The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)

NURSERY CLOSED OVER ASBESTOS FEARS

A SAMPLE of play sand used at a North Tyneside school is understood to have tested positive for asbestos contamination earlier this week. The sand was then removed as per national guidelines, and The Chronicle understands the school’s nursery was...

PAEDOPHILE FAKED ILLNESS IN BID TO ESCAPE JUSTICE

A Northumberland paedophile fabricated a disability by feigning an inability to walk or speak in order to evade prosecution for his crimes. Leicester Crown Court was told how John Siddell, 41, attended Elvis Presley evenings at a social club and was...

CHURCHES AGREE ‘SEX ABUSE’ PAYOUT

TWO churches in North Shields have agreed a £40,000 settlement with a man after allegations of sexual abuse were made towards a former priest. The Church of England organisations have settled the legal claim, which related to abuse the man said he...

‘NO TIME TO LOSE’, STARMER MUST GO

DOZENS of Labour MPS have now called on Sir Keir Starmer to quit after a local election pummelling. The party lost control of councils including Newcastle, Sunderland, South Tyneside, and Gateshead, sparking fury among many MPS over the direction of...

PC TELLS OF MACHETE ATTACK HORROR

A POLICE officer said he “could have died” in a machete attack while carrying out a duty he had “probably done thousands of times before”. PC Will Hunter was attacked at a petrol station in Gateshead as he tried to make a routine vehicle stop. The...

City leader loses seat as Labour vote collapses

LABOUR’S council leader in Newcastle has lost her seat as the party haemorrhages votes on Tyneside. Karen Kilgour failed to win election in the Blakelaw and Cowgate ward, where Reform UK secured victory and took all three available seats. She has...

‘PITCH BLACK AND VERY DANGEROUS’

THE scene of a terrifying stranger rape has been in darkness for weeks because damage to a power cable causes all streetlights to go out. Northern Powergrid says lighting should have been restored on the Gateshead side of the Redheugh Bridge by last...

MASKED ROBBER IN POLE ATTACK

A MASKED intruder attacked a man with a pole and stole cash and a Hugo Boss watch during a terrifying home invasion. Ryan Armstrong and another masked accomplice raided a home in Gateshead and left a man with a “gaping” head injury. Armstrong and his...

MAN KILLED HIMSELF AFTER BENEFITS CUT TO £37 FOR MONTH

A NORTHUMBERLAND man died less than a week after telling DWP call-handlers he was going to kill himself following a reduction in his Universal Credit. Andrew Halliday, 41, had struggled with his mental health for many years, an inquest in...

FOOTBALL COACHES GAVE ME EXTRA TIME

A NORTH Shields dad thanks a pair of heroic fellow football coaches for saving his life - and giving him the chance to see his children grow up. Simon Brown, 62, had a cardiac arrest in December 2017. He was coaching his son Ethan’s North Shields...

SCARRED FOR LIFE AFTER ATTACK

THE new Bishop of Durham has been consecrated at York Minster ahead of his installation next month. The King approved the appointment of the Venerable Rick Simpson in February and he will be installed at a service in Durham Cathedral on June 7. Mr...

‘IT IS NEVER ENDING’

ONE of the murderers jailed for the sadistic killing of disabled Lee Jobling is on the run. Mark Lang was one of two men convicted of murdering Lee, who was subjected to a brutal attack at his Gateshead home in 2006. Lang was locked up for life with...

‘DANGER HOUSE’

Calls for action on building piled so high with waste it looks like it could collapse

STALKER URGED ATTACK ON POLICE OFFICER EX

A DANGEROUS and obsessed stalker discussed having his police officer expartner attacked with a gun, acid, hammer and knife in chilling messages. Former maths teacher David Wilkinson had already been given a suspended prison sentence for subjecting the...

WOMAN RAIDED NURSERY BINS FOR DIRTY NAPPIES

A ‘GROTESQUE obsession’ with soiled nappies has landed a defendant behind bars after they were caught rooting around bins in breach of a court order. Abbie Taylor, who was born male but identifies as female and was referred to in court using female...

