Defence counsel Michael Boyd described his client’s behaviour as “outrageous”

A burglar who jumped out of an 82-year-old man’s bin and knocked him to the ground before breaking into his east Belfast home has been jailed for 10 months.

Dylan Harding, 23, barricaded himself inside the pensioner’s house and lashed out at police officers called to the stand-off at Avoniel Road.

He was hiding out at the property while suffering from a drug-induced psychosis, a judge was told.

Harding, of Leven Drive in the city, admitted charges of burglary with intent to cause unlawful damage, common assault and assault on police.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard the victim’s neighbour alerted him that a man had run over the extension roof of his home on Avoniel Road at around midday on January 5 this year.

He checked outside and noticed a black wheelie bin in the rear yard had moved, but while trying to move it back into place he discovered it was extremely heavy.

When the man opened the lid he discovered Harding hiding inside it.

“The defendant then jumped out of the bin and pushed the elderly injured party to the ground, causing him to fall back and hit his head on the concrete,” a prosecution lawyer said.

The pensioner suffered a number of cuts and grazes to his head and hand in the attack.

Harding then entered the house, locked the back door and made his way to a utility bathroom area.

He used furniture as a barricade, including a cabinet damaged beyond repair in a bid to block the door.

Police called to the scene could not gain access to the bathroom and attempted to reason with Harding to let them in but he continued to deny access.

Officers forced entry and discovered that he had been using his feet to keep the door shut.

With debris strewn about the room, Harding continued to lash out and struck a constable several times on the shins.

Defence counsel Michael Boyd described his client’s behaviour as “outrageous”.

“It was clearly a drug-induced psychosis,” the barrister said.

“He thought individuals were trying to get him, which was the reason he was hiding in the bin and then barricaded himself in the property.”

Mr Biyd added that Harding is ashamed of his actions and wanted to apologise for the distress caused to the elderly victim he forced to the ground.

Citing her limited sentencing powers and giving credit for the guilty plea, District Judge Anne Marshall imposed a 10 month custodial term.

She told Harding: “This was a very serious incident and could well have ended up in the Crown Court.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Available for over a year

Today, the King and Queen head to New York for the second part of their state visit to the US.

We look at King Charles’ address to congress, what he said… and didn’t say, and if any of it is likely to have a lasting impact on US-UK relations.

Adam is joined in the studio our diplomatic correspondent James Landale, and by Daniela Relph, senior royal correspondent who’s in New York with the King and Queen.

Plus, business editor Simon Jack tells Adam why some big players in the world of finance are worried that another financial crash might be on the horizon.

They point to similarities between now and the lead up to 2008, which they say paired with the ongoing geopolitical turbulence and the AI bubble, could be a recipe for disaster.

You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say “Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.

You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you’re in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd

Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Anna Harris with Shiler Mahmoudi. The social producer was Jem Westgate. The technical producers were Stephen Bailey and Ben Andrews. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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Preston Crown Court heard the evidence during the ongoing trial of Jamie Varley, 32, who is accused of sexual abuse and murder and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 37, who is accused of allowing the death of a child.

13-month-old Preston Davey died less than four months after being placed with the couple in Blackpool.

Neighbour Jasmine Nuttall provided a statement which was read to the court. 

Ms Nuttall alleges that after the child, who the couple named Elijah, moved in next door on Staining Road, Blackpool, she would hear “raised voices” between the couple and the child crying.

In her statement, she said: “Elijah would cry a lot and to me and my family it was an unusual amount of crying.

“I would often think to myself, ‘Why is the baby crying so much?’”

The court heard how on one occasion she allegedly thought she heard a raised voice say “stop it now” out of frustration, which she thought “a bit short”, jurors heard.

Ms Nuttall described the couple as “ordinary” and “friendly” and had no concerns about them.

Ms Nuttall told the court: “They seemed happy to have him.

“It seemed like a really happy little family.

“The news as to what has happened to Elijah has come as a complete shock to me.”

Her father, Michael Nuttall, also described hearing the child cry frequently.

Mr Nuttall said: “Preston cried a lot.

“In fact, I think a one-year-old shouldn’t cry as much as that.

“The crying was high-pitched and he did seem distressed.”

He said he did not raise his concerns with the couple as he did not want to be an “interfering neighbour.”

Preston Davey was born on June 16, 2022, and taken into care by Oldham Council, and placed with foster parents at five days old.

After an adoption assessment, he moved in with Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley in April, 2023.

The prosecution alleges that Preston was repeatedly abused, both physically and sexually, and suffered a total of 40 traumatic injuries.

