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The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Thursday 13th November, 2014.

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Brookings Institution’s New Idea: Try Failed Solutions Again

Bruce Riedel, senior fellow and director of the Brookings Institution’s Intelligence Project, published a piece in the Daily Beast last Sunday with the provocative title, “Why’s Al Qaeda So Strong? Washington Has (Literally) No Idea.” That is certainly true, but Riedel’s recommendations for how the political establishment can get a clue and finally defeat the jihadis are nothing but tired retreads of analyses that have been tried and have failed again and again. Coming from a think tank as influential as Brookings, this goes a long way toward explaining why neither party seems able to reevaluate and discard political points of view and plans of action, no matter how many times they lead to disaster.

Riedel rightly faults the U.S. for not meeting the ideological challenge that groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State pose, but then he advocates essentially what mainstream analysts on both the Left and the Right have advocated for years: establishing a State of Palestine, supporting “reform and justice” in Muslim countries, and working to end Sunni-Shi’ite sectarianism. These solutions have been tried, repeatedly, and every time they failed abysmally.

While Riedel is correct that the U.S. hasn’t countered the ideology of jihad groups, he shows no sign of knowing what that ideology really is. In fact, he demonstrates that he shares the same false premises that have led the U.S. government to its abysmal failure to understand why jihad groups are so strong and how they can be countered. Both Riedel and Washington policymakers assume that the appeal to Muslims of the stated goals and motivations of jihad groups — establishment of the caliphate, destruction of non-Sharia regimes, and ultimately global Islamic dominance — can be blunted, if not extinguished altogether, by essentially giving jihadis and Islamic supremacists some of what they want. They assume that in that event, the larger aggregate of Muslims will respond the way Westerners in secular democracies would respond: by accepting the compromise and rejecting more extreme solutions.

We have the record of the last thirteen years and more to show that this assumption is false.

First and foremost among Riedel’s faulty analyses is his scapegoating of Israel for the failure to achieve peace with the Palestinians. “Unfortunately,” Riedel laments, “for six years the Obama team has tried to push the two-state solution without any success. It rightly blames both Israeli and Palestinian intransigence for its failure. But the core issue is Israel’s refusal to end the occupation of the West Bank.”

One word exposes the falsity of this analysis: Gaza. Anyone who still thinks after the Gaza withdrawal that a Palestinian state would bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians (and yes, I know they are legion, and in both parties, and in all the corridors of power in the U.S. and Europe) hasn’t been paying attention. We were told in 2005 that “occupation” was the problem, and if Israel withdrew from Gaza, the Gazans would turn to peaceful pursuits. Only a few people, including me, warned that Gaza would just become a jihad base for newly virulent attacks against Israel. Events proved us correct.

Now Riedel wants Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria, aka the West Bank, and assures us that this withdrawal from this “occupation” is really the one that will finally bring peace and take the wind out of the jihadis’ sails. A Palestinian state, he says, will “severely undermine” al-Qaeda’s appeal “and over time dry up its base” — and he claims this even after acknowledging that “Israel’s destruction” is al-Qaeda’s goal.

Why would the establishment of a Palestinian state now, after the Arab Muslims rejected it in 1948 and the “Palestinians” rejected it in 2000 (and other times) bring peace when the goal of Israel’s total destruction, which Hamas has repeatedly and recently reiterated, would remain? Why would another Israeli withdrawal accomplish what earlier Israeli withdrawals — not just from Gaza, but also from Sinai and southern Lebanon — did not?

Riedel doesn’t consider these questions. He can’t, because any honest answer would show his analysis to be false and based on wishful thinking.

Then Riedel goes on to advocate another failed remedy, claiming that “the extremists’ narrative argues that only violent jihad can bring about change and justice in the Islamic world. They argue the Arab spring proves that peaceful protests and demonstrations, elections and democratic change don’t work in Arabia and the world of Islam. The failure of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt is cited as evidence that ‘moderate’ Islam is too weak to fight the Zionist-Crusader conspiracy and it’s [sic] Quisling allies like Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian army.”

Consequently, he says, “chaos and failed states, not democracy, are what the foreseeable future holds for Arabia. But a Western policy that is blind to the urgent need for reform and justice is certain to end in catastrophe. More immediately, it cedes the ideological battle to al Qaeda’s simple solution that only jihad brings change. Close attachment to autocratic regimes by the West pays short-term dividends but will antagonize generations of Muslims.”

