![Image]( "Moat pair face murder bid charges")
Two men accused of helping gunman Raoul Moat will face charges of attempting to murder David Rathband - the police officer shot and blinded by the former bouncer, prosecutors have said.
Karl Ness, 26, and Qhuram Awan, 23, will face these allegations in court next month. Ness will also face a charge of murdering Chris Brown, the only person killed by Moat.
Kingsley Hyland, head of the Complex Casework Unit at the Northumbria branch of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), confirmed the move after Mr Ness and Mr Awan appeared at Sheffield Crown Court.
During a brief hearing, the pair were expected to enter pleas to charges of conspiracy to murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
But the judge, Mr Justice McCombe, ruled they will now not have to enter pleas until January.
Mr Hyland said the new allegations will be put to Mr Ness and Mr Awan at their next appearance in court in Newcastle.
Mr Ness will then face a charge of murdering Mr Brown, attempting to murder Pc Rathband, two charges of conspiracy to murder, one charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and one of robbing a fish shop.
Mr Awan will face a charge of attempting to murder Pc Rathband, one charge of conspiracy to murder, one charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and one of robbing a fish shop.
The pair are alleged to have been with Moat when he shot Chris Brown dead and wounded Samantha Stobbart at her home in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, in July.
Mr Ness, of Dudley, North Tyneside, and Mr Awan, of Blyth, Northumberland, are due to stand trial on January 24 after being remanded in custody. The judge said they will face a further plea and directions hearing in early January at Newcastle Crown Court, on a date to be fixed.
Former fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir has failed to get a judge to remove his electronic tag.
Mr Nadir, 69, was arrested by police on December 4 after claims he was not at home during his midnight to 6am curfew.
But Mr Nadir, facing trial next year following the collapse of his Polly Peck company, was released four hours later without charge.
William Clegg, QC, defending, told the Old Bailey that Mr Nadir had been at home and this was accepted by the police.
He had been released after the tag was checked but there was no guarantee that it would not happen again.
Mr Clegg said Mr Nadir had found the experience distressing. He asked for the tag to be removed and replaced by a condition requiring him to report daily to police.
But Mr Justice Holroyde said the tag was part of a package of conditions imposed in September by another judge following careful consideration.
He saw no reason to alter the condition despite what had happened.
The judge said: "It does not seem to me to be a good enough reason to vary the conditions."
Mr Nadir, of Mayfair, central London, has been served with a 13-count indictment alleging theft and false accounting of £33 million and 2.6 million dollars. The trial is due to take place in October and Mr Nadir was further conditionally bailed to appear in court on March 14.
Product placement will begin on British TV programmes for the first time from February 28, media regulator Ofcom has announced.
It said that TV channels will have to broadcast a logo for three seconds at the start and end of programmes which have been paid to feature products.
Broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 4, Five and Sky, are set to launch an audience awareness campaign in the New Year.
Earlier this year, the then Labour government decided to allow product placement in British TV programmes as a result of changes to European broadcasting legislation. The Labour government said earlier this year that continuing to ban product placement would damage the finances of the British TV industry.
Product placement will be allowed in films, dramas and documentaries, TV series, soaps, entertainment and sports shows.
It will be banned in all children's and news programmes and in UK-produced current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmes.
UK legislation bans tobacco, alcohol, gambling, foods or drinks that are high in fat, salt or sugar, medicines and baby milk being used in product placement. Ofcom has also prohibited the paid-for placement of products and services that cannot be advertised on TV, such as weapons or escort agencies.
Under the rules, product placement must not impair broadcasters' editorial independence and must be editorially justified. They state that programmes cannot be created or distorted so that they become vehicles for product placement.
New rules will also permit radio stations to use commercial references within programming - although not in news or children's programming.
Product placement will be banned from any BBC licence fee-funded services.
Britain's top counter terrorism officer has revealed the arrest of 12 suspects in four cities over fears they were preparing to launch an attack was "absolutely necessary".
Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner John Yates also warned that searches of homes in London, Cardiff, Stoke and Birmingham could take days to complete as police prepare to question the men.
Speaking outside New Scotland Yard, he said: "With the information we have, I believe today's arrests were absolutely necessary in order to keep the public safe."