The jury also heard details of Preston’s first of three visits to Blackpool Victoria Hospital during the four months he lived with the defendants.

On May 25, Varley took him to A&E at around 11.10am.

Paediatric sister Zoe Hellowell told the court: “Jamie had hold of Preston, he was frantic and held him out to me and said, ‘He is not breathing!’”

She described Preston as unresponsive, floppy and breathing ineffectively.

Ms Hellowell also noted bruises on either side of Preston’s forehead. Nurse Holly Edwards referred this to hospital safeguarding which was passed on to Lancashire Police.

A medical report shown to the jury said Preston had “unexplained injuries, inconsistent with a version of events given.”

Dr Ghada Tahraoui in a statement said social services staff had been asked to attend the hospital but following discussion with a medic there did not appear to be any concerns, the court heard.

On July 27, the child was again brought to hospital by the defendants, this time unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

Medical staff were unable to revive him.

Varley allegedly told police that Preston had accidentally drowned in the bath.

However, this account was not supported by the post-mortem examination, which identified 40 separate injuries, the court heard.

Varley denies murder, manslaughter, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.

McGowan-Fazakerley denies allowing the death of a child, three counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.The trial was adjourned until Friday morning.

The trial has been adjourned until Friday morning.

“Brace for more terror attacks,” warns the Sun, as the terror alert is raised to “severe”. The Guardian and the Daily Mirror lead with the prime minister’s visit to Golders Green, where two Jewish men were stabbed on Wednesday. The Guardian says Sir Keir’s vowed to act against protesters “venerating the murder of Jews”. The Mirror quotes him as saying “decent people should open their eyes to Jewish pain and fear.” In its editorial, the Daily Mail says that since entering No 10, Sir Keir has allowed antisemitism to fester, as he tiptoed around upsetting the Muslim vote in key constituencies.

Revelstoke Road children’s home in Sunderland was praised by Ofsted for its “homely atmosphere” and carers’ “exceptional understanding” of the children.

Operated by Together for Children (TfC), the home houses six children with social and emotional needs and is one of nine homes run by TfC, which works in partnership with Sunderland City Council.

Simon Marshall, chief executive of TfC and director of children’s services at Sunderland City Council, said: “It is fantastic to see Revelstoke Road recognised as Outstanding.

“This is testament to the dedication and understanding of the carers, who have created a safe and nurturing environment where children can thrive.

“We are incredibly proud of this achievement and remain fully committed to providing the highest standard of care and this recognition of our carers is well-deserved.”

The outstanding grade was awarded during an inspection in March, with Ofsted noting the positive relationships between children and carers as key to the children’s progress.

The report stated: “Children are thriving in this home.

“They make excellent progress because of the close, positive relationships that they have with staff.

“Children talk about carers fondly and the home is filled with laughter.”

Inspectors highlighted the home’s efforts to help children engage in meaningful education, secure volunteering placements, part-time jobs and college opportunities.

Carers were commended for helping a young person build road safety awareness, enabling them to walk to school independently.

Support for health needs and life-story work was also recognised as important in helping children make sense of their personal histories.

Mark Christie, manager of Revelstoke Road, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the team and the young people who live here.

“We work hard to build reparative relationships with the children, within our therapeutic model and to make sure they are listened to, supported and valued, so it really means a lot to us to see the team’s effort reflected in this latest Ofsted report.”

The system will allow passengers to tap on at a gate or platform validator at the start of their journey and tap off at the end

Translink’s new tap-on/tap-off ticketing system will be rolled out to rail services between late 2027 and early 2028, the Infrastructure Minister has confirmed.

Minister Liz Kimmins was responding to a written question from DUP MLA Peter Martin, who asked her to detail the reason why ticket machines were chosen for the new Translink ticketing option at train stations and not contactless hop-on and hop-off payments.

When rolled out, the new system will operate similarly to London’s Oyster system, where passengers can tap their contactless card or device at the ticket barrier when getting on and off the train, with the best fare calculated for the passenger at the end of the day.

“As part of Translink’s Future Ticketing System project, the introduction of contactless ‘Tap On and Tap Off’ account-based ticketing is planned to commence across the rail network in late 2027 or early 2028,” Minister Kimmins said.

“This system will allow passengers to tap on at a gate or platform validator at the start of their journey and tap off at the end, with fares and any applicable discounts calculated automatically through back-office systems. Gate and platform validator devices have already been installed at rail stations across the network in preparation for this future contactless payment capability.

