
Nottingham dealer who mass messaged Ilkeston's addicts jailed
A dealer who was part of a gang supplying drugs from Nottingham to a Derbyshire town has been jailed.James Porter had been sending out scores of bulk messages to drug users in Ilkeston, in order to sell Class A and B drugs when he came on to the police's radar in 2022.Officers raided a number of properties in Wollaton linked to Porter and found drugs, cash, phones, lists of customers, deal bags and weighing scales, as well as designer clothing, knives and an axe.At Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, the 32-year-old was sentenced to seven years.
Porter, of Calderdale in Wollaton, Nottingham, had pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring to supply Class A drugs, possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin, and possession of a Class B drug.Messages on his devices showed almost 200 mass messages had been sent to addicts in the town.Following his sentencing, PC Jack Shephard said Porter had been "enjoying a lavish lifestyle funded by the sale of drugs" by dealing to "vulnerable people addicted to Class A drugs".

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BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Crime falls in Grimsby town centre, council says
Crime in Grimsby town centre has dropped over the last year, North East Lincolnshire Council has authority said alcohol related anti-social behaviour has declined by 51%, compared with 2023/ were also drops in the number of bike thefts and violent Paul Berry, who has run a comics and collectables shop on Victoria Street South for 28 years, said police and the council "still need to do more". "It's still very noticeable, the anti-social behaviour and stuff," he said."I mean the town as a whole has got quiet, so maybe that's why the numbers have dropped."The footfall is like way down on what it used to be."The council claimed the fall was down to Safer Street initiatives in partnership with Humberside Police and other have been a number of Days of Action where penalty notices are handed out for cycling and alcohol offences and homeless sleepers are offered support, the council said. Insp Claire Jacobs said: ''The operation has played a significant role in making Grimsby Town Centre a safer and more welcoming space. "Through proactive policing, strong partnerships, and dedicated community engagement, we've seen a significant reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour."Our approach is not just about enforcement but also about education and support, ensuring that everyone feels safe and valued in this town. "We will continue working closely with local partners to further build on this success and keep strengthening our community." According to the council, anti-social behaviour incidents in the town centre fell from 224 in 2023/24 to 192 incidents in 2024/ were 115 incidents of violence leading to injury in 2023/24 and 88 instances over the last year. There were 16 bike thefts in 2024/25 compared with 30 in the previous to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.


Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The Great British sauce debate is FINALLY settled: Scientists reveal the ultimate condiment to put on chips - and it's bad news for gravy fans
There's no doubt the humble potato chip is an icon of the great British cookbook. From the fanciest bistro to the lowliest greasy spoon, where wouldn't you find a nice hot serving of chips? And whether they're served alongside a posh steak or wrapped in paper with battered fish, there's certainly no shortage of serving options. What's more up for debate, however, is the greatest accompaniment to have with this most beloved of fast food. The burning question of the best chip topping is one that has been debated across pubs, chip shops and households for decades. But now, the debate may just have been put to bed for good – and it's bad news for gravy fans. Scientists reveal the ultimate condiment to put on chips – and there's one clear winner. Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, says salt & vinegar is the top choice, followed by mushy peas. The multi-sensory food expert – who is also the son of a chip-shop owner in Leeds – said the malt vinegar is effective at cutting through the oiliness. 'It always end up over chips underneath so the salt and vinegar combination becomes the familiar option and then gets extended to crisps,' he told MailOnline. Although popular, tomato ketchup is 'perhaps an infantile condiment' because of its sweetness – typically containing one teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon of ketchup. According to the expert, this may be why ketchup is so favoured in the US, which has long had a predilection for oversweet food. Mayonnaise on chips, meanwhile, is an import from continental Europe – likely originating in Belgium, France or the Netherlands. Mayo on 'French fries' memorably triggers the disgust of Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film 'Pulp Fiction'. But Professor Spence is in agreement that there's 'something about the eggy oily texture and insipid colour' that quite rightly puts people off. Dr Sue Bailey, culinary historian and independent lecturer in food science, agreed that acidic condiments like vinegar and ketchup cut through the fatty coating of the chips. But the best sauces with chips are either mayonnaise or tartare sauce, she claims. These have an unctuous consistency but don't fall off the chips when we raise them to our mouth. 'Adhesive viscous or thicker sauces are always popular and the most favoured ones have good clinging or "thixotropic" properties – so mayonnaise and ketchup, possibly curry sauce depending on if a starchy thickener is used in it,' she told MailOnline. Gravy, meanwhile, is just too runny and makes a mess – meaning chips with gravy requires a knife and fork, which is not preferable. As Professor Spence puts it, 'the first taste is with the hand', as the food we feel in the hands influences our perception in the mouth – so when it comes to chips it's best to avoid cutlery. Professor Spence also thinks eating something with a range of colours can 'make what we eat look more attractive' and in turn increase our enjoyment of it. A good example here is pairing the vibrant yellow of chips with the vibrant, glimmering red of tomato ketchup or the almost radioactive green of mushy peas. Conversely, curry sauce and mustard – despite packing a big punch of flavour – rank somewhere near the bottom when it comes to colourful chip toppings. The 2020 YouGov poll asked Brits what they have on their chip. They found tomato ketchup is a popular chip topping in England and Scotland, but in Wales people are more likely to favour curry sauce 'You don't get much colour contrast with curry or mustard and fish and chips,' Professor Spence told MailOnline. Slightly more 'posh' or alternative options at the chippy are a sprinkle of black pepper or a smear of mustard, but these are far from ideal. 'Mustard or black pepper are not standard choices – they're a bit overpowering flavour wise,' Dr Bailey told MailOnline. Professor Spence added that part of what makes a perfect food combination 'depends on what we are familiar with because we have grown up with it'. And this may be why there's so much variation regarding what exactly Brits put on their fries. According to a 2020 poll of more than 36,000 Brits, the most popular chip toppings are tomato ketchup, curry sauce and mushy peas, in that order. However, salt and vinegar was excluded as a choice in the YouGov poll because 'they simply dominate everywhere'. Interestingly, tomato ketchup is a popular chip topping in England and Scotland, but in Wales people are more likely to favour curry sauce. Tomato ketchup triumphs by some margin in England (34 per cent) and Scotland (25 per cent), whereas in Wales curry sauce reigns supreme (35 per cent).


BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Push to keep reviving Wolverhampton's architectural history
A city's historic buildings are undergoing a revival and one local photographer, Ian Hughes, said: "We should be shouting about it from the rooftops."Talking about Wolverhampton, he admitted he was once "one of the naysayers who felt it was a dump" - but has found a love for the city's architectural history and said: "There's a lot to celebrate in Wolverhampton."Emma Purshouse, editor of the Black Countryman magazine, also believes the city has some amazing said: "If it was Stratford or the posh parts of London, they'd have been preserved and made part of a tourist trail." Mr Hughes started going on walks around the city two years ago, taking photos of the buildings as he has more than 10,000 images and said the city was now "definitely a phoenix rising from the ashes".One recent discovery which stuck in his mind was a large brick building near the canal."Nobody seemed to know what it was," he said - but he eventually found it had once been a butter and cheese Hughes said it was a "lovely building, totally overgrown and desperately in need of repair" and he felt it had an interesting story to tell. Mr Hughes said he did not know why Wolverhampton "chose to knock things down" but it was nothing new or unique to the said the Victorians "just swept everything away" to create the modern city centre and their buildings had in turn been replaced after World War Two."In the 1950s, councils up and down the country did exactly the same," he Mr Hughes is not angry about the city's lost history and said: "People made what they think were the right decisions at the time."These buildings were never built to last forever and be part of history, they were built with a purpose and those purposes are long, long gone." Ms Purshouse said she believed it was "easier to knock things down than preserve them" but there were many examples of interesting architecture still in said her favourites included the Great Western pub, with its cobbled street "because it feels like you've just stepped back in time into a little Victorian pocket of Wolverhampton" and the Lychgate Tavern off Queen's some old buildings were "hidden" behind modern shop fronts, with others it had been "easier to knock things down than preserve them", she added. Ms Purshouse was appointed Wolverhampton's first poet laureate during the coronavirus pandemic and, like Mr Hughes, spent a lot of time walking around the said while some buildings had been lost, there were also good examples of historic buildings being preserved, such as the Albion former corn mill has been turned into flats but its appearance has been also hoped the city's former eye infirmary would be treated sensitively when the old NHS site was is planning consent to turn it into flats, a special needs school and an eating disorder city council said the Victorian building and former nurses accommodation would be restored as part of that work and it was encouraging the owners to move the project Purshouse said she has happy to see buildings change their use if they can "keep the architecture and keep the feel of the things". Mr Hughes said there were also encouraging signs for the future of Wolverhampton, with projects such as the planned redevelopment of the former Beatties site will be turned into a mixture of apartments and shops and the city council said it was in "regular contact" with the owners of this building too, "to offer support and encourage action to move things forward". The councillor responsible for development in Wolverhampton, Chris Burden, said the city was "full of beautiful architecture" and the council took the preservation and restoration of heritage buildings "extremely seriously".The authority pointed to a number of other buildings which have been brought back into include the Grade II listed Civic Hall and Wulfrun Hall, now known simply as The Halls, which were refurbished at a cost of £ former Royal Hospital, which closed in 1997, has also been brought back into use as flats for people over the age of projects still in the works include turning the former Chubb Locks factory into a four-screen cinema and the restoration of the central council said it was also working with the owners of the city's other empty buildings to bring them back into use and improve how they look from the outside. While it might be romantic to think Wolverhampton's forgotten buildings could all be brought back into use, Mr Hughes believes people should be realistic about the future of town shopping habits changing, he said: "Towns as we knew them are gone, they're never coming back."But he said if developers were prepared to put in the money and the effort, the centre of Wolverhampton "could become what it used to be". Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.