The 12 suspects, aged between 17 and 28 and at least five of whom are of Bangladeshi origin, were arrested during 5am raids at homes in London, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham and Cardiff.
Police swooped over fears the group were ramping up their activities after months of surveillance and monitoring by counter terrorism officers and colleagues at MI5. Sources said they were investigating if the gang were inspired by al Qaida but played down speculation they may have been planning a Christmas or New Year bomb attack.
Officials also believe the operation was not linked to the recent failed Stockholm suicide bombing or the Yemen al Qaida printer bomb plot and was not modelled on the Mumbai commando-style attack.
Three terraced houses, including two neighbouring properties, were searched in Grove Street, Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent. A man, described by neighbours as aged in his mid-20s, was arrested at a three-bedroomed property in Rialto Place, Tunstall.
Police said four men, one aged 19, two aged 26 and one aged 25, were being questioned. One was arrested at a friend's house in Birmingham.
In Cardiff, police arrested three men aged between 23 and 28 at their homes in the Riverside area and two at their homes in the Ely area. In London, police arrested three men aged between 17 and 28 at their homes in the centre of the capital. A fourth home was also being searched.
All 12 suspects were detained on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism in Britain. The arrests were the most high-profile raids in Britain since April 2009, when 12 men were detained across northern England.
Plans for a £33 billion high-speed rail (HSR) network from London to Birmingham and on to northern England have been unveiled by the Government.
But the first London-Birmingham phase of the project will have no direct link to Heathrow airport, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond announced.
He said there would be a spur to Heathrow, but that would be part of the second, north-of-Birmingham, phase of the project,
This would mean the spur would not be finished until around the mid-2030s and would open at the same time as the routes to Manchester and Leeds.
Until then Heathrow-bound passengers would be able to change to fast Heathrow Express services at Old Oak Common in north west London and there would be a direct interchange with the cross-London Crossrail line
Mr Hammond also ruled out a direct link from the London-Birmingham line - known as HS2 - to HS1, which is the London to Folkestone Channel Tunnel high-speed rail link.
Instead, there will be a connection to HS1 via a new tunnel from Old Oak Common.
Publishing details of the London to Birmingham route, Mr Hammond said around 50% of the route first proposed by the Labour Government earlier this year had been amended.
This has followed vehement opposition to the line from those living in Tory heartlands in the Home Counties and South Midlands.
Vince Cable has privately indicated that he could walk out of the coalition and "bring the Government down" if he is "pushed too far" in negotiations with Tory ministers, it has been disclosed.
The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary was recorded telling undercover reporters from the Daily Telegraph that the situation with the coalition was "like fighting a war" and that he could use the "nuclear option". He also told the reporters - posing as constituents in his Twickenham constituency - that he believed David Cameron wanted to reduce or scrap altogether the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.
Mr Cable - the most senior Lib Dem member of the coalition after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg - said in a statement that he was "embarrassed" by his remarks but insisted that he had no intention of resigning.
However his frank comments will raise fresh questions over whether the Tory-Lib Dem coalition can survive intact until the planned date of the next general election in May 2015.
During his conversation with the undercover reporters Mr Cable said he had been involved in "big argument" over how to deal with the banks, with the Lib Dems pressing for a "very tough approach" which was opposed by "our Conservative friends". He said that while he had to pick his fights carefully, he was prepared to use the ultimate sanction and resign if he was pushed too hard by the Conservatives.
"I have a nuclear option; it's like fighting a war. They know I have nuclear weapons, but I don't have any conventional weapons. If they push me too far then I can walk out and bring the Government down and they know that," he said.
"So it is a question of how you use that intelligently without getting involved in a war that destroys all of us. That is quite a difficult position to be in and I am picking my fights. Some of which you may have seen."
Mr Cable also criticised the speed at which the coalition was trying to push through change, without thinking through properly what they were doing, and suggested the Lib Dems should be "putting a brake on it".
Shadow business secretary John Denham said that Mr Cable's comments revealed a government "paralysed" by infighting among ministers "This infighting explains why the Tory-led government has three times abandoned plans to publish a plan for growth. The Government is paralysed while millions wonder if their job will go next," he said.
