Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England) back issues from March 2009:
M6 STAB VICTIM WAS A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL; EXCLUSIVE Dead man known to police across Britain.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY JEANETTE OLDHAM Crime Reporter A MAN stabbed to death during an attempted lorry-jacking was a career criminal known to police forces around Britain, the Sunday Mercury can reveal. Dean Skidmore, 36 and from Brierley Hill, Dudley, had previously been jailed ...
Cameron pays tribute to son.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... TORY leader David Cameron has opened his heart for the first time over the sudden death of his son, saying the loss had left a hole in family life "so big that words can't describe it". His eldest son Ivan, six, who suffered from severe cerebral palsy, died in hospital on ...
LORRY-JACKER'S LAST ROBBERY; EXCLUSIVE.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY JEANETTE OLDHAM THIS is Dean Skidmore - a modern-day highwayman who paid for his crimes with his life. Police sources have revealed that the 36 year-old, of Brierley Hill, Dudley, had a long list of convictions before he set out on what turned out to be ...
Crazed driver in mob car mayhem; EXCLUSIVE Driver mounts kerb as he aims for fleeing clubbers.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ADAM ASPINALL THESE are the chilling images which show a crazed motorist trying to mow down a crowd of clubbers after they attacked his car. Like a scene out of the Grand Theft Auto computer game, the speeding driver mounts the kerb in Birmingham city ...
Crash horror for 'Miss Whiplash'.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... FORMER brothel keeper Lindi St Clair remained in hospital last night after being trapped upside down in her car in a Midland stream for almost 24 hours. Her vehicle careered out of control and left the road near the village of Risbury, Herefordshire, hurtling 15ft down an ...
Anthea and Grant leave Brum flats in the lurch; EXCLUSIVE Shock as prestigious city development is threatened by collapse of couple's multi-million pound empire.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ED CHADWICK THEY are the celebrity credit crunch victims whose property empire has been rocked by the recession. Midlands-born TV golden girl Anthea Turner and Grant Bovey had run the hugely successful Imagine Homes, renting flat sand houses out to tenants ...
Axe robber strikes van.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... AN axe-wielding robber has stolen money from a cash delivery van parked outside a pub in Wolverhampton. The theft took place in the New Pear Tree car park, in the Scotlands area of the city, on Friday afternoon. The masked man ...
crazy world.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... MOSCOW, Russia: A man collapsed and died after a 12-hour sex orgy. Sergey Tuganov made a pounds 3,000 bet with two women ...
Crufts dog is a hero.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A SEARCH and rescue dog which helped find the body of weapons expert Dr David Kelly is a finalist in a Crufts competition. Brock, a collie-cross Australian shepherd ...
TV star's ups and downs; Shock as prestigious city development is threatened by collapse of couple's multi-million pound empire.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... ANTHEA Turner has had a rollercoaster TV career - and a complicated love life. She started as a runner for BBC Radio Stoke before joining the then Breakfast show presenter and former Radio One star Bruno Brookes as part of his production crew. The pair started a ...
Teen death bin driver is arrested.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A BINMAN whose refuse lorry crushed a Midland teenager to death has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Craig Reaney, 18, from Cannock, Staffordshire died when he was trapped under the truck on Oaktree Road in Brereton. A 43 year-old man ...
Cheap as chimps! EXCLUSIVE Midland trade in apes slammed.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY VICKY FARNCOMBE CHIMPANZEES are being offered for sale for less than pounds 500 on the internet by unscrupulous Midland dealers, the Sunday Mercury can reveal. Greedy sellers are promising to ship the jungle primates to residential addresses - throwing in ...
HORROR TACKLE FIGHT FOR CASH; EXCLUSIVE Amateur footballer left off work for 11 months.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY BEN GOLDBY AN amateur Midland footballer who almost lost his leg in a horror tackle is fighting for compensation after finding out that he wasn't insured. Daniel Bates, 20, from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, broke his left leg in SEVEN places 18 months ...
Clubber is impaled on spike.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A MAN has impaled himself on a metal spike while trying to jump over some railings at a nightclub. It is thought he was climbing the fence in the garden area of Bushwackers in Worcester when he slipped and fell in the early hours of Thursday. The man, aged about 18, ...
I was abandoned by my family and abused in a home; EXCLUSIVE The heartrending story of how Thalidomide victim Louise fought to overcome a childhood from hell and find love.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ZOE CHAMBERLAIN THALIDOMIDE victim Louise Medus was at the centre of the fight for justice for hundreds of youngsters who were born disabled as a result of the drug scandal. Her dad, David Mason, led the campaign to secure compensation for parents whose ...
