Coronation Street's Michael Le Vell In Court

By Mike McCarthy, North Of England Correspondent

The Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell has appeared in court for the first time to face six charges of raping a child.

Le Vell, who plays Kevin Webster in the ITV soap opera, is accused of 19 child sex offences.

The actor sat glum-faced in the dock as charges of raping a child were put to him.

During the eight-minute hearing, Le Vell - whose real name is Michael Turner - spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.

Le Vell looked shaken as he arrived for the hearing

Four members of his family sat towards the back of the court.

The alleged offences relate to one complainant and all took place between 2001 and 2010, the court heard.

District Judge Khalid Qureshi asked Le Vell's solicitor, Richard Gowthorpe, if there was any indication of plea, to which he replied: "No indication of plea today other than the fact that the charges are contested, and will be fully contested in the Crown Court."

Le Vell was bailed on the condition he surrenders his passport, does not contact named witnesses or have unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 14.

Asked if he understood the conditions, Le Vell nodded.

Le Vell is one of television's most famous faces

As he left the court, he said to waiting photographers:  "You must have enough pictures of me by now."

When the charges were announced earlier this year, the 48-year-old father-of-two said he intends to fight them "vigorously".

"I would like to make it quite clear that following the serious allegations that have been brought against me on Thursday 14th February 2013, I am innocent of these charges and intend to fight them vigorously," he said.

"I will now put all my efforts into clearing my name and proving my innocence."

ITV dropped the actor from any further episodes of the show after the charges became public.

Minders clear the path for Le Vell outside the Manchester court

An ITV spokesman said: "Given the serious nature of these charges, Michael Le Vell will not be appearing in Coronation Street pending the outcome of legal proceedings. It would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this time."

Le Vell, who split from his wife Janette Beverley last year, is one of television's most famous faces after playing car mechanic Kevin Webster for the past 30 years in the TV show.

Originally from Manchester, he began his acting career in the Oldham Theatre Workshop after taking an interest in amateur dramatics while at school.

He first joined the soap in 1983 and quickly endeared himself to fans who have followed the trials and tribulations of Kevin, from Brian Tilsley's apprentice mechanic through to his stormy marriage to Sally, played by Sally Dynevor, and fathering two teenage girls as well as a love child from his affair with Molly Dobbs.

Le Vell is due to appear at Manchester Crown Court on March 20.

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Councillor Said 'Put Disabled Children Down'

A councillor who said disabled children "should be put down" has apologised but refused to resign, claiming he has done nothing wrong.

Collin Brewer, an independent member of Cornwall County Council, made the remarks at an equalities event.

The councillor was talking to Theresa Court, advice services manager with Disability Cornwall, in October 2011.

She said: "I remember him (Mr Brewer) coming over and asking what the stall was about. I was explaining to him about the parent partnership service when he said disabled children should be put down.

"He said they cost the council too much money. I felt physically sick. I was there with parents of disabled children at the time and I just had to turn my back on him."

She made a complaint over his comments, which has only recently been resolved.

Mr Brewer complied with a standards board order to apologise, but said he will not resign.

Speaking to the BBC, he said he was "hot under the collar" and had been "caught on the wrong day".

"It's not a good enough excuse, I will forever be apologising for it. I can't apologise enough. It's not something that's in my nature, I always support disabled charities. I am very sorry," he said.

"Clearly it has gone to the standards board to provide any penalty whatsoever and the penalty they imposed was to write a letter of apology.

"I have no intention of resigning. I don't think I have done anything wrong. I have apologised."

A spokesman for disabled charity Scope described Mr Brewer's outburst as "outrageous".

He said: "Comments such as this have absolutely no place in modern society and should be consigned to the history books."

A council spokeswoman pointed out that councils no longer have the power to suspend councillors.

She added: "In this case, the monitoring officer found that there had been a breach of the code of conduct and determined that the only appropriate and proportionate sanction he could impose was to require Councillor Brewer to issue a formal apology."

Children's services director Trevor Doughty said: "I am shocked and disappointed by the remarks made by Councillor Brewer.

"The comments were cruel and ignorant and are contrary to the council's policy of supporting all people with disabilities.

"We are very proud of the disability services provided in Cornwall and wish to totally disassociate ourselves with these completely unacceptable views."

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Lord Rennard: Clegg Admits 'Serious Mistakes'

Nick Clegg has admitted his party made "very serious mistakes" in its handling of sexual harassment claims against its then chief executive Lord Rennard.

The Deputy Prime Minister continued to insist that he was personally unaware of any specific allegations by women in the party until they were broadcast last week.

But he said the issue was "in the background" when the peer - who strongly denies the claims - retired from his senior role on grounds of ill-health in 2009.

