Local News Stories (Suffolk & Norfolk) from 2019 to date

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Mercedes drink driver mangles car after hitting hedge

A Mercedes driver was stopped by police after continuing his journey despite apparently ripping off part of his car on a hedge in Norfolk.
The man, in his 20s from the London area, was stopped at the A47 Blofield service station, near Norwich, at about 09:00 GMT on Saturday.
An officer at the scene said it was the "worst damage he had seen on a vehicle not still at the scene of a crash".
The driver was arrested after testing positive for alcohol, police said.
Norfolk and Suffolk Roads and Armed Policing Team tweeted photos of a tangle of metal jutting out at an angle from the mangled Mercedes.
It said the driver had "hit a hedge" at an unknown location in Norfolk and was stopped after a member of the public called them.
PC Mark Carter said: "As a police vehicle examiner for over a decade, I was shocked to see a vehicle in such condition still being driven.
"It was especially dangerous to vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists."
The driver is due to appear in court charged with traffic offences.

BBC Norfolk

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Decapitated bodies found in Roman cemetery in Great Whelnetham

Archaeologists excavating a Roman burial ground in Suffolk said the discovery of a series of decapitated bodies was a "rare find".
A dig has been taking place on a site in Great Whelnetham, near Bury St Edmunds, ahead of a planned housing development.
Of the 52 skeletons found, 17 had their skulls placed by or between their legs.
Archaeologist Andrew Peachey said it gave a "fascinating insight" into Roman burial practice.
The Roman cemetery, which dates to the 4th Century, includes the remains of men, women and children who had probably lived in a nearby settlement.
The fact that up to 40% of the bodies were decapitated represents "quite a rare find", particularly having the "statistical anomaly of having so many decapitations there".
"We are looking at a very specific part of the population that followed a very specific tradition of burial," he said.
Mr Peachey, of Archaeological Solutions, said he did not believe there had been executions.
The heads were likely to have been removed "carefully" after the individual had died, he added.
The team are analysing the bones to find out as much as possible about the population.
Great Whelnetham is a known Roman settlement and Roman burials were typically placed as we would place them, said Mr Peachey.
The skeletons will go to a museum archive.

BBC Suffolk

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Kesgrave driver caught watching YouTube on phone

A driver was pulled over by police after he was spotted watching YouTube videos on his mobile phone.
The music fan was stopped in Bell Lane, Kesgrave, near Ipswich, by Suffolk traffic officers on Monday night.
Police had followed him along Main Road and said he was watching films on his phone which was attached to the car windscreen.
He was reported for "using a motor vehicle when television receiving apparatus was visible to the driver".
Suffolk Police said he told officers he thought it was OK to use YouTube to listen to music.
PC Jonny Firman, from the roads and armed policing team, said: "A video playing upon a mobile phone, in the view of the driver, could take away their concentration on actually driving the motor vehicle and it would only take a momentary lapse in concentration for a collision to occur."
Although officers were not able to say what the offender had been watching, they later clarified the law on watching videos or films while driving a vehicle, quoting from section 109 of the government Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.

BBC Suffolk

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Norwich children's birthday party disrupted by knife-wielding raiders

Three knife-wielding masked raiders disrupted a children's birthday party when they burst into a house demanding drugs.
Police believe the men, who threatened people inside the house in Norwich, broke into the wrong address.
Officers were called to the property in Hunter Road, Catton Grove, at about 18:50 GMT on Friday, Norfolk Police confirmed.
No one was hurt, but a mobile phone was stolen, the force said.
The men are described as black, about six feet tall (183cm) and were wearing dark clothing.
"This must have been very distressing for those involved and I want to reassure the victims and those that live locally that we are doing everything we can to find the offenders quickly," Insp Graham Dalton said.
"I do believe this is connected to Operation Gravity drug dealing and would ask anyone with information regarding those involved to contact the police immediately."
Operation Gravity is a Norwich Police campaign, launched in 2016, to deal with drug dealers coming into the county from London.

BBC Norfolk

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Why would you want to live in Suffolk?