A Labour Party spokesman added: "Vince Cable's unguarded words show this really is a Tory-led government. Under David Cameron's premiership, the Lib Dems have broken promises on VAT, tuition fees and police numbers and got little in return."
A drunk driver has been found guilty of causing the deaths of two Britons working at an American summer camp who were struck by his SUV.
Dominic Hartley and Emily Lewis, both 21, were killed in Warrensburg, New York, on June 24 this year when the vehicle hit the group they were in at around 11.20pm.
The two were struck while standing by Golf Course Road by the Ford Escape SUV driven by 40-year-old Peter Goldblatt.
Warren County Court, in Lake George, New York, heard Goldblatt, who worked at his parents' golf course, had 110 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood when he was tested at around 1.50am on June 25. The legal limit in the US is 80 microgrammes.
The jury took around four hours deliberating before finding Goldblatt guilty of all the charges he faced. The charges included aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the second degree of Emily Lewis, manslaughter in the second degree of Dominic Hartley, reckless driving and driving while intoxicated.
Warren County district attorney Kate Hogan, who prosecuted Goldblatt during the trial, said: "The uncontroverted testimony at the trial established that this defendant was drinking beer throughout the evening of June 24.
"He drove drunk and ploughed into a group of kids who were innocently standing on the side of the road. The jury's verdict reflects the overwhelming evidence in this case. While the verdict is gratifying, it does little to assuage the grief of the Hartley and Lewis families."
Mr Hartley, from Bredon near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms Lewis, from Aberdeen, was taken to Glens Falls Hospital and then to Albany Medical Centre but died later.
Their colleague, Christopher Jones, 18, another Briton, was also hurt and needed hospital treatment. They were all working at Camp Echo Lake and had been standing on the side of the road in a group of seven people when they were hit.
A forensic pathologist told the court the injuries sustained were consistent with a high speed above 50mph. The road was in a 40mph zone. Goldblatt will be sentenced on February 2.
The snow-covered Olympic Stadium has sparkled under floodlights for the first time.
Prime Minister David Cameron, accompanied by a choir of local schoolchildren, hit the button for the big switch-on which shone a megawatt of light on to the showpiece venue.
It was the first time that all 532 bulbs had been lit together - in a scene that will be repeated during the London 2012 Games.
Mr Cameron joked that the £537 million stadium in Stratford, east London, looked more like a winter Olympic venue with ski-jumper Eddie the Eagle expected at any moment rather than the setting for the London 2012 summer Games.
But he told the 400-strong invited crowd, which included 2012 builders at the site: "It is being delivered on time and on budget thanks to British genius and many of the people here."
Introductions were carried out by London Mayor Boris Johnson, who did not seem aware that the lights take up to eight minutes to reach full power.
"They are coming, they are coming," Mr Johnson told the crowd before all the lights had phased in.
He described it as a "wonderful and historic evening", while also joking that with plans so advanced, including 75% of building work complete, London 2012 might consider holding a snap Olympics now 17 months before the Games "to catch the world napping".
There are 14 lighting towers reaching 70 metres (230ft) above the sports area. They are supporting a total of 532 individual lights.
Mr Cameron also spoke of changes to unpopular plans to cut £162 million from school sport.
Travel misery is expected continue to blight the UK in the run up to Christmas, with Heathrow's woes looking far from over.
Thousands of travellers trying to leave or return to the UK experienced another day of long queues and grim conditions at airports as the snow and ice wreaked havoc.
Transport minister Philip Hammond has relaxed the rules on night flights in a bid to ease the passenger backlog at the west London airport - following airport operator BAA's confirmation that Heathrow's second runway will remain closed on Tuesday.
The big freeze has not only affected those trying to leave the UK by air, with some Eurostar passengers having to queue for more than seven hours to board a train at St Pancras. The UK's roads and rail network has also been badly hit.
Giving a statement to the Commons, Mr Hammond said disruption was "inevitable" given the severity of the weather conditions and that the transport system would "struggle to recover" in the days leading up to Christmas with more poor weather expected.
