Pinhal’s music after his friend (and now business partner) Tomás Pinheiro suggested starting a vinyl club and making it their first release
Despite the growing acclaim for Pinhal’s work
“it was sad to see that it was being listened to and shared in a quality far from ideal and generating royalties to individuals who had nothing to do with the artist”
Pinhal’s style of music was influenced by a Brazilian genre called música de dor de cotovelo that relies on the same lyrical cliches (Pinhal mostly sang Portuguese adaptations of Brazilian and Spanish/Latin songs)
his music would be considered pimba – despite preceding the birth of the genre by a decade – for its folksy
Today it’s a term usually applied pejoratively because of the music’s association with rural places
Certain corners of popular music were forgotten
perhaps because in their time they were seen as not validPedro MafamaReleased in 2021
combined electronic textures with global sounds including traditional Portuguese music
while lyrically deconstructing the nationalist and lusotropicalist legacy of the repressive Estado Novo regime
He sees kitsch as a concept that can be modified and reinterpreted
myself and other artists are exploring local culture and unearthing certain corners of popular music that were forgotten
perhaps because in their time they were seen as not valid.”
Sónia Trópicos
an electronic music producer who centres traditional Portuguese music in her work
credits the internet with helping to break down a sort of shame around Portuguese traditional culture that emerged during the 1990s
“Because of Portugal joining the European Union and the rural exodus that followed in the early 90s
a lot of the population felt a need to embrace a cosmopolitan modernisation,” she says: one in which Portuguese traditional music “just didn’t fit”
Sarnadas agrees: “There was a time where things that could be considered Portuguese pop culture got erased and [artists] were trying to replicate trends from countries responsible for pop culture exportation.”
artists like José Pinhal were ignored in their time and
are recognised and admired by so many people,” says Mafama
“People today enjoy music that entertains them and cheers them up
without having to pose or virtue signal,” adds Motta
by making sure Pinhal’s music reaches even more people.”
Trópicos agrees: “The world of his time wasn’t ready for him.”
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The Judiciary Police (PJ) detained two women suspected of introducing drugs into two prisons in the district of Porto
through the delivery of narcotics to inmates during the visiting period
the PJ states that it detained a 73-year-old woman when she was found delivering “a small amount of cocaine” to an inmate at the Santa Cruz do Bispo Prison
The PJ adds that, recently, another woman was arrested, this time in the Prison of Paços de Ferreira
who on Monday saw preventive detention applied to her as a coercive measure
25 grams of hashish and a product suspected to be synthetic cannabinoids
"The variety and quantity of the products in question indicate that they were intended for later sale inside the prison"
the PJ had the collaboration of the Prison Guard corps of the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services
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ordenado padre pelo antigo arcebispo de Évora
20 mar 2019 (Ecclesia) – O bispo de Setúbal diz que D
pertence a uma geração de responsáveis da Igreja que “deram um novo rosto ao catolicismo em Portugal”
Numa mensagem enviada hoje à Agência ECCLESIA
natural da Madeira como o arcebispo emérito de Évora
“relançaram pontes e diálogo com o Portugal democrático
apostaram numa Igreja promotora da ação dos leigos e aberta particularmente aos que mais precisam”
José Ornelas Carvalho recorda também a ligação que estabeleceu com D
Uma relação de “amizade” e mesmo “paterno-filial”
que teve como um dos pontos altos a chegada ao “dom do sacerdócio”
numa celebração de ordenação presidida precisamente pelo antigo bispo de Évora
Na mente do agora bispo de Setúbal está o encontro com D
“quando já se encontrava muito fragilizado pela doença”
mas retomava fôlego para indicar alguns livros e pastas dizendo: Olha
que voltaria ainda encontrar-se com o seu antigo professor
Maurílio de Gouveia repetiu-lhe “a mesma mensagem e
Maurílio de Gouveia entregou ao bispo de Setúbal “um pequeno livrinho
“com o sentir de uma dor que se abre a uma grande paz”
um trecho de texto que mostra “o fundamento desta vida fecunda de inteligência
os olhos estão mais postos no Além do que neste mundo passageiro
assim a nossa vida se vai aproximando cada vez mais do Oceano…
D. José Ornelas Carvalho conclui a sua mensagem
publicada na página online da Diocese de Setúbal
bem-haja pelo seu percurso de homem de bem
de amigo e companheiro de tantos nesta terra
E que o nosso próximo encontro seja: “Até ao céu!”
faleceu na tarde desta terça-feira no Eremitério de Maria Serena
filho de Aires Romão Freitas Gouveia e de Matilde Maria Quintal de Gouveia
nasceu a 5 de agosto de 1932 em Santa Luzia
no Funchal; cumpriu a sua etapa vocacional no Seminário Diocesano do Funchal e foi ordenado sacerdote a 4 de junho de 1955
e formou-se em Teologia Dogmática na Pontifícia Universidade Gregoriana
tendo tirado também uma pós-graduação em Teologia Pastoral
Maurílio de Gouveia recebeu a sua nomeação episcopal
como bispo titular de Sabiona e bispo auxiliar de Lisboa
através do Papa Paulo VI; Quatro anos mais tarde
A tomada de posse como arcebispo de Évora aconteceria três meses mais tarde
no dia da festa da Imaculada Conceição da Virgem Santa Maria
padroeira principal de Portugal e da Arquidiocese de Évora
idade limite para o desempenho da missão episcopal
Maurílio de Gouveia apresentou ao então Papa Bento XVI a sua resignação ao cargo de arcebispo de Évora
Maurílio de Gouveia realiza-se esta sexta-feira em Évora
seguida de Missa exequial às 15h00 presidida pelo arcebispo de Évora
O cortejo fúnebre segue depois para a Igreja do Espírito Santo em Évora
onde decorrerá a encomendação e a sepultura dos restos mortais de D
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