Council payout over child abuse claims

Former residents of a children’s home who say they were sexually abused in the 1950s and 1960s have each received a £3,000 payout from Portsmouth City Council.

The 19 adults claimed they were abused in foster care and at the Children’s Cottage Home in Cosham, near Portsmouth.

The group campaigned for two years for an apology and recognition of the alleged abuse. The council does not accept liability for what happened but said that it had a moral obligation towards the claimants.

Les Cummings, who led the group’s campaign, described the settlement as a “day of justice”.

Hunt charges denied

The first professional huntsman to be prosecuted under the Hunting Act 2004 for hunting a fox has denied the charges against him at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court. Julian Barnfield, 44, who lives at the Heythrop Hunt’s kennels in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, faces three counts of hunting a wild mammal with dogs. The case was adjourned until November 3.

Expat murder trial

A 63-year-old Briton living in Spain has been charged with the murder of his wife. Patricia Heard, 58, went missing from her home near Valencia, in July 2006. She had emigrated from Warwickshire with her husband, Allen, that year. Mr Heard was also charged at Nuneaton Magistrates’ Court with perverting the course of justice. His trial will start at Warwick Crown Court on August 15.

Votes for women

Police went to a disturbance at Bristol Sikh Temple when 79 women were refused entry to vote in management committee elections. A group of women allegedly tried to roll over a car amid jostling during the dispute over whether they could vote. Police negotiated with both sides and eventually three women were elected for the first time. A man was cautioned for a public order offence.

Camper found dead

Police yesterday were trying to confirm the identity of a man found dead on a Snowdonia mountainside. He was believed to be about 58 and from Rochdale, and had been missing for nearly a week while on a lone camping holiday in the Ogwen Valley. It is thought that he had fallen from the east face of the 3,000ft Tryfan. His body was found by members of the Ogwen mountain rescue team.

Only when I laugh

An architecture student who could be paralysed if she laughs is hoping to make people aware of her condition, cataplexy. Kay Underwood, 20, of Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, suffers a sudden weakening of muscles brought on by strong emotions. In her case, laughter is the cause, but in others it is excitement or anger. “People think I’m doing it as a joke,” she said. One day, she collapsed 40 times.

Dando case reward A £50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killer of the BBC presenter Jill Dando has been revived by the charity Crimestoppers after the acquittal of Barry George, 48, in a retrial eight years after he was jailed for the murder (Sean O’Neill writes). The Metropolitan Police have ruled out a new investigation, or the involvement of an outside force to reexamine the evidence.

Families ‘devastated’

The families of Ben and Catherine Mullany, the couple who were shot on their Carribean honeymoon, said that they were devastated by their loss. Mr Mullany died on Sunday after being critically injured in what is thought to have been a robbery of their hotel room in Antigua. His wife died instantly. The families said: “We would like to thank our friends and family for their overwhelming support and kindness.”

7/7 ‘plot’ retrial

Three men accused of helping to plan the July 7 bomb attacks in London are to face a retrial. The trial of Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil was halted on Friday after the jury failed to reach a verdict. The men, from Beeston, Leeds, were accused of carrying out a reconnaissance mission seven months before the attacks in 2005, which killed 52 people.

Madeleine files open

Thousands of pages of evidence gathered by Portuguese police in the hunt for Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from a resort in the Algarve in May last year, have been made public.

The dossier includes lines of inquiry pursued by detectives, witness statements and transcripts of interviews with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. A spokesman for the couple said that they would be examining the files for leads.

Castle discovered

A mysterious monument that has stood unidentified on a hilltop in the North West for about 900 years has turned out to be the remains of one of England’s most important 12th-century castles. A team of archaeologists from the University of Manchester think the castle perched 300 metres up a cliff near Stalybridge was built by one of the Earls of Chester.

Vitamin C kills cancer

Vitamin C that is injected rather than swallowed can destroy cancer, research has shown. The therapy generates hydrogen peroxide, which halved the growth of aggressive tumours in mice, leaving healthy tissue intact. Usually the body limits vitamin C levels in the blood, but this can be by-passed if injected into the bloodstream, American scientists report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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