Host denies killing children in pub fire
A pub fire that killed two young children and a man was started deliberately, the Old Bailey heard on Monday.
Kate Knight, 32, denied starting the fire at the Prince of Wales in Stoke Newington and pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of her sons, Christopher, 10, and Charlie, four, as well as pub customer Rondrick Springer, 45.
The court heard Knight started the fire in June 2003 after her husband left the pub following an argument at 3am. Some customers described her as drunk.
Towels were set alight near the stairs, while lighter fule and white spirit were found in the pub store room, the court was told.
Springer saved two of the children by lowering them from a window but he suffered bad injuries when he fell from the ledge. He died six weeks later in hospital.
Another child, aged three, was injured when he was lowered from the window. The case continues.
Bar manager admits manslaughter
A north Wales bar manager faces jail after admitting that he killed another man at a different pub in the town.
Carl Gossop, 27, admitted manslaughter of Leonard Murray at Liberty's in Colwyn Bay last October, when he appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court last week.
Murray died in hospital the day after the attack.
Neither the case for the prosecution or defence were outlined in the hearing.
The case was adjourned for sentencing until next month but the judge told Gossop, of Colwyn Bay, that jail was "inevitable".
Man's nose was almost bitten off
A man who almost bit off another man's nose during a fight has been jailed for 28 months.
Jason Bowler, 27, admitted wounding Matthew Cooper at the Bricklayers Arms in Abbey Foregate, Shropshire, when he appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday last week.
The court heard that the attack followed an argument in the pub involving a number of people.
Bowler, of Chatford Drive, Meole Brace, held Cooper in a headlock and bit his nose, leaving it hanging from his face. Doctors had to stitch it together.
In mitigation, the judge was given several letters saying Bowler was a respectable man with no previous convictions for violence.
Youths steal TV equipment and cash
Thieves stole a TV set, digital box and £1,000 from a fruit machine during a raid on the Coach & Horses in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
The pub was broken into between 2am and 3am on Thursday last week, after a window in the back bar was smashed. A member of the public saw two teenage boys carrying a TV across a road. The set was later found behind a hedge.
The raiders fled in a dark T-reg car. They were dressed in black, police said, and one was wearing a black baseball cap with writing on it. One of them had a mountain bike.
Anyone with information is asked to call PC Shaw at Didcot Police on 0845 8505 505.
Man was punched unconscious
A drunken pub-goer punched a man unconscious in a Lincolnshire pub because the victim "smirked" at him, a court heard.
Martin Edward Barrett, 38, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court last week and admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.
The court heard that Barrett approached Owen Kavanagh and started punching him, knocking him to the floor and leaving him unconscious for a short while.
Kavanagh suffered severe bruising to his right lower back and bruising to his eyebrow and eye.
Joe Spicer, defending, said it was a "one off" for Barrett, who, he said, had drunk 10 to 15 pints that night and "felt that Mr Kavanagh was smirking at him".
"[Barrett] had been involved in a previous incident with Mr Kavanagh where he felt he had been offensive towards his wife," said Spicer.
Barrett, of Shannon Avenue, Boultham, Lincoln, was given 180 hours community punishment and ordered to pay £300 compensation and £100 costs.
