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NURSE STRUCK OFF OVER DRUGS A Wolverhampton nurse has been struck off the nursing register for supplying drugs while working at a hospital, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has said. Mark Sanderson, 35, of Willenhall, has been found guilty of misconduct by the NMC's Professional Conduct Committee. Sanderson was jailed for 18 years for supplying drugs while working at Wolverhampton Health Care NHS Trust. INQUEST OF ISRAELI BOMB SUSPECT An inquest into the death of a suspected failed Derby suicide bomber whose body was found off the Israeli coast is to be held in the city. Omar Khan Sharif, 27, is believed to have attempted and failed to kill himself in a suicide bomb attack on a bar in Tel Aviv and then fled. Sharif's supporters claim he was later murdered by Israeli security services. MET PROBE INTO MURDERS REJECTED A detective leading the hunt for the killers of two girls shot dead at a Birmingham party has rejected calls for the Metropolitan Police to take over. Det Supt Dave Mirfield insisted his officers would bring the murderers of 18-year-old Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, to justice. MP Khalid Mahmood had said the Met should take the reins of the inquiry. TOWN CENTRES FACE DRINKS BAN Drinks bans for two town centres in the West Midlands are being considered and could be in place before next year, a local authority spokesman has said. Open-air drinking would be curbed under plans by Stafford Borough Council and Staffordshire Police for Stone and Stafford town centres. Police would be given powers to require people to stop drinking on the streets. HEART DRUG CAN BE CONTRACEPTIVE Bioscientists at the University of Birmingham have discovered that a drug used for treating heart conditions also works as a contraceptive. The team found that Nifedipine puts a temporary halt on the chain of events leading to fertilisation. They believe that the find could pave the way to the development of drugs capable of overcoming infertility. COUNTRY BREACHES LAWS, SAYS MEP Britain is in breach of environmental laws which could cost millions in a court judgment against the country, the MEP for the West Midlands has said. Lib Dem MEP Liz Lynne said abandoned cars, landfill sites near capacity and pollutants were all causing risks. She said the country stood accused of ignoring European laws by its failure to turn them into national legislation BURGLAR STABBED WIDOW, 82 An 82-year-old Birmingham widow was killed by a woman who stabbed her through the heart as she searched her home for money, a court has been told. Tina Trevis, 35, also allegedly beat Constance Richards about the head with a set of bellows during the savage attack in her Newtown home. Trevis, also of Newtown, has denied murder at Birmingham Crown Court. £250,000 ARTS FUND FOR DISABLED A £250,000 arts education fund is being targeted at Birmingham groups helping people with disabilities as part of the European Year of the Disabled. Other groups given money by the city council were those supporting people identified as struggling to achieve. "We welcome the chance to give disabled people the choice to express themselves through art," a council spokesman said. HIGH COURT RULES ON MAGPIE TRAP The High Court has overruled a magistrate's decision in the case of a Telford man accused of causing unnecessary suffering to a magpie. Norman Shinton set up a trap in the garden of his home in Little Dawley. Mr Justice Leveson ruled that even though the trap was lawful, using the same bird over and again as a decoy could cause suffering. WORKERS BACK PENSIONS ACTION Workers at a chemical firm that has a base in Oldbury have backed industrial action over plans to close a final salary pension scheme to new employees. About 600 workers at Rhodia overwhelmingly voted to take action. GMB general secretary Kevin Curran said: "Closing the scheme to new workers is the first step to stripping current workers of pensions." BODY OF SOLDIER FLOWN HOME The body of a Royal Military Policeman from Derbyshire killed in an attack in southern Iraq is due to be flown back to Britain. Corporal Russell Aston, 30, from Swadlincote, died at a civil police station near the city of Basra. The circumstances of his death are still being probed by the MoD and an inquest is to be opened and adjourned. £300,000 COMPENSATION FOR WIDOW The Birmingham widow of a lawyer who lived for more than 40 years with a surgical swab in one of his lungs has been awarded £300,000 compensation. The swab was found after Leyland Birch, 56, died from a heart attack in 1999. Birmingham and Black Country Strategic Health Authority said the swab was left in a childhood operation and settled a claim by Mr Birch's widow, Shirley. MAN TREATED FOR ELECTRIC SHOCK A railway worker is in a critical condition after receiving a 25,000-volt electric shock while replacing overhead power lines near Birmingham. British Transport Police said the man, who has