INQUIRIES are taking place to see how much money can be recouped from a former teacher caught with a cache of cocaine. Ian Ashby, 30, was given a 51-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, plus a six-month electronically-tagged home curfew, at
Been having a chat with Will Roberts - Northern Echo reporter - and he’s been doing a bit of digging as to what’s happening with regards to ‘Hycroft’ becoming a school for kids with behavioural and emotional problems. The former nursing
MORE than 40,000 pupils were excluded from schools in the region in the last academic year, according to figures from the Department for Education. A total of 33,500 pupils in the North-East were excluded for a fixed period during 2008-9, up from 32,150
The funeral of fugitive gunman Raoul Moat will be held next week, sources said today. It will be held on Monday at the West Road Crematorium, Newcastle, less than a mile from his house in Fenham Hall Drive. His family has previously
CAMPAIGNERS fighting to halt supermarket giant Tesco building a £40m superstore look to have claimed victory - after councillors dramatically threw out the application. More than 400 members of the public attended a marathon four hour planning meeting
A devastated mother has recalled the moment she was told her son had been found hanging in woodland alongside his friend. Jean Harrington's son Christopher Harrington, 20, and his friend Kieran Kenny, 19, were found hanged in woods in Cramlington
ALTHOUGH Mac OSX doesn't gradually grind to a halt like a Windows installation it still accumulates its fair share of crud over time. The amusingly named Washing Machine, from those virus busting experts Intego, puts your Mac's operating system
A CARE home has hosted a summer fete. The event at St Margaret’s care home, in Durham, featured stalls, games and refreshments. Patsy Young began the fete by reading a poem. The event was opened by Roberta Blackman-Woods, Labour MP for Durham City.
CATCHMENT areas could still be used to decide which children get into a county’s best state schools, council chiefs have hinted. Questions were raised over whether a proposed consultation on introducing the "home zones" for entry into County
A SHOPPING centre’s series of Summer Sundays begins this weekend. The Prince Bishops shopping centre, in Durham, will host the events throughout August. The first, on Sunday, August 1, will include a bungee trampoline, face painter, stilt walker and
GAMERS of a certain age will remember Worms with fondness. A peculiarly British phenomenon, a military strategy game played with artillery-toting invertebrates, Worms was a killer app for the Amiga. Its success spawned a number of sequels and then
ORGANISATIONS based near to major roads are being encouraged to play a leading role in the North-East's electric vehicle revolution. Regional Development Agency One North East is looking for locations to site 12 quick chargers, which can recharge
REMEMBER the Christmas when you couldn't buy a Nintendo Wii in the shops? Mums and dads literally fought over the right to buy the little white box and kids howled when they couldn't find one under the tree on December 25. It all seems so long ago, especially
A FIGHT broke out between men brandishing metal poles today in County Durham. Police were called to reports of a disturbance involving two men at Willington's Kensington Terrace at around 9.45am. Witnesses say the men had weapons and were in the middle
TRADE unions have urged councillors in Darlington to fight the Government over the level of proposed cuts to try to protect services. Darlington Borough Council's cabinet members last night gave approval to trimming £1.2m from services this year.
