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'CARING' PENSIONER SHOT DEAD A Coventry pensioner was shot dead outside his home as he returned from a daily journey to care for his sick daughter, his neighbours have said. Witnesses said 67-year-old Joseph Montague was killed as he parked his car following a visit to tend to multiple sclerosis sufferer Joanne. Police confirmed a 67-year-old man was killed but have not confirmed his name. HUNDREDS GATHER AT ILLEGAL RAVE Hundreds of people have been gathering in the Worcestershire countryside for an illegal rave, police have revealed. The site near Broadway Tower Country Park was surrounded and police have been turning any newcomers away. Police said the event had attracted 200 people and there had been no arrests. Officers were pelted with bottles at a recent similar event in Herefordshire. SPECIAL HELP FOR CHILDREN Children with severe learning difficulties in Wolverhampton will be able to attend a local nursery with the help of specially-trained nurses. The scheme will help 15 children starting in September this year and is part of a council strategy to help young people with disabilities. The nurses will be based at Broadmeadow Special Nursery in Whitmore Reans. SECURITY STEPPED UP AT WARD Security at a children's ward in a Coventry hospital has been stepped up to protect patients after concerns were raised about their safety. A video-link between nurses at reception on the ward and entrance doors to the unit at Walsgrave Hospital has been introduced. Concerns have been raised by the hospital health watchdog about access. MPs BUCK NATIONAL TREND The trend among Labour MPs first elected in 2001 to defy the party whip has been bucked by two West Midlands members, according to a new study. Sion Simon (Birmingham Erdington) and Tom Watson (West Bromwich East) are two of only five Labour members not to have rebelled against the whips or the PM. The report was compiled by researchers at the University of Nottingham. SUPPORT ON OFFER FOR CARERS More than 100,000 people in Birmingham who care for a friend or family member are being made aware of services available to them by the city council. During National Carers Week relaxation days and walks are being held around the city to flag up the help on offer. "Many people don't even realise they are carers and it is them we are trying to reach," a council spokesman said. EXTRA TIME FOR MURDER CASE QUIZ Police have been granted more time to question a man arrested on suspicion of murdering a 78-year-old Shropshire anti-nuclear campaigner in 1984. The West Mercia force was given a further 36 hours to quiz him over the murder of Hilda Murrell, of Shrewsbury. Police believe she disturbed an intruder which led to speculation that the security services were involved. PENSIONER KILLED IN BIKE CRASH A Wolverhampton pensioner has died after being hit by a motorbike in Cromford, Derbyshire. Police said the 79-year-old woman was crossing the road with her husband when the accident happened on the A6 at the junction with Intake Lane. The victim was taken to Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital, where she later died. GIRL INJURED IN DOG ATTACK A 13-year-old girl attacked by a dog in West Bromwich has undegone an operation after suffering bites to her arms, legs and chest, police said. She was attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier-labrador mongrel and is being treated at Sandwell Hospital. Police said her condition was stable and the dog's owner has been traced and reported under the Dangerous Dogs Act. PIPE-SMOKING CHAMPION HAILED A Shropshire man has beaten 30 other smokers to take the title of British Pipe-Smoking Champion in Solihull. Guy Smith, from Clunton, watched rivals from across the UK go up in a puff of smoke as he took the title in the event at the Old Silhillians Sports Club. Mr Smith kept his pipe smoking for one hour, 38 minutes and 31 seconds, beating record holder Andrew Briggs. MAN IN COURT OVER 1984 MURDER A 35-year-old Shrewsbury man is due to appear in court charged with the murder of an elderly peace campaigner who was stabbed and left for dead in 1984. Labourer Andrew George, of Meadow Farm Drive, is appearing before magistrates in Telford to answer the charge. Hilda Murrell, 79, was found dead on March 24, 1984 - when George was aged just 16 - in a coppice at Hunkington. GRANDFATHER SHOT DEAD A Coventry grandfather was shot dead outside his home as he returned from a daily journey to care for his sick daughter, his neighbours have said. Witnesses said 64-year-old Joseph Montague was killed as he parked his car following a visit to tend to multiple sclerosis sufferer Joanne. A post-mortem examination revealed he died from multiple gun shot wounds. MURDER VICTIM 'HAD NO ENEMIES' The neighbour of a Coventry grandfather shot dead outside his home has said he was kind and devoted to his family. Boxer Joseph Montague's friend Roseann Botton said: "Everyone is shocked