Stories for 27 November 2007

The Northern Echo News

Train conductor attacked with firework

A HUNT has been launched for a yob who attacked a rail worker with a firework.   more...

Take That hit all the right notes with North-East fans

TAKE THAT were back in the North-   more...

Andy Capp fan buys statue

BUSINESSMAN John O'Connor realised a dream when he became the proud owner of one of only two miniature Andy Capp figurines.   more...

Supersonic Syd heads to Spennymoor

ONE half of a popular show business double act will star in a County Durham Christmas cabaret.   more...

Fat rats too stuffed to eat poison bait

RATS in a Teesside town are so full after gorging themselves on fast food waste they are not eating the bait designed to kill them.   more...

Prime Minister accused of Barnett ‘bully-boy tactics’

GORDON BROWN was condemned   more...

A quiet night out with the city crowd

DURHAM City Council and Durham Police recently launched Nightsafe, a project designed to make the city   more...

Footballers get young drivers onside for driving help

YOUNG footballers have been   more...

Millionaire will not sponsor academy

A MILLIONAIRE businessman tipped to   more...

Volunteers answering call to help

For the past 40 years, volunteers have   more...

Fun, fantasy and the amazing Flatulator invention

THOUSANDS of visitors are   more...

Dreamspace probe ongoing

POLICE investigating the Dreamspace tragedy have extended bail for the artist arrested in connection with the incident.   more...

Plans drawn up to preserve former PM's home

A PLANNING blueprint is to be drawn up to protect the historic features of a Grade II listed former Prime Minister's home.   more...

Driver airlifted after crash

A MAN was airlifted to hospital after a car crash on the A19 during rush hour this morning.   more...

Tickets for Elton John gig - yours for £415

TICKETS to watch one of the world's biggest pop acts at a North-East stadium are on sale for nearly three times their price on internet auctions.However, organisers have said that tickets for the Elton John concert at the Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena are available from authorised dealers at their marked price.The concert, on July 5, is expected to attract a sell-out crowd of between 18,000 and 20,000, with tickets priced between £40 and £80.Although all the tickets have not yet been sold, a number have gone on sale on the internet auction site eBay. One online seller is offering three tickets at the front of the stadium for £415.To date, there have been no bids at this price, although two tickets are selling at £164.Jon Sotnick, chief executive of Darlington Football Club said: "Tickets for the Elton John concert at the Darlington Arena are continuing to sell well and we are delighted with the public's response to our first major concert. "It could be the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Sir Elton perform in Darlington and tickets would make a great Christmas present. "Tickets are still available from the authorised agents and we would strongly advise that people only use these outlets to purchase tickets, as this is the only way you can guarantee that your ticket will be valid."To buy authorised tickets, visit www.ticketmaster.co.uk or call 0844-847-1731. For disabled tickets, call 0844-847-1655.  more...

Lorry driver arrested after motorist dies

A LORRY driver was arrested yesterday after an accident on the A1 in which a van driver suffered fatal injuries.The 43-year-old man, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, died in hospital after his Ford Connect van was in collision with an articulated lorry on the northbound carriageway - three miles north of Leeming Services, in North Yorkshire.The 5.50am crash added another grim statistic to a mounting toll of road deaths across the county - 68 up to the third week in November involving drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians.The van driver died at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton. The 43-year-old driver, from the Lincoln area, of the blue curtain-sided lorry was arrested and was being held in police custody pending further inquiries.The accident led to closure of the north and southbound carriageways between Hackforth and Leeming for six hours and caused major delays.Diversions were managed by Highways Agency traffic officers - introduced last year to help police with the aftermath of serious accidents - from a base near the A1 at Barton, near Richmond. Traffic used alternative routes, including the A19, A168 and A684, leading to rush- hour congestion and delays around Northallerton and Bedale, and heavy use of some country lanes.One driver said: "It took well over two hours to get from Leeds to Richmond, when it normally takes only about an hour. "Northallerton just ground to a halt and there was a lot of extra traffic going through Bedale and some of the back lanes, which were not built for it.''Four weeks ago, the southbound A1 at Leeming Services was the scene of a fatal accident involving two men from Scotland on a motor trike. Earlier this month, teenage twin brothers from Manchester, both serving in the Army at Catterick, died when their car left the A1 and hit a tree half a mile north of the A61 junction.Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh is pressing Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly for a decision on Highways Agency plans to upgrade 24 miles of the A1 into a three-lane motorway between Dishforth and Barton. Aims of the £330m scheme, the subject of a three-week public inquiry, include improved road safety. A county council spokesman said the authority was working hard to reduce the number of people killed and seriously hurt on its roads through educational initiatives, engineering measures and support for enforcement campaigns.Witnesses to the accident, or people who saw either vehicle before the crash, are asked to contact PC Tracy Smales on 0845- 60-60-247.l Police are appealing for witnesses following an accident near Stokesley, North Yorkshire, at 8.30pm, on Saturday. A black Vauxhall Vectra driven by an 18-year-old woman from the York area left the road and overturned on Seamer Hill.A 15-year-old female passenger was taken to The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, with serious injuries. Her condition was described as stable. The driver and another 15-year-old female passenger received minor injuries. Anyone with information is asked to contact Sergeant Neil Campbell on 0845-60-60-247.  more...

