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Ban on ' three pints' driver
A WRITTLE Agricultural College technician was banned from driving for a year and fined 270 with 35 costs by Witham magistrates yesterday after pleading guilty to driving with excess alcohol.
Mrs Iris Marr, prosecuting, told the court Robert Adams, 43, of Coggeshall Road, Feering was stopped near his home on January 8.
Tests revealed 45 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath.
The legal limit is 35.
Adams told the court he had been out drinking but had no more than three pints.
On the way back home he stopped off to look at a house he was thinking of buying.
Adams added: ' I am just about stony broke. '
Man is cleared of bid to murder
JOBLESS Frank Mason was cleared last night of attempting to kill a man in a street.
Mason, of Bramston View, Witham, was acquitted of attempting to murder 27-year-old Adrian Hawes, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on alternative charges of wounding with intent and causing actual bodily harm.
The charges arose from an incident in Cypress Road, Witham, on January 19 last year when three men got out of a car and set about Mr Hawes.
He was punched and kicked to the ground and stabbed three times in the back.
Mason denies being involved in the attack.
The jury, which spent more than six hours considering its verdicts, cleared Mason of threatening to kill Mr Hawes in a separate incident 18 days earlier, but were unable to agree on another charge of affray.
Mason now faces a re-trial on the wounding and affray charges.
BBC chief should pay back tax, Major told
THE BBC's new director general John Birt should repay ' all the tax avoided ' when he was paid as a freelance consultant, the Prime Minister was told in the Commons yesterday.
However, Mr Major said the matter was for Mr Birt and the Inland Revenue.
On Monday night, Mr Birt joined the BBC's staff after criticism of his salary and tax arrangements, following disclosures in a Sunday newspaper.
His own company had been paid his freelance fee by the BBC and he was taxed on what he paid himself as a salary from the company's turnover.
At question time yesterday, Gordon Prentice (Lab Pendle) urged Mr Major: ' The revelations that the director general of the BBC has been avoiding tax on a massive scale leave a very nasty taste in the mouth.
' John Birt should pay back to the Inland Revenue all the tax avoided in his period as deputy director general. '
Private funeral for Bobby Moore
THE soccer world yesterday respected the wishes of Bobby Moore's family and stayed away as the funeral of England's 1966 World Cup-winning captain took place in private.
About 30 close friends and family were present for the 40-minute service at Putney Vale Crematorium, south-west London.
The mourners were led by his widow, Stephanie, and his children, Roberta and Dean.
Relatives from east London travelled to the funeral via Upton Park, where they were said to ' overwhelmed ' by West Ham supporters' floral tributes to Moore, who died last week from cancer at the age of 51.
A memorial service for Moore is likely to be held in the summer, linked to a memorial match at Wembley.
Stephanie Moore said yesterday: ' We appreciate the good wishes of all our friends inside and outside football, and are grateful they respected the family's wish for a private funeral. '
Police find drugs factory
ARMED detectives uncovered a multi-million pound cannabis factory in a dawn raid on a 300,000 bungalow yesterday.
They found an extension to the drawing room with thigh-high cannabis plants growing in polythene bags full of compost.
Nearby was a 400-square-yard warehouse with more plants flourishing in conditions controlled by artificial lighting and automatic watering systems.
Around 2,000 plants worth 200,000 were found on the site at Lower Avenue in Bowers Gifford, near Basildon.
Detectives also found bales of dried herbal cannabis from a previous crop and believe the isolated spot had been used to produce the drug for up to a decade.
Twenty armed police from Essex assisted nine detectives from the drugs wing of Number Nine Regional Crime Squad in the swoop.
Supplier
Det Chief Inspector David Morgan said: ' This is the biggest operation of its type that I have come across.
It means we have taken out a major supplier of cannabis in the south of England. '
A man is being questioned at a police station in London.
Drugs squad officers in Wiltshire discovered another drug factory in the bedroom of a council house yesterday.
Detectives found the room converted into a cannabis nursery with heaters, foil covered walls to retain heat and artificial lighting operating on time switches.
One officer said the two-storey house was' like a luxury greenhouse for pot '.
Police are still trying to trace the occupants of the house in Labrok Road, Trowbridge.
Warning of plane disaster at Stansted shakes council
A PLANE disaster of Amsterdam proportions is due soon at Stansted disbelieving county councillors were told yesterday.
Liberal Democrat Leader, Tom Dale gave the grim warning in a debate about the axing of accident and emergency services at The Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishops Stortford.
Although the casualty department has been closed for two years Mr Dale said it was imperative that it is opened because of its close proximity to London's third airport.
Anthony Stockley, Rochford's Tory councillor was outraged at the suggestion of an air crash in the near future and accused Mr Dale of scaremongering.
' The safety record at Stansted is first class, ' he said.
Mr Dale said that the disaster scenario was statistically true and members of the full council meeting were reminded of the Amsterdam plane crash.
He said public feeling had been ignored in cutting the closest casualty service, adding that the nearest A and E department at Harlow was already overloaded.
Another alternative St. Margaret's Hospital at Epping has a casualty department which is only open 9am-5pm and will shortly close anyway, he said.
John Whitehead, Conservative member for the Thaxted, who backed the decision to close the local hospital said 10 million is to be spent on improving facilities at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow.
He said the regional health authority has air disaster contingency plans at Stansted.
' They have detailed well practised regularly updated procedures.
' Paramedics would be used, field hospitals set up at the scene if necessary, helicopters from Whitechapel would fly out casualties, ' added Mr Whitehead who said a triangle of hospitals would deal with the injured and all the plans were agreed by the airport's consultative committee.
Dogs stop police getting to dead man
POLICE faced a pack of 30 dogs trained to attack when they answered a call to a sudden death at a cottage yesterday.
RSPCA officers, police and a vet surrounded the house at Edale, Derbyshire, but the animals stopped the emergency services reaching the body of their owner Leo Brown, 50, for more than eight hours.
He died in the early hours from natural causes, believed to be a heart attack.
The drama began when a neighbour was awakened by the dead man's wife.
Eleven of the most vicious dogs were destroyed and others were tranquillised before their owner's body could be brought out.
Driving ban for widower
A WIDOWER studying for a doctorate at Cambridge University was banned from driving yesterday after pleading guilty to a drink-drive offence.
William Harbison, 50, admitted the offence at St Edmundsbury Magistrates Court.
Prosecuting, Gareth Davies said Harbison had excess alcohol in his breath when he was stopped in his car by police on the A45 between Barrow and Bury St Edmunds.
Harbison, of Horkesley Road, Colchester, said he had not known he was over the limit, and would not have driven if he had.
He had to drive his two daughters to school since his wife died four years ago and needed his licence, he said.
Stolen drugs could be lethal
DRUGS taken from a stolen doctor's bag could form a lethal cocktail if taken together, police said yesterday.
The warning came after thieves took the bag from the medic's car while it was parked in the Moulsham Street area of Chelmsford late on Monday night.
A postman on his morning delivery round found the empty bag on a footpath alongside the railway line between Arbour Lane and Stump Lane and handed it in to police.
The drugs stolen include an ampoule of adrenalin, which could kill if injected, a police spokesman warned.
The other ampoules and tablets included cyclimorph, pethadine, prednesol, atropine, piriton and stemetil.
' Some of them could prove dangerous and, if taken in combination, could prove lethal.
But they are not in themselves lethal, ' he said.
He urged anyone finding the drugs to hand them to police.
New ways to beat smugglers pay off
CUSTOMS drugs-busting teams at Felixstowe and Ipswich are having to use new methods to catch smugglers following the removal of Euro trade barriers.
With goods and people from EC states now able to move freely within the Continent, officers are having to carry out more specialist work to prevent drugs reaching the streets.
Officers spoke of their different style of work following a 4 million seizure of heroin at Harwich, and a 4 million haul of amphetamines at Parkeston Quay.
Steady progress is being maintained and a number of smaller seizures also made at Felixstowe and Ipswich.
Passengers arriving by ferry from Belgium at Felixstowe do not now have to declare goods, while cargo vessels travelling between EC countries do not have goods cleared by Customs staff.
Customs spokesman John Barber said this did not mean the drugs teams were prevented from carrying out their vital work.
Methods had been changed, and officers were now engaged in much more intelligence and research work to identify vessels which were potential carriers and people who might be smuggling.
' We have been drawing up profiles of potential smugglers so that we know who or what type of people to look for using intelligence sources.
' With cargoes on ships our work is pretty much the same as before.
Most of the source countries for drugs are outside the European community and we would deal with vessels from these places as we have always done, ' he said.
If officers have reasonable suspicion they can still board and search and arrest.
There was now greater co-operation with Customs officers on the Continent, with officers able to deal on a personal level with each other rather than at senior status  ensuring a quick and efficient exchange of information.
Church design found lacking
PLANNING consent for a combined Elim church and community centre has been delayed until the applicants change the plans to improve the ' bland and unattractive appearance ' of the scheme.
Colchester Borough Council's planning committee decided to delegate the decision on the application for the church at The Centre on the town's Greenstead estate to the director of planning and development, John Hutton, provided the applicants submitted new drawings showing more brickwork features and better windows, otherwise it would make the decision at a later meeting.
The proposed building would contain a hall/meeting room, classrooms, a creche, kitchen, vestry, office and toilet.
One resident had written to the council suggesting a secular group building might better suit the area's needs, saying she would prefer a facility which would offer something for more of the residents.
Major's hollow promise to councils
Prime Minister John Major has told Tory councillors he wants to forge a new partnership between central and local government.
Empty words, retorts Colchester Borough Council leader Steve Cawley, particularly in the wake of the toughest public spending round most authorities can remember.
He spoke to RICHARD WOODARD.
BRITAIN'S struggle to climb out of the worst recession since the 1930s has seen Ministers return to the old ' belt-tightening ' rhetoric of more than a decade ago  a move less than popular with Liberal Democrat Steve Cawley.
' They've been encouraging local authorities to tighten their belts for the last 14 years, ' he protests.
' It's not belt-tightening as much as slow strangulation. '
The premier's talk of working with councils rings rather hollow in Mr Cawley's ears: ' My idea of a partnership is that it's a two-way thing, with give and take.
At the moment we're doing all the giving and the Government is just taking. '
As if to illustrate, Harlow District Council's controversial capping limit has seen their budget more than halved, with hundreds of redundancies likely to result.
An extreme case, perhaps, but Mr Cawley believes it is nonetheless symptomatic of the financial malaise affecting all authorities.
' This year's budget is far tighter than anything we've had to endure before, ' he says.
' Many councils will be laying off fairly substantially numbers of staff to meet the guidelines.
Budgets aren't based on the needs of the local community any more, but dictated by central Government. '
Colchester has been protected from the worst effects of the cuts because of forward planning, he says.
But services still suffer, and many capital projects  including an urgently-needed day centre  never get started because the council can not afford to maintain them.
These restrictions are also taking the fire out of budget debates.
Last week's meeting of the borough's policy and finance committee was all but devoid of dissenting voices, a mood summed up by one Labour councillor afterwards: ' What's the point of arguing?
There's no more money to play with anyway. '
Councils, argues Mr Cawley, are being hit by an unenviable double whammy, thanks to the recession and the Government's response to it: tighter spending assessments and declining revenue income are adding insult to injury, with ordinary people bearing the brunt.
This brings him back to another of Mr Major's weekend promises, to give people more of a stake in their local administration: ' If they are going to bring local government closer to people, it has got to be more responsive to the wishes of people, and less to the wishes of central Government.
' If they want us to service local communities, we must be accountable to them.
Quite simply, that is no longer the case  we are now less accountable to those people. '
Vote to cut council tax is lost
A LAST-DITCH bid to shave 5 off council tax bills was defeated last night.
Following a heated debate, Tendring district councillors voted not to take cash from council coffers to reduce the bills as suggested by Tory Bill Bleakley.
He suggested taking 240,000 out of council balances after criticising the ruling Liberal Democrat administration for spending right up to the Government's capping limit.
However, Lib Dem group leader Tom Dale said it was vital 2.2 million reserves were not touched in case it was needed for emergencies.
The authority's 12.8 million budget means Tendring residents will pay between 343 and 1,090 council tax.
A bid to reduce bills for rural householders who live away from the district's three main cemeteries, by making them pay less for burial services, was narrowly defeated.
Egg farmers say Gummer should quit
EGG producers yesterday demanded the resignation of Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer as Agriculture Minister after his department admitted it did not pay farmers enough compensation for the slaughter of poultry flocks after the 1988 salmonella-in-eggs scare.
The United Kingdom Egg Producers' Association said many poultry owners would have been saved from going out of business if the compensation was paid when it was due.
It hit out after a report from the Parliamentary Ombudsman sharply criticised the Ministry of Agriculture over its failure to ' devise and implement a scheme which complied with the legislation ' to pay compensation.
As a result of the report, more than 100 farmers are to share in about 600,000 in extra compensation for the compulsory slaughter of their flocks.
Association chairman Andy Oatley said: ' We are delighted some members will be paid the sums illegally withheld, but for many it will be too late.
The grief, hardship and devastation caused by the slaughter policy was bad enough.
That the ministry should also have cheated egg producers out of their compensation is a matter over which Mr Gummer should resign. '
Richard North, scientific adviser to the egg producers, said the slaughter programme, which ended last month with extra health precautions, should never have been started.
Ombudsman William Reid made his criticism after dealing with a complaint from one of the 121 farmers who will now get extra compensation.
Since the salmonella scare, the Ministry of Agriculture has destroyed more than 3.25 million hens in 364 salmonella-infected flocks at a cost in compensation, excluding the new awards, of 5.4m.
Hatton is cleared of conspiracy charge
FORMER Liverpool City Council deputy leader Derek Hatton and two other people were yesterday formally acquitted of one charge of conspiring to defraud the city council.
Acquitted with Hatton, 44, on the direction of the judge at Mold Crown Court were builder Roy Stewart and former Liverpool City councillor Hannah Folan.
Stewart, managing director of Rogerson's Developments, who faced only one charge, was discharged.
However, Hatton still faces two charges of conspiring to defraud the local authority.
Two quizzed over Harrods bombing
Armed police swoop after release of suspects video
TWO men last night were being questioned about the IRA bombing of Harrods following a dramatic armed raid just hours after police showed a video of two suspects.
Scotland Yard said shots were fired at anti-terrorist squad detectives and a tactical firearms unit as they moved in on a house in Stoke Newington, north London.
They were responding to a tip-off after police released a video of two men filmed shortly before the blast at the Knightsbridge store on January 28 in which three people were injured.
Scotland Yard said police did not return fire during the arrests.
One of the men was treated for a minor head injury, a statement said.
It is believed both men were being held at the high-security Paddington Green police station last night.
Neighbours in Walford Road, Stoke Newington, said they did not hear any shooting but told of screaming and said the face of one of the men who was arrested was bloody and bruised.
Mechanic Tommy Murray, 24, who works in a garage on the corner of the road, said: ' There was blood all over the place.
They had him on the floor.
He seemed unconscious but there was a gun pointed at him.
There was blood pouring out of his head.
There was a lot of shouting.
' The police were using what seemed like heavy-duty rifles but they were in plain clothes and the cars were unmarked. '
Neighbours said one of the arrested men moved into a flat just before Christmas and lived with a woman presumed to be his wife and two sons in their mid-teens.
Scotland Yard said a ' substantial amount of firearms and explosives' had been recovered from the house.
The gun used to fire at the police was believed to have been a handgun, a spokeswoman added.
There had been no other people on the premises where the two men were arrested.
Great shards of glass were still lying around as a net curtain flapped inside the shattered frame of the blue front door of number 52.
The inside was hidden from view by shutters and curtains.
GLITTERING gems fashioned into beautiful jewellery are on display at an Essex gallery this month.
Wivenhoe gemmologist Stephanie Coward, above, is showing her work at the Pam Schomberg Gallery, St John's Street, Colchester.
On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from lapis, carnelian turquoise, jade, amber and amethyst.
Ms Coward graduated from Colchester Institute becoming one of the country's few gemmologists and a fellow of the Gemmological Association.
Also on show at the gallery throughout March is the work of Norman Stuart Clark, one of Britains's foremost glass blowers.
The gallery is open Monday to Saturday from 10.30 am to 5 pm.
Stronger links accord is signed
AN ACCORD aiming to shake off local government's image of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing was signed in Essex yesterday.
Stronger links between Essex County Council and the Essex Association of Local Councils were forged with the new code of practice to improve communication and co-operation.
Mrs Kathleen Nolan, county council chairman and Fred Annelli, chairman of the ALC, signed the document yesterday morning.
Leader of cult vows to end siege
THE LEADER of the armed religious cult holed up in a fortified ranch in Texas promised last night he would surrender.
The bloody siege of the ranch complex in Waco has already left at least six police and cult members dead.
In a taped statement broadcast on two radio stations yesterday he said: ' I, David Koresh, agree upon the broadcasting of this tape to come out peacefully with all the people immediately. '
He added: ' Even a man like Christ has to meet with unbelief. '
Firearms
The rambling 58-minute statement from Koresh, who has claimed to be the Lamb of the book of Revelation, broadcast on radio stations at the request of the FBI.
It raised hopes for a quick end to a 51-hour siege that began in a bloody shoot-out on Sunday morning as federal agents tried to serve arrest warrants on Koresh for firearms offences.
Last night the leader of the Branch Davidian cult said: ' I 'm sure you're all aware of how I 'm involved in a very serious thing right now.
Concerned
' I am really concerned about the lives of my brethren here and also really concerned even greater about the lives of all those in this world. '
Three prison buses passed reporters two miles from the compound within minutes of the start of Koresh's speech.
On Sunday a raid by about 100 agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms erupted in gun battles that killed four police and two cult followers, one reportedly Koresh's two-year-old daughter.
A total of 16 have so far been released, including two women.
Fears calmed over free meals
FREE School meals will be given to all entitled children, Essex county councillors were assured yesterday, after one member raised fears that pupils who had not returned an application form would go hungry.
Mrs Rene Morris said she had been shown letters addressed to parents which said the form had to be given to head teachers before a decision could be made.
Investigated
The Harlow Labour councillor was worried that children who did not hand in the piece of paper, or those who gave wrongly filled-in forms, would be turned away.
Ian Abbey, Conservative chairman of the education committee assured her at yesterday's Tory-controlled full council meeting that children would be fed and the letter would be investigated.
Artful way to stop graffiti on housing estate
PEOPLE from a housing estate have been putting themselves on the map  and others have the unnerving prospect of coming face to face with themselves.
Colchester Borough Council has employed professional artists to produce giant murals on the gable ends of two shops on the town's Greenstead estate.
Sarah Sabin, 27, who has a studio in Trinity Street, Colchester, has been assisted by local people in creating a map of the area, including roads, buildings and other major landmarks.
At the other end of the shopping centre, the other mural is being created by London-based David Cross, 29, who is working from photographs to create a panel of portraits featuring local residents.
The aim of the community art project is to improve the environment and to make an attractive feature of bare walls which would otherwise be prone to vandalism and graffiti.
Colchester council, which is seeking loans to improve the Greenstead area under the Government's estate action programme, paid the artists 250 each for their work.
A council spokesman said it was hoped the sum would ultimately represent a saving for the authority, as the cost of tackling graffiti, which was likely to occur would be far greater.
Artist David Cross painting a mural of local residents on the Greenstead Estate in Colchester
Children seen at fire
DETECTIVES were yesterday investigating a blaze which caused hundreds of pounds of damage to a building firm's storage base.
The large hut  used to store scaffolding equipment  in Warham Road, Dovercourt, caught fire at about 7.30 pm on Monday.
Two fire crews managed to keep damage to a minimum.
Just after the fire started, a passer-by tried to break into the building, fearing children were trapped inside.
However, a police spokesman said it seemed nobody had broken in, though children were seen running away.
' We just don't know what caused the fire and our scenes of crime officers are still investigating. '
A fire service spokesman said part of the roof was burned away and the inside was badly smoke-logged.
He said the fire service was treating the blaze as' of doubtful origin. '
Anybody with any information is asked to contact Harwich police on (0255) 241312.
Crews gather to combat major fire at lonely farm
DOZENS of firemen fought last night to contain a fire which threatened to destroy outbuildings on an isolated farm.
Agnes Baines, 81, who lives on the farm, described how flames leapt from the former cowsheds on Old Hall Farm, The Heath, Tendring.
Cylinders of acetylene were believed to have gone up in what was originally reported as a simple barn fire.
Crews from at least half a dozen appliances from Manningtree, Clacton, Weeley and Frinton took nearly two hours to bring the blaze under control.
By 10 pm most of the engines had returned, leaving a skeleton crew to make sure nothing flared up.
Mrs Baines said she could see the buildings burning 100 yards from the house.
' I didn't dare go out, because I 'm still getting over bronchitis, ' she explained.
' My sons came down to help.
But it was certainly very frightening  the smoke was everywhere. '
Two engines from Weeley and Clacton were called out to the reported barn fire just before 8 pm, but they soon realised they would need reinforcements, including the rescue tender from Colchester.
Four men were forced to use breathing apparatus by the choking smoke.
A fire service spokeswoman said the outhouses contained mostly farm machinery.
She added: ' No investigation can begin until we are satisfied it is completely safe. '
Man faces murder accusation
PLUMBING and heating engineer David Main appeared in court yesterday charged with murdering his ex-wife 20 years ago.
Main, 60, of Broadwell, Lechlade, Gloucs, is accused of the murder of Joan Main, 35, in January, 1973.
He was remanded in custody for seven days.
Officers have dug up the foundations of a garage in Goddard Avenue, Swindon, in a resumed search for Mrs Main.
For Round the Houses
Lamont's ' inability ' covered up
THE Prime Minister was yesterday accused in the Commons of ' covering up the incompetence ' of Chancellor Norman Lamont.
Labour leader John Smith, in Question Time exchanges on freedom of information, demanded to know the cost to Britain of the ' fiasco ' of Black Wednesday, when the pound was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
Mr Major told him: ' As a former shadow chancellor, if you don't know that, until those things are unwound, nobody knows what the figures would be, you should not be sitting where you are. '
Mr Smith retorted: ' It is abundantly clear that you either don't know how many billions of pounds were lost or you are unwilling to tell us. '
Two planned new jail blocks are opposed
PEOPLE living close to Chelmsford prison have termed Government plans to build two new cell blocks and a sports hall as' disgusting. '
They spoke after the borough council's planning committee decided last night to stand up to the Home Office by objecting to the 14 million expansion, intended to ease the prison's long-standing and often chronic overcrowding problem.
Householders in nearby Sandford Road fear the new development on the Springfield site, which would have space for nearly 200 new cells, will make the noise from the prison unbearable, forcing house prices down.
Kenneth Langford said the noise of the prisoners shouting to each other at night was' not too bad ' at the moment, but that the proposed new blocks would bring the prisoners too close to the rear of his property.
Neighbour Maureen Clark agreed: ' They might as well be in our back gardens.
Soon it will get so we will not want to be out there at all. '
Bob Groves insisted there ought to be a public inquiry into the proposal, and called on Chelmsford Tory MP Simon Burns to take up the residents' cause: they were less than happy with the MP's response to date.
Last night Mr Burns was unavailable for comment.
Councillors were united in their opposition to the plans.
Tory Cathedral ward representatives Jim Melville and John Candler called for the objection to be couched in the strongest terms.
' There are 49 households immediately outside the wall of the prison that will be affected by this, ' said Mr Candler.
' Their amenity will be sadly worsened by the noise from the prison blocks. '
Concern was also expressed about the suitability of the materials for the historic site, and car parking for extra staff.
Proposals for a floating restaurant and bar on the river Can sailed through the planning committee.
The site is the south bank of the river, behind Baddow Road and close to the pedestrian footbridge leading from the Meadows surface car park.
Developers want to construct a replica 19th Century Essex steam yacht on the mooring, reached by three pivoting jetties.
The 92ft craft will have three levels, with restaurant, bar area and promenade deck.
Man is charged over death
A MAN appeared before Witham magistrates yesterday accused of causing the death of Sean Wren by dangerous driving on New Year's Day.,
Matthew Rider, 20, of Foster Road, Great Totham, also faces two charges of failing to stop after an accident and two charges of failing to report an accident, and one of having a false number plate on the car he was driving.
His case was adjourned until May 5, when committal proceedings are likely to take place.
Rider was remanded on bail of 10,000, a condition of residence at an address outside the area, not disclosed in court, not to go within five miles of Great Totham, not to drive any motor vehicle and not to contact any prosecution witnesses.
Russian brothers' executed '
TWO brothers in London to design passports, money and stamps for one of the newly-independent former Soviet states, have been executed, police said yesterday.
The two Russians, working for the oil-rich southern Russian state of Chechen, both had three bullet wounds to the head when they were found on Monday.
Police have said the men were not necessarily killed at the same time.
The brothers had been living in a penthouse flat in Bickenhall Street, west London, bought in December for 1 million cash.
Detectives have arrested two men, said to be fellow Russians.
Rebel Serbs roam Moslem village
Sarajevo: REBEL Serbs were last night roaming through the Moslem village of Cerska, just a day after the first U.S. aid was dropped to its besieged people.
Amateur radio reports spoke of Serb fighters shelling the escape routes used by fleeing civilians.
