POLICE officers have apologised for sending out a letter advising retailers to deal with petty shoplifters themselves. Bournemouth police said the letter, revealed in the Daily Echo on Wednesday, was a "mistake" and does not reflect Dorset Police policy
MYSTERY surrounds the unexplained absence of the head of a popular junior school, praised by the government for being a star head teacher. County officials will only say that John Crisp, head teacher at New Milton Junior School, is on leave during term
IT HAS been one of the most controversial criminal cases of recent times. Nine years after the brutal murder of 13-year-old Billie Jo, her foster father Sion Jenkins has walked free from court to return to his Lymington home. On Thursday the Old Bailey
TRIBUTES have been left at the spot where a two-year-old girl died in her pushchair in a road accident which left her mother fighting for life. Sarah Tanner, 28, is in critical condition in hospital following the accident, which happened just yards from
RESEARCHERS from Purbeck's threatened Centre for Ecology and Hydrology have joined a protest at the House of Commons against proposals to close the facility down. Climate change scientists from the CEH, which is based at Winfrith Technology Centre near
WHO would have thought a film about a spelling bee could be so engrossing, but Spellbound confounded the naysayers and left critics rapt. Set in the ultra-competitive world of children's ballroom dancing in New York, Mad Hot Ballroom clearly hope to repeat
THE writer-directors of the first instalment in the Final Destination franchise bring their twisted sense of humour to this third and presumably final nugget of teen horror. Pretty high school student Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) foresees a terrible
A TRIBUTE evening held in Lulworth in memory of local teenagers Charlie Morrell and Mathew Myburgh is coming to Swanage after being hailed a huge success in Lulworth. The initial event took place at Lulworth Village Hall three weeks after the youngsters
Big Momma's House (12A) UCI, Odeon ** See review. Brokeback Mountain (15) ABC ***** Ang Lee's beautifully mounted tale of a same-sex love affair between two cowboys in macho 60s Wyoming. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are outstanding. The Brothers Grimm
THREE months on from the massive blaze which brought down power cables and caused a major blackout across Bournemouth and Poole, Nelson Stanley scrap yard is continuing to operate as normal. On November 15 an accident, probably caused by a spark from
STEVE Tully is banking on a birthday double this weekend. First up the popular defender, 26 today, is hoping to make his 200th appearance in a Terras shirt at Eastbourne Borough tomorrow (3pm). And his celebrations will be complete if the Conference South
DORCHESTER boss Mark Morris has drawn a blank in his bid to boost his side's play-off chances by signing a new striker ahead of tomorrow's home game against Thurrock. "The chairman has told me there is some money available if I can find someone I fancy
DORSET must "pull together to have any chance" of getting decent roads, business leaders are being warned. Fifty per cent of the county's roads are "of a poor standard," said Dorset Business president Jim Stewart. "We are realistic enough to recognise
CHURCHGOERS at West Moors can thank a Leban-ese Muslim family for the gift of their new vicar. Andrew Rowland's wife Zahra was born into a Shia family but she led him into church-going which resulted in his ordination. Now 45, Andrew was born to a Salvation
RESIDENTS are opposed to controversial plans for more flats in Ferndown. But East Dorset planners look set to give the go-ahead to proposals to demolish an Edwardian property in Beaufoys Avenue and replace it with a two-storey block of six apartments.
Stage: Anything Goes: Mayflower, Southampton Wit, melody, memories and romance combine to make this high-energy production of Cole Porter's dazzling musical comedy a riotous success. The action is set on a cross-Atlantic liner. The show opened at the
TERROR preacher Abu Hamza ordered new recruits to jihad training camps in Dorset, it was claimed today. Former followers of the radical Islamic cleric said that they attended the sessions in the county and in the Brecon Beacons before graduating to mujahhidin
IT was an inspired piece of casting that could have gone horribly wrong. Take one decidedly camp 15 stone Welshman with a penchant for dressing as a ballerina and send him to entertain the troops in Iraq. Happily Iestyn Edwards - better known as Madame
TEACHERS at a Portland school are being offered voluntary redundancy in a bid to save a £100,000 shortfall. Staff at Royal Manor Arts College face the axe because of a drop in pupil numbers. This year the intake of students has fallen from around 850
AN AMATEUR football team named after Littlesea Holiday Park in Weymouth is beating all-comers and shooting up the league. The curious thing is, Littlesea AFC are based 70 miles away in Bristol and have never played a game in Weymouth - either home or
CAMPAIGNERS in Bransgore have won the latest round in a battle to bar new homes from what was a village pub car park. New Forest District Council planning development committee yesterday refused controversial plans for six homes in part of the former
DYLAN Murphy is celebrating his first birthday today - a day that could have been so very different. Just last month his parents said goodbye to their baby son, knowing he might not survive a crucial liver transplant operation. He was suffering from a
SHAFTESBURY is in uproar over its town-centre enhancement and parking issues related to it. The town council backed the county council scheme after lengthy negotiations and public consultation last November. But some remained unhappy - notably many traders
