A BLACKBURN paedophile convicted of sexually assaulting six children over three decades has today been jailed for 24 years. Terrence Sharples’ sentence is one of the longest given to a Lancashire sex attacker in living memory. Sharples, 52, had
WATER shot 100 feet into the air above Burnley today after a digger ruptured a mains pipe. The fountain of water could be seen for miles this afternoon. Workmen raced to plug the leak on the site at Towneley Gardens, off Oxford Road,
CANNABIS worth almost £5,000 was found in an upstairs bedroom during police raids in Blackburn yesterday. The 16 plants and roots of 18 harvested plants were seized from a house in Ullswater Close. Officers also removed heating and lighting equipment
ACCRINGTON Stanley defender Sean Hessey has made a big sacrifice to be part of the Reds’ promotion push – giving up his stag do! Sean, 32, is set to marry his fiancée Zoë Burns, 23, at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire next month. In keeping
LANCASHIRE’S ability to tackle major crime has been called into question after it emerged 62 top detective posts are being cut. The force’s ‘G’ division or ‘Specialist Crime Unit’ is to lose the roles as part of £42million of savings labelled
A SHOPKEEPER said his trade was down 80 per cent due to roadworks — and warned he may be forced out of business unless they end soon. National Grid engineers have been fixing a gas leak on a busy main thoroughfare in Darwen for almost eight
A HOME service firm has collapsed, leaving thousands of people without cover. Blackburn-based Homecall Plus has been placed into liquidation after its main creditor, who has not been named, pulled the plug. It is understood that about 10 people were
A ROCK and roll pioneer who died earlier this month had a colourful send-off in a Ribble Valley church. Bob Johnson, 70, from Chipping, spent most of his life performing in bands and was well known on the Lancashire gig circuit where he performed for
Blackburn Rovers midfielder Aaron Doran says he has had offers to go out on loan again next season. His temporary spell at Inverness Caledonian Thistle has come to an end.
WOLVES boss Mick McCarthy has revealed he has written ‘beat Blackburn’ on the dressing room noticeboard as he stresses the importance of securing survival themselves on Sunday. McCarthy’s side will be relying on other results to stay in the Premier
Young Clarets Alex-Ray Harvey and Dominic Knowles have signed new 12-month contracts at Turf Moor. Strikers Alex MacDonald and Wes Fletcher have also been offered terms but have yet to finalise them.
Eurovision, BBC1, Saturday 8pm AZERBAIJAN may have won this 54th Eurovision Song Contest, but if their song was anything to go by Baku won’t have been rocking on Saturday night. You can cut the atmosphere with a plastic knife as the cheesy presenters
The Apprentice, BBC1, Wednesday 9pm. TWO teams of wannabe millionaires in competition to design a downloadable app — it must be The Apprentice. Early on the cocky blokes are winning, but the women emerge as victors, causing the chaps to fall
Address: Shaw Hill Hotel, Golf and Country Club, Preston Road, Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley. Phone number: 01257 269221. The Bolton News review by Steven Thompson from May 19, 2011. THERE’S something slightly naff and Seventies about
ACCRINGTON Stanley have around 100 tickets left for tomorrow's League Two play-off semi final second leg against Stevenage - with just hours remaining for fans to purchase. Stanley are not allowed to sell tickets on the day of the game
EAST Lancashire TV star Alex Bain was left speechless after winning a top soap award last night. The Coronation Street actor took the Best Young Performance prize at the British Soap Awards for his portrayal of eight-year-old Simon Barlow. It comes
A MODEL Spitfire for Darwen town centre is ‘very near completion’, according to a councillor behind the project. Apprentices at WEC Engineering Group in Junction Street are working on the 6.9m by 3.8m scale steel model, commemorating the fighter plane
If you’re feeling a little low because you think I’m not around, tilt your head toward the blue or even better lie on the ground. Let your eyes wander lazily and you may just see me there, pulling shapes of every kind up in the heavenly air.
Twenty Nine, Four, Eleven A day on which the sun shone for the most important day in the life of our next King (but one). Because today, William and Catherine, Prince and Princess to be would seal 8 years of courtship to come
Justin Birchall’s hopes of securing the Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship title took a knock last weekend when he failed to finish the second round of the series in South Wales. The signs weren’t good from the off as a family
DIANA Vickers is set to launch her first fashion collection tomorrow. The 19-year-old pop star from Huncoat is following in the footsteps of TV presenters Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby by signing up with online fashion retailer Very.
