The boy was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where he died a short time later.

The road was closed and an area cordoned off while accident investigations were carried out.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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The ship’s Polish master did not understand some UK maritime weather forecast terms, the marine accident investigation also found.

Investigators said it was fortunate the seven crew were rescued unharmed.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) issued a number of recommendations after the incident off Llanddulas, acknowledging that all four helicopters being out of action at RAF Valley, where the Duke of Cambridge is stationed, was extremely unusual.

The Antigua and Barbuda-registered vessel had been carrying stone when it ran aground at night, close to the main A55 coast road.

Two lifeboats, a Royal Navy helicopter from Prestwick, South Ayrshire and an RAF helicopter from Leconfield in North Yorkshire were involved in the rescue in heavy seas.

The report found the ship’s master’s unfamiliarity with UK maritime weather forecast terminology led to a delay in his departure from the Raynes quarry jetty in Llanddulas.

This in turn meant wind speeds had risen dramatically while the ship was moored at the jetty.

When it tried to move away from the jetty it was caught and carried onto the nearby shore.

The accident report concluded:

• RAF staff reported it was extremely unusual for all four of the RAF Valley helicopters to be unserviceable with such substantial technical faults.
• The MV Carrier’s master, one of seven Polish nationals on board, was not sure of the meaning of some of the words used in UK maritime weather forecasts.
• Jetty staff allowed the ship to continue loading despite the bad weather conditions.
• None of the staff at the jetty had significant maritime experience.
• “It is concerning that there may be other harbours like Raynes Jetty around the UK coast whose operators consider themselves outside the normal scope of port operations”.

The MAIB said the rescue was delayed primarily because of the technical problems with all four helicopters at RAF Valley, while snowstorms stopped a helicopter from RAF Leconfield launching immediately.

The report added the Leconfield crew was “obliged to make an extremely hazardous flight in very poor conditions across the width of the country”.

It said the performance of all the helicopter crews was “extremely commendable”.

“However, the risks they faced during the rescue were exacerbated by the lack of more locally-available search and rescue (SAR) helicopters,” it said.

“It was extremely fortunate the situation on board Carrier remained stable for long enough to enable all the crew to be rescued without injury.”

Later the ship was found to be “a total constructive loss” and was broken up on site.

The MAIB said that during the latter stages of its investigation, the Department for Transport had agreed a contract with Bristow Helicopters to provide SAR helicopter services for the whole of the UK from 2015.

The report added: “It is hoped that the existing SAR helicopter fleet can provide adequate serviceability until then.”

Recommendations include the port marine safety code being applied to all types of harbour.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has also been asked to work with the Met Office to ensure the terminology used in weather broadcasts are “clearly understood by mariners and other users of the service”.

Shore-based staff also needed a “good understanding of maritime weather forecasting” the report added.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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Norris was convicted of murdering four elderly women and attempting to kill a fifth, by poisoning them with insulin.

The 37-year-old, of Glasgow, has protested his innocence since his conviction in 2008.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now been sent evidence of the possibility of hypoglycaemia in older non-diabetic patients.

Two years after BBC Scotland first exposed weaknesses in the prosecution, the new scientific evidence casts further doubt on the conviction.

Norris had been accused of going on a murderous rampage at the Leeds hospitals in which he worked, because he disliked old people.

Despite no direct evidence linking him to any of the patients, he was on shift when they all had similar hypoglycaemic episodes – when the blood sugar drops to dangerously low levels.

Four women, Bridget Bourke, Irene Crooks, Ethel Hall and Doris Ludlam, died – while a fifth, Vera Wilby, recovered from the hypoglycaemic episode, and died later from unconnected causes.

None was diabetic. The prosecution argued that spontaneously-occurring hypoglycaemia was so rare that a cluster of five cases must mean foul play.

The jury accepted this, and Norris was sentenced to life with a minimum 30-year tariff.

But BBC Scotland investigated his case and in 2011 produced a programme which cast serious doubt on the conviction.

Off duty

Professor Vincent Marks, a world-renowned insulin poisoning expert, told me at the time that hypoglycaemia in non-diabetics was much more common than first thought.

We also uncovered evidence of other similar cases of hypoglycaemia which occurred in the hospital where Norris worked but while he was off duty.

The programme’s evidence suggested there could have been natural reasons for the deaths.

Norris’s lawyer believes the cases used against Norris were “cherry-picked’ by police. The evidence was submitted to the CCRC.

Now, a new book – The Case of Colin Norris – has uncovered further evidence. It has been co-written by the producer on the programme Louise Shorter and veteran miscarriage campaigner Paul May, and published by miscarriage group Inside Justice.

The new evidence comes from the geriatric medicine department at Rotherham General Hospital and the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire postgraduate medical school, which has published a review that concludes “hypoglycaemia is not uncommon in hospitalised non-diabetic older people” with other serious conditions.

June Morrison, Norris’s mother, has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her son, and now hopes the fresh evidence will result in the case being sent to the appeal court.

