AS George Sharpe was being comforted by his family after becoming the victim of a bogus caller, he couldn't believe how stupid he had been. The frail pensioner felt ashamed and embarrassed that he had been duped for a second time in less than a year.
AFTER the brief respite created by the visit of the American and French presidents, the Prime Minister is back to the rough-and-tumble of domestic politics today. With the Conservative Party buoyed by the bloodless coup which has installed Michael Howard
RAIL commuters are in for an easier ride now that secure cycle lockers have been installed at two North-East stations. Darlington's North Road and Dinsdale Stations have five lockers for hire by commuters who cycle to the station. They have been installed
A MAN who stabbed a teenager to death after a drink and drugs binge was jailed for life yesterday. The trial of 20-year-old Sean Matson was in its fifth day and the prosecution had just ended its case when he changed his plea. Matson had denied murdering
A TEENAGE girl died following a car crash after she and a friend accepted a lift during a night out, an inquest was told. Lynsey Richards was cut free from a rear seat of a Vauxhall Nova which ended up on an embankment on New Road, Crook, County Durham
MIDDLESBROUGH stalwart Colin Cooper is bracing himself for the axe as Ugo Ehiogu lines up a Christmas comeback. Boro manager Steve McClaren has hailed Cooper as his signing of the summer after persuading the defender to agree a new one-year contract.
INSURANCE companies are forcing manufacturing companies to the wall by refusing to give them the vital cover they need to do business, a report has revealed. One in ten manufacturers and one in 12 other businesses have been refused employers' and public
STEVEN Norris, the Conservative candidate for London Mayor, has taken over the chairmanship of Jarvis in the wake of Paris Moayedi's announcement he was to quit the firm. Mr Norris, a senior independent director at the troubled support services company
GEORGE W Bush, it is widely but not unanimously reported, didn't pour tomato ketchup onto his chips at the Dun Cow in Sedgefield but "dunked" one in t'other. John Burton, Tony Blair's estimable agent, insists - the sauce! - that the president didn't use
Coronation Street (ITV1) AS the setting for a comeback by a soap icon, a ladies' toilet could hardly be classed as glamorous. But the camera panned up the unmistakable figure standing in the doorway of a cubicle. She spoke to the other, equally familiar
HOLLY WELLS and Jessica Chapman died in a series of accidents in Ian Huntley's bathroom, lawyers for the alleged double murderer said yesterday. Holly died after falling into his water-filled bath as Huntley treated her for a nosebleed, Stephen Coward
A RADICAL scheme to help schoolkids quit smoking which made national headlines three years ago has had to be abandoned because of lack of funding. In 1999, the exploits of a Darlington comprehensive school, where children as young as 13 were given special
A SET of North-East quads celebrated their seventh birthday yesterday - days after one of them was released from hospital. Hannah Moss-Carbert was well enough to enjoy her special day with brothers Jonpaul, Adam and Simon after a six-month illness. Hannah
A MOTORCYCLIST told an inquest that he feared for his friend's safety because he took risks on corners. Stephen Bailey, a 42-year-old window cleaner, from Benningborough Gardens, Ingleby Barwick, died instantly when he crashed into a car on a bend on
STEVEN Norris, the Conservative candidate for London Mayor, has taken over the chairmanship of Jarvis in the wake of Paris Moayedi's announcement he was to quit the firm. Mr Norris, a senior independent director at the troubled support services company
A COMMUNITY has helped create a Japanese garden and pond at a school. The garden area at Westlands school in Thornaby, which mostly has children with special educational needs, will be used as a quiet area for the children. As well as the garden, there
PUPILS at a primary school have raised £2,635 by skipping. The children at Hartburn primary, Hartburn, Stockton, skipped all day long to raise the cash for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and £800 for the school to use on outdoor sports equipment,
THE jury in a trial of a father and son accused of falsely imprisoning a teenager and using a stun gun on him, has been told to avoid the "ghastly, horrible possibility" of convicting two innocent men. Defence barrister Dan Cordy said the case against
MARTIAL arts instructor Russell Shaw enlisted the help of the Chungdokwan Tae Kwon Do martial arts club, in Spennymoor, to raise £1,000 for the Mara Unit at Bishop Auckland Hospital. The club, where Mr Shaw is an instructor, held a martial arts demonstration
About 150 people are expected to take part in a Christmas lantern parade in Cockfield, near Barnard Castle, on Thursday, December 4. Teesdale District Council has agreed that Front Street in the village should be closed to traffic between 6.30pm and 7.15pm
THE family of a man who died from methadone poisoning have paid tribute to him. An inquest in Bishop Auckland heard yesterday that Christopher Shorland died after taking a small dose of the drug. The coroner heard the drug belonged to his fiancee, Rachel
A MUSIC teacher has been reward for his inspirational work for the second consecutive year. David Ferrari, a teacher at Teesdale Comprehensive School, Barnard Castle, was given a certificate of commendation in Classic FM's 2003 Music Teacher of the Year
WHATEVER the tactics of the "war against terror" - from flattening whole countries to installing concrete blocks - the rhetoric against it comes from a vanished era. Our leaders still respond with echoes of Churchill in the Second World War. After the