Here's a short story. An actor is looking for somewhere to live. A musician friend suggests Suffolk. Actor moves to Suffolk. Actor is now "in love" with Suffolk.
The actor in question is the Game of Thrones star Kit Harington, the musician is Ed Sheeran and Suffolk is, well... Suffolk.
The 32-year-old star, who plays Jon Snow in the HBO fantasy drama, says he and his wife and co-star Rosie Leslie have yet to venture far from their new home.
What delights await him across the county?



The particulars of Suffolk are thus....

Read the full story here

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Police speak to [Prince] Philip for not wearing seatbelt

Norfolk Police say they have spoken to the Duke of Edinburgh after he was pictured driving without a seatbelt, 48 hours after being involved in a crash near Sandringham in Norfolk.
A spokeswoman said "suitable words of advice have been given to the driver".
Meanwhile, Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist in the crash, has told the Mirror the duke has not apologised.
A Palace spokesman said contact had been made with the occupants of the car to exchange "well-wishes".
The crash in Sandringham, in which Prince Philip's Land Rover landed on its side, happened on Thursday,
Two days later, pictures in the Daily Mail and The Sun appeared to show the duke, 97, driving alone on the Sandringham estate in a new Land Rover without a seatbelt.
A spokeswoman for the Norfolk Constabulary said the force was aware of the photographs and had spoken to the driver.
"This is in line with our standard response when being made aware of such images showing this type of offence," she said.
Ms Fairweather told the Sunday Mirror that "I'm lucky to be alive and he hasn't even said sorry".
"It has been such a traumatic and painful time and I would have expected more of the Royal Family," she added.
She said she had not heard from the royal household but had got a call from a police family liaison officer.
"The message he passed on didn't even make sense. He said, 'The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would like to be remembered to you,'" she said.
"That's not an apology or even a well-wish."

BBC News

What's the saying? "One rule for the rich, another for the poor'. However, if he was on the Sandringham Estate (private land?) was he driving illegally? Or is this the Daily Mail just trying to make headlines?

No doubt the message 'passed on' was to ensure that liability wasn't being admitted.

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Police officer 'almost crushed' by cash machine thieves

Two people have been sentenced after nearly crushing a police officer with a car while trying to steal a cash machine.
The ATM was dragged out of a Co-op store in Kessingland, Suffolk, on 10 September 2018, and attached to the back of a car which was later driven at police officers as they tried to escape.

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Snapchat helps save mum and daughter from car crash

A mum and her daughter were rescued from a car crash after a 15-year-old tracked them down on Snapchat Maps.
Gemma and Martha Fairweather were driving home when their car skidded off a Suffolk road - deep into a ditch.
They'd been on a day out in Lowestoft with Gemma's boyfriend Graham and his son Sam.
"We were teetering on the edge on our side," Gemma tells Radio 1 Newsbeat. "We could see and hear water to the left of us through the window."
The car had come off the road on a blind corner. Gemma says she'd braked when she was dazzled by the lights of an oncoming car on Sunday night.
They were unable to get out of the car, and she says every movement they made threatened to rock the car closer to the running water.
Gemma had taken a "nice quiet road" home on purpose so she could drive at a low speed she felt comfortable with.
But it meant neither the emergency services or her partner could find them - despite Gemma trying to give details of their location from her Sat Nav.
"The emergency services seemed to be on other roads and couldn't find us," Gemma says.
"It was either that or as they were driving past we were so down into the ditch and away from the road that nobody could see us."
But while Gemma was on the phone to the emergency services, she was also messaging Sam, who was looking for them with his dad.
"Sam was texting me saying 'we can't find you' and then he had a really bright idea of going onto Snapchat.
"He said: 'Go onto Snapchat, I'll be able to find you on Snapchat Maps'."
The ambulance service then contacted Graham and Sam, who was able to direct them to Gemma and Martha using Snapchat's location function.
"Just as they turned up, the fire brigade turned up as well, because they were the highest vehicle who could see us in the ditch and see our hazards," says Gemma.
"Everybody turned up at once thanks to Sam and his quick thinking with Snapchat."
Sadly Sam - the hero of the story - is currently on a school trip in Belgium and was unable to speak to Newsbeat about his part in the rescue.