"There were some very serious mistakes and the women were not listened to and were let down," Mr Clegg said as he was questioned on the controversy during his weekly phone-in on LBC 97.3 radio.

Lord Rennard has strongly denied the allegations

"I so much believe that it is crucial that you treat people with respect and dignity in everything you do - and that is what I expect of people in the organisation I lead. That, clearly, did not happen here, to put it mildly."

Mr Clegg said an email sent to a senior aide by the Daily Telegraph shortly before the 2010 election setting out detailed allegations "was not passed on to me".

"He felt that four days before the general election, because he knew what the answer was - that I didn't know anything about the allegations - and he would just send an answer back to the Daily Telegraph.

"Clearly something went seriously wrong in the organisation as a whole that people were not talking to each other."

He also insisted that a face-to-face conversation with then MP Sandra Gidley after he became leader in 2007 had been "of a general nature".

"She raised it in general terms. She wasn't aware of any specific allegations and, as she has confirmed today, I didn't either," he said.

The programme's final caller - called Herbie - asked Mr Clegg: "How in God's name do you expect (people in Eastleigh) to vote for you with this scandal going on and uneasiness?"

Mr Clegg answered by outlining the party's record in the area, where voters will pick Chris Huhne's replacement on Thursday.

When pressed on details of what was said during various discussions, the party leader said he could not be expected to remember what was said in conversations six years ago.

"All I can tell you is the truth as I recollect it now," he added.

Lord Rennard issued a fresh denial of any wrongdoing on Wednesday and has said he is ready "co-operate with any properly-constituted inquiry".

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Horsemeat: Tesco To Source More Meat From UK

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business and Economics Correspondent

Tesco has announced a commitment to source more of its meat from the UK at a farming conference in Birmingham today.

The supermarket kingpin has told the National Farmers Union meeting that by July all its chicken will come from British farms, and pork products will follow.

Tesco will also offer suppliers two-year contracts to help companies plan their business for the longer term.

The company's chief executive, Phillip Clarke, addressed the conference today, told Sky News: "We feel the need to bring the food closer to home.

"We think it's right to bring more of it back to the UK, so long as we can get the demand from the UK."

Tesco has blamed its suppliers for the meat contamination

Earlier this month, Mr Clarke said in a video on Tesco's website that the company would take a more open approach to food processing after it was found to be selling products contaminated with horsemeat.

Tesco was one of the first retailers to pull products from its shelves after the horsemeat contamination was revealed on January 16 after analysis was undertaken by Irish food officials.

Tests on Findus beef lasagne revealed that some of the ready meals were made entirely from horsemeat.

And Tesco found levels of horse DNA exceeded 60% in tests on its Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese.

Since the horsemeat scandal broke, supermarkets have been criticised for not communicating with customers quickly enough.

They have also seen frozen burger sales and ready meal sales plunge dramatically, data by Kantar Worldpanel showed.

In an attempt to be more transparent, Tesco said it would put cameras on the supply chain so shoppers could see where the food they are eating has come from and how it was produced.

Harvester has withdrawn 6oz burgers as a precautionary measure

"There's nothing for anybody to hide. There never should be," said Mr Clarke.

While it already sources all its beef products from the UK and Ireland, the food retailer admits suppliers had cut corners.

"The impact so far on sales is minimal," Mr Clarke added, though he acknowledged that some customers are buying fewer frozen ready meals.

George MacDonald, Retail Week executive editor, told Sky News, "The shopper can feel fairly confident that anybody involved is going to be looking very closely indeed at how they can sort out these problems."

As the nation's biggest supermarket, Tesco should be at the forefront of campaign to restore trust in food, Mr MacDonald believes.

"It is essential for them to fully reconnect with the customer," he said.

Sky News has confirmed that Harvester has become the latest outlet to withdraw burger products for precautionary reasons over horsemeat fears.

Paragon's website promoted product quality but equine DNA was found in food

The firm withdrew its 6oz burgers from sale after equine DNA was found in burgers destined for Whitbread their Doncaster-based supplier, Paragon Quality Foods Ltd.

Paragon has confirmed no contamination of Harvester burgers occurred, and its website insisted: "Only high quality meat, fully traceable to the farm is used in our superior burger."

A Harvester spokesperson told Sky News: "The Harvester burger had a negative test result but as Paragon had received a positive test result for a batch of 6oz burgers in the factory we removed our product as a precautionary measure in case of any possible contamination.

"We are in the process of replacing all existing stock with a fresh batch."

:: Pembrokeshire Council has withdrawn mince products from all schools, care homes and day care centres after horsemeat was found in one supplier's products.

:: Ikea has withdrawn its beef and pork wiener sausages from sale in France, Spain, UK, Ireland and Portugal over contamination fears, which were made by the same Swedish supplier as its horsemeat-tainted meatballs.

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Woman Pleads Guilty To Facebook Harassment

A woman has pleaded guilty to using Facebook to harass the family of a girl who went missing from a British army base in Germany more than 30 years ago.

Donna Wright, 33, from Spennymoor, County Durham, admitted to sending messages to the family of Katrice Lee on the social networking site.

Wright claimed to be the girl, who went missing in November 1981, and then continued to harass the family even after a DNA test had proved she was not.

Outside court, Katrice's father Richard Lee, 63, said: "We want a conclusion because we have put up with this since September 2011 and my family has gone through hell.

"She wanted her 15 minutes of fame on the tragedy of my family."

Wright appeared by video link at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court where District Judge Martin Walker said she would be sentenced next month.

Mr Lee, who was stationed with the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars in Germany, said he felt the system had not come down on his side.

"What I cannot understand is that it seems to me that the system is helping the perpetrator and what was said in court has nothing to do with the abuse that was sent to my family," he said.

"If you can use false names repeatedly it's not the mark of someone who is unwell. My family's feelings have not been taken into account."

He also described how he felt at the time when his daughter went missing from a food store near the military base, and how he continues to hold onto hope that she may still be found.

"She went missing from an unfenced barracks with one road in and one road out and just 20 yards away was a college," he said.

"The college had an open day and there was eight times the number of people and traffic than usual. It was absolutely horrendous, there were people going in and out trying to get away on Christmas leave.

"I have always believed that she was taken as a surrogate child or sold for profit to someone that could not have children.

"I have to hold onto hope otherwise I could not go on. It's the one thing they cannot take away from you, I have got to have hope.

"People are often coming forward in the news to try and find their family and those cases recharge my batteries."

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Badger Culls To Go Ahead In Two Areas

Two pilot badger culls to tackle the spread of bovine tuberculosis will go ahead in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset.

The culls, which will see 70% of badgers killed in each area, were authorised by Government agency Natural England after final licence conditions were met.

The two pilot culls were delayed last year following bad weather and the discovery that there were more badgers in the areas than previously estimated.

From June 1, up to 5,000 badgers will be killed across the two areas annually over a six week period for four years.

An area in Dorset will be prepared as a reserve in case one of the existing licensed cull areas cannot be used, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said.

He said tackling bovine TB had cost the taxpayer £500m in the past 10 years, and costs could reach £1bn over the next decade if the disease was left unchecked.

Owen Paterson at the National Farmer's Union conference

Speaking at the National Farmers' Union conference in Birmingham, he said: "Bovine TB is spreading at an alarming rate and causing real devastation to our beef and dairy industry.

"The authorisation letters issued today confirming culling can proceed this summer in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset is an important step towards taking the action we need to tackle the spread of this disease in wildlife.

"I am determined that there are no further delays this year."

The pilots are being carried out to test whether free shooting is an effective and humane way to remove badgers.

Mr Paterson said Britain had to learn from experience elsewhere that TB could not effectively be curbed without tackling the problem in wildlife.

He said he wanted to see effective and affordable vaccines deployed for both cattle and badgers as quickly as possible but it was likely to take another decade before the deployment of a cattle vaccine which is validated and legal under EU regulations could take place.

National Farmers' Union president Peter Kendall welcomed the move which he said would help reduce the damage TB did to the country's food production base.

He described the 35,000 cattle which had to be slaughtered because of the disease in 2012 as a "scandalous waste".

But the measure has been criticised by Labour, which has consistently opposed a badger cull.

Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said 150,000 people had signed a petition against it last year and scientists had warned against the "untested and risky approach".

She said: "As incompetent Defra ministers stagger from one crisis to the next, the policing costs, paid by the taxpayer, will balloon to £4m while bovine TB will increase in the next two years as the shooting displaces badgers.

"Ministers should listen to the public and the scientists and drop this cull before any more public money is wasted."

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Martha Lane Fox To Join The House Of Lords

The web tycoon Martha Lane Fox is joining the House of Lords, where she will be the youngest woman peer.

The co-founder of travel website lastminute.com, who is also David Cameron's "digital champion", will sit on the crossbenches as a non-political member.

The 40-year-old revealed on Twitter that she has taken the formal title of Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho in the City of Westminster.

Adding the hyphen is required under peerage rules.

However, she later tried to backtrack because the Soho element is not supposed to be announced until she is admitted on March 26.

"Ssshh ... Soho bit still a secret apparently," she wrote, adding: "Whoops, first mistake of newly appt peer - shouldnt have announced title til formally in house [sic]."

She also posted a picture of the formal letter from the Lords authorities confirming the ennoblement, before deleting it when it was picked up by the press.

The online entrepreneur told friends via the micro-blog site that the appointment was a "real privilege" and she "can't wait to make an impact".

"Will get robe on and get them moving," she told one.

