|
|
QUICK LINKS ENTERTAINMENT
NEWS
INFORMATION
MOTORS
FEATURES
MISC.
|
LOCAL
NEWS 13/12/00
STORMS BRING TRAVEL MISERY Thousands of rail passengers are enduring massive disruption after fresh storms closed Rugby station. The station had to be shut because of a lack of power after high winds brought down overhead power lines. Nine flood warnings have been issued across the Midlands, with high river levels in Shrewsbury affecting an estimated 100 properties. SUICIDE TEENAGER FEARED RAPE An inquest has heard that a Warwicks nursery nurse killed herself because she feared she had been date-raped. Emma Marsden, 18, from Studley, was found dead in her bed at home after a night out with friends. The teenager told police she had been raped after alleging her drink was spiked. Rape Crisis has called for a crackdown on drug-assisted rape. TURK STATUE MAY FETCH £80,000 A 17th century figure, which caused a stir at the BBC Antiques Roadshow in Birmingham, is expected to fetch up to £80,000 at an auction. The 4.5 inch bust of a moustachioed Turkish man had sat for years on a suburban mantelpiece. It was then discovered to be a valuable early English piece of Delft pottery dating from about 1670. POLYTHENE FIRM AXES JOBS Up to 25 jobs could be lost from the British Polythene Industries distribution depot at Birmingham. BPI, currently fighting off a hostile £114m bid from Scottish packaging company Macfarlane, said it hoped to save £1.6m a year as a result. Fifty jobs will also be lost at the Cumbrian manufacturing site, likely to take place over the next two months. PRESCOTT BACKS TRAM EXPANSION Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has announced his support for a £165m plan to extend the region's tram network. Mr Prescott made the announcement as he opened a new park-and-ride facility at Wednesbury Parkway, which is already served by the Midland Metro line. The extensions would link the existing line to Five Ways, Birmingham and to Brierley Hill, via Dudley. POLICE PLEA OVER BONFIRE BODY Detectives have appealed for information about the whereabouts of a Birmingham man in the week before his body was found on a burning bonfire. Dental records had to be used to identify Sonny Mohammed, 27, who was shot and then dumped on the bonfire. Officers were anxious to speak to anyone who saw the father-of-one in the week before he was found in Sparkhill. BOY, 13, KILLED COCKEREL The RSPCA has welcomed a decision to ban a 13-year-old boy from keeping animals after he killed a cockerel in an attack in Staffordshire. The boy admitted causing unnecessary suffering after hitting the bird with a 6ft metal pole and kicking it during the attack in Biddulph, near Stoke. The boy was banned by a Fleetwood court from keeping animals for five years. LOCAL NEWS 15/12/00 MG ROVER GROUP DRIVES PAST THE 200,000 SALES TARGET MG Rover Group, the Birmingham car maker, today announced that it had exceeded 200,000 unit sales world wide for the year 2000. With buoyant demand in December in the UK for its range of Rover and MG models, the company also passed the 100,000 sales level for the year in the UK. Retail sales through its dealer body increased by 35 per cent compared to 1999 levels. Kevin Howe, MG Rover chief executive said: "I am delighted to announce that we have exceeded 200,000 unit sales world wide already this year. This will give a further boost to our employees, dealers and suppliers as it illustrates that consumer confidence in the Rover and MG brands is returning." All MG Rover models are built in one flexible modern plant at Longbridge Birmingham. Since May 2000 over £100 million of investment has been injected into the product development of four additional models that will be built and launched in 2001. Mr Howe said: "In 2001 the MG Rover Group will build eight separate models from three different platforms for the MG and Rover brands. This level of product and production flexibility means that we can offer customers a wider choice and ensure that our business plan is robust in its reaction to changes in market demand." SANTA CLAWS ESCAPES A COOKING A crab thought to have been destined for the cooking pot has been saved after being mislaid in a burger bar. The crustacean, dubbed Santa Claws by customers at McDonald's in Birmingham's Pallasades shopping centre, has been rehoused at the city's Sea Life Centre. The RSPCA said it was probably bought at a nearby fish market and left next to a table at the restaurant. CASH BOOST FOR LOCAL TRANSPORT The Government has given the go-ahead for £627m in transport improvement schemes for the region over five years. They include £21.3m for the West Midlands Outer Circle bus routes -expected to eventually replace 2,000 trips previously made by cars. The boost, part of a national £8.4bn Government plan, also includes a £5.4m Nuneaton Development Project. MIDLANDS METRO TO BE EXTENDED The Government's £627m boost for the region includes £200m to take the Midlands Metro from Birmingham centre to Merry Hill and Dudley. Walsall is also set to receive £18m to improve the area's public transport. Road improvement plans for the region include a £5.6m Worcestershire Wyre Piddle Bypass to serve Piddle and Upper Moor. COCAINE SMUGGLER GETS 12 YEARS A Spanish man who tried to smuggle nearly four kilos of cocaine into the UK via Birmingham Internation Airport has been jailed for 12 years. Vidal Sanchez Pulido, 41, was caught at with cocaine worth an estimated £279,170, Warwick Crown Court heard. Judge Martin Coates told him the heavy sentence reflected his failure to admit his guilt or to help Customs officers. HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRAISED Historic buildings in the region have been highlighted as the "epitome" of regeneration by English Heritage. It hailed projects such as the revitalisation of Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter and plans to save Ditherington Flax Mill in Shrewsbury. The Power of Place report aims to show that heritage conservation is vital to urban and rural regeneration. THIEVES GET CARDS FROM POLICE Police are to send Birmingham's most prolific burglars and street robbers official Christmas cards. The cards read: "May the peace and joy of Christmas be with you the whole year through. Thinking of you this Christmas and into the New Year." Sgt John Pritchard said: "It's a psychological approach because they won't know when they're being watched." BETTY IN FRANK TV DOCUMENTARY Betty Boothroyd, the former West Bromwich West MP and Speaker of the Commons, is the subject of a frank TV documentary to be shown on Saturday. In the BBC2 programme Ms Boothroyd, who has remained single all her life, says she has had three different proposals of marriage over the years. She also deals with doubts expressed over her career as a Tiller Girl. LOCAL NEWS 18/12/00 POSTAL WORKERS ON STRIKE Hundreds of postal workers are on strike, heightening fears of delayed mail over Christmas. About 500 staff in Coventry started their 24-hour action at midnight in a bid to cut their working week to five days, a Royal Mail spokeswoman said. Managers and volunteers will be delivering mail in Coventry, the spokeswoman added. REVELLER ATTACKED OUTSIDE CLUB A 20-year-old reveller is in a critical condition in hospital after he was attacked outside a Staffs nightclub. Staffordshire Police said the man was attacked at the back of Silks nightclub in Cannock. He was taken to Staffordshire District General Hospital where his condition is described as critical. Police are appealing for witnesses. OFFICIALS FIND ROCKET LAUNCHER Customs officials have intercepted a rocket launcher at a parcel depot connected to Coventry Airport. The 3ft weapon had been bought in the United States and was discovered as it passed through X-ray detectors. Although the device had been fitted with an aluminium plug to disable it, customs officials say it could have been made active. PRESCOTT HOOKS UP FOR TALKS The Deputy Prime Minister laid the ground for a new deal in a telephone hook-up with 15 Euro Ministers from a police station in Oswestry, Shropshire. John Prescott has made it clear that the prospect of a deal which could save the world from global warming is still hanging in the balance. If no agreement is reached, the planned Oslo summit will be cancelled. JEWELLERY QUARTER WINS BOOST Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter is to receive a £70,000 cash injection as part of a regeneration programme. The majority of the money will go to restoring buildings on Great Hampton Street, Vyse Street, Hockley Hill and Frederick Street. The new funding has been made available by the city council and English Heritage under a three-year scheme. THEME PARK EXTENDS VIP PASSES Bosses at Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire have decided to extend a controversial queue-jumping scheme. The VIP passes cost visitors up to three times more than regular tickets but enable them to avoid the queues. The scheme has been criticised for being elitist but theme park bosses say the initiative has not had any real impact on visitors who are not VIPs. TEENAGE RIDER HURT IN COLLISION A teenage horse rider suffered multiple injuries and her mount had to be put down following a road accident, West Midlands Police said. The woman, 19, was riding along Hagley Road, near Halesowen, when