THE daughter of a devoted grandfather told for the first time last night how health problems may have driven him to stab his wife to death before killing himself. Only a week before Derek Wood, 60, killed his wife, Margaret, 52, in December last year,
CAMPAIGNERS are urging everyone in the region to cast their vote for a smoking ban to help a North-East town lose its worst-place-to-live tag. Last night's Channel Four programme, The Best and Worst Places to Live, declared that the former colliery town
HIGHWAYS bosses last night dismissed a new report which claims rural roads in the region are being "left to rot" through under-funding. A survey by the Asphalt Industry Association (AIA) concludes that budget restraints are leaving country routes in a
A YOUNG mother who left her three children in the care of a schoolgirl while she went on holiday has been warned she could face prison. Kelly Ann Piggford, also known as Rogerson, pleaded guilty to three charges of child neglect at Darlington Magistrates
A survey has revealed that blondes do not have all of the fun in two of the region's cities. In York and Newcastle, 50 per cent of men opt for a brunette as their ideal date. This puts them well ahead of blondes, with only 30 per cent of men in Newcastle
HORSE RIDERS: MY husband and I were out in our car the other day and almost had an accident with a horse and rider. We were almost on top of them before we saw them. It would be a good idea and sense if it was made law for them to wear the bright jackets
HUNDREDS of animal abusers in the region are at risk of "graduating" to seriously harming people, a report claims. Campaigners are planning to use their findings to demand that animal cruelty is taken more seriously by prosecutors and the courts. The
EXTENDED opening hours at a North Yorkshire market town pub would damage nearby businesses and deprive residents of sleep, it was claimed yesterday. The Bolton Arms, in Leyburn, wants to open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and midnight on all other
HITTING the bar is not usually a recipe for success in football. But Darlington Football Club's players have been doing just that - and it went down a storm with fans at the Quakers' stadium in Neasham Road last night. Several of the team's stars, accompanied
NEWCASTLE UNITED'S hopes of opening the new Premiership campaign in the best possible manner are disappearing fast as manager Graeme Souness prepares for a striker crisis. The Magpies are secretly resigning themselves to the fact that Michael Owen is
Australia have reacted to their mounting injury crisis by calling up seamer Stuart Clark to boost their bowling options for this week's crunch third Ashes Test. Clark has been preferred to Victorian Mick Lewis, who is due to start his final championship
A SOLDIER from the North-East who is only weeks away from finishing his tour in Iraq has narrowly avoided injury in a roadside explosion. Lance Bombadier Daniel Horseman was yards from the blast, which left a fellow soldier badly hurt and needing emergency
SUNDERLAND have signed West Brom goalkeeper Joe Murphy as back-up to Kelvin Davis ahead of the new Premiership season. With no timescale set on Mart Poom's return to full fitness after missing the final few months of last season with a knee problem, manager
I'VE been so caught up in my own world over the past couple of weeks that I didn't even realise it was time for the Walker Cup again. Having spent last week at Gleneagles for the Johnnie Walker Championship, I am back in Hartlepool enjoying some time
HIGH oil prices fuelled a positive session on the London market yesterday, as a series of energy stocks racked up gains. With the cost of a barrel of light crude hovering just below $64 in New York, Royal Dutch Shell added about two per cent to its market
A WORLDWIDE hunt is over for a man suspected of being linked to a major North-East drugs ring. Police had been looking for Habib Khan for 16 months - since he disappeared shortly after 100 officers raided homes across the region as part of Operation Bridport
Fond of the theatre, in 1972, my wife and I decided to try a new experience. We would watch a play "in the round", a concept which, while it might have been standard in Shakespeare's day, had long since fallen from favour. The play we would see had the
AUSTRALIAN left-hander, Phil Jaques, will be leaving Yorkshire before the end of the season after being picked for his country's A team tour of Pakistan, which starts on September 8. Jaques, Yorkshire's leading run-scorer, learned of the news yesterday
MOTHERHOOD'S had a bit of a knock this week - what with Leyburn mother-of-five Elaine Walker, 45, nipping off to Turkey with her toyboy lover and leaving her 15-year-old daughter with £25 and nowhere to live. It's the sort of thing that other mothers
HUNDREDS of animal abusers in the region are at risk of "graduating" to seriously harming people, a report claims. Campaigners are planning to use their findings to demand that animal cruelty is taken more seriously by prosecutors and the courts. The
