LAST season, Bolton’s visit to the Stadium of Light proved the beginning of the end for Roy Keane, who resigned his position as manager in the wake of a 4-1 defeat. Fifteen months on, and his successor, Steve Bruce, was able to reflect on a
Police have arrested a man on suspicion of theft and assault following an incident at the Tesco store on Roman Road, Middlesbrough, at just after 7pm. It is understood a member of staff at the store has sustained head injuries as a result of the attack
STEED Malbranque returns from an enforced exile to take his place in the Sunderland starting line-up for this evening's Premier League home game with Bolton Wanderers. Malbranque was axed from the squad for the recent goalless draw with Fulham after
Gary Smith has earned a recall to the Darlington side for this evening's game at Bury as one of two changes. The midfielder is back in team as manager Steve Staunton reverts to 4-4-2 against fourth-placed Bury. Smith has missed eight
TRIBUTES were paid today to two British soldiers killed on the same day in Afghanistan. Corporal Stephen Thompson, 31, from 1st Battalion The Rifles, died as a result of an explosion near Sangin district centre, Helmand province. He was born
A HOSPICE is urging people to talk about death, as part of a campaign week. St Cuthbert’s Hospice, in Durham, is encouraging families to discuss the taboo during Dying Matters Week, organised by the Dying Matters Coalition, which runs from March 15 to
A VILLAGE church will come alive to the sound of music from the 18th century when members of the Avison Ensemble make their latest appearance. The ensemble will present Our Lady of Sorrows at St Brandon’s Church, Brancepeth, near Durham at 7.30pm on
A CREDIT union which hoped to eradicate Darlington of loan sharks has increased its membership by 20 per cent in a week-long drive. Darlington Credit Union, which formed last year when the town’s four existing cooperative credit organisations amalgamated
POLICE have raised concerns over the security of a proposed housing estate in Darlington's West End. Plans to build 13 affordable homes in Cockerton, Darlington, are expected to be approved at a meeting of Darlington Borough Council's planning committee
In my editorial in this morning's edition of The Northern Echo, I said Merseyside Police had serious questions to answer about their handling of Peter Chapman, the man who murdered Darlington teenager Ashleigh Hall. It has become increasingly
INFAMOUS rocker Pete Doherty and his band are playing in the North-East at Easter to mark a nightclub’s third birthday next month. The troubled frontman, who is formerly of The Libertines, and the rest of Babyshambles - drummer Adam Ficek,
THE top earners at Darlington Borough Council should take a ten per cent pay cut to help the authority get through the recession, a councillor has claimed. Liberal Democrat Coun Peter Freitag called for the chief executive and directors to
PARTICIPANTS are required for a fundraising day at Crook Golf Club this summer. Proceeds from the event, which takes place on Friday, June 25, will be donated to the Heel and Toe charity to help disabled children in the region. Teams of two are
BUDDING thespians in Shildon are performing a Disney-themed musical production later this month. The town’s Children’s Amateur Theatre Society (CATS) presents The Disney Show, at the Civic Hall, in Shildon, featuring numerous Disney characters and songs
AROUND 20 mums joined their children for lunch today as Mother’s Day came early to one County Durham school. Year Seven pupils at Durham School invited their mothers to join them for lunch, with a delicious beef stroganoff, followed by Eve’s pudding
A NORTH-East animal charity has won the backing of a renowned "dog whisperer". Stray Aid, based in Coxhoe, County Durham, has been chosen as the official charity of the Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation’s seminar at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena, on
A NIGHTCLUB has been granted a licence to serve drinks until 2am, despite outcry from residents. One Leisure’s bid to extend its licence for Jimmy Allens, on Durham’s Elvet Bridge, was approved by Durham County Council on Tuesday. Neighbours, community
A FORMER breast cancer patient who has raised thousands of pounds to fight the disease is now launching a support group for victims. The Chyrelle Addams Cancer Trust, founded by Willington singer Pat Greensmith, is organising weekly coffee mornings
A FORMER breast cancer patient who has raised thousands of pounds to fight the disease is now launching a support group for victims. The Chyrelle Addams Cancer Trust, founded by Willington singer Pat Greensmith, is organising weekly coffee mornings
JOE REAH is trying to find two half-sisters who live in Stockton. Mr Reah was born in April 1938, in West Hartlepool, and was brought up by his grandparents until he left school at the age of 15 and later emigrated to Australia and now is 72. His father
John Steel leads the Learning Technologies Team within Darlington Borough Council’s Children’s Services. He recalls the shock over Ashleigh Hall’s death – and his team’s determination to ensure her legacy is the greater safety of future generations
It is a parent’s worst nightmare, but for Andrea Hall it has become a reality. In her first newspaper interview, David Roberts speaks to Ashleigh’s mother about how her daughter’s murder has affected her family. "EMPTY, angry, devastated
Ashleigh Hall’s death prompted the community of Darlington to try to create something positive out of a tragic tale. David Roberts charts the success of the Safety Net campaign, which brought together The Northern Echo, Darlington College and Darlington
