logo
'Nightmare' Neighbour fined for rat infested garden in Melton Mowbray

'Nightmare' Neighbour fined for rat infested garden in Melton Mowbray

Metro2 days ago
A man has been handed a court bill for £1,200 for failing to tidy his 'nightmare' overgrown garden.
Richard Bates, who lives in Melton Mowbray near Leicester, was approached by his local council in September 2024 over the overgrown vegetation at the front of his house.
He later got formal warnings and a fixed penalty notice, before council workers eventually moved in to tidy up the site.
They were tasked with clearing the 'very overgrown vegetation and any other items that could provide food and harbour vermin'.
While carrying out the work, they found a rat's nest in the garden, which Melton Borough Council described as a 'nightmare'.
On July 9 at Leicester Magistrates' Court, the matter was found proved in Bates' absence and he received a £500. More Trending
He was also ordered to pay £500 towards the council's costs and a victim charge of £200, while the council said he would also be recharged for the cost of the works.
Bates was found proved of failing to comply with a community protection notice.
Councillor Sarah Cox, portfolio holder for corporate finance, property and resources at the council, said: 'Even with support from our teams, the resident failed to adhere to the conditions set out to him, forcing us to take necessary action to keep the area clean and free of pests.
'We take issues such as anti-social behaviour very seriously.
'If a supportive approach fails, we will not hesitate to enforce and act to keep our communities a safe and thriving place to live.'
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Man made friend strip before 'parading' him through Welsh village naked
MORE: Afghan veteran warns data breach poses shadow threat 'for years to come'
MORE: Three minutes cut from 'raw' prison footage of the night Epstein died
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

High-profile Reform defection causes stir, but what does it mean for 2026 Senedd Election?
High-profile Reform defection causes stir, but what does it mean for 2026 Senedd Election?

ITV News

time9 hours ago

  • ITV News

High-profile Reform defection causes stir, but what does it mean for 2026 Senedd Election?

The defection of Laura Anne Jones has shocked and surprised even some of her closest colleagues. The significance of it has yet to be fully realised but certainly for now it has caused a sensation. In the short term, it gives Nigel Farage's Reform UK a Senedd member, another symbol that it's gaining support at all levels of government and a possible leader in Wales and even, if the polls are correct, a potential candidate for First Minister. But it brings its own problems. Laura Anne Jones is yet to be formally cleared by the Senedd's Standards Commissioner, Douglas Bain, after South Wales Police cleared her of expenses allegations. And her presence adds to those who say that Reform UK is mostly the home of disgruntled, former Conservative politicians, something that might put off those supporters of other political parties who, polls suggest, have been tempted by what they're hearing from Reform UK. For the Welsh Conservatives, it's a blow and one they weren't expecting. One Welsh Conservative source made the jibe, 'She'll have to turn up to cabinet more often now,' while another expressed disappointment that Ms Jones hadn't confided in even her closest colleagues, particularly those who'd offered help and support including 'emotional support' in recent years. Still, there's no doubt that her defection has shaken up a Welsh politics that is already being shaken up. Next year's Senedd election is one that is likely to bring huge change. Laura Anne Jones has just become a much bigger part of that change. Those other parties are contemplating what change means for them. There's the same mix of bafflement and frustration. When I bumped into Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth on the Royal Welsh Showground earlier, he highlighted the fact that he's a leader rooted in Wales but it's the visitor flown in from elsewhere who was getting the attention. Similarly former Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies, has been at the Royal Welsh in a personal capacity for the last few days before taking up political tasks today. He rather wryly laughs at the rumours suggesting it would be he who'd defect, repeating his mantra that he was 'born blue.' A Welsh Labour spokesperson said, 'Today's defection is further proof that Reform are just the Tories in teal ties. Neither party cares about the people of Wales. 'Laura Anne Jones has seen the polls and, in a desperate attempt to keep her Senedd seat, is leaving the sinking Tory ship. This is someone who backed Liz Truss' reckless economics which crashed the economy, lost her front bench role over expenses claims and her own party said they were embarrassed by her racist slur in a WhatsApp group. 'She claims she's now part of the solution not the problem. Reform have no plan for Wales only Welsh Labour is listening and delivering for the people of Wales.' In his statement, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said 'This is yet another desperate Tory defection who knows the writing is on the wall for their party's prospects next May. 'Our national parliament is not a plaything for those who want to set Wales on a road to ruin. Only a Plaid Cymru government will build a fair, ambitious and prosperous nation.'Welsh Liberal Democrat MP David Chadwick said, 'The Conservatives are clearly dead as a political force in Wales. But let's be clear: Reform has no answers for Wales, just more noise, division, and is seemingly now only a vehicle for failed Conservative politicians. 'The Welsh Liberal Democrats are standing up to Reform and defending the public services our communities rely on, offering the serious leadership Wales desperately needs. 'Our party's DNA is interwoven with Welsh history and identity. Next year, we will be fighting hard to build a fairer, more Liberal future for Wales. For voters who feel the Conservatives have abandoned them and are appalled by Reform, our door is open.'

