Biker Simon Andrews Dies After Race Crash

A "superb" biker has died after crashing during a top competition in Northern Ireland.

Simon Andrews was injured on Saturday as he approached a corner on the fourth lap of the Superstock race at North West 200.

The 31-year-old, from Evesham, Worcestershire, was treated at the scene and then airlifted to Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital, where he was placed in intensive care.

He died on Monday with his parents, Stuart and Dee, his girlfriend Lisa and best friend Breakers, by his bedside.

Andrews was riding for the Penz13.com BMW team and no other bikers were involved in the crash.

His father Stuart Andrews said his son "loved road racing" and "loved competing" at the event which runs between the towns of Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine.

He added: "He has had a motorbike since he was four years old and started racing when he was 16.

"From that first race Simon progressed to riding for the factory Honda TT Legends team and his mum and I are very proud of his racing achievements.

"Road racing was in his blood and Simon preferred the roads to short circuits. He was fully aware of the dangers involved but he loved the challenge that that offered."

North West 200 event director Mervyn Whyte said "This is a very sad day and I want to offer my condolences to Simon's family and friends and to his race team.

"Simon was a superb rider and a great character in the paddock. He was a huge asset to our race. It was an absolute pleasure to work with him. He will be sadly missed."

The Superstock race is for "stock" road-going production motorcycles which feature only minor modifications, including the removal of all stock road equipment such as lights and mirrors.

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Hillsborough Jurors To Examine The Stadium

By Mike McCarthy, North of England Correspondent

A fresh stage in the Hillsborough Inquests begins today in which jurors will examine the layout of the Sheffield stadium.

After hearing what are described as "uncontroversial facts" and seeing a computer-generated 3D graphic of the ground, members of the jury will visit the location themselves on Friday.

The new phase in the proceedings follows a three-week adjournment which was granted after lawyers asked for more time to consider pathology evidence.

It begins with a presentation by a senior detective working for Operation Resolve - a separate police investigation into the causes of the 1989 disaster in which 96 people lost their lives.

Detective Superintendent Neil Malkin will cover a number of topics including previous inquiries in an address expected to last two days.

The tragedy occurred during a 1989 FA Cup semi-final

The inquests, which are being held in a converted office block in Warrington, are expected to last for up to a year and have so far heard from relatives of those who died. 

Their evidence, described as 'pen portraits', covered 11 days. 

After the last one was read out, lawyer Michael Mansfield QC, who is acting for many of the bereaved families, told the coroner: "They wish to express both to you and your counsel and to everyone in this court their appreciation… for the care, for the patience, for the understanding that has been extended to each of them.

"This has enabled them to unlock painful memories, as you described them last week, upsetting but also uplifting. It has provided… a permanent testament to the dignity of the human spirit."   

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House Prices Up As PM Signals On Help To Buy

House prices rose in the year to March by 8% official figures show, as David Cameron said he will "consider" changes to the Help To Buy scheme if advised to do so by the Bank of England.

While the increase is down on the 9.2% rise in February, according to the Office for National Statistics, the continued strong price growth, particularly in London and the South East, is set to fuel criticism of the Government scheme underwriting home loans for people without large deposits.

It comes after the Bank of England governor Mark Carney told Sky News the housing market had "deep, deep" problems

In an interview with Sky's Murnaghan show on Sunday, Mr Carney warned rising house prices represented the biggest current risk to the economy.

In response, the Prime Minister has indicated he is open to rethinking Help To Buy.

Asked if he would look at reducing the programme's £600,000 threshold, Mr Cameron said: "Of course, we will consider any changes that are proposed by Mark Carney.

"But, as he said, this is a well-targeted scheme and it's helped tens of thousands of people get on the housing ladder and to have mortgages."

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Hunt For Killer On Run From Jail For Third Time

Police are hunting a convicted murderer who has gone on the run from prison for the third time.

Arnold Pickering, 44, and armed robber Thomas Moffett, 51, walked out of HMP Kennet in Liverpool at 9.30am on Saturday morning.