England are to give Robert Croft the chance to stake his claim for a Test recall in a three-way shoot-out for the spinners' berths this week. The tourists' trio of slow bowlers are named in the side which takes on a Sri Lanka Cricket President's XI in
SPECIALIST doctors have formed an action committee to campaign for what would be the region's first nuclear superscanner. Experts believe that lives are being lost because there are only five positron emission tomography (PET) scanners in the UK, all
SUPERMARKET group Tesco reported a 17.5 per cent rise in sales ahead of Christmas - spurred by growth in its clothing division. Discount promotions such as £4 jeans at its UK stores had enabled Tesco to capture market share from rivals such as Sainsbury's
ALAN SHEARER has signalled his intention to move into management after confirming he is working towards his UEFA B coaching badge. The Newcastle United skipper, tipped by many to succeed Sir Bobby Robson as manager at St. James' Park, is taking coaching
A MAN admitted assaulting his girlfriend, but denied head-butting her, when he appeared before Darlington magistrates yesterday. Simon Causer, 31, admitted he broke his girlfriend Leanne Burton's nose on October 4 in a late-night fracas, but disputed
SHOPPERS looked puzzled yesterday when the sound of rapid machine gun fire echoed round a busy town centre. The automatic weapons, which could be heard clearly in Barnard Castle, County Durham, came from the Battle Hill firing range, three miles away.
EXPERIENCED business people are to be recruited across the region in a drive to make schools more entrepreneurial. As part of a national campaign, first announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown in the Budget, ten enterprise advisers and one manager will be
SUPERMARKET group Tesco reported a 17.5 per cent rise in sales ahead of Christmas - spurred by growth in its clothing division. Discount promotions such as £4 jeans at its UK stores had enabled Tesco to capture market share from rivals such as Sainsbury's
DETECTIVES were last night hunting the attacker who raped a teenage girl after she left a nightclub and left her semi-naked in the street. The 16-year-old was found on the doorstep of a house in Darlington after being subjected to the harrowing ordeal
A DOG was pinned down and slashed in the face in a North-East park at the weekend. The male lurcher, called Rolly, was attacked by youths after being let off its lead at about 8.15pm on Sunday, in North Lodge Park, Darlington. Police hunting the youths
AFTER suffering the agony of a short-head defeat on his seasonal reappearance at Carlisle three weeks ago, Wetherby-bound Silver Knight (12.55) should make no mistake in this afternoon's Harry Atkinson Beginners' Chase. Although Tim Easterby's charge
PRESIDENT BUSH: I WOULD suggest that the specially chosen few who doffed their caps to George Bush in the Dun Cow Inn are just as pathetically besotted as their MP with the most dangerous President of the US ever. It matters not to them that these two
THE company responsible for putting rear-view mirrors in cycle helmets has secured a deal with Halfords. Reevu, now based in Washington, Wearide, will see its innovative design stocked in 50 of the car maintenance group's specialist Bikehut stores nationwide
Coronation Street (ITV1), AS the setting for a comeback by a soap icon, a ladies' toilet could hardly be classed as glamorous. But the camera panned up the unmistakable figure standing in the doorway of a cubicle. She spoke to the other, equally familiar
A CAMPAIGN has been launched to encourage thousands of east Durham pensioners to take up a new benefit. The district, which has some of the country's greatest deprivation, has been chosen as the starting place for a drive that could be extended to other
AFTER suffering the agony of a short-head defeat on his seasonal reappearance at Carlisle three weeks ago, Wetherby-bound Silver Knight (12.55) should make no mistake in this afternoon's Harry Atkinson Beginners' Chase. Although Tim Easterby's charge
THE company responsible for putting rear-view mirrors in cycle helmets has secured a deal with Halfords. Reevu, now based in Washington, Wearide, will see its innovative design stocked in 50 of the car maintenance group's specialist Bikehut stores nationwide
AN application to build a meteorological mast to determine whether a farm site in Heighington is suitable for a wind farm will be discussed next month. The application by EDF Energy to build a 50-metre mast on land at Royal Oak Farm was approved by Heighington
Martin Johnson has reiterated his determination not to make any rash decision over his international future. The 33-year-old England captain has won every honour in the game following the World Cup triumph over Australia, prompting some observers - including
A MARKET town is to launch its Christmas festivities this weekend. The action will begin in Chester-le-Street at noon on Saturday outside the Holiday Centre on Front Street, when town crier Marjorie Dodds will introduce a programme of events. For the
North-East singers are flying to America after being invited to take part in Disney World's Christmas parade. The 30 singers, from Newcastle, are with the entertainment company Sing Live North East, which trains amateur singers to professional standards
A centre where teachers can be taught about technology, opens at a school this week. The computer facility has been built at the Hermitage School, in Chester-le-Street, following a successful bid to the Specialist Schools Trust to become a regional teacher
PARENTS were last night being urged to claim free school meals for their children, because it could lead to a £6m investment in education in Darlington. Council chiefs said that only 18 per cent of the borough's 16,000 pupils claim free school meals.