VILLAGERS are celebrating a victory for common sense, having saved a silver birch from the chop. Signpost Housing Association sparked a furious row last year when it proposed to demolish sheltered accommodation in Winterborne Whitechurch. Elderly residents
ARCTIC Monkeys are about to make thousands of fans' dreams come true by agreeing to play a bigger venue in Bournemouth on April 17. Buoyed by the biggest buzz to happen around a new British rock band since Oasis broke onto the scene in 1994, fans queued
A CONTROVERSIAL traffic scheme for Castle Lane West has received partial support from councillors. Members of the environment scrutiny panel voted in favour of widening part of the road, from the Woodbury Avenue junction to just past the junction with
DISNEY'S first fully computer animated feature film puts a modern twist on the timeless fable about a little bird whose predilection for telling little white lies gets him into serious trouble. Chicken Little may not be as visually sophisticated as Pixar's
FILMED over the course of more than a year in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, March Of The Penguins is an enchanting documentary revealing the incredible spirit and courage of the emperor penguin. Director Luc Jacquet and cameramen Jerome
YOU can certainly have too much of a good thing. In the case of Big Momma's House 2, the belated sequel to the amiable cross-dressing comedy, you can have too much of Martin Lawrence in a curvaceous latex body suit. In his guise as feisty southern matriarch
SET in 1986 with South Korea under a military dictatorship, this tough thriller has won widespread praise for its convincing performances and willingness to embrace the ambiguities of real life. Two rural cops and a special detective from the capital
DIRECTOR Michael Haneke has won widespread praise for this intense, slightly disturbing thriller that already has fans arguing about the outcome across the internet. Television critic Georges (Daniel Auteuil) is surprised and then disturbed to receive
FILMED over the course of more than a year in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, March Of The Penguins is an enchanting documentary revealing the incredible spirit and courage of the emperor penguin. Director Luc Jacquet and cameramen Jerome
THERE I was dithering over whether or not to have a cheeky Hob Nob with my cup of tea when on came Bodyshock: The Half Ton Man (Channel 4, Monday, 9pm) and I thought, "oh, what the heck". Tipping (well, more like breaking) the scales at an astonishing
POOLE council will be asked to agree a council tax increase next week of 3.5 per cent - the lowest since 1997. This would give a band D increase from £998.93 to £1,033.89, not including the police and fire precepts, which will be known at full council
A 15-storey apartment block next to Poole's new lifting bridge, is proposed by the developers of the former power station site. On the largest regeneration site in Poole, covering 32-acres of Hamworthy, it is also proposed to increase the number of homes
PLANS for a takeaway in a busy town centre street have sparked uproar from residents. People living and working in Mill Lane, Wimborne, are furious that the owner of a new Indian restaurant wants to sell hot food takeaways. But Abdul Malik has hit back
Stage: Anything Goes: Mayflower, Southampton Wit, melody, memories and romance combine to make this high-energy production of Cole Porter's dazzling musical comedy a riotous success. The action is set on a cross-Atlantic liner. The show opened at the
FRIDAY (Feb 10) Amberwood, Walkford - Slim Jim; Belvedere - Jim Martin; Blue Boar - Swift Half (Blues/Rock); Central - Freeway tbc; Cottonwood - Jazz at The Cottonwood; Ferndown Community Centre - Purbeck Big Band Dance; Finn's, Weymouth - Plague (Metal
ANTI-SEX shop campaigners have lost a battle to prevent a Weymouth store from carrying on trading. Campaigners wanted Weymouth and Portland Borough Council to refuse an application to re-licence The Private Shop in King Street for a further 12 months.
A TEARAWAY teenager from Weymouth is appearing in a TV series about badly behaved adolescents. Julia Bodzon, 16, whose mother Anna manages Chestnut Residential Home in Wyke Road, featured in the first episode of Brat Camp. In the programme, which sees
CAT-lover Justina Tucker hopes a little mouse will help reunite lost cats and their owners. She is launching a website containing details of missing and found cats throughout Dorset to help owners find their pets. Mrs Tucker, who lives at Poundbury Crescent
A CHARITY that recycles unwanted furniture and household goods by finding worthy new homes for it is following up a record year by expanding its opening hours. Dorcas, which is based in Wick Drive, New Milton, takes in donated goods and redistributes
SHARP intakes of breath in the back seat told me the kids were not happy. "Can Daddy take us next time?" "Why? You're not scared are you?" The silence was deafening but Daddy was in the Gulf and it was me or go without. The 15-year-old memories came flooding
A TAXING time for town hall chiefs could pay dividends for Christchurch council tax payers in the coming year. After months of number-crunching by town hall officers and councillors, the borough's resources committee is ready for its day of reckoning
FOLLOWING waves of protest against proposed telephone masts in the town, an application to expand an existing installation at a Christchurch beauty spot has barely caused a ripple. Mobile phone operator Hutchinson 3G has applied for planning permission
PENSIONERS in Christchurch are booking in early to beat the rush for free bus passes. From April anyone over the age of 60 can enjoy free travel on scheduled bus services running through Christchurch and council chiefs are braced for a big boom in applications
