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Lady Bracknell knows very little about the general attitude towards disabled people in Japan. But, if the rest of the world is anything to go by, she wouldn't be entirely surprised to learn that Japanese crips are considered by the general populace to be tragic beings whose lives have been blighted by their dreadful impairments.

Bucking that general perception, though, (although not, it has to be said, in a good way), are Harumi Otana and Hirofumi Takaya. They may be deaf and without speech, but they haven't allowed that to interfere with their criminal activities. As reported in , the two have been turning their attendance at the Kochi prefecture gateball contest "for deaf and mute people" to their own dubious advantage.

They identified their elderly victim at the contest, and later turned up at her home and used "sign language intimidation" (not to mention a bit of good old-fashioned knocking to the ground and leg trampling) to persuade her to hand over 3 million yen. Or about £14,750.

The two are being questioned by the police on suspicion of further crimes of a similar nature.

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