• Giovanni Barreca confessed to killing his wife and two sons in their home

By Elena Salvoni

Published: 06:51 EST, February 12, 2024 | Updated: 07:34 EST, February 12, 2024

Timber on his ACL recovery

Jurrien Timber has opened up about his road to recovery after his cruciate ligament injury.

The defender suffered the injury on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, but he hopes to come back stronger in the coming months.

He told the Arsenal media: “Of course it was difficult at times because you weren't playing, and that's what you like to do.

“Sometimes you really want to be part of the team. When you love the game so much, you really want to be there and be part of it. That's frustrating because sometimes it looks so great that you want to be part of it.

“But I use that as motivation during my recovery. I see the boys a lot, on the training field but also during the matches, and that has been good for me too.”

These months will certainly make me stronger. It's an opportunity for me to do it right. So even if I don't play, I can use this moment to get stronger mentally, physically and also to feel at home with this group of guys.

“It's an opportunity that I grabbed with both hands. I've had a little more time to watch the team, see how we play, how I can pass when I'm on the pitch, so if I look at the positives Look, I think there have been a lot of them.”

Arteta tells Arsenal stars to keep rowing

MIKEL ARTETA has told his Gunners they must keep rowing if they want title glory.

The Arsenal boss bizarrely made light of Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko's furious failures during the week by joking that they have now made up for it by 'sharing women'.

But Arteta says without his players putting pressure on each other, their Premier League dreams will remain confined to 'Disneyland'.

If Arsenal beat table toppers Liverpool on Sunday, they will move two points clear of them.

Emirates' blockbuster comes just five days after White and Zinchenko had to be separated when they clashed over a late goal in the 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

Asked if the defenders were friends again, Arteta joked: “They've been in the same house for the last few days – sharing their wives and stuff!

“It's fine, they live together now. They are best friends.”

More seriously, Arteta added: 'You don't argue with someone if you don't have a good relationship.

“You need the trust and chemistry with someone to respond the way they did.

“I love it. As long as it is in a respectful way and with the intention to be more demanding as a team and it will remain that way.

“A conversation can become heated with emotion after the match. It is normal.

“I want my players to have the desire to improve and to be demanding. If not, it's Disneyland.”

A female high school teacher who had sex with a 17-year-old student has avoided jail after former students sent letters in support of her to the judge.

Christine Knudsen, 46, of New Jersey, was given a three-year suspended sentence for her sordid sexual relationship with a then 17-year-old girl for almost a year in 2017.

She is given life parole and forced to register as a sex offender. Knudsen is also prohibited from having any contact with the victim.

Her suspended sentence comes after her former Fair Lawn High School students sent letters outlining how positively Knudsen had impacted their lives, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Bollenbach.

Knudsen, who was a graphic arts teacher at the school for 21 years, met the 17-year-old student when she took over the school's drama club.

The former teacher admitted that their relationship became romantic and sexual between January and November 2017.

Although the 17-year-old student was an adult, she was considered a child because the relationship was with her teacher, who enjoyed the student's trust and was in a position of power.

“Parents send their children to school every day, confident that they will be safe in the care of their teachers,” Bergen County Judge Nina Remson said during the sentencing hearing last Wednesday.

“And there is a very strong need to deter not only Ms. Knudsen, but all citizens, from violations of the law, especially of this nature where there is a breach of trust between the teacher and the student.”

In exchange for a guilty plea, prosecutors asked that the second-degree crime be sentenced as a third-degree felony, and with the suspended sentence, Knudsen will only be sent to prison if she violates her parole.

If violated, the teacher, who also had to surrender her Garden State teaching certificate, would have to serve three years, Bergen County prosecutors said — plus the time imposed for the initial violation.

“You are hereby sentenced to a three-year suspension of the New Jersey State Penitentiary,” state court Judge Nina Remson said, six months after Knudsen pleaded guilty to the illegal sexual relationship.

“You are also sentenced to comply with the registration requirements of Megan's Law and to lifetime parole,” the lawyer continued, citing U.S. laws that require Knudsen to register as a sex offender in the near future.

“I'm going to give you a document telling you where to report to parole,” Remson added.

“I'm also going to enforce Nicole's restraining order, and you'll get a copy of that soon, too.”

Knudsen wore a face mask for the proceedings and could be heard sniffling during the judge's statement, which referenced a federal law that bars her from having any contact with the victim, who is now at least 22.

“You are not allowed to have any contact with the victim, whose initials are NK – of course you know who that is,” Remson repeated, in a story that would ultimately cause her to do some justice to the disgraced teacher.

'You are excluded from her residence, school, workplace, [and] You are prohibited from having any oral, written, personal, telephone, electronic or any other form of contact with her,” the judge added.

“And you are prohibited from engaging in harassing communications with the victim or inciting anyone to stalk or threaten the victim.

'Do you understand?' she asked — to which Knudsen, seated next to her lawyer, replied, “Yes, Your Honor.”

