Blackpool Murder: Burning Body Found In Alley

Two people have been arrested after the body of a 16-year-old girl was found burning in an alley in Blackpool.

Police have cordoned off the alley off Kirby Road, South Shore where the body was found and specialist forensic officers are searching a nearby hotel.

A 22-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were arrested nearby and are now being questioned by police.

Lancashire Police said the victim was believed to be Sasha Marsden, a student at Blackpool and Fylde College who lived in the Staining area with her parents.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Andy Murphy from the Force Major Investigation Team said: "This is an incredibly difficult and complex enquiry and we are working to try and build up a picture of what happened.

"From examining the body, it appears to us that someone has attempted to set fire to Sasha and this is a line of enquiry that we are looking into.

Student Sasha Marsden was reportedly set alight (Pic: Facebook)

"This is an incredibly difficult time for the family and we are keeping them informed of our investigation. Our officers will be supporting them as they attempt to come to terms with what has happened."

A port mortem is planned for Friday evening.

Carl Evans, owner of the Kimber Guest House told Sky News he spotted the fire when he walked out into his back garden on Thursday evening.

"I heard the alarms going and saw the smoke, but I thought it was just someone burning rubbish," he said.

He added that some residents had attempted to put out the flames before realising it was a body on fire.

"The lass two doors up said someone seemed to have put something out - like a mannequin - but it turned out to be the body of a 16-year-old girl."

Friends paid tribute to the victim on a Facebook page called RIP Sasha Marsden.

Jordan Silkstone wrote: "Way too young, what this town coming too.. R.I.p huni x."

Emma James wrote: "R.I.P Sasha. I didn't know you very long but you was such a good mate.

"I will miss our little facebook chats. You always knew how to cheer me up when I was down. I hope the people who did this to you get what they deserve. Miss you always beautiful. Xxx."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Major Incident Room at Blackpool on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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Halal Prison Food Found To Contain Pork DNA

A company which supplies Halal meat to prisons has had its contract suspended, after traces of pork DNA were found in pies and pasties.

The Ministry of Justice said it had withdrawn the products immediately, while justice minister Jeremy Wright said the Prison Service was investigating "as a matter of urgency".

It comes after traces of horsemeat were found in burgers sold by some UK supermarkets, including Tesco.

"All prisons have been informed about this very regrettable incident and we reported this issue to the Food Standards Agency immediately," a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said.

"We are taking immediate steps to suspend the contract with the relevant sub-contractor."

Justice minister Jeremy Wright said: "This is an absolutely unacceptable situation and one which we regret greatly.

"This must be distressing for those affected and they can be reassured we are doing everything we can to resolve the situation. The Prison Service is investigating this as a matter of urgency."

The company involved has not been named and it is not known where the firm is based.

Islamic law forbids the consumption of pork and prison rules dictate that Halal meat must be offered to inmates.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "This lapse will have offended and distressed high numbers of Muslim prisoners and their families so apologising, suspending the supplier and investigating the incident are the right steps for the Ministry of Justice to take."

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said a local authority investigation would look into the cause of the contamination and determine where the products had been sent.

It is due to meet with retailers and suppliers to remind them of their responsibilities surrounding food labelling after the recent horsemeat scandal.

Burger King has dropped the Irish food processing plant which supplied the contaminated burgers.

The Silvercrest plant in Co Monaghan, which is part of the ABP Food Group, has also lost contracts with Tesco, Aldi and the Co-operative Group.

A sample of Tesco's Everyday Value Beef Burgers was found to contain 29% horsemeat.

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Mark Duggan: Man Guilty Of Supplying Gun

A man has been found guilty of supplying a gun to Mark Duggan, whose fatal shooting by police sparked the London riots in 2011.

Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, 30, was convicted at the Old Bailey of passing the firearm to Mr Duggan.

The court heard Mr Duggan collected the BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun just 15 minutes before he was shot dead on August 4, 2011.

The 29-year-old's death in Tottenham, north London, led to riots that swept across London and other English towns and cities.

