UNCOVERED: Auctioneers planning to sell a book by Lawrence of Arabia were stunned to find a letter hidden inside, handwritten by the man himself. Picture by Katielee Arrowsmith Download more great images from our archive at this link
By Paul Thornton MURDER accused Alan Cameron broke the news that Heather Stacey’s head had been found dumped on a path to work colleagues as if “talking about the weather”, it was claimed yesterday. Sales assistant Megan Nolan, 22, told the High Court in Livingston the dad-of-two was “completely calm” despite it being found only [...]
By Cara Sulieman FIRE-FIGHTERS had to free a traumatised tot after he his finger jammed stuck in a toy work-bench. Two-year-old Adam Brown had been playing with the JCB Tool Bench at his home in Edinburgh’s Shandon when his forefinger jammed fast in a hole. Despite his mum Angela’s best efforts to free him using [...]
By Michael MacLeod A BIG hearted dad is gearing up to run around every football ground in Scotland in just one weekend to help his son battle blood cancer. Hearts fan Campbell Blair’s world was turned upside down when his four year-old boy Lewis was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Now, two years on, [...]
By Shaun Milne, Cara Sulieman & Michael MacLeod DETECTIVES probing the disappearance of Edinburgh bookkeeper Suzanne Pilley fear she is dead. Senior officers broke the news to her devastated parents Robert and Sylvia that the hunt for their daughter had been upgraded to a murder inquiry before going public about the switch today (Wednesday). But [...]
SWAN LAKE: Cygnini lap up the sunshine at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. Photograph by Katielee Arrowsmith. Download more great pictures from our online archive at this link.
By Paul Thornton GRUESOME photographs of head in the bag victim Heather Stacey were shown to a jury sitting at her murder trial yesterday. Two graphic images showing the 44-year-old’s head lying beside a blue Ikea bag on a footpath in Edinburgh revealed the disturbing state of her badly decomposed remains. Heather’s thinning, dyed red [...]
By Michael MacLeod AN old-age pervert who groomed two boys by plying them with alcohol then sexually abusing them has been jailed for eight months. Joseph Johnstone, 67, claimed that growing up in a time when homosexuality was frowned upon skewed his understanding of normal behaviour. He snared two 15 year-old boys by inviting them [...]
By Michael MacLeod and Cara Sulieman IT goes at a top speed of 75mph, takes 11 hours to reach London, and stops for an hour in York. But desperate business travellers turned to a steam train for salvation yesterday to help get them to London and beat a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland which [...]
By Michael MacLeod A DUNDEE United fan was attacked and robbed of his scarf just hours after the team won the Scottish Cup final. The 43 year-old was walking on Brook Street, just north of the city’s university campus, when he was assaulted. Three teenagers shoved him to the ground and made off with his [...]
By Michael MacLeod SCOTTISH doctors have pocketed an estimated £1.5 million by charging grieving families to have cremation certificates signed. The £71 so-called “ash cash” charge allows a deceased person’s body to be released for cremation. Both GPs and hospital doctors each charge for the form-filling exercise, leaving the deceased person’s relatives to fork out [...]
By Michael MacLeod THOUSANDS of Scots travellers will wake up this morning (Monday) facing the likelihood of being held hostage by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud. They were warned by the Scottish Government that the outlook would “worsen” today following dozens of cancellations on flights yesterday. Speaking at an emergency briefing, finance secretary John Swinney [...]
By Michael MacLeod SCOTLAND’s former First Minister Jack McConnell says trust, rather than the economy, will be the biggest challenge to the new UK Government. Mr McConnell says the Tory and Lib Dem coalition will have “life and death” decisions to make – but the key will be their relationship. He praised David Cameron and [...]
By Michael MacLeod A BRAVE Scotswoman has vowed to become the first person to climb Ben Nevis unaided in a wheelchair. Sally Hyder, 47, who has multiple sclerosis, says she will not be “shackled down by this stupid disease.” She is currently training to take on Britain’s highest mountain in a battery-powered off-road wheelchair in [...]
By Michael MacLeod BOSSES of one of Scotland’s biggest universities have splashed out £5,000 on wine cabinets, despite looming job cuts. Strathclyde University said it needed to keep its bottles of wine cool to cut its carbon footprint. But the new wine stores have raised questions over the university’s commitment to cutting costs in the [...]
By Michael MacLeod SCOTS drivers have put the brakes on at speed cameras, sending speeding fines plummeting by a dramatic 60 per-cent. New government statistics show almost 50,000 motorists were punished for speeding last year compared to 114,000 in 2006. Some experts claimed the fall shows hard-hitting safety campaigns are making their mark. But motoring [...]
By Michael MacLeod SKY bosses have admitted they have relegated Wayne Rooney to the sidelines of an advertising drive in a bid to please Scotland fans. England’s star striker is hidden at the edge of Sky TV’s posters promoting their World Cup coverage north of the Border. But the posters sport a different line-up in [...]
By Michael MacLeod DAVID Cameron was forced to scrap plans for a grand public arrival at the Scottish Parliament today as protesters forced him to make his way via the back door instead. His first official visit to Scotland as Prime Minister was meticulously planned in advance of his meeting with First Minister Alex Salmond. [...]
By Paul Thornton A PHOTOBOOTH worker stole over £10,000 in loose change which he emptied from the machines. Colin Smith, 35, worked for Snap Digital Imaging and travelled around Scotland collecting the takings from the passport picture booths. But instead of banking the coins Smith used the cash to pay off bills and mortgage payments. [...]
By Paul Thornton THE mum of a toddler who plunged to his death in an Edinburgh office block has welcomed a sheriff’s findings over the tragedy. Louise McCreath, 34, she was “content” that Sheriff Mhairi Stephen had recommended that building laws were tightened up. Ben McCreath was just 21-months old when he squeezed through a [...]