Sarajevo radio did not say outright Cerska, home to 30,000 Moslems, had been captured, but UN troops' spokesman Commander Barry Frewer said the Serbs had entered the main Cerska settlement after fierce fighting.
The development appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of President Clinton's airdrops to Moslems cut off behind Serb lines.
Desperate villagers who searched the area around Cerska on Monday for 21 tonnes of aid parachuted from C-130 cargo planes were reported to have been killed by Serb snipers.
Airport welcomes Bosnia war victims
STANSTED Airport is to become the official point of entry into the UK for all future Bosnian mercy flights, the Home Office confirmed last night.
The Essex airport has already seen four flights bringing ex-detainees of the Serb-run camps and their families into Britain.
The latest flight was last Friday, with 140 coming from Ljubljana, in Slovenia.
British Refugee Council press officer Susannah Cox said the people on the latest flight were former detainees, their families, and families of those already in this country.
She added: ' Another 150 people are lined up but as yet we have not got a date for the flight. '
The Bosnians were taken to the old terminal, on a little used part of the airport, and then transferred by coach to centres in Surrey, West London and a new centre in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, which took 60 from the latest flight.
A few went to a Red Cross Centre in Cambridge.
Miss Cox said: ' There were quite fit and well, and were in quite good spirits on the flight, where a lot of family reunions took place. '
The British government is committed to taking 1,000 ex-detainees and their dependants, believed to be about another 3,000.
They have temporary visas for six months to stay in the UK.
A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed last night that Stansted would be used for all future mercy flights.
She said no decision had yet been made on extending the Bosnians' stay, but said nobody would be sent back.
' They simply can't return to the war zone, ' she said.
People on the flights have been selected by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the International Red Cross.
One flight, in October 1992 was chartered by 250 ethnic Albanians.
Of these 150 were initially cared for by Uttlesford District Council at the Lord Butler Leisure Centre in Saffron Walden.
Council firm's tender way over estimates
BRAINTREE District Council's former direct labour organisation has put in a bid to reroof 27 houses which is 150,000 more than the lowest tender.
The bid by what is now Braintree District Commercial Services, an organisation set up to comply with Government rules over competitive tendering for council jobs, is for 246,285.27.
It is 100,000 more than the estimated cost the council had put on the work, and more than 32,000 more than the second highest bid.
The work being put out to tender, by the Witham area housing committee, is for renewing roofs of 27 houses in Valentine Way, Silver End.
The houses are in a conservation area and have to be covered with slate roofing tiles.
The lowest tender is 95,776, from
Turner Maintenance Ltd., and council officials are recommending that company gets the work.
Council officials revealed that the company due to be accepted had suggested using a slate similar to the recommended type but cheaper and this was accepted by the planning department, which is concerned with preserving the conservation area.
The district council's public relations manager Chris Trim said the District Commercial Services was separate from the council and run as a public company, although it used some of the council's facilities such as payroll and computers.
A spokesman for the District Commercial Services said the issue involved commercial considerations and he could not comment.
Three foil raid on jewellers
Police praise as suspect caught
By Duncan Brodie
POLICE have praised three people who detained a suspect following a smash and grab raid at an Essex jeweller's shop.
The thief struck just before 11.15am yesterday at the SB Totham store in Pier Avenue, Clacton-on-Sea.
He smashed a hole in the shop window using a hammer and grabbed about 3,000-worth of gold jewellery before making off on foot.
Included in the haul, much of which was dropped by the thief and later recovered by police, was a gold chain and a number of gold rings.
The raid was witnessed by self-employed block paver Tim Sutton, from Anchor Road, Clacton, who was working at nearby Gaity Amusements.
' I saw this bloke looking in the jeweller's window, ' said Mr Sutton.
' Next moment, he pulls out this hammer and puts it through the glass. '
Mr Sutton, 28, gave chase as the raider ran off and was joined by two friends from Tom Pepper's pub nearby  joint licensee Ian Hewitt and bar manager Paul Archer.
The three detained a man on the corner of West Avenue and Agate Road and held on to him until police officers arrived soon after.
An Essex Police spokesman said the three men were to be praised for their swift action following the raid.
It was possible all the jewellery removed from the display had been recovered, although a few items might still be missing, he added.
A 19-year old man from the Basildon area was last night helping police with their inquiries at Clacton police station.
Tim Sutton, who helped to foil a raid at Clacton jewellers SB Totham
Pit project jumps the gun
Landfill site work begins without permission
THE seal of approval has been given to changes at an Essex landfill site even though work has already started without permission.
Colchester Borough Council was asked by the county council, which makes planning decisions on landfill sites, to comment on an application for changes at Bellhouse Pit, Colchester.
Exwaste, a company owned by Essex County Council, applied for permission to move the site gatehouse, install a weighbridge and wheel washing facility, use the former Topmix offices on Warren Lane and use parking and vehicle maintenance facilities at the site.
Members were told the weighbridge had already been installed and work on some of the other projects had also begun.
Two people living near the pit had written to the council expressing concern the changes had already started.
Ward councillor Joan Ellis said: ' The fact the change has already occurred is a matter of some regret. '
Members requested the committee's sorrow that the work had begun without permission should be passed on to the county council.
The committee agreed to inform the county council it had no objections to the proposal as long as the weighbridge was only used by landfill traffic and the pit only operated in the hours specified in the application.
It reminded the county council of the need to make improvements in the area around the site and in its dealings with mineral operators in that area.
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Today's business
COMMONS: 2.30 pm Treasury questions.
3.15 pm Questions to the Prime Minister.
European Communities (Amendment) Bill, committee.
LORDS: 3 pm Clean Air Bill, third reading.
Radioactive Substances Bill, third reading.
Charities Bill, third reading.
Asylum and Immigration Appeals Bill, report.
Hillsborough claims last life as Tony Bland dies
SOCCER fan Tony Bland, last victim of the Hillsborough disaster nearly four years ago, died last night with his parents at his bedside.
The 22-year-old, in a coma since he was injured during the FA Cup semi-final at the Sheffield Wednesday ground on April 15, 1989, had not been given artificial help to survive since February 22.
The move came after his parents Allan and Barbara won a court ruling allowing medical staff to switch off the life support systems he had relied on since the tragic injury that left him in a persistent vegetative state.
Tony was the last tragic victim of the disaster which caught hundreds of soccer fans behind fences during the game between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.
In a statement the hospital authorities said that Tony died peacefully in Airedale General Hospital near Keighley at 9.30 pm.
Dr Jim Howe, Tony's doctor, said: ' His parents said how peaceful their son has looked over his last few days and how relieved they are that he is finally at rest. '
The coroner has been informed.
Suffering pensioner hanged herself
A TRAGIC pensioner hanged herself because she could no longer cope with the pain of her illness, an inquest heard yesterday.
Annie Bowyer, 76, of Hawkendon Road, Clacton, was in ' tremendous pain ' because her bones were softening and her spine was crumbling.
She also suffered from Parkinson's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome and had suffered a slight stroke.
Essex Coroner Dr Malcolm Weir was told Mrs Bowyer's husband, Bernard, found her hanging on January 27 when he returned from shopping.
' There were times when she said she wished she could get rid of these aches and pains, ' said Mr Bowyer, who also found a suicide note from his wife.
Recording a verdict that Mrs Bowyer ' Took her own life ', Dr Weir said: ' This is terribly tragic because she did it because she could not cope with the pain of the illness she suffered from. '
Fordham bypass looks likely
A BYPASS route which would cut speeding traffic using a Suffolk road looks likely to be backed by the county council today.
Highways committee members are being asked to state their preferred route for the Fordham bypass.
Work on a multi-million pound relief road for Fordham, the only village on the busy A142 Newmarket to Ely road which is not bypassed, could start within three years.
The two options for the road are in Cambridgeshire but it is believed the route will reduce the speed of traffic entering Suffolk on the A142.
Ex-minister not to face prosecution
FORMER Trade and Defence minister Alan Clark will not face prosecution over his evidence in the arms-for-Iraq Matrix Churchill case, the Crown Prosecution Service announced yesterday.
It said it had been unable to establish with sufficient certainty which of the inconsistent statements made by Mr Clark was not true.
Mr Clark insisted he was completely innocent in the affair, which has provoked a political storm, engulfing even the Prime Minister in allegations that the Government had encouraged firms to breach the arms embargo.
Customs and Excise commissioners had brought prosecutions against three executives of Matrix Churchill, a Coventry machine tool firm, for alleged breaches of sanctions.
They were acquitted at the Old Bailey of making illegal exports, after saying the Government knew the company was doing business with Saddam Hussein.
The 3 million trial collapsed after the prosecution said Mr Clark's evidence was not consistent with earlier statements and the charges could no longer be sustained.
All three executives  Paul Henderson, Trevor Abraham and Peter Allen  were awarded costs.
The CPS said yesterday: ' Having carefully considered all the available evidence the Director of Public Prosecutions has therefore concluded that there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction against any individual for any offence. '
Appeal in hunt for robber
DETECTIVES hunting a robber who sprayed a builder and his wife with CS gas are trying to trace a man seen in the area just before the raid.
Roy and Pauline Bridgeman were attacked at their home in Thorpe Road, Kirby Cross, at 9 pm on Sunday.
The raider, who masked his face with a tartan scarf, forced Mr Bridgeman to open his safe and escaped with a large amount of money.
Clacton police want to hear from a ginger-haired man, aged about 18, who called at nearby Branwhite's garage about 8.45 pm to eliminate him from their inquiries.
MP questioned effectiveness of flood defences
AN MP is keeping up pressure on the Government to improve East Anglia's coastal defences after last month's surge tide which resulted in widespread flooding.
David Porter, MP for Waveney, has called consistently for a national body to have overall responsibility for sea defences.
After the floods, he called on the Government to hold a rehearsal of mass evacuation procedures.
This was rejected by Agriculture Minister and Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer but Mr Porter continued to question the Government on the flood defence programme.
Earlier this week, he asked how effective the flood defences had been on February 20 and what changes to policy, investment programme and evacuation procedures were planned.
Investment
Yesterday, junior agriculture minister David Curry said the initial assessment was that both the flood warning systems and coastal defences performed well.
He said this reflected the substantial investment in coastal defences made by successive governments and local agencies, as well as the professionalism of the emergency services and other organisations involved.
' Damage to coastal defences is estimated at a little under 2 million and this will be made good as a matter of urgency.
' A detailed appraisal is under way to ensure that any necessary improvements are made to procedures and that resources continue to be concentrated on areas of greatest need, ' said Mr Curry.
Patten acts to outlaw opt-out intimidation
A LEAFLET urging Essex parents to vote against their children's school becoming grant maintained has prompted the education secretary to announce new ' counter-intimidation measures'.
Parents of pupils at Hylands School, Chelmsford, have received leaflets published by a group called ' Parents Against Opting Out ' listing ten reasons why they should vote against opting out in a ballot which ends this Friday.
The leaflet angered parents, staff and governors because they said it was full of misleading statements and the individuals who produced it had not identified themselves.
Chelmsford MP Simon Burns described the leaflet as disgraceful and ' black propaganda which is patently untrue ' when he spoke in the Commons during the Education Bill debate on Tuesday.
Education Secretary John Patten replied that he was planning to announce counter-intimidation measures to be part of the Bill.
Yesterday Mr Patten said that under the Bill as it now stands he will be able to demand a re-run of voting on grant-maintained status where he has evidence it was not fairly conducted.
He will be able to declare a ballot void if it appears third parties have interfered by voting when not entitled to do so, tampering with ballot papers, interfering with voters or exerting undue influence.
Examples of undue influence would include physical violence and intimidation and ' disseminating seriously misleading information '.
The measures contained in an amendment to the Bill will be backed up by a voluntary Code of Conduct.
It has been revealed that Elwyn Bishop, the former headmaster of Kings Road Junior School, Chelmsford, and secretary of the Mid-Essex Association of the Nation Union of Teachers, wrote the leaflet.
He said he was approached by a group of Hylands parents asking him why Hylands should not become grant maintained.
They asked how they could tell other parents the anti-opt-out reasons he gave and he suggested they produce a leaflet.
He said he had not wanted to upset the head teacher at Hylands but to put the other side of the story.
Hatton calls no evidence in his trial
FORMER Liverpool City Council deputy leader Derek Hatton and three others on trial with him on fraud charges are to call no evidence in their defence, a court was told yesterday.
Hatton and businessman John Monk, both 45, face two charges at Mold Crown Court of conspiracy to defraud.
Former city councillors John Nelson, 49, and Hannah Folan, 47, face one charge each.
The prosecution is expected to start its closing speech today.
Council's work to be explained
AN Essex council is hosting a visit by members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Uttlesford District Council is being visited on Friday by 38 parliamentary delegates from throughout the commonwealth.
Countries that will be represented include Mauritius, The Gambia, Swaziland, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Malta, Jersey, Canada, Dominica, Western Samoa, Tuvalu, Singapore and Malaysia.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is here to gain background information on local government in the UK as part of its 42nd parliamentary seminar programme.
The day includes a briefing in the council chamber followed by a question and answer session chaired by local MP Alan Haselhurst.
The party will have an informal lunch at the Bluebell Inn, Hempstead, believed to be the birthplace of Dick Turpin.
Doorman cleared of assault
A PUB DOORMAN was cleared yesterday of an assault on a customer.
At the end of a two-day trial, Anthony Jackson, 23, of Lawn Lane, Springfield, was acquitted by a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court of causing actual bodily harm to Andrew Brown.
Richard Butcher, prosecuting, said the charge arose from an incident at The Two Brewers, Chelmsford, on Christmas Eve, 1991.
An argument broke out in the crowded pub after some drink was knocked over and Mr Brown tried to defuse the situation.
Jackson, who pleaded not guilty, admitted frogmarching Mr Brown from the premises but denied striking him on the back of the head.
Accused boys are smuggled from court
A CROWD of 100 people gathered outside a court yesterday as two 10-year-old boys were brought back before magistrates accused of murdering toddler James Bulger.
The boys were remanded in custody until March 12 in local council care during an eight-minute appearance before magistrates in Bootle, Merseyside.
They were then smuggled out of the building in a police decoy operation, being driven away in unmarked cars with blankets over their heads.
Outside the main entrance, where two police vans and motorcyclists had drawn up, the crowd reacted angrily when Superintendent Paul Burrell said the boys had already left the building.
Officers then asked the crowd to move on.
Police were anxious to avoid the ugly scenes when the two boys made their first appearance in court nine days ago.
Then, seven people were arrested as the boys were driven from court.
Ram raid bid with digger alleged
A BUILDER appeared before Chelmsford magistrates yesterday following investigations into an attempt to ram raid a cash dispenser.
A mechanical digger is said to have been used in the incident at the Abbey National office in High Street, Maldon, at 4 am.
Adrian Gowers, 28, of the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, is accused of burglary, taking a mechanical digger without the owner's consent, driving it while disqualified and driving without insurance.
He was remanded in custody to appear again next Thursday.
Reporting restrictions were not lifted.
MP in Commons knife protest
A LABOUR backbencher brandished a foot-long knife in the Commons yesterday as he demanded tougher laws against carrying weapons in Scotland.
David Marshall was immediately rebuked by Speaker Betty Boothroyd and the knife was put back in its sheath and removed from the Chamber by an official.
During the incident in questions to Scottish Office ministers, Mr Marshall, 51, said: ' There are horrific weapons of war widely available in shops.
Will you now introduce legislation to ban the importation and the sale of weapons such as these? '
He then pulled out the knife and demanded: ' Get these off the streets! '
Miss Boothroyd told him: ' You are not allowed to bring such an implement into this chamber. '
Mr Marshall was protesting about delays in introducing a knife amnesty in Strathclyde.
Texas Cult leader refuses to give himself up
Waco: TEXAS cult leader David Koresh said last night he and his heavily-armed followers would not surrender because God told him to wait.
An FBI spokesman said Koresh, 33, the curly-haired former musician who says he is Jesus Christ, was still inside his fortified farm complex near Waco in Texas.
Officials said he had told them he still has 20 children, 47 women and 43 men with him.
On Tuesday he promised they would all come out after a rambling religious message was broadcast.
It was played on two radio stations, but there was no surrender.
The FBI spokesman said Koresh, who says he is badly wounded, had told them he ' received a message from God instructing him to wait. '
He will not come out until he ' receives further instructions from God, ' the spokesman explained.
At least four federal U.S. agents and two cult members have died so far in the four-day siege, but some reports have suggested more than 20 dead.
Outside some 450 federal agents and local police were last night still surrounding the compound, backed by armoured vehicles and the firepower of a small army.
Negotiations with Koresh were continuing and there was no plan to try to storm the compound again, the FBI man said.
' The goal is to resolve this situation ultimately in federal court with no further bloodshed, ' he said.
Officials denied that Sunday's bloody raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was botched.
They said the outlandish sect was warned that some 100 agents were about to try to arrest Koresh on weapons charges.
As a result they were met with a 45-minute barrage of gunfire.
Besides the four dead agents 16 were wounded.
Two elderly women who left the cult headquarters on Tuesday  Margaret Lawson, 75, and Catherine Mattson, 77  were yesterday charged with conspiracy to murder.
Delroy ' Norman ' Nash, arrested on Sunday during a second, smaller gun battle, was charged earlier with attempted murder.
PM slams the gloom merchants
' Stop talking down Britain '
THE PRIME Minister yesterday launched a withering attack on the ' doom-mongers' of Britain, saying they painted a false and damaging picture of a nation in decline.
He told exporters to be aggressive  ' and not too gentlemanly '  in promoting home-grown products for overseas markets.
John Major's onslaught on the pessimists who ' talk Britain down ' was directed at the Labour Party leadership, who he did not mention by name.
Competition
He said: ' We now face an intensity of competition from abroad, far greater than anything we have experienced before.
' There was a time when we could look around at the Commonwealth, the Empire, other countries and we would see very soft markets for British exports.
' Don't believe for a second that those markets exist in the same fashion these days. '
The Prime Minister was attending the first meeting at the Royal Society of Arts in London of the Walpole Committee, an amalgam of private industry whose objective is to talk up the best that Britain has to offer.
He said the committee was potentially a very important counter to ' that very curious British disease of talking down our own prospects and talking down our own country '.
Mr Major said: ' I am constantly amazed at how many pessimists attempt to paint a picture of a nation in decline when it is an utterly false and unrealistic picture. '
Blame
Shadow chancellor Gordon Brown, speaking in Basildon, Essex, rebutted the Prime Minister's allegations.
' He tells us we are suffering from the British disease of self-deprecation  the British people's instinct for talking the country down.
' That is the Government  never to blame themselves, everyone to blame but themselves. '
Shares soar  Page Seven
Woman died after taking overdose of paracetamol
A YOUNG nursing home resident who was found dead in her bed had taken a fatal overdose of painkillers, an inquest heard yesterday.
However, Essex Coroner Dr Malcolm Weir said there was no evidence to suggest 20-year-old Naomi Martin had intended to take her own life and recorded an ' Open verdict '.
The inquest, at Weeley, was told Miss Martin, who was living at Seaside Lodge nursing home in Colne Road, Clacton, had received psychiatric treatment in the past.
Her mother, Pamela Bootyman, said her daughter's behaviour had changed when she reached the age of 12 or 13.
She said Naomi appeared to live in a world of her own and was either on a high or a low, adding: ' She was a lovely child. '
Mrs Bootyman said Naomi had visited the weekend before her death on January 14 and had been acting differently.
' She said something strange as she left, ' said Mrs Bootyman.
' I said, ' Bye darling  see you the week after next and she said maybe, I might go on holiday '. '
Jean Baya, manager of the nursing home, said Naomi had acted differently in the days before her death but there was nothing to indicate she would take an overdose.
Dose
Dr Weir said a post-mortem examination had revealed Naomi had nearly twice the fatal dose of paracetamol in her blood but added there was no evidence she intended to kill herself.
' We don't know the reasons why she took them (the tablets).
It might have been a cry for help  we just do not know. '
Mayor gives helping hand to school's tree planting
THE first of 1,500 trees which were bought with money school pupils raised from a sponsored walk was planted yesterday by the Mayor of Colchester, Mary Frank.
Pupils of the town's Philip Morant School will plant the rest of the trees over the next few months on the proposed Gosbecks Archaeological Park near the school.
All junior pupils will be involved in the planting and each of the five school houses will be responsible for a section, taking care of it for the next few years.
The Extra Studies Team at Philip Morant, led by year 9 pupils Paul Hart and Andrew Woodman, planned the project.
The team has been learning about tree-planting and has received help from David Barbour at Gosbeck's Farm.
The team has chosen a mixture of trees native to this part of England and aim to create an area where threatened species of flora and fauna can flourish.
Gosbecks Archaeological Park will be a conservation area with woodland, heath, meadow and an archaeology display including remains found in that area.
At yesterday's tree planting Mrs Frank thanked the pupils for their commitment to the community in doing something which benefited other people now and in the future.
Essex has worst record for M25
ONE ESSEX stretch of the M25 is more prone to traffic hold-ups than any other section on the whole of the London orbital route, according to a survey carried out by the Automobile Association.
During 1992, the 119-mile motorway suffered a total of 403 major delays caused by accidents, breakdowns of roadworks, figures published by the AA Roadwatch service reveals.
Worst affected was the section between junctions 27 and 28  the M11 and A12 interchanges  where 39 incidents were reported.
Each carriageway was badly affected, with 20 incidents on the clockwise track and 19 anticlockwise during the year.
Besides the heavy volume of traffic on the motorway proper, another factor could be the high number of vehicles using the two junctions.
The Department of Transport is studying possible options for a new ' M12 ' motorway from Chelmsford to the M25, or for up-grading the existing A12 south of the county town.
However, at eight miles, the stretch between the M11 and the A12 is also the second-longest section on the M25 without a junction and so is statistically likely to have many delays.
The worst record for a single carriageway last year was an incident count of 23 on the anticlockwise track of the M25 between junctions six and five in Kent.
Overall, the northern and southern halves of the motorway were more or less equal, with 200 incidents in the south between Dartford and junction 15 (the M4) and 203 in the north between junctions 15 and Thurrock.
Also in the AA report is a breakdown of when delays are most likely to occur.
May proved the peak month in 1992, with a total of 47 incidents, followed by August with 45.
December was the quietest month with just 22 incidents, followed by October and November with 24 each.
PUPILS at Stowmarket Middle School are putting the finishing touches to a glittering musical which opens for a four-night run next week to sell-out audiences.
Dazzle features Simon Wright as hero Sam Galactic, with Cally Hatton as Dazzle, Greg Wright as Mr Speak, son of Spock, and the adventuring crew of the starship Sunburst I. The crew tours the universe and meet aliens like Slimy Swampers, Bolshi's from the planet Red Star, and, in a flashback in time, meet nasty greasers from the '60s led by Sue Zuki.
There is a cast of 100 and a stage crew of 20 but every pupil in the school was involved in the artwork, costumes and hall decorations.
Picture by ANDY ABBOTT
Further blow
Recession-hit port to cut 35 more jobs
IPSWICH Port Authority announced yesterday that it is to shed ' in the region of ' 35 jobs because of the recession.
This will bring the number of jobs lost at the port to about 85 since 1989.
The majority of those personnel affected will be cargo handlers but the cuts will also include engineers, clerks and workers from various departments.
It was not known yesterday what the exact number of redundancies would be but it is hoped that they can be achieved voluntarily.
Although shop stewards held a meeting yesterday, union organisers had not been informed officially of the authority's move.
In November, 1989, 38 cargo handlers and maintenance men were axed after United Transport Lines ended its operation at the West Bank terminal and moved to Tilbury.
In May, 1991, recession was blamed for the loss of another 12 jobs.
The West Bank terminal was again the focus of job losses yesterday because it is there that the greatest loss of business has occurred.
Alan Hansen, of Ipswich Port Authority, said: ' We have had quite a severe downturn in our business at the West Bank terminal.
Recovery
' We hope these will be the last redundancies.
This is not something we enjoy doing, but whether more will happen depends on the recovery of the British economy.
That's what we are all waiting for. '
John Mackley, port workers' representative of the Transport and General Workers' Union, said he was hoping to meet the authority's senior management ' as soon as possible '.
Teenager to face stabbing charge
A TEENAGER is due to appear before Colchester magistrates today following a domestic dispute during which a man was stabbed in the chest.
Kieron Todd, 18, of Marine Parade, Dovercourt, faces a charge of wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm on Brian Kelsey.
Mr Kelsey, who is thought to be in his forties, was taken to hospital on Tuesday night with stab wounds to his chest and neck following an incident in Rosebank, Dovercourt.
A police spokesman said last night that Mr Kelsey's condition was not life threatening and he was likely to be discharged from hospital today.
Cause of fire still a mystery
POLICE and fire officers were last night still investigating the cause of a fire which badly damaged two car workshops in farm outbuildings.
Dozens of firemen fought to control the blaze at Old Hall Farm, Heath Road, Tendring, shortly before 8pm on Tuesday.
Investigating officers sifted through the debris of the workshops yesterday in an attempt to discover the cause of the fire but Detective Sergeant Andy Adams of Clacton police said: ' At this stage we are not able to say exactly how the fire started.
We are still investigating the matter. '
Six fire crews, the Colchester rescue tender and a control vehicle were called to the blaze.
It took firemen wearing breathing apparatus nearly two hours to bring the blaze under control.
