Crime & Investigation, March 2019

Debra Newell was 59 years old and had been married four times when she met John Meehan. She was successful, she ran her own design firm and she was well off. Meehan looked like he was homeless, but said he was a doctor. He said he had been to Iraq. Within two months, they were married. Newell might have been convinced it was true love, but her family had their suspicions. They were right to: they discovered that not only was Meehan not a doctor and had never been to Iraq, he was a convicted criminal and drug addict. He had …read more

Crime & Investigation, February 2019

It has been 19 years since Sally Challen murdered her husband, Richard, with a hammer. She admitted killing him and at trial, it was argued that she was not suffering from “abnormality of mind” when she did so. Now, she has won a groundbreaking appeal against her conviction and will face a retrial, something the couple’s two sons have been campaigning for. Which all begs the question: why?

Sally met Richard when he was 22 and she was just 15. The couple married and had two sons together. After 31 years of marriage, they separated for a …read more

August 2018, +/0+/
Nowadays, you seem to hear more and more about acid attacks, that vicious crime where acid is thrown in a someone’s face as a punishment or retaliation – and often resulting in life-changing injuries. But is the root cause source of this crime and is it actually on the increase.

Philanthropist and presenter Katie Piper waived anonymity to raise awareness of burn victims after she became a victim of acid throwing in 2008. Her ex-boyfriend Danny Lynch arranged the attack, an accomplice threw sulphuric acid in her face. The incident blinded Piper in one eye and …read more

14th February, Fabulous, The Sun

VALENTINE’S Day and I were not always a perfect match, to put it lightly.

Years of single Februarys had left me deflated and cynical.

When I finally did find myself in a relationship and with plans on February 14, it wasn’t the night I’d expected.

Instead, that Valentine’s Day spelled out the end for our relationship.

In fact, it went one step further than that and killed it dead. Then stamped on it, just to really make its point.

Let me set the scene: …read more

January 2018, Grazia 

Amy Lavelle thought getting on the property ladder would bring security and contentment – but in an uncertain world it’s left her more anxious than ever

It’s been a year since I waved Generation Rent goodbye and slotted a new key into my new front door, one that I actually own. This, I thought – as I made my husband pick me up and took a dozen photos of him carrying me over the threshold until we had the perfect shot – was adulthood. The only things left to do were to paint the walls a bold but instantly regrettable choice and hang the art we’ve had propped against walls for the …read more

December 2017, Independent

Homeowner. I feel like this will be the word that defines me, the epitaph that will one day be engraved on my tombstone (even if I fail to keep up with my mortgage payments and end up in a Dickensian paupers’ prison). Here lies Amy Lavelle: she owned a house once.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that this is the position that all members of my generation – millennials, and yes, I’m sure you’ve heard enough about us by now – …read more