Category: news

A man is found guilty of the manslaughter of his parents at the family’s home in south London last year.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Most pupils are in schools which will have their funding cut, despite the announcement of an increase in England’s schools budget, a think tank says.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Every resident in the Isle of Man has received an invitation to Sir Norman Wisdom’s funeral to be held later.

With a population of more than 80,000 and a host of family, friends and high-profile names descending, St George’s Church is expected to be packed out.

The cherished comic passed away on 4 October, aged 95.

His son Nicholas said: “I think he regards everyone in the Isle of Man as his friend, there’s a great warmth between him and the Manx people.”

Sir Norman’s coffin will be brought via Douglas promenade to St George’s Church off Westmoreland Road in the heart of the city on a horse-drawn hearse.

The London-born comedian, best known for his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin in the 1960s, has lived on the island for the past three decades.

Hundreds of residents are preparing to pay their tributes to the star.

One of them was the local ice-cream maker, George Davison.

“He opened the parlour for us when we refurbished the place and we gave him a letter of consent to come and have ice-cream when he wanted, free of charge.”

Another couple who remember him fondly are his friends, Enid and Malcolm Watson.

“We had a petrol station at the time and he used to go out on the forecourt and start serving the customers.

“We would dash out and say, ‘Norman, you can’t be doing that,’ and the customers would often do a double take and say, ‘you look like Norman Wisdom’.

“To which he would reply, ‘do I?’.”

Sir Norman was known worldwide. He was particularly beloved in Albania where he was so revered that he was given Freedom of the City in the country’s capital, Tirana.

Mourners will be able to pay tribute as the cortege starts at the Onchan end of Douglas Promenade at 1335 BST before reaching St George’s for the funeral at 1400 BST.

Local chef and good friend of the comic, Kevin Woodford, added: “He was riding along on his scooter from the north to the south of the island and he would see a little old lady waiting to cross the road so he would stop to have a chat.

“I can’t think of anyone on the island that hasn’t been touched by the presence of Sir Norman Wisdom.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A jilted teenager has been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her to death on a river towpath in Reading.

Gulamyr Akhter, 19, killed A-level student Asha Muneer, 18, as she walked home from work in Reading in January.

She was found with more than 30 stab wounds on a footpath by the River Kennet, near the Madejski Stadium.

Reading Crown Court heard Mr Akhter, of Victoria Way, Reading, “could not tolerate her rejection of him”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Britain’s Anne Keothavong keeps up her superb run of form at the Luxembourg Open with an epic victory over Iveta Benesova in the quarter-finals.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

An inquest into the death of kidnapped aid worker Linda Norgrove is due to open later.

The 36-year-old Scot died on 8 October, nearly two weeks after being taken captive in Afghanistan.

It was first thought that she was killed by her captors during a US rescue mission. But, it now appears she was fatally injured by a US grenade.

Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Ridley is expected to adjourn the hearing soon after it begins.

Miss Norgrove’s remains were flown back to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire last week and the inquest into her death is being held at the nearest coroner’s court at Salisbury.

Once the inquest has been opened and adjourned it will allow Miss Norgrove’s body to be released to her family for a funeral.

The special service is due to take place on Tuesday 26 October at Uig Community Centre on the Isle of Lewis.

At the time of her death, Miss Norgrove was working for American-based aid organisation, Development Alternatives Inc (DAI).

She was kidnapped on 26 September while looking into the development of agricultural projects in the east of Afghanistan.

Based in Jalalabad, she had supervised reconstruction programmes funded by the US government.

She was abducted by insurgents as she travelled in a convoy of two vehicles.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Haiti confirms an outbreak of cholera has killed at least 135 people and infected 1,500 others to the north of Port-au-Prince.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The vetting and barring system for those working with children is to undergo a radical re-examination, the Home Office has said.

The review will examine whether the scheme is the best way to protect children and vulnerable people and, if so, how many roles it should cover.

Home Secretary Theresa May suspended the “draconian” scheme in June.

Launched in 2009, critics said it cast too wide a net and risked poisoning the relationship between generations.

Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone said: “While it is vital that we protect the vulnerable, this scheme as it stands is not a proportionate response.

“There should be a presumption that people wishing to work or volunteer with children and vulnerable adults are safe to do so unless it can be shown otherwise.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A former priest has been found guilty of sexually abusing boys when he served at churches in the West Midlands.

Richard John James Robinson, 73, had denied 21 charges relating to alleged offences against six boys aged under 16 between 1959 and 1983.

One victim told Birmingham Crown Court he had “carried” Mr Robinson’s face with him since being assaulted.

Mr Robinson, known to parishioners as Father Jim, was extradited from the US in August last year.

He worked in churches in Staffordshire, Birmingham and Coventry until the mid-1980s, when he moved to California.

