Archive

  • Pressure group formed to fight 'plan' for relief road

    A PRESSURE group has been formed in a bid to stop a relief road being built through countryside near Durham City. Save Our Valley for the City hopes residents and visitors will back its campaign against the road, which is suggested by Durham County Council

  • £10,000 hidden in woods court told

    A MAN claimed he and a friend found a tin containing about £10,000 hidden in woods, a court heard. Benjamin Craig Robson was being questioned by police about £4,400 in his possession when a tin containing a further £4,980 came to light. Durham Crown Court

  • 'We saw men racing before fatal crash'

    witnesses have described seeing two drivers racing each other just before a crash in which a man was killed. Raymond Thompson, 51, was struck as he crossed Acklam Road, in Middlesbrough, by a Rover MG ZR driven by Daniel Hope. Hope, 20, of Tunstall Road

  • North's Bermuda Triangle revealed

    THE Bermuda Triangle has long been a source of international mystery, with planes and ships disappearing without trace into the ocean. Now the North has its own version of the legendary site -the Yorkshire Triangle. Researchers have identified a 221sq

  • No link to river pollution and fire

    ENVIRONMENTAL experts are hopeful there will be no long-term impact on wildlife after a pollutant spillage in the River Skerne killed thousands of fish. They have also said the incident is not being linked to a major fire which ripped through a Darlington

  • £10,000 means Christmas comes early

    A TOWN is to have a brighter Christmas after the council received £10,000 for decorative lights. Project Genesis, which is developing former steelworks sites, has donated the cash to Derwentside District Council for lights in Consett. It was presented

  • Volunteers rewarded for their work

    TWO volunteers received awards for their dedication during the Tall Ships festival this week. Beth Parry, originally from Bishop Auckland, and Lydia Mein from Crook,were among a group of 16 to 24 year-olds who collected a Millennium Volunteer Award of

  • Tenants vote to transfer homes away from council control

    COUNCIL tenants in Teesdale have voted overwhelmingly to transfer their council houses. In the highest voter turn-out in the region for a housing transfer ballot, almost 90 per cent of residents voted in favour of transferring their houses to a new housing

  • Wildlife worries over new homes

    RESIDENTS in Crook are protesting against a new housing development which they say could destroy the habitat of several animals. A planning application has been submitted by the owners of Thistleflat Farm, Crook, to build 49 detached homes on the land

  • Explosion leads to allotments clear-up

    AN amnesty to rid allotments of dangerous gas cylinders has been a success. A day-long clear-up of Hartlepool's Thornhill, Throston and Chester Road allotments was carried out to remove fire and safety hazards. Allotment-holders worked with Hartlepool

  • Police monitoring illegal taxi drivers

    POLICE are tackling the problem of disorderly taxi queues and illegal cabs touting for trade in a North-East city following numerous complaints. Chief Inspector Jo Miskimmin, of Sunderland Area Command, said: "We receive a steady stream of complaints

  • Business confidence rises as town prepares for £170m park

    BUSINESSES in Darlington and South-West Durham have had a positive few weeks, with upturns across the board. Business confidence has increased - coinciding with an announcement that a £170m regeneration scheme in Darlington has moved a step forward. Plans

  • Skaters ready for a summer of activity

    A MOBILE skatepark was erected in the heart of Darlington yesterday, as part of a series of events aimed at keeping youngsters active during the summer holidays. The skatepark, for young people with skateboards or rollerblades, will be in the town's Market

  • Drink-drive teenager is banned

    A TEENAGE motorist who drove without lights during the early hours of the morning was almost twice over the drink-drive limit, a court was told. Ashleigh Greenwood, 18, was driving home after an argument with her boyfriend at his house, said John Turner

  • Apathy over youth football programme

    FOOTBALL club officials say they are disappointed at the low turnout for a meeting about the club's new youth programme. Angrove Northern League Brandon United has launched four youth teams, including under-18s, who will play in the Russell Foster Youth

  • Farmers offered cash for trees

    FARMERS and landowners are being offered cash to grow trees in the Yorkshire Dales. The incentive is part of a drive by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to increase the amount of woodland in the area. Geoff Garrett, the authority's trees and

  • On TV last night

    Silent Witness (BBC1) Tim Marlow On... The Bowes Museum (five) WITH the departure of Amanda Burton from Silent Witness, I'd hoped things would be more cheerful. Or as merry as these forensic pathologists can be, carving up corpses in a mortuary for a

  • Collingwood doing best to push open door to Ashes

    IF Graham Thorpe's retirement has left the door to the Ashes series ajar then Paul Collingwood is doing everything in his burgeoning powers to make sure he is in prime position to step through it. Kent might think they hold the Key to the door, but the