her horse bolted and threw her into the path of a car. She was taken to Russell's Hall Hospital with numerous injuries. TALKS HELD AT ROLLS-ROYCE PLANT Crucial talks aimed at averting industrial action at Rolls-Royce's Ansty engineering factory near Coventry are due to be held. Union officials were presenting an alternative plan to avoid hundreds of job cuts at the plant which could go if work is transferred to Canada. Unions have threatened a ballot on strike action if the talks break down. CHUBB FACTORY TALKS HELD Union chiefs will meet to discuss the decision by the owners of the Chubb safe and lock-making firm, based in Wolverhampton, to axe 170 jobs. Swedish owners Gunnebo opted to transfer production of safes at the Wednesfield factory abroad. The National Union of Lock and Metal Workers will hold talks with Advantage West Midlands and the town council. NINE-WEEK OLD GIRL 'NAMED' A nine-week-old girl from Stapeley, near Crewe, behaved impeccably as she took part in one of the first official "alternative Christening" ceremonies. Tamara Geraldine Ebel-Cliffe was "named" at the Rookery Hall Country House Hotel in Worleston, Cheshire. Tamara is thought to be one of the first babies involved in a pilot naming project set up by various councils. LOCAL NEWS 19/12/00 GRANTS TO TACKLE PROSTITUTION Stoke-on-Trent is one of 10 cities to get a grant of up to £100,000 to reduce the problem of street prostitution and kerb crawling, ministers said. Innovative projects will include measures such as road closure schemes to disrupt kerb-crawling. Some of the issues to be addressed are noise, harassment, thefts and muggings and violence against women by pimps. MAN ARRESTED OVER MURDER A murder suspect has been arrested in the United States almost 20 years after a dismembered body was found in a Peak District reservoir. Bashir Ahmed, 44, was wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of 31-year-old Oldham factory worker Tony Price in 1981. His remains were found in Woodhead reservoir, in the Peak District POLICE IDENTIFY MURDER VICTIM A 20-year-old who suffered fatal head injuries after being attacked near a Cannock nightclub has been identified. Ian Yates, of Saturn Road, Chadsmoor died after being taken to Staffordshire General Hospital. A post-mortem examination by pathologist Dr Peter Acland confirmed Mr Yates had died as a result of serious head injuries MUDDY CLOTHES MAY TRAP RAPIST Police hunting a rapist who attacked a 33-year-old Stafford woman said he could have been spotted by someone in the area because of his muddy clothes. Officers said the attacker subjected the woman to a horrific ordeal in a field near the Meadows housing estate. The white attacker, in his late teens or early 20s, had "overcrowded" teeth and wore blue jeans and a navy jacket. SENTENCING OF FATAL CRASH MAN A banned motorist from West Bromwich, whose wife died when he crashed his car into a tram, is due to be sentenced. Terry Jaffray, 25, of Hill Top, West Bromwich, admitted causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court. His 23-year-old wife, Sharon, suffered fatal injuries in the accident at Black Lake, West Bromwich. MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR POLICEMAN An anniversary service is due to be held in memory of a 29-year-old police officer murdered 12 years ago in a Coventry street. Pc Gavin Carlton was killed by a man armed with a sawn-off shotgun as he sat in his Panda car in Torrington Avenue. The officer had responded to a call to apprehend two men who had robbed a branch of Midland Bank. MAN CELBRATES BIGGEST BINGO WIN A 42-year-old Tipton steelworker was celebrating after scooping almost £418,000 in bingo prize money, Britain's biggest win. John Kinsey landed the windfall while playing the numbers game with his wife, Karen, at the Mecca Club in Wednesbury, West Midlands. The couple said they were in shock and planned to buy their own house. FOUR QUIZZED AFTER FIGHT DEATH Four men are being questioned by West Midlands police after a 52-year-old man died following a fight outside a Birmingham pub. The victim, who has not been named, died from his injuries on arrival at Heartlands Hospital. Police said the fight started in a pub in Sparkbrook before spilling out into the street. WORKER IN INSURANCE SCAM A Birmingham charity worker escaped jail after being burned setting
fire to a car in a insurance scam. He had said he was the victim of a racist
attack. Ashley Kane, 24, of Kings Heath, was put on probation for 12 months
and must carry out 75 hours' community service. He and his girlfriend Abigail
Woodward were ordered to pay £1,500 costs to West Midlands Police
for wasted time.