Acetylene cylinders kept in the workshops made conditions particularly dangerous, a spokeswoman said.
A police car travelling to the scene from Clacton was involved in a collision with a parked vehicle in Thorpe-le-Soken shortly after 8pm.
Acting Inspector Rennie Chivers said no-one was injured in the crash, but there was' extensive damage ' to one side of the patrol vehicle.
The parked car was not badly damaged, he said.
Woman died of cold
AN ELDERLY woman found semi-conscious on the floor of her Essex home died later the same day of hypothermia, an inquest heard yesterday.
Dorris Thompson, aged 84, of Park Square West, Jaywick, was described to Essex Coroner Dr Malcolm Weir as a ' thin frail elderly lady ' who always turned her heating off at night.
Recording a verdict of ' Accidental death ', Dr Weir said Mrs Thompson was susceptible to the cold and the lack of heating had probably caused her death.
Consultant pathologist Dr John Ryan said she was more susceptible to the cold because of a condition called hypothyroidism which slows down the body's metabolism.
Mrs Thompson's daughter, Elizabeth, said her mother generally went to bed at 7 pm until 7 am and always turned the heating off, leaving the house quite cold.
HOPE IS FAST FADING
ONE of the features of Bosnian life was that the Muslims tended to live in the towns, while the Serbs and the Croats lived in the countryside.
Consequently, in the civil war, the Serbs and the Croats have generally controlled the roads and have been able to cut supplies to the Muslims at will.
The town of Cerska, near the Serbian border, has been methodically shelled by the Serbs for the past year and has, at the same time, been denied food.
The Serbs did not mind how they disposed of the Muslims, so long as the area was' ethnically cleansed '.
There were two ways in which the outside world might have prevented this.
It might have ordered the Serbs to remove their heavy artillery, by threatening to use counter-force; it might have arranged for the Muslims to move to a safe haven elsewhere in the country.
Neither of these were attempted, and now the war is over for the people of Cerska.
The Serbs have moved into the town, murdering the inhabitants and pillaging the houses.
The outside world talks of a war crimes tribunal but nobody supposes that anything will come of that.
Just before the end, the U.S. Air Force tried to drop food supplies to Cerska by air.
Whether this induced the Serbs to attack at once, will never be known.
Plainly though, there is a danger that an attempt to break a siege in one way will spur the besieging army to greater effort in another.
Month by month, the chances of saving anything from the wreckage of Bosnia grow less.
Fears grow of where the Serbs may turn next, if they are permitted the ultimate triumph from which none is willing to deflect them.
EGG SCARE IS OVER
THE GREAT egg scare is officially over.
The Ministry of Agriculture has now concluded that there is virtually no problem from salmonella in eggs; and what problem there is will not be eased by going around the country slaughtering flocks of hens.
Trouble began when a mistaken claim by a junior Minister persuaded many people to stop buying eggs.
As the sales slumped, the Government reaction was on the lines: ' We must do something.
Slaughter is something, let's do it. '
It was a decision taken in haste, which has been repented at considerable leisure.
More than three million hens have been destroyed at a cost of more than 5 million and a number of egg producers have been forced out of business as a result.
Producers were put into considerable difficulty by the decision of the Ministry not to pay them full compensation.
Some farmers were told that they could either settle at once for 60 per cent of what was due to them, or wait three years to fight for the full amount.
The behaviour of the Ministry was illegal and has been condemned by the Parliamentary ombudsman.
John Gummer, the Minister, has apologised and has promised that full restitution will be made.
There have been calls for his resignation, which he has ignored.
If he is to stay in his job, he should look more seriously at the many other complaints about the way in which his Ministry is regulating food firms, especially in the meat trade.
Mr Gummer is inclined to give a snap reply to his critics, when he would do better to check carefully what they have said.
Now that he has had to admit to one serious mistake, he must know that he can not afford another.
Teenager bailed in raid case
MAGISTRATES granted bail yesterday to a 19-year-old man accused of carrying out a smash-and-grab raid at an Essex jewellers.
Dennis Passingham, of Handley Green, Laindon, near Basildon, is charged with burgling the S B Totham jewellery store in Pier Avenue, Clacton, on Tuesday.
He is also accused of possessing an offensive weapon  a large lump hammer  and affray.
Clacton magistrates remanded him on conditional bail to appear before them again on March 31.
The conditions were that he resides at Handley Green, Laindon, reports daily to Laindon police station and does not enter Clacton.
Hi-tech aid in murder probe
By Stephen McDowell
DETECTIVES trying to fill in gaps in the ' missing 23 hours' of murdered pensioner Doris Shelley have issued hi-tech photofits of two men they want to interview.
Police are anxious to eliminate the two men, who were seen near her home, from their inquiries, and would like to speak to them as potential witnesses.
The images, called E-fit pictures, are the first to be produced on state-of-the-art equipment which was delivered to Suffolk police only last week.
The computer-enhanced pictures are considered to be a vast improvement on the old photo-fit style in terms of clarity, and detectives are hoping the men will come forward quickly.
Despite extensive inquiries officers have still not traced the owner of a red Sierra-style saloon seen in the driveway to the 82-year-old woman's Martlesham bungalow at about 2.30 pm on Wednesday February 10.
Mrs Shelley was found with serious head injuries, from which she later died, in her home the following day.
Det Ch Insp Roy Lambert said there was nothing to connect the two men with the car.
One of them was seen on the pavement outside Mrs Shelley's home on both Monday and Tuesday, February 8 and 9, at about 7 am.
He was also seen on the same Monday slightly later standing at Crown Point, Martlesham.
Dreadlocks
He is described as white, 25C30 years, six feet tall, stocky, with shoulder length wavy brown hair.
He may have had what appeared to be dreadlocks at the back of his head.
He was wearing a white zip-up jacket, blue denim jeans and training shoes.
Mr Lambert said: ' It may be that this man was hitch-hiking or waiting for a lift. '
The second man was seen by a witness standing at the entrance to Martlesham underpass at the A1214 roundabout at about 11.30 am on Thursday, February 11.
He is described as white, 5ft 10 ins, about 40 years old, slim, with short, dark brown hair and a fair complexion.
He was wearing plain trousers, a short coat and shoes rather than trainers.
He was carrying a white plastic bag containing some large articles and with the word ' Halfords' printed on the side.
Mr Lambert said: ' The two men and car were seen in the area on separate occasions near the suspected time of the attack, and we need to eliminate them from our inquiry.
' We have nothing to suggest they are connected with the crime.
However, they could be valuable witnesses who may have seen something of interest.
' If a husband or a boyfriend, whatever, was out in the road at this time and looked like that, we want them to come forward. '
Confident
Mr Lambert added the inquiry was still gathering steam and had not yet peaked despite the recent removal of the mobile police pod outside the pensioner's home.
' We are still confident that at the end of the day we will find out who killed Mrs Shelley. '
An incident room staffed by 30 officers working full time on the case is being run at Martlesham police headquarters, which is less than a mile from the scene of crime.
It can be contacted on Ipswich 613577, or anyone with information can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Roy Lambert speaking yesterday.
Left, the fish and chip shop where one of the men was sighted
The photofits of the men police want to interview in connection with the death of Doris Shelley
Nurse loses claim against dismissal
A FORMER nurse accused of sexually assaulting residents at a hospital for the mentally handicapped has lost his claim for unfair dismissal.
By a two-to-one majority an industrial tribunal yesterday ruled that New Possibilities NHS Trust had acted correctly in sacking Noel Reid from his post at Turner Village Hospital last year.
The split decision, arrived at after almost two hours deliberation by the panel, reflected the complexity of the two-day hearing during which shocking allegations were made about what life was like for residents in the Colchester hospital.
The tribunal in Bury St Edmunds was told that Mr Reid, along with other nursing staff on the hospital's now-closed villa ten, drank while on duty, groped residents and encouraged them to sexually assault one another.
Mr Reid, 47, of North Station Road, Colchester, took the witness stand yesterday to deny all the charges and claimed his accusers, former colleagues Ewan Bain and Karen Spinner, had ' got in first ' before he made complaints to management about their own conduct.
Both are on final written warnings.
' Responsible '
Rico Gopul, a staff nurse in the villa at the time of the alleged incidents, told the tribunal he had been accused of the same offences as Mr Reid but had received only a written warning.
He too denied the charges.
Director of specialist support for New Possibilities Fay Gerrie said she took the original decision to sack Mr Reid, who has 28 years' service at the hospital, because he was the charge nurse and therefore responsible for the villa.
Procedures at the NHS trust were criticised during the hearing with tribunal chairman Richard Smith questioning why formal notes were not taken during disciplinary hearings.
Mr Reid maintains he was refused the right to call witnesses on his behalf while Mrs Gerrie said she could not remember a request being made at the original hearing.
After the tribunal, director of personnel for New Possibilities Andrew Arnold said there were lessons to be learned and not only would proper records now be kept of disciplinary hearings but a new ' whistle-blowing ' policy was being introduced to make it easier for staff to expose wrong-doing.
Counsel for Mr Reid, Philip Aliker, said he was very surprised and disappointed at the ruling.
His client, he said, had lost his job because of the statements of two nurses when many others had said the allegations were false.
Electors will not forget vote which hits potential for jobs
Sir,  ' It is proposed to retain the Ipswich airport as a two runway, grass airfield, for mainly recreational and business use by light aircraft.
This decision recognises the airport's potential importance for job creation and economic prosperity in the Ipswich area.
Improvements to facilities will be encouraged. '
This is an excerpt from the Labour-controlled borough council's Draft Local Plan in 1984.
The statement is true today, except that the potential importance is enormously increased by the EC free market.
So why did all 27 Labour councillors vote on January 6 to close it?
Such a reversal of views to a position so obviously against the wishes of the people can not be genuine, and requires some explanation.
Various alternative uses have been suggested by the council in its attempts to justify the closure, but its main plank has been the need for housing.
However, all the forecasts of housing need have been overtaken by the release of thousands of houses in Ipswich and district resulting from the departure of American families.
It is therefore unlikely that the need for housing at the airport will arise for decades.
One might have expected that at least some of the Labour members would welcome this opportunity to save the airport entrusted to them, but it appears that the ordinary members are unable to use their right to vote in accordance with their wishes, however strongly held.
The electors will not forget.
I have long held the view that there is a small clique whose real objective has been to close the airport regardless of any other consideration  it would be interesting to know why.
STANLEY WARD,
Wrapped up warm for a visit to Clacton beach.
Picture by NICKY LEWIN
Forest ' deaths' claim rejected by importer
A TIMBER importer has spoken out against Friends of the Earth's claims that the mahogany trade is steeped in death and destruction.
The environmental campaign group is to lobby shoppers on Saturday to highlight what it claims is a destructive and sometimes illegal assault on rainforests.
But the Essex timber merchant, who did not wish to be named, said the protesters were relying on ' old and misleading information. '
He said the campaign group had been swayed by ' propaganda ' issued on behalf of South American Indians.
Friends of the Earth say rainforest inhabitants are being shot by gunmen associated with logging interests.
' The industry has cleaned up its act in the last few years and we import from restricted countries, ' said the timber merchant.
He said some west African governments strictly regulate the mahogany trade so immature trees are not cut down as they are elsewhere.
He tries to buy wood which has a certificate to say it comes from sustainable forests.
Friends of the Earth want shoppers to boycott some furniture stores, including Hatfields of Colchester.
Don Massey, furniture buyer at the Stanway store, said the company was' not unhappy ' about stocking mahogany goods.
He said only a very small percentage of forests was used for furniture, the rest was wasted or burned as fuel by the local people.
Only ten per cent of the items in the Hatfields store were made from the tropical hard wood and only a minute proportion of those goods were made from solid mahogany.
The rest was made from veneer.
' A mahogany dining table will last a lifetime, not like a car or a three-piece suite which you might throw away after five or six years, ' he added.
930305
Reverse head out
ROYAL Mail staff from Essex hope to deliver a 3,000 cash boost for charity following a sponsored abseiling session yesterday.
About 70 staff, led by Royal Mail Anglia's director and general manager Robert Branch, took part in the event, held at the Essex fire service's drill tower at Great Baddow, near Chelmsford.
Each employee paid 3 to participate and was set a personal target of raising at least 10 in sponsorship, but most exceeded the target and many also paid for more than one go.
The money will go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association, which was represented at the event by executive committee member Mike Hawley, himself a sufferer from the fatal muscle-wasting disease and a former head postmaster in Southend.
MND affects the nerve cells controlling muscles so that they weaken and gradually waste away.
It kills three people a day in the UK and affects a total of 6,000.
At present there is no cure.
Overseeing the abseil yesterday was Tony Bolton, an instructor in the Territorial Army's 8th (Scottish) Postal and Courier Regiment.
The event was organised by Derrick Louis, who works for the Royal Mail at its offices in The Vineyards, Great Baddow, and is a member of the same regiment.
Royal Mail secretary Sarah McKay going out on a limb for charity
EA District News
Frinton and Walton Floral club: In yesterday's report of the 41st annual meeting of the Frinton and District Floral Club it was inadvertently left out that Mrs Dorothy Archer was elected as the new president.
The retiring president, Mrs Beryl Abbott, welcomed Mrs Archer as the new president and presented her with the badge of office.
Members all agreed it was a most popular choice.
Mrs Archer has been a member of the club for more than 25 years and during that time has held office as a committee member, treasurer and chairman.
Day of Prayer: There is a special service in Walton on the Naze Parish Church on today at 10.30.
This is Walton's part in the Women's World Day Of Prayer.
Women from Christian congregations throughout the town will be attending.
The special speaker will be Church Army Sister Peggy Boynes.
The service has been prepared by the women of Guatemala.
It speaks of the suffering and poverty of people there and many other parts of the world, and proclaims God's people as instruments of healing.
The church sends an invitation to any who do not belong to a particular church, but would like to join in.
Jumble: Walton on the Naze Parish Church is holding its spring jumble sale on March 11, from 9.30 am to noon, in the Church Hall.
Any good clean jumble or bric-a-brac will be appreciated.
For collection or offers of help see the church-wardens or telephone Mrs Betty Barber on (0255) 675823.
AGM: The Walton on the Naze Chamber of Commerce is holding its AGM on Wednesday, March 17, at 7.30 pm, at Walton's Queen's Head Hotel.
For Round the Houses
Asylum Bill bid beaten
THE Government narrowly avoided a fresh defeat in the Lords on its bid to change asylum and immigration laws.
Voting last night was 123 to 108, a majority of just 15, rejecting an attempt to wreck provisions which would curb certain appeal rights against refusal of entry into Britain.
The close division, during the Asylum And Immigration Appeals Bill's report stage, comes after Tuesday's defeat for ministers when a move to set up a special advisory panel for young refugees was backed with a margin of 55.
However, last night peers rejected an amendment which would have under-mined new tougher rules affecting visitors, short-term and prospective students and their dependants.
The unsuccessful Labour move, backed by Liberal Democrats and former Law Lord Lord Ackner, would have cut the occasions under which the appeal right could be denied.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey, for the Opposition, said the Bill's present proposals were ' offensive and repugnant '.
Home Office Minister of State Earl Ferrers warned that Labour's plans would retain the existing appeal right in most cases, under-mining the Bill's fundamental point  that the resources of the appeals procedure should be concentrated on dealing more speedily with major decisions.
School's governors vote for opting out
GOVERNORS at Colchester County High School have voted to take the first steps on the road to opting out.
At a meeting at the end of this month, the governing body will vote on whether to ballot parents on the issue.
If governors back the move, the school will be the last selective school in the county to seek Grant Maintained Status.
Governors' chairman Chris Graves said it would be a big step forward for the school.
' We decided not to go down this road last September, as we had considerable doubts about the financial arrangements.
We have now carried out a very careful appraisal and taken staff views into consideration.
The ultimate decision will be made by parents and we look forward to hearing what they have to say. '
Awkward
Head teacher Dr Aline Black said the governors were right to consider seeking the views of parents, since the situation had changed dramatically in the past year.
By September, the school would be in the awkward position of being the only selective school in Essex not to be GM and it would be one of very few secondary schools generally in north-east Essex not to have opted out, she said.
Governors were now in a better position to judge how recently opted out schools have fared financially, she said.
' While there is no crock of gold for GM schools, at least one is starting to see more clearly the financial implications and able to weigh them up against money coming into the school. '
Dr Black stressed, however, that she wished to work within whatever framework the governors and parents voted for.
The governors are due to meet on March 31 and if the resolution is passed, a ballot will be conducted after Easter.
Murder pledge is foolish, says coma victim's doctor
THE doctor who treated Hillsborough coma victim Tony Bland yesterday swept aside a priest's pledge to bring a private prosecution against him for murder.
Dismissing the move as' foolish ', Dr Jim Howe appealed to pro-life protesters to let the matter rest.
Tony, 22, died in Airedale General Hospital near Keighley, West Yorkshire, on Wednesday night after the High Court ruled his life support systems could be switched off.
His parents Allan, 58, and Barbara, 54, were with him when he died, ten days after his feeding was stopped.
He had been in a persistent vegetative state since being crushed in the Hillsborough disaster on April 15, 1989.
Dr Howe, who has treated Tony for the past four years, said: ' It has been discussed endlessly in the newspapers and I think it is time to let it be. '
At the inquest into his death, coroner James Turnbull said Tony suffered traumatic asphyxia and brain damage during the crush at the Hillsborough stadium.
He died from kidney failure after medical treatment was withdrawn.
Adjourning the Bradford hearing to a date to be fixed, Mr Turnbull paid tribute to staff at the Airedale hospital.
' He had been nursed superbly and that needs to be said because the nurses have gone through a difficult time for obvious reasons and I would like to assure them, in public, that what they have done was quite superlative. '
He also praised Tony's parents for the ' calm and dignified ' way they conducted themselves.
It would be a ' kindness' to them if they were allowed to have the funeral as privately as possible.
Pro-life campaigners have attacked the House of Lords' ruling to uphold the High Court's decision to allow Tony to die.
Scottish Roman Catholic priest James Morrow has pledged to take out a private prosecution for murder against the doctors.
At the House of Lords hearing, the QC appearing for the Attorney General made it clear the law lords' ruling meant no case could be brought against the hospital or medical staff involved.
Tony Bland's name is to be added to those of the other 95 victims of the Hillsborough disaster on the permanent memorial outside Liverpool FC's Anfield Stadium.
Dr Jim Howe, who treated Hillsborough coma victim Tony Bland, in a thoughtful mood during a news conference
Drink sales vigil criticised
AN ESSEX MEP has accused civil servants of wasting public money by visiting car boot sales and arresting people selling alcohol brought from Europe.
Anne McIntosh, MEP for north east Essex, has been campaigning against UK rates of excise duty which, she says, are making people buy drink on the Continent rather than at British shops.
She said: ' I am very concerned that a number of HM Customs and Excise staff are now employed in arresting those making illegal sales of wine, beer and other personal imports at car boot sales at weekends.
' Surely this can not be justified as an effective use of civil servants' time or public money. '
Customs' spokesman John Barber said that excise verification teams in East Anglia had been investigating people who brought goods back from the Continent and sold them.
In addition to car boot sales, officers had visited shops selling tobacco and drink.
He thought that Miss McIntosh's accusations were unfair.
' We only work to the laws which are enforced and are made by Parliament. '
Mr Barber said: ' In the East Anglian Customs and Excise region there have been no arrests in relation to these imports but there have been some seizures of alcohol at boot sales in Norfolk and Suffolk. '
There had been 36 seizures nationally in January and he thought the number of arrests could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Miss McIntosh said that many businesses in Britain had suffered because of cheap drink from EC countries.
' If wine merchants and restaurants are to survive and jobs are to be preserved, UK rates of excise duty on alcohol must be brought into line with those of other member states.
' Britain has the second highest level of taxes on alcohol in the EC and many are suffering as a result, ' she said.
Bosnian refugees assured of asylum
TWO BOSNIAN families who fled detention camps and now live in Chelmsford have been assured that their applications for asylum are unlikely to be refused.
The news, given by Chelmsford MP Simon Burns, during a personal visit to their secret homes, was a relief for the refugees of war-torn former Yugoslavia.
Three of them were among the first to be evacuated by the Red Cross from the notorious Banja Luka camp.
Brothers Sefic and Safet Alic and father-of three Ramo Besic were exhausted and ill when they arrived at Stansted in September last year.
They feared for the safety of relatives and friends who were traced while the three men spent months under medical treatment at Broomfield Hospital.
Just a few weeks ago Safet was re-united with his mother, wife, and the daughter he had never seen, Emina.
She was born nine months ago after he was interned.
Safet's father is still missing.
Ramo Besic was joined by his wife and three sons shortly before Christmas.
Simon Burns, who was involved in the effort to get the families re-united, said they all looked well.
' During my visit I told them I would be extremely surprised if they were not granted asylum and offered my help if they have any problems. '
Mr Burns said he did not speak to them about their past life because he felt that would have been ' insensitive '.
Snipers fire on aid convoy
SNIPERS ambushed an aid convoy run by the French charity Equilibre yesterday as it entered Sarajevo, killing a French woman and wounding two Polish drivers.
UN officials said the ambush occurred 50 metres from a checkpoint manned by French UN soldiers on the highway into the city which is known as' Sniper Alley. '
Troops laid down a smokescreen to cover the rescue of the victims, who were not immediately named.
UN officials said earlier they hoped to enter the settlement of Cerska within 24 hours to check Moslem claims that up to 1,500 sick and wounded needed to be evacuated from a Serb offensive.
The plan was announced as a UN spokeswoman in Zagreb said Serb commanders had provisionally agreed to allow safe passage for Moslem civilians out of Cerska and other beleaguered pockets of east Bosnia at the weekend.
A UN Protection Force spokesman in Sarajevo said relief agency officials hoped to reach Cerska today to assess what was available locally to help organise an evacuation.
' Assuming the situation is as bad as we are hearing, we can not wait much longer, ' said the spokesman, Commander Barry Frewer.
' People are obviously dying. '
He said Bosnian Serb commander General Ratko Mladic, whose forces have besieged Cerska since Bosnia's war erupted last April, had agreed in principle to the inspection trip.
The exact details however were still being worked out.
General Mladic had also agreed in principle to open a corridor to Cerska.
Moslem reports of a fierce Serb assault on Cerska have dominated the Bosnian war since the settlement was made the target of Monday's maiden aid airdrops to eastern Bosnia by the United States.
For Round the Houses
PM warns of Bosnia peace ' difficulty '
THE Prime Minister yesterday warned in the Commons that there still remained ' great difficulty ' in getting a Bosnia peace settlement.
He said, at Question Time: ' The important matter in the Bosnian war is to give every support to the peace talks in New York  they are crucial, they are the only realistic way of achieving real peace. '
Mr Major welcomed recent Moslem agreements to a document on the cessation of hostilities, but he added: ' There still remains great difficulty in getting agreement on the map.
It is essential that all parties remain in those negotiations and negotiate seriously until we have a satisfactory agreement and the end of this bitter and nasty conflict. '
Woman punched in attempt to break-up fight
A WOMAN passer-by who tried to break up a fight outside a Chinese take-away restaurant was punched in the face, Brain-tree magistrates heard yesterday.
Wayne Brandon, 23, of Harkilees Road, Braintree, and Peter Musto, 26, of Western Road, Silver End, both pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour.
They were each given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay 35 costs.
Mrs Lynn Officer, prosecuting, said the offence happened on January 27 when the two went to a Chinese takeaway in Brain-tree late at night.
She said another group of men were in the restaurant, engaged in ' jovial banter with the staff of the Chinese takeaway '.
Brandon then told one of the other group: ' Order your food and leave if you don't want trouble, or I 'll splatter your face across the road. '
She said the others left, but then outside Brandon punched the person he had threatened in the restaurant leaving him dazed on the pavement.
She said he then jumped on his victim.
Then Musto joined in, kicking him on the head.
Mrs Officer said a woman tried to stop it but was punched by Brandon.
He apologised afterwards because he did not realise he had struck a female.
She said charges of assault were not brought because the victim did not wish to take the matter further.
The two were stopped by police after the incident as they left the scene, carrying their Chinese food in carrier bags.
Brandon told the court: ' I don't agree completely with the prosecution evidence, but I admit the offence. '
Musto had nothing to say.
PM revamps honours list
Prime Minister John Major announces changes to the honours system
THE Prime Minister yesterday matched his words about a classless society with action  sweeping away the class basis of the honours system.
From now on everyone in the country will have the chance to recommend ' deserving cases' for an award.
And the days of virtually ' automatic gongs' for civil servants are to end.
In future, honours will have to be earned.
However, Mr Major said he will retain the system of political honours  and that provoked an angry reaction from Labour.
Opposition leader John Smith called it a ' shoddy misuse ' of the system.
But the first shake-up since the First World War does mean a deep-seated reform in the principle behind the choice of names in the Birthday and New Year Honours lists.
In future the accent will be on voluntary service, and unsung, worthy people up and down the country beavering away on charitable work.
It will be up to ordinary people as' shareholders' in the system to winkle out these deserving cases who would otherwise pass unnoticed.
Downing Street will supply them with special forms to state the reasons for their recommendations.
No longer even can ambassadors assume that a knighthood will come along automatically.
Senior law officers, like the Attorney General, may have to remain plain ' mister '.
