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MURDER INQUIRY LAUNCHED Detectives have launched a murder inquiry after a 15-year-old Dudley girl died from serious head injuries suffered during an assault. Natalie Mills was found unconscious by ambulance crews in a Dudley alleyway. Police have arrested five people from Dudley in connection with the death. A 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. BLACK BOX STUDIED AFTER CRASH Police are studying the black box retrieved from a tram following a fatal collision with a car in Wolverhampton. British Transport Police officers hope the data will help them establish the cause of Saturday's tragedy on the Midlands Metro line in Priestfield. Jugesh Kainth, 25, from nearby Bilston, died after the BMW he was driving was shunted about 30ft down the line. MAN SUFFERS 'SERIOUS BEATING' A man is in a life-threatening condition in a spinal injuries unit after he was attacked in a Birmingham nightclub. The 36-year-old, from Erdington, was found with serious head and spinal injuries after the assault in Aston. Police believe the man suffered a "serious beating" at the club, which is situated above a bookmakers in Aston. MAN QUIZZED OVER WOMAN'S DEATH A man is being questioned by detectives over the murder of a woman who died at a house in Worcestershire. Ambulance staff were called to an address in Malvern where the woman was pronounced dead, said police. A local man was arrested on suspicion of murder just 20 minutes after the prounouncement was made. A post-mortem examination is being carried out. 23 SHEEP KILLED BY DOGS Two dogs broke into a shed and savaged to death 23 sheep at Warwickshire agricultural college. The bull terriers killed 15 of the pregnant ewes. One of the dogs was hurt during the attack and was put down. Police investigating the incident believe the dogs broke free from their owner while out walking at the college's Moreton Morrell campus. MOTORCYCLIST BADLY INJURED A motorcyclist is in a critical condition after being involved in a collision with a car in Rugby. The accident took place in Newton Manor Lane when a Kawasaki 600cc motorcycle was in collision with a Renault Megane. The biker, a 32-year-old man from the town, was taken to hospital with head and neck injuries, where his condition is described as "serious but stable". REGION SPEARHEADS £70m SCHEME The West Midlands has been selected as one of three English regions to lead a new Government-funded £70m programme to revitalise museums and galleries. The Renaissance in the Regions scheme was announced by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries. As well as the West Midlands, the North East and the South West are included in the scheme. BRONZE AGE AXE HEADS FOUND Archaeologists in Shropshire are celebrating the discovery of three Bronze Age axe heads unearthed by a metal detector hobbyist. The 3,000-year-old weapons were found by Henry Pugh while out combing farmland near his home in Rednal. Archaeologists think they were either hidden for safe-keeping or left underground as offerings to the gods. MP CONDEMNS POOL OMISSION An MP has condemned a health trust's failure to include a hydrotherapy pool in plans for Lichfield's new hospital. Tory MP Michael Fabricant said that, despite pleas by physiotherapy staff, the Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth Primary Care Trust did not consider it. "Given that most of the funding could be raised locally, I hope the trust will reconsider," said Mr Fabricant. ASTROLOGICAL SCAM IN REGION Trading standards officers are warning residents not to get involved in an astrological scam in Shropshire. A mailshot tells householders they can win as much as £175,000 if they send £7 to a woman called Barbara at an address in the Netherlands. Councillor Bill Morris said: "I strongly recommend that you put this letter straight in the bin." INQUEST INTO WOMAN'S DEATH An inquest into the death of a young Malvern woman who was found dead in her home is due to open. The body of Kathryn Allen, 25, was discovered at her home in Elgar Avenue, West Mercia Police said. Officers said a local man was arrested on suspicion of murder 20 minutes after her body was found. Post-mortem test results have yet to be released. MEN JAILED OVER £38m VAT FRAUD Two Staffordshire businessmen, who masterminded a £38m VAT fraud by buying and selling mobile phones across Europe, have been jailed. Raymond Woolley, 49, of Stoke-on-Trent, and Robert