A FATHER has told the Daily Echo of his distress at being mistaken for a paedophile when out walking with his son. And he said a park warden tried to get his child away from him. David Baldwin, 34, took his three-year-old to Avon Heath Country Park for
A PUB which police have linked to crime and disorder problems will today take its battle against closure to the High Court. The police had been expected to provide evidence of the problems they say have plagued Walkabout at the start of a five-day licensing
LORD Shaftesbury will finally be laid to rest on Friday in his home village of Wimborne St Giles - 10 months after his violent death. Hundreds of mourners are expected to pack the rural parish church to bid farewell almost a year since he disappeared
A PLUMBER caught red-handed trying to con a customer during an undercover trading standards investigation has been fined £1,000. Kevin Wheeler, 39, of Talbot Avenue in Bournemouth, admitted billing a trading standards officer, posing as a homeowner, £105.13
ELDERLY residents in Poole are delighted plans for a mobile mast near their homes have been chucked out - along with applications for two more. Neighbours from Branksea Grange in Branksome Park got together and raised a petition to stop the 80ft Vodafone
ANYONE waking from a 25-year coma would scarcely recognise life in 21st century Britain - not least in the workplace, where the changes have been immense. Computers are everywhere and women make up more than half the workforce, many of them holding supervisory
MENTALLY ill patients who are currently cared for on an isolated unit could be brought to a Shaftesbury hospital where they can access community facilities more easily. Westminster Memorial Hospital in North Dorset has seven free beds on its Ashmore Ward
POLICE are hunting a thief who robbed a disabled cyclist as he lay unconscious on the pavement. Marine engineer Chris Smith, 47, suffered brain damage following an industrial accident in November 1997. He hasn't been able to work since and his wife Diane
AS competitions go, it's hardly a fair fight. In the red corner stands Wilts and Dorset, backed by its profitable parent company Go-Ahead and with a multi-million pound fleet of luxurious new buses at its disposal. In the yellow corner, council-owned
AS A retired woman is jailed for refusing to pay her council tax, Dorset and Hampshire pensioners are being urged to back demands for a rise in the "scandalous" levels of the basic state pension. Members of the Olde English Wessex Group and the Poole
THREE of the biggest package holiday airlines in the country are ditching Southampton Airport in favour of rival Bournemouth. Thomson Holidays and First Choice, already operating some flights from Hurn, and Thomas Cook, which is due to start flights from
LEADERS of an animal rescue charity based in Purbeck fear new legislation could lead to strays being left roaming the streets. The Margaret Green Foundation Trust is worried about the impact of the government's Clean Neighbourhood Bill on animal welfare
THE future prosperity of Poole is dependent on what unfolds over the next crucial four weeks. Today marks the start of the public inquiry into the long awaited second harbour crossing for Poole. If planning inspector Christopher Tipping accepts the council's
TOPLESS model Pauline Polley has had her picture in Sunday newspapers, magazines and displayed at the Glastonbury Festival. But her motive is very specific - she shows off her charms as a powerful message to women who, like her, have had extensive breast
MOTORISTS using the A35 through the New Forest still have a few days before the planned £850,000 road works disrupt the flow of traffic and cause the expected gridlock, say road chiefs. Work along a three-mile stretch between Christchurch and Lyndhurst
RESIDENTS are complaining about plans which could see homeless people re-housed in their area. They want locals to write to Christchurch planners protesting over the proposals to enlarge and refurbish an existing near derelict "house of multiple occupation
