Stories for 12 October 2007

The Northern Echo News

Anger as school's closure is confirmed

PLEAS from young pupils have fallen on deaf ears after councillors voted to close their school.The cabinet of Durham County Council yesterday agreed that Hamsteels Primary School, in Esh Winning, will close at the end of August, next year.Letters from pupils begging to keep the village school open were presented at the meeting, along with a petition containing 38 children's names.Parents, who have been campaigning to save the school since the proposal was announced in the spring, spoke at the meeting to try to convey the depth of feeling within the community.They were supported by Councillor Joe Armstrong, Labour ward member for Esh Winning.He said: "There is no evidence to suggest this will improve the education of any of the children involved."This is a desktop exercise and will deeply affect a very tight community."The families who live there have been there years and this is the centre of their community."In a report, David Williams, corporate director for children and young people's services, said the school needed £207,000 to spend on repairs.The local education authority said the school was underused and the pupils could be accommodated at nearby Esh Winning Primary School.Parents are concerned that the one-mile walk to Esh Winning primary involves crossing busy roads, but Mr Williams said a study had been carried out by the Highways Agency, which deemed the road safe.Councillors supported the option to close the school and statutory notices will be issued.The closure was proposed by Councillor Claire Vasey, Labour ward member for Stanley and cabinet portfolio holder for children's services, who said: "The prospect of closing a school is always going to be an emotive one. But the decision has to be based on what is best for the school, both now and in the future."She was seconded by Councillor John Lethbridge, Labour ward member for Woodhouse and cabinet member for resources.He said: "While it does hurt me to listen to the concerns of very genuine people, we have to realise the decision must come down to the bigger picture for County Durham."After the meeting, parents and governors expressed their disappointment.Mother Jill Turnbull, of Western Avenue, Esh Winning, said the decision would have far-reaching implications.She said: "I am appalled at the decision to close the school. "It is at the very heart of the community and this is where we meet and talk to other parents about what is going on."Closing the school will remove all of the community spirit in our part of the village."Dawn Gardner, also of Western Avenue, said: "I am absolutely gutted. It seems like they had already made their decision, and our views were not taken into consideration at all."We are now going to spend time preparing our response."Chairman of the governors Reg Crozier said he hoped talks would continue to prevent the school's closure.He said: "I am very disappointed by the decision. This will tear the heart out of the community, a very deprived but loving community. We will not give up without a fight."  more...

Stuff of legends

A CONTEST which legend says was first held 1,000 years ago will be recreated this weekend.Robin Hoods from Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, the counties that traditionally compete to be the real home of the legendary figure, will vie for a silver arrow in an archery competition.Stephen Lunn, from South Yorkshire, who won last year's contest, will again take on Nottingham's Tony Rotherham.The two men will compete at Nottingham Castle, on Saturday, and at Richmond Castle, in North Yorkshire, on Sunday. Both events start at 2pm.They must demonstrate proficiency with a longbow in disciplines which require speed and accuracy, including "splitting the wand", where an arrow is placed vertically in a holder and archers are challenged to break it.The prize is a handmade arrow, with an ash shaft and a silver head.Nicola Bexon, of English Heritage, which owns the two castles, said: "This is a great competition which allows two fine archers to demonstrate their skills with a bow, in a range of challenges for the honour of their county."  more...

Volcanic discovery by scientist

A SCIENTIST has developed a system to measure the danger of volcanic eruptions.The technique, which could save countless lives across the world, determines what kind of ash is being spewed into the air and whether the particles are hazardous to human health if breathed in.Experts at Durham University have developed the sieving technique, which measures the size of the ash grains and can tell rescuers whether it is safe to work.Some volcanic ash can trigger acute respiratory diseases, such as asthma and bronchitis or even silicosis, but if the particles are too large to enter the lung, they are not a hazard.Dr Claire Horwell, of the University's Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, used laser technology to analyse grain size of samples - and has used it to develop a formula, which can be estimated from sieving.  more...

Last chance to see a comedy legend in action

COMEDY legend Ken Dodd still has North-East audiences in stitches at the age of 77.Dodd has been entertaining crowds at Darlington Civic Theatre. The show is part of a national tour, which has been playing to sell-out crowds.The last night of his three-day visit to Darlington is tonight. A spokesman for the theatre said: "With his famous tickling stick, he provides an evening of jokes and songs."You may go in expecting to be entertained for an hour or so, but his shows are legendary for running as long as the man himself wants to stay on stage."For more information about the show contact the theatre on 01325-486555.  more...