Hutchinson-Foster had denied a charge of "selling or transferring a prohibited firearm" to Mr Duggan between July 28 and August 5, 2011.

A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court failed to reach a verdict after a trial last year. But at the retrial, a jury of seven women and five men convicted him by majority verdict.

Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said Mr Duggan had been under surveillance by police officers who "believed he was intent on exacting revenge on another man for the earlier murder of his cousin".

During both trials armed officers, who gave evidence anonymously, described how they opened fire on Mr Duggan because they saw him get out of a taxi holding a loaded gun.

The gun supplied to Mark Duggan by Kevin Hutchinson-Foster

The officer who shot Mr Duggan twice - once in the chest and once in the arm - said he fired because he thought he was going to shoot him and his colleagues.

Mr Duggan had gone in the minicab to Leyton, east London, where he allegedly collected the gun in a shoebox from Hutchinson-Foster, before continuing to Tottenham.

The taxi was pulled over by armed police in four unmarked cars in a "hard stop", and as Mr Duggan got out apparently clutching the firearm, he was shot.

The gun was found five metres from Mr Duggan's body, on a grass verge behind railings.

The shoebox, found in the minicab, allegedly had both Mr Duggan's and the defendant's fingerprints on it, while mobile phone evidence showed they had been in contact with each other in the run-up to the shooting.

But Hutchinson-Foster, a cannabis user with convictions for possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, claimed Mr Duggan had wanted his help to sell some cannabis.

The defendant had admitted using the same gun to beat barber Peter Osadebay at a barber's shop in Dalston, east London, just six days before Mr Duggan's death.

Hutchinson-Foster claimed this was why his DNA was found on the gun when it was retrieved from Ferry Lane on August 4, along with traces of Mr Osadebay's blood.

Mr Duggan was killed in a police shooting in August 2011

The defendant said he collected the firearm from someone else so he could beat Mr Osadebay on July 29, but had returned it on the same day.

Chief Superintendent Dean Haydon said: "There is an ongoing IPCC investigation into the death of Mark Duggan and the circumstances of his death will be a matter for the coroner at a later date.

"The Kevin Hutchinson-Foster trial has primarily been about the supply of an illegal firearm and I welcome the verdict of the jury in this case today."

The Duggan family, who did not attend Hutchinson-Foster's trial or retrial, have said the question of whether Mr Duggan was holding a gun is something that should only be addressed at his inquest, expected to begin in September.

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Police Watchdog 'Woefully' Inadequate, Say MPs

The police watchdog is "woefully under-equipped and hamstrung" and does not have the power or resources to get to the truth, a scathing report reveals.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) should be given a statutory power to require a force to implement its findings, the Home Affairs Select Committee said.

The watchdog is currently investigating the Hillsborough Disaster in the UK's biggest ever inquiry into police misconduct.

And more cases should be investigated independently by the IPCC instead of being referred back to the original police force on a "complaints roundabout".

The watchdog, which was established in 2004 and is chaired by Dame Anne Owers, investigates the most serious complaints against the police.

It also investigates allegations against the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the UK Border Agency.

A total of 31,771 officers were subject to a complaint during 2011/2012.

Keith Vaz says the IPCC leaves the public 'frustrated and failthless'

Committee chairman Keith Vaz MP said: "When public trust in the police is tested by complaints of negligence, misconduct and corruption, a strong watchdog is vital to get to the truth - but the IPCC leaves the public frustrated and faithless."

He added: "Nearly a quarter of officers were subject to a complaint last year.

"Many were trivial, but some were extremely serious, involving deaths in custody or corruption - it is an insult to all concerned to do no more than scratch the surface of these alleged abuses.

"The IPCC investigated just a handful and often arrived at the scene late, when the trail had gone cold. The Commission is on the brink of letting grave misconduct go uninvestigated."

The watchdog should have a statutory power to force implementation of its findings, the commitee said.

In the most serious cases it should instigate a "year on review" to ensure that its recommendations have been properly carried out, the MPs added.