because he didn't have any enemies." He added: "People liked him a lot and he trained quite a few youngsters in boxing. He was always talking about the lads he hoped to turn into champions." MONEY LAUNDERING RING SMASHED Police have smashed a suspected £10m international money laundering racket after raids in Walsall, Coventry and north London. More than 200 officers seized up to £150,000, along with documents and computers, and arrested 20 people. Police think money was paid into banks in the Midlands and sent electronically to Hong Kong and other countries. LEADERS DISCUSS £55m PLAN Business leaders are meeting in Wolverhampton to hear the latest plans for a £55m regeneration programme. Advantage West Midlands is spearheading a move to breathe new life into Walsall, Wolverhampton and parts of South Staffs over the next three years. The Future Foundation event will discuss how the public and private sectors can help the plans flourish. PRISONER FOUND HANGED IN CELL The Prison Service is carrying out an investigation into the death of a Worcestershire inmate found hanged. David Steven Boote, 32, was discovered in his cell at Blakenhurst Prison on Sunday and pronounced dead in hospital. His death - the fourth at the jail in the past few months - came just days after he and another defendant were in court, charged with murdering a woman. EURO DECISION A 'POSITIVE STEP' A West Midlands Labour MEP has said the chancellor's call for Britain to enter the eurozone once the five economic tests are met is a "positive step". Michael Cashman said: "The most important test has been passed - the political test - with a commitment to get the country ready for a referendum. "The Chancellor's announcement is a very positive step forward." MOSQUE DEFACED AFTER TV EPISODE The BBC has been embroiled in controversy over its drama Spooks which features a bomber finding sanctuary in a fictional Birmingham mosque. Officials at Birmingham Central Mosque discovered the slogan "Suicide bombers inside - kill the bombers" sprayed on an outside wall on Sunday night. A BBC spokesperson said they had no information the incidents were related. 17-YEAR-OLD DIES AFTER CRASH A teenager has died in hospital six days after the car he was travelling in crashed near a quarry in Nuneaton. Jason Cook, 17, from St Mary's Road, Nuneaton, died in a Coventry hospital following the crash at Judkins Quarry on June 2. Police are still trying to piece together events leading up to the crash and have renewed a plea for witnesses. MAN CHARGED IN DRUGS PROBE Heroin with an estimated street value of £750,000 has been seized by the West Midlands Police Force Crime Unit after a car was stopped in Birmingham. A 40-year-old man from Winson Green has been charged with conspiracy to supply drugs and a Kingstanding man, 51, has been bailed pending further inquiries. The haul was recovered from a Citroen Xantia spotted on Hagley Road. SWINDLER USED CASH FOR WEDDING The boss of a failed Worcestershire insurance company has been banned from running a firm for the next 15 years. Birmingham County Court heard Andrew Nolan swindled more than £500,000 out of Redditch-based 0700 Realisations. The Insolvency Service said he used the cash to fund his wedding and a move to Cyprus. Nolan, of Droitwich, was given the maximum directorship ban. CRIME TSAR TO HEAR POLICE VIEWS Anti-social behaviour in Worcester is to be scrutinised by the so-called Home Office Tsar and other officials. Louise Casy, the national director of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, is meeting senior police officers. The visit was arranged by Worcester Labour MP Michael Foster, who said local police could influence enforcement policies. TWO SOUGHT OVER COACH'S MURDER Police probing the murder of a boxing coach shot outside his Coventry home want to trace two people seen in a vehicle at the time of the attack. Joseph Montague, 64, was found dead at the wheel of his silver Ford Focus. He died from gunshot wounds to the head. Anyone who saw a vehicle in Red Lane, Foleshill, shortly after midnight on Sunday should contact police. AIRPORT ENJOYS RECORD MONTH Birmingham International Airport has recorded its busiest May ever, with 843,945 travellers passing through its terminals. The totals represent an increase of 14% on the same month last year, They include the airport's busiest day ever, May 23, when 35,385 passengers were processed. The number using domestic services also rose by 16.5%. BROADBAND GETS £13m BOOST Internet users across the West Midlands are set to gain from a £13m programme to provide them with broadband access. Some 97% of households will be able to access the high-speed communications technology by the end of 2004, thanks to the Advantage West Midlands funding. E-Minister Stephen Timms is due to attend a launch of the strategy at Birmingham's Millennium Point complex. FEARS OVER DEPICTION OF MUSLIMS A drama showing a young suicide bomber being trained has been blamed for an