CORONATION STREET USA.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: LORNE JACKSON WITH British movie Slumdog Millionaire cleaning up at the Oscars, hopes are riding high that a UK invasion of Hollywood is imminent. It certainly seems likely, and not just It certainly seems likely, and not just on the Big Screen. ...
The university of Reading.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... RESEARCH at the university of Reading has identified a handful of modern words that have changed so little in tens of thousands of years that ancient hunter-gatherers would probably have used them, just like us. Those words, which are resistant to evolution, include 'I', 'who' ...
jackson 5.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... 1GUANTANAMOANING: To make a living from, or gurn relentlessly about, your persecution after being freed from incarceration for something you probably did, although no-one has been able to prove it. Yet. 2GOODWINKED: To nab a huge pension after years of stupidity and ...
Kray twins' art goes under the hammer.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... SEVEN paintings created by the Kray twins during prison art classes are expected to sell for thousands tomorrow. The works of notorious gangsters Reggie and Ronnie were painted in the 1970s when they were serving life sentences in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle Of Wight. ...
Keep me in prison until I'm A WOMAN! Transexual crook wants sex change op on the NHS.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A CROOK undergoing sexchange treatment in prison has pleaded with a judge: "Let me serve long enough to become a woman." Transsexual Jeffrey Smith, 41, admitted two charges of burglary when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court - and then asked to be sent to jail for long enough ...
Left for dead in burning wreck; EXCLUSIVE Gran Norma slams drink driver's 10-month sentence.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ADAM ASPINALL A MIDLAND gran who was left to die in the burning wreckage of her car by a cowardly drink driver has condemned his 'pointless' sentence. Paul Chaplin, 34, from East Leake, Nottinghamshire, was jailed for ten months on Friday after he pleaded ...
'Blood-stained' clue.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... POLICE issued an alert last night for a "blood-stained" attacker after a woman in her 60s was found dead in her car. The victim, who has not been named, was discovered in a Vauxhall Corsa close to her home in Harlow, Essex, at about 3am, police said. A ...
Thieves target Zara.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... POLICE are hunting crooks who stole Zara Phillips' handbag - containing valuable jewellery - from her parked Range Rover. The gems plus cash were missing when the bag was later recovered from a hedge, but her passport was still inside. The incident occurred on ...
Pal set fire to student.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A MIDLAND student was "engulfed in flames" when a pal set fire to her fancy dress costume at a party. The reveller was at Ozzy's Wine Bar in Newport, Shropshire, wearing a sheep costume as part of a St David's Day event when her outfit caught ...
TB rising in Sandwell.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... HEALTH chiefs are still having to deal with about 1,000 cases of tuberculosis in the West Midlands every year. Newfigures show that Sandwell is the worst hit area with more than twice ...
crazy world.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... NEW JERSEY, USA - Police didn't have to travel far to track down a man accused of robbing three banks - because Lawrence Dove lived next door to a ...
Rapist facing long sentence.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A FARMER who was once caught having sex with a cow is facing jail for raping a young girl. Steven Jones, 47, of Withington, Herefordshire, was convicted of bestiality in 1983. He was found ...
Recycling and sitting pretty.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... YOGHURT pots and bubblewrap are being recycled and turned into park benches by a Wolverhampton company. Omnia Recycling, based in Bushbury, ...
Children on crime rampage.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY BEN GOLDBY A KIDDY crime wave is sweeping the Midlands, a Sunday Mercury investigation has revealed. Cops have arrested dozens of children under the age of ten in the past 12 months for drug offences, violence, theft - and even sexual assault. ...
My life angel as an of mercy; Confessions of a Birmingham ambulance driver.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY LORNE JACKSON POKER is a game of skill - especially when it comes to hiding your emotions from other players. Sometimes, that's not so easy. On other occasions it's a whole lot simpler than you would think. Especially when the card ...
OAP's stash of weapons.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... ARMED cops stormed an elderly man's home and found the pensioner's body alongside a stash of guns. Officers were called to the house in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on Friday after a delivery man who couldn't get a response at ...
Blaze at care centre.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A GROUP of elderly people had to be led to safety after a blaze broke out a West Midlands care home. Fire crews had to evacuate 21 residents from the Beechwood Gardens care home in ...
crazy world.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... HANGZHOU, China - A skint student has paid for his college course fees and living expenses - with five tonnes of oranges. Wu Xiaobin drove two truckloads of mandarin oranges 130 miles ...