BBC News

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Jeanette Kempton 1989 murder: Police hope for new leads

Cold case detectives hope a review of an unsolved 1989 murder could help explain why a woman was killed and then dumped 118 miles (190km) from her home.
Jeanette Kempton, 32, went missing from Brixton in south London, where she lived with her ex-husband and their two teenage sons, 30 years ago.
Her partially decomposed body was found in a ditch at Wangford, near Southwold in Suffolk, on 18 February 1989.
She had no known links to Suffolk but police said her killer may have done.
Andy Guy, Suffolk Police's major crime review and unsolved case manager, said the case was reviewed in 2009 and 2016 and "could do with another full forensic review".
"DNA technology has moved on and there are questions I've not got the answers to," he added.
Police said Ms Kempton, known as Jean to her friends, was last seen alive leaving The Loughborough Hotel at about 19:15 GMT on 2 February 1989.
Just over two weeks later, her body was found by two rabbit hunters on the Earl of Stradbroke's estate off the A12.
She was missing her coat, a stiletto, her purse, a wreath for a funeral she had picked up and jewellery.
The cause of death was strangulation.
Police said there were five suspects at one point but no-one was convicted.
Mr Guy said: "She had no connections to Norfolk and Suffolk and was deposited in ditch totally out of context.
"There were no witnesses and no forensic clues to take you anywhere.
"But there could be someone out there who knows something and that could turn things around very quickly."
He said the person who dumped her body most likely had connections with the north-east Suffolk area.
The case featured on BBC One's Crimewatch in May 1989 in an attempt to get more information, but police appeals led to nothing.

BBC Suffolk

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‘The few spoil things for the many’ - fury after bench in children’s play area is torched

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Residents have hit out after a bench in a children’s play area was set alight - just months after the popular facility was refurbished.
Used as a place for parents to congregate while youngsters enjoy nearby play equipment, the picnic bench in Lowestoft’s Rosedale Park - also known as Broadwaters - was found completely charred over the weekend.
Last year, new toddler and junior equipment was installed at the park as a result of local authority efforts to improve leisure facilities across Waveney.
But this latest act of vandalism serves as a setback to Lowestoft Town Council and their attempts to provide appealing amenities for local people.
“This has been so disappointing to see,” said Alice Taylor, who sits on the council. “The fact is, 99.9pc of people in Lowestoft would never do anything like that. It is always one person who spoils things for everyone.
“If I could speak to the person who did this, I’d say this town and everything within it belongs to you. This facility is something you, your own family, your brothers and sisters might use.
“People that do these things are thoughtless - they are simply not thinking ahead about how it affects people around them.”
Now sitting in the play area blackened and unusable, the bench will be

Lowestoft Journal

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Ipswich cat burglar Theo steals milkman's money

A kleptomaniac cat notorious for stealing items from its neighbours has "finally brought home something of real value" - £25.70 in cash.
Pilfering puss Theo became known for thieving Christmas decorations and toys in Ipswich, which owner Rachael Drouet would then try to return.
She had joked it might be useful if he brought home cash instead of "tat".
So he did. The eight-year-old Siamese cross stole the money a neighbour had left out for the milkman.
Ms Drouet and her family recently moved to a new house in the town and thought Theo might have left his thieving habits behind him.
Far from mending his ways, the filching feline upped his game and stole a plastic bag containing the cash.
Luckily there was a note inside with an address, and Ms Drouet's partner Paul Edwards was able to return the money to their neighbour.
"He explained we have an Asbo cat," Ms Drouet said.
"The young lad smiled, took the money and acted like that kind of thing happened all the time."

BBC Suffolk

Reminiscent of the time we had Bramble, our Tonkinese cat (a Siamese/Burmese cross) who used to bring home things such as goldfish, goldfish food and toys - like a small McDonald's cuddly toy giveaway, which we still have as a 'memory' of him. Maybe it's something in the Siamese part of the breed?