not been named, was working near Marston Green railway station. A Network Rail spokesman said he was being treated at a burns unit at the University Hospital in Selly Oak. PRINCE TO OPEN SCHOOL HALL Prince Edward is visiting south Warwickshire to officially open a new school hall at a village near Alcester. Children at Haselor School, which dates back to the 1870s, currently gather in a corridor for assembly and eat their lunch in classrooms. Headteacher Sine Wyatt said the school was "delighted" that the Earl of Wessex had agreed to open the new facility. WARNING OVER SUMMER BATHING Worcester police have issued a fresh warning about the perils of taking a dip in rivers during the summer months. Their call comes after officers and firefighters rescued a teenager who fell into the River Severn while on a rope swing attached to a tree. Chief Insp Sharon Gibbons said: "Hot weather seems to prove an irresistible temptation to many people." TRAIN WORKERS PLAN PARIS PROTEST Workers who face the axe due to the end of train manufacturing at their factory in Birmingham are to protest at their employer's annual meeting in Paris. Workers from Alstom's plant will travel to the French capital for a march in protest at the decision not to build any more trains in this country. The decision, due to a lack of orders, threatens around 1,400 jobs. MAN SHOT WITH AIRGUN A middle-aged man has been taken to hospital in Birmingham after being shot in the head with an airgun. West Midlands Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident in Monica Road, Small Heath. The victim, a local man, was walking along the road when he was hit by an air gun pellet. Witnesses have been asked to call police on 0845 113 5000. OFF-DUTY OFFICER TRAILS MAN An off-duty West Midlands policeman tracked and helped arrest a Birmingham man who fled a crash in Oxford. The driver was tailed by the officer in a taxi cab after two women were left unconscious in Hythe Street. They have now been discharged after checks. A 19-year-old was arrested on suspicion of being unable to drive through drink and drugs and failing to stop. MAN APPEALS MURDER CONVICTION The Court of Appeal is to hear a fresh appeal by Michael Shirley, from Warwickshire, who was jailed for a murder he insists he did not commit. The Leamington Spa man's challenge is largely based on new DNA evidence. Shirley was an 18-year-old sailor on shore leave when 24-year-old barmaid Linda Cook was raped and killed in Portsmouth in December 1986. MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO POLICEMAN The family and colleagues of a murdered policeman are gathering at the spot in Birmingham where he was killed to dedicate a memorial in his honour. Malcolm Walker, 46, was fatally injured when his motorbike was rammed by a stolen car in 2001, close to the A34 Birchfield Road in Perry Barr. Nicholas Walters, 22, was jailed for life for killing the father-of-four. COUNCIL PLEDGE OVER TRAIN JOBS Birmingham City Council has pledged to do all it can to help save the jobs of 1,000 workers at Alstom's Washwood Heath train-making factory. Council leader Sir Albert Bore said they were working behind the scenes to aid efforts to avert mass redundancies. He was speaking a day after workers lobbied Alstom's AGM in Paris over plans to "export" jobs to Spain. BUSINESS WELCOMES INDUSTRY LAWS Proposed anti-ageism measures announced by Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt have been welcomed by West Midlands business leaders. Jerry Blackett, policy director at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said older workers had a lot to offer employers. He claimed the plans would bring more flexibility to the labour market. GOLDIE GIVES CASH BOOST TO HOME Musician turned actor and star of Celebrity Big Brother Goldie has sent a £5,000 donation to a children's home in the West Midlands, it has emerged. The Stroud Avenue Children's Home in Willenhall said the cash would be spent on taking youngsters for a week at Pontins in Brixham, Devon. Goldie lived at the home while in the care of Walsall social services. GOVERNMENT SLAMMED OVER GUN LAW The Government has been criticised for not doing enough to tackle gun crime, by the mothers of two Birmingham girls killed while celebrating New Year. Marcia Shakespeare and Beverley Thomas told an all-party parliamentary group on gun crime that a crackdown was needed on illegally imported firearms. Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18, were shot dead in Aston. DRUG CHARGES AFTER MAN DIES A man has been charged with supplying heroin following an investigation into the death of a man who collapsed in a public toilet in Hereford. David Gummery, 49, was pronounced dead on arrival at Hereford County Hospital after being found in Union Walk. The 47-year-old accused, of no fixed address, will reappear at Hereford Magistrates' Court on July 9. TEENAGE MOTORCYCLIST KILLED A teenage motorcyclist has died and his passenger is recovering in hospital following a collision with a car in Birmingham, police have said. The 17-year-old male died after he and the pillion passenger, also 17, were thrown off the Kawasaki in the collision with a car in King's Road. The Peugeot car driver, a 54-year-old man from Erdington, was not injured. UNIVERSITY WINS NEGLIGENCE CASE A Staffordshire university has won a £1.67m High Court professional negligence action against accountants who gave faulty advice on a pay scheme. Price Waterhouse admitted the advice to Keele University over its 1996-7 profit related pay scheme was negligent, but denied it led to the losses claimed. The accountants are to seek leave to appeal. MAN, 36, HELD OVER BIKER DEATH A 36-year-old man is helping detectives with inquiries into the death of a motorcyclist killed in a hit-and-run crash near Lichfield. The man, from Derbyshire, was detained after the rider was knocked off his machine in the collision on the A38, Staffordshire Police said. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. PLEA TO CURB SMOKING The director of public health for the West Midlands has called for tougher measures to combat passive smoking. Prof Rod Griffiths said that workers were three times more likely to die from passive smoking than from a workplace accident. "I believe that the time is right to make Birmingham the first smoke-free city in the UK," he said. MAN CLEARED OF BARMAID MURDER A Leamington Spa man who spent 16 years behind bars for the brutal murder of a Portsmouth barmaid has been cleared and freed by the Court of Appeal. Three judges quashed Michael Shirley's conviction after hearing that new DNA evidence established he was "probably not" the man who killed Linda Cook. Shirley had always protested he did not kill 24-year-old Linda in 1986. BNP MAN LOSES POSTER APPEAL A British National Party member from Shropshire, has lost his High Court bid to overturn a conviction for displaying a controversial poster on Islam. Two judges ruled the poster, which said "Islam out of Britain", was an unlawful "expression of attack on all Muslims." Mark Norwood, a parish councillor and regional BNP organiser from Gobowen, said his action was freedom of speech. GROUP FOR ETHNIC OFFICERS Warwickshire Black Police Association is being launched at a ceremony attended by ethnic minority officers. Members of the Caribbean, Sikh and Muslim communities will be among those at the event in Honiley. The association, which plans to break down racial and cultural barriers, will be the first in the county to represent the interests of black police workers. BOY SUFFERS INDECENT ASSAULT A 13-year-old boy has been subjected to a serious indecent assault in Solihull, detectives have disclosed. The victim was attacked in a lavatory block near the John Lewis store at the Touchwood retail complex, West Midlands Police confirmed. The attacker was white, tall and thin and aged 20-30. He had short hair with a "V" shaved into it at the back. BLAIR UNVEILS Pc's MEMORIAL Prime Minister Tony Blair has unveiled a memorial in Perry Barr, Birmingham, to a policeman murdered when a stolen car repeatedly rammed his motorbike. Mr Blair was joined by film director Michael Winner, a trustee of the Police Memorial Trust, and the family of Pc Malcolm Walker for the ceremony. Nicholas Walters, 22, of Lozells, was jailed for life for the murder. COUNCIL PLEDGE OVER TRAIN JOBS Birmingham City Council has pledged to do all it can to help save the jobs of 1,000 workers at Alstom's Washwood Heath train-making factory. Council leader Sir Albert Bore said they were working behind the scenes to aid efforts to avert mass redundancies. He was speaking a day after workers lobbied Alstom's AGM in Paris over plans to "export" jobs to Spain. VIGILANCE URGED OVER ROBBERIES West Midlands Police have urged women to be vigilant after figures showed a growing trend in "drive-by" robberies in which jewellery has been stolen. There have been 25 such robberies from women, many of them Asian, in the force area over the last three months. Police have urged women to avoid wearing a lot of jewellery and to try not to walk home alone at night. WOMAN DRAGGED AS CAR STOLEN A 72-year-old woman was dragged along the road when she became trapped in the door of her car as it was stolen in Castle Bromwich, police have said. The woman suffered a broken wrist, cuts and grazing and was badly shaken after being dragged by the silver W-reg Honda Civic in Water Orton Road. The offender was a white man, about 18 or 19, with short, blond hair. MAN BAILED OVER DEATH OF BIKER A 36-year-old man has been bailed pending further inquiries into the
death of a West Midlands motorcyclist killed in a hit-and-run incident.
The suspect, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire, was granted police bail after
being quizzed about the death of 42-year-old John Reeves, of Brownhills.
Mr Reeves was knocked off his motorbike by a car on the A38 near Lichfield.
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