Blair backs candidate for Sedgefield seat
Tony Blair was on hand yesterday to help to launch the campaign of the man
chosen by the Labour Party to contest his seat in Parliament (Greg Hurst
writes).
Phil Wilson, a friend and former aide to Mr Blair, is a candidate for the
by-election in Sedgefield due on July 19. The chief task faced by Mr Wilson,
a public relations professional, is to repel charges that Mr Blair neglected
the area as its MP. Graham Robb, the Conservative candidate, takes a swipe
at the former Prime Minister in a leaflet called Taken for Granted, saying:
“Sedgefield’s towns and villages need a new Member of Parliament who will
stand up for them in London.”
Body found after fire
Five men and a woman were held after a body was found in a disused factory
that was severely damaged by two fires. The building in Hanley,
Stoke-on-Trent, was being used by homeless people. Police were treating the
fires as suspicious. The body remained inside pending a safety assessment.
£2m for shot Iraqi
A 16-year-old Iraqi boy who was permanently disabled when accidentally shot by
a British soldier in Basra was awarded £2 million damages from the Ministry
of Defence in an agreed High Court settlement. The boy, who was 12 at the
time of the shooting in September 2003, is now living in Britain.
Damilola killers lose
Two brothers convicted of the manslaughter of the schoolboy Damilola Taylor in
Peckham, southeast London, in 2000 have lost appeals against their sentence.
The Court of Appeal rejected the argument that the eight-year detentions
imposed on Danny Preddie, 18, and Ricky Preddie, 19, last year were too
long.
Whiff of dissent
Staff and regulars at a pub in Scarborough have organised a whip-round for
Martin Whisker, 42, the first man to be fined £80 for flouting England’s
smoking ban. The decorator spent Monday night in a police cell after
chainsmoking his way through a pack of Lambert & Butler “as a matter of
principle”.
Police find 1,800 fake passports
Five Eastern European men were in custody yesterday after more than 1,800 fake
passports from at least 12 countries, including Britain, were found in a
flat in Colney Hatch, North London.
Test to improve vCJD diagnosis
Scientists at Edinburgh University have developed a technique that could
improve the accuracy of screening for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The
current test is not reliable and can lead to a wrong diagnosis, but
researchers believe that the new method will reduce the number of “false
positive” results.
Child drowns in garden bin
A 15-month-old boy from Weeke, Winchester, went through a dog flap as his
mother, Nicola Thorne, was on the telephone, fell into a bin and drowned in
seven inches of water. Central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short recorded a
verdict of accidental death.
Driver guilty of 5mph train crash
The driver of a miniature train was found guilty of careless driving for
knocking down a woman of 66 on the seafront at Eastbourne, East Sussex, at
5mph and breaking her leg. Michael Simmons, 61, was given an absolute
discharge. The train will now be withdrawn.
Briton accused of Thailand rape
A British man has been charged with rape in Thailand. Benjamin Gardner, 28, of
Newport, South Wales, is accused of raping a Swedish woman on the island of
Koh Phangan. Mr Gardner was arrested at a guesthouse 100 miles (160km) east
of Bangkok.
Butlins offers timeshare break
Butlins has introduced a timeshare scheme giving holidaymakers the chance to
stay at special apartments at the company’s resort in Minehead, Somerset. A
week-long family holiday in May each year for 30 years would cost about
£6,000.
Children’s ‘asthma gene’ is identified
A gene that sharply increases the chances of children developing asthma has
been identified (Lewis Smith writes). Children with the ORMDL3 gene, found
in blood cells, are between 60 per cent and 70 per cent more likely to
suffer from asthma than those who do not have it.
It was identified after researchers from Imperial College, London, whose
findings are published in Nature, noticed that a variety of mutations in the
DNA from one of the chromosomes increased its frequency. One in seven
children in Britain suffers from asthma, which is the most chronic childhood
disease in the country.
Second conviction
A musician who murdered a teacher while acting out a gruesome sexual fantasy
was convicted for a second time. Graham Coutts, 39, strangled Jane Longhurst
with a pair of tights after raping her, the Old Bailey heard. He then hid
her body in a storage depot. He was convicted in 2004 but a second trial was
ordered because jurors were not offered the alternative count of
manslaughter.
