CityLife

Man with a special Power

HE claims to have received messages from the other side about a litany of infamous killings, including Rhys Jones, Helen McCourt and Lynsey Quy.

But Joe Power is well aware of the credibility gap he has to overcome.

"I was not asking for it," he says of his 'gift'. "I was more embarrassed about it. Why are dead people coming to me and giving me information? It is hard for me to pass it on to police. First of all, the police think you are a lunatic."

Power took to e-mailing his insights to police, and claims that his help has in turn been sought by police, for instance, in the investigation of the murder of teenage model Sally Anne Bowman in Croydon, for which pub chef Mark Dixie was convicted in February.

Of 11-year-old shooting victim Rhys Jones, from Liverpool, Power says: "That young man came to me and gave me a name. I was doing a reading for someone and he just appeared. I gave police the name he gave me."

The streets of Croxteth and even the internet were, of course, buzzing with rumours of names after Rhys was shot dead last August. A 17-year old youth is now remanded in custody charged with Rhys's murder and six others charged with assisting an offender.

Power does not make any specific claims for his information in this case but does say that there are senior police officers in Merseyside who have given credence to other insights.

Power also claims to have received a visitation from Helen McCourt, the 22-year old St Helens woman who disappeared in 1988. Ian Simms, the landlord of the village pub in Billinge was convicted of her murder but her body has never been found.

He also says he was contacted by 21-year old Lynsey Quy, from Southport, whose husband Mitchell was jailed for her murder in 2001. Power claims his information was that police should search the resort's fairground and the railway. Months later, parts of her body were found near a roller coaster and by a railway line.

Knowledge

The medium even claims knowledge of the disappearance on May 3 last year of Madeleine McCann. He has a sketch of a house to which he says the four-year old was taken after being abducted from her holiday apartment in Portugal.

If a medium is claiming knowledge of such a case, there is only one logical conclusion about Madeleine's fate, I venture. But no, Power says his information does come from beyond the grave but 'from relatives, from Madeleine's family and people who work closely with me in the spirit world, spirit guides, that type of thing'.

He believes five people were connected with the disappearance of Madeleine. He says he passed his information on to police in Portugal early in the investigation.

Power also took part in a TV programme which claimed to have contacted John Lennon beyond the grave. He stood on the steps of the Dakota Building in new York, where Lennon was assassinated in 1980, claiming to receive a message from Lennon to the effect that he was feeling peace and calm even at the point of his death.

Power embraced his psychic powers late in life. He had `insights' as a child, but had largely dismissed them. Nine years ago, Power's brother Denny died in suspicious circumstances, and even before being told of his death Power claims to have heard his brother's voice reassuring him he was happy in the spirit world.

As he goes round theatres exercising his powers, Power says he can pluck forth names, dates, time, places - hard facts as proof that he is communicating not just with the dead but with the spirits of the living.

"Everyone has a spirit, whether you connect to a spirit in the spirit world or whether you connect to someone's spirit down on earth," he says. "Your spirit stores information whether you are alive or not. A psychic can read your auric field which is part of your spirit."

Joe Power presents an evening of clairvoyance at Middleton Civic Hall on Sunday, October 5.