“You have already surrendered your teaching certificate, which was imposed as part of this sentence,” Remson added, before ending the hearing – and the case.

However, she first referred to allegations suggesting the teacher used controlled substances with the student, whom she claimed to have met while managing a drama club of which the victim was a member.

Prosecutors have not publicly released more information about the drugs or what they were, but accused the graphic arts teacher of “supplying and taking drugs.” [the] checked hazardous substances together with the student.'

“I'm also going to have you undergo a job evaluation, which will assess whether you need substance abuse treatment given what I saw in the criminal record,” Remson said during the sentencing.

'I don't know if that's an issue at the moment, but the report noted that there had been behavior in the past that was troubling in that regard.

“So if a treatment is recommended, you should adhere to that treatment.”

Remson admitted that the relationship would have technically been legal if it had not occurred in a school setting between an instructor and a student.

That's because the victim was 17 at the time, and the age of consent in the Garden State is 17.

That said, given the context of Knudsen's crimes and her position of power over the teen, the victim was considered a child for the conviction of the confessed sex offender.

Judge Remson said children could be easily influenced, especially if someone was older and in a position of authority as Knudsen had been.

She added to Knudsen – an employee at the school for 21 years before the scandal – that not only should she have ended the relationship when it began in 2017, but that it should not have started at all.

At Knudsen's previous hearing in July, she told the court how she met the teenager between January and November 2017, when she was assigned to supervise a drama club to which the victim belonged.

She admitted that during that period the relationship between her and the student became romantic and eventually sexual – a relationship that Bollenbach called disturbing because of its duration.

“These allegations are disturbing,” Bollenbach said of the months-long scheme, which fell apart after police received a series of tips from unknown onlookers.

“Not only did the defendant engage in criminal sexual activity with a female student, she also violated the public trust through this conduct.”

On Jan. 24, he called the plea deal “justice tempered with mercy” and said he was pleased that the teacher's conviction required her to forfeit her teaching license, essentially ending her career.

“So while this is certainly not a victimless crime — it is far from it — I hope Ms. Knudsen is deterred forever,” Bollenbach said.

'I think that is in the interest of the community as a whole and certainly of the students.'

Drew Barrymore was overcome with emotion when she reunited with Dermot Mulroney, her co-star from the 1994 western film Bad Girls.

Drew, 48, was surprised with a Bad Girls reunion for Thursday's episode of her eponymous talk show — her other co-stars Andie MacDowell and Mary Stuart Masterson also appeared on the show.

The Wedding Singer actress immediately started shedding tears upon seeing Dermot as he surprised her with an appearance on her show.

Drew recalled how “good” Mulroney was to her at the time of filming, when she was just a “lost” and “wild” 17-year-old.

Dermot, 60, wasn't immune to emotions either; he also cried on stage.

“I'm so happy to see you, I could cry,” Mulroney immediately told Drew as they hugged on stage.

With a tissue in hand, Drew couldn't contain her emotions as she talked about Dermot and the impact he had on her life.

“Oh my God, Dermot, I was just watching you in Everyone But You – which I love, by the way, it's such a good movie,” Drew said, tissue in hand.

'You were so good to me. “I really was a lost 17-year-old,” she said. 'I was having so much fun, but I didn't know how to take care of myself. And you took such good care of me. You were so kind to me.”

As Drew described how well Mulroney treated her, he wiped away tears with the other half of her tissue.

They shared another embrace, with Mulroney remarking in the middle of their embrace, “I'm so happy to see you.”

“Incredible survivor,” he added.

“Dermot, he really took good care of me,” Drew said. “I mean, I was wild, guys. I was really wild.'

Mulroney was proud that he also felt the tears flowing.

“Sorry guys, I'm crying right now,” he added. 'I knew I was going and I came anyway! And I decided: I'm going to go ahead and cry in public!'

“It's so nice to see a man cry, by the way,” Drew said.

Released in 1994, Bad Girls followed four prostitutes traveling through the Old West.

Drew showed her admiration for her co-stars, calling Mary Stuart her “style icon” and recalling the love she felt for Andie.

“I can't believe this is happening,” Drew said at the reunion. 'I owe who I am to Linda and you. I mean, I was seventeen. I didn't know where I was going with my life. When I was on set, Andie was someone I literally looked at and was so in love with.”

“Oh, I had no idea,” Andie said.

“You were such a hero to me,” Drew continued. “Mary Stuart, I was so obsessed with every movie you were in. You were my style icon… everything you did, I was so in love with both of you and I got a real opportunity to be in this movie with you and it was. a huge opportunity for me, because I had more or less been away and missed a lot of opportunities.'

“You were a baby,” Andie said. “But I'm sure you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself,” Mary said.

“Listen, I love a midlife crisis at 13,” Drew said. 'It is awesome. I highly recommend it, it gets it out of the way and I was able to come back and have a second chance at life, and work was my life…

“I think you can make friends and family and find true joy and happiness, and that movie is the one that got me started in life with a direction and a purpose that I didn't have before I came to you.”