| IMF warns UK cuts must stop if growth slows Funds says Coalition would have to revisit plans for spending cuts if growth disappoints and warns it expects further falls in house prices. telegraph.co.uk |
Clegg defends five-year term plan The deputy PM says plans for five-year fixed term parliaments are part of a package aimed at restoring faith in politics. bbc.co.uk |
Aid worker overjoyed at release A British security consultant kidnapped six days ago by gunmen in Somalia has described his release as "marvellous", Save the Children says. bbc.co.uk |
Andy Carroll fined £1,000 after pleading guilty to assault • Newcastle striker admits assaulting man in nightclub• Player also ordered to pay £2,500 in compensationThe Newcastle United striker Andy Carroll was ordered to pay £5,000 in fines, compensation and legal costs today for throwing a glass at a man in a nightclub row.But a crown court judge accepted the 21-year-old's defence that he had intended only to shower the "abusive" man with beer and the glass had slipped from his hand because it was wet.Carroll, who is 6ft 3ins (1.90 metres), admitted assaulting amateur footballer Michael Cook at the Blu Bambu club in central Newcastle last December, after downing up to nine pints of lager and beer. Judge Esmond Faulks was told that the attack followed a row between Cook and a woman who was with Carroll in the packed VIP section of the club.Peter Gair, for the prosecution, told the court in Newcastle that Cook had squeezed through a crowd of drinkers at about 1am and accidentally spilled some of the woman's drink. After she swore at him and poured the rest of it over his shirt, he retaliated by throwing his drink in her face.Carroll, Newcastle's top scorer in the Championship last season with 19 goals, then threw the glass, hitting Cook in the face and leaving a deep cut above his eye.The player, who was raised in Gateshead and described in court as "a local boy who loves Newcastle", was originally charged with assault causing actual bodily harm, but the charge was reduced after police inquiries.Gair said: "What happened was not a deliberate or reckless act but as a consequence of his throwing the drink. His hand was wet, his glass left his hand and it struck Mr Cook above his right eye."Carroll's QC, Stuart Driver, said in mitigation: "The fact that the defendant has a famous profession gives him no advantage in this courtroom at all. In life it gives him opportunities and luxury but it also brings with it unwanted attention, and that is something he is going to have to learn to live with."Both men have had trouble since the attack and the resulting publicity. Cook told Northumbria police that he had been forced to stop playing Sunday League football because of hassle from other players and supporters.Gair told the judge: "He has suffered abuse in the street, mostly from Newcastle United fans, which never escalated into violence but he felt apprehensive about his safety and that of his friends."Last week Carroll's personalised new Range Rover was set on fire and destroyed outside the home of the Newcastle captain, Kevin Nolan, in the town of Ponteland, north-west of Newcastle. The player was living with Nolan and his family as a condition of bail.Carroll was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 compensation to Cook and £1,494 costs.Faulks told the player, whose goal at the weekend gave Newcastle a 2-1 victory over West Ham in the Premier League: "The prosecution accept you did not intend to injure Mr Cook but that what happened to him was effectively an accident. In those unusual circumstances I can proceed to deal with you today by means of financial penalties."Carroll, who was cautioned for causing actual bodily harm after slapping a woman and bruising her face outside a nightclub in 2008, spoke only to answer his name and to admit the charge.He left the hearing without comment but a spokesman for Newcastle United said: "Andy just wants to say he is happy that this matter has now concluded and he can concentrate on his football for Newcastle United."Newcastle UnitedCrimeMartin Wainwrightguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Eleven quizzed over murder of boy Ten males and a woman are arrested after a 17-year-old boy is shot dead in Mill Hill, north-west London. bbc.co.uk |