Moffat

Cumbrian badminton star Lauren Smith (pictured below left), from Longtown, and her women's doubles partner Chloe Birch won the England final by four games to one at the weekend, meaning Smith claimed a record-equalling eighth title running.

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Chloe Birch also claimed the singles title.

A police project in Longtown to reduce the numbers of youngsters drinking alcohol and causing trouble has been given national recognition in the House of Lords.

The town's Community Alcohol Partnership brought together police with local businesses and young people to educate them about the effects of alcohol and provide other activities.

CAP

Other projects in Egremont and Barrow were also praised for their work.

Sgt Scott Adams from Longtown (pictured right), who was given the award by CAP board member Neil Eccles, said the partnership had raised £8,000 to renovate a room at the community centre for young people, and reduced complaints about anti-social behaviour by 80%.

They’ve told us what they want and need, and the CAP is working hard to provide it."

A Carlisle Crown Court jury has watched video footage showing the moment a cyclist was run over by a timber wagon and killed in a crash near Carlisle.

Michael Seminara, 71, from Wetheral, was tackling a roundabout on the A689 in the left hand lane, intending, it transpired, to leave by the third exit, but he was struck by the log-laden lorry as driver Neil Gass took the second exit.

Gass, 46,of Prior Avenue, Canonbie admits causing Mr Seminara’s death by careless driving, but denies the more serious charge of dangerous driving.

Several eyewitnesses have told the jury they saw the fatal collision and thought, because of Mr Seminara’s position in the left-hand roundabout lane, he would take the same second exit as Gass.

Forensic police collision investigator PC Steven Wakefield said Mr Gass should have slowed down and not tried to overtake the cyclist while negotiating a junction.

The trial continues.

Police say the body of a woman found in the Solway Firth near Annan on 11 January, has now been identified as Janet McElrone, 51, of Eden Street, Carlisle.

Family photo

She disappeared from her home early on 23 December, and was seen later on the same day in the Morrisons supermarket in Stanwix.

In the days after she went missing, there were extensive searches including in and around the River Eden.

The case has now been passed to the Cumbria coroner.

A trusted hotel manager who stole more than £100,000 from a family-run north Cumbria business has been sent to prison.

Between 2011 and 2018, in 859 separate transactions on falsified handwritten records, 58-year-old gambler Stewart McIntosh took £100,588 from the Graham Arms, where he had day-to-day responsibility for managing the money.

BBC

McIntosh, of English Street, Longtown, was jailed for 32 months today, after he admitted two charges of theft from his employer and false accounting.

Hhis lawyer, David Wales, said the defendant’s previously secret and “crippling gambling addiction” lay behind the crime, but Recorder Timothy Hannam QC said: "At 58 years old you are plainly a manipulative and deceitful man.”

Cumbria Highways engineers say Longtown Bridge on the A7 is structurally safe to reopen to cars and pedestrians, after part of the parapet was knocked over last night.

But they say barriers and signage must be installed before the road can be reopened, which will take until Friday evening.

Heavy goods vehicles will still have to follow a diversion via the M6 and A6071.

Cumbria County Council

Longtown Bridge on the A7 is closed this morning, after, according to local reports, a lorry hit the parapet and knocked several yards of it into the River Esk.

Highways engineers say they are assessing the damage, but the bridge will probably remain closed for some time.

Longtown Bridge on the A7 has been closed in both directions after the bridge was damaged in a crash.