MOTHERHOOD'S had a bit of a knock this week - what with Leyburn mother-of-five Elaine Walker, 45, nipping off to Turkey with her toyboy lover and leaving her 15-year-old daughter with £25 and nowhere to live. It's the sort of thing that other mothers
THESE are not green fingers, especially not since the unfortunate business of the severed extension lead. It was 1986, and the fingers after that turned sooty black. Quite a few people inadvertently cut the lawn mower cable; rather fewer pick up the live
FRANCK QUEUDRUE has urged Russian football chiefs to show leniency and give Emanuel Pogatetz the green light to start his new Middlesbrough career sooner rather than later. Pogatetz has been unable to play any part in Boro's pre-season preparations as
The chief executive of Elementis Plc, Geoff Gaywood, has resigned with immediate effect, it was announced yesterday. Non-executive chairman Edward Bramson will become executive chairman, the company said. Elementis, which has a factory at Eaglescliffe
A TEAM representing Darlington Building Society (DBS) is attempting to climb 24 Lake District peaks in 24 hours, in the name of charity. In the process, the team will scale 13,300ft and walk more than 31 miles. The 24 Peak Challenge, on September 10 and
TWO anti-terrorism and fraud experts have been appointed as part of a security team that can help businesses stop losing an average of £30,000 a year because of the theft of private information. Small and medium-sized businesses are losing tens of thousands
PLANS to reorganise acute healthcare in the region - including proposals to transfer maternity and children's services - will be discussed at a meeting tomorrow. Members of Stockton Borough Council will discuss the plans for maternity facilities proposed
THE daughter of one of two pensioners killed when a foldaway bed collapsed at their Spanish hotel said last night that their deaths amounted to manslaughter. Pensioners Alice Wardle and Mildred Bowman were trapped in the foldaway bed and could have lain
DETECTIVES are investigating a suspected arson attack on an Indian restaurant. Police and firefighters were called to the premises on Durham Road, in Leadgate, Consett, after a fire broke out at about 2.30am yesterday. There was extensive damage to the
POLICE investigating the rape of a teenager have released an e-fit of a man they want to speak to. The 18-year-old woman from the Walker area of Newcastle was raped by a man posing as a taxi driver. She was picked up in Scrogg Road, Walker, and the attack
A man was winched to safety yesterday after spending two days stranded in gorse bushes. Dean Bowen, 32, could not remember how he came to be trapped in the dense undergrowth on a cliff face at Primrose Valley in Filey, North Yorkshire. Mr Bowen attracted
AN iguana that went missing for three weeks was found yesterday morning - 35ft up on a neighbour's roof. The 3ft reptile, called Louis, lives at West Road, Loftus, east Cleveland, and was found by Glenda and Geoffrey Robinson. Mrs Robinson said: "It was
IT is 160 years since a Northern seaside resort welcomed its first tourists to arrive by train - signalling the beginning of a long holiday love affair with the town. More than 15,000 people turned out for the opening of the York to Scarborough line in
A MAN who spat at a policeman after being arrested has appeared in court. Darren John Whitehouse, 34, of Gurney Street, Darlington, pleaded guilty to Darlington magistrates of being drunk and disorderly, damaging a police car and assaulting a police officer
THE suspects accused of running a drugs factory in the North-East have admitted growing £100,000 worth of cannabis in a footballer's house. Police seized more than 100 flowering cannabis plants when they raided a home owned by former Newcastle United
A NORTH-EAST theatre is again playing host to the English Youth Ballet (EYB) as it gives local youngsters the chance to dance in a professionally-staged classical ballet. More than 200 young performers from dancing schools in the region auditioned at
THE Chinese State Circus is coming to the North-East next month. The circus performs at Sunderland Empire for a week from September 5. With 128,000,000 performances under its belt in its 2,500-year history, the Chinese circus has gained a reputation as
THE question of parental responsibility has been brought into sharp focus by the separate cases of Elaine Walker, from the Yorkshire Dales, and Kelly Ann Piggford, from Darlington. Miss Walker continues to dig a deeper and deeper hole for herself, telling
A "LONELY, inexperienced and isolated" young woman who bit a baby has been spared prison. Danielle Holmstrom, 24, bit the six-month-old boy by sinking her teeth into his stomach then throwing him on to a bed "as if his arms were made from elastic". Holmstrom
