Stories for 6 December 2007

The Northern Echo News

Plans for Britain's first 'Super Garrison' take a step forward

PLANS to build Britain's first 'Super Garrison' in the North-East took another step forward tonight.   more...

"Missing man" arrives back in North-East

JOHN Darwin, the man who turned up five years after he was feared drowned, arrived back in the North-East within the last hour.   more...

Adam beats odds with transplants

A SCHOOLBOY has beaten the odds by surviving two heart transplants within days of each other.Adam Allbutt, 14, was successfully treated at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle.Doctors decided he needed a transplant after he became seriously ill earlier this year.A heart was found and Adam, believed to be from the West Midlands, had his first transplant in October.He made good progress in the first few days, but his condition deteriorated.He suffered a massive heart attack after his replacement failed.A hospital spokesman said: "He was on the ward recovering from his operation and was almost ready to go home."He went for a walk and completely collapsed on the ward. He had had a heart attack."Fortunately, the surgeons who performed the operation were not far away. The resuscitation team was on the ward at the time and went to work immediately."They massaged his heart for 105 minutes and saved his life."The medics put him on a heart support machine until a second heart was found.The spokesman said: "He was very lucky. Adam is now doing very well and looking forward to going home soon thanks to the generosity and selflessness of his two donors."Adam's parents are expected to collect him from hospital tomorrow.Last month, the parents of one of Britain's youngest heart transplant patients praised the hospital's surgeons. Andrew McAskie was only five-weeks-old when he had the operation.He had suffered a heart attack on the day he was born and was kept alive on a machine until a donor heart was found.He is among the youngest transplant recipients in the country, and was the youngest patient to receive a new heart at the Freeman Hospital. Twenty years ago, the hospital made history when five-month-old Kaylee Davidson, from Washington, Wearside, became the first baby to undergo a heart transplant.  more...

Youngsters in soup for broth giveaway

A GROUP of youngsters have found themselves in the soup with a food company after giving away home-made produce at a farmers' market.Year ten pupils from Wolsingham School and Comprehensive School, in Weardale, County Durham, served up their own-recipe soup at a monthly market in nearby Stanhope last month.They grew vegetables and gathered fruit and plants to create the broth, which was called Weardale Farmers' Market Soup.But this week, Weardale Soup Company Limited complained to Wear Valley District Council, which runs the market, and notified its legal representatives at the National Market Traders Association.Christine Peart, who set up the company three years ago with her husband, Richard, believes the names will be confused, particularly because their business also sells at several farmers markets.She said: "We have had people thinking we have changed our name. They should have gone with something completely different. We have had one or two people saying the soup wasn't very nice and we do not want our reputation confused with any other source of soup."Mrs Peart said she and her husband have worked up to 17 hours a day to build the reputation of their business from scratchThe students had donned Forties outfits to serve the soup as part of a project on healthy eating and wartime rationing.Mrs Peart said: "It is a really good idea and a smashing project, but I just wish whoever was behind it had just thought about it and came up with something different."Tom Carver, the district council's head of public protection, wrote to Mrs Peart: "I was concerned that you were upset by what you perceived were actions by the council to undermine your business."We have no intention of undermining your business."He said the council had provided support in developing the company by providing a promotional outlet at the Stanhope market in the past.Andrea Crawshaw, the headteacher at the school, said there had been no banners stating the name, and that no money changed hands apart from donations to charity.She said: "This was a one-off educational experience and no offence was ever meant towards any company or any persons in the community. We are just trying to encourage the students to support local produce."  more...

Riddle over man 'who suffered memory loss'

STROLLING into a London police station on Saturday, a heavily-tanned, well-groomed man told officers: "I think I'm a missing person."He told them his name was John Darwin, his date of birth, and that he believed police might be looking for him.It is thought officers ran his name through the internet search engine Google to discover he vanished more than five years ago.Website stories will also have revealed that the following year, an inquest was held after police concluded he had died at sea.Mr Darwin, then 51, was last seen before apparently taking his canoe into the water near his seafront home in March 2002.A paddle was washed ashore days later and wreckage from the red canoe was found weeks on, but Mr Darwin never resurfaced.Until the weekend, that is - and since then, a photograph seemingly showing him and his "widow" has shown up.The picture is said to have been taken in Panama last summer, and was posted on a holiday website under the category "customer photos".Although former teacher and prison officer Mr Darwin claims to remember nothing for the past seven years, the photo will take some explaining.Detectives will question the father-of-two today at a Teesside police station to try to piece together his whereabouts since March 21, 2002.A source close to the investigation last night told The Northern Echo: "He has got a bit of explaining to do."Detectives will want to know if the photo of Mr Darwin, and his wife, Anne - who left Hartlepool for Panama six weeks ago - is legitimate.They will also try to establish why 57-year-old Mr Darwin turned up out of the blue at the West End police station.The fact that he did re-appear has not come as a complete shock to those who knew him and those who helped search for him.A source at Holme House Prison, in Stockton, where Mr Darwin had worked, said last night: "There was always an air of scepticism about his disappearance. John was a pretty nondescript sort of person who few of his colleagues got close to or knew too much about."Local councillor Dave Young said he had been told by rescuers that because no body had been washed up, there were doubts over whether Mr Darwin had ever been in the water.Mr Darwin's elderly father, Ronald, said he always hoped his son would turn up safe and well and believed he was not dead.But last night, after being told he had been arrested on suspicion of fraud, the former soldier and builder broke down in tears.Clutching a handkerchief to his head, Mr Darwin senior, from Blackhall Colliery, County Durham, said: "I cannot believe that. No way. No way."When Mr Darwin disappeared, newspapers were asked not to approach his wife, Anne, a doctors' receptionist, at their Seaton Carew home.Six months later, a statement was released by a Cleveland Police press officer who had interviewed Mrs Darwin about her ordeal.The statement told of her daily torment at having to look out at the sea from their seven-bed Victorian home knowing her husband was out there.Mrs Darwin revealed that they had bought the house and adjoining guest house for their retirement. She was asked for a snapshot of her missing husband to accompany the press release which was being prepared by the press officer."We were never ones for photographs," she said as she sat in the impressive front room of a home which once belonged to a Victorian shipbuilder.There has been a trigger which has made him return from the grave and the police will be trying to discover what that was today.  more...

