Horsemeat: Farmers In 'Buy British' Campaign

By Clare Fallon, Sky News Reporter

Farmers are hitting back after the horsemeat scandal with a new campaign urging consumers to 'Buy British'.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has taken out adverts in 10 national newspapers, saying it is championing British produce as a direct response to the contamination and mislabelling of some beef products.

According to NFU President, Peter Kendall, British farmers feel let down.

"Farmers are very proud of what they produce and are, quite rightly, furious about this current situation. They feel let down by what looks like a criminal element in an isolated part of the food chain," he said.

The advertising campaign comes after the Food Standards Authority (FSA) raided the premises of more British companies.

Two sites in Tottenham, North London and one in Hull in Yorkshire were searched by FSA officials, who removed computer equipment and took away meat samples to be analysed.

One of the businesses being investigated is Dinos & Sons Continental Foods.

The company released a statement saying it is co-operating with officials, adding: "At no time has Dinos & Sons produced or manufactured anything that is under investigation or is the subject of any possible contamination or mislabelling."

The raids came as three men who were arrested on Thursday remain in police custody on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.

Dafydd Raw-Rees, 64, the owner of Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth, and a 42-year-old man were arrested in Wales.

A 63-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of the same offence at Peter Boddy Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

Both plants were inspected on Tuesday by the FSA.

After test results revealed around 1% of products checked contained a significant amount of horse meat, Environment Secretary Owen Patterson insisted he wants all other tests to be completed by the end of next week.

"It's up to the food businesses to carry out the tests, to organise their businesses and to provide quality products," Mr Patterson told Sky News.

The problem has gone beyond supermarket bought burgers and lasagnes - hotels, restaurants and pubs have also been affected after confirmation from Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, Beefeater Grill and Brewers Fayre, that horse DNA has been found in its food.

Cottage pie served to children at 47 schools in Lancashire has also tested positive and has now been removed from menus.

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Territorial Army In Live Recruitment Drive

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

The first of a series of live television adverts will be broadcast today to help recruitment to the Territorial Army.

The advert will go out on ITV just after midday, broadcast from Afghanistan and real TA soldiers will take part, not actors.

There will be 17 live adverts over the next two weekends, each lasting around one minute, demonstrating how TA soldiers work alongside their regular Army colleagues.

It will be complimented by a series of events in London, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow, showcasing the wide range of careers available including chefs, drivers, medics and engineers.

Major General Ranald Munro, the Deputy Commander of Land Forces and senior officer in the TA, said: "My vision is to have a Territorial Army that is well trained.

"Clearly not to the standards of the regular soldier in peacetime, but sufficiently high so that when we top the training up before operations they're ready to cross a line of departure with total assurance and confidence between the regular and the TA operating together."

Maj General Ranald Munro: 'My vision is to have a TA that is well trained'

On a bitterly cold Salisbury Plain this week, TA soldiers have been on final exercise alongside their regular colleagues before deploying to Afghanistan in April.

One of those is Lieutenant Rob Whittle, a TA soldier and security consultant in civilian life.

"Joining the Reservists is no different I think to joining the regular Army," he told Sky News.

"You still want to join to do jobs on operations, but it gives you the freedom to pursue a civilian career if that's what you want as well so effectively you are going to get the best of both worlds."

The recruitment drive is indicative of the Government's need to fulfil its pledge to double the number of TA soldiers from 15,000 to 30,000 by 2018.

Under the plans the Territorial Army will be known instead as the Reservists. This is intended to reflect their expanding role and increased importance. The Ministry of Defence is investing an extra £1.8bn over the next ten years to improve TA equipment and training.

"It's a huge challenge but one that I think we can achieve," Major Gen Munro predicts confidently. "If you look at other countries, America, Australia, Canada, it is do-able."

TA soldiers on exercise before they deploy to Afghanistan in April

But the larger reserve force will compensate for massive cuts in the regular Army. By 2020 the size of the service will have shrunk to 82,000 from a current level of around 105,000. It will be the smallest UK army since the 18th century.

Critics of the redundancies point out the threat of Islamic extremism in North Africa and argue that demands on the British Army are unlikely to diminish significantly even once the Afghan mission is over post 2014.

Business leaders also question the wisdom of a larger TA force because of the strains it can put on small business forced to release employees for military duties.

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Prisoners Charged As Child Killer Dies In Jail

Two prisoners have been charged with murder after the death of child killer Subhan Anwar in jail.

Anwar's body was found by prison officers at Long Lartin jail near Evesham in Worcestershire on Thursday evening.

