Pony doping inquiry
Police investigating alleged pony club doping in Jersey have dropped their investigation.
The state police said that they were no longer examining claims that Kim Baudains had slipped a sedative to the ponies of her son’s rivals at a competition last weekend because it is not an offence to drug a pony.
Analysts were carrying out blood tests on several ponies after a parent, whose daughter was competing against Josh Baudains, 11, alleged that the animals had become unusually lethargic after Mrs Baudains was seen feeding them “mints”. Mrs Baudains, 36, was alleged to have fed the ponies an animal sedative which is easily available from vets.
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Mrs Baudains’ parents have furiously denied the charges, which they claim have made her ill with stress. She was unavailable for comment.
Terror charges
Six men were charged in connection with an operation targeting terrorist recruiters, Scotland Yard said. The men were held after raids in London on September 1. They are: Muhammad al-Figari, 42, Atilla Ahmet, 42, Kadar Ahmed, 19, Moussa Brown, 40, Saloum Joh, 21, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named.
Record reservoir
Thames Water published plans for the biggest reservoir to be built in Britain for 25 years. The company intends to build a 150-million cubic metre reservoir on farmland near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. If it goes ahead, the £1 billion scheme will provide customers with 350 million litres of water every day.
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Mother shot dead
Two sisters aged 15 and 18 saw their father shoot their mother dead outside their home in Derby. Lenny Yorke, 38, killed Maggie Kidd, 38, in the front garden with a shotgun then killed himself. Police were called after neighbours saw him brandishing the gun in an argument but the couple were dead by the time they arrived.
Surgeries ‘not fit’
At least one in seven GP surgeries are “not fit for purpose”, according to a study published in the medical newspaper Pulse. A total of 1,092 premises in the UK were below standard, figures from 175 primary care trusts, local health boards in Wales and Northern Ireland, and Scottish NHS boards showed.()
Hospital death
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A hospital patient died after she was hit by a reversing car as she was being lifted out of an ambulance at Bristol Royal Infirmary. The 63-year-old woman, who has not been named, was in a wheelchair when the accident happened. She suffered multiple fractures and internal injuries and died six hours later.
Academic freed in abuse case
A British academic accused of sexually abusing underage girls in the Philippines has been freed after the case against him collapsed because three key witnesses apparently disappeared.
Barry Edwards, 59, of Essex, was released by a court in Angeles, north of Manila, after the three young girls who he was accused of raping were said to have vanished from the government shelter where they were staying and could not be found.
Mr Edwards, a former maths lecturer at Middlesex University, was arrested in the Philippines in 2003 when police found him in a hotel room with a 14-year-old girl. He was initially freed when the witness refused to testify, but was later arrested on three further rape charges. He was also accused of making child pornography.
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He had denied all charges.
Poisoning charge
A mother appeared at Winchester Crown Court charged with killing her 15-month-old son. Marianne Williams, 24, from Wiltshire, who denies the charge, is accused of poisoning Joshua Taylor, who died at Southampton General Hospital, Hampshire, in February 2004.
Bike death arrests
A City of London restaurant popular with bankers and José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, has hired a security firm after finding surveillance equipment in its dining room. Portal, a “modern European restaurant”, has asked a firm to make regular sweeps of the premises in order to protect the privacy of its clientele.
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£24,000 shirt
A football shirt that was worn by George Best during one of his greatest games has sold for £24,000 at auction at Christie’s in London. Best was wearing the shirt when he returned from suspension to score six goals in Manchester United’s 8-2 defeat of Northampton Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup in 1970.
PC murder case
Adrian Robinson, 23, of Colindale, London, and Hewan Gordon, 36, of Newport, Gwent, appeared at Leeds Magistrates Court charged with assisting an offender in connection with the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford, on November 18, 2005. They were granted bail pending trial.
Priest sets record
A Church of England priest who celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday will this Sunday become one of the oldest priests on record to take a service. The Rev Kingsley Laws will conduct the morning eucharist at St Thomas’s, Wells, in Somerset. He also intends to preach the sermon.