Funeral for tragic Riggi children

The three Riggi children

By Cara Sulieman

THREE children found dead in an Edinburgh flat earlier this month will be laid to rest in Aberdeen on Friday, it was announced today.

Twins Austin and Luke Riggi, eight, and their five year old sister Cecilia Riggi, were found dead in their home in Edinburgh on August 4.

There had been reports of an explosion at the townhouse in the Slateford area of the city leading to their discovery.

Theresa Riggi, 46, the children’s mother has since been charged in connection with their murder.

New life for £12m worth of historic Edinburgh bequests

By Michael MacLeod

THE CONTROL of £12 million in charity cash is to be offloaded by one of Scotland’s biggest councils.

A huge pool of money left in wills dating back to 1707 for causes including pensions for wartime raid survivors, kids’ Christmas treats and soup kitchens will be brought back to life by the move.

The 38 funds are currently managed by the City of Edinburgh Council, which wants an outside charity to take the strictly ring-fenced donations forward.

Many of the legacies have been paid out in part, while others have been sitting in council coffers accruing interest for literally hundreds of years.

Some of the bequests were set up under vague instructions – including a legacy left for the “deserving poor of Corstorphine.”

Bar that claimed Ewan Williamson’s life to reopen

The Balmoral Bar after the fire last July

By Cara Sulieman

THE BAR where firefighter Ewan Williamson died tackling a blaze is to be rebuilt and may even house a tribute to the fallen hero.

Plans have been submitted to restore the Balmoral Bar on Dalry Road in Edinburgh almost a year after a fire gutted the building and claimed Ewen’s life.

The owner – Trust Inns – plans to keep the old design and have held discussions about whether or not to place a plaque in memory of 35-year-old Ewan.

He had been with Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service for seven years when he died rescuing people from a blaze at the pub on July 12 last year.

Although around 20 people – including a baby – were evacuated from the building, Ewan tragically lost his life – the first Edinburgh based firefighter to die whilst battling a blaze in living memory.

Scottish Children Sex Victims Every Six Hours

By Paul Thornton

A CHILD falls victim to a sexual predator at least once every six hours in Scotland, shocking new figures have revealed.

And the number is likely to be far higher than that because most Scots police forces fail to keep records discriminating between child and adult victims of the most serious sex crimes such as rape or indecent assaults.

At least 1,592 offences against children were reported in 2009 – more than four a day.

The stats showed that innocent youngsters were subjected to rape, sexual assault and lewd and libidinous behaviour across the country as well as indecent exposure and adults who use their positions of trust to abuse them.

Hearts owner’s building “at risk”

By Cara Sulieman

AN ICONIC building owned by Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov has been branded “at risk” after sitting empty for three years.

The Scottish Civic Trust added the former RBS headquarters in Edinburgh city centre to its register after saying it was starting to show “some signs of deterioration”.

They also said there were now “signs of vandalism” at the building at 42 St Andrew’s Square.

Romanov’s investment company UBIG bought the former offices in 2007 and confirmed that they were pressing on with plans to develop the building and will be submitting planning application later this year.

Scottish NHS Boards slammed by Ombudsman

By Cara Sulieman

SEVERAL Scots health boards have been slammed by the Public Services Ombudsman over a series of complaints by patients – on the same day that NHS Scotland was revealed as being the least efficient in the UK.

Jim Martin, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, has highlighted six cases where complaints were upheld against NHS Boards.

In his January report, which was delivered to the Scottish Parliament today (Weds), Mr Martin said that the cases “speak for themselves in the suffering many of them describe”.

The “stories of inconvenience, pain, distress and suffering” uncovered by the Ombudsman included an elderly woman with dementia who suffered in silence for two months before NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde finally diagnosed her broken leg.

Rosslyn Chapel restoration underway

The ornate carvings at Rosslyn Chapel

By Cara Sulieman

WORK IS getting underway to preserve one of Scotland’s most famous and important chapels.

Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian starred in the blockbuster Da Vinci Code and has seen a massive increase in visitor numbers since.

But thanks to a botched repair job in the 1950s the roof is crumbling and has been sealed off for some time.

