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Policing News
Crackdown on phone-using drivers
Police across Scotland have launched a one-day crackdown on motorists driving while using hand-held mobile phones.
Officers were reminding drivers they face a £60 fine and three penalty points on their licence if caught.
Courts can also consider discretionary disqualification and a maximum fine of £1,000 or £2,500 for drivers of buses, coaches and goods vehicles.
The country's eight police forces were taking part in the 24-hour Mobile Phone Day of Action, which began at 0700 BST.
The exercise is designed to remind motorists of the risks of driving while using a mobile phone and is being co-ordinated by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos).
Acpos research shows that drivers using hand-held mobile phones while driving are four times more likely to be involved in a road crash.
Chief Supt Mike McCormick, from Acpos, said: "You can be stopped by police even if you are using a hands-free phone if your driving performance is impaired by using a mobile phone in any way that creates an accident risk, and you will be stopped.
Arrest made over bus station rape
An 18-year-old man has been arrested by detectives investigating the rape of a 14-year-old girl.
The girl was attacked at Buchannan Street Bus Station in Glasgow at about 2100 BST last Friday.
Detectives had been scouring CCTV images from the station and the surrounding area for clues.
A Strathclyde Police spokesman said the man had been detained in police custody and a report would be sent to the procurator fiscal.
He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
Have-a-go-hero OAP recovers money
An elderly have-a-go-hero has told of her ordeal after recovering some of the money a thief stole while she was working at a venue in Edinburgh.
Vera Alexander, 81, was staffing the cloakroom at the Queen's Hall in Clerk Street on Monday when a man grabbed the cash from a container.
She told BBC Scotland's news website how she managed to shove the thief.
As the man tried to leave the building, the widow grabbed him again, and retrieved some of the notes.
Speaking from her home in Inverleith, she said: "I wasn't thinking, I just went for it. I opened the door of the cloakroom, grabbed him and said 'Give me back my money'.
"He looked at me like I was daft and I then took the money out of the back of his shirt where he had stuffed it.
"He looked a strong guy and I had to look up at him as I'm getting smaller with age, but I was just too angry to be terrified of him.
Man in court after fatal accident
A man involved in a crash on Skye which left another man dead has been charged with stealing a car.
Patrick Gilheaney, 26, of Lancashire, appeared in private on petition at Portree Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
Mr Gilheaney, who made no plea or declaration, faced a charge of theft of a vehicle from Haslington, Lancashire, on Sunday - the day of the accident.
Meanwhile, Northern Constabulary have traced another vehicle - a Land Rover Freelander - following a public appeal.
Police had said the vehicle's driver failed to stop at the scene.
Third vehicle
Mr Gilheaney was remanded in custody and will appear in court again next week.
He was arrested following a crash on the A87 Kyleakin to Broadford road on the Isle of Skye on Sunday night.
The 36-year-old man, a passenger in one of the cars involved, died at the scene and has yet to be named by police.
Northern Constabulary said inquiries into the accident were continuing.
Man faces 48 child porn charges
A 52-year-old man has appeared at Limavady Magistrates Court charged with downloading images from the internet showing child sex abuse.
Ivor Gilfillan, from Burnally Road in Limavady, is charged with 43 counts of making indecent images of children and five counts of distributing them.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between 2004 and February 2007.
Mr Gilfillan will remain in custody until he appears at the crown court on 17 September.
The defendant, a radiographer at Altnagelvin hospital, wept as the charges were put to him.
His wife and son were in court for the hearing.
Gun attack linked to dissidents
Dissident republicans are being blamed for a gun attack on a police patrol in Craigavon.
Four to five shots were heard after the patrol saw a man in a crouching position aiming at them with a rifle, police said.
No-one was injured in the attack in the Brownlow Road area, which happened shortly before 2000 BST on Tuesday.
Later, stones were thrown at SDLP assembly member Dolores Kelly after she spoke out against the violence.
"I had been on the news condemning the attacks on police officers," she said.
"There is no doubt in my mind that it was specifically me who was attacked and targeted because they waited until I had walked away until I came under attack."
Mrs Kelly's car windscreen was smashed and she suffered a minor leg injury.
But she said it would not stop her speaking out against attacks on the police.
Craigavon District Commander Chief Superintendent Alan Todd said: "What is very clear... is that this is a very small minority in that area seeking to impose their will against the vast majority of people working, living and travelling.