Garner, 35, of Stone, were jailed for nine years and seven years and three months respectively. Both had admitted cheating the public revenue at Birmingham Crown Court. TEACHER FREED OVER PORN CHARGES A Wolverhampton teacher who bought indecent images of children has been freed after claiming he was working for an anti-child pornography website. Gareth Cowell, 37, received three years of community rehabilitation at Wolverhampton Crown Court. Cowell, who resigned from his post at Temple Meadow Primary School, admitted 10 counts of making indecent images. SEATBELT CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED West Mercia Police are launching a new hard-hitting campaign to get people to wear seatbelts in cars. The campaign across Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire will send out the message that not wearing a belt is dangerous and irresponsible. In the force's area last year, up to 10% of 106 road deaths could have been prevented by wearing seatbelts. TWO ARRESTED OVER BRUTAL RAPE Two men have been arrested in connection with the brutal rape of a 22-year-old woman in Wolverhampton, almost three years ago. The woman was assaulted close to the Wolverhampton Wanderers football ground. She was repeatedly raped, sexually assaulted and tortured. The two men, aged 27 and 30, are being quizzed after a new appeal last month. BLACK BOX STUDIED AFTER CRASH Police are studying the black box retrieved from a tram following a fatal collision with a car in Wolverhampton. British Transport Police officers hope the data will help them establish the cause of Saturday's tragedy on the Midlands Metro line in Priestfield. Jugesh Kainth, 25, from nearby Bilston, died after the BMW he was driving was shunted about 30ft down the line. 1.8m TO BENEFIT FROM FREE AIDS A West Midlands Euro MP has welcomed the NHS's announcement that it is to provide free digital hearing aids. Lib Dem MEP Liz Lynne said only poor quality analogue hearing aids had been previously available on the NHS. Ms Lynne said the scheme would benefit 1.8m people, including 18,000 children, by the time it is fully implemented across the UK in 2005. BRONZE AGE AXE HEADS FOUND Archaeologists in Shropshire are celebrating the discovery of three Bronze Age axe heads unearthed by a metal detector enthusiast. The 3,000-year-old weapons were found by Henry Pugh while out combing farmland near his home in Rednal. Archaeologists think they were either hidden for safe-keeping or left underground as offerings to the gods. PROSTITUTE CASE REWARD ON OFFER Staffordshire Police are offering a £10,000 reward to help catch the killer of a prostitute in Stoke-on-Trent. Detectives are making a fresh appeal on the second anniversary of the death of Nikola Higgins, who was found strangled and battered on a driveway in Tunstall. Members of the investigation team are due to lay flowers at the spot where the 23-year-old died. BUILDERS BLAMED FOR WALL DEATH The coroner in the case of a Rugby grandmother who died when strong winds blew a two-ton wall over has blamed builders for the tragedy. An inquest into the death of Sandra Jones, 56, found the 2.4-metre wall was unable to withstand 55mph gusts. The Warwickshire coroner recorded an accidental death verdict, but said it was "evident" builders were at fault. MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING GIRL 15 A Dudley man has appeared in court charged with murdering his 15-year-old girlfriend, who was found in an alley with severe head injuries. Craig Shepherd, 20, was remanded in custody by magistrates in Dudley over the killing of Natalie Mills. The defendant's mother Ivy and sister Carol were also remanded for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. UNIVERSITY OPENS NEW SCHOOL Birmingham University's new school of engineering is due to be opened by the Government's Science Minister. Lord Sainsbury of Turville will see some of the latest technology on offer at the school, which is an amalgamation of five of the engineering disciplines. The peer will see a "food of the future" exhibition featuring chocolate and new technologies in beer brewing. SEVEN MORE SPECIALIST SCHOOLS The Government is making seven more Birmingham schools "specialist", and will provide them with extra resources. Swanshurst and Yardleys will specialise in science, and Hodge Hill Girls and St Thomas Aquinas in maths and computing. The other schools named are Bordesley Green Girls (business and enterprise), Cardinal