Mr Major told MPs that the awarding of honours had been a valued part of British life for centuries but the system must from time to time be reviewed.
' Honours should be awarded on merit for exceptional achievement or exceptional service, over and above what normally might be expected.
' There should be different levels of award to reflect different levels of achievement.
Awards should not be automatic and follow simply as a result of doing a particular job.
Awards should place more emphasis on voluntary service. '
The overhaul of the system includes abolishing the British Empire Medal, widely regarded as' the gong for the working classes'.
In future, those who would have received it will be made Members of the British Empire, seen as a ' white-collar award '
And the distinction between commissioned officers and NCOs and other ranks in military gallantry awards will be abolished.
Television's Lovejoy, actor Ian McShane, right, receives a cheque for 210,000 from footballer Bryan Robson and Page Three girl Helen Labden in London yesterday on behalf of the Variety Club of Great Britain.
The money was raised from the sale of gold heart badges across the country
Euro-MP in plea for cash to shore up sea defences
THE campaign to attract European funds for sea defences in Essex is being stepped up.
Anne McIntosh, MEP for North East Essex, is pressing the Government to reverse its policy of controlled retreat, which allows the sea to gradually take its natural course.
She wants the Government to take advantage of EC environmental funds to maintain Essex sea defences.
Funding is available through two key sources: agricultural structural funds, known as FEOGA and cash assistance direct from the European Commission in Brussels.
' Essex's 542km of coastline is under constant threat from the sea, ' she said.
' EC money and other action is needed urgently to build, repair and maintain sea defences.
After recent bad weather and rough seas, local farmers are concerned their land is literally disappearing into the sea. '
Miss McIntosh said it was also essential contractors dredging local channels used the retrieved aggregate on Essex sea walls rather than transport it to coasts elsewhere in the EC.
Negotiations are still underway between the National Rivers Authority and the Harwich Haven Authority (HHA) for a dredging project which would help protect The Naze.
The HHA is to undertake a major dredging scheme at the port this year and is eager to co-operate with the NRA by allowing it to use the extracted sand, clay, gravel and rock as a barrier to sea erosion on sites like The Naze.
' Essex has some of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the Community, ' said Miss McIntosh.
' Action must be taken to ensure they are maintained. '
VOLUNTARY groups are receiving cash help from the Essex Training and Enterprise Council to comply with new laws.
Essex TEC is contributing 40,000 towards courses being run across the county by the Essex Association for Voluntary Service.
New laws resulting from the Children Act, the NHS Community Care Act and changes in the Charities Act carry a wide range of implications for voluntary groups.
Management committees face new duties.
More formal funding agreements are also required with local authorities and health authorities.
The courses are designed for anyone in the voluntary sector who is unsure how the changes will affect them or who simply wants to be better informed.
Among the subjects they cover are the role and responsibilities of trustees and management committees and advice on how to make successful grant applications.
Most of the courses last for one day.
The price of places has been limited to 10.
Courses have been operating since January and have been well supported.
The programme runs through to July and many places are still available.
Venues include Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Brightlingsea, Chelmsford, Clacton, Colchester, Frinton, Grays, Harlow, Harwich, Loughton, Maldon, Rochford, Saffron Walden, Thaxted and Waltham Abbey.
Details from Samantha Drummond of the Colchester Council for Voluntary Service at Winsley House, High Street, Colchester, or on (0206) 45283.
Aeroflot to begin Stansted service
RUSSIAN airline Aeroflot is starting its first scheduled passenger flights from Stansted, it was announced yesterday.
The airline will operate a Tuesday and Sunday service to St Petersburg, expanding its operations at the Essex airport.
Aeroflot is also hoping to fly from Stansted to the United States later this year, now that traffic agreements between the two countries for the state airline have been agreed and when long range aircraft become available.
The St Petersburg service starts on March 28 and will connect to destinations within the Commonwealth of Independent States such as Murmansk, and also other areas such as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.
Aerflot UK's general manager Mr Victor Ilyukhin said Stansted had been chosen because of its good links to central London and the Midlands.
Robbery witness asked to speak up
A MOTORIST who witnessed a violent street robbery has failed to answer police pleas for help  even though they probably hold the vital key to solving the crime.
The driver saw two men attacking a middle-aged woman outside a bank cash machine, but instead of stopping to help her, carried on driving, detectives believe.
And yesterday they issued a direct appeal to the person to come forward with information so the thugs can be caught before they strike again.
The victim, aged 44, is still recovering from her ordeal which happened outside Barclays Bank in Kingsway, Dovercourt, on February 22.
She was grabbed and thrown against a wall by two teenagers who snatched the ' substantial ' amount of cash she had just withdrawn.
She was very badly shaken and may never go out alone because of her ordeal.
A police spokesman said the person police want to hear from drove past in a large, light-coloured estate car after pulling out of Bagshaw Road, opposite the bank machine.
' That is the only person as far as we are aware who was in the area at the time, and they must have seen what happened, but so far they have not come forward. '
The car drove off towards the seafront, the same direction in which the woman's attackers fled.
' We very much want to trace the driver of that vehicle because they might hold vital information which could result in this robbery being solved, ' added the spokesman.
Both robbers were white and aged about 17, one about 5ft 9in tall and was wearing a mustard or gold baseball-type jacket, which was either woollen or fleecy, the second wore dark clothing.
Anybody with information is asked to contact Harwich police on (0255) 241312 immediately.
Two men arrested earlier this week in connection with the incident have been eliminated from the inquiry and released without charge.
Traffic chaos as lorry spills grain in crash
By Sheena Walshe
FRUSTRATED motorists tried to escape three-mile tailbacks by driving the wrong way along one of Suffolk's busiest roads yesterday after it was blocked by grain.
The A45 was impassable after a lorry overturned in a crash, spilling 20 tonnes of grain across three lanes of the eastbound carriageway and on to the outside lane of the west.
John Snowden, 50, from Yorkshire, who was driving the Seddon Atkinson grain lorry, suffered head and arm injuries and had to be freed by firemen.
He was taken by ambulance to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, where his condition was described as satisfactory.
His lorry clipped a Renault van as it overturned after a collision with a Daf articulated roofing lorry between Quy and Exning, near Newmarket.
Neither van driver Stephen Baker, 27, of Long Stanton, Cambridgeshire, nor Daf driver Simon Jarram, 35, from Middlesex, were injured.
The crash happened just after 7 am and the road was not cleared until 1.50 pm.
A police spokesman said: ' The grain spread across three lanes of the eastbound carriageway and on to the fast lane of the west.
The eastbound side was completely blocked.
' People were turning around and going back the other way, which was extremely dangerous.
But that was stopped by police officers at the scene. '
Mr Snowden was released by firemen just before 8 am and police opened one lane of the eastbound A45 around 10 am purely to help clear the tailbacks that had built up.
They set up diversions at Quy and Six Mile Bottom, East Cambridgeshire council helped clear grain and Suffolk police aided traffic filtering on the westbound side.
Police and rescue teams clear grain from the east bound carriageway after two lorries collided on the A45.
Picture by Keith Mindham
Two men charged over explosion at Harrods
TWO men were last night charged with the Harrods bombing and other terrorist charges.
Jan Alexander Taylor and Patrick Thomas Hayes were arrested on Tuesday, hours after police released film of two men caught on security cameras five weeks ago walking along the street near the Knightsbridge store about 30 minutes before a small bomb exploded.
Armed police swooped on a flat in Walford Road, Stoke Newington, east London, after a tip-off.
Three shots were fired.
Scotland Yard, who did not give ages, addresses or occupations of the two men, said Taylor was also charged with the attempted murder of Pc Philip Thorne in Walford Road on Tuesday.
Both men are jointly charged with three counts.
These include causing the explosion using Semtex high explosive ' likely to endanger life ' at Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, on Thursday, January 28.
They are also charged that on or before Tuesday, March 2, they conspired at Walford Road and elsewhere to cause an explosion in the UK and with possessing a ' quantity of Semtex ' at the Stoke Newington flat.
The two men, who were being questioned at the high-security Paddington Green police station in central London under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, will appear at Arbour Square Magistrates' Court this morning.
Three other men arrested later are still being held under the PTA at central London police stations.
Police are still sifting through a large haul of material uncovered during a series of raids across London in the past three days.
The operation began on Tuesday after the Yard released 35 seconds of video film, enhanced by scientists, of two men shortly before the bomb exploded outside Harrods, slightly injuring three people.
Reward offer after kidnap
THE NatWest bank last night offered a 25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of two men who kidnapped the elderly mother of one of its managers.
Widow Mrs Valerie Addington, 74, of Harpenden, Herts, was released unharmed after a ransom demand of 60,000 from her bank manager son Arthur was not paid.
Tories reject spending plea
A LAST-ditch attempt to inject 86,000 into council coffers by adding 1.53 to the average town centre council tax bill of 527.22 was outvoted in Chelmsford.
Four amendments to the 13.25m budget were defeated during Wednesday's meeting of all members of the borough council.
Opposition members tried to persuade the ruling Tories to push up spending to the Government-imposed limit and put extra cash towards economic development and jobs.
One amendment suggested scrapping the council's 6,250 donation to the cathedral organ restoration fund and spending the money on retraining the unemployed.
Council leader Christopher Kingsley said the restoration project will create local jobs and was a worthwhile cause.
Kenneth Wedon, chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee, who proposed the standstill budget, said the council had produced a value-for-money budget.
He said voluntary redundancy by council workers had cut the wage bill by 850,000.
The council had plans for economic development but could not reveal details to stop other authorities taking the ideas, he added.
Liberal Democrat Michael Young urged the council to increase the budget to prevent the risk of the Government reducing spending limits in the future.
His party argued the Tories had set up a Economic Development Forum but had not put enough money in.
Independent Delmas Asford said money to help unemployed people find work was an investment.
Labour's Adrian Longden proposed an amendment which also advocated spending up to the ' capping limit '.
He said: ' What we need is a budget for jobs, what we have here is a budget for job losses. '
The council hopes to send out bills by the end of March with rebates and transitional relief included.
The 527.22 average council tax figure is based on a band D property and does not include parish council bills (an average of 11).
Princess visits hospital
THE Princess of Wales was compared to a Hindu goddess by Nepalis yesterday when she visited a hospital and made a point of touching leprosy victims.
Medical workers said the princess went out of her way to help dispel local superstition about the disease.
' She came as an incarnation of Durga, ' Pradeep Gurung said after the Royal visitor toured the Anandaban leprosy hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
Durga is the Hindu Mother Goddess who protects the weak against evil.
Royal watchers say the Princess' interest in the leprosy mission was inspired by Mother Teresa, whom she greatly admires.
Ruth Butlin, the British medical superintendent at the hospital, said: ' The visit will focus attention on disease.
It is important that someone like Diana is not afraid to touch leprosy patients. '.
Surgeon Des Soares added: ' The Princess sat down and touched patients, and we want to ram home that this illness is not a curse of the gods. '
The princess, who began a five-day tour of Nepal on Tuesday, her first overseas since her separation from the Prince of Wales in December, later visited a memorial for 167 victims of an air crash in September last year.
For Round the Houses
Review of porn curbs promised
THE Prime Minister yesterday promised an investigation of possible new curbs on pornography.
His pledge, at Commons Question Time, followed a recent Westminster exhibition of pornographic photos, films and books seized by police and Customs officers.
Mr Major was told by Tory Ann Winterton that the 300 MPs and peers who viewed the material had been ' deeply shocked by what they saw ' and were demanding an urgent review of the Obscene Publications Act.
He replied: ' I have asked the Home Secretary and National Heritage Secretary to consider what options exist for taking action against it. '
Mrs Winterton invited Mr Major to view the exhibition privately so he could reach his own informed conclusion about what action needed to be taken to clean up ' this free market in filth '.
' Offensive '
Mr Major said he had been given a report on the particular material that was on show in a Commons committee room.
' I am aware of the nature of it and how offensive it would be to most MPs and most people in this country. '
Home Office Minister of State Michael Jack said later in a Commons written reply that the Government had no immediate plans to increase the penalties for the possession of porno-graphic material.
Providing the obscene video, photograph or book did not feature a child under 16, the simple possession of such a tape was not in itself a criminal offence, Mr Jack said.
Cyclist injured in accident with car
A SCHOOLGIRL suffered a catalogue of injuries when she was thrown from her bicycle in a collision with a car.
Leena Vowden, 15, fell over the front of the car and hit the windscreen, her mother Rosemary said yesterday.
The Newmarket Upper School pupil broke her left leg in two places, had a hairline fracture of right leg, dislocated her shoulder and suffered cuts and bruises.
Leena is being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, where her condition was described as' satisfactory '.
Mrs Vowden said Leena was going for a bike ride when the accident happened at 6.10 pm on Wednesday at the junction of Edinburgh Road and Hamilton Road, Newmarket.
She was in collision with a car driven by Kimberley Roudeiko, of Bury Road, Newmarket.
Top-security features at 2m police station
BRAINTREE'S new 2 million police station is on target for a June opening, replacing the outmoded and cramped Victorian building in Fairfield Road.
The five-sided, two-storey building in The Avenue is being fitted out, with the exterior building work completed.
Inspector Brian Jaggs told yesterday during a guided tour of the building how it would include the latest in technology with security a major factor.
This includes a custody area allowing police vans to off-load prisoners in an area sealed off by double doors.
Staff cars will be admitted only with high-tech, remote control passes.
The station has cells for four male prisoners, two female, a cell for juveniles and a special one for drunks.
This includes a lower bed, so that if they fall out they should not hurt themselves.
Insp Jaggs, who was also involved in the planning and design of the new Colchester police station, which opened in 1989, said the Braintree station would also include closed circuit TV.
Spy cameras are to be sited on the outer walls, mainly for security.
The two courts, which are in the same complex as the existing Victorian police station will still be used.
Insp Jaggs said: ' It is still subject to negotiations with the magistrates courts committee but we hope to still have use of the cells on a normal court day  Thursdays. '
On other days prisoners will be escorted to the courts.
He said the new cells were a great improvement on the existing station.
There the juvenile cell is a converted cupboard.
The new station will have a central courtyard, which will be landscaped, plus a prisoners' exercise yard.
There are also showers for prisoners.
The station will be home to 117 police and civilian staff, said Insp.
Jaggs.
The CID team will have a large open-plan office on the first floor and another room on the first floor can be used for major incidents.
Purpose-built
There will be a purpose-built canteen, a rest room with TV, snooker and darts, a bar, and a multi-gym.
The station will be opened in June and there will also be a series of open days.
No decision has been taken yet on the fate of the old station, but it is likely to be used in some form by Essex County Council, possibly by the probation service.
Inspector Brian Jaggs outside Braintree's new police station.
Assisted area status decision still awaited
THE success of Tendring District Council's bid for assisted area status for Clacton and Harwich will not now be known until next month.
Delays have been caused by the need for the Government to determine the future of coal mining in Britain, following its decision last year to close 30 pits.
The announcement, and subsequent negotiations, will almost inevitably have an impact on the designation of assisted area status.
The EADT has been at the forefront of the campaign, believing it vital grant aid is injected quickly into Clacton, with the third highest unemployment rate in the country, and Harwich, which offers a wealth of opportunities as the gateway to Europe.
With AAS, new firms can be given cash incentives to set up in Tendring, or established ones can be helped to expand and create more jobs and opportunities.
Tendring's director of planning and economic development, Roger Stewart, is dismayed by the delay.
' We need to know now, ' he said last night.
' We have to decide what we are going to do and what our approach will be. '
However, he stressed the council had many other economic schemes which were still ongoing during the wait for a decision about assisted area status.
Enterprise
Project grants, under regional selective assistance schemes, are based on the fixed capital costs of a project and on the number of jobs created or safeguarded.
There are also two types of regional enterprise grants.
Investment grants up to 15,000 are payable after the purchase of plant machinery and buildings for companies with fewer than 25 employees, while innovation grants pay up to half eligible costs, to a maximum of 25,000, for projects leading to the development and introduction of products and processes for companies with fewer than 50 employees.
Major rejects charges on past policies
THE Prime Minister yesterday dismissed charges that his rejection of Margaret Thatcher's industrial policies of the 1980s was an attack on his predecessor.
Labour leader John Smith taunted Mr Major at Commons question time over comments made in an interview in yesterday's Independent newspaper.
' Having run out of excuses for the abject failure of your Government's economic policies, ' he said, ' you are now trying to pin the blame on your predecessor, in whose Government you were responsible for economic policy. '
Mr Major said Mr Smith had been ' misled ' by newspaper reports of the interview, and that he should read the transcript.
He insisted: ' Lady Thatcher did more to help British industry than the Labour Party has ever done. '
In the interview, the Prime Minister was asked about the line that stressed the importance of the service sector over manufacturing.
He replied: ' I do not agree with it.
I did not agree with it in the 1980s.
I was a minority view in the 1980s.
I am not a minority view now and, anyway, I am in a better position to expound my views. '
Mr Smith asked: ' Can you explain what you meant when you said you were in a minority in Lady Thatcher's administration? '
He said the comments were ' deeply revealing ' about Mr Major, who was both Treasury Chief Secretary and Chancellor in the Thatcher government.
Mr Major retorted: ' You are very predictable.
You are also misled yet again by newspaper reports, having not read the transcript. '
Runaway lorry kills woman in car
A WOMAN motorist was killed yesterday when a 38-ton articulated coal lorry ran out of control down a steep hill and burst into flames.
The fully-laden truck careered through traffic lights at a crossroads in St Austell, Cornwall, crushed her Vauxhall car and pushed it 100 feet, before virtually demolishing a butchery and crashing into a florist's shop.
Local people tackled the blaze with fire extinguishers before fire crews arrived and cut the woman  who has not yet been named  from the wreckage.
Eyewitness Terry Shaylor, 19, an assistant at nearby Polkyth News, said the area ' looks as though a bomb has hit it '.
The lorry demolished the butchery leaving ' just a roof with a load of rubble under-neath '.
The lorry driver and a woman pedestrian were treated for shock, and heat-seeking cameras searched the rubble for other casualties, but Cornwall fire brigade said later everyone was accounted for.
Sect frees more children
TWO more children, one clutching a box of puppies, have been allowed out of the Texas compound where a religious cult is under armed siege, U.S. authorities said last night.
The release of the American brothers, aged 12 and 11, brought the number of children freed to 20 as the stand-off at Waco entered its fifth day.
An FBI spokesman said the move was' a very hopeful sign ' but fears were growing that some sect members may commit suicide.
Up to 45 British men, women and children are feared to be among the 110 cult members inside the compound, which is surrounded by hundreds of heavily-armed police and federal agents.
The Foreign Office said a list of 45 Britons who had visited the ranch recently and may still be there had been compiled with the help of U.S. immigration authorities and worried relatives.
British consul David Hook was in Waco liaising with the authorities and checking on the health of the three British children released earlier and now recovering in the care of the local child protection agency.
U.S. authorities admit they are worried about the possibility of a repeat of the mass suicide in Guyana in 1978 when more than 900 followers of cult leader Jim Jones took cyanide.
An FBI spokesman in San Antonio, Texas, said: ' Negotiations are continuing.
We are still at stand-off. '
Sect leader David Koresh, who claims he is Jesus Christ, has told negotiators he is waiting for a ' message from God ' before deciding what to do next.
Man held over bombing of centre
FEDERAL officials yesterday made one arrest in their search for the bombers of the World Trade Centre in New York and authorities said they were looking for other suspects.
Acting attorney general Stuart Gerson and FBI director William Sessions declined to identify the man held, named by a TV station as Salama Mohammed, 26.
WNBC TV said he had links with Moslem fundamentalists.
A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the person arrested had been linked to a rental van that investigators believed played a role in the bombing.
Another source said the FBI had a theory that the bombing was in retaliation for the Gulf War.
The blast happened on the second anniversary of Desert Storm, in which U.S. and Allied troops expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
930315
About-turn by Danes
DENMARK'S Socialist People's Party, which led the successful ' no ' campaign against the Maastricht treaty last June, decided yesterday to endorse the pact in a new referendum to be held on May 18.
An extraordinary Socialist congress voted 223C85 with eight abstentions to recommend a ' yes' in the new ballot.
Europe tempts Currie to quit House
OUTSPOKEN Edwina Currie said yesterday she plans to quit Westminster and embark on a career as a Euro-MP.
Mrs Currie, Tory member for Derbyshire South since 1983, has been selected to fight the Conservative-held Euro seat of Bedfordshire South at the European elections in June next year.
She has been one of the liveliest, most controversial and forthright MPs at Westminster during her ten years in the House.
Some MPs despise her.
Mrs Currie does not agree with the ' dual mandate ' of politicians sitting at Westminster and Strasbourg.
She said: ' I would sit at Westminster for the time being, but I do not think you can do both.
I shall stay until the next General Election when I would expect they will select a new candidate at South Derbyshire. '
Firefighters tackle blazes at farm and empty house
POLICE and fire service investigators were last night still trying to establish the cause of a farm fire at the weekend.
About 120 bales of barley straw, valued at about 1,400, were destroyed in the blaze at a Dutch barn in Long Road, Lawford, near Manningtree.
The fire was discovered at about 2.30 am on Saturday and was quickly brought under control by three fire crews from Manningtree and Colchester.
Firefighters spent more than eight hours at the scene, damping down the smouldering straw and attempting to discover how the blaze started.
However, a Harwich police spokesman said yesterday no definite cause had been established and the fire was still being treated as of doubtful origin.
Clacton on Friday evening is being treated as arson.
A fire which damaged an empty house near the centre of
A police spokesman said the house, in Old Road, was up for sale and was unoccupied, although it did contain some furniture.
The fire, which caused damage valued at about 2,500, had been started deliberately but the motive was still not clear.
Nothing appeared to have been stolen, he added.
Head injuries leave sportsmen fighting for life
A RUGBY player and a Second Division footballer remained on life-support machines last night after sustaining severe head injuries during weekend games.
Rugby union player Seamus Lavelle was' extremely critical ' after suffering brain damage in a junior club game at Hendon, north London, on Saturday, police said.
Rotherham striker John Buckley was making ' satisfactory progress' after fracturing his skull while playing against Plymouth on Saturday, hospital officials said.
Mr Lavelle, 25, of Edgware, north-west London, collapsed and stopped breathing after an altercation with an opponent while playing for Hendon against Centaur, from West Drayton, west London, police said.
He was flown by air ambulance to the Royal London hospital, Whitechapel, east London, where staff said he had suffered ' very severe neurological impairment '.
A Centaur player was questioned by police and released without charge on police bail.
The match was abandoned.
Mr Buckley, 30, underwent surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain at the Royal Hallamshire hospital, Sheffield, after fracturing his skull in an accidental clash of heads with Plymouth defender Gary Poole in the fifth minute of the game at Rotherham, which ended 2C2.
Glasgow-born Mr Buckley began his career with Partick Thistle and has also played for Doncaster, Leeds and Scunthorpe.
Mr Lavelle played as a forward for the club.
He had been a member of Hendon RFC since he played in the colts team.
He is married.
A club source said the match was almost over, with Hendon leading Centaurs 1st XV 22C10, when Mr Lavelle was injured.
Hendon's deputy president, John Brown, said: ' We are all very concerned for Seamus and are in touch with his family. '
Centaurs' secretary Hugh Hopkins said the incident would be discussed at a scheduled committee meeting tonight.
Neither club would give details of the incident.
Mr Hopkins said: ' We are most distressed about this.
Our sympathy goes out to the player and his family. '
Rotherham striker John Buckley (also pictured inset) is helped on to a stretcher after fracturing his skull
Bike clue to bomb blasts in Bombay
POLICE hunting bombers who killed at least 250 people in a Bombay bloodbath yesterday found an unexploded bomb intact on a stolen motorcycle.
City police chief Amarjeet Singh Samra said the 44lb bomb, planted last Friday when 13 others devastated buildings across India's commercial capital, was made of the plastic explosive Semtex, the heat-generating RDX, chemicals and grease.
' This is an important clue in our hunt for the bombers, ' Mr Singh said.
He said the motorcycle was new, and left near the crowded Dadar railway station in central Bombay where it was reported to police by a doctor.
Police evacuated nearby buildings and cordoned off the area while they defused the bomb.
FA meet on pitch invasion
OFFICIALS at the Football Association are meeting today to discuss what action to take following pitch invasions during Colchester United's match with Cardiff City at Layer Road on Friday night.
At the weekend seven people arrested before and during the Division Three match were charged with public order offences.
About 100 fans from two sections of the ground allocated to away fans ran on to the pitch after Cardiff took a 2C1 lead.
Some 20 home fans then ran on to the field in response, but police were able to keep the two factions apart.
The Colchester players left the field while police and club stewards restored order, with play being delayed for about five minutes.
Earlier a smaller number of Cardiff supporters had run on to the pitch in celebration of their side's equaliser in a game which the Welsh club eventually won 4C2.
The 4,538 spectators at the game included about 1,000 visiting fans, and extra police officers had been drafted in for the game due to Cardiff's large away following.
A Colchester police spokesman said seven people, including some visiting fans and some locals, had been arrested either before or during the game.
They had been charged with a variety of public order offences and been released on police bail to appear before magistrates at a later date.
The incident came just five days after a pitch invasion by Manchester City fans during their side's 4C2 FA Cup defeat at home to Tottenham, which was screened live on television.