The pair were due back at around 4.40pm the same day. Their disappearance was reported to Merseyside Police at about 7pm.

Moffett was arrested around 9pm on Sunday in Blackburn, Lancashire, for being unlawfully at large.

But Pickering has not been found. He is serving a life sentence for stabbing a man to death in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in 1990.

He killed his 55-year-old victim, who was partially blind and deaf, while on the run from Strangeways in Manchester.

Moffett armed himself with a nail gun and robbed off-licences

Pickering last absconded in December 2009 when he was let out on day release from HMP Kirkham to work on the bins in Manchester city centre.

He handed himself in four days later in Motherwell, Scotland.

The killer is described as around 5ft 11in tall, medium build with blue eyes. He has tattoos on his arms and chest.

Moffett is serving an indeterminate sentence for a string of robberies carried out in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 2006.

He armed himself with a nail gun and then raided six off-licences.

The pair were risk assessed as suitable for temporary release on licence by the Ministry of Justice.

The disappearance comes just two weeks after armed robber Michael Wheatley, known as "Skullcracker", absconded from Standford Hill open prison on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, while on temporary release.

Speaking about the latest case, Prisons Minister Jeremy Wright has said there would now be "major changes" brought in as a "matter of urgency".

"I am not prepared to see public safety compromised," he said.

"The system for allowing prisoners out on temporary licence has been too lax up till now and we are making major changes to address this.

"There will shortly be significant restrictions on who is granted temporary release - which from now on must be earnt - tightening up of monitoring arrangements and abolishing any leave without a clear link to rehabilitation."

Officers are appealing to anyone with information to call Merseyside Police on either 0151 777 3803 or 0151 777 3891, or via 101.

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Labour Wants To Link Minimum Wage To Earnings

Ed Miliband is to commit a Labour government to significantly increasing the national minimum wage over the course of the next Parliament by linking it to average earnings.

In a speech to party activists in the West Midlands, the Labour leader is expected to claim the measure will ensure the lowest-paid do not "left behind" again.

He will say the move to establish a clear link with average earnings will help build on the Labour government's achievements in introducing the minimum wage following Tony Blair's landslide 1997 general election victory.

Business groups are expected to criticise Mr Miliband's announcement

The announcement will be welcomed by those in the party who say Mr Miliband has yet to offer voters a positive vision of what they could expect from Labour government.

But the move is likely to face criticism from the business world and prompt claims it will harm competitiveness.

Mr Miliband will describe Labour's introduction of the minimum wage as "one of the proudest achievements of any British government", but that further action is now needed to raise its value.

"Britain is still one of the lowest paid countries among the world's advanced economies," he will say.

"So we have to go further, we have to write the next chapter in the history of Labour's battle to make work pay.

"That's why today, I am proud to announce that the next Labour government will take new radical action against low pay: a new five-year ambition to restore the link between doing a hard day's work and building a decent life for your family.

"A Labour government will establish a clear link between the level of the minimum wage and the scale of wages paid to other workers in our economy.

"We will say workers on the minimum wage must never be left behind because those who work hard to create our nation's wealth should share in it."

Details of the policy are expected to be scant in today's speech and low pay campaigners will want to see exactly how a Labour government would go about fulfilling its goal.

However, Mr Miliband will publish a report he commissioned from Alan Buckle, the former deputy chairman of KPMG International, with proposals to overhaul the Low Pay Commission.

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Huddersfield Stabbing: Probe As Woman Killed

Police have launched a murder probe after a woman was killed and four children injured in a stabbing attack.

Officers called to a domestic incident in Huddersfield found a 37-year-old woman with a "serious stab injury" and a nine-year-old boy outside the property with an injury to his arm.

The woman was taken to hospital after the attack on Sunday evening, but she later died.

The boy was also taken to hospital for treatment to his injury.

Another nine-year-old boy, a boy of 11 and a six-month-old baby girl, who were also at the address in Reinwood Road, were treated for minor injuries.

