Body found washed up on beach after storm

By Rory Reynolds

POLICE are investigating after a passer-by found a body which was washed-up on a beach in East Lothian yesterday morning.

The remains – which have not been identified – were found by a member of the public on a beach in North Berwick at around 10.15am.

Coast guards and police officers retrieved the corpse and forensic teams swooped on the sea-side town, popular with golfers.

The grim find was made close to the Renaissance Golf Club.

A spokesman for the links course said: “There was a body found on the beach this morning. The beach isn’t part of the club.

Rival beggars battle to sit outside busy theatre

By Michael MacLeod

A BEGGAR was arrested for clashing with a fellow tramp over a turf-war for a plum begging spot.

Gary Patience, and Colin McLeod clashed over the patch in front of Edinburgh’s Playhouse theatre.

The spat turned nasty when Mr McLeod set his dog on 51 year-old Patience.

Police had to be called when Patience retaliated by arguing with his rival while holding a baseball bat.

Patience today (Wednesday) admitted he had a weapon because he wanted to “settle the row”.

Edinburgh man clinches European taekwondo championship

Peter Pryde won the European Veteran Champion title

By Cara Sulieman

A CANCER beating martial arts teacher has clinched a European title after fighting testicular cancer that threatened to ruin his taekwondo career.

Former Hearts FC and Dunfermline Athletic player Peter Pryde became the European veteran champion at finals in Italy earlier this month.

He celebrated the win on his 42nd birthday earlier this month after undergoing radiotherapy for the cancer he was diagnosed with two years ago.

Peter, a joiner at Napier University, has been passionate about the sport for the past eight years after taking it up to keep fit when he retired from professional football.

Penguins p-p-p-pick up a pebble

Penguins offer their potential mate a pebble as a "token of love"

By Cara Sulieman

LOVE IS in the air at Edinburgh Zoo as the penguin mating season gets under way.

The female gentoo penguins have taken their place on the nesting rings scattered around the enclosure and are waiting for male penguins to offer them a token of love in the shape of a pebble.

This unique courting ritual will be played out over the following weeks – and will be broadcast live on the zoo’s webcam.

The female bird will only take the pebble that catches her eye, and the male that gives it to her becomes her mate.

But there are also cases of “pebble envy” within the group, with sneaky male penguins trying to nab the best looking pebbles from other nests for their own sweetheart.

Family of missing Musselburgh mum speak of pain of disappearance

By Cara Sulieman

THE FAMILY of missing Scottish mum Elizabeth McVey spoke about the pain her disappearance has caused them for the first time today (Tues).

Michael and Lynsey McVey have been tirelessly joining police and other members of the community in the search for the avid church-goer – known to her friends as Libby.

Her husband said that the week since she went missing has been “awful” and her daughter called for the council worker to get in touch to let them know she’s okay.

Austrian giants take cup at Scots Subbuteo championships

By Rory Reynolds

SCOTLAND’S tiny players failed to make a big win at the Subbuteo championships in Edinburgh last weekend.

More than 60 players from across Europe took part in this year’s Scottish Table Soccer Grand Prix at Easter Road.

Three Scots sides took on teams from Austria, Italy, Belgium, Malta, Holland, as well as England and Wales at the biggest UK fixture.

But the die-hard Austrian contenders ensured that the Scots did not take their own home title home this year.

The team final saw world champions TFC Mattersburg – which are paid and rumoured to practice every day – take down rivals Wiener Neustadt.

Friends of club manager use Facebook to issue plea

Martin Gordon has been missing since last Wednesday (March 24)

By Cara Sulieman

FRIENDS of a nightclub manager who has been missing for a week after leaving for work have set up a Facebook page to try and track him down.

Martin Gordon left for work at Edinburgh club Cabaret Voltaire last Wednesday (March 24) but never turned up.

His flatmate and friend Richard Duff has now set up a group on the social networking site in a bid to track down the 33-year-old, who is originally from Glasgow.

Mr Gordon – who was known to his friends as Tartan – was last seen leaving his flat in the Grassmarket for work at 7.40pm on Wednesday March 24.

Bank boss swindled cash from dead man, disabled pensioners and her own neighbour

By Michael MacLeod

A SHAMELESS bank manager took over £36,000 from customers including a dead man, a disabled elderly couple and one of her own neighbours.

Former Lloyds TSB boss Arlene Wales, 42, told her victims she would help them with their finances, only to embezzle massive sums of cash behind their backs.

She used the money to live a lifestyle she couldn’t afford, while hiding behind a £90,000 credit card debt.

In a bid to solve her own personal financial disaster she targeted five customers at the Dalkeith, Midlothian, bank branch.

But her scheme was snared when the daughter of the late George Clarke was arranging his estate and noticed cash had gone missing.

Three women charged after crash

By Rory Reynolds

THREE women have been charged with traffic-related offences after the car they were travelling in careered off a road and landed in a field.

The Fiat Punto went though a fence and came to a standstill in a field 30 metres from Gilmerton Station Road in Edinburgh.

All three women were thrown from the vehicle during the crash and according to the fire service suffered severe spinal injuries.

Two males travelling in the car were also seriously injured in the incident, with fire crews using cutting equipment to free one trapped in the back seat.

All five were rushed to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after seven ambulance crews were called to the scene.

Scots Guards’ farewell to families before Afghan deployment

By Rory Reynolds and Ruairi Creaney

THE LATEST detachment of Scots Guards spent a precious afternoon with their loved ones yesterday as they prepared to leave rainy Scotland for the baking heat of Afghanistan.

Six soldiers from the now Yorkshire-based Scots Guards visited Edinburgh Castle with their families before they fly out to join the main force in Lashkar Gah later this week.

Among them is a young guardsman, top of his class and tipped for early promotion and a dad-of-two hoping to see the birth of his new son before he leaves.

The armoured infantry division are currently mentoring the Afghan security forces in a volatile region that has claimed the lives of dozens of British soldiers this year alone.

Lance Corporal Sean Grant, 28, from Invergordon, Ross-shire, is leaving behind his 18-week-old daughter Freya for a second tour of Helmand later this week.