MAN QUIZZED OVER MISSING FATHER Detectives hunting the son of a man who disappeared from his work in Birmingham have arrested a 22-year-old man. Police said the man was being quizzed over the disappearance of Kenneth Wilkins, 47, on December 9. Officers had earlier upgraded their inquiry to a murder investigation and immediately named Mr Wilkins' son Kenny, 22, as one of their suspects. NIGHTCLUB ATTACK 'MOTIVELESS' Staffordshire police hunting the killer of a 20-year-old man who died outside a Cannock nightclub have said the attack on him was apparently motiveless. Black-belt karate expert Ian Yates, of Chadsmoor, Cannock, was attacked outside Silks nightclub after going to investigate a disturbance. DCI Paul Cartwright said Mr Yates was a "popular and caring young man". REWARD OFFER OVER MISSING WOMAN Police are offering a £10,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of a Coventry mother-of-two who has not been seen since December 1998. Surjit Kaur Athwal, 28, of Park Road, Foleshill, was last seen at Delhi airport but British and Indian police attempts to trace her have failed. Police are treating the case as murder although no body has been found. £5m ARTS COMPLEX GIVEN GO-AHEAD Council planning chiefs in Lichfield have given the go-ahead for a controversial new £5m arts complex. The project, to include a 490-seat theatre and studio for 200 people, had sparked opposition as a 140-year-old tree would have to be chooped down. Complaints were also made about the appearance of the building and the loss of sunlight to nearby residents. 'SMOKING SHELTERS' FOR HOSPITAL Health chiefs at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital have agreed to spend £28,000 on smoking shelters for patients. The glass and metal constructions look like bus stops and will be placed around the complex, which is scheduled to become a non-smoking site next year. Bosses said they voted for the shelters amid health and safety fears of smokers standing in groups outside buildings. SNOWMEN 'SHOW MALE DOMINANCE' A Birmingham University academic has studied the sexual politics of snowmen and found they reinforce gender roles. Art historian Tricia Cusack's study of snowmen on Christmas cards has led her to believe they represent the domination of the male in public life. The absence of snowwomen reinforces patriarchal dominance, relegating the female to domesticity, she said. PROTECTION FOR COUNCIL STAFF Walsall Council is to provide frontline staff with special clothing to protect them from violent members of the public. Officials say the need to protect staff was highlighted when an officer was attacked as he went to investigate noise levels at a block of flats. A council spokesman admitted staff remained vulnerable to physical attack. POLICE PROBE HOSPITAL DEATH A West Midlands police probe is under way and four workers were on "special leave" after a woman with learning difficulties suffocated in hospital. The woman, who is not being named but was in her fifties, died on December 9 in the Brooklands Hospital in Marston Green, Solihull, West Midlands. Police said a post-mortem examination revealed she died from asphyxia. ANTENNA MAY REDUCE RADIATION A Warwick University professor is set to revolutionise the mobile phone industry with a new invention that is said to reduce radiation by 97%. Prof Roger Green's compact antenna could also double the radiation broadcast away from the user's head. He is now approaching mobile phone companies hoping to develop commercial models of his invention. LANDLORD FILMS COUPLE IN BED A Telford landlord was placed on probation for two years after he admitted
using a hidden camera to film a couple having sex in their bedroom. Christopher
Phelan, 33, rigged up the secret spy device and recorded the couple, Telford
magistrates heard. Phelan pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to harassing
the couple by filming them with a covert camera.