Yet this was precisely the Obama Administration’s policy when it turned against Hosni Mubarak and warmly endorsed the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt. This was the analysis Obama was following when he aided the Libyan jihadis against Gaddafi and the Syrian jihadis against Assad (although in the latter case the rise of the Islamic State has exposed his Syria policy as confused and incoherent).

Riedel mentions the fall of the Ikhwan regime in Egypt as part of the jihadis’ recruitment rhetoric, but he misses its real import: when the U.S. followed his recommendations and stopped backing dictators in Muslim countries, favoring instead popular revolutionaries and the “democratic process,” the result was not stability and the weakening of jihad groups, but chaos and anarchy in Libya, unrest and instability in Egypt, and the strengthening of jihad groups the world over. The Brotherhood regime in Egypt fell because many secular Muslims don’t want to live under Sharia oppression. However, Sharia advocates are numerous in Egypt and other Muslim countries — so the result of backing “democracy” in Egypt and other Muslim countries was not the establishment of peaceful, stable Sharia regimes (which would not be a desirable outcome anyway, cf. Saudi Arabia and Iran), but more violence. The dictators were bloody and reprehensible; the “democratic process” in all too many Muslim countries has resulted in regimes that are scarcely less bloody and far less stable.

Nonetheless, Riedel says, “Full speed ahead.” What would he say if there were a free election in Iraq and Syria now and the Islamic State won, or even got a significant percentage of the vote? He seems to assume, as George W. Bush and so many others assumed, that elections in Muslim countries would lead to the establishment of pro-Western, secular, stable republics. It has never happened. Why will it happen next time?

Riedel then offers yet another faulty analysis: “The extremist message also encourages sectarianism and intolerance. The Shia are portrayed as false Muslims and brutally attacked to encourage Sunni-Shia hatred. Sectarian strife now empowers the civil wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and Al Qaedaism flourishes in the chaos. The West says far too little about the cancer of sectarianism.”

Then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this about it in 2007 : “There’s still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that.” The Bush Administration tried in numerous ways to help them overcome it in Iraq. It held one-person, one-vote elections that resulted in a Shi’ite regime in Baghdad — an outcome that was absolutely predictable, since Shi’ites are a majority in Iraq. That regime was supposed to include Sunnis. It was absolutely predictable also that it did not manage to do so, both because it didn’t want to and Sunnis didn’t want to participate anyway.

The Sunni-Shi’ite divide is 1,400 years old. The history of Islam is filled with occasions when it erupted into violence. The idea that the non-Muslim West can heal this or should even try to do so is as hubristic as it is myopic, and shows that Riedel (and Condoleezza Rice, and myriad others) have no idea of the history or beliefs of either group.

That is no surprise. The real reason why the U.S. and the West in general haven’t confronted the ideology of jihad groups is because they refuse to admit that it even exists. They insist that Islam is peaceful and that groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have nothing to do with Islam. They don’t have any curiosity about how this supposed misunderstanding of Islam came to be so widespread and powerful, and they have never pressed Muslim groups that ostensibly reject it to do anything to blunt its appeal for young Muslims.

So Riedel is right: Washington has no idea why al-Qaeda is so strong. Neither does he. And a strong indication of why is Riedel’s affiliation with Brookings, a Qatar-funded group that publishes justifications for jihad terror and gives jihad terror supporters and enablers access to the world’s most powerful people . It also is strongly pro-Hamas and anti-Israel .

Brookings is responsible to an immense degree for the application of these failed policies over the last few years. It should be recognized for what it is and not allowed to lead the U.S. over the cliff yet again.

Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here .

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Report exposes ‘roots of atrocities’ against Muslims in Assam

Report by Indo-American group IAMC shows repeated episodes of mass violence since 1993 were planned and politically motivated, urges action to prevent ethnic cleansing.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Guwahati: The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group based in the United States, has released a report that exposes the roots of the mass violence in Assam in 2012 and 2014, in which hundreds of lives have been lost and over a half million people were displaced.

TCN File Photo of a relief Camp in Kokrajhar in Bodoland after the 2012 ethnic riot.

The report titled “Rationalizing Ethnic Cleansing in Assam,” is based on data provided by human rights activists in Assam, media reports, eyewitness accounts as well as testimonies of scores of victims, many of which have been recorded.

The report documents the state complicity behind sustained violence against an ethnic and religious minority. The report also exposes the myth about Assamese Muslims being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, a canard that is all too often used to “contextualize,” the barbaric ethnic cleansing of impoverished Muslim villagers.