Dawn French chats to Lisa Williams about her new BBC1 show Roger And Val Have Just Got In – and about her new small screen double-act. IF Dawn French’s recent marriage breakdown is affecting her, she’s hiding it well behind that famously wide smile
Michael Starke talks to Viv Hardwick about donning the fat suit and dresses to become Edna Turnblad in the touring version of Hairspray. LET’S face it, until Hairspray came along, large men impersonating women only seemed to turn up in pantomime
Travel operator TUI has started a 90 day consultation with staff at two of its North-East call centres. The firm said it was planning to close its Newcastle and Peterlee centres, employing 90, and centralise operations at its Stockton office
Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Quinton Jackson 119 mins ★★★ A big screen version of the Eighties TV series has been in gestation for some years and director Joe Carnahan’s version is about as good as it’s likely
Eric Elmosnino, Anna Mouglalis, Laetitia Casta, Lucy Gordon, Mylene Jampanoi. 122 mins ★★★ Serge Gainsbourg is probably best known to most of us as the French chap responsible for some heavy breathing on the record Je T’Aime. That record,
THE massive hunt for missing chef Claudia Lawrence is finally being scaled down, 16 months after she was last seen alive. From next month only seven officers will be working on the case - down from a peak of more than 100 when the investigation was at
Steve Pratt talks to the ever-youthful Jackie Chan about movies, big breaks and kung fu. FOR some time, Jackie Chan has been trying to prove his worth as an actor as well as a martial arts star. The Karate Kid might just be the movie that proves
Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P Henson 140 mins ★★★★ I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but I liked The Karate Kid a lot. And I’m not talking about the Seventies hit that spawned a couple of sequels, but this 2010 remake of
Minnie Driver, stars of new BBC1 drama The Deep, chats to Kate Whiting about swapping her sun-drenched Californian home for the winter cold of Glasgow. MINNIE DRIVER is home at the “little place” in north Malibu she shares with her toddler
THERE are some albums that should just not be reworked and Pink Floyd’s Legendary Dark Side of the Moon is perhaps one. The original was off the wall, but remained accessible, but this version by the normally reliably entertaining Flaming Lips
Tom Jones says he still feels 30 on stage and hopes his latest studio album, released on Monday, passes the test with his fans. But Andy Welch discovers that the Welsh singer also hopes to pass another test... to be allowed to continue driving
A £.7.7M care home, which stirred up controversy when it was first planned, has been opened in a market town. The 51-bedroom Rivendale centre, in Northallerton, has been developed by Broadacres Housing Association, in partnership with North
WHAT’S ON: The 2009/10 Classical Season at The Sage Gateshead ends in epic style at 7.30pm tonight, with the first performance at the venue of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, plus works by Elgar, Wagner and Walton. Box office: 0191-433 4661. CD REVIEWS
AFTER the musical brilliance of the Summertyne Americana Festival held last weekend at The Sage Gateshead, more news has been announced that will bring cheers to many country appreciators. Already having had many guests from the US appearing not
EARLY August traditionally brings something of a lull across the region’s folk venues, and indeed our only notable event this week comes tomorrow night at Reeth’s Memorial Hall, with the never-say-rest perennial favourite of the local scene
WHAT’S ON: Tomorrow, Mick Donnelly’s Quartet at the Traveller’s Rest, Cockerton, 01325 382676; Sunday, nine different bands appear throughout the day from noon at the free Milestones Showcase at the Georgian Theatre, Stockton, as part of the Riverside
Patrick Monahan has an Irish dad, Iranian mother and a Teesside sense of humour. Viv Hardwick talks to him about his Edinburgh show, TV work and his love for the North-East. TO stand-up comic Patrick Monahan home is a caravan park near Middlesbrough
I Love You Phillip Morris,p> (Cert 15, 93 mins, E1 Entertainment. DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99). Stars: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Rodrigo Santoro, Leslie Mann. Steven Russell (Carrey) is a happily married police officer with a beautiful
LET’S just say that Fill the Fug isn’t going to win any prizes for parenting. He’s as likely to win Father of the Year as I am to win a beautiful baby contest. And this week in EastEnders (BBC1) he can kiss goodbye to his chances of being named
