Jessy Edwards

Journalist

United States of America

I am an experienced freelance journalist, based in New York.

Portfolio
Fairfax Media
'Lynch mob wanted to kill me'

Ten days ago he was spending his 34th birthday in a tiny windowless cell, where the fluorescent lights were never turned off. Now Philip Blackwood is a free man, sitting in his family living room in Tawa, laughing through his beard while telling how a Burmese lynch mob came to hang him from the nearest tree.

Sunday Star Times
Stepdad blows children's inheritance on luxury holiday after their mum dies of cancer

The children of a Wellington woman who died without a will were forced to take their stepfather to court after he denied them their inheritance and blew some of the money on luxury items. James Roberts-Gooch and his sister Alexandra Gooch were just 16 and 14 respectively when their mother, Anne Roberts - former private secretary to National MP Maurice Williamson - died of cancer in 2012.

Fairfax Media
A tragic end to a high-pressure life

Brigitte Nimmo was a trailblazing police officer, who worked tirelessly to support victims, whether of domestic abuse or of disasters such as Pike River and the Christchurch quakes. When she was found dead nearly six months ago, the question was inevitably asked: did all that darkness become too much for her?

Stuff
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew celebrated in last parade

Singapore comes together to farewell its very first national hero, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. A week after his death, Lee was given one last lap of the country he founded in a state funeral procession spanning almost five hours and 15.4 kilometres.

Fairfax Media
Planting seeds of a new life

Out the back of a state house in Lower Hutt, Syrian refugee Khaled Al Jouja is busy planting olive trees, artichokes and roses. Al Jouja, a market gardener in his home country, arrived in Wellington with wife Aisha Kobbaji and their three children three months ago, after fleeing Syria four long years ago.

Fairfax Media
'Something bestial came over me'

The court registrar struggled to find enough boxes of tissues at an emotionally charged sentencing for a man with Asperger syndrome who admitted rape. Family of Nicholas Leyland Edward Scott, 22, packed the courtroom in Wellington to hear Judge David Ongley hand down a prison sentence of three years and one month on Wednesday.

Stuff
Feud brewing over ex-PM's home

The picturesque Vogel House, once home to Sir Robert Muldoon, has become the subject of a legal dispute as its original owners' grandsons fight a government decision to hand it over to two Wellington charities.

Stuff
Schools lead a unique revolution

For a transgender teenager, something as simple as going to the loo at school can be a huge stress. So two Wellington schools are leading a dunny revolution: fitting gender-neutral bathrooms for students who feel uncomfortable using 'male' or 'female' bathrooms. Wellington High School has transformed its level 4 boys' bathroom into, well, just a bathroom.

Stuff
Hair dye 'burnt like acid'

She wanted a fresh hair-do for 2016, but instead she got chemical burns. Two weeks later, Wainuiomata woman Sheryl Smith is still suffering the consequences of a horrific reaction to using at-home bottle hair dye on January 15. She bought the black Clairol Nice 'n Easy hair-dye on special from her local Countdown and applied it in the evening.

Stuff
Emotional vigil for Paris

Paris, we stand with you. Draped in French flags, packed shoulder-to-shoulder in Civic Square, this was the message Wellingtonians sent as they gathered in their hundreds at a vigil on Tuesday evening. The event was held to commemorate the 129 people who were murdered in gunfire and suicide bombing attacks across Paris last Friday night.

Stuff
Vita's fighting fundraiser

Little Vita Ede's brave battle with a brain tumour has helped raise thousands of dollars for charity, but the cheeky two-year-old doesn't have time to talk about it. She's busy: it's a sunny Sunday afternoon at her home in the Wellington suburb of Southgate, and the toddler with bouncy blonde curls and a twinkle in her eye is running around in a blue-and-red diamond print playsuit, holding a pink elephant watering can.

Stuff
Fish tank flood ruins apartment

A once-decadent apartment in Oriental Bay has been gutted after an unfortunate case of an overflowing fish tank. The swanky beachside apartment, which previously sold for $1.85 million, is now due to go to auction starting at $550,000.

Stuff
Drugs tested covertly at festival

A secret drug-testing operation has allowed more than 60 people to test their recreational drugs at a recent festival, despite it being illegal for organisers to knowingly allow drugs on site. The covert drug testers, operating with the festival's knowledge, found more than half the drugs punters brought in weren't what they thought they were.

Stuff
Kim's selfies trouble bookshops

Kim Kardashian's breasts are posing a problem for Kiwi booksellers. Bookshops have been on high alert since the reality TV star's book of sexy selfies, entitled hit the shelves. One section features nude shots - which have made the book a target for people snapping sneak photos on their smartphones and then leaving the bookshop without buying it.