"They are clearly people who align themselves to the dissident republican movement and they are clearly people who are struggling with the success being seen locally in the partnership between community and policing which has brought about the lowest crime level in a significant number of years."
BB gun patient clears casualty
More than 30 patients had to be evacuated from Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry on Tuesday night after staff found a BB gun on a patient.
Staff in the Accident and Emergency department called the police after they discovered the weapon in the waistband of his trousers while being examined.
The man, who is from the Fountain area of the city, was arrested.
Department head Alan McKinney said the discovery caused a lot of anxiety amongst staff and patients.
"The staff acted quickly to protect the safety of patients.
"Staff deal with a lot of stress and strain during normal times, but to add to this the possibility of an armed attacker coming in just makes this completely unacceptable," he said.
Horses found dead in arson probe
Three horses have been found dead in the grounds of a house at the centre of a suspected arson attack where a family of three remain unaccounted for.
Christopher Foster, his wife Jillian and teenage daughter Kirsty, are missing after the Shropshire fire.
Police said two dogs had also gone missing from kennels at the property, Osbaston House, near Maesbrook.
West Mercia Police said it was waiting for the house to be declared safe so officers could enter it.
It is not yet known if the missing family were in the house at the time of the fire, which began shortly after 0500 BST on Tuesday.
Police have appealed for the family or anyone who may have seen them over the Bank Holiday weekend to get in touch urgently.
Kirsty is a year 10 pupil at Ellesmere College, an independent school in Ellesmere, Shropshire.
Helicopter traps speeding drivers
A police helicopter will continue to be used to catch speeding motorists in Kent and Essex, but only while it is out on other calls, police have said.
The craft has been fitted with powerful cameras which can read motorists' registration plates from the sky.
The helicopter has already been used to catch one speeding driver in Kent while it was on a search and rescue mission.
But Nigel Humphries of the Association of British Drivers said speeding should only be monitored from the ground.
"The way it should be worked is that the police officer decides a person is going too fast for the conditions, then uses the radar gun to check what speed they're doing," he said.
"Then they can produce evidence to prosecute them for that. You can't do that from 3000 feet."
Man charged following window fall
A man has appeared in court over an incident in which a woman and her four-year-old daughter fell from a first-floor window in Scarborough.
The 27-year-old and her daughter had fallen 30ft (9.1m) from the window of a property in Friar's Gardens on Sunday.
Both were taken to hospital where they are still being treated.
Abdul Rob, 37, of Friar's Gardens, has appeared before Scarborough magistrates charged with false imprisonment and making threats to kill a woman.
He was remanded in custody to appear before York Crown Court on 1 September.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said the woman was in a comfortable condition in hospital and her daughter's condition was stable.
Man, 32, critical after stabbing
A 32-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital after being stabbed on Teesside.
Police were called to Campbell Court in the Portrack area of Stockton on Monday evening after reports the man had been attacked.
The victim was taken to the University Hospital of North Tees where he is critical but stable.
A 61-year-old local man has been arrested in connection with the stabbing and is now being questioned.
Man badly hurt in street assault
A man is recovering in hospital after being found slumped in a Teesside street with serious injuries.
The 36-year-old victim was discovered near Wynyard Mews, in Hartlepool, in the early hours of Monday.
Police believe he was attacked with a weapon, but have not revealed the nature of his injuries.
He is said to be in a stable condition in the University Hospital of North Tees. Officers are searching the area for the weapon used in the assault.
Teenagers 'took drugs cocktail'
Two teenage girls are recovering in hospital after taking what police described as "a cocktail of drugs".
Officers were called to Blyth on Tuesday night after concerns were raised for the pair, aged 14 and 17.
They were taken to Wansbeck General Hospital, where police say their condition is improving after earlier being described as serious.
A Northumbria Police spokesman said three local men were arrested on suspicion of drugs-related offences.
He added: "The girls' conditions have improved significantly and the 14-year-old is expected to be released from hospital later, while the other is being kept in for observations.
"At this stage it is thought they may have taken a combination of illegal and prescription drugs, although further tests are being carried out.
"Three men, one aged 18 and two aged 23, remain in custody in connection with supplying drugs.
"This highlights the dangers of taking illegal drugs and in particular mixing different types or combining them with alcohol.
"This incident could have resulted in fatal consequences."
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