LANCASHIRE’S police officers believe government cuts will be a ‘crooks’ charter’, according to a national poll. A survey of more than 1,100 in the county found 89 per cent thought budget reductions will lead to a rise in crime. Lancashire Police
BACK in the early 1930s, these cricketers had obviously had a successful season. Whether they had won their league, or a knockout competition, we don’t know, but they were happy to pose with their trophy in front of the pavilion on the Knowle ground
AN appeal to trace a Blackburn woman has reached Looking Back from Australia. Erin Towers has asked for help in unearthing information about a local resident called Ada Sergeant, nee Hodkinson, who was born around 1878. She married Alfred Sergeant
HISTORIAN Jack Nadin tells the story of murder at the Hare and Hounds pub, in Colne. Walker Moore married his wife Betty when she was just 18, but it was not a happy marriage, thanks to his constant arguing and drunkenness. In 1862, Betty left
THE General Strike of 1926 had a major effect on business all over East Lancashire, as workers stopped work in protest at wage reductions and worsening conditions for coal miners. It was an unsuccessful attempt to force the government’s hand by the
LANCASHIRE Automobile Club's hugely-popular Fellsman Classic Tour takes to the road on Saturday. Over 30 classic and vintage sports cars are expected to start the event, which starts and finishes at Mitton Hall, near Whalley. "The Tour is not a
LANCASHIRE Police have admitted to a ‘gap in knowledge’ around the donation of organs. Following a complaint from the parents of murdered Barrowford nurse Jane Clough, Det Chief Supt Graham Gardner has now written to John and Penny Clough promising
A VETERAN councillor who has vowed to raise thousands of pounds for Pendleside Hospice was last night set to be confirmed as Burnley’s new mayor. David Heginbotham, a Conservative who represents Cliviger with Worsthorne, was due to take over from
RANGERS are unlikely to make attempts to keep El-Hadji Diouf at Ibrox this summer – despite the Blackburn Rovers winger saying yesterday that he wants to stay with the Scottish champions. Diouf has spent the second half of the season on
A FURIOUS 25-strong police delegation has labelled the Home Secretary ‘arrogant and evasive’ after a silent protest at a national conference. Members of the Lancashire Police Federation attended the event in Bournemouth to face down Theresa
POLICE have arrested two men in connection with a burglary in which an elderly couple lost their life savings. The couple, aged 87 and 90, left their home in Station Road, Rishton, for a few minutes on Monday, April 25, to post a letter. They returned
REGENERATE Pennine Lancashire was set up to improve the lives of people in the area by boosting the economy through business development and attracting inward investment, as well as promoting it as a great place to visit, live and work. The brand
THERE’S still no improvement at the Post Office on Ainsworth Street, Blackburn. The same queues, the same shortage of staff and there clearly is no truth in the rumour that they are putting small TVs on wall brackets around the room and bringing
ACCRINGTON Stanley go into tomorrow’s play-off semi final second leg against Stevenage believing their home form could be enough to overturn a 2-0 deficit - with winger Sean McConville insisting that even Championship sides would struggle at the Crown
Blackburn Rovers midfielder Herold Goulon is on trial at German Bundesliga side Cologne as he bids to secure a future away from Ewood Park. The 6ft 4ins defensive midfielder arrived at Rovers on a free transfer at the start of the season from French
WE would like to respond to ‘Teenage girl, who ‘robbed boys at knifepoint’ is rewarded with riding lessons”, (LT, May 13). You refer to the Northern Racing College’s residential 12-week stable staff foundation course, which offers disciplined and
IN preparation for my attempt at the Rossendale Sprint Triathlon on June 5, I’ve realised, as I plod and wobble around on my bike, how much more of the valley you see than when you’re driving – and there are some run-down areas. However bitter in
Who’d be a referee? This is a family newspaper, so I daren’t repeat the fruity chants of outrage when referee Phil Dowd awarded Manchester United a penalty in the 73rd minute of our game on Saturday. But little imagination is needed to join up the
BURNLEY striker Chris Iwelumo could be a summer target for Hull City. The Scotland international was linked with a number of other Championship clubs in the January transfer window, including Preston, Barnsley and Derby County, but stayed at
A MAN who fled abroad to evade justice has been jailed for his part in an attempted armed robbery. Detectives have welcomed the six-year jail term for Sean Devalda, 25, who was arrested in Amsterdam. Devalda, who admitted conspiracy to commit robbery
A NEW piece of public art has been unveiled at Darwen Leisure Centre. The River, designed by artist Lorna Green, is intended to represent flowing waters, linking the outside and the inside of the centre, with its 25 metre swimming pool.
MEMORABILIA from a former Blackburn Rovers player is to go to auction and could fetch more than £2,000. Caps and an FA Cup Final souvenir album and badge that belonged to Peter Holland, who played for Rovers between 1919 and 1928, will be up for grabs
THE funeral of a man hit by a car outside a Darwen pub took place yesterday. Alec Quinn, 69, a father and grandfather, was knocked down outside the Last Orders pub in Duckworth Street, on April 24. Police said he had walked out of the pub and straight
BURNLEY has been ranked the worst in the country for GCSE results - but head teachers have insisted the town’s super schools are starting to turn things around. Council leader Charlie Briggs admitted he was ‘concerned’ to learn the town was
QPR manager Neil Warnock has denied that he is set to swap playmaker Adel Taarabt for Liverpool's Joe Cole, saying that his club could not afford Cole's wages. SCUNTHORPE boss Alan Knill is ready to raid his old club BURY and wants to sign striker
Elizabeth Greenwood lit up Blackpool at the Lancashire Track and Field Championships with two Championship best performances. After starring in fell running and biathlon over recent weeks, the talented Blackburn Harrier turned to the track
TWO men were taken to hospital this morning following a 'serious' car crash in Brierfield. Firefighters used specialist equipment to cut the roof from one of the cars and free the trapped driver in Colne Road at 5.40am. Both men are
Team Colin Appleyard/Macadam Racing riders had to contend with changeable weather conditions last weekend when they competed in the third round of the British Superbike Championship at Croft. Friday and Saturday saw windy but dry conditions in North
Julian Markham of Mellor Brook produced one of his best ever rides when he clocked a personal best 50- mile time of one hour 53 minutes 40 seconds to beat a quality field in the Lancaster Cycling Club event on Sunday morning. In wet and windy conditions
LANCASHIRE took control on day one of the County Championship Roses match yesterday after Yorkshire collapsed to 141 all out. Lancashire’s home match in this traditional tussle is being played at Liverpool Cricket Club in Aigburth for the first time,
Lancashire have called on billionaire developer Albert Gubay to drop his legal challenge to their development plans after the future of Old Trafford was thrown into fresh doubt. Gubay has been granted leave to appeal at the Court of Appeal after Lancashire
TWO pairs of ASBO teenagers are the ‘ringleaders’ of gang causing trouble around a centre aimed at keeping wayward youths on the straight and narrow, police said. The so-called ‘Witches of Whitebirk’ Tori Duxbury and Amanda Holt and brothers
