A former presenter of Changing Rooms, Elizabeth Wagstaff, was yesterday warned by a judge she faces prison after she admitted conning her colleagues out of almost £55,000 by pretending to have terminal cancer. A former presenter of Changing Rooms, Elizabeth Wagstaff, was yesterday warned by a judge she faces prison after she admitted conning her colleagues out of almost £55,000 by pretending to have terminal cancer.
The BBC1 makeover specialist pleaded guilty to 14 charges of obtaining money by deception and four charges of obtaining property by deception. She had denied the charges at an earlier hearing but changed her pleas yesterday.The Inner London Crown Court was told she swindled the wife of her fellow presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen out of £2,000, the presenter Anna Ryder Richardson out of £500 and the former Blue Peter host Mark Curry out of £1,000. Ms Wagstaff, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, also took £12,000 from a former boyfriend.The prosecution said Ms Wagstaff’s deception of her colleagues at Bazal Productionsoccurred throughout 1999. Sheconned money out of production staff and the landscape gardener Peter Beech, who also worked on the show.Mr Andrew Shaw, for the defence, said: “Miss Wagstaff is suffering from a psychiatric disorder and further reports would indicate that she continues to suffer from that She is continuing to receive treatment. The whole basis of mitigation will be that the long history of the disorder in this case has directly led to the committing of these offences.”Judge Quentin Campbell warned Ms Wagstaff she faced prison for the offences.He said: “I have to say that at a casual glance these psychiatric reports …

do not really appear to be much related to the offence.”Ms Wagstaff was bailed to appear on 22 May.She said, in a statement issued through her solicitor: “I am very sorry to have let down people who were kind to me and who I regarded as friends.”. A Danish film which features real sex scenes is to be given its television premiÿre on Channel 4’s FilmFour next month. The Idiots portrays a group of middle-class friends who try to shock “normal” society by pretending to be mentally handicapped. It sparked controversy when censors passed explicit sex scenes and depictions of mental instability. A Danish film which features real sex scenes is to be given its television premiÿre on Channel 4’s FilmFour next month. The Idiots portrays a group of middle-class friends who try to shock “normal” society by pretending to be mentally handicapped. It sparked controversy when censors passed explicit sex scenes and depictions of mental instability.
FilmFour bosses have decided to doctor some of the most graphic sexual scenes to obscure the images – but will post them in full on the internet.

The original version can be obtained on video.The digital channelwanted to screen the film uncut, but instead opted to pixilate some images to meet Independent Television Commission guidelines. “We disagree with the discrepancies that exist between what can be broadcast on television and seen on video,” a spokesman said.. The parent company of the Telegraph newspaper group denied that the papers could be up for sale yesterday but said it would seek a merger or series of alliances that would enable it to take advantage of the internet revolution. The parent company of the Telegraph newspaper group denied that the papers could be up for sale yesterday but said it would seek a merger or series of alliances that would enable it to take advantage of the internet revolution.
The comments follow news that Hollinger International, the Canadian company which owns the Telegraph, is putting most of its local newspapers in America up for sale.As part of this process, the company admitted it was open for dialogue with other companies over other areas of its business and that these could include The Daily Telegraph.However, Hollinger flatly denied that Britain’s biggest selling daily broadsheet would be sold. “We intend to maintain control of the Telegraph and The Spectator magazine,” said Dan Colson, the chief executive and deputy chairman of the Telegraph group.Mr Colson admitted that a multi-media partner could acquire a minority stake in the Telegraph but said this would most likely be secured indirectly though a deal with Hollinger.Hollinger is controlled by Conrad Black, the Canadian newspaper baron who bought into the Telegraph group in 1985. Its prize asset is The Daily Telegraph, which has daily sales of over a million.But Hollinger, whose shares are traded in New York, has grown tired of being labelled as an “old economy” newspaper publisher despite its creation of its on-line newspaper, the Electronic Telegraph, and its Hollinger Digital division which has made 25 internet investments.With the shares hitting a 52-week low last week, the company is now sending a signal to “new media” companies that it is ready to discuss a deal that could mirror the AOL/Time Warner link-up announced last year. “We are open to anything,” Mr Colson said.Analysts suggest the Telegraph could be worth around £600m-£700m, though the Telegraph says it would not entertain anything less than £1bn.It has profits of £56m on revenues of £360m.

But analysts say potential partners could be deterred by the paper’s on-going price battle with the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Times.One UK media analyst said: “The trouble with the Telegraph is that it is not in a growing market. Where do you take it? It is already at the top of the cycle with a boom in recruitment and internet advertising and it is still under pressure from Murdoch. The question is not, why would Conrad Black sell it but why would he keep it?”. In May 1997, we were elected on a schools reform programme more detailed than any government in recent times.