Det Chief Insp Ady Taylor said: "A 39-year-old man was detained at the scene and is being treated in hospital for serious injuries.

"We are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident.

"Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and Neighbourhood Policing Team officers are patrolling the area, offering support and reassurance to local residents."

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Pig Hearts For Humans 'A Step Closer'

By Gerard Tubb, Sky News Correspondent

Doctors have made a breakthrough in research that could lead to animal organs being transplanted into humans within the next 20 years, according to a leading British scientist.

Experiments in America have proved a pig's heart can be kept alive inside another animal for more than a year using a combination of genetic modification and new drugs.

In controversial research at the US national medical research agency NIH, a team led by Dr Muhammad Mohiuddin transplanted the hearts of genetically engineered pigs into the abdomens of baboons and kept one beating for 600 days.

Anne Higgs says she would accept a pig's heart

Dr Mohiuddin said his research will "instill a new ray of hope for thousands of patients waiting for human donor organs".

Professor Chris Mason, from the department of biochemical engineering at University College London, called the development a big breakthrough.

"It is very early, it is not in man and it's not even in the position of a heart, but it's a huge step forward," he said.

With around 1,000 patients dying in the UK while waiting for an organ transplant, Professor Mason welcomes the prospect of farming pigs to produce organs on demand.

"We are talking 10, 15 or more years away," he explained.

"This is early proof of the concept that shows that a pig heart can be transplanted into a non-human primate and not be rejected."

Heart attack victim Anne Higgs has been waiting for a heart transplant at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for four years and says she would have no qualms about accepting a pig's heart.

"It's another grasp at life," she said.

"Yes I would take it, I would run all the way to the Freeman with that little heart."

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Britain's Richest 1,000 People Now Worth £519bn

Billionaire Britain: Rise Of The Super-Rich

Updated: 7:07am UK, Sunday 11 May 2014

More than 100 billionaires are now living in Britain - the first time the milestone has been reached.

According to this year's Sunday Times Rich List, 104 billionaires with a combined wealth of more than £300bn are now based in the UK - more than triple the number from a decade ago.

Britain has more billionaires per head of population than any other country, while London has more than any other city with 72.

Top of the list are the Indian-born brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, who have an £11.9bn fortune.

The pair run the global conglomerate Hinduja Group and saw their wealth increase by £1.3bn in the last year.

In second place is Russian business magnate and Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov, who fell from the top spot after his fortune decreased to £10.65bn.

The richest Briton is the Duke of Westminster, who is 10th on the list with a fortune of £8.5bn.

Chris Dawson, who owns The Range discount store chain, saw his wealth rise by £695m in the last year to £1.28bn.

Jon Hunt, the founder of estate agents Foxtons, has a fortune of £1.07bn, a rise of £145m from 2013.

Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, and Virgin businessman Sir Richard Branson are also among the wealthiest 25 billionaires.

Ten years ago, a fortune of £700m was required to be among Britain's 50 wealthiest people.

Now it is £1.7bn - the first time since 2008 the minimum wealth of the top 50 has been more than £1.5bn.

The combined fortune of Britain's richest is now ahead of pre-recession levels of 2008.

Last year there were 88 billionaires, worth a total of more than £245bn.

A decade ago the number was 30, with a combined fortune of £65bn.

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Carney: 'House Prices Biggest Risk To Economy'

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

The British housing market has "deep, deep" problems, according to the Governor of the Bank of England.

In an interview with Sky's Murnaghan show to be broadcast in full later this morning, Mark Carney warns that rising house prices represents the biggest current risk to the economy.

And the number of large mortgages being approved to house buyers is on the rise, he adds.

Mr Carney says that the UK is in need of new house building.

He says that compared to his home country of Canada, for example, the UK built half the number of new homes every year despite having twice the population. 

Canada builds around 200,000 new homes a year compared to just 133,000 similar properties that were built in the UK last year.

Mr Carney said: "The issue around the housing market in the UK … is there are not sufficient (numbers of) houses (being) built."

