Bishop lays his hand on crook
A schoolboy felt the hand of God on his collar when the Bishop of Lichfield caught a suspected burglar, (Helen Nugent writes). Returning from a Sunday walk with his wife, the Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill saw a group of teenagers race up the road from his home in the shadow of the cathedral. The bishop, 56 today, bellowed “Oi,” and gave chase. He grabbed one of them, who was in possession of secateurs from the garden shed, and hauled him back to the house. There, the 14-year-old burst into tears when the bishop gave him the choice of calling the police or his parents. The boy was unable to choose, so the bishop phoned for the police, who issued a caution.
Cameras slowed
The Department for Transport has ordered speed-camera managers to suspend plans to recruit extra staff to handle the growth in the number of speeding tickets. The London camera partnership claimed that the move would result in 40 deaths and serious injuries a year as it cannot now erect 120 extra cameras.
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Taxi driver guilty
A taxi driver who ran over and killed a woman who had fallen from a kidnapper’s car was found guilty of failing to stop after the accident by Dewsbury magistrates. Mohammed Ashiq’s cab hit Stephanie Hammill, 20, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on November 2003. Ashiq, 53, faces community service.
Near-miss scare
An investigation is under way after a passenger plane had to take emergency action to evade a military jet. The Eastern Airways Jetstream 41 was flying from Tees Valley airport to Aberdeen when it was involved in a near-miss with a Tornado F3 jet at around 16,500ft, 30 miles from Newcastle, on February 1.
Posters banned
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London Underground banned posters for Kinsey, a film about Alfred Kinsey, the late “sexual behaviourist”. The poster design, which bore the words “orgasms, masturbation and sleaze”, was deemed to be too offensive for passengers, even though the film is not explicit and has been awarded a 15-certificate in Britain.
Troops accused of filming orgy
An investigation has been ordered by the commander of an elite army unit after five soldiers allegedly filmed themselves having group sex in their barracks.
The troopers from the Life Guards are accused of smuggling a girl into their Hyde Park barracks last Wednesday and videoing the subsequent orgy. Copies of the video were then circulated among members of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, which is made up of the Blues, Royals and Life Guards.
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The Ministry of Defence confirmed that Lieutenant-Colonel Valentine Woyka, the Life Guards’ commanding officer, has stared an investigation. Lieutenant-Colonel Woyka said: “I am investigating this with the greatest rigour to establish the facts and deal with any offence committed.”
A spokesman refused to discuss the incident in detail.
28 deaths probed
An investigation into the deaths of 28 elderly patients at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital, Hampshire, has been handed to the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS will decide whether allegations, which are believed to involve the overprescription of diamorphine in the 1990s, can be brought to court.
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Airport guard ‘picked on fans’
A security guard sacked for harassing Rangers fans at Dublin airport wore a Celtic top to his disciplinary hearing as his Real Madrid top was dirty, an employment appeals tribunal was told.
Kenneth Geary claimed he was ogling air hostesses and women heading off on holidays while working in the frisking area of departures, not on the lookout for Rangers supporters to abuse. The Celtic fan denied being in cahoots with a colleague, Frank Flynn, to keep an eye out for travellers sporting Rangers tops at the height of the Orange Order marching season in 2003.
The two, who are claiming unfair dismissal, were sacked by Aer Rianta for gross misconduct in August 2003 over their treatment of a group of Rangers supporters from Belfast. A decision is not expected for several weeks.
Prank backfires
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A radio DJ who ransacked his boss’s home for an on-air prank was suspended from his job. Tim Shaw, a presenter at Kerrang! 105.2, and his producer Greg Pebble broke a window to gain entry to the house in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, then hid valuables and sprayed obscene graffitti on the walls.
Suing the in-laws
An estranged wife is believed to have issued proceedings seeking a share of assets belonging to not only her husband but also his multimillionaire father. Zoe Rowland, 30, is reported to be suing husband Jonathan, 29, and his father, City financier David Rowland, who is listed as the UK’s 53rd richest man.
Shortchanged
A disabled stroke victim had to walk nearly three miles to his home because he took too long to sort his change for the bus fare. Brian Davies, 61, who is partially paralysed, was wearing a badge saying he is a stroke victim when he boarded. The Wilts and Dorset bus company has ordered an investigation.
Cell death inquiry
Police considered corporate manslaughter charges against the Prison Service after Zahid Mubarek was beaten to death by his racist cellmate, Robert Stewart, in March 2000. A public inquiry heard how the Prison Service had failed to address problems at Feltham Young Offender Institution. The inquiry continues.
Brainy boy
The former President Bill Clinton and Mikhail Ali have one thing in common: each has an IQ of 137. Mikhail, 3, has been admitted as the youngest member of Mensa, the high-IQ society. The boy from Bramley, Leeds, was accepted after completing tests set by researchers at the University of York.
Picture this
The Muslim Council of Britain described the Passport Service’s rejection of a passport photograph of a baby without a vest on as “absurd” and “ill-informed”. Tracey Barnes’s photograph of her seven-month-old son Lewis was rejected because the agency feared officials in Muslim nations would object.
Britain recalls envoy to Nepal
Britain recalled its ambassador from Nepal because of political turmoil in the Himalayan kingdom. King Gyandera, the Nepalese ruler, took direct control after sacking the Government, which he blamed for failing to tackle a Maoist revolt. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said that despite the British Ambassador’s departure, the Embassy is to remain open and diplomatic relations with Nepal will be maintained.
Suicide ‘mistake’
A cancer patient killed himself last year after a letter saying he was clear of the disease apparently failed to reach him. Colin Jackson, 43, from Gillingham, Kent, was being treated for testicular cancer. An inquest in Gillingham was told that Mr Jackson had moved house and changed doctors. Verdict: suicide.