The sleigh princess

A FOUR-year-old leukaemia sufferer who was too ill to go to Disney World said she felt like a princess as she rode with Santa on his sleigh.Doctors broke Ella Morran's heart when they put a stop to her dream holiday to Florida.But days later she was smiling again, after winning the chance to arrive with Santa at Dobbies Garden World, in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street.More than 1,000 people turned up to cheer her in, riding in a decorative carriage pulled by two white horses.Her mother, Hayley, said she could not have wished for a better pick-me-up.She said: "She absolutely loved it. It really cheered her up. She told me she felt like a princess all day."Ella was diagnosed as suffering from leukemia in March last year. Her two-week trip to meet Mickey Mouse and friends in Florida, organised by the Christian Lewis Trust cancer charity, had to be called off because of her weak immune system.Ella, from Waldridge, near Chester-le-Street, has had pneumonia since September."She had been looking forward to it ever since last Christmas. She really wanted to see the Christmas parade," Mrs Morran, 30, said."We left it as late as we could, but they decided her lungs were too poorly. She was really down about it. But when she found out about Santa she totally changed. Her little face lit up."Ella won the prize in a competition run by The Northern Echo and Dobbie's Garden World. She found out when she arrived home from an appointment at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary."She'd just had chemotherapy. It was an excellent end to a rough day. All she talked about was meeting Santa," Mrs Morran said.On Sunday, after meeting Santa at Birtley dog track, she travelled with him through the town, waving to shoppers, before processing to Dobbie's.Paul Travis-Anderson, the garden centre manager, said: "Her face was phenomenal. She walked in hand-in-hand with Santa, to lots of applause. There were about 1,200 people there. Every car park space was full."Mrs Morran said: "The staff were absolutely fantastic. They bent over backwards to make her day."Santa's Grotto will be at Dobbie's every weekend until Christmas and on Christmas Eve. Call 0191-410-2556.  more...

Prison for father who killed his baby girl

A YOUNG father who shook his baby daughter to death weeks after telling his partner he hated their child was yesterday jailed for eight years.Christopher Jewell, 25, snapped while he was caring for four-month-old Demi at their County Durham home in January.And a court heard that the roofer had shouted "I f***ing hate her so much", when he could not stop her crying when she was a month old.Three months later, Demi suffered massive head injuries and eight broken ribs after being left with Jewell while her mother had a night out with a friend.The baby was taken to hospital from the family home in Newton Aycliffe, but was pronounced brain dead three days later, the court was told.Jewell was charged with murdering the infant, but yesterday pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds he did not mean to cause Demi serious harm.Teesside Crown Court was told that Jewell was suffering from emotional and financial problems in the weeks leading up to the tragedy.Paul Sloan, prosecuting, said Jewell had mounting debts and was "on intimate terms" with another woman as his relationship became strained.He was also travelling two-and-a-half hours to Blackpool every day to work as a roofer, and had done so on the day he attacked Demi.The court heard he returned to the family home in Ritson Road on the Friday evening and his partner, Linzi Heslop, made a last-minute decision to go out.Mr Sloan said Jewell sent Miss Heslop a text message calling her a "sly cow" for going out, and told her not to be home late.His partner's nine-year-old daughter, and their five-year-old boy and three-year-old daughter were asleep upstairs.But within 20 minutes of Miss Heslop leaving their home with her friend, Jewell had caused the baby fatal injuries.Demi was in a bouncy chair, and had been upset that day because she had recently had a third course of injections.Mr Sloan said the couple's seven-year relationship was failing, while Jewell's mounting debts were causing strain.The father snapped and shook the baby violently, causing a brain injury from which she died three days later at Newcastle General Hospital.He also broke eight of her ribs, by pushing hard against them, and may have caused bruising that was found on her leg and back.The court heard Jewell did not admit what he had done, even as his daughter lay fatally injured in hospital.He told medics she had just gone limp when he picked her up after she started crying.He finally changed his plea and admitted his part in killing his daughter months after he was charged.Judge Peter Fox, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, said: "You had the sole, immediate responsibility for that little girl, for her care and for her welfare."You lost your temper with her, and you lost it to an ungovernable extent, and so you inflicted fatal injury upon her."Jamie Hill, mitigating, told the judge: "The defendant is well aware that a sentence of some years must follow this plea of guilty and he has prepared himself for that."Equally, he appreciates that the serving of that necessary sentence is in many ways just the beginning of his punishment."He must live with the responsibilities, the shame and the guilt of what he did."Mr Hill added: "It is easy to say in retrospect that he was too young and ill-equipped to deal with the pressures of family life, with such a large family. Of course, others manage. He didn't."He did take on the responsibilities of fatherhood when he was 17 and formed his relationship with Linzi Heslop, she then being 21 and already having a child."By and large, he did his best for more than six years."There is not any real suggestion of mistreatment or cruelty on previous occasions. "He is not fundamentally a bad person."Judge Fox told Jewell: "The taking of the life of another is not to be taken lightly, particularly the life of a defenceless infant child."You were subject yourself to a number of extenuating circumstances, but a number of those were of your own making."You were, of course, too young and insufficiently mature to bear the responsibility which you assumed.  more...