  • Time for a rest

    LAST weekend was another very pleasing one - but it didn't start off very well. I travelled to Germany for the Deutsche Bank Players Championship and finished in a tie for fifth spot, with Bernhard Langer, Bradley Dredge and Peter Lawrie, which meant

  • Logan stars in goal feast

    With just ten days to go before the season starts, Darlington gave opportunities to three more trialists in last night's friendly at home to Bradford City and Carlos Logan proved the pick of the bunch in a very entertaining game that ended 3-2 to the

  • Tenants vote to transfer council houses

    Council tenants in Teesdale have voted overwhelmingly to transfer their council houses. In the highest voter turn-out in the region for a housing transfer ballot, nearly 90 per cent of residents voted in favour of transferring their houses to a new housing

  • Nosworthy is out to impress

    MOST Sunderland fans will probably admit they knew little of new signing Nyron Nosworthy when Mick McCarthy swooped to sign the tough tackling defender. But Nosworthy intends to put this right when the new campaign kicks off on August 13. The 24-year-old

  • Face of pervert revealed at last

    THIS is the Army cadet major whose ten-year jail sentence for sickening child sex offences can finally be revealed after a landmark legal battle by The Northern Echo. Major Andrew Shaw can be named and shamed after the paper overturned a court order banning

  • Lord of the Rings no longer keeping workshop ahead of the game

    Fantasy wargames retailer Games Workshop said sales and profits had fallen following the advances made through the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The group, which makes the Warhammer game, had warned of a bubble effect surrounding the blockbuster films, which

  • Proclamation can be class act

    PROCLAMATION'S prospects of winning the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood should not be hindered if the forecast heavy rain arrives on cue. Twelve months ago it was the undisputed queen of the milers Soviet Song who scooped the mammoth prize,

  • Region to become centre of stroke research network

    The North-East is to become the centre of a new UK stroke research network. The decision to chose Newcastle University to lead the network means that North-East patients should be among the first in the country to get access to pioneering new drugs. The

  • Collingwood doing best to push open door to Ashes

    IF Graham Thorpe's retirement has left the door to the Ashes series ajar then Paul Collingwood is doing everything in his burgeoning powers to make sure he is in prime position to step through it. Kent might think they hold the Key to the door, but the

  • Complete overhaul for jail with high suicides record

    THE head of the Prison Service in the North-East has promised a complete overhaul of the running of one of the region's jails in the wake of figures which show it has one of the worst suicide rates in the country. Recently-appointed regional manager Niall

  • The tip of the iceberg

    Andrew Shaw's conviction for offering to supply a child for sex brought one sordid story to an end. But, as Nick Morrison reports, Shaw was just one man involved in a vast web of Internet paedophilia AMONG the many gruesome details to emerge in Andrew

  • Jailed woman's baby tragedy

    A HEAVILY pregnant woman locked up for assault lost her baby hours after being jailed. The family of 20-year-old Katrina Robinson are demanding answers after the boy was stillborn seven weeks prematurely at the weekend. Her mother, Sue Robinson, said

  • Celebrity - it's so yesterday

    While recuperating from my recent heart attack I took the opportunity to read one of the many classic novels that I have always felt I should have read but have never found time for. It was Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, first published in 1868 and always

  • Asda workers to strike for three days

    HUNDREDS of workers at an Asda distribution depot are to stage a three-day strike after attempts to resolve a pay row failed, it was announced last night. Members of the GMB union at the depot in Washington, Tyne and Wear, were due to walk out at midnight

  • Will Kelly's books remain unread?

    ONE Sunday morning, the sun came up and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar... Remember him - the little green caterpillar with the enormous appetite? Chances are, if you've had anything to do with children in the last 30 years

  • Question mark hangs over the future of hospital ward

    RUMOURS that a surgical ward at a Co Durham hospital may close are still circulating despite efforts by hospital bosses to end speculation. Ten out of 25 beds on a surgical ward at Bishop Auckland General Hospital were closed in May and nursing staff

  • Lovenkrands keen on Boro move

    MIDDLESBROUGH'S chances of signing Peter Lovenkrands were give a boost last night when the player's agent insisted the Rangers winger wants to sign for the club. The Denmark international was told earlier this summer by manager Alex McLeish that he was

  • Fury after Mary Bell puppet film made

    A five-minute puppet show based on the crimes of notorious North-East child killer Mary Bell has provoked outrage. Movie-maker Tony Hickson, 36, from Newcastle, says the short film is nothing more than an "animated children's fairytale". He hopes to have

  • 'Lock up the match day hoaxer'