The court had heard prosecutor John Atwood say Robinson had “something of a knack for spotting the quiet child of the family”.

He told the court Robinson was sexually attracted to young boys and used the trust and respect that came with his position to prey on vulnerable children for his own sexual gratification.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Royal Navy’s newest and largest attack submarine HMS Astute has got into difficulty off Skye, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

An eye-witness said the sub – described as the stealthiest ever built in the UK – appeared to be grounded on rocks.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: “This is a not a nuclear incident.

“We are responding to the incident and can confirm that there are no injuries to personnel and the submarine remains watertight.”

The spokeswoman added: “There is no indication of any environmental impact.”

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said it was alerted to the incident at about 0819 BST.

A spokesman said they were monitoring the situation.

HMS Astute is believed to have been undergoing sea trials as it is not expected to enter service until next year.

Aside from attack capabilities, it is able to sit in waters off the coast undetected, listening to mobile phone conversations or delivering the UK’s special forces where needed.

The 39,000 acoustic panels which cover its surface mask its sonar signature, meaning it can sneak up on enemy warships and submarines alike, or lurk unseen and unheard at depth.

The submarine can carry a mix of up to 38 Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes and Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise missiles, able to target enemy submarines, surface ships and land targets, while its sonar system has a range of 3,000 nautical miles.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Secret medical evidence relating to the death in 2003 of Iraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly is to be released later by the UK government.

After the official inquiry into his death ended in 2004, details of the post-mortem examination and toxicology tests were classified for 70 years.

But they are now set to be published by the Ministry of Justice.

A group of doctors have called for the case to be reopened, arguing that the inquiry’s suicide verdict was unsafe.

Dr Kelly’s body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, after it was revealed he had provided the information for a BBC News story casting doubt on the government’s claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being fired within 45 minutes.

That claim was a key part of the government’s justification for launching the war in Iraq.

Instead of a coroner’s inquest, then Prime Minister Tony Blair asked Lord Hutton to conduct an investigation, which found Dr Kelly had died from blood loss after slashing his wrist with a knife.

Lord Hutton declared that the medical evidence which led him to that verdict should be kept secret for the sake of the scientist’s family.

However, in August a group of eight doctors who claimed Lord Hutton’s conclusions were unproven wrote to the Times calling for the case to be reopened.

They argued that the wound to Dr Kelly’s wrist was “extremely unlikely” to have been fatal, and cited testimony given by the detective who found his body, who said he did not see “much blood” at the scene.

Later that month, the Home Office pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination said he had found no evidence of foul play.

Nicholas Hunt told the Sunday Times: “I felt very sorry for David Kelly and the way he had been treated by the government… I had every reason to look for something untoward and would dearly love to have found something.

“It was an absolute classic case of self-inflicted injury. You could illustrate a textbook with it.”

A spokesman for Attorney General Dominic Grieve said earlier this year that if new evidence was put before him, he would consider whether an application for a new inquest should be made to the High Court.

When the Conservatives were in opposition, Mr Grieve backed calls for the investigation to be reopened as the public “have not been reassured” by the official verdict that Dr Kelly killed himself.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Nigerian Fifa official Amos Adamu tells the BBC he is innocent of allegations that he offered to sell his vote in the contest to host the 2018 World Cup.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Formula 1 drivers raise concerns about the layout of the new Korean track with officials after practice on Friday.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A legal challenge to Sinn Fein MP Michelle Gildernew’s four-vote general election win in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency is rejected.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A pair of social workers who lost their jobs after the killing of Baby Peter have failed in their unfair dismissal claim, it has emerged.

Toddler Peter Connelly died of abuse in Haringey, north London, in 2007.

Gillie Christou and Maria Ward argued they were sacked unfairly by Haringey Council after the public outcry about the boy’s death.

But a tribunal found the authority acted reasonably because of serious failings in the care they provided.

Baby Peter was found dead in a blood-splattered cot with more than 50 injuries.

His mother Tracey Connelly was jailed after admitting causing or allowing his death.

Her boyfriend Steven Barker and their lodger, Jason Owens, were found guilty at the Old Bailey of the same charge.

Mrs Christou had argued both she and Ms Ward had been sacked to appease the press and politicians.

She said: “Haringey were wrong to make us scapegoats and to add our names to the list of Tracey Connelly’s victims.”

The pair admitted failing to ensure Peter was visited regularly enough, failing to keep adequate records and losing contact with the family at one stage.

‘Poor professional judgment’

The employment tribunal panel conceded there “may have been media pressure and those involved had in mind the tragic death”.

But it found that “poor professional judgment” was responsible for both sackings.

The panel was ruling on whether Haringey Council was right to dismiss the pair’s initial internal appeal against losing their jobs.

A statement from the tribunal concluded: “It is not in our view the case that those involved in the appeal panels bowed to the pressure to which we have referred.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.