Town bracing itself for new round of redundancies

A town that has been bombarded by a series of job cuts in the past 20 years is bracing itself for another possible blow. Catherine Priestley takes a look back at some of the biggest employment hurdles that Spennymoor, in County Durham has faced.With good road links to Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough and easy access to the Durham Dales, Spennymoor has become a prime location for house hunters.Its location has attracted developers, who are snapping up land to build homes throughout the town.More than 1,000 houses are being built, including 800 at Whitworth Park, which is one of the biggest housing developments on greenfield land in the region.And the town regularly polls as one of the country's most desirable places to live.But that has failed to secure its economic prosperity because several major employers have pulled out of the town and taken with them thousands of jobs.Modern Spennymoor was built on coal mining and has its origins with the sinking of the Whitworth pit in 1839.In 1853, the Weardale Iron and Coal Company opened its ironworks in Tudhoe, which provided work for hundreds of immigrant workers from the Midlands.Industry continued to grow with a mine in Page Bank, and a pit in Tudhoe, but the boom was inevitably followed by bust.The ironworks closed in 1901 and the mining industry was run down. The biggest blow came with the closure of Tudhoe Colliery in 1935.Manufacturing gradually picked up where mining left off.During the Second World War, hundreds of people made bullets and caps at the Royal Ordnance Factory, in Merrington Lane.The site went on to provide a base for Smart and Browns, then Thorns and now several factories, including Electrolux.In the Sixties, Black and Decker opened a power tools factory and Courtaulds built a spinning factory in Green Lane, and other major employers followed.Sadly, many of the factories that helped the town prosper have closed or downsized and at least 10,000 jobs have been lost since the mid-Eighties.On the Thorn site alone, jobs shrank from 8,000 to 2,000, Electrolux closed its refrigeration plant and cigarette maker Rothmans closed. Black and Decker's permanent workforce has decreased from 2,300 in 2000, to less than 500 today.Twelve months ago, families and community leaders celebrated the approval of a housing and factory scheme that promised to secure a major employer's future for at least 21 years.Thorn Lighting and its electronics partner Tridonic, which together employ about 860 people, will move to a new site in the town and homes will be built on its Merrington Lane site.But yesterday's announcement by Electrolux has poured cold water on the celebrations.The leader of Spennymoor Town Council, Jim Graham, worked at the site for 25 years as a fire officer.He said: "Obviously, any job losses in and around Spennymoor are a very serious concern to the town council. It is especially sad given that the site once employed 7,000 or 8,000 people."We have seen a gradual decline in local manufacturing jobs, but we will work in partnership with whoever we can to prevent further job losses and keep the Electrolux site as a major employer. We will use all our endeavour to keep Electrolux open."The town council has, in the past, had a good relationship with the Electrolux management team and we will work with partners at county and borough level to engage in discussions with them."The loss of major manufacturers also puts enormous strain on smaller companies that supply components for their bigger neighbours.Local politicians are trying to remain optimistic and hope that it will not be all doom and gloom when the company's decision is announced at the end of the year.They have pledged to fight for the future of as many jobs as possible at the site.Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman said: "I have visited the Electrolux factory and seen excellent new investment - I opened a new production line two years ago."Together with the great efforts of the workforce, this has brought record productivity, higher quality, faster deliveries and improved financial performance. I hope over the next two months a positive way forward can be found."Councillor Agnes Armstrong, leader of Sedgefield Borough Council, said: "I hope we're reading too much into this and it won't all be negative news, but we're obviously very concerned."If the news is of closure, we are going to be extremely concerned about the large number of jobs that would be lost, not only at the Electrolux factory."There would be a pebble in the pond effect with ripples hitting all the local suppliers. We live in a global environment over which we have no control, but we will do everything we can to assist in the retention of jobs in Spennymoor."  more...