“Ticket vending machines were installed at rail stations as an interim and complementary measure to ensure that all customers can continue to access rail services prior to the introduction of contactless Tap On and Tap Off payments. Not all passengers are currently able, or may wish, to use contactless payment methods.

“This includes customers entitled to concessionary travel, such as Senior SmartPass holders, yLink card holders and Half Fare SmartPass holders, as well as those who prefer to purchase paper tickets.

“The provision of ticket vending machines, alongside gates and platform validators, enables customers to purchase or validate tickets prior to boarding services. This reduces reliance on on-train ticket sales, supports conductors in carrying out their duties, and helps to ensure that fare revenue is protected to the optimum level across the rail network.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The Friday letters page isn’t sure what to make of the new Resident Evil movie trailer, as a reader tries to work out what Xbox’s next gen plan might be.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Personal best
People have been talking about Rockstar games that aren’t GTA recently and it got me thinking what is actually their best game? I think a lot of people would say GTA 5, at the moment, but since it’s so old I’ve kind of got sick of it and can’t bring myself to play GTA Online anymore.

But if it’s not that then the obvious answer is Red Dead Redemption 2 and I’m afraid to say I don’t really see anything else as being particularly close. L.A. Noire was only ever a novelty, they never worked out what to do in lessons with Bully, and The Warriors wasn’t a particularly good beat ‘em up.

I could see an argument for their table tennis game but, let’s be real, it’s Red Dead Redemption 2 that’s the best thing they’ve ever done. Let’s hope that changes with GTA 6 though or otherwise this long wait will have been for nothing.
Larson

Movie accurate
Great preview of 007 First Light and very glad to hear that it’s looking good, as I’ve found the trailers so far a little underwhelming. GoldenEye 007 may have been a great game but it wasn’t very much like a Bond movie. He doesn’t gun down dozens of people every five minutes and while there was a more than that to the game, it’s still a shooter before anything else.

This game sounds like it’s actually like one of the movies, where you’re doing the same sort of stuff. I particularly like the idea of just wandering around a party and listening in and chatting to people. It might not sound very exciting but it’s the sort of thing you’d see in the films but that most games would leave out or put in a cut scene. Will be keeping a close eye on this from now on.
Coby

Reinventing the wheel
I do agree that relying on remakes is not the way forward for Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft are obviously trying to copy Capcom, but the thing is the old Resident Evil games, even 4, are almost unplayable nowadays with their clunky controls and retro graphics. Nobody but a hardcore fan is going to pick up 2 on the PlayStation and play it nowadays, so it needed a remake.

But Black Flag still looks fine for an Xbox 360 and while the new version will look better it’s not suddenly going to make an outdated game playable again.

It’ll probably sell anyway, because nostalgia, but for me it’s a distraction from making the next game better. Shadows was fine but it was the setting and graphics that sold it. I don’t see anyone getting excited about witch trials in Germany like they did about being a ninja in Japan.
Schnorbitz

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Evil in residence
I’ve seen a lot of negative responses to the Resident Evil movie trailer, but I think this breakdown by the director explains things pretty well. He basically says that he’s trying to get across the style of the game, rather than repeating any of the stories.

So you’ve got a third person camera that acts like a game, lots of sorting through drawers, and always hunting for keys and ammunition and health. So the film is doing all the things the games do but this time the hero is just a regular guy who isn’t a combat pro or anything.

I’m not saying it’s going to work, or that it’s the best way to go, but it’s got to be a better approach than the terrible last one, which was the closest one of the films has been to the games. I’d much rather it be a good film than an authentic one, especially after having seen the latest Mario.
Zeiss

A Link to the cinema
Hey, here’s food for thought and I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself right now.

The Legend of Zelda movie will be out in the not too distant future. Let’s assume that there is likely to be a sequel. Only a few Legend of Zelda titles have used the same Link as the main character, hence the legend.

If a sequel is made are they going to use the same cast or stay true to the games by having a completely different blonde-haired boy?

I told you I was getting ahead of myself.
freeway 77

GC: Clearly the answer is to choose someone with pink hair.

Things can only get worse
I know they weren’t expecting anything better, but those Xbox sales results are just tragic. They’re so bad I don’t understand how it could ever be turned round. I get Microsoft is mega rich and nothing that happens with Xbox is ever going to be more than pocket change to them but what is the long term plan here?

No one’s going to buy a Project Helix, we can put that ridiculous idea to bed right now. Unless it’s half the price of PlayStation 5, but it sounds like I’ll be more like twice. They’re not making enough money from selling games, even on PlayStation 5 – although they can’t seem to get their act together on that anyway, and have things like Forza Horizon 6 come out at the same time.

