The Queen visits Leicester to hand out Maundy Thursday money to pensioners

Pic:The Queen with the Duke of Edinburgh outside Leicester Cathedral.
Royal correspondent(wp):
The Queen has visited the Midlands to hand out bags of money to pensioners for Maundy Thursday.

She gave Maundy money to 91 men and 91 women to mark each year of her life in an Easter tradition which dates back hundreds of years.

Accompanied by her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, Britain’s longest serving monarch arrived at Leicester Cathedral for a special Maundy service.

Hundreds of people lined the streets outside the cathedral to greet Queen Elizabeth, who was dressed all in green.

This year’s batch of people chosen to receive the Maundy money were pensioners, in recognition of the service they have provided to the church and their area.

Each person was given two purses, a white and a red one, during the service.

Inside the red purse is a £5 coin to mark the centenary of the House of Windsor and a 50p coin commemorating Sir Isaac Newton.

The white purse contains 91p in coins minted especially for the event.

Among the recipients was Ted Cassidy, 70, who said: "It's been such a wonderful occasion - she's amazing because she smiled at every single person and then spoke to the children at the end.

"I thought 'She's just incredible, a wonderful woman'.

"I got a surprise letter four months ago and I couldn't believe it, it was such a wonderful surprise."

Another recipient, Mavis Moore, from Asfordby, said: "It was an experience, I couldn't believe it."

The 86-year-old added: "I've been excited and telling everyone since I found out."

Jane Gumbs, of Beaumont Leys, said: "It was really nice, lovely, and to see the Queen - it was amazing.

"She looked young. I never thought I would ever meet the Queen in my life."

Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday, marks the start of Easter – the biggest feast in the Christian religion’s calendar.

The tradition of the monarch giving out money dates from the 13th century.

Police warning over fake £5 notes just six months after launch of new fivers

Pic:The new £5 note was introduced in September last year
Business reporter(wp/es):

Police have warned shoppers to lookout for counterfeit versions of the polymer £5 note just six months after the new fivers entered circulation.

Officers warned the public to be on the lookout for fake banknotes after they were spotted in Wadebridge, Cornwall.

Dorset Police had issued a similar warning in February saying counterfeit notes were found in circulation near Poole.

The new warning comes just six months after the new £5 note was launched by the Bank of England.

It is stronger than its predecessor and boasts new security features which the Bank of England said makes it harder to counterfeit. 

PCSO Pete Sobye, of Wadebridge police, said: "If you find yourself in possession of a fake £5 note, contact your bank. Or if you have been given a number of these as payment, contact police on 101."

The old paper fiver and the new £5 note have co-existed since the polymer banknote was first issued by the Bank of England.

But British shoppers have until May 5 to spend paper £5 notes before they lose their legal tender status.

The new banknote has been controversial after it emerged that traces of animal-derived additives were used in its production.

In September this year, the Bank will issue a new £10 polymer note featuring author Jane Austen, recognising "her universal appeal and enduring contribution to English literature".

Health crisis expert hit and killed by night bus on Oxford Street

Pic:Public health expert Chesmal Siriwardhana was hit and killed by a bus on Oxford Street

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A man killed by a double decker bus in Oxford Street was a “brilliant” academic who led research into major public health challenges.

Dr Chesmal Siriwardhana, a researcher and tutor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was knocked down by a route N98 bus as he made his way home after a night out with friends.

The 38-year-old, who had lived in London for more than eight years, was pronounced dead shortly after the crash at around 2am on Sunday.

Friends and colleagues today spoke of their devastation at the loss of an “amazing guy” who “worked at the forefront of some of the major public health challenges of the day”.

Dr Siriwardana lived with his girlfriend in Greenwich, south east London, who it is understood he was with shortly before the crash.

He had come to the UK to study at King’s College London in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience as a master’s fellow in 2009 and gained his PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology in 2015.

He then became lecturer in Public Health at the Anglia Ruskin University, before moving to LSTHTM last year.

Among his work he had looked at the mental health needs of people affected by conflict, particularly in his native Sri Lanka.

Friend Sarah Hormozi, 32, who met Dr Siriwardana at King’s in 2009, told the Weastar Times: “He was incredibly skilled and knowledgeable, as well as being incredibly hard-working.

"I always teased him about working too much – he always had deadlines for funding, and he was leading for global projects.