Former diplomat fights US legal move

A FORMER diplomat accused of trying to smuggle military equipment to Iran is to fight moves to extradite him to the US.The US Government says Nosratollah Tajik, Iran's ambassador to Jordan from 1999 to 2003, was the UK link in an illegal arms network spanning three continents. In April, a British judge ruled that Mr Tajik, 53, should be sent to the US to face charges.However, six months on, he is still living in Coxhoe, County Durham.When contacted by The Northern Echo yesterday, Mr Tajik said he was planning to challenge the decision. He declined to comment further, but a spokesman for the Home Office confirmed an appeal has been filed.The spokesman said the appeal must be considered by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, and a decision will be reached in the next few months.Mr Tajik, who was an honorary fellow at Durham University in 2004, and taught Farsi at the university's Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, is wanted by the US in connection with a sting operation carried out by their agents at a London hotel.Undercover officers from the Department of Homeland Security posed as arms dealers wanting to illegally sell nightvision goggles, worth £50,000, for export to Iran.Mr Tajik's extradition hearing was told that they secretly filmed him meeting the agents and discussing the subject.The Iranian's lawyers claimed the officers acted illegally and the US was pursuing him because of his religion, nationality and politics.He also fought the extradition on health grounds - he has heart disease and angina - and on human rights grounds.However, at Westminster Magistrates' Court, in London, District Judge Caroline Tubbs ruled that it was appropriate for him to be prosecuted in the US. Mr Tajik, 53, who lives with his wife, Mahboubeh Sadghi'nia, and has two sons, has since continued studying, but his wife said their lives had been shattered.Two years ago, during a US House of Representatives inquiry, Mr Tajik was alleged to have been involved in a recruitment drive for Palestinian terrorist operations in Israel while he was a diplomat.   more...

Pilot says thanks to crew who saved him

AN injured pilot trapped for 27 hours on a mountain met the Tornado crew who saved him yesterday.A major air search was launched to find John Russell, 65, when his glider crashed in the Scottish Highlands.A Yorkshire Gliding Club instructor, at Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire, he flew from Deeside Gliding Club, in Aboyne.But after flying into heavy rain on Tuesday, July 10, last year, he crashed on Beinn a Bhuird mountain, near Braemer, in the Cairngorms, and his glider broke into pieces.Mr Russell, of Sutton on the Forest, near York, was trapped, with a broken leg pushing through the bottom of the glider's fuselage.Yesterday, he was at RAF Leeming to meet the crew who found him. Mr Russell said: "I was thrilled to see them as I was not expecting to be alive."I had spent all night out in heavy rain with no cover and I could not contact anyone to say where I was."I was very relieved when I saw them as I could then just sit back until they came to get me."It took me a long time to talk about the accident, but I was excited to meet the two pilots."The glider's canopy was smashed leaving the injured pilot without cover from the wind and rain.He said: "The weather turned bad and I turned back, but flew into heavy rain that washed me out of the sky."I knew mountain peaks were poking out of the cloud around me and I was fortunate to hit somewhere safe to land."There was someone looking after me that day. It was just the cold that got to me."Rescue teams were scrambled from nearby RAF bases and an RAF Tornado bomber flew over the wreckage without spotting it.On Wednesday, July 11, a Tornado bomber flown by Squadron Leader Roger Organ and Flight Lieutenant Mark Haley spotted the wreck.Flying at 450mph at an altitude of 1,000 feet the duo, from 617 Squadron, at RAF Lossiemouth, spotted the glider.Sqn Ldr Organ said: "We didn't expect anyone to still be alive. We flew over it and came round again and we thought we saw something moving."So we went round again and he was waving to us. He was lucky, as the weather could have been a lot worse."I was amazed he was alive, as there are plenty of other people who would not have survived. It was an amazing piece of endurance."The Tornado called in an RAF Sea King search and rescue helicopter and circled the glider until it arrived.Mr Russell, a retired commercial director for Teesside chemical company ICI, has flown a glider again since the crash.   more...

