Category: news

A driver who dumped aluminium sulphate in the wrong tank at a water treatment plant, causing the UK’s worst mass poisoning, has spoken at an inquest.

Carole Cross, 59, lived in Camelford, north Cornwall, at the time of the poisoning in 1988. Her inquest is being heard in Taunton, Somerset.

Large amounts of aluminium were found in her brain after her death in 2004.

Relief driver John Stephens said the Lowermoor works had been unattended when he arrived on 6 July 1988.

The original inquest was adjourned two years ago, when the coroner asked for more tests to be carried out.

Mrs Cross and her husband Doug moved to Dulverton in Somerset two years after the poisoning.

Mr Stephens told the inquest he had let himself into the works with a key given to him by the regular driver Barry Davey.

Unknown to Mr Stephens, the former South West Water Authority, which ran the works, used the same key at all its plants.

Mr Stephens said he had believed the key would let him into the site and open one tank.

In 2005, West Somerset Coroner Michael Rose said Mrs Cross had had a neurological disease “usually associated with Alzheimer’s”, but complex DNA tests had ruled out any genetic origin for the disease.

He said the “abnormally high level of aluminium” in her brain could have caused the disease and adjourned the inquest for further medical research.

After the water poisoning those who drank or bathed in it reported a range of health problems, including stomach cramps, skin rashes, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers and aching joints.

In 1991 the South West Water Authority was fined £10,000 with £25,000 costs for supplying water likely to endanger public health.

But an independent inquiry report, published in January 2005, said it was unlikely the chemicals would have caused any persistent or delayed health effects.

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The crucial tip-off that led to the discovery of parcel bombs on two cargo planes came from a repentant al-Qaeda member, UK officials say.

Jaber al-Faifi handed himself into authorities in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, the officials told the BBC.

US officials have suggested that a Saudi bombmaker is the key suspect in last week’s attempt to send the parcel bombs from Yemen to the US.

One bomb travelled on two passenger planes before being seized in Dubai.

Jaber al-Faifi is described as a former detainee at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

After leaving Guantanamo he went through a rehabilitation programme in Saudi Arabia and then rejoined al-Qaeda in Yemen before turning himself in to Saudi authorities, AFP news agency reports.

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A man from Birmingham is being treated at home after contracting a disease related to typhoid fever.

The man from Sparkhill is recovering after contracting ParatyphoidA fever, the Health Protection Agency said.

“Paratyphoid fever is a similar disease to typhoid fever but generally milder and treatable with antibiotics,” an HPA spokeswoman said. Most UK cases are in people who have visited South Asia.

The man’s close family are being screened as a precaution.

ParatyphoidA infection occurs worldwide but most UK cases are in travellers returning from Pakistan, Bangladesh or India, the HPA said.

The disease, which is caused by the bacterium Salmonella paratyphi, is usually acquired through ingesting contaminated food or water.

About 200 cases of the disease are reported in the UK each year.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy was among the intended recipients of four parcel bombs found in Athens on Monday, Greek police have said.

One of the bombs, addressed to the Mexican embassy in Athens, exploded in the offices of a private courier company, injuring one employee.

The other two parcels were addressed to the Belgian and Dutch embassies in the city.

Two men have been arrested over the attack.

Greece has been experiencing a wave of attacks against government and police targets, attributed to far-left groups.

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A retired head teacher has told the Tommy Sheridan perjury trial that she was “led to believe” he may have had sex with a journalist in her home.

Elizabeth Quinn said Mr Sheridan and Anvar Khan were in her flat together while the former News of the World columnist was staying there in 2003.

Ms Khan previously claimed they both had sexual contact there.

Mr Sheridan and his wife Gail deny lying during his successful defamation case against the News of the World.

The former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader won £200,000 in damages after the newspaper printed allegations about his private life, claiming he was an adulterer who had visited a swingers club.

Following a police investigation, Mr Sheridan and his wife, both 46, were charged with perjury.

In previous evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, Ms Khan told the court she had sex with the former MSP on several occasions and visited Cupid’s swingers’ club in Manchester with him in 2002.

She also told the jury that she had engaged in some sexual activity with Mr Sheridan while she was staying in Ms Quinn’s flat in Glasgow, but stopped short of “full sex”.

Ms Quinn, 70, told the trial that she arrived home on 11 August 2003 to make preparations for a painter to come the next day.

She said: “Anvar had come to stay for a couple of days.

“It was the afternoon, maybe about three-ish. Anvar Khan came into the living room – there’s only one room she could have come from, the room she was staying in.

“Then Mr Sheridan came into the living room. I was so stunned by the fact of him coming into my living room and presenting himself to me. I thought it was very stupid behaviour.”

She also told the court she had “gained the impression” that Ms Khan and Sheridan had had sex, adding that Ms Khan “had led me to believe that that was what had been going on in the bedroom”.

She also told the trial that Ms Khan had spoken to her about a visit to Cupid’s sex club, adding that she had said it was “boring”.

Ms Quinn told the court: “I didn’t get the impression she would be repeating the experience.”

Ms Quinn said she reported the incident to the police following Mr Sheridan’s successful action against the News of the World, saying she had “feelings of disquiet” about the outcome of the case.

Under cross-examination from Mr Sheridan, she said: “I felt there was something amiss about the outcome of the trial.

“I was reading in the papers that there was an investigation following the original trial, and I thought maybe I had something salient to pass on,” she told him.

It is alleged that Mr Sheridan made false statements as a witness in his defamation action against the News of the World on 21 July 2006.

He also denies another charge of attempting to persuade a witness to commit perjury shortly before the 23-day legal action got under way.

Mrs Sheridan denies making false statements on 31 July 2006, after being sworn in as a witness in the civil jury trial at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

The trial, before Lord Bracadale, continues.