Any failure to do so would result in an investigation by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and the local Police and Crime Commissioner, as a professional conduct matter relating to the chief constable.

The IPCC told the committee that a backlog of appeals had begun to build since the need to make financial savings had obliged it to reduce its complement of temporary staff.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "The Home Affairs Select Committee is right that the IPCC is not strong enough to tackle the problem when policing goes wrong.

"That is why I called for radical reform of police accountability last year, including replacing the IPCC with a new Police Standards Authority."

Scores of police officers including a serving chief constable are being investigated by the IPCC over the Hillsborough disaster.

The deputy chairwoman of the IPCC, Deborah Glass said that "without a shadow of a doubt" the probe would be the biggest investigation carried out into police behaviour in the UK.

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West Coast Mainline Deal: Ministers 'Lied To'

The Transport Department was "irresponsible" over its role in the collapse of the £5bn West Coast Mainline rail contract, a group of MPs have said.

Members of the Transport Committee said the Government department had embarked on an "ambitious, perhaps unachievable" reform in haste, and claimed that ministers and senior officials were lied to.

FirstGroup was told it had won its bid to take over the franchise from Virgin Trains, but the decision was scrapped after the discovery of "significant technical flaws" in the way the procurement was conducted.

Virgin has now been told it can run the service until November 2014, with the fiasco costing taxpayers over £40m.

The mistakes came to light after bidder Virgin Trains, which had run the West Coast Mainline since 1997, launched a legal challenge against the decision.

A Government-commissioned report led by businessman Sam Laidlaw last month gave a damning indictment of how the competition was handled.

Three members of staff at the DfT were suspended over the episode.

Mistakes came to light after a Virgin legal challenge

The Transport Committee said in its report today: "A more direct description of what happened is that ministers and senior officials were lied to about how the outcome of the franchise competition had been reached.

"We cannot categorically rule out the possibility that officials manipulated the outcome of the competition not only to keep First Group in the running for as long as possible, as Mr Laidlaw suggested, but to ensure that First got the contract.

"We recommend that the DfT find a way of undertaking a full email capture, reporting to someone suitably independent, to help get to the bottom of why DfT staff discriminated against Virgin and in favour of First Group during the franchise competition."

Louise Ellman, chair of the committee, added: "We also want to hear from the Secretary of State what lessons he thinks current and future ministers must learn from this episode where policy ambition exceeded his department's capability and resources."

A DfT spokesman said: "We are putting in place measures that will prevent this embarrassing episode from happening again and the Secretary of State has given an undertaking to keep Parliament updated on costs.

"While we are currently working to minimise the impact on the taxpayer, we estimate the failure of the competition and subsequent independent inquiries is around £48m."

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Banks Face Up To Hefty New Mis-Selling Bill

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The City regulator will pave the way for Britain's big banks to pay out billions of pounds in compensation over the industry's latest mis-selling scandal.

I have learnt that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to set out a revised framework for small business customers (SMEs) to pursue redress for the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products, which were designed to provide insurance against steep rate rises.

Sources said that a crucial element of the FSA announcement would relate to a change in the definition of "sophisticated" customers, or those who would not be eligible to pursue compensation.

The new regime to be outlined by the FSA will alter the bracket of SMEs which will be eligible for compensation by increasing a £6.5m turnover threshold, according to people briefed on the details.

The changes will be an admission that the criteria used during a pilot scheme that ended recently failed to meet the needs of businesses which required the regulator's help.

The methodology was being thrashed out on Wednesday during talks between the FSA and Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, which between them accounted for the overwhelming majority of interest rate hedging product sales.

However, people close to the situation said a deal would be announced at 7am. A number of other banks which participated in the pilot programme are also likely to sign up to the new terms in the near future.

The new framework follows a seven-month pilot scheme involving a small sample of SMEs whose cases had been scrutinised by the banks with the oversight of an independent reviewer. Those reviewers will continue in their roles, potentially racking up huge fees for a small number of accounting and law firms.