Teacher confesses to child sex attack in suicide note

A PRIMARY school teacher confessed to sexually assaulting a child in a suicide note found with his body.Edward James Brown, 33, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, was found hanging from railings on a bridge in Bad-Oeynhausen, Germany, on May 24.An inquest yesterday heard that the confession was in his pocket.At the time of his death, he was being investigated by the Royal Military Police on suspicion of having sex with a child. Shortly before he died, he was visited by his mother and sister. He told them about the investigation and that he looked at child pornography, the hearing at County Hall, in Northallerton, was told.Mr Brown, 33, lived in Paderborn, Germany, and was attached to the Army's education service. He taught at Robert Browning Primary School, Paderborn Garrison.Two officers from the Special Investigation Branch attended the inquest into Mr Brown's death.It was led by Michael Oakley, western district coroner for North Yorkshire, where Mr Brown comes from and where his family still live.Dr Oakley said: "As a result of her son contacting her, Mrs Brown went with her daughter to Germany. It then became clear as a result of conversations with her son that he was being investigated in connection with a sexual assault on a child and that he was prone to downloading pornographic material concerning children and this was the first that she or his sister knew about it."Mr Brown disappeared from a hotel soon after the conversation and was later found dead. Suicide notes were left for a number of people.Dr Oakley said: "There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this incident has been a deliberate act by Edward Brown as a result of the fact that he had been found out as a result of investigations carried out in relation to a sexual assault of a child and other investigations in relation to his interest in children."I'm quite satisfied that he has killed himself - because of the investigation and the way in which he was discovered."  more...

Agonising wait for news of their future

WORKERS at Electrolux's County Durham factory face an agonising two-month wait to discover whether they will still have jobs next year.For some, yesterday's announcement that the future of the Spennymoor factory could be in doubt because of cheap overseas competition had been predicted.But for others, who believed a production line installed two years ago had safeguarded their future by boosting performance, it was a shock.Factory supervisor Hugh Jones, 58, said: "I think the writing has been on the wall."It's the way things have been going over the past two or three years."Some work has already gone to a new factory in Poland, and they've moved work on 50cm cookers away from Spennymoor."We've been told there will be a feasibility study to find the costs of keeping us going, but I think the decision has already been made."Mr Jones fears his age will be a barrier to finding another job when he faces the possibility of competing with about 500 colleagues next summer.One worker said: "It is totally shocking - it's terrible news."Father-of-two David Smith, an inspector in the enamel plant, said: "Everyone is resigned to the fact that it's going to happen."It's not just 400 or 500 people, it a shame for the community. It's going to affect Spennymoor, Chilton, Ferryhill and the surrounding area, where most workers come from."A lot of people had thought this was going to happen for a while."I have two children, a wife and a big mortgage, so I will just have to find a new job if and when it closes in mid-July."Mr Smith believes the company will try to cash in on its sprawling site and sell it for housing.Another worker, who did not want to be named, had hoped that the factory's future was secured when it launched a £7m cooker production line two years ago.He said: "There was a lot of hype then and I thought the investment showed they wanted to keep us going."But things haven't gone well so it looks like we'll be dumped for cheaper overseas workers."Staff must wait until just before Christmas to hear whether the factory will be closed in mid-July next year.  more...

Owner of filthy take-away escapes jail

THE owner of a take-away which put a judge off fast food for life has been spared jail.   more...

Surgeon criticised over man's death

A CONSULTANT surgeon has been criticised for his part in the death of a North-East man who had stabbed himself in the heart.   more...

Company's claims refuted

A COMPANY'S claims that a lucrative contract to supply massive concrete sections for the new Tyne Tunnel would be lost unless it receives the go-ahead for a controversial planning application, were yesterday refuted by the consortium behind the proposed river crossing.   more...

North jockey denies race fix allegations

A NORTH jockey accused of throwing races in a multi-million pound betting scam declared he had given his horse a good ride in one of the suspected races, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.   more...

Virgin eye up Northern Rock - report

SIR Richard Branson's Virgin Group is today reported to be the latest suitor eyeing a move for crisis-hit North-East bank Northern Rock.   more...

Virgin consortium unveils proposal for Northern Rock

A consortium led by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group has declared its interest in troubled mortgage lender Northern Rock, in a deal that would see the firm re-branded as Virgin Money   more...

Boy charged over school attack

A TEENAGE boy has been charged with assaulting a fellow pupil who was hit over the head with a metal chair.   more...

Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize

FORMER US vice-president Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize, it was announced today.   more...

Teacher dies during school open evening

A NORTH Yorkshire school is in mourning after a teacher collapsed and died during an open evening.   more...

Post strike goes on

POSTAL workers are staging a third day of unofficial strike action in their bitter row over pay, jobs and pensions.   more...