She told me: “People say I brought up a monster. But if I had the least bit of doubt about his innocence I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.

“I do believe the system will eventually prove there has been a victim of a miscarriage of justice. I do believe that will happen. I’ve got to believe that.”

Science ‘flawed’

Paul May, who has worked on some of the biggest miscarriages-of-justice cases in recent times, said: “I chaired the London-based campaign for the Birmingham Six. At the time of their arrest, police said to them ‘it’s not us, it’s the scientists’ who stated that some of the Six handled explosives.

“Three decades later, officers used virtually the same words to Colin Norris when claiming he murdered patients in his care with insulin.

“In both cases, the science was flawed. In both cases, the jury was persuaded to deliver guilty verdicts on the basis of erroneous expert evidence.”

Former Rough Justice producer Louise Shorter said: “There is no direct evidence that Colin Norris, who before this had not so much as stepped into a police station, hurt anyone.

“The trial was created out of one inadequate blood test from which a case, based on a medical fallacy, was built.

“We now know the medical evidence at trial was wrong. We hope the CCRC will refer his case back to the Court of Appeal before Colin loses too much more of his life.”

‘Grave doubt’

West Yorkshire Police told the BBC in 2011: “Norris was arrested, prosecuted and on the basis of the evidence presented to the court he was convicted and sentenced.”

Norris’s campaign team hopes the CCRC will report on his case before the end of the year and refer the case to the appeal court.

From my own perspective, having investigated miscarriage cases for more than a decade – this is one of the most troubling cases I have ever seen.

The central plank of the prosecution is that hypoglycaemia in non-diabetic cases is so rare as to be highly suspicious. The science now casts grave doubt on that claim.

If that plank disappears – the case against Norris is based on very little indeed and must be looked at again.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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A police force that spent more than £11 million on a headquarters it has never used has announced it will sell the site after it has been empty for five years.

Hampshire Constabulary will put Alpha Park up for sale because it cannot afford to develop it and is unlikely to recoup the money it paid.

The building in Eastleigh was bought in 2008 at the height of the property boom for £9.6 million and the force has since spent an extra £1.836 million on upkeep, security, business rates and failed plans to turn it into an HQ for its 3,400 officers.

The then chief constable Alex Marshall, who is now head of the College of Policing, was warned in 2010 that the force could not afford the bill to refurbish the site that could have topped £40 million.

The issue was called “expensive and embarrassing” by the local police federation last year, but the force said the purchase of Alpha Park had the green light from the Audit Commission.

Hampshire Constabulary also announced it will sell its current headquarters in Winchester and move into a smaller building in the city it has bought for £1.5 million as it grapples with Government funding cuts of 20% over four years until 2015. That move is expected to land it with a cash windfall as the former HQ is ripe for development.

The force is also trying to save £4 million of taxpayers’ money per year by sharing central services like finance and procurement with Hampshire County Council and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. This year it put its share of council tax up 3.4%.

The situation has been inherited by police and crime commissioner Simon Hayes who said: “Today is about a new direction and building the right foundations for the future. That means getting rid of back office buildings that we don’t need and investing in new facilities and partnerships that will help us to make Hampshire and the Isle of Wight safer places.”

The force also announced it would build two new police investigation centres (PICs) in Basingstoke and Portsmouth to provide short-term custodial care and support quicker processing of detainees Chief Constable Andy Marsh said: “Having the right buildings is key to a more effective and efficient police force – one that puts victims, witnesses and the community at the heart of policing.” Crime in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight fell by 15% in 2012/13 compared with 2011/12.

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Hampshire residents have every right to feel angry that millions of pounds of their money was squandered on this white elephant. Serious questions need to be asked of those who made decisions about the purchase of the building so they can be held to account. The priority now is to get the best possible deal for the taxpayer from the sale of the building.”

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

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A woman has been detained by police after trying to drive through the main gates of the House of Commons.

The red Volkswagen came a few metres on to the parliamentary estate at the Carriage Gates before being halted by a security ramp.

Witnesses said the driver demanded to see an MP as she was wrestled out of the vehicle by officers.

The incident took place as the House voted on controversial legislation introducing gay marriage, although it is not clear whether there was any connection.

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

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Three forgers have been jailed for what police believe is the largest ever plot to make fake pound coins in the UK, some of which may still be in circulation.

Kevin Fisher, 53, from Goffs Oak in Hertfordshire, was sentenced to seven years in prison at Southwark Crown Court for his role as ringleader of the scam, Scotland Yard said.

Co-conspirator Daniel Sullivan, 28, from Hornchurch, east London, received three years, and another man Mark Abbott, 44, from Edmonton, north London, was given two years.

They were behind what is thought to be a record number of fake coins, which were discovered after an undercover police operation in May last year.

A 40-foot storage container that contained 1,600,000 metal discs was found in Waltham Abbey, Essex, with £20,000 of fake coins.

There was also £30,000 in fake coins in a car nearby.