    THE newlyweds forced to abandon their wedding reception because of a bomb hoax at a football stadium spoke of their anger last night. Paul and Debbie Carroll, of Branksome Terrace, Darlington, were celebrating their marriage when a hoaxer made a bomb

  • Woman tells rape trial she thought man was husband

    A WOMAN who woke to find a man having sex with her thought it was her partner at first, a court was told yesterday. Instead, it was 28-year-old Steven George Mason, who had crept into the woman's home through an unlocked rear door, said Christine Egerton

  • Face of pervert revealed at last

    THIS is the Army cadet major whose ten-year jail sentence for sickening child sex offences can finally be revealed after a landmark legal battle by The Northern Echo. Major Andrew Shaw can be named and shamed after the paper overturned a court order banning

  • Will Kelly's books remain unread?

    ONE Sunday morning, the sun came up and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar... Remember him - the little green caterpillar with the enormous appetite? Chances are, if you've had anything to do with children in the last 30 years

  • Hartlepool abortion capital of the region

    Hartlepool is the abortion capital of the North-East after a 12.5 per cent rise in terminations last year. There were 314 abortions in 2004, compared to 279 the previous year, giving the town an abortion rate of 18 per 1,000 women. It put Hartlepool ahead

  • Barron faces another operation

    MICKY Barron's injury problems show no sign of abating, with the Hartlepool United skipper facing another operation. After undergoing surgery on two separate hernia problems 12 months ago, Barron will miss the next four weeks of action as he needs an

  • Church family bids au revoir

    A CLERGYMAN is quitting his suburban parish for life on the continent. The Reverend Dr Robert Innes, his wife, Helen, and their four children are moving from Durham City to Brussels to start a new life in the Belgian capital. Dr Innes is leaving the parish

  • VIP day raises £2,000 for appeal

    A FIGHTER base played host to a group of VIPs and raised more than £2,000 for the Royal Air Force Association's Battle of Britain Wings Appeal. The Corporate VIP Day was the idea of chief technician Nobby Clark, the RAFA Liaison Officer at RAF Leeming

  • Jon shows he can cut it in his new role

    PEOPLE are being offered a rare chance to watch tree cutting in action. Jon Bates, 38, has become the Forestry Commission's chief in charge of felling and planting operations in North Yorkshire. He covers 56,000 acres of woodland in the county and, when

  • Magpies fans wary of Glazer-style takeover

    NEWCASTLE United fans were last night resolute that they did not want their club to be taken over by a 'Malcolm Glazer-style' owner. Speculation has been mounting that the Tyneside club is on the verge of a takeover bid after former chairman Sir John

  • Hospital tribute to fundraiser

    A HOSPITAL day unit is to be renamed in honour of one of its fundraisers, who died recently. The unit at Ripon Community Hospital will be renamed after Leon Smallwood in a ceremony on August 6, ahead of the Ripon Hospital League of Friends' summer fete

  • MP claims council has snubbed her

    DURHAM's MP claims she has been snubbed by the city council because she was not invited to tonight's State of the City debate. Roberta Blackman-Woods, who retained the seat for Labour in May's elections following the retirement of Gerry Steinberg, accused

  • Man admits house burglary

    A MAN took part in a break-in at the home of an elderly woman after he approached her about guttering repairs. Gary Young, of Hartlepool, was one of two men who took part in the burglary of the premises in Horden, east Durham, in which the 83-year-old

  • Vandals wreck flower beds

    A COUNCIL has appealed for help tracking down vandals who wrecked flower beds near a town centre. Stockton Borough Council said police had been asked to look out for those responsible for damaging the displays next to the Splash leisure centre, in Church

  • Police pledge to crime victims

    POLICE in County Durham need to keep crime victims better informed about the day-to-day progress of investigations, a survey has shown. Durham Constabulary commissioned researchers to carry out telephone interviews on 2,000 victims to find out their views

  • Community chiefs condemn attack on roadside sculpture

    A COMMUNITY sculpture carved by children to mark the turn of the millennium has been targeted by van- dals. Community leaders say they are disgusted the roadside artwork, between Bainbridge and Hawes, in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, has been damaged.