Boy in hospital with serious head injuries - teenager arrested

A TEENAGER has been arrested after an incident which left a 15-year-old with serious head injuries.   more...

Man charged with attacking Al Qaida prisoner

POLICE investigating an alleged attack on an al Qaida terrorist in a North-East prison have charged an inmate.   more...

Prisoner sent home to be with cat

A PRISONER was sent home to his cat after a judge heard that his pet was his main worry while he was behind bars.   more...

Five men rescued after boat breaks down

Five men were rescued by the lifeboat service after a boat broke down near to the Souter Lighthouse in South Tyneside.   more...

Threat to 500 jobs at Electrolux site

FIVE hundred jobs are under threat after it emerged that Electrolux is reviewing the future of its flagship North-East site. The electrical goods company said its factory in Spennymoor, County Durham, which makes cookers, had been hit in recent years by "intense global competition and falling prices". It emerged that Electrolux is reviewing the future viability of the site with a view to moving production elsewhere in Europe, where manufacturing costs are cheaper. The review is expected to be concluded in December. Production will continue until then, after which the factory's workforce of about 500 will learn their fate. Earlier this year, the factory's future was said to be safeguarded after a £7m investment, which saw it producing a new line of Zanussi cookers, taking output to about 235,000 units a year.Last night, unions and business support organisations in the North-East vowed to work with Swedish-owned Electrolux to do everything possible to guarantee the future of the site. The company's on-site distribution warehouse, which employs 40 people, is unaffected by the review and will remain operational. The plant's general manager, Dave Watroba, said: "It's important to understand that we are not making a closure announcement. "However, the factory in Spennymoor has been making a loss over the past few years and, although financial results have been improving, we need to assess whether it will be feasible to take the business into profit in the foreseeable future. "While the factory has made significant progress through investments and employee-driven continuous improvement activities, a preliminary analysis of the operation in Spennymoor has indicated that major savings could be achieved by transferring production to a facility in a lower cost country. "The factory used for comparison is a newly-established Electrolux cooker manufacturing facility at Swidnica, in Poland."Mr Watroba said that while Electrolux had continually invested in the Merrington Lane Industrial Estate site, it may no longer be viable for the business to do so. "The price consumers are willing to pay for white goods such as cookers continues to fall, because of increased price pressure due to retailer consolidation and lower manufacturing costs in countries such as Turkey and Eastern Europe," he said. "Many of our European competitors have built large factories outside of Western Europe. But, through major investment and the adoption by our staff of continuous improvement techniques, Electrolux has maintained much of its production in Western Europe for longer than most."Around the region, groups vowed to work with the firm to ensure they stayed in the North-East and the hundreds of jobs in its workforce are safeguarded.Ian Williams, director of business and industry at regional development agency One NorthEast, said: "We have supported the company in the past, both through grant aid for future development and in giving expert engineering help to raise its productivity and competitiveness."The company is fighting to retain its Spennymoor plant in the face of intense global competition, and we will do everything we can to help it remain here and protect jobs."Stewart Watkins, managing director of County Durham Development Company (CDDC), the business development arm of Durham County Council, said: "CDDC has arranged an urgent meeting with Electrolux to outline the support and expertise available in an effort to ensure the long-term future of this important employer in the county."Jeff Morland, of the Amicus section of the Unite trade union, said: "This is very worrying for the hundreds of people who work in the factory that their place of work is coming under such scrutiny. Hopefully, Electrolux will not follow the trend of so many companies who relocate production in favour of cheaper labour elsewhere."  more...

Rock mortgages 'still bordering on the insane'