He said the strategic road network and rail network have performed "broadly satisfactorily", but he appeared to take a swipe at the reaction of BAA by saying: "The experience at airports, and Heathrow in particular, has however been different."
Sunday's whole-day closure at Heathrow and continued reduced capacity presents "a very real challenge from which the system will struggle to recover quickly" Mr Hammond said.
BAA said that "significant cancellations" would extend into at least Wednesday, with many areas of the airfield "not be usable until Wednesday morning at the earliest", and told passengers to keep away from full terminals unless they knew for sure their flight was operating.
Further disruption is likely to occur "through this week", Mr Hammond told MPs, adding: "This is particularly stressful just a few days ahead of the Christmas break."
The transport minister said he understood the "frustration" of those trying to get away or back home to enjoy Christmas with their families. BAA has already announced it is unable to accept any more people in the "extremely congested" Terminals 1 and 3 and warned that a reduced flying schedule due to commence at 6am on Wednesday would mean that a "maximum one third of flights are likely to operate during this period".
A woman is believed to have killed two of her children before taking her own life in north Wales.
Mother-of-five Melanie Stephens, 36, is thought to have suffocated Philip, five, and two-year-old Isaac and then hanged herself at their home in Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd.
Police forced their way into the property at around 8pm on Sunday after frantic relatives were unable to get in.
A North Wales Police spokeswoman said: "Inside the property police discovered the bodies of an adult and two young children. At this early stage it is not possible to state how the occupants died. The coroner and next of kin have been informed."
A Home Office pathologist is conducting post-mortem examinations to establish the cause of deaths, although it is understood police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
Ms Stephens had lived at the house in Chapel Street for about two years, having moved from the nearby town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "Obviously everybody in the village is shocked. But nobody knows yet what caused this tragedy.
"I didn't know her very well because she wasn't from the village and I don't think she had many family here.
"But you would see her in the street and she would always say hello. They were a very pleasant family and seemed very happy. It's a terribly sad thing."
Gwynedd councillor Thomas Griffith Ellis added: "The death of a mother and young children is a terrible thing but at Christmas it is even more shocking."
Two men accused of helping gunman Raoul Moat will face charges of attempting to murder David Rathband - the police officer shot and blinded by the former bouncer, prosecutors have said.
Karl Ness, 26, and Qhuram Awan, 23, will face these allegations in court next month. Ness will also face a charge of murdering Chris Brown, the only person killed by Moat.
Kingsley Hyland, head of the Complex Casework Unit at the Northumbria branch of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), confirmed the move after Mr Ness and Mr Awan appeared at Sheffield Crown Court.
During a brief hearing, the pair were expected to enter pleas to charges of conspiracy to murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
But the judge, Mr Justice McCombe, ruled they will now not have to enter pleas until January.
Mr Hyland said the new allegations will be put to Mr Ness and Mr Awan at their next appearance in court in Newcastle.
Mr Ness will then face a charge of murdering Mr Brown, attempting to murder Pc Rathband, two charges of conspiracy to murder, one charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and one of robbing a fish shop.
Mr Awan will face a charge of attempting to murder Pc Rathband, one charge of conspiracy to murder, one charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and one of robbing a fish shop.
The pair are alleged to have been with Moat when he shot Chris Brown dead and wounded Samantha Stobbart at her home in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, in July.
Mr Ness, of Dudley, North Tyneside, and Mr Awan, of Blyth, Northumberland, are due to stand trial on January 24 after being remanded in custody. The judge said they will face a further plea and directions hearing in early January at Newcastle Crown Court, on a date to be fixed.
The father of a young boy thought to have been killed with his brother by their mother has spoken of their "innocent joy".
Phillip Stevens, five, and two-year-old Izaak are believed to have been killed by their mother Melanie, 36, before she hanged herself.
The bodies were found at their home in Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, north Wales, at around 8pm on Sunday night after concerned relatives alerted police.
In a statement issued by North Wales Police, Nicholas Smith, from Gwynedd, the father of Izaak and ex-partner of Ms Stevens, said: "(They were) two such beautiful boys, lovers of trains, footballs, cars, puddles and tickles.
"Izaak and Pip absorbed all the love they were given from all who knew them and returned it a million times over.