attack on a Muslim man in Birmingham and vandalism at a city mosque. The BBC received some 1,000 complaints after an episode of spy drama Spooks showed a Muslim radical training a youth in a fictional Birmingham mosque. The Muslim Council of Britain said it feared the show incited religious hate. EX-HOSTAGE IN CHARITY LOCK-UP Former Middle East hostage Terry Waite is to be held captive for a charity lock-up at Birmingham Prison. The writer and broadcaster will spend 24 hours in jail to raise cash for the Princess of Wales Children's Hospital. Despite spending between 1987-91 in a cell in Beirut, the 64-year-old said he has no qualms about the task. "I'm rather looking forward to it," he said. WOMEN AIRLIFTED AFTER CRASH Two women have been airlifted to hospital in Birmingham after an accident on the M6 in Warwickshire. The Central Motorway Police Group said the pair, aged 19 and 30, were among five people injured when a Vauxhall Vectra left the road near Bedworth. It is believed the 30-year-old suffered multiple injuries and the younger woman sustained serious head injuries. POLICE BODY CHAIRMAN RE-ELECTED The chairman of Derbyshire Police Authority has been re-elected to serve for another 12 months. Jo Thornton has been in the post for a year and will continue to work with the vice-chairman, Derbyshire county councillor David Allen. Five new members, including two councillors, have also been appointed to serve on the authority. WATER COMPANY SEES PROFITS FALL Birmingham-based water and waste management company Severn Trent has warned of another "challenging year" after seeing annual profits slip 3.6%. Turnover in the water business, which serves eight million customers in the West Midlands, increased 2% to £917.9m. But profits fell by almost £9m to £325.4m because of broadly unchanged prices and cost pressures.
TWO DIE AS CAR HITS RAIL LINE An investigation is under way after two men were killed and a young boy seriously hurt when their car crashed on to a railway line in Birmingham. The Land Rover ploughed through an 18in concrete parapet and plunged 45ft off a railway bridge in Longbridge. The car was then struck a glancing blow by a passenger train. The boy, aged about 10, is in a critical condition. RAIL LINE REOPENED TO TRAINS Staff from Network Rail worked through the night in a successful bid to reopen a railway line in Birmingham following a fatal car crash. An investigation into the Groveley Lane incident in Longbridge has been launched by British Transport Police. A security guard at the nearby Rover plant alerted firefighters. A team of 35 cut the two victims from their car. M-WAY REOPENS AFTER FATAL CRASH The wreckage of vehicles involved in a crash on the M1 in Leicestershire in which five people died has been largely cleared and the motorway reopened. Six other people were seriously injured in the accident between junctions 19 and 20 which involved 11 vehicles. The crash is thought to have happened when a lorry carrying armoured vehicles back from the Iraq war jack-knifed. ORGANIST FACES MORE SEX CHARGES The former organist of Lichfield Cathedral has been charged with a further eight sexual offences against boys in Staffordshire. Jonathan Rees-Williams, 54, faces seven new counts of sex assault against a boy under 14 and one against a boy under 16, East Berkshire magistrates heard. He was earlier accused of 18 similar offences. He was bailed until July 8. HOSPITAL TO HOST DNA RESEARCH A national "DNA bank" which will help worldwide research into motor neurone disease is being launched at centres in Birmingham, London and Sheffield. Blood samples from 6,000 people will be collected over the next five years in a bid to help scientists isolate the gene responsible for the terminal condition. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is one of the three regional centres involved. BNP MEMBER IN COURT BATTLE A member of the BNP from Shropshire has asked the High Court to overturn a conviction for displaying a controversial poster on Islam. Mark Anthony Norwood, parish councillor and regional organiser for the BNP, was fined £300 for putting up a poster saying "Islam out of Britain". Norwood, 41, has asked the court to defend his right to free speech. AMNESTY GUNS TO BE DESTROYED Hundreds of guns handed in to West Midlands Police as part of a nationwide firearms amnesty are to be melted down. The weapons will be taken to a foundry in Birmingham where they will be put into a huge vat and melted at 3,000C. A total of 1,265 guns, 53,190 rounds of ammunition and a miniature cannon were handed in to police across the force area during the month-long amnesty. GIRL 'CRITICAL' AFTER CRASH A 16-year-old girl is in a critical condition in hospital after suffering multiple injuries in an accident on the M6 motorway in Warwickshire. The teenager was one of five people from Leicestershire injured when a Vauxhall Vectra collided with a motorway exit sign near Bedworth. The accident happened southbound between