Policing News
Drugs raids result in 25 arrests
Twenty-five people have been arrested in a police operation in a Kent town to crack down on Class A drugs and key drug dealers.
More than 250 police officers executed 40 drugs warrants at addresses in Maidstone on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The operation also led to a closure order being placed on premises in Willington Street, where evidence of drugs usage was discovered.
It followed a four-month period of intelligence gathering by police.
Borough Commander for Maidstone, Ch Insp Ian Hall, said although Maidstone did not have a drugs problem, the potential for drugs and associated crime had been identified.
"This activity has been put in place to stop the Class A drugs network taking hold and the impact on people's quality of life that this can have," he said.
Police free bar killings suspect
A man arrested in England for questioning about the murder of six people in a County Down bar 14 years ago has been released without charge.
Officers from the PSNI arrested the 45-year-old in Maidstone on Monday with the assistance of Kent Police.
The killings in O'Toole's Bar in Loughinisland took place as the men, aged 34 to 87, watched television.
The victims were watching a World Cup match when a UVF gang burst in and opened fire.
They were Adrian Rogan, 34, 39-year-old Eamon Byrne, Patsy O'Hare, 35, Dan McCreanor, 59, Barney Green, 87, and Malcolm Jenkinson, 54.
Murder charge over bus fall death
A man has been charged with murder after a 60-year-old man died in hospital four days after a fall from a bus in County Durham.
Stan Dixon, from Horden, was travelling on the 243 Arriva bus on Saturday night when he became involved in a row.
He attempted to get off the vehicle and was left with serious injuries on the pavement. He died on Wednesday.
A 23-year-old Peterlee man has been charged with murder and will appear before magistrates on Thursday.
Women hurt by hit-and-run driver
Two women have been seriously injured after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on Wearside, police said.
The car mounted a pavement in High Street, Houghton-le-Spring, hitting the 19 and 59-year-old, before reversing over them and driving away.
Both are being treated for serious but non-life threatening injuries at Sunderland Royal Hospital.
A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The 19-year-old suffered head injuries, a broken leg and a fractured pelvis in the incident on Wednesday night, while the older woman has head injuries and a broken leg.
A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "It is believed both women had been walking along the pavement when a car mounted the kerb knocking them to the ground.
"The car then reversed twice over both women lying on the ground before making off."
Police head 'groped and bullied'
The head of a police force's mounted section abused his authority to grope and abuse his officers and members of the public, a court has heard.
Sergeant David Roythorne, 52, was a bully who told some of his victims "RHIP - Rank Has Its Privileges" after subjecting them to sex attacks.
Mr Roythorne, of Westmoor, North Tyneside, denies nine indecent assaults and three sexual assaults.
The former Northumbria Police officer is on trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
He is also accused of one assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
But he believed his actions were just horseplay and part of the "locker room culture", the hearing heard.
He also frequently grabbed other officers and members of the public by the crotch, and would thrust his genitals into other officers' faces and simulate sex.
But prosecutor Christopher Stables QC said Mr Roythorne's bullying was so bad one man became ill with depression and tried to kill himself.
Man held over guesthouse killing
Police investigating the murder of a 68-year-old guesthouse owner in Bangor have arrested a man.
Billy Spence was beaten and stabbed in the Tara Guesthouse on the County Down town's Princetown Road.
Police now know he was killed sometime after 2200 BST on Monday.
His partner discovered his body at 0730 BST on Tuesday. It is understood the Tara Guesthouse had been burgled in the last few weeks.
Man injured in unprovoked attack
A man is recovering after an unprovoked attack in Edinburgh left him with face and chest injuries.
Lothian and Borders Police are appealing for witnesses following the "serious" assault on the 44-year-old man at 0315 BST on Saturday.
The victim was chased and attacked by a group of men as he walked towards London Road Gardens from the Royal Terrace/London Road area.
He was punched when he reached the upper part of London Road Gardens.
As he ran away he heard one of the group shout, "get him." The victim was then tripped up and kicked in the back before a passing motorist stopped to help.
The men then ran off along Royal Terrace in the direction of Regent Road.
Man jailed over attempted murder
A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for a knife attack in Inverness which left his victim with a punctured lung.
Colin Hunter and others assaulted Shaun Harkness, 23, following a challenge to fight outside a pub last April.
Hunter claimed he was acting in self defence, but a jury in an earlier trial in Inverness found him guilty of attempted murder.
The 20-year-old was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Ian Taylor, 21, and 22-year-old Robin Clark, both from Inverness, were also found guilty of assaulting Mr Harkness by chasing him and hitting him with a wooden pole.
They were jailed for six months each.
Taser thief snared by own glasses
A masked man who held up a pub in South Lanarkshire with a Taser gun was caught after he left his glasses at the scene.
The High Court in Glasgow heard how James Cryans, 54, from East Kilbride, fled from the town's Shenanigans Bar with £6,000 last September.
Cryans later admitted carrying out the robbery and to firing the high-voltage stun gun at bar manager David Neilson.
He claimed local gangsters ordered the raid over unpaid debts. Sentence was deferred until next month.
The court heard how Cryans dropped his glasses and mobile phone after running out of the bar.
DNA on the items later lead to his arrest.
A lock-up belonging to his girlfriend was searched and inside were latex gloves, a balaclava, coins and an air pistol.
Cryans later admitted to the robbery when quizzed by police.
Pub manager Mr Neilson required hospital treatment for cuts to his arm, but was not seriously injured.
County has 100 fewer police staff
North Yorkshire has 100 fewer police officers than a year ago, figures obtained by the BBC have revealed.
As of Monday this week, the force employed about 1,550 officers, or full-time equivalents, compared with 1,650 a year ago - a drop of about 6%.
The county's Police Federation claimed the reduction was putting the public and officers at risk.
But deputy chief constable Adam Briggs stressed that the cuts did not affect the force's frontline staff.
North Yorkshire Police have imposed a freeze on recruitment this year and said that would continue for a while but eventually officer numbers would brought to about 80 below their 2007 peak.
At the same time, the number of police support staff has fallen by 50.
The North Yorkshire Police Federation chairman Mark Botham said: "It puts the safety of the public and of our members at risk.
"The last time we reduced number, in 2001/2, we were approaching 50% of our operational staff being assaulted in any one year."
