Rapist Receives Nine Years In Prison

A 28-year-old man who raped a teenage girl, after he escaped from an open prison, has been jailed. Robert Foye, had been on the run for almost a week when he raped the 16-year-old in Cumbernauld last year. He had absconded from Castle Huntly prison, near Dundee. He will serve a minimum of nine years in prison. He has also been placed on a lifelong restriction order, meaning if released from jail he will be tagged and strictly supervised. Foye had been allowed out of Castle Huntly to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Toddler Dies In 'Tragic Accident'

A 12-month-old girl has died in hospital three days after she was struck by a car in the driveway of her family home. The toddler, who was taken by air ambulance to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital at 10.40am on Sunday, suffered skull fractures in the incident. A Cumbria Police spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday the girl had died, and called the incident which took place at Chapel Field, Walney, Barrow-in-Furness a "tragic accident".

£300k Announced Waste Management Plans

Environment Minister Phil Woolas today announced £300,000 for pilot schemes which will develop new guidance on surface water management plans to cope with anticipated extreme rainfall in the future. Defra is now seeking expressions of interest from pilot organisations which will need to demonstrate a specific and significant surface water flooding issue and provide evidence that they can test a good proportion of the guidance this financial year. The Environment Agency estimated that two-thirds of the 57,000 homes affected in the 2007 floods were flooded from surface water runoff. Defra recently consulted on policy measures to improve the way surface water run-off is managed.

Fundraising Boost For Gothic Mansion

Gothic novelist Horace Walpole's 18th Century Strawberry Hill House in Richmond Upon Thames, London, has received a grant of £400,000 from English Heritage, it has been announced. This latest grant brings the Strawberry Hill House Trust a step closer to raising the £8.2 million required to restore the Gothic castle. It will be put towards the restoration of the South East Tower, which needs extensive re-building. The House is undergoing a major programme of repairs and restoration. This English Heritage grant will help fund repairs to the roofs, the removal of the external render and the repairs to the south east towers and bays. English Heritage granted £100,000 to the Trust earlier in the year to fund work to the elevations, drainage, and parapets.

(JM)