Corley and junction 3. LORRY DRIVER ABDUCTED Police are investigating the abduction of a Tipton lorry driver and the theft of his vehicle and load. The 24-year-old trucker was forced into the footwell of his cab after being overpowered in Walsall. The vehicle was abandoned in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, and emptied of £7,000 worth of kitchen appliances. The driver suffered minor injuries. MOSELEY RESIDENT TO RECEIVE GOOD CITIZEN AWARD Moseley resident, Martin Mullaney, will be receiving a Good Citizen Award from West Midlands Police on Thursday 12th June 2003. The Award will be presented at 3pm at Kings Heath Police Station, Kings Heath High Street, Birmingham. Last August, Mr.Mullaney stopped a burglary in process in Moseley. He disabled the thieves’ get-away car by removing the car keys from the ignition, chased them on foot and cornered the two burglars in a garden. When the police arrived the two men were arrested. They subsequently pleaded guilty to a series of domestic burglaries. MAN BAILED OVER M-WAY PILE-UP A man arrested after the pile-up on the M1 in Leicestershire which killed five people has been released on bail. The 60-year-old, from the London area, was detained on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after the accident between junctions 19 and 20. A Leicestershire Police spokesman said the man was released on police bail pending further enquiries. M1 CRASH VICTIMS NAMED Police have named all five people killed in an 11-vehicle crash on the M1 in Leicestershire. Two from the West Midlands, were Paul Evans, 37, and Craig Mears, 33, known as Joe, both of Cheslyn Hays. Daniel Bradley, 21, of Melton Mowbray, Wayne Buckley, 44, of West Yorkshire, and Christopher Green, 29, of Sutton in Ashfield, also died in the pile-up. MAN HELD OVER STABBING INCIDENT A man has been arrested by police in Evesham after a stabbing incident in the Port Street area of the town. West Mercia Police said the suspect was detained on suspicion of wounding less than 20 minutes after the victim was attacked with a sharp implement. The injured man received treatment at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch before being discharged. MAN HELD AFTER FIREARMS FIND A 46-year-old man has been arrested in Birmingham after firearms were seized at an address where he was staying. Officers from West Midlands Police force crime unit, supported by armed officers, detained the man after the raid in Short Heath Road, Erdington. A .22 revolver, a semi-automatic pistol and a quantity of ammunition were recovered from the property. POLICE NAME RAILWAY LINE VICTIM One of the victims of a crash in which a Land Rover plunged on to a railway line in Birmingham, narrowly missing a train, has been named by police. Anthony Gilsennan, 33, was one of two men who died when the Discovery landed on the tracks in Longbridge. A nine-year-old boy remains in a critical condition at the city's Diana, Princess of Wales Children's Hospital. JOBS CUT BY ANIMAL CHARITY The RSPCA is to axe 20 jobs at its West Midlands regional headquarters as part of national restructuring plans aimed at saving £7.6m over five years. The charity said the administrative posts would go at its £5m Gonsall Farm complex near Shrewsbury in Shropshire. A spokesman for the welfare group said the cuts were aimed at improving the efficiency of the organisation. PILOT 'POWERLESS TO STOP CRASH' A Coventry man said he was powerless to help as he listened to transmissions sent to a glider pilot and parachutist who later collided in mid-air and died. David Cox was flying above Northants last June when the pair were warned about their impending collision. An inquest in Northampton heard how Jon Crewe and skydiver Phillip Cheasley, from London, died above Brackley. BID TO EASE TOWN CONGESTION Walsall is to create its first red route as part of a drive to reduce congestion in the town. Apart from delivery and disabled drivers, all motorists will be banned from parking or stopping on the A34 Birmingham Road and Eastern Ring Road. The council has approved the idea, but wants to hear the views of residents and traders who stand to be affected. PENSIONER SUFFERS BURNS IN FIRE A Birmingham pensioner is recovering in hospital with burns to his feet after being rescued from his blazing flat. The elderly man became trapped in his sheltered accommodation in George Street, Lozells. West Midlands Fire Service said the blaze had started in a chair. The pensioner suffered only 5% burns, a spokesman for the brigade added. WOMAN INJURED IN COLLISION A 70-year-old woman is seriously ill in hospital with multiple injuries
after she was in collision with a car in Erdington, Birmingham. The pensioner
was injured in Gravelly Hill, near to the slip road for the main A38(M)
route into the city centre. A white Ford Fiesta, being driven by a 20-year-old
man from Erdington, collided with the woman from Nechells.
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