'Dead' canoe man back for questions

DETECTIVES in the North-East will this morning begin questioning back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin on suspicion of fraud.Mr Darwin, who stunned detectives when he walked into a central London police station on Saturday, more than five years after his apparent death in a canoeing accident at sea, was taken to Middlesbrough under police escort.The 57-year-old had been presumed drowned, within sight of his home, in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, in March 2002.The coroner who declared Mr Darwin dead told The Northern Echo last night: "This is unprecedented."Hartlepool coroner Malcolm Donnelly delivered an open verdict in April 2003. He will have to apply to the Registrar General in London to have the verdict declared nul and void.The issue of a death certificate allowed family members to cash in life assurance policies and pensions.Last night, Mr Donnelly said: "I have certainly never done this before and I know of no other case where this has occurred."I can recall other inquests being carried out without a body having been recovered in the past ten years. But to have a man actually turn up alive after such a long period of time is unprecedented in this jurisdiction."But since his dramatic reappearance, it transpired his wife, Anne, had moved to Panama after selling the couple's seven-bedroom property. A photograph has also emerged, apparently showing the couple together in Panama City last July. Police said last night they were trying to establish the picture's authenticity but a source said: "It could very well be genuine." In another development, investigators are also looking into an application for a credit card in Mr Darwin's name, made last September. The former prison officer claims to have no memory of the past seven years. Mr Darwin was arrested on Tuesday night at his son's home, in Hampshire, at the request of Cleveland Police, on suspicion of fraud.Detective Superintendent Tony Hutchinson said suspicions were initially raised three months ago.He said: "There was some information which was reported to us three months ago to suggest that perhaps there was something suspicious with regards to his disappearance and, as a result of that information, we then began to conduct some inquiries on a financial basis. Certainly three months ago, we did not know that John Darwin was alive and we did not know that until he walked into the police station on Saturday morning."But it is fair to say that we were conducting some inquiries as a result of some information we had which raised some suspicions."The detective said he was as shocked as anyone when Mr Darwin handed himself in at the weekend after five years.He said: "Clearly there is some motivation for him to walk into the police station but, at this time, I don't know what that was, but we will be investigating it."Although there are no plans to interview Mrs Darwin, Det Sup Hutchinson did not rule out the prospect, pointing out that there was an extradition treaty existed with Panama.Mrs Darwin has admitted claiming cash from insurance policies, but maintains she did so in good faith, believing that her husband had been dead for several years.But a photograph allegedly shows the mother-of-two in a Panama apartment with her husband last year.Det Sup Hutchinson said: "The photograph has to be verified. I have seen the photograph, I've seen the date that is on that photograph, but of course, as we all know photographs can be doctored, so it's very important from our point of view that the validity of that photograph is inquired into."However, Det Supt Hutchinson said the photo could well prove to be genuine.Following Mr Darwin's disappearance in 2002, police probed possible business links in the US, but no evidence of wrongdoing emerged.All the evidence from the original investigation will be reviewed by officers, as will a reported sighting of Mr Darwin near his former home two years ago.Det Sup Hutchinson, who is expected to interview Mr Darwin this morning, issued a worldwide plea to help trace his movements.Speaking of Mr Darwin, he said: "He was in apparent good health, tanned, well nourished and dressed and, at that time, said he had no recollection of where he had been for the past five years."He has since met with some members of his family and has apparently told them he has no recollection of what has happened to him or where he has been since June 2000, which is almost two years before his disappearance from his home in Seaton Carew."Cleveland Police have set up a freephone number, 0800-056-0944, for people to call in with information. International callers are asked to call 020-715-80010.* Did you know John or Anne Darwin. If so contact our newsdesk on 01325 505068  more...