Last June, the FSA announced that it had found widespread evidence of mis-selling of products such as swaps, which enabled customers to "fix" interest rates, and collars, which allowed them to limit interest rate fluctuations within a defined range.

"The greatest volumes were sold in the period 2005-2008, before the base rate fell sharply to its current, sustained, historic low," the FSA said in June.

Many SMEs have complained that they were left facing bills of tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds because of these products.

The major banks have argued that while there were limited cases of mis-selling, most customers understood the risks inherent in hedging products and should not be compensated for costs triggered by the wider financial crisis' impact on interest rates rather than any venality on the part of lenders.

The four banks have now, though, agreed on a set of standards for reviewing thousands more swaps cases during a six-to-twelve month period.

Crucially, the wording of the FSA statement is expected to include a stipulation that the banks will be held liable for "consequential losses" incurred by customers who were mis-sold the hedging products.

While legally difficult to prove, it would mean that SMEs will have the opportunity to pursue significant damages from banks where they can establish that they lost out financially because their capital was wrongly deployed paying for the cost of the swaps.

Further details of the agreement will be announced in the FSA statement.

The FSA and the banks all declined to comment.

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OFT Fuel Price Probe Findings To Be Released

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business & Economics Correspondent

The Office of Fair Trading today releases its findings on the state of Britain's £32bn retail fuel market.

The regulator must assess whether serious competition concerns exist within the industry and make a call on whether to launch a full-blown investigation.

Brian Madderson, chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation's (RMI) petrol division, said: "It's not transparent at all.

"They must make a full-market study under the competition act so that we can see exactly how this market is working."

Motorists see prices at the pump rise rapidly when markets surge.

But there is concern that, when markets move lower, oil and gas companies are not passing on savings to retailers and motorists as quickly as they could.

This prompted the Government to call upon regulators late last year to take up the issue.

The last time the OFT conducted an enquiry into the UK retail fuel market was in 1998.

According to the RMI, the UK wholesale price of petrol has gone up by more than 7p per litre since Christmas.

Around 1.5p of that rise is because the pound has not performed well since. But the RMI says motorists have still been left to face an increase of 5.5p per litre in the space of a just a few weeks.

Asked whether fuel prices were fixed or fair, Malcolm Graham-Wood, oil analyst at VSA Capital Limited, said: "It's an efficient market working as it should do.

"What you are doing in the petrol price at the pump is seeing a reflection of what the oil price was a few months ago, in the last few months it hasn't changed very much."

Projecting how prices might perform in the year to come, he added: "I think the oil price will be relatively stable and I don't see the currency changing very much either. Accordingly, I would have thought the petrol price would be down, not up."

Any investigation that did result in changes to the current system will certainly have consequences for consumers.

But, with Britain's retail fuel market worth around £32bn, it would also have an impact on businesses and the economy as a whole.

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Belfast Violence: Images Released Of Suspects

Police investigating serious public disorder in east and south Belfast have released 19 images of people they want to question over the violence.

So far, 181 arrests have been made and 128 people have been charged in connection with ongoing protests and disorder across Northern Ireland.

The violence flared after a decision to restrict the flying of the Union flag above City Hall in Belfast.

Detective Superintendent Sean Wright, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said: "My investigative team will continue to rigorously pursue those involved in this disorder and violence and we will be relentless in our pursuit of those who are responsible for organising and participating in it.

"We are determined that persons who are masking their faces, breaking the law, involved in public disorder and blocking roads will be brought before the courts.

"We are today releasing 19 images of individuals whom we'd like to talk to in connection with ongoing investigations into serious public disorder and I'm hopeful that the wider community will help us identify these individuals.

"I also encourage the persons within these pictures to contact my team directly – in doing so they will minimise the impact on themselves, their family and their community."

Of those arrested, 50 were juveniles. More than 100 police officers were also hurt in the violence as protesters threw bricks and petrol bombs.

:: Anyone with information should contact Strandtown Police Station on 0288 90 901775 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Report: Youth Joblessness Rises Fastest In UK

Youth unemployment has increased in the UK at a faster rate than any other country in the G8 since the start of the recession, a new report has said.

A study by the Work Foundation found that the UK now lags only behind Spain and Greece for youth joblessness in OECD countries.

The problem cannot be attributed just to the recession because other countries have fared better, the research group said.

The Government was urged to follow the lead of countries like Germany and Denmark by taking measures including more apprenticeships and increased training.

Lizzie Crowley, the report's author, said: "In many other developed nations, youth unemployment has remained low despite the global downturn.

"However, in the UK youth unemployment as a proportion of 15 to 24-year-olds has increased at a faster rate over the course of the recession than both the European and OECD averages.

"While the reasons for this are complex, it's clear that the UK can learn from the experiences of those countries that have fared much better in terms of youth unemployment.

"The Government should focus on those policies that have been shown to work, cherry-picking the best responses from other countries and adapting them to the needs of the UK labour market."

Unemployment for people aged 15 to 24 had increased in the UK by 35% to 916,000 between 2008 and 2011.

That compares to an average of 15% in the other G8 countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Germany, Russia and Japan had seen a reduction in youth unemployment in the same period.

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Sugary Drink Tax 'Could Pay For School Meals'

Sugary drinks should be taxed at up to 20p a litre, say health campaigners – with the proceeds helping to pay for free school meals.

Food and farming charity Sustain said the Government could raise £1bn a year from the duty, while also saving lives by cutting excessive consumption of unhealthy drinks.

The report has been backed by more than 60 organisations, including the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Friends of the Earth, the National Heart Forum and the Royal Society for Public Health.

Diet-related illness is now costing the NHS £6bn every year, said the report.

Sustain urged Chancellor George Osborne to introduce the duty in his March 20 Budget and to channel most of the cash raised into a Children's Future Fund for programmes to improve children's health.

Money could be spent on campaigns to encourage youngsters to eat more fruit and vegetables, the report said.

The group's campaigns manager, Charlie Powell, said: "Sugar-laden drinks are mini-health time bombs, contributing to dental diseases, obesity and a host of life-threatening illnesses which cost the NHS billions each year.

"We are delighted that so many organisations want to challenge the Government to show it has a public health backbone by including a sugary drinks duty in Budget 2013.

"It's a simple and easy-to-understand measure which will help save lives by reducing sugar in our diets and raising much-needed money to protect children's health."

Sustain chairman Mike Rayner, of Oxford University's Department of Public Health, added: "Just as we use fiscal measures to discourage drinking and smoking and help prevent people from dying early, there is now lots of evidence that the same approach would work for food.

"Our obesity epidemic causes debilitating illness, life-threatening diseases and misery for millions of people. It is high time Government did something effective about this problem."

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Dock Master Saves Baby From Icy Waters

A dock master has rescued a six-month-old baby after his buggy was blown into freezing cold waters by strong winds.

The infant, who was strapped in the buggy, was swept into the water as his mother walked along Watchet Harbour, Somerset, at 8am.

After hearing screams for help George Reeder, 63, initially thought a dog had fallen in but was horrified to see the pushchair upturned in the water.

He dived in and pulled the pushchair to the wall, before a member of the public helped attach a rope and hauled it to dry land - but not before the baby had spent around five minutes in the water.

The baby was revived by a passerby who administered CPR, before being taken to hospital, where he is believed to be out of intensive care.

The Coastguard and an ambulance arrived at the scene

Mr Reeder, who has worked at the marina for 11 years, said he heard screaming from a couple of hundred yards away before jumping on his bike to see what had happened.

He added: "I don't know exactly how he went in, but I was on the esplanade and heard the commotion and I assumed somebody's dog had gone into the water, so I went cycling over.

"They were on the West Pier, where you walk up to the lighthouse, some way away, but the noise travels and I could hear screaming from a woman.

"The mother was there and she said 'my baby has gone in the water', so I went to the edge and I could see the pushchair upside down, floating away.

