Ex-IRA prisoner to sit on police board

A former IRA prisoner who was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions in England in 1986 is to sit on the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

Martina Anderson, who is now an Assembly member for the Londonderry Foyle constituency and was director of Sinn Fein’s engagement with Unionists, is one of three Sinn Fein representatives who will sit on the board after the party’s executive agreed to them taking up their positions.

The others are Alex Maskey, who was the first Sinn Fein Lord Mayor of Belfast, and Daithi McKay, Assembly member for North Antrim.

Prison staff pay row

Hundreds of Prison Service staff will start a campaign of industrial action today in a row over pay. About 400 professional and technical staff, including farm and catering managers, medical officers and psychologists based in prisons across England and Wales, will refuse to work overtime.

Policeman stabbed

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested after a policeman was stabbed at a police station in North London. The policeman, who is in his twenties, was working at Wood Green police station. He was taken to hospital where he was described as stable. The boy was arrested 90 minutes later.

Cheese blaze

Fire has disrupted production at a factory that makes Wensleydale cheese. The blaze caused extensive smoke damage to some of the buildings at the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes, North Yorkshire. More than 30 firefighters were called out and the fire took about five hours to bring under control.

The name’s Bond

A group of James Bonds came to London yesterday, but there wasn’t a spy among them, though one, James Bond, 72, from Oxford, did go to Sir Roger Moore’s school. The Bonds – 169 are on the electoral role – were located by Virgin Media, which is screening Casino Royale and the 007 back catalogue.

Safety fears over prisoners’ rail work

A union has expressed alarm and anger after it emerged that prisoners have helped to maintain one of Britain’s busiest railway lines. Seven inmates from Moorland Open Prison in South Yorkshire have worked night shifts on the West Coast Main Line from London to Glasgow. Although Network Rail insisted that the prisoners were not involved in any “safety critical” work, the RMT union said that the issue raised serious concerns.

Result for nurses

A fund for struggling nurses is due to receive £750,000 after footballers agreed to donate a day’s pay to the “crisis-hit” carers. Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry and Steven Gerrard are among donors to the May Day for Nurses appeal. Top players can earn more than £100,000 a week. Nurses earn an average of £21,000 a year.

M1 has worst jam

Roadworks have led to part of the M1 becoming the worst congestion spot in the country. The stretch between junction 6A in Hertfordshire and junction 11 in Bedfordshire topped the list of traffic jams, according to the RAC Foundation. It also said that peak commuter hours get earlier as the week progresses.

‘Ban hoodies’ call

More than four out of ten Britons want to ban people in shopping centres from wearing garments that obscure the face, according to a survey by G4S Security Services. The poll also found that one in three people wanted “hoodies” banned from all shopping areas. Shoppers’ biggest fear was antisocial behaviour.

Candidate arrested

A member of the Respect party, which campaigns against electoral fraud, has been arrested on suspicion of making a false declaration about his eligibility to stand in elections. Sajid Mehmood, 35, who this month came second to Labour in Park ward, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, was released on police bail.

Antismoking drive

A road safety group is calling on the Government to ban smoking while driving to cut road accidents. The Local Authority Road Safety Officers’ Association claims that drivers put lives at risk when they take their hand off the wheel to light up. The Association of British Drivers said the idea was absurd.

No plastic bags

Free plastic bags will not be available from a branch of Waitrose for a fortnight from today. Customers at the store in Saffron Walden, Essex, will instead be asked to reuse old carriers and shopping bags. The chain will also introduce a plastic bag-free “green till” at a further 14 of its 183 branches for the same period.

Early-release crooks

Prisoners released early under the Government’s electronic tagging scheme committed, or were accused of, four times more crimes last year than in 2000, a report by the Tory MP Grant Shapps has claimed. His report also said that on average nearly seven crimes were being committed every day by tagged offenders.

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