THERE were no surprises from Northumbrian Water as it announced trading in line with expectations since April 1 ahead of today's annual shareholders meeting. The firm said operating costs for the 12 months to March 2011 are forecast to increase
AS far as my kids are concerned, I’m a fashion disaster... an embarrassment... someone who shouldn’t really be seen out in public. Naturally, I don’t agree. Just because I don’t wear my jeans halfway down my backside in order to show off my designer
Sad times as Methodist churches prepare to face closure, but could the changes lead to joined-up thinking? SWEEPING proposals that would reduce the number of traditional Methodist churches in the Darlington area from 13 to three – including
TWELVE people have been arrested in a series of early morning raids on houses in east Durham today. In an operation aimed at suspected drug dealers, more than 100 Durham Constabulary officers swooped on 11 houses in Easington Colliery and Peterlee
HALFWAY through its 20-year mission to present every known play by Shakespeare, York Shakespeare Project has embarked on its most ambitious productions so far. The company is performing Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 in a disused medieval church in the
The Secret Tourist (BBC1, 9pm); Undercover Boss (C4, 9pm); The Hotel Inspector (Five, 9pm). THURSDAY has been designated investigation night on the TV. While the hoteliers in need of assistance in The Hotel Inspector know full well the identity
I WOULD like to know why people who visit internet chat rooms find it necessary to leave comments saying just “lol”. Haven’t they anything more imaginative to say? They should be banned. Aled Jones, Bridlington, East Yorkshire. ■ Footnote: “Lol
ANYONE else noticed? There’s just no getting away from David Cameron’s message that “we’re all in this together” – even in the comfort of a cinema. Take the recently-released Toy Story 3. Without giving away the plot, when the gang of toy characters
I ENJOYED your interesting article about Catterick Camp (Echo Memories, July 7). Following initial training at Canterbury, my friends and I arrived there two weeks before Christmas 1946. Our 16-week course in 2 Training Regiment started with
THREE cheers for the internet leak over the consistent failure of the US-UK military campaign in Afghanistan. The only threat to the lives of our troops is our government putting them into a war that no occupier has ever won. Every lesson of history
THE US believes it has a God-given right to dominate the world politically, economically, and to enforce its will by using military power if necessary. It also believes it has the right to summon anyone from anywhere in the world to appear before
THE sight of Business Secretary Vince Cable trying to get banks to lend more is a laugh. Banks just aren’t going to lend with the gay abandon that applied three years ago. They’ve been stung by the credit crunch. And good thing too, so Mr Cable
RE your report about another local authority – North Yorkshire County Council – preparing to axe services because of Government funding reductions (Echo, July 27). May I remind readers, including those in local government, that over the past
BP chief executive Tony Hayward has had to step down because people in the US were upset by some tactless remarks he made while leading the attempts to stop the catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil was gushing out of the wellhead one
THE Labour Party is in complete denial about the state it has left the British economy in, but it should be ashamed. Our £155bn budget deficit is one of the worst in the developed world; the national debt is heading towards £1trillion; for every
I DON’T believe in speaking ill of the dead, but I don’t believe in flattery. I refer to the press reaction to the death of snooker player Alex Higgins. As a player, he was undoubtedly a genius, but as a person he was an undesirable. There is
MORE and more, I find myself looking at the headline on top of a Government announcement – and then realising that exactly the opposite is the truth. For example, the schools’ revolution – more academies and “free schools” – masks an extraordinary
The new Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has announced a radical reform plan for the NHS which has shocked some commentators. In the first of a series of articles about the proposals, Health Editor Barry Nelson sounds out the views of a cross-section
FEWER than 50 years ago, the Darlington area had 39 Methodist churches. If proposals revealed today are fully accepted, there’ll be three; none at all in the surrounding villages. Presently there are 13. Many have elderly congregations scattered
