All posts tagged: stepfather

Horror as stepfather ‘locks 9-year-old boy in cupboard for two weeks’ | World | News

Horror as stepfather ‘locks 9-year-old boy in cupboard for two weeks’ | World | News

A stepfather has been arrested after allegedly locking a nine-year-old boy in a small cupboard for 15 days. The child was found locked in a storage cupboard that was just over a square meter in size in his family home, which he shares with his mum, stepfather and three brothers in Mérindol, a village in southern Luberon in France. The little boy had reportedly been forced to use a basin as a toilet and without a mattress. Authorities were alerted by an anonymous source, and the boy was rescued by police on Friday, May 22. Neighbours reported that he was often left out of family outings and that he “was always being punished”. It is believed that while the boy attended school, he was not allowed to go outside or shower, according to the French paper Le Dauphiné Libéré. The French paper has reported that the child has been hospitalised and appeared very weak and thin. The police were let into small family home located in Mérindol, a village of just 2,000 people, by the …

Kristin Scott Thomas shares grief over losing father and stepfather as a child: ‘Like the ceiling falling in’

Kristin Scott Thomas shares grief over losing father and stepfather as a child: ‘Like the ceiling falling in’

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Slow Horses star Kristin Scott Thomas has said the grief of losing her father and step father in similar circumstances when she was young felt “like the ceiling falling in”. The Four Weddings and a Funeral actor was just five years old when her father Simon, a Royal Navy pilot, died while on duty in 1966, aged 31. Scott Thomas’s mother remarried another man named Simon, who was also a pilot in the Royal Navy. History repeated itself and he was killed six years later, leaving behind Scott Thomas and her three young siblings. “I’m the last generation of people who weren’t allowed to talk about it,” Scott Thomas said of her grief at such a young age. “Literally nothing. It was a shock, like the ceiling falling in. “There was no idea of suffering before that. It just hit me …

EastEnders character Clare Bates returns for ‘emotional’ storyline with estranged stepfather Nigel

EastEnders character Clare Bates returns for ‘emotional’ storyline with estranged stepfather Nigel

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Gemma Bissix is set to reprise her role as Clare Bates in EastEnders this spring, returning for a brief but “emotional” reunion with Nigel Bates as part of the BBC soap’s ongoing dementia storyline. The 42-year-old actress last appeared in Albert Square in 2008, following a nearly decade-long absence. Her character departed Walford later that same year. This upcoming return, almost two decades on, is prompted by news of her estranged stepfather’s deteriorating dementia. “It was a real pleasure to be asked to reprise the role of Clare for Nigel’s storyline. I was hoping to get the call as I think the fans wanted EastEnders to revisit their relationship,” Bissix said. “Nigel and Clare were a formidable pairing in the ’90s with a very unique stepfather/stepdaughter relationship. It has been so great to reconnect with Paul (Bradley) and Karen (Henthorn) after …