Airport staff walkouts

Two 24-hour strikes were called at Manchester airport by baggage handlers and check-in staff belonging to the Unite union for next Wednesday and Monday, September 1. Strikes have been called at Stansted and Gatwick for Bank Holiday Monday and the following Friday.

Terror plotters jailed

The head of a jihadist grooming cell who recruited Britain’s youngest terrorist — a boy of 15 — was jailed for 12 years by Blackfriars Crown Court. Aabid Khan, 23, of Bradford, was possibly plotting an attack on the Royal Family. His cousin, also 23, was given a ten-year sentence.

Death crash verdict

A British driver was killed by a teenager in a car racing through the desert in Dubai. David Bell, a retired civil engineer, was on a family holiday to celebrate his 75th birthday last February, an inquest in Torbay was told. Verdict: accidental death.

Knife leniency ‘over’

The days of lenient sentences for knife crime are over, Judge Richard Bray told Northampton Crown Court as he sentenced Thomas Boyce, 23, of Weedon, Northamptonshire, to 18 months in prison for threatening police officers with two knives.

The £10,000 Pimple

A 94-year-old stone-built folly designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens is for sale at £10,000. The Grade II listed structure, known as the Pimple, sits on Whitchurch Down, Dartmoor. The sale is being handled by Ward & Chowen estate agent, Tavistock.

Cash crisis

A teenager spent 45 minutes stuck in a phone box in Crawley, West Sussex, because he did not realise that emergency calls were free. A spokesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said: “Once we were there it only took a few minutes to free him.”

Husband charged with wife’s murder

The husband of the Vodafone executive Sally Sinclair has been charged with stabbing her to death at their home in Amport, Hampshire.

Ms Sinclair’s parents paid tribute yesterday to their daughter. Her mother, Nicolette Alford, said that her daughter had worked tirelessly to give her nine-year-old twin boys a happy life. Ms Sinclair’s stepfather, Barry Alford, said: “We will remember Sally as being caring, hardworking, intelligent and delightful to know.”

Alisdair Sinclair, 47, is due to appear at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court this morning, charged with murder.

Antigua case charges

A third woman has been charged in connection with the murders of Ben and Catherine Mullany in Antigua. Jeorgette Aaron, 31, is accused of perverting the course of justice, and being an accessory after the fact to both robbery and murder. Two men are charged with murder and robbery and two women with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice; all four are charged with receiving stolen property.

Holidaymakers killed

A man from the West Midlands and his eight-year-old daughter were killed in a road accident while on holiday in Turkey. They had been on a safari tour in an open-top Jeep with a third holidaymaker, who was critically injured. The First Choice holiday company would not comment on reports that the driver of the Jeep had lost control and hit a tractor after being squirted in the eyes with a water pistol.

Priest guilty of assault

A priest faces jail after being convicted at Manchester Crown Court of molesting boys at a Roman Catholic school. Father William Green, 67, from Aspull, Lancashire, claimed at least six victims over a ten-year period whilst teaching PE at St Bede’s College in Manchester during the 1970s and 1980s. Green pleaded guilty to twenty-seven charges of indecent assault and four of indecency with a child.

Soldier’s body found

The body of a First World War Australian soldier with his rifle still in his hands has been found by Graham Arkley, 21, a student from Bradford University, during an excavation in Belgium. The soldier is believed to have been part of the Australian 3rd Division. It is hoped that modern DNA techniques will identify him as one of twenty Australians missing after the Battle of Messines on June 7, 1917.

Charitable recycling

A survey by YouGov suggested that Britons will donate 7 per cent less to charities this year than last year. The Each One Counts campaign, which commissioned the survey, asked that people give unwanted mobile phones instead of money. It provides a postal recycling service for mobile phones and inkjet cartridges via its website (www.eachonecounts.co.uk) and donates to charity for each item.

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