Heroes home.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... THE bodies of three soldiers froma Midland regiment killed in Afghanistan will be flown back home on Tuesday. Rifleman Jamie Gunn, 21, from the Forest Of Dean in Gloucestershire, Lance Corporal Paul Upton and ...
Man impaled.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A TEENAGER was saved by bouncers after he became impaled on a spike as he tried to sneak into a Midland nightclub. The 18 year-old was cut free by firefighters before being taken to ...
Great piece of nonsense.(News)(Dance review)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BOB HAYWOOD SYLVIA, Birmingham Royal Ballet WHAT'S this? A muscle-rippling Tarzan in a ballet? Well, no actually, it's BRB's golden boy Robert Parker as the sex-mad ancient Greek god Orion. He wears a very silly waist-length black wig and is ...
Mum arrested after baby dies of drug overdose.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... BABY girl has died from a suspected methadone overdose in Gloucestershire. Police have arrested a young mother and a 30 year-old man after the incident in which the 14 month-old girl is thought to have accidentally swallowed the lethal substance, which is commonly used to wean ...
My friend Wendy the joker; Longtime friend on and off screen Ian Lavender opens his heart.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ROZ LAWS BRUMMIE TV star Ian Lavender last night paid a touching tribute to Wendy Richard, who was one of his oldest friends. The pair worked together on EastEnders, but he had known her for almost 40 years - since they were both in Dad's Army. ...
Welcome to ghost town UK.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ROY BAYLISS RISING numbers of shops in the Midlands are closing because of the recession - sparking new fears about an increase in 'ghost towns'. A staggering 36 per cent of business premises in Chelmsley Wood are currently vacant while almost a quarter ...
War on terror will cost us.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: GEORGE TYNDALE BINYAM Mohamed arrived back in Britain in a privately hired Gulfstream jet - at a cost to you and me and other taxpayers of pounds 100,000. As part of his VIP appearance he was even formally welcomed by the Foreign Secretary David Miliband. ...
Ripper should remain behind bars.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: GEORGE TYNDALE IT SEEMS harmless enough. Just a snap of Frank Bruno warmly shaking the hand of some smiling bearded bloke while in the background stands former TV celebrity and DJ Sir Jimmy Saville. The picture was taken years ago when the former boxer went to ...
What a waste of police time.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: GEORGE TYNDALE AT THE age of 63 Alma Harding has been landed with a criminal record. This is because the retired postmistress encountered three youths swinging on chains around a war memorial in the village of Kenton near Exeter. When she asked ...
Bank chief will never have to work again.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: GEORGE TYNDALE SIR Fred Goodwin, the disgraced Chief Executive whose decision making brought the Royal Bank of Scotland to its knees is picking up a pension of pounds 650,000. And he's only 50. So some folk are outraged. After all, the mire into ...
Porsche playboy is serial driving offender; EXCLUSIVE Jailed rich kid to be quizzed over Midlanders' deaths.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY NICK McCARTHY THE US millionaire who owned the car that killed two Midland businessmen in Florida had previously clocked up FIFTY driving offences. Playboy Ryan LeVin, 34, was jailed in Chicago last week for failing to complete a drugs programme. ...
Storm over sale of Ghandi's specs.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... FOR sale: Gandhi's famous metal-rimmed specs. It is the auction notice that has sparked a storm of controversy. And now the Indian governmenthas weighed into the row. Gandhi's spectacles, sandals, a pocket watch and some utensils are among the items to be ...
Teen's brave battle ends before life-saving op.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY KAT KEOGH A TRAGIC Midlands teenager died half an hour before she was due to undergo a potentially lifesaving operation. Kimberley Jones, who had been bravely battling leukaemia for months, was "just too ill to go on" and died 30 minutes before receiving a ...
STOLEN JAG GANG CRASH; Have-a-go hero suffers heart attack.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY NICK McCARTHY A HAVE-a-go hero is recovering in hospital this morning after having a heart attack while taking on a gang of robbers. The man,who has not been named, gave chase after the gang lost control of their stolen Jaguar XKR and crashed it into a ...
Unless the bloke's hobby was lying under hedges moaning, he was far from alright.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: MIKE LOCKLEY I may be over 50, but I have the body of an 18-year-old. When I was 18 I had a mate with pendulous man-boobs, vast expanses of cellulite and a huge belly. I'm pretty sure I've got his body. I put my boyish - 'boyish' in the Krankies ...
I landed in hot water at Molineux.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: MIKE LOCKLEY WHEN I first started going to football matches, the crowd was entirely male, stood up throughout and smoked. Now the clientele is very different. Sitting in front of me at Molineux last Sunday were an elderly couple who brought ...