Charge hits shops
Shops in Central London are blaming the congestion charge for a reduction in takings, a poll by the London Chamber of Commerce has found. The survey of 330 retailers showed that more than a third had cut staffing levels since the charge was introduced two years ago. More than four out of five said that takings were down.
Police ‘mole’ row
Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales, and Detective Superintendent Chris Corcoran have been reported to the Independent Police Complaints Commission for their part in a “mole hunt”, which cost £150,000 to bring to court. Last month Chester Crown Court cleared Peter Bolton, 51, of misconduct.
Crane deaths
Police have named the two workmen who died when a crane collapsed on a building site at Durrington High School in Worthing, West Sussex. Gary Miles, 37, from Crowthorne, and Steven Boatman, 45, from Reading, were subcontractors working for Willmott Dixon. A third man is recovering in hospital.
Misspent youth
Two thirds of British teenagers know how much an Apple iPod mini costs but three quarters have no notion of the price of a pint of milk, according to a survey linked to the publication of Money, Money, Money, a book on finance for teenagers. More than half admit to “fleecing” their parents for money.
Red letter day
Letter deliveries have reached their best level for almost ten years, according to the Royal Mail, which said that 91.9 per cent of first-class post and 98.5 per cent of second-class letters were delivered on time in the last three months of 2004. All 15 performance measures for letters and parcels showed “significant improvements”.
Torture claim by bomb case man
A British man accused of taking part in a bomb plot says he was tortured in Pakistan and interrogated by British and US intelligence agents. The claim was made by Salahuddin Amin, 29, after he was sent for trial at the Old Bailey accused of conspiring with seven others in a plot alleged to involve ammonium nitrate fertiliser, an ingredient of explosives.
Mr Amin, from Luton, was arrested on his arrival at Heathrow Airport from Pakistan last week. He was charged at the weekend with taking part in the plot between March 2003 and the end of March last year. He was remanded in custody at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court.
Avalanche deaths
Athens: Diane Seale, 31, a British-born journalist, was among five people who died in an avalanche in Greece. The casualties were among a 28-member party from an Athens mountaineering club who set out to climb Mount Menalon, a 1,950m (6,400ft) peak in the southern Peloponnese. (AFP)
Statue restored
A larger-than-life marble statue of Baroness Thatcher, vandalised in the summer of 2002, has been restored and is back on display in the Guildhall Art Gallery, London. The two-ton statue by Neil Simmons was beheaded by a protester using a cricket bat and a bronze stanchion. He was jailed for three months.
Police withhold report on death
Police have refused to publish a report into the fatal shooting of an unarmed naked man, because it would be too costly. Sussex Police rejected a request under new Freedom of Information legislation to release documents about the death of James Ashley, 39, in January 1998, during a drugs raid at a Hastings flat. The report would cost £3,000 to photocopy and lawyers would have to study which sections could not be published.
Search delayed
The search for a climber lost in the Highlands was temporarily called off due to bad weather, rescuers said. Gavin Nightingale, 39, a sub-editor with Essex County Newspapers, has not been seen since leaving the Glen Nevis youth hostel on Friday. It is believed that he had intended to climb Ben Nevis.
Officer faces jail
A former policeman was told by a judge at Kingston Crown Court that his chances of avoiding jail after a string of sex attacks on four teenage boys were about zero. Clifford Lawrence, 43, of Virginia Water, Surrey, resigned from the Metropolitan Police at the weekend after admitting indecency charges.
Pig cells promise
Tissue from pig embryos could be used to treat conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and liver failure, researchers say. Scientists in Israel found favourable results after mice with liver or lung damage had embryonic pig cells transplanted at a very early stage. They said this could help human beings.
Drugs drawback
New arthritis drugs are more likely to lead to increases in blood pressure than the drugs they replaced, an Australian study in Archives of Internal Medicine has found. The new drugs, COX-2 inhibitors or coxibs, were designed to have less damaging effects on the digestive system, but may damage the heart instead.
Car gadget peril
Car gadgets could be causing nearly half a million vehicle accidents a year. Research by Privilege Insurance has shown that CD players, satellite navigation systems, mobile phones and complex heating controls are too distracting. Some 45 per cent of motorists admitted losing concentration while using an in-car gadget.
Potato bug alert
Dutch seed potatoes are to be checked by plant health inspectors at British ports after outbreaks of potato ring rot in the Netherlands. The disease, caused by Clavibacter michiganensis sepedonicus, is highly contagious and affected crops must be destroyed in their entirety, without government compensation.
Jodi killer set to appeal
Luke Mitchell is to appeal against his conviction and sentence for the murder of his 14-year-old girlfriend Jodi Jones. Mitchell, 16, has lodged an “intimation of intention to appeal”, the Justiciary Office at the High Court in Edinburgh confirmed.
He was ordered to serve at least 20 years before being considered for parole.
If a High Court appeal went ahead, the case would be heard before three judges.
Dunblane threats
A man who made threatening calls to Dunblane primary school is being sought by police. Robin Pritchard, 36, from Penarth, south Wales, failed to appear at Stirling Sheriff Court on Friday. He is charged with two counts of breaching the peace and one count of sending messages of a menacing nature.
Ferry rejected
Glenelg residents voted against buying a historic ferry which operated during the summer from their village on the mainland to Kylerhea on Skye. The Glenachulish, which holds six cars and is thought to be the last manually operated turntable ferry in the world, is now expected to be sold on the open market.
Blaze sisters
Two sisters who died following a fire at a flat in Kinning Park, Glasgow, were named as Carol Ann Luke, 50, and her sister Ellen McLeod Foy, 55, who was visiting from Canada. They were rescued from the fire on Saturday but died in hospital. Police said that there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances.