Help To Buy Mortgage Guarantee Launches

A landmark £12bn scheme to help thousands of people buy a home of their own will be officially launched today by the Prime Minister and Chancellor.

High Street banks including Natwest, RBS, Halifax and Bank of Scotland will start offering new Help to Buy mortgages this week.

And today Virgin Money has also confirmed they will participate in the scheme, and will be offering new guaranteed mortgages to borrowers in the New Year. Aldermore Bank has confirmed that it is joining the scheme in January, and is exploring whether this date can be brought forward.

Natwest and RBS customers will be able to start the process of applying for a mortgage today, with other banks to follow in the next few days.

The Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee is aimed at thousands of people frozen out of the housing market because they cannot afford large deposits of up to 20% of a property's value.

Aerospace A Vital Source Of Strength For Wales

Secretary of State for Wales, David Jones, will underline the UK's status as a centre of excellence for the global aerospace sector when he visits Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse this week (10-11 October).

The visit comes at the end of another triumphant year for the aircraft manufacturer, which employs more than 6,000 people at its Broughton base in north Wales. A successful visit to the Paris Air Show saw the company secure orders and commitments for 466 aircraft, while the company's newest addition to its aircraft family, the A350 XWB, made its public debut with a high-profile flyby during the show.

Earlier this week, Airbus announced yet another landmark deal with a £5.9bn order for 31 A350 aircraft from Japan Airlines. The order is Airbus's largest for the A350 so far this year and is the largest ever order the company has received from a Japanese airline. The announcement further cements Airbus in the UK's global role in wing technology, and will strengthen the order book at the £400m wing factory in Broughton.

Man Found Guilty For The Murder Of Sultan Ahmed

A man has been found guilty of the murder of Sultan Ahmed in E14, following a confrontation prompted by a neighbourly dispute over garden drainage.

Shofique Uddin, 51, of Larson Walk, E14, stabbed the 20-year-old victim to death.

His wife, Gulbahar Begum, 51, was acquitted of two counts of section 18 GBH with intent.

Previously, their daughter, Rahela Begum, 27, was acquitted of one count of section 47 ABH.

Police were called to Larson Walk, off Lanterns Way, at 7.20pm on 29 May 2012 following reports of a fight and stabbing.

Officers in attendance found Sultan Ahmed inside the hallway of a property suffering a single stab wound. They provided emergency treatment before the arrival of London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance, however, he was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.08pm.

A subsequent post-mortem examination, at Poplar Mortuary on 30 May, gave cause of death as a stab wound that entered his left lung and heart.

The wound was sustained during a confrontation at 41 Larson Walk, involving the defendants and a group comprised of people living at a neighbouring property and their friends.

The Old Bailey heard that, earlier on 29 May 2012, Uddin's son had abused a female resident of the neighbouring property. This was prompted by her washing carpets with a hose in her garden, with the dirty water draining into Uddin's garden.

In response to this abuse, a group of about six people went round to Uddin's house that evening in order to confront his son.

The confrontation soon became heated and Mr Uddin armed himself with a knife and witnesses described him as swinging it wildly.

During the fight, Uddin stabbed Sultan Ahmed in the back and he collapsed almost immediately before being carried to a neighbouring property where he died.

One man was also bitten and received a slash wound to the head, another man received stab wounds to his shoulder and armpit and the woman in the group sustained a minor stab wound to her hand.

Officers in attendance arrested the three defendants and took them to separate police stations in east and north London.

They were charged on 31 May, appearing first at Thames Magistrates' Court before their cases were sent to the Old Bailey.

(CD/JP)