Police scan Diana tunnel
Metropolitan Police were last night using laser equipment to scan the tunnel in Paris where Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car accident in 1997.
The scans will be turned into a 3D computer model of the scene, to be used in the inquests into the deaths of the Princess and her partner, Dodi Fayed. The 3D model will “enhance understanding of the factors which may have contributed to the collision”, a police spokesman said.
Offenders riot
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A chapel lay in ruins after prison officers used stun grenades to quell a riot at Deerbolt Young Offender Institution, at Barnard Castle, Co Durham. The prison chapel was wrecked after warders fired stun grenades to quell rioting inmates who caused havoc for more than seven hours
MP’s son jailed
The son of a Tory MP, who hit a man over the head with a champagne bottle, was jailed for four years by Chelmsford Crown Court. David Amess, 20, the son of the MP with the same name, attacked Paul Trussler, 28, who accidentally trod on his foot at an Essex nightclub. Mr Trussler needed seven stitches.
Papers say sorry
Cat Stevens has been awarded “substantial damages” by The Sun and The Sunday Times for alleging that he had supported terrorism. Stevens, a former pop singer who became a Muslim and changed his name to Yusuf Islam, said the papers had published apologies. He would put the money towards tsunami relief projects.
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Giant union talks
The creation of a giant trade union has moved closer after the GMB agreed to speak to Amicus and the T&G about a merger. The unions’ approach to the GMB has been hampered by the position of Kevin Curran, its general secretary, who is about to undergo an investigation over alleged vote-rigging in 2003.
Ozzy honoured
It is Ozzy Osbourne’s greatest honour: Black Sabbath head a list of the 100 best British rock albums. The band were voted No 1 with their self-titled 1970 debut by the readers of Kerrang! Osbourne appears in the list six times, more than any other artist, four times with Black Sabbath and twice as a solo performer.
Artist flushed
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An art installation made of soap, lavatory paper and stains on bathroom walls at the Arches, in Glasgow, was flushed away by Georgie Fowler, a cleaning and services manager, in the belief that it was just a mess. The display was by the visual artist Angela Bartram and part of the National Review of Live Art.
Baby ‘injured at child hospital’
A three-month-old boy is under guard while police investigate claims that he suffered serious injuries at a London hospital and that medical equipment used to treat him was sabotaged.
The infant was recovering from bowel surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children when staff noticed suspicious injuries during a routine scan and called police on February 3 and again on February 10 after concerns were raised that clamps had been placed on the infant’s feeding tubes.
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Inquiries are continuing.
Soldier’s protest
A Territorial Army soldier has resigned in protest at the war in Iraq and urged others to refuse to serve in the conflict. Lance Corporal George Solomou, 38, from Hackney, in northeast London, said that the war was corrupt, illegal and unjustified. “The idea that it has made the world a safer place is a sick joke,” he said.
Fat Cat is perfect
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The Fat Cat in Norwich has been named Britain’s best pub by the Campaign for Real Ale. It is the only pub to have won the title for a second time in the award’s 17-year history. The runners-up were: the Olde Swan, Netherton, West Midlands; the Arden Arms, Millgate, Stockport; and the New Inn, Halse, Somerset.
Home off the rails
A 50-year-old railway carriage in the shadow of a nuclear power station and on one of the most windswept beaches in England is on the market, for £150,000. Described as “a rare glimpse of a passing age”, the converted carriage has been a home since it was set on the shingle at Dungeness, on Romney Marsh, in Kent.
Fortune foretold
A woman who scooped almost £9 million on the Lotto was told she would have a big win in a letter from a clairvoyant. Sharon Creighton, 40, said: “The letter went in the bin.” Ms Creighton, who is divorced with a 16-month-old son and lives with her mother in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, will buy a luxury home.
Scots urged to shop a dealer
Jack McConnell, Scotland’s First Minister, urged residents in drug-ravaged areas to shop local dealers. As part of a publicity blitz financed by cash seized from criminals, the public will also be urged to give anonymous information to Crimestoppers by post.
