A 19-YEAR-OLD girl leapt through a window to escape the 2012 New Year's Day massacre that left three women and a man dead in a former County Durham pit village.

Laura McGoldrick fled the semi-detached property, racing to neighbours to raise the alarm in Horden, near Peterlee, as taxi-driver Michael Atherton went on the rampage at about 11.45pm on Sunday, January 1, 2012.

The bodies of Atherton, 42, and the women – his partner, Sue McGoldrick, 47, her sister Alison Turnbull, 44, and her niece Tanya Turnbull, 24, both from nearby Blackhall, were discovered by armed officers.

Two others, along with Laura McGoldrick, had been in the three-bedroomed house in Greenside Avenue, but managed to get away. She was treated in hospital for minor injuries after jumping from an upstairs window.

Rail chiefs axed a passenger service set up to serve rural communities because not enough people are using it, in January 2012.

The Weardale Railway, in County Durham, launched its community service between Stanhope and Bishop Auckland in May 2010 to help rural residents get to the town.

But the service ran its last train due to a poor take up by passengers.

The railway would instead refocus its efforts on the heritage side of operations, including running a steam engine popular with tourists.

Ed Ellis, then-president of Weardale Railway, said: "Our surveys of passengers have clearly shown that passenger interest is overwhelmingly in a heritage-type service for leisure travellers."

Only a few months after the Quakers lifted the FA Trophy at Wembley in front of 10,000 fans, Darlington Football Club faced an uncertain future after being put in administration for the third time in nine years, on January 3, 2012.

Fans, players and staff prayed for a miracle in the form of a new owner after those handling its affairs warned that unless a buyer was found soon, it would cease trading.

Chairman Raj Singh said he had been working for the previous two years to try to reduce costs. However, money was still owed to staff and former manager Mark Cooper, while the club's running costs needed subsidising. It is believed any potential owner would need to find between £300,000 and £500,000 to keep the club operating.

Mr Singh thanked fans for support.

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