FORMER PUB BOSS JAILED FOR SEX ATTACK

A FORMER pub boss has been jailed for sexually assaulting a woman who ended up curled on the floor crying hysterically. David Prout, who ran a pub in Byker, Newcastle, at the time and also had a taxi licence, made unwanted advances to the victim and...

BACK FROM THE BRINK

THIEF STOLE FROM DEMENTIA SUFFERER

‘MONSTER’

A RAPIST who deliberately infected seven men with HIV with has been jailed for life. Adam Hall shattered the lives of his victims by deliberately passing on the virus and raping some of them. Hall was found guilty of seven counts of inflicting GBH...

DINER HIT IN ‘RAM-RAID’

A TAKEAWAY left severely damaged after a car smashed into it has been targeted by ram-raiders before, locals have said. The front of New Eastend Diner, on Moulton Place in Blakelaw, Newcastle, was boarded-up after an incident early yesterday...

HORROR 36-HOUR ATTACK ON MAN – BY HIS ‘FRIEND’

A TORTURE victim who was held captive for more than 36 hours thought he was going to die as he was repeatedly waterboarded, tied up, doused in paint stripper, attacked with a cheese grater and had a cigarette stubbed out on him during a horrific...

EIGHT HELD IN DUST-UP AT DAWN

EIGHT men have been arrested following reports of a disturbance in Newcastle city centre. Shortly after 6am yesterday Northumbria Police were called to Barrack Road, where it was reported that a group of men had been involved in an altercation. It...

DEMOLITION OF FLYOVER TO START TODAY

DEMOLITION of the Gateshead Flyover will finally start today. Contractors are going to begin tearing down the crumbling concrete highway, which has been closed since December 2024 because of safety fears. Frustration has built over the ongoing...

JUST TAKE THE TEST – I WISH I HAD

KNIFE THREAT ON MY OWN DRIVE

A CAR-OWNER was threatened with a knife in the street as he tried to stop masked thieves from driving off in his BMW. Tom Dixon says he was forced to stay up all night to protect his own car after the crooks helped themselves to his keys when they...

KICK-OFF IN £1M APPEAL

NEWCASTLE United legend Alan Shearer is kicking off a £1m fundraising drive to help create a second hydrotherapy pool at The Alan Shearer Centre in Newcastle. The Centre, in West Denton, has been supporting families from across the North East for...

WOMAN IS QUIZZED ON SUSPICION OF MURDER

A WOMAN held over an alleged altercation on a bridge that saw a man go into the River Tyne has been questioned on suspicion of murder. Searches yesterday continued under the Redheugh Bridge, which links Newcastle and Gateshead, following an incident...

FAMILY RESCUED AFTER HUGE BLAZE

A WALLSEND family were rescued from their first-floor flat which was engulfed by flames following a suspected arson attack. Northumbria Police officers are investigating after a huge fire broke out at a home in Battle Hill in the early hours of Monday...

MAN DIES AFTER SUSPECTED BURGLARY

A man has been pronounced dead following a “suspected burglary” in Newcastle city centre. A major emergency services response was sparked yesterday morning with police, firefighters and ambulance crews descending near to the Discovery...

TRIBUTES TO A GIANT OF CITY’S POLITICS

BLACKMAILER LEFT HER VICTIM WITH JUST 16P

A WOMAN was left terrified for her life and with just pennies to her name after being targeted by her “wicked” friend in a shocking campaign of blackmail. Jenna Thompson posed as a man and his son while sending menacing messages to a woman she was...

Designer to the stars’ dream to ‘return home’

AN interior designer from here in the North East, who has worked on projects with the likes of Boy George and the Beckhams, is now thriving with his own business. Since graduating from Northumbria University in 2010, Lee Mcnichol, from Whitley Bay,...

‘WE DON’T BLAME HIM’

THE grieving family of an elderly woman who tragically died following a collision involving a police officer did not want him to go to jail, a court heard. Motorcycle pillion passenger Muriel Pinkney sadly died days after being involved in a crash...

GUNS AND VIOLENCE OBSESSIVE JAILED

AN OBSESSIVE fan of guns and fantasy violence films used a 3D printer to manufacture viable parts for a lethal weapon. Paul Dunlavy made upper and lower receivers for a semi-automatic firearm at his home in Newcastle. A court heard he enjoyed making...