Can Nigel Farage have it both ways?
Can Nigel Farage have it both ways?

New Statesman​

time12 hours ago

  • New Statesman​

Can Nigel Farage have it both ways?

Photo byFast-track courts. Pop-up custody suites. 'Nightingale' prisons. Mass deportations of foreign criminals. Outsourcing British criminals to foreign prisons. Prosecutions for every incidence of shoplifting or phone theft. Life sentences for people who commit three serious offences. Oh, and cutting crime in half within five years. Welcome to criminal justice à la Reform UK. Nigel Farage's party plans to spend the six weeks of the summer recess winning the war on crime with a campaign entitled 'Lawless Britain'. It's a subject which the party already leads public opinion on. And it all kicked off on Monday, with a press conference that epitomises both the opportunities and the challenges for Reform as it moves into this space. Let's zoom out. Reform's first year in parliament has been characterised by its meteoric rise in the polls: for months now, it has led both the Conservatives and Labour by what looks like a comfortable margin. This has persisted, despite a merry-go-round of personnel dramas. First, the party lost one fifth of its parliamentary cohort by expelling Rupert Lowe. Then, it returned to a quintet of MPs thanks to the election of Sarah Pochin in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes, only to go back down to four scarcely two months later with the self-suspension of James McMurdock, over loans he took out under a Covid support scheme. In between, we had the 48-hour resign-and-rehire saga of Reform chairman Zia Yusuf. For a party trying to prove it is above personality politics and deserves to be taken seriously, that's quite a ride. Reform has also benefited from defections over the past year: former skills minister Andrea Jenkyns (now mayor of Greater Lincolnshire), former Welsh Secretary David Jones, former Tory party chairman Jake Berry. All these, plus a handful of other ex-MPs, were once Conservatives. As my colleague Will Lloyd pointed out, luring Conservatives to Reform comes with prestige but also risk. As well as the possibility of antagonising long-term supporters ('Why should somebody at the coalface of fourteen years of failure be welcomed up into the air of your new party?'), it weakens Reform's message of standing up to the 'Uniparty' consisting of Labour and the Tories. By welcoming Berry et al, Farage seems to be working out how much of his cake he can have and eat at the same time. It's a delicate balancing act: drawing credibility from defections without losing your USP as a fresh insurgent. A similar experiment in cakeism is evident in the crime campaign. The extra prison places the party promises to create don't come close to covering what would be needed if every instance of shoplifting or phone theft resulted in a custodial sentence. The idea of having the army build makeshift prisons raises worrying questions about security. The notion that crime could be halved for just £17.4bn over the course of a parliament, funded by scrapping net zero and HS2 (savings Reform has already earmarked for other policies such as cutting taxes) is laughable. Indeed, Farage laughed when the first journalist questioned costs ('I was rather waiting for that question'). Just in case the message failed to land, hacks were given helpful handouts of facts and figures. It's hard to appear jaw-droppingly ambitious and eminently reasonable at the same time. Even the set-up of the press conference suggested that the party is still deliberating on how it wants to be seen. At first, the Gladstone Library of the Royal Horseguards Hotel was lit in dim red and blue, reminiscent of a haunted fairground. LED screens loomed, displaying 'case files' of dangerous criminals serving lenient sentences which then morphed into stats on violent crime, the writing flickering ominously. You almost expected the theme tune of Law & Order to begin playing as Farage walked in – but no, instead the lights came on. It was as though the organisers couldn't decide quite how gimmicky they wanted to be. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Likewise on the subject matter. When pressed (by the Telegraph's Tim Stanley, hardly a soft touch) on whether sending British criminals to El Salvador as suggested might breach their human rights, Farage back-peddled his most eye-catching proposal, suggesting Estonia or Kosovo instead. Sarah Pochin, sitting beside him, hadn't got the memo. 'What about the human rights of the women who have been raped and the children who have been subject to sexual abuse?' she countered. Farage remained poker-faced, but there is a clear tension here between riding the outrage train (a sizable proportion of Reform supporters probably would back sending violent sex offenders to El Salvador, whether it breached their human rights or not) and maintaining the air of reasonableness necessary to widen the party's appeal. Can you have it both ways? Farage was doing his best. But the higher Reform climbs in the polls and the longer it stays there, the more acute this tension will become. Farage, as I have written before, believes he has 'banked' the immigration issue (if immigration is your top concern, you are already likely to vote for Reform), therefore he can branch out into other issues. Crime is not only a hot-button concern for the British public (almost half of us think Britain is becoming a lawless country), but an area where Reform can build its credibility via its stance on immigration. Underpinning the announcements on Monday were a slew of immigration talking points: from accusations of 'two-tier policing', to the number of foreign criminals in British jails, to the necessity of leaving the ECHR in order to restore law and order. Think of it as implementing different policies from one core political position (that immigration must come down). The upside is that you can present yourself as a serious contender with a plan for government rather than a single-issue protest group. The risk is that the flaws in your wider policy offering (like speed-building prisons which offenders can escape from, or incarcerating so many people the system collapses) make you look ridiculous. More visibility equals more pressure – and more risk. Will this be the summer Reform grows up? And can it handle being treated like an adult if it does? Related