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A man has been arrested in connection with the death of a 38-year-old businesman at a flat in Fife.

Mohammed Nadeem Siddique, known as Toby, received fatal wounds at a flat in Forres Drive, Glenrothes, on 24 October.

A 27-year-old man is expected to appear at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Tuesday in connection with his death.

He has also been charged with the attempted murder of a second man at the flat.

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Dozens of the worst-performing schools in England are set to be turned into academies under new management.

The government is expected to give details later this week of how it will implement election promises to take over under-performing schools.

This could mean schools being removed from local authority control and taken over by an academy sponsor.

The education watchdog Ofsted says there are 75 schools which have been in special measures for more than a year.

In the run-up to the election, the Conservatives promised that such schools, which had not shown signs of improving, would be turned into academies by September 2011.

The party pledged to identify the “very worst schools – the sink schools which have desperately failed their children – and put them rapidly into the hands of heads with a proven track record of success”.

This will mark the latest expansion in the academy programme, in which schools, operating outside the local education authority, are funded directly and given greater autonomy.

Under the previous government, academies were targeted at raising standards in disadvantaged areas.

But the coalition government offered a fast-track route for outstanding schools to become academies.

At the beginning of the autumn term, 32 of these new-style academies opened, including the first seven primary academies.

There are a further 110 schools which are set to convert to academy status – in addition to the 200 created under the Labour government.

Teachers’ unions have been critical of the process of schools becoming free-standing academies – arguing that it will weaken their local accountability.

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A 75-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital after a robbery at a convenience store in west Belfast.

It happened at premises in Cavendish Street after 1430 BST on Monday.

The pensioner received medical treatment at the scene before being transferred to hospital.

A man was arrested nearby. Police are working to establish what happened and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

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BBC radio presenter Danny Baker has been diagnosed with cancer.

The BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC London 94.9 broadcaster said he would be starting chemotherapy this week, with further radiotherapy from January.

The 53-year-old apologised for withholding details of his illness when he was recently absent from his shows.

“Once the quacks have soundly thrashed this thing I shall return like a rare gas and as if out of a trap,” he said in a statement to listeners.

“After a pretty mouldy diagnosis about a month back I finally begin chemotherapy on Monday with further radiotherapy from January,” he said.

Baker presents a football-based programme on BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday mornings and a weekday afternoon show on BBC London 94.9.

During a long career he has presented programmes including LWT’s The Six O’Clock Show and his own chat show on BBC One.

He was also a music journalist for New Musical Express.

Adrian Van Klaveren, controller of BBC Radio 5 Live, said Baker would be “presenting some weeks but not others”.

“I know this will come as quite a shock,” he said, “but as you can see from his message, he’s in good spirits”.

“I am sure you will all join me in wishing him all the best for the months ahead.”

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The European Union has taken a “big step forward” in dealing with its budget, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

He told MPs the intervention of the UK and its allies meant the EU now faced a choice between a 2.9% increase or nothing at all.

This would render the European Parliament’s vote for a 6% budget rise impossible to implement, he added.

But Labour accused Mr Cameron of “ludicrous grandstanding on Europe”.

Following last week’s EU summit in Brussels, the prime minister said he had “succeeded spectacularly” in seeing off a potential 6% budget increase.

But opponents argue this is untrue, as he had wanted the 2011 budget frozen before agreeing to the 2.9% rise that will cost the UK an extra £450m a year.

In his statement to MPs on Monday, the prime minister said EU leaders were now left with a choice between accepting this figure or creating a “deadlock” which would see the 2011 remaining at the same level as the pervious year’s.

The government would be “perfectly happy” if talks stalled and the latter scenario occurred, he added.

EU leaders had agreed that the institution’s budget must “reflect” the spending cuts made by member states and this principle would extend to the funding framework for 2015 to 2020, Mr Cameron said.

But Labour leader Ed Miliband said the prime minister had given “an interesting version of events”, arguing that the 2.9% figure had been “put forward by the Council of Ministers and 20 countries for that and Britain was not one of them”.

He added that Mr Cameron should be “slightly sheepish” and accused him of “chutzpah”.

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Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp says he will stop doing post-match interviews if punished for describing Nani’s goal in Manchester United’s 2-0 win on Saturday as “a farce”.

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A woman stabbed Labour MP Stephen Timms twice at a constituency surgery in revenge for his vote for the Iraq war, the Old Bailey has heard.

The Labour MP for East Ham said he thought Roshonara Choudhry wanted to shake hands when she smiled before lunging at him in Newham on 14 May.

Miss Choudhry told police she wanted “to get revenge for the people of Iraq”, prosecutors said.

The 21-year-old is accused of attempted murder and having an offensive weapon.

The court heard Mr Timms was sent “reeling and staggering” by the attack at the community centre in Beckton.

His assistant Andrew Bazeley prised the kitchen knife from Miss Choudhry, who was restrained by a security guard until police officers arrived.

Another knife was found in her bag.

Prosecutor William Boyce QC, said Miss Choudhry had told detectives she was trying to kill Mr Timms for “punishment” and “to get revenge for the people of Iraq”.

“When asked why she had stabbed him a second time she said ‘because I wasn’t going to stop stabbing until someone made me’,” Mr Boyce said.

Jeremy Dein QC, defending Miss Choudhry who was not in court, said she did not recognise the jurisdiction of the court and did not wish her lawyers to challenge evidence put before the jury.

The trial continues.

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Comedian Bobby Davro has rejected the idea of renaming the Surrey town of Staines to improve its image.

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Hundreds of Indian workers employed to clean non-flush toilets by hand protest in Delhi against their working conditions.

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An enclosed play area for a teenage pupil with autism, which was described as a “cage” by his MSP, is removed.

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