Man In Court Over Churchyard Murder

A man is to appear before court today charged with the murder of a homeless woman. Melita Jo, 53, was found beaten to death a week ago in St Mary’s Churchyard in Walthamstow, east London. Jonathan Linzell, 30, of no fixed abode, will appear before Waltham Magistrates Court accused of the woman’s murder. A post mortem examination revealed the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and body.

Two Bristol Men Charged With Murder

Two men from the Bristol area have been charged with the murder of a man whose body was found in a burning flat. The body of David Hughes was found in Twinnell House, Stapleton Road, Bristol on Wednesday 1 October. David Norman, 39, and Nigel Griffin, 32, both from the Bristol area, were charged on Monday night and are due to appear at Bristol Magistrates Court later today.

Men Jailed For £1m VAT Fraud Scam

Two men were jailed for a total of five years and nine months at Winchester Crown Court today for evading £1.2 million in VAT. Following a detailed investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Officers, Gary Fernihough, 48, of Stoke on Trent was today sentenced to three years in jail. Ian Jones, 48, of Southampton, who pleaded guilty last year and decided to give evidence against Fernihough, received a prison sentence of two years and nine months. The VAT fraud involved the pair, along with Gary Fernihough's brother who was sentenced last year, setting up three wholesale businesses on the premise of selling animal feed, straw and hay. In fact this was just a scam to reclaim VAT. Two business premises were leased to make the operation look legitimate - in fact the companies never traded. The fraudsters submitted false invoices and records to reclaim VAT they were never entitled to. On sentencing His Honour Judge Barnett said today: "You are a disgrace to the commercial world. This fraud took place over a period of time and required application, sophistication and determination."

New Builds 'Could Drop Below 100,000'

The Government's housing target of building two million new homes by 2016 is looking further out of reach with the downturn in the construction industry sending growth in private housing workloads to a record low, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK Construction Market Survey. Following significant declines over the past two quarters, private housing sector workloads plummeted yet again, with 60% more Surveyors reporting a fall than a rise. The Government needs to build in excess of 200,000 new homes each year in order to reach their target of 2 million homes by 2016. To date, only 66,220 new homes have been built in 2008, with a fall below 25,000 per quarter likely by the end of the year.

PCTs Count Cost Of Bad Diet And Exercise

New figures out today show, for the first time, the cost of obesity to every Primary Care Trust in England. The figures set out the cost of diseases related to being overweight or obese in 2007 and how much it will cost at a local level in 2015 if we take no action. As last years Foresight report highlighted, nationally the cost of being overweight or obese cost the NHS £4.2 billion in 2007. This could rise to £6.3 billion in 2015. The figures are set out in a new 'Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives toolkit: A Toolkit for Developing Local Strategies', which is available to all Primary Care Trusts and Local Authorities to help them tackle obesity in their areas and help their citizens live healthier lives.

(JM/KMcA)