New post prices ‘will bring delays’
There could be long queues at post offices on Monday caused by the start of the Royal Mail’s Pricing in Proportion scheme, the industry’s consumer body has cautioned. Postwatch predicts that a lack of information will lead to disruption at a third of branches. The Royal Mail says it will lay on 500 extra staff at its largest branches this week. Mail delivery prices will now be set according to the size and weight of letters.
Bomb plot denied
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A 23-year-old man has denied plotting to kill and cause explosions on London’s transport network on July 21 last year. Adel Yahya, of London, pleaded not guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to conspiracy to murder and to conspiracy to cause explosions. He is to stand trial in October with five other men facing the same charges, all from London.
JP abused boys
A magistrate was jailed for abusing three teenage boys. Gerald Sidney, 58, of Lockleaze, Bristol, met them through his role as a Sea Cadets commanding officer. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by Bristol Crown Court and put on the sex offenders register.
A bigger bang
A fifth of the gas thrown into the Universe by the big bang has been turned into stars that have twice as much mass as previously believed, a study by the University of St Andrews says. An international team measured matter after surveying 10,000 galaxies each with ten billion stars.
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Children to go
The Home Office is drawing up plans to deport hundreds of unaccompanied children whose asylum applications have failed. Such children have traditionally been allowed to stay until their 18th birthday, usually in the care of local authority homes or with foster parents.
Identity thief
Antoine Pollgouater, 27, from Woolwich, southeast London who helped to steal the identity of Michael Brown, the London Underground chief executive, to take £100,000 from his bank account, was told he would be jailed when he is sentenced at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court.
Teacher is jailed for abusing pupil
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A senior art teacher who began a sexual relationship with a pupil when she was 15 was jailed for four years by Hull Crown Court. The judge told Ian Blott, 54, of Thwing, East Yorkshire, that he had destroyed part of the girl’s life, leaving her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and bulimia. Blott earlier pleaded guilty to abusing a position of trust and sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
Deportation error
A senior judge has criticised the Home Office after Fadile Parmaksiz, 33, a Turkish mother, was deported despite her lawyer securing a late- night injunction allowing her to stay. Mr Justice Collins said in the High Court there was a lamentable lack of any system to deal with injunctions granted outside office hours.
Death fall
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A five-year-old boy on holiday at a Tenerife resort died after slipping through railings and falling about 30ft (10m). Jamie Owen, from Manchester, landed on concrete steps, suffering head wounds. His parents, Christopher Owen and Cliodhna McPhillips, were nearby in a ground-floor bar at the Playa de las Americas.
Search for bodies
Police digging up the garden of a convicted paedophile said that no human remains had been found. Police will review the situation after the search in New Addington, South London, the former home of Leslie Ford-Thrussell. It was alleged that bodies were buried there 35 years ago.
Airport strike
Baggage handlers and check-in staff at Stansted airport are to strike over the Bank Holiday weekend in a dispute over pay. Disruption is expected from Saturday at 5am until 8am on Sunday, and from 5am on the Monday until 8am the next day.
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Scent of Beckham
David and Victoria Beckham have launched “his and hers” perfumes, which, the manufacturer claims, capture their “individual successes”. The perfumes are produced by Coty UK, the world’s largest fragrance company.
Sheridan case witness ‘threat’
Police are investigating claims by a witness in the Tommy Sheridan defamation trial, in which the Scottish politician was awarded £200,000, that attempts were made to stop her giving evidence.
Helen Allison, 52, who testified that she had seen Mr Sheridan have sex with a prostitute, told Strathclyde Police that an attempt was made to pervert the course of justice at a meeting 48 hours before she was due to appear.
She made similar claims in the witness box, telling the jury that she had received a threatening call from an estranged friend, who was also said to be present at an alleged hotel orgy, warning against speaking to the press.
Fifth escape
A fifth inmate in three weeks has gone missing from Prescoed open prison in Monmouthshire. Gwent Police said that he was not a danger to the public; he was being held for driving offences and dishonesty. The four other offenders, including two child rapists, were all returned to custody.
John Terry fined
John Terry, the England football captain, was fined £100 by magistrates at Guildford for failing to tell police who was behind the wheel of his Bentley when it was caught speeding by a roadside camera. The car was timed at 63mph on the 50mph Esher bypass, in Surrey, in February last year.
Alcohol problem
An expert on drug addiction has accused the Scottish Government of failing to tackle alcohol abuse. Professor Neil McKeganey, of Glasgow University, said that Scotland’s alcohol problem had worsened since ministers published their action plan in 2002. Last year 2,052 people died from alcohol abuse, up 21 per cent on 2000.
£10,000 Beano
A copy of the first Beano is expected to fetch up to £10,000 at auction. The comic, which cost tuppence when it was published on July 30, 1938, is one of only a dozen known to have survived. Also up for sale at next month’s comic auction is a copy of the first Dandy annual, published in 1939. It may fetch £4,200.