“He was a very high-achieving, busy person, so it wasn’t easy to see him. I last saw him about a month ago when we went for a drink.

“I’m just so happy I managed to see him recently. He seemed so happy and content with life and his career was going really well. It’s so devastating to see what happened to him.”

Ms Hormozi visited his native Sri Lanka with him in 2011 where she met his parents.

She added: “He was an only child – they are the elderly parents of this really amazing guy, with all their hopes were focused on him, and now he’s gone. 

“It’s so devastating to think what they must be going through.I am desperate to know what happened.”

Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “We are deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Dr Chesmal Siriwardhana. 

“Chesmal joined the School in 2016 and was a highly regarded researcher and tutor in global mental health.

"Through his work on armed conflict, migration and mental health, he was at the forefront of some of the major public health challenges of the day.

"His important research helped to improve our understanding of the mental health needs of people affected by conflict, particularly in Sri Lanka, and which services are most effective in supporting them.

"Chesmal was a deeply valued friend, colleague and mentor, and he will be greatly missed. Our sincere condolences go to his family and friends.”

The junction of Oxford Street and Holles Street, opposite where Dr Siriwardana was killed, was named Britain’s most dangerous road junction in 2015.

The Department for Transport data showed 18 people were injured over a eight year period.

Since being hit by a bus at the junction in 2009 and spending two weeks in a coma, former Africa Commodities Group CEO Tom Kearney has campaigned to improve safety for pedestrians on Oxford Street.

He told the Weastar Times: “If someone has died from a bus collision at a junction that has been known for years to be the UK’s most dangerous, then, in my opinion, it raises serious questions about the safety culture of TfL’s contracted bus operations.”

Police are appealing for information following the crash. The bus driver, who has not been arrested, stopped at the scene and is assisting with police inquiries. 

Officers from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at Merton Traffic Garage are investigating.

Father left fighting for life after being bitten by adder in west London park

Pic:Josh Rose was rushed to hospital after being bitten by the adder on Saturday
Staff reporter(wp/es):

A dad-of-two was left fighting for his life after he was bitten by a three foot-long venomous adder while picnicking with his children in a west London park.

Josh Rose, 27, said he thought he was “going to die” when the dangerous snake bit him after he spotted the adder slithering up his two-year-old son Sebastian’s pushchair while relaxing in Hounslow Heath on Saturday.

Scared for his son’s safety, he had tried to knock the snake off the pram, only for the adder to bite his right hand.

A dog walker was able to usher the snake away with a stick, but by then Mr Rose had gone into anaphylactic shock.

Mr Rose, of Powder Mill Lane, in Twickenham, said: “I was just over in the park having a picnic with my sister and my kids. I turned around and saw the snake coming up my pram.

“I couldn’t think - I just tried to whack it way to get it to move and it literally just turned around and bit me.

“Within two minutes I was on the floor. I couldn’t move, I was throwing up straight away. I think everyone was a bit worried.”

Mr Rose said he started foaming from the mouth, and had to be carried from the park with the help of his sister and brother-in-law, who were picnicking with him.

An ambulance arrived and rushed him to West Middlesex Hospital, where Mr Rose says doctors were just minutes away from being put on a life support machine.

His heart rate had plummeted to about four beats per minute, but he soon recovered and was able to leave the hospital after 24 hours.

Mr Rose, a builder by trade, added: “I’ve never felt anything like it – my whole body was in agony. I was paralysed and couldn’t talk to anyone.

“I actually said to my sister ‘I think I’m going to die’. It was definitely good to wake up and see everyone in the hospital.”

“They were about to put me on a life support machine.”

Adders are the UK’s only poisonous snake, possessing a bite strong enough to kill a family pet.

Known to frequent parks and gardens, about 100 adder bites are reported in Britain each year.

Mr Rose says the experience has put him off visiting the park again, especially with his two sons Lincoln, 3, and Sebastian.

He added: “Apparently there are lots of them over there, but I’ve grown up and never seen one. I definitely won’t be going back.”

“[My kids] were running around playing there before. Thank God it was me and not one of them.”

business student Syed Jamanoor Islam, 20, stabbed to death in Mile End

Pic:Syed Jamanoor Islam, 20, was stabbed to death in the street after a row
Crime reporter(wp/es):

This is the first picture of an aspiring artist and business student who was stabbed to death yards from his home in East London.