The Rosslyn Chapel Trust is looking to secure a further £1 million to ensure that a £9 million restoration can be completed within the next year.

Work is set to start next month on a brand new roof for the chapel, restoring the building to its former beauty.

It is famous for the intricate carvings that line the walls of the small chapel, and the rumoured connections to the Knights Templar.

Work has already begun on restoring the stained glass windows in the main body of the building.

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

Scots willing to pay more for a ‘green’ home

Peter Gregson and his new solar panel

By Cara Sulieman

SOME old style light-bulbs will be banished from shop shelves from today(Tues).

New EU laws see first 100w incandescent bulbs disappear from stores as part of a gradual phasing out of all energy heavy lighting.

But it seems most Scots would go a step further and pay more for a house if it were fitted out with green energy gadgets.

A new survey has found that almost half the population would spend more for a house that has renewable energy sources.

FEMALE TAXI RANKS: Girlguiding Scotland calls for girls-only ranks

By Cara Sulieman

A YOUTH organisation is campaigning for female-only taxi ranks to be introduced in Scotland’s biggest cities.

Girlguiding Scotland are asking local authorities to introduce the marshalled ranks in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen after a survey showed girls under 18 are often scared when making their way home.

The proposal comes after the organisation carried out a survey of 1,000 girl guides.

Girls Shout Out

Girls Shout Out – the report of the survey – also suggests that councils give young girls rape alarms and flip-flops when they are out clubbing.

Research uncovers romance of Gunsgreen House

Gunsgreen House in Eyemouth, where the romance is thought to have bloomed.

By Cara Sulieman

RESEARCH into the history of an 18th century smuggler’s house has uncovered a romance between a Scots girl and a Colonel of the British Empire.

Gunsgreen House in Eyemouth has long been connected with the wealthy middle classes of the area.

But it’s now been discovered that Colonel Alexander Dow, an influential colonial merchant and relative nobody Isobel Renton met for the first time in the grand building.

And now Derek Janes, the administrator of the Gunsgreen House Trust is looking for a missing ring that connects the two.

Colonel Dow left his humble Perthshire roots behind and became a powerful and wealthy man in the East India Company.

Having written the first history of India in English, entitled ‘The History of Hindostan’, he went on to campaign for the country to become an independent colony.

And this exotic figure is thought to have had a romance with Miss Renton, a resident of the tiny fishing town.

When Isobel died, she left a gold and diamond ring inset with a lock of the Colonel’s hair to her brother, James, in her will.

It is this ring that Derek is trying to track down.

He said: “The ring could be anywhere now. There was no mention of it in the will of James Renton.

“It is possible that the family moved or emigrated. The people who have it now may even have another name, if it was passed down to a female who then married.

“We just have no idea where it is, but it would be fantastic if we could track it down.”

The colonel’s connection with the area goes back as far as 1750s when he was good friends with John and David Nisbet, who built Gunsgreen House.

David Nisbet, who made his money from smuggling, helped Dow flee the country in 1757 on a private ship of war, the King of Prussia.

And to repay him, Dow left his fortune to the Nisbets, totally £682.80 – a substantial amount of money in those days.

Although David Nisbet had died before his successful friend, the money helped pay off debts the family had inherited after Nisbet had lost his fortune and the house.

But the exact connection between the Colonel and Miss Renton is yet to be discovered, and Derek hopes that finding the ring will lead to answers.

He said: “The colonel’s servant produced a memoir in which he wrote, ‘my master spent so much money on women that I was tired of waiting on them.’

“This makes it clear that he was an attractive and romantic figure.

“When the colonel visited his old friend’s the Nisbets, perhaps Miss Renton was one of the company invited to meet the famous visitor and fell under his spell.

“Miss Renton may have asked for a lock of his hair as a keepsake and when she died, still unmarried, over sixty years later, she left it to her brother for safekeeping.”

What is clear is that Isobel Renton didn’t see Colonel Dow after his last visit to Scotland in the early 1770’s.

With many unanswered questions, Derek is hoping to find the ring and solve the mystery of the Gunsgreen House romance.