ASYLUM applicants will no longer automatically be given British travel documents as part of the Government’s drive to curb the numbers coming to the country.

Officials issue the documents, called certificates of identity, to applicants given exceptional leave to remain, who have an urgent need to travel and cannot get a passport from their own country’s embassy. Ministers believe that easy access to the document, which looks like a passport and can be used in the same way, has encouraged people to seek asylum in Britain.

Motorist beats speed cameras

Phillip Dennis, 34, of Whitford near Holywell, who was trapped by a speed camera, was found not guilty when Flintshire magistrates at Mold, north Wales, highlighted a loophole in the law. Mr Dennis had not signed the form which had been posted to him and in which he named himself as the driver of the vehicle — meaning the document was inadmissable as evidence.

Bones could be missing boy

Detectives believe that human bones found by people walking dogs on the Southampton foreshore in two separate discoveries in the past week could be those of Daniel Nolan, 14, who disappeared on New Year’s Day a year ago at the end of a fishing trip with three friends on the River Hamble, Hampshire. Police have begun an examination of the site.

Vitamin helps to reduce fractures

Just one vitamin D tablet taken every four months can significantly reduce the number of fractures in elderly people, according to research by doctors in Cambridge. Participants in a vitamin D treatment group had a 22 per cent lower rate for all fractures and a 33 per cent lower rate for a fracture occurring in common areas for osteoporosis such as hips, wrists and vertebraes.

Biggest murder reconstruction

Detectives investigating the murder of Margaret Muller, 27, an American artist who had settled in London, are to stage the largest crime reconstruction in the history of the Metropolitan Police on Monday in Victoria Park, Hackney. Ms Muller was stabbed to death in the park on February 3. More than 100 people who were near by at the time are expected to take part in the reconstruction.

Big response to $1m FBI appeal

Scotland Yard was following up 90 calls after the FBI offered a $1 million (£636,000) reward on BBC’s Crimewatch for help in catching one of America’s most wanted men, James “Whitey” Bulger. The Irish-American ganster, now 73, went missing in 1995 and may be in London. He is wanted for questioning over crimes including 19 murders, extortion and racketeering.

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