"They will never lose their innocent joy at the wonders of the world around them, they will forever be two beautiful little boys."
Post-mortem examinations revealed both boys had been suffocated. The death of their mother is not being treated as suspicious.
An inquest into the deaths has been opened and adjourned by the North West Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones.
Ms Stevens, a divorced mother-of-five, had lived at the house on Chapel Street for about two years having moved from the nearby town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Residents in the village, which has about 700 residents, said the family seemed "happy and pleasant".
Christmas travel misery is beginning to ease - a day late for Heathrow Airport's boss who decided to sacrifice his 2010 bonus.
As thousands of exhausted passengers finally began to move at the airport, under-fire Colin Matthews announced he would forgo his annual bonus.
Last year he took home £944,000 in salary and bonuses.
Mr Matthews, BAA's chief executive, said: "I have decided to give up my bonus for the current year. My focus is on keeping people moving and rebuilding confidence in Heathrow."
BAA would not reveal how much his bonus was.
Heathrow, the world's largest international airport, has made headlines for days as massive amounts of flights were cancelled because of the snow and ice and passengers were left stranded.
Critics slammed Heathrow as a third-world airport and blasted the management's inability to cope with the big freeze.
Earlier, Mick Rix, the GMB union's national officer for the aviation industry, said paying him "a huge bonus" would be "an absolute slap in the face to the thousands of people who have been stranded at Heathrow for the past three days".
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said BAA had "very serious lessons" to learn from the chaos.
And BMI chief executive Wolfgang Prock-Schauer claimed the airport "did not have enough de-icing fluid" - something a Heathrow Airport spokesman strenuously denied.
Calls to NHS Direct have rocketed by 50% in the last few days, leaving the helpline at "breaking point", it has been claimed.
The call service is under huge pressure as flu infection rates more than doubled in the last week, the Daily Mail reports.
Patients were having to wait two days to speak a nurse with as many as 46,000 people calling the helpline last weekend at a rate of almost 960 an hour, it said.
A senior nurse told the Mail: "This is by far the worst it has ever been. People have not been receiving call-backs for 48 hours - it's appalling."
On Tuesday the Department of Health announced that 302 people were currently in intensive care with flu while 17 people had died. Swine flu is still the most dominant strain of flu this winter, but there are other types, including type B.
But a Department of Health spokeswoman said the health service was coping "very well" with the outbreak of flu.
She said: "We are currently seeing an unusually high number of people in critical care with flu. But the NHS is well prepared.
"There is always more pressure on the NHS at this time of year and this year is no different. But the NHS is coping very well with only a small percentage of the intensive care capacity being taken up by patients with flu.
"However, as a cautionary approach, local health trusts are looking at how they can increase capacity if necessary.
"Prevention is better than cure - it's very important that people who are at risk have their free seasonal flu vaccination. All pregnant women should have the flu jab - at any stage of pregnancy. If you are eligible contact your GP or practice nurse now to get your seasonal flu jab."
The US Senate has ratified an arms control treaty with Russia that reins in nuclear weapons, giving President Barack Obama a major foreign policy win in the closing hours of the post-election Congress.
Thirteen Republicans broke with their top two leaders and joined 56 Democrats and two independents in providing the necessary two-thirds vote to approve the treaty. The vote was 71-26.
The accord, which must still be approved by Russia, would restart on-site weapons inspections as successors to president Ronald Reagan have embraced his edict of "trust but verify".
Vice President Joe Biden presided over the Senate and announced the vote. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton observed the vote from the Senate floor. Both had lobbied vigorously for the treaty's approval.
"The question is whether we move the world a little out of the dark shadow of nuclear nightmare," Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry said to his colleagues moments before the tally.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow welcomed the vote but still needed to study the accompanying Senate resolution.
Mr Kerry, a Democrat, said the vote was appropriate "in a season that celebrates and summons us to the ideal of peace on earth".
Calling the treaty a national security imperative, Mr Obama had pressed for its approval before a new, more Republican Congress assumes power in January. In recent days, he had telephoned a handful of wavering Republicans, eventually locking in their votes.