The businesswoman co-founded website lastminute.com in 1998, before stepping down as managing director in 2003 - two years before the company was sold.

She went on to start the karaoke chain Lucky Voice and charity Go On UK, which aims to spread digital skills.

She also has her own grant giving foundation, Antigone, funding charities that target neglected causes.

Joining her in the Lords will be composer and broadcaster Michael Berkeley, who will also sit as a crossbencher.

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Fielder-Civil Sorry For Winehouse's Addiction

Amy Winehouse's former husband has told of his regret at introducing the late singer to heroin.

Blake Fielder-Civil said they had used "heroin together as addicts for like four months" but he had then gone to jail.

While he was in prison he said her drug use became worse.

Speaking on ITV's Jeremy Kyle Show, he said he had divorced Winehouse after being told to end the marriage by her father Mitch. He had hoped that separation would help her kick her addiction.

Fielder-Civil, 34, who was married to the singer for two years, said: "Out of maybe a six or seven-year relationship that me and Amy had on and off, there was drug use for about four months together."

He said Winehouse's addiction got "a lot worse while I was in jail and then when I came out of jail I was told that if I loved her I'd divorce her and set her free - and I did".

Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning in 2011

He said he introduced the singer, who died at her London home from accidental alcohol poisoning in July 2011, to heroin in a room in an east London hotel.

"The fact is what I'm saying is of course I regret it, not just 'cos of the damage it's caused Amy and the loss of life, but the damage to her family but also to my family and also to me."

The couple together in 2008

Fielder-Civil said he was told to end the marriage by Winehouse's family - most specifically by her father, who he claimed told him: "If you love her really you'll divorce her."

He said: "I spoke to Amy about it and we sort of agreed that it would get everyone off our backs at least, you know, and we'd probably re-marry."

He said that during his time in prison in the weeks leading to her death, the two of them had talked about getting back together.

Fielder-Civil said: "We had sort of spoken in the previous weeks about her visiting me and we had had maybe one emotional phone call when we'd said, you know, are we thinking about maybe getting back together at some point."

Winehouse's father, Mitch, at the singer's funeral

He added: "And then we had a correspondence for about a week where we sort of ummed and aahed about it and then in the end it was sort of like, what are we doing?"

He said that he did not believe Winehouse had died until he was shown several websites reporting her death by the senior prison staff who had broken the news to him.

Fielder-Civil has been in rehab three times to kick his drug problems and has two children from a relationship since he split from Winehouse.

He said he had been drug-free for a year.

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Tragic Ben Nevis Climber's Family Pay Tribute

A climber who died in a fall while scaling Ben Nevis has been hailed as a "loving father and husband" by his devastated wife.

Police named the victim as Mark Phillips, from Spean Bridge, a village in the Scottish highlands.

The 51-year-old was an environmental health officer with Highland Council.

He had been climbing with a friend on what is the UK's highest mountain on Monday when he fell around 50 metres (165ft).

Two helicopters flew to the scene with Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, but Mr Phillips died during the rescue.

Mark Phillips had been climbing on Ben Nevis for several days

His wife Caroline said in a statement: "My beloved husband, Mark, was enjoying the superb conditions the Scottish Highlands were affording.

"He had spent the previous few days climbing and walking in the hills with friends. Tragically that day he sustained fatal injuries following an incident on Ben Nevis.

"Mark and I together with our son, Ruaridh, had moved to the Highlands about 12 years ago so as to live amongst the hills and community we had got to love.

"Mark was a loving father and husband and will be sorely missed by us and his many friends and work colleagues. Ruaridh and I thank them all for their support."

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Harry Styles Floored After Shoe Thrown By Fan

A One Direction fan had an unusual way of showing her affection - by throwing her shoe at Harry Styles during a concert.

In a YouTube video, the singer was seen bending over in pain after being hit in the groin by the flying shoe, before falling to the ground.

Another member of the band could be heard shouting: "Man down."

The band were on stage answering questions from Twitter during their Take Me Home tour in Glasgow on Tuesday night.

A shoe, which was flung on stage seconds earlier, missed the singers and Styles held it up for the audience, saying: "It's a shoe."

A second shoe was then thrown, striking the 19-year-old.

Once the singer was back on his feet, he performed a few stretches as fellow band member Liam Payne explained: "Well, he has just been assaulted."

The boys were quick to reassure the packed crowd that their bandmate had not suffered any lasting damage.

Styles has joined an elite club of public figures and leaders to have had shoes thrown at them, although for very different reasons.

These include former US president George W Bush, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, former prime minister Tony Blair and former International Monetary Fund director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

It is not the first time Styles has been hurt by overzealous fans.

In April 2012, while performing at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, he was hit again in the crotch by what appeared to be a shoe thrown from the audience.

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