Manchester City were subsequently charged with misconduct by the Football Association and face a possible fine, or even suspension from next year's competition.
An FA spokesman said yesterday it was too early to comment on any action the association might take in relation to the incident at Layer Road.
' We are aware of reports of the incident and we will be looking into it on Monday morning, ' he added.
In December Essex Police increased the number of officers attending matches at Layer Road after two constables were slightly injured in a clash with a small number of home supporters.
However, there had been no further serious problems at the ground until Friday night's incident.
Outlook for jobs bleak, warn MPs
Fears of little relief in Budget
By Tom Burroughes and David Carter
THE GLOOMY jobs market will stay sluggish for some time after the recession ends, Essex Tory MPs warned at the weekend.
There will be little change in the employment situation, despite signs that the cold economic climate is thawing, said the MPs as they set out their Budget hopes.
Meanwhile, the Tory Party is counting on the bitter disputes over Europe being set aside when Chancellor Norman Lamont presents what may be his last Budget tomorrow.
Manpower
A national survey and comments from MPs suggest little immediate relief for the country's jobless, with unemployment now at three million.
Colchester North MP Bernard Jenkin and Saffron Walden's Alan Haselhurst echoed the findings of a survey by employment services company Manpower.
It shows that Essex, grouped as part of the Home counties, will see job prospects changing little for the second quarter of 1993.
Although 17 per cent of employers believe there will be an upturn in vacancies, 18 per cent fear a drop.
Mr Jenkin said: ' A fall in the jobless total will be one of the last indications that the recession is coming to an end.
Companies are likely to continue to be laying off surplus staff well into the recovery, as was the case during the last recession in the early '80s.
I 'm afraid it will be bleak for some time. '
Mr Jenkin said he believed the Chancellor should cut the huge deficit, and he predicted this could mean increases in indirect taxation.
Mr Haselhurst said: ' I think on all the previous evidence the last thing that will happen now will be a fall in unemployment. '
In the recession of the early 1980s it took four years for the unemployment figures to drop.
He said any measures to tackle the budget deficit should be secondary to dealing with the recession.
Unity
Tom Kenny, of Manpower, said yesterday the only regions showing a rise in job prospects were Scotland and north Wales, along with parts of the North-West.
' The results for Essex show no sign of increased optimism over job prospects in the region over the past year, ' he said.
In Suffolk, a Tory MP called on Mr Lamont to present a Budget which would allow the party to unite.
Waveney member David Porter said: ' We don't need to divide ourselves over Maastricht and other European matters.
' This has got to be a Budget for jobs.
Employment must, of course, be one of the highest priorities.
It is going to be quite a fine balance between the need to cut spending, cutting taxation and not killing off the tender recovery, ' he said.
Labour stalwart dies, aged 78
LORD Underhill, one of the stalwarts of the Labour Party over the past 30 years, has died aged 78.
The party's former national agent, who lived at Buckhurst Hill in Essex, died on Friday night at St Margaret's Hospital in Epping.
As Reg Underhill, he carried out the key role of national agent for Labour from 1972 to 1979.
On retiring from the post he became a life peer and was appointed deputy leader of the Labour Party in the Lords in 1982, an office he relinquished only two years ago,
He concentrated in the Lords on local government and transport issues.
He remained an active figure in the House until only a week ago.
Many believe that if Labour's national executive had acted on his report in the mid-1970s about the need to root out Militant Tendency, the party would have been saved the turmoil of the 1980s, by which time Militant had gained a grip.
Lord Underhill was regarded as one of the most knowledgeable people about the internal workings of the Labour Party.
He was also a former president of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities and, as his chosen title Lord Underhill of Leyton indicated, was a life-long supporter of Leyton Orient FC.
He leaves a widow, Flora, a son and two daughters.
Lord Graham, Labour chief whip in the Lords, said at the weekend: ' Even though he came to the Lords with no experience of the House of Commons, he immediately got into the swing of it and was quickly given authority by his colleagues.
He soon showed that he was a canny politician and he will be sorely missed. '
LAMONT'S CHALLENGES
NORMAN Lamont will tomorrow try to revive confidence in the Government as a whole and in his management of the economy in particular.
He needs to persuade foreigners that it is safe for them to lend the best part of 1000 million a week to the Treasury; and he needs to persuade Britons that it is safe for them to start spending their money again.
He starts with the disadvantage of having been wrong in the past.
A year ago he promised his creditors that the pound sterling would never be devalued, and six months ago he had to break his word to them.
A year ago he was promising economic growth in the UK, which should by now have been accelerating to three per cent per year but, of course, it never happened.
This year the Chancellor has been insisting that the pound can not be allowed to go any lower, because of the dangers of inflation; and he has allowed the Bank of England to give a strong endorsement of his argument.
Nobody is yet convinced that he really would be willing to raise interest rates if there were a prolonged run on the pound sometime this year.
At home, while Ministers are careful not to use such words as' green shoots' in public, they use them off the record all the time to political journalists, who dutifully pass the message on to the reading public.
Nevertheless, the opinion polls which test public confidence in the future of the economy are showing a substantial majority on the side of gloom, if not doom.
There are positive signs; there is more money in circulation and some of it is being spent.
The market for houses and cars is better than it was, and there is an improved turnover in the shops.
Yet there does not seem to be any end to the announcements of redundancies in major companies, which make the headlines and arouse general anxiety elsewhere.
The classic response to this situation is to take from the rich and to give to the poor on the grounds that the poor spend their money much faster than the rich.
The circulation of money is thereby improved, creating more economic activity and more jobs  and all this without printing money which would lead to inflation.
After bullying the Queen into paying income tax ' like everybody else ' the Government has been embarrassingly reminded by the Birt affair of the many high earners who do not by any means pay tax like everybody else.
Mr Lamont will be expected to respond by making a serious attempt to plug tax loopholes before he talks of increases in general taxation.
He will also be expected to end the anomaly whereby high earners are excused national insurance contributions on earnings of over 21,000 a year.
That would give him a chance to reduce tax on lower incomes, which are so discouraging to people caught in the poverty trap.
An adjustment of this kind would serve to promote recovery, and it should also go some way to reassure international opinion.
Bankers like to see governments breaking their election promises because this proves that they are in earnest in their attempts to put the economy to rights.
The budget needs to be a holding operation, so that a recovery can become established before the real attack on the budget deficit is made in December.
Its success will depend upon people believing that Mr Lamont knows what he was doing, and that his forecasts are reliable; and it is difficult not to reflect that an alternative Chancellor would have had carried more conviction.
Students challenge for moot points
A TEAM of Essex students will soon have the chance to go forward to the semi-finals of a national legal debating contest.
Anglia Polytechnic University's Richard Davies and Marcus Staff defeated a team from the University of Coventry in the third round of the Observer Moot.
Now they are away to a University of Wolverhampton team in the quarter finals.The Observer Moot is a national competition in which pairs of students representing law departments from universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland argue points of law before a moot judge.
Shops evacuated in bomb alert
A shopping precinct in Great Baddow was evacuated on Saturday afternoon after Chelmsford police received a bomb call which turned out to be a hoax.
The caller claimed three incendiary devices had been planted at the Vineyards.
A thorough search was made but nothing was found.
Haul of tools taken in garden shed raid
Several hundred pounds' worth of tools have been stolen by burglars who broke into a garden shed in King George's Avenue, Dovercourt.The haul included two drills, a sander, a paint stripper, a circular saw, a hedge trimmer and a strimmer, all of the Black &amp; Decker make.
A radio-cassette player was also taken.
Cash stolen from business premises
Thieves broke into two premises in Drury Lane, Braintree, and attempted to get into a third.
They stole 1,000 in cash and cheques from a dry cleaners, and 130 cash from a hairdressers.
They caused damage estimated at 50 trying to get into a third business.
Burglary at school
Burglars got into the Alec Hunter High School in Braintree by forcing a rear door at the sports hall and stole two video recorders and a Pye colour TV worth a total of 700.
They also caused damage estimated at 600.
Service station raid
A ride-on petrol-driven mower and a petrol-driven strimmer have been stolen in a break-in at the White Courts Service Station in London Road, Braintree.
The total value of items taken is 1,700.
Stolen car returned
A 10,000 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth stolen from a driveway in Brook Meadow, Sible Hedingham, was found damaged in Cambridgeshire after being used in a burglary in that county.
The car was returned to its owner.
Offices ransacked
Thieves broke into and ransacked estate agents and accountants premises in High Street, Braintree, causing damage valued at of 575, but nothing was stolen in either raid.
Water pump stolen
A 100 water pump has been stolen from the garden of a house in Long Lane, Rayne.
Radio cassette theft
A 100 Pye radio cassette was stolen from a Metro van in Lister Road, Braintree.
66 die in U.S. storms
East coast states in chaos
New York: THE United States' worst winter storm of the century killed at least 66 people and paralysed the east coast of the country, closing motorways and airports and leaving millions without electricity, officials said last night.
Five more people were reported dead in Havana, Cuba, after the storm lashed the island.
As east coast residents from the Deep South to northern New England dug out of up to three feet of snow, authorities reported a growing death toll, with many of the fatalities coming from heart attacks due to shovelling snow.
Officials said 14 people died in Pennsylvania, 14 in Florida, seven in Virginia, four in Georgia, three in Alabama, three in North Carolina, three in South Carolina, two in Tennessee, four in New York, two in Maryland, two in Delaware, two in New Jersey and one in Connecticut.
Coastguards said five people died at sea and several others were missing.
At least eight vessels were known to have sunk in the storm, they said.
They could not say how many people were on board.
Thousands of airline passengers were stranded around the country and abroad as the conditions forced air terminals in Boston, New York, Washington and Atlanta to close.
By last night most airports had either reopened or were scheduled to reopen.
' It's not too much to say it's the storm of the century, ' Joe Friday, director of the National Weather Service, said.
A spokesman for President Clinton said assessment teams were studying the storm damage.
Presidential spokesman George Stephanopolous said the President may visit the hardest hit areas.
He said Florida, which was mauled by about 50 separate tornadoes, was the only state so far to request federal disaster assistance.
In Manhattan, winds gusting to 70mph rattled skyscrapers.
Police closed fashionable 57th Street and transport was virtually paralysed.
In the New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan, a policeman rescued 13 children from a van trapped in floods.
Emergency shelters were opened throughout the north-west, but many people were having trouble getting to them.
Many urban homeless were seeking refuge in subway stations and bus depots.
A pedestrian is blown over as hurricanes and snow storms hit Atlantic City on the U.S. coast
A snowbound jet at LaGuardia Airport, New York, at the height of the storms
Murder charge man held in custody
A MAN accused of murdering Essex supermarket worker Barry Bradford has been remanded in custody.
Lawrence Mullins, 32, of Stuart Close, Pilgrims Hatch, near Brentwood, appeared before a special sitting of Basildon magistrates on Saturday.
He was remanded in custody until April 7, when he is due to appear before Harlow magistrates.
The body of Mr Bradford, 30, was found by a night porter in the grounds of Highwood Hospital, Brentwood, during the early hours of March 5.
A post-mortem examination showed he died from head injuries and stab wounds.
Mr Bradford, who lived with his four brothers in Western Road, Brentwood, had been to visit a girlfriend the previous evening.
Gloom lifting
Prospects brighter
EMPLOYERS are less pessimistic about job prospects in the coming months, according to a new survey today.
Seventeen per cent of bosses predict job increases in the three months to June, but the survey of almost 2,000 companies shows only three regions  Scotland, the West and Yorkshire and Humberside  believing there will be better job prospects in the spring months.
Companies in South Wales, East Midlands, North West, London, West Midlands, the South, North East, East Anglia and the Home Counties believe more jobs will be lost.
Second snub stuns veteran Labour councillor
OUSTED councillor Ralph Knight has been snubbed for the second time in two months by members of his own party, it was revealed last night.
Just days after overturning a decision to deselect him, the Labour stalwart has now been rejected by his colleagues at the party's county level.
The blow came at a meeting on Saturday when members voted not to let him stand as an election candidate  despite a recommendation to accept him by the executive committee.
Mr Knight, who was a county councillor for Harwich for 12 years, said he was very upset at the latest snub but did not want to comment further until he had considered his next move.
The saga began in January when Mr Knight was deselected by Harwich Constituency Labour Party in favour of Kirby builder Brian Theodom.
Mr Knight was so upset that he immediately resigned his seats on Essex County, Tendring District and Harwich Town councils.
He also lodged an appeal and, following an inquiry, the party's assistant regional organiser ordered a re-run of the first selection meeting because rules had been breached.
However, because Mr Knight had resigned from the county council, the party refused to put his name on the list of nominees wanting to represent Harwich.
But when the new meeting took place, those members present refused to select a candidate until Mr Knight was put back in contention.
This meant he had to go back to the county party and ask to be put back on their panel of candidates, a request which was turned down on Saturday.
County party chairman Kees Maxey said he could not give the reasons why Mr Knight was rejected because the outcome was decided by a secret ballot.
Daniel O'Brien, who was Mr Knight's aide during the General Election campaign last year, said: ' He is a winner, he is not a quitter and this fight goes on. '
Hunt for couple in toilet mugging
Police in Chelmsford believe that a robbery in a park toilet may be linked to other crimes of violence in the area over the last few months.
A 34-year-old man was punched in the face at 5.20 pm on Saturday in Central Park, said Acting Inspector Ian Smart.
The assailant demanded money and the victim handed over 6 and was then punched to the ground.
However, he did not need hospital treatment.
A woman accomplice, who had been hiding in one of the cubicles, came out and the two ran off, leaving the victim sprawled on the floor, said Acting Insp Smart.
The robber is described as white, in his mid-20s, about 6ft tall, of medium build with a tanned, olive complexion.
He had brown, or black, short, wavy hair, and wore a green jacket with a hexagonal pattern, a white T-shirt and dark-coloured trousers.
The woman is described as in her early 20s, about 5ft 5in tall, of slim build with collar-length, straight blonde hair.
She was dressed casually and scruffily.
Acting Insp.
Smart said: ' Over the last few months there have been a number of crimes of minor violence in the central area of the town and the parks.
' It is possible that this incident might be linked with them, but it is very difficult to say. '
Anybody with information about the robbery should contact Chelmsford police on 0245 491212.
Teenager saves drowning toddler in stream drama
TEENAGER Matthew Bown is being hailed a hero for saving a toddler from drowning after the child plunged into a fast-flowing stream.
He sprinted along the bank and plunged into the freezing chest-deep water as the 15-month-old boy floated quickly away, face down.
The child's grandmother was screaming for help after becoming bogged down in mud when she plunged into the water after the youngster.
Matthew, 18, an electronics engineer, was fitting an alarm in his sister's car outside the family home in Eton Wick, Berkshire, on Saturday when he heard screams.
' I looked at the grandmother and she pointed at the baby.
I jumped over the wall and ran along the bank and jumped straight into the stream, ' he said yesterday.
The child was given a check-up at Wexham Park Hospital and later released.
Police are to recommend Matthew for an award.
MoD accused of ' UFO cover-up '
DEFENCE chiefs will today be accused of a cover-up over reported sightings of a UFO near a Suffolk airbase.
A former top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence claims officials have concealed information about a space-craft landing at RAF Bentwaters near Woodbridge.
About 200 people reported seeing some kind of craft landing near the base in 1980.
A confidential report on the landing was made by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, then deputy commander of the base, according to a national newspaper.
Lt Col Halt's report referred to ' unexplained lights' and a strange glowing object that lit up the forest that surrounded the base, the paper said.
The landing is supposed to have happened on December 27, 1980.
Ralph Noyes, a former top civil servant said to have responsibility for UFO sightings, is to tell a TV station that the MoD imposed a news black-out about the landing.
Mr Noyes will claim the MoD said nothing about the alleged landing because it wanted to save any embarrassment.
But a spokesman for the MoD reacted coolly to the suggestions.
' I would treat all this with some caution, ' he said.
' As far as I am aware we don't have people who are responsible for UFO sightings.
We do take an interest in what might be a threat to national security. '
Police relaunch probe after new airport cash theft lead
By Duncan Brodie
DETECTIVES are investigating claims that a security guard suspected of fleeing the country with 1 million of stolen cash instead used an Essex caravan site as a hide-out.
Phil Wells, 48, vanished from Heathrow Airport following the theft of the money in 1989 and was believed to be living somewhere in Florida, or possibly dead.
However, a man claiming to be Wells contacted a national newspaper last week and told a journalist he was forced to steal the money by gangsters and never left the country.
The man, pictured in yesterday's Sunday Mirror wearing a thick black false beard, also claims he was paid only a few thousand pounds from the massive haul and is now broke.
He told the reporter, who was driven blindfold to meet him at a secret location, that gangsters doused one of his two sons with petrol and threatened to kill them both if he did not co-operate in the theft.
Far from living the high life in Florida, he said the first six weeks after the raid were spent at an unidentified caravan site in Clacton.
During that time he was ordered by gang members to shave off his beard to change his appearance and was again threatened that his family would be harmed if he did not do as he was told.
The man claims he was then taken to a boat on the Norfolk Broads, where he lived for two weeks, and then spent a week holed-up in a room at an unknown holiday camp.
He told the reporter that he later lived for two years on a barge near Shrewsbury, during which time he suffered a stroke but refused to go to hospital.
According to yesterday's report, the man has decided to come forward because the gang has told him they are ending his regular cash payments, which he used to collect in London.
He says he is now living in fear, having been told that an 80,000 contract has been taken out on his life.
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that the new claims were being investigated.
' We can confirm that Det Chief Insp Keith Free of Heathrow CID did visit the offices of the Sunday Mirror, interviewed journalists and watched a video tape showing a man who claimed to be Phil Wells, ' said a the spokesman.
' We do believe the information to be useful and we also believe it is a possibility that the man shown on the tape in Phil Wells.
But we can't be certain because the man on the tape is disguised.
' We are still anxious to trace Phil Wells in connection with the 1989 robbery at Heathrow and would appeal to him to come forward. '
930316
Landowner wants quarry approved
Sir,  I am not at all surprised to read (EADT March 10) that Mr Ken Steward of Cross Green Farm, Cockfield is unhappy about people objecting to Atlas Aggregates proposal to excavate sand and gravel from his land, as he has a vested interest in the project being approved.
The suggestion that the opposition to the scheme is confined to a few people is rather misleading, as packed village meetings in Stanningfield and Lavenham, which voted to oppose the application, bear witness.
No doubt the same will happen in Cockfield itself this Friday.
I am also given to understand that the decision on the fate of the application is going to have to be delayed until May due to the very large number of objections received by Suffolk County Council.
Mr Steward may feel that the project is' low key ', but when a nine acre sand and gravel pit is proposed to be worked for four years only a matter of 45 metres from the nearest residence and 280 metres from the centre of Cross Green (Atlas Aggregate's figures), the residents of Cockfield are entitled to feel differently.
Nobody is denying that Mr Steward has attempted to landscape and improve aspects of his farm.
The tragedy of the situation is that if the application succeeds, it will destroy the wildlife ' safe haven ' he has created, as the existing lakes will be used as settling basins for the millions of gallons of water and sediment to be pumped from the proposed gravel pit.
The residents of Cockfield are contesting the application on technical grounds of the impact on health and safety, and the effects on the environment.
We are also gravely concerned because at the Lavenham parish meeting Mr Tony Webster of Atlas Aggregates categorically refused to give an assurance that in the future they would not apply to extend the mining operation to other parts of Cross Green Farm.
All things considered the response of people to the proposed scheme can hardly be described as' extraordinary '.
NIGEL M ADAM, Acting Chairman, Cross Green Protection and Preservation Group,
6 Old Hall Lane,
Cockfield,
Bury St Edmunds.
Stores closing
Argos pulls out
CATALOGUE shopping group Argos is pulling out of its furniture store venture because it sees no prospect of improved trading conditions in the mid-nineties.
Some 100 jobs at its Chesterman Home Furnishers business could go when the group closes its four pilot stores in the next four months.
Argos said it would try to find alternative employment for redundant staff ' where opportunities exist '.
Pair remanded after gun threats incident
A MAN and a woman were remanded in custody yesterday in connection with a shotgun incident in Braintree.
The two were arrested by members of Essex police's tactical firearms group after an anonymous tip-off.
John Berriman, 37, and Dawn Lazenby, 24, both of Wentworth Crescent, Braintree, are jointly accused of aggravated burglary and committing an indictable offence while in possession of a firearm.
Berriman is also accused of threats to kill.
They appeared before Harlow magistrates and were remanded in custody until Thursday.
The alleged incident happened at a house in Railway Street, on Saturday evening, two hours before the two were arrested.
Driver of stolen car in injury accident
ESSEX police are hunting a motorist who ran off after the stolen car he was driving overturned.
Detectives say the vehicle was badly damaged in the accident and they believe the man probably suffered some injury as a result.
The crash happened near the Beehive public house in Bromley Road, Colchester, at about 7.10 pm on Sunday evening.
A witness who saw the incident described the driver as white, about 25 years old, six feet tall, and of slim build with broad shoulders.
He was wearing a white jumper, with a dark-coloured band across the chest, a pair of jeans and training shoes.
The car, a Rover, was carrying false number plates at the time of the accident but was later identified by police as having been stolen from Roman Road, Colchester, on March 8.
Anyone who believes they might know the identity of the driver is urged to contact Colchester CID on (0206) 762212.
New inspector arrives
BRAINTREE police station has a new inspector, who comes from West Mersea police station.
Inspector Clive Butler, 38, was a sergeant at the island police station, before beginning at Braintree at the weekend.
He has been with the police for 19 years, and has served at Colchester, Chelmsford, police HQ and for two years worked for Scotland Yard in conjunction with Interpol.
Married with two children he lives in the Colchester area.
He said: ' I am looking forward to my time at Brain-tree.
It is one place I have never worked at. '
Insp Butler's hobbies are tracing family trees and watching cricket, although he admits nowadays he does not get much time for either.
Girl driver, 14, dies after car crashes into lamppost
Tragedy ' highlights danger of joyriding '
A 14-YEAR-old girl died yesterday after the stolen high-performance car she was driving somersaulted and crossed a dual carriageway after a police chase, police said.
Two teenage boys in the Rover Metro GTA 16-valve car escaped without injury.
The girl was named as Sally Ann Cattell, of St John's Children's Home at Erdington, Birmingham.
The boys were also from the same home.
A West Midlands police spokesman said: ' We believe the police officers fully complied with force guidelines in regards the stopping and following of vehicles.
This tragic incident only underlines the dangers of young people illegally driving motor vehicles. '
Officers saw the car as it went through a red light in Chester Road, Birmingham, at about 3 am.
Later, when the car crossed the same crossing, police followed it and after about half-a-mile put on their blue flashing light.
' The car was travelling at speeds between 50 and 60 mph.
There was no slowing at junctions and the car was being driven erratically, ' the spokesman said.
The officers lost sight of the car as it crossed a hump-back bridge.
On the other side of the bridge Pc Ian Rollason and Pc Peter Wilson saw the car ' slide across the carriageway '.
The spokesman said the car appeared to have hit the kerb then overturned, and slide on its side for about 50 yards before coming to rest on its bonnet after hitting a lamppost.
Two youths will appear at Sutton Coldfield Youth Court, West Midlands, today accused of aggravated vehicle taking, allowing themselves to be carried in a stolen vehicle and having no insurance.
Sally Ann Cattell
Pit viable
MINING experts appointed by the Government to review the prospects for the ten most threatened pits on British Coal's original closure list have reported only one to be economically viable.
John T Boyd, a group of American mining engineers, concluded Grimethorpe colliery, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, failed to meet the corporation's closure criteria.
The pit could ' reasonably ' be projected to be profitable, although performance would have to be improved by 20 per cent over the next three years.
The consultants, appointed after the closure programme was ruled unlawful by the High Court last December, said the fabric of all ten pits was being preserved, as claimed by British Coal but disputed by mining unions.
There were 86.6 million tonnes of recoverable coal in the pits, which have already ceased production, according to Boyds.
Another Yorkshire pit, Markham Main, could become economically viable if there was weekend working and longer shifts, but the colliery would require an extensive amount of development and ' substantial improvement ' in the work ethos, said the report.
Boyd's 12-man team visited each of the ten pits after being told by Trade President Michael Heseltine to establish if British Coal had met the prescribed criteria for closure.
Mr Heseltine made no comment on the report, which does not form part of the Government's coal review, expected to be published next week.
British Coal said: ' While we will be giving detailed consideration to the report, it is apparent the independent assessment conducted by Boyd substantially supports our view that these mines are not viable in a market which is being squeezed both on volume and price. '
The corporation said ' full consideration ' would be given to Boyd's conclusions that Grimethorpe colliery could be viable, but it added: ' Such an analysis was contrary to the indications from recent performance and likely prospects at that mine. '
The shadow secretary of state for trade and industry, Robin Cook, said: ' This report shows that Michael Heseltine has got it wrong again. '
Drink-driver killed cyclist
A MAN who killed a father-of-four as he cycled home from a shopping trip had drunk five pints of lager, a court heard yesterday.
Martin Clarke, 31, of Witney, Oxfordshire, a ground worker, was returning home from work in December last year when he hit David Adams, killing him instantly.
Clarke drove on for a further 200 metres before stopping and when he did emerge from the van witnesses reported that he was in a confused state.