‘FOUR YEARS FOR TRYING TO SET PEOPLE ON FIRE?’

A MAN whose flat was damaged in a spate of arson attacks says the fouryear sentence handed to the arsonist is a “grave miscarriage of justice.” Three flats in Dean House, on Tumulus Avenue in Walker, and seven cars nearby were targeted on July 6 last...

A CHANCE TO SAVE YOUNG LIVES

DON’T miss this opportunity to save our kids from social media. That’s the desperate plea of a mum whose 12-year-old daughter took her own life after being bullied. Charley Ann Patterson hanged herself at her home in Cramlington, Northumberland, in...

‘I HOPE MY SON’S DEATH HAUNTS YOU’

Killer Ross Neville

‘I’m so lucky to do this as a job’

SAM Fender is to pick up an award for best live act at a ceremony honouring legendary musicians later this year. The North Shields lad, who has performed to a packed-out St James’ Park on multiple occasions, said he was “so lucky” after learning that...

Pilgrim Poles to light the way in the city centre

THE installation of huge lighting pillars along Newcastle’s main shopping street has begun. As the long-running refurbishment of Northumberland Street finally nears its end, work has now started on the erection of huge Pilgrim Poles designed to pay...

TWO SIPS AND I WAS IN SO MUCH PAIN

BREAK POINT?

NEWCASTLE United fans were left in despair after yesterday’s derby day defeat to Sunderland at St James’ Park. The Black Cats won the lunchtime game 2-1, completing the double over their rivals amid a tense and rowdy atmosphere. Despite reports of...

GOING, GOING... but won’t be gone until October

ANTI-SOCIAL AGGRAVATION

ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour on a North Tyneside estate is so bad that some people don’t feel safe going out at night, as buses have been bombarded with stones and other items. The 307 bus service was withdrawn from the Meadow Well Estate after 6pm on...

Bid to bring historic flag ‘home where it belongs’

THE director of North East Museums says that a Union Flag flown at the Battle of Trafalgar would become a “star exhibit” at the Discovery Museum. Should the organisation’s acquisition of the flag be successful, it would be on display to “hundreds of...

HOWE ABOUT THAT!

EDDIE Howe paid tribute to the “special” Geordie public as the Newcastle United boss accepted the city’s highest civic honour. 12 months on from the club’s historic Carabao Cup final triumph, the NUFC manager has now been presented with the Freedom of...

FORGOTTEN WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE WELL

‘I DON’T THINK I’LL EVER GET OVER IT’

A VULNERABLE elderly woman and her dementia-suffering husband were left terrified after marauding armed raiders smashed their way into their home and threatened to behead her and their dog. The couple were in bed in their Newcastle home when Craig...

SHATTERED

FOUR suspects have been questioned after police disrupted 10 potentially lethal cannabis ‘shatter’ labs in the North East. Archie York, seven, died when a dangerous drugs factory set up in the flat below his Newcastle home sparked a huge...

‘YOU WERE AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN’

A DRUGGED-UP and “crazy dangerous” driver who killed his young nephew and brother in a horror smash was an “accident waiting to happen”, a bereaved mum told a court. Michael Webb was twice the limit for cocaine and doing almost double the speed limit...

‘WE WERE TOLD SHE WAS MINUTES FROM DEATH’

A SWALWELL mum has spoken of her horror after her little girl was sent home from A&E and told she had a “stomach bug” – when she had a rare infection. Little Haisleigh Finlay, now two years old, was, by the time she was rushed back to hospital later,...

OUR LITTLE BRAVE HEART

A THREE year-old boy is now thriving after battling back from three open heart operations. Sam and Gordon Thompson from South Shields found out at their 20-week scan that their son Bobby had a hole in the heart. Following his birth, medics discovered...

MAYOR’S CASH BOOSTER

THE North East mayor has unveiled a cash injection aimed at salvaging two of the region’s most prominent stalled developments. Plans to build a world-class arena on the Gateshead Quayside and a new film and TV studios on the banks of the River Wear in...

