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VAN MURDER 'WITNESSES' QUIZZED Detectives probing the murder of a man in Birmingham, run down as he tried to stop his van being stolen, are to quiz two men who may have been witnesses. Father-of-two David Warrilow, 37, died last week after a "stand-off" outside a newsagent's in Chelmsley Wood. The welder had left the keys in his blue Ford Transit van - which was later found abandoned 200 yards away. FAMILY MOURNS SEWER DEATH SON A Worcester teenager found dead in a 15ft-deep sewer died from drowning, an inquest at Stourport-on-Severn Coroner's Court has found. The body of Aidan Botfield, 18, of Friar Street, Droitwich, was recovered by firefighters from a derelict pumphouse next to the River Severn. Father Bryan paid tribute to his "fun-loving" son. The hearing was adjourned. ROBBIE ATTACKED OVER PIRACY Culture minister Kim Howells has condemned Stoke-on-Trent singing megastar Robbie Williams for saying internet piracy is "great". Mr Howells said the chart-topping star's comments amounted to "defending theft" and backing criminal gangs. Williams is reported to have said in Cannes: "I think it's great. There's nothing anyone can do about it." FIRE CREW FREES CUFFED SHOPPER A woman had to be rescued by five firefighters after being trapped in handcuffs during a shopping trip to an Ann Summers store in Wolverhampton. A crowd watched the fire crew free the shopper from the police-style cuffs with a hacksaw in the city centre. The woman, in her 20s, went into the shop with two friends and had the metal handcuffs on one hand when they jammed. MAN IN COURT OVER BRIDE MURDER A 25-year-old man is due in court charged with the murder of an Asian bride who was stabbed to death in Birmingham on her wedding day. The defendant is to appear before magistrates in his home city after the death of Sahda Bibi, 21. She was found with multiple wounds in the family home in the city's Alum Rock district, hours before the ceremony. MAN ARRESTED OVER RAPE BAILED A 23-year-old Northants man arrested in connection with the alleged rape of a teenage girl in Chester city centre has been released on police bail. The 15-year-old from North Wales said she was attacked in Bell Tower Walk as she strolled through the city with a man she met earlier in the evening. Police want to trace a spiky-haired man who may have witnessed the attack. VIRUS GRAVE 'NOT A HEALTH RISK' The mass livestock grave from the foot-and-mouth epidemic in Worcestershire poses no risk to human health, a new Government booklet on the site claims. Residents in Throckmorton, near Pershore - which housed the vast burial ground - are being sent the booklets. Ministers have also set out their plans for restoring the former airbase, which include a small lake and wetland area. TEENAGER ROBBED AT KNIFEPOINT A teenager has been robbed at knifepoint in Birmingham of a mobile phone, jewellery and cash, police said. The attack took place in Coventry Road, Hay Mills, when the 17-year-old was approached by two men as he was standing at a bus stop. The attackers were both Asian and aged about 19 and 20. Both were slim and between 5ft 8in and 5ft 9in. MEP HAILS MASTS CANCER STUDY A West Midlands Euro MP has welcomed the Government's announcement that it is to probe the links between mobile phone masts and cancer. Michael Cashman, a Labour MEP for the region, said scientists will study some volunteers, who claim the masts have made them ill, to find any cancer link. "This is good news for families who believe they have suffered," he said. CRACKDOWN ON GARAGES LAUNCHED A crackdown on garages is being launched by trading standards officers in Birmingham. The operation, the first of its kind in the city, follows a survey which found 45% of garages failed to repair punctured tyres safely. Officials visited 22 garages, including national chains, where tyres with known faults were taken for repair.
21st. January 2003 CAR WORKERS VOTE FOR PAY STRIKE Nearly 4,000 workers at Coventry-based car giant Peugeot have voted to strike in a dispute over pay. The Transport and General Workers Union said its members at the plant backed strike action by 54.2% in response to a two-year company pay deal worth 7.3%. TGWU deputy general secretary Tony Woodley said the offer did not match others in the automative industry. MAN REMANDED OVER BRIDE MURDER A Birmingham taxi firm owner charged with stabbing to death a bride-to-be on her wedding day has appeared in court. Tafarak Hussain, of Mead Crescent, Bordesley Green, is accused of killing Sahda Bibi at her Alum Rock family home before she married on January 11. He was remanded in custody at the city's magistrates' court