RELATIVES of Big Brother star Anthony Hutton are urging people in the North-East to lend their support to the dancer. The 23-year-old was favourite to win the Channel 4 show until yesterday, when bookies tipped latecomer Eugene to win. They are offering
CABLE operator NTL last night posted narrower second quarter losses after adding a record number of new customers. The New York-listed group, which employs about 450 people in a customer services centre in Stockton, said it signed up 205,500 new users
AN intruder who broke into a house and stabbed a man with a kitchen knife has been warned he faces jail. Paul David Thompson, 33, of Chester Street, Middlesbrough, appearing at Teesside Crown Court, admitted aggravated burglary. The court heard that he
AN animal charity celebrating its 10th anniversary is opening another shop tomorrow. Saltburn Animal Rescue Association (Sara), which already has a shop in Saltburn, is opening a shop at 7 Market Place, Guisborough. Councillor Madge Moses will open the
MANAGERS at a primary care trust are celebrating after becoming the first to be awarded bronze level in a county-wide health award. Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust reached the standard in the County Durham Working For Health Award - designed
A CAMPAIGNER has given up his fight to save a recreation ground from development after councillors rejected his bid to designate the land a village green. Jim Haggett, of High View, Ushaw Moor, fought for five years against a housing development near
A ROSY future was forecast by a tourism leader yesterday for holiday attractions in the North-East despite the terror attacks on London which have stopped some foreigners coming to the UK. Tom Wright, chief executive of VisitBritain, said during a meeting
DIVINE SPIRIT'S prospects at Beverley received a major boost with the news that the gelding had been allotted a favourable draw in stall 12. Despite failing to win this term the Michael Dods-trained four-year-old has been a victim of his own consistency
POLICE investigating a murder in the North-East are making a further appeal to trace a potential witness. John George Seccombe, 53, of Memorial Square, Newbiggin, Northumberland, died after suffering head and chest injuries in East Lea, Newbiggin, on
IMAGES of famine that form part of a North-East university research project have gone on display in London. The exhibition at The Newsroom - The Guardian and Observer visitor centre - features media coverage of famine from the 19th Century through to
DENNIS Hobbs is determined to realise his dream of a World Superbike ride after pitting himself against some of the best the sport has to offer. Hobbs, from Guisborough, normally rides in the British Superbike Championship but last weekend he was at Brands
IT is one of the most memorable phrases of George W Bush's presidency so far. In his 2002 State of the Union address, the first after the September 11 attacks, the president spoke of the "axis of evil", made up of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, whose determination
RUNAWAY mother Elaine Walker and her new Turkish boyfriend have talked about having children together. The revelation comes as Miss Walker, 45, admits her 15-year-old daughter Laura broke down in tears when she walked out. On Friday, The Northern Echo
ELEANOR, Duchess of Northumberland, wanted a dish to set before the Queen. In her glasshouses at Stanwick Hall on the outskirts of Darlington, her gardeners grew the Stanwick nectarine - "white, melting, rich, sugary and delicious" - and the Stanwick
ON the night when Darlington hit the big screen, Carlos Logan was the star of the show as his first half blockbuster set David Hodgson's men on the way to their first win of the season. There was no sign of stage fright on Darlington's newly-installed
DIVINE SPIRIT'S prospects at Beverley received a major boost with the news that the gelding had been allotted a favourable draw in stall 12. Despite failing to win this term the Michael Dods-trained four-year-old has been a victim of his own consistency
A NAKED rambler who refused to cover his modesty for a court appearance was arrested for a second time when he left the building in the nude. Former marine Stephen Gough, 46, is attempting to walk the 874 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats wearing
TWO of Europe's biggest names have hinted to Jose Maria Olazabal that they may not be willing to play in next month's Seve Trophy at The Wynyard. Olazabal - who has taken over from Seve Ballesteros as captain of the Continental Europe team - looks unlikley
ANOTHER draw at Bournemouth for Hartlepool United, with this one offering differing emotions. Pool made the trip to the south coast for the second time in three League One games and, while they ended last season with a 2-2 draw, they have earned their
DUTCH footballer Patrick Kluivert was caught driving his Porsche at 95mph. The striker, who left Newcastle United for Valencia, in Spain, this summer, was clocked travelling at 95.12mph on the A696 at Woolsington, on the outskirts of the city, in May.