Peter Chapman set a “calculated and wicked” trap for teenager Ashleigh Hall. Joe Willis looks at how the convicted sex offender used deceit and lies to ensnare the 17-year-old. LIKE most teenagers, Ashleigh Hall’s interests revolved around
DEVIOUS, dangerous, cunning and wicked are just some of the words used to describe the killer of Ashleigh Hall. Peter Chapman is believed to have committed his first sexual offence when he was a teenager. Described in court as a man who had been
A FORMER North-East student dubbed the "limbs in the loch" killer has today failed to overturn his conviction for murdering and dismembering a teenager. William Beggs, 46, was convicted in 2001 of murdering 18-year-old Barry Wallace in Kilmarnock
TO everyone who knew her, Ashleigh Hall was just a normal teenage girl. To her family, she was a noisy 17-year-old who played her music loudly and left her clothes on her bedroom floor. To her friends, she was a popular, bubbly girl
CARE home and group accommodation residents are offered a cut price deal on a show of music and dance. The Spennymoor Settlement, on O’Hanlon Street, Spennymoor, will host two performances of the show Sensational Swing on Saturday, March 13. Singers
A COMMUNITY allotment will be launched this weekend and volunteers are needed to dig in and help out. The Shildon Mustard Seed Project aims to encourage people of all ages to work together to run the garden- gaining new skills, keeping active and learning
THE announcement on February 15 that the blast furnace at Teesside Cast Products (TCP) was to be mothballed, although expected, was a huge blow to the Tees Valley. The Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit has estimated that including the direct labour
BRITAIN’S lowest-ever bank base rate of 0.50 per cent celebrated its first anniversary this week, and while it has provided an easy ride for borrowers on cheap variable rate (SVR) mortgages, savers, however, saw their income almost wiped out.
GREEN belt land has long been the subject of much discussion since the publication of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, which allowed local authorities to designate green belt areas within their development plans. Today, 14 green belts
"BEWARE of Greeks bearing gifts." Virgil’s Aeneid tells the story of the wooden horse of Troy, used by the Greeks to trick their way into the city. The phrase is a modern version of the earlier translation of “Do not trust the horse, Trojans.
OUTDOOR retailer Blacks Leisure ploughed on with its store expansion plans yesterday in defiance of a potential takeover swoop by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct. Blacks said two outlets, including one in York, had already
THE Northumberland Estate’s Rake House Farm office development in North Tyneside is over 40% let six months after completion. The development, which was completed in August last year, had already secured three pre-lets prior to its completion
A CONFERENCE will aim to extend the drive to turn the North- East into a green business hub to tourism. Pure Profit 2010, organised by regional development agency One North East, aims to inspire tourism businesses to pioneer green holidays and
SCHOOLCHILDREN who came up with ideas to revamp a play area have been exhibiting their work ahead of a planning meeting. Plans to refurbish Green Park, in Darlington, will go before councillors on Wednesday, March 10. Children from the
A MAN who suffered serious burns at a plastics factory last month is doing "extremely well". Ian Barlow, of Osric Place, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, suffered burns to 60 per cent of his body when acrylic polymer he was working with ignited. The
A multi-million-pound conference and events centre that opened in December is making its mark as a business and community facility. Dave Horsley reports. A £5M conference and events centre, built to provide facilities for both business and
A MAN who stabbed his partner to death as he cut his nails with a knife has been jailed for ten years. Mark Dunning, 48, was three times over the drink drive limit when he got into a heated row with his partner of 25 years, Catherine Kirton. Dunning
A MOTORIST had a lucky escape after his car was hit from behind by an lorry, sparking a two-hour rescue effort. He was waiting in a line of stationary traffic outside the Highwayman cafe, on the A64, between Malton and York, at about 10.55pm, on Monday
POLICE are hoping witnesses will come forward after a man suffered a suspected broken jaw in an unprovoked attack. The victim was at the Aruba nightclub in Redcar when he was attacked close to a "boxing machine" downstairs at about 1am on Friday, February
A FORMER policemen is about to set off on his longest beat yet - an epic 1,200 walk along the length of Britain. A part-time verger at Ripon Cathedral, Colin Belsey will be setting off on April 10 and aims to arrive at the northernmost tip
A MAJOR £650,000 scheme to replace a crumbling 145-year-old bridge on a tourist railway across the North York Moors is nearing completion. The North York Moors Railway (NYMR) undertook work to an iron bridge spanning Eller Beck, a River Esk tributary
THE police force monitoring serial sex attacker Peter Chapman before he fled to kidnap, rape and murder Ashleigh Hall has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, it said today. Merseyside Police were meant to be