“The political patronage provided to armed militant groups that have spearheaded massacres at regular intervals since 1993, and the hateful rhetoric of xenophobic Hindutva groups, is at the root of the campaign to bring about demographic changes in Assam through violence and intimidation,” said Mr. Ahsan Khan, President of IAMC.

“The gravity of the situation in Assam can be gauged from the fact that the state has failed to provide adequate relief or create an atmosphere conducive to the return of the thousands who were displaced from their homes during the mass violence,” added Mr. Khan.

The report includes wide-ranging recommendations to bring about reconciliation between Muslims and ethnic Bodos. An important step in this direction would be a Special Investigative Team (SIT) constituted by the Supreme Court to assess proper investigation of the crimes committed, and a prosecution of the perpetrators, including their political patrons

For More:

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Simon Bennett phoned murder accused's partner to warn how her boyfriend would be 'coming back in a box'

Stabbing victim Simon Bennett rang the partner of murder accused Craig Conway saying her boyfriend would be “coming back in a box”, a court heard.

Tanya Yates was giving evidence at Teesside Crown Court in the trial of boyfriend Craig Conway, who admits manslaughter but denies murdering Simon Bennett in a Thorntree street fight.

Ms Yates said that she had been with Conway on May 8, the day of the stabbing, and he had seemed in a “normal mood”.

She was aware, she told the court, that there had been an argument over £30 that Conway owed Mr Bennett from the funeral of a mutual friend.

Ms Yates said Conway had received a phone call on her mobile from Mr Bennett - but after had told him to “just ignore it”.

Minutes later, Conway left the house telling her he was going to see his brother Brian - but was actually going to meet Simon Bennett. Ms Yates said he had nothing with him when he left.

Ms Yates told the court that she then received a phone call from Mr Bennett, asking if Conway, also known as Bruno, was in the house.

She said he then told her: “If he’s coming to see me, he’s coming back in a box.”

Later, she received another phone call from Simon Bennett’s friend Daniel Blenkinsop who said: “Where is Bruno? He’s stabbed Simo.”

Prosecution barrister Andrew Robertson QC put it to Ms Yates that she was already expecting trouble before Mr Bennett rang her - which she denied.

Also giving evidence was Jordan Jackson, who told the court that he was friends with both Mr Bennett and Conway.

He was driving around Thorntree on his motorbike on the day of the incident - and said he let Conway, of Epworth Green, Pallister Park, have a ride on the bike at around lunchtime.

That night, while riding on The Greenway, he saw Mr Bennett, “bouncing around, he looked tense, he seemed fuming” minutes before the fight in which Mr Bennett was stabbed.

Mr Bennett was slightly ahead of Daniel Blenkinsop and Paul Cronin, who told Jackson there were going to be a fight.

He then saw Conway and told him: “Don’t fight just leave it. It’s not worth it.”

Mr Jackson said he could not influence Craig Conway: “They’re grown men and they make their own decisions. I don’t think either wanted to fight but they both wound each other up.”

He told the court that as the two men approached each other, Conway held up his hands and said he didn’t want to fight.

But Mr Bennett hit Conway once or twice, before he retaliated and the pair started “grappling”.

Mr Jackson said he then leaned his motorbike against a van and started to remove his helmet in order to try and split them up - but then saw Mr Bennett staggering towards him covered in blood.

Conway shouted “I’ve stabbed him” and made off on Mr Jackson’s bike, he told the court.

He said he saw neither man with a knife, and that nobody on scene had moved one as “they were too worried about Simo”.

Proceeding.

Mustafa murder case: NCM issue notice to Defense Ministry

By TCN Staff Reporter,

Hyderabad: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has directed the Ministry of Defense to submit a detailed report on the murder case of 11-year-old boy Sheikh Mustafauddin, who was allegedly burnt alive in an army garrison here.

Mustafa, a madrasa student, was a resident of Siddiqnagar inside Mehdipatnam army garrison. He was found with severe burn injuries outside the barricade of the garrison. In his dying declaration, Mustafa told the magistrate that two men in army uniform had set him ablaze. The boy had succumbed to his burn injuries at the Apollo DRDO hospital on October 9.

Sheikh Mustafauddin and site where his burned body was found.

Taking cognizance of the representation by Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC), the NCM on November 5 in a letter – TCN has a copy of it – asked the Secretary, Ministry of Defense to submit a detailed report within 21 days for the consideration of the Commission. CLMC in its representation to the Commission had alleged that the “higher army authorities are trying to protect their personnel involved in this heinous crime.”

CLMC joint secretary Kaneez Fatima told TCN, “After taking up the matter, it is now the duty and moral responsibility of NCM to monitor the case and ensure proper investigation into the murder, so that the deceased innocent Sheikh Mustafauddin can at least get the last respect of justice.”