NORTHERN Rock is still making mortgage offers "bordering on the insane", despite triggering Britain's first run on a bank for 140 years, the Government was told yesterday.The Liberal Democrats claimed an investigation by one of its peers found the crisis-hit bank was still willing to lend enormous sums that would be difficult to repay.Lord Oakshott, a Treasury spokesman, rang Northern Rock on Tuesday to inquire about the mortgage loan it would be willing to make him, parliament was told.He was offered a loan worth 127 per cent the value of the property, up to six times the size of his income and with 30 per cent unsecured.Describing the offer as "extraordinary", Lib Dem spokesman Vincent Cable said: "I don't know whether this is what the Chancellor means when he refers to a return to old-fashioned lending?"Most reasonably cautious bankers would say, I think, that, in the current economic circumstances, this really borders on the insane."But Northern Rock dismissed the accusation of irresponsible lending, insisting: "We do not lend out what people cannot afford to repay."The clash came as Chancellor Alistair Darling pledged new laws in the next parliamentary session to give savers more protection in the light of the Northern Rock fiasco.Currently, only the first £35,000 of a saver's money is protected if a bank hits trouble - a figure that needed to be raised, Mr Darling said.The Government also wanted to ensure savers can withdraw their money quickly if a bank hits trouble and receive day-to-day banking services until they do so.The chancellor, who revealed that he has a Northern Rock mortgage, although not a bank account, said: "A new regime is needed so depositors are insulated from a bank that fails."However, shadow chancellor George Osborne criticised his refusal to repeat his suggested limit on protected savings - £100,000 - given in a newspaper interview last month.Mr Darling said he did not want to pre-empt a consultation on his plans, with comments invited by December 5.And he urged other financial institutions to examine whether they were similarly exposed to the global credit market drying up, adding: "There are lessons for everyone here."Last month, panicking savers queued for hours to withdraw their money after Northern Rock issued a profits warning and sought emergency funding from the Bank of England.In the Commons yesterday, North-East MPs lined up to pay tribute to the role Northern Rock played as an employer in the region and its charity work in local communities.Separately, they tabled a parliamentary motion urging the bank to guarantee that the Northern Rock Foundation's work was "safe and secure".The bank, based in Newcastle, employs around 5,500 people across the region and is opening new offices at Rainton Bridge, near Durham City.Chris Mullin, Sunderland South MP and a former minister, said: "No-one wants to see it taken over by some predator and asset-stripped."And Houghton and Washington East MP Fraser Kemp praised the Government for giving "breathing space for the company not to be bounced into a decision or a sale".But Northern Rock spokesman John Watson insisted its practices - lending 95 per cent of a property's worth, plus up to 30 per cent unsecured - were in line with those of other borrowers.He added: "We have got a very good lending book on prime mortgages. We know we do not lend irresponsibly."  more...

Owl centre welcomes its latest arrivals

TWO new arrivals have winged their way to a North-East owl centre.The birds are making themselves at home at Kirkleatham Owl Centre, near Redcar, east Cleveland.Both have arrived from the World Owl Trust, in Cumbria.One is an eight-month-old female Burrowing Owl, which has been sponsored and named fudge. She is a mate for Flapjack, the centre's resident male Burrowing Owl.Flapjack's previous mate died of old age last year.Craig Wesson, the centre's collection manager, said: "At 11 years old he has definitely found himself a younger lady. Despite the age difference the two are getting on great and should, hopefully, breed in the spring." The second new arrival is a ten-year-old Western Screech Owl. It is the first time that the species, which comes from the Western coast of the US, has been kept at Kirkleatham.The centre is looking for a sponsor and name for the owl.Anyone able to help is asked to call the centre on 01642-480512 or visit www.kirkleatham owlcentre.co.uk  more...

Alcohol delivery firm keeps its licence

A DRINKS company which breached Army security by passing alcohol through a locked barracks gate has been allowed to keep its trading licence.Instead, Dial 4 Drink's licence will be suspended for a month to allow extra conditions to be implemented.The alcohol delivery company must now make sure that all deliveries are signed for, that delivery notes include the name and address of the buyer and that drink is not handed to purchasers who appear to be under age or drunk.Delivery drivers must also undergo training on the licensing conditions.The company, which is based on the Gallowfields Trading Estate, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, escaped having its licence revoked by Richmondshire District Council following a four-hour hearing before the licensing committee last week.The meeting heard that a delivery driver had passed 30 bottles of beer and four bottles of vodka between a locked security gate and the gatepost to a 19-year-old soldier at the Infantry Training Centre, at Catterick Garrison.Colonel Nick Miller, garrison commander, tried to ban the company from delivering to the centre following the security breach.The committee's findings, issued yesterday, stated that the council had no authority to ban a business from trading on the garrison, and that this was a matter for the military.But members ruled that handing alcohol through the perimeter fence of Ministry of Defence property was a clear breach of conditions and urged the company to respect Col Miller's ban.The committee was asked by the police to review Dial 4 Drink's licence following allegations of alcohol sales to under age customers, which the company denies.Members gave credit to Caroline Grundy, of Hipswell, Catterick Garrison, who runs the company with her husband, Michael, for accepting responsibility for a licence breach, when drink was delivered to a customer who was a passenger in a car at the Tesco supermarket car park.Existing conditions ban deliveries to anywhere other than a buyer's address.Mrs Grundy said some delivery notes had no signatures because she mistakenly believed that only purchasers who were asked to provide proof of age had to sign.  more...

