Woman arrested after baby found 'abandoned' outside Whitstable Co-op supermarket

Crime reporter(wp/es):

An 18-year-old woman has been arrested after a baby was found abandoned in a pram outside a Co-op in Kent, police say.

Officers were called to the supermarket in Whitstable on Tuesday evening after receiving a call about an abandoned child.

The caller said they were concerned about the baby and its mother.

Alison Barrett, a bystander, said the officers had to change the child's nappy.

On Facebook, she wrote the child was "playing and laughing with the police officer" and did not appear upset or distressed.

A police spokesman said: "Kent Police received a report of concern for the welfare of a woman who was last seen outside a supermarket in Canterbury Road, Whitstable, on January 3 at around 6.20pm. 

"The caller also told police there was an unaccompanied child at the location.

officers carried out a search of the area and located the woman shortly afterwards.

"She has been arrested in connection with the incident and remains in custody."

Police say the baby is well and being looked after.

Cyclist rushed to hospital after crash with tipper truck in Whitechapel High Street

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A woman cyclist was taken to hospital after a crash with a lorry on a busy high street in east London.

The accident happened at a junction along Whitechapel High Street, near Aldgate East station, shortly after 11am on Wednesday.

Shocked witnesses described seeing a woman lying in the road and her bicycle under the lorry.

One woman, whose office overlooks where the crash happened, told the Standard: “I saw for a woman lying in the road being tended to by paramedics and then taken away on a stretcher in an ambulance.

“The road was closed while this was happening, but the police are now directing traffic through around the scene of the crash.

“The lorry is still in the middle of the junction.”

A Met spokesman said: “Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and the female cyclist was treated for her injuries.

“At this early stage, the injuries are not life threatening.

“The lorry stopped at the scene.

“Enquiries into the circumstances continue.”

A spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service said the woman was treated for a leg injury and taken as a priority to an east London hospital.

Whitechapel High Street has re-opened eastbound following the crash.

The right turn to Commercial Street remains blocked.

British free-runner killed in train accident on Paris Metro

Pic:Nye Frankie Newman
Staff reporter(wp/es):

A British free-runner died in a “train accident” on the Paris Metro on New Year’s Day, it emerged today.

Tributes were paid to Nye Frankie Newman, 20, from Guildford, whose death was announced by his parkour group - which stressed he “wasn’t train surfing”.

Mr Newman was a keen participant of the craze which sees people climb and jump over obstacles and buildings in urban environments.

He had been in Paris with friends on a training trip when the accident happened.

Luke Stones, who was part of the same parkour and free running group as Mr Newman, said his friend - known as Brewman - “wasn’t train surfing as many of you may assume” at the time of his death.

He described Mr Newman as “an incredible human being who was always up for anything” and “experienced things in his short life that many won’t experience in their lifetimes”.

Another friend, who asked not to be named, said: “Nye was with his friends on a trip training in Paris. He met a lot of the community and practised the sport of parkour with them there.

“He passed away due to a train accident - he was with his friends while it happened.”

Photographs on his social media accounts show the teenager leaping between buildings in Hong Kong and somersaulting on the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Friends paid tribute online. Toby Segar wrote: “Those who knew Nye Frankie Newman will never forget his untouchable flare, enthusiasm and thirst for raw adventure and worldly experience. A fresh young soul who effortlessly inspired those around him, fuelling the progress of fellow athletes and most prominently, his vast network of like-minded and incredibly close friends.

“We lost a good lad, too early.”

Seb Koci said: “He was a truly remarkable example of a human being. Although ‘inspirational’ is quite cliche, he had such a genuine ability to capture the hearts and minds of everyone he met, he had an insatiable appetite for adventure and was the driving force behind a huge number of seemingly stupid ideas and plans which I now hold as some of my fondest memories.”

James Dickson added: “Such an inspirational guy has just lost his life, it’s such a shock and just shows us that life is delicate, Nye lived his life to the fullest and will be missed by many, rest in peace man.”

A mass parkour “training” event is planned on March 4 in Guildford town centre to celebrate his life.