This murder case created sensation after allegations of sexual assault and sodomy were raised against army personnel, whose involvement was getting investigated by the police. Later, the postmortem report by AP forensic laboratory confirmed that victim Mustafa had an anal tear which suggested an attempted sodomy.

There was a twist in the case when an army jawan allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service revolver inside the same army garrison on November 3. He was one among the many personnel reportedly questioned by the special investigation team in the murder case.

Egypt demotes 200 school teachers for Brotherhood links

Since the start of the new academic year, Egyptian authorities have tried to marginalise scores of public schoolteachers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood group.

Education Ministry spokesman Hani Kamal said that, since the new school year began in September, over 200 senior teachers had been relieved of their duties and transferred to administrative posts in the ministry after they “were proven” to belong to the Brotherhood – the group from which ousted president Mohamed Morsi hails.

“The decision comes as part of the Egyptian authorities’ policy of not recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood,” Kamal told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday, referring to the decades-old Islamist group that was labeled a “terrorist” organization by Egypt’s military-backed government nearly one year ago.

“Teaching is a sensitive position that requires isolation from any affiliation with politics, not to mention terrorism,” Kamal said.

He went on to deny that any public schoolteacher had been fired for expressing support for the Brotherhood.

Egypt’s military-backed authorities launched a violent crackdown on the Brotherhood and its allies following Morsi’s ouster by the army last year after a tumultuous year as president.

Since then, hundreds of Morsi supporters have been killed or injured and thousands of others thrown behind bars – including Morsi himself and most of the Brotherhood’s senior leadership.

The Egyptian government designated the Brotherhood a “terrorist organization” last December, blaming the group for a series of deadly attacks on security forces.

The Brotherhood, for its part, has emphatically denied the allegations.

The Brotherhood also rejects the presidency of Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, a former army chief who is widely considered the driving force behind Morsi’s ouster.

Al-Sisi was declared the winner of a presidential election conducted in May

Abbas says Israel igniting ‘religious war’

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has accused Israel of igniting a “religious war” by allowing Jewish worshippers to visit an Islamic holy site in occupied Jerusalem.

Speaking at a ceremony on Tuesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Abbas said the visits by the Jewish worshippers were provocative and that Palestinian worshippers would defend the site.

His remarks came as Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian demonstrator in clashes near the southern West Bank city of Hebron

Imad Jawabreh, 21, was hit in the chest by bullets on Tuesday, Palestinian medics said, adding that the shooting occurred on a main road at al-Arroub refugee camp.

The official Palestinian news agency reported that a Palestinian man was shot in the chest and died while standing on the second floor of his house.

An Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said soldiers opened fire when a protester pointed an “improvised weapon” at them.

Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from West Jerusalem, said: “This attack comes after a tense day in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel as well.”

In his speech, Abbas addressed the clashes which have gripped East Jerusalem for the past four months and spoke about unrest at al-Aqsa Mosque compound prompted by the demands of ultra-conservative Jewish fringe groups for the right to pray there.

Jews are allowed to visit the site but they are not supposed to pray there.

Muslim fears

An increase in the number of visits has raised Muslim fears that Israel is plotting to take over the site and prompted clashes.

The Palestinians “will defend al-Aqsa and the churches against the settlers and extremists”, Abbas said

He also reaffirmed his plans to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council later this month calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories by November 2016.

He promised that the Palestinians, who won the UN rank of observer state in 2012, would apply to join a host of international organisations if the resolution was blocked by a US veto.

“We will not tolerate any pressure,” Abbas said, referring to US efforts to dissuade the Palestinians from approaching the Security Council.

In his speech, Abbas also accused Hamas, the Palestinian group which governs the Gaza Strip, of trying “to destroy” efforts to broker national unity through a series of bomb blasts in the territory last week.

Abbas said Hamas – which quickly dismissed his allegations as “lies” – was behind the Gaza explosions which targeted leaders of his Fatah, Hamas’s rival.

Blame for blasts

The blasts prompted the cancellation of a rare memorial service in Gaza for Arafat, who died in mysterious circumstances in a hospital near Paris in 2004.

“Those who caused the explosions in Gaza are the leaders of Hamas – they are responsible,” Abbas said in his remarks, accusing Hamas of trying “to sabotage and destroy the Palestinian national project”

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'I wish I could jail you for hundreds of years', judge tells 'wicked' child abuser

A judge said he wished he could give a prison term of hundreds of years to a man who raped and molested two girls.