to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on January 27. MAN STABBED IN NECK BY GANG A man has been attacked and stabbed in the neck by a gang of men as he left a West Bromwich pub. Three men stabbed the 36-year-old from the Black Country with a sharp implement as he left the Crown and Cushion pub on Seagar Street. He is in a stable condition in hospital. Anyone with information should contact Wednesbury CID. MINISTER TO MAKE BUSINESS TOUR Treasury Minister John Healey is due to visit Birmingham when he tours the city's Chamber of Commerce. He will be listening to the views of business leaders from the region about the issue of local enterprise as part of a national pre-budget consultation. After touring the chamber the Labour MP will visit a project which helps people suffering from various addictions. HOME HELP SCHEME TO LAUNCH A poster campaign is due to be launched in Birmingham to highlight a lifeline for older council-house tenants. HouseProud provides help for tenants aged over 60 who want to improve their homes by identifying what repairs are needed and appointing a tradesman. Since the scheme was launched in July 2001, more than 2,500 tenants have sought advice. LAMPLUGH SUSPECT IN LEGAL MOVE A Sutton Coldfield man suspected of murdering estate agent Suzy Lamplugh is to hear if he has won a High Court bid for unimpeded access to legal advice. John Cannan, 48, serving life for another murder, wants a policy at his York prison stopping the exchange of legal documents to be ruled unlawful. His lawyers said the policy at the top security prison is hampering meetings. POLICE TO QUIZ SEX CLAIM DOCTOR A Birmingham doctor is to be questioned over an indecent assault on a patient who allegedly received a gynaecological examination during eye treatment. Dr Amit Verma will be quizzed over his alleged conduct with the 35-year-old patient at City Hospital in July 2001. The patient recently won £11,000 after Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust admitted clinical negligence. FAMILY MOURNS SEWER DEATH SON A Worcester teenager found dead in a 15ft-deep sewer died from drowning, an inquest at Stourport-on-Severn Coroner's Court has found. The body of Aidan Botfield, 18, of Friar Street, Droitwich, was recovered by firefighters from a derelict pumphouse next to the River Severn. Father Bryan paid tribute to his "fun-loving" son. The hearing was adjourned. 22nd. January 2003 PEUGEOT WARNS OF STRIKE THREAT Peugeot has warned a strike at its Coventry factory would damage its reputation after a second trade union voted to take action over pay. Amicus members voted by 340 to 310 for industrial action following a similar decision by the TGWU. Peugeot said decisions taken by the trades unions would have a long-term effect on the firm's future. VAN DEATH WIDOW APPEALS The widow of a man run down as he tried to stop his van being stolen from outside a Birmingham newsagent's is making an appeal to his killers. Tracey Warrilow is pleading for information over the murder of her husband, David, 37. Mr Warrilow died during a "stand-off" with the thieves outside a newsagent's near his home in Chelmsley Wood. POLICE PROBE ABDUCTION LINKS Police investigating the attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl in Staffordshire are looking at possible links with an incident two years ago. A motorist drew up alongside the girl in Barton-under-Needwood and offered her a lift. He was driving a red car. A spokesman said police are looking at possible links with a case in which a six-year-old girl was abducted in 2001. MORRIS TO GET HONORARY DEGREE Former Education Secretary Estelle Morris is to receive an honorary degree from the University of Warwick. Miss Morris, who studied education at Warwick, is to become an honorary doctor of law. Coventry University's Vice Chancellor, Dr Michael Goldstein, a vocal critic of tuition fees, is also receiving an honorary doctorate in science. TEENAGERS HELD OVER ECSTASY Two teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of supplying Ecstasy after three pupils were taken ill at a secondary school near Dudley. Police investigating the incident at Kingswinford School later released a girl, 14, and a boy, 13, on bail. Two other girls, 14 and 15, were also bailed after being held on suspicion of possessing the Class A drug. PLANS WILL CREATE 20,000 JOBS Birmingham City Council has unveiled plans to transform the Paradise Circus area into a £900m office complex, creating up to 20,000 jobs. The proposals would see the city centre area, which includes the Birmingham Central Library, bulldozed. The council says the plans continue Birmingham's revamp as a regional, national and