The two suspects, aged 47 and 45, were arrested at the scene and taken into police custody.

They were later charged and are due to appear at Worcester Magistrates' Court.

Anwar, 25, was serving a minimum term of 23 years in prison for the torture and murder of his partner's daughter in 2009.

Two-year-old Sanam Navsarka suffered 107 injuries at his hands during weeks of torture.

Sanam Navsarka was killed by Subhan Anwar

Anwar's partner Zahbeena Navsarka was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years in jail.

Sentencing the couple in 2009, Judge Peter Thornton QC condemned their cruel and selfish treatment of Sanam and added that "humanity had let her down".

The pair, both from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, tried to claim the little girl had stopped breathing after they left her alone in the bath for 10 minutes.

However, the child's hand prints and bloodstains were found inside cupboards at the couple's home in Huddersfield and at a former property in Batley, West Yorkshire.

Anwar also put Sanam in a tumble dryer, and dumped her in the bin as her mother looked on.

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Horsemeat: Test Results Expected On UK Meals

Test results for horse meat in British processed meals are due today - as detectives continue questioning three men over the scandal.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will report on the UK products after asking retailers and suppliers to provide "meaningful results" from tests to detect the presence of horse meat in processed meals labelled as beef.

The FSA said it wanted the food industry to show the food it sells and serves is what it says it is on the label.

The test results, for significant levels of horse meat, will come from all beef products such as burgers, meatballs and lasagne.

Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly believes supermarkets have been too silent on the scandal.

A senior No10 source told the Daily Telegraph: "It is not acceptable for retailers to remain silent while their customers have been misled.

"The supermarkets need to justify their action and reassure the public."

The eagerly-awaited test results will emerge as police in Wales probe three men arrested on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.

Some butchers have used the horsemeat scandal to boost their trade

The trio were taken into custody from two plants inspected and temporarily shut down by the FSA on Tuesday.

Sources said Dafydd Raw-Rees, 64, owner of Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth, was arrested along with a 42-year-old man.

A 63-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of the same offence at Peter Boddy Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

On Wednesday, owner Mr Boddy, 63, said he had done nothing wrong and insisted the FSA inspection was merely to look at his records, but was last night unavailable for comment.

His firm is also contracted to remove fatally injured horses from the Grand National.

It removes the carcasses of some horses which have been put down during the world famous meeting, Aintree Racecourse, and said it was "confident" no unfit meat had entered the food chain.

The arrests were made by Dyfed-Powys Police in a joint operation with the FSA.

The two plants became the first UK suppliers suspected of passing off horse meat for beef.

Production at both plants was suspended pending the outcome of investigations into claims they supplied and used horse carcasses in meat products purporting to be beef for burgers and kebabs.

The FSA said on Tuesday it had "detained" all meat found at the premises and seized paperwork and customer lists from the two companies.

Last night's arrests were made as Asda withdrew its 500g beef bolognese sauce from shelves after tests revealed the presence of horse DNA, the supermarket chain said.

The company apologised to customers and said it was taking a "belt-and-braces approach" by removing a further three beef products made by the same supplier, the Greencore plant in Bristol, as a precaution.

Yesterday it emerged a significant amount of horse meat containing the painkiller phenylbutazone - or "bute" - could have been entering the food chain for some time.

Authorities in Britain and France are trying to trace the carcasses of six horses contaminated with bute - which were slaughtered in a UK abattoir and may have entered the human food chain across the Channel.

The drug, which is potentially harmful to human health, was detected in eight horses out of 206 tested by the FSA in the first week of this month.

Two were intercepted and destroyed before leaving the slaughterhouse but the other six were sent to France, where horse meat is commonly eaten.

Announcing the results of the bute tests in the House of Commons yesterday, agriculture minister David Heath said the Government had instigated the "biggest investigation ever" into criminal activity in Europe over horse meat contamination of beef products.

FSA chief executive Catherine Brown said the agency increased testing of horse carcasses over a three-month period last year after intelligence from abattoirs suggested bute was getting into the food chain.

Of 63 tested - amounting to 5% of all carcasses - four (6%) tested positive for the painkiller, prompting the FSA to start testing 100% of horse meat in January, which revealed the eight contaminated carcasses.

Ms Brown said: "That would say there has been a significant amount of carcasses with bute going into the food chain for some time."

However tests on Findus processed beef products withdrawn from sale in the UK after the discovery of traces of horse meat found no evidence of the substance.

Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies downplayed the risk saying: "If you ate 100% horse burgers of 250g, you would have to eat, in one day, more than 500 or 600 to get to a human dose."