Body of missing mum found in lake identified as Rachel Booth
Body of missing mum found in lake identified as Rachel Booth

Metro

time14 hours ago

  • Metro

Body of missing mum found in lake identified as Rachel Booth

A body found in the search for missing mum Rachel Booth has been formally identified as her. The 38-year-old was last seen buying a bottle of wine and milk from a petrol station on Saturday morning. She was last seen at Sandiway Garage in Northwich, Cheshire, at 3.50am on July 19. Her body was found in a lake in Oakmere, Cheshire, after two days of searches, police said. A police spokesperson said today: 'A body found in a lake in Oakmere has been formally identified as that of Rachel Booth. 'Rachel's family continue to be supported by specialist officers from Cheshire Police and they ask for their privacy to be respected at this difficult time.' Police previously said there were not believed to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding Rachel's death. More Trending A file has been prepared for the coroner and an inquest will follow at a later date. At the time of her disappearance, police dogs helped in the search for her earlier this week. Drivers claimed they saw Rachel 'between 12.30 am and 1.15 am' walking in Minshull towards Crewe, adding: 'It seemed quite a random part of the road to be thumbing a lift. I wondered about a broken down car too, but didn't spot one anywhere.' Rachel's mum, Chrissie, said she believed the two sightings were real, and wrote on Facebook that her daughter had been wearing a yellow coat. Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ Or you can submit your videos and pictures here. For more stories like this, check our news page. Follow on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here. MORE: Prince William and Harry's cousin, 20, found dead 'with gun nearby' MORE: Boy, 11, charged with first-degree murder was wanted over string of other violent crimes MORE: Body found in search for missing British hiker Matthew Hall in Italy

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store