RAPISTS JAILED FOR HORROR ATTACK

TWO friends who raped a young woman at the same time in a “dehumanising” attack have been locked up for a total of 22 years. Taylor Dove and Vieri Chapman violated the woman in a “vile” attack after she rebuffed suggestions of a threesome. After...

WE’VE HAD 80 TRIPS TO DISNEY WORLD!

A ROLLER COASTER mad grandad and his wife have forked out more than £325K on holidays to Disney World which they visit up to four times a year. Retired train driver Phil Taylor, 65, and former bank clerk Melanie, 63, first went to the theme park 27...

‘HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING’

A RAPIST has been convicted of deliberately infecting seven men with HIV. Adam Hall, 43, from Washington, was found guilty of seven counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to transmitting the virus. He was also convicted of...

HALF PRICE TICKETS

TO THE RANDOX GRAND NATIONAL FESTIVAL

BATH SNATCH RAPIST TO STAY IN JAIL

EVIL bath snatch rapist Peter Voisey will stay behind bars after it was decided he is not safe to be released. The vile predator was jailed for one of the North East’s most terrifying and shocking crimes 20 years ago. Voisey crept into a home in...

KILLER DRIVER FLED SCENE AND SET CAR ON FIRE

A DRIVER who had downed between “eight and 10 pints” at a party killed a talented Durham University student after crashing into her and fleeing the scene. Liam Bowes, who has now been jailed for 12 years, had been drinking pints and shots at a 50th...

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC

SATURDAY night was another triumph for North East rock star Sam Fender, who collected two more Brit Awards as the ceremony relocated to Manchester. Sam secured his inaugural Brit seven years ago with the Critics’ Choice award in 2019, the same year...

12 YEARS IN JAIL FOR SEX ATTACKER WHO STRUCK TWICE IN MINUTES

A PREDATOR made the “stuff of nightmares” come true for two lone women by subjecting them to separate terrifying violent sex attacks within minutes. Both victims had been to the Come Together music festival on Newcastle’s Town Moor last summer when...

CHILD KILLER HUNTLEY IN RVI AFTER JAIL ATTACK

CHILD killer Ian Huntley is being treated in a Newcastle hospital after being attacked in prison – the second time he has been set upon while serving his sentence. The infamous Soham murderer was said to be in a critical condition after suffering head...

10 YEARS FOR KILLER DRIVER

KILLER driver Ryan Scott ripped a family apart when his “unbelievable speed” caused the death of an adored mum. Claire Laybourne was returning from taking her mum on a trip to the theatre as part of her Christmas present when their happiness was...

LUCKY ESCAPE FOR NURSE AS CAR CRUSHED

A North Tyneside nurse believes she had a “lucky escape” after a tree fell on her car as she walked her dog. Rachel Alvers, who lives in Wallsend, has been without her vehicle since her BMW ix1 was written off by falling timber on Tuesday. Rachel,...

GUILT T!

A GEORDIE Shore star and a former Miss Newcastle are among seven reality TV personalities who have admitted illegal promotion of foreign exchange trading on Instagram. Scott Timlin, known as Scotty T, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London...

ROAD SAFETY WORKER CAUGHT DOING 120MPH ON A1

A TRAFFIC management worker employed to help keep the roads safe was caught speeding at up to 120mph while over the limit for cannabis. Yousef Majid put lives at risk while behind the wheel of a luxury highpowered Mercedes on the A1, Newcastle Crown...

‘MACHETE THREAT’ ARREST

A MAN has been arrested after a driver was allegedly assaulted and threatened with what is believed to be a machete before having his vehicle stolen in Newcastle. Just after 5pm on Tuesday armed police were deployed to a report of a car theft in...

MUSIC TO OUR EARS

NEWCASTLE will stage the prestigious Mercury Prize for the second year running after the spectacular success of the 2025 ceremony. There were wild celebrations back in October when Sam Fender landed one of music’s biggest accolades on home turf – and...

I FELT SHEER TERROR ...AND THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE

A MOTHER said she felt “sheer terror” and believed she was going to die when she was strangled by her ex-partner. Rebecca Kew, known as Bex, was grabbed by the throat by Liam Herron, 27, while trying to get him to leave her home in Wallsend, North...