Prezzie will really have the old girl jumping for joy.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: MIKE LOCKLEY HOPE my silver-haired mater likes her Mother's Day gift. If she doesn't, I'm sure other residents of 'Dunwhinging Residential Care Home' will get a great deal of joy from the snowboard. Pushed the boat out this year, I have. Keep it to ...
Web of intrigue.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: MIKE LOCKLEY "WHAT about that 13-year-old who became a dad?" said Colin over a frothing pint at The Drum and Monkey. "At that age, he'll never be able to cope with parenthood." I nodded in agreement. "Apparently," whispered ...
Motorway stinker is a real turn-off.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... MOTORISTS faced a stinker of a delay after a vehicle shed its load of offal on a busy motorway, causing one lane to close. The smelly spillage happened on the A460 near junction 11 of the M6 near Cannock, ...
crazy world.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... BIJAPUR, INDIA: A farmer found his mobile phone in a pile of buffalo dung after losing it at work. Ishwar Totager believes the phone must have fallen out of his shirt pocket while he was cleaning ...
Toyah's a 'grow your own' rebel! Green-fingered Brummie star set for TV culinary duel.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ROZ LAWS TOYAH Willcox has revealed her way to beat the credit crunch - grow your own! The singer and actress has a Midland garden bursting with fresh fruit and vegetables. Now she's encouraging others to shave pounds off their food bills by ...
Red-faced Ronan takes flight.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... COMIC Relief's celebrity climbers arrived in Africa yesterday as they prepared to embark on the first leg of the BT Red Nose Climb to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Yet Boyzone frontman Ronan Keating nearly missed the outbound flight last night after his connection from ...
THE pounds 150K MISTAKE; 'Upside down' stamp auctioned off.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ANUJI VARMA YOU can usually pick them up in a post office for 36p. But one of the world's rarest stamps will be sold in the Midlands for a whopping pounds 150,000 on Wednesday. It is believed the tiny inverted Jenny from the US is the most ...
Paedophile jailed after police sting.(News)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A DANGEROUS paedophile is behind bars after a police sting operation caught him trying to groom kids online. Lionel Winson, of Alvaston, Derbyshire, travelled to London believing he was about to have sex with a 13-year-old girl, only to be arrested by cops who had been posing as ...
Hallucinating Jade in hospice.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... CANCER-stricken Jade Goody remained in a hospice last night - a week after wedding sweetheart Jack Tweed. The terminally-ill Big Brother star left her home in Upshire, Essex, on Friday after suffering hallucinations from her medication. Jade, 27, was taken to St Clare ...
CREDIT CRUNCH VICE; Price war on the street as more women are driven to prostitution EXCLUSIVE.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ADAM ASPINALL DESPERATE Midland women are turning to prostitution to fight the credit crunch, the Sunday Mercury can reveal. Sex workers in Birmingham say an increasing number are turning to vice as they and their families struggle to cope with the ...
City's Gaza link mocked.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... WORCESTER'S bid to twin itself with Gaza has made the city "a laughing stock", its MP has claimed. The city council wants to twin with the Middle Eastern city as a "humanitarian gesture". But Mike Foster said the councillors would better help the city's inhabitants ...
crazy world.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... TIMISOARA, Romania - UFO investigators are urging people to stop reporting sightings of a flying saucer on Google Earth. People have reported seeing a disc-shaped object which ...
The 65-year wait for a council house; That's how long it could take to clear waiting list.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY WILL OLIPHANT THE Government was called upon to flood cash into Birmingham last night - after latest figures revelved it will take 60 YEARS to clear the city's council house backlog. Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Bowen warned that housing hopefuls could ...
Popfest to make a killing.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... AMERICAN rock superstars The Killers are set to headline this year's V Festival in Staffordshire. Although organisers have yet to finalise the list of band's playing at Weston Park in August, the Las Vegas charttoppers have confirmed they will be topping the bill. ...
Breast surgery ban on medic; Victim of botched operation relieved after six-year legal fight EXCLUSIVE.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Byline: BY ADAM ASPINALL A MIDLAND surgeon has been banned from doing breast surgery for life after leaving patients with 'horrific' wounds and permanent scars. Brian Gwynn's errors first came to light in 2003 when Tracy Todd began legal action after a chest ...
Woman in river plunge.(Features)
Mar 01, 2009 ... A WOMANspoke of her "lucky escape" after her car skidded off a bridge into a river. Alma Ryman, of Manea, Cambridgeshire, lost control of her Kia Sorento on a road near to ...