New therapy assistant starts job with nursing home

Humphrey is enjoying his new job at Inchmarlo Continuing Care Retirement Community

By Cara Sulieman

A NEW Therapy Assistant has started work at one of Scotland’s care homes.

Humphrey the bulldog puppy has been visiting the residents of Inchmarlo Continuing Care Retirement Community near Banchory since July providing them with a much-needed friendly face.

And he is even writing his own blog about his time at the home so that friends and relatives can keep track of his progress.

At just 12 weeks old, Humphrey is still learning the ropes in his new job, but seems to be having an absolute ball.

Man jailed over family feud

By Cara Sulieman

A MAN has been jailed over his part in an ongoing family feud after he threatened to pour petrol in the hallway of a relative’s home.

Charles Cassidy, 22, went into the house of Steven Cumming and threw a knife into the hallway before leaving and coming back with an open can of petrol on June 1 this year.

Standing in the hallway of the house in Tranent, East Lothian, he shouted “this is what you are f**king getting” before driving off.

Yesterday Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that the feud was over money that Cassidy’s mother Yvonne Mackie suspected Steven Cumming has stolen.

Italian driver who mowed down honeymoon Scots banned

By Paul Thornton & Lorenzo Dalberto

THE Italian driver who mowed down a Scots honeymoon couple leaving the groom fighting for his life has been banned from the roads.

Police in Sorrento said a 22-year-old local man was detained and questioned following the horror 1am crash last Friday which hospitalised newlyweds John and Nicola Tams from Bonnyrigg.

Detectives are investigating how the driver’s Citreon C1 car mounted the kerb outside the couple’s romantic Capodimonte Hotel in Sorrento in the Campania area of the country in the early hours of July 9.

Nicola, 31, was left with four broken ribs while 30-year-old teacher John was induced into a potentially life-saving medical coma to be treated for horrific head and body injuries.

She has vowed to stay by husband John’s bedside at a hospital in Napoli until he is well enough to make the return journey to their home in Midlothian.

And Italian authorities revealed that they may also still be needed as witnesses to assist with an ongoing investigation into a young local man who has been charged with grievous bodily harm over the incident.

£50k hip operation for King Charles II and his horse

By Michael MacLeod

AN historic Scots monument is to get a £50,000 hip replacement to save it from collapse.

Edinburgh’s oldest statue, the effigy of King Charles II on horseback, has been battered by over 300 years of heavy Scottish weather and needs urgent work.

Rainwater has seeped in through cracks causing crippling damage on one side of the Parliament Square sculpture, erected in the heart of the capital’s Old Town in 1685.

Experts compared the refurbishment work to a keyhole surgery operation on Charles II’s hip and put a contract for the job out for tender this week.

Top private school teacher faces being struck off for helping students cheat

By Cara Sulieman

A FRENCH teacher who worked at Prince Charles’ former school faces being struck off over allegations that he helped students cheat on an oral exam.

Eric Tessier-Lavigne is alleged to have given 11 pupils at Gordonstoun School in Elgin an unfair advantage by emailing them information about a conversation topic the day before the GCSE French exam took place on May 4 2009.

It is also alleged the emails contained the instruction “destroy after reading”.

Today, the Disciplinary Sub-Committee of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC) heard that Mr Tessier-Lavigne denies the charges and the case was adjourned until April 27 when they will hear evidence.

Hearts owner’s building “at risk”

By Cara Sulieman

AN ICONIC building owned by Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov has been branded “at risk” after sitting empty for three years.

The Scottish Civic Trust added the former RBS headquarters in Edinburgh city centre to its register after saying it was starting to show “some signs of deterioration”.

They also said there were now “signs of vandalism” at the building at 42 St Andrew’s Square.

Romanov’s investment company UBIG bought the former offices in 2007 and confirmed that they were pressing on with plans to develop the building and will be submitting planning application later this year.

Director of New Pyjamas suspended ahead of finance investigation

Elaine McGonigle (left) with Jack McConnell and George Foulkes at a New Pyjama event at the Parliament last November

By Cara Sulieman

THE director of a fundraising campaign has been suspended while the chairman has resigned amid concerns about how much money the initiative has raised.

Elaine McGonigle has been suspended from the New Pyjamas Campaign for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh ahead of crisis talks with NHS Lothian due to take place tomorrow (Wednesday).

Chairman Graeme Millar has also stepped down from his position.

NHS Lothian Chairman, Dr Charles Winstanley, said the health board called an emergency summit after expressing their “deep concern” when brought up to date on how much had been raised.

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation said they were beginning an “urgent review” of the fundraising campaign.

Elderly couple torn apart by NHS

 

Margaret Peterson with a picture of her and Charles in happier times

 

By Cara Sulieman

AN ELDERLY couple who have been married for 25 years have been forced 13 miles apart by the NHS because of red tape.

Charles Peterson, 88, was refused a place in a care home in his hometown because his step-daughter works there.

And now his wife Margaret, 82, has to make a 26 mile round trip to North Berwick to visit her husband from her home in Dunbar.

The couple only spent a few days apart in their 25 years of marriage – even travelling the world together when Charles got a job in Saudi Arabia – until he had to be taken into hospital following a stroke in early 2008.

A quarter of paediatric junior doctors are on maternity leave

By Cara Sulieman

A SENIOR medic is warning of a dramatic shortage in doctors working on specialist children’s wards after a mini baby boom wiped out a quarter of junior staff.

A worrying report claims that 23 per cent of UKs junior doctors specialising in paediatrics are off on maternity leave leaving hard pressed colleagues to cope.

NHS Lothian medical education chief Dr Paul Padfield warns that St John’s Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, is particularly badly hit amid growing fears over working hours.

Dr Padfield is warning the service is under “particular pressure” and fears staff could be working more hours than those agreed under new EU legislation.

Origin of the Species sells for £15,000

By Cara Sulieman

A RARE first edition of Charles Darwin’s greatest work The Origin of Species’ sold for an impressive £15,000 at an auction yesterday.

Valued between £10,000 and £15,000 the stunning tome broke through the estimation to fetch £15,625.

It has been described as “one of the most important books ever published” and was sold to a private buyer from the south of England.

The price reflects not only the importance of the book itself, but also the rarity of the first editions.