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A Bedlington man cleared of a one-punch attack on an Aussie rugby star has been awarded A$100,000 in damages after winning a defamation case against a TV network.
Sam Oliver hit the headlines when he was accused of flooring James Stannard with a 'king hit' - Australian slang for a single punch - outside a hotel in Sydney in the early hours of March 30 last year.
Following the hearing, the Nine News Network broadcast a report calling the incident "a coward punch which ended the career of Rugby Sevens captain James Stannard".
Now Mr Oliver has been awarded A$100,000 (£54,600) after a judge found the Australian network's report wrongly depicted Mr Oliver as being a coward who punched a defenceless man causing him grievous injury.
Federal Court judge Michael Lee rejected Nine's argument that its report of the verdict was fair.
Mr Stannard, who announced his retirement from rugby last June, struck his head on the pavement and suffered a fractured skull, spending two nights in hospital after the incident.
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A new sports pitch at a special school in Cramlington has been given the go-ahead.
A bid for the construction of a multi-use games area (MUGA) at Hillcrest Day Special School, on East View Avenue, was unanimously approved by the Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley Local Area Council on Wednesday (April 17).
The application had sparked no objections and the planning officer described the facility as 'something that the Government and local authority seek to encourage', but it had to be decided by the committee as it involves a county council development on council-owned land.
The proposed MUGA would measure around 30 by 16.5 metres with recessed goal ends and a synthetic-turf pitch in green.
It would be surrounded by a one-metre-high perimeter fence, constructed with timber rails and steel posts in green, which would be raised to three metres behind the goals.
The pitch, which would be located in the south-east corner of the school playing field with Northumbrian Road to the east and Church Street to the south, would be linked to the main school by a new concrete footpath.
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A teenager called police to report a man was brandishing a knife in public - but it turned out to be him carrying the blade.
Jack Barrass, 19, has been sent to prison for nine months after being caught by police in possession of the knife on March 24.
The teenager had called police to claim that he had witnessed a man waving a knife above his head on St James' Crescent in Benwell.
When police arrived they spotted a man who matched the description of the person given by the caller.
Officers approached him and carried out a stop and search, at which point the man admitted he had a knife tucked into his trousers.
Bodycam footage of the search has been shared by the force, showing Barrass admitting he has a knife seconds after being approached by an officer.
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If you have an eye for a bargain these properties are going under the hammer for under £20,000.
On the Auction House North East website these rundown dwellings are valued with that in mind.
And if you are prepared to roll your sleeves up - you might be in for a tidy profit.
These properties range from one bedroom flats to a three bedroom house.
They are spread across our region in Washington, Blyth, Peterlee, Bedlington, Easington Colliery, Sunderland and Hartlepool.
They go up for auction at Ramside Hall Hotel at Carrville, Durham, on Wednesday, 24 April, at 7pm.
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Why Newcastle United stars of the 1950s swapped their strips for smart suits to pose for studio portraits has puzzled club historian Paul Joannou.
The 12in by 9in studies are of Jackie Milburn (signed), Bobby Mitchell (signed), Tommy Walker, Ronnie Simpson, Norman Smith (signed), Bobby Cowell, Bill Foulkes, George Robledo, Alf McMichael (signed) and Ted Robledo (signed).
They will be sold by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson and Garland on Tuesday, with an estimate of £150-£200.
“They are lovely studio portraits and are very different from the usual pictures of Newcastle players in their black and white strips,” said Paul. “These are cinema-style portraits and are probably a one-off set.
“If player pictures are taken for general sale you expect some to come on to the market, but I have never seen this type of format before. Maybe they were done for the players themselves.”
Several of the pictures are signed “to Bill.”
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Just 19 days after having his licence taken off him in court, dangerous driver Dean Bell was back on the road.
Now, after being caught, he's back behind bars.
The 33-year-old has been locked up for 26 weeks after he flouted the law by driving while disqualified.
When caught, he tried claiming he was only testing the car for faulty brakes.
Brazen Bell had been banned from the roads and was handed a community order by a judge in January.
During the hearing, a court was also told how Bell had previously been jailed for dangerous driving in 2015.

A court heard how he was arrested by police on January 30 after they saw him driving his partner's Vauxhall Insignia in Wallsend.

He had a young child as a passenger so police did not engage the vehicle in a pursuit and instead arrested him later that day.

At court Bell, of The Crescent, Barlow, Gateshead, claimed that he was just testing the brakes because he had suspicions they were faulty.
 
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Blyth has been revealed as the location of a new special school, following Northumberland County Council's successful bid to the Government.
The local authority submitted a bid last October for an 80-place secondary school for young people who have autism and social, emotional and mental health needs, as part of the Department for Education's Special Free School initiative.
A free school is a non-profit-making, independent, state-funded school which is free to attend, but not wholly controlled by the local authority. The council would still commission and fund the places required for young people from the county.
It was recently revealed that Northumberland had been successful in its bid and, at its meeting on Tuesday (April 9), the cabinet agreed to begin a formal competition for a trust which would run the school.
Coun Wayne Daley, the cabinet member for children's services, highlighted that Northumberland has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of pre-school children with complex needs since 2013 and the number of pupils in special schools has risen by 32 per cent in this period.
"I'm delighted and I would like to recognise the work of the staff to get us to this stage," he said. "Next is getting that partner with a really successful track record that we can work with."
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Councillors have agreed to launch an informal consultation on proposals for two Bedlington first schools to convert to primaries.
At its meeting on Tuesday, Northumberland County Council's cabinet agreed to a request from the governing bodies of Whitley Memorial CE First School and Bedlington West End First School to carry out a consultation on extending their age ranges from September 2020.
If the changes were to go forward, it would require a statutory proposal to be published, followed by a formal consultation.
The Bedlington Partnership is currently a mix, with the majority having switched to a two-tier system of primaries and secondaries, while these two first schools and Meadowdale [Middle] Academy remain as a three-tier set-up.
Since changing from high schools to secondary schools, Bedlington Academy and St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy have retained two annual intakes each September - at age 11 and age 13 - to reflect the mixed economy within the partnership.
However, from September 2020, both secondary academies will only accept pupils at 11 (Year 7).
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Towns across Northumberland are to share in more than £55,000 of additional community clean-up funding.
This award for the county council comes from the Government's £10million High Streets Community Clean-Up Fund and will be used to help existing groups to carry out community-led street and town-centre cleans.
Around £12,000 of the funding will be used for graffiti-removal kits that will be offered free to community groups; litter-picking equipment for the existing loan scheme or permanently for litter champions; Love Northumberland-branded tabards; and prizes for winners at the Love Northumberland awards.
The remaining funds will be distributed through the towns of Morpeth, Alnwick, Berwick, Hexham, Blyth, Ashington, Cramlington, Ponteland, West Bedlington, Haltwhistle, Prudhoe and Amble to organise clean-up events.
Coun Glen Sanderson, cabinet member for the environment and local services, said: "I am grateful to the Government for this useful award of funding.
"We're so proud of our high streets and want to do all we can to keep them looking clean and tidy.


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