Prime Minister accused of Barnett 'bully-boy tactics'

GORDON Brown was condemned on all sides yesterday for "bully-boy tactics" to silence criticism of the infamous Barnett Formula that penalises the North-East.Both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats attacked the Prime Minister, after The Northern Echo revealed the strong-arming of MPs and peers attempting to review the funding rules.In the past financial year, Scotland received £8,623-per-head from the Treasury, while the North-East figure was only £8,177 - nearly £500 lower.Yet income-per-head north of the border was 96 per cent of the national average in 2005, while the average North-Easterner received only 79 per cent.Yesterday, The Northern Echo revealed that No10 aides have been accused of arm-twisting both Labour MPs and peers pushing for a rethink - warning of "consequences" if a full-scale review is undertaken.Alan Duncan, the Tory "shadow minister" for Tyneside, said: "Instead of the new-style, open government promised earlier this year it seems that Brown's bully- boy tactics are still going strong."An orchestrated campaign of coercion is not the way to win an argument"And Julia Goldsworthy, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman, said: "Number 10 should not be trying to stifle debate on this important issue."We fully support a review of the Barnett Formula. If ministers are so confident that it remains appropriate, why not have a review which could confirm this?"Graham Stringer, a former minister, was first to condemn the bullying of supporters of his parliamentary motion calling for "an immediate review" of the Barnett Formula.Then Lord Barnett, the ex-Treasury minister who has disowned the formula he devised, revealed he had been told to drop an attempt to set up a review in the Lords.No10, which is sensitive to criticism that Mr Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling run a Scots-dominated government, has declined to comment on the story.Introduced in 1978, the Barnett Formula gave England 85 per cent of public spending, Scotland ten per cent and Wales five per cent, on a per-capita basis.Lord Barnett intended it to be in place for one year, but it survived - virtually unchanged - through the Thatcher, Major and Blair governments. Earlier this year, days before leaving No10, Tony Blair virtually admitted higher spending was a bribe to keep the Scots within the UK.Meanwhile, the Scottish Parliament - thanks to higher funding from London - has announced a series of popular spending measures, unavailable in England, including free prescriptions, a cut in class sizes in primary schools and a reduction in business taxes. And Scottish householders will enjoy council tax bills frozen for the next three years -- while bills south of the border rise faster than inflation  more...

£4m for gran hit by police car at crossing

A GRANDMOTHER who needs constant care after being hit by a police car on a pelican crossing has won £4m compensation. Northumbria Police agreed the settlement for mother-of-three Linda Donaldson, 55, of North Heaton, Newcastle, who is totally dependent and must live in a modified bungalow. The money is for her care.The force admitted liability in 2005, having previously claimed the part-time cleaner, who was in a coma for two years, was partly to blame for her misfortune.The accident in Welbeck Road, Newcastle, happened in 2002 as PC Philip Wilkinson, who later admitted dangerous driving, was given a suspended jail sentence and required to resign from the force, was responding to an emergency call.Mrs Donaldson, who suffered brain damage and multiple fractures, relies on carers, including her husband, John, who retired as a lorry driver, and one of her daughters, Kirsty. Afterwards, Mrs Donaldson's solicitor, Eric Morris, said the family was pleased with the settlement, but was "disappointed with the decision of the Police Authority and their insurers to allege contributory negligence against Linda in relation to the manner in which she crossed the road. "John Donaldson and I have always contended that Linda did nothing wrong on 12 April, 2002, when she was injured, and the defendant's decision to admit full liability shortly before the trial that had been convened to decide that question in 2005, vindicates that view. "This has resulted in Linda now receiving her full damages award, which, in the circumstances, is a fair and just outcome." Mr Morris paid tribute to Mr Donaldson's dedication in caring for his wife. "This award will mean that Linda's future care and welfare will be assured in so far as it is possible for mere money to compensate her for what has happened," he said. Mr Justice Eady said: "This is a desperately tragic case. Obviously, one's heart goes out to Mrs Donaldson and her devoted family." Neil Block, for Northumbria Police, said he had "experienced at first-hand just how devoted Mr Donaldson is to his wife". Money could never compensate Mrs Donaldson for her loss but he said he hoped her life, and that of her family, would become easier.   more...

Auctioneers ‘flabbergasted’ by sale

A RECORD-BREAKING sale at   more...

Forced training on way for jobless after six months on dole

THE Government yesterday   more...

MPs’ damning verdict on value of PFI deals

ANOTHER key plank of Gordon   more...

Teen murder accused in court

A TEENAGER accused of murdering his older brother made his first appearance before a judge today.   more...