Alan Gregory Norster abused the young girls decades ago and ensured their silence by manipulating and threatening them.

Judge Les Spittle told the 56-year-old: “I wish I could quite frankly give you a sentence on every one of these offences and add them all up.

“If I did that I’d end up with an American-type sentence of hundreds of years.

“I can’t do that. I’m bound by the way our system works."

Judge Spittle jailed Norster for 12 years at Teesside Crown Court today.

He branded the defendant a “wicked man” and passed a string of concurrent sentences on 14 sex offences.

The two victims, now adults who cannot be named for legal reasons, listened in court to the harrowing details of their ordeals.

The first said she didn’t bear her childhood tormentor a grudge and did not wish him any harm.

She said in a statement read out in the courtroom: “My only hope is that you too will eventually be able to get the help and support you need to move on with your life and be at peace.”

The judge said this was “amazing” and showed “a compassion that frankly I doubt I could”.

Norster was a teenager living in Middlesbrough and Skelton when he abused the first younger girl, said prosecutor Christine Egerton.

When she tried to tell what happened to her, it was dismissed and she was told: “Don’t be daft.”

When she threatened to make a complaint, Norster said: “You’ll be taken away. No one is going to believe you.”

He trapped her and raped her, ignoring her screams.

The victim later said: “It was horrible and painful. I just cried and cried.”

When challenged by others, Norster said: “I didn’t do anything to her. She’s lying.”

He raped her again and responded to her hysterical crying by saying: “What are you crying for?

“Don’t be stupid. Nothing’s happened. It’s all in your head.”

The girl contemplated jumping out of a window, said Miss Egerton.

She later said: “I couldn’t tell anybody and I just wanted to die because I just felt dirty and thought it was my fault.”

When she was older she confronted him and he said he was sorry.

She replied: “You can’t ever say sorry for what you did. You ruined my childhood. I never had one. You made me out to be a liar.”

In her impact statement, she said: “I spent my childhood feeling nothing but self-loathing, shame and disgust because of what he did to me.

“I have carried the burden of what he did to me every single day of my life.

“I hope now this horrendous secret is out in the open that in time with support I can finally learn to trust others and finally find peace within myself, to enable me to enjoy what time I have left.”

Norster abused the second young girl when he was an adult.

He touched her despite her obvious pain and pleas for him to stop, and threatened her to keep her quiet. He then raped her.

When the victim told her boyfriend what had happened at the time, she too was not believed.

She said the abuse later affected her relationship with her children, she felt miserable and could not have people sitting too close to her.

Norster carried on the sex attacks on her despite a conviction and probation order for indecently assaulting another girl.

The court heard how he was affronted by having to attend a sex offenders’ course with “all them paedophiles”.

The two girls told police of their experiences years later and Norster was arrested.

After trying unsuccessfully to trade with limited pleas, and a suicide attempt, he admitted 10 charges of indecent assault, three of rape and one of attempted rape.

In mitigation, Brian Mark said Norster felt genuine “utter remorse” and shame for his actions.

He was sectioned and made a “proper attempt” to take his own life.

Mr Mark said Norster was twisted, warped and irreparably damaged by experiences in his own childhood where he was bullied and “treated worse than dog dirt”.

“He was never a man at peace,” said the defence barrister.

“He didn’t have a normal life and he perpetrated these horrible acts.

“He apologises to the victims. He can’t look at himself without feeling disgusting.

“Whatever problems he has, his actions have done incalculable damage to others. He accepts that totally.”

Judge Spittle said Norster’s crimes showed “a persistent, appalling pattern” with “many manifestations of indecent, degrading behaviour” and “expressed and implied threats”.

He said Norster isolated and preyed on the victims, blighting their lives.

He said the victims had faced the “dreadful” prospect of a trial, but he gave Norster credit for pleading guilty, preventing them having to give evidence.

He took into account Norster’s troubled background but said he still had a choice.

Norster, lately of Christon West View, North Shields, was jailed for 12 years and given an indefinite sexual offences prevention order banning him from having contact with girls under 16.

He will be banned from working with children and will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Criminal record checks revealed sex offender applied to work in Teesside classroom

A sex offender applied to work in a Teesside classroom, a Freedom of Information Act request has shown.

Checks on people applying to work as teachers, teaching assistants, or headteachers in Redcar and Cleveland in 2012/13 and 2013/14 have turned up a previous conviction for an indecent exposure with intent to insult a woman.

The statistic was revealed through an FOI request to the Disclosure and Barring Service, which provides criminal record checks.