international location. FESTIVAL HEADLINERS ANNOUNCED Coldplay and the Red Hot Chili Peppers will headline the V2003 festival in Staffordshire this summer, organisers have announced. They will play at Weston Park, near Shifnal, and the festival's sister site in Chelmsford, Essex, on August 16-17. Coldplay appeared at V2000 and V2001, but this will be the first time they have headlined the event. LAMPLUGH SUSPECT FAILS IN BID A Sutton Coldfield man suspected of murdering estate agent Suzy Lamplugh has failed in his High Court bid for unimpeded access to legal advice. John Cannan, 48, serving life for another murder, wanted a policy at his York prison stopping the exchange of legal documents to be ruled unlawful. The judge ruled that the policy did not interfere with Cannan's legal rights. MP COMPLAINS ABOUT NEW HOURS A Staffordshire MP has said reforms to working hours at the House of Commons have made it harder for MPs to serve their constituents properly. Michael Fabricant, Tory MP for Lichfield, said it is almost impossible to complete office work without staff working family-unfriendly hours. The new hours came into effect at Westminster on January 7 this year. MAN ASSAULTED IN PUB TOILET A 21-year-old man has suffered facial injuries and fractured ribs after he was assaulted in a Hinckley pub toilet. The man was attacked in the men's toilets in the Litten Tree pub in Regent Street. He was taken to hospital, where he is recovering from his injuries. Police believe a similar assault may have been carried out earlier in the same pub. SCHOOL NAMED TOP COMPREHENSIVE A Shropshire school has been named as the top performing comprehensive in the newly published GCSE league tables for England and Wales. The Thomas Telford School in Telford scored a perfect 100% for six or more A* to C grades to finish fourth overall in the tables. All its Year 11 students achieved top passes for the third consecutive year. MOTORIST DIES IN COLLISION A motorist has been killed when his car left a road and was in collision with a tree in Warwickshire. The accident happened as the driver of a Ford Mondeo estate overtook a cement mixer lorry on the B4453 at Frankton, near Rugby. Both vehicles were travelling from the A45 to Princethorpe on a stretch of road known as the "Straight Mile". BUSINESS SURVEY REVEALS GLOOM The latest quarterly survey of industrial trends in the West Midlands has shown a deepening of the gloom in the manufacturing sector. Carolyn Hannah, regional director of CBI West Midlands, said businesses expected orders to remain depressed. She said: "It is becoming increasingly difficult for our manufacturers to be optimistic about the future." GROUP SET TO CREATE 100 JOBS Mortgage lender The Mortgage Group is to create 100 jobs in Droitwich over the next three months as it expands its workforce by 500. The recruitment drive will double the size of its workforce and will also see 300 people recruited in Cornwall and 100 at a new centre in Crewe, Cheshire. The move is to meet the "significant demand" for its services. ADDICT 'BEAT GIRL TO DEATH' A Wolverhampton heroin addict beat his three-year-old stepdaughter from "head to toe" while her mother was working as a prostitute, a court has been told. Adrian Jones, 30, waited until his girlfriend Nicola Saunders was out working to murder Terri Saunders, it was alleged at Birmingham Crown Court. Doctors found more than 100 bruises on the girl's body. Jones denies murder. POLICE HUNT HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER An 80-year-old woman has been killed by a hit-and-run motorist in Smethwick, police have said. Halima Maflahi, from Edgbaston, was knocked down while walking in Cape Hill. Police are looking for a white van believed to have been involved. Detective Inspector Alison Higgins said the woman had emergency surgery at City Hospital but did not survive. TEARFUL WIDOW APPEALS FOR HELP The tearful widow of a 37-year-old man run down in cold blood in Birmingham has appealed for people to help police catch her husband's murderers. Tracey Warrilow is sure "someone somewhere knows something" about who killed her husband David outside a newsagent's in Chelmsley Wood. Police have traced two men at the scene who may have witnessed the incident. FEW FACILITIES FOR WOMEN A study of football pitches in Birmingham has found that only a small number provide facilities for women. The Football Foundation report also found that the proportion of pitches in the city with proper changing rooms is 5% less than the national average. The survey found 57% of 2,255 pitches had adequate provision, with only 6% having facilities for women players. 