'I feared for my life in jail riot'

PRISON officers have told how they feared for their lives during a mass disturbance at a young offenders' institution.Several warders were taken to hospital after being assaulted by rampaging inmates on D-wing of Deerbolt, Barnard Castle, County Durham, a jury at Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.Karl Mollow suffered a head wound, sprained arm, suspected dislocated thumb and leg injury after being punched and struck with a pool cue.Stephen Archer was bitten, repeatedly punched and headbutted by inmate Marc Dasilva after he refused to let him return to his cell to use a toilet.The jury has heard that the assault on Mr Archer sparked the February riot, which took almost eight hours to bring under control. Officers fled when the violence escalated and locked the main gates to the wing, leaving more than 30 inmates inside.The prisoners then went on the rampage and caused £632,000 damage by setting off fire extinguishers, spraying water around and starting a fire.They also destroyed televisions, pool tables and computers, broke into loft spaces and raided lockers in officers' rooms.Some inmates armed themselves with hammers and helped free others from their cells.After lengthy negotiations failed to resolve the siege, a specialist Tornado Team was sent in to bring them under control.They later found wrecked rooms, barricades against doors made from chairs and television screens, a home-made balaclava, and a pool ball in a sock.Mr Mollow, who has worked at the institution for four years, told the jury: "I had never been in a situation like that before."Senior colleague Peter Willington said: "This was a very scary, hostile situation and I feared for my life, so officers withdrew and locked the gates."Mr Mollow said one of his colleagues seemed to get cornered during the struggles, and he drew his baton because he feared "he would never get out of there".John Tuffy, 20, from St Helens, Merseyside, is on trial accused of violent disorder during the incident on Sunday, February 25.Four other inmates have admitted the same charge and will be sentenced on November 2. They are: Dasilva, 20, of no fixed address; Jamie Pattinson, 20, of Wigton, Cumbria; Gareth Swale, 21, of Bransholme, Hull; and Sunshine Wood, 21, of Blackpool.Tuffy accepts he was among a group who congregated when Mr Archer was being attacked by Dasilva, but denies joining in.His trial continues today.  more...

Campaign launch to fight racism

A CAMPAIGN to combat racism will be launched tomorrow amid concern over the rise of far-right politics in the region.The Trade Union Congress (TUC) says racial discrimination threatens to blight communities in the North-East.Union leaders will launch a week-long anti-racism campaign in County Durham.Residents and businesses will be urged to spread a message of hope not hate.The campaign is being backed by The Northern Echo.Kevin Rowan, TUC regional secretary, said: "The idea is to raise awareness about some of the issues surrounding racism and get people talking."There are still views that refugees are getting it easy when they come over here, but this is not the reality."If you are an asylum seeker, you are not allowed to work, you are provided housing, but it is often housing that nobody else wants and you have to survive on a very meagre amount."People also think migrant workers are coming over and taking jobs, but there is no evidence that this is the case."With an ageing workforce, our progress as a region is dependent on people coming to live here."The campaign comes in the wake of increased activity in the county by the British National Party (BNP).Following the departure of Tony Blair from his Sedgefield constituency, the BNP's candidate polled nearly 2,500 votes at the resulting by-election.At the local elections in May, the BNP fielded nearly 100 candidates across the region.Despite not winning a seat, they had significant backing in some areas - particularly in Chilton, where they collected a fifth of the total vote.Mr Rowan said: "We will take on the BNP in an election, but outside of an election period, we need to do something more sustainable and more generally focused to tackle the problem."The campaign will focus on workplaces in the county.A number of County Durham companies - including The Northern Echo - have agreed to promote the anti-racism message in their premises. The campaign has the backing of County Durham MPs Phil Wilson and Roberta Blackman-Woods, as well MEP Stephen Hughes.It will be launched tomorrow by Mr Wilson at the TUC's regional council meeting in Durham.  more...