The highest level of bute found in tests was 1.9 milligrammes per kilo of meat.

Ms Brown said both vets and horse owners have to sign horse passports if an animal is treated with bute, to ensure it is not subsequently sold on for human consumption.

"If both these people have done the right thing, horses with bute in don't make their way into the food chain," she said.

"Someone has always broken the rules."

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Scotland Avalanche: Two People Killed

A man and a woman who were caught up in an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands have died.

The avalanche was reported shortly after 12.30pm in the Chalamain Gap area of the Cairngorms.

The two victims had been airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after being found by mountain rescue teams, Northern Constabulary said.

Another man who was flown to the same hospital remains in a critical condition.

A police spokesman said no further information would be given about those involved until their families had been notified.

Police had launched a search with mountain rescue teams, rescue dogs and two helicopters.

The Cairngorms are in the eastern Highlands of Scotland

"The phone call came into the team leader, reporting that there was an avalanche with multiple burials," said David Rutledge, the training officer for Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team, who controlled the operation from the team's base.

"We needed to get there as quickly as possible."

He said the accident had occurred relatively close to the roadside, within 2km (1.2 miles) of the ski road.

Mr Rutledge said two parties of six were involved in the incident in total.

Those not taken to hospital were walked off the hill.

It was the latest incident in the Scottish mountains in recent weeks.

Four people were killed in Glencoe last month

Earlier this week, a hillwalker died during an expedition with a mountaineering club in the Cairngorms.

Graham Connell, 31, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, was found dead in the Jacob's Ladder area on Monday after a large-scale search for him and five other people who were reported overdue on Sunday afternoon.

The other members in the party, who were unhurt, were picked up by an RAF rescue helicopter after being located by Braemar Mountain Rescue Team on a hill near Carn Tarsuinn.

Earlier this month, three men survived falling 150m in an avalanche in the Coire an t-Sneachda area of the Cairngorms.

The men, who were wearing helmets, were airlifted to hospital with leg injuries.

In January, four people were killed in an avalanche in Glencoe.

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Coronation Street Actor: Child Sex Charges

One of Coronation Street's longest-serving actors, Michael Le Vell, has been charged with a string of child sex offences.

Le Vell, who plays garage owner Kevin Webster in the ITV soap opera, is accused of 19 child sex offences, including child rape, and sexual activity with a child, Greater Manchester Police said.

Le Vell, 48, a father-of-two whose real name is Michael Turner, will appear in court charged with the offences on February 27.

The actor was initially arrested in connection with the offences in September 2011.

The investigation was dropped three months later when authorities said there would be no further action taken against him as there was not enough evidence against him.

However, following a review of the case by lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service the decision has been taken that it is in the "public interest" to charge the actor.

Michael Le Vell was first questioned over the child sex allegations in 2011

Speaking after the investigation against him was dropped in 2011, Le Vell said he was "delighted" to have been "completely exonerated", thanked police for their "thorough" investigation and Coronation Street staff and the public for their support.

Le Vell vowed to put the allegations behind him and returned to the show after a short break and is now currently involved in some of the soap's main storylines.

Alison Levitt, QC, principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, reviewed a file of evidence in relation to allegations of sexual offences and looked again at a decision previously made not to prosecute.

Ms Levitt said: "I have very carefully reviewed the evidence in this case and I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Michael Robert Turner with a number of sexual offences.

"I have authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Mr Turner with 19 offences, including rape of a child."

Le Vell, who split from his wife Janette Beverley last year,  is one of television's most famous faces after playing car mechanic Kevin Webster for the past 30 years in the TV show.

Originally from Manchester, he began his acting career in the Oldham Theatre Workshop after taking an interest in amateur dramatics while at school.

He first joined the soap in 1983 and quickly endeared himself to fans who have followed the trials and tribulations of Kevin, from Brian Tilsley's apprentice mechanic through to his stormy marriage to Sally, played by Sally Dynevor, and fathering two teenage girls as well as a love child from his affair with Molly Dobbs.

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Stafford Hospital: Dementia Patient Abused

A health worker at Stafford Hospital dragged an elderly dementia patient around by his pyjamas before calling him an animal, a medical tribunal has heard.

Bonka Kostova, a Bulgarian-qualified midwife who was working as a healthcare assistant, was found to have physically and verbally abused the 73-year-old on a night shift in July 2010.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said her fitness to practise was "currently impaired by reason of her misconduct". It is expected to deliver its final verdict on Thursday.

Ms Kostova was found to have pulled the man, known only as patient A, out of a toilet cubicle using the collar of his pyjama top while his trousers were around his ankles.