'TOP UP' TUITION FEES ATTACKED Government proposals to introduce "top-up" fees have been attacked by the Vice-Chancellor of Coventry University. Dr Michael Goldstein said the proposals would deter students from less well-off backgrounds entering higher education. He said: "If fees are to be £3,000-4,000 a year, rather than just over £1,000 now, the debt burden on graduation will be massive." MAN FOUND DEAD ON DOORSTEP Detectives are investigating after a man in his 30s was found dead on a doorstep in Smethwick. West Midlands Police were called to an address in Bridge Street, Smethwick, where they discovered the man's body. A police spokesman said a post-mortem examination is to take place to discover the cause of death. Officers are appealing for information. RADIO STATION FINED £15,000 A Birmingham-based radio station which held a contest that left three people with severe ice burns and permanent scars has been fined £15,000. BRMB admitting breaching health and safety laws at Birmingham Magistrates' Court when it challenged listeners to sit on blocks of dry ice. The blocks had a temperature of -78C and three people ended up in hospital. POLICE HUNT CAT POISONER Police have issued an urgent appeal for information in the hunt for an offender who has fed poison to several cats in Rugby, killing three family pets. Officers have been contacted by a woman whose two cats had died after eating poison sprinkled on food left near her home in Bilton. The incidents centred on Frobisher Road, a police spokesman said. 400 JOBS TO GO AT TELECOMS FIRM A telecoms factory in Coventry is to transfer its operation to Hungary, with the loss of 400 jobs. Workers at the Jabil Circuit plant were said to be angry at the announcement by the US-owned firm. Amicus union spokesman Danny Carrigan said: "This is a very bleak day for the workforce, many of whom have been at the factory for more than 30 years." DEAD PYTHON FOUND IN CITY CANAL RSPCA officials in Birmingham are attempting to establish how the body of a 13ft Burmese python came to be found in a canal in the city. A spokeswoman for the charity said it had yet to establish whether the snake was alive when it was put in the water near Rotton Park Street, Ladywood. Such snakes normally grow to just 6ft if bred in captivity, she added. MP CRITICISES FEES INCREASE West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson has welcomed Government plans to bring back grants for students from low-income families - but criticised top-up fees. The Labour MP, who has campaigned against increased tuition fees, claims they will create an "elitist" system. He said: "I do have a major concern about allowing... different universities to charge different fees." ARGENTINIANS EMIGRATE TO CITY Twelve poverty-stricken Jewish families are to swap the hills of Argentina for the concrete of Birmingham. The charity World Jewish Relief has been inundated with applications from families wishing to leave the economic crisis in South America. Among those desperate to live and work in Birmingham are teachers, doctors, nurses, architects and accountants. PRINCE VISITING NAAN FACTORY The Duke of York is visiting an Indian food factory in Birmingham to see how authentic naan bread is made. Prince Andrew will tour the production line of Eastern Foods in Digbeth after he met the owner at a trade conference and agreed to the visit. Eastern Foods owner Naved Syed said: "He said he would like to come and see how a traditional naan bread is baked." BOAT COUPLE KILLED BY GAS An elderly couple found dead on a narrow boat near Leamington Spa died from carbon monoxide poisoning, a post mortem examination has revealed. Police said Colin Byerley, 68, and his wife Patricia, 63, were discovered inside their vessel on the Grand Union Canal in Southam Road, Long Itchington. A force spokesman said the deaths are not being treated as suspicious. MOTORCYCLIST SERIOUSLY INJURED A Birmingham motorcyclist riding without a crash helmet has suffered serious head injuries in a collision with a concrete post. The 24-year-old was riding a Yamaha 1,000cc in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, when he appeared to lose control and crashed into a concrete fence post. He has been taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary for treatment. DRINK-DRIVE CHARGE FOR DRIVER A woman has been charged with drink-driving after her car left the road and flipped over into a field near Pershore in Worcestershire. West Mercia Police said officers found the vehicle overturned on land off Eckington Road in Birlingham. A force spokesman said officers had arrested the driver of the Peugeot 406 on suspicion of drink-driving.
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