By Paul Thornton AN ANIMAL care worker has admitted the sickening neglect of her own dog while she worked at a cat and dog home. Lisa Caldwell, 21, left her 10-month-old German Shepherd, Max, locked in a tiny cage which was soaked with urine and littered with faeces as she cared for stray animals. A [...]
By Michael MacLeod THE genealogy craze got a huge boost yesterday with the unveiling of Scotland’s census from 1881. It means the likes of Hollywood starlet Reese Witherspoon, who wants to retrace hers, superstar actor Kiefer Sutherland, who is fiercely proud of his and American president Barack Obama, whose mum has Celtic ancestors, can [...]
By Michael MacLeod MORE people than ever are dying to try out new eco-friendly bamboo coffins. Eastenders star Wendy Richard was given an environmentally friendly send-off earlier this week, signalling how popular a ‘green’ funeral has become. In light of her bamboo coffin, funeral directors and land-owners are now cashing in on the trend, [...]
By Alexander Lawrie POLICE have stepped the hunt for the killer of Edinburgh man Martyn Barclay by searching a municipal dump for the murder weapon. Officers sealed off the amenity site, just off Old Dalkeith Road, early yesterday (Wed) morning and were seen combing the large area for clues to the slaying of the young [...]
By Alexander Lawrie COPS are launching a TV appeal in their hunt for a missing Scots pensioner Mary Ferns. The frail OAP disappeared in June last year after leaving her Livingston home to visit a nearby shopping centre. She was then caught on CCTV walking along Princes Street in Edinburgh around two hours later – [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A SCOTS policeman who broke his neck after falling 200ft down a mountain is planning a return to the hills to raise cash for the heroes who saved his life. Michael Tunney, 44, has endured three years of intensive operations and physiotherapy, and has now managed to return to frontline duties with [...]
By Paul Thornton A HOSPITAL has closed a ward to new arrivals following an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting. Stirling Royal Infirmary has this week closed ward one to admissions and has called in an outbreak control team. Parents have been asked not to bring children to visiting and other visitors are asked not to [...]
By Paul Thornton COURT officials are being forced to draft in interpreters from England for a high-profile murder case because of a shortage of qualified Scots-based translators, it has been revealed. The Crown Office have retained two Czech linguists from England to assist in the trial involving Slovakian man Marek Harcar. The Scottish Court Service, [...]
By Oliver Farrimond BUDDING butlers turned out in force yesterday for the chance earn some cash while strutting their stuff. Hospitality company Butlers in the Buff held a recruitment drive at the swanky Voodoo Rooms to scour Edinburgh for suitable men. The company specialise in “attractive waiters with impeccable manners to service parties, events and [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A YOUNG mum who piled on the pounds after taking steroids to fight a brain tumour has shed an amazing seven stones in just under a year. Lauren Cruickshank, 30, was diagnosed with the growth on her brain stem at the tender age of 18, but following successful surgery she has now [...]
By Alexander Lawrie AN EXCLUSIVE range of whisky which features a nude model on the label has been awarded the Worst Marketing Campaign in the whisky industries version of the Oscars. The limited edition run of rare Macallan malt has the hefty price tag of £950 a bottle, and each one includes an original Polaroid [...]
By Oliver Farrimond HOLYROOD was given the cold shoulder yesterday as a group of penguins visited the Scottish parliament in a bid to raise awareness of climate change. The seven furry activists built a fake Antarctic habitat using snow machines and icebergs. Organised by Friends of the Earth Scotland, the event was aimed to urge [...]
By Alexander Lawrie JUST a year after the glittering opening of his new LA restaurant Gordon Ramsay has been forced to sell the flagship eaterie. Situated on Hollywood’s famous Sunset Strip, A-list stars such as Halle Berry, Scarlet Johansson and the Beckhams have all been seen dining regularly at the exclusive restaurant. But just 12 [...]
By Alexander Lawrie FURIOUS Ewan McGregor is threatening to “take action” over an imposter conning thousands of internet users on a popular social networking site. A cyber faker using Twitter has been passing himself off as the Trainspotting star and nearly 20,000 fans have been duped by the online chats. Updates about the ‘actor’s personal [...]
By Oliver Farrimond ONE in ten Scottish lawyers have lost their jobs as a result of the recession. Leading law firms such as Dundas and Wilson have been forced to cut up to fifty staff at a time as cash flow has dried up. Jobs have been hit across the profession, with experienced legal experts [...]
By Oliver Farrimond SCOTS celebrities are having their identities hijacked on the trendy social networking site Twitter. Alex Salmond, Duncan Bannatyne and Doctor Who star David Tennant have all had accounts falsely set up in their names. Tennant is the latest figure to be lampooned, with regular updates portraying him as a big-headed sex god. [...]
By Oliver Farrimond SCOTTISH pop queen Annie Lennox has lashed out at the current trend of music reality shows. Branding the X-Factor format “very formulaic”, she questioned Simon Cowell’s right to decide what the next big thing should be. She said: “”I really hate that people love the person who is painfully bad at what [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A HERO postie who was injured while serving his country in Afghanistan has been nominated for a Royal Mail bravery award. Iain McDonald, 38, was on tour with his TA unit in the Helman province last year when he was hit by flying shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. The brave postal worker [...]
By Michael MacLeod CLUBBERS could soon be drinking and dancing in the historic Scottish court building where evil Peter Tobin was charged with murder. Despite having some of Scotland’s most chilling criminals passing through its chambers, court rooms and prisoner cells, Linlithgow Sheriff Court is hot property. Experts reckon the winning bidder will have to [...]
By Paul Thornton A SHOCKED Sheriff has hit out after discovering that a prisoner had been let out of jail early after serving little more that a quarter of his sentence. Sheriff Fiona Reith said ”words fail me” as she questioned the point of imposing sentences only for convicts to be freed so early. Her comments immediately drew sympathy and support from Conservative justice [...]