"I just jumped in and pulled the pushchair back over to the edge of the quay, and then somebody put a rope down over and I tied it on and they lifted it out.

"As far as I know, what the police told me was that the wind blew the buggy in."

The dramatic rescue happened at Watchet in Somerset

Mr Reeder said it was "amazing" that the baby survived, adding: "The baby was still in the pushchair, it was very cold, it is amazing really because he must have been in there for a good five minutes, under the water.

"They pulled up the pushchair and a lady started doing CPR, and then the coastguard came, and the ambulance and the police, so I backed out the way."

A local member of the coastguard took over the CPR from the woman and Mr Reeder said the baby started to take in breaths.

He said: "You could his little mouth opening and taking in a breath and that's when I thought it's ok, he's going to be ok.

"I know the family and the granddad came over and said he's out of intensive care now and on the ward.

"The poor mother, she'll probably never get over something like that, it's your worst nightmare."

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: "Police were called to the harbour in Watchet at 8.17am this morning to reports of a baby in the water.

"It is believed a gust of wind blew the buggy with the child in it into the water," he said.

"A local fisherman rescued the six month old boy and he was airlifted to hospital for treatment.

"The condition of the baby is believed to be no longer life-threatening."

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Cosmetic Surgery Rates Soar In UK

Growth rates for surgical facelifts and other anti-ageing procedures have shown a double-digit rise - despite a double-dip recession, new figures show.

Even though anti-ageing procedures are becoming increasingly popular, breast augmentation still tops the charts for the most common cosmetic surgeries with almost 10,000 women going under the knife in 2012.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) study also found that fat injections have become more popular than liposuction.

Rajiv Grover, consultant plastic surgeon and Baaps president, said: "Interestingly, for the first time we see a greater number of women having procedures to re-insert fat - known as fat transfer, to add volume to the face - than to remove it, in the form of liposuction."

Breast implants are still the most popular procedures

The number of women who are transferring fat from one part of the body, such as the hips or thighs, to areas that have lost plumpness through age, including the face or hands, has increased by 13% in just one year.

Meanwhile, the number of women who had liposuction has reduced by 14%.

A total of 2,641 women underwent a "fat transfer" procedure last year, making it the seventh most popular cosmetic surgery conducted by Baaps members.

Meanwhile, liposuction has dropped to eighth place, with 2,638 women undergoing the procedure in 2012.

Of the 43,172 surgical procedures carried out by Baaps members last year, one in 10 were conducted on men.

The most popular procedures for men were nose jobs, eyelid surgery and breast reduction.

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Robbery Death: 'Customers Held Suspect Down'

A masked armed robber who collapsed and died after being disarmed and pinned down by customers in a bookies has been named by police as Alan Levers.

The 50-year-old was believed to be wearing a gas mask and holding a fake gun when he entered a Ladbrokes branch on Crownhill Road in Plymouth, Devon, shortly before 7pm on Friday night.

Customers managed to disarm Mr Levers and held him on the floor while others raised the alarm, police said.

Officers then arrested Levers, who was already unconscious, but he was later declared dead.

Plymouth police commander Chief Superintendent Andy Bickley said the gun had been examined and appeared to be an imitation pistol.

He added that the four men in the betting shop at the time of the incident have been helping police with their inquiries and that no-one has been arrested in relation to the incident.

"I can share with you that the firearm has been initially examined by a police firearms officer and it appears to be an imitation pistol, though this still needs to be verified," he said.

"I would like to add, however, that there would have been no way of knowing this at the time of the incident. The actions taken by members of the public in the shop were brave and showed a disregard for their own safety."

Witness David Walker, 55, from West Park, Plymouth, said he walked in just five minutes after the botched robbery happened.

He said: "I went in about 6.55pm, to put a bet on the football. When I went in there, they were on the floor, they were scuffling on the floor, I just thought it was just a fight or something.

The attempted robbery took place on Friday night

"There were the two men, customers I think, on top of him, and the bloke on the floor. There was a bloke behind the counter and an old guy with glasses standing around.

