Strangest last meals

remembered: Ninety 

years after the gas

 chamber was first 

used on death row

We mark the grizzly anniversary by looking back at some of the strangest food requests ordered by inmates ahead of their executions

Chilling: The gas chamber in Arizona State Prison

Today is the 90th anniversary of the first use of the gas chamber to execute a prisoner on death row.

An unsuccessful attempt to kill convict Gee Jon by pumping gas directly into his cell led to the use of a specially built gas chamber to finally carry out the sentence on February 8th 1924.

The last person to be executed in the gas chamber in the US is Walter LaGrand - a German national - who was executed in Arizona on March 3, 1999.

Six states, Arizona, California, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri and Wyoming, authorize the use of lethal gas under certain circumstances.

Whatever the means of execution, a condemned inmate is usually able to request a last meal of their choice.

This meal is supposed to symbolise the condemned making peace with those responsible for their death. We look back at some of the extraordinary culinary requests made by inmates.

British police CAN still

solve Madeleine

McCann 

mystery despite the

problems

of working with foreign

 forces

The former Met Commissioner has investigated high-profile deaths overseas and is aware of the hurdles Scotland Yard detectives face in Portugal

PA

Still missing: Madeleine McCann

As Kate and Gerry McCann have found over the past seven years, the Portuguese criminal and judicial system is very different to what we are used to at home.

So much so that they found themselves being publicly named as suspects at an early stage of the investigation to find their missing daughter Madeleine.

British police are now trying to play catch-up and provide the thorough examination of the facts and evidence that appears to have been so badly mishandled back in 2007.

It is no wonder that the Portuguese police feel vulnerable about what they have – or haven’t – done in the past.

My ex was great when 

I was in labour but now

 he has no time for our

 son

When he comes over, he just sits in front of the telly and moans about his job or goes and gets a new tattoo. He didn’t turn up for our son’s first injections and tried to give me money to make up for it

Getty

Cut the ties to bad dad: Single parenting is hard but will be worth it

Dear Coleen

I had a baby 12 weeks ago, but I split up with my son’s father when I was pregnant.

When I found out we were having a boy he completely changed and became really controlling, telling me what our son’s name would be, what sports he would play and what team he’d support. I didn’t have a say in anything.

The birth didn’t go to plan – the heartbeat dropped and I had an emergency C-section, which caused complications and I was very ill for a week.

It was scary, but thankfully my son and I made a full recovery. My ex was great while I was in hospital, but as soon as he was told I was coming home, he started being snide, commenting on how I had no bum and my boobs had shrunk.

Since then, he’s let us down a lot – when he comes over, he just sits in front of the telly and moans about his job or goes and gets a new tattoo. He didn’t turn up for our son’s first injections and tried to give me money to make up for it.

I was so angry I slammed the door in his face. I’ve talked to him many times about being there for his son and that it means more than just giving us a bit of money, but he just doesn’t get it. He’s not affectionate to our son and never picks him up or kisses him, but he makes me feel like a bad mother. I don’t know what to do any more.

Neknomination: Horrified

 mum shames son by 

posting shocking 

Facebook picture of him

 unconscious and 

covered in vomit

Nikki Hunter found her son passed out on the sofa after drinking nearly three bottles of spirits as part of the deadly internet craze

A mother posted a shocking picture of her son in a drunken stupor and covered in vomit in a bid to end to neknominate craze

A horrified mum has gone public with a picture of her unconscious and vomit-covered son in a bid to end the neknominate craze.

Nikki Hunter found her son passed out on the sofa after drinking nearly three bottles of spirits as part of the internet dare.

Keiren, 19, a student from Prestonpans, East Lothian, had accepted a dare to film himself downing a deadly mixture of vodka, whisky, Southern Comfort, Bacardi and sherry.

Nikki at first feared he might be dead or dying and placed him in the recovery position.

Terrified that Keiren could easily have killed himself, Nikki posted the picture online and asked everyone to share it.

UK weather: Live 

updates

 as new storm batters 

UK 

with heavy rain and 

80mph 

gales

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for high winds in south Wales and south-west England

Getty Images

New storm: Britain faces another battering today

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7:31 am

Across the UK, 5,000 properties have so far been affected by flooding.

This morning, around 670 homes in the Newbury, Basingstoke, Bournemouth and Salisbury areas are without power.

However, there is some good news - and that is that Gatwick Airport has decided to waive fees for the additional Flybe flights it is laying on between Newquay and London to alleviate pressure on the transport system in the South West.

Arsene Wenger admits

 Bacary Sagna could 

leave Arsenal for

 nothing at the end of

 the season

The 30-year-old's contract runs out at the end of the campaign and he has yet to pen a new deal at the Emirates

Getty

Double ton: Bacary Sagna is set to make his 200th Premier League appearance

Arsene Wenger last night admitted Bacary Sagna could walk away at the end of the season.

Sagna, who turns 31 next week , will reach a career milestone at Liverpool with his 200th Premier League appearance – and it could be one of his last.

Gunners right-back Sagna's current deal expires at the end of the season and there is no end in sight to the stand-off involving one of Arsenal's most important players.

Sagna has been offered a new two-year deal on around £70,000-a-week but wants three years and a bigger pay deal. Wenger has even bent his own club rules to offer a 30-something more than a one-year extension.

Pastors, wives open up on sex life

Toyin-Kehinde and Adewale

You see him on Sunday morning well dressed in his three piece suit and looking freshly anointed.

The picture you see is that of a cherub, who has just arrived from the heavens with a message for the people and would be back there soon after.

Once he starts to preach, the congregation is overwhelmed with the awe he exudes. Because this is all they know about him, some followers believe that is all about the pastor.

Ask some Christians and they will bet their life savings that their pastors have never visited the toilet, not to talk of having sex.

Where on earth do they have the time for such things, they seem to assert in illusion.

They base their judgement on the fact that usually, a pastor is seen praying, preaching or counselling; so the average congregant believes he must be a super being, who never answers to any call of nature – especially sex.

The pastor is perhaps the most misunderstood and over-rated being on earth today.

He is rated as a semi-god, incapable of enjoying the pleasures that life presents him. This is so because he rarely talks to his adherents about other areas of his life.

Saturday PUNCH asked some pastors and pastors’ wives if they have erotic feelings and sexual closeness with their spouses like other people.