Wiseman RC (technology), and Kingsbury (sports). AIRPORT TRAFFIC UP BY A FIFTH Birmingham International Airport handled a fifth more passengers last month than in the same period in 2002. An airport spokesman said the site handled 513,172 passengers during January - an increase of 26.3% on last year's figure. But they added that the increase was exaggerated by the impact of a 48-hour closure after an accident in 2002. CULTURAL QUARTER GETS BOOST Stoke-on-Trent's cultural quarter is to get £596,000 from regional development agency Advantage West Midlands. The main beneficiary will be the churchyard of 19th-century Methodist Bethesda Chapel in Albion Street, owned by the Historic Chapels Trust. The £917,000 project to revamp the churchyard will feature landscape improvements and tighter security. PISTOL AND AMMUNITION FOUND Police have recovered a machine pistol and 10 rounds of live ammunition from a house in Sutton Coldfield. Acting on intelligence, officers searched the house on Barnsbury Avenue, and found a Glock machine pistol and 10 rounds of live 9mm ammunition. A police spokesperson said five men and one woman had been arrested following the discovery. PRESCOTT DECLINES DEBATE INVITE The Deputy Prime Minister has said he has no plans to visit the West Midlands and debate the possibility of a referendum on a regional assembly. John Prescott's comments came in a letter after Tory MEP Philip Bradbourn asked him to debate the issues. The West Midlands MEP said: "I am surprised he won't come and assess the level of interest for himself." AGENCY 'HAS NEW BIN LADEN TAPE' A Birmingham-based Islamic news agency claims it has a new audio recording of Osama bin Laden in which he predicts he will die as "a martyr" this year. The Al-Ansaar news agency said the 53-minute tape was allegedly recorded this month and acquired from a seller who advertised over the internet. Imran Khan, who runs Al-Ansaar, said that he translated the tape. 3,500 WORKERS SET TO STRIKE Thousands of Peugeot workers in the West Midlands are set to stage a strike over pay which will cost the company millions of pounds in lost production. The main factory in Ryton, near Coventry, and two smaller plants nearby will be hit by the 24-hour walk out which involves around 3,500 workers. Workers voted to strike after rejecting a 7.3% pay rise over two years. THREE KILLED AS CARS COLLIDE Police are probing the cause of a road accident near Newport in which three people died and three others were hurt. West Mercia Constabulary said two men and a woman, all in their 20s, were pronounced dead at the scene. The three had been passengers in a Ford Fiesta and Peugeot 306 which collided on Shrewsbury Road, Edgmond. Three other men were seriously injured. 'HOAX' CALL TRAGEDY PROBED The Police Complaints Authority is to probe the case of a Wolverhampton man who died of an asthma attack after his emergency call was dismissed as a hoax. Renville Hall, 32, was found dead at his home after he tried to raise the alarm but was unable to speak. West Midlands Police said they are reviewing the way they respond to 999 calls following the tragedy. MP TO ANSWER MOTORING CHARGES Former Treasury minister Geoffrey Robinson is to appear before a Walsall court charged with motoring offences. The Coventry North West MP is due before Walsall Magistrates' Court to face three charges which include driving without insurance. The claims against the former Paymaster General, of Godalming, were made after police stopped his Jaguar in Walsall. POLICE DENY TERRORISM ALERT Armed police have been deployed to conduct road checks on people entering Birmingham International Airport. However, a spokesman denied the move was initiated in direct response to the security alert at Heathrow over fears surrounding a terrorist attack. He said: "There is no specific threat to the West Midlands. Our objective is to reassure the public." STAR'S SON DENIES SEX ATTACK The "arrogant" son of Coronation Street star Johnny Briggs launched a drunken nightclub sex attack on a teenage girl, Wolverhampton Crown Court has heard. The court was told Michael Briggs, of Stourbridge, whose father plays Mike Baldwin, twice groped the 18-year-old. Briggs, 22, denies indecently assaulting the student at Bar Rumba in Brierley Hill. JOBLESS FIGURE RISES BY 3,000 The jobless figure for the West Midlands rose by 3,000 in the three months October to December, compared with the same period in 2001. The number of people out