A MAN sparked a major rescue operation after falling into an industrial cement mixer in a bizarre workplace accident at a remote site, in January 2017.

Concerns mounted for the trapped workman as at least ten firefighters, four crews from North East Ambulance Service’s hazardous area response team and a double-crewed ambulance worked to free him from a mixing drum on a site at Hamsteels Lane, near Lanchester.

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service said it was alerted to the stricken man at Micromix RM, on the rural lane at 11.47am after paramedics had arrived to find the worker unable to free himself and suffering from the cold in the near freezing conditions.

Photographs released by the fire service showed Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service personnel having set up a secure platform for rescuers who used a circular power saw to cut into the mixing drum on an Express Minimix vehicle.

About two hours after rescuers began the operation, the worker emerged from the drum on a stretcher and was taken to University Hospital of North Durham by ambulance.

A spokesman for the ambulance service added: “The man had been cleaning the inside of the empty cement mixer when he slipped and fell, injuring his leg. He had fallen on his leg and under his own weight had been unable to get out.”

A family doctor whose career and reputation was left in tatters over an Iraq War incident hoped to have his case reviewed after it emerged he was targeted by a rogue human rights lawyer.

More than four years after Northallerton GP Dr Derek Keilloh faced the disgrace of being kicked out the medical profession, Phil Shiner, who referred him to the General Medical Council as being “unfit to practice” has been exposed as a dishonest solicitor who agreed to pay “sweeteners” so witnesses changed their evidence.

Campaigners said the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) decision to strike off Mr Shiner gave a huge impetus to their battle to get the “travesty of justice” which Dr Keilloh suffered overturned and raised questions over the evidence which led to the doctor being struck off.

Relatives of the former Mayford House surgery and Friarage Hospital doctor, who was accused of lying about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners he had treated while serving as an Army medic in 2003, welcomed news that the solicitor who brought abuse claims against numerous UK troops had been exposed.

In February 2017 Police snooped on journalists’ phones to find the source of a story – even though criminal prosecutions had been ruled out, it emerged last night.

The then chief constable of Cleveland, Jacqui Cheer, ordered an operation to trace a whistleblower which led to officers using special powers, normally reserved for matters of national security, to spy on the phone records of Northern Echo journalists. After the force’s actions were ruled unlawful by the courts, we can reveal:

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advised Cleveland Police no criminal offence had been committed after an officer leaked information about a report on racism to the media;

Apparently undeterred by this, police pressed ahead with further applications to monitor the phones of six people, including three Echo journalists, two police officers and a solicitor.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled Cleveland Police acted unlawfully.

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