The Obama administration has argued that the US must show credibility in its improved relations with its former Cold War foe, and the treaty was critical to any rapprochement. The White House is counting on Russia to help pressure Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
The New START treaty, signed by Mr Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April, would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200.
The strength of Britain's economy as it enters the age of austerity has been cast into doubt after official figures downgraded growth for the first nine months of the year.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth for each of the first three quarters in 2010 was revised down by 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The third quarter - between July and September - saw growth of 0.7%, down from 0.8%, while second quarter figures were revised down to 1.1% from 1.2%. The first quarter saw growth of 0.3%, down from 0.4% in the previous estimate.
While there are still signs of robust growth in the UK, economists said the figures do little to improve prospects for the economy next year - and its ability to withstand the Government's tough deficit-busting spending cuts.
But there is a more upbeat outlook on the other side of the Atlantic, where US GDP growth in the third quarter has been revised up to 2.6% on an annual basis from 2.5% in previous estimates, although the revision is lower than expected.
Commenting on the UK figures, Vicky Redwood, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "The upshot is that a continued strong recovery seems far from assured."
Chancellor George Osborne unveiled an £81 billion package of spending cuts - leading to hundreds of thousands of job losses - earlier this year to tackle the creaking public finances. Mr Osborne has pinned his hopes on the private sector picking up the expected slack in the economy and holding off a double-dip recession.
The GDP revisions come after the ONS downgraded construction sector growth, as previously revealed, across the first three quarters of 2010. In the third quarter, there were further downward revisions to production industries and business services and finance.
Household expenditure remained unchanged in the third quarter - showing a 0.3% rise - driven by spending on recreation and culture, food and non-alcoholic drinks. Government spending fell by 0.4%, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2009.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the figures are "disappointing", and added: "We expect growth to lose significant momentum over the coming months as fiscal tightening increasingly bites and adds to the pressures on already stretched consumers."
MI6 spy Gareth Williams may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he met on London's gay scene, detectives have suggested.
Investigators said the 31-year-old codebreaker was immersed in the capital's thriving gay nightlife and had repeatedly visited extreme bondage websites. He also had a secret passion for fashion and hoarded unworn women's designer clothes worth £15,000 in his wardrobe alongside several wigs.
Police said it would have been impossible for the dead man to lock himself in the holdall where his naked body was found, and forensic evidence indicates other people were in his flat who they have been unable to trace.
But police said it is impossible to say whether Mr Williams was already dead when he was put in the bag or died from suffocation once zipped inside.
Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said the spy's secretive private life probably holds the key to his death and that a "small sub-group of the community" may well know something about his final moments but police cannot trace them.
Speaking at New Scotland Yard, Mr Campbell said: "We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design. Maybe, by explaining to the public, someone will think: 'I get it and I can explain.'"
Mr Williams, of Anglesey, North Wales, was found by police at his top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, on August 23. His decomposing body was in a large padlocked holdall.
The keys were inside, under his body. Police believe he died in the early hours of Monday August 16 and he was last seen the previous day returning from a shopping trip to Harrods.
Detectives revealed remarkable new details of their investigation as they announced an inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner's Court on February 15.
Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who has led the inquiry, revealed that Mr Williams visited at least five bondage websites in the months before his death, that included extreme videos of people being tied up, constricted and suffocated as well as do-it-yourself guides.
Universities could slash total costs by almost a third by sharing services and outsourcing to the private sector, a report has claimed.
Think-tank Policy Exchange said huge savings could be made through measures including merging finance, HR and student records departments and offloading responsibility for maintenance and accommodation.
In all it estimates that £2.7 billion could be saved across the entire higher education sector. It would mean universities could reduce potential student debt or protect teaching and research standards, the report claims.
Higher Education in the Age of Austerity argues that universities need to be more imaginative about the way they are run in order to cut costs.
It points towards the success of schemes such as Manchester Student Homes - a joint venture under which information and support services for students at Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan universities are pooled.
The report's author, Alex Massey, also urges higher education administrators to be more imaginative.
For example, he calls on others to follow the lead of UCL, which has saved £250,000 a year by using Microsoft's free email service.
Mr Massey said: "Too many universities operate in an outdated way. They've failed to recognise the savings and service improvements that could be obtained through engagement with commercial partners and the use of shared services."