Scotland Yard said the haul was “the tip of the iceberg” for the gang, and that the coins were of high enough quality to pass off as real.

The force said some of the fake currency might now be in circulation.

Detective Inspector Bruce South said:”These three men are organised criminals who were intent on undermining the UK monetary system.

“There is nothing fake about the reality they must now face of life behind bars. We remain steadfast in our determination disrupt and tackle organised criminal networks”.

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

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A heartless conman who fleeced more than £170,000 out of a string of women he met on a website for “sugar daddies” has been jailed for seven years.

Callous Jonathan Price, 41, posed as a super-wealthy businessman, telling his victims he was an ex-SAS man, a friend of the late, exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky and that he had a home in Sandbanks, one of the most exclusive addresses in the country where football boss Harry Redknapp lives.

He turned their lives upside down and even married one victim, with whom he has had a child.

With “extraordinary callousness” the Walter Mitty figure pretended he was dying and invented a friend who would email progress reports to one victim to throw her off the scent, the prosecution said.

After convincing them he had millions in offshore accounts, he managed to borrow many thousands from his victims and their ageing parents by claiming he had cash flow problems and that he would repay them once the issues were resolved. But penniless career criminal Price would vanish after claiming to be terminally ill with a brain tumour and move in with another woman, who he had already been developing as a potential victim.

He met women online by using a “sugar daddies” site which aimed to match beautiful women with wealthy men, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Price targeted a chemist from County Durham to whom he proposed after charming her online. They planned a £96,000 wedding at Rockliffe Hall Hotel near Darlington. Instead they married at Harrogate Register Office in front of just four people. He defrauded her out of £72,000 and her parents out of a further £7,000. She had his baby last year. They have since divorced. Businesses lost around £50,000 from his offending.

Price, who had a bushy beard and wore dark glasses for the hearing, has not had contact with his parents, who live in Lincolnshire, since 2000. He was arrested in May last year after his “deeply suspicious” parents-in-law reported him to the police.

Peter Sabiston, defending, has told the court previously: “He is unsure because of the lies he has told, what is true and what is fantasy. He does seem to lead a life of fantasy.” His barrister told the court Price realised he may never see his child again, and accepts he has “damaged some people very badly and caused a lot of hardship to people he was very close to”. Mr Sabiston added: “He is a man who does have that Walter Mitty lifestyle and he has used other people’s money to fund it.”

Judge Howard Crowson said Price was selfish and had preyed on the vulnerability of victims who were seeking love and companionship. He said: “You have a record of fraud offences and theft which demonstrates you regard this as a way of life.”

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

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Seven of his victims were children and the other nine were adults, including two men.

Sentence at the High Court in Aberdeen was deferred.

Judge Lord Boyd of Duncansby paid tribute to the victims for their courage in coming forward and giving evidence during the trial.

He said the court had seen the devastation Robertson had caused to many lives, and warned he faced a “significant” jail sentence.

The relative of one victim said: “The kids got their justice.

“He deserves what he gets. He is an animal.”

Det Insp Janice Falconer said: “We welcome the conviction of David Robertson.

“Robertson is a highly manipulative and controlling individual who has committed a catalogue of sexual abuse against children and vulnerable adults in every decade since the 1970s.”

‘Blighted lives’

She added: “He abused his position of trust and his conduct has blighted the lives of his victims.

“It is due to their courage that his abuse had come to an end and my thoughts, and those of my enquiry team, are with the victims and their families today.”

Robertson accepted that he had committed some of the offences when he gave evidence during his trial.

The trial had begun on 7 May. The jury retired on Monday morning, and was sent home for the evening, resuming deliberations on Tuesday.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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His remains were discovered in a wooded area near the village on 21 April.

Police Scotland said there were no suspicious circumstances and a report had been sent to the procurator fiscal.

The discovery of the remains sparked a police investigation in the woodland area known as Folly Wood.

They spent a number of days examining the scene in order to help identify the body.

There were repeated appeals for information to help trace the teenager after he went missing from his Berwickshire home on 16 May 1999.

A detailed description of Mr Law was issued but no leads were forthcoming which helped to trace him.

An extensive search was conducted in the area of Gordon Moss by officers in the days after his disappearance.

Two years later, following fresh information, dozens of police officers, search and rescue volunteers and specialist sniffer dogs combed the bogs, marshes and woodlands in and around the area but again no trace was found.

Remains were finally discovered by a passing walker last month and have now been identified as being those of the missing teenager.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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Thames Valley Police said it was not yet known how the girl died.

The toddler’s mother, Angela Whitworth, was captured on CCTV at Heathrow Airport and is believed to have flown to Kenya.

Detectives are in contact with Interpol and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in an effort to trace Ms Whitworth, who has been in touch with relatives.

Police said the toddler’s father, who is not a suspect, raised the alarm when Ms Whitworth failed to turn up for an agreed meeting.

Officers broke down the door and discovered the youngster, who is believed to have been dead for hours rather than days.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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