Tinsley canal: Inquiry under way after man's body found in water
Anyone with information about the incident has been asked to contact police.
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Danger driver attacked police after Bishop Auckland crash
A dangerous driver who attacked a police officer after crashing during a drug-fuelled pursuit has been spared jail by a judge who said he had "turned his life around" in the Trotter, 38, reached 60mph in a 30mph zone, drove through red lights and into the path of oncoming traffic before crashing into a car in Bishop Auckland in March 2024, Durham Crown Court had driven to the area under the influence of heroin, crack cocaine and alcohol to go shoplifting, the court was was jailed for 18 months suspended for two years after admitting dangerous driving and assaulting an emergency worker. Believing Trotter was driving a Citroen C2 under the influence, a police officer in a marked car attempted to stop him near the shopping park at Tindale Crescent at about 21:00 GMT on 21 March last year, the court initially stopping, Trotter, who had passengers in the car, then sped away when the officer got out of his car, Judge Richard Bennett then followed a nearly two minute-long pursuit in which Trotter sped through a red light and caused other cars to have to get out of the way, the court ended when Trotter mounted a pavement and hit a car and electricity substation. 'Canny driving' Trotter then attempted to run away and pushed the police officer in the face, breaking the PC's glasses, before a passing off-duty officer stopped to help bring him under control, the judge admitted he had taken drugs and drink but denied being the driver, the court confronted with footage captured by the police car's dashcam, Trotter, of Stockton Road in Hartlepool, replied: "I think it's canny good driving."Judge Bennett said Trotter had bought the car for £150 to sleep in and had travelled to Barnard Castle from west Durham that day to go shoplifting, all while under the influence of drugs. The judge said the pursuit ended "not because of a change of heart" by Trotter but rather because he Judge Bennett added, the incident had been a turning point for Trotter who in the aftermath sought help for his drug addiction and moved to a new area to escape the influence of other judge said he often disbelieved such claims made by defendants in court, but there was evidence of "significant and positive changes" in Trotter's case, including a string of negative drug Bennett said it was an "extremely rare case where someone has turned their around", but warned Totter he would be jailed if he breached the suspended sentence who also admitted driving without a licence or insurance and failing to provide a specimen, was ordered to pay £500 compensation to the owner of the car he hit and £34.50 for new glasses for the must also comply with a six-month curfew and was banned from driving for two and half years. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Region's knife robberies rise despite 'dedicated task force'
Knife robberies have risen in Greater Manchester despite the creation of a special taskforce set up to combat the problem. The rise is relatively modest at 4%, but other areas considered knife robbery "hotspots" saw reductions, including a 25% drop in the West Midlands. The government announced the taskforce following a steep rise in knife crime in seven police force areas, and the scheme has led to a 6% drop nationally since July 2024. Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester, Kate Green, said the continued rise in region was related mostly to business robberies, and that "personal robberies" were coming down. Greater Manchester Police has recorded 1,345 knife-enabled robberies in the past 12 months, up from 1,288 recorded between July 2023 and June Green said the figures showed the increase in robberies was also "slowing down". "There's certainly much more to do," she said. "It's why we have a whole lot of initiatives running over this summer, policing the hot spots, stop and search, stopping vehicles and identifying the habitual knife carriers." The statistics include robberies involving the threat of a knife even if a blade is not actually seen by the victim. Moss Side based anti-knife crime campaigner and youth worker Kemoy Walker, whose nephew Prince Walker-Ayeni was stabbed to death aged 17 in April last year, said young people believed "boredom" was a factor in some offending. He told BBC Radio Manchester: "Young people have called out for diversionary activities because what they're saying is the reason why a lot of these things are happening in the community is because they're bored and they've got nothing to do."So as youth workers we've come up with a bit of a plan to try and look at what we can do to support the young people and that's what we're doing locally."Between July 2023 and June 2024, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the West Midlands, Avon and Somerset, the Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police areas accounted for 70% of knife robberies set up in those areas in July 2024 used tactics including drones, knife arches and detection dogs, with the seven forces also increasing visible patrols and the number of plain clothes officers on the Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "When we came to office, knife-enabled robbery was increasing at a concerning rate."We have now started to drive numbers of those offences down through the work of our dedicated taskforces, and as a result, we have also seen the first small reduction in overall knife crime for four years." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 223
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Openreach engineers trial panic alarms as incidents of abuse and assault soar
From scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise. Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March. The number of incidents involving Openreach employees was up 8% year-on-year, a 40% increase on 2022-23 and seven times the volume reported almost a decade ago. Abuse and assault has for the first time become the largest cause of injury to Openreach office staff and its 22,000 field engineers. Managers believe the number of incidents is even higher, as many cases are not reported by staff. 'I used to be worried about people falling off ladders, road traffic accidents or tripping over potholes,' said Adam Elsworth, health and safety director at Openreach. 'But actually we have seen a steady increase in violence and abuse. 'A quarter of all the accidents we record are now someone being attacked or abused, and it is continuing to rise. And when I look at these incidents I struggle to see the rationale behind the level of escalation.' Incidents reported by engineers include being shouted at, sworn at or spat it, the blocking of vehicles, being shaken off stepladders, or pushed down stairs while working at someone's home. There are also reports of racial abuse, inappropriate and threatening behaviour towards female engineers, homeowners preventing staff from leaving and specific incidents such as scissors being brandished like a weapon and a customer repeatedly slamming a vehicle door on an engineer's leg. For Openreach, around half of incidents are in public locations, 45% are at homes and the remainder occur at the company's yards or estate. Elsworth said Openreach was trialling a 'panic alarm' on engineers' mobile phones, which connects them in seconds to a monitoring centre that has the power to directly dispatch emergency services if required. 'If an engineer is at someone's home, that is quite a vulnerable space to be,' he said. 'Some of the incidents are quite disproportionate and have created a wariness among engineers. When someone has been attacked, they are then thinking every time they knock on a door what could be coming next. 'A number of these cases do get reported to police, particularly in the case of the more severe ones. It is difficult when there is a threat element.' While Openreach faces the largest number of incidents, it is also a growing issue for other telecoms operators. Virgin Media O2, which has around 4,000 employees working on its cable network and cell masts, reported 26 incidents last year covering physical encounters, verbal abuse and threatening behaviour. However, so far this year the reported number of incidents is up significantly, tracking at a rate that would mean the number doubling for the full year. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion 'Our frontline teams work tirelessly to provide reliable mobile and broadband services millions of customers rely on every day,' said a spokesperson. 'A single incident of abuse or threatening behaviour is one too many, and we're committed to ending workplace violence and keeping our people safe.' At Sky the number of incidents involving engineers in the field reached 99 last year, although the company said it was not seeing any upward trend this year. Sky said it was back to pre-Covid levels of incidents after an increase during the pandemic, with a peak of 392 reported incidents in 2021. The newly-formed VodafoneThree collated about 40 to 50 incidents, while BT-owned EE did not reveal numbers but said that the figure was low. Last month, the major telecoms companies were among 100 co-signatories of an open letter from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) calling on the government to amend the crime and policing bill. The bill will make it a standalone offence for assault on a retail worker, the sector that has been the most vocal about the safety and security of staff. As it stands the bill does not offer any protection for customer-facing workers across other sectors – including telecoms and infrastructure – with the ICS estimating that about 60% of the UK workforce operates in some form of customer-facing role. 'You hear about the situation in sectors such as retail, trains, public transport but telecoms is a bit of a forgotten child in this,' said Elsworth. 'But when you are talking about engineers in someone's home, well that's quite a unique challenge.'