The offence is on a list of those which can lead to someone being added to a “barred” list, banning them from working with children.

If the person has worked with, or is likely to work with, children, and has been convicted or cautioned by these offences, they will be added to the barring list, subject to the consideration of representations about why they should not be.

It is an offence to employ anyone on the barred list. It is also an offence for anyone on the list to apply for a job working with the group they are barred from working with.

The checks for Teesside also found an applicant with a conviction for causing grievous bodily harm in Redcar and Cleveland, and one for using racially threatening words or behaviour in Stockton.

Across Teesside, 4,987 checks were run in 2013/14, with 104 returning previous cautions or convictions. The most common types of conviction or cautions turned up in checks were shoplifting and drink-driving.

But because the figures refer to convictions and not individuals, it is difficult to know exactly how many people the figures cover.

The figures do not show whether or not people whose checks turned up previous convictions went on to be employed. Not all serious convictions lead to people being automatically considered for a ban.

Redcar and Cleveland Council leader, Councillor George Dunning, said: “Enhanced checks through the Data Barring Service are essential for anyone who works with children and vulnerable adults.

“This shows the screening system is working and it’s extremely encouraging that people who have serious convictions are being identified.”

Stockton Council’s Cabinet member for children and young people, Councillor Ann McCoy, said: “The safety and well-being of our children and young people is of utmost importance to us. That’s why we carry out careful checks on anyone who applies for a job at or works in our schools.”

Concerns raised following 'deeply worrying' hospital trust announcement that £91m must be saved

Concerns for the future of South Tees Hospitals Trust have been raised after the announcement it must save £91m in three years.

Employees who work for the trust, which runs James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, were warned on Tuesday that their jobs may be at risk to “speed up the rate of savings” made.

The trust employs just under 9,000 workers, including 7,500 at James Cook and the Friarage hospital, in Northallerton. The remaining staff are community-based.

Since the news broke, worries have been aired about what the cuts will mean for hospital staff and patients.

“It is going to be a very difficult time for the trust and members,” said UNISON South Tees Health branch secretary Andrew Anderson.

“It is all about protecting as many jobs as possible now.

“Trying to save £91m is not going to be easy and it will have an impact on the quality of care that is delivered.

“What isn’t clear, and won’t be for some time, is how the trust will implement these cuts. That is where the difficulty will be.”

Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough, also raised concerns - labelling the news as “deeply worrying”.

“Following this announcement, I am seeking an urgent meeting with Tricia Hart the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive to explore these issues further,” he said.

“While I hear the assurances from the chief executive that the objective will be to maintain quality of services and safety, we need to hear much more on the detail of how that is going to be achieved.”

The trust has saved £66m since 2011 - the equivalent of around 4% of its annual budget. And in the current financial year, the trust says it is on course to save £21.9m. However, £40.1m needs to be saved next year and £29m in 2016/17.

In a statement to staff, the trust chief executive, Professor Tricia Hart, said she does not “underestimate just how difficult it will be to make these savings while at the same time protecting the quality and safety of services we provide.”

On the potential impact on staffing, she added: “With such huge savings having to be made staff will, understandably, be concerned about potential job losses. Around 62% of all our costs relate to workforce, so we have to make sure that we get the best value for money from the resources we invest in staff.

“We also have to ensure that our staff are working in the most efficient and effective structures as possible, helping us to continually drive out waste and duplication of effort.”

“To protect our frontline services we will continue to maintain a tight control on workforce numbers,” she added. “In some areas that may mean staff reductions as we adopt new ways of working and delivering quality services in line with what other trusts have been doing across the country, but any proposals to remove posts or change roles will be carried out in full consultation with staff.”

Rosetta probe landing: live updates and pictures

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Teens use bolt cutters to steal scooters from car park outside Middlesbrough Cineworld

Two teenagers are being hunted by police after they stole two scooters before crashing one of them and then making off on the other.

The incident happened in the car park outside Cineworld in Middlesbrough and is believed to have involved two male teens aged 16-18.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said the suspects used bolt cutters to steal the two bikes.

They then made off down the tunnel towards the Riverside Stadium.

The spokeswoman said: “As they drove off one of them drove into a wall and left the bike. They then both made off on the other bike.”

Police say an onlooker saw the incident and tried to stop the suspects.

The incident happened on Tuesday at some time between 5pm and 6.30pm.

One of the bikes stolen was a black Sym Orbit 50.

Kevin Forsey was parking his car when the incident happened.

He said: “The two youths were dressed in cycle helmets. They popped the chains to the modern scooters parked directly under a spotlight.