She then shouted "I hate you" and "you are no longer a human being but an animal" or words to that effect, the NMC found.

Staff nurses intervened, taking Ms Kostova to one side and telling her that her behaviour was "unacceptable".

One of them said Bonnie, as she was known to her colleagues, was "losing it".

Ms Kostova had been left in charge of the patient - who was said to be aggressive in his speech or manner around 80% of the time - when his carer went for a break.

The tribunal was told she had received general training in looking after vulnerable adults but had not been given specific training for dementia patients.

Ms Kostova has not worked at the hospital since she was suspended from her post.

Robert Courteney-Harris, medical director of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This incident was dealt with very swiftly when it happened in 2010."

A report into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, published last week, highlighted the "appalling and unnecessary" suffering of hundreds of patients between 2005 and 2009.

Some were left for hours sitting in their own faeces, food and drink was left out of reach and hygiene was so poor that relatives had to clean toilets themselves.

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British Teen Backpacker Missing In Outback

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

An 18-year-old British backpacker, who was hoping to join the armed forces, is missing in the Australian Outback after setting out on a hike to "improve his fitness".

Police launched a land and air search for 18-year-old Sam Woodhead after he failed to return from his expedition on Tuesday evening.

He had set off from the Upshot Station homestead, about 130km (80 miles) from the far-flung Queensland town of Longreach, some 700km inland from the coast.

Officers fear for the man's safety due to his lack of familiarity with the property, which sprawls across 3,200 acres.

"Lack of water, the heat, venomous snakes and injury are probably our greatest concern," Sergeant Dave Perry told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The teenager went missing 80 miles from Longreach

He said the missing man was apparently hoping to enter the armed forces once back in Britain and had some survival training.

"He may have been using some of the rougher country and the jump-ups to improve his fitness," said Sgt Perry.

Planes, motorbikes and four-wheel drives were being used in the search.

Local people were also combing the area on foot and horseback, and an emergency services helicopter carrying medical staff had been sent out.

Mr Woodhead's mother is understood to be flying out to Australia to help with the search.

His sister Rebecca Woodhead has written on her Facebook page: "If anyone hears from my brother please contact me ASAP.

"Would be a great birthday present if my brother would just turn up and ask what all the fuss is about!"

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'Jon Venables Twitter Photo' Investigation

A picture purporting to show the new identity of one of the killers of toddler James Bulger has been posted on Twitter, prompting an investigation.

The image is supposed to show Jon Venables, who was jailed along with his friend Robert Thompson for killing the youngster in a crime that appalled the nation 20 years ago this week.

In the picture, the man identified as Venables is seen smiling, apparently at a birthday party.

Venables was given a new identity after being released from prison for James' murder in 2001. There is a worldwide ban on publishing anything that would identify him as Jon Venables.

His parole was revoked and he was jailed again in 2010 for downloading and distributing dozens of indecent images of children. He is now making a new bid for release.

James Bulger was horrifically murdered 20 years ago

Denise Fergus, the mother of the murdered two-year-old, told Sky News earlier this week that Venables was a "ticking time bomb" and should not be released.

The image posted on Twitter was re-tweeted 100 times.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said: "The AGO has been alerted to a possible contempt of court.

"We are liaising with the Ministry of Justice and others to establish the facts.

"We can neither confirm nor deny whether the pictures in question are of Jon Venables.

"It should be noted, there is a worldwide injunction in place which prevents the publication of any images or information purporting to identify anyone as Jon Venables."

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Woman And Toddler Hit-And-Run CCTV Released

Police have released video of the moment a woman and toddler were sent flying in a hit-and-run in an effort to track the driver and the car.

The CCTV footage shows the 42-year-old driving instructor and her three-year-old nephew crossing the road on December 7 in Coventry.

As they reach the middle of King William Street a black Audi estate overtakes another car, which had stopped to turn into a junction, and strikes them.

The driver of the Audi is seen to slow for a moment, but then accelerates along the road as passers-by rush to help the stricken pair, left lying in the middle of the street.

Fortunately, the woman and toddler were unharmed aside from a few minor injuries.

West Midlands Police said a witness supplied a partial number plate for the Audi - EN57 - but they have been unable to trace the vehicle and believe it could be hidden in a garage.

Officers believe the car will have sustained damage on the front.

"We have taken the unusual step of releasing the images - which carries a warning for viewers - in the hope that someone will recognise the car and come forward with information so that we can trace the driver," said PC Abbi Jones.

"This could have been so much worse. At the time of the collision, the driver would not have known that the woman and child were uninjured."

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