Selection for Diana inquest jury begins

About 200 potential jurors will be questioned today to assess their suitability to sit on the inquest of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed (Frances Gibb writes).

Two sessions will held at the Royal Courts of Justice to select a shortlist for the final panel of between seven and 11 members of the public. The inquest is due to start on October 2, more than ten years after the Princess and Dodi Fayed were killed in a car crash in Paris, and could last for up to six months.

Lord Justice Scott Baker, the coroner, will issue each of the candidates with a list of questions to determine whether they have any prejudices or connections that may rule them out of sitting on the case.

Punishment fails

Criminals are being let off community punishments because there are not enough staff to supervise them. Judge Derwin Hope, who sits at Southampton Crown Court, has demanded an inquiry into problems with the Hampshire probation service which came to light as he was sentencing an arsonist.

Asylum stowaways

Police have found four asylum-seekers attempting to enter Britain in a lorry carrying Tony Blair’s new official car. Officers found the men, thought to be Asian, in the vehicle that was carrying the former Prime Minister’s modified car when it was delivered to a police garage in Vauxhall, South London.

Father accused

A man has been accused of murdering his son and trying to kill his teenage daughter. Ryan Hawkins, 4, of Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, died of stab wounds. His sister was stabbed 23 times and is in a serious condition. Christopher Hawkins, 47, will appear at Bradford Crown Court on October 4.

Boxer murder charge

Two men were charged yesterday with the murder of James Oyebola, 47, the heavyweight boxer who was shot in a row over smoking at a bar in Fulham, West London, on July 23 this year. Rene McKoy, 19, and Kanyanta Mulenga, 22, will appear before magistrates today, Scotland Yard said.

Poor care for elderly

A report on care for elderly patients in hospitals shows serious lapses. The Healthcare Commission found that older patients had little privacy and often have to stay on mixed-sex wards. Many rarely received help with feeding and so risked becoming seriously malnourished.

NHS pays £60,000 in a day on citizen juries

The Department of Health spent up to £60,000 in one day paying members of the public to attend a high-profile consultation exercise on the future of the NHS (David Rose writes).

People were handed envelopes containing £75 for taking part in so-called “citizen juries”, which included an event in Birmingham attended by Gordon Brown and other key ministers, as part of the health minister Lord Darzi’s national review of the NHS. The Conservatives said that paying some patients to attend the events, while the grievances of many others went unheard, would not repair the public’s trust in politics.

Arrest in murder case

A man has been arrested in connection with the murder of Victoria Anyetei, the 54-year-old consultant paediatrician found with multiple stab wounds in her car on the driveway of her home in Dartford last month. Although police would not confirm the identity of the man, his name is understood to be David Quartey. Last night a 21-year-old was still being questioned at a police station in Kent.

Headscarf dentist

A Muslim dentist has been found guilty of serious professional misconduct after telling a patient that she could not register with him unless she wore a headscarf. In April 2005 Dr Omer Butt, of Prestwich, gave the order to a nonpractising Muslim. He said it was “unlawful” for him to look at a Muslim woman who was not properly covered up. He was admonished but not barred from practising.

Backpacker death

A backpacker missing since the Thai air disaster has been confirmed dead. Alex Collins, 22, a university graduate of Maesteg, South Wales, had just embarked on a round-the-world trip when the budget flight crashed in the resort of Phuket 10 days ago. His girlfriend, Bethan Jones, 22, was taken to hospital with severe burns. An inquest has been opened and adjourned at Fulham Coroner’s Court.

Web security glitch

A glitch on Travelodge’s website led to customer information such as names, addresses and parts of credit card numbers being accessible. Computing magazine reports that the security breach was discovered by a customer. Travelodge said that the problem, which occurred this June, was fixed within a day.

Cyclist’s welcome

A man who cycled tens of thousands of miles through hostile landscapes from Hong Kong to Yorkshire has had his bicycle stolen – back home in Barnsley. The bicycle belonging to Lee Simmons, 39, which he called the “Beast of the East”, was taken from the family garage. He said that it was worth more than houses in some of the places in which he had travelled, but “nobody thought to steal it”.

Peal appeal victory

The bells of an historic church will continue to chime after 200 people signed a petition protesting a bid to silence them. Businesses claimed the bells of St John the Baptist Church in Axbridge, which ring out every quarter of an hour, were hitting trade as guests at hotels were not sleeping. The town council said that the bells will continue to ring 24 hours a day at the site, which dates back to the 1200s.

Milking reality TV

Dairy farmers have launched an online reality show to rival Big Brother. The makers of Big Udder hope to promote Jersey and Guernsey milk by showing round-the-clock footage of cows at a West Country dairy farm. The action is captured by a series of hidden cameras, although makers admit that “it’s unlikely there will be as much tension in the herd as there was in the Big Brother house”.

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