So I think the theory of just sitting there waiting until video game streaming becomes big is probably the best explanation, but good luck with that. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t but if there’s one thing we know Microsoft isn’t very good at it’s predicting the future.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter, since Xbox is basically irrelevant now, and to be honest, if they did give up on gaming, we’d only get someone even worse come in a try and take their place. The damage they’d done with buying up so many companies is awful but I’m sure it could be even worse.
Cranston

Multiple problems
Maybe I’m a bit slow but I don’t get why everyone is moaning about Sony and DRM. As far as I can tell it’s so they can check that you have a right to play that game if you have download it.

It means you have got broadband in order to download it, so I can’t see the problem. As a download you haven’t bought the game, you have bought the right to play the game. So what’s the problem?
David

GC: It took days for Sony to explain what it was for, leaving people to guess. Also, sometimes your broadband, or PS Plus, goes down.

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Indirect adaptation
So that Resident Evil movie trailer was very interesting. Zach Cregger is a great filmmaker, so I don’t think there’s any doubt this is going to be the best made video game movie ever. Although the situation’s so bad I don’t even know what would be the second best, at least until Elden Ring appears.

The very obvious problem is that there’s absolutely nothing in the trailer that makes it obvious it’s Resident Evil. If it didn’t say the name I doubt anybody would make the connection. Maybe there are some Lickers or Hunters hiding just off-screen but I get the feeling there aren’t and that the monsters are all original.

If this was a game and that was the case I’d be all for it but for a film it does start to stray into ‘What is the point?’ territory. If nothing about the film is like the games, except maybe some zombies, should it even be called Resident Evil?

But… what if the secret of making a good video game movie is to make it have very little in common with the games beyond the general concept/atmosphere. Cregger can make whatever he wants and if it’s good that would be a hell of a lot better than anything else before it. Then just slap the Resident Evil name on and he can say it was inspired by the games, while only having the most basic of similarities.

I’ll watch it because I like his previous stuff and I like Resident Evil, but I can see a lot of super fans getting upset about it because it’s not just a nostalgia fest.
Focus

Inbox also-rans
That Invincible VS game sounds a bit disappointing. Can I ask whether Damien Darkblood is in it as a playable character?
Keyts

GC: Sadly not.

Someone took the innards out of a Switch 2 cartridge and sold the empty plastic shell? That is so much effort to rip someone off for a few pounds. People are the worst.
Jsper

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE: Games Inbox: Will Marvel’s Wolverine be as good as Spider-Man 2?

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Happy Rooms will be hosted at Middlesbrough Town Hall from July 27 to August 30, featuring 12 immersive, artist-designed rooms that explore happiness through colour, creativity and play.

The event, designed to spark imagination and fun in visitors of all ages, will include a mix of returning favourites and new spaces.

It will feature 12 immersive, artist-designed rooms that explore happiness through colour, creativity and play (Image: Dave Charnley Stella)

Rachel Willis and Lyndsey Stephenson, directors of Teesside-based Stellar Creates, are behind the project.

Ms Willis said: “This year brings a perfect mix of returning favourites and brand-new rooms, designed to surprise and delight visitors of all ages.”

Lyndsey Stephenson said the event aims to capture what happiness really means, adding: “Happy Rooms delves into the essence of happiness.

“We want visitors to celebrate play, the great outdoors, colour, family, rest and relaxation this Summer.”

Quiet and relaxed sessions will also be available daily (Image: Dave Charnley Stella)

Happy Rooms will be open Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30am to 5pm, with entry every 15 minutes and the last admission at 3.30pm.

READ MORE: Prolific paedophile pensioner searched for pictures of ‘boys in Speedos’ online
READ MORE: Dozen football fans arrested in police crackdown after Boro v Millwall disorder
READ MORE: ‘Vulnerable’ woman found with suspected hypothermia in rural County Durham

The experience lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.

Quiet and relaxed sessions will also be available daily at 9.30am and 9.45am.

Tickets are £6.50 for children and £8.50 for adults, with family bundles and off-peak discounts available.

To book, visit: www.happyrooms.co.uk

North Yorkshire Police is on the scene on the A59 at Whixley, near Knaresborough, on Thursday afternoon (April 30).

Motorists are facing delays with people urged to avoid the area, the force said.

“We are working to recover the vehicles and get the road fully open as soon as possible,” a police spokesperson said.

“There will be delays in the area at this time.”