Mark Carney has issued a warning over the UK housing market

Asked if more houses need to be built, Mr Carney replied: "That would help us out.

"We're not going to build a single house at the Bank of England. We can't influence that.

"What we can influence … is whether the banks are strong enough. Do they have enough capital against risk in the housing market?"

Mr Carney said they could also check lending procedures "so people can get mortgages if they can afford them but they won't if they can't".

"By reinforcing both of those we can reduce the risk that comes from a housing market that has deep, deep structural problems," he added.

Mr Carney said there was evidence that large mortgages, where lenders approve loans of more than four times people's salaries, are on the rise again.

"We don't want to build up another big debt overhang that is going to hurt individuals and is very much going to slow the economy in the medium term," he said.

"We'd be concerned if there was a rapid increase in high loan-to-value mortgages across the banks. We've seen that creeping up and it's something we're watching closely."

In an separate interview for Murnaghan David Cameron admitted the Government needed to build more houses and said Mr Carney was "absolutely right".

However, he added: "The building of houses is going up. If you talk to any housing developer at the moment or builder they will tell you that the help to buy scheme the Government has put in place has been hugely helpful in bringing forward more development or house building.

"We are training apprentices in the building trade to make sure that we can deliver on these houses but we do need more, yes."

Last week, Mr Carney surprised many by playing down the chances of an imminent rise in interest rates despite fears of a growing house price bubble.

But he admitted the issue was the biggest current threat to the economy.

"The biggest risk to financial stability, and therefore to the durability of the expansion, centres on the housing market and that's why we're focused on that," he said.

Prices are currently rising at more than 10% a year across the country.

Analysis by Sky News has shown the number of £1m properties has doubled since 2008.

Earlier this month, the OECD think tank called on the Bank of England to impose measures to help quell rising house prices.

Both the coalition and Labour are committed to building hundreds of thousands of new homes.

However, construction still lags behind Government targets.

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Hilary Mantel Hits Out Over Kate Controversy

By Richard Suchet, Arts and Entertainment Correspondent

Hilary Mantel has said the public outcry and media reaction to her comments about the Duchess of Cambridge last year are a sign that Britain is becoming a "narrow and intolerant" nation.

The author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies was widely criticised for describing Kate as a "machine-made" princess with no personality - comments which she said had been taken out of context.

"What the fuss last year made me think was how narrow and how intolerant as a nation we have become because even if I had said about Kate the things I was alleged to have said, that was my perfect right.

"There was no occasion to jump on me and revile me.

"I would say it all over again and I stand by what I said."

Mantel was speaking to Sky News ahead of the opening night of Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at The Aldwych theatre in London's West End.

Her books - which made her the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice - have been adapted for stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Together the novels are made up of almost 1,000 pages.

The dramatisation of Mantel's books are opening at the Aldwych theatre

"I don't see the need to be protective of every line, every scene, as long as the spirit is right and it is," she says.

"You could hurl many insults at me but precious is not one of them."

Director Jeremy Herrin's productions of Mike Poulton's dramatisations have been critically acclaimed.

The novels about Thomas Cromwell's life in the Tudor court have sold almost two million copies in the UK and over one million in the US.

"I think the court of Henry, Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon and Thomas Cromwell in the mix of that is one of our national stories and one we'll always be connected to and we'll always want to see reinterpreted," says Herrin.

"Hilary has had the amazing insight to find Cromwell as a central character and to uncover him and explore what was going on for such an amazing man who, until she came along, no one really had a strong idea about."

Mantel's third instalment of the Cromwell series is highly anticipated but is yet to be written.

The two plays, which will run back-to-back at least once a week, have been in repertoire since December.

The West End cast includes Ben Miles as Cromwell, Nathaniel Parker as Henry VIII, Lydia Leonard as Anne Boleyn, Paul Jesson as Cardinal Wolsey and Lucy Briers as Catherine of Aragon.

Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies open at The Aldwych Theatre tonight and are scheduled to run until September 6.

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