LUCA Cumani’s Purple Moon has not enjoyed much luck over the past couple of seasons but he can have his day in the sun in the Artemis Goodwood Cup. The seven-year-old has failed to find the winner’s enclosure since striking gold in the 2007
ANDREW Strauss admits England still have room for improvement as they bid for the series victory against Pakistan they will need if they are to set off for Australia with confidence intact. Strauss sees a potentially difficult four-match series
BRITISH record holder Jo Jackson admitted her tenth place finish in the 20km race walk in Barcelona was a job well done after hitting her prechampionship target. Just 12 months ago the Middlesbrough and Cleveland Harrier Jackson suffered disappointment
THE resignation of Yorkshire’s chief executive, Stewart Regan, is bound to fuel suspicions that all is not well at Headingley, despite Yorkshire’s success on the field. But it is not just the Tykes who are struggling. Cricket is in a mess, brought
YORKSHIRE’S departing chief executive Stewart Regan will leave the club in September a proud man after achieving “all that I wanted to do” at Headingley. The 46-year-old who hails from Crook, County Durham has spent four-and-a-halfyears with
MARK Lewis-Francis last night hailed coach Linford Christie after sprinting to a shock silver medal in the European Championships in Barcelona. With Christie looking on in the same stadium where he won Olympic gold in 1992, Lewis-Francis upstaged
LIVERPOOL manager Roy Hodgson admits there was never much chance of the likes of Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole playing in today’s Europa League qualifer. Hodgson yesterday travelled to Macedonia for his first competitive match in charge of the
Sachsen Leipzig 0 Middlesbrough 2 A MIDDLESBROUGH side that included two trialists kicked-off their mini pre-season tour of Germany with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Sachsen Leipzig. Following the capture of attacking left-sided midfielder
SUNDERLAND’S refusal to let Marton Fulop join Ipswich Town on loan could scupper the Hungarian’s chances of linking up with former Black Cats manager Roy Keane. A £1.5m fee has been agreed between the two clubs but the Tractor Boys’ reluctance
KEVIN AUSTIN insists Darlington’s desperation to make an immediate return to the Football League has persuaded him to spend this week with the club. Since being released by Chesterfield at the end of last season the 37-year-old has been considering
MARK Lewis-Francis upstaged team-mate Dwain Chambers to claim a shock silver medal in the 100 metres at the European Championships in Barcelona last night. Chambers had been expected to battle with France’s Christophe Lemaitre for gold, but
SOL CAMPBELL’S confirmation as a Newcastle player yesterday brought a commanding presence to the Magpies back four that manager Chris Hughton hopes can help cement the club’s place in the Premier League. But the one-year deal flies in face
A NORTH-EAST law firm has spoken of its integral role in securing a controversial deal to bring Premier League footballer Dan Gosling to Newcastle United. BHP Sport, a division of Darlington-based law firm BHP Law, negotiated Gosling’s move
THE Government hopes its £5,000 incentive will jumpstart the UK market for electric cars. Without the cash subsidy cars like the Nissan Leaf, the Vauxhall Ampera and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV will be too expensive to make much of an impact. The
THE first major step on the road to scrapping regional development agencies One North East and Yorkshire Forward took place yesterday as the Government invited business leaders to discussions on Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). Minister
A HUSBAND-AND-WIFE business that creates innovative commercial and domestic woodwork has revealed plans for national expansion less than a year after being established. Funkywood is looking to appoint sales agents around the UK to market its
CAR maker Nissan, which is to produce the Leaf electric car at its Sunderland plant, last night welcomed the Government’s decision to retain a financial incentive to buy the vehicles. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed yesterday that
A DARLINGTON man had to be rescued after falling 15 feet from rocks. The Cleveland Search and Rescue Team were called out last night to rescue the climber who had fallen while on the Wainstones. The 26-year-old was with a friend who
A MAN was so desperate to go back to prison he approached a police car with a knife and shouted at the officer: “Come on, then.” Drunken Adam Mackay jabbed the weapon at the patrol car window three times before walking off towards his home