The campaign, Dealers Don’t Care, Do You?, was launched by Mr McConnell on a visit to Barrhead, East Renfrewshire. “This campaign says to ordinary, hard-working Scots that their actions can make a difference. If you speak out you can get rid of dealers in your community.”
Police chief in 97mph dash
A police officer was fined for speeding after driving a chief constable home at nearly 100mph. David Coleman, Chief Constable of Derbyshire and a staunch opponent of speeding, was travelling from London when his car was clocked at 97mph by officers on the M1 in Hertfordshire. The driver, Kenneth Campbell, was fined £300 and had four points put on his licence at Hemel Hempstead Magistrates’ Court.
Surgical crisis
Thousands more surgeons are needed by the NHS in England and Wales to avert a crisis, a report by the Royal College of Surgeons says. It said that the Government had failed to deliver the extra consultants and specialist registrars it promised at the launch of its NHS Plan in 2000.
Students killed
Two British students working on a gap-year conservation project in Mexico have been killed in a minibus crash. Rebecca Owen, from Welshpool, Powys, and Chloe Taylor, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, both 21, had been on a bat-watching expedition. Eight other passengers, including six Britons, were injured.
Candy quotas
A London shop specialising in the sale of old-fashioned sweets has gone a step farther and introduced Second World War-style ration books. Kitty Hope, the owner of Hope and Greenwood, in East Dulwich, southeast London, said that the idea came after parents asked her to stop selling so many sweets to their children.
Franz top the bill
Franz Ferdinand, the rock band, are to co-headline this year’s V Festival. The band, who were named Best British Group and Best British Rock Act at the Brits Awards last week, will join fellow Brits winners the Scissor Sisters at the festival, which is held in Staffordshire and Essex on August 20 and 21.
Avon calling more
Avon UK, the cosmetics company, is planning to recruit 20,000 new Avon ladies over the next five years as it expands into the insurance and credit card markets. Beauty products will remain Avon’s main business. The company, which employs 260,000 people, believes it can compete in other sectors.
Fawlty hotel sale
The hotel that inspired the television series Fawlty Towers has been sold for about £1.5 million. The show’s co-writer, John Cleese, based Basil Fawlty on Donald Sinclair, a former owner of the Hotel Gleneagles, in Torquay, Devon. The new owners are a family from Bristol who are “big fans” of the programme.
No passport for terror suspects
The Government is refusing to issue passports, under a rarely-used law, to some of the Britons released from Guantanamo Bay last month.
Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, used powers under the royal prerogative to deny passport facilities to Martin Mubanga and Feroz Abbasi, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme said.
It is not known whether the other two British detainees, Richard Belmar and Moazzam Begg, have also been refused passports under the powers, last used in 1976. Mark Oaten, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, questioned whether Mr Clarke took the decision as part of a deal with the US.
Law a damp squib
On-the-spot fines to discourage firework yobs and the excesses of Guy Fawkes Night may have turned out to be something of a damp squib. Only 22 fixed penalty notices were issued on Bonfire Night last year, according to figures released to The Times under the Freedom of Information legislation.
Driver sentenced
A taxi driver who ran over and killed a woman after she fell from a kidnapper’s car was sentenced to 200 hours community service. Mohammed Ashiq, 53, failed to stop after Stephanie Hammill, 20, died after falling from a car in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, into the path of his taxi in November 2003.
New spin on fossil
What was believed to have been the biggest spider ever to have walked the earth has been unmasked as a crab. Paul Selden, of the University of Manchester, examined the 300 million-year-old fossil and concluded that Megarachne servinei, which looks like a tarantula the size of a cat, was in fact a bog-dwelling crab.
Tickets sell-out
Tickets for Scotland’s biggest music festival have sold out just four days after the line-up was confirmed. US rockers Green Day and the Foo Fighters will headline the T in the Park event at Balado, near Kinross, in July. Travis and James Brown have now also been booked, organisers revealed last night.