AN MP has renewed his warning to a leading university to stop relying on greedy landlords to fill an accommodation gap. Gerry Steinberg has again urged Durham University to come up with positive solutions to ease the housing problems in his city constituency
JUST days after President Bush flew in aboard Air Force One, airline bosses have backed plans to ditch the Teesside Airport name - because it does not have a high enough international profile. They are supporting the change of name to Durham-Tees Valley
THE Northern Echo this week unveils the latest signing to its team of star columnists: novelist Helen Cannam. Helen, who has 22 published novels with another due out next year, will write a fortnightly column on the joys -and frustrations - of being a
World famous opera singer Ian Storey swapped centre stage at some of Europe's finest theatres to take a starring role at his old school. The international tenor returned to his native North-East to attend an awards ceremony at Ferryhill Business and Enterprise
A PUBLIC examination into the business affairs of Darlington football club chairman George Reynolds was adjourned yesterday after he submitted a sick note. The hearing into why his former business, George Reynolds UK (GRUK), went into liquidation should
NEALE Cooper's friendship with Sir Alex Ferguson last night helped secure a new face at Hartlepool United. Cooper made two signings yesterday, Australian international Joel Porter signed a short-term deal and Old Trafford youngster Daniel Byrne moved
DO looks really matter that much? Teacher Francoise Rabin, 51, underwent £50,000 worth of beauty makeovers - eyes, nose, teeth, liposuction. The results were certainly dramatic. She had, she said, always been jealous of her prettier sister. She also felt
A MAN died when he fell down stairs after a night out, an inquest heard yesterday. Raymond Oakley, 35, had spent the late afternoon and evening of November 29 last year, drinking and socialising with his girlfriend, Paula Tyler, and friends in various
FAMILIES in Poland and Canada last night made a heartfelt appeal for a missing North-East man to get in touch. Having read of his disappearance on The Northern Echo's website, the friends he made in Poland whilst a student in the 1960's now wish to repay
A MAN charged with the kidnap and rape of a teenage girl was cleared in court yesterday after telling the jury that she set him up. Steven Wilkinson, 21, and a large group of family and supporters wept with relief at the end of his ordeal, which began
CHRIS Cave was killed because he was a good man who lived in the wrong place. A place described in court as where too many young men binge on drink and drugs, terrorising the good people on the estate, and where young adults trying to make a life for
A FATHER and son walked free from court yesterday after being cleared of attacking a teenager with a stun gun and blackmailing his stepfather. Pub boss Trevor Thirlwall, 53, and his son, nightclub doorman Trevor Thirlwall junior, 30, were cleared of all
BANK note printer De La Rue has blamed growing reliance on credit and debit cards for forcing it to axe two factories at a cost of 200 jobs. The company said it was closing its Byfleet plant in Surrey and was looking to sell its Peterborough factory,
EAST Coast Main Line operator GNER has joined forces with Chiltern Railways owner John Laing to bid for a new rail franchise. The two partners will form London and Western Railway Company, to bid for the Greater Western franchise. Greater Western, due
GEORGE W Bush, it is widely but not unanimously reported, didn't pour tomato ketchup onto his chips at the Dun Cow in Sedgefield but "dunked" one in t'other. John Burton, Tony Blair's estimable agent, insists - the sauce! - that the president didn't use
PARENTS were last night being urged to claim free school meals for their children, because it could lead to a £6m investment in education in Darlington. Council chiefs said that only 18 per cent of the borough's 16,000 pupils claim free school meals.