MORE details have emerged of how the Government’s £50m emergency cancer drug fund will be allocated. The Northern Echo has learnt that each region will be asked to set up its own application process to decide who gets access to new cancer drugs
A FORMER RAF man whose sexual abuse of a schoolboy caught up with him 20 years on has had two convictions quashed on appeal. But Colin Ernest Hobby will still serve the eight years in prison he was initially sentenced to. Hobby was given the
A HUSBAND and wife whose daughter died after being born 16 weeks early is raising money for two charities in her memory. John and Claire Parker, from Shildon, County Durham, lost their daughter, Rhian Alicia, on May 10, this year, six weeks
John Dixon is appealing for information about the 70th Infantry Brigade after the North-East War Memorials Project was given £17,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The archive will focus on the brigade’s staff and movements during the Second
A MAN ripped off the ear of a former friend with his teeth in a drunken fight outside a social club late on Boxing Day night, a court heard. Joshua Peter Marsden, 20, who is of previous good character, snapped after being thrown out of Thornley
A CIRCUS show kicked off the Stockton International Riverside Festival last night. The Circus of Horrors returned to the festival with its Freaks and Feathers show, in a large travelling tent in Parish Gardens, Stockton. Visitors can also enjoy
A MAN was yesterday locked up for jabbing his finger in the eyes of two children. John Charlton’s behaviour was branded “disgraceful” by a judge who told him: “You could have blinded them.” Charlton also slapped one of the children across the
A ROCK ’n’ roll guitarist stabbed to death in his Spanish apartment was “living the dream” on the sun-drenched Costa del Sol, his old band leader has said. Jeff Morland, lead singer with Barkin’ Billy and the Scrapyard Dogs, said the horrific
VIOLENT assaults in the region’s prisons have increased by almost two-thirds in a decade, new figures show. Official statistics reveal there were 1,298 recorded assaults in prisons and young offenders’ institutions in the North-East and North
SCORES of shoppers were supporting a worthwhile cause yesterday during the first of a two-day shopping extravaganza in aid of the Butterwick Hospice. The event, at Hardwick Hall, near Sedgefield, County Durham, continues from 10am today and
FAMILIES fighting to save seven residential homes were left fuming after councillors were denied a chance to debate the issue. Campaigners hoped last week’s decision by Durham County Council’s cabinet to axe the homes would be challenged at a
FRUSTRATED householders are not being consulted in the early stages of a council review of community facilities for fear it will inflame their lack of trust. Residents in the rundown suburb of Gresham, in Middlesbrough, have lived under the threat
A CAMPAIGN to secure £7.5bn of investment and 8,000 jobs for the North-East has won cross-party support from Durham County Council. Japanese company Hitachi is poised to create up to 800 jobs directly and 7,000 more in the supply chain by assembling
THE row over the doomed school rebuilding programme took a bizarre twist yesterday, when Education Secretary Michael Gove claimed MPs and council chiefs had congratulated him for scrapping it. The Mr Gove said he had received many letters reading
THE agency set up to encourage a more moderate approach to alcohol in the North-East has welcomed Government proposals to curb problem drinking. Balance became the first of its kind in the UK when it was launched in February last year in a
A TEENAGE dancer who was born with one arm has been fitted with a prosthetic limb thanks to her performing arts group and local school. Shannon Hart is enjoying a new lease of life since being fitted with the arm. The 15-year-old, from
HOME Secretary Theresa May called time on the controversial Asbo last night after stating the measure – one of Tony Blair’s flagship policies – had failed. Ordering a review, the Home Secretary said it was “time to move beyond the Asbo”, pointing
AN elderly driver is lucky to be alive after his car left the road and crashed through a wall, a garden and the gable end of a house before finally coming to a halt in a living room. The incident happened at about 6am today when the car travelled
THE investigation into the disappearance of North Yorkshire woman, Claudia Lawrence, is to be scaled down, police have revealed. North Yorkshire Police said the decision had been taken after "detailed scrutiny". Miss Lawrence, 35 and
A 13-year-old boy who was cast adrift on the River Wear as part of a prank had to be rescued by a lifeboat. The teenager was left stranded aboard a small tender about ten metres from the river bank, opposite Sunderland Glass Centre.
