News in Brief

Singer sued

Grace Jones, 58, the singer and actress, is being sued for allegedly causing £10,000 damage at a flat. She is also accused of owing more than £5,600 rent to the owners of the property in Chelsea, West London. A writ has been issued at Central London County Court demanding £16,737 compensation.

Killer jailed

A pigeon fancier who shot dead his neighbour after blaming her for a fire that killed fifty of his birds was jailed for eight years. A jury at Birmingham Crown Court acquitted Michael Stockton, 44, of murdering Susan Rondel, but found him guilty of manslaughter by reason of provocation.

Locals priced out

Poole, Dorset, is the least affordable place in Britain for local people wanting to buy a house, a study said. The average price of property is £251,588, 12.4 times higher than the average local income of £20,311. The survey, by the National Housing Federation, predicts that the situation for first-time buyers will worsen.

Addict gave her son, 9, heroin

A drug-addicted mother who gave her nine-year-old son heroin and crack was told yesterday to expect a lengthy sentence after she admitted supplying him with drugs.

Hove Crown Court was told that Emma Kelly, 31, of Eastbourne, had given her son drugs over more than two years, but that social services had not taken the child, now aged 13, from her custody despite seven visits to the home.

Second dog attack

A four-year-old needed 200 stitches to his face after he was attacked for the second time in nine weeks by the same dog. The family of George Brown, who was bitten on Monday as he played in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, had told police about the bulldog after the first attack. It has now been put down.

Nurses’ campaign

Nurses’ leaders have stepped up their campaign against cuts in the NHS after publishing figures which showed that more than 18,000 health service jobs had been lost or were threatened in the current round of savings. The Royal College of Nursing has called on nurses to sign a petition condemning the cuts.

Conman jailed

A conman who used a dead lover’s identity to set up bank accounts with his wife and tricked elderly women out of cash was jailed for four years. Barry Neale, 47, intimidated people into buying security equipment and laundered cash using an account in a dead girlfriend’s name, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Ministry criticised

John Hooper, the Brighton Coroner, criticised the Department of Health for waiting four years to tell a dying man that he may have contracted the human form of “mad cow” disease from a blood transfusion in hospital. Mark Buckland, 32, died from variant CJD at his parents’ home in Brighton in May.

Fraud charges

Seventeen people were charged in connection with a £1.9 billion VAT fraud investigation. Those charged were from the Strathclyde area of Scotland, a spokesman for Revenue & Customs said. The move came after an operation yesterday which resulted in arrests in Glasgow, Manchester and London.

Prescott drama

ITV is to broadcast a 90-minute drama about John Prescott’s affair with the secretary Tracey Temple. A script has been commissioned for Prezza, which is expected to go into production in the autumn. A spokeswoman for the Deputy Prime Minister said that he would not be making any comment.()

PC cleared of attack at demo

A police officer was cleared of clubbing the Master of the Hampshire Hunt over the head during pro-hunting demonstrations outside the Houses of Parliament. Jurors at Southwark Crown Court found PC Barry Jenkins, 36, of the Metropolitan Police, not guilty of actual bodily harm against Simon Harrap, 58, a farmer, during the Hunting Bill protests in 2004. PC Jenkins claimed that he acted in self-defence.

Activists charged

Fifteen animal rights activists have been charged after staging a sit-down protest at Oxford University. They held the demonstration during the university’s Encaenia ceremony in June, during which honorary degrees were awarded. All will appear at Oxford Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.

Vote-fixing arrests

A former mayor has been arrested as part of a two-year investigation into vote-rigging allegations. Mohammed Choudhary, the former Mayor of Peterborough, has been arrested with Tariq Mahmood, a Labour party official, and Maqbool Hussain, a unsuccessful Labour candidate in the city in 2004.

Gay marriage fraud

A married woman was jailed for nine months after she claimed single woman benefits because her husband is gay. Maria Wall, 43, of Tremorfa, Glamorgan, claimed £60,000 in benefits while in a “sham” marriage to David Davies, a “committed homosexual”, Cardiff Crown Court was told. She admitted fraud.

Girl’s gorge death

An eight-year-old girl fell 100ft (35m) to her death down a steep gorge at a Highland beauty spot while walking with her mother and two sisters. Rebecca Coyle, from Montrave in Fife, slipped over the edge of a sheer gully at Steall waterfall in Glen Nevis on Tuesday. She died of her injuries at the scene.

Killer jailed

A pigeon fancier who shot dead his neighbour after blaming her for a fire that killed fifty of his birds was jailed for eight years. A jury at Birmingham Crown Court acquitted Michael Stockton, 44, of murdering Susan Rondel, but found him guilty of manslaughter by reason of provocation.

Singer sued

Grace Jones, 58, the singer and actress, is being sued for allegedly causing £10,000 damage at a flat. She is also accused of owing more than £5,600 rent to the owners of the property in Chelsea, West London. A writ has been issued at Central London County Court demanding £16,737 compensation.

Judge’s plea on troops’ behalf

A judge has called for British combat troops to undergo “reacclimatisation” before they can celebrate their homecoming. Judge Simon Tonking heard the case of Lance Corporal James Savage, 23, who fractured a man’s skull in a drunken attack two days after returning from Iraq. Sentencing Savage to an 18-month community order at Stafford Crown Court, the judge said that he had been “hyperreactive”.

Honour returned

An aid worker appointed MBE for her work in Palestinian refugee camps said that she had returned her regalia in disgust at British foreign policy in the Middle East. Suzy Wighton, 47, from Aberdeen, said Tony Blair’s refusal to call for a ceasefire sooner in southern Lebanon had been an “utter disgrace”.

Luggage crushed

A holidaymaker’s luggage was destroyed when binmen mistook it for rubbish. Phil Newbon had left his luggage on the ground while he spoke to a friend in Spalding, Lincolnshire, after a holiday in Cyprus. A spokesman for South Holland District Council said the incident was under investigation.

Social club digs in

Members of a social club have barricaded themselves inside its building after the Labour Party, which owns the property, sent bailiffs to evict them. Last week a court ordered members of the club in Thetford, Norfolk, to leave. Their lease expired two years ago. About 30 members were refusing to leave yesterday.

Cart driver drunk

A farmer drank twenty pints of Guinness and five alcopops before trying to drive home a horse and cart. Adrian Whitaker, 36, from Bayford, Hertfordshire, who in February was banned from driving, admitted being drunk in charge of a horse and cart. Hertfordshire magistrates will pass sentence next month.

Court trouserless

A solicitor may face a Law Society investigation after dropping his trousers inside a court building. Willie Johnstone, 50, was protesting at Sunderland Magistrates’ Court over security measures, which defence solicitors claim are discriminatory because they do not apply to prosecution solicitors.

Whiz around Oz

Dave Cornthwaite, a Briton, hopes to set a world record by skateboarding more than 6,400km (4,000 miles) around the Australian coast. Mr Cornthwaite, 26, will leave Perth on Sunday and, after vsiting Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, plans to cross the finishing line in Brisbane late in December.