A YOUNG mother who left her three children in the care of a schoolgirl while she went on holiday has been warned she could face prison. Kelly Ann Piggford, also known as Rogerson, pleaded guilty to three charges of child neglect at Darlington Magistrates
A HOMELESS couple who have been camping on a riverbank for 11 weeks were given a boost yesterday by a family who read about their plight in The Northern Echo. Kevin and Susan Howe were presented with a three-bedroomed luxury tent to make life more comfortable
Watching The Detectives (ITV1) The Bigger Picture With Graham Norton (BBC1) I have no hesitation in naming one of the guilty parties - newsreader Nicholas Owen. Admittedly he's only a front man for one of the great TV crimes of the summer season, Watching
Paul Jeans and Band, Lee Pecquer, Lesley Roley - The Forum, Darlington SINCE releasing his debut album Tides in early 2004, Paul Jeans has reshaped his band and is, at the time of this gig, several nights into a UK tour taking in Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester
A NEW route will be launched between Durham Tees Valley Airport and Bristol which is expected to benefit businesses in the region. Eastern Airlines is today due to announce the route, which will provide vital air links between the North-East and the South-West
A NUMBER of mortgage lenders are being slow to pass on last week's interest rate cut to their customers, it emerged yesterday. Only four of the UK's biggest lenders announced they would be reducing their rates in line with the drop in the Bank of England
SCOTTISH & Newcastle said yesterday the closure of the Tyne Brewery would help it save more than £30m this year. The brewer said savings from shutting the brewery - along with its Edinburgh brewery - combined with sales growth, would continue to stimulate
THE region could become a "glorified old people's home" in 15 years if young people continue to leave in search of better jobs, the head of a skills think-tank warned last night. The executive director of skills campaign Aspire made the warning after
PRINTING group St Ives maintained its profits guidance yesterday after its books division was kept busy by the sixth novel in the Harry Potter series. The group, which has an estimated 25 per cent share of the UK trade and general book market, did not
Police officers have bought a garden bench as a memorial to a popular constable. Jonathan Green, 23, of Brinkburn Road, Darlington, died when his car hit a tree beside the A67 near Barnard Castle, soon after he finished work in the town last November.