'The sort of cases that are made into films'

Dr Tilo Wolf, who works at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, is used to seeing patients complaining of memory loss.But he has never come across anyone claiming to have lost their memory for years on end."That is very rare. They are really exotic cases, the sort of cases that appear in books or are made into films," said Dr Wolf.While psychological trauma is an acknowledged cause of memory loss, the most common cause of amnesia is some form of brain injury or damage caused by an illness."As a neurologist, you measure the severity of a head injury by the severity of the amnesia. The longer the amnesia the more serious the head injury," said Dr Wolf.However, the Teesside consultant said he would expect such a case to have memory loss spanning hours rather than days.Dr Wolf said psychiatrists occasionally come across patients suffering from a rare condition called dissociative fugue.In classic cases this can involve individuals suddenly disappearing and setting off on some kind of journey.These journeys can last hours, days, or even weeks and months.Someone in this condition is often unaware of their identity or confused and very rarely assumes a new identity.Dr Wolf said this condition usually affected adolescents who found it difficult to cope with some traumatic psychological issue."We all repress memories that we don't like. This is just a very extreme presentation of this," he added.A condition which Dr Wolf has seen on a number of occasions is called TGA or transient global amnesia. "I had a patient on a sailing trip who suddenly asked his wife, 'what are we doing here? Why are we in this boat?' He had no recollection of how they got there and why they were," said Dr Wolf.In this case, the patient had been referred by their GP.However, TGA typically only lasts a few hours at most and wears off."We don't really know what causes TGA, but patients are usually aware that something is not quite right," Dr Wolf said.In the case of head injuries caused by car accidents, it is not unusual to find that patients have memory losses just before and just after a crash."You might not remember driving the car just before the accident or seeing the other car approaching," the consultant said. But again, the period of memory loss is typically confined to minutes rather than hours or days.In another case, Dr Wolf suspected that a patient had suffered a form of epileptic seizure which had affected part of his brain."I saw a taxi driver who drove around for two hours but had no memory of being there," he said.But patients with very long memory lapses are so rare that they are virtually unheard of, said Dr Wolf.   more...

Ex-police chief's retort at decision to buy new cars

A FORMER police chief has hit back at claims she wasted taxpayers' money by buying company cars.Former North Yorkshire Police chief constable Della Cannings has defended her role in buying 27 cars for the force.In 2005, the force bought Land- Rover Discoverys and Volvos for its superintendents.They were fitted with full police equipment and were for both personal and operational use.The North Yorkshire Police Authority is now considering whether the cars are needed or not.Authority figures show savings of up to £2,843 per year per vehicle could be made if officers used their own cars.But in a stinging letter to the police authority, Ms Cannings has called on it to reveal the cost of the vehicles in 2005.She said: "The issue for me is that it seems people are saying that I bought expensive vehicles."I want to make sure people know the cost of the vehicles, as I got them at a discount."I feel that now with two years' hindsight, people are being disparaging and are sniping at me about this."I feel the public should be aware of the cost of the vehicles, but it's not up to me to disclose it."At the police authority performance audit and scrutiny committee earlier this week, members heard the cars were sold on after 60,000 miles.Jane Ryan, chairwoman of the committee, said the issue had always been contentious.She said: "Della Cannings came to us with a fait accompli in 2005 and said, 'this is what I've done'."It was a case of that she had already gone ahead and the authority didn't like it, but there was no opportunity for debate."They had to support it. We were told the cars would be used as command platforms, but it has mostly proved not to be the case."North Yorkshire Deputy Chief Constable Adam Briggs said: "We have to provide value for money, but we also need to be operationally effective and determine the best means of delivering that."The authority members have now voted to seek more information on the scheme.But Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Phil Willis said: "The auditors have looked at the use of the cars and they have given a damning report."I think Della Cannings was absolutely wrong to buy those cars and I think there is no doubt about that."They are just perks for senior officers and if they buy more cars I think it's an insult to North Yorkshire people."If an officer needs a car on operational duty, then one should be provided, as long as it is cheaper than simply paying mileage."  more...

Women apply to work at lap dancing club

A COURT hearing into plans for a lap dancing club in sight of Durham Cathedral has heard that about 30 women have applied to become dancers.   more...

'Someone will know where he has been'

THE following is the transcript   more...

Innocent man’s injuries justified, police report says

POLICE officers who seriously   more...

Woman dies after car plunges into river

AN elderly woman has died after her car plunged into a river.   more...

Abrahams vows to come out fighting

DAVID Abrahams, the property developer at the centre of the Labour Party secret donor scandal, tonight warned that he would come out fighting if he took a hammering from the Government.   more...

BREAKING NEWS: Sons of "missing man" John Darwin speak of anger and confusion

THE sons of presumed dead canoeist John Darwin has spoken of their anger and confusion when their father walked back into their lives after five years.   more...

Elderly woman dies in river plunge

AN elderly woman has died after her car plunged into a river.   more...

Wife who gave husband rat killer guilty

A WOMAN has been found guilty of poisoning her husband with rat killer and anti-depressants in an attempt to confuse him while she stole £43,000 from his mother.   more...

Career conwoman guilty of poisoning husband

A CAREER conwoman who poisoned her seven-year-old daughter 25 years ago was today found guilty of a similar attack on her husband.   more...