AN internet-based office equipment company from North Yorkshire is expanding into new premises and could create jobs after a surge in sales. Aabro Office Supplies, which supplies stationery, office equipment and office furniture solutions to
ITS Teescomponents can continue her ascent through the chasing ranks at Newcastle. Keith Reveley’s mare notched up an utterly convincing success over course and distance in January and is clearly a talented beast at this level. Although an 8lb rise
DURHAM Tees Valley Airport owner Peel Group has denied that it is trying to sell its air operations in a bid to expand its port business. The Northern Echo revealed at the start of last month that talks were ongoing between Vancouver Airport
SMALL digital companies in the North-East will be able to compete with major international firms now a publiclyfunded project to provide access to superfast broadband is up and running. The NorthernNet project is giving small digital businesses
A WEBSITE has helped a County Durham leisure vehicle specialist to double the size of its premises and treble its workforce. Since launching itself online, Geist Direct is now attracting orders from as far away as Australia and New Zealand, as
DESPITE being ready to take her business to the next level after winning last year’s If We Can, You Can challenge, the past few months have not turned out as Esther Dingley planned. With Graduate Toolbox ready to launch its website in late summer
DICKINSON DEES LLP has strengthened its pensions team with a new appointment, making the group one of the largest of its type in the country. Pensions specialist Paul Jackson joins Dickinson Dees’ team, in York, from Hammonds, in Leeds.
CAMPAIGNERS battling plans for a large scale retirement village near their homes are angry over a local MP’s failure to support them. Villagers in Thornton-le-Moor and nearby South Otterington, close to Thirsk, are fighting plans for a 60 acre retirement
Corus has defended its chief executive after a damning report by MPs on the mothballing of Teesside Cast Products (TCP). Kirby Adams was admonished for refusing to appear before the North-East Select Committee to look at ways of saving 1,600
A CAMBRIDGE University graduate is returning to his native North-East to become an in-house barrister at a law firm – a first for the practice. Darlington-based Clark Willis has appointed Carl Swift to bring additional strength and experience
In the week of International Women’s Day, which this year has the theme of equal opportunities, Patricia Allen speaks to one of the region’s most senior female lawyers about being a trusted friend to hundreds of North-East families. HELEN
IN my talk and book, Of Fish and Actors, which is about theatre history in Darlington, I have a little go at the Quaker rulers of the town who, in the mid-19th Century, were avidly anti-theatre. They had many reasons, from religious to political
I AM writing to encourage employers, and employees, to think more about how they could prevent slips, trips and falls at work. These incidents are often treated as trivial, even comical, but they are no joke to those who suffer major injuries,
TWO Explorer Scouts are off to Scandinavia after being selected to attend the 22nd World Scout Jamboree next year. Emma Linthwaite, 15, and Amy Wright, 16, both from Northallerton, attended a selection weekend at Snowball Plantation, near York. It gave
I WOULD like to sincerely thank former footballer Bobby Moncur for his support for the national NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in which smear sample kits are sent out to people aged 60 to 69 in an effort to detect the disease in its early
I’M very concerned about young girls producing babies and being funded by the state for their indiscretions. When I was young, the mothers or grandparents were responsible for the upbringing of the child and it should revert back to this principle
CLEANLINESS is next to godliness. We were taught as much as bairns, though it didn’t explain why we landed home filthy every night. Perhaps, come to think, it explains everything. Maternal wisdom further enjoined that your sins would be sure to
A MAN who killed his long term partner after she said she was going to leave him has today been jailed for 10 years. Mark Dunning, 48, of Chestnut Square, Stockton was charged with murder but, after a four-day trial at Newcastle Crown Court, was convicted
ANOTHER politician – Stockton South Conservative parliamentary candidate James Wharton – promising to deliver tough sentencing (HAS, March 4). Until politicians come out of their “gated communities” or from behind their bodyguards we are not going
AS a former steelworker of 30 years I have to say many others, past and present, will agree with Robert Merrick’s exclusive report, “Corus was doomed by catalogue of blunders” (Echo, March 6). My fellow steel colleague, Councillor Billy Ayre,
THROUGH his newspaper articles and speeches in the House of Commons, I came to admire Michael Foot, who died last week at the age of 96. During the early days of The Independent’s publication in 1986, Mr Foot contributed a book review column which
MY heart leapt for joy when I read about some MPs refusing the 1.5 per cent pay increase on offer. Surely this must restore the country’s confidence in our poor, misunderstood “leaders”. Can I suggest The Northern Echo starts a fund to help
I WILL attempt to reassure CT Riley (HAS, March 5) that extremist Islamic hordes will never take over our way of life. The Scots have, for example, tried to do this for years, infiltrating the English media and government. Despite their best efforts