' He was clearly suffering from the effects of alcohol, ' Mr Paul Reid, prosecuting, said.
Clarke was later breathalysed and found to be three times over the legal limit for driving.
Mr Reid told Oxford Crown Court, Clarke had finished work in Cheltenham at about noon on December 15 and gone for a drink with his father before going home.
His father drove some of the way, but was dropped off by Clarke before the accident happened on the A4095 at Curbridge.
Mr Reid said that Clarke's Bedford van was at the head of a line of vehicles driving along the road as darkness fell.
The driver of one of the vehicles told police afterwards that he had seen Mr Adams, who lived in Witney, ahead of him, but Mr Reid said Clarke clearly failed to notice him, even though Mr Adams had switched on both his front and rear bicycle lights.
' The defendant clearly did not see the bicycle because he hit it firmly in the rear, ' Mr Reid said.
In court he pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mr Adams, 42, by driving without due care and attention under the influence of alcohol.
The case was adjourned until Thursday week and Clarke was released on conditional bail.
Fish process plant attacked
Boulogne-sur-Mer: ABOUT 150 masked fishermen attacked two fish processing plants near Boulogne yesterday, destroying nearly 140 tons of fish and causing around 650,000 in damage.
At least one worker was hurt in one of the worst incidents in three weeks of commando raids by fishermen protesting over imports of fish from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
They blame the imports for driving down prices on their own catches.
They smashed their way into two plants and poured paint and car oil on imported and domestic fish and smashed up 40 lorry trailers loaded with fish, police said.
Meanwhile, some 300 potato farmers dumped 3,000 tons of potatoes on roads to the north western town of Pontivy, cutting it off for several hours.
They hurled potatoes at firemen trying to douse a bonfire of tyres in the town's central square, prompting riot police to fire tear gas.
TV host's oscars raise the stakes at auction
Noel Edmonds  donated oscar for auction
By Dave Lennard
TWO Gotcha Oscars donated by television star Noel Edmonds were sold during an auction of showbusiness memorabilia in aid of a Suffolk charity.
Noel sent an oscar from his popular House Party television show to the organisers of the auction held in aid of the Beverley Read Trust.
However, when it arrived in Suffolk it had been broken into three pieces, so the star quickly agreed to send a replacement.
The one-piece oscar went to a Leiston man for 105 and the broken one was sold for an amazing 85.
Showbusiness and sporting stars had donated items for the auction and a sweatshirt given by Ian Botham which he had worn during his charity walk from Aberdeen to Ipswich fetched 33.
The auction raised 780 for the fund set up by 23-year-old Beverley a little over six months ago and was the first fund-raising event since her death on February 24.
Other donations for the fund, included 451 from Sally Elliott, of Bungay, from a sponsored swim and 265 from a five-a-side soccer tournament organised by staff at Macdonald's Restaurant of Lowestoft.
The fund, set up to raise money for cancer research and the liver transplant unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, now stands at 20,000.
A one-piece red culottes suit given by former Eastenders star Anita Dobson has still to be sold.
Anyone wanting to make an offer for the size 12 suit can contact Dennis Read on 0502 512843.
News of death saddens' Rebel ' crews
A SEA Cadet organisation based at Walton on the Naze training ship Rebel was saddened this week on the news of the death of its chairman, Mr Harry Moulton.
Rebel, a 36ft yacht, is berthed at the Titchmarsh Marina and provides offshore training facilities for cadets from the London area, including many from the local unit at Walton's TS Illustrious.
Lt John Garrett, commanding officer of the Walton on the Naze Sea Cadet unit, said: ' The yacht Rebel has always provided an excellent training opportunity for Walton cadets and we too share the sadness and sense of loss that we know our friends and colleagues will be feeling. '
Mr Moulton was a member of the original funding syndicate for Rebel when she was launched in 1986.
He was a regular visitor to Walton and also joined one of the cadet crews every year on one of the regular deployments to Belgium, Holland and France.
Ironically his death came within days of the Rebel organisation planning the purchase of an additional training yacht, which will also be based at Walton.
His family and the Rebel Trust have launched a memorial fund intended to provide scholarships.
China attacks Patten ' reforms'
CHINESE Premier Li Peng angrily accused Britain yesterday of trying to destabilise Hong Kong by unilaterally proposing political reforms before the colony is returned to China in 1997.
The row has been bubbling since October but China has intensified its attacks since Friday when British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, decided to publish his plans for more democracy in the territory.
The impasse sent Hong Kong stocks plummeting and the colony's main stock index closed 5.1 per cent lower.
The plan ' is designed to create disorder and to impede the smooth transfer of power, so it is not a question of democracy, ' Li said in his annual work report at the opening session of Congress in Peking.
His monotone reading of the two-hour work report switched to an angry, haranguing tone when he came to the section denouncing Britain.
Li Peng's sharp criticism of the political reform package he called it ' perfidious' was greeted by loud applause from the 3,000 delegates.
' We're simply disappointed to see this kind of attack turn up in Li Peng's work report, ' British Embassy spokeswoman Janet Rogan said after the speech.
The Hang Seng Index closed 315.29 points down at 5,854 after a day of sharp fluctuations but with Hong Kong's brokers cautiously optimistic of a swift recovery.
Probe into Kray's phone line message
PRISON staff are carrying out a full investigation after it was revealed that former London gangland killer Reggie Kray could be making money from an 0898-style telephone line.
Together with his twin brother Ronnie he was jailed for life in 1969 for the killing of Jack ' The Hat ' McVitie and is currently serving his sentence at Blundeston Prison near Lowestoft.
The telephone line contains a ten-minute message from Reggie, 59, and callers are charged at up to 48p a minute to listen.
It is understood the line was set up by his close friend Stephanie King, from Nottingham, but it is not yet clear whether Reggie Kray has broken any prison rules.
A Home Office spokesman said yesterday: ' Prison staff at Blundeston and Home Office officials are carrying out a full investigation into the matter.
' Until that investigation is complete it is not possible to say if any prison rules have been breached. '
Although prison rules do not allow inmates to be paid for broadcasts they are allowed to make personal telephone calls.
If such a telephone call was recorded by the person receiving it then it could mean that Reggie Kray had not broken any prison rules.
Reggie Kray at his mother's funeral in 1982
Officials accused of charity fraud
Tribunal told of allegations
MENTAL health officials used a ' hands-off ' community care charity to defraud the Government of 340,000 a year in social security payments, an industrial tribunal was told yesterday.
Allegations that residents with learning difficulties were physically abused and confined to their rooms were ' swept under the carpet ' by health authority managers sitting on the board of Colchester-based Ling Trust, it was claimed.
The accusations came during the first day of a tribunal in which Ron Thomson claims he was forced to quit his post as general manager at the trust.
Ling has homes in the Colchester, Tendring and Braintree areas.
Mr Thomson, 44, of Cherrytree Road, Great Cornard, resigned in February last year after three years' employment.
He claims he was frustrated out of the job after his authority was constantly undermined by trust directors.
Ling Trust started in 1987 as North-East Essex Community Care Trust (NEECCT), a charity theoretically distinct from the health authority.
This' hands-off ' status meant social security money could be obtained by charging residents, who would claim it back from the DSS, but staff for the homes were provided by the health authority's mental handicap unit through a separate agreement.
This, Mr Thomson said, was where the problems began.
He complained that health authority officials sitting on the Ling Trust board, including unit general manager Murray Duncanson, would not surrender their control over staff at the homes.
Reports of ' untoward occurrences'  anything from an allegation of assault to a staff member having a cold  were not going directly to Mr Thomson, who was legally bound to report them to social services within 24 hours.
He claimed it often took three weeks for written details to arrive on his desk.
As well as the alleged abuses of residents, Mr Thomson said he was ignored when he complained about ' illegal ' charges for residents' holidays, unauthorised injecting by nurses and staff shortfalls.
The tribunal continues today.
Body found on beach might be missing woman
POLICE believe a body washed up on a beach in Kent might be that of a young Essex woman who has been missing for two months.
Lisa Benner, 22, was last seen on January 8 in the Hythe area of Colchester when she left the mobile home she shared with her boyfriend.
Detectives said she was known to be upset over personal problems and ex-pressed serious concern for her safety.
They also revealed that Lisa was fond of visiting the countryside and coast, and asked property owners to check outbuildings in case she had taken refuge from the bad weather.
On February 28, a man walking along the beach at Reculver, between Herne Bay and Margate, found the body of a young woman at the high tide mark.
A spokesman for Kent police said yesterday that clothing from the body had been shown to Lisa's parents and close associates, but he stressed the identity could not yet be confirmed.
Results of checks on dental records should be known soon and, if these were inconclusive, further forensic tests might be requested.
A post mortem on the body had failed to establish a cause of death, the spokesman added, but there was no evidence of suspicious circumstances.
Lisa, a red-head who is 5ft 2in tall and weighs just six stones, was wearing a green parka coat, trousers and red leather boots when last seen.
Colchester police issued a photograph of Lisa and appealed for any sightings of her to be reported.
Detectives also stressed that Lisa could contact them in confidence, without her whereabouts being passed on, if she wished.
Copies of the photograph and Press cuttings appealing for help in finding her were also fly-posted around Colchester town centre.
By Duncan Brodie
Lisa Benner  police believe that her body has been washed up on a beach in Kent
Man guilty of attempting to murder wife
A JUDGE yesterday ordered medical reports on a jilted Essex husband who tried to kill his wife.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard that he blasted her with a sawn-off shotgun in the street in front of their two young children.
Security manager Kenneth Gillespie, 46, of The Slades, Basildon, was convicted of attempted murder and making a threat to kill.
He had denied the charge, but admitted another of unlawfully possessing a firearm.
During the six-day trial, Mr. John Ryder, prosecuting, said the incident happened against a background of the Gillespies' crumbling six-year marriage.
Gillespie was jealous and angry because his wife Kay, 28, had formed a relationship with another man.
Arm shattered
In April last year Mrs. Gillespie was walking in Timberlog Lane, Basildon, with her two young children, aged two and four, when she was confronted by her husband.
A row erupted and when they reached Craylands he threw her to the ground and blasted her twice with a shotgun.
Part of her right arm was shattered and she underwent a five-hour emergency operation.
Gillespie had claimed that the gun went off accidentally during a struggle, and he did not intend to harm his wife.
Judge Peter Greenwood remanded Gillespie in custody for medical reports, but told him, ' I do not want you to think for one moment that you are not facing a custodial sentence. '
Cars targeted by thieves in crime spree
By Andrea Smith
TWO mini-crime waves involving thefts from cars have hit Chelmsford and Witham, but police are not sure if they are linked.
At Witham over the weekend, 19 cars were either damaged or had items stolen from them.
Then yesterday, Chelmsford police received reports of nearly a dozen vehicles which had been broken into.
In Witham the break-ins are thought to have happened some time early on Saturday.
Pc John Atherton said: ' We have no information whatsoever about these.
It is most likely they are all linked.
I see no reason why they should not be.
It is a little bit too much of a coincidence. '
He said the incidents where cars had windows smashed but nothing was taken could have meant the would-be thieves were disturbed or got scared.
The crimes included three attempted thefts at Siwards Road, three in Sparkeys Close and two in Allectus Way.
Two other vehicles in Allectus Way had 30 cassette tapes, worth 230, and a 100 CB radio taken from them.
Radio cassettes worth 325 and 80 were taken from two cars in Benton Close, and an attempt was made to get into a third car in the street.
At Hall Rise, a radio/cassette player, worth 120, was taken and thieves tried to get into vehicles in Blott Rise, Town End Field and Sauls Avenue.
There were also two incidents at Hadfelds Square, Hatfield Peverel.
A 70 pair of sunglasses was taken from one car and thieves tried to break into another.
The total value of the property taken was put at 925, 54 less than the cost of the damage caused.
Details of the crimes in Chelmsford, which happened between Sunday evening and Monday morning, were still coming in yesterday.
At Main Road, Bicknacre, a wheel was stolen from the boot of a Ford Escort XR3.
Another XR3 was broken into at Bramswood Road, Great Baddow, and a radio/cassette player was taken.
A car radio was taken from a Renault in The Street, Woodham Ferrers, another was stolen from a Ford Fiesta in New Road, Chelmsford.
A radio/cassette player and a jack were stolen from a Ford Escort in Avon Road, Chelmsford.
A spare wheel was taken from a Ford Escort Eclipse parked in New England Close, Bicknacre, and 20 damage caused.
An attempt was made to steal the wheels from a Ford Escort RS turbo in Gardeners Road, Great Baddow, but thieves were foiled by locking wheel nuts, said acting inspector Ian Smart, of Chelmsford police.
However, 200 damage was caused to a rear window.
Thieves stole a windscreen from a Ford Fiesta in Lucas Avenue, Chelmsford.
Anyone with information about these incidents or who has been offered suspiciously cheap goods is asked to telephone Witham police on (0376) 501212 or Chelmsford police on (0245) 491212.
Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted in confidence on (0245) 252252.
Chief sentenced to death
Rabat: A TOP police chief who confessed to having sex with more than 1,600 women in a three-year spree of rape and abduction was sentenced to death yesterday.
Moroccan Chief Police Commissioner Haj Mohamed Mustapha Tabet, 54, was convicted of rape, deflowering virgins, abducting women, inciting debauchery, violence and assault in a flat he specially kept for staging sex orgies.
Muslim fundamentalists demanded the death sentence be carried out by stoning or crucifixion rather than the usual Moroccan method of a firing squad.
The prosecution told a Casablanca court that Tabet, married with two wives and five children, was a ' criminal machine '.
The burly and balding policeman told the court he suffered sexual obsessions and had had sex with more than 1,600 women in three years.
He claimed his victims were mostly prostitutes or willing sex partners.
Prosecutors showed the court 118 videos of Tabet and his friends having sex with 518 women and girls.
The police chief filmed the orgies with hidden remote-controlled video cameras and kept a computer list of his sex partners.
He picked up the women in the street.
He had also demanded sex in return for passports or other official documents.
A doctor, one of 16 accomplices on trial with Tabet, was jailed for two years on charges of replacing the hymens of virgins deflowered by the police chief.
Tabet denied using violence, but lawyers said videos screened in court showed him beating women and girls  including a mother, her daughter and a niece  while forcing them to have sex.
Illness may halt nurse's murder trial
THE TRIAL of a nurse accused of murdering four children may have to be stopped following a sudden deterioration in her health, it emerged yesterday.
Beverley Allitt's weight dropped from 13st to 7st before the start of her trial at Nottingham Crown Court and defence barrister James Hunt QC told the jury she is suffering from severe anorexia.
' She has been in Rampton Hospital.
On Friday her condition deteriorated and she was admitted to another hospital, ' he said.
Mr Hunt said the defence will be visiting her today ' to see if it's possible to continue with the trial, whether she is able to continue attending or not '.
The trial was adjourned until tomorrow and the jury were told they would not be needed until Thursday.
Mr Hunt said it is hoped that Allitt will be either transferred to another hospital or returned to Rampton.
He added that the defence also needs more time to examine and obtain documents relating to the case after new evidence came to light last week.
Mr Justice Latham, adjourning the trial last Wednesday until yesterday, told the jury the new evidence could be of great significance.
Patients
He said yesterday: ' The situation is difficult... and we're going to have to tread very carefully about how we proceed, and it's important that we do so with all the information that we can possibly have. '
Allitt, 24, of Corby Glen, near Grantham, Lincs, denies murdering four children and attempting to murder and causing grievous bodily harm to nine other children, all patients at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital.
She also denies attempting to murder and causing grievous bodily harm to the 15-year-old brother of her flatmate and to a 79-year-old woman.
Kidnap charge man denies plot to murder girl
ACCUSED kidnapper Christopher Casabona yesterday denied plotting to murder a girl by gassing her with exhaust fumes.
He said he only wanted to kill himself and claimed he ate rat poison and planned to inhale car exhaust fumes.
He told Norwich Crown Court he became so de-pressed that he went to the girl's Felixstowe home, cut himself with a knife and rubbed poison into the wound in a suicide bid.
Casabona admitted he forced a woman lodger in the house to go to a bedroom where he tied her up with adhesive tape.
He did this because he was' panicking ' at the time.
' It was wrong what I did to her and I will take my punishment for that.
I don't want to talk about it any-more because it is so distressing, ' Casabona said.
The man agreed that the 15-year-old alleged victim looked ' quite bewildered ' when she returned to her home to see Casabona and the lodger inside.
He denied plotting to kidnap the girl.
It is alleged Casabona, 20, ambushed the youngster and took her by car to an isolated spot near Woodbridge.
He tried to kill her by pumping exhaust fumes into the vehicle while they were both inside, Mr Charles Kellett, prosecuting, said.
The pair had sexual intercourse inside the car, but they got out after feeling unwell.
Casabona later drove northwards and was arrested on the A12 at Stratford St Andrew.
Casabona, of no fixed address, denies kidnapping, attempted murder and administering poison with intent on March 20 last year.
The judge, Mr Justice Humphrey Potts, told the jury he will direct them to acquit the man of rape and administering poison with intent to endanger life following submissions by the defence.
The jury was told yesterday that Casabona admits false imprisonment of the lodger and unlawful sex with a woman under the age of 16.
Giving evidence, Casa-bona agreed he cut a phone wire in the girl's home for ' peace and quiet ' while he consumed poison.
He did not expect the lodger to return.
He denied forcing the teenager to go with him in a car and said she had many chances to leave him.
The trial continues today.
Pickpockets warning
PUNTERS have a 3,600 to one chance of becoming victims of crime at the Cheltenham Festival, Gloucestershire police said yesterday.
Of the 120,000 people who attended the three day meeting last year, 33 suffered at the hands of pickpockets despite a huge police crime prevention campaign.
Inspector Mike Pennington, the Gloucestershire police spokesman, said, ' Thirty-three victims last year lost over 6,500 to pickpockets and the majority of thefts took place when bets were being placed, winnings collected or in the vicinity of public conveniences. '
Robbery ordeal for man
A 29-YEAR-OLD Maldon man was robbed as he walked near Southend pier late on Sunday.
He was grabbed by a man about his own age who demanded cash.
The robber, who had a skinhead haircut, took 30 and a rail ticket.
He then ran off towards the Alexander yacht club and is thought to have smashed a couple of windows as he made off.
The Maldon man was unhurt.
The incident happened near the bowling greens.
The thief was wearing a black and yellow jacket.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Southend police on (0702) 431212 or in confidence on Crimestoppers (0245) 252252.
Prisoners on remand beaten up by fellow inmates
AN INVESTIGATION has begun after two remand prisoners were beaten unconscious in their cell just hours after arriving in jail.
Stewart Raynsford and Peter Kemp, both accused of armed robbery, were attacked by inmates in the remand wing of Chelmsford Prison.
It is understood Raynsford suffered a fractured skull and yesterday his condition in hospital was described as' comfortable '.
The beatings happened within three hours of the men arriving at the prison on Saturday, during a recreational period when prisoners are allowed to mix with each other.
The men, accused of robbing John Stiffs estate agents in St Osyth on January 29 and a Chinese takeaway in Coppins Road, Clacton, on December 12, had been remanded in custody by magistrates.
Raynsford, 25, of St Johns Road, Clacton, and Kemp, 24, of The Avenue, Clacton, are also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
They were arrested last week in an operation linked to a swoop by armed police officers.
Essex Police are investigating the incident but no arrests have yet been made.
A Home Office spokesman said: ' Two inmates were found unconscious in their cells on Saturday at about 2.55 pm.
It seems they had been beaten up in some way by other prisoners but we do not know who. '
Raynsford suffered a fractured skull and Kemp multiple bruising.
They were taken to nearby Broomfield Hospital.
Kemp was released after treatment but Raynsford was kept in and was said last night to be ' comfortable '.
The Home Office spokesman said he could not comment on reports that the men had been beaten up for allegedly ' grassing ' on other prisoners in the wing.
Roads scheme ruling sought
DEADLOCK between Suffolk County Council and a neighbouring Essex local authority over a roads scheme is likely to be resolved by a Government inspector.
Despite several attempts, the county has been unable to persuade Braintree District Council to approve plans for a southern link road around Sudbury near the Braintree area.
The link road, which would go through open countryside and bisect Sudbury's riverside water meadows, forms part of a 20 million package along with a western by-pass around the town.
Braintree favours the western by-pass, which also has widespread local support, but has consistently opposed the link road, echoing the environmental concerns of many residents.
Planners, with the support of officers, have twice called for the link road to be shelved until the by-pass is built, enabling a proper assessment of its likely effects on traffic patterns.
At their most recent meeting this month, Halstead area planners continued to call the scheme ' premature ' despite a presentation by Suffolk assistant county surveyor Graham Peck.
Yesterday, Mr Peck said Braintree's continued opposition meant the matter would have to be decided by an Environment Department inspector at the current Babergh Local Plan inquiry.
Even if the inspector were to back the roads package, however, difficulties in obtaining central government grants meant it was unlikely to start before 1996C7 at the earliest.
Braintree says the southern link road was included in the package simply to push the overall cost up to a level at which it became eligible for government funding.
Instead, the council has urged Suffolk to press ahead with the western by-pass only, coupled with a scheme of traffic management for the town centre to alleviate its more obvious problems.
Roads scheme deadlock may be resolved by Whitehall
DEADLOCK between Suffolk County Council and a neighbouring Essex local authority over a roads scheme is likely to be resolved by a Government inspector.
Despite several attempts, the county has been unable to persuade Braintree District Council to approve plans for a southern link road around Sudbury near the Braintree area.
The link road, which would go through open countryside and bisect Sudbury's riverside water meadows, forms part of a 20 million package along with a western by-pass around the town.
Braintree favours the western by-pass, which also has widespread local support, but it has consistently opposed the link road, echoing the environmental concerns of many residents.
Traffic question
Planners, with the support of officers, have twice called for the link road to be shelved until the by-pass is built, enabling a proper assessment of its likely effects on traffic patterns.
At their most recent meeting this month, Halstead area planners continued to call the scheme ' premature ' despite a presentation by Suffolk assistant county surveyor Graham Peck.
Yesterday, Mr Peck said Braintree's continued opposition meant the matter would have to be decided by an Environment Department inspector at the current Babergh Local Plan inquiry.
Even if the inspector were to back the roads package, however, difficulties in obtaining central government grants meant it was unlikely to start before 1996C7 at the earliest.
Braintree says the southern link road was included in the package simply to push the overall cost up to a level at which it became eligible for government funding.
Instead, the council has urged Suffolk to press ahead with the western by-pass only, coupled with a scheme of traffic management for the town centre to alleviate its more obvious problems.
End of speeding
BIG Brother will be watching you from the end of this week when spy cameras start to operate in north-east Essex.
Stretches of road such as Mersea Road, Colchester, have been selected for the installation of the cameras which can record the registration number of speeding motorists and could lead to fines.
The cameras will be operated by the highways department of Essex County Council and Essex police.
Prince of Wales to travel to war zone
THE Prince of Wales is due to fly in to the war-torn former Yugoslavia today for a morale-boosting visit to British troops.
During his lightning trip the prince will meet representatives of all British units serving as part of Operation Grapple, Army spokesmen in Croatia said.
Security advisers are confident the prince will be relatively safe from hostile forces during his day-long visit.
He is due to arrive this morning at the Divulje barracks near Split on the Croatian coast and travel on, weather permitting, to a camp known as The Redoubt near Tomislavgrad in south-west Bosnia.
These are two of the four main bases used by the 2,500 British troops serving as peacekeepers with the UN Protection Force.
The prince will fly in to Split from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, stationed in the Adriatic.
Airline might halt service
By David Carter
THE region could be faced with a large number of knock-on job losses if American Airlines pulls the plug on its loss-making Stansted to Chicago route.
The dire warning came yesterday from Stansted Airport's marketing director Colin Hobbs.
He said American Airlines wanted to take on more transatlantic routes, but had been bogged down by bilateral agreements between the British and U.S. governments which had still not been finalised.
Already, Mr Hobbs said, United Airlines was flying to Paris rather than one of the London airports, and Delta was using Frankfurt.
' Business and financial control will pass from this region to Europe.
It could cost us many, many jobs in the long-term, ' he warned.
' If we lose this service it will be extremely serious for the airport. '
Mr Hobbs said the immediate effect would be the loss of 50 jobs, the groundstaff at Stansted who work for American Airlines.
' But it won't be disastrous.
We would still have 40 European destinations and half-a-million holidaymakers flying from Stansted every year.
We have five other carriers queueing for transatlantic routes, but the Government will not give them licences. '
American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, is presently losing about $81 million a month on the Stansted link, which has been running a daily Boeing 767 service to Chicago since June.
The planes have 174 seats  14 for first class, 30 for business class and 130 economy.
American Airlines spokesman Ian Burns said at first the service was a tremendous success, but the winter passenger numbers were less than expected.
He said the situation would be reviewed once the summer trade was over.
' We would like to see these barriers lifted.
We are disappointed to say the least with the bilateral talks which appear to have got nowhere. '
Mr Burns said American Airlines had aimed to get more routes out of Stansted.
Another problem facing the U.S. carrier is the possibility of Russian airline Aeroflot flying transatlantic from Stansted.
Aeroflot is due to start up a Stansted to St Petersburg service on March 28 and has indicated it might apply for transatlantic routes later in the year.