A CAR company has delivered Darlington FC's latest signing - a Chevrolet Lacetti. The loan signing is part of Sherwoods continuing support of Darlington FC and its staff are urging other local businesses to support the team. The car will be used by the
A COWBOY has opened a Western-style riding centre in the Yorkshire Dales, despite an ongoing battle over a planning wrangle. Django, real name Martin Kiss, opened Swaledale Ponies at his farm in Thwaite, Swaledale, last week. The centre teaches offers
AN intruder who broke into a house and stabbed a man with a kitchen knife has been warned he faces jail. Paul David Thompson, 33, of Chester Street, Middlesbrough, appearing at Teesside Crown Court, admitted aggravated burglary. The court heard that he
AN inquiry has been launched following the death of a 19-month-old girl from methadone poisoning due to her mother's "gross negligence". Sadie Milson took her mother's heroin substitute on more than one occasion over five months before she died on March
Model mania is set to sweep a Shildon museum this weekend. Locomotion: the National Railway Museum will host a celebration of model making, particularly model railways, on Saturday and Sunday. Visitors will be able to see model trains, from table-top
SUSPENDED police facing charges of indecent assault and possessing drugs are costing taxpayers a quarter of a million pounds in one force alone. Northumbria Police have come under fire after it was revealed that the force has 11 officers suspended on
A CHURCH is opening today to offer people spiritual time-out from their busy lives. St Paul's Church, in Spennymoor, County Durham, hopes to reach the wider community by opening for informal sessions during the week. The Reverend Lynda Gough, vicar of
A SWEEP-UP operation is to brighten a seaside town and promenade. Saltburn is the latest target of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to become eco-friendly as the result of a major initiative to improve the environment. It is the Council's second Operation
A TOWN'S market place will be taken over by the car industry as it prepares for its annual motor show. The Bishop Auckland Motor Show has established itself as one of the highlights in the town's calendar and crowds are expected from across the region
A newly-QUALIFIED driver left his friend for dead after losing control of his car and crashing it through a fence. Wayne Thorpe had his driving licence just three months when he took a bend in Cleadon, South Tyneside, too quickly, leaving passenger Gareth
A TEENAGER who skipped a probation appointment and then went on holiday to Turkey has been rebuked by a judge. Lee Beazley, 19, was due to be sentenced yesterday at Teesside Crown Court after previously admitting charges of criminal damage and arson.
PUPILS from two schools pedalled to a picnic yesterday at the first new park created in Darlington in 100 years. Children from Heathfield Primary School and Abbey Junior School rode to West Park for fun and games with members of Darlington Borough Council's
A POLICE team has run out of patience with irresponsible bikers and launched a zero-tolerance campaign to rid the streets of nuisance vehicles. For five months, police in Newton Aycliffe have been issuing warnings to people found riding motorbikes in
OFFICIALS were last night attempting to unravel the extent of a systematic VAT fraud that threw the accuracy of UK trade figures for June into doubt. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it was investigating whether criminal activity could have
A WATERCOLOUR painting of a former steelworks is to be given pride of place in a County Durham library. Artist Richard Sell, who lives in Cambridge, has donated the painting to Consett Library. The atmospheric scene was painted by Mr Sell, 83, during
A SOLDIER was banned from driving hours before flying out to Iraq. Twenty-year-old Karl Michael Bensley appeared before Darlington Magistrates Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to drink-driving. Trooper Bensley, pictured, who is originally from Darlington
IT is 160 years since a Northern seaside resort welcomed its first tourists to arrive by train - signalling the beginning of a long holiday love affair with the town. More than 15,000 people turned out for the opening of the York to Scarborough line in
SEVENTIES chart-toppers Boney M will be among the line-up this weekend at a North-East music festival. The band, who had hits including Brown Girl in the Ring, will perform on Friday night at the start of the three-day free festival. A variety of bands
AN inquiry has been launched following the death of a 19-month-old girl from methadone poisoning due to her mother's "gross negligence". Sadie Milson took her mother's heroin substitute on more than one occasion over five months before she died on March
POLICE looking for missing teenager Jenny Nicholl have again searched moorland visited by the 19-year-old only days before she disappeared. A team of officers visited the Ministry of Defence land near Hudswell, two miles outside Richmond, North Yorkshire
A burglar left an elderly widow terrified after stealing irreplaceable jewellery. The 80-year-old Middlesbrough woman was woken in the early hours of yesterday to find the youth, thought to be about 15, rummaging through drawers. After a brief struggle
ONE of the oldest industrial buildings in the North-East will become more accessible to visitors thanks to the efforts of a group of museum volunteers. The Soho building, which lies at the centre of Locomotion: National Railway Museum, Shildon, County