He added: "With students facing higher levels of debt, it really is time for universities to start taking efficiency and value-for-money seriously.
"Outsourcing and shared service arrangements would be a very good way to reduce costs and improve service quality."
Alternative remedies can be dangerous for children and could even lead to death, experts have warned.
Parents are sometimes misguided into thinking they are "more natural", with fewer side effects than conventional drugs.
Experts writing in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood warned of possible adverse reactions in youngsters.
They analysed monthly data reported to the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit between 2001 and 2003. During this period, there were 39 separate incidents of side effects linked with complementary medicine treatment, including four deaths.The children ranged from babies to 16-year-olds, and issues ranged from mild to severe.
In 25 cases (64%), the adverse events were rated as severe, life-threatening or fatal. In 30 cases (77%), the issues were "probably or definitely" related to complementary medicine, and in 17 (44%) the patient was regarded as being harmed by a failure to use conventional medicine.
All four deaths resulted from a failure to use conventional treatments, the reports showed.
One death involved an eight-month-old baby admitted to hospital "with malnutrition and septic shock following naturopathic treatment with a rice milk diet from the age of three months for "congestion".
"Another death involved a 10-month-old infant who presented with septic shock following treatment with homeopathic medicines and dietary restriction for chronic eczema." The third death was sudden and "was reported in a child who had presented with multiple seizures, including one with cardiorespiratory arrest".
The fourth death was of a child who needed blood-clotting drugs but was given complementary medicine instead. Some other children were given echinacea, which is thought to be linked to the adverse reaction of poor growth. Gingko-ginseng was linked to bleeding as a side-effect.
The authors, from the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, said: "Many of the adverse events associated with failure to use conventional medicine resulted from the family's belief in complementary and alternative medicine and determination to use it despite medical advice."
David Cameron is facing anger from Tory MPs for failing to sack Business Secretary Vince Cable and "propping up" the Liberal Democrats in the Government.
The Prime Minister faced questions about why Mr Cable, the second most senior Lib Dem minister, had survived despite his hugely embarrassing comments to undercover reporters.
Mr Cable was humiliatingly stripped of his responsibilities for the media after he claimed to have "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
Senior Tory MP Christopher Chope, the secretary of the influential backbench 1922 Committee, said Mr Cable should have been sacked for his comments.
"When we get into the new year, the Prime Minister will have to assess whether propping up the Liberal Democrats is in the long-term best interests of the Conservative Party and the country," he told the BBC.
"Sometimes it can be more damaging to hang on to somebody, because it's a sign of weakness, rather than take the robust line and say the man's got to go."
Sir Christopher accused Lib Dem ministers of "having it both ways".
"They want to be able to support the Government for the sake of keeping the Liberal Democrats in Government and keeping their own ministerial cars, but then they want to be able to say to their supporters outside 'Don't worry, I wasn't in support of that at all, I am rather against it.'
"You can't carry on like that as a minister because you are effectively undermining your own Government."
John Whittingdale, another senior Conservative backbencher, said Mr Cable would "almost certainly" have been sacked if he was a Tory minister.
The controversial former judge James Pickles has died aged 85, it has emerged.
Judge Pickles, who flouted the voluntary code that the judiciary do not speak out in public, and criticised the legal system for being infected by conservatism, complacency and conformity, died on Saturday at his home in Halifax.
One of his sons, Simon, said that he had been unwell for a couple of years, though he remained keenly interested in current affairs.
Judge Pickles, nephew of the broadcaster Wilfred Pickles, hit the headlines on a number of occasions for his sentencing decisions and his criticism of those at the top of the judicial hierarchy.
The decision to jail a young mother for helping shoplifters and send her 10-week-old baby to prison with her sparked a furore.
He was also criticised by the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Lane, after he jailed a young mother who refused to give evidence against her former boyfriend.
MPs and women's groups were furious and the Court of Appeal quashed the decision.
But the judge was unapologetic: "The only sentence people really take notice of is loss of liberty."
He called for legal brothels and relaxation of the drug laws, saying they served only to hound people and encouraged robbery by pushing up prices.
He retired from the bench in 1991.