LOCAL NEWS 21/12/00 ARMED SIEGE ENDS WITH ARREST An armed siege in which a man barricaded himself into his Coventry home with his partner and child ended when the man was arrested, police said. West Midlands Police said a 41-year-old man was held after the stand-off at a house in Longford, Coventry. The drama begam when a man was seen in the Longford area brandishing a machete. He later gave himself up. EX-HEAD JAILED OVER ASSAULT A former boarding school headmaster from Pinvin, Worcs. has been jailed for nine months after being convicted of a sex attack on a male pupil in his care. Colin Wheeler, a former head at Bredon School, Worcestershire was ordered at Hereford Crown Court to register as a sex offender for 10 years. Wheeler denied all 13 charges against him during the nine-day trial. APPEAL ON 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY The parents of a man brutally murdered in a lane near Mow Cop, Staffs, broke their silence on the eve of the 10th anniversary of his death. Ken and Pat Johnson made a plea for information about the killing. Steven Johnson, a taxi driver from Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, was found with his throat cut on December 22, 1990. The murder sparked a huge police probe. STUDENTS £223m IN DEBT Students in the West Midlands owed a staggering £223m in debt, a Government survey has revealed. The average higher-education student owed £2,473 to banks, credit card companies and in student loans. The figures have been condemned by student unions after the survey showed 87% of students have experienced financial difficulties. PASSING OUT CEREMONY SCRAPPED Prison officers finishing their training course will be the last to take part in a passing out ceremony held at Newbold Revell, near Rugby. Time spent by trainee officers on drill training and the passing out ceremony will be replaced by classes in race relations and mental health. Drill training has been compulsory for trainees since the Second World War. UNIONS ACCEPT JAGUAR PAY DEAL A two-year pay deal for workers at luxury car maker Jaguar has been accepted, unions have announced. The 4,000 West Midlands-based employees will receive a wage rise of 4.25% in the next year and at least 3.5% in a year's time. A spokesman for the AEEU said: "We can now look forward to stability at Jaguar for the next two years." POLICE NAME CHANGE DEFENDED Warwickshire chief constable John Burbeck is defending a decision to change the force name from Warwickshire Constabulary to Warwickshire Police. He claims the move is a "perfect opportunity" to give the service a clear and professional identity. The new title will be adopted from April 1 2001. A simplified logo will also be introduced. CHURCH LEADERS SEND MESSAGE Church leaders in Birmingham have sent a festive message of friendship to the city's Moslem community. The message has been sent to mosques across the city and recognises the coincidence of Christmas and the Muslim festival of Id al-Fitr. "It brings us great joy to know that we are alongside our Moslem friends this Christmas," a spokesman said. £1m BOOST FOR UNIVERSITIES Two West Midlands universities are to receive Government grants totalling nearly £1m for research projects. Warwick University will receive £626,000 and Birmingham University £351,000, which will help to improve its Division of Cancer Studies. A total of £14m is being shared among 175 UK projects by the Government's joint research equipment initiative.
If you wish to contact us either : PHONE 0121 444
4723
or E-Mail us on :
Do you want to link to our site ? Feel free to use the Image below , let us know and we'll give a return link. |