"The bloke behind the counter told me they weren't taking any bets and I had to leave."

He added: "I didn't see their faces, as they were holding the guy down at the back of the shop. I couldn't see any mask and there wasn't any physical movement, they were just holding him."

Ivor Green, 67, also from West Park, said he was not surprised at all that the customers had leapt to the defence of the staff.

"They would do that in a shop like this, it is our betting shop," he said.

"The staff become your friends, it's a little family, and it's no different to a member of your family being threatened. The guys in there would be protective of them."

Mr Bickley said that Mr Levers' family were being supported by police and that their thoughts and condolences are with them.

He added that a detailed, locally-led investigation has begun with support from major crime team detectives.

He appealed for other people in the immediate area around the time of the incident or anyone that had just left the store a short time earlier to contact the police on 101 or through Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

The witnesses who were inside the betting shop at the time of the incident are being offered full support by the police.

The case has been referred to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

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Tories Handed EU Referendum Polls Boost

David Cameron's pledge to hold a referendum on EU membership if the Conservatives win the next General Election appears to have given the party a boost in the polls.

A survey conducted in the wake of the Prime Minister's speech on Wednesday showed the Tories had enjoyed a five-point jump from last month, mostly at the expense of the eurosceptics of UKIP.

The poll, by ComRes for the Sunday Mirror and the Independent on Sunday, put the Tories on 33%, with Labour stood still at 39% and the Liberal Democrats up two at 11%.

UKIP, which has registered significant advances in recent months, fell back four points to 10%.

Mr Cameron has insisted he wants to stay in the EU but said he would aim to renegotiate the relationship before offering voters the choose whether the UK should stay in under the new terms or leave.

However, despite the resurgence in the latest polls, many voters backed Labour and Lib Dem warnings that Mr Cameron's position would cause "years of uncertainty which will be bad for the British economy" by 43% t0 30%.

The majority also now believe that leaving the EU would in itself be bad for the economy in terms of lost jobs and trade - by 38% to 36%, a turnaround from November when 40% disagreed and 36% agreed.

Windsor MP Adam Afriyie

There was also a significant shift in the numbers saying the UK should quit Brussels regardless of whether powers could be returned, voters disagreeing by 43% to 33% - the exact opposite of the previous poll.

Other polls also showed a post-speech Tory bounce.

One by Survation for the Mail on Sunday put the Tories up two at 31%, Labour stable at 38%, Ukip down two to 14% and the Lib Dems down one at 10%.

Exactly half of those polled said they favoured a UK exit, but of those more (43%) said they would consider switching to the "yes" camp if significant powers were returned than wouldn't (36%).

An Angus Reid Public Opinion for the Sunday Express showed a three-point rise for the Conservatives to 30% with Labour dipping three to 39%.

The success of Mr Cameron's EU speech , however, has not stopped speculation within the party about his possible successor should he fail to secure a majority at the next election.

Several Sunday newspapers reported that MPs had been approached about whether they would consider supporting Adam Afriyie, an IT millionaire who became the Tories first black MP in 2005.

The latest polls were released as Labour leader Ed Miliband - who has said the party is not in favour of the referendum promised by the Prime Minister - faced renewed calls from within his own party for an immediate in/out referendum.

Former Europe minister Keith Vaz, a supporter of EU membership, said it was "time to settle the question of Britain's membership in the EU once and for all".

"I support a referendum because, like David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, I believe the future of our country is in Europe. I am supportive, but pragmatic about the European project," he wrote in the Sunday Mirror.

"I accept British people rightly feel the EU is not delivering on its promises. Reform is necessary. We need better, stronger and earlier scrutiny by Parliament of EU measures."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage told the Sunday Express his party would now be "going for the Labour Party's jugular" over its failure to back the referendum.

"Here was an open goal for the Labour Party to demand that referendum now. They could have called his bluff. Ed Miliband could have pressed the Prime Minister to give voters a say on Europe without ifs and buts. Yet they didn't," he wrote.

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