Syed Jamanoor Islam, 20, died after being set upon by a group of men in Wager Street, near Mile End, at around 5.30pm on Tuesday.

He was with two friends who got into an argument with another group before he was attacked.

Mr Islam's family think he was in 'the wrong place at the wrong time' and while his friends fled, he was beaten with a baseball bat and then stabbed in the side.

Mr Islam was killed in the close-nit Wager Street estate which remained under lockdown this morning as detectives scoured the car park for clues. 

A blood stain remained on the tarmac as police investigated today.

Family members and neighbours ran out to help the young man as he lay in the road, witnesses said.

One witness told the Weastar Times people were desperately trying to give the victim mouth-to-mouth in a bid to save his life before emergency services arrived on the scene.

He said: "Many people were trying to help, shouting and crying."

Another neighbour said: "All we heard was a lot of screaming and then a car sped off with tyres screeching."

Footage published on social media showed a group of residents and distressed family members desperately trying to help the stricken man as he lay on the ground beside a car.

Mr Islam's death comes after 19-year-old Abdullahi Tarabi was stabbed to death in Northolt an hour earlier at 3.30pm on Tuesday.

Another young man was killed in Plumstead on Monday afternoon.

A Met Police spokesman said: "Police were called at 16:46hrs on Tuesday, 11 April to Wager Street, E3, to reports of a stabbing. 

"Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found a 20-year-old man suffering from stab wounds.

"He was taken to an east London hospital where he was pronounced dead just after 17:30hrs."

Detective chief inspector Tony Lynes said:DCI Lynes said: "We are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area at that time and might have seen what happened or who has any information about the circumstances."

***Anyone who can help is asked to contact the incident room on 020 8721 4868 or via @MetCC.

***To give information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via the crimestoppers-uk.org web site

Boy, 16, repeatedly stabbed outside church after birthday party

Crime reporter(wp/es):
A teenage boy was stabbed repeatedly at a birthday party in Plumstead in a suspected gang-related crime.

Detectives from Greenwich Gangs Unit are investigating after the 16-year-old boy was found with multiple stab wounds outside the church on St Nicholas' Road on the night of Saturday, April 1.

He was rushed to a central London hospital for urgent treatment and has since been discharged.

Officers believe the victim had been attending a birthday party in the Greenwich area before he was stabbed.

They are appealing for anyone who may have mobile phone footage of the stabbing, believed to have happened just before 11pm, to come forward.

A second teenage boy – aged 17 – was arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm in connection with the incident.

The police appeal comes as another man – aged in his 20s - was stabbed to death with a machete in a brutal suspected murder in Plumstead on Monday.

Police officers rushed to Bournewood Road – just a mile down the road from St Nicholas’ Church – following reports of a knife attack at around 4.30pm.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene and witness described how the man was found inside an address close to the junction with Wickham Lane after being attacked with a machete.

Former Hounslow teacher who raped 13-year-old girl in 'horrendous' attack

Pic:Former teacher Stephen Thomas, 30, has been jailed for 17 years /Met police
Crime reporter(wp/es):
A former teacher who raped a 13-year-old schoolgirl and sexually abused another girl in south-west London has been jailed for 17 years.

Stephen Thomas, 30, a former teacher at a school in Hounslow, subjected two teenage girls to “horrendous ordeals” over nine years, including raping a 13-year-old in summer 2015.

He was only caught when the girl’s father, having become suspicious after seeing messages on his daughter's Facebook account, caught him sexually assaulting the teenager in June that year and called the police.

Having arrested Thomas, officers discovered during their investigations that there was another victim to his sick abuse.

While teaching in Hounslow in 2008, Thomas started a relationship with a 15-year-old girl who was studying at the school.

He was no longer teaching when he began abusing his second victim in January 2015.

Stephen Thomas, 30, a former teacher at a school in Hounslow, subjected two teenage girls to “horrendous ordeals” over nine years, including raping a 13-year-old in summer 2015.

Thomas was found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of rape of a female under 16 and one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following a two week trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

He was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Monday.

Detective constable Phil Cotter, investigating officer from the Metropolitan Police's sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command, said: "These offences committed by Thomas are of an extremely serious nature and have had a significant impact on the lives of the victims and their family. 

"He committed these offences whilst in a position of trust and manipulated the victims to satisfy his own means. I hope the sentence gives the victims and their family some sort of closure for what has been a horrendous ordeal."