Referring to the American Airlines threat, a spokesman for the Department of Transport said: ' This is a matter for their own commercial judgment. '
He said the bilateral talks between Britain and America had broken down just before Christmas, when the BA/U.S.
Air deal fell through and no date had been fixed for them to be restarted.
930317
Cadet makes history
THE first Colchester sea cadet in the unit's 50-year history to be chosen as one of the Lord Lieutenant's cadets has been presented with his badge of office.
Jonathan Leng, 17, above, received the badge from Major-General Humphrey Bredin, a deputy of Essex's Lord Lieutenant, Lord Braybrooke, the Queen's representative in the county.
Each year the Lord Lieutenant selects a boy and a girl cadet from each of the county's three cadet forces.
Jonathan was chosen from 280 male sea cadets in the county because he was a member of one of the top crews on the Walton-on-the-Naze training ship ' Rebel '.
The 36 ft. yacht, berthed at Titchmarsh marina, provides off-shore training for cadets from the South-east.
Jonathan also successfully attended a course at Dartmouth naval college and is competing in a national contest to be chosen for a month's holiday in South Africa organised by the sea cadets.
Anyone interested in joining Colchester Sea Cadets can call their training ship, Colne Light, on Colchester (0206) 798895 during the evenings.
Body on beach is missing woman
A BODY found washed up on a beach in Kent has been confirmed as that of missing Essex woman Lisa Benner.
The 22-year-old, who was five feet two inches tall and weighed just six stone, disappeared on January 8 after leaving the mobile home she shared with her boyfriend near the Hythe in Colchester.
Her body was found by a man walking along the beach at Reculver, near Herne Bay, on February 28 but Kent police were at first unable to identify her.
Earlier this week, Colchester police revealed that Lisa's relatives had recognised clothing taken from the body and the identity has now been confirmed by checks on dental records.
A post mortem examination failed to establish a definite cause of death and the results of further forensic tests are awaited.
However, Kent police say the body showed no outward signs of violence and they are not treating the death as suspicious.
An inquest will be held.
Detectives in Colchester expressed concern for Lisa's safety following her disappearance and revealed that she was known to be upset over personal problems.
They said she was fond of visiting the countryside and coast and appealed for property owners to check outbuildings in case she was taking refuge from January's cold weather.
A HUGE bomb rocked the centre of the Indian city of Calcutta last night, bringing down two blocks of flats and killing at least 45 people, police said.
Most were in their beds when the powerful blast hit the middle-class district of Bowbazaar, said city officials.
Two buildings collapsed, trapping scores of people in the rubble.
There were at least 45 bodies and many more victims were critically injured, the officials said.
Both buildings caught fire after the explosion and at least 10 fire engines spent more than two hours fighting the flames, police said.
Bowbazaar, in the centre of Calcutta, is a crowded business and residential district surrounded by the city's main gold and furniture markets.
The city's police headquarters and the headquarters of the West Bengal state government, of which Calcutta is the capital, are nearby.
A police officer said he suspected an enormous volume of explosives was stockpiled inside one of the buildings and that it exploded due to careless handling.
He said the explosion appeared to be unplanned because of the time it occurred.
More than 125 people lived in the two blocks of flats, the Press Trust of India reported.
At least 250 people were killed and about 1,200 injured in a wave of bombings which ripped through Bombay's business district on Friday.
No one has claimed responsibility, but police suspect a foreign group acting with help from local criminals.
Height of courage
THE COURAGE of Essex man and woman will be tested later this year when bungee-jumping comes to Colchester.
Lemmings Bungee Club, a commercial venture which organises charity jumps, will be setting up a 150ft crane at Kings nightclub, Copford, on May 16 ready for anyone daring enough to throw themselves off.
Participants are invited to collect sponsorship for the National Fire Service Benevolent Fund.
The 15 fee to join the club and the 22.50 cost of each jump will have to be paid from the money they raise.
Mark Turnball, one of the business partners behind Lemmings, said the firm had been running for two years, organising events in many parts of the country.
Potential jumpers pay their fees on the day, but Mr Turnball would like to hear in advance from anyone who wants to take part.
He can be contacted on (0268) 696155.
Prince Charles talks with British UN soldiers in Split
Charles sees troops in war zone
BRITISH troops yesterday gave the Prince of Wales a rousing three cheers for his morale-boosting mission to war-ravaged Bosnia.
The prince, dressed in an army pullover and trousers and a peaked cap bearing the badge of the Cheshire Regiment, of which he is Colonel-in-chief, spent the day on a lightning tour of key bases in Croatia and Bosnia.
His trip was a mark of recognition for the humanitarian work being carried out in former Yugoslavia by 2,500 British troops in Operation Grapple and countless civilians co-ordinating and delivering aid.
Security considerations kept him away from the frontline base of Vitez, but soldiers from the mountain stronghold travelled 30 miles through bandit country to see him.
A key part of the prince's trip took him to the logistics base Camp Redoubt, set up on a tortuous mountain pass between Vitez in central Bosnia and Tomislavgrad near the Croatian border.
He arrived in Split by Sea King helicopter from aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, stationed off the Croatian coast, where he had been welcomed by a 40-man Welsh male voice choir made up of crew members.
Driving a hard bargain
MOTORISTS will have to pay an extra 60 a year to keep their cars on the road under the measures brought in by the Chancellor.
The AA said Mr Lamont had delivered a ' below-the-bonnet ' blow to the motorist, while the RAC said the petrol price rise coupled with the VED increase was' an excessive combination '.
The increases were generally expected by the industry, which knew Mr Lamont needed to recoup money he lost by scrapping the special car tax which until last year added ten per cent to the price of a new vehicle.
But the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said yesterday's measures went beyond the amount needed to recover the lost revenue.
Bill Ebbert, chairman of Luton-based Vauxhall Motors said the new company car tax system was' fairer. '
The Retail Motor Industry Federation said the petrol and VED rises would have ' a neutral effect ' on the recovery of the motor industry but the company car tax changes were sensible.
Court action due against sex therapist
HIGH court action to evict ' sex therapist ' Sara Dale and her boyfriend David Missen out of their Suffolk home is due to be reconvened today.
The case is being heard just a few days before counter action aimed at holding up attempts to sell the house if they are forced to leave.
The property in Cumberland Street, Woodbridge, has become the subject of a possession order with a summons being issued for them to quit.
The 16th Century building is owned by a family-run organisation called the Roxane Gibson Trust with Mr Missen a beneficiary, but another company has laid claim to the property.
Accountancy firm Ernst and Young  which is attempting to sell the dwelling for its clients  has been made court appointed receivers for Nationchoice Limited which has claimed beneficial ownership of the building.
Proceedings have been started to remove 51-year-old Mr Missen and his 49-year-old girlfriend from the property which was put on the market over 18 months ago for 250,000.
A buyer has already emerged with a sale agreement being reached in November.
However, there has been a delay in completing the deal culminating in court proceedings being taken.
The building  called the Old Manor House  was allegedly the scene of a naked ' wedding ceremony ' and Miss Dale has also been at the centre of a storm surrounding payments of 4,000 made by the Treasury to help fund Chancellor Norman Lamont's legal expenses to get her out of his London house.
The couple have another home in Chelsea, London, and from there Mr Missen yesterday outlined the latest moves.
' The hearing into the eviction order is being heard ahead of the other action, ' he said.
' I do not know what the outcome will be as there are an awful lot of issues which are unclear.
It may well be an indecisive outcome. '
He has issued a notice of motion, taken out to try and get the sale of the house set aside.
It is due to be heard in the Chancery Division of the High Court, in The Strand, London, on March 22 and is a separate action from the eviction order.
Police seek attack witnesses
DETECTIVES have appealed for witnesses following a vicious assault in which a man suffered eye and facial injuries.
The victim, aged 31, was attacked by a gang of four men in the pedestrian underpass in Crouch Street, Colchester, at 10.45 pm last Friday.
He was repeatedly punched and kicked as he lay helpless on the ground, and suffering a fractured cheekbone, a broken arm and damage to his left eye.
His assailants were aged 30 to 35, but the victim has been unable to give police any further description.
' This was a nasty assault, ' said Detective Sergeant Bob Kettle.
' We would like to hear from anyone who might have seen these four men. '
Earlier on Friday evening there was trouble at Colchester United's match with Cardiff City at Layer Road, but the police do not believe the assault was football-related.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Colchester CID on (0206) 762212.
Work rewarded
Nursery man wins top award
A NURSERY sales director with a lifetime of work in the horticultural industry has won a top award.
John Dyter has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Associateship of Honour  one of only four people nationwide to be conferred the honour this year.
He has worked nearly all his life for the Woodbridge firm of Notcutts and spent two years as a student at the world-famous Wisley garden centre, where he was guided by former Notcutts managing director Frank Knight.
Mr Knight became the director of Wisley in 1955 and worked for Notcutts for 11 years.
After National Service and a year at Waterers Nurseries, Bagshot, now owned by Notcutts, Mr Dyter went to work for the Woodbridge company.
He spent six months in America working in and visiting nurseries and botanical gardens  a trip made possible by the award of the first Bowles Memorial Scholarship by the RHS.
' Neutral ' verdict of farmers' leader
By Peter Hopper Agriculture Editor
A NEUTRAL Budget for the agricultural industry was the verdict of Suffolk farmers' leader Roy Goodwin.
He believes the Government has missed the opportunity to pave the way for badly needed investment.
He is particularly disappointed that the Chancellor did not address important submissions made by the National Farmers' Union.
Mr Goodwin, who recently took over as Suffolk NFU chairman and farms at Syleham Hall, near Fressingfield, said farmers had requested greater help on the high capital cost of farm machinery and buildings.
Reducing the effect of taxation on agriculture would have helped save jobs not only on the farm, but also in the allied industries on which farmers rely.
It would have boosted investment in the industry at the same time.
He believes that the increases in transport fuel costs will hit both farmers and farmworkers, many of whom have no alternative to the car in public transport.
This point was echoed by the farmworkers' district officer for Suffolk, Margaret Holmes, who said that those on low pay in rural areas were always worst hit by fuel tax increases.
She had been hoping for a ' jobs Budget ' to fulfil a great need in East Anglia where there had been a big increase in unemployment.
Chancellor hits out at newspapers
THE Chancellor, who has had his troubles with the Press, took his chance to hit back with obvious glee yesterday.
There were certain items, he said, ' among the most basic necessities of life ', on which VAT should and would not be levied.
But there were others, he said, that for the moment should also stay outside VAT even though they ' perhaps fall into a different category  sewage and papers'.
Households 8 a week worse off, says Labour
Brown points to betrayal of promises
THE BRITISH family will be 8 a week worse off from April 1994, Labour calculated last night.
Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown took the unusual step of holding a news conference on Budget Day and declared: ' This Budget means tax increases this year, tax increases next year and tax increases the year after  a massive betrayal of the election promises that were the centrepiece of the Conservative 1992 election campaign. '
He served notice that Labour would oppose the Budget in its entirety.
Tax
Mr Brown told reporters at Westminster: ' Today's Budget will haunt the Chancellor and the Conservative Party for years to come. '
Proposals to raise 17.5 billion in revenues between now and 1996 amounted to the ' biggest tax rise announced in history '.
' The typical British family will be 8 worse off in tax from April 1994. '
Labour calculated this included a loss of 3.07 for National Insurance payments, 2.31 on MIRAS (tax relief on interest payments on home loans up to 30,000), 1.87 on married couples' allowances, 1.03 on VAT on fuel, 43p on single per-son's income tax, 23p on vehicle excise duty and 63p on excise duties.
This adds up to a loss of 9.57.
But when taken in conjunction with other Budget measures which could benefit the family, Labour has estimated the loss at a rounded down figure of 8.
Mr Brown said Mr Major told the Commons in January last year ' we have no plans to increase VAT... there will be no VAT increase '.
He said Mr Lamont declared in last year's Budget he had ' no need, no proposals and no plans either to raise or to extend the scope of VAT '.
Mr Brown said: ' The result of this Budget is that taxes on petrol, cigarettes and alcohol are up, national insurance and VAT are to rise, mortgage tax relief has been cut.
' We will be campaigning throughout the country on the theme ' the betrayal of Britain by the Conservative Party ', and saying the tax increases are merely to pay for mistakes of the past. '
Gordon Brown: Budget will haunt Lamont for years
Mother called police over parcel
Student given detention for drug running
STUDENT Robin Hilton was sentenced to three months youth detention yesterday for acting as' a drug runner '.
He was arrested after his mother became suspicious of a package sent to his address and contacted the police.
Hilton, 20, of South Close, Halstead, pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court to being concerned in the supply of amphetamine to others.
He also admitted other charges of dishonestly handling a stolen ring and theft of a car.
Judge Peter Greenwood told Hilton: ' The supplying of drugs is a very serious offence and you are fortunate to be getting a short sentence. '
Mr Timothy Hitchcock, prosecuting, said that in November, 1991, Hilton's mother was at home when a package arrived.
It had a Birmingham postmark and was addressed to ' Robert Hilton ' and she assumed it was for her son.
The defendant's mother became suspicious because she had overheard a conversation about drugs.
Later, a friend of Hilton's called and collected the package saying it was a Christmas present.
Mr Hitchcock said in January last year another package arrived.
Someone came to collect it, but the defendant's mother withheld it and contacted the police.
The parcel was found to contain 20.9gms of amphetamine with a street valued of 313.
Hilton, a student at a Colchester college, was questioned by police and admitted acting as' a go-between, a runner ' for a drug dealer.
Mr Jonathon Seeley, for Hilton, said his client was involved in drug distribution for a very short period and bitterly regretted his behaviour.
Family says 1994 will be gloomy
' Nothing to boost morale '
THE Chancellor made mention during his speech of a steady, if unspectacular, growth in retail sales over the past few months.
Should Alan Ingram's verdict on the Budget be widely held, Mr Lamont would do well to prepare himself for that growth to stop dead in its tracks.
' This Budget has given me no confidence to spend whatsoever, ' Mr Ingram said.
' It is going to be a year of restraint. '
A royalty manager with Tiptree publishers Random House, Mr Ingram lives in Hatfield Peverel with his wife, Diane, and their three children, Claire, ten, Matthew, eight, and Luke, five.
They have a combined income of 22,000 and are paying off a 42,000 mortgage on their Baker Avenue home.
The lowering of interest rates last year provided extra spending power for the family but, as Mr Ingram, 34, pointed out, that will probably now just be kept back for the rainy days to come in 1994.
' It certainly looks as if we are going to be quite a bit worse off next year, ' he said.
' I may have been thinking of using the money saved from the mortgage payments on a new telly or something, but not now. '
A combination of higher fuel bills, increased National Insurance payments and bigger mortgage repayments next year because of the drop in interest relief makes 1994 a gloomy prospect for the Ingrams.
Mr Ingram drives a company car, so the banding changes making that more expensive will probably persuade him to go for a smaller model.
' But all in all I suppose it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, ' he said.
' At least I don't smoke. '
The Ingram family, from left, Claire, ten, Diane, Luke, five, Alan and Matthew, eight
Gunmen target Iranian dissident
Rome: TWO gunmen on a motor scooter yesterday shot dead a former Iranian ambassador and head of opposition in Italy to the Tehran government.
Mohammed Hussein Nagdi, who resigned as Iran's ambassador to Italy in 1982 to campaign for the government's overthrow, was killed on his way to work when the hit squad pulled up beside his car and opened fire with a submachine gun, police said.
The Iranian opposition immediately blamed Tehran, but the Iranian official news agency said the killing was probably the result of factional disputes among dissidents.
Nagdi, who was being driven to the offices of the Iranian National Resistance Council, was shot twice in the face.
' We are sure this is another of the Rafsanjani regime's terrorist acts, ' said a spokesman for the People's Mujahideen in London, referring to Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Mujahideen guerillas are the dominant force in the resistance council that Nagdi represented in Rome.
' Attack victims' may have hurt each other
DETECTIVES investigating an alleged attack on two prisoners found unconscious in their cell were yesterday working on the theory they had been fighting each other.
A police spokesman said nobody else was being sought in connection with the incident in Chelmsford prison but said inquiries were continuing.
Stewart Raynsford and Peter Kemp were found slumped in their unlocked cell just hours after arriving at the jail and it was assumed they had been attacked by fellow inmates.
However, the spokesman said: ' It now looks as though they had been fighting each other and nobody else was involved. '
It is thought the men had argued about information given to police during interviews about two alleged armed robberies in the Clacton area.
Raynsford, 25, of St Johns Road, Clacton, and Kemp, 24, of The Avenue, Clacton, have both been charged with armed robbery at John Stiffs estate agents in St Osyth and armed robbery at a Chinese takeaway in Coppins Road.
They are also accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
An investigation was mounted after Raynsford and Kemp were taken to hospital on Saturday after being found unconscious, with head and body injuries, in their cell.
Kemp was discharged the same day, but Raynsford  the more seriously injured  was kept in by doctors until Monday.
CHANCELLOR Norman Lamont delivered what one CBI official called a ' knife-edge ' Budget yesterday to balance the nation's books without stifling economic recovery.
Chancellor plays it safe
Political correspondent David Weisbloom reviews his speech
YESTERDAY'S Budget was surprising for one reason only  it contained no surprises.
Had Norman Lamont been making his speech to the Commons 100 years ago, he would have worn a hat and commentators would have expected a rabbit to have been produced from it.
Last year, in a symbolic gesture, he introduced a 20p tax band.
The year before, he slashed poll tax bills by 140 a head by raising VAT to 17.5 per cent.
It was reasonable to assume that, this time around he would stun the outside world with a similar manoeuvre, but this was not to be.
When the media speculates about Government intentions, they are usually proved right  with the exception of the Chancellor's Budget pronouncements.
In the run-up to Budget day, newspapers are invariably full of so-called informed comment from well-placed sources.
This year was no exception, with one important difference: These well-placed sources for once proved their worth.
As expected, Mr Lamont extended the VAT base and the 20p band, left the basic and higher tax rates untouched, froze thresholds, cut mortgage interest relief, over-indexed duty on cigarettes, beer, wine and petrol, and made a modest effort to tackle Britain's rising unemployment.
Almost as predictably, he plumped for a 1pc increase in National Insurance contributions.
Though, as a consequence, from 1994 most of us will be paying an extra penny in tax on our income, below the National Insurance ceiling, Tory MPs will be relieved the basic rate has been left at 25p and the 20p band extended.
Perhaps because in future we will have a unified Budget, with tax and spending announcements made at the same time, Mr Lamont chose to look further ahead than the 1993C94 financial year.
More importantly, he must have also felt that, with a public sector borrowing requirement approaching 50 billion, the markets needed pacifying immediately.
That is why he gave the City prior notice of measures that will come into effect in April, 1994.
It is clear that, despite the clamour for his resignation, Mr Lamont is hoping to stay at the Treasury for longer than most pundits would have thought possible last year.
Hence the glass of whisky at the dispatch box rather than mineral water: A premature celebration?
Villagers are going for gongs
Nomination for ' Joshua '  the human indicator
By David Henshall
We don't rush into things.
Our end of the village has thought long and hard for a couple of weeks about John Major's new honours system and we've decided to go for it.
Word is coming in that rival hamlets are already filling in the forms as fast as they can put pen to paper.
The feeling is growing that we should get our act together smartly if we are not to be left gongless at the end of a less deserving queue.
From what we hear, not everybody has entirely grasped the principle of the Prime Minister's reform.
It aims to achieve a greater spread of awards to people ' in any walk of life, well-known or not, whose service to the community, or contribution to life in this country you regard as exceptional '.
This is made abundantly clear at our first impromptu committee meeting in the bar of the Gardener's Arms.
There reports were received from far and wide about recommendations already said to have been submitted to Downing Street.
The commodore, having just tacked in from Pin Mill, says that while he recognises the accomplishment of an ancient mariner there in teaching a grey parrot to recite the complete works of Shakespeare in Urdu, and could see that this might help international relations in some way, he is far from certain this was the sort of thing Mr Major had in mind.
Landlord John claims that a lot a weight is being thrown behind a lady in Essex who has knitted a 200ft history of the Colchester oyster from the unpicked sweaters of noted pop stars, including some fascinating applique work cunningly created from one of Madonna's pointed bras.
Heads are shaking sagely and there is some lively discussion about whose round it is, before farmer Colin brings us back to earth: ' If we're going to have a committee, we need a chairman. '
' That ought to worth a knighthood, ' Jim from the Royal Hospital School mutters into his Adnams.
' You're wrong, ' says Bill the builder sharply.
' That's a VC job.
Dangerous, knee-capping stuff if you leave out people who think they should be in. '
There is a pause for silent thought.
Then the commodore says, ' John the pilot is just the man for the job, ' adding brightly, ' He's not here so he can't refuse. '
This is carried by a show of hands and the commodore pushes the boat out.
' What about nominations? '
I chip in.
' Broadly speaking we're talking knighthoods, OBE's and MBE 's.
A couple more knights, a Dame or two and scattering of the others could help lift property prices a bit.
' We can assume, ' I went on, ' that the parish council will look after their lot and those in voluntary service will be put forward by their superiors.
What we are looking for are the exceptional unsung heroes and heroines in other walks of life. '
' Exactly, ' says the commodore, getting out a large sheet of paper and his famous pre-war fountain pen.
' But first, ' he adds, looking directly at me, ' to get the little grey cells working, we need another drink. '
After a long, appreciative silence, the names start to roll.
There's the milkman who, hurricane or high-water, always gets the pintas through, the postman ditto, and the chap at the other end of the village addicted to bottled beer who has collected a ton of metal tops and may get into the Guinness Book of Records.
Jim was of the opinion that the parrot ploy had some merit, mentioning a woman with one that spoke a very interesting variety of English.
' Could be educational, ' he added thoughtfully.
In the end we are unanimous about one recommendation but, following Mr Major's criteria, we are not allowed to mention his name, ' because it is not fair to raise a nominee's expectations in case they are disappointed '.
We are, however, pretty certain he's a winner.
Joshua (naturally, that is not his real name) has done more for road safety in the village than anyone else for many a long year.
Josh, who spends a lot of time riding in trailers pulled by tractors, has a distrust of all modern technology, especially the flashing lights which indicate which way a vehicle intends to turn.
So, whatever the weather, atop swinging or steaming loads trundling through the village, Josh stands ramrod straight facing the rear and semaphoring the driver's intentions to frustrated queues of following cars.
Farmer Colin points out that this selfless operation is always carried out with a complete lack of regard for personal safety and reminds the committee that Josh has several times fallen off his load just outside the King's Head.
' That's number one out of the way, ' says the commodore.
' Josh gets a full K, I think. '
Our deliberations are interrupted by the phone.
It is a message from the commodore's lady, which we can all clearly hear five yards away.
She is indicating that tiffin has been ready for some time and that if he doesn't fancy it, the dog does.
' Boats away, ' he cries, emptying his glass and making for the door.
' Meeting adjourned until the same time tomorrow. '
Our first impromptu committee meeting
Officials' were happy ' with charity's affairs
GOVERNMENT officials' went away happy ' after visiting a mental health charity accused of defrauding the DSS of 340,000 a year, an industrial tribunal was told yesterday.
Ron Thomson, general manager of Ling Trust, a Colchester-based community care charity, argues that the continued influence of health authority managers in trust affairs invalidated claims of social security cash made by residents to pay for their care.
He alleges that this' major fraud ', along with other irregularities, made his position as trust general manager untenable.
Mr Thomson resigned his 26,000-a-year post in February last year.
Problem
Under cross-examination from Andrew Arnold, for Ling Trust, Mr Thomson admitted that social security officials had visited the charity just before his departure, and ' went away happy ' with its running.
However, he said they only asked about staffing contracts between Ling and the health authority, which were all above board.
' The problem exists in the way people used or did not obey the contracts between us, ' argued Mr Thomson.
He also agreed that many ' hands-off ' organisations across the country experienced the same problems, and there was some doubt about the precise legal position.
But he maintained that the trust had to be seen to be separate from the health authority.
Mr Thomson also felt undermined because ' untoward occurrences', including allegations of staff threatening residents, were not being relayed to him for up to three weeks, even though he was legally responsible for reporting them to the county council.
Mr Arnold questioned why he had not tried harder to set up a system for receiving such information more swiftly.
' Everything I tried was blocked, ' complained Mr Thomson.
Earlier Mr Thomson told the tribunal of his last days in the job.
He said he had to resign because he felt he was being made the ' fall guy ' for breaches of the law he had no control over.
' I was effectively put in a no-win situation... there was nothing else I could do, ' he said.
The tribunal continues today.
Police force takes delivery of Mazda 323
ESSEX police have become the first force in the country to run a Mazda as a police car.
The Mazda 323 1.6i fastback is to be used mainly by crime prevention officers for visiting schools and exhibitions.
It has been donated, on a two-year loan basis, by Westleigh Mazda, of London Road, Leigh-on-Sea.
The Japanese made 323 will also be used as a supervision car by police inspectors and for transporting neighbourhood beat officers in the Southend and Rayleigh areas.
It will also be used to promote the force's vehicle crime prevention campaign in April and May.
Oil industry caught out by tax changes
NORTH Sea oilmen were caught on the hop by petroleum tax changes announced by the Chancellor  and many did not like what they heard.
A leading economist said the changes could cost the industry millions, and hit exploration and appraisal plans.