of work stood at 146,000, according to the latest official figures. The unemployment rate was 5.5%. The number of people out of work nationally stood at 1,506,000. MAN TRIED TO FIRE GUN IN MOSQUE A Birmingham worshipper who tried to fire a gun at a gang who attacked him in a mosque has been found guilty of intending to cause fear of violence. Amir Khan, 27, of Ladypool Road, was convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear following the incident in Crawley, West Sussex. Khan will be sentenced at Chichester Crown Court on March 5. WASTE DISPOSAL CASE ADJOURNED The sentencing of a waste disposal company that admitted dumping clinical waste in Birmingham has been adjourned until Friday. Eurocare Environmental Services, based in Newcastle, last year pleaded guilty to 10 breaches of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Sentencing at Chester Crown Court was deferred for new documents to be seen. FIRE RESCUERS WIN PRAISE Two firefighters who suffered smoke inhalation have been praised for rescuing three men from a blaze which tore through a Birmingham home. Firefighters Conal Daly and Phil James rescued the victims, aged 40, 35 and 33, from a residental unit for people with mental health problems. Handsworth brigade's sub officer Tony Oakes said: "It was a heroic effort." RAIDERS TIE UP GOLF CLUB STAFF Police are hunting armed robbers who tied up staff at a Coventry golf club before stealing cash from the safe. The two robbers, wearing military clothing and balaclavas, struck as staff were closing at the Coventry Golf Club in Finham. Both robbers are believed to be white, aged in their 30s, wearing combat clothing and black boots. FUNERAL FOR SHOOTING VICTIM Mourners are gathering for the funeral of one of the two teenagers murdered at a Birmingham New Year party. The service for Letisha Shakespeare, 17, is taking place at the Park Avenue North Methodist Church in Northampton -the town where she was born. The noon service is expected to attract around 300 mourners and will be followed by a private cremation. COUNCIL TAX RISE 'THE ONLY WAY' Walsall Council has insisted that a 19.9% increase in council tax is the only way it can stabilise its finances and continue to improve services. The authority's acting chief executive, Michael Frater, insisted that its tax level had been lower than other boroughs for the last decade. He said: "Walsall now has to take a long-term view of financial planning." MP SUPPORTS NEW FIREWORK LAWS Coventry City Council has welcomed an announcement by consumer minister Melanie Johnson that she will support new legislation governing fireworks. Ms Johnson's pledge echoed the views of 4,000 people who want laws to curtail firework noise and misuse. Cllr John McNicholas said: "Ridding our society of the nuisance of fireworks is something that needs resolving." SURGICAL WASTE FIRM FACES FINE One of Britain's biggest hospital waste management firms may face a huge fine after admitting breaching environmental regulations in Birmingham. Newcastle-based Eurocare Environmental Services is accused of leaving human blood and tissues to rot in trailers. The company pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court to charges of contravening the Environment Protection Act 1990. BIKER KILLED IN COLLISION A motorcyclist has been killed in a collision with a car in Derbyshire. Officers said the accident happened on Ashby Road, in Bretby, when the blue Yamaha bike was in collision with a white Peugeot vehicle. Details of the dead biker's identity have not yet been released. Witnesses to the accident should contact Derbyshire Police on 01773 570100. COUPLE BRITAIN'S MOST ROMANTIC A Telford husband and wife who have been wed for 58 years have been named as Britain's most romantic couple. Ted Cowling, 83, and wife Joy, 78, were chosen from hundreds of couples to win the title and a luxury £5,000 holiday. They met in 1945 when Joy, a radio telephonist at Castle Combe in Wiltshire, took an emergency call for help from Ted, a flying instructor. LOVE 'POTION' SERVED IN PUB Love will not only be in the air at one Warwickshire village pub -
it will be in the beer too. To celebrate Valentine's Day, the Church End
Brewery, near Nuneaton, has concocted a love potion in the form of an
aphrodisiac ale called Alcofrolic. The pub is using the aphrodisiac properties
of ginger and ginseng in a bid to spice up drinkers' love lives.
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