  • Test drive became a demolition derby

    A MOTORIST who took a high-powered car for a test drive wrote it off in a crash with a traffic island, a lamppost and four parked cars. Michael Hammond, prosecuting, told Harrogate Magistrates' Court yesterday how Wesley Donnelly lost control of the Ford

  • Enterprising students get a lesson in the world of business

    YOUNG entrepreneurs have been honing their business techniques at an enterprise day at their school. The day-long event at Barnard Castle School involved the charity Young Enterprise, a local businessman and a Galaxy FM radio presenter. Seventy pupils

  • Mental health services praised

    A RECENTLY-OPENED mental health hospital is being hailed by medical trusts across England as an example of good practice. Only six months after opening, a report has revealed that West Park Hospital in Darlington is at the forefront of inpatient mental

  • Children invited to join the fun at summer playschemes

    CHILDREN are being invited to take part in a summer playscheme this year. Places are available for this year's playscheme in Hartlepool. The council-run scheme operates on weekdays until Friday, August 19. It is open to children aged five to 11 and is

  • Detectives quiz man in hunt for Jenny

    A MAN was yesterday questioned by detectives searching for missing teenager Jenny Nicholl. The 45-year-old man was arrested in Richmond, North Yorkshire, yesterday morning in connection with an alleged attempt to pervert the course of justice. He was

  • Trust apologises to patients who had bungled operations

    Health bosses have apologised to scores of women patients who suffered botched operations at the hands of two surgeons. The women, who were treated by disgraced gynaecologists Peter Silverstone and Janusz Wszeborowski, were let down by years of failures

  • A curse on all pussyfoot hornswogglers

    DOUBTLESS in the belief that these columns are insubstantial, the admirable Mr John Morgans has been in touch about the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers. For years he didn't even know they'd existed, assuming the AOFB cufflinks long bequeathed by an elderly

  • Italian job sees Arriva race through Europe expansion

    TRANSPORT group Arriva announced the acquisition of 80 per cent of an Italian bus operator last night as it continued its breakneck-pace plan for expansion in Europe. The Sunderland-based plc announced that it had bought the majority of the SAVDA Group

  • American Airlines links Newcastle to New York

    The world's largest airline is to begin daily services from the North-East of England to New York, it was announced today. American Airlines is to fly from Newcastle International Airport to the Big Apple's John F Kennedy Airport from next May. This will

  • Talks held over care homes cash shortfall

    EMERGENCY talks to tackle Government underfunding of care homes in the region are being held today. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will be voicing its concerns over the future of care homes in the borough following the threatened closure of one

  • Disappointment as orders fall for another quarter

    A SURPRISE pick-up in demand from overseas failed to take the heat off manufacturers last night after it emerged order books continued to suffer. The CBI's Industrial Trends Survey found manufacturers reported a fall in new orders for the third successive

  • Call for action after another fatal crash on A66

    CAMPAIGNERS are demanding immediate action at an accident blackspot that has claimed another life. A man from the Darlington area died on Monday after he tried to join a section of the A66 at Elton, near Stockton, known locally as Death Mile. He was joining

  • Men arrested on GNER service

    Two men travelling on a train from the North-East towards London have been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The pair were arrested last night after the GNER service from Newcastle to King's Cross was stopped at Grantham Railway Station.

  • Why we fought to name them

    AN important principle of justice was at stake when The Northern Echo launched its legal fight for the right to name the guilty men in an appalling case of child sex abuse. Major Andrew Shaw, a North-East army cadet officer, had been jailed for ten years

  • BP making £1.4m profit every hour

    THE world's second largest oil company BP yesterday announced record first-half profits of £5.99bn as it continues to benefit from rising oil prices. The figure, which is 29 per cent higher than this time last year, means the oil firm generates profits

  • Teaching staff may lose jobs as part of £700,000 shake-up

    MORE than 40 staff have been told they are facing redundancy after a shake-up of the way vulnerable youngsters are educated. The £700,000 project will see three groups of secondary schools in Ryedale, Scarborough and Whitby take on greater responsibility

  • A curse on all pussyfoot hornswogglers

    DOUBTLESS in the belief that these columns are insubstantial, the admirable Mr John Morgans has been in touch about the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers. For years he didn't even know they'd existed, assuming the AOFB cufflinks long bequeathed by an elderly

  • Father in court after failing to get his children to school

    A FATHER has appeared in court for failing to get two of his children to attend school. Ian Taylor was given a two-year community rehabilitation order after he was found guilty of failing to send his 14-year-old daughter, Laura, to school. He also pleaded

  • Teaching staff may lose jobs

    MORE than 40 staff have been told they are facing redundancy after a shake-up of the way vulnerable youngsters are educated. The £700,000 project will see three groups of secondary schools in Ryedale, Scarborough and Whitby take on greater responsibility

  • Lifeless as a corpse

    Silent Witness (BBC1) Tim Marlow On... The Bowes Museum (five) - With the departure of Amanda Burton from Silent Witness, I'd hoped things would be more cheerful. Or as merry as these forensic pathologists can be, carving up corpses in a mortuary for