IWONDER if we are all going to die of political correctness? Even as I begin to write this piece, I suspect that – though guarded and diplomatic as I might try to be – I shall nevertheless be accused of some thought crime, hate crime or Islamophobia
ASHLEIGH Hall’s family say the circumstances surrounding her death at the hands of Peter Chapman “beggar belief”. We agree wholeheartedly. Chapman was supposed to be registered on the sex offenders’ register, after a string of offences dating back
Peter Chapman was a violent rapist who ignored his sex offender order by returning to the North-East without telling the police. He went on to kidnap, rape and kill Ashleigh Hall. Neil Macfarlane, left, asks if the system for monitoring dangerous
A PRISONER detained for slitting the throat of a butcher is being hunted by police after escaping from hospital. Fida Mohammed Utmanzi, a 20-year-old with links to the North-East, escaped from the North London Clinic in Church Street, Edmonton, at 7.23pm
JONATHAN Trott believes he has done all he can to book his place in England’s side for the first Test against Bangladesh but admits he is not sure where he might be asked to bat. The 28-year-old put behind him the disappointment of being edged
HOME Secretary Alan Johnson called today for police to respond to questions about the monitoring of convicted rapist Peter Chapman as he expressed his absolute sympathy for the family of Ashleigh Hall. Mr Johnson said lessons needed to be learned following
WITH three successive away games to come, Hartlepool United still have some way to go before they can consider themselves safe from the threat of relegation. But, after back to back home wins, at least they have a six-point advantage over the
ENGLAND lock Simon Shaw has been ruled out of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup showdown against Scotland with a shoulder injury. Shaw, 36, had been doubtful ever since damaging his joint in the opening minutes of England’s defeat to Ireland at Twickenham
JEREMIE ALIADIERE could have played his last game for Middlesbrough after the club last night confirmed he had suffered a broken toe in Saturday’s defeat at Cardiff City. Boro’s medical team expect the Frenchman to be out for around six weeks
HEALTH bosses have assured patients of a fire-ravaged doctors’ surgery that their records are safe and alternative services are being made available. Adan House, in Spennymoor, County Durham, was destroyed on Saturday night following an arson
FIREFIGHTERS pulled a pensioner from a blaze in her bungalow only weeks after they had fitted her smoke alarm. Fire chiefs said the rescue early yesterday demonstrated the importance of fire alarms in preventing tragedies. Darlington and County
PEOPLE are being urged to check out £60m plans to bring three schools together in what officials say will be a world class science village. The complex will be built in the grounds of Durham’s Framwellgate School and will also include Framwellgate
AN MP has had a half-apint of beer poured over her by an irate constituent. Anne McIntosh, the Vale of York Conservative MP, was attacked by David Andrews, leader of an environmental pressure group during Friday’s constituency surgery which was
A FATHER is facing an indefinite prison sentence after being convicted of trying to murder his newborn son by giving him potent adult painkillers. The Darlington man could be jailed for the protection of the public and freed only when the Parole
THE people behind Facebook have expressed their sadness at the circumstances surrounding Ashleigh Hall’s death. Peter Chapman used Facebook – and other social networking websites – to lure Ashleigh to her death by convincing her he was a teenager
KILLER Peter Chapman was brought to justice after his vehicle registration number triggered a police camera. The number had been put into the automatic number plate recognition system after he had failed to comply with notice requirements as
On a day of high emotions, a packed courtroom watched Peter Chapman admit he had killed Ashleigh Hall. David Roberts watched the events unfold at Teesside Crown Court. "IF we can handle the Darwins, we can handle anything”, the court usher
The death of Ashleigh Hall has shone a spotlight on the dangers teenagers face when using the internet. Joe Willis went undercover and discovered the light is not shining nearly bright enough on some murky corners of the web. ‘HAVE you ever
Darlington visit a familiar League Two stopping point this evening, when they travel to Bury hoping it will not be their last visit for sometime. Along with the likes of Rochdale and Lincoln, Gigg Lane has been a regular port of call throughout
STEVE BRUCE has called on misfiring midfielder Steed Malbranque to “stand up and be counted” after the manager revealed he had disciplined the Belgian for breaching club discipline. With Sunderland facing another midfield selection crisis Malbranque
A WHITE supremacist has been told to expect a prison sentence after he admitted producing one of the world’s most toxic substances in preparation for acts of terrorism. Terror police investigating extreme right wing activity found ricin in a
A CONVICTED sex offender was allowed to roam free for nine months before he went on to kill a teenage girl he met on the internet, it emerged yesterday. The family of Ashleigh Hall have demanded answers as to why police on Merseyside did not
CORUS has defended its chief executive after a damning report by MPs on the mothballing of Teesside Cast Products (TCP). Kirby Adams was admonished for refusing to appear before the North-East Select Committee to look at ways of saving 1,600