“I was parking at the time and beeped my horn several times to alert attention to the culprits.”

He said one of the suspects fell off bike.

He added: “His friend picked him up and both jumped on the second stolen scooter, riding away towards the A66 underpass.”

The suspects are described as being aged between 16 and 18 and wearing crash helmets and dark tracksuits.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident. Anyone with information should contact them on the non-emergency 101 number.

Bez on a Boat: Happy Mondays star to DJ at floating rave this weekend

VIEW GALLERY

Grab your maracas!

Happy Mondays star Bez is set to showcase his many talents aboard the Teesside Princess this Saturday night.

As well as his signature dance, Bez is set to DJ and has promised to provide percussion at the house and techno rave down the Tees - as well as dropping in some ‘Madchester’ beats.

The event has been organised by riffraff, a popular Teesside club night which has been running for 11 years with its regular home now at Middlesbrough’s Medicine Bar, on Corporation Road.

Organiser and DJ Lee Pennington, 34, from Acklam, who also lectures in the music department at Middlesbrough College, said: “It’s definitely a coup and it’s totally sold out.

“Bez is going to be DJing - acid house and ‘Madchester’ stuff from the 90s.

“He’s got his maracas ready.

“We’re all really looking forward to it.

“The after party will be at the Medicine Bar in Middlesbrough which is also sold out but people can buy tickets for on the night - and he may also be there depending on how much he enjoys himself!

“We have had about eight parties on the Teesside Princess and they’ve always proved popular.

“No one has gone over board yet...so we’ll see what Bez does on Saturday!”

Zoo Project DJ Lee and other riffraff residents will also be DJing at the event which starts at 6.30pm from Stockton Riverside.

Bez - real name Mark Berry - was a maraca player, dancer and the mascot of Salford band Happy Mondays, having been invited in by singer Shaun Ryder shortly after the band was formed.

The 50-year-old is chiefly known for his unique style of dancing - and his use of the maracas.

After the Happy Mondays split, Bez became a member of Black Grape, a group founded by Ryder, but he left in 1997.

In March he said he planned to stand as an MP at the next election on an anti-fracking ticket.

The Teesside Princess - which travels from Stockton riverside to Yarm and back - event has a capacity of 120. All tickets have been now sold.

Tickets on the door at the after-party will be £10.

Campaign to stop closure of nursery at North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals 'has come to an end'

Campaigners fighting the closure of a hospital nursery have reluctantly thrown in the towel.

Organisers of the ‘Stop the Closure of North Tees and Hartlepool Children’s Nurseries’ campaign say it was now important for parents to secure alternative childcare for their children.

News of the campaign’s end comes as health chiefs confirmed that talks with private firms who expressed an interest in running the nursery have come to nothing.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust announced in September that its hospital nursery would close by the end of the year, and gave more than 50 staff 90 days’ notice.

The trust said the facility had become “uneconomic to run”. Over the past four years the trust has made a total anticipated loss of more than £765,000 subsidising the nursery.

But parents across Teesside were left reeling after the shock news of the closure, saying it would have a massive impact on their children’s lives.

Parents Jamie Picken and Debbie Ling set up the ‘Stop the Closure’ campaign and launched an online petition which garnered nearly 500 signatures in less than two days.

But this week Debbie posted on the campaign’s Facebook page that it was “with huge sadness” she was advising parents “that our campaign to save the North Tees and Hartlepool Day Nurseries has come to an end”.

She said: “Everyone involved has worked incredibly hard to try to change the trust’s decision and have followed every possible course of action available, but the outcome remains unchanged.

“It is clear the trust never had any intention to keep the nurseries open, as evidenced by the total lack of consultation with staff and parents.

“For the parents, the important thing now is to secure alternative childcare for our children.

“I strongly feel that we can no longer afford to wait because it would be terrible to be left in a situation where all the local nurseries are full.”

Unison’s Mark Edmundson said: “Given the current shortage of nursing staff at the trust, this decision will make it harder still to recruit hardworking parents to work at the hospitals at Hartlepool and Stockton.”

Health chiefs have pledged to look at start and finish times for parents in frontline healthcare positions to support them so they can continue working for the trust.

Ann Burrell, director of human resources and education for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have met with several private nursery providers with a view to leasing or purchasing our nurseries. Unfortunately we have been unable to secure a positive outcome from these discussions.”

Long-suffering mum choked, punched and terrorised by son in her Middlesbrough home

A mother thought she was going to die when her son choked, punched and terrorised her in her own home.