Digesting
Pointing out that the changes are expected to raise 300 million for Government coffers in 1994, Jonathan Peat, chief economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said: ' This must mean extra revenue is expected to be gained from North Sea development  and to that extent it must be bad news for the North Sea. '
Lights burned late last night in Aberdeen as oil companies digested Mr Lamont's announcement that petroleum revenue tax is to be cut from 75 per cent to 50pc.
The tax was abolished for new fields given development consent from yesterday onwards, as were rules allowing PRT bills to be offset against exploration and development costs.
Some companies could end up losers from the move as much of the tax has, up to now, been offset in this way.
A spokesman for the UK Offshore Operators' Association said: ' Superficially, the reduction to 50pc sounds good, but the tax is tied in with a lot of allowances, including exploration and appraisal, and that has all been abolished, and that is going to have a devastating effect of exploration and appraisal. '
Cathedral to get new organ after 100,000 grant
THE long-awaited new organ can now be built in Chelmsford Cathedral thanks to a 100,000 donation from the Pools Promoters Association's sports and arts foundation.
The cathedral appeal is one of a clutch of Essex organisations to cash in on grants announced yesterday.
The 100,000 organ donation means construction work can start because there is now 700,000 in the fund  enough to buy the instrument.
Although the appeal target stands at 1.4 million, that figure includes the setting up of a choral foundation to develop the musical calibre and reputation of the county town.
Chelmsford's Tory MP Simon Burns is the chairman of the appeal fund.
He is delighted and yesterday said: ' This is extremely good news because it is imperative that the cathedral has the ability to maintain its justifiably high standard of music, and a new organ is badly needed as the existing one is now beyond repair. '
Benefit
Other Essex groups to benefit from the Foundation for Sports and Arts grants are:
University of Essex Sports Centre, 5,554, towards fitness assessment equipment.
High Roding Cricket Club, 7,500, to extend the club premises and provide wheelchair access.
Thaxted Festival Foundation, 32,000, for stage and chairs for the annual classical musical and arts celebration.
The Tiptree Titans American Football Club, 750, for kit.
North East Essex Schools Athletics Association, 700, for equipment.
Eight Ash Green Cricket Club, Colchester, 500, to improve facilities.
Loxton Leisure Services, Colchester, 200,000 for a regional basketball centre to be built in Stockport.
Pc weeps as he relives horror of shooting
Colleague murdered, jury told
A POLICE officer wept yesterday as he told a jury of the night his colleague was shot dead at point-blank range.
Pc Alexander Kelly, 32, who was wounded in the attack, slumped into a chair in the witness box at the Old Bailey, his shoulders heaving, and cried as he was questioned by prosecuting counsel Mr John Nutting.
He had been asked what happened when he was making routine checks on a red Sierra car he and Special Constable Glenn Goodman, 37, stopped on the A64 between York and Leeds last June.
Pc Kelly told the jury he questioned the driver and passenger about their identities and noticed they had Irish accents.
He was unhappy about the story they gave and went to his car to make further checks on his radio while Special Constable Goodman stood outside.
He saw the passenger get out of the Sierra and walk to the side of the road.
Sobbing, Pc Kelly said: ' The next thing I saw, he was standing holding a gun with both hands in what I can only describe as a combat position. '
In the shooting that followed Special Constable Goodman was killed and Pc Kelly wounded.
The prosecution allege the men in the Sierra were Michael O'Brien and Paul Magee.
The jury has heard Magee got out, walked up to Special Constable Goodman and fired two shots into his chest.
He then swivelled round and fired bullets into the police car, wounding Pc Kelly.
The officer's life was' almost certainly ' saved by the fact that one bullet became embedded in a radio handset he had been holding to his ear.
Magee, 42, and O'Brien, 32, from Belfast, deny murdering Special Constable Goodman and attempting to murder Pc Kelly.
They also deny attempting to murder two other officers  Mark Whitehouse and Susan Larkin  later that night.
Although badly-injured with four bullets inside him, Pc Kelly was able to call up the SOS code number.
Pc Kelly told the jury he could not breathe very well and tried to make himself comfortable.
' I did not move until I was sure the car had gone away.
I did not want to show any sign of life. '
He spent three weeks in hospital.
The jury has heard after Magee and O'Brien drove off their Sierra was chased by Pc Whitehouse and WPc Larkin in another police car.
At a junction one of them stepped from the Sierra and opened fire on the police car with a sawn-off Kalashnikov rifle, said the prosecution, but the two officers were not injured.
The trial continues.
A recent picture of Pc Alexander Kelly, 32, who wept as he told how his colleague was shot dead
Help for Poland's tourist trade
A CHELMSFORD student spent a month in eastern Europe helping a former Iron Curtain country develop into a tourist's mecca.
Nick Hennessey, who is studying rural development at Anglia Polytechnic University, was one of ten western students who went to Poland.
Expecting a drab, grey, industrialised landscape, the 26-year-old former sound engineer was surprised to find temperatures close to 40C and beautiful beaches on the shores of the Baltic.
He said the country is on the brink of a tourism explosion which could end in disaster for the local community if it isn't managed properly.
' It's like Spain was 20 years ago, ' said Nick.
However, he said practical problems face the Polish people in their quest to improve the local economy.
They have no money or Government aid, road links are poor by western standards, sewage is collected from tanks outside houses every day and in Gdansk a huge heating system pipes heat along overground tubes to parts of the town.
Slack planning laws mean hotels are growing up all over the place, said Nick  who quickly threw out his own idea that the West has all the answers to the problems.
' We tried to encourage the people to work with each other, and talk to politicians, because they argued a lot about what they were going to do all the time, ' he said.
' But that feeling of solidarity really came through, ' added Nick, who was overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people he met there last summer.
He is hoping to go back to Poland for postgraduate studies and recommends it as a holiday destination.
Getting there is relatively easy  Nick's train ticket cost 140 and he travelled direct from London on the Warsaw Express.
He said: ' Everything is very cheap but it is not a place for the vegetarian, the food consists mainly of red meat and cabbage. '
Anglia Polytechnic University paid for the trip to Bilogora.
Lamont refuses to duck decision dilemma
CHANCELLOR Norman Lamont openly admitted his unpopularity on television last night when he defended the ' difficult decisions' he was forced to take in the Budget.
In a frank post-Budget broadcast, he admitted: ' Someone said to me, ' If you are a popular Chancellor, then you are not doing your job properly '.
' I sometimes think if that is true, I must be the most successful Chancellor there has ever been.
We have to take tough decisions and the sooner we face up to them the better. '
Firing line
Earlier he said: ' When you are in the firing line, it is tempting to duck difficult decisions.
It would have been easy for me just to put off the difficult decisions we need to take, but I must do what is right for this country.
' I have put up taxes on those things that damage the environment, like petrol and fuel.
That won't be popular, but we have got to use less and conserve more.
' I know this will be difficult for the least well-off and we will be giving them special help. '
Rag Week aids asthma charity
PUPILS are selling themselves into slavery this week in a bid to raise money for a worthy cause.
All funds from Rag Week at the Clacton site of the Colchester Institute will be donated to the National Asthma Campaign.
Students hope to raise 1,400.
Yesterday, illicit smokers were fined for taking a puff as the college was declared a no smoking zone, while more health-conscious students tried their hands at the Clacton Olympics.
Events included three-legged races, wheelbarrow races, egg and spoon and sack races.
Catering students also tested out their waitering and waitressing skills as they attempted to deliver trays on the back of a human ' camel '.
Today, also odd sock day, students and lecturers will be selling themselves to carry out jobs for the week.
Neil Dryer, who is in his last year of an HND catering course, has been overseeing the entertainments side.
' It's going really well and everybody is enjoying making an effort for such a worthy cause, ' he said.
A few weeks ago the Colchester site of the institute raised 2,000 for the Terence Higgins Trust, which helps AIDS victims.
Students putting their backs into it during Rag Week
Chunnel rail link is approved
THE 3 billion Channel Tunnel high-speed rail link and the 300 million Heathrow Express line are to go ahead, Chancellor Norman Lamont announced yesterday.But the future of the 1.7 billion cross-London rail link Crossrail appeared less certain with Mr Lamont saying the scheme was now going to be a joint venture between the public and private sectors.
The much-delayed 68-mile Channel Tunnel fast link will not go into London's King's Cross station as British Rail hoped, but instead will terminate at neighbouring St Pancras  a less expensive option.
But Mr Lamont did say that Government money would be put into the scheme which could be completed by the end of the decade.
The 15-mile Paddington-Heathrow fast link  a joint venture between BR and airport operator BAA  will be started later this year and should be finished by the second half of 1997.
The start of the London Underground-BR Crossrail scheme, scheduled originally for 1995, could now be put back following the decision to involve the private sector.
Likely to take five years to complete, the scheme would run from Reading and Aylesbury in the west across London to Shenfield in Essex in the east.
It is designed to relieve rail congestion in central London by speeding cross-capital journeys.
Dealers respond to the market reaction on Norman Lamont's Budget
Hell on earth for war rape victims
Captive forced by attackers to lick her own blood
EVIDENCE is emerging that thousands of women have been systematically and brutally raped in the conflict in former Yugoslavia.
CHARLOTTE ADCOCK spoke to a woman who has interviewed some of the victims.
(Readers may find parts of this account upsetting) R ape in warfare has often been overlooked.
Widely considered a routine, if regrettable, fact of war, it has rarely been prosecuted.
Reports on the armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, however, suggest not only that rape and the sexual abuse of women have been carried out on a massive scale, but that it has been systematic and organised.
Evidence is now emerging that women have been detained in order to be raped and even impregnated, and that political and military leaders knew, but condoned it.
One woman who can testify to the existence of rape camps and the suffering of women, is Francoise Hampson, senior lecturer at Essex University and an expert in the law of armed conflict.
She has just returned from interviewing rape victims in Bosnia during a nine-day mission led by the International League of Human Rights.
While European Community officials estimate 20,000 women have been raped, Francoise Hampson says quantification is impossible.
' The only value in the figures is the indication of the scale and an adjective would be better.
The word I would pick is' widespread '. '
Human rights organisations remain wary of publishing figures because they have been widely used as propaganda.
Amnesty International has, however, released details of individual accounts to ' illustrate at least part of what has occurred '.
The accounts include those of Moslems from Kljuc.
One mother described how her daughter was locked up and she was raped by three drunk, uniformed men whom she knew.
Another woman in her mid-sixties said she had been one of eight raped by ' Serbian irregulars'.
' Three of them raped her, one first forced his hand into her at knifepoint and then made her lick her own blood.
Two of the women had their throats slit after the rapes, ' the report states.
Victims have been assaulted in different situations, said Ms Hampson.
Women have been randomly raped by individuals, gang-raped by uniformed men, and raped in detention centres either by the guards or people let in by the guards.
There has also been a high incidence of murder following rape.
Allegations have to be handled with care, but there is clear evidence that rape camps have been set up.
' I interviewed someone from a rape camp in Doboj.
It was unequivocally a place where women were held in order to be raped, ' she said.
Observers have also identified a specific category of women raped in order to be made pregnant.
Rape has happened on all sides and across the sexes, but according to Ms Hampson ' the overwhelming majority of the rape victims are non-Serbs'.
Several factors have made the abuse particularly cruel and degrading.
' The fact that it's so systematic, going effectively unpunished and often performed by people known to the victims makes it more horrific.
It's been made even more humiliating by the circumstances in which it's been done like public rape.
' In no case where we interviewed had the woman only been raped by one man.
Plenty of them had only been raped over one period of 24 hours but never less than by six or seven men.
Two women passed out when raped by number three so they don't know. '
The effect on women, in a Moslem culture which perhaps considers rape more dishonourable than murder, has been profound.
Victims have been openly accused by their husbands of being ' Chetnik whores'.
Some have been abandoned by their families and others forced to leave.
' There isn't even guaranteed support from other women because it's seen as so shameful.
Some haven't told their mothers.
They believe they know and look at them differently, and it's avoided as a topic of conversation. '
Resources are scarce, medical treatment limited and abortions not always available.
Many victims are also having to come to terms with the trauma while looking after children and the elderly in overcrowded refugee camps.
Whether rape has been singled out by military commanders as a weapon of war remains open to question, but victims' testimony suggests the abuse is part of a wider pattern of warfare and ' ethnic cleansing '.
Ms Hampson believes the abuse is more than an incidental or sexual act.
It is clearly being used as an instrument to achieve a military purpose.
' People aren't raping for rape's sake.
In some instances where villages are being ' cleansed ', rape is being used to terrorize and humiliate communities. '
There is evidence that rape, regarded as good for morale, increased after a military setback and that peer group pressure is strong.
' Clearly the authorities know the rape camps are there and what they're being used for.
A lot of people who haven't previously raped must be going around raping. '
She admits in the final analysis she finds it difficult to make sense of the ' gratuitous savagery '.
' I 'm left with extremely uncomfortable questions about what makes men tick and I don't see any reason to believe that men in the former Yugoslavia are different from men elsewhere.
' That doesn't mean I think all men are rapists but... it means a significant proportion of the men around us in that situation of social breakdown would rape and I can't even begin to digest that notion. '
What she is clear about is that rape is a war crime and ought to be prosecuted.
Rape clearly contravenes international law and she cites the 1907 Hague Conventions, the '49 Geneva Conventions and the '77 Protocols to make her point.
It is not new laws that are required but enforcement of existing ones, she says.The International League is now calling for effective individual accountability for serious violations of the law and the creation of a war crimes tribunal.
' Reconciliation requires a coming to terms with the past not its burial or denial, ' it states.
Historic fort is damaged in burglary
By Steve Gravenor
VOLUNTEERS at an historic fort were yesterday assessing the cost of extensive damage caused during a burglary.
The thieves smashed down doors and broke open hardened-steel padlocks to gain entry to the Redoubt Fort, in Harwich, only to discover nothing of value inside.
Andy Rutter, secretary of The Harwich Society, the amenity group which is restoring the building, said the damage would cost at least 400 to repair and leave helpers demoralised.
He also stressed that all valuables, including cash, ancient guns and swords, had been removed from the fort following a major burglary two years ago.
The latest attacked happened on Monday night at about 6 pm when a thorough search was made of the fort.
' It has obviously set back our restoration work, ' Mr Rutter said, ' but the worst aspect is the effect it will have on the morale of volunteers.
' They feel they are wasting their time because their hard work is getting smashed up.
It will take a fair amount of skill and cajoling to pick up the pieces. '
Mr Rutter added: ' I can not understand why anybody would burgle The Redoubt because ever since our last burglary there has not been anything of value kept here. '
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said a local man had been charged in connection with Monday night's incident and released on bail.
Dying man's sues from home
THE front room of a dying man's home yesterday became a makeshift court for the initial stages of his legal battle with the tobacco industry.
Cancer victim Alfred McTear, 48, is suing Imperial Tobacco and his home became a temporary courtroom to enable him to give preliminary evidence for a court case he is unlikely to live long enough to see.
Lawyers and a shorthand writer gathered in the front room of his home in Beith, Strathclyde, to take his evidence before a court-appointed Commissioner.
The hearing, expected to last a full day, was originally scheduled for the end of the month but had to be brought forward because of Mr McTear's worsening condition.
Mr McTear, a telecommunications worker and former 60-a-day smoker, is suing for an unspecified sum of damages, arguing that when he started smoking in the 1960s there were no health warnings on packets and that by the time they appeared he was addicted.
He has been told he has only months to live, but the case could take two years before the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
Before yesterday's hearing Mr McTear, gasping for breath, said his goal was to ensure youngsters did not take up the habit and go through his ordeal.
' I've only got to the end of the year but my family will be carrying on where I left off.
At least they will have my testimony when the time comes.
If they can get me down in black and white at least I 'll have my say, ' he said.
His solicitor, Cameron Fyfe, said the case was being widely watched in Scotland and beyond and if successful could pave the way for other cases.
Wife-murderer lawyer jailed for life
A CROWN Prosecution Service solicitor was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of murdering his student nurse wife.
A jury took almost four hours to reach their unanimous verdict at Liverpool Crown Court where Warren Green, 27, had denied killing his wife Julie, 24.
Mr Justice Ognall told him after the verdict at the end of the three-week trial: ' You have been convicted on the most clear and compelling evidence of the murder of your wife. '
Green, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, was flanked by three prison officers in the dock.
He slumped forward in his seat, supporting his arms on his knees, when the jury foreman announced the verdict.
Mr Justice Ognall said that after carrying out the killing, Green ' took determined and sophisticated steps in an effort to mislead the police '.
He added: ' These steps included maligning your dead wife as a criminal drugs dealer. '
Green had also pointed the finger at his wife's lover Stuwart Skett.
' Sensibly the jury saw through your wickedness, ' added the judge.
Green had pleaded not guilty to the murder at the couple's home in October 1991.
Mrs Green was bludgeoned to death with 16 blows of a lump hammer shortly after she returned from working a night shift at a local hospital.
The court heard she was having an affair with Mr Skett, a family friend.
And Green had developed a passion for a university law student he met at work in Salford, Greater Manchester.
Green was set to gain 120,000 in life insurance on his wife, the court heard.
The jury heard he constructed a bogus defence claiming his wife was murdered by someone to whom she was supplying drugs.
Alleged pimp ' tried to stop girl, 15, from soliciting '
A MAN accused of forcing his 15-year-old girlfriend to work as a prostitute claimed he was trying to stop her soliciting, a jury heard yesterday.
Mark Ellis said the 15-year-old girl was already a prostitute when he met her, and denied living off her earnings, Ipswich Crown Court was told.
The girl was in care at a Suffolk County Council children's home, but staff did not know she was a prostitute.
It is alleged she sold sex for up to 90.
Ellis, 23, of Burrell Road, Ipswich, denies causing the girl to become a prostitute, living off her earnings, permitting a flat to be used for unlawful sex and having sex with a girl under 16.
Karim Khalil, prosecuting, alleges Ellis encouraged the girl to become a prostitute.
Ellis declined to give evidence yesterday.
The jury heard that the man denied living off her takings when interviewed by police.
' She was doing it (prostitution) before I met her.
I told her I didn't want her to do it any more.
I hated it, ' Ellis told police.
Ellis said he did not know if the girl took clients back to his flat and he would have ' gone up the wall ' if she did.
A police search of the man's flat revealed a tin containing 35 condoms.
Ellis denied he was a ' pimp ' and had no idea the youngster may have been using his premises for her work.
The court heard that Ellis was happy to allow police to inspect his personal finances.
His flat was sparsely furnished at the time.
Earlier, a care worker told the jury about the girl's absences from the home: ' Unfortunately, we can not do anything about it.
We can not lock these children up. '
Judge John Turner, who ordered the girl should not be identified, described this situation as' terribly strange '.
The trial continues.
Labour launches war of quotes
LABOUR last night produced a list of Tory ' tax ' quotes and accused the Government of ' betraying Britain '.
The quotes were:
On VAT  ' We have no plans and no need to extend the scope of VAT '  John Major, March 27, 1992.
On National Insurance  Raising National Insurance contributions would be a ' back door stealth tax '  Chris Patten, Tory Party chairman, March 23, 1992.
On income tax  ' That is the way we mean to go on, taking more and more taxpayers out of the 25p tax by widening the band.
This way we can make progress year on year towards a 20p tax rate for all '  John Major, March 30, 1992.
Witness tells court soldiers faked injury
THE only civilian witness to the events surrounding the deaths of two teenage joyriders in Northern Ireland claimed yesterday he saw one soldier attack another.
Six soldiers are on trial at Belfast Crown Court facing charges following the shooting in September 1990 at the Upper Glen Road in West Belfast.
One of the six denies the murder of Karen Reilly, 18, who was a passenger in the stolen Astra car.
The driver, Martin Peake, 17, also died.
All six soldiers deny attempting to pervert public justice and obstructing investigations.
The prosecution alleges that, to justify the shooting, the soldiers said they opened fire on a stolen car after it had struck one of their patrol.
To back the claim up one soldier was assaulted to make it appear he had been hit by the car.
The witness said he was in his caravan at an itinerant site on the Upper Glen Road when he was woken by the sound of gunfire.
' I saw one soldier standing in the road.
I saw another soldier standing behind him.
I then saw the other soldier standing behind him  either going to hit, or hitting him with a rifle on the leg, ' he told the court.
The man said he later went outside and saw a soldier lying on the road with others around him who seemed to be helping him or attending to him.
He stayed outside for a while before being ordered back inside his caravan by the soldiers.
Bitterness
Under cross-examination he denied his evidence was tainted by any bitterness he held for British soldiers because he had been jailed in 1968 for five years in Manchester for assault.
But the man said he believed the shooting of the teenagers was' wrong ', and that by the morning after the shooting he realised the relevance of what he had witnessed.
When pressed by the defence on how he could see what was happening in the dark the man replied: ' I was reared without lights.
I 'm used to the dark. '
But he admitted he could not be sure he saw a soldier make contact with another soldier with his rifle.
The only policeman on patrol with the soldiers claimed he witnessed the attack and that the stolen car had not hit any member of the patrol and that the shooting had been totally unjustified.
A doctor who examined the soldier who claimed he had been hit by the car said he found a bruise measuring 10cms on his left thigh.
Limping
He said the soldier told him he had been struck a glancing blow by the car, but that he had not been knocked over and afterwards had been able to continue on duty.
The doctor said the injury could have been caused in a number of ways and though the soldier was limping he was' surprised that such a minor injury would cause a limp. '
The trial was adjourned until today.
Jail for welder who killed ' burglar '
A WELDER was jailed for nine months yesterday for accidentally killing a man he believed had burgled and ransacked his elderly mother's home.
Michael Jones, 40, was furious when his mother, 75-year-old Glynis Jones, told him that her home in Rhondda Village, Pen-y-Graig, South Wales, had been broken into and items of great sentimental value stolen, an Old Bailey court heard.
Jones, also from Pen-y-Graig, was found guilty at Cardiff Crown Court in February of manslaughter.
Jones believed the burglar was Ronald Penrose, 43, of Tonypandy, Mid Glamorgan, who had formerly lived in Pen-y-Graig.
He and two other men were said to have gone to Penrose's home with the intention of recovering property.
Mr John Rees, defending, said that when Jones confronted the alleged burglar ' he may have over-reacted by punching him. '
Mr Penrose fell backwards and hit his head.
He died from a cerebral haemorrhage shortly afterwards.
The two men with Jones, Michael Thomas and Ian Jones, both from the Pen-y-Graig area, were convicted of affray and each sentenced to 150 hours community service.
COULD DO BETTER
LAST YEAR the Conservatives were telling us how clever they were to have been able to cut taxation and to increase public spending at one and the same time.
Yesterday, Norman Lamont presented the bill for that cleverness, with a demand for more than 10,000 million a year in extra taxation from 1995/6 onwards.
It is a large sum, and yet it may not be enough.
It will certainly not allow the Chancellor to meet the target that he set himself last year of a balanced budget in the medium term.
In the coming year, he expects to borrow 50,000 million, and he hopes to reduce that to around 20,000 million over four years.
Apart from raising taxes, the Government hopes to be able to curb its spending programmes, and a review is already under way.
No results, however, are expected for some time; and in any case, Whitehall expenditure reviews are notorious for failing to deliver anything of significance.
There is, therefore, a strong reliance upon economic growth to yield higher tax revenues and a lower social security budget.
Mr Lamont forecasts that the economy will be growing at the rate of three per cent per year in 12 months' time; he would have carried more conviction, if he had not made the same ' jam tomorrow ' forecast a year ago.
Many of his proposals are intended to help British industry and in themselves these are welcome.
In Suffolk, we are particularly glad that Customs and Excise has at last been persuaded that horse-racing is an industry not a hobby, and that it will adjust its VAT demands accordingly.
Yet in racing, in export credit guarantees and elsewhere, the Chancellor was reacting late in the day to complaints that had been clearly audible for some considerable time.
He should have been doing this a year or two ago, in the hope that extra jobs would have been created before now.
As it is, it will be much harder to persuade employers to expand, now that they can see the storm clouds of swingeing tax increases ahead of them.
Even in the short term, they can see a dismally weak market in the rest of Europe, and no obvious sign that the British public has the confidence to start spending again.
This last is the main disappointment of the budget.
The bad news for the average householder is written large, while the good news is in small print.
The net result may be neutral as Mr Lamont claims, but it does not look that way to the casual viewer who may as a result end the day in a gloomier mood than he began.
For example, Mr Lamont referred to the unemployed, expressing his deepest sympathy for them, and promising to do something to help.
Having raised expectations, he went on to limit that help to just 100,000 people; and of those 100,000, 60,000 were offered no more than the chance to work on a community scheme for next to nothing.
There are times when Chancellors are right to fuss with mini-measures, and there are times when they need to make an instant impact.
Mr Lamont should have concentrated on doing his own job well, instead of making a series of announcements on behalf of the Departments of Transport, Health, Social Security and Industry, all of which have articulate Ministers of their own.
His impact at home was weak, and it has to be hoped that his impact abroad was rather better.
On the figures he gave, it is an open question whether foreign bankers will want to finance the continuing borrowing requirement at existing interest rates and at the existing parity of sterling.
The financial situation of the country is such that no budgetary proposals could have been guaranteed to rescue it.
While appreciating the extraordinary difficulties facing Mr Lamont, it must still be said that he could have handled them better than this.