Aircraft ‘too old’
The Armed Forces are having to rely on ageing aircraft that need constant
maintenance to keep them in the air, the Commons Defence Committee said. The
committee cast doubt on the ability of the current generation of aircraft to
continue with its punishing schedule in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plans to
introduce modern replacements were behind schedule, the MPs said.
Three admit terror
Three men have admitted using the internet to incite holy war against
nonMuslims. Tariq al-Daour, 21, Younes Tsouli, 23, both from West London,
and Waseem Maghal, 24, from Chatham, Kent, changed their pleas during a
trial at Woolwich Crown Court, southeast London. They also admitted
conspiracy to defraud banks and credit card companies. The three will be
sentenced today.
Car thief boss jailed
The ringleader of an international gang that stole more than 120 Mercedes cars
a month in London has been jailed. Sina Adebayo, 45, led a gang that made
more than £70,000 a month sending the stripped-down prestige cars to
Nigeria. Adebayo was sentenced to two years in prison by Southwark Crown
Court. The judge recommended he be deported on release.
Fish brains ‘like ours’
Fish may use different sides of their brains to process information, like
people. Researchers from Macquarie University, Sydney, found that wild
bishop fish used the left eye to watch for predators. Victoria Braithwaite,
a biologist, said: “The lab-reared fish could process information about
novel objects in the left brain because they feel more comfortable; their
parents are more cautious.”
Velázquez returns home on record price
The world record price for a painting by Velázquez, the 17th-century Spanish
master, was smashed at Sotheby’s in London last night (Dalya Alberge
writes).
Saint Rufina, an early 1630s depiction of the patron saint of his native
Seville changed hands for £8.42 million. It beat the artist’s £5.4 million
record held since 1999 when the same painting last appeared on the open
market.
It was bought by the pople of Seville, through a cultural foundation, the
Focus Abengoa. Locals had set their hearts on buying the painting,
especially after Sotheby’s sent it to Seville as part of a presale world
tour. With the support of wealthy industrialists, they clubbed together to
beat rival international collectors.
Also, the finest group of watercolours by J. M. W. Turner to have come to the
market in living memory was sold at Sotheby’s for £10.76 million. The buyer
is unknown. The 14 shimmering watercolours included a previously unseen
picture of Lake Lucerne. The works were owned by Baron Guy Ullens, a Belgian
who made a fortune in the food industry.
More women judges
More women and solicitors are being appointed judges after the first year of
the new system run by the Judicial Appointments Commission, which took over
the task from what was then the Department for Constitutional Affairs last
year. Of 58 candidates recommended for judicial posts, 30 were men and 28
women. Three were black ethnic minority candidates. Slightly more than 41
per cent were solicitors.
Blaze at racecourse
Fire broke out at York racecourse last night. A large blaze is thought to have
started at 7pm in a hospitality suite on the fifth floor of the Ebor stand.
A smaller fire was reported on the third floor. No one was hurt, North
Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said. Five fire engines and two aerial ladder
platforms were sent. The venue has won the title Northern Racecourse of the
Year on 17 consecutive occasions.
Gurkha hero arrives
A Gurkha who was awarded the Victoria Cross has arrived in Britain to live
after a government decision banning his residency was overturned. Tul
Bahadur Pun, 84, was given a military guard of honour at Heathrow. He had
wanted to move from Nepal for health reasons. Mr Pun was given the military
honour for taking out a Japanese machinegun position during the Second World
War.
£100,000 for a cave
Rock Cottage, a cave home auctioned with a guide price of £25,000, sold for
£100,000. The cottage, in Wolverley, Worcestershire, is hewn out of a
sandstone cliff and has three adjoining caves. It has a front door,
fireplace and pantry, but no electricity or water. It was last occupied in
the late 1940s. Roger Sadler, the auctioneer, said that bidders came from as
far away as Spain. It sold to a neighbour.
Sex abuse jailing
A lorry driver was jailed for sexually abusing a girl – after she
recognised him nine years later. Colin Butcher assaulted her when she was
aged between 7 and 11. The victim went to the police last year after
recognising him when he walked into a shop where she was working. Butcher,
41, of Dunkeswell, Devon, who was convicted in April, was jailed at Exeter
Crown Court for just under four years.