Alexander McPartland was banned from contacting his mother under a restraining order after he “went berserk” and robbed her in 2012.

She still took pity on her son when he was homeless, and let him stay at her Middlesbrough home last month.

“She felt she couldn’t see him on the street in the cold weather,” said prosecutor Paul Lee today.

He was not allowed in the house on his own and they argued when she caught him after he climbed in through a window.

He turned violent, putting his arm around her throat from behind and tightening his grip, choking her, Teesside Crown Court heard.

As she fell to the floor on her hands and knees, he told her: “You should just die.”

She struggled to breathe and thought she was going to die, said Mr Lee.

He added: “The only thing she could do was pretend to be unconscious in the hope that it would stop it. Fortunately it did.”

Mr McPartland then picked up a craft knife and made swiping motions in front of her neck.

She said his eyes were full of hatred and anger as he told her: “You deserve to be dead. I want to kill you.”

“She believed he was going to try to cut her throat,” Mr Lee told the court.

“Not content with that, he began to punch his mother to the face and head.”

Bleeding from a cut to her scalp, she calmed her son down and called the police.

She later said in a statement: “I just want to cry all the time. I don’t know why he’s always so violent to me. I can’t take it anymore.”

Mr McPartland, formerly of Delarden Road, Pallister Park, Middlesbrough, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and two breaches of the restraining order.

He had drug problems since he was 13 and, in a long domestic violence history, most of his previous convictions were against his mum.

He was given a suspended sentence for violently robbing her of £45 from her bag in 2012.

He was sent to a young offenders’ institution after he beat her unconscious in her home in June last year.

He was given another suspended sentence in March this year after he kicked her door open to come in and brush his teeth.

Rachel Dyson, defending, said he was devastated by his “exceptionally violent and worrying” behaviour and understood the harm he had caused.

He had used drugs and alcohol excessively at the time but did not want to excuse his behaviour.

Ms Dyson said Mr McPartland was a “polite and intelligent young man” when sober, but had “deep-seated underlying issues” and needed counselling.

She added: “There is clearly a very, very difficult relationship between Mr McPartland and his mother.

“She felt she couldn’t see him on the street, then he effectively threw that good will back in her face by acting in this fashion.”

The judge, Recorder Graeme Cook, jailed Mr McPartland for 86 weeks.

Teen too scared to enter Redcar in case she sees man who sexually assaulted her in public park

A teen has been left terrified to enter a Teesside town in case she sees the man who sexually assaulted her in a public park.

The 17-year-old was groped on a bench on the junction of Corporation Road and Locke Park, near Redcar and Cleveland College, by Paul Owen in June.

Owen, 38, initially denied groping the teenage girl, claiming he was so drunk he couldn’t remember the sexual assault.

But before a trial last month, Owen changed his plea to guilty but maintained he had no recollection of the evening.

Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard a statement yesterday in which the victim described how the assault had left her terrified of meeting Owen again.

Reading the victim’s words, Joanne Hesse, prosecuting, said: “When the incident occurred, it didn’t sink in at the time. I was in shock.

“It was only after speaking to my mum that things started sinking in.

“I felt disgusting and violated.

“It’s not fair and it’s not right that this man can behave like he has.

“If I’m out on the streets, I’m terrified that I will see this man again. What if he can remember my face?

“I will not go into Redcar on my own. I’m cautious about men I don’t know.”

Last month the court heard how Owen sat next to the victim, who was with a friend, on a bench and produced a pack of condoms and said “do you want some of this?”.

Owen then went on to assault the girl.

Amy Dixon, defending, said Owen was “a man of good character with no previous convictions against him”.

“It has been difficult for Mr Owen to come to terms with his offending behaviour,” she said.

“I spoke with him in detail before that trial. As a result he had to accept that this young lady would not have made up these allegations against him.

“He couldn’t remember the evening in question. That is incredibly difficult for him to come to terms with.

“What he has always said is that he couldn’t believe he had acted in that way.”

Sentencing Owen, bench chairman, Alan Duckling, said that aggravating features included the age of the victim, the fact that the assault happened in a public place and that Owen had touched the victim three times.

Mr Duckling did however note that Owen was of previous good character, had no previous convictions and gave some credit for his guilty plea on the day of his trial.

Owen, of Oak Road, Redcar, was given a 24 month supervision order, a £110 fine, a £60 victim surcharge and £300 in compensation to the victim.

He was also ordered to pay £300 in costs for the trial that had been arranged following his previous not guilty plea.

Owen is now a registered sex offender subject to a notification requirement for five years.